that more than half of all americans have now been infected. ♪♪ good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this wednesday, april 27th. i'm jonathan lemire. the united states is set to lead a new coalition of global allies to coordinate defense and humanitarian aid to ukraine. secretary of defense lloyd austin announced what is being called the ukraine contact group yesterday while leading the first official meeting at ramstein air base in germany. there austin and joint chief of staff chairman mark milliconvened officials from more than 40 other nations to discuss the assistance efforts. >> i like this whole group today to leave with a common and transparent understanding of ukraine's near-term security requirements because we're going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them. let's be clear, russia's invasion is indefensible, and so are russian atrocities. we all start today from a position of moral clarity. russia is waging a war of choice to indulge the ambitions of one man. ukraine is fighting a war of necessity to defend its democracy, its sovereignty and its citizens. >> in a major policy shift, germany is now sending its first shipments of heavy weapons to ukraine. germany says it will give ukrainian forces up to 50 anti-aircraft vehicles. they were a major piece of germany's army for about 50 years. there's been growing pressure on the german chancellor from members of his own party, as well as some opposition lawmakers, to start sending these heavy weapons. the german leader has resisted sending them out of concern could lead to a war involving nato countries. tomorrow, germany's parliament is slated to discuss sending more arms, including additional heavy weaponry. american diplomats officially returned to ukraine. yesterday embassy officials traveled to lviv and met with their ukrainian counterparts. the return is a major step since you'll recall the embassy had been closed since the start of the invasion. the state department promises more travel in the future and the eventual reopening of the embassy in kyiv. >> i can confirm that. the deputy chief of mission and members of the embassy team travelled to lviv, ukraine, today as secretary blinken announced yesterday our diplomats are returning and have returned to ukraine this week on a temporary basis. today's travel was a first step ahead of more regular travel in the immediate future. and as we said, we're accelerating preparations to resume embassy kyiv operations, just as soon as possible. >> that was state department spokesman ned price. we'll hear more from him later on "morning joe." top u.s. officials are criticizing russia for ramping up rhetoric about the war in ukraine. russian foreign minister sergey lavrov on monday called the danger of a nuclear war between russia and the west serious and real. here is how defense secretary lloyd austin responded yesterday. >> you heard us say a number of times that that kind of rhetoric is very dangerous and unhelpful. nobody wants to see a nuclear war happen. it's a war that, you know, where all sides lose. and so, rattling of sabers and, you know, dangerous rhetoric is clearly unhelpful and something that we won't engage in. >> meanwhile, the situation remains dire inside the steel plant in mariupol where thousands of ukrainian fighters and civilians are still sheltering. a ukrainian military spokesman said yesterday that russian forces continued to relentlessly batter the factory. he said the shelling and air strikes, quote, do not stop. meanwhile, the mariupol city council released new photos of a makeshift hospital inside the plant with an aim to highlight the conditions the civilians are facing. the council captioned the post, quote, scary photos but the world needs to know what's going on. 24 hours under fire from the russian army. the council added that many are wounded, lying in unsanitary and terrible conditions without medication. it also says the food and water situation inside the plant is catastrophic. joining us now from lviv, ukraine, nbc news foreign correspondent raf sanchez. raf, good morning. great to see you again. vladimir putin, the russian leader, yesterday agreed in principle, i'll put that in quotes, to evacuate these thousands of civilians and ukrainian fighters that are still stuck inside that steel plant. can we really expect any concrete steps from the kremlin to make it happen? they have given the west no reason to trust their word at any point during this invasion. >> reporter: yeah, jonathan. that's the big question. the u.n. secretary general was in moscow yesterday. he met vladimir putin at the end of one of those very, very long tables. and he came out of that meeting saying that the russian president has agreed in principle to allow the u.n. and the international committee of the red cross to go to mariupol and to escort those ukrainian troops and civilians out of what remains of that steel plant after weeks and weeks of russian siege. now, as you said, will vladimir putin allow an agreement in principle to actually be put into practice? we'll see. the record is not good. even if in theory he was open to it, the question is how soon could those international organizations get down to mariupol and actually take part. but if this did happen, this would be significant, jonathan, because it might give the ukrainians inside that steel plant the confidence that they actually could come out of there without being massacred, without being taken into captivity by russian forces. that is not a confidence that they've had so far, but it might be a step that they are prepared to take if there are international observers. now, just playing devil's advocate for a moment, jonathan, there