Morning Joe - Morning Joe 10/3/24

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

Trump 'resorted to crimes' to stay in office after 2020 loss, Jack Smith's team says

I don't believe that we have the luxury of writing in candidates' names, particularly in swing states. And as a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this. And because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris. That was former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming one month ago endorsing Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for president. Today, Cheney will appear with Harris for the first time at a campaign event in Battleground, Wisconsin. That comes following the release of a new report on Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. We'll dig into why. Special Counsel Jack Smith says most of Trump's actions on and around January

6th are not protected by the Supreme Court's immunity decision. Trump, meanwhile, made more comments about migrants yesterday, explaining his plan to deport those in the U.S. with legal status, to deport legal migrants. Plus, a day after the vice presidential debate, both running mates were back out on the campaign trail. We'll show you what Governor Tim Walz and Senator J.D. Vance had to say about that final debate moment when Vance refused to say whether Trump lost the 2020 election. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Thursday, October 3rd. Happy New Year to our Jewish friends. Along with Willie and me, we have the host of Way Too Early, White House bureau chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire, U.S. special correspondent for BBC News, Katty Kaye, co-host of MSNBC's The Weekend, former chair of the Republican National Committees that he's immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because he claims it entailed official conduct.

Not so. And he goes on to explain why. Yeah, the special counsel seeking to make the case and to pierce the immunity argument made by the Supreme Court over the summer. And we are now getting an in-depth look at Jack Smith's election interference case against Donald Trump. A judge yesterday unsealed Smith's filing in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity. In it, Smith argues Trump was not acting as president of the United States when he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss. Although his multiple conspiracies began after election day in 2020, the defendant laid the groundwork for the crimes well before then. Smith goes on to write

that same day in an implicit acknowledgement that he had no lawful way to prevail. The defendant sidelined the existing campaign staff responsible for mounting his legal challenges who were telling the defendant the truth that he did not want to hear, which is that he had lost. The defendant turned to a private attorney who was willing to falsely claim victory and spread knowingly false claims of election fraud. Smith argues in the brief Trump knew his claims of outcome-determinant fraud were false, writing, following election day and throughout the charged conspiracies, the defendant, his co-conspirators, and their agents spread lies that there had been fraud in the election that he had actually won. Smith details conversations between Vice President Mike Pence and Trump in which Pence told Trump he had seen no evidence of fraud in the election. Pence, Smith writes, gradually and gently tried to convince the defendant to accept the lawful results of the election, 6th, writing the defendant repeated the same lies about election fraud in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that had been publicly or directly debunked.

The defendant used these lies to inflame and motivate the large and angry crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol and disrupt the certification proceeding. The filing from Smith details another conversation between Trump and Pence on January 1st, where the former vice president explained he did not believe he had the power under the Constitution to decide which votes to accept. Trump then told Pence, quote, hundreds of thousands of people are going to hate your guts and people are going to think you're stupid and berated Pence pointedly, quote, you're too honest. Smith argues even if the court determines these conversations were official, the government can rebut the presumption of immunity because the use of this evidence poses no risk to executive branch prerogatives.

The content of the conversations at issue, the defendant and Pence's joint electoral fate and how to accept the election results have no bearing on any function of the executive branch. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. So, of course, that is Donald Trump back on January 6th, 2021. Chuck Rosenberg. So this is 165 pages, as Mika said. There's a lot to sift through, a lot of detail. It's clear that a lot of the testimony is coming directly from Mike Pence, among other people who are around Donald Trump. But it seems to me, and I'll let you walk us through and explain the core argument here, is that Donald Trump was not acting as president.

He was acting as a presidential candidate, effectively, when talking to Mike Pence about these things. I think that's exactly right, Willie. The Supreme Court said that certain official conduct is off limits, that a president, any president, Mr. Trump in this case, would be immune from prosecution for official acts. And so the government's brief here, it's styled as a motion for the judge to make determinations about immunity. But the thrust of the government's brief here, it's styled as a motion for the judge to make determinations about immunity. But the thrust of the government's brief here, Willie, is that Mr. Trump was not acting in an official capacity.

He was acting in a private capacity as a candidate, not as a president, but as a candidate trying to secure reelection. And so all of those 165 pages have a similar theme. They lay out a series of acts of conversations between the president and private officials for the most part, explaining that the president was willfully blind to the facts that he had lost, that he was urging people to act in fraudulent and dishonest ways, and that he's trying to retain office. All of this is intended to convince the district court judge, the trial judge, Judge Chutkin, that these are all prosecutable acts, that they're not immune.

