wavering on him ahead of next year's elections. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this tuesday, august 1st. we are in august already. i am jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. and we'll begin this new month with a possible new indictment against former president donald trump for his alleged efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election. the grand jury hearing testimony in special counsel jack smith's investigation is expected to be back in session in washington today. now it's been two weeks since trump announced on social media that he received a target letter, which is an indication that charges could be brought in the very near future. that letter suggested that the former president could face charges of conspiracy to defraud the united states, depriving voters of their rights, and witness tampering. trump seems prepared -- to be preparing for another federal indictment against him, posting yesterday on truth social that he assumes one will be coming, quote, any day now. now to the other federal case against trump where he has already been charged for his alleged mishandling of classified documents including nuclear secrets after he left the white house. yesterday the recently named third defendant in the case mar-a-lago property manager car lois de oliveira made his first appearance in a miami courtroom. he was charged with four counts related to his efforts allegedly to erase security camera footage from trump's palm beach home. that footage was monitoring a room where classified boxes were were being stored. according to prosecutors the order to destroy the footage came from trump directly and were given to both deoliveira and the former president's valet. because the property manager had not yet hired a florida based attorney he was not able to enter a plea yesterday. deoliveira was released on $100,000 bond and due back in court on august 10th for an arraignment. joining us now, former litigator and now msnbc legal analyst, lisa ruben. lisa, good morning. always great to see you. there's so much legal peril facing donald trump right now, but let's begin with the classified documents case. you've got a new piece out for msnbc's website where you highlight the importance of the person identified as trump employee 4. that's not walt nauta. that's not carlos de oliveira, that's someone else playing a key role in this new superseding indictment. tell us what we know. >> we know that trump employee 4 is a gentleman named yucil taveras who worked for the trump organization and specifically at mar-a-lago. we also know from reporting -- nbc news has not independently confirmed that yucil taveras received a target letter. and we know that yucil taveras as trump employee 4 likely provided prosecutors with information directly incorporated into this superseding indictment. if it were not for yucil taveras prosecutors would not know for example de oliveira went to him and essentially said the boss wants the footage deleted. that comes from a witness' mouth. in my piece i describe how without independently confirming yucil taveras received a target letter, there are signs all along that yucil taveras having received that target letter and seen the initial indictment against trump and walt nauta decided he had what to provide to prosecutors. we do know he's an extremely valuable witness without whom the details then superseding indictment would not have been known. >> and nauta continues to follow the former president around the country for his campaign. but, lisa, you know, there's a lot of speculation that today could be the day for the indictment of donald trump in what has been short-handed as the january 6th investigation, which of course includes all his actions after the 2020 election, and we should note we don't know for sure it's today or it would come this week, but as soon as that target letter was sent, the clock started ticking. walk us through what today would look like for this grand jury in washington were today were to be today? >> if the day were today, john, the fore person of the jury grants a true bill which is essentially the process of voting yes on an indictment, would carry that indictment to the courtroom of a magistrate judge in a federal courthouse in washington, d.c. the rules there require that the courtroom doors are actually open when it's presented. they may go to great lengths to avoid being detected, but those courtroom doors will have to be open, and then the judge will note the initials of any defendants in that indictment. it's not the practice locally to actually say the defendants name but note the defendant's initials. if the government decides they don't want to seal that indictment it will go immediately to the clerk's office, it will be filed and we'll learn about it shortly thereafter i suspect. i also think the special counsel's office learned a lesson from the initial indictment in miami in the records investigation where having sealed the indictment, trump told the world that he had been indicted and the special counsel's office had their hands tied. they couldn't say anything because that indictment wud was under seal. i expect if there's an indictment today or in the coming days we will learn about it in realtime with the rest of the world maybe moments after donald trump and his own attorneys do. >> and of course we will have our eyes trained on that courthouse in washington, d.c. all day today. former litigator and msnbc legal analyst lisa rubin, i'm certain we'll to you again soon. thank you for joining us this morning. these two federal cases is not the only legal trouble donald trump is facing. a judge in georgia has denied yet another attempt by the former president's legal team to stop fulton county district attorney fani willis' investigation into izalleged election interference in that state. this is the second ruling against