Morning Joe - Morning Joe 9/15/22

Episode Date: September 15, 2022

White House strikes tentative deal to avoid a rail strike that threatened massive disruption across the U.S., President Biden says.

Beautiful shot of New York City this morning, 6 a.m. on the East Coast. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe is Thursday, September 15th. Joe is off, but let's start right where way too early ended. Let's get right to the breaking news. Just moments ago, a looming railway strike that would have been devastating to the U.S. economy now possibly averted. The White House releasing a statement from the president within the past hour saying that a tentative agreement has been reached between rail carriers and workers. The issue was sick time. The president said the deal ensures rail workers will get, quote, better pay, improved working conditions and peace of mind around their

health care costs. Amtrak had preemptively suspended most long distance routes to avoid stranding passengers in case a deal wasn't reached. a strike would have had a devastating impact on the economy since 40 percent of goods shipped long distance in the United States use the rail system. There has been no word yet from the labor unions or railway companies involved, but we'll be watching, Willie. Let's go back to Jonathan Lemire. He's, of course, the White House bureau chief of Politico, host of Way Too Early and the author of the bestseller The Big Lie. So, John, this was just announced a few minutes ago, as you reported on Way Too Early. This would have had massive implications, obviously, for supply chains.

It could have impacted inflation if it carried on for some time. How did they fix this deal? Yeah, first of all, let's start with the possible consequences would have been, as you just said, the American supply chains just now creaking back to life after the pandemic. This would have been devastating. Inflation, we know the cost of goods, particularly food, already up. This would have exacerbated that dramatically. So much of the American agriculture industry depends on these trains.

And if they had stopped and food couldn't get anywhere, prices would have just continued to surge. Now, passenger travel, that would have been largely unaffected. The Northeast Corridor here, Boston to Washington, that would have kept going. But certainly people would have had a harder time getting around the country elsewhere. And there also would have been the political impact. This would have been, in no uncertain terms, a devastating blow to this administration. Joe Biden would have been in a real bind. He, of course, very pro-labor, very pro-worker, perhaps one of the most pro-worker presidents we've had in a long time. And he couldn't be seen as pushing workers to take some sort of deal they didn't want, even though the ramifications of a strike politically six weeks, seven weeks before

the midterms would have been very difficult for Democrats already worried about inflation. So overnight, we do have a deal. We can report that President Biden last night made a call about 9 p.m. into the proceedings, acting as a closer, if you will, to get this done. And we heard from him this morning saying it was a good deal for workers. We also heard from Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, who said that this deal avoided the catastrophic impacts on industries, travelers and families across the country had the strike happened. So still has to go to the union for a vote. But there's a cooling off period here, Willie. So therefore, there won't be a strike even if the vote is rejected by members. Both sides feel confident this can get done. A major crisis averted,

it would appear, for Biden administration and the country. Yeah. And as Mika just reported, Amtrak had already begun to prepare for a strike that could have taken place today, stopping its cross-country rail service so people wouldn't get stranded in different places. If there was, in fact, a strike that has been averted for the time being. This obviously, John, it's interesting. We saw President Biden in Detroit at the car show yesterday touting his union credentials, saying he's a car guy. He's called himself the most pro-union president in history. How much was his hand on this negotiation? We know Marty Walsh, the labor secretary, was at the table all week working on this. But how much did President Biden get involved here?

Yeah, Walsh had 20 straight hours of negotiations here in Washington with the two sides. But the president played a role as well. He talked to on Monday while in Boston, where he also had an event that touted union workers and his ties to them. He called both sides. That was sort of his initial entree into the negotiations. We can report he had an event this week at the White House touting the Democrats' new legislative achievements introduced by a union worker. So he's not shy about touting where he sides. And he knew he needed to get this deal done. And as we've seen this as a pattern recently, where he steps in to negotiations, he's done it with some congressional legislation legislation and he's done it now. He steps in at the 11th hour, acting as the closer.

And his call last night is being perceived by both sides as an important moment to get a deal done. Obviously, we're still learning details about what's in it, but significant news early this morning. Yeah, we're waiting still to hear from Labor and maybe we will throughout the show today. We'll stay on it. And as Willie mentioned, President Biden traveled yesterday to the swing state of Michigan to promote the bipartisan infrastructure law. The president toured the Detroit auto show yesterday, the largest auto show in North America. And he used the visit to speak with union workers, business leaders and local politicians about his administration's efforts to increase electric vehicle production in the Motor City. We're bringing back U.S. manufacturing jobs, 680,000 jobs just since I took office.

