Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20200722

Began. As the president s polls take a hit, largely because of his handling of the pandemic, he endorsed the use of face masks for the first time and acknowledged the reality on the ground with this sobering assessment. Some areas of our country are doing very well. Others are doing less well. It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better. Something i dont like saying about things, but thats the way it is. And our White House Team is reporting the president will be back in front of the cameras for another briefing this afternoon. So far no guidance on whether he will be alone or joined by Health Experts. This hour, we go live to tennessee for a report that every parent will want to check. Students today walking back into classrooms even as the head of the cdc gave this bold endorsement of inschool learning. Would you be comfortable with your schoolaged grandchildren going back to school in the fall . Absolutely. Absolutely. The only one that there may be some reservation is my grandson with cystic fibrosis. My other ten grandchildren, of those, eight of them are school change. Im 100 that they can get back to school. Joining me now, nbc News White House correspondent and weekend today cohost Kristen Welker. Washington post bureau chief phil rucker. Msnbcs Garrett Haake on capitol hill. And nbcs mike memoli covering the Biden Campaign. Kristen, we expect to see another briefing, its not a White House Coronavirus task force briefing, the task force was not there, it was the president soloing, but he certainly did change his tone. Andrea, thats right, you heard the president give that very sober assessment, essentially preparing americans for what he said is the reality that this situation and crisis will likely get worse before it gets better. I thought it was notable, he talked about the fact that he wanted to see testing improved in various parts of the country, that people should be getting their results more quickly. The question is how is that going to happen, whats the plan to do that. We are trying to get those answers. I was able to follow up with one of his top advisers, kellyanne conway, today to ask if those sorts of conversations are going on behind the scenes. She says they are. So the question is will we get more details about that specifically in todays briefing. But look, white house officials who ive been speaking with say they feel as though yesterday went well, that for the most part the president stayed on topic, largely stayed on target. It was a half hour, it was concise, not what we saw several months ago when the briefings could extend to an hour and a half if not longer. The president was asked about Ghislaine Maxwell and that did overshadow the briefing to some extent when he said i wish her well. But again, white house officials feel as though the president did a good job of basically saying he is working on this crisis. And that had been the real criticism, because remember, andrea, last week he didnt hold an event focused on covid and there was a sense from some of his top advisers and closest aides that he wasnt out front on this crisis. So theyre trying to turn the page on that in part because of the poll numbers which we have discussed, the fact that hes trailing joe biden in some polls by double digits now, andrea. And phil, what about the politics of all this . Clearly there is concern among his advisers that he is losing this campaign partly because hes not seemed to be leading on covid, and because what hes saying doesnt match what people are seeing and experiencing around them in their own lives. Andrea, the last few months, what weve seen from President Trump is an effort to try to turn the page on the coronavirus and focus on other issues including the economy but also a range of offtopic like confederate memorials and so forth. Its created an impression, according to polling, among many voters that the president has given up leadership, that hes abandoned leadership on the pandemic. So thats why hes out front this week, as kristen was just detailing, trying to convince the American Public that hes engaged and committed to leading in this coronavirus. And yet its really a Public Relations effort with these briefings, and whats lacking is substantive planning and strategy. There does not, still, exist a National Strategy that were aware of to solve the testing problems, to deal with contact tracing, and to solve some of the other issues that so many of the Health Experts say are critical to be addressed by washington. And garrett, speaking of not having a plan, the republicans are divided among themselves, according to your reporting out of the Senate Caucus meeting yesterday, the Republican Leadership meeting with the senate. Reporter thats right, yesterday we had this gathering of Senate Republicans and members of the administration trying to come up with where republicans stand, where the senate will make its opening offer in this month of negotiations essentially over the next relief bill. We heard from a lot of republicans leaving that meeting, they were angry about what was being proposed, that it was too big, too expensive, or doesnt directly addressed what republicans would like to see focus on, essentially reopening the economy. Now, we might get a text that have bill today, it might not be until tomorrow. Again, republicans are having this struggle to negotiate a plan amongst themselves, much less negotiating with democrats who of course control the house and will have a major say in what happens. I think some of the major sticking points still remain this Liability Protection for businesses and what to