Remember, the Supreme Court had the easy job, Willie. All they had to do was pronounce a rule. Judge Chutkan has the really hard job. She has to implement the rule. And the government is trying to give her a path, a roadmap to implement the rule in a way that they believe means that Mr. Trump still may be prosecuted for all of these unofficial acts as a candidate. Interesting. So, Chuck, boy, this goes into the relationship with Pence in a big way. The different efforts in different states to try and change the outcome also trumps tweets, making it very clear, by the way, that it was him tweeting. But he goes through tweets as a candidate casting doubt on election integrity, tweets making false claims of election integrity, tweets making false claims

of election fraud, tweets and retweets attacking those speaking the truth about the election, tweets exhorting individuals to travel to Washington, D.C. for the Save America rally, tweets regarding Pence's role on January 6th, the defendant's 2.24 p.m. tweet on January 6th. I mean, it is very specific that these tweets were done by Trump. But my question is, how can you separate his official capacities to his unofficial capacities, therefore not immune, if he's still there's still a transition that is underway? Does that make sense? It does make sense, Mika. And it's precisely the right question. Again, very easy for the Supreme Court to proclaim, very hard to implement. It's like my ninth grade

algebra teacher. She can simply say I have to work harder, study better and get my grades up. Easy for her to say that. Right. Much harder for me to do it. And so the Supreme Court has said that official acts are out of bounds or immune. All right. Now, Judge Chutkan, you figure it out. You tell us which what which acts you think are prosecutable. So the government's making its case that everything in its one hundred and sixty five page brief is prosecutable. It's all evidence that may be adduced to trial and that it could be used by a jury if they see fit to convict Mr. Trump of the fraud with which he is charged. But to your point, Mika, some of this stuff, and I have no doubt Mr. Trump's attorneys will argue that some of this stuff is official conduct, particularly, right right conversations that Mr. Trump had with his then vice president.

So I think it's this is a very difficult task for Judge Chutkan. I was not able to get my grades up in algebra. Easy for my teacher to say I should harder for me to do it. And so this is just the opening salvo and what I think is going to be a long, difficult stretch of pretrial litigation. Well, that was one of my questions was if you thought this was going to be a tough slog to push this through with the judge. But secondly, was there anything in here that surprised you? Not really. I mean, this reads a little bit like a trial brief or a trial memorandum. Sometimes before a complex trial, prosecutors, and I've done this, will file a trial brief telling the district court what they should expect from various witnesses,

so there's no surprises. This is not styled as a trial brief. This is styled as a motion for the judge to make immunity determinations. But it really lays out much more of the government's evidence. I don't know that it's all of it, but it's probably most of it, at least in broad strokes. And so because and they're doing this because they have to adduce a trial evidence that is not immune. They have to introduce a trial evidence that can be used to convict Mr. Trump. Remember, Mika, the government has already superseded their indictment. They've already struck from the original indictment passages that they believe are clearly immune. So the government has arrived at a place where they think they have the right stuff and the right balance of stuff, stuff that is not immune from prosecution to push this case forward. Now, does the judge agree? We shall see.

Donald Trump was asked about the unsealing of this brief yesterday, the redacted brief in an interview last night. Here's what he said. This was a weaponization of government, and that's why it was released 30 days before the election. And it's nothing new in there, by the way, nothing new. They rigged the election. I didn't rig the election. They rigged the election. OK, so Jonathan Lemire, he said someone else rigged the election. We can sift through that a little bit later. But if you look through these hundred sixty five pages, just some of the detail, which, again, is not terribly surprising based on the reporting we've seen, based on that volume produced by the House committee on January 6th and on the election of 2020.

But there are some moments that stand out, as when an aide came up to Donald Trump on January 6th as he sat scrolling Twitter and watching Fox News and said, your vice president, Mike Pence's life is in danger. The Secret Service has rushed him. He's not safe right now. And Donald Trump is alleged to have said, quote, So what? When approached by his daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, confronted, he said, according to this brief, it doesn't matter if you won or lost. You still have to fight like hell.