Good paying jobs, union jobs, middle class jobs, jobs to give you a sense of dignity and a fair shot. My dad used to say, oh, I want just a little bit of breathing room. Just a family should have just a little bit of breathing room and be treated with dignity. Thanks to American ingenuity, American engineers, American autoworkers, it's all changing. Today, if you want an electric vehicle with a long range, you can buy one made in America. So, folks, all told, my administration is investing more than $135 billion to advance America's electric vehicle future. Our infrastructure law is also helping to make it in America and win the economic race of the 21st century.

President Biden took the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a Corvette Z06. Biden calls himself a car guy and joked he would drive back down to Washington. OK, careful now, Willie. That's a good looking car, by the way, right there. Good looking American made car. Some other news this morning. We have learned the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack recently obtained records from the Secret Service. Chairman Benny Thompson and committee member Zoe Lofgren both weighed in on that material yesterday.

What, um, what more can you tell us about what you've gotten from the Secret Service? What kinds of documents? Is it radio traffic, emails? Well, it's a combination of a number of text messages, radio traffic, thousands of text messages. Text messages from January 5th and 6th? Primarily. The tranches you've seen have been significant. There's texts, there's emails, there's radio tracks, there's all kinds of information, teams meetings. So we're going through everything that's been provided. More is coming in. As I say, some of it is not relevant and some of it is. And it's a huge slog to go through it, but we are going to go through it.

And the members of the committee themselves have been involved in this. And we hope to have that completed soon. It's unclear at this point whether those text messages, the ones the committee has now received, are those previously believed to have been erased or are just missing. Mika, these are the ones on January 5th, on January 6th that the Secret Service said, oops, we were going through a data migration or an upgrade and we lost all of them. Yeah, that's hard to believe, but that's where we're at. And maybe perhaps the other texts that they've received and so many provide some context. We're also learning more about a criminal investigation into former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark.

Back in June, federal agents searched his home and seized his electronics. A filing this week with the Washington, D.C. Bar gives more context to that search. Clark's legal team told the bar the DOJ is investigating whether he made false statements as well as possible conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges. Clark has been a key figure in the January 6th hearings. The committee has presented evidence that he tried to use his position in the DOJ to push Donald Trump's lies about election fraud and that he plotted with the former president to replace the acting attorney general and have himself appointed as the AG. Jonathan Lemire, in your new reporting, you quote one former Trump official saying, quote, every day feels like something else is piling on. Tell us about the fears from the former president's advisors that the DOJ probes are more expensive than what's known publicly. Yeah, for most of Trump's time in

office and even in his first months out of office, it seemed those around him felt like he was almost bulletproof, that he could get by any scandal here, whether it was the Mueller probe or some congressional investigations, even impeachment, that he emerged largely politically unscathed. That has changed. And in this new story I did with my colleague, Meredith McGraw, we talked to a number of people in the former president's orbit who have been downright spooked by recent developments in Atlanta, in D.C., the January 6th committee. And in particular, in the last few days, dozens of Trump aides received subpoenas.

Some had their phones seized, including Mr. Pillow. And there's a sense here as paranoia in Trump world as to who might be cooperating. Group text chains have gone silent. There are worries about who might be talking to investigators. And they worry that aides tell us that they could be next. So to be clear, there's no sense of charges aides tell us that they could be next. So to be clear, there's no sense of charges on the horizon. DOJ working quietly there. But even the sight of the former president arriving in Washington the other day sparked fears in his orbit that perhaps he was being called in by the Department of Justice. Now, it turned out he was just visiting his golf course in suburban Virginia. But the sense from Trump world is each and every day there's a bad headline.

