Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live 20200521

Rocket and get rid of you for a while. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Im chuck todd in we just heard from President Trump just before he left the White House South Lawn to go get on to air force one and head to michigan. Joining me is my coanchor, katy tur. Sort of he seemed a bit, i get, jovial for him today as he gets ready to go to michigan. This is an uncomfortable time to be going there. They have this flood issue with the dams that broke on top of obviously the virus. And its been a politically, shall we say, polarizing time in michigan as well, and the president s visit may contribute to that. Yeah. And there have been questions asked about whether its a good idea for him to go to a place that has been such a hot zone because of the crowds that he attracts. You just heard him say hes not sure if hell wear a mask. Hes been asked about it a lot, he says, but hes still looking at it. The attorney general there, i believe, asked him to wear a mask. At one point the ford plant had asked him to wear a mask. And, lets just go back to yesterday when he threatened to withhold federal funding to michigan as the state was holding these floods. As these floods were bearing down on them. He was going to pull it out because he said it was not right for them to send out a question for two people saying, do you want to participate in mailin voting if you can . He conflated that and said that michigan was sending out mailin ballots to everybody in michigan when they werent actually doing th that. And he threatened to withhold the funding. I believe first read summed it up best today. Mailin vote for me but not for thee. He is saying if you live in the white house, you should be able to mail in your ballot, but if you dont or if youre sick, you should be able to, but if you dont, then you should not. This has been a bit of a republican talking point because theyre concerned if more people vote, the concern has been that republicans wont do as well as democrats. Mitt romney today came out and pushed back on that and said, hey, listen. Look at utah. We do a lot of mailin ballots and this is a very, very red state. Youre right. Going to michigan right now, obviously a battleground state. One of a number of battleground states. The election has been clearly on his mind talking about mailin ballots and going to a place where he won in 2016 and hopes to win again. Of those three midwestern states, it is the place if you talk to everybody that is seeing numbers on the democratic or republican side, it is the state he is struggling in the most that he carried in 2016. As you just heard, as we all just heard, the president responded to the new study from Columbia University which showed an earlier response to the pandemic. Things like social distancing. It could have had a dramatic impact. If social distancing policies had been inacted in the u. S. Just one week earlier back in march, more than 36,000 lives could have been saved. If they were enacted just two weeks earlier, researchers estimate 50,000 fewer people would have died. The president called the study a political hit job and went to its sort of what have become common talking points when hes questioned about his response timing. Last night he said if he could do it all over again, he would not do anything differently. Mr. President , with 4 of the worlds population and 30 of the outbreak, what would you have done differently facing this very well, nothing. If you take new york and new jersey which were very hard hit, we were very, very low. You look at the death relatively speaking, were at the lowest level along with germany. Id like to ask you maybe about that, if i could. Weve done, you know, amazing i think the biggest thing we did is stopping the inflow from china. Joining us now, Nbcs Carol Lee from the white house. Carol, it is really earth one, earth two, and this white house has decided theyre going to spin a tale that is much different than the facts you see on the ground. Yeah, chuck. The one message from President Trump that has been consistent throughout this crisis is, i did a good job. Youll not see him deviate from that message. If anything, hes going to be hitting it harder as he campaigns for reelection. He just said a few minutes ago, not only this Columbia University study was politicized, but also that he did a great job. He was earlier than anybody else was in responding to this pandemic. And a white house official responded to the Columbia University study by blaming china and the world health organization. Thats another thing that weve been seeing. And, chuck, Vice President mike pence was on Fox Business Network this morning. Heres how he responded to a question about this. Because of the leadership that President Trump provided, starting in january, when he suspended all travel from china, when he stood up the White House Coronavirus task force, began screening passengers from china and then as you know, stewart, we eventually closed down travel from europe, screened passengers from italy and south korea. We bought an extraordinarily important amount of time. So you see thats the message from this white house. That the president s response was fine. Thats what its going to be. I wouldnt expect any of that to change. This is a white house not ready to do a retrospective on what the president could have done better or differently for now and for the remainder of this crisis and throughout the campaign. Its going to be that he did a great job. As you mentioned, theres a very other different story to be told. Well, about the only thing they admit is that the cdc messed up as weve learned. Thats the one thing they are willing to concede. But its almost as if they want to create an almost as if theyre a separate entity from the administration. Carol lee getting us started. Katy, over to you. Chuck, a question about what the cdc is doing right now. Thats coming up later in the show. While the president is heading to the battleground state of michigan, a new National Poll shows hes trailing rival joe biden in the 2020 election. The quinnipiac poll shows the former Vice President leading President Trump by 11 points. 50 to 39 . Joining us is msnbc National Political correspondent steve kornacki. Steve, with the caveat that it will be battleground states that end up deciding this election, first tell us about this National Poll. Obviously, thats the biggest margin youve seen for biden in recent National Poll. If you take all the recent National Polls and average them together, you are looking at a biden lead of about 5. 5 points on average over donald trump in the National Poll. Like you say, though, and as we learned in 2016, as we were reminded in 2016, its about the battleground states. Its about the race to 270. Lets look at the six key battleground states. Trump won 6 for 6 in them in 2016. What are we looking at polling in these states . Here you go. Arizona, florida, michigan, carolina, pennsylvania, wisconsin. Remember, trump won all six of these in 2016. Some of them narrowly. Youve got biden in the average of the polls taken in these states in the last month or so. Youve got biden up in five of them. Trump hanging on by a small margin. Polling is a little sporadic at the statewide level. Some grains of salt here. Remember, when we Start Talking about battle for 270, these are the states that really become important here. Keep in mind with this in mind, lets take a quick look here at our road to 270 map. This is where we start. This is where it finished in 2016. Remember this was clintons number, 232. If you look back at those, you saw a Comfortable Lead in the average. If he got pennsylvania, michigan. Hes even ahead by a smaller margin but hes ahead in wisconsin. And if he just wins those three states back and nothing else changes, thats enough right there. If you cant get wisconsin, thats a little closer. Actually in the average right now, a bigger margin for biden is in arizona. So what if biden flipped arizona . This is a state where the demographic trends have been favoring the democrats for a while. Suburban i aanites in the phoen metro area. Or what about this. You also saw florida. Im pressing the wrong buttons. You saw florida. If biden could win florida, remember, hes been doing better with Senior Citizens than past democrats. That puts him in a position. One other state, michigan, for instance, would put him over. Florida and one other could also do it. Steve, any state that Hillary Clinton won in 2016 potentially up for grabs for trump this go around . His campaign has talked about minnesota. They made a little noise about nevada, new mexico. You havent seen it in the polling in those states yet. The potential there for trump to flip them. But minnesota is one his campaign has made noise about. Its one he got close in, in 2016, but he still lost it by two points. Steve kornacki, always a fascinating look at the polling state by state. Chuck, over to you. Now the latest in the race for a Coronavirus Vaccine. The United States is giving Drugmaker Astrazeneca a billion dollars in funding for the development, production and delivery of a Coronavirus Vaccine from Oxford University. Data from a trial which started in april with 1,000 Healthy Volunteers is expected soon. Joining us now is the president of astrazeneca u. S. , executive Vice President of biopharmaceuticals. Mr. Dobber, thank you for joining us. What makes the United States governments billion dollars to you guys, what does that give you the resources to do . Well, first of all, we are very pleased, of course, with this agreement. Its a very substantial agreement, and we really would like to thank secretary azar and hhs for that collaboration in this crisis. And to help us further develop the vaccine. The vaccine is one of the most promising vaccines in developments. We are working with oxford group, a very well known group on this vaccine for quite some time. This amount of money helps us to deliver 100 million doses to the american citizens in october and another 200 million at the end of 2020, beginning of 2021. So its a massive effort in order to make it happen. But were very committed in order to do that. Are you saying you think youre going to have a workable vaccine in six months . And that 100 million doses are going to be available to the United States citizens . Thats a realistic timetable . We are doing everything. Of course, we are in unprecedented times. We all agree with that. Theres a tragedy ongoing in the world both from a personal perspective, as well as from an economic perspective. And we have a huge commitment as an organization in order to make that available. First of all, of course, the vaccine needs to work. As we speak, you mentioned that we have currently vaccinated thousands of volunteers in the united kingdom. We hope to see the results relatively soon. Assuming that the vaccine shows safety and to a certain extent efficacy, we will start large Clinical Trials in the United States as well as in other parts of the world over the summer period in june, july. Equally, as we speak, were beefing up our manufacturing capabilities, and we are confident that we will be able to deliver 100 million doses in october. Assuming, of course, the vaccine is working. Mr. Dobber, katy tur here. I know serve desperate for a vaccine for this. Can you guarantee that what you come out with is going to be safe for the general population . Thats always the most important part. Of course, first of all, the vaccine needs to work, but, of course, it also needs to be safe. And we need to realize that the efforts we are taking together with our colleagues at the Oxford University is enormous. Normally it takes many, many years in order to develop a vaccine. We try to do this now in roughly nine months. And safety is a very crucial element in order to get a vaccine in the marketplace. Of course, we are working very closely together with regulatory agencies around the world, the fda, in the uk, the ra, and were on top to make sure that the vaccine is effective and safe as well. What are you doing to ensure the safety . What sort of trials . First of all, we have already done a phase one phase two trial. That trial is ongoing as we speak. Once again, we are expecting in the next few weeks the results of that. Its monitored by independent data monitoring committee. Equally, if the safety of the vaccine is good, we will start as soon as possible this largescale Clinical Trials across the world. Safety is also a very important element for Vaccine Development. But equally its very important that we work with speed and, therefore, the collaboration of ourselves with multiple countries is crucial in order to make that happen. Mr. Dobber, does the billion dollars from the United States mean that u. S. Citizens are at the front of the line for the vaccine . And i say this thats on one hand, obviously, we in america love to see a vaccine and we love to be among the first. At the same time, this is a global crisis. What is your companys parameters when it comes to, if this vaccine is a vaccine that works, how do you prioritize . And does it go to who has funded you first . Do you share it with the world . Walk us through that. Thats a very good question. And as an organization, were very committed in order to make the vaccine available to as many countries as possible. In the announcement earlier today, we have promised to deliver 300 million doses to the United States. Earlier in the week we made the announcement of 100 million doses to the united kingdom. Equally, we already have a capacity of roughly 1 billion vaccines and we are in with organizations and institutes in india in order to develop that capacity as quickly as possible. So we are discussing agreements as we speak with multiple countries across the world. And we are setting up different supply chains in the world. We have a separate supply chain in the United States. Were working with one in europe and, clearly, also were working with other supply providers in other parts of the world because you have a very clear ambition to make this vaccine broad and ecwi ecquitable across the globe. Mr. Dobber, if it turns out between now and october or even after that, that this vaccine does not work, its not as promising as it might look right now, can you redirect that funding somewhere else . Yeah, i think in the contracts we announced earlier to get this, clearly there are milestones. And like us also, the u. S. Government will look very carefully at all the milestones we have in the contract and equally, of course, if the vaccine is not working, then the money will be redirected to other parts of Vaccine Development or treatment. Ruud dobber from astrazeneca, boy, its an incredibly fast timeline. Let me tell you. I think a lot of us are hoping you hit it and good luck, and stay safe and healthy. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Katy, over to you. Coming up one of the Biggest Challenges in the days and weeks ahead. Convincing people its safe to once again use public transportation. And to get on a plane. Youre watching msnbc. Eir energy into helping others. To anyone helping and caring in their own way. Thank you. Like you, were always on. Were proud to put our Energy Behind you. Southern company get the perfectly grilled flavors of an outdoor grill indoors, and because its a ninja foodi, it can do even more, like transform into an air fryer. The ninja foodi grill, the grill that sears, sizzles, and air fry crisps. You say that customers maklets talk data. S. Only Xfinity Mobile lets you switch up your wireless data whenever. I accept 5g everybodys talking about it. How do i get it . Everyone gets 5g with our new data options at no extra cost. Thats good. Next item corner offices for everyone. Just have to make more corners in this building. Chad . Your wireless your rules. Only with Xfinity Mobile. Now thats simple easy awesome. Switch and save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus get 200 off a new Samsung Galaxy s20 ultra. As the country reopens you may be wondering, how am i going to get to work . New Safety Measures are being enacted for Public Transit and also for air travel nationwide. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez has the latest on what you can expect. Reporter in the first Pilot Program of its kind, new york citys mta is testing these ultra violet lights to zap coronavirus on its trains and buss. Its been known for more than 100 years that uv light is incredibly efficient at killing both viruses and bacteria. Reporter these uv rays are so strong the disinfecting will happen when the trains are out of Service Without passengers. Research shows the virus can live on a subway seat for up to 72 hours. Weeks ago this system began shutting down overnight for deep cleaning. This is the next step. Critical to reopening the economy, experts say, is assuring passengers that transportation is safe, both underground and in the air. More airlines are announcing new Safety Measures to enforce social distancing, delta will limit planes to 60 capacity and add more flights if needed. United announced its teaming up with clorox and the Cleveland Clinic to deploy elect rostatic cleaners at its hubs and airports and mandatory Face Coverings and touchless kiosks. United is also letting customers switch flights for no fee if theyre too full. Were noteifying them any of flight that may be over 70 . Its a very small percentage of our flights. On the road to recovery, uber drivers are installing plexiglas dividers to stay safe. So are some bars and restaurants. And this miamibased company is cranking out a dropdown plastic shield like a projection screen. Theyre presenting it to schools, to hospitals, to banks. Anybody that has a reception area. Reporter in the war against covid19, the new weapons are clear. Gabe gutierrez, nbc news, new york. That was Gabe Gutierrez reporting. Chuck, so interesting with that uv light on the subways. I wonder if theyll be using that while people are actually on the trains or if thats between stops or in the middle of the night when theyre empty. A quick solution. Im just curious how it would be utilized. Very men in black. You bring out your pen and then not just erasing your memory or viruses. Half kidding. Erase the memory of this pandemic. Yeah. Ill be honest, the bigger problem, i think, for airplanes is airports. I think the airlines are doing everything they can. You can see, and im convinced of the air circulation. We had an expert on the 5 00 show yesterday, katy. They can he convinced me on the airplane itself. But there are a lot of holes in the process of flying in between before and after you get off and on that plane. All right. Wait until you get to this next story, katy. Weve been buzzing about this. Let me bring in the director of the Harvard Global health institute, dr. Ashish jha. When we booked you this morning, we were going to have a lot of different questions to throw at you. Theres only one story, and youre quoted prominently. Thats this atlantic investigation went up just after midnight this morning. The headline is how could the cdc make that mistake . I believe the headline is your quote, dr. Jha. Heres the bottom line. Apparently all the testing metrics that weve seen that the cdc is combining diagnostic tests and antibody tests as we try to figure out positive cases, hospitalizations, all of this stuff. We had caught virginia doing this and they stopped. But now it apparently means were doing this nationally. What does this mean for all of the models weve been using for the last six weeks . Yeah, so, chuck, thanks for having me on. This is a mess. Look, we need to know how much Virus Testing were doing because we want to know how many infections there are, who is infected. And then we do Antibody Testing for a totally different set of reasons. Who is immune . Where has the virus been . Antibody testing is looking in the rearview mirror. The Virus Testing is looking ahead. If you combine them, you cant understand whats going on. And i think a lot of states have been feeling pressure to up their numbers of tests, and i dont think people are doing this nefariously. Its out of a sense of pressure theyre combining these things. I have no idea whether all the gains weve been seeing in testing is all essentially an artifact of this combining or is this a small problem, a medium problem . But the fact the cdc has been doing this is particularly stunning because they have great experts. They know better. And so clearly theres some external pressure they are facing to try to up their numbers of tests. And thats the problem. So in reading the whole story, it appears as if, since not every state is mixing i mean, what do you think . 70 of this data is decent but 30 of it is bad . Im one of those things, if you blend 80 of a good thing and 20 of a bad thing, its all going to taste like, you know what. So i dont think thats a good idea in my world of politics. I cant imagine its a good idea here. No, we should have no blending at all. Both of these are interesting pieces of data. How much Virus Testing are we doing because thats what determines whether we can open up our economy safely. Whether you can get a cup of coffee and feel confident the guy next to you is not infected. The Antibody Testing, very important. Totally separate. And weve got to keep them totally separate from each other. And three weeks ago, i never dreamed anybody would mix the two. When i first heard about it, i thought, this is a mistaike. This is too obvious. Its not just in virginia but in many states across the country. Its a huge problem. About how many tests are going back to the cdc . Who is this greatly affecting . Is it all of the states, all 50 states or one or two or three states in particular . So were just learning about this. And we know at least a few states and again, the folks at the atlantic have been doing a phenomenal job of tracking this down. So at least a few states are doing it. It looks like maybe pennsylvania, maybe texas, florida. Some big states, right . Important states in terms of numbers. My sense is there are plenty of states who know better and know this is not a good idea. We have to sort this out immediately and separate these data. Otherwise well be in a lot of trouble in figuring out where we are as a country. These are battleground states. A couple of them you mentioned. Pennsylvania and florida. Florida has done reopening quicker than others. Texas has done reopening quicker than others. Are you suggesting there may be political pressure . No, i dont know what motivates people. What im worried about is somebody has done the mixing and it has given people a false sense of confidence of how much testing they have. And they might be making decisions about opening up with really inadequate data or faulty data. And so the most important thing is you can make whatever decision you want but lets agree on the book of facts of what the data say and decide whether its prudent or not. We may be looking at faulty data in those states. Final question is this, dr. J jha. We already thought we were behind on testing so were sort of now at the point it seems as if we dont ramp up testing to ten times what were doing, then theres really no sort of the testing were doing is the testing we should do . What kind of testing should we be doing at this point in time now that everybody is opened up in some form in this country . Yeah. So the way to think about this is, you know, the number is the number weve estimated should be about 900,000 a day. But that comes to the notion that you want to be able to test highrisk people. You want to test anybody with symptoms. I dont i would have said that were doing 300,000 to 400,000 before i said we were mixing in Antibody Testing. Im not sure how many were doing. What i know is we need to do a lot more if were going to we can open up with whatever number we want. Can we stay open and keep people safe . For that, we need a lot more testing. Theres got to be a lot of modelers and epidemiologists that are pulling their hair out today. Anyway, dr. Jha, thank you for your expertise on this. Katy, over to you. The number one rule in communication, chuck is clarity. In order to get clarity, you got to define your terms. Define exactly what youre doing so the public knows. Coming up next the senates last day before heading into memorial day recess. But one senator is pushing back saying hell block the recess until action is taken on coronavirus legislation. Were live on capitol hill right after the break. Youre watching msnbc. At leaf blowers. You should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. And you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. Make ice. Making ice. But youre not mad because you have e trade which isnt complicated. Their tools make trading quicker and simpler so you can take on the markets with confidence. Dont get mad get e trade and start Trading Commission free today. Dont get mad get e trade and start trading i have moderate to severe pnow, theres skyrizi. Things are getting clearer, yeah i feel free to bare my skin yeah thats all me. Nothing and me go hand in hand nothing on my skin thats my new plan. Nothing is everything. Keep your skin clearer with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90 clearer skin at 4 months. Of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. And skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. I see nothing in a different way and its my moment so i just gotta say nothing is everything skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs, or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. Nothing is everything ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. Were following some breaking news. The senate just confirmed John Ratcliffe as the new director of national intelligence. He was approved by a vote of 4944. Ratcliffe replaces ric grenell who has been serving as the acting dni since february. And our viewers might know chuck ratcliffe most recently from the impeachment hear,s where he was a very vocal defender of the president. Once and handful of Senate Republicans quietly told the president they couldnt vote for him then. And then that nomination got sort of shelved. But it is back, and im guessing whatever republicans werent happy with the first time, the ric grenell acting appointment motivated them to get on board the ratcliffe idea. We shall see. But that was quite one could say ric grenell had quite the tenure as acting dni. A consequential couple of months. Now for an update on the status of voting by mail. In texas, they put a temporary hold on a Lower Court Ruling to allow all voters to vote by mail during the coronavirus pandemic. Its the latest in the states legal back and forth as Texas Republicans continue to resist expanding voting by mail. Meanwhile, President Trump walked back his threat