Morning Joe - Israel marks three years since October 7 attack

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

October 7, 2026: 8am — Israel marks three years since October 7 attack To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ, vote, who's fantastic. He's on a job. We have some big surprises coming up in another few weeks, right, Russ? He's going to be one of the very important people in the history of our country, in my opinion. He's got some great things happening. President Trump yesterday giving a shout out to a little-known cabinet member, suggesting there are some big things coming from his administration. It comes as there is new reporting just out this morning on efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to undermine the midterm elections.

We're going to get to that developing story in just a moment. Meanwhile, multiple U.S. Senate races are shifting with less than four weeks until Election Day will go through those developments. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Wednesday, October 7th. With us. We have the co-host of our 8 a.m. hour staff writer at the Atlantic. Jonathan Lemire. MS Now National Affairs analyst, John Howman, he is partner and chief political columnist at Puck, and MS now contributor, Elise Jordan. And we start this hour, Willie,

with today's date and what it will forever be remembered for. Three years. It's been three years since those attacks of October the 7th, the deadliest single day in Israel's history, Hamas attacked the country, killing 1,200 people, taking more than 250 hostage. Israelis gathering across the country today to remember mourn the lives lost, including at the site of the Nova Music Festival where 348 young people were killed by Hamas terrorists during the attack. Videos from the day showed militants gunning down, fleeing revelers, shooting the wounded at point-blank range

and ambushing people seeking refuge in bomb shelters. The anniversary is the first for Israelis without any hostages still remaining in Gaza. after the remains of the last Israeli hostages were covered in January. The anniversary also is the first since the U.S.-backed ceasefire deal in the region. More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. That's according to health authorities there. Today also falls less than three weeks from Israel's first election since the attack,

where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces an uphill battle and increased criticism after several media outlets reported Israel received warning, from the UAE and Egypt ahead of October 7th. So, John, that is kind of the backdrop of this anniversary, which is all these questions about the days, weeks, and months leading up to that attack, to what Benjamin and Yahoo and his government knew ahead of time. All of those questions probably on the minds of voters, but for today, just a solemn anniversary and remembering waking up that morning to shock,

to not being able to believe what we were seeing and hearing with our eyes and ears. Yes, starting there, certainly a very somber day in Israel. More Jewish lives lost in one day since the Holocaust. That's what happened three years ago today. And obviously the ramifications of that day, you know, personal tragedy for so many there in that country. But it's just wide-ranging geopolitical impact as well with Israel's then response in Gaza. There's still open, there's still so many questions about Netanyahu and what he knew about the attack and his response to it. there's still not been an official line, an official Israeli government inquiry into what happened. There's a belief that Nanyahu's wanted to push that off to beyond the election. You know, and as you say, Willie, there's reports of these warnings.

He received from a number of countries, the payments that Hamas received via Qatar for years. And now we head into this election with so many things shadowing it, of course, October 7th, but also the war in Iran with, you know, right now in sort of this, somewhat of a stalemate, the occasion, but no real resolution. The Strait of Hormuz still largely controlled by Iran, although more ill getting through now than a few weeks prior. Unclear of President Trump will ramp up hostilities, either before or after the American elections. And Netanyahu is, of course, tied himself to Trump in so many ways, but there's been real divisions there in recent months about the right approach. So, you know, right now, polls suggest a very close race for Netanyahu in a few

weeks. But that'll be a day for politics then. Today's a day for morning and remembering. Yeah, and Mika, I'm thinking about over the last three years, all the families we've spoken to on this show of who lost family members on that horrible day or those who are waiting and hoping that their family member would come home, held hostage there. Unfortunately, many of those we've had on the show and kind of become family of our show who've been on the show so often and talked so eloquently and beautifully about the people they've lost sons, daughters, mother's fathers, just thinking about them this morning when their loved ones didn't come home. Yeah, their loved ones and still waiting for some sort of accountability and answers on this.

