Her up and let her have the voice, so what they did is they took down her voice. Now, they seem to never take down the other side. They only take down conservative voices. With hydroxy, all i want to do is save lives. I dont care if it is hydroxy or anything else. All i want to do is save lives. If we can save lives, thats great. One thing were doing very well on vaccines. And very well on therapeutics. So thats very important. But i happen to be a believer in hydroxy. I use it. I have no problem. I happen to be a believer. Many, many people agree with me. A great test came out from the ford clinic, very respected, wohl see h well see how it is. [ inaudible ] im thinking about it. Were picking a location very soon. Ill let you know. Back to germany, what signals does this sends for russia europe against russia. Youre right. Theyre there to protect europe. Theyre there to protect germany, right . And germany is supposed it pay for it. Germany is not paying for it. So why should we leave them if we dont want to be anymore. The United States has been taken advantage of for 25 years, on trade and on the military. Were protecting germany. So were reducing the course because theyre not paying their bill. Very simple. Theyre delinquent. Very simple. And there are other nato countries also. Right now you have eight out of the 28 countries that have paid up. Ive got them to pay 130 billion a year more. Going up to 400. Most of them will be up to date. Wasnt easy. Most of them will be up to date. One that wont be is germany. And we spend a lot of money on germany, they take advantage of us on trade. And they take advantage on the military. Were reducing. Now they start paying their bills, i could think about it. About a coronavirus vaccine. I talked to putin about a lot of different things. Mostly arms control. Were working on the vaccine. I think well have one. Oxford is doing very well. Pfizer is doing very well. We have a lot of good options. [ inaudible ] youre going to have to talk louder. I can hear everybody but you. I can hear everybody but you. There already are. Were in negotiations on on nuclear arms control. What about well talk about that later. Well work this first. China right now is a much lesser nuclear power, you understand that, than russia. Right now, we are the Great Nuclear power. We upgraded our nuclear tremendously. We have the most power. Russia is second. And china is third. China is we would want to talk to china eventually. [ inaudible ] we thought we would do it first, i dont know if it will work out. We with ould do it first and tho to china together. Did you talk to Robert Obrien . I did. I wished him well. I havent seen him in a while. He wasnt well. Tested positive. Hes doing very, very well. Why havent you seen him . He said hes doing very well. Why havent you are you concerned about reports of [ inaudible ] no, im not concerned. Im a therapeutic person too, i love the idea of therapeutics, you go in, you give somebody a transfusion or a shot, and they get better. Were doing very well on vaccines and therapeutics. Okay . As far as portland is concerned, we have taken a very strong stance, they are radical, crazy people. And theyre either going to straighten it out for themselves, portland, the police, and maybe if the state gets involved, that means the governor and the mayor, but theyre very weak people. Theyre very weak people. These radicals, these anarchists are controlling the governor and the mayor. The mayor went into a rally and it wasnt accurately reported by cnn, by nbc, went into a rally, thought he would be their buddy, they scoexcoriated him. What they did to him was incredible. Lucky he had five bodyguards. They excoriated him. Nbc, i didnt see cnn, because i dont want cnn, nbc absolutely covered it like he was their big buddy. He was in great danger of dying. He would have been dead if he didnt have his bodyguards. These are bad people. These are anarchists. Theyre agitators. Either they do something or were going to do it. In the meantime, our purpose there is only to protect our federal building. Which were doing. With no problem. I mean, theyre nasty and theyre vicious people. But our people are very powerful people. Very powerful. And either theyre going to clean up portland soon, or the federal government is going up and were going to do it for them. Either they clean out portland, the governor and the mayor, who are weak, either they clean up portland or were going in to do it for them. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. All right, hello to everyone. Im Ayman Mohyeldin in new york. Good morning to you. That was President Trump just a few minutes ago at the white house. He is now on his way to a texas fundraiser, benefiting his reelection campaign. The president , as you probably heard there, hitting a variety of topics on his way out the door from the coronavirus and the latest on a new relief package in congress, you saw he was flanked there by secretary of the treasury steve mnuchin. He also made some new comments on the story this russia offered bounties for the lives of u. S. Troops in afghanistan. The presence of federal agents in some american cities, much, much more, even talking about hydroxychloroquine. Were going to get into all of that in just a moment. But first, lets take you to this mornings other big headline. These are live pictures that youre seeing now from joint