Soar there. Well have the very latest. Plus, we are following the continued battle in florida over the Governors Ban of School Mask mandates. A judge ruled the Governors Order was unconstitutional, but the state still has gone ahead with financial penalties against School Districts. Well have an update on that story. Good morning, welcome to Morning Joe, it is wednesday, september 1st, im willie geist, and were start with President Bidens address to the nation, one day after the final american troops left afghanistan, officially ending our part in the war. Peter alexander takes us to the president s defense of the decision. Reporter with the taliban declaring victory in afghanistan, President Biden at the White House marked The End of americas longest war. Leaving August The 31st is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save american lives. Reporter facing bipartisan backlash, the president at times angry and defensive, standing by his decision to end the mission with up to 200 american citizens still stranded. 90 of americans in afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave and for those remaining americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. Reporter that move breaks this promise President Biden made less than two weeks ago. If theres american citizens left, were going to stay until we get them all out. Reporter the last soldier out, major general chris donahue, seen here boarding the final c 17 Cargo Plane monday at kabuls airport. The president touting the safe evacuation of more than 124,000 people as a quote extraordinary success. Extraordinary success of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery, and selfless courage of the United States Military and our diplomats. Reporter while insisting despite the frantic final days in the loss of 13 u. S. Service members, there was no way to carry out Americas Exit without chaos. There is no evacuation from The End of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenge and threats we faced. None. Reporter but republicans are accusing the president of betraying americans. You dont leave your people behind, man. And im afraid theyre going to kill these people and hurt them the entire time. Reporter the u. S. Says it foiled another Isisk Attack at the airport. President biden delivered this warning. Isisk, we are not done with you yet. Joining us now msnbc white House Correspondent Mike Memoli at the White House. Good to see you. As much as this was an explanation of his decision. He went through point by point, whether you agreed with him or not, meeting some of the criticism. Reporter this is a White House that for the last two and a half weeks since the fall of kabul on August 14th has been in crisis mode. Behind the scene All Of Us have been getting a lot from white House Officials criticizing the way this is being covered, defending against some of the criticism they have been facing from all sides, even democratic allies, but they have never had the ability to mount a public pushback because they have been sweating out the real threats that were faced by our americans on the ground obviously that led in one case to a tragic loss of life. Yesterday we saw the White House really begin now that the final americans are off the ground there, at least the Military Operation is concluded, pushback, really begin to do that. It started in the morning with Jake Sullivan talking about the criticism theyre getting, having had to be in the situation room, and go through the threats and make the tough calls. The president was defiant, defend the broader decision to end 20 years of the war. President trump had made the deal with the taliban, he was faced with the decision of expanding our Military Presence and withdrawing. He already was inclined to withdraw from the start, and he got into the difficult, chaotic, tragic scenes. He acknowledged it was a flawed assumption to believe that afghan government would hold up for a few more weeks to provide a more, lets say, efficient withdrawal from afghanistan but he talked about the fact that any fall of a capital as we have seen here was going to lead to the kind of a chaos, and broadened it out to hit at the defining characteristic of his Foreign Policy over the last eight months so far, which is this idea of democracies, Versus Autocracies, and his assessment, his real conviction that the continued Military Presence in afghanistan was not in our national interest, that our focus needs to be on a Terror Threat that has metastasized beyond afghanistan but more broadly on this idea as we have been talking about democracies Versus Autocracies, saying China And Russia would love nothing more than to see us bogged down in afghanistan for another decade. And one of the central criticisms was leaving americans behind. We know as peter pointed out in his piece, the president promised to get every american out of the country in that interview with george stephanopoulos. The president and national Security Adviser are pointing out the administration gave americans living in afghanistan a number of warnings to get out before this withdrawal daylight. Heres what he said. Since march, we reached out 19 times to americans in afghanistan with multiple warnings, and offs to help them leave afghanistan, all the way back as far as march. The bottom line, 90 of americans in afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. And for those remaining americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. We gave 19 messages starting in March To Americans to leave the country. We offered them financial assistance to leave the country, and then for more than two weeks, we gave them specific instructions for how to come. 97 of the people we communicated with got to the airport and got out on planes. So mike, you might have heard the president say they got 90 of The Americans who wanted to leave out of the country. The White House updated the transcript, the President Misspoke, and say it was 98 of americans who wanted to get out were able to leave the what the president is saying, and what Jake Sullivan is saying is these americans were given every chance to leave the country since march. They were given warning after warning, and in fact, their argument goes, the people who remain, The Americans who remain in afghanistan are there by choice. We know thats not entirely true. There are Passport Holders who still want to get out, duel citizenship, but they say by and large, most of The Americans who are there want to be there. Reporter we were getting receipts, emails sent over the course of months to those based in afghanistan describing an incredible operation over the last two and a half weeks to do everything they can to find americans in afghanistan, identify them, ask three simple questions, where are you, do you want to leave and do you need help getting to the airport. A white House Official said of the 6,000 safely evacuated, the hundred to 200 that remain are the most complicated cases, these are people who obviously waited to the last minute in some cases, people with duel citizenship, with deep connections to afghanistan, and also those who, as part of the evacuation efforts, part of the intersections they had with embassy personnel, they wanted not just to leave but have their families and extended families come with them. By definition, those who remain, the small number were by definition, the most complicated, nuanced cases, the hardest to identify. But the president said for those who do remain and want to leave, there is no deadline. Yes, its now a diplomatic effort but there will continue to be efforts made to get anybody whos in afghanistan and wants to leave out of the country. The president reiterating the promise, that leaves out all the afghan wartime allies we heard about veterans from the show that they are privately scrambling behind the scenes to get out of the country. Joining us now, u. S. Senator, now Msnbc News and political contributor, Claire Mccaskill, and Sam Stein. What did you think of the president s performance yesterday, the argument, the speech he made in defense, as i said, he went by sort of point by point, and met the criticism hes received, a lot of it from democrats, about his handling of the situation over the last couple of weeks, what did you think . I thought it was slightly defensive but brutally honest. I think he laid out exactly why he made in decision, and why hes standing behind it. In many ways, i found it refreshing. You know, nobody really believed that the afghan government would melt away as quickly as it did, and that complicated this. But hes right about one thing, willie, you dont ever announce youre leaving the country and not have a rush to the exits, and that rush to the exits, whether it was at a Bagram Air Force Base Or Kabul airport was going to be dangerous, for the military trying to process that because they became Sitting Ducks for Suicide Bombers and thats exactly what happened. I thought it was very interesting that he made clear to america that were not done with isis, and i want to remind everyone that our military has been Fighting Isis and Al Qaeda and other terrorists across the globe effectively since 9 11, and i think our country will continue to do that. Sam, if you look at the polling and i know youve got new numbers to show us, The American people, a majority of them are with the president on the decision to withdraw from afghanistan. He has made no secret, this is something he wanted. He talked about it as a candidate for president. He talked about it since he got into office, and now he says, i have delivered on the promise. Its the execution of the withdrawal thats less popular with The American public. Yeah, i mean, despite everything that has happened over the past three weeks, the president in our poll shows the withdrawal, 50 to 41 . Its on the execution where they are soured on the withdrawal. I would just say this, i thought bidens speech, while defensive for sure, you know, to me, and i would be curious what Senator Mccaskill thinks about this, which is to me it read like someone who wants to close the loop, in post 9 11 era. You dont need to be showy and muscular abroad in order to be effective and the real problem with the Afghanistan War was not withdrawal and the execution and the rationale for getting in in the first place. Biden has been around for a while, but he was there and a major player in the post 9 11 politics and he saw the degree to which national security decisions can be used politically against democrats, and when i saw that speech yesterday, when i heard it, to me, what really stood out was this idea of a person saying im not going to get clipped on this stuff again. Im not going to allow myself to get clipped again. I dont know if its going to work in our same poll, for instance, we have a 21 increase in concerns about islamic extremism from january to now. A product of the current Media Climate, a political reality he has to deal with. To me, when i watched it, that was what came through, biden remembered and recalled the politics of post 9 11, saying this is not going to happen again. I think youre right, sam, i think he exactly is trying to make sure that it is very clear to his political opponents that they are not going to box him in into a political position that somehow he needs to apologize for ending this war. The one thing that hasnt been talked about enough about this war over the last ten years. This was a war of contractors, the number of people being paid by american taxpayers in afghanistan was by and large contractors over the last decade. Way more contractors than military. In fact, three months ago, there were almost 20,000 contractors in iraq, compared to a few thousand military. So this really became a prop up the afghan government, pretend, as it turns out that were building a military. Hire private police. Build infrastructure projects that the afghans can never afford to maintain. So there were so many mistakes that have been made in afghanistan, and i think that what he did yesterday was rip the bandaid off and said it was wrong. We were there too long. Its time to move on. We got to focus on the competition of russia, and china, and continue to fight extremism, terrorism, around the globe, not just in afghanistan. Not just in that neighborhood. Claire, you were sitting in the united States Senate for large chunks of this war in afghanistan. Im curious what you think now that we have officially left after nearly 20 years, and what lessons the united states may learn that you may have thought it would have learned from previous engagements in places like vietnam. What do you take away as you see the last c 17 take off from kabul. I think that members of congress, really, frankly, gave up a lot of their power since 9 11. It used to be that congress had a role in declaring war, and a continuing war. This really became kind of a Status Quo that billions and trillions of dollars would flow in to afghanistan, and frankly, the corruption. A lot of my Oversight Work was on contracting, and thats when i discovered things like we built a Gas Station for cars that run on Natural Gas in afghanistan. Well, there are no cars running on Natural Gas in afghanistan. A total contractor boondoggle. The way that americans shed Tax Dollars in afghanistan was a scandal, and it was a continuing scandal, even with the oversight that the Inspector General was doing. The military kept saying weve got to continue the mission. Thats the good news and the bad news, willie, our military will take any mission, but our military will also refuse to say one cant accomplish a mission when one is unattainable. Its interesting, too, this relationship that our United States Military at the 11th Hour has asked to engage with the Taliban And Work Side By side and to partner with them. Heres what the president s Chief Of Staff Ron Klain said about whether the united states will now recognize the taliban as the government of afghanistan. I dont think anytime soon. I dont know if we will ever recognize their government. What we know is that the taliban says theyre going to form a government. Well see what that looks like. Well see what kind of credentials they present. More importantly, well see what their conduct is, do they honor their commitments to respect freedom of travel, respect Human Rights. The question of recognizing a new government in afghanistan is down the road here. Despite that, were learning new details about how far the collaboration between the United States Military and taliban went to get american and afghan allies out of the country. Three senior Defense Officials say the taliban drove americans through check point, cleared streets so americans could pass safely and even carried the luggage to Airport Gates for The American military. Lets bring in nbc News Correspondent covering national security and the military Courtney Kube. Good morning. So the taliban reportedly also helped prevent one potential attack. What more do we know about that . Yeah, thats right. And look, we should point out here, there are many many many cases that we have heard about and that we are aware of where the taliban did not help, particularly afghans get to the airport safely, but what we have been learning about over the last week or so is that there was this agreement between the u. S. Military there on the ground with who are essentially their Military Counter parts in the taliban to help americans get safe passage to the airport and so what the State Department would do is they would identify these americans who were ready to come to the airport. They had evacuation flights ready. They would send them a Text Message with a pass, essentially, and tell them where To Go. There were two locations that they would go, and they would basically meet taliban fighters who were there. The taliban then had a copy of this pass, and they had a list, a manifest, essentially, of who would be coming through, and The Americans would come. The taliban would basically process them at these locations, and