Another shoe is set to drop. And they do worry that there's more here below the surface they're not seeing yet. And this is the most worried I would say the Trump world has ever been about the possibility of legal peril for the former president. Yeah. And every legal filing, it seems we get around the Mar-a-Lago documents get worse and worse for the president and the people who helped him. Meanwhile, the special counsel probe into the origins of the investigation into ties between former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia appears to be winding down now with no further charges expected. That's according to The New York Times. The grand jury convened by Trump appointed special counsel John Durham to hear evidence in the case now has

expired. The Times cites three people familiar with the matter who say while Durham could convene another grand jury, there currently are no plans to do so. The paper reports Durham and his team are working to complete a final report by the end of the year, and one of the lead prosecutors on his team now is leaving for a job with a prominent law firm. The Times reports, quote, over the course of his inquiry, Mr. Durham has developed cases against two people accused of lying to the FBI in relation to outside efforts to investigate purported Trump-Russia ties. But he has not charged any conspiracy or put any high level official on trial. The recent developments suggest the chances of any more indictments are remote. The move now appears to dash the hopes of former President Trump and his

supporters that Durham would uncover any evidence of a vast conspiracy to improperly investigate the then Republican candidate over his campaign's ties to Russia. Joining us now, one of the authors of that article's Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Washington correspondent for The New York Times, Charlie Savage, also with us, former aide to the George W. Bush White House and State Department, Elise Jordan. She is an MSNBC political analyst. Good morning to you both, Charlie. Let's take one step back, go back to the beginning of this and how this was initiated, who John Durham is, what he was looking into and how we got to this point with not much to show for a couple of years and a lot of money spent. Sure. So in the spring of

2019, Bob Mueller completes the Russia investigation report and turns it in. And of course, he does not charge a conspiracy between Trump associates and Russia over, you know, to collude. And immediately Trump kicks up his complaints that the whole thing was a hoax. You know, they attorney general Barr had put out that very misleading description of the report as if it was entirely an exoneration of Trump, which clearly was not when we finally saw the report. But that was the atmosphere in Trump world and in Trump's messaging. And against the backdrop of that, Attorney General Barr assigned this U.S. attorney from Connecticut, John Durham, to investigate the Russia investigation. And he and Trump and Trump world surrounded that appointment with expectations in the right wing media ecosystem

that this investigation was going to prove Trump's conspiracy theories, that there had been a deep state conspiracy against him, that high level officials in the FBI and in the Obama administration had conspired to take him down. And eventually, as the 2020 election neared, Attorney General Barr appointed or escalated the appointment of Durham into a special counsel, just like Mueller had been, which entrenched him to stay in place and keep working even after Trump lost the election and the Biden administration came in. And so John Durham has been working now for three years plus, longer than the Mueller investigation itself, trying to find people to charge with the crime and live up to the expectations that the Trump world has stoked around his efforts for all this time. And he

has not charged any high level officials with a crime. He's developed only two cases, both of which just for making a false statement to the FBI, both of which associated with outside efforts to investigate Trump-Russia ties, not to the FBI's investigation that turned into the Mueller investigation. And now we have learned that the grand jury he was using has closed and there's no plans to open a new one. So it does not appear that there are going to be any of the indictments of the sort that a huge amount of noise was kicked up about for years. And an investigation, we should point out, this lasted much longer now than the Mueller investigation itself even lasted, at least, As Charlie said, President Trump and his supporters have put a lot into this Durham probe.

He said even just last month, the former president said the country's waiting with bated breath for the results of the Durham report. He said it was going to expose everything and prove that it was all a hoax. Looks like that's not going to happen. It's falling flat now with no indictments, it appears. Willie, it will be easy for President Trump just to dismiss the failure of this grand jury to come up with anything as yet another conspiracy against him. Charlie, is there anything, though, that he could use to become his new talking point about what was uncovered. I guess the biggest revelation was that two people were indicted for lying under oath about the what was happening with the investigation. Is there anything bigger than that here? Right. Well, that's not really a

revelation that they were indicted for lying under oath. But one of the things that's been interesting about following this investigation is that in those two indictments on this very narrow charge of making a false statement to the FBI about something, the Durham has festooned those indictments with huge amounts of extraneous information that insinuate that there had been a conspiracy to make people think Trump was conspiring with Russia, but its move from without actually charging such a conspiracy. And I should also hasten to add that of the one of the of those two cases, one has already gone to trial. And a jury took almost no time at all to acquit the person to find him not guilty. So that was also an embarrassment.