could be a universe putin might want this to go ahead because his forces have been unable for weeks now to take that steel plant by force. that small group of ukrainian troops have tied up an enormous number of russian soldiers who he needs in other places on the front. so we will see what happens over the next 24 hours. the secretary general of the u.n. is coming to kyiv today. he's going to meet with president zelenskyy. he may have more details to share then. jonathan, i'll tell you, there is some frustration here in ukraine that he went to moscow first. the feeling is he should have come to ukraine first. he should have gone to bucha. he should have gone to the sites of these apparent russian war crimes and then he should have gone and sat down at that very long table with vladimir putin. jonathan? >> certainly follow news from that visit and, you're right, putin may be in his interest to end the standoff at the steel plant. is russian energy giant halted gas supply to poland and bulgaria, seen as a real escalation between moscow and the rest of europe. what's the immediate reaction to this? is there a sense that russia could cut off other countries next? >> reporter: so, those two countries, poland and bulgaria, eastern european members of nato, they are saying this morning they can with stand this energy shock. a couple of things, they had been planning over the medium term to wean themselves off of russian energy any way. they're saying this speeds up that timeline, but it's a timeline they were planning to meet. jonathan, you can see, it's a little warmer here in eastern europe than it was at the start of the war. so the demand for gas, the demand for heating is not where it was a month ago. so this energy weapon not quite as potent as it would have been if moscow deployed in the first days of the war. but this is moscow flexing its muscles. as we have talked about many times, many of the big european countries, including germany, the power house of europe, very dependent on russian hydro carbons to keep their economies moving. now, could the russians in theory go ahead and cut off oil to a big country like germany? they could. it would devastate germany's economy, the german chancellor said they would plunge into recession almost immediately. but as we talked about, its would devastate russia's economy, too. those exports are worth hundreds of billions of dollars to vladimir putin's government. they may not be able to actually follow through on the bluff of that threat. so, we will see what happens. but this is a reminder that russia does have some cards to play. and here in ukraine, the feeling is certainly that this move overnight on energy is a response to what happened at ramstein air base yesterday where the united states has been convening allies to get ever more weapons here into ukraine to resist the russian invasion. jonathan? >> nbc's raf sanchez from lviv, ukraine. thank you very much. still ahead, we're going to have a look at the growing backlash over elon musk's twitter takeover. plus, the latest batch of leaked texts to trump's chief of staff reportedly involved this pennsylvania congressman and a whole bunch of conspiracy theories. those stories and a lot more when we come right back. ♪♪ (driver) conventional thinking would say verizon has the largest and fastest 5g network. but, they don't. they only cover select cities with 5g. and with coverage of over 96% of interstate highway miles, they've got us covered. to support a strong immune system your body needs a routine. centrum helps your immune defenses every day, with vitamin c, d and zinc* season after season. ace your immune support with centrum. now with a new look! the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now. it senses your movements and automatically adjusts so you both stay comfortable all night. it's also temperature balancing so you stay cool. save $500 on the sleep number 360 c4 smart bed, queen now only $1,299. lowest price ever! only for a limited time. elon musk is facing backlash over his takeover of twitter with many use rs deactivated their accounts and tesla stock plunging following musk's announcement. nbc news business and tech correspondent jo ling kent reports. >> reporter: elon musk's potential twitter takeover is causing shock waves. a super user himself, musk is taking the company private, raising serious questions about its future. >> he doesn't have to deal with investors. you won't see any numbers or any information. they don't have to disclose much. >> reporter: musk can change and control twitter, one of the favorite platforms of some of the most influential people in the world. >> it's very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech. >> reporter: republican congresswoman marsha blackburn cheering the takeover as an encouraging day for free speech. while democratic senator elizabeth warren called it dangerous for our democracy. musk tweeting, the extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all. but, musk faces unique pressures. he also runs spacex and tesla. that stock sinking 12%. >> with his priorities, can elon make it a better, more successful business? >> when you're doing all these incredibly difficult things, he lands rockets in platforms the middle of the ocean. he's good at challenges. he created single handedly moved toward the electric car industry. >> reporter: musk's passion for twitter earned him the support of twitter cofounder and fellow billionaire jack dorsey. tweeting elon is the singular solution i trust, adding this is the right path, i believe it with all my heart. the open question now is whether users will feel the same. >> we're getting a look this morning at