brian kemp in his race against trump-backed david perdue. trump versus pence. we ll also play more from elise jordan s eye-opening focus groups that she does with voters out of georgia. they re absolutely fascinating and give you a real sense of the state of play. with us, we have president on the council of foreign relations, richard haass, who has golf reporting for us this morning. very excited. we ll give him another chance. don t know how don t screw it up. this is your last chance. thank you for the support. former aid to the george w. bush white house and state departments, elise jordan. analyst and the host of way too early, jonathan lemire. white house bureau chief at politico. and also host of the circus, affairs analyst john heilemann. good to have you with us all this morning. president biden today said the u.s. military will get involved militarily if china invades its island neighbor. this is how the president answered a reporter s question this m
combatting china. president biden will spend the next days in south korea before heading to japan to meet with leaders there. before returning home to d.c. on tuesday, he ll attend a meeting of the quad leaders. which includes japan, india, and australia. and in ukraine, russian forces are stepping up attacks on the eastern donbas region. at least 12 people were killed and 40 injured after russia unleashed new rounds of shelling in a key city in luhansk. one of the few ukrainian strong holds standing in the way of russia seizing full control of the don bass. the attacks could be a precursor to a larger drawn out battle. president volodymyr zelenskyy called the strikes, quote, brutal and completely pointless. willie. meanwhile, the u.k. ministry of defense has released new information reporting the battle for mariupol has left the russian military weakened. the fierce fighting against ukrainian troops who held out inside of that steel plant has depleted russia s ranks and re
mccormick that is still too close to call. trump is urging oz to declare victory anyway. sound familiar? the former president once again attacking the process and casting doubt on the results. steve kornacki is standing by at the big board with the latest on where that race stands right now. plus, president biden takes new steps to address the baby formula crisis, including invoking the same law that used to increase the medical supplies at the height of covid. another market meltdown as the dow suffers its worst day since 2020. retailers grapple with the pain of inflation. the latest on the war in ukraine as a russian soldier pleads guilty in the first war crimes trial of the conflict so far. the president turns his attention to asia, as he departs today for a visit to south korea and japan. but there s no question, this trip is all about china. good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is thursday, may 19th. joe is off. with us, we have former aide to the george
carolina s 11th congressional district run out of patience with congressman madison cawthorn, as trump s pick in that race is voted out. steve kornacki is standing by to break down the results from last night s top races and what they mean. and developing overnight, finland and sweden formally submit their applications to join nato. we will be joined in our third hour by sweden s ambassador to the u.s. and clint watts will take us to the maps at this hour. plus, another sign the justice department is expanding its investigation into the january 6 attack of the capital. it s now trying to get access to the transcripts of witnesses who have met with the congressional committee, investigating the insurrection. we ll bring in one of the reporters who broke that story. and president biden consoles those who lost loved ones in the deadly mass shooting in buffalo, as he vows to, quote, expose the people who use powerful platforms to spread hate. jonathan lemire has some new re
dumpster fire, hasn t it. these are two people that are troubled and the details that are disturbing, they both accuse each other of abuse. and a lot of people have looked at amber heard s testimony and found some of the things that she s claimed dubious. the same could be said also of johnny depp and i think you see a little bit of that play out. and in terms of victims of abuse coming forward, regardless of how this shakes out, there may be people who take away from this that their allegations of abuse may not be taken seriously. it certainly would be unfortunate if that were the case, joe. nbc s stephanie gosk, thank you very much. that is worth looking into more and talking about more. it is now the top of the fourth hour of morning joe. 9:00 a.m. on the east coast, 6:00 a.m. out west and we have a lot to get to this morning. we ll have the latest from ukraine where after months of holding out, ukraine has officially ceded the key port city of mariupol as russian miss