Morning Joe - Morning Joe 8/16/22

Episode Date: August 16, 2022

Justice Department asks judge to keep Trump’s search warrant affidavit sealed, citing investigation

In my administration, I'm going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law. And irony dead this morning. Donald Trump. That was it. Back in 2016, promising to enforce laws on classified material. Good morning.

Wait a minute. Hold on a second. Can we hear that again? I mean, I got to say, I'm usually pretty good with this stuff. Will, do you feel like hearing it again? Yeah, let's do it again. I didn't get all of it. Okay. All right. There's some of it I didn't hear.

In my administration, I'm going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law. He he he Willie, he was very determined. All classified information. No one will be. I mean, he was really emphatic. It came from his gut there.

You could tell he really meant it. Very clear, too, that no one, no one, including a president, United States is above the law. By the way, it is the six year anniversary of that speech in West in Indiana. Happy anniversary to the president as the FBI goes through his documents this morning. Well, you know, he actually I guess in 2018, Willie, he passed a law. He signed a law that actually made the protection of classified material. That is a good thing to do. Even stronger. It is a good thing to do because he said in the campaign. Law and order party. He was going to protect all classified information. So he says said in the campaign, law and order is going to protect all classified information.

So so he says it in the campaign. And will he actually pass this legislation? He kept his word. He signs it, comes into law that the penalties for not protecting classified information going to be even tougher because of Hillary Clinton's emails. Yeah. Remember, the context of that speech six years ago was all about Hillary Clinton and the emails and the private server that she had in Chappaqua and on. It was the focus of his campaign. And now we have obviously the much more serious allegation here that the FBI is looking into that a president United States sneaked into his briefcase on the way out of the White House, potentially classified top secret documents, some reporting. We don't know exactly what they all are, that some of them may have been related to nuclear secrets. But so now the president twisting in the wind as he tries to explain whether he did it,

how he did it, whether the FBI may have planted it on him, whether Barack Obama did it, too. They haven't quite settled on an explanation for it because there really isn't a good one. Well, he was working at home. Sure. That's what they say. Yeah, because he worked so hard during executive time in the White House that he had to take some top secret classified information that could only be viewed in certain areas. All right. Had to take that.

We got a lot to get to. A lot of stuff actually, though, make it coming together. You look at the headline yesterday and boy, it's almost like a legal reckoning. People keep asking, well, how do how do you get away with this? How do how do all of these people get away with calling secretaries of state and telling them to rig an election, to find enough votes to steal an election? And you get senators from other states calling and secretary of state in Georgia saying, yeah, it kind of sounded like he was telling me to throw out legally cast votes. And you have Rudy Giuliani trying to overturn an election and doing it in nefarious ways. And you, of course, have January the 6th. And now you have Eric Hirschman being subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury for crimes that that occurred on January the 6th.

A lot of things actually coming together now. It's almost like what do they say? The wheels of justice turn slowly, but but they turn. I mean, they do turn. We'll see. We know we'll get to what we know actually be accountable. And not get in front of it too much. Federal prosecutors ask a judge to seal the affidavit in the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, stating that it could hurt its investigation into classified documents and, quote, other high-profile investigations.

Criminal investigations, that is. This as the heat turns up on Donald Trump. One of his top media allies questions if it's time for Republicans to move on. Plus, one of the final tests of Trump's sway over the Republican Party before November as two of his Republican critics, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Liz Cheney of Wyoming, face voters with two likely different outcomes. And Sarah Palin, I think, is running for Congress. Well, Steve Kornacki joins us this hour with the very latest.

He'll break it all down. And Senate Republicans reportedly cancel ad spending in several key swing states. What that might say about overall GOP fundraising and the campaigns for Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin and Blake Masters in Arizona. You know, Willie, I'm not good at this politics. It's good to have the team back together again. But I did see a couple of episodes of the West Wing. Is it bad when they take millions of dollars out of Dr. Oz's state out of Pennsylvania, the Republicans and cancel like what, like three million dollars? And because they're having a bad time, they're having trouble with with donations. They're having trouble raising money.