another series of text messages to donald trump's former chief of staff mark meadows. this latest trove reveals the role gop congressman scott perry played in the effort to overturn the 2020 election. the text, which were provided to the january 6th committee by meadows and published by cnn appear to show congressman perry pushing to have the director of national intelligence seize dominion voting machines based on baseless conspiracy theories. on november 12th, five days after the election was called for joe biden, perry texted this from an intel friend. dni needs to ask nsa to immediately seize and begin looking for international comms remitted to dominion. congressman perry accused gina haspel of working with british intelligence to manipulate the election. texting, and gina is still running around the hill covering for the brits who helped quarterback this entire operation. okay. congressman perry is retired general with 40 years of military service. he has declined to voluntarily cooperate with the house select committee. nbc news has not been able to independently confirm the text messages but has reached out to meadows and congressman perry for comment. the life and legacy of former secretary of state madeleine albright will be honored today in washington, d.c. her funeral will be held at washington's national cathedral starting at 11:00 a.m. secretary albright died at the age of 84 after a battle with cancer last month. albright's three daughters are set to speak and president biden is expected to give a eulogy, as well as the clintons. albright served as secretary of state under president bill clinton more than 1400 people are expected to attend. still ahead in sports, we'll have the highlights from last night's nba playoff action. plus, a little league ending to a major league game. "way too early" will be right back. oo early" will be right back (driver) conventional thinking would say verizon has the largest and fastest 5g network. but, they don't. they only cover select cities with 5g. and with coverage of over 96% of interstate highway miles, they've got us covered. new poligrip power hold and seal. clinically proven to give strongest hold, plus seals out 5x more food particles. fear no food. new poligrip power hold and seal. my great grandmother started a legacy of education in my family. she ran for state office. had no problems breaking the norms. she had a dream and decided to pursue it. find the strong women in your family with ancestry. here's candice... who works from home, and then works from home. but she can handle pickup, even when her bladder makes a little drop-off. because candice has poise, poise under pressure and poise in her pants. it takes poise. (driver) conventional thinking would say verizon has the largest and fastest 5g network. but, they don't. they only cover select cities with 5g. and with coverage of over 96% of interstate highway miles, they've got us covered. ♪♪ brooks, trigger man. brooks toss in. durant drives. durant, oh, it's good! one second left. ja morant with the bucket. and that's it. a gutty grizzly win. comes from behind at home and morant is the hero. >> that last-second layup by ja morant capped a grizzlies rally from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to give memphis game five win over the minnesota timberwolves last night. and now a one-game edge in their first-round playoff series. how do you let him get to the basket with only three seconds left. in the phoenix the suns calmed some nerves. they never trailed last night on the way to a 112-97 win over the new orleans pelicans. top-seeded suns now lead the western conference series, 3-2. and in miami, the heat eliminated the atlanta hawks from this year's post-season, wrapping up the first-round series with a 97-94 win in game five last night. miami will now host either the 76ers or the raptors in game one of the eastern conference semifinals that will start on monday. ncaa president mark emmert is stepping down after 12 years of leading the largest governing body in college athletics. some criticize emmert for standing in the way of change herks has guided the ncaa through the most krans formative period in the history of more than 100--year-old organization. during the past decade, college athletes have gained more power, benefits and the ability to earn money than they ever had before. the 69-year-old emmert will continue to serve in his role until a new president is in place or until june 30th, 2023, whatever comes first. turning now to the ice and the final week of the nhl regular season. let's start in toronto. the maple leafs, austin matthews snapped a five-game goal drought with his league-leading 59th and 60th goals of the season. matthews has been so good this year and he is the first player to score 60 in a season since 2012. the leaves beat red wings 3-0 and clinch home ice in the first round of the playoffs. here in new york city, the carolina hurricanes won 4-3 over the rangers who are guaranteed a second place finish. your boston bruins are playoff bound beating the florida panthers to clinch the first wild card in the eastern conference. and despite last night's loss to the flames in overtime, the national predators also clinched a wild card spot thanks to the dallas stars shootout win over the las vegas golden knights. nhl playoffs always fun. they start in just a few days. turning now to major league baseball. the new york yankees won for the sixth time in seven games after a slugfest against the baltimore orioles last night. rizzo launched a trio of home runs in the short right field porch. i don't think any of these home runs go out in any other park in the majors. that's a little legal field