then they would ensure that they had safe passage, the last distance, a very short distance left to the airport, through these large crowds that would often gather around the gates. The Defense Officials said there were times the taliban would help them carry their luggage to the gates. Its important to point out theres been criticism that the u. S. Was providing the taliban with the manifest of names. While they did give them names of people To Go through the Check Points, the taliban had to turn the names back over. Of course they could have taken photos, they could still target some of the people who were on these lists but they werent handing over lists of names for the taliban for them to keep. There was also another case that we learned about just on sunday. This was in 24 hours of the u. S. Finally leaving afghanistan for the last time, there was a bus that was headed through one of these Check Points on its way to Kabul Airport. It was stopped at a Gas Station right outside the airport. Everyone on board told to get off. And they were ordered to get off. There was an american man and his six daughters who were on at the time. They were told theres potential explosive device on this bus. There are two potential Suicide Attackers on here. Go, run, and The Americans and the others on the bus went and they fled and they hid in a Drainage Ditch until the taliban told them it was safe To Go. They got up and eventually made their way to the airport. I can report sadly that those six women, young daughters, and the father, The American citizen, still are in afghanistan. They didnt make it out of the country. But whats important to point out is this is a case as others that we are now hearing about, where the taliban seemed to have potentially stopped a Suicide Attack and may have saved american lives. This is someone who the u. S. Fought for two decades in afghanistan and in these last days, they may have actually been saving american lives, willie. Yeah, courtney, i think a lot of people would hear this list of stories, and say of course the taliban wanted to put on a good face to help usher the united states out of town and begin their celebration of the defeat of a super power. What will The American government be watching out of the taliban, and what would be a punitive measure that we have been hearing about . We heard from the defense secretary, we heard from Ron Klain that they will be watching with a skeptical eye how the taliban operates and, if they go back to their old ways, which people expect they will, they reserve the right to do something about it, what does that look like . Absolutely. I mean, the Defense Official i spoke with said this was a bit of a confidence building measure, the fact that the taliban did in large part help the United States Military in this case. Its important to point out, they had two very similar goals to the united states, one, get americans out, and number two, to stop any potential attack from isisk. So for this short period of time, the u. S. And taliban had a similar view, and they were, you know, working toward similar aims. That being said, Defense Officials are very very skeptical that this is a new and improved taliban and this signals theres some path forward for the united states to work particularly on a militarytomilitary level with the taliban going forward. There is likely to be some sort of diplomatic engagement going forward and thats because there continue to be americans and afghans who the u. S. May work to get out in the future. The question is would that be direct diplomatic ties. More likely it would continue to be through some sort of intermediary as we have seen happen for the last several years. Theres also the economic piece so i think going forward, the 20year Military Mission in afghanistan has ended. The diplomatic and economic way forward, thats what were going to see more going forward. The u. S. Military is quick to point out they will maintain the ability to strike in afghanistan if and when that is needed. In the meantime, there are americans who still need to leave, as you say, nbcs Courtney Kube. Thank you so much. Other stories this morning, a Navy Helicopter crashed off the coast of San Diego during a routine Flight Operation on tuesday. One Crew Member has been rescued. A Navy Spokesperson had confirmed to Nbc News, there were six people on board the helicopter when it crashed. Search and rescue operations on board this moment. The navy is investigating the cause of the crash. An overnight development out of the Supreme Court. Early this morning, the court did not take action on a request to block a Texas Law prohibiting most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. That allowed the most restrictive Abortion Law in the nation To Go into effect in texas. Some Texas Abortion clinics were turning patients away even before the states harsh new Abortion Law went into effect at midnight. Claire, are you surprised the Supreme Court didnt even take a look at this . You know, im more worried than i am surprised. You know, willie, i think back to my days as a prosecutor, and i handled hundreds of Sexual Assault cases and several cases stick in my mind right now, and that is young girls, barely teenagers who had been raped by Family Members or boyfriends of mothers and who had been impregnated and didnt even know they were pregnant until after six weeks of their pregnancy. This law that was allowed to take effect Last Night would force those young girls to have those children, to have those babies that were a product of rape by their fathers or their Step Fathers or their mothers boyfriends. That is a chilling change in american law, and one that i think women across this country are not going to take well, and i think the draconian nature of these laws that are meant to overturn roe v. Wade, the court is going to hear one from mississippi in the not too distant future, and i think most of us believe with a 63 court that roe v. Wade will go away, and will go back to the days where so many women, especially young girls who are facing in situation, really dont know where to turn. Yeah, that Mississippi Law bans abortion at 15 weeks, and youre right, claire, the Supreme Court is going to take a look at that one. This Texas Law is six weeks. As claire says, thats well before some people even know theyre pregnant and has no exception for rape or incest. The Supreme Court not taking a look at the Texas Law, and it will go into effect barring any further court intervention. Still ahead on Morning Joe, Power Outages are plaguing much of Louisiana'>Southeast Louisiana as temperatures soar in the wake of Hurricane Ida. Its a dangerous situation. Well talk to the Chief Medical Officer helping to lead Recovery Efforts across the state. Plus, in Northern California, the fast moving caldor fight, well have the latest on firefighters attempts to contain the blaze. And on capitol hill, Kevin Mccarthys veiled threat to companies cooperating with the committee investigating the deadly January 6th attack on the united states capitol. Youre watching Morning Joe. Well be right back. Morning joe. Well be right back. [relaxed summer themed music playing] summer is a state of mind, you can visit anytime. Savor your summer with lincoln. Welcome to allstate. Where everything just seems To Go your way. Youre in good hands with allstate. Click or call for a lower Auto Rate today. Its the biggest sale of the year, on the new Sleep Number 360 smart bed. Its the most comfortable, youre in good hands with allstate. Duallyadjustable, footwarming, temperaturebalancing, proven Quality Night Sleep weve ever made. Save 50 on the new Sleep Number 360 limited edition smart bed. Plus, free premium delivery. Ends Labor Day. Its the biggest sale of the year, on the new Sleep Number 360 smart bed. Its the most comfortable, duallyadjustable, footwarming, temperaturebalancing, proven Quality Night Sleep weve ever made. Save 50 on the new Sleep Number 360 limited edition smart bed. Plus, free premium delivery. Ends Labor Day. The devastation from Hurricane Ida is becoming more apparent as the survey of damage continues. Entire communities are under water and dangerous conditions are making Rescue Efforts much more difficult. This comes amid soaring temperatures in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast. Power lines remain down and could stay that way for days or weeks to come. We have a pair of reports from our teams on the ground. We begin with nbcs Miguel Almaguer. Reporter the race to rescue is still unfolding in Louisiana, the beaten and battered, stranded for days, plucked from homes where the water is rising and hope was fading. We got rescued by a truck just now. Reporter pregnant and desperate, Heather Webe finally escaped the flood waters. Our house is under water, we would have drowned. Reporter facing a complex maze of submerged roads, Bucket Highways and Alligator Infested waters which likely claimed one life, search teams still cant reach the hardest hit communities. In just this One Area of Jefferson Parish, not far outside New Orleans, they have 135 rescues in just one day. If you want To Go further, youll need a boat. The easiest ways into Grand Isle and La Feet is through the area. What happened in minutes could leave the stranded for days. It was unbelievable, 4 feet of water just came rushing in. Reporter with the scope of destruction coming into focus, whats out of view is devastating, surrounded by water, half A Million have none from their taps safe to drink. Lines for gas and supplies are leaving locals in searing heat. For some, the storms after math more devastating than the impact. This is probably the worst i have been through. I mean, i went through katrina. Reporter though torrential rain has passed, in mississippi, the deluge helped erode a highway, the collapse, killing two and injuring ten. Across this battered region, no break from the heartbreak, the storm gone but the crisis still unfolding. Reporter im Morgan Chesky in New Orleans. Its a slow moving disaster, leaving more than A Million people in the dark. Do you have any idea when youll get power back . Right now, no. Reporter how does that feel . Crazy. Reporter the Energy Provider saying it could take three weeks before hard hit areas are back up. The schools are not open. The businesses are not open. The hospitals are slammed. Theres not water in your home, and theres not going to be electricity. Reporter in st. Charles Parish West of New Orleans, officials are warning residents to prepare for more than a month these are all empty. Reporter for clive jackson, fuel for his generator, more precious than water. I cant get diesel. So, i mean, once that goes, it goes. Reporter what then . Thats it. Reporter many hospitals, including new Orleanss Ochsner Health are still relying on generators, but as ida struck, neurosurgeons faced an emergency. We brought him into the operating room, took a piece of skull off. Reporter in a hurricane. The Lights Flickered and dr. Smith said i guess well do the whole thing under candlelight. Reporter the lights came back on just in time. Thousands of Line Crews racing against time, fighting brutal Heat And Idas after math to bring one disaster to a close. Morgan chesky reporting there. Joining us now dr. Ed rock, Chief Medical Officer at global medical response which includes american medical response, femas prime emergency medical services contractor. Dr. Rock, thanks for being with us this morning. I know how busy you are. You were out there wading through the scenes, confronting some of what we saw in the reports. What are you seeing on the ground . How dire is the situation . You know, willie, this is a complex disaster, as our colleagues just pointed out. This is essentially three disaster in one. Its the storm, its the impact of the storm, you know, the continuing challenge with the infrastructure on top of a substantial Patient Population whos infected with covid or potentially could transmit this. So this is a very complex evolution with no clear end in sight. And theres no power in much of the state, including in New Orleans. They hope to get some of It Back today. Were hearing that means no airconditioning in the Summer Heat of Louisiana. What are your concerns as this extends from days into weeks of no power in most parts of the state . So its very worrisome because there is a Sub Population, there are a Sub Population of patients who over time without, you know, power, without appropriate nutrition, without clean water have underlying medical conditions or will develop those medical conditions which then require Health Care. With the infrastructure interruption, with the roadway interruption, with the flooding, getting those patients to the right level of care so evaluate and to manage them is extraordinarily difficult, so while the Storm Itself has completed its pass, the flooding is there, theres an ongoing, continuing challenge with more people getting sick as they have challenges with access to the things that prevent further progression of illness. And remember, too, a lot of medical care is provided in nonhospital centers, and with Primary Care Offices and standard medical offices not able, patients will try and get to already over burdened Hospital Systems in order to get care, so its very worrisome. New orleans, Louisiana, the Gulf Coast has had its share of hurricanes as we know, prepares for things like this. If youre talking about a couple of weeks without power, what are the impacts on a hospital . So hospitals do everything they can and hospitals obviously have to be prepared for disastrous events. Theres a Triage System in place to try and get the sickest Patients Access to those resources so that they can preserve them over time. I think as was identified a couple of minutes ago, challenges in the operating theater, with operating rooms, patients that need surgery, interventions, you know, supporting ventilators, supporting Health Care technology, then is extraordinarily important and becomes difficult when power is either interrupted or is limited in those circumstances. As you say, this hurricane and this emergency comes at a terrible time, particularly in the state of Louisiana where hospitals are full with covid patients. Some of them overrun by covid patients. What is the status right now of covid in Louisiana as you layer over that. This hurricane, Vaccination Rates remain low. What does it look like in the hospitals where you serve . So, youre correct, Vaccination Rates remain low, and unfortunately to your earlier question, its becoming difficult to get vaccination during this time period, so, you know, one of the challenges is we expect to see almost a pause in the number of individuals who get vaccinated during this time period. So the close quarters, the shelters, transporting patients in groups and the lack of available ppe for the community creates a very difficult super Spreader Event related to the challenge of evacuation, the challenge of appropriate housing on top of them, the challenge of the Storm Itself, so very worrisome. We have not seen a disaster of this complexity in our time period. This is a tremendous number of moving parts. I know youve got a lot on your hands, we appreciate you taking the time this morning. Dr. Ed racht, Chief Medical Officer. We appreciate your time. Lets bring in bill karins, we were just talking about the heat in Louisiana as we turn the page to september. Pushing 100 degrees with heat indexes. What does it look like there as we think about those places that have no power in about as hot as you can think of. Also with a bunch of humidity laid on top of it . Yeah, willie, good morning, you know, to give you an example of just how hard it is to get power back in these areas, yesterday, at this time, it was a little over A Million people without power in Louisiana. 