Yes. Joe, you're viewing in reruns of the West Wing has served you well in this case. It's a bad sign. And it is a good sign for Democrats who not so long ago had sort of written off the United States Senate, perhaps. But now when you look at Pennsylvania, when you look at Ohio, when you look at Georgia, when you look at Arizona, they feel like they're back in the game. They could at least perhaps preserve the 50-50 split in the Senate. But yeah, J.D. Vance is having trouble raising money in Ohio as well. Tim Ryan, a strong moderate Democrat running there. So a combination of some bad candidates on the Republican side, Joe, and some good ones like Tim Ryan running in Ohio on the other side. You've just confused a few viewers. This J.D. Vance you speak of. Oh,

come on, Joe. Don't do it again because you're your invitation is not up to par. Well, you don't watch South Park, do you? No, but you start with South Park, but you end up Trumpy. It doesn't work. No, it doesn't end up. We're going to workshop and we're workshopping Senator Butters. OK, well, we're going to take it off Broadway first. We're going to come back to that in a minute. Let's start with the Justice Department now asking a judge to keep the affidavit pertaining to the search warrant of Mar-a-Lago sealed, setting a need to protect the investigation and witnesses. The affidavit contains the government's reasoning for conducting the search. In a court filing submitted yesterday, federal prosecutors argued, quote,

if disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government's ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course. In addition, information about witnesses is particularly sensitive, given the high profile nature of this matter and would impact their willingness to cooperate. The government also states releasing the affidavit could chill future cooperation in, quote, other high profile investigations. Well, early this morning, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he wants the affidavit released immediately, unredacted.

OK. He also claimed the judge should recuse himself, but didn't explain why he should do that. Let's bring in former U.S. attorney and senior FBI official Chuck Rosenberg, congressional reporter for The Guardian, Hugo Lowell, and the host of way too early White House bureau chief at Politico and bestselling author of The Big Lie, Jonathan Lemire. Good morning to you all. Chuck, let me start with you on the affidavit, how unusual it is to unseal an affidavit for a search warrant of this profile. What's going on behind the scenes here? Sure, Willie. Well, look, generally, it's not at all unusual to unseal a search warrant. Eventually, these things become public as almost everything you file in federal court must and should.

But it's also not unusual if you have an ongoing criminal investigation. I think Joe was right to point out it's an ongoing criminal investigation to keep the affidavit sealed. You can keep an affidavit sealed for legitimate law enforcement purposes. And I can't think of anything more legitimate than an ongoing criminal investigation. So you don't want to tip off people. You don't want evidence destroyed. You don't want witnesses tampered with. When all that dust settles, when the investigations are done, if charges are brought in open court, you should expect to see the affidavits. That's what normally happens. While there is an ongoing investigation

and while these concerns are at the forefront, you ought to keep it sealed. And that's exactly what the government asked for. It makes perfect sense. So, Chuck, what did you make of it, given where this case is, given the fact that the attorney general thought it was important enough to actually release the warrant so people would get some basic understanding of it? How should how should the president's lawyers, how should others read into the fact that the DOJ won't release this affidavit because they say it'll get in the way of an ongoing criminal investigation? Yeah. So first, just a minor point. The DOJ can't release the affidavit without the permission of the court. Right now, this is before a judge and it's up to him to

either seal or unseal. the Department of Justice can ask for what it wants. But for the lawyers, for Mr. Trump, look, this is not good news. There's lots of things that you don't want to be in life. There's a few things you want to be. You want to be healthy and happy and successful. You don't want to be on the back end of a criminal search warrant. You don't want to be a target of an investigation. Those are bad things. And so if there are not just the investigation of the handling of the classified information that was found at Mar-a-Lago, and by the way, that's extremely sensitive stuff. If there are other related ongoing investigations, as we saw in the government's motion to keep

the search warrant sealed, that's a bad day for Mr. Trump, and that's going to create some work for his lawyers. So, Hugo, you've been reporting on this and sort of the reaction inside Trump's world and the inner circle to everything that's happened in the last week and a half or so since the FBI executed that search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. How concerned are they? We know what the public posture is, that this is the FBI out to get us, et cetera, et cetera, the deep state, whatever they're saying. But how concerned are they really? Well, so I think they really wanted DOJ not to move to block the release of the affidavit. They're really casting around for some sort of insight into where DOJ goes next. And I think the fact that they can't get this now, at least immediately, is a real problem for them. And I think the fact that they can't get this now, at least immediately,

is a real problem for them. And I think there's a lot of concern that has kind of permeated through in the last week, as you might expect. I mean, certainly I caught up with some of the lawyers, the Trump legal team, and I think they were annoyed at how DOJ has moved on this. But then the aides in Trump world are also kind of frustrated and quite worried now about a potential informant in their midst, right? Because there was all that chatter about there might be a human source that the FBI has been relying on. And so now they're casting around trying to find if there's someone in their midst who might be talking to the FBI. And that speculation has shifted all across the board.

