Morning Joe - Michael Douglas on his life, family and career

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

October 7, 2026: 7am — Michael Douglas on his life, family and career 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.

We've heard Donald Trump's name several times here. So let me ask you directly. President Trump this week said that he might actually visit Maine. Will you stand with him if he does? I don't think that President Trump is going to come to Maine. He's talking about going to a lot of different states. I've heard nothing from his office. And I'm not exactly his favorite senator.

So yes or no? Do you have a yes or no to that? I would say that he is not coming to. to me. Okay. I have been strongly voting against the tariffs with Canada, but I've also been working behind the scenes. Troy mocked it, but I was successful in getting concrete, pulp, and road salt removed from

the tariff list. Well, look, maynors can't afford to pay their bills with a press release or strongly worded letter like Senator Collins keeps talking about. I didn't mock the fact that she got road salt back. I mocked the fact that what about everything else? I mean, we can't eat road salt. And the thing about it is, is that everything that she's doing with Iran War and stuff like that, there's going to be so many less people that will be able to afford to drive that I'm not even sure the road salt is going to be worth anything either. A couple of the big moments from last night's debate between incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins and her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson.

It's one of several key races that could determine control of the upper chamber. Much of the debate centered on President Trump, with Jackson repeatedly trying to tie Collins to the administration while Collins emphasized her independence. Collins also defended her record on abortion rights, including her vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who then voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Eight years ago today, Maine women, I know many of them came to your office and begged you not to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, but you did it anyways. And then he overturned Roe, and you still say that you don't regret that vote.

So I guess what I'm curious about is, What will it take for you to admit that you were wrong? Well, first of all, when I evaluate Supreme Court Justice nominees, I always look at their qualifications, their experience, whether they're fit to serve on the court. At Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the famous justice said it would be inappropriate and violate the impartiality of a judge for any nominee. to predict how he or she would vote on any issue. I clearly don't agree with how Brett Kavanaugh voted on Roe v. Wait. Yes, but now in Maine, if you can get to a rural hospital, because many have been closed, you can't get life-saving health care, abortion health care due to that vote by Brett Kavanaugh and

Leonard Leo and all of his help. Also, main connections. Joining the conversation, former host of Hardball, Chris Matthews and former U.S. ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, who served as White House Chief of Staff under President Obama, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Good to have you both. I guess, Chris, I'll start with you overall. How did that debate? I know you just saw a couple sound bouts. I don't know if you saw the whole thing. But how is Troy Jackson doing? And Susan Collins, she's hard to beat. Yeah, I think there's a real toss up there.

And I think she's being elected so many. Look, let's go to the question of democracy. I mean, that's what I care about. But people are getting the right to help pick people. Now, where did Troy Jackson come from? We know one thing about him. He married his cousin. I mean, after Plattner and Janet Mills and all, I mean, shouldn't Democrats actually

pick their candidates in sort of a nominating process? And I think that heard Kamala Harris last time in 24. People would like to pick their candidates. They didn't pick this time. I think it's going to be close. I think she didn't look that great. She's got the speech problem. I think most people know about that.

People like her. Women like her, I think for sure. I think she'll win the women's vote. I think people have been voting for her for years. I did think in the beginning of this race her time was up. Having voted for Kavanaugh and Kavanaugh will bother her. That vote will matter. She had no excuse for it.

was wrong about him. She read him wrong. A lot of people read him wrong. I mean, there's an interesting case. You know, every Sunday, Kavanaugh's our elector at church at Blessed Sacrament. You know, I said to him, I like you on Sunday, Brett. You know, he's likable, but he votes wrong. And I think she'll pay for that. But that's one of the, here in New York Times yesterday, he said there's seven races now that are toss-ups. And I think that's where we are right now. A month from now, I think the Democrats win the Senate and the House. It's moving clearly in that direction. It's going to accelerate by Election Day. I think it's going to be a big, big night for the Dems. So, Ron, to your political ear, when you hear that from