The other trial goes to trial next month, and Durham may yet win a conviction on one of these false statement cases. But the conspiracy or the theme of this has morphed over time, and it's moved from Durham is going to find a high level, deep state of FBI, CIA, White House conspiracy to get Trump to maybe people who were associated with Hillary Clinton's campaign at sort of two levels of remove were conspiring to make people think that Trump was colluding with Russia. That was that is what both of those cases are about, outside efforts. The one that's coming into trial next week is about a guy who was a researcher for the Steele dossier, which got a lot of attention in the media, but was not the basis of the FBI's investigation, notwithstanding Trump supporters' attempts to conflate the two. And that dossier has been largely discredited in part because of what the investigation, including the original FBI investigation, found about what this researcher had said versus what was actually in the document. And so that has created new fodder for Fox News, et cetera, to continue litigating the events of

2016 and stoking grievances. But it's a different kind of grievance. It's like, well, Democrats said that there was something here and Mueller didn't find it. And it's because this guy exaggerated this thing or something. But it's not a deep state government conspiracy and that discredits the FBI's investigation in the first place. And so to the extent they want something to talk about on Fox News, Durham's investigation has provided fodder. But to the extent that they were hoping that Jim Comey was going to go to jail and things like that, there's just no there there. John Durham was appointed in May of 2019, three and a half years later. Here we are, Washington correspondent for The New York Times.

Charlie Savage with some important new reporting this morning. Charlie, thanks so much. Mika. All right. Still ahead on Morning Joe amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. China's president, Xi Jinping, is set to meet with Vladimir Putin today. We'll go live to Beijing amid speculation China could provide aid to Moscow. We'll also discuss how Taiwan fits into all of this and what it means to us. Plus, President Biden's approval rating has just seen a major bump. We'll dig into the new numbers and what they could mean for the midterms. Also ahead, newly revealed text messages between NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre and Mississippi's former governor are raising questions about an investigation into the misuse of government welfare funds.

And a look at the morning papers, including a huge nurses strike coming to an end despite no deal being reached. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. 24 past the hour, we are learning more about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's surprise trip to the newly liberated areas in the northeastern part of the country. He toured the recently recaptured city of Izyum and assessed the damage on the ground, raising the Ukrainian flag in the city's main square. Zelensky said he witnessed, quote, shocking scenes in the area, comparing it to Bukha, a suburb of Kiev where officials found widespread damage and bodies after Russian troops retreated

in March. Zelensky also vowed to push Russian troops out of all Ukrainian territories, including Crimea, which Moscow invaded back in 2014. In his late night address, Zelensky said his army had now liberated more than 3,000 square miles of Ukrainian land from Russian control. Also yesterday, President Zelensky was in a car collision in Kiev, but emerged with no serious injuries. According to a statement from the president's press secretary. A car collided with the car of the president of Ukraine and escort vehicles. Medics accompanying Zelensky gave emergency aid to the car's driver and transferred him to an ambulance. Willie, glad the president's OK.

They're just hours after Zelensky's visit. Russian missiles hit central Ukraine, damaging critical infrastructure there. Officials say as many as eight missiles hit Zelensky's hometown near Kharkiv. The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office said the missiles also hit a dam flooding parts of the city. He said more than 100 homes were flooded and 11 people had to be rescued overnight. Officials say residents have been asked to leave parts of the city due to those rising water levels. Again, that is Zelensky's hometown targeted. Chinese President Xi Jinping expected to meet today with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan, their first meeting since Moscow invaded Ukraine. The summit is meant to signal the strength of the relationship between the two world leaders. Putin plans also to meet with other heads of state,

including those of India, Pakistan, Turkey and Iran. But according to the Kremlin, his meeting with Xi, quote, is of particular importance. The big question seems to be whether Beijing will offer military aid to Moscow. Join us now live from Beijing, NBC News foreign correspondent Janice Mackey-Frayer. Janice, what more can you tell us about this meeting today? Well, this is a significant face-to-face reunion for Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. You'll remember the last time they were together, it was here in Beijing, when they declared that partnership with no limits. And then three weeks later, Russia invaded Ukraine.

Since then, China has never condemned Russia for the invasion, nor has it called it a war, nor has it outright supported Russia in its offensive in Ukraine. What it has offered is rhetorical support. It's amplified Russian propaganda here. It's backed Russia at the UN and it's been buying up a lot of Russian oil and gas. But it isn't clear whether Xi Jinping is prepared to offer more material support to Putin at this point because China is still wanting to avoid triggering secondary sanctions that could see it suffer limitations on accessing global markets. What this is for both men is a show of solidarity. It's a confidence play. It's a show

of strength at a time when they both need it. China's economy is wobbling under COVID restrictions and Russia is literally losing ground in Ukraine. But how far Xi is willing to go to back Putin is unknown. And consider the timing. We are just weeks away from the Communist Party Congress that will give Xi Jinping an unprecedented third term in power. That he's even traveling right now is highly unusual, let alone having it be his first trip abroad since the beginning of the pandemic. So he is going to do everything he can to try and shore up his foreign policy credentials and to appear the global statesman again, which is why Xi and Putin are probably going to stick to the script that works for them.

