good morning to all of you. good morning as well for louis bergdorf. ayman and yasmin have the morning off. we will start with president trump who issued another call for the special counsel's investigation to be ended after the fbi terminated a senior agent, peter strzok, who was removed from the investigation into russian interference in the election after an internal watchdog discovered he traded negative text messages about the president. the president then tweeted, agent peter strzok was just fired from the fbi, finally. the list of bad players in the fbi and doj gets longer and longer. based on the fact that strzok was in charge of the witch-hunt, will it be dropped? it is a total hoax. no collusion, no obstruction. i just fight back. trump later tweeted that strzok had a lead role in what the president called the crooked hillary clinton sham investigation, adding it was a total fraud on the american public and should be properly redone. >> meanwhile, in federal court in washington, d.c. yesterday, a fourth federal judge rejected a challenge to robert mueller's appointment as special counsel. the judge was appointed to the bench by president trump last year. the move to dismiss came from a russian firm charged with conspiracy to defraud the u.s., arguing that an independent counsel violated the constitution's appointment clause by creating an unaccountable branch of government. the judge rejected the argument and wrote that mueller had not strayed from his jurisdiction. now, the attorney for fbi special agent peter strzok is suggesting his client's firing amounts to a purge of the bureau. according to aitan goelman said that strzok should face a demotion, a 60-day suspension and last-chance probationary agreement. but the lawyer said fbi deputy director overruled that decision and ordered strzok's termination. in the statement, strzok's lawyer said the decision to fire him is not only a departure from typical bureau practice, but also contradicts director wray's testimony to congress and his assurances that the fbi intended to follow its regular process in this and all personnel matters. on mtp daily goelmann added this. >> i don't think you can rationally reach any conclusion other than it was political. there's no -- not a scintilla of evidence that any of pete's political opinions affected his job. in fact, you can read the i.g. report that says pete was one of the more aggressive people on the hillary clinton e-mail investigation, and if he had wanted to somehow impact the election he could have easily have done it and did not do it. >> now to president trump who is lashing out at his former aide omarosa, the former ex apprentice star is revealing about her white house ouster with secret recorded tapes hinting there could be more to come. we get more from white house correspondent kristin welker. >> reporter: the outrage with the president and his top advisers trying to discredit omarosa. the president now finds himself caught on tape. president trump lashing out at his former apprentice turned adversary, in a tweet storm calling her a low life, wacky and not smart after she ramped up attacks. >> do you think he is mentally competent to do his job? >> no, i don't think he is fit. >> reporter: omarosa releasing a recording after she was fired by white house chief of staff john kelly. >> i saw in the news you're thinking about leaving. what happened? >> general kelly came to me and said you guys wanted me to leave. >> no, nobody even told me about. no. they run a big operation but i at any time know it. i didn't know that. >> yeah. >> -- it. i don't love you leaving at all. >> nbc news does not know what was said before or after that exchange, but manigault-newman telling savannah mr. trump appearing surprised was an act. >> do you think the president lies often? >> absolutely. >> on "meet the press" she first revealed she secretly recorded john kelly firing her inside the highly-secured white house situation room. press secretary sarah sanders saying it shows a blatant disregard for security. >> this is a white house where everybody lies. >> the president is accusing his former top aide it breaking not only a law but an agreement, tweeting she has a fully-signed non-advertise closure agreement. mr. trump also tweeted that general kelly warned she was, quote, a loser and nothing but problems. i told him to try working it out if possible because she only said great things about me, until she got fired. so why did she stay nearly a year? >> because right now there is no african-american senior staffer in the white house. >> reporter: all of it raising questions about how mr. trump is running his own administration and whether he's including enough african-americans in it. kristin welker, nbc news, the white house. >> thanks to kristin for that report. omarosa also told msnbc's chris matthews she has plenty of recordings and said she does not mind sharing them with bob mueller if the special counsel's office calls again. there are recordings featuring omarosa's private conversations with ivanka trump and jared kushner. on one of the calls, he wished her the best and told her that he had no idea she was going to be fired. less than a month ago president trump was railing against michael cohen, but yesterday he pointed to cohen as a validator in an effort to dispute an allegation by omarosa manigault newman. he retweeted cohen who wrote, to the dozens who called me questioning omarosa claimed in her new book that omarosa took a note from me. i did not see this. just