Joining today's show are Mike Barnicle, Mark Halperin, Michael Steele, Jeremy Peters, Howard Dean, Bill Kristol, Dr. Vali Nasr, Massimo Calabresi, Lawrence O’Donnell, April Ryan, Sen. Chris Murphy, Sen. John Thune, Fmr. Gov. Rick Perry, Denis Leary and more
Family 'optimistic' after Bush 41 falls, breaks neck bone. Former President George H. W. Bush has broken a bone in his neck after a fall in his home inKennebunkport, Maine , and remains hospitalized in Maine, his spokesman Jim McGrath confirmed via Twitter. However, his granddaughter, Jenna Bush Hager, says the family is optimistic that he will heal well. "Thanks for all your thoughts+prayers for our dear Gamps," she tweeted.
Always touched by kindness: thanks for all of your thoughts+prayers for our dear Gamps. We are optimistic that he will heal well.
Bush, 91, is listed in fair condition at Portland's Maine Medical Center, hospital spokesperson Matt Paul said Wednesday evening. He'll likely have to wear a neck brace.
Maine Medical Center is just 45 minutes away from the Bushes' residence and is home to the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital, named for the former first lady.
A view outside Maine Medical Center. (Photo: WCSH-TV, Portland, Maine)
The 41st president, who celebrated his birthday on June 12, was previously hospitalized in December 2014 in Houston for a week after being admitted for shortness of breath. He suffers from vascular Parkinsonism — a form of Parkinson's disease that requires him to use a wheelchair or scooter to get around.
The father of former President George W. Bush and current 2016 hopeful John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is the oldest living former president.
Ever the record-holder, he and wife Barbara are also the longest-married presidential couple, beating John and Abigail Adams in 2000. Their 70th anniversary was this past January.
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill and Hillary, tweeted her well wishes for Bush's "speedy recovery."
Donald Trump Claims Net Worth Over $10 Billion. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed a net worth exceeding $10 billion and a 2014 income of $362 million as he filed his financial disclosure with the U.S. government. Donald Trump announces he’s worth over $10 billion. White House hopeful Trump claims $10 bn net worth AFP. Carson Presidential Campaign Raises $8.5M in 2nd Quarter Bloomberg. “This report was not designed for a man of Mr. Trump’s massive wealth,” his campaign said in a news release. “For instance, they have boxes once a certain number is reached that simply state $50 million or more. Many of these boxes have been checked.”
Trump, a real estate developer, property owner and media personality, claimed a net worth of $8.7 billion last month. In Wednesday’s statement, Trump’s campaign said that number was actually more than a year old.
More from Bloomberg.com: Tsipras Braves Parliament on Aid as Greek Outlook Worsens
The Trump campaign didn’t release the actual form that he filed with the Federal Election Commission, and campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks referred a reporter to the FEC. The FEC has 30 days to release forms publicly after they are filed and reviewed. It won’t confirm whether Trump’s has been received.
When it’s released, the form will show that Trump has “almost 500 business entities” and that 91 percent of them are fully owned by him, according to the campaign statement.
The $8.7 billion statement from last month included an assumption that Trump’s brand was worth more than $3 billion. That was before companies including Macy’s Inc. severed ties with Trump over his comments calling immigrants from Mexico “rapists.”
Real Estate
“Real estate values in New York City, San Francisco, Miami and many other places where he owns property have gone up considerably during this period of time,” the campaign said. “His debt is a very small percentage of value, and at very low interest rates.”
Wednesday’s statement didn’t include a precise number, instead describing his net worth as “in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS.”
The campaign also released a list of stock transactions, showing that Trump made $6.7 million in profits from selling shares of Bank of America Corp. and $3.9 million from Facebook Inc.
It also said that Trump has more than $9 million invested in hedge funds run by Paulson & Co.
The Trump campaign said he made $213,606,575 from NBC during the 14 years that his show “The Apprentice” was aired.
“First people said I would never run, and I did,” Trump said in the statement. “Then, they said, I would never file my statement of candidacy with the FEC, and I did. Next, they said I would never file my personal financial disclosure forms. I filed them early despite the fact that I am allowed two 45 days extensions.”
More from Bloomberg.com: An Identity Thief Explains the Art of Emptying Your Bank Account.
