Morning Joe - Morning Joe 8/26/22

Episode Date: August 26, 2022

Judge orders a redacted version of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit be made public Friday

There's a lot at stake. So I want to be crystal clear of what's on the ballot this year. Your right to choose is on the ballot this year. The Social Security you paid for from the time you had a job is on the ballot. The safety of your kids from gun violence is on the ballot. And it's not hyperbole. The very survival of our planet is on the ballot. And it's not hyperbole. The very survival of our planet is on the ballot. Your right to vote is on the ballot. Even the democracy. Are you ready to do one thing. Vote. Vote. You got it. President Biden firing up a crowd in Maryland as he returns to the campaign trail for his first rally ahead of the midterm elections.

But it's what he told donors earlier in the day that really got Republicans riled up. We'll walk you through his remarks, plus the latest on the Justice Department investigation into Donald Trump. At any moment now, we expect to see a redacted copy of the affidavit used to justify the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago two and a half weeks ago. We'll talk about what we could learn when that document comes out. Good morning. Welcome to Morning Joe. It is Friday, August 26. I'm Willie Geist. With us this morning, MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle, former United States Senator and NBC News MSNBC political analyst Claire McCaskill and White House editor for Politico, Sam Stein. Good morning to you both. We wake up to some news this morning, a redacted copy of the affidavit used to justify the search warrant executed at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate will be made available to the public by at least noon today, possibly this morning.

Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart yesterday ordered it to be unsealed after the Justice Department submitted the redacted version for him to review. In the order, he outlined what sections of the affidavit the government redacted before public release, saying, I find that the government has met its burden of showing a compelling reason, a good cause to seal portions of the affidavit. Because disclosure would reveal the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, uncharged parties, the investigation strategy, direction, scope, sources and methods, and grand jury information protected by federal rule of criminal procedure. The FBI removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some labeled secret and top secret from Trump's South Florida home on August 8th.

Joining us now, congressional investigations reporter for The Washington Post, Jackie Alimany, and former U.S. attorney and senior FBI official Chuck Rosenberg. Good morning, guys. Chuck, I'll start with you. What is reasonable for us to expect when this document in a matter of hours is made public? Will we learn much about the investigation or will it be, as some have said, just pages of redacted black lines? Well, maybe a little bit of both, Willie. Think about the affidavit in two buckets. I don't want to oversimplify it. I just want to simplify it. Bucket number one, it'll be the procedural history, right? What led us to this point? And it may include information

about the back and forth between the National Archives and the former president's team to reclaim documents that belong to the government and not to Mr. Trump personally. That's the procedural stuff, bucket number one. Bucket number two is sort of the factual underpinning of the affidavit, why there was probable cause, what crimes the government believed were committed, and why they believed they would find evidence of those crimes at Mar-a-Lago. I think we're going to see a good bit from bucket one, the procedural stuff. We've seen we've seen reporting on that, Willie. It may confirm some of the reporting. It may add a few details to the reporting. But I don't think we're going to see anything or I should say very little, if anything, from bucket number two, sort of the substantive factual underpinnings of the probable cause determination. For the reasons the judge said, you have witnesses out there, you have uncharged parties out there, and you have the scope and the direction of the investigation, which needs to be which needs to remain sealed while the investigation is

ongoing. So a good bit, perhaps from bucket one, not very much, if anything at all, from bucket number two. Jackie, Judge Reinhart has been kind of walking this line for the last couple of weeks, acknowledging perhaps the interest in making some of this public, given the extraordinary nature of the case, just showing the justification for that search warrant that was granted to Mar-a-Lago. And then the other side saying, yes, we understand that there's an ongoing investigation and there are people whose names, their sources and methods, their strategies that should not be made public and typically would not be made public here. What do you expect to see today? You've been reporting on this so closely. Yeah, Willie, well, I think we need to

note that in the unredacted form, this would provide the most comprehensive rationale for why the government had wanted to search Trump's property. But as for reasons that were laid out by Jay Brat himself in front of the court last week, there has been a feeling amongst Justice Department officials that this would highly jeopardize the current investigation. So I think that we can expect to ultimately see something that is heavily redacted, but might shed a little bit of new light on the timeline, as Chuck pointed out, but is unlikely to reveal sources and methods and what they ultimately believed might have been on the premises. As we previously reported, though, we know that they were, for some part, looking for information related to sources and methods and potentially items related to

