Washington. The state of our union is alarm at the latest pandemic data just nine days until election day. Today a worrisome late october surprise. A new coronavirus outbreak tied to the white house and hitting Vice President pences inner circle. The Vice President s chief of staff marc short has now tested positive as well as marty obst and at least three others of pences white house staff according to an official. Vice president pence is the head of the Coronavirus Task force was a close contact of shorts. But according to the white house, the Vice President has tested negative for the virus and is choosing to stay on the campaign trail. You can see him yesterday campaigning without a mask. The white house says its okay for him to be out there because he is quote, an essential worker although its not clear to us how campaigning is essential work as opposed to being in his office trying to use the levers of government to get control of the pandemic. As the virus spreads within the white house, again, the president is out on the campaign trail telling americans that the virus is, quote, rounding the turn and criticizing the news media for covering the pandemic. It is staggering and dangerous misinformation as the virus is actually spreading more rapidly across the United States. Saturday, the u. S. Hit more than 83,000 cases. That is the second highest day in the u. S. Since the pandemic began behind only friday. Overall the virus has infected more than 8. 5 million in the u. S. And killed more than 225,000. Joining me now, is mark meadows, white house chief of staff. Horrible news about the vps office. We wish them the best. Obviously, anybody not just white house staff, but any american who comes down with this, we certainly wish them the very best and its all about trying to make sure that we have the therapeutics, the treatments, and make sure that we can tackle this in a meaningful way and hopefully, we will be able to do that. How many individuals in the respects office or white house have tested positive this week . How many of them have symptoms . We dont give out that kind of information. Obviously marc short and a couple of the key staff around the Vice President have come down with the coronavirus. You know, it just goes to show you that we continue to face this enemy that came from china and, yet, what we also know is the one area that where we are rounding the corner is really the death rate as it looks to that. Our ability to handle this has improved each and every day and each and every month. You know, when there were estimates that as many as 10 of the population that got this would actually experience a fatal result, you know, we are now down to 2. 6. Every death is too many. But hopefully we are going to get this to the point where its not as lethal as the flu. Mark, pence adviser marty obst tested positive days ago. That was not disclosed to the public at the time. According to the New York Times, two people briefed on the matter said the chief of staff sought to keep the news of the outbreak from being public. Why would you do that . Another sign the way the white house has failed to contain the virus . That is not a report. Its a tweet. When we that was in the New York Times story. When we actually have Peoples Health at risk, what we look at there, jake, is sharing personal information is not something that we should do, not something that we do actually do unless its the Vice President or the president or someone that is very close to them where there is people in harms way. Listen, any time that there is someone in harms way, we have an obligation to let people know to contact trace. We have done that. We did that Chris Christie said you didnt do that with him. Well, in that vein, when you look at Chris Christie, its within 48 hours of symptoms and when we looked at the president , there was not a contact within 48 hours of the president where he would qualify under cdc guidelines. We actually have a cdc person so that hold on, jake. We got a person, a cdc person embedded here in the white house that helps us with Contact Tracing. Right. I understand that. Every day. Marc short has been in close contact with Vice President pence. They are always with each other. Short is now positive for the virus. Correct. Cdc guidelines say that Vice President pence should quarantine for 14 days. I understand the white house is trying to get around that but saying the Vice President is an essential worker. Mark, how is going all over the country campaigning, how is that essential work . Its not like hes helping to contain the virus, in fact the opposite. He is holding rallies that could be spreading the virus. He is not just campaigning hes working. We saw a middle east Peace Agreement with sudan that the president has engaged in. For anybody to suggest that the president has been out campaigning and not getting things done, all you have to do is look at the facts. He was on the Campaign Rally in tallahassee. Im not saying he is not campaigning. Im saying that is only part of what he is doing and as we look at that, essential personnel, whether its the Vice President of the United States or anyone else he is not following cdc guidelines. Jake, cdc guidelines does say essential personnel. Yes, it says wear a mask, if they wear a mask. I spoke to the Vice President last night at midnight and i can tell you that what he is doing is wearing a mask, socially distancing and when he goes up to speak he will take the mask off and put it back on. He is wearing a mask as it relates to this particular thing because the doctors have advised him to do that. When we start to look at this, you know, here is where we really need to make sure. On your website yesterday, jake, you know, your website is talking about now we think the spread is coming from small social groups and family groups. First it was large groups. Now its small groups. Coming from all sorts of places because the pandemic is out of control. Here is what we have to do. We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other