the trump team in as many weeks as it tries to find a way to end the investigation before willis announces potential charges. a third petition to the court is scheduled for august 10th hearing. in the nine-page ruling the judge yesterday found neither the former president nor one of his allies also challenging the probe had the legal standing to quash the investigation. trump's lawyers argued that he would be hurt by an indictment. but in the ruling the judge seemed to disagree writing this, "for some being the subject of a criminal investigation can ala rumple stilt kn be turned into global political calple making it seem more providential than problematic. it does not yield standing to bring claim to halt that investigation in court. this as willis' office could announce indictments at any day. in an interview over the weekend she confirmed that her investigation is in its final stages saying, quote, we're ready to go. one wonders if that august 10th hearing will have to happen first before any indictments are issued there in fulton county. there are also growing questions this morning about donald trump's save america pac and how much money it has spent on legal fees to defend trump, his advisers and others. according to a new campaign finance report filed yesterday the pac spent more than $20 million on legal fees during the first six months of the year. that is half the amount that "the washington post" and "the new york times" reported over the weekend. they reported the pac spent $40 million during that time. nbc news has reached out to the trump campaign about the discrepancy in these numbers. according to the federal election commission filing the $20 million sum included payments doled out to more than 40 different law firms as the pac covers legal expenses for trump and his of those associates drawn into these multiple investigations probing trump's conduct in and out of office. the pac raised most of its money from small donor contributions, his supporters. meantime the pac is nearly broke after paying tens of millions of dollars in legal fees. "the times" reveals the pac has less than $4 million left in its account after beginning last year with $105 million. we'll bring you the latest on ukraine as moscow reports a second day of drone attacks there. and president joe biden decides to keep the headquarters of space command in colorado angering some lawmakers in alabama, one in particular. those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. sports and weather when we come right back this is your moment. critics declare oppenheimer is magnificent. the new york times calls it staggering. it's utterly enthralling and one of the best movies of the century. businesses need 5g solutions today. that's why they choose t-mobile for business. mlb partners with t-mobile to not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. aaa relies on t-mobile's network to stay connected nationwide, so they can help get their members back on the road. and we're helping pano ai innovate, to stop the spread of wildfires. now's the time to see what america's largest 5g network can do for your business. my most important kitchen tool? 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spectacular catch in the outfield for a two run lead over the toronto blue jays in the bottom of the ninth. great play at an important time. they hang onto beat the blue jays 4-2 and tampa beat the new york yankees last night in the bronx. the boston red sox starting to slump a little bit. they could not make up any ground. they lost to the seattle mariners. to atlanta now. los angeles angels superstar shohei ohtani had his would-be taken away. look at that. he leaps at the wall to rob a potential two run homer and great catch. but a trio of angels solo shots over the game lifted the halos to a 4-1 win over the leading braves. meanwhile the new york mets continue to deal ahead of tonight's trade deadline. they sent outfielder mark canha to the milwaukee brewers in exchange for a pitching prospect. others could be on the move including the reigning cy young award winner justin verlander. they're trying to trade him before the 6:00 p.m. deadline and the houston astros are interested in bringing the right-hander back to space city where he played for several cities. turning now to nfl. training camp has begun. let's go out to buffalo bills camp in up state new york where safety damar hamlin put on his pads yesterday and participated in a full contact practice for the first time since his heart stopped on the field during a game back in january. hamlin who has been a full participant in bills' practices since otas earlier last month called the first full padded practice a super big hurdle that he has now cleared in his return to the field. the u.s. women's national team has advanced barely to the knock out stage of the world cup. needing a win or draw in its final match of group play, the u.s. narrowly survived in a scoreless decision against portugal, the game just ended a few minutes ago. team usa has earned a spot in the round of 16 as runners up in group "e." portugal nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history with a missed shot off the post in stoppage time. you just saw it all, clean hit, hits the post. had that gone in, team usa would have been out. the americans will now face the winners of group "g," that's probably going to be sweden in the first knock out match. but will do so without midfielder rose lavell, who was suspended from the next game after picking up her second yellow card in group play. time now for the weather. angie, i know you were following along with that game, too. team usa, two time defending champions. they sort of knew this would be a transition year but they really struggled this year. they're lucky to advance. >> they have. and i'm excited to see what happens from this point forward. there's been so