the U.S.'s nuclear program. We also know that the information that they ultimately took is some of the most sensitive information in the U.S. government and is highly sensitive and could be a very serious breach to national security. It's very unlikely that what we're going to see released today will confirm some of that. Yeah, Claire, I mean, if you read the judge's order, basically he accepts the Justice Department's redactions. And obviously they wouldn't leave anything in there that they thought would jeopardize witnesses or jeopardize their investigation. The judge calling this the least onerous alternative to just unsealing the entire affidavit. Yeah, Willie, that timeline that you just put up is such a clear roadmap of facts for a jury on the Presidential Records Act and the fact that this president saw these records as his,

like a little baby. They're mine. You can't have them. And he fought with the archivist for a full year over giving back these top secret classified documents. And I think what has to happen now is, and this is what I want to ask Chuck, I mean, we know what has happened. We can clearly see what has happened. Give us a

sense of the timeline going forward. I mean, the clock is ticking, Chuck. This has taken an awfully long time. Even from the moment that the archivist realized that classified documents had been part of the boxes that he grudgingly sent back, it's been months and months before we've gotten to this point. I mean, there's a big election in a couple of years, and I don't understand why there doesn't seem to be more of a sense of urgency around the timing of this investigation. Help us out there. Yeah, good questions, Claire. So I think the Department of Justice gave a lot of what was very patient and gave Mr. Trump and his lawyers sort of every opportunity to do the right thing, sort of like Lucy and Charlie Brown in the football. Right. You know, Lucy never actually holds it for Charlie Brown to kick it through

the uprights. And Trump and his team never quite do the right thing. And so after months and months and months, to your point, Claire, of trying to get the stuff back by asking, and that didn't work, and then through a grand jury subpoena, and that apparently didn't work, they finally executed a search warrant. So I think that explains a good bit of the delay. And I don't blame the Department of Justice for trying to do it more gently. And I certainly don't blame them for ultimately getting a search warrant and executing it on the home. The stuff, as Jackie explained, that was in the house

was among the most damaging, potentially, if released improperly, material that we have in our holdings. And so what happens next and how quickly does that happen? Also a hard question to answer. I know you were a state prosecutor. I was a federal prosecutor. I think you're used to things moving more quickly than I am. I don't see this delay as undue or unnecessary. And the statute of limitations gives the Department of Justice plenty of time. That said, I hope they move with some alacrity. We know they have an ongoing investigation. We won't learn all the details of that when this affidavit is released in redacted form, but we'll learn a little bit more. But remember, the Justice Department

has to do a thorough investigation because when and if they bring charges, they really only have one shot at it, Claire, as I know you know. And so they have to get this thing right. Jackie, you know, this seems to have been going on for quite some time, although it hasn't, but it's going to be released this morning. It's going to be a version of Clue, I imagine it will get with all the redactions in it. But what specifically would you be looking for having covered this for so long? What would you be looking for when you read the final report that's released this morning in terms of guidance, in terms of direction from what you already know and have already reported?

That is a really good question, Mike. And this has been going on, I think, for longer than most of us realize. And we keep uncovering new information that extends the timeline even further. Just two days ago, we reported that lawyers for the former president knew two weeks before he left office that there were two dozen boxes in the residence that needed to be sent to the archives that the archives then in May of 2021 had started to try to track down. So this is something that has been on the radar for Trump's advisors since, again, he transitioned out of the White House. But I think what I'll be looking for today and what we may or may not receive from the redacted affidavit is just any more light on the efforts that the FBI took to get these documents back,

any indication of further communications with Evan Corcoran or members of the former president's legal team, because I think that really helps bolster their obstruction case and argument, which is one of the reasons why they executed the search warrant to begin with. Also, anything that I think shows when they might have had any interviews or conversations that prompted the execution of this search warrant. We had actually reported that the FBI was still conducting interviews and had some lined up in these recent coming weeks that they ended up canceling because they needed to get in there and urgently seize these boxes from Mar-a-Lago. And as we know it so far, they have not rescheduled those interviews that they

previously had. So I'll be following all of the breadcrumbs. Unfortunately, the thing that I think that we all want to see, we are not going to see, is what exactly they took. But maybe if there's any more information that is given on what they could have been looking for, like vague, unclassified descriptors of this information. I'll also be looking closely for that. We all will be hunting through those black lines when the document comes out. Could be during our show this morning. The judge says affidavit must be unsealed by noon today. So it could be at any hour. The Washington Post's Jackie Alomany, former U.S. attorney and senior FBI official Chuck Rosenberg. Thank you both so much as always.