why not get control of the pandemic . Because it is a contagious virus just like the flu. Why not make efforts to contain it . We are making efforts to contain it. By running all over the country and not wearing a mask. Thats what the Vice President is doing. Jake, we can get into the back and forth. Let me just say this, what we need to do is make sure that we have the proper mitigation factors whether its therapies or vaccines or treatments to make sure that people dont die from this. But to suggest that we are going to actually quarantine all of america and no one is saying that. They are. Joe biden is saying lock everybody down. Thats not what he said. We are having a dark winter. We are going to have a dark winter. Thats what Health Officials say. What Health Officials say its going to get worse. No. [ talking over each other ] the Health Officials did not say dark winter. Those were joe bidens words. He was quoting a health official. I think he was quoting william hazeltine. We have to make sure we fight it with therapeutics and vaccines, take proper mitigation factors in terms of social distancing and masks when we can. When we look at this, we are going to defeat it because we are americans. We do that and this president is leading while joe biden is sitting there suggesting that we are going to mandate masks. The president is holding rallies all over the country. Thats correct. No masks required and no distancing. We have already been according to Health Officials, Contact Tracing, there have been cases of individuals in minnesota and in washington, d. C. And in oklahoma that got the virus at this trump rallies that dr. Fauci himself called a super spreader event, the one at the white house. Thats not leading. Jake, theres also Contact Tracing from reporters. Some with your own group where they actually have worn masks religiously. Im here to tell you we need to find the vaccines and therapeutics to give americans the relief this is not a death sentence because its not and yet, at the same time, to suggest that any of that is not accurate is just not based on the facts. Here is the bottom line. We know according to Health Officials masks are the best thing people can do in terms of trying to prevent the virus from spreading, period. Yeah. Thats what they say. Until the vaccine and operation warped speed and works out, the best thing to do are masks from dr. Redfield, dr. Fauci and dr. Birx and everybody. Yeah. Vice president pence is the head of the Coronavirus Task force and exposed to somebody who tested positive. Right. The cdc guidelines say he should quarantine. Youre saying his running all over the country and meeting voters and campaigning is essential worker business . I dont think it is. If he is why not is he not wearing a mask . I havent seen any pictures of him on the tarmac or anywhere wearing a mask. Should the American People follow the cdc guidelines or not because the Vice President is not . I can tell you he is wearing a mask and will be wearing a mask today as we have this. Obviously, when you have an exposure you have to take additional mitigation factors to do that. But the other part of that, jake, is this, even those experts that you talked about, when we talk about masks, i say if mask is the answer and mandating mask is the answer, can we put all of our students back in schools if we just mandate masks and make sure the teachers wear masks . Should americans follow cdc guidelines . The answer was no. Should americans follow cdc guidelines . Certainly americans should follow cdc guidelines and when we look at that. Does that include the president . That includes the president and it includes everyone but there are why dont your supporters wear masks at rallies . Youre asking about the supporters versus the president. Why dont you require supporters to wear masks at rallies . We dont mandate masks. We offer them out. We live in a free society, jake. When you look at that, under a joe bidens america, he would lock everything down. Thats not true. How do you know that . Have you asked him that question . Ask him that question, jake. Ive seen a million interviews with him where were not talking about a hypothetical. Well, you are. Ive interviewed biden more than i interviewed trump. We dont have to get into that. We can get into that. In terms of interviews i think most journalists would agree joe biden has largely be unavailable and to run out the clock so that the American People will not the American People should abide by cdc guidelines . Youre not even asking your supporters to wear masks. We pass them out, jake. Do you know how many people in minnesota have gotten the virus because of a trump rally . You come to a rally with us. We give out masks. They are not wearing them. Its a free society. Youre not wearing one in this room. There is literally not one person in the studio. Youre saying you always wear a mask wherever you go . Come on, jake. The American People know that is not true. I know its not true. I wear a mask except when im in here and my office and home. That is true. 100 . I wear a mask when i walk in the hall way at cnn. Under your article yesterday youre suggesting that thanksgiving is going to be a super spreader event. I dont know what youre talking about. Its on the cnn website. They can all go look at it. Let me ask you a question. President trump said we are rounding the corner and its going away, he said that yesterday. Its not going away even in the white house. Beyond that the u. S. Reported 83,000 new cases on friday and saturday. Thats the two highest days of the entire pandemic so far for new cases and its not just new cases. The Positivity Rate is going up. Hospitalizations are going up. Deaths are starting to tick up. For any american i have a question here. Okay. Let me get to the question. Okay. For any american at home under the false impression the pandemic is over, would you agree this remains very serious and the numbers are going in the wrong direction and people still need to take