Worse than anyone in this pandemic. Lets get some more on the breaking news right now. Our National Correspondent sarah sidner is joining us. We are also getting word of some very disturbing developments in one School District. What are you learning . Reporter yeah. A school has just started. Were pretty much in some places this week. The Current School district in mississippi now reporting that there have been several people who have tested positive for the coronavirus. That has caused a hundred students to have to be quarantined because of those positive tests. And this as the president has been saying that schools must reopen. The virus is winning and the American People are losing. Reporter the coronavirus teaching us a terrible lesson as some schools begin filling with students. Inperson learning already disrupted in cherokee county, georgia, after a second Grade Student tested positive within the first couple of days. That teacher and that class now at home for a 14day quarantine. And positive tests or exposure to the virus. This is a community issue. And we need to find a way to be able to get through to the higherups and help them see that if the teachers arent safe, then the students arent safe and then the community are not safe. Reporter in mississippi, some schools reopening even though the state has the highest Positivity Rate in the country. Masks now mandatory included in schools located in covid19 hot spots. Dr. Anthony fauci says if inperson learning happens, one way to mitigate the danger. Keep the windows open. That to me when youre dealing with a respiratory virus, its simplicity is so obvious. Reporter but in the Third Largest School District in the country, Public School officials announcing the danger is too high to reopen. The fact of the matter is we are seeing an increase in cases. Combined with the trends that were seeing the decision to start remotely makes sense for a district of cps of size and diversity. Reporter an American Academy of pediatrics study revealing minority children had much greater rates of infections than their white counterparts in. A study of a thousand children, 30 of black children and 46. 4 of hispanic children tested positive for the virus compared to 7. 3 of white children. Across the country, a small bit of hope. 45 of 50 states are seeing new case rates steadying or declining. But the death toll is still rising. Nearly 1,400 people reported dead in one day. Dr. Anthony fauci said the lack of uniform reopening plan helped create a surge in cases, which, in turn, led to more deaths. When you look at the number of infections and the number of deaths, it really is quite concerning. The numbers dont lie. Reporter new york citys mayor announcing vehicle quarantine checkpoints after numbers show 20 of all new covid19 cases in the city are coming from out of state travelers. The checkpoints i think are going to send a very powerful message that this quarantine law is serious. Reporter in jackson, mississippi, a different move to try and slow the spread. A nightly curfew for a fiveday period announced by its mayor. And now we are hearing from two groups, an Infectious Disease society of america and the hiv medical association, they have sent a letter to the white house urging the white house to have an entire federal mandate that is for masks across the entire United States. Wolf . All right, sara, thank you. Now to the white house. Our chief White House Correspondent jim acosta is joining us. Jim, were also getting ready to speak to the white house chief of staff mark meadows. Hes going to be joining us shortly. Weve got a live interview with him coming up. But during the meantime, getting some new information from your sources about the president at his views on this pandemic. Reporter thats right, wolf. And we should point out President Trump continued his detachment from coronavirus reality today, insisting during a morning tv interview that covid19 is, quote, going away, when that is just not the case, at least not any time soon. Members of the president s Coronavirus Task force are still distancing themselves from mr. Trumps rosy assessments. A source close to the task force told us the president does not grasp the severity of the pandemic in the u. S. , explaining to cnn that mr. Trump, quote, still doesnt get it. The percentage down is incredible. Reporter in his latest push to convince schools to reopen across the u. S. , President Trump is offering familiar assurances that havent panned out before, that the coronavirus will just disappear. My view is the schools should open. This things going away. It will go away like things go away, and my view is that schools should be open. Reporter one day after he sat down with his task force for the first time in months, a source familiar with that meeting said mr. Trump does not grasp the severity of the pandemic in the u. S. , telling cnn he still doesnt get it. He does not get it. While the president is praising the administrations response to the pandemic. The United States has done an amazing job, a great job. Reporter task force dr. Anthony fauci says the numbers dont lie. The u. S. Is lagging behind much of the world. We, the United States, have suffered worse as much or worse than anyone. Reporter the reason some parts of the country never got on board with controlling the virus. There are parts of the country you could look at that did very well. But totally as a nation, we are in that situation where weve got to get that control way down to a low base line. Reporter the president is finding ways to distract his base teasing the idea of delivering his Convention Speech from the white house, turning taxpayer funded property into a campaign prop. I love the building. Im there right now. I spent a lot of time here. Some people didnt spend as much time here. I spent a lot of time here and i like it. And i think its a great place and