President Biden stepped back onto the campaign trail yesterday with a fundraiser and a rally in the D.C. suburbs of Maryland. He railed against what he called MAGA Republicans at both events, telling donors, quote, What we're seeing now is the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It's not just Trump. It's the entire philosophy. It's like semi-fascism, said the president. The RNC hit back with a statement. Despicable, they wrote. Biden forced Americans out of their jobs, transferred money from working families to Harvard lawyers and sent our country into a recession while families can't afford gas and groceries. Democrats don't care about suffering Americans. They never did.

End quote from the RNC. Here is what the president said later at a rally for Maryland Democrats in Rockville. The alternative to the Democrats are the MAGA Republicans. The MAGA Republicans have awakened the powerful force in America, the women of this nation. MAGA Republicans don't have a clue about the power of women. Let me tell you something.

They are about to find out. The MAGA Republicans don't just threaten our personal rights and economic security. They're a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace, embrace political violence. They don't believe in democracy. This is why in this moment, those of you who love this country, Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans, we must be stronger, more determined and more committed to saving America than the MAGA Republicans are destroying America. President Biden campaigning in Maryland yesterday. Let's bring in associate professor of political science at Fordham University, Christina Greer.

Professor Greer, it's great to see you. You know, Democrats, some have wanted Joe Biden to come in and campaign with them. He was campaigning with the gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore in Maryland, one of the rising stars of the party. Others have said, no, thanks. We appreciate the offer, but please don't come campaign in our state right now. It might hurt you. But let's talk about that message, kind of a foundational argument about the stakes this fall that democracy is on the ballot. Absolutely, Willie. I mean, the stakes are high. Democracy absolutely is on the ballot. I think Joe Biden and the rest of the Democrats, though, need to do a combination of touting the accomplishments of the Biden administration, of which there are many, while also explaining

and contextualizing the danger that we face if Democrats don't maintain control in November and also looking forward to November of 2024. So what Joe Biden is laying out is absolutely correct. But I think he needs to weave in not just, you know, sort of a woman's right to choose and not just the existential threat about democracy and violence and climate change, but the wins that he's had over these past few months, making sure that pocketbook issues that voters actually go to the polls to think about are also equally contextualized and explained on a local, state and federal level.

Sam Stein, how much are we going to see of President Biden in the lead up to these midterm elections? As I said, he's gone into some states where Democratic candidates have said their schedules were full and they couldn't find time to have him join them on the campaign trail because in some ways he might hurt them. Is he going to be out there on the trail a bunch this summer and fall? Well, he'll be out there more than he has been. You know, we already have been alerted to future travel in and around the area, but also to sell some of these recent legislative accomplishments, whether it's the CHIPS bill or this IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act. You know, one of the things, to be blunt about it, is that he has had COVID. You know, there of the things to be blunt about it is that he has had covid.

You know, there was a lot of concern about him getting out there and getting sick. He had covid. He had a rebound case. So there is a bit of a reprieve right now that he can go out there without too much fear of reinfection. And that actually does matter materially for him. But also, you know, they're on the upswing. There's there's there's wind at their, to borrow a metaphor, a cliche. And there is a sense in the White House that this is the time to keep pushing. You know, they feel very buoyed by all the recent good news, the legislative momentum, the special election results in New York. And so they want to hit and they want to hit hard.

