Morning Joe - Michigan voters head to the polls in pivotal primary race

Episode Date: August 4, 2026

August 4, 2026: 7am — Michigan voters head to the polls in pivotal primary race 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.

They're making too much money, okay? Based on a shortage, they're making too much money. I don't like it. And I should be the last one to say because I'm a big free enterprise guy. Nobody bigger. And, you know, you're going to see oil. When we're finished with Iran, you're going to see the prices drop through the floor. But they made too much money, too much money.

Chevron, too much money. Exxon Mobil, too much, too much money. when you look at one company where they made 12 times what they made the year before, they're going to give some of that back to the public. And they better cut the retail price, the consumer price. Too much money. You're surprised I'm saying it? I'll say it loud and clear.

I'm not happy about it. John, did you ever think you hear a Republican president arguing against free market capitalism so vociferously? They just made too much money that you'd give some of it back. Give it all back. Give it a box. Stunning. That's President Trump calling out major oil companies seemingly. finding a scapegoat for higher gas prices.

Again, they've spiked in the five months, of course, since the start of the war with Iran. The national average for a gallon of gas this morning sitting at $4.8. That's almost a dollar more than it was at this time a year ago. Welcome back to Morning Joe, Jonathan Lemire, Eugene Robinson, still with us. Joining the conversation this hour, Washington Bureau Chief at USA Today, Susan Page, White House correspondent for Bloomberg, Jeff Mason. Also, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. He's a member of the Foreign Relations, Judiciary, and Appropriate.

Committees. Good morning to you all. President Trump is lashing out again against leaders in Iran, as the two sides give mixed messages about the state of negotiations. On true social yesterday, the president called out Iranian officials, calling them, quote, unbelievably duplicitous. After Tehran contradicted his claim, negotiations were resuming. Later yesterday in the Oval Office, the president warned of what he says is the last chance for Iran to sign a deal. Many countries called, many, the leaders are made up friendly with a lot of them, almost all of them, one way or the other, and they all wanted to give this a last chance. This is a last chance. This is not something that, if it doesn't happen, this is a last chance for them to sign a good document. Where are the Iran talks and what are your requirements right out?

Well, you'll find out today or tomorrow. I mean, they're going to go quickly one way or the other. It's not very complex. We're talking about the straight, the opening of the straight, having it open literally by tomorrow, completely open. And that's phase one and phase two is we then will talk about the nuclear capacity, the nuclear, you know, as we've been mentioned. Basically, it's, I think, most of the denuclearization of Iran has to happen. Has to happen. And that'll be the second phase. Would Iran be willing to return to fully free navigation?

It has to be. I'm not going to let him charge. If anybody's going to charge, we'll charge. We're the one that has total control. You know, we have a thing called a blockade with his Navy. And that Navy is, they call it a wall of steel, the United States wall of steel. And no, no, there's not going to be charging. We're not talking about charging at all.

They won't be charging. So those comments were yesterday. You heard the president say tomorrow, the strait will be open. That would put it open today. But the New York Times is reporting Iran and Oman are closing in on an agreement to reopen shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz that could cement Iran's control of the waterway that was open, of course, before the war began. Iranian and American officials say under the agreement, vessels heading into the Persian Gulf will transit a channel controlled by Iran while ships leaving the Gulf will travel on a channel. channel near Oman. Iranian officials add, while there will be no tolls charged, the agreement includes a service fee to cover the environmental impact of the shipping, security for the cargo ships and containers, and the tankers and staffing. Revenues, Iranian officials say, would be divided equally between Iran and Oman. Jeff, before we get to the senator on all this,

just put together all the comments we just heard, how many times have we heard this is Iran's last chance? How many times have we heard the deal will be struck in a day or two? It's not really that complex. The strait will be open. We're dominating the strait. It's been five months of this, essentially. Constantly. I mean, it's his, it's his refrain when he's asked about it. And it's been a study of contradictions from the very beginning of this war, both in what he wanted to achieve with it and how he was going to get out of it. And that manifested itself even more over the last couple weeks when we thought at first that it was going to end because they'd gotten this MOU and

they had a ceasefire. But Iran does not. play by the same rules that and President Trump kind of makes up his own rules as he goes along too and you've seen that both in his rhetoric and in his actions with regard to this war. I mean, Senator, as you listened to the president yesterday, I think a lot of people going about their lives, especially during the summer tuning in and tuning out a little bit, just hear it and they go, are we doing this still? Is this still the state of play? So just from the inside, from everything you know about our intelligence, about our military, about this war, what is the state of play right now?

