Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20200501

Stabilization of the infection rate for a period of time because kids are going to be kids. I think youre right. The schools are going to lose money because were already talking about cuts. How are they going to manage all of this . If they need more classrooms, they dont even have the money right now. You couldnt get more classrooms anyway. Youp cot build more classrooms in a way that would have any distance for the Summer School or the fall. And money is going to be tight depending on what washington does. And theyre doing remote learning. The physical consequences will be mixed because of this period. Some ways they save money, some ways it costs money. Governor, sorry to harp on this, but do you anticipate on pause this week again . May 15th is the decision on pause. Will you announce it prior to that . Well announce it prior to may 15th. Also, just to follow up, its been two months since the first case was reported. You spoke today about what we have accomplished and yet theres 18,000 people dead. At least over 300,000 people sick. How would you evaluate your performance during this crisis . Tried my best. And good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington continuing our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. You just heard new York Governor Andrew Cuomo announce schools in new york state will remain closed for the rest of the year. Any decisions about Summer Schools will be made by the end of this month. Theres also a big political move regarding joe biden. We will get to that shortly. But we begin with the facts on coronavirus this hour. Protesters in california, illinois, new york and new jersey are expected to rally against stayathome orders after a stunning display in michigan thursday night. Hundreds of demonstrators, including many armed with rifles storming the state capital to protest against governor Gretchen Whitmers continued emergency stayathome order. At least 21 states are allowing businesses to start reopening, even though those states have not met minimum federal guidelines. Today the nations mall operator will reopen 31 locations in eight different states. And President Trump says hes pushing to fast track a coronavirus vaccine, quote, like youve never seen before. While the fda continues work with the manufacturer of a promising antiviral therapeutic drug to potentially reduce several produce, rather, several million doses of remdesivir, which may get fda approval 140 approval shortly, within days, even though its still in clinical trials. Joining me now is nbc White House Correspondent and weekend today cohost Kristen Welker and dr. Christian hamburg. Kristen, the latest on fighting the virus, you raised questions with the president last night or yesterday afternoon at his briefing about all of the deaths, more than 63,000 people died and hes doing a victory lap. Lets play a little bit of that exchange. About leading the country though in a moment of mourning for all of the lives lost, the more than 60,000 lives. I dont think anybody can feel any worse than i do about all of the death and destruction thats so needless, nobody. But i also have to make sure that we handle the situation well. Nobodys thinking about it nor nobody nobody has spent more time late in the evening thinking about whats happened to this country in a short period of time. But at the same time we have to get our country open again. Kristen, to my ears he was talking about his feelings, him staying up late. He was not talking about the grief, the suffering of all of those families who lost who lost so many loved ones. I think thats right, andrea. I also think he was speaking about the burden, frankly, that he feels because of the more than 60,000 deaths, because you have an economy in free fall. No secret the economy is key to his reelection chances. I put the question to him, does there need to be a natural moment or day of mourning . And since we had that exchange, no indication that that has been planned. Well have to wait and see though if thats on his radar, on this administrations radar, but it does come as the president said his focus right now is on trying to fasttrack a vaccine. Operation warp speed its called. Yesterday he said hes in charge of that effort the. And essentially its a Public Private partnership where taxpayers would be bearing the burden so Drug Companies wouldnt be and thats an effort to speed through the process to the except possible. Thats part of the focus here. The other part of the focus, andrea, is on reopening parts of the economy, the administrations guidelines, of course, ended last night, the stayathome orders. So states are beginning to open back up but what weve really seen so far is a patchwork. Its not clear any given state has met the requirements that the administration laid out to enter into that phase one period of reopening, but in speaking to administration officials, they say look, its county by county. So part of what you have are certain areas that are starting to open back up. But that that is the clear focus here as they watch these economic numbers, which have been so troubling. Now, we are going to see President Trump a little bit later on this afternoon when he pays tribute, im told, to individuals who have made a difference in their communities. This is not necessarily going to be First Responders but its going to be