The question is, what are the things, are there factors that can change the dynamics between now and November? Is there another inflation report that comes out? Will gas prices go back up after falling for what, like 70 straight days? So, you know, those are the big atmospheric factors. But yeah, I would expect to see Biden a little bit more than we have seen him so far. Campaigned in good weather and bad weather. So let me ask you, in terms of the importance of President Biden appearing back out on the stump, his approval ratings have jumped from the mid 30s to the mid 40s. And he has a series of deliverables that he can talk about. Drug prices coming down. Insulin, the cost of insulin coming under control. Gas prices coming down. And there is some construction work going

on in the country. You can see it. It's visible to a lot of motorists and just pedestrians. I mean, you can see work being done with federal money. How important is it to slam those items home? The fact that, you know, we pass this, we pass that, as well as talk about the undercurrent of the dangers to democracy presented by, as the president used the phrase continually, MAGA Republicans. Yeah, I mean, I think it is important for him to get out there, Mike. But let's take a little bit of a reality check here. In a lot of these battleground states, candidates really don't want national people in. They are really focusing on the people of that state trying to keep the issues local, whether it is gas prices or whether it's what's being built as a result of Build Back Better and all of the money that was put into infrastructure. But in fairness, I think

we always talk about Joe Biden's unpopularity and how he can't get out there. We've also got to talk about Trump's. Are these candidates going to want Trump out there? Trump is not popular with many of the voters that are in flux right now. The ones who maybe voted for Trump and then came back and voted for Biden. Those are the voters that are the sweet spot for most of these contested Senate races around the country, trying to get those Obama, Trump, Biden voters back in the fold on the D side. And Trump is just as big a problem for those Republican candidates as Biden might be for the Democratic candidates. That's a great point. We saw that in the special election in New York 19 this week, where the Republican candidate did not want to talk about Donald Trump, just made it about the economy.

He's still lost by a few points up there. President Biden's move this week to relieve student loan death is being met with some criticism now from even Democratic lawmakers. The majority have come out in support of the move, of course, but a handful of Democrats, in particular those in close midterm races, have taken another position. Ohio Senate nominee Tim Ryan argues the move, quote, sends the wrong message to the millions of Ohioans without a degree working just as hard to make ends meet. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada also says she disagrees with the move, adding the executive action, quote, does not address the root problems that make college unaffordable. Congressman Jared Golden of Maine writes President Biden's decision is, quote, out of touch with what the majority of people want from the White House. So those are outliers, Professor Greer, in the Democratic Party.

But it's certainly among some independents and certainly most Republicans. That is the case that people who didn't go to college are now footing the bill for people who did. President Biden, of course, takes a different view. He thinks it's good. It's transformational for their lives. And then politically, perhaps helps bring out some younger voters who he's helped get out from under this debt. Right. You know, two things, Willie. One is Senator McCaskill laid out, you know, all politics are local in a lot of ways. And so those outliers actually understand what's going on in their state. And that's why they're framing their disdain by Biden's choice. We also have to remember, Willie, Democrats aren't the only ones who go to college. And so this debt relief will actually help independents and Republicans

as well. I mean, you know, so many Republican leaders are framing it as a handout, ignoring the PPP loans that they received, ignoring the fact that, you know, because of Trump's inability to govern effectively, you know, he had to give farmers billions of dollars in bailouts and handouts. And so when we think about the debt relief that, you know, for me, who has the honor of working with, you know, young people and college students on a daily basis, you know, the idea of debt really does prevent students from following their dreams in a lot of ways. It creates all types of not just medical issues and mental health issues, but a real stress

and strain where they can't even focus sometimes fully on their academics because they're actually worried about money and the future of how much debt that they're going to have. And so that's not just, you know, I don't teach just Democrats. I teach students from all across the country whose families are really struggling. So I do think that in November we might might see a lot of weak-leaning Republicans and independents who understand what this relief means. And as I heard a Republican voter say the other day, she didn't leave the party. The party left her.

And I think as we see more and more extremist Republicans doubling down on Trump and his policies, especially when it comes to women's right to choose, climate change, we're entering hurricane season, all these issues that aren't Democratic issues, they're American issues. I do think that this bodes very well for Joe Biden and the party, as long as they can contextualize and articulate what exactly they're doing to help all Americans move through this. Claire, as Christina says, you certainly can understand why someone like Tim Ryan running in effectively what's become a red state in Ohio does not want to support this policy trying to win statewide. I'm thinking about you running in somewhere like Missouri. If this issue had come up, there are obviously moral questions around it.

Is it fair? There are legal questions around it. Does the president have the power to do this? And then economic questions about inflation. This is just a district by district, state by state case, I would think, if you had to run on this issue right now. Yeah, and I think Catherine Cortez Masto makes one good point. You know, the increase in college tuition has been obscene in this country over the last 10, 20 years. I mean, what used to be reasonable for every American in terms of attaining a higher education has become completely unattainable. And I'm not sure Biden's policy here works.