to halt unspecified federal funding to michigan amid false claims about voter fraud monday night. He soaid, i doengts itnt thin necessary to withhold voting for michigan. Mitt romney is weighing in, too, responding to the president s threat. I dont know what his specific request was, but in my state, ill bet 90 of us vote by mail. It works very, very well. And its a very republican state. And to romneys point, nebraskas primary election shattered its record for absentee voting with nearly 400,000 mailin ballots. Ben sasse, the republican nominee for a second term, i think hes bragging about how big of a primary turnout he did in his most recent ad. So plenty of and this is actually, i think, one of the reasons the president backed off. Theres a lot of people who have whispered to the president , youre really undermining your own partys efforts in states like florida with this across the board attack on vote by mail. You know who else votes by mail . A lot of military serving overseas as well, katy. Yeah. Well see what happens with his response to it. Yesterday he called voting an honor and defending his assault on the friday of voting by mail. And not to quibble here, but voting is not an honor. Its a constitutional right afforded to every one of us. Every citizen here in the United States. The senates memorial day recess starts tomorrow, but theres at least one senator who is not happy that they are leaving town. Republican kaersenator cory gar threatened to block the senate from leaving, tweeting, its unfathomable that the senate is set to go on recess without considering any additional covid19 assistance for the american people. Msnbcs Garrett Haake joins us from capitol hill. So cory gardner is in a competitive race for this november. Hes breaking with, it seems, republican leadership. Give me the behind the scenes story. I think you first have to understand that cory gardner is in a very difficult race ff reelection in colorado. Hed like the senate to stick around and pass something on coronavirus relief. The problem that he runs into is there is no agreement among republicans of what that something would be. The republican conference is incredibly divided right now about how and indeed even if to pass another relief bill in the senate. Remember the house passed their bill last week. Its been sitting around in the senate. They could take it up any time if they wanted to. Republicans have been hammering away at that bill calling it a liberal wish list, saying theres a whole bunch of things not related to covid19. Republicans havent offered a counter plan. Weve heard planks of what they want. Liability protections for businesses that are coming back. Some discussion about perhaps more money for state and local governments or perhaps just giving them more flexibility to spend the money they already have. The only thing that seems to have gotten wideranging agreement among republicans who control the senate is to expand and improve upon the ppp Small Business loan program. For senator gardner and senator Susan Collins who appears to have signed on to his idea of trying to keep the senate here, theres just nowhere for the senate to go in terms of agreement on what they would do should that happen, katy. Garrett haake on the capitol. Thank you very much. Chuck, over to you. Up next we are live in las vegas where the first of tens of thousands of casino workers are being tested for covid19. Its a First Step Towards reopening a strip thats still mostly closed. Even as casinos around the country are starting to open up. Youre watching msnbc. Tempurpedics mission is to give you truly transformative sleep. So, no more tossing and turning. Because only tempurpedic adapts and responds to your body. So you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. During the tempurpedic summer of sleep, all tempurpedic mattresses are on sale dunow every bath fitter bathbath summefis installed quickly, safely, and beautifully, with a lifetime warranty. Go from old to new. From worn to wow. The beautiful bath youve always wanted, done right, installed by one expert technician, all in one day. Weve been creating moments like these for 35 years, and were here to help you get started. Book your free virtual or inhome Design Consultation today. Tuna for jj. Turkey for tj. Turkey for jj. Tuna for tj. This is why we named your brother derek. Get a free footlong yup, free. When you buy one on the subway app. Order now. Today, thousands of casino employees in las vegas are getting tested for the coronavirus. Its one of the first steps towards reopening casinos and resorts in the city. The program is expected to test up to 4,000 people per day. Joining us is nbc correspondent Steve Patterson live at the Las Vegas Convention center. Steve, what this initial round of testing what is the point of this versus what kind of testing are they going to do when they bring people back to work . Well, thats a good point. I think the first wave of testing is to just get as many people back as possible because casinos have started to sort of reorganize and introduce their plans in place in the event that they get the green light from the state to reopen. So you have these initial waves of thousands of workers who are looking to get their jobs back. They need a way to get tested. Thats whats happening here. The way they keep the worker safe is incredible. The first thing youll notice, you dont even notice when you walk in, theres thermal imaging. I walked by one of the cameras. Didnt even know it was happening and they read my temperature like it was nothing. Social distancing markers everywhere. The space is so big, the convention center, that it almost feels like youre not even in enclosed space whatsoever. But theyre working in partnership, in concert with University Medical center. They are responsible for testing sites all across the state. Part of the reason we can even talk about reopening at this point. They say their partnership is crucial to getting everybody back in line. So vegas can have some sense of normalcy in the next few coming weeks. We spoke to one of the doctors in there about what theyre doing and why its important. Heres what he said. Nevada is a gaming industry. Its a hospitality industry. And our patrons want to know that they are entering a safe environment. And its also really important for the employers to ensure that they give their employees the best access to health care that they need. You need a Healthy Workforce to be able to provide the services that keep the economy of nevada alive. Its important to say that none of this matters until everybody gets the okay from the governor and the state to reopen. Were currently in phase one of reopening here in the state of nevada. That does not include resorts and casinos on the strip. That will come later. Everybody though is eyeing an early june reopening, and they are getting ready for it as we speak. Chuck . Steve patterson in las vegas for us. Steve, thanks very much. Katy, over to you. Still so weird to see vegas as a ghost town. Chuck, lets go overseas to italy. Once the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in europe, now its slowly reopening after lifting some restrictions this week. Shops, restaurants and churches are now reopen again. What is life like in italy right now . Joining us with the latest from rome is msnbc Foreign Correspondent matt bradley. Matt, how does it feel to be in italy now that things are getting back to something of normal . Absolutely wonderful. I was Walking Around today. A lot of people around Walking Around on the streets of rome which, as you know, weve been here for now more than ten weeks. It was totally locked down. Barely a soul on the streets. Now everything is not back to normal you can see matts face. There were people im not wearing a mask. Im on my roof here, but, you know, people are Wearing Masks when Walking Around on the streets. They seem to be abiding by safety rules but the restaurants and bars and cafes and stores that have now opened, theyre also trying to apply social distancing rules. At the same time, theyre not necessarily doing it consistently. We were at a restaurant the other night where we were asked to write down our names and phone numbers and all the patrons were asked to do this. I was at a cafe. The first day everything opened up and there was a plexiglas barrier on the table separating me from other customers. Then i was at a bar the other night, and the police rolled up and shut down the entire bar and made everyone go home like it was a High School Party because they werent social distancing. Everybody is taking these measures but theyre not consistent. They dont seem to be regulated equally across the board. But for sure, life in rome, life across italy is back to normal on some level. It just doesnt look like the same normal as before. Katy . I hope you congratulated yourself for making it through the lockdown with a big plate of pasta and gelato. Matt bradley, thank you so much. I didnt mean to jump in there, matt, but it felt to see you without a mask, did to me send a message that, oh, italy is finally coming back to normal a little bit. So it almost looked like you were like, ah, the air. You know, just a little bit. Just a little bit of normalcy. Yeah. Great reporting, matt. All pandemic long. Thank you, sir. Coming up an antitrump Republican Group takes aim at the president s campaign chief in a blistering new ad. What are they up to . And do they really only care if one person watches . Youre watching msnbc. I just love hitting the open road and telling people that Liberty Mutual customizes your insurance, so you only pay for what you need [squawks] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. For adults with moderately to severely active crohns disease, stelara® works differently. 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I think most adults will start realizing that they dont recall things as quickly as they used to or they dont remember things as vividly as they once did. Ive been taking prevagen for about three years now. People say to me periodically, man, youve got a memory like an elephant. Its really, really helped me tremendously. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. S ask a s ask. President trumps Reelection Campaign declined to comment after the release of a new video targeting Campaign Manager brad parscal. The ad from the antitrump group the Lincoln Project implies he is enriching himself through the president ial campaign. Heres a look. Meet brad pascal. Hes getting rich, but how rich . Dont tell him. How can he afford a 2. 4 million waterfront house in ft. Lauderdale, two florida condoes worth almost 1 million each. He even has his very own yacht. So, chuck, heres what theyre trying to do here. The president is infamous among his circle of people for hating those who make who he believes are making money off of him. Using his celebrity in order to enrich themselves. I think what theyre trying to do is drive a wedge between the president and parscal. Unclear though if that will work. I dont know if that applies to everybody in trumps orbit all the time. You know, its interesting, katy. We live in an environment where there is an outside group that believes, number one, that they can get under the president s skin. Number two, using Television Advertising is an effective way to do it. And, number three, did all of this research on the Campaign Manager and put it in an ad. If you told me that this is an idea a year ago, thats a waste of money, stupid, all of these things. And, you know, yet, this does feel as if it is almost programmed to push all these buttons that you and i both know are so easy to push with the president. Its just interesting to see a version of psychological warfare and maybe that is the role this Lincoln Project thinks they can play here. Its a Fascinating Development and i wouldnt be surprised if it could be effective. The president is not happy with his political standing and hes not going to blame himself. Good point. Coming up in our next hour, sorry, chuck, i thought you were taking this tease. Thats why i had that awkward pause. Well be joined by the mayor of montgomery, alabama, who says hospitals there are running out of room in their icus. Youre watching msnbc. Ing msnbc. Right now is a time for action. Thats why usaa is giving Payment Relief options to eligible members so they can pay for things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills. Discover all the ways were helping members today. Or credit card bills. Why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills . E else. Flonase sensimist. Nothing stronger. Nothing gentler. Nothing lasts longer. Flonase sensimist. 