just to live. and yet, here we are. seeing the right of our community members diminish. their voices are silenced, they re very identities denied. our nation has made great strides with filling the fundamental promises of freedom and equality for lgbtq plus americans, but lately something has changed. the arc of progress is bending in ways we did not think possible just five years ago. unjust ways. so far this year, more than 520 anti lgbtq bills have been introduced in state legislatures. that is a record. more than 220 of those bills, specifically, targeted transgender and non-binary people. also a record. and an unprecedented 70 anti lgbtq laws have been enacted just this year. in the past, we have put together pride specials celebrating lgbtq+ individuals and their achievements, first in the white house and then on the stage and screen. achievements that deserve to be celebrated. but tonight, as that progress is threatened like never before, we are going to do something d
clubs over concerns that more documents were stashed there. also ahead, a big win in the fight against the big lie. we ll go through the monumental decision from the supreme court and we ll get expert analysis on the situation in eastern europe following a failed revolt against vladimir putin. secretary of state, antony blinken will be on the show this morning. good morning and welcome to morning joe, it is wednesday june 28th. with us we have the host of way too early jonathan lemire. u.s. special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay and white house editor for politico, sam stein. joe is is on assignment but willy and i are here and donald trump is rolling out yet another excuse for that leaked audio tape that appeared to have him showing up classified documents to people. in an interview with fox news digital yesterday the former president professed his innocence and accused the media, even fox, of conspireing against him. here s a portion of the leaked tape from augus
meeting where former president trump discusses holding secret documents he does not declassify. listen. isn t it amazing? i have a big pile of papers. look. this was him. they presented me this. this is it ooff the record. but they presented me with this. this is the defense department and him. this was him. that wasn t done by me, it was him. all sorts of stuff. pages long. let s see here. isn t that amazing? this totally wins my case, you know, except it is like highly confidential, secret. as a president i could declassify, but now i can t. yeah, now we have a problem. isn t that interesting? so cool. we hear you probably almost didn t believe me, but now you believe me. no, i believed you. incredible, right? this conversation is a critical piece of evidence in the case of trump s alleged mishandling of classified information. and paula reid explains. reporter: this recording is from the summer 2021 at bedminster, speaking to two people working on an auto
wagner mercenary group, they ve been fighting for russia against ukraine, accusing that leader of betraying russia. and tonight, we hear from that leader for the first time. audio only, he has not been seen since saturday. since the rebellion was halted. so, where is yevgeny prigozhin, who turned on putin? tonight, we have learned that the white house has been in touch with russia, and what president biden is now signaling. ian pannell in ukraine. mary bruce with late reporting from the white house. also this monday night, the severe storms in the east at this hour. thunderstorms, large hail, possible tornadoes from the carolinas, right up through new york. three confirmed tornadoes. dozens of homes destroyed. the tail of a passenger jet struck by lightning. and tonight, the dangerous heat spreading. the father and stepson in a national park. authorities say the son passed out, the father went to get help and crashed in triple digit heat. they believe both were overcome in
longtime ally, the leader of the wagner mercenary group, they ve been fighting for russia against ukraine, accusing that leader of betraying russia. and tonight, we hear from that leader for the first time. audio only, he has not been seen since saturday. since the rebellion was halted. so, where is yevgeny prigozhin, who turned on putin? tonight, we have learned that the white house has been in touch with russia, and what president biden is now signaling. ian pannell in ukraine. mary bruce with late reporting from the white house. also this monday night, the severe storms in the east at this hour. thunderstorms, large hail, possible tornados from the carolinas, right up through new york. three confirmed tornadoes. dozens of homes destroyed. the tale oil of a passenger jet struck by lightning. the father and stepson in a national park. the son passed out, the father went to get help and crashed in triple digit heat. they believe both were overcome in 119-degree temperatures