They're going to use this platform as an opportunity to denounce the West. They will criticize NATO and feel that they're both walking away with a strengthened alliance at a time when they both need it. As well, the subtext of their messaging is likely to be a warning to the U.S. about crossing the so-called red lines here when it comes to Taiwan. NBC's Janice Mackey-Frayer in Beijing, thank you very much. And Janice leads us perfectly to Taiwan, which is keeping a close eye on the meeting between those two world leaders today. Joining us now from Taipei, NBC News foreign correspondent Raf Sanchez.

Raf, it's good to see you. I know you spoke to the former head of Taiwan's military. Fair to say Taiwan looking very closely and learning from Ukraine's experience. Yeah, absolutely, Willie. He said he saw a lot of parallels between Taiwan and Ukraine. Both are smaller democracies living in the shadow of a much larger authoritarian neighbor with vastly superior military forces. But Admiral Lee said he thought Taiwan's military could learn some lessons and take a lot of inspiration from Ukraine, especially in terms of how they've waged asymmetric warfare against the Russians.

So Taiwan is never going to be able to outfight China in a conventional war. Taiwan is some 23 million people. China is 1.4 billion. But he said instead, Taiwan needs to focus on highly mobile, very agile military units, move quickly, strike Chinese forces, and then get out of the way before they can respond again. He called this the Muhammad Ali strategy. I want you to take a listen to a little bit of what he had to say about how that would work. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. You can't hear me because you don't see me. If the old asymmetrical capability distributes over the island,

consider it very well, they cannot use the long-distance strike capability to attack us. Now, Willie, in terms of putting that asymmetric strategy into practice, he said Taiwan needs to wean itself off of big-ticket American military hardware like F-16s, like tanks, like battleships, and instead focus on the kinds of weapons the Ukrainians have used so effectively, including those anti-ship missiles, which you and I talked about back when the Ukrainians sunk the Moskva, the Russian Black Sea flagship.

He says Taiwan could employ those very effectively if the Chinese attempted a kind of D-Day style invasion across the Taiwan Straits, trying to land their forces on Taiwan's beaches. He said missiles like that could be absolutely devastating to the Chinese fleet as it draws near. Willie. And quoting Muhammad Ali while doing it, very impressive. And of course, on the other side, China is watching the way the United States and the West has stepped in to back Ukraine against Russia. NBC's Raf Sanchez in Taiwan. Raf, thanks so much. Mika. All right. Time now for a look at the morning papers at 31 past the hour in Florida. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Senator Marco Rubio has signed on as a co-sponsor

to Senator Lindsey Graham's 15-week abortion ban bill. Rubio's Democratic challenger, Congresswoman Val Demings, was quick to offer criticism, calling the bill the next step to a total ban on abortions with no exceptions. In New York, the Times Union reports that despite Governor Kathy Hochul's recent emergency order, polio vaccines are still not readily available. A new survey reveals that many health providers do not carry the shots because they assume most adults have already received the vaccine. In addition, there are concerns that insurance will not cover the rarely given adult polio vaccine. And from the Pioneer Press in Minnesota, 15,000 nurses should be back on the job today, despite no deal being reached following a three

day strike. The Minnesota Nurses Association is asking for better security, more staff and a 30 percent salary increase. New talks are expected to take place next week. And the Journal Sentinel leads with the latest in Wisconsin's two big political races in the Senate race. A new poll shows Senator Ron Johnson has pulled ahead of Democratic Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes by just one percentage point. That same poll also shows Governor Tony Evers holding a 3% lead over Republican Tim Michaels in the state's gubernatorial race. We'll be following that. And in Maine, the Portland Press-Herald is covering the influence of outside spending groups in the state's gubernatorial race. New figures show that outside groups have spent more than three point six million dollars in that race. Nearly 40 percent of that figure has been