precautions . I agree its very serious. We continue to test more than most other countries so the cases that we find will go up. If youre not testing, youre not finding it. A lot of these other countries are not testing near the rate were testing at. Let me ask you this. Let me finish. You asked me this i just want to bring clarity. It is true the more you test the the more youll see, but testing is up 16 in the last month and coronavirus cases are up 55 . Not about new tests but positive iterate and the pandemic is spreading and virus is spreading as a factual matter. As a factual matter you look at the number of tests versus the number of cases the last couple of weeks where youre talking about these upticks there is a correlation to additional testing. Ill be glad to go over and someday some of it, sure. Okay. So in doing that, i mean, what is the point . What is joe bidens plan for the pandemic . How is he going to do it . He is going to wear two masks like he does every day and suggest we skip thanksgiving. He gave a whole speech about it. If youre interested in his plan, you can read his plan. He doesnt have a plan. He has rhetoric because you and i both know for 47 years, hes talked about things and not done things. Youve covered him. I know him. The American People should know his record. Im asking what is going on right now and not theoretically what joe biden would or would not do. He had a plan he laid out friday and im sure its at his website if you want to know. President trump was asked if he could do it all over again and take a mulligan, what would he do different on the virus and he said not much. A columbia study out now says 130,000 deaths could have been prevented with morrow bust coordination and leadership. We know the president publicly dismissed concerns about the virus early on and undermined messages on masks and continues to do and he holds rallies that lead to more infections. Is it what is most concerning about the president saying he wouldnt do much differently is that suggest he really hasnt learned anything if he really thinks he wouldnt do anything differently . Some of those different positions on masks actually came from dr. Fauci and dr. Birx and the people you like to tout. I can tell you early on what was happening is we were learning about this virus and we continue to learn about this virus and where we are today is much better than where we were nine months ago. When it comes to all of the things that we have been able to do in record speed whether it was ppe, whether it was closing down our borders, whether it was creating ventilators or providing for therapeutics and vaccines in record time this president has done it all and what you want a leader to do and to suggest because of a virus that came here from a foreign country is the whole reason for this pandemic and to ignore that, jake, is ignoring the very people that we need to hold accountable and that is the chinese. Im not ignoring it. I agree china should be held accountable but we are talking about how the president handled it. Go ahead and china and the Chinese Government were not upfront about this we found something we can agree on. I can agree with you on that. Millions of people are hoping for some relief and some compromise. If you reach a compromise, senator mcconnell says he will bring any deal you reach to the floor for a vote. Do you have a guarantee of that and do you have a commitment from the democrats and 13 republicans you need to pass it . Have you identified 13 Senate Republicans who would be on board . We dont even have the bill yet. Nancy pelosi is coming up and i know she can speak to this. We continue to make offer after offer and nancy continues to move the goalposts. Were up to 1. 9 trillion dollar. Ive talked to the leader and senators multiple times. At the end of the day, it was the democrats just last week who said they werent going to support a 500 billion deal. So they said no to some americans have you identified when the deal happens were all optimistic that mnuchin and pelosi will come to a compromise. Do you have a commitment from mcconnell hell bring the bill to the floor and have you identified the republicans you want to vote for it . We have identified the Senate Republicans most likely to vote for it. We are not nancy pelosi and not opine on a bill and pass it before we have read it. We need to make sure we read the bill. We havent gotten an agreement. I have a commitment from Mitch Mcconnell if we have an agreement hell bring it to the floor and get it passed. Senate democrats have the opportunity to send relief to the American People this last week and didnt do it. That should be a headline, jake. Im told we are getting the hook from your team at the white house. I dont know if its from here. Go ahead. Its not on my end. Ill have you for the hour. Quick question. Is the Vice President being tested every day for coronavirus for safety sake to be sure he doesnt get it . We dont get into safety protocols but we test on a regular basis. I get tested every day. I can speak to my testing. I would assume that the Vice President and the president are in protocols close to that. I do think the public has a right to know because he has been exposed and we wish the best for mr. Short and everybody else in the Vice President s orbit. Mark, we hope you stay safe as well. Thanks. Appreciate it. You heard the White House Position on relief package for struggling americans. Nancy pelosi will join me next to discuss. Also alexandria ocasiocortez is my guest coming up. What concerns might she have about nominee joe biden. Ill ask her. Stay with us. This is the feeling of total protection now that we protect your identity, and mobile phone, as well as auto home and life youve never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today youve never been in better hands Allstate Iphone 12 and iphone 12 pro are here on verizon 5g. This new iphone plus verizon 5g. Game changer. vo with the coverage of 5g nationwide and in more and more cities, the performance