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One of the biggest arguments against taking Donald Trump's campaign seriously is starting to evaporate. One of the biggest indicators of Donald Trump's supposed weakness as a presidential candidate is rapidly changing.
Two new polls released over the past handful of days have displayed a dramatic shift in the real-estate mogul's popularity with Republican primary voters.
A new Washington Post/ABC poll released Wednesday found that 57% of Republican primary voters had a favorable view of Trump.
Compare that with The Post's May poll, which showed that only 16% of Republican primary voters held a favorable view of him. The Post also noted that Trump's unfavorability ratings had dropped to 40% from 65%, giving him an overall net-positive favorability rating in this poll.
A poll from Monmouth University released Monday discovered a similar shift. According to the poll, Trump is now viewed favorably by 40% of the Republican electorate, compared with 41% who view him unfavorably. That's a marked improvement from a 20-55 split in June.
Other local polls are showing similar results, too.
A Public Policy Polling survey released last week showed Trump ahead of the GOP pack in North Carolina. In that poll, Trump led former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida 16% to 12%.
"Trump's favorability rating in North Carolina is 55/32, much higher than we were finding in national polls prior to his entry into the race," PPP director Tom Jensen said. "Trump's really caught fire with voters on the far right."
Beyond the normal difficulty that comes with predicting the outcome of a primary months before the first state votes, pollsters and analysts have found it tricky to make claims about the current field because of the sheer number of candidates and the super-PAC money that will allow many candidates to stay in the race even if they're sagging in polls.
Trump's surge has been dismissed by pollsters and analysts, who have noted that former US Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) and Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain also experienced similar upswings in support before flaming out in the 2012 race.
Multiple pollsters and analysts have also repeatedly said the key number that shows Trump's weakness lies in his favorability numbers, which until this point have been disproportionately low. They argued that because he was so well known already, Trump did not have much room for improvement in his favorability ratings.
"While increased media attention may have given Trump's numbers a modest boost, they obviously do not translate directly into electoral support — otherwise, Trump would be far ahead of the Republican field," The Huffington Post's polling team wrote earlier this month. "If anything, the opposite is likely occurring, as mostly negative stories reinforce impressions of Trump's already-sky-high negative ratings, including a majority of Republicans."
As with all early polls, numbers will change as primary voters become more familiar with the candidate. Analysts have noted that Trump has incredibly high name recognition, and he has tapped into an issue, illegal immigration, that is extremely important to Republican primary voters.
"The poll results with regard to candidate standing are ephemeral at this stage, primarily a function of name recognition," University of Michigan political science professor Michael Traugott, a polling expert, told Business Insider. "Trump has greater name recognition than many of the others, especially the governors. But name recognition is not the same as support."
So it may be too early to predict whether Trump will actually take home delegates once primary voters start going to the polls. But if Trump's favorability numbers keep climbing, there's a chance that Trump could become a legitimate threat in the Republican field.
On the other hand, however, the public at large still views him largely unfavorably. Just 33% of voters view him in a favorable light, compared with 61% who have an unfavorable impression.
Democratic Poll: Hillary Clinton's lead shrinks among Democrats. Hillary Clinton is still leading the Democratic field for 2016, but her lead has shrunk in recent months, according to a Monmouth University poll out Wednesday, as independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to make steady gains, despite trailing by a wide margin.
Among Democrats and those leaning toward the Democratic Party, Clinton picked up the support of 51 percent, down from 57 percent in June and 60 percent in April. Sanders came in second with 17 percent, followed by former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb with 1 percent each. Lincoln Chafee, the former governor and senator from Rhode Island, registered no support.
If Vice President Joe Biden were to run, however, the results suggest that he would take some votes from Clinton. He has not announced his intentions, but poll respondents backed him with 13 percent, just behind Sanders. Among voters who said they were likely to vote for Biden in the event of his candidacy, 68 percent said they currently support Clinton, while 18 percent said they are backing another candidate, with 14 percent undecided.
Clinton continues to have the best favorability ratings among her Democratic rivals in the Monmouth poll (74 percent favorable to 17 percent unfavorable), though Biden is close behind (67 percent to 17 percent).