24 hour nondrowsy allergy relief whether youre facing unemployment. Have bills to pay. Or just trying to keep your family healthy. Its hard. But when it comes to your pfizer medicines, we want to make things a little simpler. We know you may have new questions. About affording your medicine. We want to help you find the right answers. If you make under 100,000 for a family of four, or 50,000 as an individual. And have prescription coverage for your pfizer medicine but cant afford your insurance copay. Or you have no prescription coverage at all, pfizer may provide your medicines for free or at a discount. Just another way were here to support you. Learn more by visiting www. Pfizerrxpathways. Com today special delivery good afternoon, im chuck todd. It is 11 00 a. M. Out west and 2 00 p. M. In the east. A late good morning to my friends out west. Here are the facts as we know them at this hour. President trump just touched down in michigan where hell visit a ford plant that was repurposed to make ventilators. Obviously one thing that people are watching for is whether the president will wear a mask during the visitor a Face Covering despite michigans attorney general worng it arnint is his obligation to do so. There is warnings about opening places of worship. They should hold Virtual Services as a last resort. These are guidelines the white house is putting out. The tsa is changing security screening. Airlines also require passengers to wear facemasks. Travelers are asked to limit contact and to scan their own passports and boarding passes. Today, another retailer announced plans to downsize l brands. 50 bath and body works locations will be charng lose. There are a number rev tailers and the last couple of months announced partial or personal nenlt shutdow permanent shutdowns of retail locations. Bring in my coanchor with a look at the numbers. These brand names of retails, i mean, a little kid, my mom worked at a mall when i was growing up. We grew up in malls. And to see this list of, you know, we know the mall has been dying a long time and retail stores. But its still sort of a a stunning list of brand names were seeing that may go away just for the retail history books. Retail is a big driver in our economy. And im just curious how this is going to affect those smaller retail shops, the place thats line our neighborhoods that arent some of these big brand names. Are they going to be able to survive this . Have they been able to do okay with Online Business . I know walmart is doing really well. Stephy ma stephanie made a point. A lot of the shops that are forced to close right now, beach gear or pull equipment or hardware or home supplies, all of that stuff is being sold at these Big Box Stores like walmart. So that business is going to is going to the big companies. Its unclear whats going to happen to these smaller places when theyre finally allowed to reopen. Lets look at the impact that the pandemic has had on the finances of american families. New jobs report out today showing 2. 4 million americans filed first time jobless claims in the last week. And that brings the nine week total to over 38 million. And new numbers from the Census Bureau reveal that 47. 5 , nearly half of all adults say they live in a household that is experienced a loss of income. And 37 expect to lose income over the next month. The hardest hit states include hawaii, nevada, louisiana, and new jersey. So a lot of people who arent necessarily losing their jobs, chuck, a lot of companies out there are asking their employees to take pay cuts for some period of time in order to forestall any layoffs in the future or forestall big problems for the Company Coming up. But were also seeing a lot of layoffs. I mean, just some in our business, particularly, those in digital journalism. We saw the atlantic today, a very successful publication, the transformation from a print magazine of over 100 years old to what they are today is amazing. Look, full disclosure, i used to work over there. About tout see them lay off tells you where they think this business is going in the future. A lot of businesses are going to get that have dramatically were short term remade arent going to go back to their old ways. And that is what makes this employment picture, i think, so concerning because its likely to cascade. The were going to go from the immediate hits to then the layoffs that come from reorganization. Its another way that people get hit. Sort of like a version of a second wave of this virus. Lets move on. We begin in michigan. President trump will make that highly anticipated appearance at a ford plant. Highly anticipated because theres been very public back and forth between the president , the ceo of that plant, the states attorney general, as to whether or not the president will wear a mask. Last hour the president declined to answer if he would wear one. He said he wants to get the country back to normal. Joining us from michigan is nbcs Shaquille Brewster. Shaq, in some ways if this visit is about whether or not he wore a mask, that may be the exactly the news the president wants out of this. Thats right, chuck. Ford has been very clear about their policies for their plant here. They say that personal protective equipment is required. Nbc actually got an exclusive look of this plant before earlier this week. And we saw the different measures that they have in it place. This is a 30 acre facility. There is one entrance. Social distancing is enforce bid technology and marks on the ground. Employees wear watches that buzz if youre too close to another employee. And then there is also that personal protective equipment that is required ford said they told the white house about their guidelines and its up to the white house to determine what exactly they will decide to do. But chuck, the reason why President Trump is coming to this facility specifically is because this is one where they have been producing ventilators. They plan to produce and deliver by the end of july. Next month, theyll be producing 6,000 ventilators a week. He is coming to another battleground state. We saw him in pennsylvania and arizona. Now he is coming to battleground michigan to tell his administrations efforts in handling this coronavirus. Chuck . Shaquille brewster, shaq, thank you. Katy, over to you. Chuck, the state of michigan isnt just battling the threat of coronavirus and its economic fallout. Mother nature has added further insult. The state is contending with the 500year flood. Thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes after two dams broke. The governor lifted coronavirus restrictions so people could flee and now officials are worried about the spread of the virus within shelters. Nbcs kathy park has more from midland, michigan. Reporter katy, good afternoon. Residents here with told to stay vigilant and cautious because flooding is still a big concern. Were standing in what would be a parking lot. But as you can see here, its turned into a lake, practically. Behind me, you might see that blue dumpster. It is almost completely under water. I have good news to pass along. The water is starting to recede. The river peaked yesterday at 35 feet, just shy of the projected peak. But Officials Say that we are not out of the clear just yet. There are still some roads that are impassable and it could be days before they are back below the flood stage. And in addition to everything that is happening here on the ground, you add in the coronavirus pandemic. So a lot of evacuees had to turn to shelters that have been opened up. And their concern is basically social distancing and making sure that they are able to maintain that distance and not get sick from the virus. So they are dealing with a lot here. Fortunately though, the weather is improving. The weather is supposed to take another turn later on this weekend into next week. Rain is projected in the forecast. And there could be some potential problems. But even more good news though, officials are saying that incredibly no one has died or no one has gotten injured because of this crisis. Katy, back to you. As we know, even with great weather it does take time for that water to recede. Kathy park, thank you for that report. Over to you. Yeah, theres a lot of questions about the operation of that dam and i think that investigation is going to be interesting as that goes forward. Meanwhile, were going to stick to the virus here. A dire situation is developing in alabamas capital city. Montgomery is running low on icu hospital beds after cases of coronavirus more than doubled this month. Hospitals there now are sending patients to birmingham which is more than an hour away for treatment. Were joined now by the mayor of montgomery, stephen reid. Mr. Mayor, ill be honest. For those of us and were covering as best question around the country, all of a sudden to a lot of people nationally, montgomery went from zero to hot spot. Walk us through that obviously youve been watching this happen. Walk us through the last week to ten days. First of all, chuck, thank you for having me. Grateful for the opportunity to talk with you and talk with katy about the challenges that were seeing in this community. Really about the last week and a half we started getting calls from our hospital administrators that they were seeing increased numbers of people coming in in that had been infected with the covid19 virus. And more importantly, they were coming in in much worse condition. We dont really have any one area, any one specific event that would pinpoint at this time because its covering all demographics. Hospital administrators are telling us this is manageable but not sustainable. That is something we want to really call attention to and let the Community Know where we stand right now after first appearing on an internal document that listed montgomery as a potential hot spot. Obviously, you want to make this more public, have people know, what are you asking your residents to do to forestall if youre not emergency room sick, dont go to the hospital . Dont go to the doctor . Is that is that the reason to go public right now . Well, thats part of it. We think that people have tried to hold off which is potentially why theyre coming into the hospitals in worse shape than they were earlier during the pandemic. However, what we want to do is call attention to the fact that were still in a tough battle with the coronavirus. And we have not won this yet. And it is something that we want to remind people even as a state as we ease restrictions and started to reopen to let people know locally were still battling this every day. And we need everybody to be responsible and to do some of the things they were doing just a few weeks ago when we were making progress and not relax going into the memorial day weekend where they arent adhering to the guidelines or Wearing Masks. We want people to wear masks when in public and stay at home as much as possible and we certainly want them to follow the sanitary practice thats they were just doing so effectively a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, i think that as people have seen more and more stories of recovery, theyve relaxed a little bit. And everyone kind of has a covid19 fatigue at this point. We have to remain vigilant and we have to make sure we keep everybody safe and we think about the health of this community. Mr. Mayor, i think theres an idea out there that if you live in a smaller city, not a big major metropolitan area that youre not as at risk for this virus because there arent as many p peopeople around. You said you cant point to a single event where this started to proliferate in your community. What is your message to the countrys smaller cities, smaller towns, more rural areas about what this virus can do and the risks that those areas face like yours . I think in rural america, its even more serious because many people come to montgomery from surrounding areas because they dont have sustainable rural health care. They dont have the system in place maybe decades ago. And so when you already have to drive 30, 40 minutes in, further than that to get here and be told you have to go another 90 miles is going to be very tough. And it puts not only people that are suffering from covid19 in in danger, but certainly people who are suffering from other ailments as well. So my message to them is to make sure that they remind their residents that this battle is not over. We have to be patient about how we reacclimate ourselves and we have to maintain a sense of discipline so that we dont incur a premature second wave of this in our smaller communities. Mr. Mayor, final question. I know that mobile and jefferson counties have sort of their own carveouts when it comes to their health orders. I think they can supersede a state order. What cooperation do you have with the governor . Do you feel as if youve got a youve got to restrict thing mores in montgomery . And can you do that without sort of the governors signoff . Unfortunately, we dont have the flexibility that Jefferson County has where the city of birmingham resides. We dont have that freedom. So what we can do is inform our residents of what is happening, to encourage them to be disciplined in their approach not only to the memorial day weekend but going forward. And try to get them to be more accountable for the actions and be responsible in terms of what they do. And the community has been great over the last few months. Theyve gone over and beyond the help their neighbors and friends and family. But we want them to make sure that we are not out of this yet and we have to continue to do those things like wear masks in public, stake at home as often as we can so that we dont overwhelm our Health Care System and put us at a point where were dangerously close to falling off a cliff. Montgomery mayor, stephen reid, really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story of whats going on in your city. There thank you. Good luck. Stay healthy. Lets hope you put out this hot spot quickly. Katy, over to you. An Important Message to other cities like his around the country. And states, chuck, are ramping up testing. But none at the levels experts say we need to be in order to safely reopen. My next