of 5g ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. Whoa. I downloaded a whole movie in under 30 seconds, how is that possible . vo now get iphone 12 on us when you switch. I want this phone. vo this is the 5g phone Everyone Wants on the 5g americas been waiting for. Only on verizon. My husband and i started trying right after our wedding. When we couldnt get pregnant, we started ivf. Our story is special because its ours. But it isnt unique. If Amy Coney Barrett is appointed, i am scared. She supported a group that wants to criminalize the way i got pregnant. Doctors who perform it could end up in jail and families like mine might not exist. Call your senator. Demand justice is responsible for the content of this advertising. Still a father. But now a friend. Still an electric car. Just more electrifying. Still a night out. But everything fits in. Still hard work. Just a little easier. Still a legend. Just more legendary. Chevrolet. Making lifes journey, just better. Welcome back to state of the union. Im jake tapper. U. S. Senate appears to make Amy Coney Barrett a Supreme Court justice as soon as tomorrow and hope is dwindling for congress to pass any legislation to help americans struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic before election day. Joining me now one of the chief negotiators of the deal, House Speaker nancy pelosi. Ill get to the relief bill in a second. I want to get your reaction from what you heard from chief of staff mark meadows about the outbreak among Vice President pences inner circle. I wish them well and safety and hope they Pay Attention to the real of how this spreads. Im sorry its reached to close to the Vice President and i hope he will and his wife will keep their distance from knows who are infected. Its really sad. Now, look, they have all of the protections in the world, all of the anticipation of how this could spread, all of the prevention from it and, yet, they are susceptible. Just think of americas working families and especially americas essential workers how susceptible they are to this virus and that is really part of our discussion on the coronavirus negotiations. Lets talk about that. You said a few days ago, we have to have our legislation written by the end of the week and that was last week. You have not reached a deal. Fair to say a Coronavirus Relief package is not going to be signed into law before election day . There just isnt the time to do it . I never give up hope. Im optimistic and we have put pen to paper and writing the bill based on what we hope will be the outcome what they said they would get back to us on. Here is the thing, for us to do i want to just say to our friends out there who are and the country suffering and working families are suffering and Million Dollars in poverty. In september more than 900,000 women left the work force. So we have to act. To do anything, though, that does not crush the virus is really official malfeasance and to crush the virus we have to follow the science testing, tracing, treatment, mask wearing, ventilation, separation, and the rest. Right. And that is what Vice President biden has put forth. We have it in our bill. They said they are going to last week, you remember they said we will support the testing language but with minor touch. That was 55 of the language. We are still waiting for the final okay and that is a central issue in all of this. We cannot just say president here is trillions of dollars and spend it anyway you want. We need a strategic plan. When is the dropdead deadline when a deal cannot happen before election day . Millions of americans are suffering as you note. Yes. They are 8 million more in poverty. Right. All of the women that dropped out of the work force presumably i think a lot dropped out because their kids are doing remote education and they have to be home with their children and giving up their paychecks. They need help. When is the dropdead deadline for them to get this help . As i said, were ready. We can change some words in the bill should they come back with some modifications. You mentioned schools. Children should be safe in schools. We can make that happen. Across the country, it only takes more money and that is for separation, for ventilation, for technology, for more teachers and the rest. Children learning, parents earning. So it is related to the separation that we say in our health piece, but the education piece is another policy piece where we have some disagreement. Otherwise, we can negotiate the rest of it. So we know that the white house has moved closer to your position on lots of issues. Coronavirus testing, Contact Tracing strategy, Unemployment Benefits, local government they havent yet. They havent . Thats what we are waiting for. We are waiting for the final they said they would. Youre waiting to see it on paper . They havent yet. They havent yet. Also the same thing they keeping moving the goalposts. Every time they say we move the goalposts that is projecting what they did. Lets be hopeful. We are nine days before an election. Yes. We are trying to unify the country. The one way we can do that is to crush the virus. We want to open our schools and feed our people. 