do about steppedup Unemployment Insurance which is set to expire at the end of the month. Thats the first major deadline for trying to get this done. Yesterday, while the white house was saying they thought they could finish this bill by the end of july, both speaker pell owes s osi scoffed at the idea that they could get a bill that quickly. Were looking at some legislative horse trading here over the next few weeks. And we all know what that looks like, the sausage being made indeed. Mike memoli, we got a glimpse of a teased video from the Biden Campaign of joe biden and barack obama for the first time that we know of, talking facetoface, though distanced. The rest of the video conversation is going to be put out by the campaign tomorrow. But this is what they showed us so far. Can you imagine standing up when you were president saying, its not my responsibility, i take no responsibility . I mean, literally. Those words didnt come out of our mouths while we were in office. No. It all starts with being able to relate. If you can sit down with a family and see your own family in them and the struggles that youve gone through or your parents went through or your kids are going through, if you can connect those struggles to somebody elses struggles, then youre going to work hard for them. Mike, we know that the Vice President does not come out very often and here hes coming out and coming to the washington office, apparently, of barack obama. Tell us about this. Yeah, thats right, andrea. This was recorded, im told, earlier this month on a weekend, the former Vice President making that trip down from delaware to meet facetoface with his former running mate for the first time. And andrea, there are so many policy contrasts between President Trump and joe biden, but when you talk to biden advisers, they say that empathy is joe bidens superpower, and that one single quality they think offers the biggest contrast for voters between the republican and the democratic candidate this fall. And so what do we see here . We see the Biden Campaigns most powerful surrogate amplifying that exact argument, saying that it is joe bidens ability to relate to americans which makes him so the right choice this november. We saw this yesterday when joe biden was presenting his caregiving plan to the country. When is the last time if ever a Major Party Nominee was able to draw from their experience as a single parent, as joe biden was for a brief time after the death of his wife and daughter, raising his two boys, and relating to the challenges so Many Americans face . One other thing, andrea, that this video i think tells us, it gives us a little bit of a sneak preview of what the Democratic Convention looks like. Were not going to see a full Convention Hall with speeches from a podium all hour of ts of night, every night. As joe biden said in an interview last night, well see a largely Virtual Convention with a lot of preproduced videos like this one and a lot of speeches by surrogates not just in milwaukee but around the country. A very different convention indeed. First he has to choose his running mate, i know youre all over that as well. Phil, we want to bring you back to new details weve been reporting and others are reporting, it was first the New York Times reporting on ambassador Woody Johnson, ambassador to the court of st. James, according to our reports, pushing or at least floating the idea to the British Government that the president s that the british open should be played on his course in scotland, and that he raised it twice with his deputy and his deputy ambassador said dont do it, it would not be ethical, but he proceeded to float it to the brits and there was no chance of it happening because the british Golf Association had already decided that there was no way that they were going to have any Golf Tournament on a trump property in the uk, because of the politics of it, and the possible security implications. Yeah, andrea, that was really important reporting by our friends at the New York Times. And, you know, just so our viewers understand, i know you know this, the ambassadors that serve our country are serving the u. S. Government and representing the United States abroad. Theyre not there as the president s personal or political envoys or to represent the president s business interests as it pertains to the trump golf course there. So Woody Johnson clearly crossed a line with regard to proper protocol and behavior by diplomatic officials in the u. S. I imagine this is something that will get some scrutiny on capitol hill in the weeks to come. Were not quite sure yet. And im not sure if weve heard from ambassador johnson yet about the matter. But the reporting, assuming that its true, is troubling in that it breaks that protocol for diplomats. And we have reached out to him and have not heard back from him. The brits said that there was no request. But that suggests a formal request, thats not the question, it was definitely floated, because ive talked to people with knowledge of the immediate situation. The other piece of this is that the Inspector Generals Office did look into the british embassy, there were there for routine visit last fall. There is a report, according to their own ig website, but its not been made public, into the ambassador and other issues involving comments that he had made, allegations that have been made that have been reported by others to be of a sexist or racist nature. Again, we have not heard back from him. But that ig report has not been made public. And of course the Inspector General was fired, that is steve lini linick. So this is already being looked into, those aspects of his firing are being looked into by congress. Thanks very much to phil rucker, Garrett Haake, of course Kristen Welker and mike memoli. School is in session, one of the first schools in the country that is opening its doors for inperson learning. We look at what theyre doing to keep students safe, thats in tennessee. And next, coronavirus daily deaths surpass 1,000. A former Surgeon General weighing in on the disturbing trend. This is Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. Is is andreal reports on msnbc. 