catch me every day at 4:00 p.m. eastern in this very studio. brian will be back here at this time tomorrow night. thank you for being with us and good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. all of that red, started get red, republican. it started getting red, red. a tiny dot of blue along the ocean. his hand starts shaking. oh, my god, another state came. oh, my god. what's going on? fake news. so bob casey doesn't mind ms-13 coming in. these are the slicers. they slice people up. they want me to walk up and go like this. president trump tries to energize his supporters in pennsylvania. he spent the night rallying for a republican candidate facing an uphill battle in the critical swing state. plus, some of america's top intelligence officials come together with a warning about russia and promising to defend against election interference this november. an enemy of the people. press secretary sarah huckabee sanders declines to answer whether she agrees with the president's phrase to describe members of the media, but first daughter ivanka trump isn't staying silent on the matter. good morning, everyone. it is friday, august 13th. i'm ayman mohyeldin along side yasmin vossoughian. >> a number of the top intelligence officials came together at the white house to deliver a surprise and united warning over the midterm elections. russia is still making efforts to interfere in the upcoming contest. the move was in contrast to president trump's general silence on the matter. nbc news national correspondent peter alexander has more for you. >> reporter: good morning to you. the best way to describe it was a show of force, a line-up we haven't seen since president trump took office. a white house adviser telling me the president instructed officials to tell americans what they're doing to defend america's election but raising the question why he hasn't said all of this himself. from america's top national security and intelligence officials, a united front, vowing to protect u.s. elections against a new round of threats from russia and other adversaries. >> we acknowledge the threat is real. it is continuing, and we're doing everything we can to have a legitimate election that the american people can have trust in. >> just three months ahead of the mid terms, the officials detailing a pervasive russian campaign to try to weaken and die vield the u.s. >> make no mistake, the scope of this foreign influence threat is both broad and deep. >> our democracy itself is in the crosshairs. >> >> reporter: though the officials note it is not as robust as in 2016, but the response under president trump will be stronger. >> the president has specifically directed us to make the matter of election meddling and securing our election process a top priority. >> reporter: but noticeably absent, the commander in chief who would weeks ago was still casting doubt on russian meddling. >> is russia still targeting the u.s. >> thank you very much, no. >> reporter: standing with vladimir putin, seeming to resquekt tr reject the intelligence community's opinion that russia interfered. the head of the fbi asked how america should square the intel warning with a president who repeatedly attacked his agency. >> i can assure the american people that the men and women of the fbi starting from the director all the way town will follow our oaths and do our jobs. >> reporter: and they signalled a new strategy to conduct secret cyb cyber. >> i won't discuss the specifics except to state we're well trained, ready and capable. >> reporter: one more note, president trump thanking the north korean leader kim jong-un for a new letter he received. the white house said the president has sent a response, all coming after a moving ceremony this week, the remains of u.s. soldiers who died during the korean war finally home. back to you, yasmin. >> thank you for that report. senator john mccain is reacting to the warning from america's top national security intelligence officials you saw there. he tweeted out saying, our top intelligence officials have repeatedly warned that putin continues to target our election, and saw chaos. until he pays a price these attacks will grow. introduced new sanctions bill with my colleagues to defend our democracy. that bipartisan bill the, quote defending american security from kremlin aggression act of 2018 which senator lindsey graham called a sanctions bill from hell, would significantly increase economic, political and diplomatic pressure on russia. it would also require two-thirds of the senate to sign off on any plan for the united states to leave the nato alliance. it all comes as senator rand paul is set to head to moscow, leading a delegation meeting with russian members of parliament on monday. >> during his rally in pennsylvania last night, president trump offered up his go-to topics to get his base fired up. the event was intended to drum up support for republican congressman lou barletta in his bit to unseat democrat senator bob casey but it featured some of the president's greatest hits, including criticizing nato and his new favorite, justifying shutting down the federal government to get funding for his border wall. >> the united states is not going to continue to spend our Updates of the day's news. large percentage of the media, that is the enemy of the people. >> all right. so white house senior adviser ivanka trump also broke with her father's administration yesterday on its decision to separate hundreds