hosting a saudi-backed golf tournament at one of his clubs. good morning. and welcome to way too early. i m jonathan lemire. it is friday, july 29th. thanks for being here. let s get started with the news. we begin on capitol hill where senate democrats are racing against the clock to pass a wide-ranging spending bill through the process of reconciliation. with just about a week to go before congress leaves for a month-long recess, a source says that senate majority leader chuck schumer called on his caucus to stick together during a closed door meeting yesterday. just one day earlier schumer and west virginia democrat joe manchin sent shot waves through congress by shock waves through congress by introducing the inflation reduction act of 2022 seemingly out of left field. planning to bring it to a vote at the senate floor next week and democrats are expressing cautious optimism about the chances of moving forward and that includes president biden who had this to say at
government reported a second straight quarter of negative economic growth. so this complicated picture is why president biden is pushing back against talk of a recession. with both senator schumer and manchin. that s consistent with the transition to a stable steady growth and lower inflation, but if you look at our job market consumer spending, business investment, we see signs of economic progress in the second quarter as well. joining us now to take a closer look at this, cnbc senior economics reporter steve liesman and ben white, politico chief economic correspondent and host of the politico money podcast. steve, when you take all of this data into account, all these indexes, what does it tell you about the state of the economy right now? it tells us that for sure the economy has slowed. remember, we did like 6% growth in the fourth quarter and now we ve come off two quarters in a row. the first quarter we came off because of what was happening with inventories. thi
trump administration officials. details of that new reporting ahead as well. and later on, we don t have the manpower as the doj s january 6th probe expands, sources telling our team resources are at a breaking point. what we re learning about the most wide-ranging investigation in justice department history coming up as well. i m in for hallie jackson. want to get to ali vitali on capitol hill. what i am hearing as we wrap up this incredibly surprising week to say the least is that there is a procedural vote happening in the next couple minutes. walk us through what you know. reporter: yeah. certainly a week with a lot of twists and turns here between the senate and the house. the house leaving town now, at least for the next week or so, and doing it with a flurry of activity before they get there, setting up this vote, this procedural motion in just a few minutes that s going to be a vote on the rule to get onto the actual vote on an assault weapons ban. in talking to
developments and changes overnight on capitol hill. this afternoon, the committee investigating the january 6 insurrection will call a special witness in this surprise public hearing. that is former white house chief of staff mark meadows aide, former aide, cassidy hutchinson. she s expected to testify starting at 1:00 eastern today. last week in videotaped testimony, she revealed the names of several republican lawmakers who sought blanket pardons. so, let s begin with that, with our own correspondent jessica schneider. jess, there wasn t going to be a hearing this week at all. then when one was announced, didn t know who the witness would be. very similar in the leadup. why? yeah, last-minute announcement, possibly, poppy, to try to keep things secret because of concerns about security. the committee concerned about the security of cassidy hutchinson and other possible witnesses. that may be why it was kept under wraps to this point. cassidy hutchinson in her hearing tod
of personnel news dimension right off the top, it s good news. ownership say congratulations to alex wagner. who is going to take over the slot that is now msnbc prime. this is just announced today by msnbc. it is great news. in terms of me, nothing about what i m doing is changing. i am gonna be doing monday nights, from here on out, plus, i will be here for big news events, like i have been, things like a genuine 60 rings, and the big supreme court decision on friday on roe v. wade. nothing that i am doing is changing at all, but it is great news that starting late this summer, starting mid august, it s gonna be alex wagner in the chair here tuesday through friday, at 9:00 eastern. so, congratulations to alex. everybody here thinks this is great news, myself included. again, you re still stuck with me for all the same things that have been stuck with me on in recent weeks and months, that won t change. but alex is taking over that msnbc prime spot. great news. great to kn