Chris Matthews, and you hear the Cook political report is moving Kansas to a toss-up and Tallarico's ahead in Texas. I hear a lot of Democrats say, it's like panic time. It's not the time to settle and say, we've got this. Exactly, exactly. Their DNA kicks in and they can go wrong. No, that's exactly right. So. than seize the opportunity. So what's your view of where things are now and what might happen on election night? First of all, the Democrats are prosecuting a case

that this is a referendum on President Trump and a rubber stamp Republican Congress and Senate. And to the great, and I think effectively prosecuting that case. And the good news is we're doing everything we need to do and Donald Trump is doing everything we want him to do because he's also making this about him. As you could see in that answer about trying to figure out

how far away she can get, coming here. Well, the plane may just land there, okay? So that, across the country, that's happening. And you can look by the president's schedule. He can't go to a battleground because he is toxic. So we are prosecuting the race. This is a referendum. Yeah. And the second piece to your latter question on this race, look, there's a law of physics and a midterm when one party controls both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and it's kicking in. Massive turnout by Democrats or party out of power voters and depressed turnout by the party in voters. and independence break two to one for the party out of power.

In every special election, every statewide, and all the primaries, that is playing out. And this has got that current. And the real story for me in this election, I just came from Florida with a campaign for former Republican Congressman Jolly, who's now running as a Democrat for governor. Across the country, Kansas, now toss up, he used to be a Republican. Arizona, the Democratic governor picked a Republican as her running mate. Bob Sand in Iowa running for governor. Has said, I'm going to have Republicans in my cabinet.

Amy Acton in Ohio where I was. She worked for Republican Governor, DeWine. The Romney Republicans are leaving the Republican Party. They're up for grabs. And the road from 2026 to 2028 runs exactly through that. That is the biggest story of this election is the fact is there's a segment of the Republican Party who are no longer identified as Republicans. They're not Democrats.

And we have to make a decision. Is this election transactional? Right. Or transformational? We don't want your votes. We want also your hearts and minds. And 2027 will be the key year how we handle in Congress, whether that actually is now a building coalition broad and big,

or whether it's a one-off. And you can play that out on issues like ethics reform versus, which is what I would do, versus impeachment. Right. Because if you go there, and it's a food fight. If you pass ethics reform, you've cleaned. it up and you brought change. So Chris Matthews in a lot of these states, ICE is playing out before the eyes of American voters. In Maine, Susan Collins voted to give an inordinate amount of money

to DHS, to ICE, which already had a massive amount of money to deploy this, what many call a rogue force across the country. And she's very proud of the fact that she voted for body cameras, which can, I guess, show in more detail, close up, the depravity that is happening for people across her state. Do you think that will play a role in this election? Yeah, I think ICE is very unpopular. I think with the voters, they're not going to get a plus plus from the voters this time. I think the border control is totally something Democrats should look at and try to figure out how do they keep that going when they get into power. How can we stop this people crossing the border illegally. That's got to be dealt with. But I get back to the

president and what Romp said. I think this president, toxic, you know, it's one thing to think about terrorism, but to join terrorism in the message saying they're going to drop a ballistic missile on L.A. or in San Diego, and they get the people in that area terrorized. Why would the president do that? Why would he join in the Iranian terror attack? Why would he talk about scaring American citizens in their homes, in our homeland? Why would he do that? Why would he engage in something like that as an election tactic? It's awful.

It's awful behavior by anybody, including a president. But this guy's our chief of, he's defending the country, and he's talking about where we, he's targeting their attack. It's unbelievable that he's done this. And I don't know how we, and, you know, Rahm is the best person. I've had him on my show. I mean, he's out, Bobby, the smartest guy, getting, people to think in this coming season, getting people to actually think about education and

things like that, and actually caring about issues. I'm not sure he's going to win, but he's going to stir things up. Rahm Emanuel, surely he will do that. But the question is, why don't people, can't Schumer wake up? I mean, why is he not on, why aren't all the Democratic leaders say, you cannot talk about joining the terrorists and scaring the American people? Mr. President, you're our commander in chief, defend us. You're not defending us. Why don't Democrats say, why don't they wake up? You know, why does it, Hakeem Jeffries wake up? Why don't the leaders of Democratic Party act like leaders who are against this poisoning effect

of Donald Trump? It seems like they're bored. I don't know what it is. I'm sorry. Rob, you're getting compliments here that you won't be getting from your siblings, no doubt. You know, and we should know what the White House. I think it's expanded beyond myself. Perhaps.

The White House has strongly pushed back at the idea that President Trump was suggesting that about the weapons yesterday. He was saying that would happen if we didn't, if we didn't. if we did not prevent that from getting a clean-up crew. So we should just say that because there was a lot of pushback yesterday to that story. But let's talk about one thing that I think is resonating. We've been talking to Democrats around the country and I know you've been doing a lot of traveling is the idea.