What stood out to you here, John, as somebody who wrote an entire book about this day and all the events around it? I mean, you're right, Willie. No real surprises in here, John, as somebody who wrote an entire book about this day and all the events around it. I mean, you're right, Willie. No real surprises in here, but vivid detail. And you just tick through some of them. Trump's utter callousness and uncaring on January 6th when there was violence, violence to the point that put his own vice president's life in danger. We have also in here an unnamed campaign aide from an earlier moment actually saying, make them riot when there was a disturbance at another campaign office. This was part of the plan to stir unrest, to fight, to intimidate, to try to overturn the will of the people. And, Cady, you know, this comes, Donald Trump claims this is election interference. Two rebuttals to that.

First of all, let's remember in 2016, James Comey's letter about the FBI investigation to Hillary Clinton came about a week before the election. This is much further out. Also, the reason why this is coming out now is because of Donald Trump's legal team's own delay tactics, the push that they have made, and then the Supreme Court decision about immunity, which Jack Smith is trying now to circumvent. So I don't think this quite qualifies as an October surprise, but it is a reminder to so many Americans what Trump did, what those years were like, what another Trump presidency could be like. Do you think it is going to matter this election?

I think you're right that we've got a lot of October surprises and we're only what, into day three or day four of October. And there are a ton out there, most of them around the world. I don't think this does count as one. So far, every time that Donald Trump has had some kind of a legal setback. And I think, you know, what Chuck was saying earlier about whether this could this is a hard slog for Jack Smith to define whether this was his role as a candidate or his role as a president, given that he was both at the same time. So how do you distinguish between the two? But every time he's had this in the past, he's used it to raise more money. So he on the Trump side, they feel this doesn't set them back necessarily. I think it is interesting that this kind of sheds light on on J.D. Vance's last few moments of the debate. When you hear what Donald Trump was saying last night about I didn't rig the election, I mean,

they rigged the election. In other words, again, saying the election was stolen because it was a fake outcome, according to Donald Trump. That is why J.D. Vance was put in that position at the end of that debate. It's a tough one for him to to get through. And both candidates talked about that on the campaign trail yesterday. Let's take a listen. When you're governor, congressman, you're trying to solve problems or if you want, you want a straight answer on something. The moment that really stuck out is I just asked the simplest of all questions that that every single American should be able to answer. I asked him if Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. He refused to answer.

Understand, in that 88th minute last night, with that damning non-answer, Senator Vance made it clear he will always make a different choice than Mike Pence made. And as I said then and I will say now, that should be absolutely disqualifying if you're asking to be the vice president of the United States. Here's the simple reason. The media is obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago.

I'm focused on the election of 33 days from now because I want to throw Kamala Harris out of office and get back to common sense economic policies. But I also think you can believe that America needs to have secure and free elections, but also talk about the fact that just a couple of weeks ago, Democrats in the U.S. Congress blocked a piece of legislation that would have ensured illegal aliens don't vote in our elections. If you believe in American democracy, if you believe in our constitutional republic, you should be trying to strengthen American election integrity and not weaken it. Michael Steele, a bunch of thoughts on this.

And I'm curious, I really think Tim Walz defined the election, defined the choice in that moment during the debate. As much as you could see Vance trying to sane wash it, there's a lot of use of that word lately. But there are a swath of voters who are watching MAGA TV, whether it's Fox News, Newsmax, Max, Rumble or whatever else they have going on out there. And they're not hearing anything about this or very little. I really feel like the the Harris campaign needs to get into the arena. They need they need top surrogates on going on Fox News and going to these places and trying to talk to people. And I know that might be hard and perhaps they're not welcome. But then tell us that. I mean, we need to somehow get the entire conversation out there for all the American people to see, for all the American people to see the facts and the choice.

So let's just unpack this a couple of ways real quick. So the first part of this, you're right. I looked at that debate between Vance and Walls as two fighters in a ring going at each other. One fighter, Vance, for, you know, out of a 10-round bout for nine rounds, was winning on points, right? The judges were impressed by the style, the movements. He landed some punches. He was winning on points, right? The judges were impressed by the style, the movements. He landed some punches. He was winning on points. In the 10th round, the guy who's losing on points landed a knockout blow with one question, which utterly disqualified his opponent for the office that he's seeking.