guest argues that safely restarting the economy will require a dramatically different approach to testing availability than the government has been able to muster so far. Joining us now is jeremy kanandike from the center for global development. Jeremy, always good to see you. We have been talking about testing nonstop now for months. The president seems or does say that its not an issue any longer. I think people are getting a little fatigued about it. Tell me how do we get to a point where we have enough testing to have an accurate picture of what were facing, especially considering the atlantics new reporting that the cdc and some states are conflating their results for the andy body tests with t antibody tests with a positive result for the covid19 test . Theres a great example of what businesses and workplaces around the country will need to look like in order to reopen safely. And that example is the white house. The white house now has begun testing their staff very widely. They are testing staff who are asymptomatic on a regular basis and theyre doing that because they dont want to endanger other people in the white house and most typically the president. If its good enough to protect the white house, i think thats a good idea of what we need to do to protect other workplaces as well. And we should go tthere was a g that said hospitals are doing that too. Hospitals also remained open during this very high risk workplaces but with good ppe availability thats been improving in hospitals lately and with wider testing availability, theyve been able to avoid major outbreaks in hospitals. But as we go out to begin reopening the economy more widely, there is not nearly enough testing or not enough ppe available to replicate that model more broadly. And thats a risk. We do need to ramp up testing considerably more than what weve seen so far. And, you know, its increased. But the trajectory of that increase is not on track to get us anywhere close to where we need to be. We need more aggressive action from the government. Theres also could be fusion among local leaders and local business owners, people in general, about how we reopen safely. What sort of measures we individually and we as a Community Need to take. You have a four phase reopening plan for local decision makers. Can you walk us through it . Yeah. I think its such an important point that you make. You know, there hasnt been a clear enough plan laid out. Some states are beginning to do this. You know, new york state laid this out. Washington is beginning to lay this out, some others. But at a local level, a lot of the dialogue is framed around do we stay close indefinitely or do we open up . And the dialogue we need to be having in this country is what does it take to reopen safely . With what this plan tries to articulate is what that could look like . And were proposing for states that are meeting certain criteria or even locations meeting certain criteria and thats things like testing availability, the level of on going trans missimission of vir hospital capacity, when you meet certain tlesh holhresholds, youe reopening steps f that goes well and you can keep cases suppressed and even continue driving them down, then, you know, then it becomes safe eventually to hit your next set of metrics and begin the higher risk reopening steps. And so it lays it out in detail to try to show people there is a path forward. Heres what that path looks like and the work that is required. Scaling up testing and Contact Tracing and hospital readiness and with that we can begin to reopen. Jeremy, thank you for joining us. Always good to have your expertise. We appreciate it. Chuck, over to you. Still ahead, Promising Research at two universities that could speed up development of a treatment. One claiming they found the achilles heel of the virus. First, the cost of going it alone. A new study out this hour from mit reveals the risks of uncoordinated reopenings. Ings when you shop for your home at wayfair you get way more than free shipping. You get thousands of items you need to your door fast the way it works best for you. Even the big stuff. You get a delivery experience you can always count on. You get your perfect find at a price to match on your schedule. You get free two day shipping on things that make your home feel like you wayfair. Way more than furniture. Trust us. Us kids are ready to take things into our own hands. Dont think so . Hold my pouch. I geh. Common bird. E. Ooh look over here something much better. There it is. Peacock, included with xfinity x1. Remarkable. Fascinating. Very. It streams tons of your favorite shows and movies, plus the latest in sports news and. Huh run the newest streaming app has landed on xfinity x1. Now thats. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity x1 just got even better with peacock premium included at no additional cost. No strings attached. Just say peacock into your voice remote to start watching today. Researchers use mobile phones and social media and track how one states policy might impact the citizen and neighboring states. For instance, if you lift florida, how might that change how people in new york behave . Joining us is a professor. Mr. Professor, when i look at the map of country and consider how states are coordinating the reopening plans and they are along the northeast corridor, my guess is that you need to do it with those directly border you. But this study shows that thats not necessarily the case. Explain it to us. Yes. This is something that surprised us as well. Obviously, regional coordination is important because of travel. But what our Research Shows is that its not just geographically proximate states and counties that influence each other but also there is influence sometimes at great distance over social technologies where the behaviors of people in one state are influenced by the behaviors of people in other states. And so theres need for a broader set of coordinating activities beyond just regional coordination. So you are saying that if i follow people who live in florida and theres a lot of social media following between new york and floridians, that the way theyre behaving in florida might affect how i behave in new york. Yes. Its not just about social media connections. Social media is the proxy for social connections in general. People talk on the phone. People talk over, you know, cocktails, zoom cocktails and meetings with friends and family and how people are behaving in one region isnt contained to a given region. What we found, for instance, we did this for every state and made a coordination map for every 50 states, in georgia, it was estimated by the university of maryland that half a Million People came into georgia to go to reopen businesses from neighboring states in which the businesses were closed. 13 increase, about 62,000 new visitors from out of state every day. But when you look at the states that influence florida the most, the state that influences florida the most is new york. Presumably because there is a lot of conversation happening between new york and florida that is influencing peoples behavior in florida. As well as some Long Distance travel that happens. So lets put that map on the screen of the most influential states creating spillovers. We have that. It seems to me that youre arguing without a nationalized approach to this, were not going to be able to really get a handle on outbreaks. Well, we understand that different regions perhaps need different approaches because they have different circumstances. Our point in the paper is that these approaches even if theyre different from one another, were not advocating one policy for all states. But that they need to be coordinated and to take into account the geographic and social spillovers that occur across regions and even across counties within states. So some states have statewide policies but have exclusions or exceptions. These spillovers occur across counties, across states and sometimes at great distance. Our argument is that the governors of states need to be coordinating much more closely with each other even in the absence of a nationally directed coordination plan. Professor, thank you very much for coming on and giving us that research. Chuck, so surprising to me. I was considering all the governors that were working, you know, along the northeastern corridor or western governors that were coordinating. I didnt stop to think that maybe new york and florida should try to work together. I just have a hard time imagining Governor Cuomo and governor desantos getting on the phone and figuring out a way to coordinate their response. This is reflective of how we consume media. All politics is national now. You know lshgs , there is no lo news. And when the Media Capital of the world is new york, that also has an impact on this too. I dont know how much that is part of that research in general. But in some ways, this is a result of the fact that were not regional or local anymore. You know, if you think about it, there isnt a local soda pop that you get in the south that you used to only i can get dr pepper. That used to be just a southern thing or drink coors. We just flat entened out. All right. Lets move on before i keep going on my new york tangent. The cdc is clarifying the guidance on how coronavirus spreads downplaying the risk of contracting the virus from contaminated surfaces. With us is a Infectious Disease physician and medical director at boston medical center. Doctor, straight up, what is we had a lot of concerns about how long this virus lived. I have a good friend in california who waits a full 24 hours on his packages outside before touching it and bringing it in in. Are we now finding out that those steps were unnecessary . Chuck, part of what i do is i train help being workers to stay safe when taking care of patients with highly Infectious Diseases. What we follow is the philosophy if you understand how the disease is transmitted, even if you find yourself in trouble, you can find a way to deep yourself safe. So the science around how this disease is transmitted hasnt changed. I think what the cdc guidelines are doing are really strat fiing the risk of what is the highest risk activity and then taking it further down. We know the highest risk of transmission is when you spend time within six feet around up to 15 minutes with someone who might be shedding this virus through the respiratory tract. Now that same person might then be putting that virus all over the surfaces around them. The fortunate thing is people need human cells to survive. The longer theyre in the environment, the more they die. So the primary risk is that the aerosol and people can touch immediately if they immediately touch a surface and then touch themselves with hands that are dirty, they can transmit it to themselves. The cdc is saying some studies that show the virus may survive two days on surfaces may be picking up dead virus or the fact that the viruses could be there we dont know when the last time is a person touched a public surface. Its always still the best practice to wash your hands. Heres what i do. When i get packages in my house, i take out the stuff that i need and i throw the packages away and i wash my hands. Br before i touch ning in the house. The that ensures im not bringing the virus in the house. I want to sort of expand this out. I got to think that this new news sort of helps some businesses decide, for instance, how much of a break do you need between bringing in shift workers or if you run a hotel, how much time do you want to leave before you bring a new guest in . All of those things. So i assume this might cut down, i know a lot of businesses were talking about having six hours, 12 hours and some cases i think two days for air bnb. Does this mean we can possibly shrink that down a day . Chuck, the virus survives in the air for a few hours after a person has been in there. Right . I think that i wouldnt take that as the lesson out of. This what the cdc is saying is concentrate on what the high risk activities are. I still think disinfection and ensuring spaces occupied by one person are cleaned before the next person comes into occupy them. So in some ways, it helps concentrate on where the activities should be. What the cdc guidelines have done, for example, have from other businesses, for schools, theyre trying to show you have to have the minimum number of people in any one space. You need to keep distance between the people. Disinfect spaces between use. Reduce the number of items that are shared by people. And you need to surveil your employees and keep an eye on your customers as theyre coming in to make sure they dont have symptoms that they can pass on to others. And, of course, testing. As you heard jeremy say that, is a corner stone of how we stop it. I think the cdc guidelines are not destressing surfaces, theyre saying concentrate on the high risk and still wash your hands. Still best way to keep yourself from not just avoiding getting covid19 but also the flu and a lot of other Infectious Diseases. Well, i have to say, im always happy when i hear what a doctor does. Im taking her advice. So very helpful there to find out what you do with packages at the front door. I think its something a lot of people debate constantly. Doctor as always, thank you for coming on and sharing your expertise. And, chuck, next, Summer Holidays are approaching. And with many of the usual vacation spots offlimits, more americans are doing what willie did. The theyre getting back on the road again. Eyre getting ba ock road again vo what does it mean to be americas most Reliable Network . It means helping those who serve stay connected to their families. And now, verizon wants to give them something back. Our best pricing ever. 30 per line for all nurses, teachers, First Responders, military, and their families. Not for a few months, but for as long as they need. Plus, up to 700 off the motorola edge . Because the people we rely on deserve a network they can rely on. Get the perfectly grilled flavors of an outdoor grill indoors, and because its a ninja foodi, it can do even more, like transform into an air fryer. The ninja foodi grill, the grill that sears, sizzles, and air fry crisps. With the Holiday Weekend approaching, Many National parks and beaches are set to reopen but with some limited capacity. That includes camp grounds which are expecting unprecedented demand. A new survey by the nations largest Campground Network suggests a new level of interest in camping and rvs as a result of the pandemic. Joining us now from ohio as part of his road to recovery rv trip is our own cal perry. I joked for years that my retirement plans include an rv and pretty much every and the fall of College Football season for the rest of my life when i leave this job. Looks like some people are getting the rv early. Yeah. A lot of people are thinking exactly what youre thinking. 