Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20200831

Series champion. Is it time to start fitting them for the world series rings, despite the fact they have the secondtolast worst record in baseball . I can feel those september breezes coming. Going to push them over the finish line. Joe, every four years we come out of the conventions wondering which candidate emerges with the big mo, its the Boston Red Sox, this time, joe. Two straight wins against the nationals. The grounds crew clearing space for a banner, this october wondering which exred sox star will get the bigger ovation, at fenway park, there wont be any fans, mind you, but still go with us. This is it, this is a turning point. This is the impossible dream. Like secretary going down the final stretch of the belmont in 73. These red sox are coming on, two wins in a row. Speaking of momentum, i do think that perhaps the president may have been a bit enraged yesterday morning after getting the ratings from his final night, but also the polling out of abc news, the Washington Post, showing that boy, his Approval Rating actually went down. And joe bidens went up over the two conventions. Well, his tweet storm showed he was reacting to something. We will get to the violence and unrest in portland in a moment but there is fresh new polling following both the democratic and Republican National conventions showing President Trumps favorability slipping while joe biden steadily climbs. In the latest poll, trumps favorability sits at 31 . 59 have an unfavorable opinion of the president. 46 hold a favorable view of biden, up six points since before the dnc. 40 have an unfavorable view of the former Vice President. And when looking at President Trumps handling of the coronavirus, 35 approve while 63 disapprove. Who are the 35 is all i want to know. Meanwhile, the latest Morning Consult polls show voters edging back. Joe biden holds a six point lead over President Trump, 50 to 44 . Thats down from the ten point lead he held heading into the convention on august 23rd. But the latest usc dornsife on friday found biden at 53 to trumps 41 . A margin of 12 points. So there you go. So Jonathan Lemire, a lot of people around the white house were thrilled with what happened during whatever you want to call last weeks rnc events. The polls actually a couple of polls showing within the margins that things may have gotten better for the president. But if you look at the abc news the Washington Post approval poll, Donald Trumps Approval Ratings went down, joe bidens went up. And i think considerably. Biden up 6 points and his unfavorability down 3 points. Which is showing to me at least coming out of this convention the story seems to be and i would guess that people inside the white house would be thinking this too. And they may not admit it to the president. But its got to be frustrating to them that despite the tens of millions of dollars in unfavorable ads thrown at joe biden over the past six months, despite the fact the president even got impeached over trying to pull in a ukrainian leader and hold defense spending over him to try to besmerj the reputation of joe biden, bidens numbers just keep going up as far as Approval Rating goes. Well have to start calling him teflon joe. Joe, i think it is striking in the last few days, democrats ive talked to, perhaps you have the same experience, there seems to be a collective freakout among democrats since the Republican Convention ended suggesting this race was hurding trumps way, but the polling doesnt really back that up, at least not yet. Some polls suggest perhaps Slight Movement towards the president. But remember joe biden walked into the conventions with a pretty substantial, and more importantly stable lead. There hasnt been much that has happened since the onset of the pandemic and certainly since the aftermath of George Floyds killing and the walk across Lafayette Square that has changed the fundamentals of the race. Yes, it has dipped and moved a little around the margins to this point. And both sides, privately, will acknowledge it has tightened somes, but both sides, privately and . Some cases publically, acknowledge joe biden is winning. And remember, he has a four, five, six seven lead in all the battlegrounds, save north carolina. The white house was pleased with the staging of the events last week. We are still going to see the aftermath of that in the coming days. What we dont know is how the events of kenosha and portland are going to change things. We know the president is traveling to kenosha, wisconsin tomorrow. Joe biden is going to speak on the unrest in america and how President Trump has added to that today in a speech in pennsylvania. And his aides are working on their own visit to wisconsin potentially later this week. Right now the race remains the same. Its on now as they say. Joe biden is resuming his campaigning. The president and his team are pleased about that. They feel they pushed biden out of his basement sooner than they wanted. They feel the more hes out of the basement could lead to a gaffe that could close the race. Maybe its closed slightly but joe biden is in the enviable position two months out. Hes winning. Here we are moving into september, things are plretty much the same. Please correct me if im wrong, it seems the only thirng thats changed if you look at polling since two weeks of conventions is Donald Trumps Approval Rating ticked down slightly and joe bidens went up a bit, hes sitting at 45, 46 Approval Rating. Those disapproving of him went down three points. Clearly joe biden rising with approval and the president coming down is bad news for the white house no matter how they spin it. Theyre now playing this, were in survival mode. Trying to spin it as if this is some advancement. The thing that i observed, joe, over the weekend, we had the big march in washington friday, which was probably the biggest civil rights march in the last several years. The energy, re remember we had this on a work day in the middle of a pandemic. So remember for people to come out is a signal to the white house that people are energized to come out and vote. They will come out and stand up and did it peacefully because the tone is set at the top, not one incident with several hundred thousands people there, and you have no problems, no incidents, and people ready to come and stay out all day. Thats a signal what they will do election day. So if i was the white house between the polling and the turnouts i think i would be very concerned because it shows a determination against this kind of divisive hate filled a atmosphere that this president has established. Yamiche, any ideas that the white house why the president melted down yesterday morning . He often melts down when things are going badly for him. But any idea why he melted down so badly sunday morning, firing off over 90 tweets starting before 6 00 a. M. . I dont think theres any official explanation for why the president ial does what he does on twitter, especially yesterday. I think the things weve been talking about likely are the things weighing on President Trumps mind. The idea that the reality tv president who sold himself as a showman, a deal maker, that he has lower ratings than the democrats must really get at him. When you think about what he risked to really put on this event at the white house that was, i think, troublintroubling interesting, remarkable and somewhat dangerous, i think he put it all on the line and hes put it all on the line with this idea if i do all this stuff, try to put the virus in the rear view mirror and say we are going to get through this, if i spread misleading information enough somehow americans will believe me over the facts, over my own Health Officials and as a result i will be able to be reelected. I think all of that is weighing on the president s mind. And i think there was this civil rights march that reverend sharpton was talking about, there was so many people on the president s doorstep telling him we dont like the way youre handling the virus and this racial reckoning. I think he understands the nation is coming to a head when it comes to civil rights issues. Black people are fed up, people of color understand they are being treated like second class citizens and white americans are waking up to the privilege they have and saying this is not right. I think were in a moment where everyone is recognizing, even if youre a supporter of President Trump youre recognizing hes struggling with his response to the coronavirus and hes not someone who has shown historically the empathy that people need in this moment when it comes to connecting with people who are reeling from the loss of so many black men or the shootings of so many black men. David, we look at the numbers of people that watched and Donald Trumps ratings on tv below joe bidens and Kamala Harris. Despite the fact that, as yamiche said, he had over 1,000 people commit this death defying act where they jammed together 1,000 to 1,500 people jammed together, no masks or very few masks on the same day over 1,000 americans died from the coronavirus and despite this high risk gambit, the president appears to be flat in the polls, his disApproval Rating goes up, Approval Rating goes down. Im curious on your thoughts on your defining moment where the president used the powers of his office the way autocrats do, and then risked the lives of thousands of people, if you multiply out the thousand people that were there. Joe, the white house is the most extraordinary stage in the world. And trump and his lighting artists and technicians set it off beautifully in a sense it was a classic donald trump act of selfishness to expose people to risks. To take that Sacred National monument and use it for his own purpose. I felt that donald trump had been in a free fall in the weeks before the convention. The story was his botched handling of the covid pandemic. The country, the poll numbers suggested, was scared by the way the president had mismanaged that crisis. And i think the importance of the convention is it stopped the free fall, the polls have been bouncing all over the place as weve been saying this morning, going in slightly Different Directions so we have to wait a few more days and weeks for them to sort out. But i think trumps downward motion probably stopped and hes now introduced the idea that the country should be scared not of this terrible pandemic and his utter inability to deal with it but know the country should be scared about violence in democratic controlled cities. Thats the theme and thats what theyre pushing hard. Im sure theyre going to talk in the show, how does joe biden, how does Kamala Harris respond powerfully to that so they dont let trump take that issue as rocket fuel for the last phase of the campaign and play to peoples fears about violence and disorder in the country. But for the moment i think that issue is replaced, the concern about covid is the dominant theme in the race and thats why trump has this seeming, at least if not a bounce, hes settled in a more table position. There is the issue of him manipulating the information to twist the fear, to use it for his own benefit. But right now weve got two really tangible ways that americans can see how their lives have changed. How they are less safe. How the president hasnt responded to something that he needs to respond to. First it was the coronavirus, which still continues and now its this violence and this hatred that seems to be kind of moving across the country in response to something that most people have a pretty visceral reaction to. Which is the treatment of africanamericans by police. Now the violence from this summer of racial unrest took another deadly turn. As supporters of the president made a show of force in portland on saturday. Police say a man was shot and killed after clashes throughout the day between protesters who have been there for months and supporters of the president who gathered as part of a 600vehicle caravan. There were reports of fistfights, video of Trump Supporters shooting paint ball and tear gas and protesters throwing things at the vehicles. Officials say the caravan drove around the city for hours. The president was supporting this. Police said the vehicle caravan had cleared the area already when the shooting occurred and it remains unclear weather or how the shooting was connected to the protests. The victim has not been identified yet but a photo from the scene showed him wearing a hat with a logo of a far right group based in oregon. The conservative Editorial Board of the wall street journal write wheres in a new oped, quote, mr. Trump would help portland and his own political cause a lot more if he called for calm on all sides. That includes his supporters, who rolled into portland for a counterprotest on saturday. According to news reports the man killed on the streets was wearing a hair for Patriot Prayer the right wing group that sometimes clashes with antifa. Mr. Trump should tell his supporters to stay basically from portland, kenosha and other cities where rioters rein. Mr. Trump mr. Trumps media opponents will take any opening they can to make alleged individual lantism the story rather than the failure of Progressive Democratic governance. Meanwhile, joe biden stating shooting in the streets of a Great American city is unacceptable. I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by anyone whether on the left or the right. He went on to say we must not become a country at war with ourselves, a country that accepts the killing of fellow americans who do not dwroagree you. But that is the america that President Trump wants us to be. The america he believes we are. Its so interesting, mika, weve heard from donald trump and others and his supporters and some of the media who have said joe biden is not speaking out against the violence. Its ridiculous, theyre not listening or theyre intentionally ignoring the fact youre watching the counter programming. Joe biden has continued to speak out against the violence. Two things my friends on both sid sid sides. Take a deep breath, two things can be true at one time. There can be violence and chaos in portland, which was there before donald trump sent in the federal troops there while donald trump sent in the federal troops, and there after donald trump took out federal troops and was there before Donald Trumps people went in and started agitating the city. These things can be true at once and well talk to reverend al about it in a second. About all the pleas from reverend al and the naacp and jim clyburn and others to resist the violence that this undermines this undermines the cause of the 25 million, maybe 30 million marchers that have marched peacefully this year protesting the death of george floyd for black lives matter. But you know this whole thing mika where people say joe biden needs to say something. Listen, that comment yesterday was not the first time joe biden has spoken out against the violence weve seen across america. Despite what donald trump and a lot of republicans and some people in the media would have you believe, he said it before. Take a look. Theres no place for violence. No place for looting or destroying property or burning churches or destroying businesses. Many of them built