9. 95 . 9. 95. Whats with all the 9. 95 notes . I thought youd never ask. Its about a Life Insurance plan with options starting at 9. 95 a month. Been seeing it on tv. We talked about getting more Life Insurance. Remember how much your brothers funeral cost . Yeah, his funeral expenses were a real eyeopener. North of 8,500. Exactly. man what do you like about this insurance . The 9. 95 price, and best of all, itll never go up. man but we could get it at our age with my medical history . I feel 25 here and here, but the mirror says otherwise. Dont worry. We cant be turned down for any health reason. 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Stream live tv, on demand shows and movies even your dvr recordings. Download the Xfinity Stream app today to stream the entertainment you love. Xfinity. The future of awesome. The u. S. Death toll from covid19 surpassed the 1,000 mark for the third time this month on tuesday. Over 143,000 people have now died from the virus in this country. And we have yet to hear a National Response plan from President Trump. We are, uh, in the process of developing a strategy thats going to be very, very powerful. We have a relentless focus and its been that way from the beginning. Joining me now is former u. S. Surgeon general dr. Vivek murthy. Dr. Murthy, thank you very much for being with us. The president says theyve been working on this, they have a plan, since the beginning. Have you seen a plan . Andrea, i think many of us are still waiting to see what this strategy and what this plan is. We are many months into this pandemic. And frankly, we should have had a National Plan and National Leadership that was clear, that was bold, and that was resultsoriented, many months ago. And the fact that we still dont have that now is why you are seeing worsening cases, worsening deaths, worsening hospitalizations across the country. And weve seen a lot of complaints about the lag time on getting test results which makes the tests useless if it goes four or five days, seven days, two weeks in some instances. Two major labs now are sounding the alarms on testing. Labcorps ceo says the virus is spreading faster than Testing Capacity can be expanded. And quest says meeting test demand will be impossible during the flu season. Right now, the congress is stalemated over whether to put money into the compromise legislation which has been in the house bill now for six weeks. Andrea, youre absolutely right to spotlight testing because this has become, once again, a profound problem. Were hearing stories of people waiting hours and hours in line to get tested. Im speaking to you from miami, florida, where many people that i know here have gone to get testing and have actually been turned away because there is insufficient supply or they themselves have gone home because they couldnt wait any longer. There is a point at which we will see the amount of Testing Available even limit the number of positive tests that we see. And so when the numbers plateau, weve got to ask why is that, is that because theyre actually plateauing, is it because were just not testing enough so were not seeing an actual rise thats taking place . The truth is weve known how to fix this problem with testing for many months now. We know the government needs to take over the process of producing these tests and their requisite parts that go along with it. We know the federal government has to play a much more forceful role in allocating these resources so they get to those parts of the country where theyre most in need. Right now you cannot figure out what the wait times are in a standardized way across states. Thats unbelievable. How can you improve a process if you dont have the data that tells you whether youre doing a good job or not . Finally, weve got to make sure that we are managing the test results themselves, getting people the help they need when they have a positive test, that we have contact tracers in place to understand where that infection is spreading, and to quarantine people thereafter. We still dont have enough contact tracers. So we know how to do this. Were just not putting our resources and our focus where they need to be to get the job done. Given the lack of a National Plan, and youve listed all the things we dont have, theres an open letter now that youre fami familiar with, of course, by more than 150 Health Professionals calling for another shutdown, saying the u. S. Should start over and even Bar International travel. Do you agree that such drastic measures are now needed . I think this is unfortunately the circumstance we find ourselves in, where were having to contemplate shutting down again because things got so bad. There are parts of the country where the infection rate is extremely high, where the test Positivity Rate has skyrocketed, where shutting down again would make sense. I also think we need to make sure we have mandatory mask orders in place across the country. We need to make sure that we are closing down bars and indoor dining, because we know thats a perfect setup for spread. Yesterday the president restarted these white house briefings. And i want to say a word about this, because i do think that