16 of people in this new survey by koa said camping is their preferred leisure activity. Rv share, 100,000 of them, 650 increase in reservations. I want to bring in the person that owns and operates this campsite, stoney ridge campsite in northern ohio. Jake, walk me through just some of the tweaks you made arent campsite because of covid19. All kinds of changes. The store is the biggest one. We have the plexiglas up and the social distancing markers on the floor. Just a lot of signage going up, you know, that were not used to. But also whats going to be different is pools closed. By our choice, were not allowing tenting or renting out the cabins. Or the showers. I know some of the restrictions arent great. But have you seen what i was talking about which is a boom in reservations . What is the reservation system like . Filling up fast. That phone has been ringing off the hook. So thats great. That is great. Chuck, i will tell you anecdotally in our case, were going to indiana after this and then on to wisconsin and were having trouble finding a place to stay. So this could be the summer of rving across america, chuck. Yeah. I think the road trip, the regional resort locations, the lake front stuff, all these people that are struggling over the last ten years, they may see a resurgence. Good for those locally owned resort towns. Hopefully that is the case over the next few years on that front. Cal perry, thank you. Katy, over to you. And, chuck, Tourist Attractions are starting to reopen. That includes the home of Elvis Presley turned museum graceland. But fans of the king of rock n roll will feel face enhanced screenings. Joining me now is our nbc News Reporter dasha burns. So dasha, Shaquille Brewster and i went to graceflaland in 2016. We had a very enjoyable time. What is going on there now . Well, its true the gates of graceland are open again. But things are definitely a little bit different here, katy. First, before anyone can even step foot on the grounds, they need to go down the road here and get their temperature checked. Thats for employees and for visitors. Then theyre taken here on a shuttle bus. They are dropped here. Ten people max on a bus. They usually hold 20 or 30. You see the markers here. These are social distancing markers. They want you to keep that mandatory six feet which im also told is the exact height of Elvis Presley. Just imagine elvis lying down here. But the biggest difference really if youve been here before which you say you have, you can see obviously no crowds. The capacity here has been capped at 25 . But there are a lot fewer than 25 capacity here today. And in terms of masks, katy, i thought youd get a kick out of this. Guests are suggested to wear masks. The theyre not required. Employees are required to wear them. Ive been seeing a lot of these floating around. Theyre special gracelandmass beings. And since youre a fan, ill try to snag you one. What does it have on there, dasha . Im trying to look at the pattern. Its got a little picture of the mansion and the words graceland on it. Ive seen employees in it, guess guests in it and now i can wear one too. Very cool. Dasha burns in an enviable position today. Dash yashgs thank y dasha, thank you very much. You have been to gracesflaland . Oh, yeah. Whether you love elvis or hate elvis, katy, i assume youll agree with me, there is nothing like graceland. And just for the history of americana you got to see it. Totally awesome. You know, we have to be doing. All right, we have to take care of business here. Tcb, katy. Up next, more on that breaking news and the vaccine race. Breakg news and the vciacne race. Super emma just about sleeps in her cape. But when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, we switched to new tide plus downy free. Its gentle on her skin, and dermatologist recommended. New tide pods plus downy free. Safe for sensitive skin with eczema and psoriasis. Last hour we spoke to the president of ast astro zeneca u. S. This is what he told us about an estimated time line. To differ 100 million doses in october and another 200 million at the end of 2020, beginning of 2021. Joining me now is the president of eco health alliance. They focus on understanding pandemic rictio pandemic risks and prevention. Want to start with that. Just get your reaction that w. That was a stunning time line to us, 100 million doses by october. Look, im as hopeful as anybody when you have the entire World Scientific Community Focused on one thing. We can assume some amazing leaps there. But what do you make of that time line . It is extremely ambitious, of course. The real issue is are we going to do the correct safety checks. I think as we consider the virus. And we name this and it gives the impression to the public that were not doing the normal checks and balance thats we need to do to ensure public safety. Even if we do that, it presents the wrong image. We all want to get out of this pandemic. We all want to get a vaccine that is safe and secure and helps so we can get back it our normal operations. But not if were going to take short cuts. People are able to come up with a vaccine by october, and that is just an incredible time line. Thats probably going to give a lot of people out there a lot of hope. But its going to make some people, as you just mentioned with the name warp speed, nervous about it. And im sure there will be people out there that do believe in vaccines. But also maybe dont want to be part of the first wave because they might be nervous about side effects. What would you say to them . Well, i mean, i dont know what the plans are for rolling this out. You have First Responders and Health Care Workers and those are first to try out the vak se vaccine. They need to be protect philadelphia this vaccine works. Its great to get into the hands of those people first. But without the plans being rolled out effectively and with the communication around that being effective, you know, we really seem to be jumping the gun a little bit. Part of this may not be the rush to deliver is producing a lack of safety but the communication around the rush to deliver is going to create public concern. We already have a problem with antivaccines. We have a problem with people willing to perhaps surprisingly that is active right now during the pandemic when most of us really believe we need vaccines and we see the Science Behind that. But it were going to create this communication problem, it will play right into the hands of antivaccine and could lead to problems down the line. Peter, let me ask you this when it comes to how long it takes to know a side effect. For instance, look at what were discovering with covid19. You know, a month ago we had no idea that asymptomatic kids four weeks later could have this debilitating disease that gets triggered by the virus, right . This is something were learning as this virus, frankly, ages, right . As we learn more, as more people get it. How long do you want to see a vaccine in trials before you know, all right, we know there is no really bad side effect because weve it feels like thats one part of speed you cant i mean we cant speed up time. Yeah. I mean, look, under normal circumstances, there is a scientific process to doing this. And im hoping that will be adhered to. Now with so many people out there getting active infections, its sort of ironic thing that will allow Clinical Trials to move quicker because the virus is still present. You can actually find out if people who have the vaccine were exposed and if the vaccine works. But on the issue of side effects, no side effects are those counter indications have to, you know, months into or years into the use of the drug or a vaccine. So to rollout things so quickly, it is a little bit risky. You have to be extremely careful. So what were all hoping to see is, you know, an announcement from a Vaccine Company very positive and optimistic is great. But we also now need to hear from the administration, from the Coronavirus Task force, from tony fauci, from others to tell us what safeguards are in place . Good communication during a pandemic is as critical as developing a vaccine. Well, it sounds like very quietly Anthony Fauci is nervous about the perception. He didnt like the term warp speed and there is clearly some well see how much how much in the front the scientist are allowed to speak coming up soon. Peter, thank you for coming on and sharing your research and expertise with us. Katy, over to you. You dont want to givae antivacciners any fodder. House democrats want answers about the lavish Madison Dinners. Abc news broke this story. They were reportedly held by secretary of state mike pompeo. O this is a tempurpedic mattress. And its mission is to give you truly transformative sleep. So, no more tossing and turning. Or trouble falling asleep. Because only tempurpedic uses proprietary tempur® material. That continuously adapts and responds to your body, to relieve pressure. So you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. All night. Every night. The tempurpedic summer of sleep starts now, with all tempurpedic mattresses on sale, and savings up to 500 on adjustable sets. Among my patisensitivity as well mattresses on saltas gum issues. Does it worry me . Absolutely. 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It combines aligns probiotic with ashwagandha to help soothe occasional digestive upsets, plus stress that can make them worse. And try align gummies with probiotics to help support digestive health. And right now, is a time for action. So, for a second time were giving members a credit on their auto insurance. Because its the right thing to do. Were also giving Payment Relief options to eligible members so they can take care of things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills. Right now is the time to take care of what matters most. Like weve done together, so many times before. Discover all the ways were helping members at usaa. Com coronavirus updates now on two stories that we are following out of washington. We begin with michael flynn. New reporting confirms that then National Security adviser flynns name was never redacted from the fbi Intelligence Report about his call with Russian Ambassador sergey kislyak. Joining us is den delane yan. Heres where im confused on the story. On the one hand they say his name was never redacted in the fbi report. We were given indications on the unmasking that the acting din, ri rick grenell released, that seemed to come across that those were nsa or fisa warrants so are we talking about the same thing or two different parts of this record . Reporter its two different parts, chuck. Let me break it down for you. Flynn was unmasked. His name was in National Security agency intercepts that were unmasked by Obama Administration officials. What weve learned today is that the fbi report about his most crucial conversation, the one on december 29 with the Russian Ambassador, the one he pleaded guilty to the fbi to lying to the fbi about, that one he was never unmasked because his name was never blacked out because it was an fbi report of a fisa intercept. The fbi lives under different rules than the National Security agency which is a foreign phasing intelligence agency. Let me just explain. So generally when the nsa is eavesdropping on foreigners and produce a transcript, the names of americans are blacked out but senior officials can request those names if they need them to better under the intelligence and that happened at the end of the Obama Administration when they were trying to figure out the russian interference campaign. Now theyre trying to say that was an abuse of power. It wasnt but thats another conversation. What weve learned today is that the penultimate transcript of mike flynn and the Russian Ambassador, flynns name was never blacked out so it was there for all to see. There was no abuse, no unmasking in that conversation, chuck. In that sense, everybody already knew there wasnt an attempt to go get it. Now ive got it on