greatly representative of our nation. Reporter democrats say thats not happening. He cant do that. You dont have political advance in the capitol. You dont have political events in the white house. Reporter mr. Trump is also complaining about mailin balloting. So nevada, were in court, well see how it works out. But if it doesnt work out, youre not going to know the november 3rd election results. Im talking for the country. It could be for months and months. Actually, it could be for years. Reporter even as hes pushing supporters in florida to vote by mail. It had a great republican governor, scott ron desantis, rick scott, two great governors. Reporter some say mailin voting works in their states. Weve never had much of a problem. Reporter the president is so worried about mailin ballots he wants to move up his debates with joe biden. The first debate should be before the first at least before the first ballots go out and they have it almost a month later. Its ridiculous. Im ready to debate, i dont care. Reporter members of congress dont sound like they will be voting on a relief bill any time soon. They continue to insist that federal unemployment assistance should pay people more not to work than the essential workers who kept working. We cannot agree to an inadequate bill and then go home while the virus continues to spread. Reporter and white house officials are disputing the notion that the president does not understand the severity of the pandemic, saying in a statement to cnn, quote, the president is highly engaged on the fight to defeat covid and well briefed on the virus, adding, quote, hes leading our nation through this crisis. If you look at poll after poll, the American People just dont seem to feel that way. Jim acosta at the white house for us, jim, thank you very much. Lets get some more on all of this. Joining us now, white house chief of staff mark meadows. I know youve been incredibly busy negotiating up on the hill. Youve been with the treasury secretary mnuchin, just this afternoon meeting with the House Speaker nancy pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer. How are the negotiations going . Because, as you know, the clock is ticking, millions of americans need this to put food on the table to not be evicted from their homes and become homeless. Whats the latest . Well, wolf, its great to be with you. Obviously, i just left a meeting with Speaker Pelosi, leader schumer, secretary mnuchin, as we discussed those very issues. But i would say that if my democrat colleagues from across the aisle are so concerned about it, im not sure why theyve been objecting to unanimous consent requests on the senate floor when we could have extended the enhanced unemployment just with a simple yes, but yet not once but twice Chuck Schumer has decided to say no. Were continuing to engage. Well be back working with Speaker Pelosi and senator schumer tomorrow evening as we try to reach some kind of consensus. But i can tell you that it has been mostly the president and republicans that have been making the concessions in trying to finally get a deal across the finish line for those that are hurting during this unprecedented pandemic. You said earlier that if theres not a deal with the democrats by friday, there wont be a deal at all. Are you really willing to tell millions of americans who are struggling right now that there wont be a deal and they will either not be able to pay the rent, theyll be homeless, or theyll be forced to look for food and go to places simply to get free food . Well, certainly the president has been very clear on that particular issue, wolf. And he has really charged not just secretary mnuchin and myself, but all republicans to come to the table and stay engaged. But what im saying is, is by friday if we havent made significant progress and were just too far apart, the president s prepared to take executive action on those two items that youre talking about, making sure that eviction protection is done. He will do that through executive action, making sure that those enhanced unemployment payments that stopped because democrats refused to say yes just a few days ago, he will do executive actions and take executive actions to actually address those two areas to make sure that at least what he can do is take action because congress wont. Because he have the authority to do that with an executive action with simply writing his signature . Well, weve been looking very closely at that with Legal Counsel and getting opinions on that. And because of some of the flexibility we have from the previous c. A. R. E. S. Act as well as the executive privilege that the president enjoys widely, we believe that we can address those two things. He will address those two things. So the good news for your viewers is if congress cant get it done, the president of the United States will. Lets turn to the coronavirus pandemic, which seems to be getting worse by the day here in the United States. A source as you just heard in jim acostas reporting familiar with the president s Task Force Meeting in the oval Office Yesterday tells cnn the president , quote, still doesnt get it. I heard that. Mark, hold on a second. Were still six months into this horrible pandemic. 