by the very people of color who for the first time in their lives were beginning to realize their dreams and build wealth for their families. Nor is it acceptable for our police sworn to protect all people to resort to violence. We need to distinguish between legitimate protests and opportunistic violence and destruction. I said from the outset of the protests theres no place for violence or destruction of property. Peaceful protesters should be protected and arsonists and anarchists should be prosecuted. And local Law Enforcement can do that. When president obama and i were in office we protected federal property. We were able to do it without the department of Homeland Security turning it into a private militia. It can be done today, but that wouldnt help trumps political interest. Hes determined to stoke division and chaos. Its not good for the country. But donald trump doesnt care. His campaign is failing and hes looking for a political lifeline. This isnt about law and order, its about a political strategy to revive a failing campaign. Every instinct trump has adds fuel to the fire. Pro testing brutality is a right and necessary. But burning down communities is not protest. Its needless violence. Violence that endangers lives, guts businesses, shutters businesses that serve the community. Thats wrong. First of all i denounced it a long time ago, weeks ago. I made it clear from the beginning theres no justification whatsoever for violence, looting. As a matter of fact it flies in the face of the legitimate protests going on and takes away from the whole rationale for whats happening here. Ive condemned the violence from the beginning. The problem we have right now is were in Donald Trumps america. To quote kellyanne conway, she said, and im paraphrasing today, theyre looking for more violence and disruption because it helps them politically. He views this as a political benefit to him. Hes rooting for more violence, not less, and its clear about that. Whats he doing, pouring gasoline on the fire. This happens to be Donald Trumps america. Donald trumps america. Covid is out of control, hes not prepared, he didnt prepare for it, he hasnt responded to it, and he continues to be in a position where he does nothing to deal with it. We have 15 Million People out of work. We have it just is amazing how, if you notice he didnt speak about covid and they didnt speak about any of the reason why were doing whats whats happening in kenosha is happening. By the way, i condemn violence in any form, whether its looting or whatever it is. You know, reverend al, look at those clips, you go back to june the 2nd, theres no place for violence, no place for looting. We have to distinguish between peaceful protests and violence and anarchists. And talks about prosecuting them. In july says the same thing. Theres no place for burning down communities and talks about how those many of these places being burned down are being burned down, theyre Community People who own these Small Businesses. August saying the same thing. Violence and looting flies in the face of everything were fighting for. This is Donald Trumps america. Reverend al, there are a lot of woke people or as you call them latte liberals that just they dont seem to understand that you and jim clyburn and the naacp and our friend the late john lewis have spent the whole summer condemning this violence. And you Start Talking about how you need to condemn this violence, and some people who obviously, obviously have interest in continuing the violence, on both sides, certainly become very upset. But its just this is what bothers me, rev. There are a lot of lazy people out there. A lot of really lazy people out there. And maybe theyre just maybe theyre a little dumb, maybe theyre a little evil, i dont know. I dont know. You know me, who am i to judge. But they suggest that joe biden hasnt condemned this violence when he spent all summer condemning this violence. They suggest the Democratic Leaders and civil rights leaders like you want to defund the police. When jim clyburn and you and every democratic leader on the National Stage ive heard condemn the latte liberals. Condemns the woke nation whos talking about defunding the police. They are creating their own alternative reality, and those clips show very clearly and your own words show very clearly that the Civil Rights Community and joe biden have consistently condemned this violence. Youre absolutely right. When you look at those clips and ive seen joe biden do this in real time over the last several months. He clearly has been one of the leading voices against the violence and against the looting while he supported our legitimate right to peaceful protests. And let me be clear. People that are violent on either side are undermining what we are trying to achieve in terms of having policing that is fair and equal. Even those latte liberals that make excuses for violence on the left, im as angry as any black man in america, ive been fighting these issues for decades. You cant be more angry than i am for having to go through this. When you go out and loot and commit violence you not only hurt the cause you hurt the families that are trying to get a day in court to say their loved one that was killed was not a looter, a thug, did not have to be calmed down reverend al. Can you please say that again. Because you told me this privately when we talk. You told me this publicly. I know there are a lot of, again, maybe theyre just a little slow. I dont know. I dont know what the problem be is. But can you explain again, because this is critically important that when somebody tries to burn down a Federal Building in portland, when somebody tries to commit act of violence. Youve always said theyre hurting the families of those theyre supposed to be holding up through protests. Explain again how youve seen this in the past and how it actually makes it harder to get juries willing to convict those who have killed black men for no good reason. Exactly right. What i raised to you in our private conversations and i say publically, when these people go to trial. We have three officers going to trial in george floyd and other cases, when they go to trial, they will call a Family Member up when its time or at that point in the trial to give us the character of george floyd, give us the character of whatever the victim may be. And theyre going to tell them how this person was. They do not need you, whether you feel justified or not, to have the image of him as someone reckless, someone that was could only be contained by overstepping the bounds of policing. They cant have the image of you rioting and looting in their mind saying thats who george floyd was, so the police had no choice or thats who brooks was in atlanta. You are recklessly interfering with our right to try to get justice for these families that has nothing to do with your violence. Every family forget joe biden a minute, forget the civil rights leaders, the families have begged people to shtop it. Dont use our victimized loved one as a prop to get off your emotions or your agenda. Stop it. Respect the fact that these people died and want their dignity not to be interrupted before they seek justice. Otherwise you are victimizing them for the second time. Were going to get to more of this. First, mika, give us some of the other stories well follow this morning. Theres a lot. We have the lop sided economic recovery, main stream versus wall street. The dow is expected to end its best august in 30 years even as the u. S. Job market struggles to recover, more than 22 Million People lost their jobs amid the pandemic and only about 9. 3 million restored. The dow erased the losses on friday while the s p entered a bull market. In california fire crews are gaining ground on dozens of wildfires burning across the state. A spokesperson said firefighters are making great progress and containment efforts should continue to go up, about 60,000 people are still under evacuation orders. Also, louisianas department of death said the death toll from hurricane laura has risen to 14, hundreds of thousands of residents are still without power and some areas could be without Running Water for weeks. And finally, kentuckys attorney general has revealed his office received the fbi ballistics report from the Fatal Shooting of 26yearold Breonna Taylor, he called it a critical piece of the investigation but not the end all, be all. Cameron said witness testimony interviews still have to be conducted and hell be meeting with fbi agents this week. Breonna taylor was shot and killed in her louisville apartment back in march when three officers with a noknock search warrant entered without warning. And the story of Breonna Taylor in the New York Times yesterday absolutely heartbreaking. We talked about george floyd an awful lot but obviously Breonna Taylor is on the hearts and minds of so many people who are marching every day. Thats right. She was a young woman just getting started, really focused on service. Focused on trying to help in the middle of a pandemic. The idea also that she was a woman is something that i think is sticking in a lot of peoples minds because it is true we talk about black men but there are black women like sandra bland and so many others who have been killed by the police. And this hammers home this idea that there are a lot of people in this country who feel like if you are africanamerican, a woman, a man, you are someone subject to being criminalized and your hopes and dreams snuffed out from under you. In this case she was sleeping in her own bed. Theres this idea that especially africanamerican families you teach your children how to speak to the police, try to stay safe, how to be overly cautious, be at ease, put other people at ease, when they try to see you, but for this to happen in someones own home, in their bed, shot while shes sleeping and for the Police Officers still not be arrested and charged, there are a lot of people that see that as unfair and it proves that fe africanamericans are not safe anywhere, including your own bed when youre asleep. Well get to more on this and the coronavirus. Still ahead well talk about the criminal charges against the 17yearold trump supporter who shot and killed two protesters in wisconsin. His lawyers are claiming selfdefense a lot of Trump Supporters, and it seems the president is even defending a 17yearold kid running around with an ar15 shooting indiskrim nantly. Im not great with laws in wisconsin from what i have read, i dont think its legal for a 17yearold to be running around the streets with an ar15. Plus the number of coronavirus cases in the United States tops 6 million. The head of the fda said hes willing to fast track a vaccine a week after being criticized by President Trump. Well get to all of that when we come back. ll get to all of thae come back. Limu emu doug you know limu, after all these years its the ones that got away that haunt me the most. [ squawks ] cause youre not like everybody else. Thats why Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. What . Oh, i said. Uh, this is my floor. Nooo only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. You cant claim that because its inanimate [ sigh ] people ask. What sort of a person should become a celebrity accountant . And, i tell them, nobody should. Hey, buddy. Whats the damage . [ on the phone ] i bought it the waterfall . Nope my new volkswagen. A volkswagen . i think were having a breakthrough here. Welcome to caesars palace. Thank you. The open road is open again. And wherever youre headed, Choice Hotels is there. Book direct at choicehotels. Com. The 17yearold accused of committing those two murders was a trump supporter. Its a tragedy. Do you condemn it . Its a tragedy. Do you condemn it . Its a tragedy. Its a tragedy but do you condemn it . Its a tragedy. I dont want to see any loss of life. The way you prevent these tragedies is you support Law Enforcement. A tragedy could be a car accident you dont allow peaceful do you condemn this . You dont allow peaceful protests to turn into siege. I dont want to see anyone lose their life, businesses burned down, economic destruction, i condemn it all. Its interesting that was so he cant condemn the 17yearold running around the streets, from out of state by the way, coming into wisconsin. He cant condemn a kid coming into wisconsin with an ar15 running up and down the streets killing two people. What can you condemn . He cant condemn that. It is interesting, though, that David Ignatius, as i would say, uninspiring, why dont we call it that, as ron johnsons performance was in that interview with dana bash, he actually is going further and condemning violence on all sides, than our president seems to be doing. It seems that joe biden, of course, has aggressively been condemning violence on all sides but you have donald trump retweeting some horrific tweets and praising this kid who killed two people, 17yearold from out of state coming into state running around shooting people indiscrumb unanimously with an ar15. But it seems that donald trump is only encouraging violence and fanning the flames if you look at his tweet storms yesterday morning and last night. Trump is using the violence for every bit of political opportunity he can. Its one of the most opportunistic things i can remember in president ial politics. Its just a terrible situation. Americans turn on their tvs and see images of the country coming apart. And trump is doing nothing that i can see to ease that division. I think, joe, i guess you can line up clips of joe biden saying the right thing about violence and looting for a half hour, but you hes going to have to do more than that. Hes going to have to make an appeal with black and brown and other Democratic Party leaders thats effective. He needs to show that his coalition is able to do the thing that the country wants, which is to have justice and law and order. The three go together, theyre not in conflict. He needs to make that message clear. And then he needs to be successful. He needs to have some effect from that. If he does that, i think hell show the country hes the leader we need right now. Donald trumps argument about joe biden is hes a nice guy but hes too weak to stop the violent elements on the fringe of the party and biden needs to show, thats not true. Im a strong leader, heres evidence. If he can do that, i think he goes through this period stronger. I think it is too. One of the things he did that was really impactful was continue to remind people that this is Donald Trumps america. Donald trump has been president for almost four years. This is actually the american carnage that we did not have when he took over. I dont know if i reminded our faithful followers of this or not. But crime was at a 50 year low when donald trump came into office. Thats when he inherited from barack obama. Illegal border crossings across the mexican line, mexicanu. S. Line. Low. Were at 50 year lows. I was playing in tball in georgia the last time they were that low. Three and a half years later, four years later, we have chaos. We have chaos in large part of course, yes, there are just violent elements, elements ive seen my entire adult life, whether its environmental rallies in seattle, portland, or rallies opposing the world trade