address, days after russia s invasion of ukraine. tonight, his speech is going to be heavily focused on reminding americans what his administration has accomplished over the past two years. it comes as ukraine is now preparing for a major russian offensive. we ll have more on the mobilization of troops in putin s army. meanwhile, we are learning more about the chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down, and other incidents that went undetected by u.s. force. also ahead, the latest from turkey and syria where the death toll is rising following a massive earthquake, and rescuers continue to hold out hope of finding survivors. good morning and welcome to morning joe. it is tuesday, february 7th. the death toll from the earthquake in turkey and syria passed 5,000 and continues to climb. a 7.8 magnitude quake hit the region early yesterday along with multiple aftershocks, including a 7.5 magnitude one that struck just hours later. tens of thousands have been injured.
inflation, the prices of eggs, things that impact our families. former arkansas governor asa hutchinson, it s always good to have you on. thank you very much for being here. thank you, mika. all right. still ahead, a look at some of the stories making front page headlines across the country, including one government agency benefitting from big tech playoffs. plus, house minority whip katherine clark joins us with her guest for the state of the union, designed to highlight s democrats fight for reproductive rights. also, white house press secretary karine jean-pierre. we ll be right back. okay everyone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition. together we support immune function. supply fuel for immune cells and sustain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals, and ensure complete with thirty grams of protein.
little bit after the shooting down of a chinese surveillance balloon. yesterday, joe biden said the balloon incident will not damage diplomatic relations between washington and beijing. speaking to reporters outside the white house yesterday, the president commented on china china s decision to fly a balloon over the u.s. and his administration s decision to shoot it down. does the balloon weaken u.s.-chinese relations? no. we ve made it clear to china what we re going to do. they understand the position. we re not going to back off. we did the right thing. there is not a question of weakening or strengthening. it s the reality. why did the chinese commit a brazen act, floating the balloon across the continental united states? they re the chinese government. let s bring in white house press secretary karine jean-pierre. great to have you on the set.
the state. officials had warned the chemical could be deadly if inhaled. the release of the chloride, a flammable gas used to produce vehicle interiors and pvc piping, was completed late yesterday afternoon following evacuations of the surrounding area. two of the train cars were believed to be filled with vinyl chloride, contained 177,000 pounds of the chemical. the environmental protection agency has been on site to monitor the air and water in the affected area. initial observations from the national transportation safety board, which is leading the investigation into the derailment, include video and inspection evidence of a broken axle on one of the cars. no injuries have been reported. we ll follow that. coming up, white house press secretaries past and present. jen psaki and karine jean-pierre join us ahead of tonight s state
deficit. that s where the president has said, okay, you know, i ve been able to do it in a historic fashion. $1.7 trillion that he has been labeled to lower the deficit in the last two years. he is willing to have a conversation in good faith to continue to lower the deficit. the president was very clear last week, he said, okay, march 9th, i m going to put forward my budget plan for fiscal year 2024. what is going to be the republicans plan? what are they putting forward? right now, as i mentioned earlier, we re hearing about cutting social security. we re hearing about cutting medicare. but they haven t put anything on paper yet. what does that look like if we re going to have a real conversation on having fiscal responsibility? wow. white house press secretary karine jean-pierre, we ll be watching tonight. appreciate your coming on this morning. nice to see you. we really appreciate it. thank you, guys. thank you. we want to turn now to turkey, where thousands of people have