The other big question about this decision, while I don't disagree with the decision he's made about this, is will it really have the impact they're hoping for with younger voters? You know, my staff used to make a joke, don't waste your time going to college campuses, get to nursing homes, because younger people historically have been terrible about turning out to vote, especially in the midterms. So will this forgiveness of college debt actually have the impact they're hoping for? Will younger voters all of a sudden, oh, oh, my gosh, now I got to really focus on these elections and getting out to vote. It will be interesting to see. I think Dobbs decision is going to do more to get people out to vote. The Roe v. Wade being

dismantled, the really extreme laws being proposed against women in all of these states on that topic. I think that's going to be much more of a motivator than unfortunately than what the president just did around college debt. We will see this fall. Associate Professor of Political Science at Fordham University, Christina Greer. Professor, thanks so much as always for being with us. White House editor for Politico, Sam Stein, also doing yeoman's duty on way too early this week, waking up in the darkness of night to bring us the news. Sam, thanks so much. Have a good weekend. Still ahead on Morning Joe, the prosecutor investigating whether Donald Trump and his allies tried to influence Georgia's 2020 election results, wants to hear from Mark Meadows,

Sidney Powell and other members of Trump's inner circle. We'll have a live report on where that special grand jury probe stands this morning. Plus, the former president's social media company said to be facing financial problems. We'll tell you just how much money True Social is reportedly refusing to pay. And there are escalating concerns today over the potential for a nuclear disaster in Ukraine. We'll get a live report from that country when Morning Joe comes right back. President Trump's social media app, Truth Social, is facing some financial problems. According to Fox Business, one of the platform's vendors claims the company is refusing to pay out more than a million dollars in contractually obligated payments. The company, Right Forge, helped to set up the app's infrastructure and says it has not received any monthly payments since March. The app, which launched just six months ago,

bills itself as an alternative to Twitter, which suspended Trump's account after the Capitol attack. Right Forge, Truth Social and a spokesman for Trump all did not comment on that claim. So, Claire, this is a report from Fox Business, notably. The number actually is one point six million dollars. This company says Trump's true social owes them. I would point out that Trump's PAC has raised more than one hundred million dollars since he left office. It's not like he doesn't have some cash laying around. Shocked. I'm just say shocked, Willie. Donald Trump not paying bills. Say it's not so. Whoever does business with this guy. I mean, it's one of the reasons he's having difficulty getting a lawyer, right? Lawyers don't want to go to work

for him because he is famous for not paying bills. You know, this idea that he takes care of working people, there's been never anybody who worked for him who got paid the way they were supposed to get paid under normal business practices. So this doesn't surprise me. And, you know, there's a lot of controversy about how this whole enterprise was funded, too. You know, it was one of those SPAC things, which most people don't understand, which means it's something we should be wary of. But there was a lot of money that was being thrown around around the creation of this, quote, unquote, social media company. I don't think this is the last story we're going to hear about financial problems surrounding a quote, unquote, truth.

Mike, as you and I have said before, as Claire points out here, if you want to know whether Trump pays his bills, ask any electrician in Atlantic City over the last 40 years or so. Willie, we're sitting here, you and I are sitting here in a state, in a city, New York, where Donald Trump has been doing business of one kind or another for over 40 years. And those years are littered, littered with claimants trying to get money from him for, you know, plumbing work, electrician work, any kind of work. He does not pay his bills. He is a legitimate deadbeat. That's fact and it's history. And now we have this and he's got this, you know, fund that he raises money for from poor people who watch him on TV and, you know, oh, he's in trouble. Look what they did. They invaded his home in Mar-a-Lago. I'm going to send him two dollars or five dollars. And he's got millions in a specific political fund.