of migrant children from their parents. take a listen. >> that was a low point for me as well. i feel very strongly about that, and -- and i am very vehemently against family separation and the separation of parents and children. >> so meanwhile ivanka, who has also been an outspoken supporter of paid family leave, says the issue will need the support of both republicans and democrats in congress to pass. >> i view this as something that's going to require bipartisan compromise in order to get done. >> so in other words not in this congress? >> in other words, no, not in this congress. >> ms. trump went on to say she is cautiously optimistic it could happen next year. now to the latest in the thur of "the political playbook." >> casual friday for daniel lippman. >> yes, no tie. feel free to send your favorite tie entries to daniel at "politico" -- >> you got it. heading your way, buddy. >> let's talk about how the white house was trotting out national security advisers yesterday during the press briefing, as we mention earlier. really wanting to explain the dire security threat ahead of the midterm elections. we saw dan coates, we saw kirstjen nielsen. what has been the president as response so far? >> it seems there's been a mishmash what top security officials are saying about what russian interference and what the president is saying and doing. i think, you know, while it is great that they are out there warning of this, it doesn't seem like there is much effectiveness on the part of dhs and other agencies in helping states prepare for this. a lot of states have not actually used or asked for money for election security, and congress hasn't been exactly eager to give the millions of dollars necessary for this. so it looks like we're going to have a repeat, and already facebook is warning that, you know, they are worried about the interference issue. >> let's switch gears for a moment and talk about that somewhat combative press briefing that took place yesterday. sarah huckabee sanders refusing to answer if the president sees the media as the enemy of the people, something he has said clearly in the past. what's holding them back from denouncing that claim or sarah huckabee sanders in particular from denouncing that claim the same way that ivanka trump did? >> i think when you are a family member like ivanka trump you really have much more free rein to say whatever you want. and when it is your boss who you would be disagreeing with in the case of sarah sanders, it is much harder to say, oh, yeah, he's totally wrong on this. you know, this is one of his main platforms these days, to call us the enemy of the people. and so it is just this lack of courage on some white house officials' part who, you know, they just don't want to disagree with their boss. but wait until the book, you know, all of these people are going to write books and say, "i wish i had stood up a little more." >> i'm sure they're going to expect a lot of people in the media then to help normalize and legitimize those accounts. thank you very much. we will touch base with you in a little bit. >> still ahead, the national archives has bad news about a document delay regarding trump supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh, but republicans are still planning to move forward with a confirmation hearing. speaking of books, an inside look at the trump white house. the president as former aide and contestant omarosa, what she is saying about the president's mental health. >> let me guess. >> those stories and a check on the weather when we come back. you won't have to guess. still a chance here. it's willingham, edge of the box, willingham shoots... goooooooaaaaaaaallllllll! that...was...magic. willingham tucks it in and puts the championship to bed. sweet dreams, nighty night. as long as soccer players celebrate with a slide, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. pressure, what pressure? the players on the... pressure, what pressure? i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making america's #1 shave. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get. are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. welcome back, everybody. the national archives says it will not be able to produce all of the documents requested by the senate on supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh until the end of october. in a letter to judiciary committee chair chuck grassley, the archive says it estimates it can complete a review of 49,000 e-mails, totaling 300,000 pages from when kavanaugh worked in the white house counsel office under george w. bush by late august. however, it will not be able to complete the remaining review of 600,000 pages until the end of october. grassley originally requested the documents by august 13th for the confirmation hearing, but the committee plans to move forward without remaining records. last month senate majority leader mcconnell warned president trump the lengthy paper trail could pose difficulties for his confirmation. all right. former white house aide omarosa newman suggests president donald trump may be mentally unraveling. "unhinged." in an excerpt obtained by the "daily mail" she describes her dread watching the president's interview with lester holt about his firing of fbi director last may. i kept thinking, oh no, oh, no, this is bad. donald rambled. he spoke jibberish, he contradicted himself one sentence to the next. hope hicks, then communications