It started with Nick Lunar and Molly Michael earlier in the week, you know, two top aides to the former president. And then very quickly it shifted. Oh, was it the professional staff? You know, was it the help at Mar-a-Lago? And then by the weekend, we had also included members of the Trump family. So I think everyone's been a suspect. So we're going to get to the political reaction in a little bit with Republicans, some at least, becoming a bit concerned about just walking the plank for Trump. But Jonathan Lemire, I know you want to take it to chalk as we try and figure out what we do and don't know so far. But there's also this issue, especially Trump making an issue about his passports.

Were they taken? Why would they be? What's the story? So, yeah, here in Washington, this was what everyone was buzzing about yesterday. Trump's post saying that his passports were taken. First of all, the idea of why does he have more than one passport? But let's be clear, that does happen. People who travel for government can have diplomatic passports. You can have more than one if trips line up a certain way. That's not that unusual. But the idea that his passports were taken raised the question of, well, is he being perceived as a flight risk? Does this mean that charges could be imminent? Now, DOJ later tells us those passports were returned. So,

Chuck Rosenberg, I was going to get your take as to what you think this means. Was this simply passports were scooped up with other materials that go through the filter team and then they're returned appropriately. Or do you think there's a greater meaning behind this? And we should note the former president's had planned to travel overseas later this month to check out some of his golf course, the United Kingdom. Not clear if that trip can now happen. Right, Jonathan. So a few points. First, you're absolutely right. When I was in government, I had more than one passport. Second, it's not necessary, I think, in this case to take Mr. Trump's passports during a search.

Perhaps they were scooped up. Sometimes you do take them. Maybe a drug dealer and I'm talking about a different case here, obviously. Maybe a drug dealer is living in the rented apartment of some friend and you want to show for criminal purposes that his passports were there, his toothbrush was there, that's where he lives. So it might be evidence to establish someone's, you know, dominion or control over a particular residence. That's not necessary at Mar-a-Lago. We know who lives there. It's Mr. Trump. So it could have been scooped up inadvertently. It seems like the government gave it back. There's one other point, though, Jonathan, and I think you were alluding to this. After somebody is charged, if a judge is going to release them on bond prior to trial, often,

typically, usually, you take their passports. Why? Because you don't want them to flee the country before trial. But that's not the case here either. So it seems to me that it may have been inadvertent. There are interesting issues bound up in the passport. But by the way, that's not the only way to prove travel. As you all probably know from your own travel, your passport doesn't always get stamped when you go through border control. But there are other databases available to the FBI within the U.S. government that can show someone's travel. So it seems to me to be inadvertent. Let's see what happens if someone's charged with their pass. Let's see what happens to their passports if somebody's charged. So the mounting legal woes for the former

president are causing a lot of different reactions and concerns. A Pennsylvania man was arrested and charged with making threats against the FBI. Police say Adam Baez is charged with influencing or impeding or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers. Agents say Baez recently posted a variety of threats on the far right website Gab, following the search of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. Now, according to the affidavit, Baez compared federal agents to KGB and Nazi officers and threatened to kill them. He was arrested on Friday. This is just this is the part where I really feel like everybody needs to hang on, Joe, and just let the story speak for itself,

because all the buzz on the Internet and all over the airwaves, it does it does have an impact. Well, I mean, you say buzz. Well, there's an awful lot of calling it buzz. There's not a lot of hate speech coming from pro-Trump media outlets, just attacking the nation's premier law enforcement agency simply because Donald Trump is being investigated. It's been that way now for years. Unfortunately, the Republican Party, who used to defend law enforcement officers and used to defend the FBI, decided to trash the FBI once Donald Trump got into office, despite the fact it was the FBI, in my humble opinion, that helped Donald Trump get into office. Thank you, James Comey. But Chuck Rosenberg, I heard such reckless rhetoric coming out of the Republican Party immediately after this legal search. Such recklessness and such hate, such hatred

towards law enforcement officers, both in the Republican Party, on pro-Trump TV networks, on pro-Trump websites. It seems that it's calmed down a bit over the last couple of days. There are at least a few Republicans, one former FBI agent who's a member of Congress who actually is calling his buddies and asking if they're doing OK. It's nice that at least one Republican is doing that. You have Congressman Turner, who is telling fellow Republicans to guard their words. That's very important as well. But for the most part, a lot of hate speaks from Republicans and not enough Republican leaders speaking out in defense of the Federal Bureau of Investigations and in defense of law enforcement officers. What's the impact of that for people unhinged out there? Yeah, so, Joe, first of all,