Look, the state of play tragically is that President Trump has failed to achieve any of the major goals he set out five months ago for this expensive, costly war of choice. And what Delawareans tell me is that gas and groceries, health care, and housing all have gone up. And five months in, we've paid too big a cost for this war. I tell you, back in February, the Strait of Hormuz was open, and there was no one charging any fees, and there was no threat of control by Iran. And what President Trump said we would accomplish a regime change. Remember, help is on the way. Ayatollah 2.0, angrier, more in control with a more extreme IRGC, that we were going to wipe out their support for proxies.

While the Houthis are currently holding hostage the other straight, the entrance to the Red Sea, that we were going to end their ability to strike our allies in the region. They're still launching ballistic missiles and drones. And that the American people would end up safer, because there'd be a permanent end to any nuclear enrichment or any potential path to a bomb. Those negotiations have gone nowhere. So frankly, I'm concerned that there's no good plan for how to get out of this. Those of us who have been parents know that when you're trying to set some condition, you can't go, by the count of one, you've got to go to your room and then go five, four,

three, two and a half, two and a quarter, one and three quarters. And that's what he's doing. No one He believes him anymore. He makes these statements. And with one hand, he's saying that the oil and gas companies are making too much money. When those are the exact people, he said during his campaign, give me a billion dollars, and I'll give you the world. And he's saying, we have total control of the strait of Hormuz when there's nothing moving through the strait of Hormuz. It is weakening us as a nation. He's abandoned our core allies.

And he's put us on the back foot globally on all the other issues facing our country. country. Senator, first, thanks for the parenting tips. I've taken some notes how to talk to my kids later tonight. A couple of things. First of all, the tolls, I mean, Gulf states are going to be furious. They made it very clear. The straight-of-form movement was open and free before the end of February. Now they're going to be paying some sort of fee, toll, whatever you want to call it. I have a hard time imagining some of those Iran's neighbor states are going to like the idea of paying Iran that they're going to use that money to help them rebuild what has been destroyed. But also, I can't help go back to President Trump's true social post.

wild 180, where he calls Iran unbelievably duplicitous. Like, we all, that's what they do. Like, that's what Iran has been all along. And it just to me, it seems another moment. This is my real question for you is, this world will end at some point, we think. But doesn't the United States project so much weaker to the rest of the world than we did before, especially if we end up cutting and running from the region and leaving Iran in control of one of the most vital waterways on the globe?

Yes. And look, we're in a very dangerous moment in the world. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine continues, helped by Iran and China and North Korea. And China continues to further encircle Taiwan to project naval power further and further into the Western Pacific. All of these four countries that are determined adversaries of the United States are sharing material, troops, technology. They are coming closer together in their determination to, undo our place in the world. And President Trump has distanced us from our most important and

trusted allies. Recent polls show that folks in Canada and Mexico have a higher view of China than the United States. So whether it's our relationship with our NATO allies in Europe, it's our relationship in North America with Canada and Mexico, or in the Western Pacific with long, close, and trusted treaty allies like Japan, Korea, Australia, the Philippines, his tariff regime, his throwing taxes at every single country in a willy-nilly way just to try and get out from under the Supreme Court's control. And the way his own personal corruption has set us back in terms of our reputation globally has weakened us. He started, you started this section with him saying, oh, the people who are making too much are Exxon Mobil and Chevron. The person who's making too much

is President Trump. And his having made billions in a crypto deal. And, running this government as a corrupt family enterprise weakens our moral authority globally in a profound and lasting way. You know, Senator, this war is supposed to last four to six weeks at the beginning. Obviously, we're in month six and in a state of global stalemate. But at some point it's going to end. How is it going to end? You've watched President Trump operate now in his second term, first and second term. What do you think is going to bring this to a close? What will happen? I think it will end badly. I think it will end with him accepting a deal that is worse than the deal that Barack Obama had, that had inspectors on the ground, that had real clarity about what was and wasn't going on on the ground.