157,000 americans are dead. Just today 1,399. We learned today that died yesterday. What about that . What doesnt the president get . Well, i can tell you the president does get it. I brief him each and every day. When we look at it, im not sure who your source is. Normally thats third and fourth hearsay. Its not someone whos in the room. Its certainly not in the room with the president and myself as weve looked at that. I can tell you this. Were focused on a number of things. One is making sure that if you get this that you have the therapeutics available to make sure that we minimize the death that is there. The other is investing as much money as needed, literally an unlimited budget to make sure that we have a vaccine that addresses this. And then, more broadly, a number of the things that weve done in the past, the president consistently said we were going to fix the ventilator problem. He did that. He said that we were going to close down our borders to make sure that we could protect as Many Americans as possible. Listen, this is a virus that came from china. The anger that we should be feeling is with the Chinese Government and not being transparent because were all having to deal with it. Let me just hold on. Let me go ahead and finish up with this. Were going to commit the necessary resources. The president has made it clear we got to deal with this and make sure that we do that. And thats what hes committed to doing. This has been going on for six months already. And to get a therapeutic thats effective could take months from now. To get a vaccine could even take longer. In the meantime, more than a thousand americans, mark, are dying every single day. And dr. Fauci, as you heard him today, dr. Fauci said the United States has suffered from this virus, and im quoting him now, as much or worse than Anyone Around the world. That certainly isnt the same message were hearing when the president describes this. Well, i think the president is looking at whats coming down the pike, and, bluntly, what we have is any death is one too many. Nobody wants to lose a loved one to this virus that came here from china that no one had heard of six months ago. And so i know that the president shares that feeling. I know i share that feeling as well. But heres the other thing. When you Start Talking about months and years, yes, under traditional circumstances, that would be accurate. But this president has not only said a whole of government approach but hes put forth the resources to make sure that we have therapeutics. And to suggest that theres not going to be any therapeutics or any vaccines for years is not no one is suggesting that. Everybody is upbeat about eventually getting legitimate safe therapeutics. Your time frame is not accurate based on what im seeing. The therapeutics could be in the next few months and there could be a vaccine. It could be in the next few weeks. Well, we hope so. I do hope so and i hope that were all hoping so. But heres the other thing is he is cutting through red tape. Hes spending unbelievable amounts of time, money, and investment to make sure that the American People dont have to just look at a coronavirus case ticker on the clock each and every day, that we do something about it. And i can tell you that theres not a day that goes by that not only the president of the United States but he tasked everybody on his team to keep a focus on that and get some answers for the American People. As you know, the president s getting a lot of criticism in that interview with Jonathan Swan from axios when jonathan pointed out that more than a thousand americans are still dying every single day, the president responded at one point, saying it is what it is. Do you think he regrets having said that . Well, its not flippant from his standpoint. I can tell you talking about Holding China accountable is something he has not only stressed with me but stressed with others. Its also looking at what do we do to lower the death toll, and as we look at this, weve learned a lot of lessons. And if you look at the death toll in new york versus the death tolls in many of these other states, we can tell that we are indeed improving with regards to the death rate. That being said, one death is far too many. This president will not stop until he makes sure that we have a cure and that we have therapies, and ultimately that the risk of this virus is minimal. Because you and i have known each other for a long time. When i hear this number, 1,399 americans died yesterday in one day from coronavirus, these are real people. Mothers and fathers. Sure you and i know that. Youre just as upset as i am. But the president sometimes seems to say were going to get over it, its going to be over with, lets move on, weve got a lot of other issues to deal. With this is the major crisis facing our country right now. If i can bring you behind the scenes, wolf, just a little bit because theres a whole lot that gets reported and theres a whole lot that doesnt get to be seen. I can tell you that early in the morning, late in the evening and a number of times in between the president is not only asking what we are doing in terms of addressing this to make sure that people are safe and loved ones are safe, but hes demanding on why we cant go faster, why we cant get an answer to this. And each and every day we are looking at what we can do to make sure that we address it. This is an unknown virus that came from a place that we do know. And yet were going to have to fix this. We will with American Ingenuity and americans coming together to tackle this on behalf of science. And we all hope that that happens. In the meantime, thousands of americans keep dying. Lets talk about schools while i have you, mark. The president once again said schools should reopen because, in his words, and he said this today, i was surprised to hear it when he said it on fox friends, kids are virtually immune to the virus. They can get it and they can transmit it, especially if theyre ten years and older, they can come home, even if theyre totally asymptomatic, they can spread it to their parents, their grandparents, to other adults. These are serious situations were watching right now. But the president seems to be giving a false sense of security. No. I dont think hes giving a false sense of security at all. Heres the great news as a parent, as someone who, you know, our loved ones are the most precious thing that we have in our life, and as a parent when you look at that. If you look at the risk of children going to school, theres a