communication in the midst of a pandemic is extremely important. And my hope is that in these hearings, that we will hear more from scientists and public Health Experts, that well hear more facts and less spin. And that well hear concrete plans. And the reason this is so important at this point, andrea, is because in the last several months, Public Confidence in the response effort has been shredded. And one of the most important assets you have in a Pandemic Response is in fact public trust. And if you dont cultivate it, if you dont preserve it, then even when youre giving people guidance that they should follow, they wont listen to you. The classic case in point is around vaccines. Our surveys now are showing us up to half of people surveyed are saying they either wont take the vaccine or are uncertain about it even if it was available today. That means weve got a serious credibility gap and an information gap to fill. The government cant do that effectively unless it reestablishes its credibility and its got to start doing that right away. Dr. Murthy, thank you very much, thanks against for being with us. And a terrifying scene in chicago overnight. A brazen driveby shooting as the president is preparing to deploy federal agents to the city. Were live in chicago next. Plus federal officers already on the streets in portland facing a legal challenge today as local Officials Say they are making the situation worse. Our report from the courthouse, just ahead. This is Andrea Mitchell reports. Youre watching msnbc. S. Youre watching msnbc. We aint stoppin believe me go straight till the morning look like we wont wait were taking everything we wanted we can do it all strength, no sweat [ ] when you have diabetes, managing your blood sugar is crucial. Try boost glucose control. The patented blend is clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels. It provides 60 more protein than the leading diabetes nutrition shake. Try boost glucose control. A frightening night in chicago where police say at least 15 people were wounded when a car drove past a funeral home and opened fire. Authorities have recovered 60 shell casings at the scene. This as President Trump is preparing to send federal agents into the city to crack down on the recent surge in violence, over the mayors objections. In portland, oregon, at this hour a federal hearing is under way. The state attorney general is asking a judge to remove a large federal force deployed by the white house to quell protests that had turned violent there. The mayor and governor both say the protests had been limited to a few hundred people in a small downtown area but that the tactics used by the federal forces sparked a much wider outbreak. We have it all covered, shall eke bru shaquille brewer is in poured land. Shaq, what is happening and what does the mayor have to say about it . Reporter andrea, the mayor is pleading for people in the community who know anything about the shooters involved in this incident that led to 15 people being wounded to turn in the information. Ten of the wounded were women, five were men. If you listen to what the superintendent and mayor said earlier today, they said this is part of the siebcycle of violen connected to the most Common Source of violence in the city, that is gang violence, which is tearing the city apart. Listen to what the mayor said this morning. We all had restless nights last night, me included. I woke up this morning even more resolved to do everything that we can to stop this violence. Violence is a symptom, a symptom of communities that are crying out. Reporter now, most of the victims are expected to survive. But last nights violence really highlights the awkward position that chicago is in as we hear the Trump Administration announcing that theyre sending in federal agents to the city. On the one hand, and you heard it from mayor lightfoot, we welcomes a partnership with federal agents to help solve this problem but on the other hand she doesnt want a repeat of those scenes you saw in portland to happen here on the streets of chicago. So its somewhat of a balancing act that officials are having to deal with, trying to solve the violence thats here and take whatever help they can get but also not try to have a repeat of those scenes that were seeing across the country, andrea. Indeed. And the mayors objections reflect the fact that the president has been threatening to send troops to philadelphia, detroit, chicago, a lot of what he calls democraticallyled cities, and erin mclaughlin, you know whats happening there in portland, where it has gotten out of control, but the officials there are arguing in court today that it got a lot worse after those federal forces in camouflage here from Homeland Security were deployed. Reporter yeah, thats right, andrea. And that hearing is now under way here at the federal courthouse in portland. Im just outside, let me just let the camera pan over to show you whats happening here right now. This has been the flashpoint in this confrontation between federal agents and protesters. You can see they are now in the process of setting up a steel barrier around the courthouse. Protesters have managed to breach that barrier on two occasions, now theyre setting it up once again, bracing for the possibility of more violence. Inside that same courthouse is where this hearing is now under way. The department of justice giving its arguments. Weve already heard from oregons attorney general, saying that, in her brief, anyway, she said that essentially whats happening here is a violation of first and Fourth Amendment rights of these protesters by these federal agents, she wants the unlawful arrests to