I think he will simply concede and accept that having Iran stopped firing drones and missiles at our bases and our allies and having them have control of the Strait of Hamoos, the ability to charge fees, is acceptable. when facing midterm elections where his numbers are going through the floor. And frankly, that's a bad deal. And that puts us on a weak foot in the region and globally. But we are in a very tenuous position militarily in terms of our ability to continue intercepting Iranian drones and missiles. They have more of them than we had been told they had, even as a few weeks ago. And sadly, our regional allies feel like they can't absorb any more hits to their

facilities, their oil and gas facilities and their civilian facilities from Iran. So I think this ends badly for us. Senator, let's turn to domestic matters this morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee on which you sit, set to vote on advancing Todd Blanche's nomination to become Attorney General on a permanent basis. It appears President Trump's former personal attorney now does have the support he needs after issuing a pair of orders late Sunday night, rescinding the president's $1.776 billion, so-called anti-weaponization fund, and clarifying the president's settlement with the IRS for tax audit immunity. Those two one-page memos from Blanche were enough to sway Republican senators John Cornyn of Texas

and Tom Tillis of North Carolina, who had blocked the confirmation vote because of the president's settlement with the IRS. So Senator Coons, your no. You've said that publicly several times about Todd Blanche. Can you get into a little bit, though, these memos that he posted, our legal experts who were on just a short time ago, saying they could easily be pulled back. They are not binding if President Trump tells his attorney general, and that is the way he looks at it as his attorney general, to put back on the so-called anti-weaponization fund, it likely will be put back on. So what's your take on the swing here of Cornyn and Tillis? Look, my two colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, Senators Cornyn and Tillis, have stood up to Todd

Blanche. But let's remember, the larger point here, is that he created, along with President Trump, this $1.8 billion weaponization fund, out of which, at his confirmation hearing, Todd Blanche made clear it was possible that those who assaulted, those who were convicted of assaulting police officers on January 6th might well apply for and get multi-million dollar settlements. Those who are members of the Trump family or his business partners might get multi-million dollar settlements. So I'm a strong no. They should be a strong no. They know better. They know that this is not a binding deal. That in a deal in trying to resolve something like this, you have to have a written agreement by both parties, by its plain language, the settlement.

And I'll remind you, this was a settlement between a president suing his own government, unprecedented, that a true modification of that settlement has to be in writing signed by both parties. One of the parties is President Trump, and he has said as recently as this weekend, he's not giving up on the weaponization fund. So I think we should be voting against him today, not advancing him. He sees himself as President Trump's personal lawyer, which he was before, and he tripped up in his confirmation hearing and made it clear that that's how he sees it, that he's not independent.

On every confirmation like this, I look at whether a nominee is qualified and has the policy positions to actually carry out the job. He is qualified to be an attorney general. He's a lot of relevant experience. But he is absolutely not independent. And I'll remind you, he was responsible for the rollout of the release of the Epstein files, which has been a dumpster fire. It has come out in dribs and drabs,

and it seems to me that his principal role in, interviewing Galeen Maxwell and moving her to a lower security prison, and then having a whole team do redactions, was to conceal President Trump's roles in the Epstein files, not to promote the interests of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. And someone who's going to be Attorney General needs to be achieving justice for victims and for the American people and defending our Constitution, not just one man, the president.

So, Jeff, Senator Kuhn says that Lange is qualified to be Attorney General. And in Donald Trump's size, he's qualified, too, because he does the most important thing. He does what Donald Trump wants him to do. And also, it's very clear in these last few days that Trump really prioritizes this weaponization fund. He prioritizes still having some IRS protections once he leaves office. He's not letting these things go. And frankly, he seemed willing to, if needed, jettison Blanche, or at least the idea of him being a permanent attorney general in order to get them. Yeah, no, he was willing to put him on ice for a little bit.

although I spoke to a White House official about that last week who said he's not putting Todd Blanche on ice, he's putting the process on ice. I don't know. I mean, he clearly made his priorities clear, as you just said, and he's been repeating it. And so if you're a member of President Trump's staff, if you're a part of the Department of Justice, if you're his almost to be confirmed new Attorney General, you know what the president wants. He's not keeping it a secret. He wants that fund. He's certainly dangling the possibility of bringing it back. And he wants the protections. that they agreed for his family with the IRS, all of which are, or many of which, anyway, have been political downers for him with Republicans and certainly with Democrats going into the midterms. Senator, meanwhile, there's a primary today you might have heard of in Michigan.