And that's a profound moment. And I think that moment will register and has registered with the 40 plus million Americans who watched that debate. That part of that, what happened of that story is what the campaign has to get out in front and which they've begun to do almost immediately after that debate with a very important ad, I think, that sort of clarifies that. That's one. Two, with respect to someone who's watching Fox or Newsmax or any of those stations, if that's their only source of news, there is nothing else we can say to them at this point. I don't think the Harris campaign can waste its time on convincing the unconvincible. What I think

they need to look at are those voters out there who are sitting on the sidelines saying, I just don't know if I want to vote. And I think that's where their focus has to be, because those are the gettable voters. They're not necessarily going to be persuaded by that knockout punch. What you have to understand and get to is what is the thing that's keeping them from getting in the ring with Governor Walz. And I think a lot of that has to do with the economy, and which is why what's happening with the longshoremen is so important. When we peel back that storyline and look at the relationship between, you know, Mr. Daggard and

the vice and the president, former president of the United States. And why now? And that you talk about October surprises, right? The planning around that when there were people trying to get that that resolved before we got to this point. So there are things that touch on the economy of people that they want to use as a reason for not speaking out and speaking on behalf of Walz and Harris, then address that for them, because those are the voters you're going to need in those battleground states. The Fox viewer is not going to be moved by anything Kamala Harris has to say in the 34th day of the of the camp left in the campaign. But there are voters out there who are on the sidelines who are making the excuse for not getting in.

So help them get over that excuse and give them the reason to get in the race, because that's where the richness of the vote lies for them. We're going to dig into that dock workers strike a little bit more in just a bit. You're right, Michael, it could have a big impact as this drags on, if it does, for several more weeks. Chuck Rosenberg, to tie up a bit, this filing from the special counsel yesterday and just to look out ahead on where this goes from here. You touched on it briefly before, but the Trump team obviously gets a chance over the next couple of weeks to respond to the filing. And then the special counsel gets to respond to the response. So now you're basically at Halloween at that point. So in terms of an impact on the election, it doesn't look like there will be one.

But where will this go from here as Judge Chuckkin considers both sides of the argument about whether Donald Trump's actions were private or if he was acting in his role as president? Oh, you're quite right, Willie. The Trump team will respond. They will argue that all of these things are actually official conduct and therefore immune and therefore that the indictment in whole or in part ought to be dismissed. But I just want to touch on one other point about whether or not this constitutes election interference. A couple of points here that I think are important. Number one, this brief was not released by the Justice Department or by the president or by the Harris campaign. It was filed by the special counsel and it was made public by a sitting federal district court judge. Number two, whether or not she released this redacted filing, she would be, at least in theory, accused of some political

decision-making. The decision to keep it sealed might be viewed on one side as political. The decision to unseal it in part might be viewed on the other side as political. I think that Judge Chutkin simply did what judges do. She's moving her docket along. There is a strong preference in the federal courts to make documents public because the public ought to be able to see what is happening in their courts. And so she did what judges do. She made the filing public. Again, either way, damned if you do, damned if you don't. You're accused of withholding something or filing something.

Then some people think you're acting politically. I don't view it that way. To your other point, Willie, this will take a while. You're not going to have an answer by October. There may even, by the end of October. And there may even be more appeals as Judge Chutkan tries to parse what remains of the indictment to determine what is inbounds and what is out of bounds. Willie. All right. Former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, thank you very much for coming on this morning.

We appreciate it. And still ahead on Morning Joe, a lot to get to. Israel says eight IDF soldiers have been killed fighting Hezbollah inside Lebanon. We'll get a live report from Beirut, plus a strike by 45,000 dock workers halting shipments at east and Gulf Coast ports is entering its third consecutive day with no sign of a deal to get them back on the job. We'll talk to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about that, as well as the federal relief efforts in the southeast in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. You're watching Morning Joe. We're back in 90 seconds. Eight Israeli soldiers have died fighting inside of Lebanon. Officials in Israel say they don't know exactly how they died,

but the soldiers were killed in three separate incidents while engaged in close quarters combat. These are the first reported casualties since the IDF started its ground operation earlier this week. It comes as Israel continues to launch airstrikes targeted at Hezbollah facilities. The Lebanon health ministry says a strike overnight killed at least six people in Beirut. Meanwhile, the White House now is looking to prevent a wider war after Iran's massive missile attack against Israel a couple of days ago. The U.S. supports Israel retaliating in some capacity, but President Biden says he does not want Israel to attack Tehran's nuclear facilities. Joining us now from Beirut, NBC News international correspondent Matt Bradley. Matt, what's the latest there?

