demands despite getting the inquiry many of them pushed for. also ahead what many are learning this morning about russian president vladimir putin's meeting with north korean dictator kim jong-un. all right, good morning. welcome to "way too early" on this thursday, september 14th. i'm sam stein in for jonathan lemire. we begin this morning with the president's comments on house republicans impeachment inquiry. on tuesday speaker kevin mccarthy announced he's directing three committees to conduct the inquiry and claims joe biden used his position as vice president to further his son hunter's foreign business dealings. mccarthy made the move without holding a floor vote. yesterday the president addressed the inquiry for the first time at a democratic fund-raiser in virginia. biden brushed the republican move off saying, quote, not a joke, not focused on impeachment, i've got a job to do. i've got to deal with the issues that affect the american people every single solitary day. the president also claimed that the house wants to impeach him because they want to shutdown the government. congress faces a september 30th deadline to pass a government funding bill and the house has been unable to reach a compromise as far-right republicans are pushing for deep spending cuts. it's believed mccarthy launched the impeachment inquiry in an effort to appease those lawmakers to support his stop gap funding bill. but mccarthy's move seemed to have done actually very little to create favor in far right of the house. multiple house freedom caucus members said that while they supported the impeachment inquiry, would it soften the demands for spending cuts? those demands are expected to come to a head in the coming weeks as the government shutdown looms at the end of that month. those calls for cuts as florida's matt gaetz who's said if mccarthy doesn't have the gop -- doesn't cave to the gop hard liners, he'll launch a vote to remove him as speaker. yesterday mccarthy claimed gaetz was in cahoots with democrats and said his issue with the speaker stemmed from an ethics committee complaint. >> i'm not going to jump into an independent -- >> detecting just a touch of bad blood between those two. joining us now to discuss all this drama is congressional reporter for punch bowl news. mika, thank you for joining the show, your inaugural appearance, first of many i presume. if the house freedom caucus members were not going to soften their demands anyways, what was the basic point? what did speaker mccarthy really gain by launching this impeachment inquiry? >> so speaker mccarthy is clearly trying to appease his life link by launching the impeachment inquiry. the problem is the house freedom caucus they see impeachment as a separate fight which they're not letting up their demands which ranges of wanting to strip more aid to ukraine to taking out funding for the doj and the fbi which they argue is politically targeting conservatives, so his hands are tied even when he does try and work with them a lot of the times given the kind of frustrations of the flank and not letting up here. >> you've been speaking with a lot of house republicans this week including many of whom consider themselves moderates or more maga moderate i should say. based on those conversations, two questions for you. one, how does that faction feel about this impeachment inquiry? and, two, how likely do you think this inquiry results in an actual article of impeachment or multiple articles of impeachment going to the floor and being voted on in-house? >> yeah, i'll say moderate republicans overall have been pretty supportive of an impeachment inquiry. i think it's going to take the test of time for them to actually support it when it comes to an actual floor vote, and it's going to put them in a very tough position especially those in districts where president biden remains popular. i will say that i think this is going to take up a lot of the rest of the congress especially heading into an election year. this is going to dominate what republicans are saying to put pressure on joe biden. the problem for them is we're really going to have find strong evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. and right now there's a lot of teasing up evidence and focus on joe biden's and hunter biden's business dealings and bank records there's been a recent development. so we're really going to see what this investigation brings. >> several republicanens have said they've not established that evidence yet. last question for you, mika, before we let you go. september 30th the government is going to run out of funding. i'm putting you on the spot. what's the likelihood in your estimation we do have a government shutdown? >> well, as of right now it seems likely we're heading in that direction. we've had multiple house republicans say on the record that they believe a shutdown is going to happen. i talked to congressman tim birchet of tennessee. last week he said he's very confident a shutdown is going to happen. the house freedom caucus members, they say it's important to get everything they want to get done even if it leads to that because they know it's going to be watered down in the senate, so we're really going to have to watch what happens here and there's no time for them whatsoever. >> government shutdowns used to be big deals, and now they feel routine. congressional reporter for punch bowl news, mika, thank you so very much. turn to another story. the judge presiding over the mar-a-lago documents case has taken swift new action seen largely as a win for special counsel jack smith's team. in an order yesterday u.s. district judge aileen cannon, limited former president trump's access to the case and barred him from publicly discussing sensitive