You endorsed Haley Stevens, I believe. What's going to happen today in the race between Stevens and El-Syad and what does it mean for the death? Democratic Party? Well, I don't know what's going to happen today in the primary. I have my own primary in my own reelection. But what's the race being for the party. Look, what it means for the party is that we've got a whole series of races across the country where we've got more establishment or centrist Democrats, for example, Governor Roy Cooper, who I believe is going to win

in North Carolina and primaries like the one today in Michigan, where you've got a more centrist, you know, someone who worked in the Obama administration, serves in Congress as work for manufacturing and someone who's more progressive. And frankly, the challenge is, can either of them win the general? In Michigan, this was a very tight race. Alyssa Slotkin ran against the same Republican two years ago and won by a few tens of thousands of votes. Sixteen thousand votes. So it's going to be a tough election campaign. And I hope whichever Democrat wins tonight is able to win that seat. Otherwise, we will be in the hole in terms of trying to take back the majority. And frankly, for most Democrats I hear from, what they care about is our being able

to stand up to Donald Trump and stop him. That requires us to win control of the majority of the Senate. What happens tonight, Democrat Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, Senator, thanks as always for your time. We appreciate it. Still ahead on Morning Joe, we'll go live to Virginia as voters in that state prepared ahead of the polls today as well. We'll run through the big primary races to watch when Morning Joe comes right back. I think she choked because the judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department. And I guess she choked.

I don't know what the hell happened. I was disappointed with Genevier. Really disappointed with Jeanette Pirore. She folded like an umbrella and people get away with things. It's a disgrace. President Trump expressing his frustration with U.S. Attorney Janine Piro over her decision to drop charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Piero filed the motion to dismiss the charges against David Hearn last Friday after prosecutors concluded the damage attributed to the former Olympian actually stemmed from defects in the installation of the Reflecting Pool's liner as part of that shoddy $16 million renovation and a no-bid contract. Piro was spotted leaving the White House yesterday with a rolling briefcase and a large white box.

No word what was inside. The New York Times report, Piro was not fired by Trump, nor did she offer her resignation during that meeting with the president. That's according to two people briefed on the outcome. Jeff, the president won't let this one go, which is there was no evidence, according to prosecutors, there was no evidence that David Hearn, the former Olympian committed any act of vandalism. That is, he said he reached into the pool and pulled something out and put it back when he was approached. by officers. The president clearly embarrassed by this episode over the reflecting pool and finding new scapegoats, it seems, every day. What is remarkable to me is it's another example of how he'll turn on his biggest supporters. I mean,

Spiro has been a huge supporter of the president when she was at Fox and since coming into his administration. And she's done nearly everything that he wanted her to do. In this case, there happens to be a difference between rhetoric and what you can say when you're trying to push an argument or push a theme versus what you can say in court. And that's what she and her team clearly determined is that calling it or blaming it on this Olympian and others just wasn't true. And that hamstrung her in terms of what kind of legal arguments she could make. And that is not something the president likes. So he's gone after her. But he's going after a major supporter. And because he doesn't We want to accept the truth. Trump was later asked in that Oval Office event if he still had faith in

Jeanine Piro. He didn't answer the question and then he snapped at the reporter who asked it saying, don't ever speak again. So there you go. Another sign of his anger there. Susan Page, let's talk a little bit more, though, about this is another attempt for Trump to sort of assert his own reality, right? Like he has a massive, we've had a decade now where he just will say something over and over and over again, often not true, and at least a portion of the American people believe it. But there are certain moments where facts do get in the way. This is one of them. But yet, when confronted with that, he can't let his narrative go, even though it has inflicted personal pain to this canoeist who has talked about the pressure he's been under.