Hey, yeah, Willie. Actually, the latest is that the death toll from those strikes in central Beirut has now risen from six to nine. And this, according to Lebanon's Ministry of Health. Now, this struck a health facility that is apparently connected to Hezbollah. And this just goes to show that not only is downtown Beirut no longer off limits when it comes to Israeli airstrikes. We saw just a couple of days ago the first time that the Israelis had struck central Beirut. It means that also sort of more civilian oriented facilities that are connected to groups like Hezbollah or other militant groups are now very much on the menu. So the Israelis are expanding their attacks in a big

way, not just in terms of geography, but also in terms of just political connections. We've spoken with several people who are connected to Hezbollah who said that they don't believe that they could be subject to these strikes because they said they're essentially civilians. They're part of the political arm of Hezbollah. Well, now that doesn't seem like it's the case. It looks like that pattern has widened. The target pattern has widened now to include essentially civilians. Now, we were sitting right here, Willie, last night late before we went to bed when we heard three loud thumps and we couldn't see exactly

where it was hitting. Normally, as I've been telling you, we've had front row seats to the terrifying fireworks that have been going on over this neighborhood of Dahia, where we've been seeing thuds and we've been seeing smoke rising from this Shiite Muslim majority neighborhood that's also a Hezbollah stronghold. But again, it looks as though the Israelis are expanding their attacks. This, as we're also seeing the Israelis continuing their incursion on the ground in southern Lebanon, that is a situation where we've seen yesterday the first words about that. Then we started to see actual casualties, eight people dead, as you mentioned, eight soldiers. Now the Hezbollah has announced that they have continued to engage Israeli soldiers. It looks as though this firefight isn't the same kind of rapid in and out that we've been seeing maybe 20 years ago, the last time that there was an Israeli incursion

into Lebanon. This looks like it could be a sustained crawling incursion on the ground, where we're going to be seeing this day in, day out reports of new engagements and new casualties on both sides. And that, of course, is a disaster for the Lebanese population living in the southern part of the country. We're hoping that most of them have managed to get out. The Israelis have since always been saying to people, to civilians, please leave these various villages and towns along the border. We don't know if everybody is abiding by this. And we really don't have eyes down there because of the lack of people down there. We don't know exactly what's going on. We don't know what the combat looks like. We only really hear about it when we get these casualty reports. Now, meanwhile, of course, all of this is happening in the background of the

big thing that the entire region is waiting for, which is what will Israel's response to those 180 ballistic missiles filed by the Iranians just about two days ago, what will that response look like? And of course, that is what is going to set the tone and the tempo for this really region-wide war that we're now seeing. We've been talking for the past year about the threat of the regionalization of this conflict between Iran and Israel. Now we are seeing it in real time and it's up to the Israelis to determine whether or not they are going to pummel Iran and invite a further escalation or whether they're going to restrain themselves as the Biden administration seems to be asking them to do. Willie. NBC's Matt Bradley live for us from Beirut this morning. Matt, thanks so much

as always. We appreciate it. Jonathan Lemire, we had Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador of the United States, sitting at the table with you and me yesterday, suggesting that Israel should go after the Ayatollahs personally inside of Iran in the same way they went after Nasrallah in Lebanon. So as Israel weighs its response, how hard do they go at Iran? What is the influence that the president of the United States, that the secretary of state, that the United States writ large actually has on Bibi Netanyahu? We heard the president yesterday saying, don't go after the nuclear facilities in Iran. Unclear if the prime minister of Israel is listening to any of that.

Yeah. President Biden's influence waning there in the Middle East, his ability to shape what Israel does. And that's been a steady devolution for months. I've got new reporting on this this morning. Willie, the president, yes, he made clear publicly in the U.S. has communicated privately as well to Israel, stay away from nuclear facilities. They want them to avoid energy facilities. They certainly would not support an assassination of the Ayatollah, as was suggested yesterday. They hope to have a more limited strike. I mean, Caddy, back in April, the last time Iran struck at Israel, President Biden told Prime Minister Netanyahu in his words, take the win. We successfully defended Israel. We know you're going to hit back, but do so in a limited fashion. Israel did listen then. But since then, the relationship between Netanyahu and Biden has