We're going to return to this. We've got politics to get to with less than a month to go until election day. The nonpartisan Cook political report has shifted the closely watched Kansas Senate race to the Democrats' favor. Cook moved Kansas from lean Republican to toss up as Democrats' work to win back control of the Republican-held chamber next month. Democrat Adam Hamilton, a pastor, has been closing the gap in recent polling against incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall. Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932. The Cook-Pill report also shifted the Senate race in New Hampshire from toss-up to lean Democrat,

and North Carolina from lean Democrat to likely Democrat. According to Cook, those changes help move the number of possible pickups for Democrats from two to six seats. Democrats need to net four seats in the midterms to win the Senate majority. And more positive signs for Democrats, the nonpartisan election forecast in operation from the University of Virginia, known as Larry Sabatose, Crystal Ball, moved two more significant races toward the Democrats. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola is battling incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan with recent polling showing Peltola in the lead. The Crystal Ball moved that race from toss-up to lean Democrat. And in South Carolina, the crystal ball moved the race between Republican Senator Darlene Graham

and Democrat Annie Andrews from Safe Republican? To likely Republican, the crystal ball, concluding that the state's underlying Republican lien should ultimately help Graham prevail. So there's a lot there, John Howman. It's hard to, it's hard to sort of go with the polls, given everything this country has been through and big surprises here and there. But looking at that, what does it tell you in sort of the grand scheme of things? It looks like the cost of living and other issues are really cutting through. Well, to sing a familiar song on this show, Mika, it's like we don't really ever want to put too much faith in any given poll. No, we don't.

Or in any given forecasters shift. But we have now seen, you know, months of consistent directional polling, which has been the data from across, there's a lot of data out there. And there are a lot of people doing a lot of complex forecasting algorithms. And all of it kind of has gone in one direction, which has been in a direction that most of us thought. early in the year, certainly the beginning of last year was almost impossible, which is that Democrats would have a chance to retake the Senate. And I think that there's kind of a broad consensus now that Democrats are more likely than not. That doesn't mean they're going to. It means they're in a place where if you had to bet with a gun to your head, you'd probably pick the

Democrats by a narrow margin to take control of the Senate. That's the kind of consensus of the forecast. There's been some contradictory, and there's just in this last day with the notion that Susan Collins seems to have put herself back in that familiar Susan Collins position where she might be a slight favorite in Maine cuts against much of that. But the place to the race in Kansas, that South Carolina ship does not surprise me. Just if you are someone who's followed a lot of campaigns for a long time, the last, the thing you do in these last days is follow the money. And Republicans are spending a lot of money in South Carolina. You are not spending scarce resources in South Carolina

if you think that seat is safe. So again, if you ask me, I'd be where Larry Sabato is about that, which is that you, you know, South Carolina is a very Republican state, and you wouldn't probably bet on the Democrat there, but Republicans are nervous about South Carolina, and certainly that there's now kind of a consensus that Kansas truly is a toss-up race. So, you know, the races in midterm elections do not tend to shift in the last month. They just historically, yeah, all let's talk about October surprises and how, you know, something could happen. We all have to copy out and say, well, you know, never know what's going to happen. It's true. You know, you could have a Martian invasion or something that could happen in the last month that could change the race.

But there's not a long history of midterm elections, which are really driven by basic economic fundamentals and the president's approval rating, almost always. What you see four weeks out is what you get on election day. And in that context, Democrats have a right to feel not over optimistic, but they have a right to feel way more confident than they ever would have felt, like I say, just a few months ago. In terms of looking at signs to the president of the United States going to Texas again today for the. the second time in a week to prop up Ken Paxton. And the governor and the governor not going to be there. Not going to be there with Donald Trump. Now, what's that about?

Well, that's about that's about Greg Abbott. That's about Greg Abbott. Wanting to win Texas. Does he not want to be near? Ken Paxton or Trump? I'd say that's what not in either or a situation. That's a good question. That's an end both situation.

Literally, he's like, please don't get near me, Ken Paxton. Please don't get near me, Donald Trump. Yes. And Greg Abbott. Then how does Donald Trump? Give me his choice for his fourth term. consecutive term there. Don't get the math here.

Sorry. You know, so it's a little early. You've been looking at Kansas. John just mentioned Kansas. You know, Mika just said it. There hasn't been a senator or Democrat in almost 100 years out of the state of Kansas. Adam Hamilton is a really good candidate. He's people like him.

He's hard to get at. They're trying to attack his faith, even though he's a popular methodist minister. And ministers across the state have come out to endorse him. I guess the question from your studying of the state and talking to people there, is this real? Is this really a toss up? Is there really a chance a Democrat for the first time in almost 100 years could win in Kansas? Well, I would love to be able to answer that question definitively, but I'm not going to because I think that no one really knows just how real this is in terms of the fundamentals, in terms of is this actually what would be a pretty seismic shift and the conditions being so favorable to Democrats?