director, went over the briefing with him, hitting the key point he fired comey based on the recommendation by the department of justice, which the vice president and other surrogates had been reinforcing for days. while watching the interview i realized something real and serious was going on in donald's brain. his mental decline could not be denied. many didn't notice it as keenly as i did because i knew him way back when. they thought trump was being trump, off the cuff, but i knew something wasn't right. omarosa served as communications director for the office of public liaison for seven months before she was reportedly fired after butting heads with white house chief of staff john kelly last december. she denied she was fired. the white house did not respond to a request for a comment by "daily mail".com. "unhinged" hits stores later this month. >> fiery things in there to say the least. >> i'm sure a lot from omarosa in days and weeks for days to come. >> you should propose to do the reading of the book on tape. >> the voice of omarosa? >> yeah, you never know. >> let's get a check on the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> i listen to audio books back and forth to work. i'm not listening to ayman. i get an chohour of it now and that's it. let's take you into what happened yesterday in virginia. we had about four to six inches of rain near the lynchburg area and water levels were obviously extremely high, and then they started worrying about the college lake dam was water was so overflowing they were worried about dam failure. that caused people to be evacuated. the message is if it fails, 17 feet it could rise downstream. we still have more rain on the way. roanoke is here, lynchburg is in the mountainous areas and more rain is sliding that way. 38 million people, it is like two weeks in a row we've been talking about the numbers like this and flood watches. it goes from savannah to charleston, all the way through the appalachians and up to albany, new york. here is a map depicting how much rain could fall. notice how scattered it is. that's the nature of these tropical downpours in the summer. it is not like a winter storm that covers everything. everyone from portland, down to d.c., charlotte, everyone has a chance for a period of rain. we're hot in the middle of the country. we will talk about the rest of the weekend forecast coming up, but i will give you one nice day this weekend in the northeast. >> all right. we will take it, no matter what day it is. preferably not sunday when we have to work. saturday would be nice. >> he talks about this every week. >> still ahead, the yankees and red sox, we will tell you why mike barnacle will have an extra smile on his face take. back in a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ♪ ♪ bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens ♪ ♪ brown paper packages tied up with strings ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making america's #1 shave. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get. ♪ hawaii is in the middle of the pacific ocean. we're the most isolated population on the planet. ♪ hawaii is the first state in the u.s. to have 100% renewable energy goal. we're a very small electric utility. but, if we don't make this move we're going to have changes in our environment, and have a negative impact to hawaii's economy. ♪ verizon provided us a solution using smart sensors on their network that lets us collect near real time data on our power grid. 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>> i think it is good. the only problem is if it is not close, won't be that fun. >> exactly. it is not exciting unless it goes down to the final. >> 10 million, hopefully they will keep it close. >> that's a lot to want to win for. >> live in las vegas. >> all right. look at that, louis. >> let's get ready to rumble. still ahead, president trump tells a pennsylvania crowd about his one-on-one private meeting with vladimir putin last month, but apparently his director of intelligence still in the dark about what took place. plus, new recording about michael cohen striking a $10 million deal, not with golf, with a top trump donor days before federal agents raided his home and office. those details coming up next. pa. and it's also a story about people. pa. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ if yor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough, it may be time for a change. ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. this condition has not been reported with entyvio. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's treatment isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach. booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline. a couple of hours later i started hearing these reports that, you know, they wanted me to walk up his -- they wanted me to walk up and go like this -- they wanted me to go up and have a boxing match. i said, whatever happened to diplomacy? by the way, whatever happened to diplomacy? you know, i used to study -- not too much -- diplomacy. i said, whatever happened to getting everything you want? >> so he continues to say the helsinki summit was a success, although there are very few public details about what was actually discussed between the two men. in fact, the nation's top intelligence officials say he still doesn't know either. >> i'm not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened at helsinki. >> while in