50,000 people got their power back on yesterday, out of over A Million. Not many. Mississippi, on the other hand, which wasnt hit as hard, you peaked at 120,000 people without power. Right now its down to 20,000. So A Hundred Thousand people got power back in mississippi yesterday, only 50,000 in Louisiana. Thats the difference between a tropical storm versus a category four hurricane. Youre not going to get Heat Relief for a long time. The end of september and october until you get the taste of cooler air. We have heat advisories, its hot, its going to stay hot. Today is a dangerous day. Today could be a deadly day in areas of the Mid Atlantic and the northeast from whats left in the remnants of ida. We have a ton of Rain Coming and a Tornado Threat this afternoon, and this is especially dangerous situation in the areas that are in the green, Flash Flood watches from boston to west virginia. We have a Flash Flood warning right now around the pittsburgh area, youre waking up to, and this is pretty rare. We dont get these days that often, only about 14 times a year do we have high risk Flash Flood days, and this one includes 19 Million people. Almost all of connecticut, new York City, north of philadelphia, poconos, cat skills, some areas got a ton of rain from henri a week ago. Rainfall predictions, widespread 5 inches from pennsylvania to new York City to hartford, someone has a chance of getting up to 8 inches of rain, and this will happen in 6 to 12 hours this evening. Thats the time to be off the roads. Were going to have highways washed out. Streams are going to quickly rise out of their banks, small towns in the rural areas of the poconos, cat skills, could have extreme damage, and d. C. To baltimore to philadelphia, 43 Million people under risk of severe weather. We expect tornadoes this afternoon into this evening, especially philadelphia to Atlantic City to d. C. Keep an eye to the sky and keep tuned here. Well give you all the updates we can on this dire situation, willie. We have a chance of losing more lives in this Weather Scenario Today in the Mid Atlantic and northeast than we saw with the landfall of ida two days ago. Yeah, and that big storm just keeps chugging along, as you show on your map. Bill karins, thank you so much, bill. Coming up here, The State Of Florida is withholding funds from a pair of Florida School districts for Making Kids Wear masks. Thats despite a Court Ruling that invalidates the Governors Order against those Mask Mandates. 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Kentucky has 48 of It Population fully vaccinated and 57 with at least one dose. Now to the latest in the political fight over Mask Mandates in schools. The Florida Department of education made good on a threat to withhold funding from local School Districts that defied a ban from governor Ron Desantis on Mask Mandates. That came just days after a State Judge ruled the Governors Ban was unconstitutional. Nbc News Correspondent Kristen Dahlgren has more. 11yearold Payton Lee is Fighting Covid in a florida hospital. Its my worst nightmare. The 5th Grader with Down Syndrome wore a mask in school, but its not required, and many didnt. Theres people out there, children out there like my daughter who have special needs, and make them even more vulnerable, and thats what people should be thinking about, keeping everyone safe. Reporter this week, the Florida Department of Education Withheld Funds from two School Districts that made masks mandatory in classrooms. While the federal department of education has now opened an investigation into five states for not allowing School Mask mandates, claiming it violates the rights of children with underlying conditions. This week, the Childrens Hospital Association had a warning. There may not be sufficient Bed Capacity or Expert Staff to care for children. Almost a quarter of all covid cases reported last week were children. Theyre sicker, its more contagious, and its a much more virulent strain. Reporter 3yearold Aurora Cannon spent days in the icu struggling to breathe. Her mom, an Emergency Room Nurse is vaccinated but worries she brought it home from unvaccinated patients. Its really hard seeing what i have seen for the past 18 months, and then watching my daughter go through it. Reporter aurora has been released from the hospital, but tonight, many children like payton continue to fight. Kristen dahlgren, Nbc News. Joining us now, the head of one of the School Districts financially penalized by Governor Desantis for imposing a Mask Mandate in schools, Interim Superintendent for Broward County public schools, dr. Vicky cartwright, also with us, the Lead Attorney in the lawsuit brought against The State Of Florida by parents who want districts to be able to mandate masks in school, charles gallagher. Good morning to you both. Dr. Cartwright let me begin with you as a practice question, what does this mean . The state has handed down the department of education this order that theyre taking the money away from your school district. Whos losing the money, how do they do it, and whats your reaction to . So first and foremost, thank you very much for this opportunity to talk with you this morning. What is happening at this point is on a monthly basis we get funds that come from the state, and so today on september the 1st, what will happen is they will have removed the amount of our School Boards monthly salary away from that allocation that theyre providing to the school district, so what we are going to be doing in response to that is because do have, from the federal government, that we can utilize our federal funds in order to fill in that gap. That is what we intend to be doing. And can you just explain for our audience and perhaps for the governor and the department of education why you put in this temporary Mask Mandate . Here locally in Broward County, covid is very real. Its having a significant impact, even as of yesterday morning, our Hospital Utilization beds for the icu for both adults as a result for pediatrics is 90 , theyre almost at full capacity. Were recognizing that unfortunately this has taken a toll on a lot of our children, our Staff Members, our families. We, in fact, already lost three Staff Members here this past month due to covid. So this for us is something that is a necessity, in order to ensure that we are protecting our students, our staff, and our teachers. Our board made a very difficult decision to do that because they dont want To Go against the governor, but the more we have continued to look at this, the more we believe that we are complying with the statute as well as the rule. So youre trying to protect young children, youre trying to protect your staff, youre trying to protect the families of your children is what youre doing with a Mask Mandate in this case, a temporary Mask Mandate. Charles, help us understand what happened here because just the other day we got the news that you all had won the first round of the lawsuit against your state, and in fact, the first ruling was that the Governors Order was unconstitutional, so how are they now penalizing Broward And Alachua counties . Its questionable at best. Yes, we did prevail at trial on friday. Our ruling we received from the court was very clear that there was no right to enforce this executive order. No right to penalize School Districts. So as a result during this gap in time between the oral order and a Written Order our belief is they are trying to use that window to make these enforcement actions, which is, you know, contrary to the courts ruling with the court being very clear on those issues. Mr. Gallagher, im just curious about this, so what youre saying is they are trying to use a gap between the order that the judge gave from the bench and the Written Memorialization of that order as an excuse. But, i mean, lets back up here, we are all Pounding Podiums about the fact that the taliban doesnt respect the rule of law. Meanwhile, we have a governor in florida that clearly is giving the back of his hand to a State Judge, not much less, the elected members of the Broward County School Board. Were you surprised that the governor tried to make political points by defying this court . Sadly, i was not. They have taken the approach to double down over and over and over again on these issues without deferring to the court, without deferring to the rules as they are. So sadly i was not surprised, but definitely we are concerned about the ruling and once we have a Written Order in place, we certainly will move for some contempt sanctions. Dr. Cartwright, this is Sam Stein here, putting aside the legality of this, im just curious from a cultural perspective, what are you, the parents you talk to say about the need for a Mask Mandate or, i guess on the other side of things if they find it burdensome, what has the reaction been among the students as well . I know youre in one slice of florida, it doesnt represent the entire state, but i am just curious, whats the reaction been around this, and can we define anything about how this issue plays for the governor. Here in south florida, at least here in Broward County, i can speak. We have not really had any concerns related to this. Its a small handful of parents that showed up to our School Board meeting in order to protest about the requirements, but overwhelmingly our families are complying. Theyre wearing the masks, theyre supportive. Theyre doing what they need to do in order to make sure that were supporting one another. How do i know that is because one of the sanctions that is currently in place is on a daily basis at 5 00, i have to certify to the commissioner of education how many students have either been disciplined or some extraordinarily loose language, harassed or anything to that effect, and so we have been taking the words of our parents when its not clear cut as to if they feel that their child has been harassed for wearing a mask and reporting those numbers. Yesterday, the number of students that we reported was seven, and remember, this is a district of over 250,000 students, seven, it has ranged anywhere from maybe like three students up to seven students, and its on a daily basis that were having to do this, and talk about a financial impact. Even though our governor very specifically or i should say the commissioner of education very specifically outlined not using the funds that theyre withholding to harm students or teacher pay, what about the amount of time its taking in order to comprise this report on a daily basis. It is requiring every one of my principals and every one of my schools to take some type of action. Theyre having to take Time Out of their workday, a day that they would normally be spending with their teachers and their students and parents in order To Go in and complete a report, certifying that the information that theyre providing is accurate and then that comes to central office, and then it takes people from there having to work on the report, as well as myself. Its just outrageous, as if the Job Wasnt hard enough to teach school and run a school in times of covid. We have been talking dr. Cartwright on the show to dr. Carly simon out of alachua county, and she said again and again, i do not want a political fight. I did not get into this job to argue with the governor. Im just trying to protect my students, thats all i want to do right now. What will you do as this case moves up through the courts, if this is up held, if the Governors Order is up held, and they say you must. You must not have a Mask Mandate or else well continue to take money out of your schools or worse, where do you think this goes from here . At this point in time, i know that our county as well as there are a few others that are joining in with us in order to take this to court as well. So we will continue To Go in that approach as needed. And again, we want to revisit this after Labor Day. Our School Board is going to revisit this issue. And the reason is because were going to be using, what is the data, the boots on the ground in Broward County. Are we at a position that we dont need this as mitigating factors. Has covid slowed down enough to where we dont have to have that. Theyre going to continue to revisit this and continue to make sure that theyre making the right decision, but again, my board, they are really committed to doing what they believe is in the best interests of our local community, our local students, staff and teachers. They are here. Were living this on a daily basis. Were not in a different location of the state. So to say that, again, where do we go from here, we continue To Go forward with it, just through the legal system. We continue to be advised over and over again, we are complying. Well, im sorry youre having to waste your time with this business, as you say, its gumming up an already difficult school year. Thank you for continuing the fight, and thank you for what you and all your teachers do, especially in these times. Interim superintendent, dr. Vickie cartwright, and charles gallagher, keep us posted. President biden is defending his decision to end the war in afghanistan amid the ongoing criticism of how the withdrawal was conducted. Well hear more of his remarks and speak to an attorney who has been working to help afghan refugees to relocate. Also this morning, in less than two weeks, voters in california will decide whether to recall democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. Its a special election that could have national implications. Well take a closer look at whats at stake, and how that might end. Morning joe is coming right back. Ght end. Morning joe is coming right back just after 7 00 in the morning in new York City as we have turned the page on the calendar, it is wednesday, september 1st. Welcome back to Morning Joe. Im willie geist. Claire mccaskill is still with us, and joining the conversation, msnbc contributor, mike barnicle, and Pulitzer Prize winning Columnist And Associate editor of the Washington Post Eugene robinson. Good morning to you all, Amidback Lash from both sides of the aisle, President Biden is forcefully defending his decision to end the war in afghanistan. In the first speech since troops left kabul, he said yesterday he refused to prolong a forever war and credited his Administrations Evacuation efforts as a quote extraordinary success. My fellow americans, the war in afghanistan is now over. Im the fourth president who has faced the issue of whether and when to end this war. When i was running for president i made a commitment to The American people that i would end this war. Today ive honored that commitment. It was time to be honest with The American people again. We no longer had a clear purpose and an openended mission in afghanistan. After 20 years of war in afghanistan, i refuse to send another generation of americas Sons And Daughters to fight a war that should have ended long ago. To those asking for a third decade of war in afghanistan, i ask, what is the vital national interest . In my view, we only have one. To make sure afghanistan can never be used again to launch an attack on our homeland. Remember why we went to afghanistan in the first place . Because we were attacked by Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda on September 11th, 2001. And they were based in afghanistan. We delivered justice to Bin Laden on may 2nd, 2011. Over a decade ago. Al qaeda was decimated. This decision about afghanistan is not just about afghanistan. Its about ending an era of major Military Operations to remake other countries. We saw a mission of Counter Terrorism in afghanistan, getting the terrorists and stopping attacks morph into a counter insurgency, nation building, trying to create a democratic cohesive and united afghanistan, something that has never been done over many centuries of afghans history. We have been a nation too long at war. If youre 20 years old today, you have never known an america at peace, so when i hear that we could have, should have continued the socalled low Grade Effort in afghanistan, at low risk to our service members, at low cost, i dont think enough people understand how much we have asked of the 1 of this country who put that uniform on, who were willing to put their lives on the