The poll was conducted via landlines and cellphones from a larger July 9-12 survey, which sought the opinions of 1,001 adults nationwide. This particular sample included 357 registered voters who identified themselves as Democrats or leaning toward the Democratic Party, carrying a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.
It’s time for Joe Biden to jump into the 2016 race.
Joe Biden generally doesn’t need much encouragement to run for president. He’s been doing it for a quarter-century.
And yet, just at the moment he’s arguably got his best shot ever, he’s getting gun-shy. So the press, usually dismissive of his chances, is nudging him in, announcing that this just might be, as veteran GOP operative Ed Rogers wrote in the Washington Post last week, “Biden’s moment.”
And perhaps the message is getting through: Jon Cooper, a top Democratic fundraiser from New York, told the Washington Times that the vice president is ready to run. “I’m as confident as I can be that he will be entering the race,” he said.
That perked up some ears at MSNBC. “I think he’s going to do it,” “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski said with a smile. “That’s my gut.” Biden should heed the call. Crazy Uncle Joe would be crazy not to run.
The reasons Biden might avoid another run for the presidency are well known. But in politics, as in life, timing is everything. In 2016, Biden’s greatest liabilities can be turned to his advantage. One knock against Biden is that he’s been chasing the job for so long and has never come close. In other words, the (Democratic) voters have rendered their verdict — repeatedly.
But surely Biden’s stature in Democratic hearts and minds has increased exponentially thanks to his crucial role in advancing President Obama’s policy agenda.
He’s served as a kind of prime minister to Obama. He was the one to negotiate with Congress when Obama couldn’t be bothered.
Biden was the one to advance gun control when Obama didn’t have the trust or political capital to do it.
Biden was the administration figure to force Obama’s hand on gay marriage by announcing his own support for its legalization before the 2012 election. If Obama has presided over a sea change in the rights and privileges of same-sex couples, Biden surely deserves a fair share of the credit.
On foreign policy, Biden’s views on Afghanistan loomed large in Obama’s withdrawal plans.
And Biden’s once-ridiculed proposal to split Iraq along sectarian lines may be coming to pass whether the administration wants it or not. Joe could argue he saw it coming a mile away, and wanted to plan ahead. (Biden as the wise man of Washington? Just when you think you’ve seen it all . . .).
Meanwhile, his chief would-be rival in 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is struggling. Her perceived closeness with Wall Street is anathema to the left’s populist zeitgeist.
“Why Wall Street Loves Hillary,” as Politico headlined a story last year, is precisely the kind of press that reassures moderates but vexes those who’d rather occupy Wall Street than be loved by it. For evidence of that, look no further than the stadium-sized crowds and rising poll numbers of the Democrats’ socialist candidate, Bernie Sanders. Sanders’ own boost comes after the left’s spirited (though unsuccessful) attempt to draft Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — the scourge of Wall Street — into the race.
Concerns about Clinton’s authenticity have only grown.
Biden, however, has no such credibility gap when it comes to being a man of the people. He thrives on interaction with voters. He feeds off of the energy, and he seems to genuinely want to make everyone around him smile.
Sometimes, that means behavior that borders on creepy. And sure, his I-ride-the-Amtrak-just-like-you act is just that — an act. (The vice president of the United States does not, in fact, have the same mass-transit experience as the rest of America.) But you’ll never successfully frame Biden as a phony. The public just doesn’t buy it. They can’t help but like the big lug. Biden has his cringeworthy moments, sure. But they tend to make him look human. That’s just Joe being Joe, they’ll say — what can you do?
Will his penchant for gaffes be a drag on his presidential campaign? Not likely. Here, again, his timing helps him. He wouldn’t be running against the charming, funny Clinton. He’d be running against the resentful, robotic Clinton.
Joe may sometimes be a boor, but Hillary’s a bore — one guess which one voters tend to prefer.
Now, whether they want to see him as president is another question, and Biden would surely be an underdog. The early polling numbers aren’t kind to him, showing Hillary as the runaway favorite.
But here again, Sanders’ experience is instructive. A Quinnipiac poll of Iowa Democrats in May gave Clinton 60 percent to Sanders’ 15. Last Thursday, Quinnipiac’s newest Iowa Democratic poll had Clinton down to 52 percent and Sanders up to 33 — a 26-point swing in less than two months.