there. he has eight so far this season. aaron judge a home run on his birthday. joey gal low, yadda yadda yadda. yankees beat the orioles, 12-8. a lot of tough ones so far in this young season. finally, though, this chaotic comeback in minneapolis. let's pick things up in the bottom of the ninth. the twins trailing the tigers, 4-3, with two outs and runners on first and second. >> line drive right field. over the glove of grossman. he'll be held there. and the twins have filled the bases and now sano goes towards second. that forces the runner from second. now it's thrown away. one run will score. the twins are going to win the game. >> you couldn't quite hear it but there were hoots and hollers all over the studio when that catcher threw the ball over the third baseman's head. that is indeed a little league victory, that's an insult to little leaguers. my 10-year-old and 7-year-old both play baseball. neither of their teams would have done that. detroit's epic combination of misplays in the field gifts minnesota a 5-4 walkoff victory. still ahead, more new audio recordings of house minority leader kevin mccarthy, this time he can be heard expressing concern that some of his own gop colleagues might incite violence after january 6th and he names names. 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"the new york times" released more new audio from house minority leader kevin mccarthy, this time expressing concern that the rhetoric from some republican members could incite more violence after january 6th. the recordings from the january 10th, 2021, republican house leadership call are part of the reporting for the upcoming book "this too shall pass" written by alex burns and jonathan martin. >> the other thing that we have to do is these numbers on either -- whatever position you are calling out our members need to stop. tension is too high. the country is too crazy. i do not want to look back and think we caused something or we missed something and someone got hurt. i don't want to play politics with any of that. >> leadership call, huh? i wonder who would have leaked that. the number two house republican steve scalise was also on the call. at one point when discussing congressman matt gaetz, scalise reported the florida republican may have even crossed a legal boundary. >> i just got something sent now about newsmax and matt gaetz said where he's calling people names out saying anti-trump and this type of atmosphere. in some of the other places. this is serious stuff that people are doing that have to stop. if i'm going to get another briefing from the fbi tomorrow, this is serious [ bleep ]. >> potentially illegal what he's doing. >> well, he's putting people in jeopardy. and he doesn't need to be doing this. we saw what people would do in the capitol, you know. and these people came prepared, with rope and everything else. >> congressman gaetz released a statement blasting mccarthy and scalise as, quote, weak men. the republican leaders also expressed concern with remark, alabama congressman mo brooks made while speaking at the trump rally held just before the attack on the capitol. >> today is the day american patriots start taking down names and kicking ass! >> you think the president deserves to be impeached for his comments. i think that goes further than what the president said. >> they expressed concern about lauren boebert of colorado, barry mor of alabama and loue gohmert of texas. at one point mccarthy asked, can't they take away their twitter accounts too? right after trump was suspended. asked tuesday if it will hurt his chances of becoming speaker, mccarthy gave a one-word answer, nope. we'll see. joining us now, congressman reporter for the washington post, mariana sotomayor. great to see you again. this latest audio names names, specific house members. we know mccarthy is doing everything in his power to try to become speaker this november if republicans retake the house. he hasn't gotten trump's blessing yet, though. how much of an issue is this going to be for him? >> well, you know, last week when the first batch of audio tapes came out and it proved that mccarthy had lied about what he had previously said about the insurrection that, he was going to probably tell trump that he should resign, you know, a lot of members it was pretty surprising they didn't think that was that big of a deal. and large part because trump ended up saying that he had no problem with mccarthy's comments. the one thing i did hear then from multiple republican aides was that, it would become a problem if audio existed of mccarthy saying, criticizing many of his members after january 6th. that's exactly what this audio is. what's more, like you mentioned, the number two republican in the house, steve scalise, is also heard criticizing and talking about fellow members. but there's two school of thought here. you have, like you mentioned, matt gaetz who just came out in a statement last night calling these leaders weak. you also have congressman andy biggs from arizona, the former chairman of the freedom caucus, currently still serving in congress. he says he's also starting to have doubts, having trust issues with leaders. and you know, interesting thing that i came across last week when reporting on this is that many members know that mccarthy has a tendency to lie. they do get annoyed when they're on that end of being lied to, but that still hasn't become that much of a problem. but it's something that could plague his leadership. the other part, the other school of thought, is actually coming from someone like mo brooks. he was heavily criticized in the audio that was leaked yesterday. and my colleague caught up to him yesterday at house