And like with everything, like with the documents that he is alleged to have been storing at Mar-a-Lago, he views that money as his money, his money. And he's not going to give it out to anybody. He's not going to pay his bills. And I'm with Claire. I am shocked, shocked, shocked. He takes their money and then sends them to the Capitol to get arrested while he sits at Mar-a-Lago. By the way, this company, Right Forge, has not ruled out the possibility, according to Fox Business, of taking this matter to court. Again, one point six billion, excuse me, one point six million dollars is the number that true socialists said to owe them coming up here this morning we're going live to ukraine for the latest on an alarming situation

europe's largest nuclear plant went offline yesterday after fires in the russian controlled area we'll have the very latest when we come right back. Europe's largest nuclear power plant was disconnected from Ukraine's power grid yesterday after shelling sparked fires near the facility. Ukraine's National Energy Company says emergency backup systems helped to sustain crucial operations and supply was restored later in the day. But the incident heightened fears of a potential nuclear disaster. Joining us now live from central Ukraine, NBC News foreign correspondent Megan Fitzgerald. Megan, this has been a concern, as you know well, for several months since this war began and since Russian troops moved in and around that nuclear power plant. Oh, absolutely, Willie.

And as you mentioned, it's this increased shelling that's happening around this highly sensitive situation around a nuclear plant, one of Europe's largest. And in this instance, as you said, a fire broke out, which knocked the power off its power grid, forcing it to operate temporarily, running on these backup generators. Those backup generators take diesel. Now, here's the concern. The Russians, as you know, occupy this plant, and there's no way of knowing how much diesel the Russians have left should this incident happen again. Meanwhile, this knocked off power to thousands of people in the area. They didn't have sewer services. They didn't have water or electricity. So it really highlights a potential humanitarian crisis here.

We know that the International Atomic Energy Agency says that it could just be a matter of days before a crew of experts are able to go inside that facility. But here's the issue there. They want them to go in through the Ukrainian side. And that's something that Russia has not yet agreed to. Meanwhile, we know that Vladimir Putin is trying to increase his military by 10 percent to the tune of nearly 140,000 new troops. We've been speaking with some military experts who say this certainly suggests that he is gearing up for a long war, really. NBC's Megan Fitzgerald from central Ukraine this morning. Megan, thanks so much. Joining us now, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis. He is MSNBC's chief international analyst. Admiral, it's great to see you this morning.

Boy, the Russians playing with fire here as they occupy that nuclear power plant, again, the largest in the continent of Europe. What are the dangers here? How close could we come to disaster? Well, I spent two years, Willie, in command of Enterprise carrier strike group, USS Enterprise, the nuclear power aircraft carrier. We had eight reactors on Enterprise. There wasn't a morning that I didn't wake up and think, how safe are those reactors? How is the coolant? Are we sure we have backup systems? Because if you lose electricity, as a reporter just told us, you lose the ability to cool the core of the reactor. This, of course, is what happened in Chernobyl, in Fukushima, at Three Mile Island. And it leads to a breach which could launch a great deal of radiation in the world. And by the way, with shelling going on and military activities, the whole process is

well beyond the design specifications to keep it safe. So the answer to the question, how dangerous is this? It is massively dangerous. This requires full international attention and getting experts into the plant and getting it out of the combat situation very dangerous meanwhile admiral vladimir putin issued an order yesterday to recruit more than a hundred thousand new troops into the russian military wants to bring his overall number up over a million troops, reflecting perhaps the long war that he didn't expect to have here. I think, Willie, it also reflects the combat losses he's experiencing.

Every intelligence agency now says that Russia has killed in action or wounded and knocked out of action somewhere north of 70,000 troops. It's probably closer to 100,000. So if you're trying to run the war from Moscow, you know you've got to replenish those troop levels. Here's the bad news for Vladimir Putin. Doesn't look like people are exactly signing up in droves in Russia. They are, by the way, opening recruitment to people, men, from 18 to 60 years old, Willie. Think about that for a minute. You know, I'm in my 60s. I don't think the Navy is looking to get Admiral Stavridis back on active duty anytime soon. And it shows you how far a lift this is going to be for the Russians. So, yeah, he's going to try and recruit. He's got some real challenges with an unpopular war and a body of people in Russia who are gradually waking up to how disastrous this is turning out for their nation.

I don't know, Mike Barnicle. I think the Navy would take the admiral back, don't you? Well, I think I think we're both happy that he's on active duty here this morning because we need him. But, Admiral, the increase of the potential increase in troop allotments from Russia into Ukraine, the cutting off of energy sources from Russia to the NATO countries. I'm wondering, do you think Putin's strategy is now that he's placing a bet that warm homes and hot water among the NATO nations will turn out to be a more important factor in his war against Ukraine than will actually their feeling of freeing and making sure liberation continues and democracy continues in Ukraine. Mike, I think your analysis is correct. Putin's trying to turn this into a long game that will certainly drag into the winter. But I'll give you two points to hold in mind why I think that will not work.