six times greater likelihood of children dying from the influenza than there is from this disease. So, when we look at relatively safe, you know, again, one death is too many. But what im telling you is the flu is more dangerous based on real statistics than covid19. And parents need to understand that because we all want to make sure we protect our kids. But you agree that when the president says kids are virtually immune, they are not virtually immune. Theyre potentially in real danger. Well, heres the numbers. This was as of a couple of weeks ago so i would have to verify it. But if were talking about children that are 18 years of age and younger, and we look at so many deaths that have happened, there is 54 deaths between 18 years of age and younger. And when we look at those 54 most if not all of those had comorbidities, other things that this disease attacked. Thats why we need to really be vigilant to make sure that were protecting. But as a parent, i care about my kids as your viewers right now, theyre thinking about their kids or their nieces or nephews or grandchildren. We do need to make sure that theyre protected. And, yet, at the same time, were taking every step that we can to do that and make sure that we open our schools responsibly and safely. I dont know if you heard sara sidners report at the top of the hour, but already some kids in georgia schools just reopened in some districts over there. They have been tested and theyve come down positive for coronavirus in mississippi and other places as well. And one of the things that really worries me, and im sure worries you, mark, as well, even if the kids dont have any symptoms, even if theyre totally immune, we dont know what the longterm effects of having coronavirus will be on their bodies, on their brain. Theres a lot that the doctors are telling us we simply dont know. So we got to deal with this. These kids are the most important, right . Well, the kids are the most important. And weve asked not only the cdc but nih and a number of others to really look and make sure that we can address all of those things, wolf. The preliminary data is really good for children. And i want to stress that. If youre a mom or a dad or a guardian or a grandparent, aunt, uncle viewing here today, the news for kids is actually better than if youre 75 youre absolutely right. The kids can deal with this a lot better than adults. But they can transmit the virus. Thats correct. I think we can all transmit. Anybody who sent their kids to school knows that a lot of times the kids come home and you catch whatever you got from your kids who were transferring it back and forth. I dont deny that. But heres what we need to do. Is if the message should be clear. If youre 75 years of age or older, you need to be super hypervigilant. If youre younger than 75 and you dont have diabetes, hypertension, obesity, some of the other heart conditions, you still need to remain vigilant. But you dont have the same risk factor as those that are over 75. Well, thats good advice. Theres no doubt about that. Lets turn to another issue thats come up over these past few days. The upcoming election. Why is the president telling florida voters that voting by mail will be safe and secure but telling nevada voters it will be a corrupt disaster . Well, heres i think there are two different states that do it two different ways. I think that the president is consistent with saying absentee voting and those who vote by mail and have a process to do that, you request the ballot and the chain of custody from the voter to the ballot box is consistent is something that we need to do. Nevada was not that. In fact, what it was saying is, is were going to send out all the ballots to everyone where you can even put two ballots in an envelope. We want to make sure the integrity of our elections is something that is not only protected but something that we can count on so there is not all kinds of accusations of fraud because weve seen it in some states. Weve seen it also in my home state of North Carolina. You know that. And as we look at this, when we have states that are trying to jump into universal mailin ballots, one, theres not enough time to get it done. But, two, we need to make sure that every vote counts but that only one vote per person is what counts. When the president keeps saying all these negative things about voting by mail, and, as you know, especially older people, they dont necessarily want to go to a polling station and wait in line during the midst of this pandemic. Theyre afraid. They want to vote by mail. When the president is undermining trust in voting by mail as hes diagnose on almost a daily basis, isnt that actually depressing potentially his own republican turnout on november 3rd . Well, obviously when you look at voting by mail, depressing turnout is not the president s goal. Nor is it my goal. Nor is it the goal of anyone. But what we do want to make sure of is that if youre voting by mail that youre requesting that ballot. I can tell you i look at the voter roles in North Carolina and many of these states. But i can speak specifically to North Carolina, as you know, is on those voting roles, there are often times three and four people that are on the voting roles in a household and they are long gone. Theyve either moved on or theyve gone off to school. Theyre reregistered somewhere else. If we start sending ballots to everyone that is on the voting roll, we will have a problem. There are five states, as you know, that only have voting by mail, including utah, which is a pretty republican state. They have very little problem, if any. Colorado, which is a purple state, they have very little problem. Washington state, oregon. As you know theyve been doing it for a long time. And theyve had virtually no problems. So lets go to new york. Lets look at the results. However beautiful the strategy we must