votes and he said, you know what, i actually don't harbor any ill will towards leaders. and the reason why is because many people were emotional after january 6th. and these audio tapes capture that. >> yeah. you just mentioned your reporting there on congressman andy biggs being certainly critical. the other what we don't know, what tape is coming next? seems to be a steady stream of them. none of them particularly good for mccarthy, even if he is able to survive them. i also wanted to get you on another story you were working on, president biden is potentially moving closer to canceling student debt, at least some of it. explain to us what that means, what kind of potential timeline we're looking at, how much debt and who could receive this. >> yeah. you know, when i was covering biden on the campaign trail, candidate biden then was pretty careful about what he would say on student loans because he was being pushed by progressives as he still is to cancel all of it. biden has said canceling all student debt is something likely not under his power as the president. but, in a recent meeting with congressional hispanic caucus members on monday, he did go further than he ever has before, basically pledging that he was going to revoke or at least be able to pull back some student debt for many who, of course, are borrowing or were borrowing federally. the question remains for those who, of course, chose to go to pricier schools, but biden said he was open to passing executive orders that would address this. and he also mentioned that he himself has previously pledged possibly being able to forgive at least $10,000 in student debt. many of those members came out feeling very positive that biden was going to do something. he himself has said that he is going to extend a current moratorium that expires right now in august, but it's likely he could extend it to the end of the year. >> certainly has been a lot of pressure from elements on the left to act on this issue. "the washington post," terrific reporting on a pair of stories today. thank you. come back soon. still ahead, we're live with cnbc for an early look at the markets following yesterday's sharp losses on wall street. "way too early" will be right back. ♪♪ my name is douglas. i'm a writer/director and i'm still working. in the kind of work that i do, you are surrounded by people who are all younger than you. i had to get help somewhere along the line to stay competitive. i discovered prevagen. i started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. it was a game-changer for me. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. motrin works fast to stop pain where it starts. like those nagging headaches. uncomfortable period pains. and disruptive muscle aches. you can count on fast, effective relief with motrin. before nexium 24hr, anna could only imagine a comfortable night's sleep without frequent heartburn waking her up. now, that dream... . ...is her reality. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts, for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? refresh italiano subway now has italian-style capicola on the new supreme meats and mozza meat. just like my nonna makes when she cooks! i don't cook. wait, what? it's a good thing he's so handsome. subway keeps refreshing and refre- do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep? qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol. time now for business. for that, let's bring in cnbc's row san that lockwood live from london. good morning. u.s. stocks lost more than 2 percentage points on a broad technology selloff. and worries about inflation and global growth are persisting. what's the latest here? how long should we expect fears of this economic slowdown to last? >> well, i think the mistake many of us make is looking to the markets for any indication of this one, john. this one we saw wild swings. you talked about the big selloff we had stateside on tuesday. nasdaq pull drops and pulling down other indexes. now futures pointing to slight more positive open on wall street. the economic, the macro factors out there, let's put them to aside. run away inflation in many parts of the world, the ukraine situation playing into it in regards to energy this morning in europe over supply chain disruptions emanating out of the china lockdowns. none of that has changed. deutsche bank yesterday the economists from that massive bank talking about the u.s. likely now heading into recession. saying that a downturn will be significant and worse than expected. they expect pc inflation running to the 4 to 5% range for the u.s. heading into next year. reseeding only after a recession. i know it sounds terrible, to stop the inflation, the fed is going to have to aggressively act and many are worried the fed will tip the u.s. into a recession, similar story will be seen around the world. >> recession, the dreaded r word appears to be on the horizon and certainly you're right. we're going to follow the price of energy in europe after russia's move there with gas prom. let's move on to earnings week. investors are digesting reports from some leading tech companies, including microsoft and alphabet, of course the parent of google. both way down, more than 3% yesterday. what happened? >> it just seemed to be some sort of pre-reporting nerves because once we had these numbers the afterhours trade was slightly different, especially for microsoft. shares in that company jumping 5%, adding $100 billion to that company's market value, as if it needed more. microsoft did beat its earnings and revenue forecast. you know, made this acti vision blizzard boosted by cloud and software units. alphabet a different story