only gotten worse because of the war in Gaza. There is a sense here Israel is going to strike back. It's not quite clear when. And the question on everyone's minds, that includes U.S. officials I speak to yesterday, they're not sure what Israel is going to do. Israel is not tipping their hand whether it's going to be strategic and painful again to Iran or something much, much bigger. Look, ever since October the 7th, one of the striking things when I've spoken to people in the region has been their awareness of the lack of American power, how limited America's options are and how limited America's leverage has been around the situation in Gaza, but now around the situation with Iran as well. I don't hear so much the administration now saying

take the win. I think they realized that this attack was more serious from Iran into Israel, and therefore Israel is bound to respond. So now it's a question of negotiating those parameters. What is that response going to be? And is there an opportunity still to contain the war, but contain the war from spreading further and growing further in a way that might destabilize a lot of things in the world. Gas prices, a whole host of things that could get destabilized, including the U.S. election. But there's different aims here. You know, you've got the Iranians who don't want a war because they know that Israel is stronger than they are at the moment militarily. The Israelis who may well want a war.

And the American administration, particularly the White House, is saying we don't want this to spread any further at the same time that Donald Trump is out on the campaign trail saying, look, the world was less out of control when I was president and an election that is very close and where things might tip it. I think this is the October surprise that is probably the one that is most important. So speaking of Donald Trump amidst all this in the Middle East, the former president minimized traumatic brain injuries suffered by U.S. troops while he was president, calling them, quote, headaches. Speaking in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Trump was asked about his White House's response to a 2020 attack on a U.S. military base in Iraq by Iran. Take a look. Do you believe that you should have been tougher on Iran after they had launched

ballistic missiles in 2020 on U.S. forces in Iraq, leaving more than 100 U.S. soldiers injured? So, first of all, injured. What does injured mean? Injured means you mean because they had a headache because the bombs never hit the fort. So just so you understand, there was nobody ever tougher in Iraq. The Pentagon says 109 U.S. troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries that after Iran, a missile barrage in 2020. After that barrage, Trump dismisses them as headaches. Trump also weighed in on the conflict between Iran and Israel. This has really been bad, but they have to finish that process. However it turns out,

they have to finish the process. This is a little bit like two kids fighting in the school yard. Sometimes you have to just sort of let it go a little bit and we'll see what happens. But it's really caused by a lack of respect for the United States of America. Oh, my God. Michael Steele. It's not even funny. It would be, but it's just not. It's not.

First of all, headaches, traumatic brain injuries, big difference. He doesn't care. For anybody who still doesn't get it, he doesn't care about anybody but himself. He doesn't care. As a solution to the situation in the Middle East, let it go. We'll see what happens. Why doesn't he add in another token line that he always puts in there? We'll have a solution in two weeks. We'll see what happens. Why doesn't he add in another token line that he always puts in there? We'll have a solution in two weeks. We'll have health care in two weeks, in two weeks, in two

weeks. This man has no grasp on the issues and no answers and no solutions. Just pat lines that he turns back to, almost like someone who's kind of grasping for an answer. He is a fool, an incompetent individual who does not read even the briefings that he still gets as a former president on some of these things. So he at least have some workable knowledge of events there. He is waiting, he has to wait to be told what Putin tells him to think about this affair, because that's where his alliances, his allegiances. But the most galling and insulting part of this is to minimize the traumatic injuries to our servicemen and women who took the incoming barrage from Iranian missiles and who, as been reported, have been were denied their purple hearts as a consequence of that, because the Pentagon was dancing around how not to offend the president because he didn't think it was that important.

And these were just headaches or these were minor injuries. And he didn't want, here's the galling part, he didn't want that stain on his administration where something like this happened on his administration, on his watch, that our soldiers were injured in conflict. And now he wants to whitewash it and say, oh, what does injury mean? What does being injured mean? Well, it means you get a Purple Heart for the services that you provided our country to protect and defend us on foreign soil, to represent our interests, to protect our interests.

But that is a foreign concept to this man. And the country needs to wake itself up out of this stupor because this does not get better with him there. He will not solve these problems. He is the progenitor of these problems. He will be the focal point of the expansion of these problems because they're unimportant to him. And, you know, we're 30 some days out from an election in which half the country is looking to put this idiot back in office. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? This is the man who diminishes the public. I don't want to go to that graveyard because they're dead soldiers there when he's in Europe, in France.