occasionally look at the results. You dont have to look any further than new york and the elections that we just had. We have weeks and weeks and weeks waiting for results. So are you suggesting that when november 3rd comes we ought to wait till january 3rd . I dont think so. What we have to do is make sure that if you request an absentee ballot, we need to make sure that thats secure, we can do that, but to start wholesale trying to change the way that we conduct elections state by state, i can tell you were asking for problems, were asking for fraud. And ultimately were asking for lawsuits. Yeah. But you agree that by the president repeating that theres a lot of fraud with mailin balloting, he might depress republican turnout. That could be a huge problem from his bid for reflection. I think it will depress whether its republican or democrat. It shouldnt be a partisan thing. We should encourage everyone to vote. Its a privilege. We have that privilege. We ought to encourage that. And, yet, at the same time, we shouldnt disenfranchise voters by thinking that we can send multiple ballots into a household and sometimes all right. I want to move on. But if people have underlying conditions, theyre afraid to go to a polling station if theyre 65 and older, theyre nervous about that. Shouldnt the country right now be giving them a better opportunity to vote by mail . Well, they can give them a better opportunity to vote by mail if theyre doing exactly what is secure and what is appropriate. I would free with yagree with y. The other thing we can do is why dont we have curbside voting . Let them get in the car, let them come in. We have curbside voting in North Carolina. If you really want to make sure that were doing it, theres a way to actually vote and make sure its safe, whether its by mail, whether its by curbside or in person. We are looking right now for several hundred Million Dollars to be put in this c. A. R. E. S. 4 act, wolf, to try to address just that. Thats a good idea. Potentially especially during this coronavirus pandemic. Let me ask you about the president s statement that he says that he probably will deliver his Republican National Convention Acceptance Speech from the white house. Youre a former congressman. You never used capitol hill for political events. Do you think its appropriate for the president of the United States to use his taxpayerfunded official residence, namely the white house, to make that kind of political speech . Well, were in two separate places there in the white house. And so if youre talking about coming to them from the oval office, obviously thats an official place. But part of the house, as you probably well, you do know, wolf, part of the house is where we conduct business. Then you go over into the east wing, and thats the private residence. And so doing those kinds of things that would be more political in nature from the east wing is certainly an appropriate place to do it if he chooses to do that. But, listen, those decisions have not been made yet. I can tell you that as we look at it, i dont expect there to be an address from the oval office. And your points well taken. I suspect youre absolutely right. Because youre getting a lot of blowback from republicans up on capitol hill right now saying this is not a good idea, this is a bad idea for the president. Yeah, but theres plenty of other places the president can deliver an acceptance speech. But when we talk about the white house, lets be clear. So what youre saying he would do it from the residence upstairs . Anywhere even on the east wing. Well, the east wing is still the white house. What i hear you saying he lives in the white house. Last time i checked he is still a resident at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. So that would be like saying Elizabeth Warren when she came out and said she couldnt do it from her home, i dont know that you would agree with that either. Definitely can do that. But the whole point, and im hearing it from republicans on the hill. They are very uncomfortable about this. Because this is taxpayer funded. The residence and the whole white house complex as we know. But let me move on. A Foreign Policy question, mark, before i let you go, and youve been very generous with your time. Why did the president speculate publicly yesterday that that awful huge terrible explosion in beirut, in his words, was a terrible attack and possibly a bomb of some kind . Just a little while ago, the defense secretary mark esper says most u. S. Officials believe this was an accident as the lebanese authorities themselves are reporting. Tell us whats going on. Youre the white house chief of staff. I can tell you from secretary espers standpoint, he doesnt know. I had a meeting with him earlier today. Intelligence is not something that we talk about. But its also developing. I can tell you the initial reports was exactly what the president shared with all of you. I happen to know that he was briefed on that. The initial reports looked at it. We still have not totally ruled that out. Without sharing anything classified, ive been able to see a lot of what has taken place there. Well continue to evaluate that. Obviously, theres no group that has claimed any responsibility. But what the president shared with the American People is what he was briefed on. And as we look at that, well continue to evaluate it. Hopefully it was just a tragic accident and not an act of terror. But were still looking at all the intel of that. I understand completely if there was initial reports from the u. S. Intelligence or the military, as he said his generals. Its one thing for him to hear that. Its another thing to speculate publicly about such a sensitive issue where more than a hundred lebanese are dead, thousands are injured and they are hearing from the president of the United States with it was some sort of bomb, it was some sort of