it's pathetic and sickening, but let's just put that aside for a minute, that small thing aside for a minute. It's also really dangerous. You saw what happened in Cincinnati. You saw the recent arrest of this man in Pennsylvania. Even though we know it's just, you know, sort of the sickening and disgusting rhetoric, there are people out there who act on it. And so you couldn't, you might not like what the FBI has done in certain instances, but the FBI is a group of people and you're putting the people at risk. The agents in Tacoma and Mobile and Albany, you're putting them at risk. They have a really hard job to do without getting sort of targeted by Republican politicians. And so to me, it's more than pathetic and sickening. It's really dangerous. There are people who are clearly unhinged, who take the president's words to heart, who want to act to defend the former president,

who will take up arms and will go out and try and hurt other people. You're talking about our neighbors. You're talking about people in our communities. You're talking about people who took an oath to serve this country. I can't think of anybody who wouldn't want an FBI agent as their next door neighbor. These are good, honest, decent men and women of integrity. They protect us. We should be grateful for them. And instead, now they're being targeted. And Joe, it is sickening. And just another case like with January 6th, as we've learned in the hearings where these people, many of the members of Congress back law enforcement so long as law enforcement serves their interests. And the moment they don't, they attack them sometimes physically.

We talked about the fallout from all that's happened around 2020, more of it in the state of Georgia. Rudy Giuliani is now a target of the criminal investigation into possible 2020 election interference there. That's according to his attorney, the grand jury called by Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis. Already has heard witness testimony about debunked conspiracy theories Giuliani pushed to Georgia lawmakers back in 2020. Giuliani was subpoenaed last month, but his legal team has delayed his appearance, citing health concerns. Giuliani is expected to testify tomorrow now after a judge last week ordered him to appear in person. His attorney told The New York Times Giuliani would probably invoke attorney

client privilege if asked questions about his dealings with former President Trump, saying, quote, If these people think he's going to talk about conversations between him and President Trump, they are delusional. So, Hugo, Rudy Giuliani was on the phone in 2020 around the election, but after and during the election, they're helping them find ways using conspiracy theories to perhaps throw those 11,000 or so votes to Donald Trump. And now the debt is due for Rudy Giuliani. He said he couldn't get down there because of his heart stent. He couldn't fly. The judge said, OK, then drive. So he is expected to be there to testify. Where does this go from here? Well, we learned yesterday that he's now a target of that

investigation, which is quite a significant move if you think about all the legal woes that Giuliani is facing, whether it's January 6th with the congressional investigation or the federal investigation. And now in this in the state investigation, he is a target of that investigation. I think that's really significant because when he gets to that courthouse in Atlanta tomorrow, he has a decision to make. Is he going to cooperate with the state investigation? Is he going to cooperate with Fannie Willis' criminal probe and potentially buy himself some credit if it comes to an indictment, if it comes to sentencing? Or is he going to invoke his Fifth Amendment, which was very much on the table when we spoke to Giuliani's lawyers last week? And so I think he's got a really important decision to make,

depending on how he wants to go down this road with the criminal probes. And Mika, we should point out, too, that Lindsey Graham has wrapped up in all this. He's been subpoenaed down in the state of Georgia. Remember, he was also making phone calls around the election there, just checking in, he said, as the head of the Judiciary Committee. But he's involved in this too. So these are bold faced names in the Trump orbit now being wrapped up in this investigation in Fulton County. Hugo Lowell, Chuck Rosenberg, thank you both very much for being on this morning. We really appreciate it. A lot happening still ahead on Morning Joe. A rough summer travel season takes another big hit. FAA staffing shortages yesterday in the New York

metro area led to long delays for travelers that will likely carry over into today's schedule. Also ahead, Steve Kornacki standing by at the big board. He's going to break down the primary races in Alaska and Wyoming that are getting a lot of attention for good reason. Plus, we'll get a live report from Ukraine and the latest on a possible attack in northern Crimea this morning. And as we go to break, a look at some of the other stories we're following today. President Biden is expected to sign the Democrats climate health care and tax bill into law today. The White House says in the weeks ahead, the president will host a cabinet meeting focused on implementing the Inflation Reduction Act into law. He will also travel across the country to highlight how the bill will help Americans.

And Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has tested positive for covid-19, experiencing mild symptoms. Austin issued a statement yesterday saying he will quarantine for the next five days in accordance with CDC guidelines. The 69 year old is fully vaccinated and has received two boosters. He plans to continue his normal work schedule. He says his most recent in-person contact with President Biden was last month. This is the second time Austin has tested positive for the virus. We'll be right back with much more Morning Joe. Beautiful sunrise over the Potomac in Washington as we come up on the bottom of the hour. It is primary day in the state of Wyoming where incumbent Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney is facing a number of challengers, including Trump endorsed contender Harriet Hageman. Recent polling shows Cheney

trailing Hageman by nearly 30 points. Cheney lost her position in House Republican leadership and the Wyoming Republican Party voted to censure her for speaking out against former President Trump and for joining the House January 6th committee as its vice chair. Cheney has said again and again her top priority is to stop Trump from ever winning the presidency again, describing him as a threat to American democracy. Joining us now at the big board, national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, Steve Kornacki. Steve, good morning. A big day in Wyoming and Alaska. We'll talk about in just a moment. This polling has been a little spotty in Wyoming, but suffice it to say, a big lead for Hageman over Cheney as we go into voting today.

Yeah, the polling certainly hasn't been encouraging for Liz Cheney. You take a look at the matchup. There actually is going to be a third candidate on the ballot here. But it's Hagman who's gotten the endorsement of Donald Trump, who's been leading, as you say, in the poll. And it's out there leading by lopsided margins over Liz Cheney. You've got the dynamics here in Wyoming and in the polling. And then you've got the broader context for this. You mentioned 10 Republican members of Congress, of the House, I should say, in the wake of January 6th, voted to impeach Donald Trump. And of those 10, Cheney was the most prominent and she has been the most persistent in her criticisms and attacks on

Donald Trump. And just take a look here. This is the track record of those 10, what's happened to them politically in 2022 after casting those impeachment votes? And you can see here a number of them chose just not to run for reelection this year. And then you've got started at Tom Rice in South Carolina. He was crushed in his primary. Peter Meyer, we saw recently lost in Michigan. Jamie Herrera Butler lost in Washington state. You did have two who survived primaries. I think notable, though, here, David Valadao in California. It's one of those top two primaries, all the candidates from all the different parties on the same ballot, top two advance. And Donald Trump did not make any endorsement in this primary.

He stayed away and Valadao got through to the second round of voting. And Dan Newhouse in Washington state, Donald Trump did endorse a challenger of Dan Newhouse. But again, it was one of those top two primaries. It was a very crowded primary, very crowded field. A lot of different Trump aligned candidates. Newhouse got through. He got through with about 25 percent of the vote. So here's Liz Cheney from the Trump standpoint. This is much more what he's looking for when he has candidates, when he's backing candidates against other Republicans. It's more of a clean one on one matchup. Again, there is a third candidate here.

He's barely registering. So Trump's kind of getting that one on one matchup with Cheney. And the polling certainly is suggesting that Cheney is poised to join the company of those other Republicans who've been defeated in primaries. You know, Mika, in this primary season of shape shifting Republican candidates who are trying to become as closely aligned with Donald Trump as they can be, even though they have no history of it dating back to a month or so ago. Liz Cheney's closing ad is who she's always been for the last couple of years. And she's saying, take me or leave me. This is the truth. This is who Donald Trump is. This is what I think he's done to the country. This is what I think he may still do to the country. And she's willing perhaps to lose by 20 or more points to make that stand. Of course she is. And we'll be watching this and then see what

happens next for her if she does indeed lose that election, which it appears she will. Voters in Alaska today will use the ranked choice voting system for the first time. I find this fascinating. This means all candidates will compete on the same ballot and the top four vote getters, regardless of party affiliation, will move on to the final election in November. One of the most watched races, of course, will be the Senate primary incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski was one of seven Republican senators who voted to impeach former President Trump after January 6th. I believe that was his second impeachment trial. She was the only one with the reelection bid this year and has

become a top target for Trump, who has backed challenger Kelly Chewbacca. Both are expected to advance to the final November election, along with Democrat Pat Chesbrough. Meanwhile, in a House special election, four candidates are running to finish the rest of Congressman Don Young's term. The lawmaker died earlier this year. Former vice presidential candidate and governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, finished first in the special elections June primary. She has the endorsement of the former president. At the same time, as the special election voters will choose candidates for the House primary, All candidates in the special election are also on that ballot. So, Steve, play out Alaska for us and how it looks for Sarah Palin, but also for the Senate candidates.