17 million children, food insecure in our country. The answer is crush the virus. I get that. But it seems like they keep moving closer and closer. I get that youre waiting for it on paper but it seems like youre winning. Thats what it seems like to me. Im looking at all the things the white house is moving to your position on and it seems like you could say yes for an answer. As soon as they say this is it, in our negotiations, yes, that is the case. But then they take it back and when they come back, it isnt what we anticipated. Im hoping monday, tomorrow, i sent over on friday the list of the concerns that we still had about what is the answer, what is the answer, what is the answer . And my understanding is he will be reviewing that over the weekend and we will have some answers on monday. More than 23 million americans are on Unemployment Benefits and one study shows the poverty rate is higher than its been in the whole pandemic. Three democratic governors in the midwest wrote to you and President Trump and other congressional leaders saying, among other things, quote, we implore you to put differences aside and agree to another muchneeded covid19 relief bill. Right. In addition one of your own members congressman max rose said this week the Democratic Party needs to learn to a certain extent how to declare victory and go home. Youre getting a lot of messages from democrats saying this is good enough. We need to say yes. Welcome to my world. That is not a lot of messages although i respect each and everyone of them. If we dont agree to the science to crush the virus, if they did what was in our bill, that science dictates that we do, then if we do that we can lower the incidents of the virus in certain areas, open schools, open businesses and the rest. If we dont, we are just giving money to the president to spend any way he wants and that has not been in furtherance of crushing the virus. Again, in terms of we all want an agreement. Nobody wants it more than the house democrats. We represent these people. We have been fighting for food for the hungry. Rent assistance for those who may be evicted. Most importantly, we really have to stop the spread of the virus and nine months later they still have refused to honor science with the solutions. And then we are praying for the vaccine and hopefully that will be soon but many more people will die in the meantime. If the democrats win the white house and the senate and keep the house, are you going to hold out until democrats have control of everything and you can get a bill more to your liking or are you still going to go ahead with working with the president and Mitch Mcconnell, et cetera . The latter, for sure. People need help right away. What i say to them, though, what we are doing right now is to make the bill bigger, better, and safer for you and the benefits will be retroactive. We want it, the sooner, the better. Thats why were making concessions. Were making concessions too. No, no, the sooner the better. Mitch has said keep working and he doesnt want to do it before the election. We want to do it as soon as possible. I thought the president did too and that was part of the leverage that each side had that we both wanted an agreement. Why would we even be talking to each other if we didnt believe we could reach an agreement . Again, it could happen this week in the house, but its up to mitch whether it would happen in the senate or go to the president s desk which is our hope and prayer. Take a listen to a prediction from President Trump about the house of representatives. This was in the final president ial debate on thursday. I think we are going to win the house. Youll see but i think we are going to win the house. What is your response . You keep thinking that, mr. President. You keep on thinking that. Just another example of delusional statements he made there. He said that we are on the decline with the virus, that right. Cleanest air, cleanest water. If the democrats win the house, are you going to stay on as speaker . Yes, i am. We have to win the senate. All of this discussion of the virus takes us to the importance of this election. Vote your health. You see this. We have a nominee for the Supreme Court who would not say when senator feinstein asked her do you believe that medicare is constitutional, she said she couldnt say. What do you think about Climate Change . Im not a scientist and theres some disagreement there. This is a very important election. This nomination makes the election more important for Peoples Health, for clean air, health of our planet and health of our people most importantly and you see people voting their wellbeing. Again, we are working on this bill. We are trying to get money to help protect the physical the Critical Infrastructure of our elections as you see threatened from abroad, as well as to honor people by not making them stand in line for hours to exercise their right to vote. Republicans say no to that. House speaker nancy pelosi, thank you so much for coming today. We really appreciate it. Be safe. I will. I have my mask right here. We thought about doing my next interview over a video game. Frankly, i dont like losing in front of my kids and i have no what twitch even was. Alexandria ocasiocortez will join us next. 133 million americans have preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma. This administration and Senate Republicans want to overturn laws requiring Insurance Companies to cover people with preexisting conditions. Theyre rushing a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to change the law through the courts. 70 of americans want to keep protections for preexisting conditions in place. Tell our leaders in washingtn to stop playing games with our healthcare. burke stomer happy anniversary. customer for what . burke every year youre with us, you get fifty dollars toward your home deductible. Its a policy perk for being a farmers customer. customer do i have to do anything . burke nothing. customer nothing . burke nothing. customer nothing . burke nothing. customer hmm, that is really something. burke you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. See ya. kid may i have a balloon, too . burke sure. Your parents have maintained a farmers home policy for twelve consecutive months, right . We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum burke start with a quote at 1800farmers. Welcome back to state of the union. Im jake tapper. Nine days until election day. More than 50 million americans have already cast their vote. My next guest is trying to make sure young people join that number and shes taking a novel approach to getting that done. Joining me now, is alexandria ocasiocortez. Thank you for joining me. I dont know if you were listening to meadows and pelosi talking about the stimulus, the relief bill. You have warned of a mass eviction crisis