Good morning. 11 00 a. M. Eastern. 8 00 a. M. Pacific. I am jose diazbalart live from philadelphia and we are now ten hours away from the biggest night of the Election Cycle so far. Here in battleground, pennsylvania, former President Trump and Vice President harris will have their first debate ever. And this is how the stage is set. It marks the Vice President s first debate as the president ial debate, following the debate in june that changed the entire course of the election. Harris suddenly gained traction in key state polling. This is a Razortight Contest showing 70 of adults plan to watch all or most of tonights debate. Joining us now here in philadelphia, Nbc News White House correspondent, monica alba, Nbc News correspondent, garrett haake, and the Communications Director for Kamala Harris, and former spokesperson for doug burgums campaign. This is going to be one interesting evening either way. How is the Harris Campaign measuring the success, or what are the key points that
Notice, blaming the stand off over the debt ceiling which was ultimately lifted any last minute bipartisan deal. The feud was cited by fitch is one of the reasons for the downgrade. Make no mistake, this is a major black eye for america. The us treasury, essentially government ious are seen as the bedrock of the Global Financial system. Fitch is essentially pointing out there is an erosion of trust in american leadership. Given the death and perceived safety of us treasuries, this downgrade is not likely to change its role in the financial system. Likely to change its role in the financialsystem. It likely to change its role in the financial system. It could, likely to change its role in the financialsystem. It could, however, make it potentially harder and more expensive for the government to borrow in the future. Right now the Us Government owes 30 trillion in debt. Fitch is highlighting that the Us Government has too much debt doesnt have a way to bring it down. And at washington at
joining us, eugene scott. have a great weekend, everybody. thank you for joining us way too early. morning joe starts right now. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. because we won the state. that conversation is the main reason a special grand jury in georgia is investigating election interference. yesterday, we got some of their report, and it reveals that the jurors believe that witnesses lied to them. and, somehow, the former president, donald trump, thinks this report exonerates him. we ll explain why that s not even close to being true. plus, the group trump famously told to stand back and stand by now wants to call him as a witness in its trial tied to january 6th. we ll have an update on senator fetterman, who is in walter reid for treatment of clinical depression. he checked himself in. good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is friday, february 17thment we have the host of way to early, politico s jonathan lemire.
date of birth matches a georgia resident who died in 2020. 2,506 ballots were cast by individuals whose name and date of birth matches an incarcerated felony. 4,502 illegal ballots were cast by individuals who do not appear on the states voter rolls. that s january 4th, donald trump, two days before the january 6th attack on the capitol speaking in georgia and making those claims about election fraud in georgia he knew were false, and now a judge says trump and his legal team also knowingly made those false claims in court. that s a problem. we ll have some new reporting on that. plus, an eye opening conversation with pennsylvania democrats. is abortion really a make or break issue for them in the midterms? and should president biden run for reelection? we ll play for you what voters are saying in a new focus group with elise jordan. and when asked if he would vote for trump if he runs for reelection, former vice president mike pence dodges the question and instead, hint at
and before results are even in, republicans in key battleground states, already said to challenge the outcome, while the doj plans to monitor dozens of polling places, to make sure no one intimidate voters. as the 11th hour gets underway on this monday night. good evening once again i m stephanie ruhle. in just a few hours, the polls were open, and the midterm elections will officially be underway. more than 42 million americans have already cast their ballots, millions more will do it tomorrow, in this pivotal election where the control of congress and much much more are at stake. republicans need to win just five state seems to take control of the house. in the senate, they need just one. and tonight, nine senate seats are considered competitive. many key races are knitted heat, and both parties are watching to see what swing voters do. tonight, the candidates are out making their closing arguments, watch this. are you ready to close this thing out? yes. do you real