Yeah, this one, this House special election in Alaska tonight, I think is where the real suspense is. And that suspense will sort of spill over into the early morning hours and I think potentially the next couple of weeks, because remember, as you say, this is going to be decided ultimately by ranked choice voting. So what you're seeing here are the results from the preliminary. And again, what they do in this ranked choice system in Alaska, they all Democrat, Republican, they run on the same ballot and then the top four advance. So initially in this House special election, you had the top four candidates. There was a fourth candidate you don't see on the screen named Al Gross, who also advanced. He was sort of aligned with the Democrats. Gross dropped out of the race, got his name off the ballot. So

there are going to be three names on the runoff ballot here for this special election today in Alaska. And voters, what they're doing is they're ranking them. My first choice, my second choice, my third choice. Here's what the expectation is for how this is going to play out with only three candidates on this ballot. There's one Democrat, Mary Peltola. You see her right there only got 10 percent in the preliminary, but presumably she's going to pretty much monopolize the Democratic vote today. So if you if you take that, Peltola may very well finish in first place in the initial count. And then that's going to create some suspense here. Palin or Nick Begich, which of these they're both Republicans, which of these finishes second? That's a crucial question,

because in the ranked choice system, they'll do one, two, three. Whoever finishes third will be eliminated on the spot. And then their supporters second choice will get reallocated. So we've seen some polling in this race that suggested again that Peltola, just by monopolizing the Democratic vote, is primed to finish in first place today. But that Palin and Begich are in a neck and neck race potentially for second place here. Now, if Begich gets second place over Palin, that's it. Palin loses the special election and her supporters get reallocated. If you assume her supporters would overwhelmingly back Begich just because they're not going to back a Democrat, then Begich might be well positioned to win on the ranked choice round. The interesting scenario here is if Palin gets second instead of Begich,

if you take a look at the polling, Palin's negative numbers in Alaska are very, very high. Would there be a slice of Begich voters who would not make Palin their second choice? And could that Palin Palin Peltola matchup? Could Peltola actually win the ranked choice there? We won't know on the ranked choice for a couple of weeks. It'll probably be the very end of this month or about September 1st when they actually do the ranked choice process on this. But what we will find out probably not tonight, but in the next couple of days is whether it's Palin or Begich who finishes in that second place spot. And of course, as you say, this is the special election. All of these candidates are doing it all over again in a primary in a November runoff again starting today. And then you mentioned that Senate race as well. Honestly, not a ton of suspense tonight. This is about the prelude to Murkowski and Chewbacca in November.

Wow. OK. All right. Ahead in our fourth hour, we're going to get a live report from Wyoming and Alaska. Let me ask Steve really quickly just about this Alaska ranked voting. You know, it's hard. I know for a lot of people to remember Sarah Palin before she got on John McCain's ticket was an extremely popular governor in Alaska. Approval ratings in the 70s. Maybe I even read at one point at 80 percent or so. But we haven't we haven't seen that Sarah Palin since 2008. And yet in this campaign, we saw a clip yesterday of her seemingly extending an olive branch to Democrats saying, you know what, they're good candidates on both sides. And that's a great thing for the people of Alaska. I'm curious. We always talk about how, you know, we have to get rid of gerrymandering to make these races a bit more

sane and rational. I'm wondering, does ranked voting do that itself? Is that what we were seeing yesterday when we saw that clip of Sarah Palin? You a little. We see what we've seen is Palin and Begich have both laid off Peltola, but they haven't laid off each other. So there's it's been pretty intense between Palin and Begich and a Begich campaign calling Palin a quitter. Remember, she had left in the middle of that term as governor. So I think you're getting typical campaign dynamics between Palin and Begich because they both understand one of them has got to finish second, likely here. One is going to finish second. One's going to finish third and be done.

And that could be the ballgame here in terms of winning this congressional seat. So you're seeing a typical campaign between the two of them, but they've kind of both left Peltola alone. Steve Kornacki, thank you so much. I think we'll be seeing you again tomorrow. On a programming note, Steve will be at the big board tonight as the returns come in. He'll be on with Alex Wagner tonight as she launches her new show, Alex Wagner Tonight, Tuesdays through Fridays at nine o'clock Eastern time right here on MSNBC. And as part of her premiere, Alex will also be live at midnight Eastern as polls close in Alaska. So that's tonight on MSNBC, starting at nine p.m. Eastern. Congratulations, Alex and Steve.

Sorry, dude, we'll see you tomorrow. Still ahead this morning, there were new explosions in the Russian-controlled Crimea area this morning. NBC's Josh Letterman joins us from Kiev with the latest on Ukraine's fight. Also ahead, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will join us with a look-at- the administration strategy for the upcoming school year, including plans to address the nationwide teacher shortage and how to keep students safe from COVID and monkeypox.