many underdog games i'm stressed thinking about it. all right, talking about the weather this looks a lot better than it did, these heat alerts than what we were dealing with last week and still got 37 million people under these alerts stretching from basically wichita to oklahoma city and down through dallas out to new orleans. the southwest not included in this, parts of the southeast not included in this. but still some record breaking temperatures are out there for parts of the south here as we get into the afternoon hours today. one of those spots being dallas heads to 107. that would tie a record for today, and doesn't get a lot better for tomorrow either. houston 103, that record 104. when we look up to the east and north west, we finally got back to average conditions like places in new york and low 80s and major improvements in d.c. low to mid-80s and end up in the high 80s by the time saturday rolls around but we've also got showers and thunderstorms to talk about. this morning most of that is focused off towards the rockies and we could be talking about strong storms developing into the later afternoon hours for parts of the northern plains. we'll watch for mainly issues when it comes to strong winds or isolated hail as well as some low tornado development or potential threat into the afternoon hours, but otherwise just some nice conditions in the north east. i think people are really excited about that. >> the heat when i was in d.c. last week, punishing. when you stepped outside, just brutal from the first moment on. >> and the southwest still dealing with that. >> let's hope for some improvement. still ahead here on "way too early," despite mounting legal troubles, new polling shows that donald trump is maintaining a commanding lead over his 2024 gop challengers. we'll dig into those new numbers next on "way too early." in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. and you may lose weight. adults lost up to 14 pounds. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or 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(vo) for a limited time get nfl sunday ticket from youtubetv on us. a $449 value. plus, get a free samsung galaxy s23. only on verizon. welcome back to "way too early." it is just before 5:30 a.m. on the east coast, 2:30 out west. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. a brand new morning consul poll shows donald trump with a commanding lead over his 2024 gop challengers. with 58% in this poll, trump leads florida governor ron desantis by 43 percentage points among potential gop primary voters. entrepreneur vivek is polling in third place. and naky haley, tim scott all at 6%. meanwhile from a survey from "the new york times" trump leads florida governor desantis in that one. all other candidates, well, they earned less than 5% of support in the poll, which we should note was conducted before new charges were announced against trump in the classified documents case. so on desantis he is opening up about his struggling presidential campaign and recent staff shakeup. over the weekend the florida governor held an event are voters in new hampshire inviting them to have a beer with him. but his campaign had to slash ticket prices from $50 for the general public to just $1, and even then only about 30 people showed up. now, this comes as his advisers have been trying to make the governor seem more approachable through retail politicking. in an interview on fox news last night, desantis spoke about some of the changes that he's been forced to make to his campaign. >> your campaign says it's resetting, says that you're going to be sort of more insurgent, leaner and meaner. that has happened. you've recently laid off a third of your campaign staff. it's happened before on campaigns historically. ronald reagan did it. john mccain did it. they went onto win the nomnaze. obviously reagan went onto the white house. but what happened to you and your campaign? >> everything you do needs to have a return on the investment. and so we have a little bit of a different structure. we don't pay consultants, we hire people to work in-house. we're just bearing those costs. ultimately we'll make money off doing it that way, it's just a different model. some of the other stuff if there isn't value in it, i get changes. that's the reality of what you have to do. i'm a political operative. i'm not a campaign professional. you setout the vision and you execute on it, and if it's not being executed you just make the -- >> joining us now congressional reporter for "the new republic." grace seeingers and back with us. let's start there with the governor's campaign. he's endured a pretty brutal couple weeks of headlines with a lot of staffing changes, reports donors are souring on him, some financial issues. as we just heard he's trying some sort of recess, some sort of pivot. no change yet in the polls. in terms of republicans you talk to do they think desantis has time to turn this around or do they think he's a sinking ship? >> i think if there's any doubt the republican party is still donald trump's party it has been dispelled by the recent polls. there's still some support for desantis from some of the republicans i talk to in congress regularly, but i would say that donald trump is generally considered to be the inevitable nominee here, and in part that is because when they had the opportunity to say trump did not win the 2020 election, they did not take that chance. so since every republican candidate who's now running for president continued with the falsehood that trump won in 2020, now it's a lot harder for them to turn around and say, yeah, he won in 2020 but actually i should be the president starting in 2025. so i think that trump has just solidified his grip on the party over the past three years, and now these other candidates are realizing they can't keep up. >> yeah, so the polling