And now he risks, you know, he's turning on one of, as Jeff said, one of his most loyal supporters. Yeah, I wonder what she had in the rolling suitcase in the large white box taking out of the white house. You know, Jonathan, the thing that strikes me, this is a country. that's facing some really big problems. The war in Iran, what happens in the Straits of Hormuz, election security, attacks on democracy. But occasionally an issue will grab the attention of the American people and maybe of us in Washington

who cover the news that just kind of resonates. And it's reflecting pool issue, the idea of painting it American flag blue and then having it become kind of a walking catastrophe and the blame game about what happened to it, it has somehow become like a test case of your views of President Trump, of your attitude to what he's doing in Washington

in ways large and small. It has really been quite the remarkable story. Yeah, I mean, having the pool guy, the neighbor in Palm Beach, do the reflecting pool in hindsight, maybe not the best idea. As the president conceded yesterday, he said he was not 100% thrilled with the work.

Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today. and White House correspondent for Bloomberg, Jeff Mason. Thank you both. Great to see you. Polls are open this morning in Virginia as voters choose nominees for November's congressional elections. This year's primary comes after months of political upheaval as a court rejected Democratic efforts to redraw congressional state maps, forcing many candidates to switch districts or to drop out altogether. Democrats hoping to set up challenges in at least two key Republican-held house seats this fall,

while Republicans pick a U.S. Senate nominee to take on Democratic incumbent Senator Mark Warner. Let's bring in MS now congressional reporter Kevin Frye, who joins us live from Fredericksburg, Virginia, where the polls are open. Kevin, good morning. What's the word on the ground there today? Yeah, I mean, it's been a very slow start here in Fredericksburg, I should say, at least since we've gotten here, I think we've seen about two voters go in so far this morning. But look, at the end of the day, this is been a bit of a chaotic couple months. for voters here on the ground because the district lines have now been shuffled back and forth. And so voters are ultimately going with the lines they knew, but after about $80 million were spent

here on the ground to try to convince them to vote in a different direction about what the map should look like. Now, under that new map the Democrats wanted, this was going to be a chance for them to rebuff efforts to redraw lines in other states. Think Texas, for example. They could have picked up essentially four more additional seats, moving the map from six to five to ten to one. Now it's looking more like there are two real key pickup opportunities for Democrats in the state,

so perhaps you move from seven to four, something in that ballpark, or eight to three, rather. The question, of course, though, is who are these candidates going to be in these races? Now, those two key races that we're keeping an eye on are going to be one where we could set up a rematch where a former congresswoman down in Virginia Beach, Elaine Loria, is running against the incumbent Jen Kiggins. That is what it seems that that district is going to be setting up for the fall. And then there's another district that stretches from Richmond over to Williamsburg, that is going to be another one to keep an eye on throughout the course of the next few months. All of these are districts where the president won by just a handful of points,

and Democrats are hoping that if they're able to get enough of a wave, they'll be able to overcome that and push back and win back control of the House. So Virginia on election night in the general will be perhaps illustrative with some of those key races providing early indications of where the night is going. Yeah, we'll get a window into that as the hours march on. Hopefully turnout expands from the two that you've seen so far this morning. MS. Now is Kevin Frye in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Kevin, thanks. Still ahead on morning, Joe, the latest on those massive wildfires raging across Washington State this morning as more than 60,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.

We've got the latest when we come back. School ain't perfect, you know. But that's no call to drop it. It's got a lot of good in it. You take that good and use it. You understand? Yeah, son, you suck it dry of all the knowledge you can. If that ain't enough, then you get some more, but you get what's there.

Michael, you can't drop out. We ain't even dropped in yet. There's one more thing I want to say. you son. I want to apologize for one to give you a weapon. Daddy, you apologizing to me? Mm-hmm. Well, if you can do that, I can go back to school and apologize to Mrs. Danvers tomorrow. Well, all right. Now, that's my man. That father-son moment from the classic sitcom Good Times is a scene that's stuck with our next guest when it comes to what it means to be a black father. In the new book, Save a Seat for Me, notes on American Fatherhood, author Mark Anthony Neal, right.

about how his understanding of what being a father in today's age actually involves, in large part because of his own daughters. He dissects how changing popular culture and financial situations have led him to reevaluate his relationship with his own family. Joining us now is the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of American and African American Studies at Duke University and author of the new book. Mark Anthony Neal, Mark, thanks so much for being with us this morning. Let's start. I'm curious that scene from Good Times, that classic, classic show.