really. missed on both the top and bottom line. you saw shares declining in extended trade in that company. it's a big problem, alphabet google coming down to advertising and youtube is just not making the numbers it used to. and actually talking on the earnings call the ceo about tiktok and how they're stealing so much of the market share now when it comes to advertising. it's a fickle beast trying to chase these ad revenues. >> fickle beast indeed. cnbc's rosanna lockwood live from london. thank you so much. still ahead, the u.s. reaches a new milestone in the pandemic. plus, a push by the white house to make covid treatments more available for everyone. we'll talk about all that next with msnbc medical contributor dr. patel. don't go anywhere. ♪♪ tel. don't go anywhere. ♪ you know how i feel ♪ (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ copd may have gotten you here, but you decide what's next. start a new day with trelegy. ♪ ...feelin' good ♪ no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. vice president kamala harris has tested positive for covid-19. harris has not shown any symptoms so far and will isolate while working from home. the white house said she has not been in close contact with president biden. the two were last seen together at the white house easter egg roll which was back on april 18th. an adviser to the vice president says she is taking the anti-viral covid-19 treatment paxlovid. harris announced her diagnosis on twitter yesterday. today i tested positive for covid-19. i have no symptoms and i will continue to isolate and follow cdc guidelines. i'm grateful to be both vaccinate and boosted. she is the highest ranking biden official to test positive for the virus after a string of infections over the past several weeks. senators chris murphy and ron widen also tested positive for covid yesterday. seems to be another outbreak in official washington just a few weeks after the gridiron dinner. following these three positive cases the senate had to reschedule a nomination vote that was originally set to take place yesterday. for the first time during the pandemic, more than half of americans now have antibodies from covid-19. a new cdc report shows that 60% of americans have been infected with the coronavirus at some point during the pandemic. for the children, the numbers are even higher. a study from december to february shows about 3 in 4 kids and adolescents have covid-19 antibodies. the highly contagious omicron variant was responsible for much of that trend. a cdc official cautioned, though, that while most americans have the antibodies, the threshold for group immunity is still not known and still encouraging people to be vaccinated and boosted. joining us now physician and fellow at the brookings institution, dr. patel. former obama white house health policy director and msnbc medical contributor. i'm so glad you're here today, dr. patel. after the vice president as we know tested positive for covid-19, she was described pfizer's anti-viral pill as a treatment. the white house announced this plan to make this drug more available. two parter on this, why is she taking the pill if she's not showing symptoms? and how effective do you think the strategy will be to get this medication in the hands of americans across the country? >> yeah, jonathan, i actually think her announcing that she's taking the anti-viral paxlovid is incredible health to the public, just raises awareness. so it's very clear in the data that people who are at risk of getting severe covid, even if they're vaccinated, have a breakthrough infection which is what the vice president has, is really a great candidate for paxlovid. so, no one anyone over the age of 65, that would include potentially president biden, vice president harris is under that age but people with conditions such as history of depression, hypertension, very common diseases as well as people with weight over a certain body mass index are all eligible. i think people don't realize this. anyone 12 and above, jonathan. so the vice president is an appropriate candidate. you do not need to exhibit symptoms. the idea with paxlovid, take it as close to when you find out you're positive and prevent any symptoms. will be interesting, jonathan, studies to show whether this anti-viral can help with long covid. we still don't know enough about even in vaccinated people. second part to your point, raising this awareness around anti-virals, i have paxlovid sitting on my shelf at clinics. cvs has paxlovid on the shelves. we're not using it given as much positivity we're seeing around the country. it's an opportunity, much across the country. it's an opportunity of getting treatments early to help keep people out of the hospital and he want prevent downstream consequences of covid. >> you're right to bring up long covid. there's so much we don't know and can't be underscored enough. the white house was quick to note that she had been boosted twice. >> right. we know that second booster is eligible for americans 50 and up. what's the holdup for americans under the age of 50? why aren't we hearing more about those people getting that second shot? >> yeah, just to really be brief about it. we have very clear data out of israel and uk and united states, albeit early on second boosters, it's very clear there's a demarcation, jonathan, at the age of 60 and above. it can have incredible effects on hospitalizations and death, all of the things with care about with omicron. under the age of 50, people again with these conditions. i would say the vice president and president by nature of who they are, follow a category where we take a lot more precautions and that's a good thing. but why