president, the president insisted the kremlin favored his opponent despite the fact putin himself said otherwise last month. watch. >> now, we are being behinderhiy the russian hoax. it is a hoax, okay. i'll tell you what, russia is very unhappy that trump won. that i can tell you. >> president putin, did you want president trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? >> interpreter: yes, i did. yes, i did. >> straightforward. all right. trump's comments there about russian interference fly in the face of a warning his top national security and intelligence officials delivered just hours earlier from the white house at the president's personal instruction. >> this threat is not going away. as i have said consistently, russia attempt to interfere with the last election and continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day. this is a threat we need to take extremely seriously and to tackle and respond to with fierce determination and focus. >> the intelligence community continues to be concerned about the threats of upcoming u.s. elections, both the mid terms and the presidential elections of 2020. in regards to russian involvement in the midterm elections, we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by russia to try to weaken and divide the united states. these efforts are not exclusive to this election or future elections, but certainly cover issues relevant to the election. >> our focus here today is simply to tell the american people we acknowledge the threat, it is real, it is continuing, and we're doing everything we can to have a legitimate election that the american people can have trust in. in addition to that, it goes beyond the elections. it goes to russia's intent to undermine our democratic values, drive a wedge between our allies and to a number of other nefarious things. >> our democracy itself is in the crosshairs. free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and it has become clear that they are the target of our adversaries who seek as the dni just said to sow discord and undermine our way of life. >> white house senior adviser ivanka trump entered into the fray over the child separation policy enacted by her father's administration, seeking to break with him. she also distanced herself from one of the favorite targets of his criticism. nbc white house correspondent hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: from a family-focused first daughter, a red line on family separations at the border. >> that was a low point for me as well, and i am very vehemently against family separation and the separation of parents and children. >> reporter: it was the policy of ivanka trump's father that triggered more separations in the first place, but she never pushed back publicly until that had already been reversed. now she's making her view clear on that and on something else. >> sorry? >> do you think -- is the enemy of the people? >> no, i do not. i have some sensitivity around why people have concerns but, no, i do not feel that the media is the enemy of the people. >> reporter: back up from her boss, the president, tweeting, she correctly said no, it is the fake news which is the large percentage of the media the enemy of the people. >> i called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are. >> reporter: his press secretary repie repeatedly pressed, dodged. >> repeatedly the media presses without content to incite anger. as far as i know i'm the first press secretary in the history of the united states that required secret service protection. >> you did not say in the remarks you just made that the press is not the enemy of the people. >> i'm here to speak on behalf of the president. he made his comments clear. >> reporter: as for what is happening on the policy front, ayman, this administration has always focused on ending obama era regulations and there's another example this week. the epa yesterday rolled out its plan to roll back certain fuel economy standards, consistent with the pattern we've seen from president trump, undoing what his predecessor did. for him, ayman, it is a promise made, promise kept. >> all right. hallie jackson, thanks for the report. there is new reporting that again accuses former trump fixer michael cohen of using the access he once had to the president to line his own pockets. the "wall street journal" reports that he entered into contract with former trump donor for funding for a nuclear power project. he agreed to pay cohen a monthly retainer and $10 million if he saw the project through. the journal reports it was made shortly before the april raid on cohen's home, office and hotel room. according to people familiar with that contract, the loan application with the energy department is still pending. a representative for cohen declined to comment. the white house did not respond to the paper's request for comment. cohen is currently under investigation for potential campaign finance violations related to hush money, payment to porn star stormy daniels. investigators are looking into whether he worked as an unregistered lobbyist. the republican national committee has warned donors not to support the koch network. the koch network pulled funding from a key senate race in north dakota and hinted they may consider working with democrats last weekend. rnc chairwoman mcdaniel in a memo to donors yesterday wrote, quote, some groups who claim to support conservatives forgo their commitment when they decide their