And Kansas changing too and being so impacted by the gas prices, by the diesel prices, by turning more blue. in the past years and, you know, the more metropolitan enclaves. We're going to be in Iowa at the end of the week. And so I'm interested to go there and kind of see what's happening in the Midwest because states that are very similar, not the same, but to kind of pick up on the trend lines, because I do think that it is a little bit of a void when it comes to the Midwest right now, knowing what of these trends in the polls is actually real and could be a shot at the Dems and a seat that otherwise would have seen far, far out of reach.

It's just remarkable, again, that some of the states were talking about. Kansas, yes, but also Alaska, which has a Democratic candidate slightly up. Now, I mean, Alaska is obviously a unique, is obviously a unique environment up there, and they have a very strong candidate, but there's now a consensus there that she really could win. We've talked about places like Iowa, Nebraska, maybe they're in play, too. To John's point, I mean, this is kind of when these races do, these get solidified. And certainly it seems like everything's kind of breaking one way with the possible exception of Maine, because Susan Collins is such a survivor. They had a debate last night. I'm curious to see how people feel after that. And then a quick note about, you know, North Carolina, not quite Texas in terms of elusive

for Democrats because Obama did win it, but like North Carolina has largely remained out of their grasp. It's stunning how little we're talking about North Carolina because Roy Cooper's kind of put it away. And it seems like even Republicans are acknowledging we can't win there and they're diverting resources. So we're looking at potentially how people will vote. But now let's talk about the integrity of the vote because we do have some new information for you this morning. The Trump administration is breaking with more than two decades of precedent by refusing to invite international election observers to monitor the upcoming midterms. The White House declined to invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for next month's

elections, joining only Russia and Belarus in its decision to exclude them. It comes as Democrats and election experts raise concerns about potential election meddling, including the Justice Department's plan to send its own monitors. The organization called the move regrettable, while human rights watch says the move, quote, fuels fears of concerns around the elections. The OSCE has observed every federal election in the U.S. since 2002, with monitors typically visiting some polling stations and issuing a report about how, the elections were conducted. Monitors do not interfere and have no enforcement power with their access to polling stations decided by each state. But wait, there's more. Joining us now is

Sky Perryman. She is the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, a nonprofit legal organization focused on advancing democracy through litigation, policy, and public education. And Sky breaking this morning, Democracy Forward recently obtained records through a FOIA Freedom Information Act request that you say details ICE's attempts to silence voters. Explain what you found. Yeah, this is really concerning. We obtained 166 documents that evidence that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have been collecting records, including records that Heather Honey, a known election denier who serves in a role at D.A. has been obtaining on individual Americans from, quote, unknown sources, over 48 million of those records.

If those are records about individual people, that is about, that's a quarter, more than a quarter of the voting public. The records also show that the Department of Homeland Security has been investigating voter rights groups and included even trying to potentially send or considering sending undercover agents to investigate certain groups. including in high contest areas like Pennsylvania and New Jersey and many other areas. So this is very concerning. It continues to confirm what we and others have known and been saying for some time, which is that this administration is trying to weaponize the federal government to undermine elections and to continue to spread baseless myths about our elections, including myths about, quote, non-citizens voting when that's never been substantiated.

Coming up, what we're learning this morning about the possible, outbreak of pneumonic plague in Russia following the reported death of a lab worker at a research facility in Siberia. Plus, we'll check in with Dr. Vin Gupta about the risk for Americans amid fears of a broader outbreak. You're watching morning, Joe. We'll be right back. Outside of a few exceptions, it's basically just the scumbags and fraudsters with connections to Trump who get pardons. As one lawyer put it, if you're just an average citizen, you can't even get in the line. my guy he'd probably be better off if he broke into the Capitol or made a major donation

to Trump's inauguration, which is pretty bleak, isn't it? Especially given just how much Trump loves to rail about how tough he is when it comes to law and order. But that toughness is clearly deeply selective. John Oliver, with his recent take on President Trump's use of pardon power, including Trump granting clemency to about 1,500 defendants charged in the January 6th Capitol attack. Since then, the president has pardoned at least 170 other people convicted of crimes. Let's bring in MS Now Justice and Intelligence reporter Ken Delanian, his series for MS Now, Justice Interrupted,

explores some of the more unique, shall we say, pardon. Trump is issued. Ken, good morning. So tell us about your latest and the so-called Lady Trump. Hey, good morning, guys. You know, we decided to do this series because this president's been granting so many jaw-dropping pardons that individual cases are getting lost. And so for our fourth installment, we took a look at a case of this Nevada politician who was convicted of an absolutely outrageous fraud. Trump has never said a word about why he overturned the jury's verdict in this case.