organization, anarchists glum on to legitimate protesters and agitators always try to bust windows, loot, always try to do what they do. But this is especially bad. This is Donald Trumps america and in large part this continues because we have a president that has been fanning the flames from the very beginning. Of course, june the 1st, the most dramatic example where the forces he and barr had his forces attack Peaceful Protesters in lafayette park. But even before that he was talking about his dogs that could rip people to shreds and when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Cutting through it like butter. He has been using violent imagery that fascists use. Hes been doing everything he can to fan the flames. Facebook helps. All that aside, the reality he cant escape is we are li liveilive living in Donald Trumps america. This is the carnage he has predicted. Thats one thing he predicted correctly. He has created the american carnage that he talked about that was not existing when he took office, thats here now because of donald trump. Like he made the coronavirus worse, hes making this worse. And the tweet storm included a like for a thread that included the following, Kyle Rittenhouse is why i decided to vote for trump. It paints rittenhouse as a hero to go up and protect businesses. This is a little boy with an ar15, rittenhouse was charged on friday with a six count complaint that included recklessly endangering safety and reckless and intentionally homicide in the deaths of two people and the injury of a third. He is fighting extradition from his home state of illinois with a hearing set for september 25th. Joining us now, state attorney for Palm Beach County david aronberg. We have a lot to talk about this morning but we start with Kyle Rittenhouse. Whats the argument in his defense . Morning, mika. His lawyers are setting up for a selfdefense claim. Keep in mind he was the one that put the night of violence in motion. He was the one that travelled across state lines as a 17yearold, to possess a weapon he was not allowed to possess. To stand guard outside a used car lot that no one asked him to stand guard at. So he was the initial aggressor. And under the initial aggressor doctri doctrine, hes not allowed selfdefense unless he makes it clear hes abandoning the fight or others come at him using excessive force. And according to videos doesnt look like either of those claims hold water. Because the first person that he shot didnt have a weapon. The second person he shot and killed came at him with a skate board. The lawyers will say a guy wielding a skate board could be dangerous. You tell that to a injury that rittenhouse who had an ar15 was in reasonable fear of his life from a guy with a skate board. I think the first degree murder charges here may need to be dropped down to Second Degree murder or manslaughter because i dont know if the elements are there. But he could face 60 years in prison instead of life. So its still essentially life. Another thing we need to be concerned about, what kind of message does this send to young people, when you hold this guy up to be a hero. Theres hundreds of thousands of dollars being raised for his defense fund. Well, that encourages other vigilantes to go into conflict zones and possibly take other lives knowing they too could be a hero on the far right. That puts everyone at risk. Its chaos. Jonathan lemire is with us and has a question for you. Jonathan . Dave, what we saw here, as you said, Kyle Rittenhouse has become a champion on the far right, Tucker Carlson in particular has gone out of his way to defend the actions, we saw the president endorse what he did, and portland, eulogizing the person who was killed there, who had the caravan through portland streets as patriots. I want to get your take on that. From what youve seen on the videos, marches, the clashes between the two groups, the protesters on either side of this, what sort of charges what are we looking at there in terms of a Law Enforcement response, what would you see if that was your jurisdiction . Jonathan, if someone was killed by a protester in polan portland, it doesnt matter if theyre from the left or right, there could be murder charges. We dont know the name of the victim. The investigation will continue, i hope justice prevails there. This is a lot of incitement when the president said this is Joe Bidens America we need to remember whos in the white house. And theres incitement to send people through facebook i know joe loves to talk about this, facebook loves to send people to these conflict zones and so we shouldnt be surprised when deaths occur. Plus we could see where people get so outraged when you have a case of jacob blake, shot seven times in in the back because police thought he was reaching for a weapon and compare it to Kyle Rittenhouse, a white kid who had a weapon strapped to his chest and he walks by police waving at them, even though everyone is yelling at them he shot two people. You can see why our streets are so theyre up in flames. Its important to condemn violence on both sides but its important to have the conversations about racial inequities in our criminal justice system. If it continues it undermines faith in the justice system. How historic was that, reverend al, a black man gets shot walking to his car in front of his kids. In front of his children and a white gun that gunned down two people, has an ar15 strapped to his chest. And hes holding his hands up as if hes done something wrong. And they just drive past him. Thats why were continuing the fights were engaged in. Black man Walking Around to get into the drivers seat of his car, three young kids none of them 10 years old in the car. When you see the other videos coming out, other children around, and the policeman shoots seven times in his back while hes holding his undershirt thats the reaction there. They say there may have been a knife in the car. The policeman didnt have xray vision, he wasnt superman, there wasnt imminent danger. You have this compared to a young 17yearold white kid walking down the street with an rarks ar15, after the curfew, there was a curfew that night. He shouldnt have been walking down the street at all. Walking down the street on the other side of town he would have been stopped. Hes walking down the street with a rifle, to protect a used car lot that didnt request him and he had no authority, he shoots and kills two people and he gets across the state lines to illinois to his home. They had to bring him back from out of state. He not only got home, he got home from out of state. If that doesnt show the two levels with how we deal with criminal justice as the father said the other day at the rally in washington, there is a sense of White Justice and black justice, nothing is more graphic than what happened in that situation. Absolutely. Dave aronberg thank you so much for being on this morning. Now to this. Thousands rallied in berlin against germanys coronavirus measures over the weekend. Including qanon supporters. Tell us about this rally, mat. Reporter i should specify, the vast majority of the people at the rally two days ago here, in front of the iconic monument here in central berlin. Most were protesting against the coronavirus restrictions. But we saw quite a few qanon protesters, mostly peaceful. But in the end there were a few arrests made and people did try to storm the german parliament. They made it as far as the steps but security turned them back. This boisterous protest is trying to convince the world the coronavirus pandemic is exaggerated or a sham. You wont see any masks or gloves here but you can catch a glimpse of an american phenomenon. This march is mostly against coronavirus restrictions but there are a lot of qanon supporters here. Most european believers are new to the Conspiracy Theory. Their skepticism of the coronavirus acted as a gateway. Coronavirus got you an entree into qanon, is that correct . So what is qanon, it has one central span, the global elites are controlling the world and theyre trafficking our children. They want to get our children like the sick pedophiles all around the world. It goes back to an anonymous internet poster known as q who said he had access to intelligence who said donald trump is the savior who will make an arrest of powerful leaders. Theres no evidence for any of this, but for some its a useful fiction. The theory that there is the belief that you are saving the world from the satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals. Does that sound like something you are behind . I havent heard that. But is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing . Reporter believers have risen to positions in Americas Republican Party and President Trump has welcomed their support. And george soros and the democrats are trying to take me down. She comes from a great state. She had a tremendous victory so i did congratulate here. Reporter thanks to the pandemic this theory has become an american export. Despite crackdowns, researchers have seen believers from dozens of Different Countries uniting online. Lydia tracks qanons activities. It is much more flexibility as a Conspiracy Theory than it might have been a couple years ago when it was u. S. Centric. Reporter a dutch housewife said shes worried for her 8yearold son. For his future, yeah. Because i dont want him to live in fear of hugging people or seeing other people as a potential sick and making others sick. Reporter like many european believers shes a recent convert inspired by her rebellion against covid regulations. Some people call you crazy or whatever, conspiracy, crazy. I dont care anymore because for me i know a lot of things that are happening are very bad. They have to come out. Reporter while supporters in the states have committed violence, these protests have been mostly peaceful but not welcoming to journalists who many believers count among the so called elites they oppose. They shouted insults at us and tried to block our shots. Theyre chanting essentially fake news. A hostile hallucination on the march around the world. Theres an irony here, germanys burden of the coronavirus was light compared to neighboring countries, italy and france, so they didnt have as many infections or deaths, and these coronavirus restrictions people were protesting against they werent severe and most of them were lifted weeks before this march this weekend. Mika . It sounds familiar. If theres not a crisis, well invent one says qanon and so many others that are following leaders in poland and hungary and the United States. David ignatius with the Washington Post is with us and has a question for you. Matt, thanks for that report, thanks for teaching us how to say fake news in german. I want to ask you, whether you have found any evidence of any encouragement, support, retweeting from anyone in the trump circle endorsing these german protests against new coronavirus restrictions . And then, second, the germans, as you said have been fairly successful in keeping coronavirus at bay. Are you hearing concerns that these protests against restrictions, against Public Health measures they make that more difficult in a second wave . You know, when youre talking about whether the Trump Administration is actually kind of lee yazing with protesters and qanon support ers here in europe, im not sure theres a lot of evidence of that. But this Conspiracy Theory its very malleable, flexible. So people in europe supporting this, theyve managed to bend it to meet their own local ambitions and complaints about their own gotvernments here in europe. So they have connections between the populist right here in germany. There was some presence of what they call afd, the alternative for germany party, thats been kind of present. They didnt organize the march on saturday but theyre a populist Rightwing Party and they have connections with other populist rightwing parties throughout europe. When it comes to coronavirus restrictions and the protests, your second question, its unclear because germany has been on top of the disease. If theres a spike again in the winter, i dont know if this country is going to necessarily be going against any additional restrictions. This group, there were tens of thousands of them, it was a large protest, but germany is a big country and for the most part everybody complied with the rules throughout the country, thats one of the reasons why this country came out on top of the coronavirus when theres so many other countries neighboring it failed. Matt bradley, thank you so much. We do appreciate it. You know, mika, this is what we were talking about last week. Its what weve talked about with what Ann Applebaum has written about extensively. In poland the first thing they did in 2015 they tried to whip up a frenzy against antimuslims. Then they looked it up and found out there werent enough muslims around so they used antigay, antilesbian and used homosexuality to create this enemy. Youve seen the same thing, donald trump, build that wall, whats that about . Again, he made that up at a time he was going to build a wall and have mexico pay for it, which we said was a lie at the time. Turned out to be. It was a lie, will always be a lie. He just made that crisis up because again at the time, illegal border crossings, we said this during the campaign repeatedly, if youre too stupid to remember that, stay away from Household Appliances especially blenders but we said at the time he was never going to build a wall and mexico wasnt going to pay for it. Yet people loved it. He invented a crisis that didnt exist because illegal border crossings were at a 50 year low. You can look up that fact on Donald Trumps own department of Homeland Security. Go to the websites and see, and they will tell you when barack obama left office, illegal border crossings were at a 50 year low. So if theres not a crisis, you make one up. Thats whats going on here. Notice time and again donald trump refuses to even push away the suggestion that theres this worldwide conspiracy of pedophiles and whatever else trying to snatch your kids. And that hes the savior. He refuses to push that away. Very cult like. Its beneath contempt and yes, very cult like. Just past the top of the hour. Reverend al sharpton and Jonathan Lemire are still with us. And joining the conversation we have reporter jeremy peters, Donny Deutsch is with us, and reporter Shannon Pettypiece joining us. Lets start with the new polling following the democratic and Republican National conventions showing President Trumps favorability slipping while joe biden climbs. In the latest poll, trumps favorability sits at 31 , downpodown four points. 59 have an unfavorable opinion of the opinion. 