stop. The department of justice is making the argument that theyre here to protect this courthouse and other federal properties. We expect a decision potentially today, maybe later in the week, andrea. Thanks so much to you, erin, and to shaq in chicago. Joining us now is the editor of the new yorker who has a special issue coming out next week called voices of american dissent, looking at protests in americas past and future. David, thank you very much. Tell me about the genesis of this and how youve assembled your writing about whats happening now as well as past writing from new yorker issues about the role of protest as part of the american story. Thank you, andrea. Its good to be with you. I think its axiomatic that in the history of the United States, protest and dissent have been a force for american progress. We look at the recent passing of john lewis, who at the age of 23, 25, was at the center of american protests in the Civil Rights Movement. And what did that lead to . It led to the enactment of the Voting Rights act in 1965, among other things. But we also see backward movement in american history. What are we talking about all the time now . Were talking about voter suppression, despite the fact that we have a Voting Rights act. And i think in addition to Police Brutality and other issues, voting is at the center of the black lives Matter Movement or at least its one important component of it. So we live in a country that is marked both by forward progress, as we saw, whether its in the 19th indust thchlth century or dissent plays an Important Role in pushing us forward and pushing government forward and putting pressure on government. Thats an essential dynamic of any promise in american life. So the issue is about that, whether its about the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s or black lives matter now or womens rights, were about to celebrate the sevcentenary of t womens suffrage movement. The president seems to be focusing on this, it reminds me of 1968 and of the Nixon Campaign, again, using the law and order issue to try to hammer democratic mayors to raise issues in cities that arent even experiencing violence at this stage, as well as i think, andrea camouflageclad forces. Look at what happened in lafayette park. Was that a necessary action by donald trump . Look at whats happening on the streets of portland, whats possibly about to happen in the streets of chicago, detroit, philadelphia, all the places your excellent correspondents have pointed out. What were seeing is an attempt to revive the Reelection Campaign of the president of the United States, a man who is willing to do almost anything, legal or illegal, to enhance his chances. He sees himself in a bad position, the polls are showing him behind joe biden rather decisively, and almost like a slightly diabolical television producer, he wants to produce images of maximum divisiveness. So hes going to go into cities that hes obviously written off in terms of supporting him, but to show them as the bad cities and where federal troops can go in and well quiet it down and suppress it. It is an extremely troubling thing. And we have the specter of the former head of the department of Homeland Security, a former republican governor, tom ridge, essentially saying in the New York Times today that the federal government is not there to be the president s personal militia. And to see that tom ridge is saying this, pointing out that the president of the United States is trying to create imagery of divisiveness, of, quote unquote, bad democratic cities, centers of dissent, by the way, peaceful dissent, or to exploit the crime problem that you see in the streets of chicago as a reelection imagery, and then pour money into ads about such issues on facebook or on television, this goes well beyond the Nixon Campaign of 1968. And in fact we are in complete sync here, because let me play some of the audio of tom ridge, former governor of pennsylvania, house member, and Homeland Security, the first Homeland Security seating, speaking about this to michael smerconish. The department was established to protect america from the everpresent threat of global terrorism. It wasnt not established to be the president s personal militia. Had i been governor even now, i would welcome the opportunity to work with any federal agency to reduce crime or lawlessness in any of the cities, but i would tell you, michael, it would be a cold day in hell before i would consent to a unilateral uninvited intervention into one of my cities. And that is the issue that is right now in front of a federal judge in portland, oregon. Look, you have to ask yourself, andrea, what is it that this president will not do . Every day brings a fresh outrage. We just had a report about the president of the United States has now seen yet again a thousand deaths a day, and not least because of his own complacency and mismanagement. What is he thinking about . Hes thinking about getting the british open put on a trump golf course in scotland. Who could imagine such a thing . Who could think that this is possible, this thought process, if you want to call it that, coming from a president of the United States, such selfishness, selfinvolvement, heedlessness. Weve been living in a kind of time release tragedy from the day he was inaugurated. And its hard to deny that. And so when questions are raised about what he might do if he loses in november, would he leave the white house, unfortunately these are serious questions that have to be posed. Which he in fact did not put to rest in the interview with chris wallace, he only made it more ambiguous. Thank you very much, david remnick, its always good to