spent in the last two weeks alone. Most of that money purchased a slew of TV ads. Coming up, we'll take a look at some of this morning's must-read opinion pages. Plus, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham doubles down on his abortion bill that has received a lot of criticism from most members of his own party. Also ahead, after weeks of back and forth, Pennsylvania Senate candidates will take the debate stage. We'll have the details on that deal ahead on Morning Joe. Live look at the White House as the sun comes up over Washington. It is 39 past the hour and time now for the must read opinion pages. In the Washington Post columnist Henry Olson writes that Ron DeSantis is the only Republican who can beat Trump. And he writes this quote, it's not hard to figure out why DeSantis has such

credibility among the Trump he set. His pugnacious style and responding to media criticism endears him to those who want a fighter. His willingness to talk about culture wars topics such as the critical race theory or woke corporations is music to the ears of many populists. And his other positions, pro-life, pro-tax cut, traditional foreign policy views make him make party firsters like him, too. Republicans can surely recall the revolutionary war adage. United we stand, divided we fall. DeSantis's unique ability to unite the party's warring wings points away to end the GOP civil war and take the fight home to the Democrats. Liz Jordan, talk to me about Ron DeSantis, though, on the national stage,

as opposed to his very comfortable audience in the Tampa area. I think the big stage could be a little different for this potential would-be candidate. Also, I want to point out that he's taking a cue from some other Republican governors and sending migrant workers, I believe, to Martha's Vineyard. We're going to have a live report on that coming up. But talk to me about Ron DeSantis, the potential presidential candidate. You know, Mika, I'm curious how sending Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard necessarily helps him in is an active frontlines culture warrior. It's not necessarily governing in Florida. It's what's going to play on the national scene.

And what's attractive to so many big Republican donors is that they see Ron DeSantis as smart and sane and putting on an act and able to excite the populist Trumpian base, but willing to enact the kind of tax policies and corporate friendly policies that they want from a Republican candidate. And so far, Ron DeSantis has been pretty skillful in avoiding commenting on abortion in Florida or doing anything that dramatic on abortion in Florida because he knows that it could come back and hurt him on the national stage. He's also holding out to wait and see. Will Donald Trump run? Will he not? And what does that mean for his future? Another must read this morning comes from the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer in a piece titled In Mastriano's Efforts to Overturn the 2020 Election, a Chilling Template for Future Races. It reads in part, Doug Mastriano's relentless efforts to thwart the results of the 2020 presidential election spread Donald Trump's election lies and suppress votes in future elections amounts to a 10 alarm fire for anyone who believes in a functioning democracy. If elected governor, Mastriano boasted about how he plans to interfere with election outcomes

if he doesn't get the results he wants. Mastriano said he would get to appoint the secretary of state who's delegated from me the power to make the corrections to elections and voting logs and everything. He added, quote, I could decertify every machine in the state with the, you know, with the stroke of a pen. Pennsylvania does not need election denying conspiracy theorists, the paper writes, deciding the outcome of elections with the stroke of a pen. So Jonathan Lemire Mastriano, as everyone knows now, is the Republican candidate for governor in the state of Pennsylvania. Not a casual election denier, a proud one, someone who was at the Capitol on January 6th of 2021, though he didn't go into the building and still running effectively a primary campaign to the

frustration of many people across the state of Pennsylvania, many Republicans. He's not looking to grow his base. He's sticking to the line about denying the election. Yeah, there's not going to be a need to have a select committee probe into Doug Mastriano's efforts to enter for the election because he just spelled it out for you right there. He is an enthusiastic election denier. And there's two things about this. On one hand, yes, this is worrisome, frankly, for Republicans, because Mastriano, as you just noted, seems to be still running a hard right primary campaign, making no effort to pivot to the center, as we usually do see in a general election. And right now, polls have him trailing in the race for governor in Pennsylvania. We're seeing similar from Republican candidates out in Arizona.