two weeks ago he slammed him for releasing a tape of a payment. rudy guilliani said this about cohen. >> the man is a pathological manipulator, liar. he has been lying all week, he's been lying for years. i don't see how he has any credibility. which lie do you want to pick? do you want to pick the first lie, the second lie or maybe a new lie? because he's lied all of his life. >> joining us now, jill rolvin, white house reporter. good morning to you. we have been listening to what has been said with president trump mentioning the non-disclosure agreement. one might ask the legal jeopardy omarosa may face based on the nda which is not easy to enforce even in private circles, but in this public sector does she face more jeopardy? >> it is interesting. it is unclear what the president was talking about here when he referred to this non-disclosure agreement. we know during the campaign every member of the campaign had to sign one of these non-disclosures. omarosa denies she signed anything at the white house and that she signed a contract when it came to "the apprentice." when you're a government employee, there are questions about the ethics of having government employees sign these kinds of documents. our understanding is that not everybody in the west wing signed them. kellyanne conway this week referred to a confidentiality agreement, but the white house hasn't walked us through exactly what they feel people are on the hook for. nonetheless, there is a great deal of concern within the white house about what other tapes omarosa might have, what other allegations she might publicly make about other individuals in the white house, and so everyone right now is kind of looking, trying to figure outweighs to stop her, trying to figure out threats to make. so whether these league threats are actually legitimate and whether they pan out in a court of law, at this point i think it is all about trying to fight back. >> the timing too given her book release and the midterms coming out. want to turn to peter strzok's ouster here, especially when you have that going against director wray's testimony in congress. what is next for the administration? how will they use this to benefit their game plan? >> well, peter strzok is somebody that the president has really used as the ultimate example for what he sees is bias within the fbi, within the justice department, that helped him, you know, make these claims, hurl his claims that the investigation is nothing but a biased witch-hunt. for the president, it is likely going to need to find a new target. you know, he's gone after comey, mccabe, this long list of people involved in the investigation, and so i wouldn't be surprised if the president winds up trying to find somebody else who he wants to make the bad guy here. there is a very strong pr war going on between the president and rudy guilliani trying to discredit this investigation in any way they can. >> all right. jill colvin, as also, thank you for being with us. we want to turn to breaking news from london where there's been an incident outside the house of parliament during the morning hour rush hour. joining us live from the scene in london is nbc news chief global correspondent dale neely. what is the latest on the ground there? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, louis. the houses of parliament are about 400 yards behind me, the heart of britain's democracy, and this morning police say there was an incident here. they still won't say if it was terror-related, but they say at 7:37 exactly a man drove his car into security barriers outside the houses of parliament. now, there are numerous barriers made of concrete and steel. that was after a terror incident last year. the man was immediately surrounded by armed police. he was hauled out of the car, handcuffed and arrested. he did hit a number of people, but, as i say, police are still not sure whether this was terror-related. two eyewitnesses though say that the man was driving at speed. one woman said around 40 miles per hour. she said the car was so close to the railings it was on the sidewalk or very close to it, and she says it must have been intentional. now, obviously there are echos of last year's attack here in march when a man, a 52-year old, crashed his car into security barriers outside parliament and killed four people. he then jumped out, ran into the parliament, stabbed to death a police officer before he was shot and killed by armed police response officers. echos of that incident, but police here still say they cannot confirm that this was terror-related. the man who drove that car is in their hands being questioned right now. back to you. >> obviously a very scary and developing situation on the ground there, bill neely. thanks for your reporting. still ahead, it is primary day in four states across the country. we will look at some of the most competitive cases. plus, prosecutors rest their case against paul manafort and now his lawyers will mount their defense. we will have those stories and a check of the weather when we come right back. ♪ ♪ experience the versatility of utility. at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. lease the 2018 rx 350 and rx 350 all wheel drive for these terms. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. you might be missing something.y healthy. your eyes. that's why there's ocuvite. ocuvite helps replenish nutrients your eyes can lose as you age. it has lutein, zeaxanthin and omega-3. ocuvite. be good to your eyes. the first person to survive alzis out there.ase and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen by funding scientific breakthroughs, advancing public policy, and providing local support to those living with the disease and their caregivers. but we won't get there without you. join the fight with the alzheimer's association. welcome back. the trial of paul manafort is set to resume after prosecutors rested their case against president trump's former campaign manager. the defense team for manafort, who is facing tax evasion, bank fraud and money laundering charges, is expected to tell the court whether it intends to offer defense or move to closing arguments. before prosecutors wrapped their case they called james brennan, a vice president at the federal savings bank, to testify. he told the court as part of an immunity bill there were red flags with the loans manafort had been seeking from the bank. that includes inconsistencies on the applications about manafort's income, assets as well as his liabilities. brennan said while the president of the bank initially denied the application because of those issues, the bank ceo overruled the decision. manafort's attorneys filed a motion to acquit him on some of the charges. manafort has pleaded not guilty to all charges. >> it is election days and voters in four states including wisconsin, minnesota, vermont and connecticut will head to the polls. in wys con, eight democrats face off to challenge incumbent governor scott walker, who is seeking his third term. meanwhile, democrats will see a three-way battle for minnesota's open governor spot betwe. former governor tim pawlenty will try to win back his old job. in minnesota's race, democrat tina smith who was appointed to the seat after al frank enresigned is expected to win her primary against former bush administration official richard painter. finally in connecticut, both sides will face off for another open governor spot. democrats will have a two-way race between business leader ned lamont and bridgeport mayor joe began non-. on republican side, businessman bob stefanowski will face off. ellison is denying allegations of domestic abuse as voters head to the poll. the allegations surfaced after a woman the congressman dated until 2016 confirmed a story shared by her son on facebook. the post allegedly detailing messages from ellison and ellison dragging her off a bed by her feet. the post was shared at least 2,000 times. ellison is the front-runner in the crowded rate for attorney general. the chair of the dnc issued a statement through his campaign strongly refuting any allegations of abusive behavior. monahan denied request for the video which ellison said did not exist but shared more than 100 text and twitter messages. there's no evidence in the messages it reviewed of alleged physical abuse. always of yesterday, more than 120,000 early votes were cast via absentee ballot. minnesota's deadline to change or cancel the votes elapsed last week. tragic news here. a utah firefighter died yesterday after battling the largest wildfire recorded in california history. the firefighter who was not named was injured out while putting out an active ranch fire within the mendocino complex. he was air lifted to a hospital where unfortunately he died. the mendocino complex has scorched more than 320,000 acres, destroyed 139 homes and let two firefighters injured. residents who defied evacuation orders were urged to leave immediately. this marks the latest fatality in a fire season that has taken a serious toll on first responders who have been stretched thin as new fires continue to break out. authorities say fact-finding on the accident is, in fact, under way as we speak. all right. let's turn to bill karins with a check on your weather and also a check on the smoke and the weather out there around those fires. >> yeah, that's the thing right now, louis, is a lot of the fires are starting to get a little containment on them, they're not spreading into populated areas. you talk to anybody in the west, even from eastern washington state south wards, even areas of the rockies, at times if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction is air quality is really, really poor. let's bring it back the east because we are watching still a threat of flooding. four million people at risk of flash flooding. we are talking central pennsylvania, the southern tier of new york, back up into the southern district and catskills here. these red rivers here are river flood warning. they're hit and miss and scattered but still high water out there. overnight the thunderstorms have been in between syracuse and heading towards rochester. this is the area most at risk for heavy rainfall going throughout the next couple of hours and into the early morning. so here is your rain forecast over the next 24 hours. when we get up here to the red and then the pink, that's two to three inches of rain. we have a couple of spots in central new york to watch and a couple of spots in central pennsylvania. you get to the mountainous terrain, it has poured over the last couple of days and the run-off is very fast because of the saturated soil. that will be an issue. the forecast today, there could still be a hit-and-miss scattered shower for boston and new york. a nice, dry day for washington, d.c. and into the southeast. more storms in the middle of the country. we will talk about that later, richard. we have a chance for heavy rain over the next couple of days for arkansas, missouri, oklahoma and kansas. >> if only