hear your views on this. Well look forward to the issue coming out next week. Well be right back. Well b. For my mother my father my grandmother my brothers and sisters my friends for going back to school the bbq the lake the beach my place for my neighbors my community my people my country my home for him for her for them for you. [ind mom ct radio chatter] come on, hurry up for you. All systems go . Mission Control 5 4 3 2. And liftoff. vo audi etron. The next frontier of electric. Get audi at your door Remote Services through participating dealers. As schools across the country are grappling with the safest way to reopen, its the first day of class for students in alcoa, tennessee today with Safety Measures like temperature checks and staggered attendance and students coming to class just one day a week. Earlier we heard from the Intermediate School principal and a parent. We have a Supportive Community and we have people who really want their kids to be back in school, so were going to do it. We want them to not be scared. Like, we want to keep them as normal as we can. Nbc news correspondent blayne alexander joins us now from alcoa, tennessee. Blayne, there were more than 2,000 new cases in tennessee on tuesday. How do the schools there decide to reopen and can they do it safely . Reporter sure. So thats exactly what i asked the principal here at alcoa elementary school, andrea. Across the state, lets kind of look at those covid numbers. About 82,000 cases or so across the state of tennessee. When you look at alcoa, a Small Community just outside of knoxville, fewer than 300 of those cases are here in this city. Thats why they say after a lot of conversations, a lot of tears, a lot of prayers, and of course talking with health officials, they decided that putting a number of measures into place would make them safe enough to go ahead and reopen. A couple of caveats, andrea, this is a very small district. It only has 2,000 students or so. But today, on the first day of school, only about a fifth of those students are reporting. Thats because students are only coming to school one day a week. The other four days of the week, theyre going to be doing virtual learning. So the classes are very small, no more than ten students together at one time. That includes two teachers as well. A couple of other things to mention, for parents who dont quite feel comfortable, they can opt for all virtual learning. There are a handful of parents, we understand, who chose that method. Andrea, this is in place only through labor day. They say at that point theyre going to take a look and reevaluate and say, if it turns out that cases went up or there are any sort of issues, theyre going to change and see if there are any changes that need to be made. So when i spoke with the principal here, she talked about the fact that, yes, its difficult to get elementary cool students to sit down and do what you say, but certainly when it comes to putting on a mask or staying away from each other, she said theyre approaching it as a teaching game, theyre doing this every single day, teaching them Different Things and said their parents have been practicing with them at home as well, andrea. Thanks so much, blayne alexander. Meanwhile, tensions are reaching a boiling point between china and the u. S. As the Trump Administration has ordered the chinese consulate in houston closed as of friday. Theres video showing consulate employees possibly burning documents overnight after the announcement was made, well have that for you in a moment. They have until friday to clear out. Joining me now is senator tim kaine who serves on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees. Senator, this is all following the indictment of two chinese nationals yesterday, the Administration Says they were connected to the government for attempting to hack vaccine companies, not only here but around the world, part of years of chinese hacking. Whats your reaction . Closing an embassy, a consulate, rather, is a really dramatic step, it hasnt been done against china before. Theyve done it against russia in the past. China has said theyre going to retaliate. It is a big step, and naturally that will be the next step, china will likely close u. S. Consulates in china. So this is very troubling. We have a Foreign Relations Committee Hearing this afternoon on china with ambassador steve bieg biegun. I expect the closure of the consulate will be very much the focus. I think what were concerned about at the senate, and i think this is a bipartisan concern, President Trump takes action against china but we are always looking for whats the strategy. I mean, were engaged in a back and forth with china over tariffs and trade sanctions that is still unresolved and that in virginia, my farmers and others are begging for relief from that. Were backing and forthing over hong kong, the uighurs in northwest china, the back and forth over the coronavirus, and now this. Theres a lot of churn and turmoil, but what we dont see is a strategy. Well ask about these particulars today with ambassador biegun, but i think what we really want to see is, how does the Trump Administration see this very important and challenging relationship right now, and whats the strategy that links together all the actions that the Trump Administration is taking. And youve got the deputy secretary of state, steve biegun, who has been ambassador and has handled china and north korea and south korea relations. At this stage, do you suspect there is a political motive . Were sorry to say, but in this context, the president keeps talking about the china virus, albeit china did mishandle their original reporting on the