Morning Joe - Morning Joe 6/13/24

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

The Morning Joe panel discusses the latest in U.S. and world news, politics, sports and culture.

Biden flew to Italy to attend the annual G7 summit. He went to France last week, now he's off to Italy. Biden's like your friend who's somehow posting pics from Europe all summer. Like, hey, do you work? What do you do? Usually when an 81-year-old does that much traveling through Europe, it's on a Viking river cruise. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Thursday, June 13th. We're going to bring you

the very latest from the G7 summit in Italy. President Biden is there meeting with world leaders and also talking support for Ukraine. That's a top priority there. Meanwhile, there's a lot happening today on Capitol Hill. Donald Trump will be in Washington to meet with lawmakers from both chambers, setting up his first face-to-face with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in more than three years. It comes a day after a partisan vote in the House holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. We're going to dig into all of that straight ahead. Along with Joe, Willie and me, we have the host of Way Too Early, White House Bureau Chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire,

former Treasury official and Morning Joe economic analyst. Steve Ratner is with us and staff writer at The Atlantic. Mark Leibovich is here as well. And Willie, last night, Jonathan Lemire, I'm sure, was very nervous, not just about the Red Sox starting game down four, nothing against the Phillies, but also recognizing that in the second half in Dallas, the earth was flat for a while. It's Kyrie and the Dallas Mavericks just put on an absolutely torrential comeback, outscoring the Celtics at 1.22 to 2. Yeah, I mean, the Celtics were running away with this thing. They were up 21 points early in the fourth quarter, cruising it looked like.

They're on their way to a 3-0 lead, insurmountable in this NBA Finals. And then, Jonathan Lemire, I know you can always find a dark spot in a bright sky as a Boston fan. Oh, I know you can always find a dark spot in a bright sky as a Boston fan. Oh, I will. Hold it within one point on a Kyrie Irving jumper before holding on. The Celtics did win, ultimately. They are up 3-0. They can win the franchise's record 18th NBA title tomorrow night.

These are the kind of games, I will say, that this edition of the Celtics team in recent years usually loses. And last night, they didn't. So credit to them. They survived an early onslaught. Dallas came out blazing at the start. Celtics were down 15. Tight game at the half. Celtics had a tremendous third quarter, opened up the big lead, which they nearly blew, but they didn't. It helped Luka Doncic fouled out. Doncic taking a lot of criticism for his lack of defense yesterday and complaints to the referees. Not his best game. Kyrie was very good yesterday, to be sure.

And the Celtics was a balanced attack. Even though Christoph Porzingis is out, he didn't play, and I think likely we won't see him again in these finals. Both Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown finished strong. This is a tougher Celtics team than we've seen. That's a big road win, Willie. And now, just one win away. It's tomorrow night in Dallas.

That won't be easy. But even if they fall there, they go back home game five Monday. I'm not celebrating yet. I can't celebrate yet. But one win. And Joe, this is, John and I have talked about this, in some ways an underrated Celtics team. They're 15-2 in these playoffs. They won 64 regular season games,

kind of in the neighborhood of that 1986 Celtics team in terms of wins. The 08 team, the last title they had in Boston. This is a really, really good Boston team. They're undefeated on the road these playoffs, which is remarkable. Wow. And speaking of Boston sports, Jonathan O'Meara, the Red Sox came back from a 4-0 deficit to beat the best team in baseball, the Phillies. And, of course, preparing for this weekend's showdown.

I can't believe it. We ought to talk very briefly about this. Mid-June, and the Yankees and the Red Sox still haven't played each other. That ends this weekend. Yeah, for a good win for the Sox last night, they had been blanked and were lifeless the night before against the Phillies. They fell behind early. They could have thrown the towel. They didn't.

Pavetta settled down. The offense came out strong in the second part of the game. Nice win, 8-4. And, yeah, Willie, Red Sox-Yankees. I know. I mean, they changed the schedule a year or two ago, so they do play fewer times now. It used to be 19.

Now it's 12 or 13. But here we are, middle of June. It's Father's Day weekend. Yeah. And they have not played yet. And this is a chance for us to try to chip away at your 13 or so game lead. Maybe we can close it to 12 or 11. I think you might have trimmed it to 12 last night. I mean, the Yankees are playing incredibly well. They're getting great pitching from places they didn't expect it, Joe. Garrett Cole not even back yet. And that lineup is unbelievable. Aaron Judge lineup is unbelievable. Aaron Judge is mashing.

Soto is playing really well despite that little injury he had to the four. Is it 14? Oh, it's 14. Excuse me. I was trying to give you more credit than you deserve. 14 games up on the red side. But I will say, despite the season the Yankees are having, the Orioles are quietly hanging right with them. They're two and a half games back.

Also having a great season in Baltimore. Well, I've got to say, this Yankees team is the best Yankees team, I think, probably since they're 27 Yankees. If they don't win the World Series in four games, you have to look. Just can't resist one. That's a complete failure for the Yankees. I mean, I really, speaking of the mercy rule, I don't even know why we're continuing to play. Really, because seriously, Yankees, this mean, I really, speaking of the mercy rule, I don't even know why we're continuing to play.

Really, because seriously, it's the Yankees. This is, we have no chance. Let's just call it right now. With a little engine, they could, but let me tell you something, we're rolling back down the hill right now. On the last of the moves.

