Pandemic rages, is the only deep political divide growing. Senate Homeland Security chairman ron johnson, democratic congresswoman karen bass and fema administrator join me to discuss. And election threat. The president s intelligence director says he will no longer brief congress in person on Election Security as americans prepare to cast their ballots, will their votes be secure . House Intelligence Committee adam schiff responds. Plus, team effort. Again, americas sports players take a stand, canceled games in protest of Police Violence. Its exhausting being black, especially when you are a celebrity. Wnba star will be here ahead. Hello. Im dana bash in for jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is bit early divided. With both conventions mind behi, it is more clear than ever that this is an Election Year like no other. As the nation comes to a reckoning with racial injustice, protests recharged by the shooting of jacob blake in wisconsin. Just overnight another person was killed near a protest, this time in portland, oregon with demonstrators clashed with protrump rallyiers. The man who was killed was wearing a hat with a far right group based in portland. This death comes after two people were killed during a protest in kenosha, wisconsin where a 17yearold trump supporter has been charged with those murders. We have breaking news about the security of the election. Jake tapper learned that the office of the director of National Intelligence will no longer brief congress in person on Election Security, a move that House Speaker nancy pelosi and intelligence chairman adam schiff called, quote, a betrayal of the publics right to know how foreign powers are trying to subvert our democracy. Joining me now is the chair of the Homeland Security committee in the senate, ron johnson of wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, thank you so much. First i want to talk about what happened in portland. We saw someone get killed overnight amid clashes there and the president has been tweeting and retweeting. Before dawn this morning he called for the mayor of portland to resign and be arrested. He painted protesters as thugs and cities in chaos. You are the chairman, as i mentioned, of the senate Homeland Security committee. Are you comfortable with the president appearing to inflame tensions, instead of what we normally see from president s, which is try to calm them down . Well, good morning, dana. I have been urging calm across the board, particularly in light of what happened here in kenosha. But as i said in an Opening Statement when we had the acting secretary wolf before my committee. When you encourage disdain for the police, you encourage criminals. When you do little or nothing to stop rioting, you encourage anarchy. When you are encouraging criminals and anarchy peoples lives are lost. You have more and more destruction, more and more violence. We need to get control of the situation. And until we do, were going to have more violence and were going to have, unfortunately, potentially more loss of life. So we need to get control of the situation. We need to encourage calm. Here is Something Else we need to do. We need to figure out what we do all agree on and we share the same goal. We want a safe, prosperous and secure america. Lets concentrate on achieving the unity everybody wants. Youre saying everybody should be calm which sounds logical. But look at what we are seeing this morning, one of the things were seeing on the president s twitter feed this morning. He appears to be ago tating his supporters to go into portland, which is resulting in some of this violence. Is that what you want to be seeing from the president , sir . Dana, there are people ago tating all over the place. Yeah, but hes the president of the United States. Kenosha can be a model. What happened in kenosha is congressman got into the city really quick. Were looking for help. He called up the president. The president responded immediately and said, what can i do to help and he offered to bring in out of state National Guards. Unfortunately, our government turned it down one night. Two people died. Then we accepted it. We have searched ago tating comments and ago tating ideas. Thats how youre defining it. There is no other way to see it. Its very different from what you said. Dana, let me finish. The way you stop the violence and the rioting is you surge manpower and overwhelm the numbers of rioters so they cant riot so you can protect peaceful protests and they dont turn into riots. I also have to point out at some point in time peaceful protests at some point in time become a siege. The downtown is boarded up. Those businesses are shuttered. They cant operate. Other citizens now cant earn a living because the businesses are shut down. Part of the problem there is that you have we have so stop that siege on our cities. Okay, thats fair. Pardon . Its fair. Its very fair and it needs to be said more often. Let me ask you the question i was going to ask you, sir. We saw two People Killed by a trump supporter in your home state of wisconsin. These deaths do appear to be the result of flashes between the right and the left. So doesnt the president have a responsibility to call out violence regardless of who is committing it . And the governor has responsibility to accept the surge of manpower so that people so that citizens dont bleed. They have got to protect their own property and take matters into their own hands. Yes or no . Thats what happened. What the president did was he offered to surge manpower resources so the violence could end. The governor did not accept that that day. That night tragically two people lost their lives because citizens took matters into their own hands. Im not for vigilanteism. Im not sure that was happening. People felt because the governor and local officials