It's not just the president is out of touch with the nation's economic woes, right? It seems like he doesn't frankly care. He's not even trying. But also while others are suffering, while others are having hard time making ends meet, he and his family and his friends are profiting. They're making an extraordinary amount of money. And even yesterday, we have a story in the New York Times about members of his political team helping a pro-Russia candidate

in Europe. It just seems like in being paid handsomely to do so. That seems like it's a message that's starting to really take off. One is, unlike Washington, they don't, in the country, they don't see affordability over here and corruption over here. They actually see it as the same. And you hit on this point, look, I'll just take this. when you go to a wedding, usually people register

of Creighton Barrow, William, Sonoma. They don't register at the Kremlin. Okay? Which is what happened for Trump's kid. And the only reason, the only reason he's now paying for it is he got caught. He never thought it was ethically or morally wrong. He got caught.

You don't have an oligarch close to Putin in the middle of this war, ever, especially now, paying for his wedding. But across the country, they see the President of the United States building a ballroom. that they think it's full of corruption and special interest doing it

and they're paying the bill for this. They think the president's fixated on his arch and they can't afford a meal at the Golden Arch. He gets an airplane for $450 million and they get $4.50 a gallon. They believe the corruption is driving the cost. And when those two issues, which for the American people are already fused and the Democrats prosecute him,

not corruption over here and the price of gas over here, but as a singular, the corruption ends in your wallet. you saw it in Hungary, you're seeing in the United States. They're the same issue, heads and tails of the same coin, not polar opposites or distinct topics. And the America and the other piece of this, and I just say this because it's not understood in the New York D.C. corridor.

They think the tax code is corrupt. They think getting into college and universities is a corrupt system. They think the criminal justice system is a corrupt system. They think the entire system is rotten to its core and the marrow of its bones. And it is, because it's still. act against them. Even paranoid people can have enemies. Yeah. And it's rigged. To what Lamar just mentioned, the story that you mentioned with midterm campaigning in full swing here in the U.S. Two of President Trump's top political advisors were in the Balkans last

week, helping a pro-Russian government look to tighten its grip on power. This is according to the New York Times, citing people for people familiar with the travels. Can I say one thing here? on the ethics thing, beyond stock trading. Ban all prediction markets, mandatory blind trust, and what I call the Jared Kushner rule. For three years after government, you can't be involved with any foreign companies, any foreign sovereign wealth money.

You can't just go walk out of the United States and start taking money from Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the Balkans and do real estate deals in Albania and stuff like that. Ban it. No, your service in public life isn't about what you do afterwards from foreign money. That's absolutely not how it's going now.

So four people familiar with the travels of James Blair and Chris Lasavita, who were leading a big money midterm advertising campaign for the Trump political operation. The Times reports that the pair were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each through a Washington-based law firm that was retained by the government of Republica Serbska, the Serb-controlled, autonomous region within Bosnia and Herzegovina, to provide. Council on voting issues. The Nationalist Party won Sunday's elections there, with the party's leader thanking Vladimir Putin for his support and crediting Trump's 2024 victory with creating a favorable political environment. And Mike, we should just note, these aren't just two like people in Trump's order. No, these are two of his most important political advisors. Yeah. You know, this whole thing, the level of corruption in this administration is overwhelming. It's beyond belief. And it seems at one level, nobody's paying attention to it, but they are paying attention to it.

But the other issues that we've been talking about here today, the one that Chris raised about San Diego, Los Angeles, and Trump's language, ice in the streets, an untrained police force out there grabbing people. One thing that is not mentioned a whole lot in any of the campaigns that you sort of half listened to is a very important issue to many people. Their children and their education.

You were in Louisiana a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. Talk about public education. Well, first of all, Louisiana is the only state whose math and reading scores are above pre-COVID. We actually know what to do. And it's very similar methodologically to what Mississippi has done on reading. And it's teacher training, teacher training, teacher training, curriculum, curriculum, curriculum, accountability in the system to both the teacher, the principal, the school. Louisiana's leading the state, math and reading games.

Mississippi's leading and reading. The most impressive thing I saw, unbelievable, and this gets to delivering on change. They have a single application for pre-K, head start, and daycare all integrated into one singular education system. And they started 14 years ago, which is why they're reading a math stuff. And they enrolled more people because we came down one application, not three separate applications. And they pull a license if you're reading scores or if you're not doing the educational outcome. And their early childhood is a massive improvement. I say that.