people who are essentially helping other people out in their own communities, andrea. And dr. Hamburg, lets talk about the fast tracking of a vaccine and also the quick, very rapid fda approval for remdesivir, the antiviral therapeutic. First of all on the vaccine, how much optimism should we be feeling with all of the claims from the oxford group and others who are working on this that they can actually have something ready to go, ready to be produced by january. Well, there have been a huge mobilization in the Scientific Community and industry to try to develop new vaccine candidates and to try to advance the research as quickly as possible, and theyve been working closely with regulators and governments to try to really make this all feasible. But, you know, it is a process that takes time. You cant really push the science beyond a certain point and you have to know about safety. Because youre giving back things and helping people. So there has been a lot of consolidation of different steps and a lot more risks being taken in terms of companies not waiting to fully analyze information before theyre willing to make Big Investments and go to the next stage. And some companies are in a slightly better position because they were working on related virus vaccines before this Novel Coronavirus emerged on sars and mers from the same family of coronaviruses. So thats why theres some optimism that we may be able to accelerate the speed. You worked, i know, with dr. Fauci before you were the new York City Public Health commissioner. You were at the fda working under him. What do you think about the pressure thats being applied on the scientists and whether some of this may be going too quickly for Public Safety, or do you think that he is true north in terms of sticking to his guns on what should be done and not be done, despite all of the pressure obviously from the white house. Sure. I worked with him actually at the National Institutes of health, at the National Institute of allergy and Infectious Diseases just after i finished my specialty training in internal medicine and had the privilege to be his special assistant. It was during the early days of hiv, and it was kind of a similar situation with hiv aids where we didnt have real treatments for people who were suffering from a lethal disease, and we needed to think and act in new ways. I think one thing i saw with tony and one thing im seeing in the efforts now is that people want to do things in novel and innovative ways. They want to push the envelope, so to speak. But also i think there is a deep appreciation, certainly, tony fauci, dr. Fauci knows this, that you have to maintain scientific rigor. Because at the end of the day, no one is well served if you end up with products that dont actually work or products that are not safe and can make patients worse and certainly with a vaccine when you give it to Healthy People to protect them from an infection, you want to make sure that youre not going to make them sick or occasionally with certain kinds of vaccines we see the phenomenon, were giving the vaccine can actually make them susceptible to infection and sometimes make that infection and the disease cause worse. So there are things to worry about, but we also recognize this has tonds an allhandson deck response with every effort to be made to accelerate towards our goal with at least onep safe a and effective vaccine as quickly as possible. I wanted to also ask you about remdesivir. The head of gilead sciences, the ceo of that company who produces it, spoke to Savannah Guthrie today. Let me play a little bit about that and ask you about it on the other side. Were moving very quickly with the fda. In fact the collaboration with the fda and commissioner huang and the team has been terrific. I expect theyre going to add very quickly and were prepared as a company to make sure we get this medication to as many patients as possible, as soon as possible. You were the fda commissioner, so you had the job that stephen hahn now has. Right. This is used in iv capacity for seriously ill patients in a hospital, so is that a safe bet . Because when people are in trouble, you can use things that are somewhat experimental . Well, this is good news about remdesivir, that in clip cnical studies it was shown to reduce the virus in severe cases. Its a start in showing us we have the ability to make treatments against this coronavirus. And we certainly know something about it, its safety as well as its efficacy. We need to know more about this drug and about this virus, frankly. One of the things thats a concern is with an antiviral drug like remdesivir, which interferes with the replication of the virus, its life cycle, you actually want to get it to patients as soon as possible. So its good news this has worked in patients that are quite sick in the hospital. We also need to have antiviral drugs that work and are safe that can be used earlier nmt treatment of disease to keep people out of the hospital. I know gilead, the company that makes remdesivir is, of course, thinking about how to reform late to address that concern. And we need to continue our efforts to discover tests and hopefully be able to improve new drugs for treatment. Dr. Margaret hamburg, its great to have your expertise. Thank you very much for joining us. And Kristen Welker, we know you will be busy because you have the First White House briefing with