we could move it to the west. >> not that easy. >> unfortunately. thank you, bill, so much. still ahead, melo on the move. see where the nba guard has landed. the mets looking for beige upset over the cross town rivals. all of the subway series highlights next on sports. we're back in a moment. mail and 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back with you. i'm frances rivera alongside richard louie and louis bergdorf. it is the bottom of the hour so let's start the morning's top stories off with this. omarosa divulging more information about the tape she claims she heard of donald trump using the "n" world during the filming of the apprentice. she claims they made a copy of the tape to expose donald trump for the racist he is. >> how many times did you use him use the "n" word? >> multiple times and upsetting -- >> how many times, five, ten? >> multiple times. what is upsetting is it was someone on the cast with me about the male contestant on the first season of the apprentice, and that's why it was so disturbing. >> was it kind of derogatory? sort of the stuff -- i'm older than you. i grew up with some of the bad stuff. was there like derogatory references to him as an african-american? the stereotypical commentary, how would you describe it? >> it sounded as if he used it every day. kind of like when you heard the "access hollywood" tape, you would never imagine he talked that way. it kind of rolled off his tongue. >> you go out, you listen to the tape and you hear him say this awful, racially derogatory stuff multiple times in the three minutes you listened to. did you retape that? >> no, in fact, he was very specific to put headphones on. i immediately called laura and eric -- that's eric's wife -- to share what i learned, and we had those conversations. i actually had those conversations with her, where i shared with her that this tape -- >> who is this? >> laura trump. i called her to tell her what i heard and what was happening, and they weren't -- she wasn't surprised. she was just kind of in damage control mode. >> earlier in the day the president tweeted that mark burnett, the creator of "the apprentice" called to say that there are no tapes at "the apprentice" where i use such a terrible and disgusted word as attributed by wacky and deranged omarosa. i don't have that word in my vocabulary and never have. look at her recent quotes saying wonderful things about me, a true champion of civil rights until she was fired. the president continues, omarosa has zero credibility with the media. they didn't want interviews when she worked in the white house. now that she says bad about me, they will talk to her. fake news nl. >> the president also lashed out earlier in the day in a series of tweets that he says was beneath the office. wacky omarosa, who got fired three times on the apprentice, now got fired for the last time. she never made it, never will. she begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, i said okay. people in the white house hated her. i rarely saw her, but heard bad things. nasty to people and would constantly miss meetings and work. when general kelly came on board he told me she was a loser and nothing but problems. i told him to try working it out, if possible, because she only said great things about me until she got fired. while i know it is not presidential to take on a low lifelike omarosa and while i would rather not be doing so, this is a modern day form of communication and i know the fake news media will be working over time to make even wacky omarosa look as legislatimate a possible. >> in the midst came the first admission from the president that the west wing requires non-disclosure. he tweeted she has a non-disclosure but she denies it. >> they say they have a non-disclosure. >> not by me. they brought it to me. they refused to let me take a cop zblooe. >> what would you get out of that? >> they told me i couldn't show it to my lawyers and i knew it was unethical. >> what would you get out of that? >> if felt if he had these agreements it would stop the leakers but it didn't stop the leakers. >> according to "the washington post", the trump ndas are those similar used by the trump campaign. this is one from the campaign in which those who sign it promise and agree not to demean or disparage publiclily. most agreement such contracts for public employees are not enforceable. the fbi agent who found himself in the national spotlight over anti-donald trump messages has now been fired. the dismisal of peter truk marks the end of his two-decade-long career with the fbi. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has more. pete. >> reporter: once one of the fbi's top counterintelligence agents, peter strzok is out, fired over text messages he exchanged during the campaign with an fbi lawyer, lisa page, about donald trump. in one she asks, he's not ever going to become president, right? right? and strzok at the time a senior agent on the russia investigation respond, no. no, he's not. we'll stop it. strzok insisted his private views never affected his work. >> i separated out my personal beliefs from any action i took officially as an fbi agent, every day. >> reporter: but to house republicans critical of the mueller investigation, he was exhibit a. >> i don't appreciate having an fbi agent with an unpress au department he level of an must working on two major investigations during 2016. >> reporter: the justice department inspector general said strzok made investigating russia election meddling a higher