covid19. They certainly did. But do you think this is partly to find a scapegoat . Yes. The president is, i believe, trying to deflect attention. China made some huge mistakes up front. But why were nations like south korea and vietnam that are right near china able to so much better deal with the virus than the United States . If china made mistakes, they need to be called out for them. But the president is trying to deflect attention from his mistakes in the United States that have led us to have the highest death toll in the world. And as we see right now, both the death toll, the daily case level and the economic carnage resulting from that are really hammering our country. And so the president and look, you have earlier reported this, that there is a gop memo going around a few weeks ago saying to Senate Republicans, they need to try to make this election about blaming the democrats for being too prochina. Well, President Trump himself has a long track record of praising china, praising the leadership of china, et cetera. I do view this as, you know, probably motivated by electoral politics. Of course we do have major, major challenges with china. And were deeply concerned about their human rights record and about theft of intellectual property, about a whole series of issues. So the instinct to do something is not a bad instinct. But from the very beginning of the administration, the president has decided to try to go it alone rather than gathering our allies together who have the same issues with china to try to confront them. Were going to have to leave it there. Let me just quickly ask you, is there any breakthrough on the talks about the funding for relief, covid relief . Andrea, its a challenge. The democrats put the proposal on the table, the heroes act, now nine weeks ago. And weve been waiting for a republican proposal. We were told we were going to see it tuesday of this week. It looks like the internal battles within the gop, in the senate and the white house, are such that they havent been able to put a proposal on the table. I do believe we will get a bill within the next three weeks, because we need one. And the white house seems to recognize that. But the tensions within the senate gop now have meant that they havent even put a proposal on the table, when people are going to start losing benefits dramatically at the end of the month. Senator tim kaine, thank you very much. Well be looking at that Foreign Relations hearing on china this afternoon. And joining us now on the phone is new york governor andrew cuomo. Thank you very much, governor. I know youre youre concerned the lag in testing which make tests, the number of tests really useless given this lag. And also the president s reversal on masks now. What your seeing from the white house now right now after the president comments last night . Well, andrea, thank you for having me. I think its a good sign. The president had a much different tone yesterday just the fact he was doing the Coronavirus Briefing in and of itself was a different signal. We need that. We need the federal government to step up, acknowledge the problem. I think theres been too much denial for too long and we need the commitment at the federal government. I welcome the president s po posture. I welcome what he said about masks, urging americans to wear masks. I would like him to take the next step which is a federal executive order on masks. Experts have said 40,000 more americans will die because we dont have a mask policy. I mean, its incredible as that is. You can sign a piece of paper that will save the life of 40,000 americans why wouldnt you do that . On testing, there is now a significant delay in many states on testing results. That means testing numbers you get today, the results you get today are not really results from yesterday. They could be eight days ago, ten days ago. So they could actually be misleading. We dont have that issue in new york but ive been working with a number of local governments and im seeing that issue across the country. Now, youve talked to the president , i believe, yesterday. Did you suggest that he sign the defense production act and authorize more labs to be involved in processing, more equipment, swabs, anything else that is need in order to reduce that lag time . Yeah. I spoke to the president yesterday. I didnt talk about the defense production act yesterday. I had previously made many statements about the defense production act and needing to get more companies in the testing, not testing, but the supply chain, the reagents thats problem. We need them desperately. We my this was going to happen. It was just a matter of time. Now its happening. But when you say you dont get test results for eight days the ten days, 12 days, thats a serious problem because the data then is not correct, theres a significant lag. And a person who is positive was out there for eight days spreading the virus by the time you find out. So, eight day testing, you wonder what the validity of it is at the end of the day. When you talked to him yesterday, did you sense a change in his attitude because there was a big change as you noted in his recommendation to wear masks. Is he taking this more seriously . It is three months since his last Health Briefing. He didnt have his Health Advisors around him. And 85,000 people have died since that last Health Briefing to americans. The conversation with the president yesterday, for me, was about a more parochial issue, making no federal troops going into new york city, which the president had been talking about, the rise in crime in cities across the country and his intention to send in federal troops. I dont think that would