Into the ravine. Into the ravine. Getting serious for a second, we lost a dear friend yesterday. A dear friend to the show, to me, to NBC and really to Washington. And if you don't believe that, look at some of the responses, Mika, that Howard Feynman and his passing yesterday got from across Washington. Just a wonderful, lovely man. Yeah, he was one of the most respected reporters inside the Washington Beltway.

And he passed away yesterday in a social media post from his own account. Feynman's wife, Amy, announced his passing from pancreatic cancer, writing in part, quote, I am heartbroken to share my brilliant and extraordinary husband passed away last night, surrounded by those he loved the most, his family. After starting his career covering Kentucky state politics, Feynman arrived at Newsweek back in 1980. There, he quickly built his well-earned reputation by giving readers an unvarnished look at the inner workings of Capitol Hill and the powerful players making the decisions affecting the lives of everyday Americans. That included the eight different presidents he covered in some capacity, including George W. Bush, who spoke to Feynman back in November of 2001 for his first extensive interview after the 9-11

attacks. In 2010, Feynman left Newsweek to become the senior politics editor and later the global editorial director at The Huffington Post. He also joined the MSNBC family as an analyst at that time where he became a familiar face on Morning Joe for viewers here for more than a decade. Howard Feynman was 75 years old. Yeah. And I'm so sorry. I read an article yesterday calling him a titan of Washington journalism. But Howard was a national editor and reported out of 49 of the 50 states. And his time in Kentucky, I think, may have been his most valuable because, as Howard and I spoke, he understood politics in a way that many that were born in the Northeast and went to school in the Northeast and just worked in the Northeast may not have understood. Just keen insights. But I think most importantly, as I've been talking to him over the past couple of years, emailing and texting. Just a wonderful, lovely man.

He knew about what was in front of him and was at peace with it. But again, just a great friend. We're going to have Chris Matthews and Al Franken on tomorrow to talk about the legacy and the life of Howard Feynman. Mark Leibovich, you knew Howard and worked with him. And certainly I know, like me, you had to look up to him because, man, he was he was a titan at Newsweek and and beyond. Yeah. Like a lot of people in this business, I mean, who you look up to, you know them first as a byline. And I remember when I was first starting out in journalism, Newsweek was really at the peak of its powers. I mean, I used to love reading Newsweek for its political stuff. And then I remember,

I think it was the 1992 cycle. I mean, I was in my 20s and I was up in New Hampshire for the first time for a presidential primary. And I met Howard Fineman, this giant who I've been reading for many, many years. And he was then at Newsweek and I was somewhat in awe. He could not have been nicer. And he was helpful in showing me around, introducing me to people, loved to tell stories, loved. He kind of got the joke in that kind of a wise guy, political reporter way. And I always appreciated seeing someone who who was so, you know, he loved the game. He loved journalism, but but also loved the kibitzing inherent to what we do and especially when we would run into each other on the road. So I'll miss that. And I think we'll all miss reading Howard also. So much. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, we're we're very grateful to have known him a good man and our thoughts and deepest prayers to his family, to our top story. Now, President Biden is in Italy this morning for the first day of the G7 summit. Moments ago, he gathered with other leaders from the Group of Seven Nations for this year's so-called family photo. The president will now attend multiple working sessions throughout today. Afterwards, he'll meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and sign a 10-year security agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine. Joining us now is NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba. She's live in Bari, Italy, with more.

Monica, what can you tell us? Well, Mika, this is set to be a very consequential meeting of these leaders where there is so much on the agenda, perhaps at the very top of the list, how to continue helping Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression as that war stretches on for more than two years. And we do expect that by the end of the next couple of days, there will be some kind of agreement between the G7 leaders on how to help Ukraine get more military aid in the access of funding from seized Russian assets that have been frozen. Now, there was a little bit of debate over exactly how to do that and whether that would

be presented to Ukraine in the form of a loan that will be paid over some years based on the interest of those frozen assets. So we expect those kinds of details. And National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that he does expect an outcome on that in the coming hours. But there is, of course, also the larger dynamic right now of the shifting winds in European politics. And the fact that when you look at those different leaders who greeted President Biden this morning in Fasano, many of them, including President Biden himself, may not be there at the next G7 summit in 2025. There have been many, of course, questions about elections in the UK, in France, in Germany, where many of these leaders have fairly low approval ratings. And then, of course, President Biden is facing reelection in November. So that is the overall

backdrop to these conversations and the larger looming question of even if there are things that the leaders agree to and try to set into motion, will some of those things be undone or incomplete because of whatever happens a year from now? And then, of course, we expect that the leaders will also continue to discuss the potential ceasefire deal that President Biden and certainly other leaders internationally have been pushing for Hamas and Israel to accept to end the war in Gaza. We expect there will be discussion of that in addition to countering China and specifically trying to issue Russian sanctions from the U.S. against some China based companies that are fueling the Russian war machine in Ukraine. So those are some of the expected thorny issues and topics that the president will be discussing with leaders. And then tomorrow, he's expected to meet with Pope Francis,

who is coming to the G7 in a historic manner to discuss the issue of artificial intelligence, some of the advantages of the technology, but also some of the dangers that it presents. So a jam-packed couple of days here for the president in southern Italy. All right. NBC's Monica Alba in Bari, Italy for us this morning. Monica, thanks so much. So, John, the president running hot. He's in Normandy for almost a week, comes back for a few days, going back over to Italy. What does he hope to take away from this G7? What are the objectives that he may leave here in three days having achieved? First of all, not a bad place for a summit. Looks pretty nice.

