primary election that pits his candidate against donald trump s. good morning. and welcome to way too early. on this monday, may 23rd. i m jonathan lemire. president biden says the u.s. military will defend taiwan, if china invades its island neighbor. speaking in tokyo this morning at a joint news conference, with japan s new prime minister, the president addressed the growing tensions in eastern asia. you didn t want to get involved in the ukraine conflict militarily, for obvious reasons, are you willing to get involved militarily to defend taiwan if it comes to that? yes. you are? that s the commitment we made. shortly after that news conference, the white house seemingly tried to clarify the president s remarks. writing in a statement, quote, the president reiterated our commitment to peace and stability across the taiwan strait. and to provide taiwan with the military means to defend itself. different than military involvement perhaps. and on the island, we
it take to get formula on store shelves? good morning. and welcome to way too early. on this tuesday, may 17th. i m jonathan lemire. we start in buffalo, where president biden is expected to renew calls for national gun reform legislation during his visit there today. according to a white house official, the president will ask congress to take action against quote weapons of war, and curb access to guns for people with serious mental illness. this trip comes as information continues to surface about the alleged shooter in saturday s attack. a review of hundreds of pages of internet posts, nbc news reports the 18-year-old suspect was planning the attack for months and intended to continue the violence at other locations had he not been arrested. two possible plot, a black church in buffalo and an elementary school in the city. the author of the posts wrote that they were targeting the school because of its predominantly black student body which they found by looking up tes
so much. and an update on another big story we re following, we re seeing the first signs of relief for families desperate for baby formula. weeks into the crushing shortage, a delivery from overseas has arrived in the u.s. with enough formula to fill a half million bottles. nbc news correspondent joe ling kent has the details. reporter: a welcome site for parents, 78,000 pounds of formula on an aircraft landing in indianapolis amid the crippling formula shortage. this shipment provides enough formula to take care of 9,000 babies and 18,000 toddlers for a week. that s about half a million eight-ounce doses. the plane took off from ramstein air base in germany, the first flight of the biden administration operation fly formula, on board, hyper allergenic, meant for babies and toddlers with cow s milk
manufacturing plant. nbc news tech correspondent joe ling kent has more. reporter: possible signs of hope for millions of parents nationwide as the fda struck an agreement with abot nutrition on next steps to reopen the form ha factory in sturgis, michigan. abbott s ceo saying we know millions of parents and care-givers depend on us and we re deeply sorry that our voluntary recall worsened the nationwide formula shortage. if the fda and the federal court give abbott the green light, it would take two weeks to reopen and another six to eight weeks to get that formula on shelves. the plant has been shuttered since february, over bacteria possibly linked to infant illnesses. abbott says this is no conclusive evidence linking that formula to those sicknesses. we re taking a number of measures, including getting all of the manufacturers to step up, getting the sturgis plant up and going. the months-long shortage is hitting low income families
saturday s shooting rampage in upstate, new york. what we re learning about the alleged gunman. plus, we ll hear from joshua geltzer ahead of president biden s visit to buffalo today. plus, a leading voice on reform on capitol hill. senator chris murphy joins the conversation. morning joe a few short moments away. joe a few short joe a few short moments away poise under pressure and poise in her pants. it takes poise. like pulsing, electric shocks, sharp, stabbing pains, or an intense burning sensation. what is this nightmare? it s how some people describe. shingles. a painful, blistering rash that could interrupt your life for weeks. forget social events and weekend getaways. if you ve had chickenpox, the virus that causes shingles is already inside of you. if you re 50 years or older ask your doctor