that specific allegation. Ken, thank you for reporting and clearing that up for us. Katy, over to you. Two house committees are demanding documents from the secretary of state. The House Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees want information about the lavish Madison Dinners that were held by mike pompeo. Joining us now is nbc news political reporter josh ledderman. Josh, whats the latest . Katy, if the state department has it, House Democrats want it. They have given two weeks to the state department to turn over everything theyve got on these Madison Dinners, including guest lists and attendee lists for each one of the some two dozen dinners that pompeo held and nbc news has revealed. They also want state department to give over invoices, spending reports, as well as information about the salary and overtime costs for putting on these dinners. Then they also want to see any ethics guidance that the state department requested or received saying that it was okay to have these dinners. All of this, katy, pouring more fuel onto the growing controversy over the ouster of the state Department Inspector general. The lawmakers saying in a letter today they believe that was politically motivated and they want answers from the state department on that as well. We will see if they get them. Josh ledderman, thank you very much for joining us today. Chuck, back to you. Well, that is it for both of us today. Utcb, take care of business, everybody. Thank you fosh watchir watching. R. O , and because its a ninja foodi, it can do even more, like transform into an air fryer. The ninja foodi grill, the grill that sears, sizzles, and air fry crisps. Confident financial plans, calming financial plans, complete financial plans. Theyre all possible with a cfp® professional. Find yours at letsmakeaplan. Org. Theyre all possible with a cfp® professional. Alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. Say hello to your fairy godmother alice. And longlasting gain scent beads. Part of the irresistible scent collection from gain lets be honest. Quitting smoking is hard. Like, quitting every monday hard. Quitting feels so big. So try making it smaller, and youll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette. Sawithout evenon yoleaving your house. Starting small can lead to something big. Just keep your phone and switch to Xfinity Mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need starting at just 15 a month. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Its the most reliable wireless network. And it could save you hundreds. Xfinity mobile. And good day. Brian williams here with you. 3 00 p. M. Here in the east. 12 noon on the west coast. Nicolle wallace will be with us momentarily but first a look at the headlines and the facts as we know them at this hour. Now over 94,000 americans have died from the coronavirus. That number up about 1400 than when we larger than when we came on the air at this hour yesterday. President trump touring a ford plant in michigan that has been repurposed to produce ventilators, but its not clear whether he will have worn a face mask during his tour. That would keep him in accordance with the plans guidelines. The senate has confirmed texas republican congressman John Ratcliffe to be the next director of national intelligence. The president first nominated ratcliffe last year but then withdrew his name from consideration after reports surfaced that he exaggerated his resume. President trumps former personal attorney, michael cohen, is home in new york city where he will serve the remainder of his prison sentence. He was released from a federal prison in upstate new york just this morning because of coronavirus concerns. Cohen was sentenced to three years in jail for lying to congress and Campaign Finance fraud. Youll recall Paul Manafort also under home confinement now. He was released from a federal facility earlier this month. Im joined now by my friend and colleague nicolle wallace, host of deadline white house. Nicolle, i have something to show you that took place on the south lawn prior to the president s departure for Andrews Air Force base and then out to detroit. See if you can follow this. This came during the conversation he was talking about rounding out his dosage of hydroxychloroquine. He guessed he had one more dose. He was talking about his own test result. This is a series of linguistic hyperbolic cascades. See if theres an answer here. Im still here. And i tested very positively in a in another sense, so this morning, yeah, i tested positively toward negative, right . So, no, i tested perfectly this morning, meaning i tested negative. Thats a way of saying it, positively toward the negative. I dont know what to say. Nicolle, thats one way of looking at it. Yeah. I dont know whether hes talking about his covid19 test. Look, i think it really does get to a larger point though. What are people looking for in november . Are they looking to someone who could string together a sentence about the deadliest Global Pandemic in our lifetime . Its a yes or no question, and it may render irrelevant some of the stories that weve spent months and now years covering. Its really simple. You want someone who understands what the testing is for and what the result means, or dont you . We are lucky though now to be safe from ourselves in this almost depressing conversation by dr. Michael olsterholm, director of the university of minnesotas center for Infectious Disease research and policy. Hes one of the countrys foremost epidemiologists, one of the smartest people we get to talk to about all of these things. When brian and i last talked to you together we were focused for two hours on testing. It would appear that the president still has some value judgment, if someones good they test negative, if someones bad they test positive. I think that was the news value of that clip. It goes a long way toward explaining why theres still this push and pull, this almost skets phrenic federal policy around pushing testing into every corner and crevice of this country so we have a more complete picture of what the pandemic looks like in america. Yeah, i think that one of the challenges we have right now is just what do we mean by testing and we put out a report yesterday that basically pulled back from that concept of testing, testing testing men tra and rather put forward a smart testing program. The right person getting tested with the right test at the right time for the right reason that results in something meaningful happening. I think one of the challenges we have today is that weve lost track of what is the purpose of testing and why do we do it, and what are we going to do with that information which is critical. It is critical to test, but then how do we best use that information. Can you answer all those questions for you . What is the right test at the right time for the right person . Let me give you an example and then ill come back to actually directly answer it. Right now if you were to test people in my state here in minnesota for antibody, over half of them with the conventionally used test would test positive who werent perspective at all. The best example i can give you of not smart testing usin using right test is what happened at the white house several weeks ago when we knew for weeks before that that test they were using, that rapid detection test, had a problem with sensitivity, meaning picking up everybody who was infected. If you were trying to create this inpenetrable wall around the president , why would you use that test knowing its going to give you bad results. To me that would be like the equivalent of giving the secret service squirt guns and saying protect the president. So theres examples of where you have to know what is your case use, why are you using it, and what are you going to do with the results. It may make a big difference whether you test positive going into the white house or if youre at home in minneapolis and we can keep you there. Big differences. Doctor, you have used various phrases to sum up in response to questions from folks like us where we are in this. I believe youve used a baseball analogy. Last night i heard you say its Churchill Downs and the horses are at the gate. The race hasnt started. Do you have anything for us as to where we are in this . I think in terms of the actual pandemic, i come back to this second analogy and somebody keeps saying, youve been stuck in the second inning for a month or more, and my point is its a long inning. Were right now at a point trying to understand this pandemic. Will it look like influenza, and if it does, we would expect in the next few weeks to actually see cases starting to decrease all on their own. Nothing that we as humans are doing to make that happen. That happened with every influenza pandemic over the last 250 years. If that happens, brian, that would really scare me because that would suggest that we could very well go into this quiet period. Everybody would pat themselves on the back and think we won. Then, in fact, to see potentially a very severe summer, early fall peak that could be devastating. Thats one scenario. We dont know if thats going to be what happens or if it will just keep smoldering on. But the bottom line message is this virus is acting under the conditions of viral gravity, meaning the 5 to 15 of people who have been infected to date are just the beginning. This virus wont rest until it gets to that 60 or 70 infection level and even then its just slowing down. Were going to get there. Its just a matter of how we get there and when. And let me ask you one last question about this Columbia University study as published by the New York Times late yesterday saying if we had moved sooner on social distancing and the like, we could have saved 36,000 additional souls. Is that a given in your line of work . I dont know if thats correct or not. I think surely earlier days would have made a difference. I probably think that and im not here to take credit for this, but if i have made any contribution in Public Health in my entire career of 45 years, its what happened in january of this year. We declared on january 20 that in fact this was going to be a worldwide pandemic. I met with senior officials at the 3m company, one of the largest manufacturers of n95 respirators, and i convinced them this was real, its going to happen. On the morning of january 20 they went full steam ahead manufacturing respirators nonstop 24 7 and they made additional millions of respirators in the weeks before we really saw a problem. I hope that those saved some Health Care Workers lives, but i can tell you clearly we didnt respond quickly in a way that would have likely reduced a number of cases by the kind of physical distancing that ultimately did shave the curves, i think, in new york, detroit, and places like that. Let me put up for you todays front page of the New York Post and let me read back to you your words from usa today about the economy. The cover of the New York Post is an emotional plea to let us as new yorkers go back to work, saying basically we know what to do. There it is. It needs to end, period, now, period. If you cant see it, it says, the big apple is dying. Its streets are empty. Tens of thousands are plunged into poverty. Our leaders have no plans. Businesses can adjust. The elderly can be isolated. You wrote something that stayed with me as brian and i every day cover the reopenings which have accelerated. You wrote this, six months from now the economic picture in this country is going to look a lot worse than it looks now. There will be more unemployment, a higher likelihood of this disease having much more impact on our communities. Six months from now, its just a sobering assessment. Can you explain to us why that is and if theres anything we can do to bend the economic curve. Again, we just have to look at the future. You know, i first wrote about this possibility of a pandemic back in the early 2000s and laid out a scenario that is basically playing out right now. I described in a chapter in a book i wrote in 2017 that i know brians familiar with that i actually wrote a chapter that if you read it, except crossing off influenza virus, you can put coronavirus there and its done the same thing. So in a sense this shouldnt be a surprise to us with any kind of creative imagination in science to figure out how is a virus that is respiratorily transmitted, largely breathing in air that is only infecting 5 to 15 and we know these viruses wont slow down their transmission until theres enough rods in the immune reaction you might say to slow the viruses down. Its going to take 60 to 70 . This is not about politics. This is not about public policy. This is just biology, chemistry and physics. Nicolle, when you think about all the pain and suffering and death and all of the economic disruption thats occurred with 5 to 15 of the population infect infected, it doesnt take any real creative imagination to understand by the time we get to 60 or 70 , whats going to have to have happened. Now, the one miracle that were all hoping for and i emphasize hope is a vaccine can do that. They can get us to 60 or 70 without having to suffer the virus, but if not and this is what im concerned about. Were not preparing for this. We are leading people to believe that its going to be okay, and our job in Public Health should not be to scare people out of their wits but to scare them into their wits. We have got to