There are a few things here. As you say, this is the second trip to Europe in a week. Ukraine is at the forefront here. He's going to meet with President Zelensky later today. Actually, the two men are going to hold a joint press conference. The president will take a few questions. We should note this will be the first time he takes questions from reporters since the conviction of his son. So there'll be some probably some domestic matters that also get asked about there. But it's about this deal here to open up for Russian assets to help support Ukraine. But part of the framework is to keep aid to Ukraine going no matter what happens in a series of elections this year. We just saw the EU elections, of course, over the last couple of days, the far right making some real gains. And of course, the November election,

the United States looms. And there's some hope here that commitments can be made to ensure that some U.S. aid will continue to Ukraine, even if Donald Trump, who is a Ukraine skeptic, were to return to office. And I also think this is the president's last major summit before the election. And I think there's going to be a note of reassurance as he tries to, his fellow leaders, his fellow leaders of democracies to say, look, you can count on the United States. We're not going to go anywhere. But we know there is rampant anxiety among those men and women that we're seeing in this family photo about what a Donald Trump return would mean, how he has threatened alliances before, how he has said that he wants a more isolationist foreign policy. So this is President Biden trying to say

to them, look, I can't guarantee the future, but we are Americans. Certainly if I win again, we can do this. But even if I don't, there'll be a way to keep America involved. But it's a real sort of anxiety-filled summit right now there in Italy. You know, Steve Ratner, we're going to be talking about this a little bit later, but it's fascinating that this G7 summit takes place against the backdrop of the strongest U.S. economy relative to the rest of the world. And then there's been in decades. I mean, we had a report yesterday that the world economy is doing OK, thanks in large part because of the unexpected strength of the U.S. economy. As World Bank said, the impressive U.S. economy is powering the world.s economy the as world bank said the impressive u.s economy is powering the world

uh impressive resilience growth buoyant and the teeth of the fiercest monetary policy tightening in four decades strongest dollar in almost half a century uh so that's the backdrop of joe biden there uh about how we're powering the world right now with our strong economy. Also though, as you look at those pictures, I'm curious your thought. You have, of course, the chancellor of Germany who just suffered a blow with the far right in Germany doing so well in the EU elections, blow to his reputation, his party's reputation, of course,

the same with Macron, especially. But fascinating, the one person who did well is actually Maloney and her party, who, when she came in, was perceived to be a enemy of the EU, a far-right extremist because of her party's roots with Mussolini. But she's ended up actually being really pragmatic on the world stage. Talk about that. Talk about the economy and just your general feeling about where Europe is right now. You're exactly right, Joe. First, excuse me, on the Maloney point, she is the only member of the G7 who has a higher approval rating than Joe Biden, but she's still at 41 percent. And when you look across the EU, as you said, you see leader after leader, country after country, where you're looking at approval ratings for their leaders at 24 percent, 28 percent of the 30s. Rishi Sunak, who you didn't mention, but I'm sure you were thinking about, has a snap

election coming in July. And by all accounts, he is going to get wiped out. And it could be one of the largest majorities for labor in a long time. And I think it does relate to a considerable extent to the whole growth picture. We've grown over 9% in total, our economy, since the pandemic started. Canada is at five something, and everybody in Europe is at one, two, three percent. And so the elections last weekend shouldn't have been a total surprise in the sense that Europe is really, really struggling economically, including and indeed especially Germany, which has, of course, been the powerhouse of Europe for so many decades but between the impact of the Ukraine war and the fact that Germany is a major exporter to China and all that is now under a lot of pressure it is a really really difficult time for Germany. So Europe as a

whole as a I think a mix of the effect of the war which is something but not the only thing but frankly simply having economies that have just not performed well over a long period of time. They don't have the flexibility of our economy. They don't have the productivity. Look what's going on in AI, for example. At the moment, we dominate AI. There's one company in France and a couple in the UK that are kind of in the mix on AI, but everybody else in Europe is just not present. And that is potentially a huge driver of future growth. They're simply a set of economies that have not delivered for their citizens. And therefore, the citizens are taken to the ballot box in a way that is very,

very scary to all the rest of us. I've got to say also, there is a reality, and there was an FT article about this a couple of months ago. There is a new reality that approval ratings don't line up with victories or losses at polls as much as they used to. And, of course, the greatest example of that would be Macron, who was sitting in the low 30s to the mid 30s in approval ratings in France before he had his election against Le Pen. And then he ended up with about 58 percent. So there's so there there is there there's angst across the Western world. And it is driving approval ratings of all leaders down for sure. Let's go to Capitol Hill now, where former President Trump will be in Washington today, where he is set to meet with Republican lawmakers from both sides of the hill. A senior Trump campaign official tells NBC News the meetings will be focused on policy,