base andrews, just outside of washington, d. C. , where the late civil rights pioneer and congressman john lewis is about to make his final journey back to georgia. A state he represented in the house of representatives for more than three decades. Last hour, his Congressional Colleagues were on the steps of the capitol in washington, d. C. To say goodbye to him one last time. Our nbc News Reporters are on both capitol hill and in georgia this morning to cover both angles of this story. Garrett haake, let me begin with you. Well get to Priscilla Thompson in a moment. Garrett, quite the scene this morning. It reminds you what this is all about. You saw the variety of the political spectrum there. Speaker pelosi, majority leader mitch mcconnell, Senate Leader democratic leader minority leader chuck schumer. Quite the scene there this morning. Reporter yeah, it was. A short, somber ceremony as the congressmans bodies with removed from the capitol after lying in state for a day and a half here on the Capitol Rotunda. Members of congress sat on the house steps and watched, a few dozen of them, from the distance, from the plaza itself were a few dozen of lewis close family members and friends and democrats and republicans standing side by side, watching their colleague of more than three decades leave the capitol for the last time. The ceremony was brief, largely silent here, not present were the crowds of people that we had seen over the last day and a half who had come to pay their respects to congressman lewis in a 2020 twist on the normal process of lying in state, coming to salute him from the plaza here on the east front of the capitol as his body sat at the top of the steps. One other piece i can report overnight, former staffers of the congressman, and a few of his current staffers up to the end here, sat vigil with the body in the Capitol Rotunda, one last opportunity for them to quietly say goodbye to their boss as the rest of the country does so, an absolute fixture here. The conscience of the congress for the last 33 years on his way to the state he represented for all that time. Stay with me. Lets look ahead to what happens in the coming day and tomorrow where the funeral i believe will be taking place at the iconic and Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church there in atlanta. Walk us through the final days for the family of the late john lewis as well as those that are accompanying this casket. Reporter well, ayman good morning. Once the family lands here in georgia, they are going to make their way to the Georgia State capitol where we are right now. And theyre going to be passing a number of notable places along the way, that giant mural of representative john lewis, thats in downtown atlanta, that so many people have flooded to over the past few weeks to pay their respects and leave notes of gratitude. Theyre also going to pass his district office, obviously another very important place that meant so much to his journey and in his life. And then they will arrive here to the capitol where a private invitation only ceremony is going to be held. We expect to hear from Governor Brian Kemp and also Atlanta MayorKeisha Lance Bottoms before the doors are open to the public. And at that point, anyone will be able to come in and pay their respects, but there are going to be some precautions in place as coronavirus cases here in georgia tick up. That includes making sure that folks are wearing those masks, and theyre also going to be doing temperature checks so that is certainly something that is going to be on the mind here, safety, and then there are going to be a few more private ceremonies held later tonight with the congressmans Fraternity Brothers and he will lie in state here until those services, which will start tomorrow morning, that final Home Going Service before hes laid to rest here in atlanta. It was quite the split screen there this morning, garrett, lets talk about joint base andrews for a moment as we see that plane, the United States of America Air Force plane that will be carrying his body back to georgia, this is the same air force base or joint base andrews, rather, where the president departed, leaving to texas, to attend a fundraiser. We should note the president did not go to the Capitol Rotunda to pay his respects to john lewis or his family. We dont know if there was any interaction between them there at joint base andrews. But talk to us a little bit about that. That is quite the image as we talk about the senior politicians and political leaders from both parties who are there this morning, one of the most notable absence is the president. Reporter the president made clear he wouldnt be coming to the rotunda to pay his respects to congressman lewis while he lay in state. I dont know that was particularly disappointing to members of the lewis family, nor would it be disappointing to john lewis himself who called the president himself a racist, refused to go to his inauguration and the two were certainly at odds politically on just about everything. Though it does speak to the degree to which this president has been divorced from the internal ways that washington functions and the way in which members, even of dink parfferen parties have been able to put aside their differences in moments like this. The funerals of john mccain and george h. W. Bush come to mind, the death of congressman lewis is