business interests are more important than the country. meanwhile, an online fundraising platform has surged past the $1 billion mark in donations this election cycle. usa today reports that act blue predicts donations will top 1.5 billion by years end. an average donation is $34. over 13,000 candidates and groups raise money on this platform. >> i feel that republican fight has really escalated fast between the rnc and the koch brothers. >> oh, my god, absolutely. let's bring in daniel lippman once again from "politico", co-author of "the political playbook." good to talk to you again. >> thank you. >> let's talk about ivanka trump breaking from her father's controversial border separation policy, to say the least. what are people saying about the timing of her comments to axios yesterday? >> i think people feel like too little, too late sometimes. if she had spoken out during the time of the separations a couple of months ago or gone to the border as melania trump, her mother-in-law did, then that would be one thing. but even president trump is against these separations now. he thinks it went too far. so it is, you know, not exactly a show of courage. it seems like stephen miller is running the show in terms of immigration policy at the white house and not ivanka or jared. >> let's talk a little bit about this nugget that's still kind of, i guess, hangs over d.c. intelligence officials that the top intelligence officials really have no idea what went on during the meeting between president trump and vladimir putin. we heard that reiterated yesterday by dan coates, saying he's not in a position to comment about that meets. he also said it to andrea mitchell during the aspen forum. what do you make of that? has it become an issue since our top intelligence officials are saying they don't know what happened in that meeting? >> this is what you get when you don't have note takers in the room, when it is a one-on-one, you know, meeting between trump and putin with a translator. republicans blocked an effort by democrats to actually interview the interpreter who was at that meeting to try to get her readout. so it is pretty worrying when you don't know what promises trump might have made, and i think going forward that's just not a good way to do policy. and if the head of dni, you know, the director of national intelligence, doesn't know what is going on, then you can be sure there are a lot of other officials in the government who should know what happened, they're out of the loop as well. >> i suggested yesterday that dan coats may want to call his russian counterpart to see if he can get a copy of the transcript. >> i'm snot sure the transcript would reflect what was going on in the room. >> it would be like a buddy meant. >> he said, he said. >> good the see you, buddy. still ahead, president trump throws his support behind one congressman running for office. the big blunder the president made in trying to help sway that election. >> plus, bill karins is back with a check on what is in store with your weekend forecast. stay with us. 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(vo) ask your health care provider about tresiba®. covered by most commercial health insurance and medicare part d plans. i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making america's #1 shave. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get. tough on crime and borders and an inspiration to our military and vets. big on second amendment. get out and vote for steve on august 2ndnd. well, special election takes place on august 7th, that is true, but congressman steve stivers represents ohio's 15th congressional district. the president later tweeted, looking forward to being in the great state of ohio on saturday night where i will be campaigning hard for a truly talented future congressman, troy balderson. >> let's get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, you said earlier you were going to tell us which day of the weekend would be nice. so -- >> that's right. >> we've been waiting with bated breath. >> yasmin and ayman, they both have to work sunday. >> thanks for pointing that out. just in case our bosses were watching. >> sunday. >> they would prefer it to rain and pour and be miserable for everyone because they have to work. >> no, that's not fair. >> so selfish. >> i want beautiful weather for everybody. >> let's tell you what is going to happen. we are watching the rain in areas of western north carolina this morning. we have flooding concerns in areas near lynchburg, virginia. we talked about that earlier, there's one dam they're questioning whether it will hold the walter back or not because it is overflowing the top of it. 38 million people at risk of flash flooding. hold the umbrella on the east coast today, you will likely need it at some point. there will be numerous downpours from boston to tampa. middle of the country is nice and warm, and we're dealing with very hot conditions in the west. let's get to the weekend forecast. you will wake up in the morning with a possibility of heavy rain and thunderstorms in new york city through much of new england, then we will get a break and then more showers later in the day. and then the gorgeous day, the day we've been waiting for -- >> there you go. >> for so long in the northeast. >> of course. >> especially sunday, late afternoon. it should be perfect. >> around 4:00 p.m., right? >> 84 in boston. what a beautiful beach day to be outside, enjoying