Morning Joe will be right back. I will keep the dream alive. In Ukraine, the government is urging residents in the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson to leave as soon as possible. In a statement Sunday, Ukraine's deputy prime minister wrote, quote, Evacuate. A harsh winter is coming. We need to help you to save you from the cold and the enemy. End quote.

The appeal comes as Ukrainian forces prepare for a counteroffensive to take back the city, which fell to the Russians in March. Officials say evacuations from that region would make it easier for Ukrainian forces to operate there without inflicting civilian casualties. Officials also say while Ukrainian forces have not advanced in weeks, their artillery campaign seems to have slowed the flow of Russian arms, equipment and troops into that area. Meanwhile, new explosions rocked the Russiancontrolled Crimea region this morning. Russian officials say the blasts took place at an ammunition storage facility, injuring two people and disrupting train services. It's still unclear who is behind the attack.

But in a statement, the Russian defense ministry said, quote, the fire was the result of a sabotage. This is the second attack in a week to rock the Crimea area, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Ukraine has not publicly claimed responsibility for the strikes, but if Kyiv is behind the attacks, it shows Ukrainian forces new capability to strike deeper into Russian territory. Joining us now live from Ky Kiev, NBC News correspondent Josh Letterman. Josh, what more can you tell us? Well, Mika, we all remember former Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman, the face of President

Trump's first impeachment trial, who blew the whistle about that now infamous call where President Trump tried to strong arm President Zelensky into opening investigations into Hunter Biden. We can now report that Alex Vindman is now back in Kiev, the city where he was born. He slipped into the country over the border from Poland and is now here in Ukraine meeting with top U.S. officials from the embassy, from the State Department and the military, as well as top Ukrainian officials. And I spoke with him exclusively this morning here in Kiev, where he was fairly critical of the Biden administration's handling of this war

so far, faulting the Biden White House for being too slow, saying it is absolutely time for the U.S. to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, as well as in the longer term to provide fighter aircraft, more long range artillery to the Ukrainians. And I asked him what his advice would be to President Biden about how to improve the U.S. response to this war. Take a listen. Take the courageous decisions now. Don't wait four, five months to offer HIMARS. Don't wait until next month, until the next tragedy to offer long range fires or to the way that President Trump and other top officials handled classified information. And I asked him about his concerns about Trump possessing some of those top U.S. national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago. This is what he said.

It's hard to fathom the kinds of risks that were in there. You know, we're talking about where our nuclear stockpile might be, how effective it is. And this guy keeps it with him because he thinks it's cool. Oh, look, I've got like a box full of nuclear secrets out there that I could just peer into because it's fun. That's the way that's his callousness with regards to national security. Do you worry he could share those secrets with other countries? I think that is a very legitimate concern. He also told me that there is a direct thread between President Trump's first impeachment and the war that Russia is now currently waging in Ukraine.

He said Ukraine would be in a far better position to defend itself militarily if the former president had not undermined Ukraine's national security, Mika. Wow. NBC's Josh Letterman with that interview. Thank you very much for being on this morning. And still ahead, we're also following the latest developments out of China as Beijing launches new military drills following a trip to Taiwan by U.S. lawmakers also ahead. We're breaking down

all the legal implications surrounding the affidavit that cleared the way for the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago. We'll be right back. In the morning, New York City at 6.52 a.m. Okay. We're tipped to be square. Willie, so after the Red Sox traded their catcher, who is really the heart of the team, their catcher and right fielder for two proof-of-purchase deals from any Kellogg's branded product, I stopped following baseball as closely as I did in the past. We had Chuck Schumer on last week, and at the end of the interview, he said, Joe, thanks for not making fun of me for being a Yankees fan. And I thought, well, this is really dry humor. They're like the greatest team ever.

And then I said, you know, looked a little closer and saw that they were on the skid. And we saw some of that this weekend when when we went to Boston, Jack and uh we saw some of that this weekend um uh when when we went to boston jack and i and watched some games um i guess the question is what i mean in baseball as you know as i told jack from a young age everything balances out if a 285 hitters hitting 410 he's going to end up at 285 most like everything balances out the end. I'm just wondering what's causing the balancing. Right now with New York, what's happening? Because you don't have a ton of injuries like the Yankees usually do. What's going on?