What struck you about that and sort of folds into the idea behind this book? Father who only knew how the father one way, which was to be a disciplinarian, right? And the expectation was that his son would just follow directions, and his son pushed back. And it forced him to actually look at himself and who he was in the world and think about the kind of father that he needed to be to be most helpful to her son. Gene? Mark, congratulations on the book. Thank you, Mr. Washington. Well, I certainly relate to it.

Now, you raised two daughters. I raised two sons. So, but basically the same thing. How did you end up in the end striking that balance? What do you, between disciplinarian, a teacher, counselor, supporter, protector. How did you thread your way through all those different roles that any father, especially a black father in America, has to play?

You know, when I first thought about writing this book 20 years ago, it was going to be a really aspirational book, right? I was going to talk about how great it was to be a black. father and how I did so many things that were different than my father, on the grandfatherhood was really different. And my daughters were two very different daughters. And it took, you know, they're now 27 and 23. It took me learning how to listen to them and father really based on their needs as opposed

to what my expectations were as a dad. What I thought society needed for me as a dad, and particularly as a black dad, I had to be able to be flexible enough to hear them to show up in the ways that they needed to show up, even if I was uncomfortable in those roles. And uncomfortable how? Uncomfortable. What roles were you uncomfortable in, and what roles came more naturally to you? You know, when I think about my own dad, right, he didn't talk much, but, you know, I always listened to him, right? You know, he, I understood that it was his house. I needed to follow his directions.

I was always going to be respectful for him. I never spoke back. And that was a fatherhood model from 50, 60, 70 years ago that was natural for my father and his father. You know, when I got to this period of time, when I first became a father in 1998, the world was very different. It demanded a level of introspection that I was uncomfortable in the beginning, right? You know, we all have those moments where our kids are kind of going crazy in the back of the car in the store. and you just always expect that you can say something sternly to them and they will respond to that. That's not what fatherhood looks like these days, right?

We're competing with social media. We're competing with television and all these different kinds of things. And we're dealing with kids who are really, really sensitive to their emotional needs. And so I had to get comfortable with their emotional needs because then I had to get comfortable with what I needed emotionally and where I was emotionally. And, you know, I really feel you on, like your own father was more reticent and more stoic in a way and didn't talk. Absolutely. It's kind of like the way my father was. I mean, he didn't, you know, sit down and give along lectures.

At the same time, when he did speak, you listened because, in part because it was relatively rare. So how do you get? through to your daughters about what you've learned, about the wisdom you've leaned and to help them when it's really important in the context of having to just talk a lot more than, say, our fathers did. You know, what I had to own up with at some point, as they get older as they came into adulthood, was to hear their critiques in all honesty and accept that. I wasn't always the best dad, that I wasn't always the best father.

I had to allow them a space to be, for lack of a better word, radically honest with me about the times about my shortcomings. And, you know, what's been wonderful about this process now, both of my daughters are now mothers. I have three grandsons all under the age of three. You know, I get to be able with my grandsons to parent with a level of attention to them emotionally that I didn't. wasn't equipped to do so when my daughters were that same age. Opening the conversation in your own family and to a lot of others, too, with this new book titled, Save a Seat for Me, Notes on American Fatherhood, author and professor at Duke University, Mark Anthony Neal. Professor, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Thank you both. Still ahead, Republican Senator Rand Paul will be our guest after his questioning of Dr. Anthony Fauci last week on the COVID-19 pandemic. We'll also talk to the Senator, about the war in Iran and what the ongoing conflict could mean for his party ahead of the midterms. Morning Joe's coming right back. Nearly 65,000 people have been forced to flee their homes as at least three major wildfires have burned through thousands of acres and destroyed hundreds of buildings across Spokane County, Washington. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but deputies have arrested one man on a charge of arson in connection with one of the fires. MS now, reporter Nick McCool has the latest.