You know, I think the John McCain service, well, he got captured. No appreciation of what what that means to have a soldier who gives up coming home because he didn't want to leave his fellow servicemen behind. I mean, this lack of appreciation is a stain on our country when it comes from a president. And I think y'all need to think about this long and hard, because you think this is going to be somehow different, that the Middle East problems is going to go away soon as Donald Trump is inaugurated, that Putin is going to sit back and go, you know what? Donald Trump is now president. Oh, my God, let me get out of Ukraine. Come on, stop being stupid, people. Get your head and get in the game and understand what's about to happen. I mean, the warning signs have been there. The problem is in the House. It's very clear. Thank you, Michael. Coming up,

President Biden is set to survey more damage from the storm today with visits to Florida and Georgia. We'll have the latest on the recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene. That is straight ahead on Morning Joe. I don't have to tell this group that Hurricane Helene has been a storm literally of historic proportions. The damage is still being assessed, but many people are still unaccounted for. So I'm here to say the United States, the nation has your back. The nation has your back. We're not leaving your back on your feet completely. That was President Biden yesterday in North Carolina, where he announced the approval

of more federal aid for four states impacted by Hurricane Helene. The death toll from the monster storm has now climbed to at least 190 people and hundreds of others remain missing. The president surveyed the damage in the Carolinas yesterday. He first took an aerial tour of Greenville County, South Carolina, and then hard hit Asheville, North Carolina, where entire communities were swept away from severe flooding. President Biden will visit Florida and Georgia today as communities there try to pick up the pieces following the widespread devastation. Meanwhile, a massive relief effort is currently underway at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. That's where we find NBC News national correspondent Marissa Parra, who joins us live. Marissa, what's the latest there?

Well, hey, I can tell you that it has been almost one week since Hurricane Helene made landfall, but this is still a critical emergency for so many. We're talking about so many families across this region who are still lacking the access to basic necessities like running water. You mentioned those who remain missing. We have seen those families firsthand, that desperation. It's been almost one week since their family members went missing. And of course, we're seeing that desperation growing and that hope starting to fade. And so at this point, we're seeing so much response all across the country. We're seeing federal response, federal agencies on the

ground, big setups of disaster relief centers like the one behind me. But of course, the smaller ones, the smaller efforts like those churches that are doing donation drives. And of course, all of the efforts to get to those remote places, those rescues that are happening. We've seen countless stories of exactly that. We've seen horses, mules being used to trudge up the sides of mountains after roads were completely shattered, cutting off access. Helicopter rescues on top of barns. We've even seen people using their own private helicopters to bring supplies to people and families who are completely shut off from the world. And guys, we are just scratching the surface of the stories here, partially because

some of these areas are so remote. They haven't had contact with the outside world. They're not urban. Many of them don't live on their phone. They're not necessarily taking videos. But we have seen videos. This house floating down the Nolichucky River, swept off of its foundation. You see a distant figure of a man on the front porch.

Jerry Hunter's family believes that is the last image they will ever see of him. We're hearing stories of first responders and volunteers like Boone McCrary, who took out his own boat. He died trying to help other people. Or the Impact Plastics factory workers like Bertha Mendoza. She came from Mexico. Her final call was to her family to make sure her children knew she loved him. And her family believes that is the last call she will ever make. And, Micah, I will tell you, there is a state investigation into that factory, by the way, what role they may have played in what is now several missing workers believed to have been swept by floodwaters as families have been pressing them.

We've seen this at the press conferences, families pressing them on why they were still working in those conditions. And we talked about this dire need for so many across the region, whether it's the Carolinas, whether it's in parts of Georgia, whether it's in parts of Tennessee, we see boil water advisories. But there are still parts of North Carolina that don't even have a boil water advisory because they don't even have access to running water to begin with. So I will say, you know, we have so many examples of people trying to help coming from across the country. This disaster relief center behind me, just one example of exactly that, Micah.

But the situation growing dire as we approach one week since Hurricane Halim made landfall. Again, so far away from where we're standing. This is climate change in action. So many people across this region who did not expect this to be as bad as it was. Just epic devastation. We'll be following your reporting. NBC's Marissa Parra, live in Bristol, Tennessee. Thank you very much for that report.