Some injuries. Stanton's out. Severino's out. Carpenter just went out. They do have some injuries, but that's not really the root of it. They haven't scored any runs. They've been shut out in four of their last nine games, including last night against the Rays. Their pitching's been a little better. Cole was actually good last night,

but didn't get much help from his defense, as you see there from Aaron Hicks, or the bullpen, which has been part of the problem. But the pitching staff hasn't been great for a while. They're 8-16 since the All-Star break, Joe. I mean, these are the Yankees who, at the beginning of the year, some people were saying they're going to win 120 games, forget about the 27 Yankees, all that stuff. As we always say on this show, my God, is it a long season. When you talk about from April to late October, so much is going to happen. You can't stay that hot.

You can't keep everybody healthy. So they're in a slump right now, a long one, albeit, but they're still 10 games up in the division. But they have faded from that conversation. I mean, they're nine games behind the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. They're behind the Mets. They're behind the Astros. So they are certainly struggling right now. But because it's a long season, let's hope this is a valley and another peak is in front of us. Well, and what you want to do is, and I mean this, I mean, I've had friends that have had teams that have gone on 20 game winning streaks in August and September, and they've been so excited.

I'm like, dude, the wrong time to get hot. I mean, this is this is if you if you want your team to go through it, this is when you want your team to go through. It's a perfect time, in fact, start getting things realigned in September going into the playoffs. I did see there, though, in that highlight reel that Aaron Hicks, obviously, went to the Jared and Duran School of Centerfielders. I mean, come on. It's a can of corn. Catch it, right? So we're looking, obviously, at the American League East because that's what we do,

because there's American League East bias on this show. The Orioles are an incredible story, but we don't really have time to get to that. I want to talk about the New York Mets and, of course, the Atlanta Braves, who are like the posse and Butch Cassidy, the Sundance kid. They just keep coming. Every time I look at the Braves, they've won seven out of 10 games. But these Mets, these Mets have been more injury prone and accident prone than Chris Sell on a bike and yet they just keep winning like the Mets boy this team is built to win aren't they

they are and Lemire they get their pitching back to I mean they they had it we're already having a good season then DeGrom comes back we're watching the Braves right now who've won seven games in a row to Joy Joy's point they just keep coming at you and maybe right there at the end of the season like they were last year but Lemire the Mets man they they might be there too they've got you know the Dodgers of course are in the way but they've got the stuff to go go all the way yeah you've got the defending champion Braves red hot uh you have the Dodgers who are 20 and 4 uh over the last few weeks and already had already had 80 wins.

But let's talk Mets for a second. There's some fans who wish they had done a little more at the deadline, but they've got a strong lineup. They have Edwin Diaz, who's been the best closer in baseball so far this year, and an electric introduction music when he comes in. Citi Field goes crazy. But it's all about those top two pitchers. There's no team in baseball.

That includes the Yankees, the Astros, the Dodgers. There's no team in baseball that can do a 1-2 of Scherzer and DeGrom. And DeGrom, who's only made about three starts

so far this year, but they've all been spectacular. He looks like he hasn't missed a beat. And if he's able to stay healthy in October, that's no sure thing. Because he is about

as durable as Chris Sale. That if he's healthy... stay healthy in October, that's no sure thing, because he is about as durable as Chris Sale. That if he's healthy. On a unicycle. On a unicycle. If he's that healthy, and Scherzer, who, of course, has a terrific postseason track record, they can beat anybody. There is a sense here that they're sort of an older team. DeGrom's a free agent at the end of the year.

The Mets window is now, but they are positioned to do it. Yeah, you know, the Dodgers, Willie, are a perfect example of getting hot at the right time and at the wrong time. How many times over the past several years have we seen the Dodgers just go on a torrid, torrid clip and then lose a World Series in four or five games? Of course, they won it last year. I'm sure they're a great team. 80-34 looks great, but you always go back and think of that Seattle team that won 116, 118 games and couldn't even make it to the series. It is all about timing, isn't it?

All right. Well, by the way, you know, with the pitcher, Walker Buehler, the surgery, could really shake things up for him. Nice. All right, guys. So coming Yeah. Surgery? Yeah. Could really shake things up for him. Nice. All right, guys. So coming up. Yeah, that's great.

She knows his game. A longtime ally of Donald Trump suggests it may be time for someone else to lead the Republican Party. And in Washington, the White House and Democratic leadership want to remind people they're passing historic landmark legislation. We'll have more about their big plans. Plus, eventually, he said, orderly transition. I said, good, John. Now I'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life. Get a great F in criminal defense lawyer. You're going to need it. And then I hung up on him. Former Trump attorney Eric Hirschman became a familiar face in the first round of the January 6th committee hearings. Now his testimony is piquing the interest of a federal grand jury. We'll explain that next on Morning Joe.