problem than the clinton e-mails, concluding, we did not have confidence that his decision was free from bias. president trump tweeted finally, asking, based on the fact that strzok was in charge of the witch hunt, will it be dropped? but struck's lawyer says an fbi disciplinary review recommended a suspension, not firing. >> trump also and hi allies on capitol hill repeatedly called for strzok to be fired so it is not a secret, back-door thing. they are publicly demonizing this man and saying he should not be an agent. >> reporter: in a tweet of his own he said he is sad over his firing. >> pete, thank you for the report. >> the president was in fort drumm new york for the signing ceremony of the john s. mccain national defense authorization act, named in honor of senator john mccain. however, during the ceremony the president not only dropped the senator's name from the bill's title but chose not to mention mccain all together. >> the national defense authorization act is the most significant investment in our military and our war fighters in modern history, and i am very proud to be a big, big part of it. it was not very hard. >> we would not be here to today's signing ceremony without the dedicated efforts of the members of congress who worked so hard to pass the national defense authorization act. i would like to recognize congresswoman elise stephanek whose district proudly includes fort drumm. i want to thank representatives don baker, dan ton owe van and joe wilson, who are with us take also. there's another member of congress here today. and i've gotten to know her very well and she is terrific, congresswoman martha mcsally. >> and while the president left out mccain's name during the signing, trump went on the attack during a fundraiser in new york, reprising one of his favorite. >> obamacare, we got rid of the individual mandate, which is the most unpopular aspect. i would have gotten rid of everything, but, as you know, one of our -- one of our wonderful senators said thumbs down at 2:00 in the morning. >> in a statement mccain writes in part, i thank my colleagues in congress for working together to craft this legislation which honors our men and women in uniform and lives up to the tradition of bipartisanship and collaboration that have come to define the nda process. i'm humbled my colleagues in congress chose to designate this bill in my name. there is no higher calling than to serve a cause greater than self-interest. i've been privileged to support our men and women in uniform who have dedicated their lives to that noble cause. ohio governor john kasich is hitting back after president trump launched a twitter attack against him yesterday. the president referenced last week's special election in ohio's 12th congressional district when he tweeted, coat, the very unpopular governor of ohio and failed presidential canned john kasich, hurt the recent win by tamping down an enthusiasm for an otherwise great canned. even kasich's lieutenant governor last government. a short time later he tweeted this, showing russian president vladimir putin laughing. >> i want to bring in reporter for the "associated press" jill colvin. you know, these attacks are nothing new. we saw them before, during, after the election. the president has come out pretty much unscathed when it comes to them. do you think when it comes to these attacks that could change come 2020, we could see them backfire? >> reporter: i think this is the race the two are fighting over is an interesting example of the type of race, the kind of district the president did win in 2016, but where there are a lot of voters, you know, the kind of suburban voters that haven't really bought into the trump message. you are going to have people like john kasich, other potential rivals of the president, who are going to try to exacerbate those tensions and try to fight over the heart of the republican party. what you have here developing is this conversation happening. you'll have it with john kasich and likely, you know, others if they choose to run independents, if there are republicans who choose to challenge him, you know, trying to make the message that the president is not the one who should have the nomination, that they would be better fits for the party and have a better chance of beating whoever the democrat is, the democratic canned is in 2020. >> let's get back to omarosa and the counts made so far, the back and forth. it has not hit the crescendo of what might be released. what's the tone based on the first business day after these comments have come out? >> absolutely. omarosa is kicking off her media tour. i expect to see her in many different formats over the next week as she tries to sell this book. people in the white house are frustrated. they are concerned about the fact that she was apparently recording lots of conversations. they want to know whether they are on those tapes, what she may have recorded that they were saying, and they also feel this kind of sense of frustration about the fact you had this person in there. you saw the president's tweet there. basically he said, you know, this person was criticized, my chief of staff thought she was incompetent and yet i decided to keep her on staff because she said nice things to me. so folks in the building who had negative experiences with her, even folks in the building with positive experiences with her, either here feel betrayed or concerned about what she might say about them. >> jill colvin, thanks for waking up with us. >> thank you. still