the press secretary in more than a year with the new press secretary today at 2 00. That will be an interesting test as well. Thats right, andrea, caylee mcnys first pressing. Thats right. Thank you very much. An extraordinary scene on thursday in defiance of the states lockdown, President Trump is criticizing that states governor Gretchen Whitmore for keeping an emergency order in place, although her decision is in compliance with the white houses own guidelines. Governor whitmer extended the order over the objections of republicans wishing to keep it open. And this is a source of big conflict today and we are seeing this around the country. The president has been praising a lot of these protesters, even though theyre going against the guidelines dr. Fauci have said are so important. And its a battle that youre seeing my governors have in shates throughout the midwest. Here in illinois and i will let you see some of the protests going on. There are about 100 people here, signs they have opened illinois. Now impeach pritzker, this is in opposition of the stayathome order. Its important to know since yesterday alone it was announced 141 people lost their lives to this virus in the preceding 24 hours. You look at the pictures behind me and were approaching that number now. What you see is an continuation of these protests and exception of these protests and also legal action these governors have to face. You mentioned the pictures we saw in the state of mornimichi. You had protesters there protesting the stayathome emergency order. Governor whitmer asked her state legislature to extend the orders another 28 days. She wanted that to be done through the legislature. The legislate is republican run, and they declined saying they want a more phased opening to begin may 15th. Instead she used her executive orders and the powers she believed she had under her executive authority to extend the stay at home order. And you are seeing other governors do the same thing. Shaq brewster, new, shaq. Coming up next, president ial nominee joe biden speaking out to msnbc and strongly denying the Sexual Assault allegations from a former Senate Staffer. Ahead what he said and whats nec next for his campaign. Xt for hi. Adversity came to town and said, show me what youre made of. So we showed it our people, sourcing and distributing more fresh food than anyone. Our drivers helping grocers restock their shelves. How were helping restaurants open popup markets. And encouraging all americans to take out to give back. Adversity came to town. So we looked it in the eye. And it wont be us. That blinks first. Former Vice President and the apparent democratic nominee joe biden has broken his silence. Today taking on the Sexual Assault allegation from a former senator aide in a Ground Breaking interview one on one with Mika Brzezinski here on msnbc. Biden categorically denied anyone ever accused him of Sexual Assault or filed a harassment complaint. Yet he Still Believes all women who say they are victims should be heard and their claims should be investigated but in this case, its been investigated and he says its just not true. Would you please go on the record with the American People . Did you sexually assault tara reade . No, it is not true. Im saying unequivocally, it never, ever happened and it didnt. It never happened. Why not release any complaints that had been made against you during your Senate Career . Im prepared to do that. To the best of my knowledge there have been no complaints made against me in my Senate Career. Look, this is an open book. Theres nothing for me to hide. Nothing at all. You were unequivocal, mr. Vice president , back in 2018 during the kavanaugh controversy and hearings, and you said women should be believed. Look, from the very beginning ive said believing women means taking the womans claim seriously when she steps forward and then vet it. Look into it. Thats true in this case as well. Women have a right to be heard, and the pressurigorously invest claims they make. But in this case the truth matters. In this case the truth is false. Im not going to question her motives. Im not going to get into that at all. I dont know why shes saying this. I dont know why after 27 years all of a sudden this gets raised. I dont understand it. But im not going to go in and question her motive. Im not going to attack her. She has the right to say whatever she wants to say but i have the right to say look at the facts, check it out. Are women to be believed are women to be believed unless it pertains to you . Look, women are to be believed, given the benefit of the doubt, if they come forward and Say Something happened to them, they should start under the presumption theyre telling the truth. Then you have to look at the circumstances and the facts. The facts in this case do not exist. They never happened. And there are so many inconsistencies in what has been said in this case. So, yes, look at the facts. I assure you, it did not happen period. Period. And one note here, nbc news has been talking to tara reade for the last few weeks, has reached out to her and asked her to respond, to come on camera and to respond to now what joe biden has said. We have not yet heard back. I hope we do. Joining me now, jennifer palmieri, former Communications Director for the Obama White House and clinton 2016 campaign. And nbc news correspondent mike memoli, who covers the Biden Campaign