Breaking right now, Michelle Fiore guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud. It was one of the most brazen frauds prosecutors say they had ever seen. And it became a big story in Las Vegas. The jury returning the guilty verdict in less than two hours. Republican Michelle Fiore, a local politician and Donald Trump supporter, convicted on charges of federal wire fraud. She had raised money to build a memorial statue for a fallen officer and spent it instead on plastic surgery, rent, and her daughter's wedding. And Politico magazine said that I was the lady Trump. She's been called Lady Trump because of her tight embrace of the president.

At one point, running for public office with a gun on her hip and a chip on her shoulder. I'm Michelle Fiore and I'm ready for the fight. Back in 2018, she was serving as a Las Vegas City Councilwoman when she solicited donations to erect a memorial for two local police officers who had been killed on the job. At the groundbreaking for the memorial, she explained why it was important to commemorate the two officers. Just to give it that extra special touch and the bronze statue just came to win. But a few years later, as she was serving in another public office, Justice of the Peace, she faced federal charges for misusing those funds.

An indictment is merely an accusation and an allegation. And these allegations are repugnant. A lot of people donated money, including the governor. Other prominent lawyers and community figures testified that they gave with the understanding it was going to memorialize this fallen officer. A federal jury found her guilty in 2024 of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. After prosecutors showed that not a penitialized. penny of the $70,000 she raised went to the statue.

In fact, a local developer paid for it. The evidence that the trial was overwhelming that the money she raised never went to the statue. The jury took very little time to convict her. Fiore faced 140 years in prison, but she still had a card to play. Fiore claims she was set up by the FBI, the Justice Department, and the media, a victim of political weaponization. So the case centered on the misuse of over 70,000 in donations intended for a memorial statue honoring fallen Las Vegas police officers. We agree with that. In April of last year, Trump granted Fiore a full pardon.

He has never explained why. In a statement to MS now, the White House called Fiore an outspoken and maverick personality, noting that she was the first female Republican majority leader in the Nevada State Assembly. and adding, due to her outspoken conservative views, she became a target and incurred government investigation and prosecution. She was convicted of wire fraud, but now she has received a pardon. I cried. You just started crying. Yeah, I just started crying. Michelle Fiore declined our request for an interview, but her attorney, Christine Wildevelt, defended the pardon, telling MS now she had submitted documents about Michelle's case to the Justice Department and adding, the White House did an extremely

thorough job vetting Michelle. This was a completely valid pardon. It was a well-deserved pardon. It was one of a series of pardons Trump has issued to Republican politicians convicted of fraud or corruption. Those include Scott Jenkins, a Virginia sheriff sentenced to 10 years for bribery, Michael Grimm, a former New York congressman convicted of tax fraud, and John Rowland, a former Connecticut governor who had been convicted of corruption. I would guess Trump knows nothing about the case itself. And just it was Michelle Fiore, who's been one of his loudest, most vociferous supporters since he first ran. And so he gave her a pardon out of that political loyalty. And you'll notice, guys, the White House is not saying here that this person was innocent.

This is one of 20 politicians that Donald Trump has pardoned who have been convicted of corruption-related offenses, mostly Republicans, but a handful of Democrats. And a lot of people believe It has to do with the fact that Donald Trump himself has been accused of corruption. And he's trying to send a message that none of these cases matter. They're not real. But in many of these cases, as in the most flagrant one might be January 6th, it's, we see the crimes being committed. So we know some of them happen.

And these people have been pardoned. They go back out. And some of them have recommitted crimes. I appreciate that you're looking back on all of these. What's standing out to you? Is there a pattern beyond what the obvious? is. Well, as John and I were talking about, there's a pardon economy right now. If you want to pardon, you're hiring certain lawyers and people are getting rich. We're very, who are very Trump-connected

lawyers who and almost always, and almost always there's money involved. This is going to be one of these things years later. We're going to find out about how many under-the-table payoffs there were, I suspect, around these things, because it really has become, yeah. You know, we've never seen this before in Washington, the fact that there's enough, there's enough pardon volume now that it supports an entire subdivision of the legal profession that just are moving these parties through on like an assembly line. A hundred percent. The biggest takeaway, though, is any one of these would have been a scandal in a previous

administration. And we're just inundated with so many that we can't even process. Yeah. And also, there's another through line, which is the reaction from the people who have been convicted, which is the Justice Department was weaponized against me. The media is out to get me. It's a fake case. Well, like all of those January 6 cases, these were cases presented to juries.