zooming in on Social Security, taxes, border security, and a, quote, America first foreign policy. While Trump's visit is being presented as a positive development by some in Senate leadership, Senator Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney will not be attending the meeting. All three claimed they have conflicting plans. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will attend, giving him his first face to face with Trump since 2020. Take a listen to what the minority leader said yesterday when asked if he would confront the former president. You know, I said three years ago, right after the Capitol was attacked,

that I would support our nominee regardless of who it was, including him. I've said earlier this year, I support him. He's been earned the nomination by the voters all across the country. And of course, I'll be at the meeting tomorrow. Well, that'll be an interesting dynamic, Mark Leibovich, to see McConnell there with Donald Trump. Donald Trump going to visit the office buildings, will not be at the Capitol. Obviously, January 6th hangs heavy over this visit, even though the president was not technically at the Capitol that day. He held the rally that drove the people there. So what do you expect today? What is the dynamic at play other than all of these Republicans who have fallen in line, save for the small handful who have

conflicting schedules, perhaps a root canal for Mitt Romney. Yeah, I mean, I think, first of all, it's notable that McConnell kept referring to Trump as him. I don't think he mentioned his name once. He, you know, he acknowledged that the Capitol was attacked. I also think that the dynamic with these things, especially when you hear coming in that the president or the former president's aides say that they expect the meetings to be about policy. Yeah, that's always true when Trump's meetings are involved. Yeah, total wonk really in the weeds on this. But I mean, look, I think this will be, I assume, when he's with the other Republicans, a complete show of sycophancy, which is what the party has become. I don't know how you can ignore. I assume they will.

But I don't know how you ignore the fact that this is all taking place in what was, you know, one of the great places of disgrace of his presidency, if not the. And that's where he left Washington. I mean, when he took off from the White House three and a half years ago, I mean, the Capitol had just been sieged. And, you know, he came. It happened the same day that Joe Biden was inaugurated in the same place that he, you know, he was calling for an attack on. And look, the synergy here, the sort of the symmetry here of it all happening is really quite notable.

But I expect it'll be the same old thing, which is the falling in line and basically a kissing of the ring over however long the meeting goes on for. But they won't be talking about policy. Joining us now, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitale, who will be covering these meetings. So, Ali, what should we expect today? What is Congress preparing for? To be a fly on the wall when Mitch McConnell walks into that meeting with the former president, Willie, because you guys are so right to point out the awkwardness of this. As someone who's in the Capitol almost every single day, to ask Senator McConnell any kind of question around Trump is to know that you're going to get some kind of very tense answer that

doesn't really seem to say the thing that we know is at the heart of this, which is what McConnell said in the aftermath of January 6th when he said, and I'm quoting, that Trump was practically and morally responsible for provoking what happened on January 6th. And I don't think that we can stress enough here the ways in which the insurrection still hangs over the Capitol every single day. It doesn't just take the former president coming up there to remind of the role that he played in it or of the way that it happened. It is the reason why we see such high levels of vitriol in the halls of Congress. It's the thing that when I hear from Democrats who

point to the other side, it's the thing that they continue to come back to. And it's why it's so hard to find bipartisanship. It's I know it was this way before, but the role of the insurrection is still so palpable just in the way that Congress functions or rather doesn't these days. And I don't think that we can underscore that enough on the policy piece of this. I think we're all right to sort of shrug our shoulders when we hear lawmakers say that the focus of the former president's meeting is going to be about policy to the extent that it will be. I've talked to several lawmakers, including the speaker, who say we want to be prepared if he wins again. And they felt flat footed the last time.

Taxes, of course, is going to be huge. Yeah, it is striking to the last time we were thinking about Donald Trump on January 6th, 2021, around the Capitol anyway. Many of the people who will be chasing him through the halls and trying to sit at his feet this on this day were condemning him on the floor of the Senate that day. So, Ali, let's talk about the contempt vote in the 216 to 207 was the vote to hold the attorney general of the United States, Merrick Garland, in contempt because he will not release those audio tapes of the sit-down interview President Biden held with the special counsel. What more can you tell us about how this unfolded? Won't release the tapes, Willie, but remember, the committees that want the tapes also already have the transcripts. They're still pushing for them. And what the speaker told us in the minutes after this vote

last night, which part which passed along party lines with only one Republican voting against it, the speaker said to me earlier in the day and then to reporters after the House did its job today, he felt it was important to put this message out there. Now, of course, we know the Department of Justice, backed up by the Biden administration, is exerting executive privilege over this audio. The DOJ lambasted the House Republicans last night for turning something that they say is an important congressional authority into something that's partisan. But I thought it was notable for the one Republican, Congressman Dave Joyce of Ohio, who voted against this in a statement. He explained why. And I'll read it to you in part where he says that as a former prosecutor himself, he says he can't in good conscience

support a resolution that would further politicize our judicial system to score political points. The American people expect Congress to work for them, solve policy problems and prioritize good governance. Enough is enough. Of course, he's part of a Republican majority that as soon as they assumed gavel power, Willie, they said that oversight of the Biden administration, digging into what they call the weaponization of government was going to be key focal point. So clearly that is the priority of the way that Republicans want to do governance in the House. Mark Liebowitz, let's of course remember that there are some Republicans in the House, including Jim Jordan, who defied their own subpoenas in terms of the January 6th committee.