in your new York District if the relief package is not passed as soon as possible. Do you think its time for democrats to declare victory and get this passed now so your constituents can get the help they need right now . Yes. I think passing a stimulus is incredibly important and a lot of people are in pain. Frankly i think what is important is the republican side really need to get their act together. When we hear one thing about an offer from the white house, you hear Mitch Mcconnell saying he doesnt have the votes for it internally. They are trying to prevent this united message having their ducks in a row, the fact of the matter is they cant get their own senators to agree to their own package. So really a lot of this package is going to rely on democratic votes. Its going to require delivering every democratic vote in the senate and peeling off republican votes to agree to it. We really need folks to make sure that, you know, that we are getting state and local funding and that people can get a second stimulus check without giving up their protections in their workplace. Lets turn to Climate Change which is important especially to you. You introduced a bill earlier this year that would ban all fracking nationwide within the next five years. To be completely candid, Vice President bidens position on the issue of fracking has been confusing. During the primary he sounded supportive of a ban on saturday he told supporters in pennsylvania im not banning fracking altogether. It sound like now hes on the other side of the issue. Does that bother you . It does not bother me. I believe and i have a very strong position on fracking. You know, the science is very clear, the methane emissions from fracking are up to 60 times more powerful than co2 emissions at trapping heat and air and stopping Climate Change there is a scientific consensus. However, that is my view. Vice President Biden has made very clear that he does not agree with the fracking ban and i consider that, you know it will be a privilege to lobby him should we win the white house but we need to focus on winning the white house first. I am happy to make my case, but i understand he is in disagreement with that issue. Do you worry that his opposition to a fracking ban is going to hurt young voter turnout . Well, you know, i believe that young people right now have a very disciplined activist mindset and they are not here with the intent of voting for their favorite person or voting for, you know, someone they think is perfect as president. I think young people are actually quite disciplined and realistic and pragmatic in their vote. Right now young people are so clear on their stances on Many Political issues that they believe that they want to vote for a president that is at least going to be receptive to their advocacy, activism and protest frankly. There is no question that joe biden is a much better person in that position to be receptive and actually listen to the voices of advocates than donald trump who is intensely focused on enriching himself and his friends. Last year, biden told democratic voters he would eliminate fossil fuels as president. Listen to what he said after thursday nights debate to reporters. We are not getting rid of fossil fuels. We will get rid of the subsidies for fossil fuels but not get rid of fossil fuels for a long time. Were not getting rid of fossil fuels for a long time. You were a member of bidens Climate Change task force. Is that good enough for you . Well, you know, when he says we are eliminating subsidies, i think that is, frankly, an important first step. A lot of folks who like to tout themselves as free market capitalists while still trying to make sure they get as much government subsidy and propping up of the fossil fuel industry as possible. If you do believe in markets, solar and Renewable Energies are growing less and less expensive by the day in many areas. They are starting to become less expensive than fossil fuels. When you eliminate government subsidies, it becomes more difficult for fossil fuels to compete in the market. I think while the Vice President wants to make sure that he is not doing it by government mandate or regulation, i do believe we are moving towards that future. I believe that theres a way and that we should push that process along but the Vice President and i disagreements are, i believe, recorded and that is quite all right. At the first president ial debate, biden said, quote, i am the Democratic Party right now and he said the partys platform is his platform. You noted you disagree with him on a range of topics including health care and fracking and you made it clear you intend to push him if he wins. Do you think that is a major part of your role under a potential Biden Administration, trying to push him to the left . Well, you know, i dont want us to start counting our chickens before they hatch. I believe that we need to be focused on winning the white house, period. The fact of the matter is there are many critical states that are on the line. Whether its florida, georgia, pennsylvania, et cetera. We need to make sure that we win this white house. Frankly, i think it would be a privilege and it would be a luxury for us to be talking about what we would lobby the next democratic and how we will push the next Democratic Administration. In terms of my role, i believe that has been my role and my role is consistent in making sure we push the Democratic Party to have a large vision for our future, listen to the need of the working class of people who are living paychecktopaycheck and people who are young and of color. I believe the base of the Democratic Party and who we are, you know, that it is our job to make sure that we are serving all people in the United States and particularly our base. And so, you know, is my job to push the Democratic Party . Absolutely. That has been my job since that has been a part of my role since ive been elected. It has. Okay. Understanding your reluctance to count chickens before they are hatched and youre