Right. who took the evidence in this case for only two hours and brought back convictions. So this isn't weaponized. This is a jury system in America that they're complaining about. 100%. And Donald Trump is overturning those verdicts, which were regular citizens, spent time looking at the evidence, render them, and Trump is blowing that away. MS Now, Justice and Intelligence reporter Ken Delaanian, thank you very much. You can read other installments of Justice Interrupteds. It's a series on MS. dot now. And we'll be right back with much more Morning Joe.

Welcome back. The United States is planning to send a formal diplomatic message to Russia, requesting more information on the death of a researcher at an anti-plague facility in Siberia. It comes after local Russian media reported that a lab technician at that facility died of pneumonia four days ago. It's unclear at this point whether she contracted pneumonic plague and airborne disease that causes shortness of breath and coughing. The diplomatic request is intended to remind Russia it is obligated under international law to share information on disease outbreaks and to do so in a timely manner. So far, State Department officials say the information coming from Moscow has been limited. President Trump said yesterday he has a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled soon and that he potentially could share more details about that later today. Health officials say this case poses a low risk outside of Russia and stress that the disease is treatable with antibiotics.

Let's bring in MS now, see your medical analyst, Dr. Vin Gupta. Dr. Gupta, great to see you as always. It's a scary combination of words, Siberia, the plague, a lab accident, and a death. Tell us, what do people need to know about this? How worried. should people be that this could spread? Well, Jonathan, you did an excellent job in the T-Up in terms of understanding what we're dealing with. This is a very lethal bacteria. And I think in some ways that should help give us context that this is not a respiratory virus like flu or like COVID that can spread easily across long distances and frankly just spread like wildfire.

That's not what we're dealing with here. This is very serious Eurcinia. We sometimes see scattered cases, John. in the United States and the southwestern U.S. It causes severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. So usually an ICU stay is all but mandated, especially if you don't have early treatment with antibiotics that work well for this. But, I mean, that in and of itself should give us a sense of the risk to the U.S. population.

Scattered cases we see every single year, but this is not, this is very low risk to the U.S. population. I should also just add the irony of this administration, now holding Russia to account when it comes to international health regulations. We stepped away from the WHO. We don't sign onto pandemic accords. And so it's very hard for us to hold to account another country when it comes to data sharing on a pathogen like this when we don't want to do that ourselves. Very good and dispiriting point there.

Dr. Gupta, you're also following the alarming number of measles cases recorded across the United States this year. Where do things stand on that front? You know, I recently had a chance to speak to Governor Shapiro and Jonathan, as you know, about 10 days ago, MS now was on the ground speaking to frontline clinicians. And that was when cases were about 850 hospitalizations were about 90. We got access to Geisinger, which is the referral facility. In just about 10 days since we were on the ground there, Jonathan, cases now are above 1,000.

Sadly, we've had five measles-related deaths. And so things are getting worse. I think we expected things to get worse. I will say that on the ground officials, health officials noted strong support from the Shapiro administration, not so much from the feds. But the expectation here is that things will continue to get worse. I will say one slight note of optimism is rates of vaccination are picking up quickly, especially in the Amish-Bennonite community, Jonathan. So there is some hope here that this will really stanch out soon enough. Finally, Dr. Gupta, there are some signs that flu season is arriving early in some parts of the country this year.