I think the Republicans are doing under President Trump on Head Start is reckless. Don't go snap it in as if it was Nirvana just 10 weeks ago. Louisiana's model is a model of future. And it gives example here in New York. You have pre-K, but head starts over here. An integrated system actually serves the parent and the child, not the bureaucracy. That is a model for the future. And that should be, if you're going to come here,

don't snap back what was before, build something new that's actually sustains for the parent and the child. And Louisiana is really a, I've studied this a lot. Yeah, I studied this a lot. I kicked myself in the butt for not having done that in Chicago. I'm so glad you're highlighting this because in this era of the daily churn of what Trump said, these things get squeezed out of the public discourse. Not at the kitchen table. No, I'm just saying in the public conversation.

So you mentioned Mississippi. They call it the Mississippi Miracle. Down there, they call it the Mississippi Marathon. The Marathon. Okay. So what is, I mean, what should other states be paying attention to in Louisiana, Mississippi that's not working in their state? Well, first of all, the reading is on both places, is built on phonics. The science are reading, not the art of reading. It's not like we got kids running around.

Well, you don't like the letter, A. Don't use it. It's okay. This is the phonics are reading, which everybody at this table worked on. They started with the teacher training in education before they started with the kids. And it's rigorous every day throughout your career. They stick with the curriculum, both the fundamentals on math, stick with it all the way through high school from elementary and also on reading.

Then they hold the teacher and the principal accountable for the results. And the methodology is very similar on math and reading. Get the elementary years, starting very early, on the fundamentals, and rigorously train the teachers, constantly train them, coach them to be excellent teachers. And they start early. And they stick with the curriculum. Now, high school is a different kind of,

that should be fundamentally reformed. The elementary years are about sticking to the fundamentals. And to me, that has been, and look, Alabama tried it, off like a hockey stick. Tennessee, we actually know what to do. The irony is as opposed to 30 years ago. We lack the political will, and we basically consigned 50% of our kids.

cannot read a great level. And we just kind of shrug our shoulders as if this is acceptable. So it's not acceptable. As we close this, second, let's pull out to 20,000 feet, Chris Matthews. What should people be watching for? What are you watching for in this final month before the midterms? Well, I think actually seeing the candidates, I think that Collins up in Maine has a problem. And I think that guy was pretty good against her.

And he raised the right issues. I think she has a problem. But I think it's still too close to call. As again, I go back to women voting for it and supporting her because she's a former staffer and she works very hard and she brings in some money with the appropriations and that all matters. I look at this possibility of surprise elections. Look at Minnesota and watch Minnesota and Tofoya. Tofoya could pull an upset out there.

It's not just Democrats picking up Republican seats. It's some of the Democratic seats that are in trouble. And I watch Minnesota. Watch with all the scam out there with regard to Medicaid. and the corruption out there and the failure to enforce the law, which has certainly hurt the former governor out there. It's serious matter. I think Defoeia is a popular figure, cover sports.

People know who she is from Sunday Night Football. You've got to watch that possible upset. And the other one, they'll look for. Another upset, potentially, is Sununu, John Sununu in New Hampshire. Keep an eye on that one. There are going to be some big surprises in this election all over the place. Minnesota, Minneapolis, I'm sorry, Mississippi, Kansas, Iowa, it's going to be a great election night.

If you can find a good place to watch it, it's going to be great to watch the surprises out there because there's going to be a lot of them. 30 seats in the House, maybe 35. But in the Senate, I think it's a lot of personality there. A lot of questions about individuals. I'm watching Minnesota as a surprise that I go the other way. It's not only the same for the Democrats. Well, I'll be watching it right.

But the Democrats are going big. Okay, Chris Matthews and Rahm Emanuel. Thank you both very much. Thank you. And still ahead on Morning Joe, we have a Hollywood icon standing by Oscar-winning actor and producer Michael Douglas is out with a new memoir, offering a candid look at his early life and some of his most iconic role. Michael Douglas joins us next on Morning Joe. We'll be right back. I am not a destroyer of companies.