were looking for help. The governor did not accept the help. So people took matters into their own hands and thats what ended up happening. People died. You have to get control of the situation and the way you do it is what happened in kenosha where local officials said, please, we want help. We want manpower. The president offered. The governor finally accepted it. And now at least the streets are not violent. We still have the protests. The businesses are still shuttered. Those individuals Constitutional Rights are being violated because they cant earn a living. The 17yearold accused of committing those two murders was a trump supporter. Its a tragedy. Do you condemn that . Its a tragedy. Do you condemn it. Its a tragedy. I dont want to see any loss of life. It is a tragedy. And the way you prevent these tragedies is support Law Enforcement, waum the situation, allow the peaceful protests but you dont allow you dont allow peaceful you dont allow peaceful protests to turn siege into siege. Listen, i dont want to see anybody lose their life. I dont want to see businesses burn down. I dont want to see economic destruction. I condemn it all. Okay, thank you. I want to move on to something that the president said when he was just the candidate back in 2016. He was speaking at the convention then and he promised to end crime and violence in the United States if he became president. Take a listen. Beginning on january 20th of 2017, safety will be restored. The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its own citizens. Any government that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead. So what we are talking about right now is happening under President Trumps watch, the violence in american cities. Not to mention 180,000 dead from coronavirus. Is his government, in the president s own words, living up to his own promises . Is he worthy to lead . Well, first of all, where the violence is occurring is primarily in big cities governed by democratic mayors and democratic governors for decades, so i think the way you get the what . Well, you know, President Trump has a tendency to overpromise. I try to underpromise and underdeliver. Did he overpromise . To basically support Law Enforcement and place safety and security as a priority, thats what you need. If you want Economic Prosperity and opportunity, you need a safe and secure community and states and america. Thats why i said, thats the goal we all share. Why dont we concentrate on the goal we all share and figure out how to accomplish it. Republicans in the senate, we tried to address the problems with policing. And we did it using tim scott who looked at the house bill and found the areas of agreement, put it on the floor of the senate and the democrats said no. Its either our way or the highway. We wont take what we all agree on. We need to have everything as well we dont agree on. Were trying to do this. Were trying to provide the safety and security america wants. The president is trying to do that as well. Sounds like you are, but im not sure those tweets are achieving the goal that you are stating this morning. I want to turn to the question of russia and more specifically election interference in the election we are currently in. The office of the director of National Intelligence informed congressional oversight committees that it will no longer be briefing in person on Election Security issues. Do you think that the dni should continue or his aids should continue to give those briefings . Well, they will in a written form, and theyre not doing it in person because of the leaks apparently. Listen, i have been on top of russian interference well before 2016 as chairman of foreign relations. We held three hearings on the way russia tries to destabilize the election system of countries around the world. Thats what they have done su succe successfully because they were aided and abetted by people like adam schiff. You just said because of leaks. My question for you is, first of all, members of the committee, people who sit on the Intelligence Committee dispute that they leak. But secondly, why logically would having an all written briefing surprise. Why would having an all written briefing do anything to stop leaks . Wouldnt it make it easier if you have something on paper. Listen, i sit during, you know, through secured briefings. This is being blown so way out of proportion. I can count on one or two fingers the things that are actually classified in those briefings. There is no surprise here. We know foreign actors are trying to influence and stabilize our system. Were doing putins work for him. What adam schiff did and what the news media did with the Trump Campaign narrative, criminal investigation, special council, that is what is destabilized our politics. Its how the media and how democrats have taken that and basically then done putins work for him. What about the constitution and oversight responsibility that people like you in congress have . Shouldnt you have the opportunity to question people who are working on securing the elections which are happening now . We do and we will. And we all know what putin is doing. You know, china wants biden to be the next president. We understand that. But its very difficult to change votes. It is very difficult to actually affect the poll numbers. What you can do is destabilize our politics and that is exactly what russia succeeded in doing because of what adam schiff, democrats and the news media have done as a result. Do you believe and do you agree with the notion that russia, as we speak, is trying to destabilize this election . They always have. They always will. Yes, yes. You know, again, i held hearings on this a couple years before in 2016. Im not surprised at all by it. Yes, we have to take it very seriously. But we cant cling to putins hands. We cant blow it out of