46 hold a favorable view of biden, up six points look at this, Donald Trumps favorability rating goes down four points across the two conventions, goes down four points. Joe bidens goes up 6. This is so critical because time and again weve heard that this election is going to be decided, mika, by people who dont have a favorable view of either and who are they going to be more likely to vote for. Joe bidens favorability continues to go up, despite the fact that donald trump and his team have been lying about him. Spending tens of millions of dollars i dont know, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars, attacking his character and its not doing anything. Hes got to do it right. You know, at this point its more important than ever that he sticks to states in between the lines, sticks to the truth, responds and stays solid. I think a lot of people want him running all over the place doing more. Im not sure. I think these solid numbers are probably where you want to be at this point. When looking at President Trumps handling of the coronavirus, 35 approve while 63 disapprove. The latest morning con sult poll shows joe biden now holding a 6 point lead over President Trump, 50 to 44 . Thats down from the 10 point lead he held going into the convention on august 23rd. But the latest usc dornsife poll on friday found biden at 53 to trumps 41 . Thats a margin of 12 points. Donny deutsch. You have been following consumers and branding your entire life. Tell me what you saw out of the dnc and rnc conventions and where you believe the state of the race is as we go into the final stretch. I think its going to come down to one question. Are you safer today than you were four years ago . When you look at the coronavirus or the violence. And i think its so important biden is teeing it up today when he talks about trumps america. We need to brand we need to do a judo move on donald trump who basically last week tried to brand the white house. These are the trump riots, the trump violence, this is the trump reality show of a more violent america. You touched on it friday, the irony that trump is trying to run as a change candidate and this is somebody elses problems. What joe biden has to be vigilant about, it has to be coronavirus and the violence, this is branded trump. This is the trump reality show. You are less safe today, whether t uts coronavirus, the violence in the streets because of donald trump, that is the state of this race. And this is the ultimate branding exercise to reverse back and will hopefully be the demise of donald trump. So jeremy peters, how frustrating it has to be for Donald Trumps campaign people. Its constantly frustrating for them, but they have a night where people get up and try to connect to the suburban Republican Voters that have run away from them and then donald trump goes on an absolutely massive meltdown yesterday morning, i think over 90 tweets. Just went out of his mind crazy. And, of course, any gains that he may have gotten from a couple of people talking nice about him would be washed away by reports of this overthetop crazed creed of his. But im wondering what is his goal to get those republicans back that he loses every time he goes on that sort of rant. You think be a it joe, its reminiscent of four years ago when trump came out after what most people agreed was a successful convention and he implied that ted cruzs father was involved in the kennedy assassination. Pretty much erasing much hope that he changed or tempered his conduct. Thats exactly what you have going on here. What theyve been trying to do from the convention in ads theyve been cutting and running on facebook and elsewhere is the sense that really theyre saying trump is not as bad as you think he is. We, the republican party, were not as bad as you think we are. We dont coddle extremists, were not racists. The president is a man of compassion who has a tremendous work ethic. He is fighting for you, he will be your voice. But the problem is, no high production value ad campaign can gloss over the fact that the voters overwhelmingly dont believe that. The numbers you were just showing they dont think hes done a good job by wide margins of handling the coronavirus pandemic. They dont think hes compassionate. There was a poll out that Something Like only in the 30s 36 , Something Like that, people felt that he was a compassionate person, compared with two thirds of people who felt that way about joe biden. So really this constructed reality that has come out of the messaging of the Republican Convention does not square with how the American People see this president. And as he continues to step all over the own strictly produced well scripted message coming out of his ads and the rnc last week, i think its going to be really hard for that to take hold in these states and suburbs where there are wobbly republicans who might be brought back into the fold. Shannon, injujeremy was sayi the goal is to tell suburban voters and republicans that left that he doesnt coddle extrem t extremists or conspiracy theo theorists, yet you asked him that question and donald trump was the savior of the world and he said, something, like that sounds great. Take us back to that question and answer. What was his response . He basically embraced this qanon theory, while saying he didnt know anything about qanon, though he is someone who is very up on the news, as we see from his tweets so its hard to imagine hes not heard about this or the increasing popularity of this bizarre Conspiracy Theory. It believes theres a Shadow Network of pedophiles, you know, out there who control the universe and trump is the one sent to save them all. Thats at the crux of the theory i asked him about. I thought he was going to dodge it and move on, but instead he basically said i dont know anything abit but the people who do believe in it support me and those are good people and when i explained to him what this theory was about, he said, okay, well, that doesnt sound that bad, sure, why not. And for the qanon followers out there, immediately after he made the comment it ignited on the message boards, i was told by my colleagues who followed this closely and are plugged into the community, it lit the followers on fire and gave all this steam to this movement. I will say, the people who believe in qanon, its not necessarily the stereo typical conspiracy theorist with a bunker and a bunch of guns hiding in their basement. Ive met these folks at trump rallies theyre hardworking people, middle class, jobs, families, working professionals, women and men and they believe in these conspiracy theories out there. It would have been a moment for him to disavow this and get people to think a little bit. Instead he endorsed what was going on. Of course. You were at the rally in New Hampshire on friday. Backing up a little bit. How was the response there . , you know, the masks really stood out or lack of masks i will stay, of course New Hampshire is live free or die. There are few mask requirements in place in the state but one of the few requirements the governor did put in place is the requirement at gatherings of over 100 people. The campaign was enforcing the state mandate that at a gathering of more than 100 people you have to wear a mask. People were not. About one in ten people didnt have a mask on. At one point there was an announcement over the speaker by the campaign telling the people, its a state requirement, wear a mask, put your mask on. And the crowd actually booed. And i at first thought they must be booing Something Else and looked around and checked the tape and the only thing that happened at that moment was an announcement over head telling people to put their masks on. Broadly among Trump Supporters theres a sense that coronavirus is a hoax or its just not as bad as it really seems. And that its the media making it to be something worse than it really is. And thats something that you could see in people who went to this rally, including Senior Citizens, that was the most nerve racking thing for me to watch was Senior Citizens without a mask on, packed next to each other for hours in this semiopen space. And this is where, joe, the presidency matters where the president could make a difference. Where the president could keep people safe. By wearing a mask. Telling them, no, youre wrong, dont boo, put your mask on and itll keep you safer. He just doesnt he doesnt rise up to the job. He cant do the job. He wont do the job. 180,000 americans are dead because of the coronavirus. Their families would be deeply offended by those dismissing this as Conspiracy Theory. Im worried these people will get the coronavirus, they went to the rally, another super spreader event. Its happened time and again, again not Wearing Masks at these events has caused real problems in the past. Again were up to three vietnams, the deaths of u. S. Troops in vietnam 9 11 every few days. Times three, and a 9 11 every couple of days. And just because they are supporting a Reality Tv Show candidate. Theyre willing to put their lives at risk and the lives of their loved ones at risk and our country. In this country in 2020. So Jonathan Lemire, that, of course, is confounding. Also confounding, equally co confounding to borrow from a headline that was sent to me, how in the world is donald trump going to convince americans that Bidens America will look like trumps america does now . He owns this. How do his people in the white house not realize that this is his american carnage . Joe, theres always been an inherent incoherence argument quite frankly to this argument. Donald trump is president. Now he and his allies point to the violence in cities and states where they say theyre run by democrats. These are democratic governors, mayor. Blaming new york or chicago for a rise in violence, shootings. Over portland, seattle with clashes involving federal Law Enforcement. That is the case theyve tried to make and seem to have settled on in the closing argument, the idea that joe biden though perhaps not a member of the radical left themselves that he is the puppet, not Strong Enough to stand up against the forces who are overrunning american streets in trumps view. We have seen, of course, they are leaned into this. They have tried this before. They have leaned into the law and order argument and we know polling suggests it didnt work last time. The black lives Matter Movement and the protests from coasttocoast were widely pop popular according to polling and a pollster said hes never seen a politician so out of step with the moment as donald trump was. And he inflamed the situation with his march to Lafayette Square to the church with the bible for a photo op. The president will be going to kenosha tomorrow, hard to imagine it doesnt stoke tensions there. And we should know, the governor has asked him not to come. Yet he is pushing forward and will be there tomorrow. Is there pressure for joe biden to address this . Yes, there is, and we have talked about this this morning. There is talk of joe biden heading to kenosha himself, perhaps later this week. Well hear from him today in pennsylvania on this issue. But the president they feel this depiction of american citizens out of control, unsafe, even though hes president that works for him, in part because as one adviser put it to me, any day that the National Discourse isnt about the covid19 pandemic and the president s handling of that crisis is a day they want. They want to try to talk about anything else. They want to do anything they can to make this race anything other than a referendum on how the president has handled the pandemic because at this point voters disapprove of it. 63 disaprove of the president s coronavirus handling, for good reason, 180,000 americans are dead. Its interesting, reverend al, that i see a lot of white people on tv talking about how they think the coronavirus pandemic thats killed 180,000 people is just some farce, some ruse, some media invention by the way, theyre saying the spreading the same lies that were spread back in february and march, that it was a media hoax. And that donald trump wont condemn it. I dont see a lot of black people doing that. And im just wondering, since this disease has a disproportionate impact on black americans, im wondering if this isnt yet another example of just how disconnected donald trump is from black america, part of america that his associates were bragging to me he would get 15 to 20 from about a year ago. Now it seems like hes doing everything he can to push black voters away, including lying about a pandemic that disproportionately kills black america. All data shows that black america, disproportionately has suffered from this covid19 and terms of being found to be positive in terms of when theyre tested and in terms of the deaths. For this president to try and act like this is a hoax or for his supporters or sympathizers to say its a hoax when all of us know people in our families or in our basic social life that has been directly impacted by this is offensive and insulting. And the reason is disproportiona disproportionate. Is that blacks are disproportionately doing jobs, engaged in work you cant do from home. Its easy to tell people to work from home when they have the kind of jobs they can do that. We dont have, in a disproportionate sense, those kinds of jobs. I think thats why youre seeing a lot of the energizing you have around the policing issues and the Health Issues like the big march on friday, because people that are directly impacted are insu insulted by the notion what theyre going through is an illusion, what is real life to us every day. Tell us about the march on friday, rev. It was extraordinary. What came out of it . We marched and it was tens of thousands of people, way beyond our expectation. I heard mika in my ear. We tested everybodys temperature before we let them in the mall. We had everybody with face masks and encouraged social distancing. We had to fight on the stage to get people to distant because they were there. It was to say two things, the george floyd policing in justice act that passed the house that would make it a felony to have a policeman cause death, unless its life extenuating circumstances by compressing someone, choke hold or knee on the neck, it and would also get rid of the immunity that they have had in terms of being liable themselves. We also have the john lewis Voting Rights act that were trying to get. This was a legislative those are the two legislative goals. And we had the families. The big thing about this march and rally on friday was that not only did you have all these people out on a work day, the biggest march civil rights march ive seen in years, the actual family of george floyd, the family of the young man killed in atlanta, georgia, rashad brooks, the mother of Breonna Taylor, we had the victims speak to the pain in the shadow of abe lincoln, dr. Martin luther king said it 57 years ago in his i have a dream speech about the fulfi fulfillment of the promises is not there, 57 years later his son stood with the families and i to say this to this multitude. Donald trump should be concerned. This happened the morning after his acceptance speech at the white house less than a mile away to say that people are energized to come out with those numbers. There was huge amount of young people and whites and blacks. And of the racial groups i think it was a tremendous expression of how we can do it and not one not an inkling of violence because the tone was set that were not going to tolerate that. Lets bring us back to the coronavirus. Over the weekend, the u. S. Surpassed 6 million cases. Thats 6 million of the over 25 million of the confirmed cases globally. The u. S. Open is set to begin today and the u. S. Tennis association announced that one of the players has been withdrawn from the field after testing