address, days after russia s invasion of ukraine. tonight, his speech is going to be heavily focused on reminding americans what his administration has accomplished over the past two years. it comes as ukraine is now preparing for a major russian offensive. we ll have more on the mobilization of troops in putin s army. meanwhile, we are learning more about the chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down, and other incidents that went undetected by u.s. force. also ahead, the latest from turkey and syria where the death toll is rising following a massive earthquake, and rescuers continue to hold out hope of finding survivors. good morning and welcome to morning joe. it is tuesday, february 7th. the death toll from the earthquake in turkey and syria passed 5,000 and continues to climb. a 7.8 magnitude quake hit the region early yesterday along with multiple aftershocks, including a 7.5 magnitude one that struck just hours later. tens of thousands have been injured.
Once donald trump ended his rambling, the hour long speech on friday, senator graham wasted no time going on twitter to pledge his absolute devotion to his president , his captain, praising trumps use of executive power to swipe taxpayer money to build the wall mexico was supposed to pay for. It didnt matter the president thwarted the constitution to render congress powerless, vowing to ignore the law that graham and a supermajority of senators just passed and trump just signed or that the president undercut his own rational for declaring a National Emergency by becoming his own worse witness when it goes to court. I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didnt need to do this, but i would rather do it much faster. I dont have to do it for the election. I have done a lot of wall for the election, 2020. The only reason we are you have here talking about this is because of the election. Because they want to try to win an election, which it looks like they are not going to be a
inflation, the prices of eggs, things that impact our families. former arkansas governor asa hutchinson, it s always good to have you on. thank you very much for being here. thank you, mika. all right. still ahead, a look at some of the stories making front page headlines across the country, including one government agency benefitting from big tech playoffs. plus, house minority whip katherine clark joins us with her guest for the state of the union, designed to highlight s democrats fight for reproductive rights. also, white house press secretary karine jean-pierre. we ll be right back. okay everyone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition. together we support immune function. supply fuel for immune cells and sustain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals, and ensure complete with thirty grams of protein.
little bit after the shooting down of a chinese surveillance balloon. yesterday, joe biden said the balloon incident will not damage diplomatic relations between washington and beijing. speaking to reporters outside the white house yesterday, the president commented on china china s decision to fly a balloon over the u.s. and his administration s decision to shoot it down. does the balloon weaken u.s.-chinese relations? no. we ve made it clear to china what we re going to do. they understand the position. we re not going to back off. we did the right thing. there is not a question of weakening or strengthening. it s the reality. why did the chinese commit a brazen act, floating the balloon across the continental united states? they re the chinese government. let s bring in white house press secretary karine jean-pierre. great to have you on the set.
but he needs to draw a contrast, and i expect he will, between his agenda. give him more time. i m still working at it, guys. and the chaos people see on the other side. those are the two things tonight, storytelling and a little contrast. karine, sound right to you? sounds exactly right. as i said earlier, it ll be a conversation. this is the president when it comes to really connecting with the american people, this is someone who can do that, right? this is joe biden is known for doing just that. he is the best messenger in the white house to give a speech like this, at this moment, at this time, where the american people are going to be watching and telling that story, as jen just said, telling the story of the last two years. also, let s not forget the optimism. how he sees this country moving forward. karine, a major elephant in the room, i guess, would be the debt ceiling. we heard from speaker mccarthy yesterday, who will be sitting behind the president now for the firs