I am a liberator of them. The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed. for lack of a better word is good. Greed is right. Greed works. The Hollywood career Michael Douglas spans six decades with dozens of iconic movies like the one you just saw there, Wall Street, and others including basic instinct, fatal attraction,

and romancing the stone. And now the Academy Award-winning actor and producer is sharing the uncensored story of his life, For the first time in a new memoir titled One Hell of a Ride. In it, he describes a boy, lost in the shadow of his father's legacy, actor Kirk Douglas. After initially being dismissed as just to quote TV actor, he recounts how he stunned the world as a first time film producer by winning an Oscar at the age of 31. For the classic film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

He also details the blessings of his life with wife. actress Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas joins us now and I have to tell you you bring me back to the late 80s where everybody would come up to me and say you look like the lady from fatal attraction and I'm like what's fatal attraction what's fatal attraction? And I'm thinking it's a compliment right right it's got to be and then I yeah that's what I had curly hair I actually have naturally curly hair and I wear it straight out in the 80s. Everybody said it to me. I was not a bunny boiler? Do you know that, Michael Douglas? I just feel that about you.

Really? What an intro. That's the mistake. I don't have to do anything. That's it. Well, I got over it. I saw the movie and I was kind of horrified. They said you looked like her.

It was a compliment. Yeah, but they'd be like, oh, they'd kind of look at me and go, you look like the lady from fatal attraction. That's kind of a hard intro, you know. I don't see any comparison. There you go. We'll talk to Joe about it later. Well, yes, you're just very submissive with Joe.

Handel of Ray was, I will not be denied, it was the bunny boy. Well, I'm not submissive, but okay. So let's talk about the book and other parts of it, including you go into the relationship between father and son, your father and you. And I saw so many parallels about living a son, living in a father's shadow and how you. daunting that can be. But you talk about sort of the third part of his life and how the two of you came together. It's so beautiful. Well, he was Spartacus. You know, you're growing up. He was so domineering his presence and energy and everything. It was simply, can I ever be the man that my father is or come close to it. Right. And so, daunting. Yeah. And I was always feeling

struggling trying to get out of his sort of shadow and the unique thing about our being the same business as they go, it's just like your dad, you know, it's just a, well, thank you very much. No, I'll look at that. Dimpel. And you're trying to get your own establishment. Anyway, he had a helicopter crash.

He was in a friend's helicopter. He was 72 years old. They're taking off from an airport and a pit serobatics plane, those trailblazers, but didn't see him, and they hit, the pits went down, getting to fire, 18-year-old student pilot died and the instructor. Dad fell about 40 feet.

The air in the helicopter, the rotor was still going, gasoline coming out, and didn't catch on fire. And he didn't break a single bone. I went to see him in the hospital, and he was black and blue from one side to the end. But he left the hospital and he said, why am I alive? And this 18-year-old kid is dead. And it brought him back to his Talmudic roots.

He was a Russian Jew but really hadn't been practicing for most of his life and got hold of a rabbi, local rabbi, and started working on the Old Testament. Started reading it every week. And this killer, this man, his whole life whose, you know, ambition, raised all above his family and everything else, he came as just gentle, compassionate human being, good sense of humor, and it was a wonderful, wonderful chapter of spiritual

for him to have ended his life at 103. Wow. So, and I guess the comparison was I had a stage four cancer when I was in my 70s and, you know, wasn't looking too good what the options were. And in my own way, it changed my whole direction of life, very similar to that. Michael, I'm curious about the process of writing one of these books.

It's extraordinary, and the reviews have reflected that from the New York Times to PBS and NPR, everybody talking about because it is so raw and honest. I'm curious what that was like for you to walk down memory lane in that way, where I'm sure it sparked some great memories, but it also opens old wounds, and you have to check in with some of the people that you're going to write about in the book

and say, is it okay if I tell this story about you? What was the process like? What did it feel like? It was scary. I mean, when you're acting and you're playing a character in one way or another, but when you commit to agree to write a book about yourself with the same tone

that you've done in your life and careers in terms of trying to be truthful, it was it was it was it was nervous and I wasn't sure and I've been very happy with how it has turned out and the vulnerability because we're not all perfect and it was well clarified in this so we started I had an interesting beginning and two parents who both were actors meeting together at acting school, one from a British high-fluting family, and my father, the Russian peasant, how opposites attract with each other. And then they're divorced in an early age, and I started a community between coasts, living on the East Coast, my mother, my brother,

and the West Coast. And we started from the beginning, and tough things came out. I mean, And I had a debate about the rage that my father had the physical abuse that he had as a, as a, that was part of that generation, really. Mom had a hairbrush. Dad had a hen. But it started coming out. And then, of course, it just brings back all the memories because the large part of doing the book is just remembering things, reaching out for people.