So it is just rank hypocrisy here. But let's talk about the politics of this. This Trump campaign would probably love that Biden audio to come out so they could put it in a campaign ad or something like that. But to a bigger picture, it just seems to be yet the latest example of how the Republicans and the Senate, and particularly the House, exist simply to do Donald Trump's bidding. Yeah, I mean, 100 percent. I mean, this is for the video. I mean, like you said, they have the transcript. But yeah, this is for this is material for a Trump campaign ad to to further underscore the fact that the sitting president is 81 years old.

And if there's video to sort of make that point, they're going to try to avail themselves of it. But again, I mean, this is not first of all, even in the oversight realm and this is nominally oversight. But I guess it's certainly not legislation. It's not passing bills. This is kind of weak. I mean, they obviously the impeachments haven't gotten anywhere as far as President Biden goes. Any kind of, you know, the Jim Comer investigations have gone nowhere. This is just the latest attempt on that continuum. You know, it's so it's so weak and pathetic. And Mark is so right. I mean, you look at the Comer committee time and again, humiliating themselves, trying to create something around the, quote, Biden crime family,

trying to prove that Joe Biden did something wrong as it pertains to Hunter. And they just kept humiliating themselves so much that other Republicans kept telling Comer and the committee, stop it. You're embarrassing us. And so this is just another example of this. They did it with Mayorkas. They just keep doing this and keep humiliating themselves. There's such a better way to run a house, to be part of a conservative resistance to a president. I'm surprised the House just keeps like stuffing their. It's a bumbling effort to take over the narrative and lie. And they keep doing it. They keep thinking that Americans are so stupid. And in this case, by the way, Americans have eyes.

People have seen what has happened there. And it just it's painful to watch. Ali Batali, that's not the only thing going on on Capitol Hill. We had the it's painful to watch. Ali Batali, that's not the only thing going on on Capitol Hill. We had the vote on contraception and now we're looking at IVF. Explain what's going on. Well, we're watching Democrats now. This is the second thing that they've done in as many weeks to try to spotlight the issue of reproductive health care. This is all in the same month, just a few weeks from now, where we will see them mark the two year anniversary of the Roe precedent being overturned in the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court. Last week, it was trying to protect the access to contraception. This week, we're seeing Democrats try to shore up protections to IVF. And we're watching Republicans sort of

try to play catch up here. Democrats would argue that the Republican bill that I think was just on our screen from Katie Britt and Senator Ted Cruz, who is in an election year and certainly a restrictions to make sure that families would still have sufficient access to care. This bill is going to probably go the way of the contraception bill, though it could garner more Republican votes than that one did. But again, these are largely messaging bills that are meant to put on paper the way that Republicans vote, not on abortion directly, but when it comes to things that are ancillary to reproductive health care. I know that the debate, of course, after Roe and after Dobbs was squarely on access to abortion care. But we have seen the ways that the dominoes have fallen across the country, various patches of restrictions, and even just take it back to a few months ago when Republicans, including Nikki Haley, told me that to her, embryos through IVF were babies.

And that's what the Alabama court said at one point until legislation was put in place to negate that view. I'll tell you, Mark Leibovich, this is one of these 80-20 issues that we would always talk about in Congress, that you're like, you don't want to be on the wrong side of an 80-20 issue. The problem with the IVF for Republicans is there are so many people across America who people who are consider themselves to be pro-life, who have chosen life and gotten life into their family, a baby into their family because of IVF. And this collides with what the Southern Baptist Convention did yesterday in deciding that they were going to take a stand against IVF, which really tells you just what an extreme turn my church has taken over the past generation. Up to 1980, they were pro-choice. And then, as I say here all the time, because Paul Weirich and other Republican operatives,

right-wing operatives, decided they needed to be the Southern Baptist Democratic president, they decided to make abortion an issue, not just a political issue, but a religious issue. Jerry Falwell decided in 1980, 1,900 and approximately 80 years after the birth of Jesus Christ, that suddenly abortion was going to be the central issue for many Christians. And so here we are now, IVF being denied by the Southern Baptists and also by Republicans. I mean, you look Republicans and vote this down. And let me tell you something. It may be a quote symbolic vote, but I will tell you, if I were running against a Republican, I would talk about this every single day because it shows just how extreme this party has gotten. Well, but also how powerless they are for any kind of common

sense political solution to prevail here. I mean, as you mentioned, I mean, you know, abortion is, as we've seen in some of these elections and some of these polls, it's basically an 80-20 issue or maybe a 70-30 issue as far as, you know, where voters are on abortion rights and Republicans who know that this is not a winning issue for them. I mean, Donald Trump knows this as well as anyone. And yet not only can they not do anything about it, but they have, you know, because they have to listen to these elements of the party, suddenly the conversation moves even farther to the extreme and it becomes about IVF. It becomes about contraception,

stuff that's even farther to the 90-10 issues, basically. And so, again, I mean, if common sense were leading this here, they would have some kind of responsible messaging around this. But instead, this is where it goes. We've seen this over and over again on a number of issues with Republicans. Yeah, Republicans use birth control. Republicans use IVF. That's men and women. And Republicans use abortion health care, the women that they love. And Republican women, they use abortion health care. They get DNCs. They get the help they need when they're having a problematic pregnancy. This is all a problem for Republicans who blindly follow Donald Trump's lead on this. The Atlantic's Mark Leibovich. Thank you very much. And NBC's Ali Vitale. Thank you as well. And still ahead on Morning Joe, what the White House is saying about a potential commutation for Hunter Biden after his conviction

this week. Plus, the Federal Reserve keeps key interest rates unchanged. Steve Ratner will be back to help us break down what it all means for consumers. And also just the continuing flood of news about how powerful the United States economy is and how it's powering the world right now. We're back in 90 seconds. What a beautiful shot of New York City. Pretty shot of the Capitol, 37 past the hour. What's your favorite month? For Washington? No, just for the year.