Number one is the Europeans themselves. I wouldn't bet against them in this scenario. And it's not as though they're going to have granny freezing in the attic. They're going to need to lower or, excuse me, raise the thermostat a bit, lower the thermostat, excuse me, in order to preserve some energy. Yes. But they're not looking at apocalyptic events here. I think they'll hold together. And then number two, you know, if you really look at total energy in Europe, gas is about 20% of that. Putin controls 10% of that. He controls 10% of total European energy. So he doesn't have a complete chokehold here. And it's going to hurt him as well. It's hard to rewire gas and send it somewhere else. So I think Putin's making a bad bet here. But yes, Mike, his bet is that the Europeans are going to crack. Personally,

I wouldn't bet against the Europeans. Admiral, I think the West has, to some extent, unfortunately moved on a little bit from what's going on in Ukraine. Talk exactly how is Ukraine doing? Give us an assessment. If you were in charge of the military in Ukraine and you had working knowledge, which you do, of the assets of Russia and what losses they've suffered, where are we? Are we halftime? Are we in the third quarter? What is the score? I think it is really important that we keep reminding the West that the investments they've made have worked and that there is really some still some really good news on the Ukrainian front in terms of the war over democracies. Senator, I agree. And we need to rewind the clock six months and think about where we stood as this invasion started. Many analysts believe that Putin was going to run the table, take over Kiev, probably capture and kill Zelensky and consolidate control of the country. He has failed miserably in that.

And now he is back to holding a little bit more than he started with, which is about 20 percent of the country. So he is not in any sense winning. He's also, as I just mentioned, 80,000 killed and wounded. His economy is slowly grinding down under sanctions. And above all, to your point, we, the West, are putting the right weapons in the hands of the Ukrainians so they can reach behind Russian lines, go after logistics, go after the wellheads that supply fuel going forward, go after that Black Sea fleet, ensure that grain comes out. All those things are happening. And Zelensky continues to be a highly inspirational leader, while Putin increasingly plays the part of a war criminal. When I put all of that together,

if I were playing the game of battleship here as an admiral, I'd much rather be on the side of the board that the Ukrainians are than the Russians. They still have chances, the Russians, they still have parts to play. They're dirty tricks like this nuclear power play. But overall, the long throw of history here is against Vladimir Putin. Admiral, while sensibly the focus is on Ukraine, as it ought to be, the world remains a dangerous place. And there's another volatile region in the world that we want your thoughts on. The Korean Peninsula down through Japan, Taiwan, the South China Sea, the shipping lanes and China. What is going on in that area of the world?

As we watch President Xi, Mike, move toward consolidating his power and being anointed to a third five-year term, we see reverb around the region. You're showing an article I just wrote about the U.S. and South Korea. I've gone back to live-fire war games, exercises for the first time in several years. They're doing so because Kim is stirring the pot again. We were talking a minute ago. Unfortunately, chances of him conducting nuclear weapon tests sometime this fall are rising. All of that, frankly, is pushing South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, even nations like Vietnam, who are not treaty allies, to want to work more closely with the United States in what is an

increasingly turbulent region. And at the center of it, Mike, as you know, is Taiwan, encircled, potentially blockaded after the recent visit of Speaker Pelosi. Things are bubbling in Asia and we need to be mindful even as we keep the focus on Ukraine, as I think the administration is doing quite effectively. Smart to keep an eye on it. Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis, the once and now perhaps future Admiral Stavridis. Let's see if the Navy calls after this hit. Thanks, Admiral. Great to see you. Still ahead this morning, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was on the right side of history when Donald Trump tried to meddle in the 2020 election in his state.

But the Republicans still trying to stay as far away as possible from the investigation into Trump's efforts to do so. We'll explain why. Plus, an ambitious move in California as the state announces a plan to phase out gas powered vehicles by the year 2035. Can it happen? Is it a good idea? We'll get a live report and discuss next. There's a live picture as the sun comes up over Wrigley Field where Claire's Cardinals took care of business again last night. The first place St. Louis Cardinals.