a similarly uniting element here. You saw just off the Capitol Steps nancy pelosi and kevin mccarthy, mitch mcconnell, chuck schumer, folks who have been lambasting each other over the Coronavirus Relief bill, just over the last few days, making a point to stand side by side and honor someone who they have battled with or against in the trenches. The Vice President , mike pence, had come and paid his respects, so to the former Vice President joe biden was up here the other day. The absence of the president from all of this surrounding the funeral of john lewis, really only his perfunctory tweet about he and melania sending their best wishes to their family, again, i think it is another of a symbol of so many we have seen before of the way in which hes remained this kind of outside figure in washington and really an observer, not a participant, in a way the country talks about its politics and its culture and its historical figures like john lewis. So Many Political norms have been abandoned over the past couple of years. This would be one of those in a long list of examples. Priscilla, let me get your thoughts about the late john lewis and husband significance his significance to the city of atlanta. He is from alabama, he obviously represented the district there in atlanta, in atlanta, georgia. Talk to us about the mood in this city of atlanta, in the district he represented there over the past couple of days and what this loss means for them. Reporter well, ayman, during my time here, so many people ive spoken with have just expressed this sense of gratitude and inspiration by the life that john lewis lived and all that he fought for, for all people. I think that is really the mood here. You know, so many people have said to me that he wasnt a congressman who just went to washington, d. C. And they never saw here, but so many people can recall stories of meeting him at marches and parades and things that were going on here in the city of atlanta, and that when they were in d. C. , he made the time to meet with them and to talk to them and so truly a congressman of the people, you know, something that john lewis said often about being in the streets, being with the people, and that is reflected in everything i have heard as people have described him here. And the other thing that i have spoken with people about is how would you say is the best way to continue his legacy . And so many people have said there is no better way to do that than by going to the polls in november and making their voices heard by voting. Something that john lewis fought so hard for throughout his life, ayman. Priscilla, garrett, stay with me. Over to joint base andrews where we see the honor guard there take the flagdraped casket of john lewis and board it on that plane. Lets watch. Youre looking at live pictures there of the casket of john lewis being boarded on the u. S. Air force plane that will carry him for the last time from washington, d. C. To his final resting place in atlanta, georgia, quite the scene there, remarkable morning for the family members, the members of congress and the entire nation. Want to switch gears now and bring you up to speed on all those new concerns about the rise in Coronavirus Infections and deaths. The Upcoming School year and, of course, professional sports. 21 states are now in what the federal government is calling the red zone for the rapid rate of transmission. The number of deaths nationwide has now unfortunately passed 150,000. Major League Baseball postponing all miami mar lyilins games for rest of the week with the teams outbreak reaching 15 players. This comes as florida sees another daily record in the deaths from the virus. And stimulus stall. We just heard from the president s point man treasury secretary steve mnuchin, both sides are are very fvery far ap. Were live on capitol hill with the latest on that. Lets go to our reporters, leea leeaLeigh Ann Caldwell on capitol hill, and Morgan Chesky and sam brock in miami for us. We just heard there from the secretary of the treasury, steve mnuchin, within the last hour, saying there is still a large gap. That seems to be the update on the very latest what are you hearing from members of congress on how big that gap is . What are the sticking points in closing that gulf . Reporter thats right, ayman. After pelosi and schumer met with mnuchin and meadows yesterday here on capitol hill, pelosi said theyre in the stage of their airing their grievances. As mnuchin is standing next to the president put it, in very stark terms, lets listen to him on the south lawn moments ago. As of now were very far apart. Because of that the president , as we have discussed a shortterm extension to ui and we have some negotiations. Reporter very far apart, he floated a temporary extension of Unemployment Insurance benefits. This is another disagreement between some republicans and the democrats. Pelosi said last week after being asked about it the second time she will absolutely not agree to a shortterm extension. She points to the house already passed their bill which includes an extension of the benefits. Republicans and republicans are not on the same page. You have Senate Republicans who do not want to support this 1 trillion Opening Statement that is going to be very difficult for them to come on to any agreement that costs more. And then you heard the president also on the south lawn this