How should Americans be preparing? How severe is the flu in the fall of 2026? Well, here on the West Coast, we're seeing rates, Jonathan. I mean, I hate to say it. None of these health segments seem to be filled with a lot of good news. But what I would say is rates here are approaching what we would typically see in December. And so what does that mean? That means if you're watching this right now, everybody should be getting their first.

flu shot now, if you haven't already. Between those six months and 49 years of age, the standard flu vaccine, Jonathan, is totally fine. Between 15 and 64 years of age, I get this question a lot. You can get the new mRNA flu shot that was just FDA approved recently or the standard flu shot. If you're 65 years of age and above, get the high dose flu shot. That's really important. And then just lastly, I'll say, if you wake up with flu-like symptoms, there's now at-home COVID flu tests because all these respiratory viruses mimic you. each other from a symptom standpoint. Make sure you get tested. There's at-home tests that are less than $10. You can submit those for reimbursement to your insurance. Critically, early Tama flu for flu,

early Paxilid for COVID can keep you out of the hospital. So early tests, really treat if you wake up with flu-like symptoms, really critical. Really important words. I'll just note, I just scheduled my flu shot and COVID vaccine for early next week. MS now, senior medical analyst, Dr. Van Gupta, thank you so much. We all. always appreciate it. Up next here on Morning Joe, Mika's going to reveal the incredible lineup that she's put together for the Forbes Know Your Value 30-50 summit, which is being held next week right here in New York City. Keep it on Morning, Joe, for that. Welcome back. The world is at quite a moment right now with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and another consequential U.S. midterm

election just ahead. And that's why women's leadership is more important than ever before. Across the board, women are helping shape what comes next. You know, we were forced to postpone our fifth annual 30-50 summit in Abu Dhabi because of security concerns. Yet, we persevered. Now, the Forbes Know Your Value, 30-50 summit is coming to New York City, October 15th and 16th for our five-year anniversary, 30-50 stateside. The summit brings together the next generation of leaders from Forbes 30 under 30. community with women of our over 50, over 50 communities, creating a cross-generational conversation about leadership, innovation, and the future. And there is mentoring all around that happens.

Here to tell us more, MS Now contributor and the vice chair of the 3050 summit, Huma Abedine. And Forbes women editor, Maggie McGrath. It's good to have you both. Maggie's on location, always on the go, always working. Humma, it feels, well, it is. very unstable time. How does it change the conversation for this summit, especially when we're talking to leaders that we'll be having at our summit about how to persevere and move forward? I think it affirms why these conversations are crucial this year more than ever. I mean, these past five years, every year we've had founders, entrepreneurs, create content

creators. We're learning across generations, across cultures. and with the, as you said, instability and the global order is shaking, we need to affirm our leadership. We need to affirm that mentoring and then networking. We've had everybody from Nobel Peace Prize winners like Ellen Johnson's Sturleaf, who taught us what it is when a woman is a leader and what can that can do for conflict. And we had Gloria Steinem on our stage two years ago.

And when you have these women, it shows us the importance of that leadership and what we can learn from them and how we learn from the under 30 generation. And speaking of next week, I'm so glad we are doing this. It's important to this community that's growing that we do have these conversations and the two people I'm very much looking forward to hearing from one is Secretary Hillary Clinton. During a time when there are so many questions about what's going to happen in the midterms, what's going to happen in that region, what's going to happen in the future, talk about somebody who has steady leadership, strategic vision, can, is, problem solver in chief, in my opinion. Obviously, you know, I have a long connection with her,

but just this past two weeks over the UN, I heard from people saying, we have all these problems in the world. And every time I sit down and talk to her, she has solutions for her. You had her here talking about it. And secondly, Jen Rubio, who is known as the founder of a way, but is pivoting, is in a new chapter in her life, is launching some new initiatives, and can't wait to see what she has to say on states. Lots of interesting things. Yeah, Maggie's going to tell us a little bit more about who's going to be there. And also our partners from the UAE for the first time will come to us as we will keep this partnership going, persevere, move forward, and also make those plans to go back to Abu Dhabi. So Maggie, the five-year anniversary summit is already incredible in terms of the lineup.

What conversations are you looking forward to hearing the most? Well, Mika, we do have a fabulous mix of speakers. and speaking of the momentum that Huma mentioned for Jen Rubio, I'm so excited to hear from entrepreneur Emma Greed. Folks may know her as the co-founder and CEO of Denham Company, Good American. She's also the host of Aspire with Emma Greed, author of a new book. She really has advice on how to scale your leadership. Talk about leadership, steady leadership during turbulent times. She has advice around that.