the sunshine. >> nice sunny day. >> what time are you guys working? >> oh, yeah, sunday afternoon, 4:00 and 5:00 respectively. >> by the way -- sfwlil- >> i'll catch some rays for you while we're out there? >> louis, do you get reception on your boat out there? >> team player, bill karins, everyone. still ahead, we're hours away from the release of one of the most important economic reports. a preview of the jobs report. >> plus apple makes history becoming the first trillion-dollar country. you heard correctly. details on what's driving your business day next. apple has a lot of money. oh, look... another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to work on fine lines and wrinkles. one week? that definitely works! rapid wrinkle repair®. and for dark spots, rapid tone repair. neutrogena®. see what's possible. experience the versatility of utility, with a range of suvs perfect for any adventure, at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making america's #1 shave. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get. are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. facebook doing well, it doesn't necessarily apply. unemployment itself could tick down from 4% to 3.9% according to estimates in june. remember, 213,000 new jobs. 190,000 for july. wait to see whether president trump talkance a the numbers ahead of time. the white house talked about tax cuts late last year, economic growth would make up for the budget shortfalls. that's not happening. according to the treasury department, they have to borough more money. $769 billion borrowed. 63% increase on the same period last year. and on the topic of trillions of dollars, apple made history, the first american company to reach $1 trillion in stock market value. what can you tell us about the milestone? back at 1997, apple was on the ropes almost declaring bankruptcy and almost out of money, and people speculate they won't the only company to reach that milestone? >> if there was a race, they've won it, beat google. the american icon of "businessweek" magazine. lo look at it now. not the most important measure of success saying the result products and customers. you're looking to renovate your new place, the big number to watch, the billion devices worldwide where apple canever -- generate. >> just moved into a new apartment, going to deck it out with all apple gear ihome. >> apple needs the money, looks like. >> he'll come in big. >> absolutely. coming up, jonathan swan with "one big thing" and on "morning joe," merkel intelligence chiefs a standing warning to the nation. the threat they say russia is posing to the upcoming midterm elections, and moscows latest bid to meddle in democracy. plus president trump yet again contradicting his own advisers on what he calls the russian hoax renewing questions over where he stands whith america's intelligence agencies. 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(avo) beneful simple goodness. tender, meaty morsels with real ingredients you can see. primary. that makes her the fifth republican house member this year to run for state-wide office and lose. extraordinary. >> so let me ask you this. could diane black not getting t president trump's endorsement played a role in her massive loss last night? >> base and what we've seen so far in primaries, yes. yes, absolutely it could have. we saw -- one of the most startling stories that we've seen in the last six months is president trump's intervention, for example, in the florida gubernatorial race. he weighed in for ron desantis, who was trailing in the polls. trump flipped the polls dramatically over, you know a pretty well-liked conservative candidate who floridians new. trump's endorsement flipped it to a double-digit lead to desantis. yes, he has an incredible power over the republican voters, particularly republican primary voters. >> we have heard that obviously 2018 is the year of women that are running, but that doesn't necessarily translate to republican incumbents. talk to us about that. >> no. because, look, if you -- one of the worst things you can possibly be, and the trend lines, this is not a new phenomenon but long-term trends accelerating is a nmember of congress. they're approval rating is absolutely dire. one of the reasons trump has such power over the party, among the public, even though nationally he is under water and very unpopular, actually, among republican voters he's extremely popular and these members of congress are all running scared. they're somewhere in the 10%, 12% approval. trump is at 90%. it's a huge divide. >> talking about the middle east later on, on "morning joe," but what are you learning about president trump's long awaited middle east peace plan rogout? >> a.p. reported jared kushner is reaching out to other agencies to basically bring people into their team for the next 6 to 12 months. a clear signal they're planning the rollout of this peace plan. very mysterious. no details whatsoever and when we talk to foreign officials, they're al scratching their heads. >> all right. jonathan swan, live in washington, d.c. for us. we'll see you a little bit on "morning joe" and, of course to viewers out there, sign up for that newsletter by going to signup.axios.com. that does it for us on this friday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian along with ayman mohyeldin. "morning joe" starts right now. whatever happened to diplomacy. you know, i used to study -- not much -- diplomacy.