Meanwhile, out on the West Coast late last night, the New York Yankees got a little star power back in their lineup last night out in Oakland. Giancarlo Stanton, who had missed a month with left Achilles tendonitis, knocked in two runs in his second at-bat with that laser. It was all Yanks. In this one, they put up 13 runs on the A's without even hitting a home run. The Yankees now, after that slump, have won four straight games for the first time in nearly two months. Meanwhile, the Crosstown Mets are the third Major League team now with 80 wins this season thanks to the second deck home

run from Pete Alonzo. The Metz ace Jake DeGrom strong again on the mound striking out nine Colorado Rockies over six innings gave up only a single run. After a tough two-week stretch the Metz have a very soft schedule ahead of them the rest of the way with 20 games against teams with losing records as they try to hold off the Braves. The Cubs, as I mentioned, they honored two longtime rivals before yesterday's game. Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals had a moment at home plate in their final trip to Wrigley Field. The Cubs' Twitter account praised the legends while adding, we can't say we'll miss you.

You tormented us for two decades. Speaking of tormenting, how about Cardinal star Paul Goldschmidt having himself a season chasing history with a little more than a month remaining in the regular season. The first baseman had three hits, two of them home runs, five RBIs in that win over the Cubs. Goldschmidt now is the National League leader in two of the three categories for the Triple Crown. He's only two home runs behind the Phillies' Kyle Schwarber. Here's a look at Goldschmidt's numbers. You got to go back to 1937 for the last Triple Crown winner in the National League. Tigers' Miguel Cabrera is the last player to pull off the feat. He did it in the American League in 2012.

Claire, you've got to be feeling good. The Cardinals have put a little distance between themselves and the Brewers. They're six games up, but my God, Paul Goldschmidt is having a historically great season. Yeah, it is pretty special to watch Goldie work. And he is, you know, he is not one of these flashy, let's talk about me kind of guys. And in fact, last night when they tried to talk to him about the Triple Crown and, you know, talk to him about the fact that he's within striking distance of something that I think most people who follow baseball just assumed probably wasn't going to

happen again. He doesn't want to talk about it. He is really focused on the team. We're now six games up over the Brewers, but now we're headed into Atlanta territory for a season, for a series. And we still got some games to play before we can nail down the division. But I am excited about the young guys on this team, and it is way fun to watch Pujols and Yachty and Wainwright show people how old men do it. You know, Willie, last night I was watching the Mets game, and they are fun to watch,

but the clip we just showed was also fun to watch of Yadi Molina and Albert Pujols being honored in Chicago at Wrigley Field. Two of the greats of the game. And Paul Goldschmidt, you know, if he wins the Triple Crown, there's only been, he would only have been the third Triple Crown winner since, for 50 years. Carl Yastrzemski in 67, Miggy Cabrera in 2012, and Goldschmidt, who's having an incredible year. But the big highlight for me as a

baseball fan last night was watching the Mets game and they had a contest a young kid kid broadcasting and they had a young kid I think he was maybe 11 or 12 years of age and he did a half inning broadcasting with the crew Ron Dowling, Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen and it was such a joy to watch you You really get the joy of baseball as opposed to different sports, other professional sports. There's a magic to baseball and watching it, listening to it. It's relaxing, it's calming, and it's a constant story that America tells itself through watching a baseball game. And one of the elements of that story, Claire and Willie, is the wonderful season that

young Montgomery is having for the St. Louis Cardinals. And they traded from the New York Yankees to the St. Louis Cardinals. And boy, the Yankees do miss him. Oh, he's untouchable, Claire, as a Cardinal. He's untouchable. He was good for us, but untouchable with the Cardinals. Yeah, you know, we've been joking around St. Louis. He puts the birds on the bat, and all of a sudden he turns into Sandy Kovacs. Yeah. Yeah, they're having a fun season.

And by the way, Pujols only needs seven home runs to get to 700 at 42 years old. Let's hope he gets there. Only needs four more to pass A-Rod for fourth all-time on the home run list. It's a fun season and we're coming down the home stretch. All right, coming up, we will turn back to the news. Republicans confronting a slowdown in fundraising while Democrats get a little help from a top surrogate.

We're taking a look at the money race as we head closer now to the midterms. Plus, President Biden's latest approval rating, one of the best he's seen in a year. We'll break down those new numbers when we come back in just two minutes.