be a good idea in new york city and we talked about that. Can i just ask, did he commit to not sending the troops in because they are apparently poised to go into chicago and i know they are important. I said to the president that i understand the issues in new york city and there are issues in new york city as there are in many cities across the country. And if there was a need, state would step in which is the normal protocol, governmental protocol. And i was ready, willing and able to step in. I think the federal involvement theres no justification for it and would be counter productive and the president said we would talk if we would talk before he did anything. So that was a very good conversation. But, look, the president is concerned about new york city were well founded. There are issues in new york city. You put covid on top of the unrest after the george floyd murder, et cetera, theres been an increase in crime. So i get the concerns, but i dont believe federal troops are the answer. And, in terms of what he might do about testing, to try to shorten the lag time by dealing with the supply chain, did you get any positive answers from your perspective on that . I can tell you ive met with the white house on testing. They are aware of the supply chain issues. They have been working on the supply chain issues. And this is an issue, andrea, where theres no one solution. The states have to be responsible for the on the ground testing. The states have to organize the labs in their state, they have to set up testing sites. We have 750 testing sites in new york now. We have 250 labs in new york that are doing tests. Thats the state responsibility. The federal government has to work on the supply chain issues so these National Labs can actually process tests. So its not that clean. But the federal government gets that they have to work on the supply chain and that has to work in tandem with the state effort that has testing sites opened, that has the labs coordinated, so its going to take both. This is a new system that was never set up before. You know, this covid has put a test on government that never existed. And were now seeing the results. The shame is we had four, five months to get ready. And that we are still talking about these basic operations. Thats a shame. And thats what the history books are going to fault us for. 150 public Health Experts have written an open letter saying that the country needs to shutdown and reset now and actually prevent people from going from state to state, from hot spots to state. You already imposed some quarantines of people coming in to new york. Do you think another shutdown is now needed . I think the shutdown in certain states, yes, because they are right. Look at how bizarre the circumstance. New york state had the worst infection rate because the cases came from europe, and we did not know at the time. Everybody was still talking about china. The virus left china, went to europe and everybody missed it and it came to the United States from europe. So we had a quick spike. We had the worst infection rate in the country. We had the worse infection rate per capita than any country on the globe. We now have the lowest infection rates. Our problem now is people coming from other states into new york. Weve done a quarantine against the 21 highest states in terms of a rate of infection. But, i dont have really the enforcement mechanism for a quarantine. Were doing everything we can. Its imperfect. Youll see this virus ricocheting across the country. One state gets it under control but then people from another state will come in. So unless you solve this every where, you dont solve it anywhere. And now people coming from florida, from texas, from arizona, thats our issue. And i suspect our infection rate is going to go back up because of people coming into new york, which is so ironic because it went up in the first case because of people coming from europe. You know. Thats why it had to be fed and h national. If you dont solve it across the country you dont solve it anywhere, andrea. Do you think, by the way, just to return for a moment very briefly before we have to let you go, do you think that theres ever a situation where you would want federal forces to come in to help in new york city . No. No. I do not believe in this political environment i believe federal forces would be incendiary. If theres a reason, a justification, the state can handle it. A city is a creature of state law. The State Government created cities in the this state. If new york city has a problem, the state will address it. In this political environment, to send in federal troops would be pouring gasoline on a fire. Well, we want to thank you for taking the time, governor cuomo. I know that youve got a lot on your plate as do all the governors and you were just down in georgia trying to help out down there as well. So thanks very much for joining us today. That does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. Chuck todd and katie tur continue our report now. Big thank you there to andrea. Nice way to end your hour with that interview with governor cuomo. Good afternoon, im chuck todd. The white house has just confirmed. President trump will, indeed, hold another Coronavirus Briefing this evening. We dont know a lot of details, including whether or not the president will appear alone again. The take a look at this. Theres been nearly 15 million confirmed covid19 cases worldwide. Hit that number today and one half of the worlds covid19 cases are simply in the americas alone. Thats right. The americas plural make up 12 of the worlds population. Plus the United States has ordered the closure of the histic