positive for covid19. Paire was the number 17 seed and was the first player to test positive ahead of the open. Matches will take place without spectators, Contract Tracing will determine who might have been exposed to paire and who needs to be kwaurn teed. And President Trumps secret service is not immune. Its beginning to feel the strain caused by the deadly virus. According to the Washington Post just last month the president gave a speech to a group of sheriffs in tampa, florida, five secret Service Agents already on the ground had to be replaced after one tested positive for covid19 and the others work in proximity were presumed to be infected according to people familiar with the situation. These people confirmed in the last two months dozens of secret Service Agents who worked to ensure the president and Vice President s security at Public Events have been sickened or sidelined because they were in direct contact with infected people. Not a hoax. The secret service has since declined to comment about the number of staffers who have tested positive for the virus. Joining us chief medical correspondent, dr. David campbell. If you hold a rally in New Hampshire or exposed your staff or secret service to advanced teams for these rallies where people are not Wearing Masks, what what happens . The disease is transmitted. Its a virus we know that. What makes this harder to understand is just last week the cdc came out with a revised recommendation for testing that would have stopped those secret Service Agents from being tested because they were not with a known or recent exposure according to the new guidelines that are out now for about a week or so, just having been exposed to the virus or possibly being exposed to the virus isnt really enough reason to get tested. You have to have other reasons, such as feeling sick, having symptoms, having Underlying Health conditions or otherwise have a better reason to be tested. So we have had confusion in the last week. Which makes what you just said about the secret Service Agents and people on the ground a little harder to comprehend. Mika . It really is. In the race for a covid19 vaccine, the head of the fda said hes prepared to bypass the full federal approval process in order to make a vaccine available as soon as possible. In an interview with the Financial Times fda commissioner steven hahn said his agency is willing to consider granting emergency authorization before phase three Clinical Trials have been completed if it is determined to be appropriate and the benefits outweigh the risks. Hawn insisted the move to fast track a vaccine is not politically motivated and does not come from pressure from the Trump Administration. This is going to be a science, medicine, data decision he said, this is not going to be a political decision. Already china and russia have approved vaccines without waiting from the end of phase three trials dr. Dave, theres already enough skepticisms about vaccines as it is. Weve seen the president pushing on hydroxychloroquine. Weve seen the president pushing on disinfectants. Weve seen the president pushing on uv lights being shoved into people. Weve seen the president talking about this magically going away. Now weve seen the president pushing hard on vaccines, accusing dr. Hahn and others in the fda of being part of a, quote, deep state conspiracy and now theyre folding. What is the likelihood that americans are going to have confidence in any vaccine that is rushed, not based on science, but based on a time line that has to do with an election . That really speaks to the issue of vaccines. If you dont get a vaccine this is obvious. If you dont get a vaccine, youre not vaccinated. Sounds silly. But we know that during flu season, its a minority of individuals in the United States who are vaccinated against the flu let alone the childhood diseases that we know of. So if we create this Vaccine Hesitancy by mixed messages in in the media, mixed messages coming across from the government to the media to doctors then we could unfortunately see less people willing to have the vaccine given to them, even if it comes out soon. Even if if it comes out before the election or after the election. So its not just a matter of safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. It is that the vaccine doesnt work if you dont receive it. Silly, but thats the reality thats being created right now. All right. Dr. Dave campbell, thank you very much for being on this morning. Shannon and jeremy, thank you both for your reporting as well. Still ahead on morning joe, former director of National Intelligence john brennan joins us to discuss the Trump Administrations decision to no longer give inperson briefings to congress on Election Security. Plus, nancy pelosi suggests democrats will release President Trumps tax returns if they win the white house in november. Well talk about that ongoing fight. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. From prom dresses. To soccer practices. And new adventures. You hope the more you give the less theyll miss. But even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past. They may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. Lets help protect them together. Because missing menb vaccination could mean missing out on a whole lot more. Ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. Book two separate qualifying stays and earn a free night. The open road is open again. And wherever youre headed, Choice Hotels is there. Book direct at choicehotels. Com. And tempurpedics mission, truly transformative sleep. So, no more tossing and turning. Because only tempurpedics proprietary material adapts and responds to your body so you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. Take advantage of our best offer of the year, with savings up to 500. Just between us, you know whats better than mopping . Anything at the end of a long day, its the last thing i want to do. Well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. Its an allinone so its ready to go when i am. The cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. And the pad absorbs it deep inside. So, it prevents streaks and haze better than my old mop. Plus, its safe to use on all my floors, even wood. Glad i got that off my chest and the day off my floor. Try wet jet with a moneyback guarantee when we win this election, and we have a new president of the United States in january and we have a new secretary of the treasury and rich neil asks for the president s returns then the world will see what the president has been hiding all of this time. All right. That was House Speaker nancy pelosi on friday seemingly to suggest that President Trumps long soughtafter tax returns will be released even if he loses the election this november. Joining us now former Senior Adviser for the House Oversight curt bardella, morning joe contributor and Senior Adviser to the lincoln project. Where do we stand in terms of being able to see these tax returns . Because it seems like every process will be hit back with an appeal or something. Yeah. I mean, i think theres no question what we have seen through all of trumps presidency is any Time Congress exerts its Oversight Authority trump ignores it or goes to the courts to defy it. Weve seen time and again while the process takes time, the courts reaffirm congress authority to ask for these documents, have the subpoenas enforced. I think whats going to happen. When we loo at what next year could look like, the speaker is spot on. The American People have a right to know what the president has been hiring. It was the president who first promised to provide his returns and he hasnt done that. The question is what do you have to hide . He loves to boast about how rich he is, and the resources he has and the wealth hes accumulated. Yet when its time to provide and show he duoesnt want to do that. Theres a reason for that, because hes not as rich as he said he was, or he has debts with someone that is not good that has a lot of leverage over the sitting president. I suspect theres a lot that trump would be embarrassed to show the American People. I think its important to know exactly what happened here with this presidency. Donny deutsch is this a good strategy for the democrats . Even beyond the election, to keep pursuing this . What you would find in these tax returns is what everybody in new york city, everybody in business knew, donald trump couldnt borrow money from banks going to the 90s and you find Money Laundering from russians. But, but, but, do not get a head fake and do not get distracted from what this election is about, its about the safety of American People, a failed presidency with the coronavirus, 50 million jobs lost and trump riot in the streets. This is not about russia, meddling, tax returns, so yes, i think when donald trump is out of office, i think the entire organization will be ricoed, but this is not on the minds of the American People, do not get distracted. Jonathan lemire . We have spent a years long odyssey for the democrats to try to get their hands on the tax returns, particularly since they took control of the house of representatives since the the 2018 midterms. Theyve been unsuccessful every time to this point, the speaker is suggesting she will do this. To donnys point i know some worry this is a distraction that the democrats dont need. Whats she talking about here how . How can they finally potentially get their hands on the tax returns . Weve seen, jonathan, recent court cases have upheld and turned back trump challenges to say that congress doesnt have the authority to ask for these or get them. So i think theyre going to get the returns, whether its from donald trump, his Accounting Firm or various Banking Institutions that hes done business with or had to show the returns to, there are a lot of mechanisms to get to them. I think what Speaker Pelosi is eluding to here is the need for congress to reassert itself checks and balances authority, were seeing in the House Foreign Relations Committee theyre starting contempt proceedings against mike pompeo, whos been unresponsive to them, they need to do these things. One thing to look at is looking at way to give themselves more authority and power to enforce subpoenas. Weve seen the flaw in checks and balances so so many things go to the attorney general to enforce. Well, when the attorney general is someone like bill barr we know thats going nowhere so congress has the need to give authority outside of the attorney general. Congress ted lou has put forward a rule change to levy 100,000 in fines to anybody who avoids subpoena oversight opportunities so thats something i think theyll look at doing. Weve seen time again, at the epa, state department, foreign affairs, intelligence, this administration does not cooperate with oversight and we cannot have that happen for another four years. Kurt bardela, thank you. Coming up, after top officials warned trump last month about threats to u. S. Elections, the administration has decided to halt inperson briefings on foreign interference, a member of the intelligence committee, senator angus king and former cia director, john brennan join us. Morning joe is coming right back. 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In an unprecedented move just weeks before the president ial election, the office of the director of National Intelligence will no longer offer inperson briefings to congress on Election Security and foreign interference, according to a congressional official briefed on the matter. The decision comes as the Trump Administration seeks to halt the inperson briefings reportedly over concerns over leaks. Congressional intelligence committees will have access to classified written intelligence reports but the cancellation of inperson briefings Means Congress will not be able to question officials about whats behind the reports. And new reporting by nbc news says that the fbi and dhs plan to brief congress on Cyber Threats to Election Security and disinformation but not on the plans and intentions of foreign adversaries. In a statement to nbc news, the fbi said, quote, the fbi is committed to keeping congress informed on Election Security and malign foreign influence threats, protecting our elections remains a top priority for the fbi. We decline to comment further. Dhs has yet to respond to nbc news. Senator marco rubio of florida, the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee issued a statement that said in part, this situation we now face is due, in no small part, to the willingness of some to commit federal crimes for the purpose of advancing their electoral aims. But also said the leaks should not quote release the Intelligence Community from the legal obligation to brief congress. Joining us now former cia director, john brennan, an analyst for nbc news. Also with us member of the intelligence committee, independent senator angus king of maine. Senator, i would like for you to state for us clearly if you could, why its important to be able to ask questions and have those briefings. The clearest way i can put it, if you took everything you just said and strike the Word Congress and insert the American People thats whos getting used in this information. This is information collected by the Intelligence Community and they owe it we owe it, the government owes it to the American People to tell them what they know in order to help them make a good decision on november 3rd. This is not a spat between congress and the president or republicans and democrats. If the Intelligence Community learns that our election is being manipulated with by a Foreign Government they would Tell Congress and through them the American People. Who do these people work for in the Intelligence Community . My ro my vote is they work for you and me, they dont work for the president. Their oath is to the constitution, not any particular president. Director brennan, in your respect the response would be that youre going to get the written reports so you can read them. Is that not good enough . I think as senator king said, its important to have the back and forth between our elected legislators and professionals. Its important for our members of congress to understand fully exactly what foreign nations and Intelligence Services are doing to interfere in our election. This move by the director of National Intelligence to cancel or sharply limit the type of interactions with congress is very worrisome, consistent with what your previous guest said its part of the administrations strategy to prevent the flow of information or intelligence to congress that could be detrimental to donald trump. It also prevents the full extent of russias interference in our election be known. We know russias influence in the 2016 election helped donald trump get elected. We know russia are trying to denigrate Vice President biden. And its one more indication that donald trump will do anything to stay in office between 2021. I think theyre right to be concerned about whats happening right now with the intelligence commu community. John brennan, is there any other reason the director would head up a decision like this . Do you think it is to protect Bad Information about donald trump from coming out . Is there any other reason to do this . Well, his stated purpose in his letter was to ensure clarity and consistency in the briefings that go to congress. That can be achieved with Good Management and oversight and review and coordination of those briefings. He said its designed to protect source and method. I dont agree with that at all. I briefed members of congress repeatedly during the 2016 election on russian efforts to interfere in the election. So i think its just an effort to try to stifle and suffocate the flow of information to congress because donald trump fears what congress can do as far as exposing a lot of his activities that i think the American People are, quite frankly, fed up with. Jonathan lemire . Senator king, what recourse do you have, perhaps, to get the administration to reverse itself here . And could you talk to us a little more about what you have seen, briefed upon, as much as youre able, in terms of election interference this time around . We know what happened in 2016. We know that in recent weeks there have been warnings from odni and other agencies whether its russia, china, iran, other countries are trying to interfere with the election. Is this administration doing enough to stop it . What are you seeing . The answer is no, not enough. And youre right. We thats what makes this so frustrated, jonathan, a month ago they told us the interference was happening. Now what theyre telling us is were not going to give you any more clear information. And john brennan made an important point, the letter from the head of the director of National Intelligence said well given written briefings. I bet i sat through 2 or 300 hearings in the senate and there was never a time that the questioning didnt elicit information from what was in the dry transcript. So your question is what can we do . Were all ready. Ive been in touch with the leadership of the intelligence committee. Were already trying to work with the director of National Intelligence to walk back this intelligence to walk back this position and at least share this information with the intelligence committees, which our committee has a very good record. I dont recall a leak incident in eight years ive been on the committee. We can handle classified information. The other question is, should it be classified because its embarrassing not because it compromises National Security . Thats a whole separate issue. Director brennan, very much on the subject of russia election interference, a week or so back you sat for an interview with john durhams investigators as part of the justice departments probe into that investigation. You were told you were a witness, not a target. Can you please tell us what that interview covered, and what do you think of the probe happening right now as we head into the final weeks before the election . The interview covered a wide array of issues about what the Law Enforcement did during the 2016 campaign to the assessment. Theyre trying to fill their responsibilities from the department of justice. Its clear this effort that was spearheaded or authorized by william barr and donald trump is a trolling exercise, going through a lot of documents, a lot of information, conducting a lot of interviews to see what they can find as far as mistakes or even criminality. But william barr talks a lot about questioning the predication of the investigation of the Trump Campaign in 2016. I really question the predication of this investigation, this review, which again seems to be an overarching effort to try to indict maybe literally or figuratively those individuals who were involved in the, i think, necessary, important and appropriate investigation of russian interference in the 2016 election that involved the u. S. Persons during that time. Former cia director john brennan and senator angus king, thank you, both. Before we go to break, Donny Deutsch, there are so many things wrong with this and i hate to say it doesnt seem to bother the republicans, but for the democrats, what should the strategy because because there are so many different ways in which they could be really going after this president , his decisions and decisions that hes made, whether its on coronavirus, racial violence, but this seems to be such a high crime in many ways in terms of covering up information that could be protecting this president during an election . Mika, the emotional side, the right side of my brain says the democracy, these types of things, keeping information about the cdc, the postmaster stuff is obviously vital. But the message to defeat donald trump is a failed presidency. 180,000 deaths climbing to 300,000, jobs lost, violence in the streets inspired by donald trump. Those are the Kitchen Table issues. These other issues, which frankly, even long term are more dangerous, are not the answer for 60 days out, stay close to home. All right. Still ahead, two members of the House Armed Services committee, congressman slotkin and Mikie Sherrill join the conversation on unrest around the country. We also want to honor chadwick boseman, best known for his culturalchanging role in marvels black panther, who died after four years of privately battling colon cancer. His passing was confirmed on the actors twitter in a statement sharing bosemans cancer had progressed from stage 3 to stage 4. That the actor worked on many of his prominent films between surgery and chemotherapy treatments. The 43yearold actor portrayed a number of iconic black americans throughout his career, including jackie robinson, marshall and james brown. His character in marvels groundbreaking film black panther, making history as the first major super hero movie featuring an african protagonist and majority allblack cast. The film was universally praised and was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards in 2019, making history as the first are super hero movie to be nominated in that category. So, here is part of Willie Geists sunday today interview with chadwick shortly after the release of black panther. What do you think are people responding to exactly . There have been a lot of super hero movie, they do well and theyre popular but theres another dimension to this. I think theres a first for these images. Theres a first for a black super hero. As far as my character goes, theres a real search for how do i lead . I think people are looking for that, people that actually care about the people. I give to you prince, the black panther. People were afraid i was contagious. I felt gross. It was kind of a shock after i started cosentyx. Four years clear. Real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. 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Book direct at choicehotels. Com. We live with at t and we are well past the honeocupado tom. At t, whats this i hear about you advertising a 100 Fiber Network . Only like a fraction of my customers can get that. Thats it . . You have such a glass halfempty attitude. The glass is more than halfempty you need to relax tom. Oh tom, you need a little tom time. A little tt. Stop living with at t. Xfinity delivers gig speeds to more homes than anyone. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. It is monday, august 31st. We have with us Jonathan Lemire, and president of the National Action network, reverend al sharpton, columnist David Ignatius and host of pbss news hour. I need to start with Jonathan Lemire. Another red sox victory last night. Two in a row for the world champion. Im wondering if its time to start fitting them for world series ring, despite the fact they have second to last worst record in baseball. I can feel the september breezes coming going to push them over the finish line. Every four years we come out of the convention wondering which candidate with the big mo, its the Boston Red Sox this time. Yes. Two straight wins against the nationals. The grounds crew clearing space for a banner this october wondering which exred sox star, mookie betts or mitch moreland, will get get the bigger ovation at fenway park, but no fans at fenway park. Go with it. This is the impossible dream. Like secretariat going down the stretch at belmont, these red sox are coming on. Two wins in a row. Speaking of momentum, speaking of momentum, i do think that, perhaps, the president may have been a bit enraged yesterday morning after getting the ratings from his final night, but also the polling out of abc news the Washington Post, showing that, boy, his Approval Rating went down and joe bidens went down over the two conventions. His tweet storm certainly showed he is reacting to something, but there is fresh new polling following both the democratic and Republican National conventions, showing President Trumps favorite favorability slipping while joe bidens steadily climbs. In the latest abc news ipsos poll, trumps favorability sits at 31 , and 59 of people have unfavorable people of president. 46 have a favorable view of joe biden, up six points since before the dnc. 40 have an unfavorable view of the former Vice President. When looking at President Trumps handling of the coronavirus, 35 approve, while 63 disapprove. Who are the 35 is all i want to know. The latest poll shows voters edging back on President Trump off the heels of the Republican National pageant, or convention. Joe biden holds a sixpoint lead over President Trump, 50 to 44 . Thats down from the tenpoint lead he held heading into the convention on august 3rd. The latest uscdonsfife found biden 53 to trumps 41 , a margin of 12 points. So, Jonathan Lemire, a lot of people around be the white house were thrilled with what happened during whatever you want to call last weeks rnc events. The polls actually a couple of polls showing within the margin of things may have gotten a little better for the president. But if you look at the abc News Washington post approval poll, and Donald Trumps Approval Ratings went down and joe bidens went up. Bidens quite considerably, up six points and unfavorability down three points, which is showing to me at least coming out of this convention the story seems to be, and i would guess people inside the white house would be thinking this, too, and they may not admit it to the president , but its got to be frustrating to them that despite the tens of millions of dollars in unfavorable ads thrown at joe biden over the past six months, despite the fact the president even got impeached over trying to pull in a ukrainian leader, to try to besmerch the reputation of joe biden. Bidens Approval Ratings keep going up. Were going to have to start calling him teflon joe. I think it was striking in the past few days. Democrats ive talked to, there seems to be a collective freakout among democrats the last since the Republican Convention ended, suggesting this race was suddenly hurtling trumps way but the polling doesnt back that up, not at all, not yet. Some polls suggest Slight Movement towards the president. Joe biden walked into a the convention with a pretty substantial and stable lead. There hasnt been much that has happened since the onset of the pandemic and certainly since the aftermath of George Floyds killing and the president s walk across Lafayette Square that has really changed the fundamentals of this race. Yes, it has dipped and moved a little around the margins to this point. Yes, both sides privately will acknowledge its tightened some, and some acknowledge joe biden is still winning. Forget the National Polls but in the battleground states that really matter he still has a four, five, six, sevenpoint lead in states. It does seem the republicans youre right, the white house was pleased with the staging of the events last week. We are still going to see the aftermath of that in the coming days. What we dont know yet are how the events of kenosha or portland are going to change things. We know the president is traveling to kenosha tomorrow. Joe biden is going to speak on the unrest in america and how President Trump has added to that today in a speech in pennsylvania and his aides are working on his own visit to wisconsin, potentially later this week. But right now, this race still remains the same. Now, its fully joined, its on now, as they say. Joe biden is resuming his campaigning. The president and his team are pleased about that. They feel theyve, quote, pushed joe biden out of his basement. They feel the more hes in the public, perhaps, that will lead to some gaffe or blunder that could close the race. Right now, joe, we are whe wea. Maybe its closed slightly but joe biden is in an inenviable position two months out. Reverend sharpton, please correct me if im wrong, it seems the only thing that has changed since looking at the polling since two weeks of convention is, trump couns app rating ticked down slightly and joe bidens Approval Rating went up a good bit. Sitting at 45, 46 Approval Rating. Those disapproving of him went down three points. Clearly joe biden rising with approval and the president coming down is bad news for the white house no matter how they spin it. They are now playing this, were in survival mode, trying to spin it as if this is some advancement. The thing i observed over the weekend when we had the big march in washington friday, which was probably the biggest civil rights march in the last several years, the energy, i mean, you have to remember now, we had this on a work day in the middle of a pandemic, and for tens of thousands of people to come out is a signal to the white house that people are energized to come out to vote. They will come out and stand up and did it peacefully because the tone is set at the top, unlike the president is doing to his supporters. Not one incident with several hundred thousand people there, and you have no problems, no incidents and people ready to come out and stay out all day. Thats a signal of what they will do election day. If i was the white house between the polling and the turnouts, i think i would be very concerned because it shows a determination against this kind of divisive, hatefilled atmosphere that this president has established. Yamiche, any idea at the white house why the president melted down yesterday morning . He often melts down when things are going badly for him, but any idea why he melted down so badly sunday morning, firing off over 90 tweets starting before 6 00 a. M. . I dont think theres any official explanation for why the president does what he does on twitter, especially yesterday, but i think the things weve been talking about likely are the things weighing on President Trumps mind. The idea that the tv president , the reality tv president , who sold himself as a showman, sold himself as a dealmaker, he has lower ratings than the democrats. When you think about what he risk to really put on this event at the white house that was, i think, troubling, interesting, remarkable and somewhat dangerous, i think he put it all on the line and hes put it all on the line with this idea that if i do all this stuff, if i try to put the virus in the Rearview Mirror and say, we are going to get through this if i spread misleading information enough that somehow americans will believe me over the facts over my own Health Officials, and as a result i will be able to be reelected, i think all of that is probably weighing on the president s mind. I also think the other big thing is there was, of course, this incredible civil rights march that reverend sharpton was just talking about. There were so many people on the door steps telling him, we dont like the way theyre handling the virus, we dont like the way youre handling this racial reckoning. I think they understand the nation is coming to a head when it comes to civil rights issues. Black people are simply fed up. People of color understand they are being treated like secondclass citizens and, frankly, white americans are waking up understanding the privilege they have and saying, this is not right. Were in a moment where everyone is recognizing even if youre a supporter of President Trump, youre recognizing he is struggling with his response to this coronavirus and he is not someone who has shown historically the empathy needed to meet people at this moment when it comes to really connecting with people who are reeling from the loss of so many black men or the shootings of so many black men. Still ahead, how the rage that fuels trumpism still burns. David ignatius weighs in with his new column next on morning joe. From prom dresses. To soccer practices. And new adventures. You hope the more you give the less theyll miss. But even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past. They may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. 