right. Its a competitive election and absolutely President Trump could be reelected. No question about that. That said, politico is reporting that Bernie Sanders who you endorsed, sanders has expressed an interest as being bidens labor secretary if biden wins the white house. How crucial is it that biden offers an important offer to Bernie Sanders in his cabinet should he win . I think its extremely important. I think a lot of people misunderstood about the progressive movement, it wasnt a slogan when bernie ran on saying not me, us. Its not just about what where Bernie Sanders is next term or what role that senator sanders is playing. But its really about who the Biden Administration is choosing to lead agencies across the board. And i am not familiar personally with any of senator sanders requests or nonrequests. I do not know personally about the veracity of it. I believe its critically important that the Biden Administration appoint progressive leaders, whether in labor, whether in the treasury, whether its secretary of education, et cetera. The fact of the matter this isnt just about the progressive movement. This is about making sure we are not just going back to how things were and rewinding the tape before the Trump Administration. This is about making sure how are we not just make up for lost time, but leap into the future and actually ensure we are making the investments and policy decisions that will create an advanced american society. And, frankly, conservative appointments will not get us there. Do you think the Obama Presidency was not a progressive presidency . You know, i think president obama did everything he could with the limitations of a Republican Senate and frankly a Republicancontrolled Congress for much of his term. But, you know, i think that being said, there were, of course, progressive demands that were or progressive wishes that werent exactly met but that wasnt solely due to president obama. We desperately wanted even to settle for a public option during that time, and it frankly wasnt president obamas fault that didnt happen. I do believe there are certain areas like Foreign Policy where there was much to be desired. I dont believe that, for example, in certain areas lying progressive policy, there wasnt necessarily it wasnt as progressive as perhaps many folks in this country would have liked. But, you know, if we have an opportunity, if we work hard enough to elect folks like jamie harrison, make sure we protect seats like gary peters and make sure we unseat republicans like jodi ernst and have the opportunity to have the white house, the senate and the House Majority democratically controlled, then i believe we have an obligation to the American People to show what a Democratic Administration can actually accomplish and that we can govern and that we can truly have leaps in policy, that people can feel in their everyday lives that make voting democratic worth not just worthwhile, but a memorable shift from just a flat line of this idea of bipartisanship which often just becomes republican manipulation. You went on twitch this week and played the video game among us with popular internet personalities to encourage young people to vote. I am not a young voter. I had it ask my children what twitch is and what among us is. They knew all about it, of course. That video has now more than 5 million views. Where did the idea come from and is it possible to kind of translate this kind of unorthodoxed approach to outreach and actual turnout to young voters who historically do not turn out as much as they could . Yes. The idea initially came from frankly, you know, i am often on social media and seeing a lot of people playing among us. Twitch is a platform that im familiar with as a livestreaming platform. And i decided that this was something that i wanted to do, not just for fun but to try in the form of engagement. We know twitch is a popular engagement platform for other means. People often raise thousands, if not millions, of dollars collectively for charities. We decided to test this out as a Voter Mobilization strategy. So when we actually were able to put on the stream, over when you add up the collective streams over 500,000 people were watching live and 5 Million People have viewed since. It actually has been effective. We were directing voters to iwillvote. Com. It helps young people to register to vote and develop a plan. The thing about voter plans we know scientifically and from behavioral studies that people who make a plan to vote are statistically more likely to vote than just registering to vote. We found in the live stream folks from the dnc were tweeting and reporting we were the highest driver to iwillvote. Com ever during the cast of a live stream. And we are seeing early returns in places like florida where youth turnout is, in early voting, is astronomically higher than it was than in even 2016. And so we do know that young people are starting to become an extraordinarily powerful electorate that are issues focused, whether it is march for our lives on gun safety, the sunrise movement, mobilizing on Climate Change. Theyre having impacts on the election. You can see in senator marquees reelection the role that they played. It is interesting watching you drag your party into the 21st century. Last question. If Speaker Pelosi runs again, as she indicated she will if democrats keep the house, will you support her . Well, again, i want to make sure that we win the house. I do believe that we will. But its critically important that we are supporting democrats in tight swing races, making sure they all come back and we grow our majority. I believe that we have to see those races as they come, see what candidates are there. I am committed to making sure we have the most progressive candidate there. If Speaker Pelosi is that most progressive candidate, then i will be supporting her. Okay. Interesting. Alexandria ocasiocortez, congresswoman from new york, thank you for your time today. Appreciate it. Thank you. More than 224,000 people in the u. S. Have died of coronavirus, but President Trump says he would not change much about the way he responded. I can think of a few things he could consider. Thats next. vo businesses are always making choices. Heres a choice you dont have to make the largest 5g network. Awardwinning customer satisfaction. Or insanely great value. Now, with tmobile for business, theres no compromise. Network. Support. Value. Choose. All. Three. Tmobile for business. Ready when you are. Such as high blood pressure,ve pdiabetes, and asthma. S this administration and Senate Republicans want to overturn laws requiring Insurance Companies to cover people with preexisting conditions. Theyre rushing a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to change the law through the courts. 