This morning, days into an apocalyptic disaster in Washington State, Spokane is still burning. Oh my God, look at the whole blocks come on, dude. Firefighters working from the ground and the air to contain three wildfires ripping through the region at 0% containment as of Monday night. The flames fueled at first by heavy winds, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes and growing to more than 10,000 acres. Holy. I know people want to have. have certainty about when can I get back to my property? When can I get back to my home? We don't have it. Overnight news of an arrest in one of the fires, police taking a 37-year-old convicted felon into custody, saying they believe he was responsible for starting the blaze and crediting

a citizen witness with helping track him down. They saw smoke coming from what they believed was the area that they had seen the mail bending down by the side of the road. The witnesses there did a fantastic job. Authorities also issuing a stunning warning after having firefighting efforts hampered by drones flying in the fire zones. We are done playing games with this. We have fires that are growing and our firefighters need all the help they can get. For families with homes in the Inferno's path, the destruction is hard to fathom.

I call it an open-eyed coma. We go. This can't be real. The Dixon said they made this house their home for more than 30 years. now little more than a pile of ash. As the flames closed in, they were told to evacuate by a neighbor who they say saved their lives. We just tried to stay in contact with anybody who knew anything about the status of our houses. We had a constant kind of texting.

Have you heard anything? Have you heard anything? But the good news they hoped for never came. It's still really hot inside the house. The Dixon's lost nearly eight. Everything, family photos, camping gear, all up in smoke, even their wedding rings still missing. I had my babies there. I have my grandchildren there. My daughter was married in our living room six years ago. I've had, we've had everything there. But they say the community they built with their friends and neighbors still stands.

I cannot tell you how many phone calls, primarily text messages, responses. on social media, the outpouring of support. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And the bonds of friendship run deep. Like my neighbor said, we're in it together. We're in it together. And officials say the causes of the other fires are still under investigation. Spokane County has seen significant population growth in the last 15 years, pushing some residents closer to wooded areas and grasslands where the danger of wildfires is greater. Back to you. And hoping firefighters can begin to get that under control. We're thinking about all the good people out in Washington State this morning. Nick McCool reporting Nick, thank you. Still ahead, lawmakers and the

governor of New Jersey demanding answers in the death of a detainee at the Delaney Hall detention facility. We'll go through what ICE is saying about the second death of that facility since December. Morning Joe, coming right back. An immigrant died on Saturday while in federal custody at Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey, marking the immigration facility's second reported death since it reopened last year. ICE released a statement confirming the death of 41-year-old Edwin Lopez Cornejo. The agency claims the El Salvador native died at the hospital after suffering a medical emergency. Ice says Lopez Cornahe entered the U.S. illegally in 2006, was deported two months later, re-entered illegally, and was arrested on June 18th in New Jersey. In a Facebook video,

mother says he told her on Friday he felt unwell and had lost feeling in his face and hand. New Jersey Governor Mikey Sherrill is demanding answers while immigration advocates are renewing criticism of what they describe as inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall. ICE has not responded to questions about the death, but said in his statement that Lopez Cornejo received proper medical care while in custody. There's still a lot to be reported about the story. John, we'll see about the circumstances around this. man's death. But it took a while for lawmakers to even be allowed inside. Delaney Hall, when they did go inside, many of them were disgusted by what they saw. Yeah, Delaney Hall should

become a symbol of the Trump deportation program here. And lawmakers who finally were given access, Willie, as you say, found pretty squalid conditions and had real concerns about what was happening inside. And this death comes in the wake of, of course, we've had a couple of shootings of by ICE agents, one in Texas, one in Maine in recent weeks, fatal shootings. Those, of course, come after what we saw in Minnesota back in January. And it puts this Trump deportation program at the forefront again when the quotas still exist. And there's a growing outrage here actually on the right from some of the Trump supporters believing that deportations have been deemphasized this year in 2026.

And they say this actually, in their mind, this was a campaign promise that Trump needs to fulfill. And they claim that right now it's almost been disenfranchised. Now, a lot of Americans would disagree with that. We see the poll after poll. And unfortunately, more and more tragic incidents like this may occur if the Trump administration cases put its foot on the gas to try to reach these quotas. And you're seeing already anonymous attacks from the right on Mark Wayne Mullen, the head of the DHS. Already, some believe, maybe on thin ice. Yeah, we'll see. Still ahead. It's just about an hour from now that the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Todd Blanche's nomination to become Attorney General permanently. We'll talk about what to expect and get a live report from Capitol Hill. Boarding Joe's coming right back.