I like May. You like May? I love June. Yeah. June's my favorite month of the year. June is definitely my favorite month right now. I just love June. Yeah.

One of my daughters is born in June. Well, fantastic. All right. The Federal Reserve yesterday kept its key interest rate unchanged and signaled that just one cut is expected. I may have my first grandchild

possibly born in June. Let's just wait. We'll see. Okay. Expected before the end of the year, but we're excited. That forecast is down from the previous

projection of three cuts as inflation remains above the target level. Meanwhile, as we mentioned, the World Bank has upgraded its outlook for the global economy and said the impressive U.S. economy is powering the world. Their latest outlook estimates the global economy will expand 2.6 percent. That's up from a predicted 2.4 percent. According to the World Bank's chief economist, the U.S. economy is in particular has shown in particular has shown impressive resilience. Growth has remained buoyant in the teeth of the fiercest monetary policy tightening in four decades. In addition, the U.S. economy is one of the reasons the World Bank expects the global economy will enjoy some upside potential over the next two years. This, as the bank's deputy chief economist called the U.S. economic growth

exceptional. Steve Ratner, you noted on social media, quote, since the end of 2019, America's economy has grown by about 8% in real terms. Meanwhile, the euro area has expanded by only 3%. Japan, a piddling 1%. And Britain, not at all. America is the only big economy that is back to its pre-pandemic growth trend. So safe to say, fair to say, there are still some people who are suffering the impact. They really feel inflation. A lot of people, young people can't buy homes. There are certain sectors that are still seeing a lot of struggle for Americans in terms of their financial security. But overall, the U.S. economy is headed in the right direction. Is that fair to say? Yeah, Mika, I think what you went through in your intro there is exactly right. The U.S. economy is

by any measure, certainly among the major economies, the strongest economy in the world in terms of growth, in terms of job creation, in terms even of incomes after inflation for average Americans, including innovation industries, as I talked about before. The tech industry is booming because of AI and some other things. But also, let's remember a couple of things to note. First of all, we had a really good CPI release yesterday where the CPI didn't go up at all the last month, one of the best months we've had in quite a while. That actually led the Fed to be more optimistic about interest rate cuts. There's a 70% probability, according to the market, that we'll get our first interest rate cut in September, which would be good for the economy

and good for the president because that would obviously be right up in the run up to the election. You do see signs here of increasing feeling of positivity toward the economy and various consumer surveys. Consumer sentiment surveys have turned positive. But there are things like grocery prices. Grocery prices have been down in grocery stores for four months in a row. Food prices are down year over year. Yes, there was a huge amount of inflation relative to anything people of most ages had ever seen before, but it has come down very, very dramatically and is getting close to that 2% target. And what people also don't appreciate, for example, is that over the past year, the average worker has done

better after inflation in terms of wage increases. And I'll say it again, over the past year, the average worker has done better after inflation in terms of wage increases. And I'll say it again. Over the past year, the average American's purchasing power has gone up. Not necessarily a huge amount, but something. And so this is a message that just needs to get out there about the fact that we're actually doing okay. Yes, there's an issue about first-time home buyers with mortgage rates still so high. Plenty of things to worry about, the deficit and the debt, which Joe and I have talked about for so many years. But we are the strong man of the world from an economic point of view,

no doubt about it. So as you point out, Steve, inflation has been the stubborn sore thumb in an otherwise booming economy, post-pandemic economy, it's still there. There's a reason that major retailers like Walmart and Costco and even McDonald's are all cutting their prices to get people back into their stores because it's been too expensive. People looking for alternatives. Where is it internally? You talk about the pre-pandemic economy. Yes, it's down, but still higher than anyone wants it to be. You said 2% is the target. How far off does that look? I don't want to get too wonky here. This is Morning Joe, not CNBC. Go for it, man. There are a lot of different ways to measure inflation.

But the way the Fed measures inflation, which is not the CPI, it's another index, we're in somewhere around the 2.8% range, something like that, relative to the 2. So we are quite close to the 2. And in its economic projections that the Fed released yesterday, they basically said we're on a glide path to 2. And this is also a surprisingly good development. There are many of us who felt that there was a severe risk of a recession as we tighten the screws to get inflation down closer to the twos. And it turns out we were wrong. It hasn't been required. We continue to produce a couple hundred thousand jobs a month. The economy is growing a couple percent, not enormous, but definitely positive. And so we

seem to have achieved, don't want to declare total victory just yet, but all indications point to us having the soft landing where we've gotten inflation down, interest rates can start to come down and the economy will continue to grow. And by the way, just for you, go ahead, Steve. I was going to add one thing. I think you do have to give credit to the president on this to a considerable degree, because a lot of the policies that he passed, things like the Inflation Reduction Act on climate, things like Build Back Better on infrastructure, have put a lot of money into the economy. The CHIPS Act, where you've got tens of billions of dollars of investment coming from semiconductor companies outside of the U.S. and inside the U.S., all of that is contributing