line in defense of our nation. Theres nothing low grade or low risk or low cost about any war. Its time to end the war in afghanistan. I give you my word, with all of my heart, i believe this is the right decision, a wise decision. And the best decision for america. After the last american troops left afghanistan, the taliban quickly declared victory, celebrating as they took over the Kabul Airport. Nbc news chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel has more. Reporter Victory Day for the taliban, and during the airport, there are fighters inspecting the spoils the u. S. Left behind at what was the last american Toe Hold in afghanistan. The taliban spokesman saying the group wants new relations with the west and are even open to foreign investment. They looked over the aircraft and weapons u. S. Troops abandoned and decommissioned so they cant be used. But american forces did not damage the airport itself. The united states is relying on the airport to reopen quickly, to evacuate american citizens and translators who never made it out in the air lift. Some of them now in hiding from the taliban and who one day once they have documents will have to pass through here to leave. The taliban insisting theyll let them go. The taliban also promising to fight isis and never allow afghanistan to be a sanctuary for terrorism. But will they . In the remote host province, the taliban held another victory rally, Parading Mock nato coffins. A speaker praised the Isis Suicide Bomber who killed 13 u. S. Service members, and 200 afghans, saying the taliban have now established the islamic state the Suicide Bomber yearned for. Mike barnicle as you watched the president speak at the White House, he spoke with the conviction of someone who believes hes doing the right thing, and in fact, theres new polling that shows a majority of americans believe we ought to leave afghanistan, weve been there too long, almost 20 years. And a large number of them, including democrats, dont like the way it happened, and his use of the term extraordinary success was not the best choice of words, what did you see in that president yesterday, what did you hear in his remarks . Well, willie, i heard a very strong defense of his position. After 20 years of death, deception, despite some immense progress in afghanistan with regard to women and education, 20 years of delusion. I know from speaking to people who have spoken to the president that he was angered and outraged to his core at the murder of 13 americans, 11 marines, one army man, and i think one Navy Corpsman at the gate. He was outraged at that, and i think it triggered what we just saw yesterday in his speech. The president knows that only one thing is forever. And thats death. He knows that most of those at the airport were there in afghanistan for perhaps their first time, greeting complete strangers, people theyve never met, in order to save their lives. He knows that the government of Karzai And Ghani over the past two decades have literally allowed their country to be looted and perhaps participated in that looting. He knows that the united States Today is more prepared, skilled, dealing with terrorists and terrorism, than we were on september 10th, 2021, before the world changed and he knows that we have the technical capacity, the tactical capacity, the military, financial, and cyber tools to deal with any and every threat to the united states, and he also knows, perhaps, most importantly that the idea of nation building, of bringing elements of our democracy to countries around the world is totally fool hearty, when we are living in a country where Voting Rights are under siege, where wearing masks has become a political statement, helping save your children from the virus, a political statement. He knows all of that, and i think that was the bones and the strength and the outline of what he spoke to yesterday. There are a lot of republicans, actually, who believe we should leave afghanistan, Donald Trump, chief among them. He brokered this deal. He wanted to get out of afghanistan as well. The criticism you have heard over the last couple of weeks is about the rush and leaving people behind, so the president spoke to that yesterday, and we have heard from Jake Sullivan, the national Security Adviser, the White House has gone out of its way to make it known for months we have been telling americans its time to get out of the country, and lets get you out of here. They suggested yesterday that most of the 100 or 200 or whatever that number is of americans left in the country are there by choice. We know of course not all of them are, but clearly based on that defensive speech yesterday, the president hears all of the criticism Being Leveed against him. Im sure he hears the criticism, but my guess is he slept pretty soundly Last Night. I believe in his heart, Joe Biden believes he did the right thing, and i think he believes that the evacuation of 120,000 people or more was a success, an unprecedented success. And, look, nobody can say that the sequencing of this was ideal. The military promptly withdrew. Civilians were slower to move, as you said. We were advising americans to leave for months. But people didnt leave, and so we were stuck in a situation where as the afghani government collapsed, we were trying to evacuate too many people with too few troops and too few resources and so you wish that hadnt happened that way. But this policy that President Biden is pursuing is what he has advocated for a decade or more. It is what he absolutely believes, and frankly, i think history will prove him right. I think the choice was between withdrawing and theres no easy way to withdraw from a war you dont win. Withdrawing or committing indefinitely for years, perhaps for decades more to a Military Presence and an occasional heated combat in afghanistan. And he thought that was a bad use of the nations resources and a waste of american lives and decided to end it and i think hes very pleased, whatever the shortterm political fallout may be. Yeah, and he answered the theory that we should have left 2,500, 3,500 troops there by saying we speak to casually about the sacrifices made by american troops, no matter how large or how small the number is. An afghan interpreter who came to the rescue of President Biden is pleading with the president to save his family after they were left behind. In an interview with the wall street journal, a man named mohammed said while he had a chance to be air lifted out of afghanistan, he did not want to leave his wife and four children behind. Now he says they are in hiding, fearing retribution from the taliban. In 2008, the journal reports, mohammed was stationed at Bagram Airfield when he rushed out to save three united states senators whose helicopter was forced to make an Emergency Landing in a snowstorm, on that helicopter, chuck hagel, john kerry, and Joe Biden. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki addressed the calls for help yesterday. First, our message to him is thank you for fighting by our side for the last 20 years. Thank you for the role you played in helping a number of my favorite people out of a snowstorm. And for all of the work you did. And our commitment is enduring, not just to american citizens but to our afghan partners who have fought by our side, and our efforts and our focus right now is as you heard general mckenzie say and others say over the last 24 hours is to the diplomatic phase. We will get you out. We will honor your service. And were committed to doing exactly that. We will get you out. Thats from the White House. Joining us now, long time attorney and Human Rights lawyer, Kimberly Motley, she has focused her international work on afghanistan, including Training Lawyers in the country and recently working to help refugees to resettle. She also is an msnbc legal analyst. Kimberly, great to have you on this morning. I want to talk to you a lot about women and girls in afghanistan, but first, the work youre doing right now to help afghan refugees, what does that process look like from where you sit . Good morning, thanks for having me. My role can you hear me . Good morning, my role is to not only help people to evacuate from the country if they so choose but also to support the many many afghans that choose to stay within the country. Theres many many people around the world who have been volunteering to help rescue people that want to leave. Many people that dont even know each other. There are still rescue missions happening within the country. People are trying to leave by land right now as thats the only option thats available to them, and my role also is to help people legally as well as other lawyers that are on the team to make sure when they are sent to a holding country, which we see is happening that they are legally allowed To Go to different countries that can accept them. And so were very grateful to the various countries, including the government of mexico which is where im at right now, who are opening their doors to afghan evacuees, which is so critically important at this moment in time. So kimberly, what is your sense of how many people remain in afghanistan who want to get out of that country . Obviously The American footprint is gone. The ability to have american military forces to help get those people out of the country has left. So who is there . And what is the process from their side of things in afghanistan to get out of the country . Well, right now, i mean, to be frank, theres millions of afghans that want to leave the country. I think we see the photographs of the many many and thousands of afghans caught at the border. We saw the tragic photographs of people outside the airport trying to desperately get in. So there is millions of people that want to leave afghanistan. Theyre very unclear of what the new government, the taliban government is going to look like, and they are obviously concerned. And im concerned as well. Even though, you know, the last sort of plane has left afghanistan, military plane, certainly the u. S. Footprint still remains in some capacity, and, you know, im just here to help. Im here to do my part along with many many other people within the country and outside the country. And i think whats also really really porn to know is that everyone that left afghanistan, over 100,000 people that left, every person that left left because an afghan person helped them to leave, and i think thats really really important to note that those cars that were driving people to the airport, they werent driving themselves, you know, people that were being escorted, they werent solely being escorted by, you know, international forces and things like that. But there were a lot of really good and well intentioned afghans that were still doing their part and continuing to do their part to help afghans and help foreigners trapped in the country right now. Kimberly, Claire Mccaskill has a question for you. Yeah, what are you hearing . We know that money is leverage, and it will be particular leverage in afghanistan right now where the united states of america has been their gdp for the last decade. They are a very poor nation, a very young nation, and the taliban may try To Govern, but they have a huge job on their hands trying to unite a disparate company fed on religious and ideology that all of these sects are much different than each other. Money here could be huge leverage, and private organizations that receive donations from individuals or from various governments including our European Allies are in the strongest position to help the women of afghanistan and to help other potential refugees from afghanistan that are our friends. What are you hearing about their effort and whether or not the united States Government will help fund these ngos, these not for profits that could go in and actually facilitate getting people out of this country that want To Go . I mean, im so glad that you asked that. I think certainly money is a motivating factor, and i think, you know, its one thing for the taliban to, you know, sort of take the country by brute force, and to bang their hands on their chest, but its another thing to run a country properly, and i think that definitely we as an international community and frankly, the united States Government, we definitely should make our aid and our money conditional in afghanistan, to make sure that womens rights are followed, to make sure Human Rights are followed, to make sure that women are seen in the community. You know, if the taliban government intends to deprive half of its population, which is the women, a real, you know, seat at the table, then they are doomed to fail. I mean, the reality is that the afghan women are a economic Power House within the afghan society. They are not, you know, just one dimensional, can only talk about womens rights, but they are also represented in virtually every sector, the business sector, the health sector, the legal sector. Youre absolutely correct that its the private company and private community that need to step up to the plate and make sure theyre doing what they can to protect women and to make their monetary, you know, sort of contributions conditional on basic rights and basic, you know, sort of equal economic scales being followed. So i think thats really really important moving forward, and like i said, i Cant Stress enough that if the new government of afghanistan refuses to recognize half of its population, the women, and also its Youth Population where over 70 of the population is under the age of 25, their economy will fail, and so i think thats really really important for All Of Us to watch. Kimberly, i mentioned women and girls in afghanistan, and i think our viewers should know that over the years you and others have helped to establish a rule of Law And Justice system in afghanistan. You have elevated women. They have become lawyers and judges and politician, but now youre sounding the alarm about whats going to happen to the women and girls in afghanistan, and expressed some frustration, frankly, on this administration for not focusing on that. What does it look like from the people you know through the years, the people youre talking to right now for women in afghanistan . Well, unfortunately right now it looks very grim for afghan women. A lot of women are terrified, understandably so. We see how women are being erased from public spaces. People are painting black paint over women in public spaces. Were seeing and hearing how women are being told to not come to school, not go to work. We are seeing for the schools where theres young girls and boys, theyre putting physical partitions between the boy and the girl students. You know, its really disheartening, and i think its even more important for us to make sure that were protecting and supporting the afghan women because like i said, that society will fail, and i think its really important for us to accept that even if our troops are not physically in afghanistan, that country is still part of the global dysfunctional family, and were still going to have to deal with the country of afghanistan, and one way we can try to uplift it is by making sure we continue to support the women. Continue to make sure their voices are heard, and continue to recognize that they are the economic Power House that they are in afghanistan, and give our aid conditionally. And frankly while im at it, i think that pakistan should be sanctioned. Frankly, they were a large part of this country invasion. They helped to invade afghanistan. Theres been reports of a lot of the taliban fighters speaking punjabi, and not speaking the local language of the country of afghanistan, and i think we really need to look also at our aid that were giving to pakistan and consider what were going to do for them also participating in this invasion of afghanistan. Human Rights Attorney Kimberly Motley who does incredible work and has around the world. Thank you for being with us this morning, we appreciate it. The devastation from Hurricane Ida is becoming more apparent as the survey of damage continues this morning. Entire communities under water. Dangerous conditions are making Rescue Efforts much more difficult. This comes as temperatures soar across the south, well over 100 with some heat indexes. Power lines are down. They could stay that way for days or weeks to come. Nbc News Correspondent Miguel Almaguer has more. Reporter the race to rescue is still unfolding in Louisiana. The beaten and battered, stranded for days, plucked from homes where the water is rising and hope was fading. We got rescued by a truck just now. Reporter pregnant and desperate, Heather Webe escaped flood waters. Facing a complex maze of submerged roads, busted highways, and Alligator Infested waters which likely claimed one life, search teams still cant reach the hardest hit communities. In just this One Area of Jefferson Parish, not far outside New Orleans, they had 135 rescues in a day. If you want To Go further, youll need a boat. The easiest way into areas like Grand Isle and lafitte, what happened in minutes could leave the stranded trapped for days. It was unbelievable. 