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Im curious your thoughts, for me, that defining moment where the president used the powers of his office the way autocrats do, and then risk the lives of thousands of people, if you multiply out the 1,000 people that were there. Joe, the white house is the most extraordinary stage in the world and trumps lighting artists and technicians set it off beautifully in the fact it was a donald trump selfishness to take that Sacred National monument and use it for his personal uses. I felt donald trump had been in a freefall weeks before the convention. The story was his botched handling of the covid pandemic, that a country, the poll numbers suggested was scared by the way the president had mismanaged that crisis. I think the importance of the convention that it stopped the freefall. The polls have been bouncing all over the place, as weve been saying this morning, seem to be going in slightly Different Directions, so well just have to wait a few more days and weeks for them to sort out. But i think trumps downward probably stopped and hes now introduced the idea that the country should be scared not of this terrible pandemic and his utter inability to dole wieal w, but the country should be scared about violence in democraticallycontrolled cities. Thats the theme and thats what theyre pushing hard. Im sure were going to talk in the show, how does joe biden, how does Kamala Harris respond powerfully to that so they dont let trump take that issue as rocket fuel for this last phase of the campaign and play to peoples fears about violence and disorder in the country . But for the moment i think that issue is replaced, the concern about covid is the dominant theme in the race. I think thats a lot of why trump has got this seeming at least if not a bounce, hes subtled in a more stable position. Coming up, an update from kenosha, wisconsin, and a community torn apart by violence there. How the president is fanning the flames next on morning joe. 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When you have nausea, upset stomach, diarrheaon, pepto bismol coats and soothes your stomach for fast relief and now, get the same fast relief in a delightful chew with new pepto bismol chews. As amy first jober, is to care for derek. Everything i do is for him. When i moved to this apartment after six months, we need to connect with the world. I use the internet to keep him in the language, because thats the way to connect to my familys traditions. He has to know where he comes from. We need internet essentials. Theres no excuse to not get connected. The 17yearold accused of committing those two murders was a trump supporter. Its a tragedy. Do you condemn that . Its a tragedy. Do you condemn it . Its a tragedy. Its a tragedy but do you condemn it . The entire situation is a tragedy. I dont want to see any loss of life. Its a tragedy. The way you prevent tragedies is a tragedy could be a car accident. A tragedy is not based on fault. Do you condemn it . You dont allow protests to turn siege into siege. I dont want to see anybody lose their life. I dont want to see businesses burnt down. I dont want to see economic destruction. I condemn it all. Wow, that was he cant condemn a 17yearold running around the streets, from out of state, by the way, from out of state, coming into wisconsin. He cant condemn a a kid coming into wisconsin with an ar15 running up and down the streets killing two people. What can you condemn . He cant condemn that. Its very interesting, it is very interesting, though, that, David Ignatius, as, i would say, uninspiring, why dont we call it that, as ron johnsons performance was in that interview with dana bash, he actually is going first in condemning violence on all sides than our president seems to be doing. It seems joe biden, of course, is aggressively been condemning violence on all sides, but you have donald trump retweeting some horrific tweets, and praising this kid, who killed two people, a 17yearold from out of state coming into state, running around, shooting people indiscriminately with an ar15, but it seems donald trump is only encouraging violence and fanning the flames if you just look at his tweet storms yesterday morning and last night. Trump is using the violence for every bit of political opportunity he can. Its one of the most opportunistic things i can remember in president ial politics. Its just a terrible situation. Americans turn on their tvs and they see images of the country coming apart. And trump is doing nothing that i can see to ease that division. I do think, joe, yes, you can line up clips of joe biden saying the right thing about violence and looting for a half hour, but hes going to have to do more than that. Hes going to have to make an appeal with black and brown and other Democratic Party leaders thats effective. He needs to show his coalition is able to do the thing that the country wants, which is to have justice and law and order. The three go together. Theyre not in conflict. And he needs to make that message clear and he needs to be successful. He needs to have some effect from that. I think if he does that, hell show the country hes the leader we need right now. Donald trumps argument about joe biden is hes a nice guy but hes too weak to stop these violent elements that are on the fringe of the party. Biden needs to show, thats not true. I am a strong leader, heres evidence. If he can do that, he goes through this period stronger. I think, mika, one of the things he did that was really impactful was continue to remind people that this is Donald Trumps america. Donald trump has been president for almost four years this is actually the american carnage we did not have when he took over. I dont know if ive reminded our faithful followers of this or not, but crime was at a 50year low when donald trump came into office. Thats what he inherited. From barack obama. Illegal border crossings across the mexican line, mexican u. S. Line were at 50year lows. I was playing tee ball in georgia the last time they were that low. 3 1 2 years later, almost 4 years later, we have chaos, chaos in large part. Yes, there are just some violent elements. The violent elements ive seen my entire adult life, whether it was environmental rallies in seattle and portland or whether it was, you know, rallies opposing the world trade organization, anarchists always glom on to legitimate protests and agitators always try to bust windows, always try to loot, always try to do what they do, but this is especially bad. This is Donald Trumps america, and in large part, this continues because we have a president that has been fanning the flames from the very beginning. Of course, june the 1st is the most dramatic example where he attacked, had his forces, he and barr had their forces attack Peaceful Protesters in lafayette park. Even before that, he was talking about his dogs, i could go out and rip people to shreds. Cutting through it when the looting starts, troops that can cut through it like butter. He has been using violent imagery like fascists use, violent imagery. He has been doing everything he can to fan the flames. But all that aside, the reality he cant escape is that we are living in Donald Trumps america. He owns this. This is the american carnage that actually he predicted. He predicted one thing correctly. He has created the american carnage he talked about that was not existing when he first took office. Its here now because of donald trump. Just like he made the coronavirus worse rather than better. Hes making this worse, many would argue. Coming up, two top voices on National Security, congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and mikie sher rel weighs in on President Trump might use active forces for domestic purposes. That conversation is just ahead on morning joe. D on morning joe. No matter where you live, where you live has never mattered more. For over 100 years, realtors® have been providing expert guidance, helping people find new places to dream and thrive. When youre ready. Look for the r. No uh uh, no way come on, no no nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. The open road is open again. And wherever youre headed, Choice Hotels is there. Book direct at choicehotels. Com. I wanted my hepatitis c gone. I put off treating mine. Epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c. Whatever your type, epclusa could be your kind of cure. I just found out about mine. I knew for years. Epclusa has a 98 overall cure rate. 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Get relief with febreze. Iredefined the wordng thschool this year. Its why, at xfinity, were committed to helping kids keep learning through the summer. And help College Students studying at home stay connected through our university program. Were providing affordable Internet Access to low income families through our internet essentials program. And this summer, xfinity is creating a Virtual Summer camp for kids at home all on xfinity x1. Were committed to helping all families stay connected. Learn more at xfinity. Com education. The president has always said hell see what happens and make a determination in the aftermath. Its the same thing he said last november. He wants a free election, Fair Election and wants confidence in the Election Results particularly when you have states like nevada doing mass out voting and when they tried this pal bots were in trash cans, pinned to dartboards. With that being the system, the president wants to take a hard look at this and make sure they are Fair Election results and not subject to fraud. What was the White House Press secretary being pressed by reporters on President Trumps comments that the only way he could lose the election were if it were rigged. She declined to say trump could legitimately lose the election. Those briefings are painful. Its hard to call them briefings. But, because theyre not briefings. Theyre not. She continues to do what he does. Lets get to our guests. We have member of the Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of michigan and u. S. Navy veteran and member of the House Armed Services committee, democratic congresswoman Mikie Sherrill of new jersey. I guess, Elissa Slotkin, ill start with you. A lot to talk about, the president could potentially use the military domestically, but i want to start with his plans to go to kenosha, despite the governor saying, not such a good idea. What do you make of that and do you think the president could make matters worse . Listen, the measure of any leader is do they unify people or divide people . Do they calm the waters or do they make the waters more troubled . I think in this case we hear from the governor himself that these are the kinds of actions his visit would make more troubles. So i think the president should do the right thing, respect the local leaders. Hes all when its in his favor hes all about talking about local leaders. Let them make the determination of what will be troublesome for their community and i think his visit is a mistake by that measure. We hear concerns wherever we can, im sure you do, too, if donald trump loses hes somehow going to get the military to line up on his side and keep him in power by any means necessary. Im deeply skeptical of that, especially given what general mi millie said after the june 1st debacle. Weve gotten some reassurances. We asked some foundational questions about our military and our secretarygeneral. I served in the navy for almost ten years and you never take anything like this for granted, whether its rules of engagement or flying in foreign air, you make sure everyone understands the rules. I was pleased that general milley responded to our questions and gave us the answer we thought he would. Do you have any reason to believe by the way, im so glad that you and over leaders are taking the approach theyre leading. We should assume absolutely nothing because i personally believe this president would do whatever he thought he could get away with. I just noticed after june 1st the words in not only general milley but retired admirals and generals who have such a powerful impact on active duty generals and admirals that there was no wiggle room here. That the military would not get involved in keeping any president in power if the voters voted that president out. Certainly, thats my anticipation. Weve heard from respected military leaders that take issue with the president s actions, with our federal military, and thats why representative slotkin to it was important to put this on the record, what our military does and areas our military should not be involved. Jonathan lemire is with us and he has a question for representative slotkin. Congresswoman, good to see you. Its not a military matter, per se, although the president has raised the possibility of using military on american streets. Lets remember, of course, with the insurrection act earlier this summer he very much went down that road and received pushback from his add am. Could you weigh in, though, on what youre seeing in cities like, say, portland, where there is a significant federal presence on these streets, whether it be fbi or Homeland Security, and whether you think thats been an appropriate use of federal resources in these jurisdictions . Well, again, you know, im a big believer in our federalist system, and local officials should be consulted and they should approve when you have federal officials come in. Weve seen officials in portland talk about how some of those federal officials have been unhelpful. I cant stand watching the violence on tv every day in portland. I think theres lots of ways to protest without it coming to violence. Again, its the responsibility of the administration to calm things down. I dont think it looks like the federal troops have been helpful in that scenario. If we see it continuing right now, the violence there every single day. So i think its going to be very important we hold the president and the