ahead, the trump administration facing null ethics questions the benefits some at the white house are taking advantage of one of the president's personal properties. >> and bill karins back with a check on the forecast, including whether the east coast will get a break from the on- slaslaught heavy rains coming. if you have psoriasis, ... little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats moderate to severe plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla . it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with... ...an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts,... ...or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. i do. check out the new united explorer card. saving on this! saving on this! saving in here. rewarded! learn more at theexplorercard.com my dbut now, i take used tometamucil every day.sh it traps and removes the waste that weighs me down, so i feel lighter. try metamucil, and begin to feel what lighter feels like. welcome back. new reporting from "politico" claiming that the trump administration or staffers are being offered under-the-radar perks at the president's golf club in bedminster, new jersey. according to "politico", white house staffers who have a secret service hard pin identifying them as administration officials can flash the pin at the pro shop and receive the same discount available to club members who pay a reported $350,000 to join the club. now, those discounts range from 15% off any merchandise sold in the store to 70% off clearance items. according to two staffers and a receipt reviewed by "politico." now, discounts are not prohibited by the office of government ethics if they are available to all government employees or if it is a standardized discount, but if they are not, the discount is considered a gift. according to government ethics rules, an employee can never use his or her position or any authority associated with public office to solicit or coerce the offering of a gift. let's switch gears and get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, it is not just the northeast that's getting some wet weather. our friends in texas, oklahoma, arkansas will get the rain as well. >> yeah, they've been getting soaked. summertime, you don't get fast-moving storms going across the country. often you get a stagnant weather pattern, slow-moving storms and that's been the case. we had two slow-moving storms. in the northeast we had four straight days of periods in rains, in the southern plains we had three straight days of the slow-moving weather system and that will continue. the jet stream has been farther to the north. when we get towards fall, this dips to the south, allowing the cooler canadian air to get to us, but not this time of year. we have to wait until cement and october to get that cooler. the two cut-off lows, we'll see periods of rain. the one in the northeast exits today but this one is lingering and it is soaking areas through the ozarks. any time you get rain in the mountainous areas you get concerned. a lot of showers and thunderstorms will be popping up in and around the dallas area. annum up day in dallas and fort worth and heading over the red river. in kansas we have showers and thunderstorms trying to dive into oklahoma. the bad news is obviously multiple days of cloudy, cool, wet weather after a hot summer. here is the good. it was such a hot and dry summer we had moderate to extreme drought conditions in many areas here of oklahoma through missouri and portions of kansas here. so, again, we are getting the rainfalls over the areas that need it. not great if you had plans over the last couple of days or take, but a slight risk of flash flooding from oklahoma city and to tulsa. there's the rain here. there's the rain hit and miss in areas of the northeast. the heaviest rain in the northeast between the rochester, syracuse areas down to bingham. in the mid atlantic a dry day, three in a row, and then thunderstorms returning to the east coast on friday. a break for our friends in the mid atlantic after a rainy, soggy period. >> appreciate it. still ahead, president trump backs a big boycott of one of america's most iconic branlds. >> and the president plays dinner host to apple ceo. the praise mr. trump claims tim cook had for him when it comes to his actions on trade. ♪ the first survivor of alzheimer's disease is out there. and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. join the fight with the alzheimer's association. you shouldn't be rushed into booking a hotel. with expedia's add-on advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. add-on advantage. only when you book with expedia. add-on advantage. this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. a welcome back. the president hosted apple ceo tim cook at trump's new jersey golf resort on friday, and during the rally in neighboring new york yesterday the president revealed some of what he claims was some of what he discussed. >> i had dinner with tim cook. spending a tremendous amount of money. would you have done it without our tax reform and our tax plan, and he said no. i wouldn't have done it. >> the ceo has yet to speak out about the meeting. earnings end of july cook called trump's tariffs, a tax on consumers that results in lower economic growth. apple devices in china said to be hit with a tain riff in the fall. staying on u.s. brands here, on sunday morning president trump tweeted hits support for a boycott of one of america's most iconic companies. harley-davidson. yesterday afternoon more than 24 hours later, scott walker came out against boycotting the company. several hours after the governor broke with the president, trump tweeted his between support for his re-election as governor. and still ahead, axios's ceo with "one big thing." and reviving the probe for the dismissal of the probe following peter strzok's firing from the fbi. and trying to do damage control over omarosa's secret meetings. the relationship sours further. "morning joe" just moments away. all money managers might seem the same, but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. where we're changing withs? contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. 