and has been working for several weeks on this story as well. Mike, lets talk about what we know. First of all, what joe biden answered and what he didnt, if you think theres anything he did not address today. The. Well, andrea, i think its important to lay out the timeline here. Because this story has really been developing slowly but steadily over the past month against the backdrop, of course, of this Global Health crisis that has been dominating everyones attention. So it begins in march with the very personal and very politically charged allegation from tara reade, of course, who had worked in joe bidens office in the early 90s. A year ago she had come forward, along with other women, to say joe biden made physical contact in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. But in late march she did an interview at first with a podcaster talking about what she said was an allegation of a Sexual Assault. The Biden Campaign quickly denied that allegation but also said reporters should be challenging and vetting this claim, that women have a right to be heard and those facts should be vetted thoroughly. We here at nbc news were among those who did so. Well, with great credit to ali vitali, we spoke to tara and also to some of those she said would corroborate her allegation. We produced that initial report on april 12th. At the time what we were reporting was that three of the five people she said she shared this account with, the varying details, did not recall those conversations. Separately we also talked to a friend and another a former Senate Staffer who did say that there was some discussion with tara about an allegation of either harassment or assault. But, again, very clearly, this became a political story. As more and more democrats were being asked about this, including a number of the women who are being considered for Vice President. Now its important to note as well, andrea, if we were on the campaign trail, i think you would be among the first on the rope line weeks ago asking the Vice President about this. Of course, hes in delaware and hasnt been able to address this. Hes done a number of interviews but the subject has not come up until today. So now we get to where this is going. The Biden Campaign today wanted to be forward looking. Its important to know tara reade told us when she filed some sort of personnel complaint with the senate at the time, she told us it was about harassment and not assault. The Biden Campaign saying today they were directing the senate to ask the National Archives where such a complaint would have existed, to produce it. Their view being it wouldnt exist because this did not happen. Now were getting into a discussion about the Vice President s personal senate bases, which are here in delaware, at the university of delaware, and the question of whether he should be allowing those to be made public. Its important to note according to the Biden Campaign, those papers that exist at the university of delaware do not include any perp nesonnel docum. Thats where this discussion is going forward, where documentation might exist to corroborate her claim or the Vice President s claim that clearly Nothing Happened in the way thats been described. And to both of you, jen palomary, i wanted to play tina chen, who was, of course, Michelle Obamas white house chief of staff. She was on Stephanie Ruhles 9 00 out right here. And this is her reaction to the biden interview. You know, were in a total moment in our country with candidates are charged with Sexual Assault and what they need to do is treat them with the seriousness that they deserve. Treat allegations seriously and have them investigated. Go directly to the people and say address them. And call for full transparency, which Vice President did today. We need the same transparency, stephanie, for every candidate running for president. And, jen, as mike was just pointing out, ali vitali, mike memoli have been talking to tara reade. So far among the five people she said she spoke to contemporaneously 27 years ago, only one recollects a conversation. Three said no recollection. Only one, and would not let us use her name, does recall a Sexual Assault allegation back then from tara reade. But none of the others do. Her brother spoke to two other news organizations, and initially did not recollect it at the time as she describes it now and then called back to supposedly clarify. So there are a lot of variations in the sourcing for this that weve all been working through. Yeah, and as you know, andrea, i have been through situations like this from inside the campaigns on many, many times. Let me give you an assignment of probably where the Biden Campaign thinks they are. He had to address this. Serious allegation. He did it. I think if youre the Biden Campaign, we think he did it well this morning but were not going to resolve Something Like this in one interview. We now have differing accounts. He said his version of accounts. It didnt happen unequivocally. So were all looking, the press is looking for records. Where do you go for that . You go biden rightly pointed out, you go to the Senate Office where somebody would file a complaint like this. I am not an expert on the timeline here but i believe tara reade said she did file a complaint with the Senate Office. And this is protected from Senate Personnel offices in order to protect the staff, give them a space to go to