4 feet of water just came rushing in. Reporter with the scope of destruction coming into focus, whats out of view is also devastating. Surrounded by water, more than half A Million have none from their taps safe to drink. Lines for gas and supplies are leaving locals in searing heat, for some, the storms after math more devastating than the impact. This is probably the worst i have been through. I mean, i went through katrina. Reporter though torrential rain has passed in mississippi the deluge helped erode a highway. The collapse killing two and injuring ten. Across this battered region, no break from the heartbreak, the storm gone but the crisis still unfolding. Miguel almaguer reporting from Louisiana for us. Still ahead on Morning Joe, house Minority Leader Kevin Mccarthy warns companies not to turn over Phone Records to the committee investigating the January 6th attack on the capitol. What Congressman Adam Schiff is saying about that. An incredible story out of Rural Alabama where one woman took it upon herself to get nearly her entire small town vaccinated against covid when there was no easy access to the vaccine. Youre watching Morning Joe. Well be right back. Youre watching Morning Joe. 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Learn more at your local xfinity store today. Welcome back to Morning Joe, it is 7 29 Coming Up on the bottom of the hour at the united states capitol, house Minority Leader Kevin Mccarthy yesterday told telecommunications and internet companies the following quote a republican majority will not forget if they turn over Phone And Email records to the congressional committee investigating the January 6th attack on the capitol. The committee has asked more than 30 companies to preserve records, including apple, verizon, and google. Prompting mccarthy to issue a statement that reads in part quote, if these companies comply with the democrat order, his term to turn over private investigation, theyre in violation of federal Law And Subject to losing their ability to operate in the united states. A republican majority will not forget and will stand with americans who hold them fully accountable under the law. Mccarthy did not specify which federal law he was referring to. A spokesman for the committee tells Nbc News, we have asked companies not to destroy records that may help answer questions for The American people. The committees efforts will not be deterred by those who want to whitewash or cover up the events of January 6th or to obstruction our investigation. Here is reaction from a member of the January 6th select committee, Congressman Adam Schiff of california. Its a threat on a preps of a falsehood that somehow asking companies to preserve records or ultimately turn over records of people involved in an insurrection is against the law, but mccarthy, look, hes scared, and i think his boss is scared. They didnt want this commission and this select committee To Go forward. They certainly didnt want it To Go forward as it is on a bipartisan basis, and they dont want the country to know exactly what they were involved in. And you can see why. Congressman mccarthy previously has acknowledged speak To Go former president Donald Trump while the attack on the capitol was underway. So Gene Robinson, republicans have had chances at every turn to get a bipartisan look at what happened on January 6th. They refused that. They didnt want to participate in the select key, save for a couple of republicans appointed by nancy pelosi, and you have Kevin Mccarthy suggesting that its a violation of the law for the committee which does have subpoena power, i will remind our viewers to ask for the Phone Records. Its not a violation of the law. Kevin mccarthy is not a serious person. Kevin mccarthy is worried among other things about his own Phone Records, his own conversations on January 6th. And the conversations of the contacts of republican members of the house, of his caucus, with potentially with the president , with insurrectionists, with, you know, the people who brought about January 6th leading up to that day. Any of those kinds of contacts, he doesnt want coming out into the light. Potential contacts, i should say. We dont know that there were such contacts, but you would think that the Minority Leader of the house would want to know about what exactly led up to the gravest attack on our capitol and our democracy since the civil war. Youd think he would want to know, get to the bottom of that, but obviously he does not. Hes trying to protect his caucus and protect the former president. Hey, claire, im going to ask you to put your Prosecutors Hat back on for a moment. What im listening to when i hear Kevin Mccarthy, im thinking, okay, a crime was committed. Crimes were committed on January 6th. These requests are not for conversations. Theyre for Phone Records of people who were perhaps witnesses to the crimes that were committed on January 6th, and the records are being requested in order to speak to those people who may have had had contact with the participants in this. Am i wrong . No, youre not wrong. You know, Kevin Mccarthy reminded me of a mob boss yesterday, threatening witnesses with extension if they cooperate with law enforcement. Thats what this has come to. It is unbelievably bold for a leader of a major political party to threaten major sectors of american businesses out of business, threaten them with extinction if they cooperate with a lawful investigation into violations of the law. And you know, these members of congress, when they decided to run for congress, they decided they were going to open their lives to public scrutiny. Nobody forced them to do that. Nobody forced them to run for congress and become public figures, and now theyre uncomfortable with the idea that anybody could even get records of who they called, who they talked to during a pivotal moment in our american democracy, at a moment where americans have a right to know who was talking to who. And you know, whether or not the contents of those conversations are ever revealed, it is certainly just the basics of an investigation that you ask people to retain records so that you can determine if there could have been conversations that contributed to the lawlessness that we saw that day. Kevin mccarthys got a lot of nerve complaining about the taliban. Hes busy Doing Lawless Stuff from a podium in the united states congress. And one wonders why republicans are working so hard to make sure this information about January 6th doesnt get out. Coming up, alabama has one of the lowest Vaccination Rates in the country, but our next guest is working to make sure her small town is the exception. Even if it means going Door To door. An extraordinary story when Morning Joe comes right back. An extraordinary story when Morning Joe comes right back vo this is a place for ambition. A forge of progress. A unicorn in training. A corner to build a legacy. A vision for tomorrow. A fresh start. A blank canvas. A second act. A renewed company culture. A temple for ideas. And a place to make your mark. Loopnet. The most popular place to find a space. In 2016, i was working at the Amazon Warehouse when my brother passed away. And a couple of years later, my mother passed away. After taking care of them, i knew that i really wanted to become a nurse. Amazon helped me with training and tuition. Today, im a medical assistant and im studying to become a registered nurse. In filipino youll always be in my heart. At usaa, weve been called too exclusive. Because we were created for officers. But as weve evolved with the military, weve grown to serve all whove honorably served. No matter their rank, or when they were in. A marine just out of basic, or a petty officer from 73. And even his kids. And their kids. Usaa is made for all whove honorably served and their families. Are we still exclusive . Absolutely. And thats exactly why you should join. Heard people say they get sick. Theyre all going to hurt sometimes. I didnt have no problem with mine at all. Look at her smiling at me. You know i know you, dont you. You ready to take that shot . Put him down. See, i got him. Im good. Put me down. Thats a clip from the pinola project, a short documentary from the New Yorker about who women from the tiny rural town, Dorothy Oliver and county commissioner, drucilla rush jackson, who took the time To Go Door To Door To convince neighbors to get the vaccine. Their work has gotten nearly every resident vaccinated, 97 of the town, in a state that has one of the lowest rates in the country. One of the women featured in the documentary, Dorothy Oliver. Were so happy to have you with us this morning. Thank you for joining us. I want to underline those two numbers, the state of alabama, 38 vaccination rate. Your town, panola, alabama, 97 . How did you do do it . We decided the best way to do it, first of all, we started calling on the phone trying to take them to make the shot, make the appointment, and after we see we need To Go a little bit further, so we decide to bring the vaccination to panola. And we went Door To door talking to them, and we didnt have any problem. I have been doing this for a long time. I used to do it in other projects also, so Everybody Respect me, and know im an honest person. We didnt have any problem, and they respect the commissioner also, so we didnt have any problem at all. We went Door To door, and we called on the phone. We did whatever we had to do to make sure they get vaccinated. So dorothy, why did you have to undertake this effort . Was it a lack of access to the vaccine . Was It Hesitancy by the people in the town of panola, or why did you take this upon yourself . Well, what we decided to do, the people just didnt have the access To Go get it because we live so far. Were in a rural area. So we knew that if we didnt do something, a lot of people wasnt going to be able to call. A lot of times they dont know how to make the phone call, dont have internet to make the appointment. Its hard to get internet in our area, and we decided we would make it better for them, you know, just bring it to panola and make sure Nobody Wouldnt have an excuse not to get it. So 97 , dorothy, did you have to twist Anybodys Arm or when you showed up knocking at the door because as you said, you are so trusted in your community, did they say, yeah, dorothy, ill do it . It wasnt that easy. A lot of them it was. A lot of them said, thank you, we appreciate it. We didnt even know what we had to do to get it. And then we had that few that we had to really twist their arm to try to get it. They had a lot of excuses, you know, they had a lot of excuses, i just want to wait to see what it going to do to everybody else or i just think its politics. They had a lot of different reasons, so we didnt have a lot of people like that. Just a few of them. Dorothy, a lot of people in the country are having conversations with Family Members or neighbors or people you care about. It would be interesting for the people that are hesitant, what were the conversations like, how did you convince them to get the shot . I kept talking to them, and i said, look, you got to do this, you got to get that shot because this disease, it aint plain. You see it killing people everywhere. You got to take it for your family, because if you dont, this disease aint picking the person that it hits. So you got To Go ahead and take it. And i just keep talking, keep convincing them, and believe me, in a few minutes, they just got on board. Ms. Oliver, this is Gene Robinson from the washington post. Congratulations on what youve accomplished. Thank you im curious as to what the result has been for panola . Has the Vaccination Campaign managed to pretty much keep the disease at bay and keep it away from panola . Thats correct. My understanding. We only had two people, maybe one person because i think the other Person Wasnt diagnosed with. So we kept it out of panola. We only had one death that i know of out of panola. Mike barnicle, i think we need to get Dorothy Oliver going across the country. It seems like she can convince people to get the shot. Yeah, dorothy, i hope youre willing to travel, but let me ask you this, who did the vaccinating, who did the vaccinating, how long did the vaccinating take before you got as many of your neighbors vaccinated, and lastly, can you get to Montgomery And Birmingham today . Well, well have to think about that one because im a long way from birmingham and montgomery, but it didnt take long. What happened, we started off like i said, just calling. I would call people and see did they need my Help And Everything so after that, we decided to bring it to panola, and we only brought it to panola three times, i believe. We talked to them, and they came up, and then we had the national guard and the Health Department to come. So we didnt have like three trips, i believe, is what it was. And then we just about had everybody by then, just a few left. What was the root of people not being vaccinated in your town . Was it fear . Was it the fact that they werent aware of the lethality of the virus . What was the root of their opposition if it was opposition to getting vaccinated . I think the root was that people just was real afraid to get it, and they was thinking im just going to wait. Thats what i got a lot of that, i probably got probably two or three people just said, well, maybe one person that said it was politics. The rest of them was just scared and i had some people say i just didnt know how to get it, how to, you know, how to get the appointment. Dorothy, first of all, congratulations, and what you have proven is that reaching out to your neighbors works, that if you make an extra effort, people respect that and they respect that you care for them, and this is something that is deeply rooted in christianity. Do you feel like ministers in your area have done enough and what would you say to ministers across rural america about what role they should have in teaching people to get a vaccination so that they can take care of others as well as themselves . I would say the minister really need to play a role, because if the minister play a role, that would encourages people every sunday, and kind of encourage them, and kind of put a little push there, and i know that would help a whole lot. In my area, i think i know some of the ministers have been announcing in church and all that and making sure that people go out and get their shot. I know that happened in my area. Dorothy, i know youre sitting at 97 which is just incredible, but just listening to you and the conviction in your voice, would you like to get it to 100 in panola . Oh, yes. Like i said, im not going to stop until the job is done. Im still calling. Yesterday i was out making sure, making phone calls to try to get the other percentage. So were going to try. I got a few thats pretty tough, though, so i dont know. Dorothy oliver, you are a light. You are a saint. Thank you for the work youre doing in panola, for the work youre doing, we so appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up here on Morning Joe, california Governor Gavin Newsom is facing a tough Recall Election this month. Msnbcs Jacob Soboroff sat down with the governor to talk about what is at stake. Jacob joins us just ahead. Morning joe is coming right back. Youve got holes in your clothes and booze on Breath Breath vo just getting by, its an ongoing struggle. Thats why President Biden and democrats in congress have a plan to Lower Costs for americas working families. Lower costs of healthcare premiums and the price of Prescription Drugs. Pay less for electric bills by moving to clean energy. And do it all by making the ultrawealthy pay their fair share of taxes. Itd be a win for the everyday american family. Right when they could really use one. Congress, lets get this done. [sfx radio being tuned] welcome to allstate. [band plays] a place where everyone lives life wellprotected. And even when things go a bit wrong, weve got your back. Here, things work the way you wish they would. And better protection costs a whole lot less. Youre in good hands with allstate. Click or call for a lower Auto Rate today. Its the biggest sale of the year, on the new Sleep Number 360 smart bed. 