certainly suggests that. and grace, as you talk to some of these campaigns, is there any expectation they'll pivot and take a different strategy in terms of attacking trump with this next indictment believed to be coming down any day, or do we think it's more of the same? >> well, a few of the campaigns that i have talked to such as will hurd's campaign, he is a former congressman, and he's also one of the few republicans who's affectively attacking trump. you're also seeing that from former new jersey governor chris kristi, and you'll see that a little bit from desantis, a little bit from former vice president mike pence. but really they're unwilling to challenge trump to the extent that they think they might anger his voters. so we're not -- i don't think -- going to see candidates really going head to head against trump. i think it's more likely we see a 2016 scenario where by they try to take out each other, all polling below trump, and then we could see a fight to the death while he continues to glide to the nomination. it's still very early, but i think that the rest of these candidates may not be willing to take on trump to that extent. >> and yesterday on truth social trump all but said that he will indeed skip the first republican primary debate being held in just a few weeks time. grace, let's close with some new reporting you have about the democratic attorneys general association, thinking you can win in a trio of republican states, all deep red. >> the argument the attorneys general association is making these states have a story of elected democrats. of course times have changed in recent years. the other argument they're making is about abortion in particular. abortion has been a really critical issue we've seen in the 2022 elections and they think that by hammering the republican opponents in these three states, kentucky, mississippi, and louisiana on abortion that can help them glide to victory. i think kentucky they also have the benefit of very popular incumbent governor andy bashir who is up for re-election this year, and the attorney general candidate pam stevenson, may be able to ride on his coattails for his unprecedented popularity for governor in a republican red state. >> i'm sure we'll speak to you again soon. coming up here on "way too early," we're going to turn to business news. we'll be live with cnbc for the latest headlines and a check on the markets as wall street's busy earnings week continues. we'll be right back. earnings ws we'll be right back. ♪ i have type 2 diabetes, ♪ ♪ but i manage it well. ♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ ♪ i take once-daily jardiance, ♪ ♪ at each day's staaart. ♪ ♪ as time went on it was easy to seee ♪ ♪ i'm lowering my a1c. ♪ jardiance works 24/7 in your body to flush out some sugar! and for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too. jardiance may cause serious side effects including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function, and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction, and don't take it if you're on dialysis. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. ♪ jardiance is really swell, ♪ ♪ the little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ are you a new at&t customer looking to upgrade your phone? 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>> yeah, so actually it's very interesting that the corporate earnings report were the ones to really look out for. below the flat line is where we're pretty much sitting across the board having seen july been very good for the market. big upticks in terms of trades. actually 15 out of 16 the last 16 trading days have been on the up for the dow jones. that tells you a good picture how much gains have been. there is that earnings news that has been the focus. amd, uber, all out today. even starbucks will be a certain feature across the day's trading. merck as well as pfizer expected to put out their earnings. it all does lead to that economic data point we're anticipating out on friday. that is going to be the payrolls numbers, and that data will kind of give a clearer sense then for the fed is the economy still floating along as it always has been, and that will lead to next week's inflation print as well. >> yeah, we'll be watching that for sure. throughout the last cup years the united states' economy has been recovering ahead of europe. but the continent is showing signs of recovery finally as inflation in the region continues to fall from last year's peak although better if not confident from the u.k. what's the latest from europe? >> 5.3% is the inflation print out of the euro zone itself. that does give the slight relief for the overall print and does point to the ecb, the european central bank, perhaps looking at it and saying to themselves perhaps we can see some betterment here. but there's warnings things will continue to be a lot more difficult. interest rates will continue to head a bit higher overall as well, so it isn't going to be just easy. but as you said an improvement in that growth number does point towards a slight recovery and a betterment overall for europe, so not doing as bad as some would have thought. >> arabile, the sale of beer is down in a big part of the world. tell us more. >> yeah, actually heineken posting their vietnamese operations have really suffered a big blow then, which has been quite hurtful to the business. even putting down their guidance saying the remainder of the year is going to be actually very difficult for them when it comes to production. but it's weird, actually, because it is only that part of their business. out in asia really being the very difficult one, saying that the rest of the business is actually fairing fairly well, when one considers the fact consumers are premieratizing, is the word being used lately. they're going for more premium brands and not drinking more volumes but