“Bernie Sanders is for real,” gushed a writer for the left-wing Salon.com. Maybe — but more likely, the doubts about Hillary among Democrats are for real. Indeed, a recent CNN poll showed. Biden edging out Sanders for second place.
Biden also has the advantage of some degree of incumbency, as the sitting vice president.
This is his last chance, and it’s also his best shot.
But would he dare disrupt Hillary’s “historic” coronation?
Hey, that’s just Joe being Joe. What can you do?
Obama defines rape when asked about Bill Cosby. President Barack Obama said Wednesday that there is no precedent for revoking the U.S. Medal of Freedom -- as some have called for him to do -- given to comedian and actor Bill Cosby. But the President did outline his definition of rape.
"There's no precedent for revoking a medal. We don't have that mechanism," he said.
The President then paused, and while he would not comment on the specifics of a case in which criminal or civil charges could be brought, he instead offered a definition of rape.
"If you give a woman -- or a man, for that matter -- without his or her knowledge a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape," Obama said Wednesday at a White House press conference.
Earlier this month, details of a 2005 lawsuit were revealed that showed that Cosby admitted to getting prescription Quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with.
Shortly thereafter, online petitions began to have Obama revoke the medal.
Former President George W. Bush awarded Cosby the medal on June 21, 2002. At the time, the White House praised Cosby for appealing to the "common humanity of his audience" through his famous sitcom and other performances.
The Cosby question came from April Ryan, Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks.
Most of Wednesday's press conference centered on the recently-negotiated deal over Iran's nuclear program, which will soon be under review from Congress.
Obama, who appeared to ponder whether he should answer the Cosby question, rarely steps off script at his news conferences. One case when he did was early in his first term, when he made controversy by saying police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "acted stupidly" when they arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is a friend of Obama's.
The comment and resulting fallout over the larger question of Gates' arrest resulted in Obama calling for a "beer summit" between Gates and the officer at the White House.
Great. Bill Kristol is on morning Joe now. Oi. That is what I always say when he is about to join the panel to just say how much he hates everything that is not GOP based.
Iran nuclear deal: '99% of world agrees' says Obama. ‘You should know better’: Obama scolds critics, press on Iran nuke deal. President Obama on Wednesday staunchly defended the newly struck Iran nuclear deal, using a press conference to lecture critics and assembled media on the agreement -- even admonishing a reporter who questioned his resolve on U.S. prisoners left behind that "you should know better."
The president met the press as his national security team, and Vice President Biden, began to lobby skeptical lawmakers in Congress to back the agreement. Obama already faces bipartisan resistance to the deal, but on Wednesday challenged critics to present an alternative.
"I'm hearing a lot of talking points being repeated about 'this is a bad deal,'" Obama complained, speaking at the White House.
He said he doesn't expect Republicans to get behind the deal, but asked of critics, "What is your alternative?" Obama claimed the alternative is war.
House Speaker John Boehner's office pushed back on the president's comments. Spokesman Cory Fritz said in a statement that "there's little reason for Americans to believe this nuclear deal will do anything to stop Iran's drive for a bomb, or stop its efforts to promote terror and violence throughout the Middle East."
Republicans aren't the only ones objecting to the deal; several influential Democrats have openly voiced skepticism over key elements. But Obama, entertaining a range of different scenarios, said without a deal there would be "no limits" on Iran's nuclear program and the country "could move closer to a nuclear bomb." Inspections key to success of nuclear deal with Iran? With the deal, he said, "we cut off every single one of Iran's pathways to a nuclear [weapons] program."
The president later took umbrage when CBS News reporter Major Garrett asked why he is "content" the freedom of American prisoners held in Iran was not secured, despite their cases apparently being raised.
"The notion that I am content, as I celebrate, with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails -- Major, that's nonsense, and you should know better," Obama said, adding: "I've met with the families of some of those folks, and nobody's content."
The president said teams are working "diligently" to free them, but said tying their freedom to negotiations could create an incentive for Iran to use American prisoners as leverage for concessions.
Obama also acknowledged there will still be "problems with Iran's sponsorship of terrorism" and other issues -- but said to oppose this deal because it doesn't resolve all those issues "defies logic. It makes no sense."
The press conference comes one day after the U.S. and five other world powers sealed the long-sought -- and controversial -- nuclear deal with Iran.