to the fact that we are doing so well, which are very positive, very pro-growth policies out of the White House. And I've got to say, as Steve said, the U.S. economy is strong. I say it all the time. Our long range concern is what Steve and I have been talking about together for a decade. What I've been talking about for 25, 30 years now in public life, and that is the increasing debt, U.S. debt. We have got to get Republicans and Democrats together and have a goal of getting that debt down below the size of the U.S. economy instead of having a debt that's higher than what our GDP is every year. And by the way, for the record, you can get as wonky as you want, Steve, on Morning Joe. We have a few post-grad

watchers here. It's not SpongeBob SquarePants, so rest assured they can follow you. We love SpongeBob. We do love SpongeBob. I'm a Patrick Star fan, by the way. So, Jonathan O'Meara, the White House, the Biden campaign, tell me your reporting. I'm getting a sense they're feeling a little bit better. They're seeing consumer about the economy as far as Americans' attitude of the economy catching up to actually how well the numbers are that are reported every month. You've got, of course, consumer confidence that's going up at the same time. We had a poll this past week that showed Joe Biden picking up 10, maybe 10, 15 percent on on Donald Trump, on who's better for managing the economy.

We used to see a massive gap in this poll over the past week. It seemed to be like four or five percentage points. So certainly tightening that as well. So is the White House feeling better? Do they think time is on their side that Americans are going to keep feeling better about the economy as we get toward the election? Well, first, that poll you just mentioned that shows Biden getting more credit, having closing that gap on Trump, Biden campaign aides texting that around to all reporters. They want to make sure people are aware

of that, that changing sentiment. I mean, their bet all along has been that they've been showing that the fundamentals of the economy have been good and have been improving and that Americans would start to feel better about it right about now, sort of June, the summer, fall of 2024. There has been some anxiety that we had up until very recently. We hadn't really seen that yet. Americans still, there was a disconnect about how well the economy was doing versus how Americans were feeling about it. And I think there is still some worry among Democrats that whether those messages will really break through. They hope that the debate, which is now just two weeks from tonight, I might add, there'll be a moment for President Biden to make that forceful case about the economy.

They hope that the conventions and other big moments in the months ahead will allow them to do that the same. An interest rate cut would be very welcomed on Pennsylvania Avenue and in Wilmington. Let's be clear. But this is this is their hope. They know there are so many issues out there right now that have dragged down this president. But they feel like more elections than not are decided on the economy. And the bet here is that narrative will turn just in time to help the president. All right. Morning, Joe. Economic analyst Steve Ratner, as always.

Thank you so much for coming on this morning. Appreciate it. And coming up on Morning Joe, Richard Engel joins us with a live report from Ukraine as Russia launches a new attack and President Biden aims to shore up more aid for the war-torn country. Morning Joe will be right back. President Biden at this very moment is taking part in the G7 summit in Italy, where later today he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign a 10-year security agreement between the United States and Ukraine that he hopes will outlast even his presidency. This is the third G7 summit to be held since Vladimir Putin launched that full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. Yesterday, Russian missiles slammed an apartment block in the central part of Ukraine, killing at least nine people,

injuring almost 30 others. President Zelensky said his nation must work with its partners to strengthen air defenses specifically to prevent that kind of an attack. Joining us now from eastern Ukraine is NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel. Richard, so give us a little backdrop, if you would, of what's happening on the ground there in Ukraine as President Zelensky prepares to meet with President Biden today in Italy. We lost it. We lost his audio there. Clearly, we'll get back to Richard when we have it back in just a second, John. So obviously, this is a big part of this visit for President Biden. As you said, he wants to sign this 10 year, 10 year security agreement, whether he wins or loses in the fall would outlast even his presidency. And as you said a moment ago,

perhaps inoculate, give a little bit of comfort to some of these world leaders that even if Donald Trump wins, that support of Ukraine still will be there from the United States. Yeah, we're seeing this both on the domestic and the foreign policy front, efforts to Trump-proof, if you will, Biden accomplishments, trying to really lock in what he's done both at home and commitments overseas. And that particularly includes Ukraine, where we know Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that he could end this war in 24 hours, which we all interpret to mean, well, he would insist that Ukraine take the terms of the frozen battlefield now, which would allow Russia to keep its gains. And there's a lot of anxiety among those other G7 leaders, Willie, as to what the future holds

if Trump were to come to office and certainly would be disruptive. But President Biden is trying to allay at least some of those fears. All right. I think we have Richard Engel's mic back. Richard, take it away. You do have it back. And I was saying I was I'm in Izyum right now, which is in eastern Ukraine. And this is an area that has been hard hit by by Russian forces. There were mass graves in the forests not far from here that we saw them being excavated, mass graves that were left as Russian troops were forced to withdraw from here. And we are seeing some improvements in the overall security situation across eastern Ukraine. And commanders here tell us it's because some of the American weapons are starting to arrive. They arrived after months of delays because they were held up in Congress. Also because of the authorizations that Ukrainians are now able to fire, in some cases, still limited

cases, those weapons systems into Russian territory. And Ukrainians say that that gave them a big advantage because instead of just being on the attack, Russia has to focus on defending its radar stations, defending its air bases inside Russian territory. And they want to see more of that continuing. And going back to what you were just talking about, it's all about Trump proofing gains in this country. That's what people here are most concerned about, that in five months you could have a new administration, you could have President Trump come in and undo this relationship between Ukraine and the West, Ukraine and the United States, and it's something they are deeply concerned about. So that's why it seems like President