material. despite trump's claims he had already declassified all the documents that fbi agents found when they searched his florida resort last year, the order refers to the materials in question as still being classified. and judge cannon wrote trump and his defense team can discuss or review the classified information only inside a court approved compartmentalized area or authorized area quote-unquote. it was a scif which was housed there during trump's presidency. a 16-page order by the trump appointed judge is largely in line with a proposal submitted in july by special counsel jack smith's team for how trump and his attorneys should handle national security information related to the case. judge cannon's ruling did not completely shut the door on trump's declassification arguments. she wrote that her order is, quote, entered without prejudice to any potential challenges including to our news raised under the presidential records act. meanwhile, former trump chief of staff, mark meadows interference case will continue on schedule. after meadows was denied an emergency stay yesterday. meadows had asked the court to pause his case while he appeals the judge's ruling from last week that he cannot move his charges to federal court. and now asked the appeals court to grant the stay. the former chief of staff would have to show the following, that he would likely win on appeal, that he would likely suffer damage without the stay, that the statewide not suffer harm if he was granted a stay, and that the public interest would be served if he was issued the stay. in a letter to the court, fulton county district attorney fani willis' team said meadows did not meet that standard. the 11th circuit court of appeals has scheduled more arguments for meadows case for tomorrow morning. and still ahead senator mitt romney announces he'll retire from congress. the utah senator cited as a factor in this decision and how it plays in politics surrounding the 2024 race for the white house. plus, the two-week manhunt for an escaped prisoner in pennsylvania is thankfully over. he'll have details how police captured the convicted killer. those stories and a check on weather and sports when we come right back. t back (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... ...in real time. 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absolutely. with the advanced connectivity and intelligence of global secure networking from comcast business. it's not just possible. it's happening. republican senator mitt romney of utah says he'll not run for another term next year. romney made the announcement yesterday in a video posted across social media. the 76-year-old former presidential candidate acknowledged his age was a factor in the decision. >> i've spent my last 25 years in public service of one kind or another. at the end of another term, i'd be in my mid-80s. frankly, it's time for a new generation of leaders. they're the ones that need to make the decision that will shape the world they will be living in. now, we face critical challenges, mounting national debt, climate change, and the ambitious authoritarians of russia and china. neither president biden nor former president trump are leading their party to confront those issues. political motivations too often impede the solutions that these challenges demand. the next generation of leaders must take america to the next stage of global leadership. >> now, romney met with reporters yesterday on capitol hill and called on president biden and donald trump to follow his example. >> i think it would be a great thing to get both president biden and former president trump were to stand aside and let their respected party -- he said he was a transitional figure for the next generation. well, time to transition. >> switching to some tragic news now, the husband of congresswoman mary peltola of alaska has died following a plain crash wednesday night. according to the faa her husband was piloting a single engine plane when it crashed shortly after take off near a small city in western alaska. he was the only person onboard. pelttola's team released a statement that reads in part buzzy to all of us who knew him was completely devoted to his parents, kids, siblings, extended family and friends and they simply adored mary. we are heartbroken for the family's loss. the national transportation safety board is leading the investigation into the cause of the crash. meanwhile, after an exhaustive two-week manhunt, a convicted killer who escaped a pennsylvania prison late last month is now back in custody. nbc news correspondent george solis has been following this story from the very beginning and has the details on the capture. >> reporter: a tense 14-day manhunt is finally over. >> shortly after 8:00 a.m. our suspect was captured. >> reporter: after an exhaustive search, escaped killer danelo cavalcante is back in police custody. >> our nightmare is finally over. >> reporter: tactical teams closed in to secure the area and hours later moved in. >> cavalcante did not realize he was surrounded until that had occurred. that did not stop him from trying to escape. he began to crawl through thick underbrush taking his rifle with him as he went. >> reporter: authorities say as he tried to escape, it was a k-9 that took him down. seen here in this photo the k-9 identified as yoda by customs is border protection. >> he continued to resist but was forcibly taken into custody. >> no shots were fired. the store manager saw cavalcante being taken away. >> we watched him basically walk him up, one camouflaged trooper had his gun, his rifle. >> reporter: officers on the scene posing for this picture with a handcuffed cavalcante. >> they're not doing anything to demean or harm him in any