proportion to destabilize our political system. Weve done it to ourselves. Okay. I want to ask you about something you are involved in right now, and that is you are investigating whether or not ukraine was involved in 2016. I want to read to you something from the senate Intelligence Committees report suggesting that speculation about ukraine interference is russian misinformation. Heres what this says. The committee observed numerous russian government actors from late 2016 until at least january 2020 consistently spreading overlapping narratives which sought to discredit investigations into russian interference. The Committee Identified no reliable evidence that the Ukrainian Government interfered in the 2016 u. S. Election. This is the republicanled committee in the senate saying this. And you are still investigating these claims. So my question is why are you spending your time doing this when the theory that ukraine was involved has been debunked . First of all, first of all, you know, thats been debunked. Its not mine. They worked for two years on this investigation, and these are your Senate Republican colleagues. Okay. Are you going to let me answer . Something that came out of the senate. Okay. So my investigation into the Obama Campaign or administration goes back to march of 2015. Our investigation is quite wide ranging. Our investigation is primarily using u. S. Government documents and sources from the state department, department of justice, the National Archives and a democrat lobbying firm. The only russian disinformation that im aware of that are involved in our politics are in the steele dossier and false intelligence products they created and leaked to the media and didnt tell Chuck Grassley and i about it. They are being putins puppet, not me, not Chuck Grassley. Okay. Were going to have to leave it there. I want to congressman adam schiff of california. We have a lot to get to, but first your reaction to what you just heard from your colleague in the senate. Well, dana, im not sure where to start. But as you point out, what the administration is saying makes no sense in terms of their refusal to brief congress on russian interference designed to help the Trump Campaign. Theyre going to put it in writing now instead of give us an oral briefing. That doesnt make any sense unless the goal is not to allow members of congress, the representatives of the American People, to ask questions, to point out the false equivalence that the administration is trying to promulgated that somehow russian interference in our election, russian active measures help donald trump is no different than other countries are doing. They dont want those questions answered. They dont want that information going to the public. This is what the president is after. After all, donald trump fired director mcguire for Briefing Congress on the fact that russia was trying to help his campaign again. So this president doesnt want to push back on that. He doesnt want the American People to know about it. He doesnt want to hear about russian bounties on the heads of our troops. He doesnt want to hear about russian convoys clydie i collid troops. As you know the dni says his office is going to provide your committee with written reports. Why is that not enough . Because you can make a written report, and you can state things in a written report that are not correct and you cant be subject to questioning about it. This is the problem we have had. For example, dana, we saw about a month ago the head of the Intelligence Community, his director of National Counter intelligence issue a Public Statement that drew a false equivalence between what russia was doing and what china and iran are doing and he was called out on it. We had hearings in the congress where he could be held to account and others could as well. And the result was they were forced to issue a second statement that acknowledged, no, russia is actually intervening to help donald trump and denigrate joe biden. China has a preference. And being able to call them out, hold them accountable, have them testify before congress, base them under oath if necessary forces accountability. When you can hide behind documents or withhold documents and not have to answer questions about it, it lets you conceal the truth. So in this case concealing the truth is concealing russians are helping the president in this election. The president evidently believes that he cant beat joe biden without getting either foreign help or disinfranchising people from voting during the pandemic. Are you suggesting that the Trump Administration is trying to protect russia here . Well, no. The trump President Trumps motivation is, as always, solely about himself. Its to get himself reelected. He realizes if the country learns again that the russians once again are intervening to try to help him in the election, he feels that takes away from their resistance. So he doesnt want the American People to know about it. He doesnt Want Congress to know about it. He wants to draw false equivalence between what the russians are doing and others are doing. He knows when they do come and brief congress we ask questions. We can get to the bottom of things. After all, he fired a director for doing exactly this. And sadly the current director of National Intelligence doesnt have the will or the backbone to stand up to this and undertake his lawful responsibility. I want to play for you something that President Trump said about the reason that the dni no longer wants to continue briefing you, your committee and others. He says because of leaking classified information. Take a listen. One question. Brought information into the committee and the information leaked. Whether it was shifty schiff or somebody else, they leaked the information before it gets in. And whats even worse, they leaked the wrong