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We could see a Record Number of incidents this year. Heres nbc News Correspondent Tom Costello with more. Were getting hit by that laser again. Reporter it happens every day. Cockpits lit up by handheld lasers. Hes been hitting us with a green laser. Reporter in florida a man in a boat first admitted pointing a laser at a Sheriffs Department Chopper but is now pleading not guilty. When the laser hits, that beam is big enough to envelope this entire cockpit. Reporter Sheriffs Department chief pilot brian smith says hes been hit many times at low altitude when hes most vulnerable. You can get laser burns that are in your eye. Those laser burns hurt. It feels like somebody punched you in the side of the face or poked you in the eye. It happened on united Airlines Captain Jonathan Sawyer on approach with passengers on board. I turned to look at what it was and it was a green laser that illuminated the entire flight deck. Reporter fortunately the first officer was able to land safely. Even with low Air Traffic last year the faa reports nearly 7,000 laser attacks in 2020, the most since 2016, and even more this year. Most often on friday and saturday nights. California, texas and florida report the most cases. The suspects very often young men who may not realize the danger to pilots and passengers. It doesnt really matter what the motivation is. Its got to stop. You certainly dont want pilots to be distracted while theyre flying the airplane. Tom costello reporting there. Still ahead on Morning Joe an unfolding disaster in afternoon where one wildfire is forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate from the popular Lake Tahoe Resort area. We will have a live report with the very latest when Morning Joe comes right back. Omes righ. Their own safelite story. S this couple loves camping adventures and their suv is always there with them. So when their windshield got a chip, they wanted it fixed fast. 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The only thing stronger than us, is you. Ayy, ayy, ayy yeah, we fancy like applebees on a Date Night got that Bourbon Street Steak with the oreo shake get some whipped cream on the top too two straws, one check, girl, i got you bougie like natty in the Styrofoam Squeaksqueakin in the Truck Bed all the way home some alabamajamma, she my dixieland delight ayy, thats how we do, how we do, fancy like, oh after 20,744 american servicemen and women injured and the loss of 2,461 american personnel, including 13 lives lost just this week, i refuse to open another decade of war in afghanistan. Weve been a nation too long at war. One day after the last united states troops left kabul, President Biden defending his decision to end americas longest war and pushing back against the notion his administration did not do everything it could to get every united States Citizen out of the country, despite the fact many of them still are in the country. Plus, Hundreds Of Thousands of people in Louisiana still without electricity or running water in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida as temperatures soar there. Well have the very latest. Plus, we are following the continued battle in florida over the Governors Ban of School Mask mandates. A judge ruled the Governors Order was unconstitutional, but the state still has gone ahead with financial penalties against School Districts. Well have an update on that story. Good morning, welcome to Morning Joe. It is wednesday, september 1st. Im willie geist. We will start with President Bidens address to the nation yesterday afternoon, one day after the final american troops left afghanistan, officially ending our Countrys Role in that war. Nbc chief white House Correspondent Peter Alexander takes us through the president s defense of that decision. Reporter with the taliban declaring victory in afghanistan, President Biden at the White House marked The End of americas longest war. Leaving August The 31st is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save american lives. Reporter facing bipartisan backlash, the president at times angry and defensive standing by his decision to end the mission with up to 200 american citizens still stranded. 90 of americans in afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. For those remaining americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. Reporter but that move breaks this promise President Biden made less than two weeks ago. If theres american citizens left, were going to stay until we get them all out. Reporter the last soldier out, major general chris donahue, commander of the 82nd airborne division, seen boarding the final C17 Airplane monday at kabuls airport. The president touting the safe evacuation of 124,000 people as an extraordinary success. Extraordinary success of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery and selfless courage of the United States Military and our diplomats. Reporter while insisting despite the frantic final days and the loss of 13 u. S. Service members there was no way to carry out Americas Exit without chaos. There is no evacuation from The End of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenges and threats we faced. None. Reporter but republicans are accusing the president of betraying americans. When you you dont leave your people behind, and we did. Im afraid theyre going to kill these people and hurt them the entire time theyre dying. Reporter two days after the u. S. Says it foiled another Isisk Attack on the airport, President Biden delivering this stern warning. To isisk, we are not done with you yet. Peter alexander reporting there. Joining us now, Nbc News white House Correspondent Mike Memoli at the White House. Mike, good morning, good to see you. The president was defensive yesterday. As much as this was an explanation of his decision, there was no celebration, there was no mission accomplished. He sort of went through point by point whether you agreed with him or not meeting some of the criticism hes faced over the last month. Reporter yeah, thats right, willie. This is a White House that for the last two and a half weeks since the fall of kabul on or around August 14th has really been in crisis mode. Behind the scenes All Of Us have been getting a lot from white House Officials criticizing the way this is being covered, defending against some of the criticism they have been facing really from all sides, even some democratic allies. They have never really had the ability to mount a real public pushback in part because they were sweating the very real threats to The Americans on the ground and in one case lost to a tragic loss of life. We saw the White House really begin now that the final americans are off the ground there, at least the Military Operation is concluded, pushback, really begin to do that. It started in the morning with Jake Sullivan talking about all the criticism theyre getting are from people who havent had to be in the situation room, havent had To Go through the threats and make the tough calls. And the president himself really defiant. He did a number of things in that speech. One what weve heard throughout this process, which is defend the broader decision to end 20 years of a forever war, as he put it. He talked about the decision President Trump had made, the deal with the taliban, and said he was faced with a decision of either expanding our Military Presence or withdrawing and obviously he already was inclined to withdraw from the start. And then he got into some of those very difficult chaotic and tragic scenes over the last two weeks. He acknowledged it was a flawed assumption that led them to believe the afghan government would hold up for a few more weeks to provide a more, lets say, efficient withdrawal from afghanistan. But he talked about the fact that any fall of a capital as weve seen here was going to lead to the kind of chaos. And then he broadened it out to really hit the defining characteristic of his Foreign Policy over the last eight months so far, which is this idea of democracies Versus Autocracies and his assessment, his very real conviction, that the continued Military Presence in afghanistan was not in our national interest. That our focus needs to be on a Terror Threat that has metastasized beyond afghanistan but more broadly on this idea as weve been talking about, democracies Versus Autocracies and saying China And Russia would love nothing more than to see us bogged down in afghanistan for another decade. Obviously one of the central criticisms that the president has heard is leaving americans behind. We know as peter pointed out in his piece that the president promised to get every last american out of the country in that interview with george stephanopolous a couple of weeks ago. The president and his national Security Advisor are also pointing out the administration gave americans living in afghanistan a number of warnings to get out before this withdrawal date. Heres what he said. Since march, we reached out 19 times to americans in afghanistan with multiple warnings and offers to help them to leave afghanistan, all the way back as far as march. The bottom line, 90 of americans in afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. And for those remaining americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. We gave 19 messages starting in March To Americans to leave the country. We offered them financial assistance to leave the country and then for more than two weeks, we gave them specific instructions for how to come. 97 of the people we communicated with got to the airport and got out on planes. So, mike, you might have heard the president say they got 90 of The Americans who wanted to leave. The White House later updated the transcript. The President Misspoke and they say it was 98 of americans who wanted to get out were able to leave. So what the president is saying here and what Jake Sullivan is saying is that these americans were given every chance to leave the country back since march. That they were given warning after warning. In fact their argument goes that the people who remain, The Americans who remain in afghanistan are there by choice. We know thats not entirely true. There are Passport Holders who still want to get out. There are dual citizenship people who want to leave that country. But they say by and large most of The Americans still there want to be there. Yeah, willie, as part of what we heard there publicly yesterday, we were also get behind the scenes the receipts, as the kids say. They were showing us those emails sent over the months to those based in afghanistan and describing an incredible operation over the last two and a half weeks to do everything they can to find americans who were in afghanistan, to identify them, and then to ask them three simple questions. Where are you, do you want to leave, and do you need help getting to the airport. A white House Official i spoke to yesterday said that of the 6,000 that were safely evacuated, the 100 to 200 that remain are the most complicated cases. These are people who obviously waited until the last minute in some cases. These are people with dual citizenship, with deep connections to afghanistan. And also those who as part of the evacuation efforts, as part of the interactions they had with embassy personnel, were communicating that they wanted not just to leave and have their immediate families come with them but extended families. That was just not something that the u. S. Could accommodate. So by definition, the white House Officials were stressing behind the Scenes Yesterday that those who remain, the small number, were by definition the most complicated, most nuanced cases. But the president said for those who do remain and want to leave, there is no deadline. So they are insisting that yes, its now a diplomatic effort but there will continue to be efforts made to get anybody in afghanistan who wants to leave out of that country. The president reiterating that promise. That leaves out, unfortunately, off the afghan war time allies that we heard about from so many veterans on this Show Yesterday that they are privately scrambling behind the scenes to get out of the country. Mike, thanks so much. Joining us now former u. S. Senator and now an Nbc News and msnbc political analyst Claire Mccaskill and Sam Stein. Claire, ill begin with you. What did you think of the president s performance yesterday, his argument, the speak he made in defense. As i said, he went sort of point by point and met the criticism hes received, a lot of it from democrats, by the way, about his handling of this evacuation over the last couple of weeks. What did you think . Well, i thought it was slightly defensive but brutally honest. I think he laid out exactly why he made this decision and why hes standing behind it. In many ways i found it refreshing. You know, nobody really believed that the afghan government would melt away as quickly as it did and that complicated this. But hes right about one thing, willie. You dont ever announce youre leaving the country and not have a rush to the exits. And that rush to the exits, whether it was at Bagram Air Force base or at the Kabul Airport was always going to be really dangerous for The Americans trying the military trying to process that because they became Sitting Ducks for Suicide Bombers. And thats exactly what happened. I thought it was very interesting that he made very clear to america that were not done with isis, and i want to remind everyone that our military has been Fighting Isis and Al Qaeda and other terrorists across the globe effectively since 9 11, and i think our country will continue to do that. Sam, if you look at the polling, and i know youve got some new numbers to show us. The american people, the majority of them, are with the president on the decision to withdraw from afghanistan. Hes made no secret this is something he wanted. He talked about it as a candidate for president. He talked about it as he got into office and now he says i have delivered on that promise. Its the execution of that withdrawal thats less popular with The American public. Yeah. Despite everything thats happened over the past three weeks, the public still in our poll at least supports the withdrawal 50 to 41 . It is on the execution where they are soured on the withdrawal. I would just say this. I thought bidens speech, while defensive for sure, to me, and id be curious what Senator Mccaskill thinks about this, which is to me it read like someone who wanted to sort of close the loop on post9 11 political era. To lean into the idea that you dont need to be showing muscular abroad in order to be effective and that the real problem with the Afghanistan War was not in the withdrawal but the execution and the rationale for getting in in the first place. You know, biden obviously has been around for a while, but he was there and a major player in the post9 11 politics. He saw the degree to which national security decisions can be used politically against democrats. And when i saw that speech yesterday, when i heard it, to me what really stood out was this idea that of a person who said im not going to get clipped on this stuff again. Im not going to allow myself to get clipped again. Now, i dont know if thats going to work. In our same poll, for instance, we have a 21 increase in concerns about islamic extremism from january to now. That could be a product of the current Media Climate were in. That could be a political reality he still has to deal with. But to me when i watched it that was what came through, was that biden remembered and recalled the politics of post9 11 and said this is not going to happen again. Still ahead, new details about the Talibans Role in the evacuation of americans and their allies from afghanistan. Nbcs Courtney Kube brings us that reporting next on Morning Joe. Ng next on Morning Joe. Welcome to allstate. 