You know, reading the book, it struck me, it's not a Hollywood memoir. You know, it's a story about several different lives, yours principally, and all of the things that you went through with your father, the relationship with your father, the difficulties with your son, and straightening that out to a certain point, and your cancer, where you thought you were going to die. In writing this book, was there an element of, I'm free now? I'm free to do this. Yeah, definitely. I did my last. job playing Benjamin Franklin on a show at the end of 22, 23. And said, I'm going to take a break.

I took a break. And I said, I don't want to work anymore. I said, it'd have to. I was okay. I had no interest of acting and took a long time off. And then slowly people were pushing me about doing a book and got back into thinking about it. And indeed, it freed me up and it talked about some things. And, you know, there were a couple of acts of indiscretion, infidelity,

that I thought were important to mention, just because people were always asking about him. I knew Kathleen and Turner and him, Ed. We were right, it turns out. Yeah, I wanted to have actually piggyback on that idea. In Mika's introduction, she used the word uncensored, and it's very, that's very appropriate. here because you do talk about mistakes you have made.

You talk about drug use. You talk about some of the romance romances. Was there moments where you said to yourself, I can't believe I'm writing this down? Or was there anything you said like, I should hold this back? The crux of it, when I first started trying to produce,

there was a book by David O'Sullsend it called Memo. And it was him as a producer writing all the detailed memos that he did. We told you what a producer did. So I do. have 10 chapters. I took 10 movies and have 10 chapters about what they were like

how it started from the beginning so people could learn about that. But then I realized, you know, I'm going to sell books. I mean, let me sell my book. So then we started filling in a little of the personal, the personal life.

And yeah, it was it was very vulnerable right up until the release in the first reviews. came in. I love the development process for the China syndrome. Wasn't it going to be sexy enough, so you had to get some of the fun stuff in there. You write

very lovingly about your beautiful wife, Catherine, and you talk about some of the ups and downs and your own relationship. Ultimately, you write this, I love Catherine in a way. I've never loved any other woman. She's my wife, my best friend, my life partner. I could never lose her. I'm curious

what she thought when she first read your draft of this book. She's in the middle of it right now. Oh, wow. She's been working on the series Wednesday. You're still together? She just got home, and so far she's in a good mood. We shall see.

We'll see. So she didn't have early edits. Talked about a clip. I filled her in a little bit. I mean, look, we have a 25-year-age difference. So if you want to go to Kathleen Turner, Catherine was seven years old. Okay. Is that good or bad?

Well, I don't know. No, you had a right before you married Joe. I know right. Right. You know, I'm not going to be ignored, Michael. Oh, no. No, no. No, no.

Now you're boiling bunnies. You know what, Michael? Bring the dog. I love animals. He looks nervous. He looks nervous. The new memoir, One Hell of a Ride, is available now. Author and Academy Award-winning actor and producer, Michael, Doug

Thank you so much for sharing this with us this morning. Thank you. It's great to have you on. And still ahead on Morning Joe, the U.S. is demanding answers from Russia over the death of a researcher at an anti-plague facility amid growing concerns over the limited amount of information. We'll have the latest details coming up on Morning Joe. Welcome back. Axiass is the latest news outlet to obtained leaked audio of Texas Attorney General Ken Parenthood. Paxton talking about the challenges of his U.S. Senate campaign. In the recording, Paxton acknowledged the impact of the Iran war and gas prices during a meeting last month with a group of donors and lobbyists.

Paxton said, quote, when it's over, $6 per gallon for diesel, people are feeling the pinch, adding that the rising cost of fuel drives up food prices and everything else. He also said, affordability is, quote, by. far our biggest problem and why we're having a hard time with numbers. Paxton will be in San Antonio today to campaign with President Trump. Funny how there's just so much leaked audio of Ken Paxton that keeps from being... I know. And it's like... And he talks about the reality.

I mean, it is over $6 a gallon and you can't argue with high gas prices and food that you can't afford. The tariffs, by the way, are making it so hard to buy anything. Everything is up. Like, go ahead. Wait until people start ordering oil for their furnaces this winter in New Hampshire and Maine and Vermont. And think about the impact of the tariffs in Maine. Yeah.