thats outside of their office. So that is the right place to look for records and thats what the Biden Campaign said theyre going to do. It also happens there are the university of delaware records and press dont like one answer in one day. They want to fish for more. So now theyre asking about the records in delaware. Ive had some experience helping politicians wrap up their elected official records and i think biden is right, theyre not likely to contain any kind of personnel records. Thats not what theyre about. Theyre about the senators papers, theyre about the senators legacy. But i think thats why were in the situation now where you have people calling and talking about the delaware records. But the first case the first place to go is in fact the Senate Office that he has asked to look at. Not just whether theres a complaint for tara reade but whether theres any complaints. I think tina chen is right and thats asking for full transparency. Jen, there were, i believe, two Major National interviews joe biden did since this first arose and a number of local Television Interviews in the past two weeks where no one asked about it until today. And Mika Brzezinski, she went after the issue and the questions over and over for 20 minutes. Yeah. Do you think against that, and against the fact that the president of the United States who hes going to presumably be running against has at least 12 credible Sexual Assault allegations hes denied but this is being flogged really continuously by the Trump Campaign, by don jr. How did this become a campaign issue, briefly if you can. Yes, biden handled it the way youre supposed to. He has spoken to it directly and there is a record that you can go and check and he said that record should be checked and hes said you should release all of that. That is what you want someone to do. Donald trump has done none of that except to say that all of it is nothing ever said bad against him is true. So im sure the Trump Campaign will try to use theyve already started to use this. But biden biden needs to give his supporters the assurance and americans are open to voting for him that hes dealt with this. I think he did really well today. Theyre not going to get over the story in one day but i believe theyre on the path to doing that. Jen palmieri, mike memoli, thank you both so much. Joining us now, democratic senator tim kaine from virginia, who serves on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees. And he was the Vice President ial nominee, of course, in 2016. Hes endorsed joe biden for president. I want to ask you about intelligence, wuhan and a lot of other things. And whats happening in virginia. Because youre a former governor. But let me ask you to follow up with your reactions to the joe biden issue whether you think he can get past this, whether theres any way that he can support his denial and prove that this allegation is false, if not correct . Andrea, i think hes going to be able to get past this in the minds of the voters. I do think the trump team will had do whatever they can and i think were having problems connecting with senator kaine. Were going to try to get that back as quickly as possible. Were going to take a quick break and try to reestablish from senator cane, former governor and Vice President ial nominee too. Senator tim kaine of virginia. Sorry to have lost you for a moment there. I was asking you about joe biden and whether you think his campaign can recover from this situation. Andrea, i think he can in the eyes of the voters. I have no doubt the trump team will continue to try to do something out of this because theyre very desperate right now. But the Vice President said in no Uncertain Terms this did not happen. The staff, leadership, men and women who work with him in the senate have the time saying this never happened and there was never a complaint filed. A number of press organizations who have done fantastic work in outing claims of Sexual Assault and harassment against democrats, republicans, politicians, entertainment figures, have investigated this significantly and have not found it to be substantiated. And now we have in the Vice President s statement this morning a pretty clear direction, if there was a complaint filed, the staffer said that she filed a complaint. She has her entire personnel file, but does not have the complaint. But if it was filed, it will be at the National Archives with a reference of the perp nesonnel office that handled the complaints at the time. And he wants the ar kiefchives anything that would regard that complaint. He feels confident theres nothing there. I think anyone who filed and has an allegation like this has to be taken seriously. Yes, reporters should dig into it. Yes, we should get the files from the archives. But i think he will be able to get by this in the minds of american voters. And senator, i do want to also ask you about this extraordinary and unusual public written statement from the director of National Intelligence saying that the coronavirus was not had, quote, manmade or genetically modified. And then President Trump contradicting it, an hour later contradicting his own head of National Intelligence. Let me play that for you. Right. The director of National Intelligence today put out a statement it was naturally occurring and not manmade. Who was who that that said that . The office of the national director. My question is