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Three senior Defense Officials tell Nbc News the taliban drove americans through checkpoints, cleared streets so americans could pass safely, and even carried their luggage to the Airport Gates. Lets bring in nbc News Correspondent covering national security and the military, Courtney Kube. Courtney, good morning. So the taliban reportedly also helped to prevent one potential attack. What more do we know about that . Yeah, thats right. And look, we should point out here, there are many, many, many cases that we have heard about and that we are aware of that the taliban did not help particularly afghans get to the airport safely. But what weve been learning over this last week or so is there was this agreement between the u. S. Military there on the ground with who are essentially their Military Counterparts in the taliban to help americans get safe passage to the airport. And so what the State Department would do is they would identify these americans who were ready to come to the airport. They had evacuation flights ready. They would send them a Text Message with a screen a pass essentially and tell them where To Go. There were two locations that they would go and they would basically meet taliban fighters who were there. The taliban then had a copy of this pass and they had a list, a manifest essentially of who would be coming through, and The Americans would come, the taliban would basically process them at these locations and then they would ensure they had safe passage the last distance, it was a very short distance left to the airport, through these large crowds that would often gather around the gates. The Defense Officials explained as you said, willie, there were times where the taliban would even help them carry their luggage to the gates. Its important to point out theres been some criticism about the fact the u. S. Was providing the taliban with these manifests of names. The Defense Officials i spoke with ensured me while they did give them names of people To Go through these checkpoints, the taliban had to turn the names back over. They could have taken photos and could still target some of the people on these lists but they werent handing over lists of people to the taliban to keep. There was another case we learned about just on sunday, so this was within about 24 hours of the u. S. Leaving afghanistan for the last time. There was a bus that was headed through one of these checkpoints on its way to Kabul Airport. Well, it was stopped at a Gas Station right outside the airport. Everyone on board told to get off and they were ordered to get off. Well, there was an american man and his six daughters who were on at the time. They were told theres a potential explosive device on this bus. There are two potential Suicide Attackers on here, go, run. And The Americans and the others on the bus went and they fled and they hid in a Drainage Ditch until the taliban told them it was safe To Go. They got up and eventually made their way to the airport. I can report sadly that those six women, young daughters and the father, The American citizen, still are in afghanistan. They didnt make it out of the country. But whats important to point out here is this is a case, as others that we are now hearing about, where the taliban seem to have potentially stopped a Suicide Attack and may have saved american lives. This is someone who the u. S. Fought for two decades in afghanistan and in these last days they may have actually been saving american lives, willie. Yeah, courtney, i think a lot of people would hear this list of stories and say of course the taliban wanted to put on a good face to help usher the united states out of town and begin their celebration of what they call the defeat of a superpower. So what will The American government be watching out of the taliban . What would be a punitive measure that weve been hearing about . We heard from the defense secretary, we just heard it from Ron Klain that theyll be watching with a skeptical eye and they reserve the right, does The American military, to do something about it. What does that look like . Yeah, absolutely. So while this Defense Official i spoke with said this was a bit of a confidencebuilding measure, the fact that the taliban did in large part help the United States Military in this case, but its important to point out they had two very similar goals to the united states. One, get americans out. Number two, to stop any potential attack from isisk. So they were for this short period of time, the u. S. And the taliban had a similar view and they were working towards similar aims. That being said, Defense Officials are very, very skeptical that this is a new and improved taliban and that this signals that theres some path forward for the united states to work particularly on militarytomilitary level with the taliban going forward. There is likely to be some sort of diplomatic engagement going forward and thats because there continue to be americans and afghans who the u. S. May work to get out in the future. The question is would that be direct diplomatic ties. More likely it would continue to be through some sort of an intermediary like the qataris as weve seen happen now the last several years. Theres also the economic piece. So i think going forward, the 20year Military Mission in afghanistan has ended. The diplomatic and economic way forward is what were going to see more of going forward. The u. S. Military is quick to point out, though, they will maintain the capability to strike in afghanistan if and when that is needed. In the meantime, there are americans who still need to leave, as you say. Nbcs Courtney Kube, thanks so much, courtney. Coming up, the power is flowing to some parts of New Orleans this morning, but much of Louisiana remains in the dark. Well have the latest on the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, next on Morning Joe. On Morning Joe. Baaam. Internet that doesnt miss a beat. Thats cute, but my internet streams to my ride. Pshh, mines so fast, no one can catch me. Thats because you both have the same internet. Xfinity xfi. So powerful, it keeps oneupping itself. Can your internet do that . We are hoping things will pick up by q3. Yeah. Uh. Doug . [ding] never settle with power E Trade. It has easytouse tools and some of the lowest prices. Dont get mad. Get E Trade and start trading today. vo this is more than just a building. Its an aipowered Investment Firm with billiondollar views. A cuttingedge datasecurity enterprise. Yes, with a slide. 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Reporter pregnant and desperate, heather finally escaped the floodwaters. Our house is underwater. We would have drowned. Reporter facing a complex maze of submerged roads, buckled highways and alligatorinfested waters which likely claimed one life, search teams still cant reach the hardesthit communities. In just this One Area of Jefferson Parish not far outside of New Orleans, they had about 135 rescues in roughly a day. They have never seen water quite like this before. If you want To Go further, youll need a boat. The easiest ways into areas like grand Idle And Lafitte is through the air. Their only roads quickly turned to rivers. It could leave the stranded trapped for days. It was unbelievable. Four feet of water just came rushing in. Reporter with the scope of destruction coming into focus, whats out of view is also devastating. Surrounded by water, more than half A Million have none from their taps safe to drink. Lines for gas and supplies are leaving locals in searing heat. For some, the Storms Aftermath more devastating than the impact. This is probably the worst ive been through. I mean i went through katrina. Reporter though torrential rain has passed in mississippi, the deluge helped erode a highway, the collapse killing two and injuring ten. Across this battered region, no break from the heartbreak. The storm gone, but the crisis still unfolding. Im Morgan Chesky in New Orleans where its a slow Motion Disaster leaving more than A Million people in the dark. Do you have any idea when youll get power back . Right now, no. Its crazy. Reporter ida crippling a massive power grid. The Energy Provider saying it could take three weeks before hardhit areas are back up. The schools are not open, the businesses are not open, the hospitals are slammed. Theres not water in your home and theres not going to be electricity. Reporter in st. Charles parish just west of New Orleans, officials now warning residents to prepare for more than a month. These are all empty . Reporter for clyde jackson, fuel for his generator more precious than water. Im on diesel now and cant get diesel. Once that goes, it goes. What then . Thats it. Reporter many hospitals, including New Orleans ochsner health, are still relying on generators. But as i hadda struck, neurosurgeons dr. Joseph smith and lockwood faced emergency. Brought him into the operating room. The Lights Flickered and the lights went out. Dr. Smith looked at me and said i guess well do the whole thing under candlelight. The lights came back on just in time. Thousands of Line Crews fighting brutal Heat And Idas aftermath to bring one disaster to a close. Morgan chesky reporting for us there. Coming up, Governor Gavin Newsom is fighting for his political life in california. We will talk about the Recall Election there and what it might say about the upcoming midterms. Morning joe is coming right back. T back you probably think visa is a credit card company, huh . 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Lets bring in nbc News Correspondent Steve Patterson live near Lake Tahoe where tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate. Steve, what does it look like there . Reporter willie, Lake Tahoe is potentially facing what is the worst disaster in its history, a situation so dire that emergency officials are now moving emergency operations across the border into nevada while a dedicated core of firefighters is working around the clock to save as many homes as possible from these out of control flames. This morning, firefighters in south Lake Tahoe are the last line of defense between the massive Caldor Fire and thousands of homes. The fire has been very volatile. Every time we think were getting a Foot Hold on getting containment lines put in, it shows us it will do what it wants. Reporter the smoke getting into neighboring states. A Summer Paradise now shrouded in smoke and flame. I wonders if im going to have a home to come back to. Reporter it is quickly closing in on the resort town. Homes are threatened and our community is threatened. I never thought that was possible. Reporter hundreds of structures already destroyed. More than 30,000 others now under threat with more than 50,000 residents under mandatory evacuation. When you evacuate, you realize how many things you left behind, but its too late. You evacuate, you cant get back in. Reporter ahead of a typically busy Labor Day weekend, residents and visitors are instead fleeing. Its heartbreaking. Its unfortunate. Theres lots of family and years of memories and its absolutely devastating. Reporter others choosing to stay behind for now. As long as the Smoke Isnt so bad and the flames arent real close, were going to stick it out, you know. If not, well high tail it out. Reporter burning nearly 200,000 acres, massive smoke plumes can be seen from miles away. On the ground, redhot flames devouring dry brush and tall trees. These evacuees are getting ready to move yet again. This center 40 miles from south Lake Tahoe is now sending californians seeking shelter another 50 miles away to reno, nevada. This moving kicks the day lights out of me. Its tough. Its very tough. Emotional. Reporter its a battle against the blaze, with relief hard to see amid the heavy haze. This fire continues to grow, we continue to fight but this community is still very much at risk. Reporter today is expected to be the most critical point in the firefight so far. The winds expected to pick up, the heat expected to pick up with these red flag winds and red flag warnings extending through the night. Willie. 200,000 acres burned, what a massive effort by those firefighters. Nbcs Steve Patterson. Steve, thank you. Staying in california, the special election to remove democratic Governor Gavin Newsom from office is now just two weeks away. The latest Polling Average from 538 shows 51 of voters there want to keep Governor Newsom in office, 45 want him removed. If the governor is recalled, Polling Averages show republican Larry Elder a conservative Talk Show Host in the lead to replace him. The recall could have national implications and both President Biden and Vice President harris said they will campaign for Governor Newsom before the September 14th vote. Jacob soboroff spoke with the governor about his chances and jacob joins us now. Jacob, hows it looking there in california . Really close, willie. Really, really close. Closer than anybody thought it would be in a democratic 21 state. You just read the Polling Average and it is not 21 in favor of the democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. Voters are already voting right now with Mailin Ballots, votebymail ballots. I asked the governor himself why he thinks hes in this position and voters too about what theyre going to do with the opportunity to recall the governor of the most democratic, bluest state in the union. Watch this. A Pizza Delivery from embattled california Governor Gavin Newsom looking to fuel the fight for his political survival at this l. A. Campaign stop. Here the main argument volunteers are asked to make is one blaming republicans for using a process they call undemocratic. What were seeing here is a Power Grab to circumventing the will of the people. Reporter in a state where covid, wildfires, homelessness and crime are in the headlines, the process itself is what newsom wants on the ballot. Do you really think about is about a republican recall and only that, that there arent people unhappy with Governor Gavin Newsom . Of course everybody is upset with everybody the last 18 months. Its been a terrible, difficult 18 months across the spectrum. But lets talk about whos behind this. This is a republican recall backed by the rnc, gingrich, huckabee and nunes. Reporter the ability to recall is shared by governors in 19 states. Opponents collected 1,719,000 signatures. Every voter will get a Mailin Ballot and two questions to vote on. Should Gavin Newsom be recalled from the office of governor . And who should replace him . Republicans might only get newsome so far. Youre moved . Im moved. Reporter up north i checked back with bernadette who was commuting six hours a day to and from the hospital in san francisco where she worked. Because of rising crime she sent her son to live with his dad. Person shot. Person shot 0. 