terrorist activity, something along that it causes potentially as you well know, it causes a lot of problems potentially. Well, wolf, you know i got to know you because youre a household name as you were reporting from almost daily coverage when we looked at what was happening in the middle east. Well, i wont say how long ago but a long time ago as thats where i got to know you. I can tell you just like with your reporting then, just like with intelligence now, what we do is we get initial reports, we get followup reports. We have confirmatory reports. And many times things that we cant share with the American People that we happen to know. When youre there speaking and telling people what you believe to be credible and actual and factual, and we know from an intelligence standpoint that its not accurate. So, it changes. I can tell you this. The president shared with the American People what he was briefed on with 100 certainty i can tell you that. And with that we still are yet to know the full story on what transpired. I know you got to run. So what i hear you saying, it is possible this wasnt an accident, it was a bomb . Is that what i hear you saying . Im not going to speculate on what it is. Im saying what we are doing is still gathering intelligence, reviewing the situation. And as we do that, hopefully well be able to come to a conclusion. But what im saying right now is that you may have one consensus that something has happened but not necessarily its definitive across all the intel agencies. I wouldnt speak to that anyways. But i can just tell you that when he briefs the American People after being briefed, he was sharing it. It was not speculation on his part. Im sure. If thats what he heard. My only point is maybe he shouldnt have said it publicly. But thats another point. Mark meadows, you got a lot going on right now. I really hope you and the republicans in the house and the senate, democrats can work on a deal in the next few days. Hopefully by friday. Because, as you know, there are 20, 25 million americans who are desperately in need of this kind of assistance. I dont want to see a lot of people begging for food. I dont want to see a lot of people homeless. Its too important right now. Heres what i will say is if congress and the folks behind me, if they dont act, the president will act. Well watch it together with you. Mark, thanks so much for joining us. You and i go way back. We have a good relationship. I hope you come back and visit us here in the situation room, my situation room. [ laughter ] very frequently. All right. Very good. Thanks, wolf. Thanks so much for your time. All right. Lets discuss what we just heard our chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta is with us. Our cnn political our chief Political Correspondent dana bash is with us. What stood out to you . Youve covered mark meadows when he was a congressman from North Carolina for a long time. What stood out to you right now from what he said . First of all i think the headline that is going to matter most to people out there struggling that you referred to multiple times in the interview is that if congress and the white house dont come up with a deal by friday, mark meadows just confirmed and put a date certain on what the president has been alluding to, which is some executive action by friday in order to get those enhanced Unemployment Benefits back up and running. We dont know what number we would be talking about or how it would work, but that was a headline. The other thing that i found really fascinating was your discussion with him over mailin ballots. And very real questions over why the president chose florida to suddenly reverse himself on a republicanrun state that is kr crucial to him in order to win reelection. And hes suing nevada, for example, which is run by a democratic governor. I was just looking this up as you were asking him. And i saw this on an Associated Press story. The answer could just be in the numbers. Florida according to the secretary of state there, democrats have requested 1. 9 million ballots to vote by mail or absent ree. And republicans, 1. 3 million. Republicans now have a 600,000 vote deficit in vote by mail. And that could be detrimental even potentially politically fatal to the president. That could be your answer as to why the president did what he did there. And then just more broadly, the argument that his white house is making and that mark meadows kind of made there is that theres a difference of being able to request a ballot and the new law that nevada put in which seems to be just mailing ballots out to people who are already registered to vote, which other states already do. That seems to be one of the differences that the white house is arguing about. A lot of states are beginning to do that, especially in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic. Exactly. Sanjay, you did an excellent onehour interview with dr. Fauci today courtcy of harvard university. And i listened and watched the whole thing. What did you make of what mark meadows the white house chief of staff had to say about the White House Coronavirus response thats unfolding right now . Well, he focused initially when you asked him the question, wolf, he focused on the therapeutics and the vaccine, these efforts that are underway and are still early days but do seem optimistic. But then he seemed to talk about the fact that this was a virus that came from china, they closed the borders. I was surprised that he didnt talk about the huge testing deficiencies that still persist in this country. He didnt talk about contract tracing. He didnt talk about masks. He didnt talk about personal protective equipment, which is still in short supply in hospitals. Some hospitals around the country. You asked about schools ultimately, but he didnt talk about schools. He sort of seemed to back up this incorrect assertion that