have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of virology was the origin of this virus . Yes, i have. What gives you a high degree of confidence that that originated from the wuhan office . I cant tell you. Im not allowed to tell you. Hes contradicting his own di. And you know rick allen is a complete trump loyalist. Hes not somebody who ever departed from President Trump. So heres where this is right now. The intelligence suggests this is not a manmade, genetically engineered virus. Theres no evidence that it is. Theyre still looking to see whether it might be a natural virus that mistakenly or accidently was released, but they have not reached any conclusion to that effect. Most scientists believe thats not the case. Its still being investigated. But for the president to go up and contradict rick grenell and say hes seen evidence it was released by the chinese, this is part of a pattern of this president in my view being willing to break the truth to deflect from his own problems. Hes very, very much under the microscope right now for the abysmal performance of the administration in at least two ways denying this was going to be a problem, which caused america to lose six to eight weeks and then horribly botched testing that allowed the u. S. To be way behind other nations on trefting. President trump is trying to deflect the blame and state its somebody elses fault and thats why hes stating these things in the press conferences. I want to ask you about the d. C. Mayor saying there are more infections here in the district, this is becoming a hot spot. Its on the rise, not plateauing at all is right. Same thing in virginia. And the house not to come back next week on the advice of the senate physician. But now mike lee has tweeted that some of his colleagues in the senate are really concerned that they wont survive the process of doing what they were hired to do, that perhaps they should consider another line of work or stay at home for a few weeks and explain to their constituents why they cant go to work and convince the American People they dont need new legislation. Alternatively they can ask President Trump to invoke the section of the constitution about bringing them back. In any case, what do you think of that . It seems hes taking a shot at senator feinstein rks w, who sud to Mitch Mcconnell not to come back given the danger here. Andrea, heres the issue what do you think about this suggestion . Yeah, heres the issue, senator mcconnell said were coming back but generally not to take up coronavirus matters. You know, hes saying we dont need to rush into coronavirus matters. He wants to take up unrelated business. I think the nation would want the Senate Working on response to this global pandemic. So why is senator mcconnell saying were going to come back and vote on nine controversial nominations instead of doing the real work we need to do . Thats number one. But heres what im doing, if the senate is back in session, im going to be there but i will not make my staff violate a Public Health order. The mayor of d. C. , the governor of virginia, the governor of maryland have said that everyone should work from home if they can until may 15th in the district. Thats the date right now. Im not going to tell my staff to violate a health order and endanger themselves. And i think its unfortunate that senator mcconnell is making the Capitol Police and groundskeepers and people who work in the food service come back in violation of that global order. Its endangering the health of many, many people. So what im going to do, i will come up and be in my Senate Office next week and have my Staff Support me via telework virtually electronically but i will not make them risk their health in violation of the global order. Senator tim kaine and former governor of virginia, of course, thank you very much. Thank you for being with us today. Absolutely. Glad to be with you. Meanwhile, millions of americans are stuck at home trying to stop the spread of this coronavirus as theyve been told to, and desperate for professional sports to presume. But how Major League Baseball and the nba can do this safely remains a very big question. Were so happy to be joined by bob costas, hall of fame broad cater who is now a host and playbyplay announcer for the mlb network. I can tell you in our house, were watching reruns of the world series because we miss baseball so much. Right. And the other night watched a league of their own because we missed baseball and tom hanks saying theres no crying in baseball. Tell us what we can do and how can this be done safely. First of all, this is my homage to the Jackie Robinson era brooklyn dodgers. I dont think it brings baseball back but reminds us. I apologize for the makeshift situation here. The wifi is down in my house and this is the best we can do. Any bob costas is better than no bob costas. Is i appreciate that. Everything comes back in some sense to covid19 these days and that includes sports. The nba would like to finish its season. Theoretically i dont know exactly what plan they will land on but the nba and nhl could say we will base it on where the record season was suspended and go straight into the playoffs and get it done in short order. The nba is talking about north dakota, isolate in one place and take care of it quickly. Baseball needs to play a minimum number of games to have a valid regular season. So there are various