drinking more quality. >> beer sales down there, and as we just covered governor ron desantis can't get people to have beer with him for a $1. cnbc's arabile gumede, live from london, thank you so much. still ahead here on "way too early," texas governor greg abbott is defending his decision to build a floating border wall along the rio grande in an effort to slow migrants from crossing into the united states. why he says he won't back down. you're watching "way too early." we'll be right back. g "way too " we'll be right back. help make trading feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. with powerful, easy-to-use tools, power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley pano ai chooses t-mobile for business for 5g solutions... ...because t-mobile helps pano ai innovate, so they can stop the spread of wildfires. now's the time to see what america's largest 5g network can do for your business. that's me before dawn powerwash. soaking, scrubbing...that's life. was life. now, powerwash gives me the power of an overnight soak in minutes. i'm sorry, minutes? 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(chainsaw revs) (tree crashes) (chainsaw continues) (daughter screams) let's pretend for a second that you didn't let down your entire family. what would that reality look like? well i guess i would've gotten us xfinity... and we'd have a better view. do you need mulch? what, we have oppenheimer is magnificent.h. the new york times calls it staggering.teral ton. it's utterly enthralling and one of the best movies of the century. welcome back. texas governor greg abbott is pushing back on criticism for his decision to build a huge floating barrier wall along the rio grande river. the united states department of justice is suing to remain a line of orange buoys setup earlier this month in an area believed to be a major access point for migrants. the biden administration argues the structure is illegal and would raise both humanitarian and environmental issues. now, abbott in an address to texas republican county chairs said he would, quote, do whatever i have to do to defend our state from the invasion of the mexican drug cartels and others who have tried to come into our country illegally, and i will protect our sovereignty. joining us now the president and ceo of lutheran immigration and refugee services. great to see you this morning. so let's start there with this sort of unorthodox decision by the texas governor to install these floating barrier walls and doj quickly filing a lawsuit to get them to stop it. give us your analysis of the case. do we think doj can win here? >> we certainly do. it's clear that federal waterways are under the management of the federal government. the idea that a state's governor could institute these razor wire floating buoys into a federal waterway without permission from the federal government is inconsistent with the law, and we do believe the doj will win. it's also important to understand they're ineffective as well. essentially the suggestion is that immigrants who have undertaken a treacherous 1,000-mile journey who in many cases have gone through a risky jungle of the gap in order to arrive will then turn back once they see these floating barriers. and in fact the reality is they will just go to more dangerous parts of the water. in fact, abbott's own troopers have been raising concerns about how these are operating. the idea of turning back children, nursing infants under his protocols has been deeply problematic even within his own staff. >> when title 42 which was that pandemic era measure expired a couple months ago there was an expectation there will be a rise in numbers at the borders, more and more migrants would make the trek to the united states. it hadn't really happened. can you give us a sense as to why. >> i think there are two main reasons. one, it's important to understand once title 42 went away it wasn't as if there's no federal law managing our borers. the suggestion that the borders are open is nonsensical and inconsistent with the reality we see at our country's borders. i think -- so it's important to understand that title 8 is still in place. in fact, it institutes harsher measures in the sense migrants who are encountered, that are returned are barred for 5 to 10 years which wasn't true under title 42. it's why you sawmillians of encounters because people who got returned would then a week later try to come back. it's why you saw those millions of inencounters. and then the second reason is the biden administration put in place new pathways that allow for migrants to apply from their home countries, from outside of the u.s. borders, and that has been beneficial because it's allowed haitians, cubans, venezuelans, nicker waug witnesses to enter. that's why congress needs to act to create a more doesn't require indians, chinese, even ukrainians to come to our southern border. the reason they have in the past couple years, including during the trump administration, was because there were no other pathways to come in. >> despite an obvious need, there simply seems no appetite for any comprehensive immigration reform in congress right now. the white house keeps pushing republicans. don't seem interested. one conversation we'll continue. ceo of lutheran immigration service, thank you so much for joining us again this morning. we appreciate it. up next on "way too early," we have new reporting on president biden's support from black voters in the key battleground of georgia. why the bloc crucial to his 2024 win seems lukewarm about his candidacy. we'll bring that story. coming up on "morning joe," any day now. that's what donald trump predicts his indictment could drop. the federal grand jury is set to reconvene in a few hours. plus, there is another date set on trump's legal calendar. why he is being called to sit for a deposition with his former attorney and fixer, michael cohen. 