My lord. In the race for governor of Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson clashed last night in their only scheduled debate of the fall. The former Atlanta mayor and former Biden administration official is facing Jackson, a billionaire health care executive in a close race with less. than four weeks until election day. Affordability, healthcare, and emerging technology such as artificial intelligence, data centers, and flock surveillance cameras were among the top concerns raised by voters during the hour-long debate. And the former mayor joins us now. Good morning. Welcome back to the show. First of all, tell us how you feel you did in the debate last night. I thought the debate went well last night.

I was prepared to share my vision for the state of Georgia. I can't say the same thing about my opponent, but it was an interesting setup. It was a town hall debate with voters, undecided voters from across the state. And by and large, the issues were consistent with what I've been hearing as I've been moving around Georgia. People are deeply concerned about the cost of living. As you mentioned, they are concerned about AI, flock cameras, data centers, and health care. We've not expanded Medicaid in Georgia. So it's a great opportunity to hear directly from voters, but also to share what I believe

will be a path forward in this state. Tell us what you're hearing from voters on the campaign trail about what the top issues are and then how you differ from your opponent. Mika, I didn't need a polling source to tell me that the cost of living is the number one issue. People are deeply concerned about the cost of housing, the cost of health care, and also the cost of groceries, and now the cost of gas. And then Trump is also on the ballot. He has said that he wants us to imagine that he is on the ballot this November. And I believe people will do just that, just not in the way that he wants them to.

And what I've shared, I've shared plans from everything from suspending or eliminating our grocery tax in the state to my plans to expand Medicaid in Georgia. We are one of only 10 states who've not expanded Medicaid. We've left 700 million on the table. 300,000 people don't have health care coverage. And then since January, with a big ugly bill, 600,000 people have dropped their health care coverage in the state because they can't afford it. Mayor Bottoms, we were talking with Rahm Emanuel a few moments ago, a few minutes ago, and he had made a trip to Louisiana a couple of weeks ago where he was struck by the improvement in Louisiana public schools, reading scores and things like that.

And I'm sure you know, having been mayor of Atlanta, and almost everybody listening and watching knows that the foundation for a child's life from most children lies in their education in public schools. So do you see any need for improvements in Georgia's public schools? And if so, what would those improvements be? We absolutely need improvements and not just Louisiana, but also what's being described as the Mississippi miracle, but the people in Mississippi are saying,

don't call it a miracle because then you're discounting our work. This has been dedicated work to make a difference in literacy rates. Long ago, Frederick Douglass said it's far easier to build strong children and then to repair broken men. And for a state like Georgia to be number one in business consistently ranked number one and to be in the bottom half in education, really speaks to the lack of will that's come from leadership in the state over the past 30 years. We can make significant gains in the state if we make the appropriate investments in education,

making sure that those wraparound services are available. to our families and need, making sure that we are even considering a poverty way in how we fund education in Georgia. Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. We appreciate it. All right. Take care. And coming up, Cornell University, bringing in a former DOJ official for an independent review of its handling of sex assault claims. We're going to go through that new development next on Morning Joe. Welcome back at Cornell University.

A former acting U.S. Attorney General will lead an independent review of the school's response to that disturbing allegation of sexual assault. The university's board of trustees announced yesterday that Sally Yates will examine how Cornell's handles sexual misconduct complaints, how the disciplinary process works, campus police responses, and much more. It comes amid growing criticism following a lawsuit from a former female student who says she was raped by several fraternity members over the course of several hours in 2024. No criminal charges were ever filed.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is also conducting a criminal investigation into the matter. We will continue to follow this story. I think one of the biggest things that's so disturbing about this story is how many people apparently knew about what was going on? Yeah, there was a- Where's that one person to say, stop? Yeah, there's a lot of really hard questions being asked. Hard questions. My Lord, we'll follow it.

And still ahead, I'm warning, Joe. We'll take a look at where key U.S. Senate races stand with less than four weeks to go until the midterms. It comes as there's new reporting on the efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to investigate voter. registration groups will bring you the latest on all of that straight ahead. Also, our 30-50 summit between Forbes and Know Your Value, our partnership is usually held in Abu Dhabi. This year, we're holding 30-50 stateside right here in New York City. And coming up on Morning Joe, we're going to be announcing some of our incredible award winners and speakers and guests. We'll be right back with much more Morning Joe.