way there. they've handled him well since he was taken into custody. i'm proud of them and their work. >> reporter: the manhunt started when the illusive cavalcante was seen crab walking out of prison. he was spotted multiple times over the next two weeks including doorbell video where he tried to get in contact with a former coworker, then he stole and ditched a van and then managed to steal a rifle and ammo on the run. a community relieved. >> i feel a weight off my shoulders. >> a lot safer definitely because he was in our backyard. >> reporter: the family of the ex-girlfriend cavalcante was convicted of murdering releasing a statement in part they were deeply grateful by the hard work by authorities. >> no one in the community was harmed, can no law enforcement officer was harmed. so that's really -- that's the win. >> nbc's george solis reporting on a case now closed. thank god. now still ahead we're switching to sports and a huge loss for a playoff contender in major league baseball. plus we'll show you how aaron rogers responded to questions about the future of his playing career following his season ending injury. that's all straight ahead. that's all straight ahead. ly ads to your spending earn 5% cash back on your top eligible spend category up to $500 spent each billing cycle learn more at citi.com/customcash rsv is in for a surprise. meet arexvy. 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meanwhile in toronto the texas rangers rolled to a fifth straight win last night securing a series victory over the blue jays by taking three of the first four games in set. the 10-0 win, ouch, helps the rangers solidify their grip on the first season position as they hang onto the second american league wild card spot. the last texas will need to complete its playoff push without ace pitcher max scherzer. scherzer has been ruled out for the rest of the season and unlikely to pitch because of a strain in his shoulder. the manager said an mri yesterday revealed the injury after scherzer had to make an early exit from the start the day before. tough break for the rangers there. quarterback aaron rogers had made his first public comments since suffering a season ending injury monday night. posted on instagram yesterday rogers wrote in part, completely heartbroken and moving through all the emotions but dep lee touched and humbled by the support and love. quote, the night is darkest before the dawn and i will rise yet again. is he batman? i'm not totally sure. meanwhile, week 2 of the nfl season kicks off tonight in philadelphia where the eagles will host the minnesota vikings on thursday night football. and time now for the weather. let's go to meteorologist angie lassman for the latest forecast. angie, what do we have going on? >> you know what, you had me laughing with that batman reference. you know what we've got going on, hurricane lee. i feel like we've been talking about this system for eternity. category 2 hurricane lee, winds at 100 miles per hour right now, and we do have those alerts up. no warnings as of right now, but we do have tropical storm watches and hurricane watches remain in effect down to rhode island. those effects remain as the hurricane rolls on and into tomorrow and we'll start to see as the system gets closer and more likely friday for those to be issued. either way we'll see impacts for folks in bermuda and parts of the southeast will see still that rip current risk, the erosion and high surf, not a great couple of days for you to be out in the water on the east coast. we're going to continue to see the system weaken and dryer air, so it does weaken, but that doesn't really limit the impacts of the system. i think those will be far reaching. when you see that orange color, that's the tropical storm force winds. they expand out far from the center. we're talking 300 miles from the center. so those tropical storm force winds are something you'll have to deal with into canada as we get into the weekend. nantucket, 70 miles per hour. bar harbor, 60 mile per hour winds. down trees, power lines, a probable thing as we get into your saturday and sunday. also the storm surge, something that could be concerning especially for cape cod, we'll see 2 to 4 feet especially around high tide could be concerning elsewhere around 2 to 3 feet. and of course we've got some additional rainfall we'll see from this system especially closer to the center as it comes onshore, sam. >> angie lassman, thank you very much. really appreciate it. and up next house speaker kevin mccarthy defends his decision to launch an impeachment inquiry without a vote. he does so by blaming former speaker nancy pelosi. hear his explanation just ahead. and plus we'll have a break down of the meeting between russian president vladimir putin and north korean leader kim jong-un and the response from the u.s. state department. that's coming up next on "way too early". try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing? 