Biden wants to sign this long-term agreement, a 10-year agreement between the United States and Ukraine. But it is an agreement that a future president could undo. What NATO — what Ukraine really wants is they want NATO membership. But at this stage, it doesn't seem like it's in the cards. And we'll just add a note here. Four Russian warships sailed into Havana, Cuba, just yesterday in an additional show of force through the West. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel reporting for us from Ukraine. Richard, thank you as always, guys.

Thank you, Richard. Joining us now, former reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Matthew Brzezinski joins us. Matthew, thank you so much for being with us. Let's start by, first of all, talking about Ukraine strikes inside of Russia. How costly is that to Russia? Well, the Ukrainians are targeting Russia's air defense systems and its missile batteries. And they've been quite effective in doing this. And the the central point here is that Russia doesn't have very many of these equivalent of Patriot missile missile systems. And Ukraine has knocked out several in the past two weeks since getting authorization to strike into Russia. Ukraine is also wreaking absolute havoc in Crimea.

They're making the Russian position in Crimea almost untenable. They are hitting their supply lines. They have hit three airfields. The Black Sea fleet has essentially been withdrawn. And so there's actually some very good news on the Ukrainian front. Unfortunately, there's also a bit of bad news. Well, let's talk about that, Matthew, because you yeah, let's talk about the bad news for them, because they are those strikes, as you've told me offline, really having an impact in Crimea and also inside Russia. But you also say right now that there is a real manpower problem. And I'm I'm particularly interested in what your your insights on training pilots for F-16s and how they're sort of standing in a

queue behind paying customers and others who can wait. Talk about that, if you will. All right. Well, to begin with, Ukraine needs to mobilize at least a couple of hundred thousand soldiers in the next year. Remember, Russia has a three to one population advantage and Russia is paying its recruits the equivalent of three and a half times the national wage to join the army and fight in Ukraine. Put that in perspective, it's as if the U.S. Army was doing a recruiting drive and offering $200,000 a year salaries. There'd be a lot of takers. This is a very expensive, of course, policy for Putin. And people who are going there for the money aren't necessarily that motivated. Ukrainian soldiers are extremely motivated, but many of them have been on the front line for two

years now. I have a buddy, Asgkel, who's embedded with a battalion. And, you know, these guys are exhausted and they're getting these awful, like, dear John letters from their wives who have fled to Poland and now are saying they met somebody in Poland and they're going to get married in Poland. And so these poor guys are getting divorced while sitting in a trench. And it's just it's it's absolutely heartbreaking. Now, President Zelensky has made some some unpopular decisions. He's lowered the draft age from 27 to 25. Unfortunately, he's probably going to have to keep lowering it. And Ukraine's beginning to have a bit of a draft dodger problem. Unfortunately, the longer this war drags out, the less people are willing to fight. And coming back to your point on, you know, we can't do very

much to help Ukraine with manpower. Training the French proposal to send NATO trainers into Ukraine, I think, is a dumb idea, because the Russians will target them. You're going to have a bunch of, you know, dead Frenchmen. Then you're going to have the French media baying for blood and you're going to have serious escalation. On the other hand, we can do something in the training department, which we're dragging our feet on, unfortunately. And that is the Ukrainians have received all these F-16s from us. However, they don't have the pilots to fly them. It takes six months. And there's only a few facilities here in Arizona, I think in Texas as well. And as you mentioned, they're standing in a line waiting for the Arizona Air National Guard guys to get trained.

Really, the Arizona National Guard is not a pressing issue, but time is of the essence for the Ukrainians. So I think it would behoove the Air Force to fast track Ukrainian pilots. No point in having 60 F-16s sitting empty on the target with only a dozen pilots who are trained to fly them. So, Matthew, finally, what should the Biden administration do? What should Congress do right now that it is not doing to help the Ukrainians? I think we need to start sending them more and more sophisticated weapons. And to its credit, the Biden administration, I think it was two days ago, said they're going to shift a Patriot missile system that is being used right now to defend U.S. troops in Poland to Ukraine.

The Germans have have done the same. And, you know, one of these one of these this is the most expensive piece of hardware we've given the Ukrainians. One of these systems, all told, costs one point two billion dollars. That's with a B. And which is why when in the past two weeks, three or four of these systems have been knocked out in Russia. This is extremely expensive for for the Russians and is creating giant air gaps in their defenses as well. So I would give the Ukrainians more missiles, longer range, longer and longer range missiles and absolutely more more air defenses. But I would stay away from any kind of any kind of European talk about boots on the ground in Ukraine. You're right. All right. So, Matthew, it's great to have you on. I don't interview Matthew because he's family and I'm shook by the flashes of my uncle,

and my dad in all his mannerisms and looks. But it's great to have you on, former Wall Street Journal reporter Matthew Brzezinski. Good to see you. I'll call you later. All right. Take care.