are not all americans getting it yet? we just don't have the data needed. and we'll talk about the cdc data. 58% of the country has had some sort of infection in the last three months. it's not a bad idea to delay that boosting in some form or fashion, because we know that second booster does the most, kind of right after you get it. and that immunity can wane in the four to seven weeks after you get it. >> dr. kavita patel, we appreciate that insight. we know that cases are rising across the country. certainly an interesting moment in this pandemic certainly not over just yet. >> yeah. >> we'd love to have you back soon. thank you for being with us this morning. up next, president joe biden issues the first pardons of his time in office. and coming up on "morning joe," we're following the latest out of eastern europe. clinton watts will be back at the big board to break down the ukrainian counteroffensive plus a member of the senate armed services committee, senator angus king will join us on the heels of his trip to poland. and we're going to hear live from state department spokesman ned price as american diplomats continue to the return to ukraine. 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(vo) unconventional thinking delivers four times the 5g coverage of verizon. and it's ready right now. t-mobile for business. ♪♪ joining us now a look at axios, politics reporter for axios, our present sarah mocha. the president's pardon power. president biden has used his clemency powers to issue three pardons and 75 commutations for 75 individuals. those commutations in particular are interesting because they fulfill a campaign promise to use his clemency powers in order to commute the sentences of folks who have served sentences for using drugs or nonviolent crimes. and this is interesting, because it comes at a time when the president is get something criticism from progressives for not doing enough for communities of color. and it also comes at a time that the president's approval ratings are fairly low. and so, he's getting advice from his allies to sort of take a step back from that day-to-day negotiations with congress, those aren't really a winning strategy. and instead, use his executive powers for, you know, make decisions that make sort of a splash, in that his fellow democrats can take on the campaign trail. and, of course, use those as they're campaigning as sort of wins that they're able to campaign on. >> so, there's been some growing concern that media leaks are undercutting the january 6 committee's efforts to build suspense ahead of its upcoming hearing, some of which might even be in prime time. what more can you tell us about that? >> that's right, axios has learned that several lawmakers are growing frustrated with all of the leaks that are coming out of january 6 committee. they say they're getting flash backs to the mueller report which, of course, we saw that kind of drip of slow revelations that over time the public grew accustomed to what was coming out of the committee. and when that final report came out it didn't really have -- it lacked a punch so to say. and what they're looking for instead is, you know, they want that spence and drama to be built up. so when that final report comes out. amid, you know, ukraine news, inflation news, that it can kind of breakthrough, somewhere else right now, that's not looking like it's going to be the case because the news is coming out in small bits and portions. and having its own news cycle throughout the time. >> and one more for us, sarah, your colleagues at axios, axios reporting that a number of trump-appointed judges are deliberately writing their opinions with some sort of provocative language, perhaps, trying to audition for a supreme court opening, whether trump or another republican were to come back in office. tell us why this is important. >> yeah, it's new. normally, judges tend to use conservative language. they don't want to rock the boat too much because they're anticipating, if they want to be a justice, that confirmation hearing could be pretty contentious. that obviously would be brought up. but what we're seeing now in anticipation of president trump running for a second term, possibly in 2024, is that the judges that he has appointed are using provocative language to stand out. and to be noticed by him in case a supreme court opening comes up. >> sarah mucha of axios, we appreciate it. have a nice day. thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" on this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. i think there's something to be said for us to unite. we probably need a fresh face. i'll stay on as majority leader, but the one thing i found in talking to everybody, if we are going to unite and be strong, we need a new face to help do that. >> how much did your comments about benghazi last week play into your decision to step aside today? >> well, that wasn't helpful. >> oh, back in 2015. kevin mccarthy lost his shot at becoming house speaker, after admitting the benghazi committee was driven by partisan politics. seven years later, he's at it again. this time, caught on tape, telling the truth about fringe members of his own caucus. is the gavel slipping through his fingers once again? plus, shocking new numbers on what types of allegations republican voters would consider to be a major problem for a candidate. turns out, anti-semitic, racist or homophobic remarks would be a problem for many of them -- is that shocking? and breaking news overnight, on the war in ukraine, russia cuts off gas supplies to poland and bulgaria, seen as a retaliation for the west's new pledge to keep

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