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my brain. so i choose new neuriva ultra. unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including mental alertness from one serving. to help keep me sharp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger. welcome back to "way too early." it's just before 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. it always kills me to say that. i'm sam stein in for jonathan lemire. house speaker kevin mccarthy is defending his decision to launch an impeachment inquiry without a vote. despite saying earlier this month that he wouldn't do exactly that. speaking to reporters yesterday, the republican leader deflected blame onto his predecessor, congresswoman, nancy pelosi, for actions she took before launching the first impeachment of former president donald trump. take a look. >> nancy pelosi changed the precedent of this house. nancy pelosi changed the president of this house on september 24th. it was held good enough for every single democrat here, good enough for the judge. why does it have to be different today? >> as luck would have it coming up on "morning joe" speaker nancy pelosi will be our guest. but before that, joining us is politics reporter for semafor, shelby talcott. shelby, what do you make of mccarthy's decision to see blatantly reverse course on holding a vote for an impeachment inquiry? >> yeah, it's been really interesting. and i think the main reason he's doing so obviously is because of the harder right faction of the republican party. he's based a lot of pressure over the past few weeks and months to do this, and it's not just the hard right members of the republican party in congress, it's also as we now know donald trump himself who has been quietly talking to people and even publicly on his social media app truth social pushing to make a decision whether to launch an impeachment inquiry into the current president. >> now, mccarthy isn't the only republican who's making decisions unilaterally. you've been following the campaign trail pretty closely, and you have new reporting that presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy plans to shutdown not one, two, three, or four but five federal agencies if he wins the nomination and gets elected president. can you tell us what the agencies are, how's he going to go about doing this, how realistic this plan is? >> yeah, that's a really good question. so he plans to eliminate not only the fbi, which is the one we've seen republicans talk a lot about, but he's going to try to eliminate the atf, the u.s. department of regulation and the u.s. food and nutrition services. and he believes he can to do this by bypassing congress. obviously if he were to become president and if he were to do this, he would immediately face legal scrutiny. he believes it will hold up to legal scrutiny telling me in a phone interview just the other day that we're going to win this case. it'll go to the supreme court and we'll win 6-3 with obviously the conservative judges taking his side, so it is a bold plan that he bills as going even further than donald trump went, which his whole entire platform, which is i'm going to do what trump did, but i'm going to take it further. >> let me ask you one last sort of general question about this race. on the same time on a macro level, every single poll has shown donald trump has a commanding lead, yesterday was like 40 points in a quin pack poll. is that setting in for other candidates? do they sense this thing is getting out of hand? >> i don't know. it's a really good question. i think in some ways, yes, you've talked to desantis' team in recent weeks, and it's a super pac where they have previously said they're going to -- windstorm iowa and they're doing really well there and now they're going to take second place. i do think particularly iowa a lot of these campaigns see a really big opportunity, but you will see in the coming weeks trump is going to these places a little bit more. he went to the iowa, iowa state game. he's got another trip to iowa coming up, so i think his team is kind of thinking, listen, we're up so far ahead, but we're not going to risk letting anybody else come even close to us. >> that's my sense, too. politics reporter for semafor, shelby talcott, thank you so much for joining us. coming up on cnbc a look at this morning's business headlines and insights on the markets which are moving higher ahead of another report on inflation. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. age is just a number, and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing? 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>> well, good morning and thank you for having me. u.s. futures at the moment are trading in the green ahead of this next inflation print that's on deck where you have the cpi print yesterday, consumer price inflation showing inflation rising at the fastest pace in 14 months in august thanks to a sharp uptick in gasoline price. now it turns to the producer price index, so whole sale prices. the index is expected to have risen 0.4% on the month. and today's trading session follows a mixed day on wall street yesterday where the tech heavy nasdaq gathers about 0.3% but the industrials lost a bit of ground. >> speaking of tech, the chip that supplies technology to companies like apple and nvidia, that is now valued at over 54 billion with a "b" dollars. tell us about that. >> well, this has been the most hotly anticipated ipo of the year. it's set to be the biggest technology offering for 2023, and today is the day it's due to begin trading in new york. as you said the valuation implied by the $51 per share price is over $54 billion. arm is riding the wave of a.i. excitement. it's also being closely watched by the entire market, not just the tech sector because if the ipo is successful and the stock trades well after coming to market, it could crack open the tech heavy market which has been essentially closed over the last two years. >> and finally mortgage demand, it's falling. fallen to the lowest level in 28 years. is this all just about interest rates or is there something else happening here? >> well, it seems pretty linked to the interest rate environment. higher rates obviously make it more costly to take out the mortgage, and what we've seen is mortgage applications decreasing for the eight weeks and essentially with interest rates elevated, home owners are reluctant to sell their home to buy another one because rates are so high. there also continues to be an impact on refinancing activity. demand for refinancing has dropped 5% for the week and 31% lower for the same week one year ago. clearly the interest rate environment is having an impact on the housing market. >> people holding onto those 30-year fixed one they booked a couple years ago makes a little sense to me. cnbc's juliana tatelbaum live from london, appreciate it. still ahead north korean leader kim jong-un is still in russia. we'll have the latest on his meeting with vladimir putin and the concerns the pentagon is now raising when "way too early" returns. raising when "way too early" returns. n. hurry up dad! i'm trying! this cheap stuff is too thin! here's charmin ultra strong! ahhh! my bottom's been saved! woohoo! with its diamond weave texture, charmin ultra strong cleans better with fewer sheets and less effort. what's everybody waiting for? 