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. this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. 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 ♪ okay. with that joining us from washington with a look at axios's a.m., co-founder and ceo jim vandehei. what's the "one big thing" for this morning? >> we look at the most competitive races in the house. the ones true toss-ups. of the top five all held by republicans. you have districts like maine second district, basically all of maine only portland and augusta held by a republican. the indumb consent has never lost in 100 years and now it's a true toss-up. a lot of that party of main a very true trump country. the fact so many of these are held by republicans is why republicans are panicking. look at map, see almost every competitive seat is held by a republican. despite having full republican power and should have a fund-raising advantage they don't have they worry they're going to lose the house come november. >> how will they go about rem d matying that especially after omarosa and what's coming out? >> appeal to your constituents to get republican voters to turn out. what worries republicans, and to be blunt, what should worry them in every special election so far, almost all the off-year elections democrats are way outperforming in previous elections. basically means more democrats are turning out than ever before to actually vote. if that holds through through november and holds true since trump was elected, there's no chance to for republicans to keep the house. it comes down to trump. an october surprise or not. omarosa, he credibility doesn't seem super solid. i won't take that to the bank, but doesn't matter. basically the elections are so much about trump. which is good and bad for republicans. it gets some republicans to turn out, but remember there is a sliver of moderate republicans who just won't vote for him and he really, really energizes democrats. a lot of these democrats are turning out because they loathe trump and it often takes sort of hatred or loathing or something negative to actually get someone to get off their butt and vote in an off-year election. they also take on momentum of their own. your team's winning, you think they can win the super bowl you're going to show up. if you think your team sucks and isn't going to win you stay home and suck up a beer. >> california's 48th district, dana orbacher in a dead heat. a republican that is now at risk. >> yes. incumbents. remember in politics it's hard for an incoumbent to lose. so many advantages, name i.d., fund-raising advantage, a relation sship relationships. 23rd district of texas, the southwest part of texas, flip, sort of coin toss for who could win that, and republicans are very worried about that one. and the problem is, the map's not just the five seats. now 62. some think as many at 70 seats authentically in play, and almost all are republican seats. when you put all the pieces together that's why when you talk to republican strategists in the house, they're the ones super worried. not just the media or political handicappers, it's republicans looking at the exact same data sets we are and walking away with the same conclusion. anything else to decide that could become that and where are the democrats? >> few democratic seats that democrats are worried about, or should be worried about. again, speaks to the state of the map. most of these districts are scattered about throughout the country. you've got a lot of primaries happening tonight in my home state of wisconsin. minnesota, others. you'll see a clearer portrait who the actual candidates are, but in these districts, suburban districts, rural districts, city districts all in play. what worries republicans the most is that little chunk of the republican party, not huge, but a chunk of the republican party that doesn't like trump and a lot of those voters tend to be in the suburbs. if those seats flip and a lot of them flip then you do end up with a democratic house and you do end up with impeachment proceedings and all the things that come with democrats having power. >> jim, see if there's going to be the momentum you talked about, or taking back way beer as races go on. great have your perspective's we'll be reading axios a.m. in a little while. sign up for the newsletter @signupforaxios.com. thanks for being with us. "morning joe" starts right now. i was in solitary confinement when my captors offered to release me. our code said we could only go home with the release of all captu captured. i thought about it. i wasn't in great shape, and i missed everything about america, but i turned it down. i fell in love with my country when i was a prisoner in someone else's pi loved it, not just for the many comforts of life here. i loved it for its decency, for its faith, and the wisdom,