information, and he got tired of it. So he wants to do it in a different form. Have you or any of your staff or other democrats on the committee leaked classified information . I havent. My staff hasnt. I cant speak for what all the members of the committee have done or not done, including a lot of the republican members. Leaks are always improper and sometimes theyre illegal. But of course this is a falsehood. Yet again another lie by the president. And, you know, of course, as you point out, its a logical inconsistency to say were going to put it on paper so it cant leak rather than speak to the congress. That doesnt make any sense. But whats more, dana, you can tell this is another falsehood, a false rationalization by the president because after the last set of briefings before congress, the director of National Intelligence offered to brief congress again. So clearly they werent concerned about leaks after the last briefing or they wouldnt have come back to offer another briefing. Something changed, dana. And what changed is of course the president probably in another fit saying i dont Want Congress informed. Because the last time that congress was informed the director of National Intelligence had to put out another statement to acknowledge the fact that russians are helping donald trump again. So, mr. Chairman, will you thats his goal, to suppress that information. Will you subpoena intelligence officials to appear in public at a hearing before the election . That is certainly one of the tools that we may use. I cant speak for what decision ultimate lly well make. Thats a decision that will have to go to the speaker. But we will compel the Intelligence Community also to speak plainly to the American People because, dana, this information, this intelligence paid for by taxpayers doesnt belong to donald trump. It doesnt belong the intelligence agencies. It belongs to the American People. The agencies are the kus tone yans of that information. And the American People ought to know what russia is doing. They ought to know their president is unwilling to stand up to clad mere putin. They ought to know that senators like ron johnson are pushing a kremlin false narrative. And that information belongs to the American People, not donald trump. Before we go, i want to ask you whats going on in portland, oregon. Police are investigating a homicide after a person was killed last night during violent clashes there. It comes just days after two people were killed in kenosha, wisconsin. Do you have any reason to believe that russia is trying to fuel some of the civil unrest in these cities via social media or other methods . Well, first of all, dana, i condemn any of the violence thats going on and i find it astounding that my colleague in the senate cant simply condemn this. The peaceful protests i think are calling out in a very important way the murder of so many black men and women at the hands of police. And those protests are in the best tradition of the United States. But we made to make sure theyre peaceful as that there arent these incidences of viviolence. The russians four years ago exploited black lives matter. They set up their own false flags online to try to divide people along racial lines. Are they doing it now . They are once again doing their best on social media and other means to grow these divisions again. And i think that most pernicious, we have to worry about theyre aggravating these tensions in our cities. We have to worry about the russians pushing out the president s false narratives about voting by mail. But finally on the protests, dana, i want to underscore something you are asking senator johnson about. And that is the president is willfully fanning the flames of this violence. As his own adviser Kellyanne Conway said last week, they believe the violence is helpful to them. And the president is only motivated by one thing, whats in it for him. And he sees this violence and his ability to ago tate more of it useful to his campaign. 180,000 people have died from the pandemic because of his incompetence and this ma lig nance narcissism. And he simply not only will act to stop the violence in the streets, but he will try to send federal National Guard forces or others to ago gri vat it because he believes the violence helps him. That is the sad and tragic truth about this but also about the Trump Presidency more generally. House intelligence chairman adam schiff, thank you so much for joining me this morning. Appreciate it. And the president says hes standing up for law and order. Is that message working with voters . I will talk to karen bass about that and whether congress missed its chance to pass Police Reform. Plus, when will you be able to get the Coronavirus Vaccine and get back to normal . Ill speak to a member of the Coronavirus Task force ahead. Stay with us. Fights pain in two ways. Advil targets pain at the source. 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You know, i was just appalled at what i saw in kenosha. The idea that you would see that young man with a rifle walking toward the police and they do nothing, they dont move to stop him, they actually give him water, dont even arrest him on the spot and he killed two people. And then unfortunately to listen to the head of Law Enforcement the next day, he seemed to blame it on the fact that people were violating curfew. The protests, the peaceful protests which over 90 of the protests have been peaceful are very helpful and obviously any time they turn toward violence, thats very damaging. President trump made his first comments about jacob blake friday night, five days after the shooting. I want you to listen to what he said. So im looking into it very strongly. I will be getting reports and i will certainly let you know pretty soon. It was not a good sight. I didnt like the sight of it, certainly. And