She also likes to say that women don't get anywhere with shy ambition, which I think is an important. lesson always. Also on the program, as Huma mentioned, we'll hear from Jen Rubio. I'm excited to hear from model and founder and influencer, Jordan Woods. She has had a breakout and breakthrough year, and I want to hear her talk about how to use that momentum to scale her own influence even further and how our audience can scale their influence even further. And finally, as an amateur baker myself, I am so excited to hear from Christel Pereira. You may know her as a a finalist on series 12 of the Great British Bake Off, but she is an example of the power of a pivot. She started her career in Goldman Sachs asset management, but today she commands audiences with her

food. She's a cookbook author, a food presenter. She presents delicious recipes and really can leverage social media to create a following. So across all of these speakers, I think there are really actionable insights that our audience of founders, leaders, and executives can use to scale their companies. It's a great lineup. It's going to be so fun and so engaging and so valuable. And Huma, I want to ask you about, obviously, the war with Iran has created security concerns, which led to this decision to hold it here. You were a big part of all of our discussions in making this decision. What did that moment mean to you to keep going, to have it here, and to forge ahead with our partnership with the UAE and our friends

in the Middle East? Well, as you said, Mika, the war. broke out literally a week before we were scheduled to get on planes and head to the region, there's always going to be some level of uncertainty. There's always going to be some, some, you know, traumatic thing happening in the world. I mean, we sit here today. It's October 7th. It's the third anniversary of the attack and the destabilization since then has been brought a tremendous amount of horror, death, trauma. And I have to say our partners, our host partner, the government of the UAE, particularly experience Abu Dhabi. Cisco are one of our partners.

They are determined that we need to continue to have these conversations because one of the ways forward is having that dialogue is understanding across culture. The Minister of State of Foreign Affairs, Nur al-Kalbi, will join us. She is going to fly here from the UAE, joins on stage in New York, to have the conversation about what's happening in the region, what they foresee. the things that she said recently, you know, we keep talking about a ceasefire. When this war first broke out in March, we were told it would end in a matter of weeks. Here we are seven months in. The future is very unclear. And as she said, ceasefire is not even the end. A ceasefire is

the beginning. That's right. So we need to continue to have the conversations. I'm so excited that she's able to be here on stage. And the commitment absolutely continues because for five years now, we've been learning that something really special happens, Maggie, at this event. It is, It is truly remarkable. The connections that are made, the friendships that are made, the deals that are done, and the way women lift each other up from a cross-cultural, multi-generational perspective. And it's not just one side helping another. It goes all around. And I'd love for you to talk a little bit about what we've learned so far, especially about women mentoring each other from different generations. Because it's not just the more mature women mentoring, mentoring. the younger women. I thought it would be, it's not. We learn a lot here. I'll speak for the women who are a little older. No, it's totally true. It's up and down generations. There's much that Gen Z can teach millennials, Gen X, and boomers. And there's much that boomers can teach Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z. We've seen this across our coverage at Forbes, across the years of doing

this summit. Sometimes the best and most innovative solutions in business and in politics come from bringing in new voices, but also using the expertise and wisdom from those who have experience going through tumultuous cycles in the past. So as I always say to this audience, I really do hope they connect, as you've said. It's not just mentoring and networking. We've had folks hire each other. We've had folks investing in each other's company. Maybe two people will meet and they will start a new company that solves one of today's crucial problems. So I'm excited for what comes next. It's so cool. The 30 under 30 list, the 50 over 50 list. And the community. And the community.

And the, again, the multi-generational aspect, I no longer just look at a younger person and say, fix my phone. I say, tell me, how much can I learn about what you're thinking, what a good business idea would be, where should we go with this? We bring in the most remarkable women from all age groups. And it just, it's magic. This year's summit takes place next Thursday and Friday here in New York City. We'll have more details on Morning Joe. as we lead up to the event. And you can get more information at know your value.com

and Forbes.com. Huma Abidine and Maggie McGrath. Thank you once again. It's gonna be so fun. I really appreciate it. Also, one more story we're following this hour. Just one day after President Trump said his super PAC would start paying for taxpayer-funded ads

that drew bipartisan backlash. It appears there are no plans to reimburse the government for the millions of federal dollars already spent on them. According to the New York Times, White House officials said yesterday that Trump's promise to cover the cost would only apply moving forward. The president was asked about this yesterday. How did you page your mind for the tax pay?

The government for the millions of dollars are already. The ads were really good. They were promotion for the country. Done by many presidents before, so we'll decide. Yeah, no. The Times notes another new ad that also includes the message paid for by the U.S. government began airing yesterday, focused on the U.S. capture of Venezuela's former leader Nicholas Maduro, and features Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegesa. That does it for us this morning.

Money, Power, Politics with Stephanie Rule is up next after a short break.