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>> yes, certainly. this has been a huge priority for the administration, and most symbolically you saw earlier this summer the first ever trilateral summit at camp david between japan, south korea, and the u.s. now, this is really big deal because of the history of acrimony from between japan and south korea. what you saw was the three countries coming together for the first time at this major symbolic meeting talking about for the first time doing military exercises together as we've talked about and more importantly increasing their intelligence sharing over north korean missile launches. so that was a big, big step from the three countries. defense secretary lloyd austin has made multiple trips to the region including his very first trip which i accompanied him on. and he's spoken with these partners in all these countries about the increasing threat. they've been increasing cooperation with neighbors such as the philippines. there are basic agreements in okinawa, and all of this is to deter this growing threat that they see from north korea and from china. >> and, you know, the domestic backdrop -- one of the domestic back trop drops to all this is what's happening in the senate, specifically senator tommy tuberville's blockade of the motion. the senator is trying to push for individual floor votes on the promotions of hundreds of senior military officers while denying unanimous consent to consider them in bulk. what can you tell us about the latest on this front? is there any talk of a work around that has any feasibility to get some of these promotions through? >> so this is something that the senator has talked about all along, putting individual nominations to the floor. the problem with this is that it would take hundreds of hours, almost up to 1,000 hours of floor time for the senate, so it's really just not feasible. and even more troubling is that it would set a precedent that a single senator can block all these balkan nominations that are so crucial to the military. it's having a huge impact. we're seeing military families in limbo. they can't move, they can't register their children in schools, and all the way up to the highest ranks, the joint chiefs of staffs, three out of eight of those are filled by interim officers. unfortunately, neither side is budging. there's not a huge amount that can be done right now. but one thing i've heard some talk recently is that there may be a work around if leader schumer changes the rules of the senate, that that, of course, is a huge, huge lift is something i don't think democrats will be open to. the other thing that i've seen recently, and i'll have some new reporting about this later today is very few troops are using this policy that have caused this fire storm. very few troops are coming out and using the policy of the pentagon paying for them to travel to seek abortions. it's really just a handful, and troops are actually nervous to use this policy because they say it compromises their anonymity, so that's just another wrinkle in this whole mess. >> laura you're supposed to save the reporting for politico.com, not give all away on msnbc. just kidding, of course. pentagon reporter for politico, thank you very much for joining us this morning. appreciate it. and up next president biden is expected to kick off a new fund-raising blitz. we'll have that new reporting. and coming up on "morning joe," far right republicans, house speaker kevin mccarthy at his impeachment inquiry into president into president biden won't soften their spending demands. why this matters and the bind mccarthy finds himself in as lawmakers race to avoid a shutdown. plus, nancy pelosi will join the conversation to talk about all of this and more. in addition to that, former secretary of state hillary clinton will also be a guest. wow. huge lineup today. 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[mind blown explosion noise] president biden is heading to maryland later today where he is set to give what the white house is billing as a, quote, major economic address ahead of budget debates in congress this fall. in a memo sent out ahead of the speech, the white house says the president will make the contrast between bidenomics and what it calls the gop's maganomics. president biden is about to embark on a campaign fundraising blitz, as well. bloomberg has reporting on the president's plan to take part in a series of events in new york, including a broadway concert fundraiser. he joins world leaders at a u.n. general assembly while in the city. let's get details from team leader from bloomberg, the great mario parker. mario, tell us a little bit about what the president has planned, and, also, how it fits into the overall strategy for the 2024 re-election bid. >> yeah, sam. you described it aptly in saying that it's a blitz. essentially, he is planning to hold about nine