Good morning and welcome to morning, Joe.

It's Friday, May 6th.

We have new reporting this morning on the role U.S. intelligence is playing in Ukraine's

success on the battlefield, including the sinking of Russia's most lethal warship and the concern among some U.S. officials

about Vladimir Putin's response to that. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby joins us later this

morning to weigh in as fighting rages on inside that sprawling steel plant in Maripole. Also happening this morning, Senate Democrats don't

have the numbers, but they've scheduled a vote anyway to codify abortion rights into federal

law. They don't have the votes. We'll show you what key senators are saying about the legislation

and what the strategy is here. Plus, whiplash on Wall Street, the Dow suffered its worst day since 2020,

raising gains from the day before and increasing concerns a recession could be ahead.

And former Defense Secretary under President Trump, Mark Esper,

speaking out about the time Trump wanted to launch

missiles into Mexico. We'll have the story from Esper's new memoir, as reported, in the New York

Times, staggering. We'll have all that and much more ahead. Joe's under the weather this morning.

Along with Willie and me, we have MSNBC contributor

Mike Barnacle and president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haas, with us.

So let's begin with the new reporting that Vladimir Putin's most embarrassing loss to Ukrainian

forces came out of shared intelligence from the United States. The Moscow, Russia's

premier warship in the Black Sea, sank three weeks ago after it was hit by missiles fired

by the Ukrainians. Moscow claims it sank because a fire on board caused ammunition

to explode. U.S. officials tell NBC news that the attack happened

after Ukrainian forces asked American intelligence about a ship sailing in the Black Sea. The U.S.

...