understand that we have many more challenging days ahead of us. Whether youre planning the economy, planning medical Care Delivery Services or planning the message to the public, now is the time for churchill and roosevelt to step up and help us prepare for that. I dont need to tell you there is no churchill or roosevelt on the scene in u. S. Politics at the federal level, so scare me into my wits. What should i do . Should i think about school for the fall . Should i wear a mask everywhere . Should i see anybody . Should i stay in my home . What should all of our viewers do . You know, you are asking exactly the questions the public has a right to know an answer to. Again, ill come back and say we dont have them. We have to find them. I and others are working on that. Next tuesday im collaborating, our center, along with the Federal Reserve bank to put on a major conference in this country on zoom. You can get information on the Federal Reserve bank site, on the economy and health. How do we start to merge this together. Your colleague, tom brokaw, is going to moderate it and we are having these very discussions because you deserve those answers. What we cant do you give you black and white answers. Dont ask me if its going to be safe because safe is a relative term. Its like a light switch on and off. Were talking about a restat. I would say plan for school to start, plan for all these things, but have those alternative plans where if you have to suddenly stop on a dime and give back nine cents change, you can. But plan as if were going to go forward. Plan your lives, but just know that we are going to have a lot of additional interactions with this virus that were not going to want to have. Words that certainly get our attention and, doctor, this is why we will continue to invite you on with us to help us walk through this health and safety mine field. Dr. Michael osterholm of the center for Infectious Disease, research and policy, thank you so very much. Thank you very much. We take our first break this hour. When we come back, one day after threatening withhold federal aid to the state of michigan, there he is in the state of michigan. The president touring a ford plant that makes ventilators. Well get reaction ahead from the member of congress who represents the district the president is visiting at this hour. And later, new polling out today on the 2020 race shows a big lead for joe biden. Some real concerns for the president , but its early yet so what does it mean . Ean . soft music [female vo] restaurants are our family. The cornerstone of our communities. And our family needs help. Right now theyre facing a crisis. And theyre counting on your takeout and delivery orders to help them through. Because if we dont treat restaurants like family today. They might not be around to treat us like family tomorrow. Grubhub. Together, we can help save the restaurants we love. Youre clearly someone who takes care of yourself. So when it comes to screening for colon cancer, dont wait. Because when caught early, its more treatable. Im cologuard. Im noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92 of colon cancers. Even in early stages. Tell me more. Its for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. Im on it. Thats a step in the right direction. We dont want them to do mailin ballots because its going to lead to total election fraud. So we dont want them to do mailin ballots. We dont want anyone to do mailin ballots. If theres a reason for it, thats okay, if theres a reason. If theres not, we dont want to take any chances with fraud in our elections. No evidence any of that is true. The president is on an official president ial visit to another one of those states that happens to be a battleground state. That would be michigan at this hour, part of his tour of election states to tout his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Hes visiting that ford manufacturing plant, parts of which have been repurposed to make ventilators. The visit comes one day after he attacked leaders in michigan after they sent mail ballot applications to residents. Trump incorrectly tweeted that they were sending actual ballots out to voters and made this threat, i will ask to hold up funding to michigan if they want to go down this voter fraud path. He later backed off that threat. It bears repeating that theres no evidence that absentee voting leads to voter fraud. It comes after michigan is coping with this catastrophic flooding. Waters overtook two dams in the central part of the state, inundating thus far the city of midland. As a result of those floods, michigan governor gretchen whitmer, is calling on the federal government for help. With us right now is correspondent shaquille bruster on the ground in michigan where local officials had some questions about the motivations behind the president s visit. Hey, shaq, tell us whats going on there. Reporter hi there, brian. The latest that we know is that President Trump right now is attending a listening session with africanamerican leaders here in michigan. He opened the session by talking about the flooding that you saw, those heartbreaking pictures that have led to about 10,000 evacuations in central michigan, but then pivoted to the greater efforts and his administrations efforts to deal with the coronavirus. The reason why hes here at this plant is because this ford plant, which by the way just reopened on monday in terms of making those battery components. Its a component plant, so making battery packs for certain hybrid and plugin vehicles. The reason why hes here is because last month they were making ventilators. They promised the government to make 50,000 ventilators by mid july. By next month they should be making about 6,000 ventilators a week, so this is part of that somewhat of a tour that the president is doing, going to these battleground states. We saw him in arizona, in pennsylvania. Hes now here in michigan. Hes on this tour of battleground states highlighting his administrations efforts in dealing with and handling this coronavirus crisis. One thing that weve been watching and that we were looking at and he got asked about several times was whether or not he would be wearing a mask when he was in this facility. Nbc news actually got exclusive access to this facility earlier this week for the today show, a piece that Cynthia Mcfadden did, and the ceo talked about their protections and requirements for employees there. This is a 30acre facility. Theres only one entrance. Employees have to wear masks and personal protective equipment and do temperature checks before they go in and health screenings. Ford said that thats their policy and they relayed that information to the white house and it was up to the white house to determine what they wanted to do. Based on the video that ive been seeing so far and President Trump will be touring this plant, but based on the video that ive been seeing so far, he hasnt worn the mask so far. You see hes here right now trying to highlight his administrations efforts in handling and combatting this coronavirus crisis. Brian. Indeed, shaq, while youve been talking weve seen some of the pictures of him meeting with africanamerican leaders after a horseshoe shaped table, about ten guests in all, between two and three of them visibly Wearing Masks. Shaquille brewster on the ground for us in michigan, thanks so much. Joining our conversation now is democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell who represents just the area were talking about where the president is visiting. Thank you so much for spending some time with us. Please talk about the missed opportunity for the president to model the whole state and country come back to healthy near normal. Nicolle, its good to see you. Look, ive spent the last nine weeks talking to the president of the uiw almost daily, the ceos, the senior executives, the workers about closing and then reopening. Very careful protocols have been put into place. These are large areas with a lot of people and concern, how do you keep them safe. How do you keep the individuals safe and how do you keep the jobs safe. These protocols were developed with the best medical input, the scientific input with the workers and the companies together. They spent eight weeks on them. Youve already seen this was its a gradual reopening this week. Rory gamble, the president of aw said to me, debbie, im just worried about whether theyll keep wearing the masks. They asked me to help get a psa Campaign Going to remind people about wearing it. So actually what the president does today when he tours that plant, if he wears a mask, it will save lives. Its such an important point and i want to ask you about all his comments about voter fraud because our friend amy walter has a great analysis. Let me read this to you and hit you with a twopart question. She writes on the president s tweet about michigan absentee voting, quote, trumps attacks on vote by mail arent meant to dissuade people from voting. In fact, his campaign and other republicans are actively engaged by vote by mail organizing. Its about sowing doubt about the legitimacy of certain types of voters. Rural vote by mail is okay. Urban is illegitimate. Take that on, as well as you said something so important. He has the opportunity to save lives by wearing a mask. Its such a simple thing, and hes explained, the white house has said its his vanity that prevents him from doing it. He thinks he would look ridiculous. My 8yearold wears a mask because he sees mom and dad wearing a mask. It is such a simple thing and so often he does things that are worthy of criticism. This is just for him a missed opportunity to do what you just said, save peoples lives. Look, i think people have individual liberties. I think i believe in freedom of speech. I believe in the freedom to protest, but when do things become the common good and the fact of the matter is i have a right to be safe. When i was in the airport, i was stunned by the number of people not Wearing Masks, trying to sit next to me. I moved four times to keep physical distance. This is an opportunity for the president to reinforce what a lot of people have done, try to reopen the economy but keep the workers safe. When you talk about mailing absentee ballots, democracy is at its best when people participate in the democratic process. We saw what happened in wisconsin. We saw what happened in ohio. People were having to make a choice about being safe, their health versus being able to vote at home and participate in the democracy. Our democracy is the strongest when the maximum number of people participate. So these are absentee ballot applications. Theyre not ballots. Youve got to actively say i care, i want to vote and i want to vote at home. Congresswoman, what can you promise the folks watching, the folks in your hard hit district during this pandemic, that congress will do for them next . And i speak of course about the rift currently between the democratically controlled house under Speaker Pelosi and Mitch Mcconnells republican controlled senate. Brian, its good to see you as well. Look, im going to tell you, we are a very hard hit area. We were tenth highest population in the country and third for more than a month. I want to tell you, i still have friends dying. I have a memorial after this interview and i have a funeral tomorrow. My friends are still dying, and people are scared. Theyre worried. You dont want to get covid. Its still real. Its out there. The doctor before me was on and talked about how its going to come back, so they are afraid. Then theyre also worried about their job. Theyre worried about how theyre going to put food on the table. Can they afford the rent and mortgage . How are they going to take care of their kids . This is a real fear that working men and women across the country are feeling. What we are trying to do is to keep the country safe. Weve seen enough people die, but also take care of basic necessities which is in the heros bill, is one of the biggest things, take care of state and local governments who have these huge budget deficits because theyre ground zero. They are the emts, the fire, police, the teachers that are the glue of our communities, that are keeping the structure of a civil society. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell who represents a district that is part of the economic engine of our country in detroit, michigan, congresswoman, thank you as always for joining our conversation. As President Trump visits this battleground state, new polling is showing joe biden opening a big lead nationally, powered in part by changing attitudes toward the president s pandemic response. Well talk about it after this. Response well talk about it after this my gums are irritated. I dont have to worry about that, do i . Harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line. Crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. It works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. Gum detoxify, from crest. To give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you dont. [grunting noise] ill take that. Yeeeeeah 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar ensure max protein. Now available in twelvecount. Stock up today now available in twelvecount. I geh. Common bird. E. Ooh look over here something much better. There it is. Peacock, included with xfinity x1. Remarkable. Fascinating. Very. 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