6 of a mile away. Thats going on around here . Yeah. Youre having a tough time. Mmhmm. Have you thought about whether or not you want Governor Newsom to be recalled from office . I cant put the blame on him. I think that he should keep his job. This would be something that definitely keep him on his toes in little areas that need more attention. Like . Homeless, covid. Reporter in long beach i first met 23yearold camilla in june and learned about respiratory problems she has from growing up next to the freeway. She graduated from college a year ago. Despite having two Jobs Cant afford to move out of her parents house. Do you get the sense that the governor understands how hard life is for you and people like you . No. Its really upsetting. I dont mean to get emotional, but he has no idea. He has no clue, you know. Reporter the race itself could hinge on struggling voters like camilla who share that sentiment. It sounds like youre going to vote to recall the governor. I am. I am. I actually was independent up until last week. I just switched to republican. Like what 23yearold Latina is going to reregister as a republican, and here i am. Reporter newsome has focused his attacks on the recall itself and his leading challenger, republican Larry Elder. Voters like Bernadette And Camilla are looking for leadership that understands what matters to them. Inequality is worse in this state, in your state, than anywhere else in the united states of america. Do you blame people for wanting a change of leadership . I just got here two and a half years ago. But democrats have been in power over ten years. And for over two decades weve led the nation in terms of some of those challenges. Yeah, were the richest and poorest state. I recognize that. I also recognize a responsibility to do something about it. Willie, Governor Newsom continues to hammer his leading challenger, Larry Elder, basically as a Trump Republican. Elder says hes not a Trump Republican but he does differ from Governor Newsom on virtually every issue. Climate, abortion, minimum wage, you name it. What Governor Newsom needs is for voters like bernadette who might be on the fence about showing up but dont blame him for the crises this state faces, to show up and vote. In this offyear election, thats really going to be the challenge. Then you have people like camilla who are fired up about a change in leadership. Again, that is not a good sign for Governor Newsom at this point. Jacob, stay with us. I want to bring into the conversation jean guerrero. Jean, great to have you with us this morning. So what does this look like to you as you handicap this race . Obviously this is only the second time, as jacob pointed out, in the history of california that an effort, a Recall Effort got enough signatures to make it onto the ballot. Gray davis was recalled in 2003, replaced with arnold schwarzenegger. How is this going to turn out . Well, it isnt clear. It depends on how many people turn out. I think its important to remember that this is a recall that was fundamentally launched by antiimmigrant nativists. Despite the fact that it has picked up steam among people who are frustrated for more legitimate reasons, the fact of the matter is that the people who were angry with Gavin Newsoms proimmigrant stance are the people who launched this recall. He has been the most pro latino governor that this state has ever seen according to immigrant rights leaders ive spoken to. Hes invested heavily in public education, which has helped working class latinos. He has expanded Health Insurance to undocumented seniors and protected essential workers during the pandemic. Hes prioritized Highrisk Latino areas for covid vaccines and those are the reasons, when you look at the Voter Information Guide that comes with the ballot, those are the reasons that the recall was launched. Its important to remember as well that while newsom is not perfect and there are legitimate reasons to vote him out in the next legitimate election, not like this one, the alternative who is far to the right on immigrant rights and racial justice issues. He wants to reverse all of Californias Progress on sanctuary laws. He wants to take away drivers licenses from undocumented immigrants. He doesnt believe in instate tuition for dreamers and doesnt even believe in Birthright Citizenship which is enshrined in our constitution. Larry elder has made a career as a Talk Show Host who denies the fact of systemic racism and he mentored trump senior advisor Stephen Miller, who calls him his guy. So theres a lot of reasons to be concerned about this Recall Election. Jacob, there is a regularly scheduled gubernatorial election next year. In fact the primary is only nine months away next june. Talking to people on the ground like you have been, jacob, what is the impetus for those who are saying, yes, this governor should be recalled . Many of the leaders who are launching it have pointed to restrictive mandates, shutting down of businesses and schools and masks and the other things that have accompanied this pandemic, but what is the thrust against Governor Newsom . This has been a horrendous 18 months in california for virtually everybody, including covid, but not just limited to it. This is the most unequal state in the union when it comes to income inequality. I drove in this morning in Los Angeles past multiple homeless encampments of unhoused people. There are more unhoused people sleeping on the streets of Los Angeles county than anywhere else in the nation. But i think jean makes a really important point, willie. These are big, big policy differences here, especially when it comes to issues like immigration. Jean, i just wanted to ask you, you mentioned it briefly, but i see your book hatemonger. You studied Stephen Miller extremely closely. Larry elder essentially is a mentor to Stephen Miller. He appeared multiple times as you reported on Larry Elders program. Stephen miller of course one of the architects of the Family Separation Policy that here in california and throughout the nation was sort of uniquely disavowed by republicans and democrats. What has Larry Elder said about the role Stephen Miller would play in a Larry Elder governorship in california . Well, according to correspondence that i obtained for my Book Hatemongerer he wants Stephen Miller to be president of the united states some day. He told Stephen Miller that. And as i mentioned before, Stephen Miller called Larry Elder his one true guy. When i interviewed Larry Elder for the book, Larry Elder told me that, you know, he defended Stephen Millers Family Separation policies. As i mentioned, he is very antiimmigration. Were not just talking about illegal immigration, im talking about legal immigration. He doesnt believe people who are born in this country should be citizens if their parents dont have their papers in order, which again is enshrined in the constitution. So, you know, if the republicans succeed in flipping the most proimmigrant rights, pro racial Justice State in this country, it is going to set a Nightmare Precedent for black and latino communities across the united states because its going to feature heavily in midterm ads, its going to embolden antiimmigrant xenophobic governors in other states and potentially stall immigration reform efforts in congress and create questions around whether latinos are a legitimately powerful political entity given that newsom has done so much for latino communities. While it is as you mentioned true that many latinos are upset with newsom because of how difficult it has been during the pandemic. Well, that election is 13 days away on September 14th. As jacob points out, much closer right now in the polling than Governor Newsom would like it to be. Jean guerrero, thank you. Jacob, thank you as well. We will see you again up extraordinarily early on the west coast to host way too early. Thanks, jacob. Coming up next, it is difficult enough for big cities to handle the covid crisis, but it can be just as hard for rural communities which are much less equipped to handle the surge of hospitalizations. We will look into that next on Morning Joe. Ext on Morning Joe. The stinging. My skin was no longer mine. My psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen. Painful. Emerge tremfyant™. With tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Can uncover clearer skin and improve symptoms at 16 weeks. Tremfya® is the only medication of its kind also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. 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Pfizer telling Nbc News its vaccine data for 5 to 11 year olds will be ready this Month And Energy Use Authorization could come as soon as thanksgiving. This as the pandemic hits rural communities the hardest. Here at Marshal Hospital outside sacramento, this Physician Assistant faces a Record Surge of covid patients, many struggling to breathe. Three patients have arrived within the span of 15 minutes and youre already out of beds . Yes. Reporter the lives shes trying to save, often those of her own friends and neighbors. This woman has had severe symptoms for six weeks, so bad she cant work. Her two sons had covid and her best friend died from it, yet she still refuses to get the vaccine. I just want to be sure, what if i am that small Minute Number that actually dies from it. What do you tell someone like antoinette . Shes your friend . I have lost sleep over that. I am trying to help Folks Trust in medicine. Reporter she says shes terrified of getting infected herself and giving it to her husband and kids. I dont know if i could forgive myself if i brought home covid and they were suffering. Reporter just eight miles from the hospital burns the Caldor Fire, leaving some Hospital Staff devastated. This orderly lost her home to the fires last week. Still, shes showing up for work, cleaning the rooms of critically ill covid patients. Its not all about just me. Its the patients, the patients families, and sometimes you just have to set that aside and do what you do. Erin mclaughlin reporting for us there. Obviously covid Vaccination Rates remain way too low in way too many states. As we approach the 20th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, 2001 next week, joining us is ceo of the tunnel to Towers Foundation, who is commemorating the day by walking more than 500 miles to honor the first responders who died that day. Frank, thank you so much for being with us. Lets talk, if we can, first, about the genesis of tunnel to towers, where that term comes from, and most importantly about your brother steven. Well, it comes from what my brother steven did in new York City, a firefighter on September 11th, 2001, when he heard that the towers were hit. He just finished his ninth tour in squad one in brooklyn. He turned his car around, got his gear and drove to the mouth of the tunnel, where it was closed for security reasons and he strapped Fire Gear on his back and ran through the tunnel to the towers to save people. But while doing so, he gave up his own life. Thats why we still have the tunnel to Towers Foundation and were doing many things over the last 20 years, but nothing more important than taking care of our men and women in uniform that die in the line of duty, for our country, our Gold Star families who pay off their mortgages or build them a mortgagefree home, and also for fallen first responders, firefighters and police officers that die and leave young families behind. We pay off or mortgages and we delivered over 200 mortgagefree homes this year alone. As you know, this organization has broadened its scope beyond 9 11 families to take care of military families as well. The work, the money that frank has helped raise has helped many, many families, having less to do with September 11th and the focus of the tunnel to Towers Foundation. Frank, when you were in Flint Hill, virginia, beginning your walk, you were joined by a Flint Hill volunteer firefighter. I believe his name was duane prather, who joined you for the first 12 miles, carrying an oxygen tank. Can you tell us about that and any others who have joined you along this march . You know, i did start on August 1st at the pentagon. I said a prayer with my family. I proceeded to shanksville, August 21st i was at shanksville. I was with 40 new York City firefighters. I was at the site where flight 93 made the impact right there in shanksville. I knelt down and we said a prayer with the firefighters. I put my hand on that boulder and was overcome with emotion. Ive been surrounded by so many people that love america who protect us every single day. I have ordinary people that have come and walked with me and thanked the foundation and myself for making sure that we never forget what happened 20 years ago when terrorists tried to kill as many americans as possible and did kill 2,977. You know, you and your brother, seven children in your family. Your parents had seven children. And steven was how old . He was 31 when he died, i think . And along this march go ahead. He was 34 years old. He was married and a father of five himself. He was my little brother. He was the youngest of seven. My parents died when he was a little boy and we actually had to raise him ourselves. Thank god we were much older than him and we had that capability to make sure that he was loved and taken care of. He grew up to be this incredible human being, so incredible that he died for our country and our community on September 11th, 2001. The tunnel to Towers Foundation wants to make sure we never forget and honor the sacrifice not only to steven, but all who perished that day. But we want to do good, too. And we are doing good. We are doing good by taking care of the greatest of all americans, those who are willing to die for you and i, and we ask people to join us on our mission. Part of my walk is im looking for 1 Million people to join us on a mission to take care of these brave heroes families that are left behind that give it all for us. Go to tunneltotowers. Org and see how you can help. 11 a month, were asking people 11 a month, we can make a promise that when someone goes out and serves their country or community, gives their kids a Kiss Goodbye and doesnt come home, were going to take care of the families left behind. Thats the promise of tunnel to Towers Foundation and we hope people will join us on our mission. Its worthy of peoples time and donation if theyre able to make one because it also takes care of the 9 11 first responders who have died since 9 11 because of what they breathed on that pile for weeks and months on end. Its called tunnel to towers. You can go to their website if you would like to help. Frank, thank you so much for being with us this morning. We appreciate it. Thank you and God Press america. In our remaining seconds here, there is a full Circle Moment with The End of the war in afghanistan two days ago as we begin to turn our eyes a week from friday excuse me, a week from saturday on the 20th anniversary of September 11th. Willie, we just heard about the promise and the gift that is america every single day, the gift that too many of us neglect, forget about, ignore. Frank is talking about, you know, who he was accompanied by on this march. Thats what america is. Amen. Mike, thanks. Well see you tomorrow. Well see all of you again tomorrow morning. For now, Stephanie Ruhle picks up the coverage. Hey, steph. Hi there. Im Stephanie Ruhle. Its wednesday, september 1st. We are here in new York City and this morning following several major stories across the country and the world. In texas, the most restrictive Abortion Law in the nation going into effect overnight, banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and cutting off access to millions. Also this morning, ida continuing to make its way north as Louisiana begins its long road to recovery. More than 1 Million people still without power, now facing brutal heat, as Rescue Efforts continue in some of the hardesthit areas. One community entirely damaged or destroyed. And one day after the deadline, most americans are out of afghanistan, but who is left