Others who have suggested that they would try to, A, overturn the 2020 results, B, have claimed that there's fraudulent activity in this year's election with no proof. And C, talk about installing people who would do their bidding in terms of state officials, including the state secretary of state, for the 2024 election. Which, again, those candidates all losing in the polls because they seem out of step with most voters. But the other part of this is how worrisome this is. This is an increasing infestation in the Republican Party. The big lie is everywhere. There are very few Republicans in dissent to it. And some don't really believe it. But others, at least whether they believe it in their hearts or not,

are acting on it. And it is a dangerous place. And Americans' faith in their democracy being undermined by stuff like this. Americans are going to have a harder time believing they'll have the ability to vote and their vote will be counted correctly and the real winner will be installed in power because of big, loud Republicans like these. Well, Jonathan, that's why the stakes are so high in a state like Pennsylvania. When it comes to 2024 and the next presidential election, whoever wins in Pennsylvania essentially is going to play a huge role in what happens in Pennsylvania's election

laws and if the elections are free and fair. And so that's why that race is a race that is not just critical for the stakes for women in Pennsylvania, because Doug Mastriano has said that he immediately will ban all abortion. But also for for American democracy, this is on the front lines. And Elise, we know you're working on some focus groups out of Pennsylvania, and we cannot wait to see those. We really look forward to it. Coming up at the top of the hour, National Security Council coordinator John Kirby joins us to talk about the major developments out of Ukraine and the high stakes meeting today between Russia and China. Also ahead, three reasons why Republicans are defeating themselves

ahead of the midterms. Columnist Ed Luce will be here to explain. Ten minutes before the top of the hour. Welcome back to Morning Drone. A portrait of the late Congressman Elijah Cummings was unveiled yesterday at the Capitol. First elected to the House in 1996, he rose to chair of the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee at the time of his death. Cummings died in 2019 during his 13th term in Congress at the age of 68. The Baltimore artist Jarrell Gibbs painted the portrait of Cummings, which will hang in the Rayburn House Office Building's Oversight and Reform Committee hearing room. So fitting. The son of a sharecropper, Cummings was born in Baltimore and graduated from Howard University and received his law degree from the University of Maryland. Before serving in Congress, the lifelong Democrat spent 13 years in Maryland's

State House of Delegates. The room where the portrait was unveiled was the same location where the January 6th House Select Committee was holding its public hearings. As oversight chairman, Cummings led multiple investigations of the Trump White House. When Donald Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, testified before the committee about an array of claims against the former president, Cummings closed out those hearings with a fiery speech that struck a more compassionate chord than other of the committee members. After a long day of sometimes heated disagreements, Elijah Cummings closed that hearing with a powerful message, hoping for reconciliation in a period of heightened political vitriol.

I know that it's painful going to prison. I know it's got to be painful being called a rat. And let me explain. A lot of people don't know the significance of that, but I live in the inner city of Baltimore. All right? And when you call somebody a rat, that's one of the worst things you can call them because when they go to prison, that means a snitch.

I'm just saying. And so the president called you a rat. We're better than that. We really are. And I'm hoping that all of us can get back to this democracy that we want and that we should be passing on to our children so that they can do better than what we did. And so you wonder whether people believe you. I don't know.

I don't know whether they believe you. But the fact is that you come, you have your head down, and this has got to be one of the hardest things that you could do. Let me tell you the picture that really, really pained me you were leaving the prison you were leaving the courthouse and I guess it's your daughter had braces or something on man that thing

man that thing hurt me as a father of two daughters, it hurt me. And I can imagine how it must feel for you. But I'm just saying to you, I want to first of all thank you. I know

that this has been hard. I know that you face a lot. I know that you are worried about your family. But this is a part of your destiny. And hopefully, this portion of your destiny will lead to a better, a better, a better Michael Cohen,

a better Donald Trump, a better United States of America, and a better world. And I mean that from the depths of my heart. When we're dancing with the angels, the question will be asked, in 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact? And that's the question. I'll never forget his words and also the words of love and reconciliation that Elijah shared at our wedding. We were so hoping to be there for the unveiling of his portrait, but our schedule didn't allow it. Our deepest apologies to Maya.

But a moment now on his portrait, his legacy, and his memory. We chose Elijah to marry us because not only was he one of the kindest, most compassionate, most joyful men we've ever known, but also because of his steadfast commitment to bipartisanship and democracy. Elijah married us at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. You've heard a lot about the National Archives lately. The location and the man had so much meaning to us, the National Archives being the place where our country's most precious documents are held. In fact, in two days, it's Constitution Day at the National Archives, where they're going to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. It's the place where history is preserved. And Elijah, this important figure in our history,

well, it was just our honor to have him there for us. And anyone who needs a reason to understand our democracy and why it is so precious, pull up his speeches. We were so lucky to know him. We'll be right back.