plans being voted, and i wont bore you with the details, but none of it can happen unless and until theyre certain that Public Health has been taken properly into account, and also, this is important, that the athletes, the team owners, everybody involved hasnt jumped the queue when it comes to testing and other aspects of this, while other members of society who may need it more are still waiting for it. And theyre sensitive to that. Theres Public Relations as aexpect, Public Health aspect and baseball aspect, how many games are necessary to have a valid regular season and what kind of postseason format can we come up with just for this year only so we have some sort of championship . So if there were 100 games lets say and they were played, its been suggested someplace in arizona to minimize the travel, the distances, without fans but with television, could Something Like that be valid . And how would with their stats match against the history of baseball statistics . The season would have an asterisks next to it. It would be understood. Maybe they crown a batting champion but in a compressed game if someone hit. 400, nobody would say they duplicated what ted williams did in 1941. I think they would have to play around half the regular season games and proceed to the postseason. There was one plan that started out with arizona, because you have spring Training Facilities there. But think of the searing heat in the summertime in arizona. Then there was arizona and florida. You got heat and humidity there. And then texas was thrown into the mix. Theres one plan apparently being tossed around i dont know which of them are at the top of the list, but one now where all 30 teams would play out of their home cities because its difficult to quarantine these people for that long a period of time. Theyre young adults with young families in many cases. So they play in their hometowns but they wouldnt play in their normal divisions. You rearrange he ththem geographically, ten teams for each reason. Yankees and dodgers would wiped wind up in this period of time in the same division. Minimize the travel. At least at the outset there would be no fans. And then they play some kind of postseason. And then the idea would be at least theyre playing for television, theyre collecting some television revenue. People would watch and accept it under these unusual circumstances and you would have something, rather than what we have now, which is just waiting around. Even tony fauci, he did an interview with Ryan Zimmerman hes a big baseball fan, and also was a High School Star basketball athlete. Yes. Against fordham prep. So who knows . Obviously Public Safety is the most important thing but we particularly i miss baseball. Yes, we all do. This is not being sent to the Broadcasting Hall of fame. Right. Its the amrs hall of fame. It will have to do. Bob costas, thank you so much for being with us today. Its good to see you. And we do want to remember the bigger issue here is, of course, the coronavirus, and some of the lives well lived. But the people who died because of this terrible disease. Paul carey was a paramedic. He was a team player. Always willing to help where help was needed. Paul cary, of course, just one of those people who traveled from his home in colorado to new york city when he heard that they needed help in new york against covid19. Last week he was admitted to Montefiore Medical Center in the bronx. Yesterday his family announced his death, saying were at peace knowing paul did what he loved and what he believed in right up until the very end. Paul cary was 66 years old. Shlondia can rollins was adored by the students and staff at span Elementary School in jackson, mississippi. The principal there said miss rollins was patient, was kind, everything you wanted your students to be around. Shalondra was the first coronavirus victim in jackson, mississippi. She was only 38 years old. And Mario Esperanza were educators in nicaragua before they came to the u. S. They were about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary when they got sick with the coronavirus. Mario died april 10th and espa ransia seven days later. Their son, 42yearold, worked for a company assigned to clean mt. Sinais medical center. Mario died this past sunday from the covid19. And so their daughter, separates from her young son, makes arrangements for three family funerals. Rs, weve worked to provide you with the financial strength, stability, and online tools you need. And now its no different. Because helping you through this crisis is what were made for. Did you know prilosec otc can stobefore it begins . Urn heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. Prilosec otc uses a unique delayedrelease formula that helps it pass through the tough stomach acid. It then works to turn down acid production, blocking heartburn at the source. With just one pill a day, you get 24hour heartburn protection. Prilosec otc. One pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. Its velveeta shells cheese versus the other guys. Clearly, velveeta melts creamier. Show me what youre made of. So we showed it our people, sourcing and distributing more fresh food than anyone. Our drivers helping grocers restock their shelves. How were helping restaurants open popup markets. And encouraging all americans to take out to give back. Adversity came to town. So we looked it in the eye. And it wont be us. That blinks first. Yes. Yes. Yeah sure. Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah no problem. Yes yes, yes a thousand times yes disover. Accepted at 99 of places in the u. S. Its only human to find yes, inspiration in nature. Es and also find answers. Our search to transform. Farm waste into renewable natural gas led chevron to partner with california bioenergy. Working to provide an alternative source of power. For a cleaner way forward. Work remembers putting their own lives on the front line. When we talk about this every day, they are trying to save others. According to the latest data are the cdc, more than 9,000 medical personnel have been infected with the virus. While the majority had mild symptoms some have of course died. Now a leading by oethicist is calling on congress to create a Health Care Heros Compensation Fund for our front line workers similar to the 9 11 First Responders fund. Joining me now, the founder of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of bioethics. I think ruth is there. Im here. There we go. Okay. We are good. Im sorry. We have had a few technical hiccups. But thanks for joining us, ruth. I am fascinated, intrigued by your proposal for a compensation relief fund for these First Responders. How would it work . What can we do to support this effort . Thank you. I am so you are already doing it by giving us a chance to talk about it on air. I should say that the original idea, it is only fair and appropriate that this concept be extended to all essential workers. Basically, we have a significant ethics dis we have some groups of people disproportionately bearing the burdens of the pandemic, and also the burdens of the response. They are risking their lives. In some cases they are losing their lives so that we can go on with our lives. Thats morally just hugely problematic. So there is many thing that we need to do to try to at least in part mitigate to imbalance. One of course is to give our workers the safest possible environment. It is another conversation how we have in many instances failed in that to our intention workers. There are lots of things that we need and should be doing. At least one of the things we need and should be doing is to recognize that it would be horribly among if we were to leave the families of essential workers and the essential workers themselves to handle on their own the Financial Burdens that will that do inevitably come when an essential worker becomes seriously ill with covid, and god forbid, when an essential worker dies. So the idea here is that among the things not the only thing, but among the things that that all of the rest of us owe our essential workers is at least assistance with the Financial Burdens of serious disease and death. How would this work . The ethics case i think is clear. The mechanics are always a bit challenging, but we have a phenomenal precedent. Thats the Public Safety officers benefits and Education Assistance law. It is a bit of a mouthful. It has been on the books for i think 50 years. And that law provides benefits for family members of firefighters and police who die in the line of duty. And we can pattern this fund very much on that existing federal law. Ruth, thank you for beginning the conversation. Lets continue it as we proceed. Such an important topic. That does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. Chuck todd and katy tur will pick up our coverage after a break. Before we go we want to bring you this salute toe front line workers. Stay safe from adam lambert and queen we are the champions, my friend and well keep on fighting until the end let me help. Lift and push and push there. Its up there. Hey joshie. Wrinkles send the wrong message. Help prevent them before they start with downy wrinkleguard. Soon, people will be walking back through your door. Soon, life will move forward. Well welcome back old colleagues, get to know new ones some things may change, but well still be here, right here, so you can work on the business of getting your business back. At paycom, our focus will always be you and well see you soon. You should be mad at tech that makes things worse. But youre not, because you have e trade whose tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. Dont get mad, get e trade. My grandparents that i never knew. Ch about im a lawyer now, but i had no idea that my grandfather was a federal judge in guatemala. My grandfather used his legal degree and his knowledge to help people that were voiceless in his country. That put a fire in my heart. It made me realize where i got my passion for social justice. Bring your Family History to life like never before. Get started for free at ancestry. Com and finding new ways to take of ourselves. But you can still screen for colon cancer. Because when caught in early stages, its more treatable. So, dont wait. Cologuard is colon Cancer Screening done at home. You can request it from home too. Ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. Or learn more about online prescribers at requestcologuard. Com. Not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask about cologuard today. Good afternoon. Im chuck todd. Here are the facts as we know them this hour. The global shutdown continues to half cascading consequences. U. S. Manufacturing fell to its lowest point in more than a decade last month. The industry makes up about 11 , that sector excuse