administration to these standards, these very american standards. The bar for putting in federal troops should be very, very high and in coordination with local officials. Every democratic leader ive had on this show, civil rights leader i have on this show, ive asked the same question. I will ask the same question of both of you really quickly before moving on because you brought it up, representative slotkin. Representative slotkin, while supporting the marches, do you denounce in the harshest of terms any violence, any looting, any illegal activity that takes place in any of these marches, be it in seattle, portland, kenosha, chicago or any other city in america . Categorically. If you destroy property, its a felony. If you perpetrate violence, you should be held accountable of that. Regardless of whose side youre on, regardless of what you think of the protesters, violence should not be tolerated and treated with Law Enforcement accordingly. Have you been disturbed by whats going on in portland even before donald trump sent federal troops to portland and even after they left . Yeah, i just dont think its helpful. I think weve seen amazing responses since early june when george floyd was murdered. Protests in the street and peaceful operations going on. In my communities here in michigan, small towns, big cities. And the power of those movements is palpable. But the minute they become violence, they lose their effectiveness. I think its really important for anyone protesting and exercising their First Amendment rights, just dont go there. Try as much as you can. I hope the leadership of these organizations do that because its critical that were able to communicate our views without using and, frankly, giving an excuse to anybody to say theres law and order problems in our cities. Of course, the important thing to always note, and i will do it again here, 25 Million People have marched since the murder of george floyd. And the overwhelming number of those 25 million have marched peacefully. Representative sherrill, ill ask you the same thing. Do you denounce the violence . Seems to simple. But it doesnt seem to be simple. Were put in this either or world where youre either for the marchers or youre against violence. Thats just a lie. And so, representative, all the Small Business owners whose Family Businesses have been destroyed, all the loot iing th we have seen as a side note to the 25 Million People marching, do you denounce all of that violence, all of that looting, all of that Property Damage in the harshest of terms . I certainly do, joe. We know what works. From Martin Luther king to gandhi, we know peaceful protests are at the heart of change. Thats when theyre so effective. Weve had that throughout new jersey. Many times weve even had our protesters working with Law Enforcement to ensure we have peaceful protests. I have to reiterate again what representative slotkin said, in order to continue this way, with he need leadership and a president who is going to calm the waters, who is going to make sure people have theability in our democracy to peaceful protest, to not encite violence and not continue to escalate the situation. I should so whe played a long clip at the top of this hour and the top of the 6 00 hour all the times joe biden has condemned the violence and yet it does not seem to be enough for donald trump and republicans that support donald trump. Do you believe joe biden, each of you, should do even more than continually condemn the violence as he has since june . Sure, i definitely think so. I think its important that people hear that message directly from him. Obviously, its harder to get these messages out sometimes during covid. You know, i had an event, public event, socially distanced event this weekend. There was a group in the same area who were doing a Blue Lives Matter protest. I think its important, this isnt an either or. Were not trying to make this one group against another group. We can be deeply supportive of protesters of all kinds and deeply believe in the rule of law. I think Vice President biden has done a good job of communicating that, but it just needs to be at the beginning of his sentences constantly since the president has clearly taken this up as an issue hes going to champion and use through the rest of the election season. Hes just got to keep reiterating it to as many audiences as he can. I think it would be important oh, excuse me. Go ahead. I just think it would be important as well for Vice President biden to remind people that this has happened on President Trumps watch. This violence across the country has happened and i think, in large part, because this president has failed to be a unifier in this country. Hes failed to bring people together. Hes failed to show this country a path forward like a good leader would. I think thats something Vice President biden should bring up as well. I would love to hear from both of you quickly where your districts stand in terms of the coronavirus, how your numbers are and what youre hearing from constituents about their sense of their safety . Mikie, ill start with you and then elissa. Well, right now here in new jersey, weave done a good job at getting our numbers down. As you know, we were hit in the new Jersey New York area first and hardest across the country. We had the top of our outbreak in april, midapril. Weve brought our numbers down with Contact Tracing and testing. We have some of the most vidly available testing in the country. That has helped us to really drive those numbers down. Unfortunately, though, many children, mine included, will be home schooled this fall because the rest of the countrys numbers have soared. So, weve got to as a nation get the case load down. Weve got to come together. We have to wear masks. We have to be six feet apart, wash our hands. All these things we dont just do for ourselves, we do for our community because we care so much about our community. Elissa . I would just say same thing. Michigan was walloped very early. Similar numbers, just under new jersey and new york. While weve done real yeomans work to get our case numbers under control and we have sort of a mixed Response Community by community of whether kids are going back to fulltime classes, the thing im hearing most about now is this economic cliff were looking at and businesses that have been hanging on since april and may are restaurants in particular who have been open but for Outdoor Dining mostly. Theyre looking at the fall, a lot of our businesses, saying i just dont know i can make it through and ill be here next winter. And that is compounded by the fact we dont have another deal a covid and the states have massive holes in their budget. Well start to see layoffs, police, fire, First Responders just the exact people who have been on the front lines of this crisis and thats giving people a lot of tension. The economic cliff is what im hearing the most about right now. Absolutely. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and Mikie Sherrill, thank you for being on this morning. Up next, jon meacham helps us remember legendary writer julia reed, who passed away this weekend. Weekend. How about no no uh uh, no way come on, no no nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. An army family who is always at the ready. So when they got a little surprise. Two . They didnt panic. They got a bigger car for their soontobebigger family. After shopping around for insurance, they called usaa who helped find the right coverage for them and even some muchneeded savings. That was the easy part. Usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it easy. Every time you touch a surface, bacteria is left behind. Usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it now, consider how many times your family touches the surfaces in your home in 24 hours. Try microban 24. Spray on hard surfaces to kill 99. 9 of viruses and bacteria initially. Once dry, it forms a bacteria shield that keeps killing bacteria for 24 hours, even after multiple touches. Try microban 24. 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If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. If you cant afford your medicine, where Everybody Knows someyour name ant to go and theyre always glad you came applebees. Now thats eating good in the neighborhood. Youre talking about meachams crab jon meacham, your friend and all of ours, can be a little bit sarcastic sometimes. And but it is wordy as well. Wordy. But it is to his great benefit that his wife and i have done lots of entertaining on his behalf and hosted parties for him and with him and all the other things. Imagine if meacham was planning his own party. So when we get into that mode he calls us the crab meat caucus. Legendary writer julia reed on morning joe in 2013. Julia passed away friday after battling cancer. She was 59 years old. According to our next guest, she was a tsunami of talent, charm and energy. Lets bring in historian, fellow friend of julias, jon meacham, author of the new book his truth is marching on john lewis and the power of hope. I like how he called her a Foreign Correspondent in her own country. I know. If we tried to invent a character like julia, jon wrote, nobody would have believed it. She was a tsunami of talent, charm and energy. She could write about anything and make it sing. Her distinctive voice was once affectionate arch, a tough combination to pull off. And, jon, ive got to say at least when she was around us, she had a lot of topics that she loved to cover, but none that she always went back to with more love and affection than her little brother meacham. Well, i have not heard her say imagine what it would be like if i planned a party, which is a good point because it would be like a used book sale. Julia, you know, wed all read aloud. Julia was a renaissance woman that distinctive, amazing, smokey scotch inflected voice which will ring in our hearts and our minds forever. I spoke to her wednesday or thursday, and i was just told i cant directly quote her which is because of family standards on the air, but it was she was the William Shakespeare of profanity. She could do things with profanity that and iambic pentameter. My fatherinlaw said julia could turn a perfectly lovely dinner into the alamo. And theres a lot to that. She was a master of prose, a master of just great living. Most important, a master of friendship. And its complicated and complex. But, boy, if she was with you, she was with you to the end. And i just urge people to read her stuff as much as possible. The thing about of course, this all begins, the journey begins, as with mika, at madera. And joe and i have talked about this before. The only women in life im genuinely afraid of all went to madera. One is mika. The other is julia. Well you know you actually you have long called mika bar. A loving comparison to Barbara Bushs fierceness but also a good bit of fear in there. But hes two madera women had one thing in common. They both knew the head mistress who didnt miss when she aimed her gun. And do either of you want to have the crime of passion debate right now . No, we dont. But, jon no, im good. Talk about how julias career started at newsweek regarding madera and feared madera women. So it was tuesday, march 11th, 1980. Julia was a sophomore at georgetown. She had grown up in the mississippi delta. Her daddy clark reed, our heart goes out to clark and judy today down in greenville. It was the really the godfather, the founder of the Mississippi Republican party. He was a key figure in the years of nixon and ford and reagan and the bushes. And clark had helped get julia placed in the Washington Post bureau of newsweek as a telephone operator and library assistant. Giving julia that much access to information as to being a telephone operator was probably like putting, you know, putin in charge of our affairs. It just wasnt smart. But she was this perennial intern. But as Howard Fineman and evan thomas and ed mcdaniel and others were called over the weekend, they loved her and reporters dont love anybody. So shes in her dorm in georgetown. The phone rings, and mele lfin, the Washington Bureau chief, has gotten the news that jean harris, the head mistress of madera school, a lover of the scarsdale diet doctor had found another womans lingerie in dr. Turnours bedroom and had accidentally shot him four times in the chest with a. 32 caliber resolve f revolver. Julia gets up. She knew the guards at the gates of madera because she had snuck out so often as a student. So they knew her. She had the password. And she goes in and does this amazing reporting on jean harris. This was for folks who dont remember, this was not quite o. J. , but it was a big story. The murder of the scarsdale diet doctor. And julia just does what she did then, what she would continue to do. She took the human condition in all its complexity and all its just craziness and told the story. And that inemitable voice. Great writers great writers teach you how to see. Its a great phrase. They teach you how to see. And julia had the remarkable gift of being able to take you to a world to which she had access but you didnt. But because she saw it, you could see it. And thats the greatest gift a writer can give and its the greatest gift a friend can give. And your obituary, in your remembrance of julia, you noted that julia had said after that she felt bad for the poor doctor. That she had to begin her career this way, but not that bad. Well, crime of passion. Not that bad. And jean harris was beloved. Well, the other great story, which she broke, and julia is also, i think, the only person in america who could prompt i received notes this weekend from both george w. Bush and al gore. And theres not much that brings those two together. Not much. But she broke the great story that early on, i think the 1978 Congressional Campaign down in midland, george w. And laura are driving home after a speech. George w. Says, how did i do . And laura said, you were terrible, and he then drove into the garage wall. It was that kind of humor that she gave us. Jon meacham, thank you so much for sharing, and she was amazing. That does it for us this morning. Geoff bennett picks up the coverage right now. Good morning. Im Geoff Bennett in for stephanie ruhle. Its monday, august 31st. Heres whats happening. A new week, a new phase, and a new focus with just 64 days left. Rising tensions and violent clashes across the country becoming a flash point and a rallying cry for this election. The president is set to visit kenosha, wisconsin, tomorrow, a little more than a week after the Police Shooting of jacob blake. But Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers is asking the president to reconsider. Writing in a letter, i am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. Joe biden also is focusing on the unrest. The democratic nominee heading to pittsburgh today to ask voters one question are you safe in Donald Trumps america . It follows a weekend of protests all across the country. An investigation is under way in portland this morning after a deadly shooting there on saturday night. Officials have not yet disclosed if its related to the violence involving a caravan of Trump Supporters who rode through the city on saturday. This morning our team of