70 of americans want to keep protections for preexisting conditions in place. Tell our leaders in washingtn to stop playing games with our healthcare. This morning in the United States there are more than 8. 5 million cases of coronavirus and more than 224,000 deaths. But i want to take you back eight months ago to the day, to february 25th. As the American People woke up that morning, there were zero known deaths due to coronavirus and only 57 confirmed cases in the u. S. , mostly from a cruise ship. And that morning a highly respected official with the centers for disease control, the cdc, who had been there since 1995, in a press briefing told the American People the truth about how bad this pandemic could get. Ultimately, we expect we will see Community Spread in this country. Its not so much a question of if this will happen, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness. The American People needed to prepare, dr. Messonnier said. I had a conversation with my family over breakfast this morning and i told my children that, while i didnt think they were at risk right now, we, as a family, need to be preparing for significant disruption of our lives. You should ask your Childrens School about their plans for School Dismissals or school closures, ask if there are plans for teleschool. I contacted my local School Superintendent this morning with exactly those questions. Eight months ago today. That was february 25th. Now, President Trump upon hearing of dr. Messonniers warning was, quote, furious the wall street journal reported. Flying back to washington, d. C. President trump phoned alex azar and, quote, threatened to oust dr. Messonnier. The next day the president was asked about dr. Messonniers warning that the virus would spread in the u. S. And he downplayed the threat and lied to the American People about government preparedness. Well, i dont think its inevitable. Probably will, possibly will be could be at a small level, a large level. We are totally prepared. We have the best people in the world. You see that from the study. We have the best prepared people, best people in the world. President trump was wrong. Dr. Messonnier was right. Regardless an official at hhs told messonnier to lay low, sources tell me. Vice president mike pences office told the cdc to basically stop briefings all together, that the white house briefings would be the only ones. In may, dr. Messonnier wanted to brief the public about the alarming trend seen january through march of americans not getting vaccines, but she did not get proper clearance to do so. The public has not heard from dr. Messonnier since march. She has not even tweeted since then. To this day, as much as dr. Messonnier loves communicating with Health Care Providers in the public, sources tell me she does not want to do it anymore because to do so would put her and the important work of the cdc in jeopardy. A Columbia UniversityStudy Released this week looked at the question what if the Trump Administration had done things right from the very beginning. What if they had taken all the actions Public Health experts were cautioning them to do. The study concluded anywhere between 130,000 and 210,000 american lives could have been saved. But here is President Trump this week. With covid, is there anything that you think you could have done differently . If you had a mulligan or a doover, what would it be . Not much. Look, its all over the world. Not much, he said. Not much. Just imagine if eight months ago today if dr. Messonnier had been encouraged, heeded, amplified instead of silenced. If everyone had started preparing for the worstcase scenario, as she advised, how Many Americans might be alive today . How many more will die unnecessarily because President Trump silences and intimidates those who attempt to correct his lies about the pandemic with facts . The facts we all benefit from and we all could have benefitted from if dr. Messonnier had been supported and not treated as if facts and truth were the actual virus to be isolated. Thanks for spending your sunday morning with us. The news continues next. This is the feeling of total protection now that we protect your identity, and mobile phone, as well as auto home and life youve never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today youve never been in better hands allstate [joe] im joe biden and i approve this message. [narrator] four years ago, donald trump asked black america a simple question. What do you have to lose . [narrator] since then, weve seen a rise in racial violence and white supremacy, an increase in poverty while giving tax cuts to the rich, 200,000 dead from covid. One in five are black. Weve lost our jobs, our businesses, our dignity, and even our lives. And he dares to ask what the hell do you have to lose . [narrator] damn near everything. This is gps. Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world. Im Fareed Zakaria coming to you live from new york. We will focus much of todays show on the president ial election. It is just nine days away and it will have great impact across the globe. How does the world think about whats going on here . We were treated very unfairly. How will the people who swayed the 2016 election vote this time . Repeat after me