the president has made that kids are largely immune to this virus. Theyre not. More than a quarter million children have been infected with this virus. It may be closer to 350,000 now if you look at the data. A lot of kids have been infected by this. It is true, wolf, as you pointed out, they are far less likely to get sick, but they can spread this. The chief of staff mark meadows also said he seemed to say people who are 75 and older are the only ones that really have to worry about this. 40 of the deaths roughly have occurred in the United States in people who are under the age of 75. So, you got to make sure were getting the correct information out there. There is a lot that can be done. Vaccines, therapeutics are very important, no doubt about it. But, again, wolf, as you pointed out, youve got more than a thousand people dying. And there are things that we can do to bring down the amount of virus in this country right now. Thats going to be the key over the next several weeks and months. The vaccines and therapeutics will come hopefully. But we cant just sit on our hands in the meantime. Im hearing very, very optimistic words from all the experts about a therapeutic maybe in the next few weeks, probably in the next few months thats proven safe and available and can prevent people from getting very sick, god forbid dying and maybe by next year a vaccine that is safe and reliable. But in the meantime, what, sanjay, a thousand americans are dying almost every single day. Yeah. Its unbelievable. Its hard to imagine. I remember when we were talking back in march and some of the initial projections came out that said by august 4th, which was yesterday that 60,000 americans would die. And we all were in disbelief. And now its more than double that, and its still going up. Some have projected that if a thousand americans continue to die every day, it would be 300,000 people by the end of the year, wolf. It was a disease that didnt even exist last year and it would become the third leading cause of death in the United States. This was not inevitable. One of the things i talked to dr. Fauci about was just, look, why the United States . Why were we hit so hard compared to other countries . And thats a long, you know, list of reasons. But the fact of the matter is that its true. We represent the most infections and most deaths. 5 of the worlds population we have and 20 to 25 of sadly the worlds deaths. So, its significant and weve got to do something. We still have to act. The vaccines and therapeutics are important, but we have to do something now. Yeah. I want to bring in dr. Ashish jha from the Harvard Global Health Institute to get his analysis as well. Dr. Jha, its really critical right now before a therapeutic really emerges that could save lives, before a vaccine emerges. There are things that all of us should be doing, and the leadership should be telling the entire American Population you can save thousands of lives if you do x, y, and z, right . Yeah, wolf. Thank you for having me on. And i completely agree with that. And the bottom line is that instead of waiting and hoping for a vaccine, and im optimistic well have one. Me too. We can be saving lives today. We can be saving thousands of lives today if we do some of the basic things. And instead of just holding out hope for the vaccine, the administration can be doing a lot to promote mask wearing, to avoid having people congregate indoors, and to finally fix testing which weve been talking about for months. If we did those things we could save tens of thousands of american lives while we await a vaccine. Because the president keeps saying were doing great testing. Im sure that we are doing great testing. But still maybe half of the tests take too long to get the results. And sometimes it makes those tests sort of irrelevant. Yeah. Were not doing great testing. Thats not the experience of the American People. What great testing would be, would be testing thats widely available, that would let our kids get back to school safely, that would let college kids get back to college. It would allow people to get back to work. And most importantly would give us results quickly and effectively and efficiently. We all know that doesnt exist. So, under no kind of meaningful definition of great testing do we have great testing. The bottom line is our testing system is not working for the American People. Part of that cost is that we have the highest number of cases and deaths and the world. And, sanjay, when you spoke with dr. Fauci today, he acknowledged to you, and i thought this was a blunt statement on his part, that the u. S. Is failing when it comes to testing. Is that right . Yes, thats exactly what he said. He said its unacceptable, period, is how he put it. I think hes been very frustrated with the lack of testing for some time. I think many members of the Coronavirus Task force have been frustrated by this. I still cant figure out why, you know, we are so woefully behind. We have the capability it seems in this country to have made some significant breakthroughs in testing by this point. I remember still three and a half months ago ambassador birx saying we need to have these breakthroughs and testing, antigen testing which can return accurate, rapid results. Places where people actually would use that information and change the way that they behave and live their lives. And here we are, you know, about to start school in much of the country, and we still dont have it. Its an incredible source of frustration, wolf. I take so many calls from people. Im sure ashish does as well who are just frustrated and i dont have answers. It lacks a certain logic at this point. And another issue, dana, i think the white house chief of staff made some news when he suggested what the president said earlier today on fox friends that he probably is going to deliver his Republican National Convention