i think most people would agree with that. Hes also traveling on kenosha on tuesday to meet with local Law Enforcement and survey damage from the recent riots. What effect do you think his visit will have, good idea or bad . Oh, i think his visit has one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to agitate things and to make things worse. It also happened in portland, too. You saw a parade of Trump Supporters actually actively shooting paint balls at peaceful protesters. And the president , in my opinion, encourages that. He actually retweeted the people firing paint guns. So i think he only means to agitate things. He is campaigning. It is clear his campaign is all about law and order. It is a throwback to the past and he will do everything to disrupt law and order during this time period. We dont know where the violence is coming from because there are protesters on both sides of this issue. Right. We dont know yet what happened in portland. But back to kenosha, should the former Vice President , joe biden, also visit kenosha . Well, i mean, i think the Vice President , as i understand it, is going to be speaking out very soon. Whether he goes to kenosha or not, i dont know. I know hes going to follow medical advice first. But one thing that i dont think should happen is that i dont think using kenosha in a way to campaign, which is what i believe the president is doing and the tweet that he put out in portland, you do see people firing on the protesters. Theyre firing paint balls. So i think that his motivation is directed only in one area. And its not to bring resolve to the situation. Its not to look at police abuse. Its not to do any of that. Its to campaign and to agitate. But are you concerned, forgive me for putting it this way, but are you concerned politically speaking joe biden isnt fighting fire with fire, that donald trump is doing what you just described because he clearly believes it benefits him politically and that do you believe joe biden, do you feel that hes pushing back hard enough . Well, i think that he has been clear. I think his statements around what happened to mr. Blake were clear. What the president said was basically nothing. And, so, i do think that he has been responding, absolutely. So President Trump has tried to tie the democrats and black lives matter protesters to some of the violence and the looting we have seen in places like kenosha and portland. Marquette University Poll earlier this month, this was of wisconsin voters who may hold the key to novembers election show approval of protests has dipped 13 points since june. So are you concerned that these scenes of unrest are hurting the movement . Well, im absolutely concerned. And im concerned, like you said a few minutes ago, that its not real clear where this violence is coming from. So i think that the peaceful protests are helpful. When they turn to violence obviously its not. Were 66 days from an election, and i think it is a tragedy that we have a president that is doing everything he can to fan the flames, but he did this in 2018 as well. In 2018 the message it was were getting invaded on the southern border by hordes of immigrants, and this time hes using legitimate issues around police abuse and using it as a way to resurrect a very old Campaign Slogan of law and order. So the house of representatives, as you well know, passed a Police Reform bill more than two months ago. Yes. And in a letter last week to senator Mitch Mcconnell you wrote the following. You wrote how many more mothers and fathers must mourn the loss of a child to Police Violence . How many more children must be raised without a parent lost to Police Violence . How many more videos much we watch before you act . Enough is enough. Now, Senate Republicans led by tim scott proposed their own bill. Democrats blocked it. So was it a mistake rather than trying to reach a compromise than to block it . Should they at least have tried to get something passed . Well, first of all, no, i dont think that it was a mistake. When we acted, we acted with absolute urgency and we acted with a transformative bill that addresses immunity, that lowers the standard for prosecution so we can actually hold officers accountable. So if Mitch Mcconnell wants to act, he can certainly put up the George Floyd Justice in policing act that is over in his house. But i will tell you that over the last couple of months there have been a number of discussions with republican members in the house who have presented tim scott with what i believe would be a stronger bill, so he has an opportunity to put up another bill that we could perhaps go to conference with. So i think, as you pointed out, the house voted on the bill and a bipartisan basis. We garnered a few republican votes, which is a big deal because trump tweeted a couple days before threatening republicans not to support the bill. So we did have bipartisan support. So Mitch Mcconnell could put up the George Floyd Justice in policing act. Lets see what happens. Put it up for a vote. I want to ask about the rnc, the convention this past week. Uhhuh. A number of africanamerican speakers made a point of highlighting questionable comments by the democratic nominee, by joe biden, and my question for you is are you concerned that that kind of representation that they showed at the rnc will hurt with the democrats with the africanamerican vote . You know, i honestly dont because what the republicans did was essentially put up a number of individuals. Who do those individuals represent . I believe they represent themselves. I dont believe that the africanamerican population is going to be fooled by the last three and a half years of a president who clearly stokes racial violence, who stokes racism. I dont believe anybody is going to be confused by that and his policies. He talks about protecting