And we're going to talk more about the storm relief effort when Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins the conversation. We'll also ask him about the thousands of port workers who are on strike for the third straight day and the attempts to reach a fair deal. Plus, former White House aide in the Trump administration, Cassidy Hutchinson, will be our guest. She was a key witness for the committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol. She'll weigh in on the new legal filing in the federal election interference case against Donald Trump. Morning Joe will be right back. He swings and drives one. Up right center Taylor back and it's gone

Garrett Mitchell just sneaking one over the fence for a two-run home run in the eighth inning to break the tie giving the Milwaukee Brewers a late lead over the Mets go ahead shot in the eighth coming after Jackson Turio, the 20-year-old, tied the game with his second solo home run of the night. Brewers come back to beat the Mets 5-3 and now force a decisive game three tonight in their National League wildcard series. The winner of tonight's game will face the NLE's champion Philadelphia Phillies in a best offive NL division series starting this weekend. In San Diego, New York Yankees great Kyle Higashioka with a solo home run, sparking a five-run rally for the Padres in the second inning. Manny Machado adding a two-run double with the bases loaded. Jackson Merrill falling with a two-run triple as the Padres beat the Braves 5-4

for a two-game sweep of Atlanta in their NL wildcard series, the Padres now move on to play their NL West rival Los Angeles Dodgers in what should be a great NL division series. In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles have been swept out of the playoffs for a second consecutive year. Royal star Bobby Witt Jr. with another big hit last night. He just does this, beating out an infield single to drive in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning. Royals hold on to beat the O's 2-1. They now head to the Bronx to face the AL East champion New York Yankees in the AL Division Series. And in Houston, the Detroit Tigers and the Astros run of seven consecutive appearances in the AL Championship Series. Andy Abanez hit a tie-breaking three-run double in Detroit's four-run eighth inning.

Tigers sweeping the Astros with a 5-2 win in Game 2 of their AL Wild Card Series. Tigers now take on the AL Central Champion Cleveland Guardians in a best of five ALDS. Just a great Midwestern series there. Mike Barticle joins us. Mike, another great day. Only the Brewers survived. They played today in that decisive game, the last game left in this round of the playoffs tonight against the Mets. What stood out to you last night? What stood out to me last night was it was a day that was a gift to America. Baseball all day long, all afternoon and all evening long. Given what we talk about on these news programs each and every morning, the hideous nature of our politics, the difficulties of international conflict,

especially in the Middle East, we need a breather. We need to relax. We need to look at the gift that is baseball, the gift that keeps on giving. You see these young kids, the two best players in baseball, one of the two of the best players in baseball, Jackson Churio, 20 years old, Bobby Witt Jr., 23 years of age. They play in Kansas City and Milwaukee. I mean, these this is America. This is what this is what this game is all about. And really, just one other thing. Yesterday, I had two conversations with people about baseball.

Both of them were about a half hour, 45 minutes long. And it was so refreshing not to be talking about politics or Trump or whatever. Who's going to happen? Who's going to win, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I can't recall ever having a conversation about a pro football game from years ago or a National Hockey League game from years ago or any sporting event from years ago. But these people got into detailed conversations about things they remembered from 1986, 1975. Oh, my God, it was so refreshing. Well, let's do 45 minutes on baseball right now. Yeah, please. But certainly, you know, we have one –

Willie, we've got one game left, as you mentioned. Brewers, Mets. Mets have had so much magic, and it seemed like they were well on their way to a sweep yesterday, and then the bullpen gave out in the eighth inning. You know, that'll be a lot of fun tonight in that game three. We have some, as you noted, next round, we've got a couple intra-divisions, Padres-Dodgers matchup. That's a heated rivalry. Tigers-Guardians. And most of all, we now have America's team. The new America's team,

Kansas City Royals, playing in the Bronx against the heavily favored New York Yankees. As Mike said, in this time of darkness in our politics, this time of worry globally, Willie, we can all unite behind the Cinderella story, the feel-good story of those Kansas City Royals. Well, that's not true, but I will grant you this. If they were not playing the New York Yankees, if you were not, sorry, Senator, if they were not playing the New York Yankees, it would be impossible not to root for these Kansas City Royals. Let's not forget last year, not five years ago, last year, they lost 106 games. One of the worst teams in the history of baseball, 56 and 106 last year. And now they've advanced through the playoffs. Mike was talking about Bobby Witt Jr.

Just signed an 11-year contract at the beginning of the season, making a commitment to Kansas City. It's paying off. They are really, really fun to watch. And speaking of old years, you were talking about 1975. The Yankees in this series,

if you want a great storyline, John, looking to avenge their loss in the 1980 ALCS to the Kansas City Royals. That home run by George Brett in game three, Goose Gossage serving one up. It still hurts. So there you have it. America's team, the New York Yankees, seeking redemption.