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...to not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. now's the time to see what america's largest 5g network can do for your business. welcome back. as president biden ramps up his re-election campaign, some black voters in georgia are sounding the alarm, as they say that his support in their community may be wavering. bloomberg news is out with brand-new reporting. in the atlanta metro area, black voters are disapproved that voting rights and student loans are failed. they're not feeling bidenomics is working for them. the unemployment rate ticked up in georgia, and inflation has cooled but not dissipated. these concerns come as a recent poll showed less than one in five voters said they'd feel enthusiastic about another biden term. there was not much margin for error there. joining us now, one of the authors of the bloomberg piece, white house reporter akayla gardner. give us more on your reporting in georgia. it's eye-opener for the state that the president won barely in 2020, but they're banking on it this time around, too. >> absolutely. barely is exactly the right word. joe biden became the first democrat to win a presidential election in georgia since 1992, when he won in 2020. just to show how crucial black voters were to that win, by our calculations, if less than 1% of black voters stayed home or voted for trump, the outcome of this election could have been very different. basically, something that we heard on the ground from the director of organizer from the project which is pushing the largest voter registration in the state -- they registered 30,000 people alone this year -- he said people are not running and jumping about another term of president biden. they're, frankly, keeping their options open. that's something i heard from voters consistently. while they're aware that joe biden could be the default, they're still wanting to see who else could potentially get in this race. at least one voter told me they were considering cornell west. the majority of people here said though they may be voting for joe biden in the end of this, their big concerns right now are the economy. they're still feeling the stress of inflation, and jobs are drying up in the state. even though we've seen some of the good economic data, we haven't seen those perceptions seem to catch up yet. as you mentioned, these unfulfilled promises. student debt was something we heard consistently from voters, that they really wanted that policy to come to fruition. obviously, after the supreme court struck it down, we know biden is trying again. but they were disappointing that that hasn't happened yet. >> georgia is important, of course, on its own, but this seems to be also a microcosm of what's happening across the country. we know that republicans made some inroads with particularly black men last time around. we know that this president, despite a very impressive track record, suffers from a lack of enthusiasm from a lot of democratic voters. talkhe borders of georgia and in other states. >> when there is an enthusiasm gap, you have to pay attention. hillary clinton wasn't able to galvanize enough black voters in 2016 to get behind her. black voters seem to be a litmus for democrats in this state. you need to be able to secure and motivate the black vote in order to win in national elections. biden hasn't been in the state much. he's been there three times since taking office. he's been to pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin a lot more. there's also concerns about investment. a lot of these groups said they're not seeing investment until the october before a major election. black voters really need to see sincere and continuous engagement in order to feel like their vote matters, and they're not just being thought of every four years. then the promises, priorities are forgotten the next four years. >> cornell west, by any measure a fringe candidate, but we remember stein in 2016. if west pulls off a sliver of voters, black voters in particular, that could be the difference in some of the states. tell us, is the biden campaign aware of this issue, and what is the plan to keep the voters in line? . >> strategists have raised concerns about third-party candidates, cornell west and the no labels we're hearing about. what the biden world is banking on is donald trump. if he is, in fact, the nominee, their hope is that will galvanize people like it did in 2020. there were voters who purely cast a vote against donald trump. they're hoping that threats to the democracy and him being on the ballot again will have the same effect it did then. >> that's something the white house is counting on. dynamics could change if there is a candidate that's not donald trump, but polls suggest there's not really a sign of that. interesting reporting and a topic we're going to follow in the months ahead. white house reporter for bloomberg, akayla gardner, thank you for joining us this morning. thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this tuesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >> it passes ahead. a break, a shot at the post. that's incredible. the world cup almost ended right there for the u.s. >> that is how close, just a little while ago this morning, the u.s. women's national team came from being eliminated from the world cup. whew, hits the post right there. portugal's shot just missed outside. the united states team is able to play to a draw and advance to the knockout round. the team moves on as the runners-up in group e, likely will face the winners of group g, which could be sweden. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is tuesday, august 1st. jonathan lemire, we've been watching the tournament. last two games, draws for the united states. first round was closer than a lot of people thought it should