fundraisers to close out the month. if you do the math, there's only 16 days left. that's a frenetic pace to close out the month, to close out the third quarter. he wants to make a statement similar to what he did during the second quarter when the campaign reported they had raised $72 million, as well. the broadway show -- excuse me, the broadway fundraising event should bring out names like leslie odom jr., lin-manuel miranda, you know, all those stars up there in new york, as well. >> yeah, the whole cast of "hamilton" basically hanging out there, yeah. let's talk beyond the fundraising, let's talk about the branding here, right? president biden selling bidenomics, now trying to trash republican version of it with maganomics. i think the blunt takeaway here is the white house has struggled to make that term, bidenomics, resonate with the american public. it's been in the ether for several months now, yet the polls don't indicate the public is buying it. what's the latest that you're hearing from inside the white house about why that hasn't stuck to this point? >> well, it's part and parcel if you think about it, it's part and parcel to why this fundraising blitz is so important, right? because the white house feels as though it has these accomplishments. he's been able to buck economic forecast for a recession, right? he never lets us in the media forget about the fact that he's been able to dodge that, right? inflation has come down some, as well. the job market is strong. wages are strong, as well. he's got some legislative accomplishments that encompasses this bidenomics that he is touting and branding. yet, if you look at the polls, americans are pretty down on his stewardship of the u.s. economy. so, on the one hand, this fundraising blitz, they need that money in order to figure out how to break through, whether that's on a the tv waves, door knocking, something of that nature, as well. but, yeah, the white house is frustrated that it just hasn't been able to break through kind of this view that he hasn't done a good job on the economy, when he has essentially staken his legislative campaign -- we're talking about senator biden, right, who has these accomplishments he wants to tout. >> absolutely right. they are very frustrated that the attention has been on other things other than some of the economic metrics. bloomberg also points out, recent polls that show president biden, former president trump, they're in a close race right now according to those polls. you know, democrats, they live in a perpetuate state of anxiety, obviously. has their anxiety permeated the walls of 1600 pennsylvania avenue? >> absolutely. one of the quotes that we have in the story is from one of biden's -- the biden campaign's key spokespeople, where they say part of this fundraising blitz, some of the democratic luminaries have gathered in chicago yesterday. vice president kamala harris made a swing through there, as well. as you know, sam, the democratic national convention will be held there next summer, as well. but they are bracing for a close election. i mean, the last one in 2020 was a very close one. they're not taking these polls, you know, lightly at all. >> yeah. now, look, house democratic caucus chair pete aguilar slammed republicans yesterday for launching an impeachment inquiry into president biden. i want you to take a quick listen to this. >> their only priority is to hurt joe biden politically and to help donald trump get re-elected. this is a donald trump revenge tour that republicans have sign signed onto, lock, stock and barrel. the american people deserve more than that. >> we did hold a vote in the full house, but just look at what kevin mccarthy said ten days ago. he said this wasn't going to be done unilaterally by one person, until the most extreme members of his caucus, until he has dinner with donald trump, until he huddles with marjorie taylor greene to find out what direction he has to go. then and on then does he decide they're going to do it alone and he goes back on what he said ten days ago and starts the impeachment proceedings. it is distraction and delay. the motto for the republican conference is, no evidence, no votes, no problem. just business as usual. that is who they are. that is exactly what he has done. >> mario, you could see there a smile on his face, right? is it the case that democrats are almost grateful, to a degree, that the focus doesn't necessarily have to be on bidenomics, on president's approval rating, on his age, but for the next couple weeks, maybe they get to talk about a government shutdown and an impeachment inquiry that several republicans admitted is more or less trying to find evidence for impeachment? >> yeah, that's the argument democrats are willing to have, right? again, keeping an eye on the shutdown and making it seem like they're the adults in the room, but also being able to engage in a game of what aboutism. if you're engaging in a game of what aboutism between biden and trump, democrats feel they can win that argument. >> yes, they do. all right. white house and politics team leader for bloomberg, mario parker, thank you for joining us and going through all these topics. appreciate it. thank you, the viewer, for getting up "way too early," show it by the name, and being with us this thursday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. get the [ bleep ] out of our country and the [ bleep ] out of iowa. >> i'll put him down as a maybe. >> mike pence brushing off a protester in iowa. if you would call him a protester. we've got a lot to get to this morning. including house speaker kevin mccarthy's defense of the impeachment inquiry into president biden. we'll have his comments on that and who he blames for his flip-flop on whether to