Acceptance Speech from the white house. We heard a very different line coming from the white house chief of staff in the face of a lot of criticism coming about this from republicans up on capitol hill saying it would be totally inappropriate to deliver a political speech from the white house. Thats right. The sort of footprint on the white house grounds that the white house is now playing with for the delivering of this speech is shrinking. Now what mark meadows told you is that it would be potentially from the residence arguing that thats actually where he lives, and therefore is more politically palatable, perhaps even more legal, although there are questions about whether even having a white house speech would be illegal. Separate from that, the question is whether it is appropriate or politically not very smart if you talk to republicans like, for example, the number two in the senate, john thune who said very publicly to our colleagues out there, that doesnt even make any sense, others as well. So, this seems to have been a trial balloon from the president , and the balloon seems to be sinking. And well see if it actually goes splat on the floor by the time we get to tomorrow. I suspect it will. All right, dana, thank you very much. Sanjay, thanks as usual to you. Dr. Jha, always important to have you here with us in the situation room as well. And to our viewers, stay with us, were waiting for President Trump to take reporters questions at todays White House Coronavirus briefing. New clues emerging for what may be to blame for that deadly, horrific explosion in beirut. More than 5,000 people in beirut are injured. Well be right back. 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Stay with us here in the situation room for much more coverage on the Coronavirus Crisis but there are other very important new developments in the search for what caused the huge explosion that left at least 135 people dead and more than 5,000 injured in beirut. What a horrific, horrible situation. Update our viewers on what youre seeing and learning. Reporter well, wolf, most people who you talk to here really cant begin to string together the words to adequately describe the shock, the trauma, the sorrow, the search for loved ones, the frantic moments in the aftermath of this extraordinarily massive explosion. I mean, everyone has seen these videos by now and how that shock wave just ripped through streets and alleyways leaving behind a trail of crumpled down buildings and shattered glass. Thousands have been wouned and dozens are still missing at this stage. Right now you have this demand for answers. How is it that this could have happened . Although at this stage we dont know what caused the first explosion, we still dont know what caused the fire that created the conditions or what other factors were involved in creating the conditions that caused these 3,000 tons of Ammonium Nitrate to detonate like this, a highly volatile substance, but what we do know is that this substance was being kept at the port in beirut for years. It was confiscated off a shipment. It was put inside these containers at the port back in 2014, wolf. Weve seen Court Documents that show that senior officials within the port within customs were trying to warn the lebanese governments, consecutive governments at the time, that this was not safe. This was the potentially very dangerous situation. But nothing was done about it. And people here are trying to wrap their minds around that. Is it possible that the governments here were so negligent that they would store this kind of substance in this large of a volume so close to densely Populated Areas where you have residential buildings, you have bars, you have cafes, restaurants, night clubs. This is not where you store this volume of a substance like this, wolf. And the other issue, too, that many are grappling with right now is the lack of government response. Whether on a national or local level a lot of people in the streets are saying the government is not doing enough to help us. People in lebanon though know by now they cannot necessarily count on the government to step in. They know that they have to be the ones to help each other. That is why you see this extraordinary effort with volunteers and volunteer medics and nurses and others setting up these tents to provide basic medical assistance for people who have minor cuts and bruises because the hospitals are so overwhelmed at this point. Others are providing food. Some are trying to help arrange shelter. 300,000 people are without homes. They cant go back to their homes. So along side the shock, the horror, and the sorrow, you do also have this rising anger. Which is totally understandable, of course. I spoke to a good friend of mine in beirut today and he said, this was just so, so awful. Everyone is so scared right now about the aftermath of this explosion and what it is going to mean for people getting food and simply living in their homes. Well stay in very close touch with you. Be careful over there. Thank you so much for joining us. We have more breaking news coming into the situation room. Were standing by once again for President Trump to take reporters questions at the White House Coronavirus briefing as the country now approaches 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 157,000 confirmed deaths. Now is the time for a new bath from bath fitter. 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We are standing by for President Trump to take reporters questions as his grasp on the severity of the pandemic is coming under fire. A source close to the White House Task force telling cnn mr. Trump just doesnt get it. At this hour more than 157,000 americans have died over the past six months. More than 4. 8 million americans have been infected. The nation seeing the highest one day death toll
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