donald trump in a defamation lawsuit. we ll explain why the doj is backing off its previous position. plus two months worth of rain in two days. vermont is just starting the recovery process from that disaster. we ll get an update from one of the state s top lawmakers. all right, good morning, and welcome to way too early on this wednesday, july 12th. i m sam stein in for jonathan lemire. we begin with the major developments out of the nato summit in lithuania. the alliance says it will invite ukraine to join but only when allies agree and conditions are met. the group did not give a time line or details on what those conditions might be. vague wording is in line with what president joe biden said last week, calling a pathway to membership for ukraine, quote, premature while it is at war with russia. as the new york times points out, it appears the president and like minded allies have prevailed over poland in baltic nations that wanted a formal invitation for ukraine t
$2.1 trillion we ve ever had. if i can parrot to when republicans were in the majority when they had the house, the senate and everything, they didn t cut anything. that s house speaker kevin mccarthy defending the debt limit agreement hours before the bill barely cleared a republican led house committee. we ll have a look at where the vote count stands in the full house as lawmakers from both parties continue to criticize the bill. also ahead, we re learning more about what was reportedly happening inside mar-a-lago as the justice department ramped up the pressure on donald trump to turn over classified documents. plus we ll have an update from eastern europe following another drone strike inside russian territory. good morning and welcome to way too early on this wednesday, may 31st. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. we ll begin this morning on capitol hill where the house rules committee voted in favor of advancing the debt ceiling bill to a