africanamericans. Its offensive for him to say that he has done more for africanamericans than any president since lincoln. So barack obama or Lyndon Johnson didnt exist. I think that the majority of black folks are very clear that the last three years of this presidency have been devastating. Let me make note of the fact there are over 180,000 americans dead from coronavirus, and we know a significant percentage of those are folks of color, which i believe is one of the reasons why they dont want the democrat graphic data released on the people who have died. So he hasnt done anything for africanamericans as far as im concerned. Congresswoman bass, thank you for your time this morning. Thank you. And historic winds, virus, flods, locusts. But you wouldnt know there is a Climate Crisis right now. Is the Trump Administration ready to face Hurricane Season and covid19 . The head of fema joins me next. Discomfort back there . Instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders. Try the cooling, soothing relief of preparation h. Because your derriere deserves expert care. Try new soothing relief. Theres a reason 1 serum is sold every minute revitalift hyaluronic acid serum. With our highest concentration of hyaluronic acid. Visibly replumps skin. And reduces wrinkles. Revitalift hyaluronic acid serum from loreal. Now that the rents due but theyve cut your pay. Now that the virus has cost lives but your healthcare costs too much. Now that our president has had months but he still doesnt have a plan. What happens now . Joe biden knows how to lead through a crisis because hes done it before. When our economy was on the verge of collapse, joe biden led the largest economic stimulus in a generation and saved millions of jobs. Now joe biden is ready to lead us through this crisis. He knows rebuilding our economy starts with fighting the virus, increasing testing, getting more protective gear for healthcare workers and calling for mask mandates nationwide. As president , hell get working families back on their feet by lowering healthcare costs and helping Small Businesses recover. So what happens now . We elect a president who will build back better. Im joe biden and i approve this message. Where you can find games, news and highlights. All in one place, right on your tv. The xfinity sports zone. Use your voice to search every stat and score. Follow the teams you love. And, even get notifications with breaking news alerts and more. With the xfinity sports zone everybody wins. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Say xfinity sports zone into your voice remote today. Welcome back to the state of the union. Im dana bash. The storm claimed at least 15 lives, according to officials there and are still there are still half a million customers without power in the area, despite packing the strongest winds to hit louisiana in well over a century. This could actually be just the start of a terrible Hurricane Season. Coming as thousands of americans are still contracting covid19 every day. Joining me now is the administrator of the federal Emergency Management agency peter gainer. Thank you so much for joining me. Good morning. President trump was with you in louisiana yesterday to survey the hurricane damage. How is the recovery going there . They got hit pretty bad, especially louisiana, those five counties all the way from cameron all the way up. Lots of power issues, wires down. Thats impacted the delivery of water. So i think those are the two prime things that, especially in louisiana, theyre fighting with, is getting that power restored and getting that water restored so they can return people to their homes. You pointed out in a congressional hearing last month that hurricanes are becoming more and more frequent, more costly and more damaging because the climate is changing. Do you believe that human activity is responsible for the Climate Crisis . You know, femas role is deliver those valuable resources for any hazard. Were an all hazards agency. Why it happened, im going to leave that up to the scientists. My job and my role is to make sure they have everything they need to get their lives back to normal. Thats why we came down to louisiana and texas. Thats why the president came down, to see it firsthand and give them some hope that federal resources and that Great Partnership is intact. So just you mentioned the scientists. Scientists do overwhelmingly agree that there is human involvement in the Climate Crisis. The Trump Administration produced its own report. 13 federal agencies was Crystal Clear that the observational evidence does not support this amount of warms and points to human emissions of greenhouse or heattrapping gases as the dominant cause. Do you subscribe to that . Do you believe thats accurate . Again, im going to leave that all that to the scientists. My role as the nations emergency manager is to deliver those valuable resources to those impacted by disaster, no matter the cause, no matter the place, and thats my mission. And i get that. I get that you are responsible for cleaning it up, quite literally. But as somebody who is in charge of that, do you not want to look at the cause as part of your job and at least maybe subscribe to, as i said, what your own administration has said, at least the scientists that you are referring to . Well, we have, you know, across every state in the United States, we have mitigation plans. And in those mitigation plans, states have to and these are our rules to states. They have to embrace changing positions, democratic shifts, weather patterns, all those things that make sure their plans reflect that. It is part of what we do. But today in louisiana my job is to make sure i deliver those valuable federal resources to those impacted by disasters. Let me ask you this way. Do you believe that the Climate Crisis is a threat