The agreement would curb Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for valuable sanctions relief. While the United Nations will take care of implementing parts of the deal, the administration still is seeking approval from Congress. Republicans, and some Democrats, are concerned the deal legitimizes Iran's nuclear program and gives them too much in return for tightening up the possible paths to a bomb.
But Obama argues the deal is far better than the alternative and on Tuesday, he threatened to veto any attempt to block the international agreement.
During the press conference, Obama also weighed in on the mounting allegations of sexual misconduct against Bill Cosby.
"I'll say this -- if you give a woman or man, without his or her knowledge a drug, and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape," Obama said. "I think this country, any civilized country should have no tolerance for rape."
But most of the press conference was spent dealing with Iran. He said the U.S. faces a "fundamental choice." He also argued that no deal risks a nuclear arms race in the region, though critics say the deal itself does the same.
Biden spent the morning on Capitol Hill briefing House Democrats on Wednesday, and told reporters he was confident that lawmakers would get behind the deal. Yet in Jerusalem, Israeli leaders were planning what is expected to be a lobbying effort in the U.S. Congress ahead of a review of the deal, starting with a visit to the U.S. by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political rival, Isaac Herzog.
In Tehran, Iranians took to the streets to celebrate the accord, and even Iran's hard-liners offered only mild criticism -- a far cry from the outspoken opposition that the White House had feared.
Opponents of the deal, including Israel, have lambasted the Obama administration for granting sanctions relief to Iran while it continues to fund terrorist groups in places like Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Obama said the U.S. would keep trying to gain Tehran's cooperation on other security issues, but acknowledged the Islamic republic might not change its behavior.
"We're not betting on it," he said.
Obama sought to rebut specific critiques that have been lobbed at the deal -- such as concerns about whether sanctions can really be "snapped back" into place if Iran cheats. Obama insisted that they could, even if Russia or China object.
He rejected concerns that Iran could use procedural delays to stop inspectors from examining suspicious military sites until it was too late by arguing the world would have a full year to intervene before Iran could feasibly put together a bomb.
Although a longstanding embargo on selling arms to Iran will sunset in five years, Obama shrugged off that concern, too. He said the U.S. and its partners have other ways to prevent Iran from sending weapons to militant groups to spread chaos in the Middle East. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
'El Chapo' may have used a bird to test the air quality of his elaborate escape tunnel. Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquín "El Chapo," or "Shorty," Guzmán Loera, may have escaped from a high security prison several days ago, but details are still coming out about the nature of his escape.
It appears Guzmán Loera may have been using an actual bird to aid in his escape, according to the New York Times and Gawker.
Guzmán Loera escaped from the Altiplano federal prison through a sophisticated subterranean tunnel that was outfitted with lights, air venting, and a customized motorcycle rigged on a rail line. The mile-long tunnel likely took 18 months to two years to complete, according to Jim Dinkins, former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.
The mystery of his escape has deepened after Mexican government officials found a small bird in the trashcan of Guzmán Loera’s cell. Officials believe the bird, which they’ve nicknamed ‘Chapito,’ was used by Guzmán Loera to test the air quality of the tunnel.
Because of the length and depth of the tunnel — at one point it was as deep as 30 feet — officials suspect that the tunnel builders may have wanted to Guzmán Loera to test the air before escaping to ensure that he didn’t pass out before reaching the end.
The Guzmán Loera escape has rapidly turned into a massive mess for the Mexican government. As Eric L. Olson with the Mexico Institute of the Wilson Center said in The New York Times, the powerful drug lord's escape was "almost Mexico's worst nightmare."
Interior Minister Migual Angel Osorio Chong has said that Guzmán Loera must have had help from prison officials in his escape. In addition, the AP is reporting that the DEA warned Mexico about potential escape attempts by Guzmán Loera as early as March 2014, which went unheeded.
It’s being estimated that the escape may have cost Guzmán Loera $50 million between the construction of the tunnel and bribes to prison officials, according to Jhon Jairo Velasquez Vasquez, the former chief hitman of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
On top of everything else, Guzmán Loera escaped in plain sight. A newly released security video shows the exact moment that Guzman escaped, as he approached a shower area in his cell and disappeared into a gap in the floor.
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