to the u. S. . And, again, you can go back and look at the record. The climate has changed, and if you just look at hurricanes, theyre more frequent. Theyre more deadly. Theyre more devastating. And again my role as the leader of fema, as the emergency manager for the nation, is to make sure the nation is prepared to mitigate those risks. Congress passed last year a Great Program building resilient infrastructure communities where we want to invest in predisaster mitigation, invest in disasters before they happen. That really is the best way to battle all kinds of weather challenges. Okay. So just for our viewers, the overwhelming Scientific Consensus is that human activity is responsible for the Climate Crisis. I know you dont want to go there. The president held a large gathering on the white house lawn on thursday night with roughly 1,500 people. Few were Wearing Masks or social distancing. We saw a similar scene at the president s event on friday in new hampshire. You were on the Coronavirus Task force. Were you comfortable with what you saw at both of those events . I cant say that first of all, i wasnt there so i didnt see it firsthand. And being part of the Coronavirus Task force, our message to everyone across america is four simple things. Wear a mask where you can. And socially distance. Wash your hands and try to stay out of large crowds, especially inside. If you do those four things, i think well beat down the coronavirus even faster. So if you can socially distance, then maybe you dont have to wear a mask. But if you can, then wear it. It is really simple tools we can all use to keep ourselves safe. Absolutely. These were two events held by the president of the United States who didnt not just encourage but require the people in attendance to see him to do what you just said. Does that bother you . Yeah. Again, i dont know what the rules were for the convention. Well, we saw the pictures. They werent Wearing Masks. And they were very close together. I dont know. I think you said that. But okay. But you said there were rules there is some instruction not to wear masks. I cant say that. I said he didnt require them to wear masks. There was no instruction not to wear masks. Okay. Again, i cant comment on it because i dont know if its true or false. Okay. I want to ask you about something that you have on your website. The fema website is called coronavirus rumor control. And the first recommendation to the American People is find trusted sources of information. In the last six months the president has touted hydroxychloroquine. He repoeatedly refused to wear mask. He said initially that the virus will disappear. Do you think that the president falls under the category in your website of a trusted source of information on the coronavirus . Again, you know, im here today to make sure that we discuss the impacts to louisiana, to texas on those disaster survivors that in some cases have lost everything. Theyre depending on our partnership, locals, states and the federal government to get them back in their homes and get them back to a normal life. That really is my focus for today and thats why im here today. Okay. And you feel equipped to do that . I feel absolutely equipped in giving those states of energy and major disasters they have all the resources they need. We toured all around the past two days. Tens of thousands of responders, utility crews. South carolina, team rubicon all down there, again, trying to deliver those Critical Resources to those impacted by laura. Well, administrator gainer, we thank you for your work down in louisiana and the agencys work down there in texas and everywhere else there is a natural disaster. We appreciate you coming on this morning. Thank you. Thank you. And bigger than the game. Proathletes across all major sports walking off for racial justice. Ill speak to one of the leaders of the movement, wnba star, coming up next. Fructis treats shampoos conditioners made with 98 naturallyderived ingredients bursting with super fruits to nourish hungry hair yes to vegan no to silicones yes to nourish no to weighdown fructis treats by garnier naturally your business has an easy choice. Tmobile for business, the largest 5g network. Awardwinning customer satisfaction. Insanely great value. Choose. Any. Three. Ready when you are. Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. Youve got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. Apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether its a new or chronic problem. And apoquels treated over 8 million dogs. Nice. And. The talking dog thing . Is it bothering you . No. Itching like a dog is bothering me. Until dogs can speak for themselves, you have to. When allergic itch is a problem, ask for apoquel. Apoquel is for the control of itch associated with allergic dermatitis and the control of Atopic Dermatitis in dogs. Do not use apoquel in dogs less than 12 months old or those with serious infections. Apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers to worsen. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling better . Im speechless. Thanks for the apoquel. Aw. Thats what friends are for. Ask your veterinarian for apoquel next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. Welcome back to state of the union. Im dana bash. You have to imagine the likes of muhammad ali and Jackie Robinson are looking on with pride at the amazing past few days in sports when players decided to delay their games to protest police brutality. And the Inspiring Women of the wnba, theyve been at the front of this social justice fight long before the tragic events in kenosha. Joining me now is a los angeles sparks forward and the president of the Womens National basketball players association, who is coming off of eight wins in a row. Thank you so much for joining me. Appreciate it. From florida. This really was an unprecedented week in sports. Weve seen athletes protest Police Violence before, particularly you in the wnba, but nothing on this scale. What makes this feel different to you . Well, you know, as you mentioned before, first of all, thank you for having me. As you mentioned before, you know, this is not new to us. And its quite unique, the state of the world has allowed our movement to meet its moment. Weve always been on the forefront of speaking out against racism, Police Reform, voting and education, and as a union, we are always unified and we stand in solidarity with our peers, but, quite frankly, this is a truly historic and unique situation for us to mobilize in ways that is just in our dna as nba players. Four years ago the wnba punished players for protesting Police Violence on the court. Now it seems like team owners and League Officials are really following you, the players lead here, in showing support. What changed . You know, i think that its just kind of an evolution of the league. Its players and, you know, obviously operations. Us negotiating our recent collective Bargaining Agreement certainly spearheaded a lot of innovation, and what we havent seen in the league, but also the relationship and the rapport that the players have with the league moving forward. Were still quit young. Next year well be 25. We have such a long way to go. Although were seeing so much success and notoriety in what were doing, we want to continue to progress. So i think we see that very much so in how were able to amplify our voices in accordance with our league. I want to get your reaction to something President Trump said friday night about the action taken by your league and by the nba. He said, quote, i think what theyre doing to the nba in particular is going to destroy basketball. When you watch sports, you want to sort of relax. This is a whole different world. I dont want to stay in politics. You want to relax. Its very bad for the nba. Whats your response to President Trump . Well, you know, as basketball players, playing basketball is an outlet, and we too would like to relax, but were also citizens, and the platforms that we have, just as the politicians do, need to be used to affect change in our communities. And as athletes, we would be discrediting our essence if we didnt use that platform for good and for change. Kwaench quite frankly, too, a lot of what we speak about shouldnt be political, but, unfortunately, the way our country has evolved, certain issues, certain human issues have become political. We are black women in the wnba. A majority of us are black women, and inherently we are political. As we deal with racism and sexism. But i think because of where we stand in politics, we try our best to speak out for everyone. And i think that we saw a lot of headway in our cba in being able to negotiate change that can affect women, not just women in sports. That can really bring a lot of attention to how much further we need to go for change. I want to ask you about that in a second, but, first, i want to ask about how much you and other wnba players have really tried to amplify in particular the case of Breonna Taylor in kentucky. You recently participated in a Virtual Meeting with her mother. Setting aside your jersey and your leadership role here, what does it mean to you, personally, as a black woman in america, to be so involved in her cause . To be honest, im very grateful and honored to be in the position that i am, to even have the time and have for the conversations to be held space for women in the wnba to have have those talks with people that are being directly affected by it. And for us to be able to serve our purpose and amplify the voices of parents like Breonna Taylor. You know, its interesting because were out here and were speaking out against against any injustices for everyone, but Breonna Taylor is a prime example of, you know, how black women are kind of considered in society, and were hoping that we can do our work, not just to bring some sort of comfort to her mom and to amplify and celebrate breonna, but also to affect the change that we want to see. The killers have not been arrested yet and thats the comparison between women and men in this country and also black people in this country. So on that note, i want to ask about fighting for equality. And youve been doing that not on just on social justice but on other issues, for example, pay. You really fought hard to get a deal to change the fact that wnba players are paid a fraction of what other professional athletes make. You recently got it so that players in the wnba could receive full maternity benefits and things of that nature. So how has that experience, fighting to be heard and treated the same as your marylale counterparts, influenced your broader fight now on social justice. You know, it was kind of a precursors to what were experiencing now. For the longest, you know, i think that it took some time for us to mature as a league, as players in this league to understand what we need to do to create that change. And through the cba, with an amazing union staff and our executive director in terry jackson, and, of course, having the commissioner, we were able to come together and create a historical cba that can serve as the catalyst for the change we want to see. Its by no means the end of what we want to see. Its the future in motion. Im really happy we were able to create some type of change that women who arent just athletes also want to see in their own lives. Well, i appreciate you, and im a wnba fan. Im becoming much more of one now, frankly, learning about you and everything that youve done for women in particular. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. I appreciate it. And thank you for spending your sunday morning with us. The news continues right now