morning, who said he wants a moratorium on evictions. He wants bigger direct stimulus payments for people, neither one of those things are in the republican bill, they are in the democratic bill. So republicans and the administration are worlds apart just as with the administration and democrats are worlds apart. So it is not looking good for these negotiations at this point, ayman. And it seems it is with that as the backdrop, the situation getting worse for americans, economically and healthwise. Lets cross over to Morgan Chesky before we get to sam in florida. Morgan, the president is on his way to the west texas town of midland there to attend a fundraiser. Talk to us about what were expecting during the president s visit there today. Reporter yeah, ayman, good morning. The president is expected to arrive here in midland, texas, around 11 oom 30 this morning, motorcade will take him to odessa. Thats where hes expected to shore up some campaign reserves by having a luncheon there. The local nbc affiliate here saying that it will be a 2800 plate to get in. You can have a photo with the president for 50,000 and if you would like to sit around an exclusive round table with President Trump, that will cost you 100,000. This is no strange place to President Trump, it will be his 16th visit to texas, since taking office. And this area in particular, the permian basin, where odessa and midland are located, are very much in favor of the president. If you go back four years to wheneverwas elected in 20 16, President Trump will very much be playing to a hometown crowd. When leaves that luncheon and visits an oil rig, which as you can see behind me is the life blood of this area. President trump expected to reassure folks here in this part of the state that he wants to incentivize private investment into the industry after it has taken such a tough hit from really a variety of factors, ayman. You have a bidding war of oil between russia and china, and then you also have the fact that the pandemic has left unemployment here at a staggering high. Just down the road about 20 miles away in odessa, texas, it is sitting at about 13 . Thats the highest in the state. Go back one year ago, thats at 2 or even lower than that. So food banks have been incredibly busy here in this part of the state. People are looking for any sign of encouragement to bring this industry back to life and thats what theyre likely to hear from President Trump when he visits later today and then flies out later this afternoon, a little before 5 00 central time. Ayman . Morgan starks wi, stay with. Over to sam, the state reported its highest death toll since this pandemic began. Lets talk about where the state of florida is, i feel like it is almost repetitive we keep asking you this every day. It seems like theyre going in a worse direction, the numbers keep going up, the situation not under control. Youre outside marlins park and a lot of questions about the future of the already shortened baseball season. It is a grim picture for that state. Reporter it is. With respect to the 186 fatalities, it is not necessarily a reflection of what has happened in the last 24 hours. Typically and even the governor is acknowledging this, some deaths date back days if not weeks, and then a reported on a future date. That may be what is happening here. 6,100 fatalities in florida is a staggeringly high number. With respect to the Baseball Team here, there was a point yesterday where it wasnt clear if major League Baseball was going to be suspending the marlins season or the league season. Turns out it was the marlins, seven games so far postponed here, at least through sunday, and the yankees, phillies series also postponed out of an abundance of caution after the marlins played the philliephill. If you look at the rest of the league now, major League Baseball announcing more than 6,400 tests were conducted since friday. Zero other teams, only the marlins, with an on field personnel or player member test positive for covid19. This is collusive lu exclusive. The players voted they were not going to come, it is because of miami, and a lot of attention now on the city. Quite remarkable. Really quickly do we know why there is that lag in the explanation of the numbers you said may have been several days ago even weeks ago, but being reported yesterday . Reporter part of that has to do with just problems with the system, ayman, and part of it is having to determine whether or not a death is directly attributable to covid19. That takes a period of time before they can do it. Bottom line is we have seen deaths rise in terms of recent reporting but that could be a reflection of what was going on three weeks ago and not right now. Sam brock live for us in miami, Morgan Chesky midland, texas, Leigh Ann Caldwell on capitol hill, thank you to all of you. I want to bring in dr. Jeremy faust, Emergency Room Physician at brigham and Womens Hospital in boston with the latest on this. Dr. Faust, a pleasure to have you with us. Let me pick up where sam just left off there with the 15 Miami Marlins team members testing positive for the coronavirus. What are the implications for the rest of the baseball season as well as other professional sports that a franchise like this with the resources they have, with the testing they have, still not able to prevent the coronavirus from spreading in their dugout literally. Good to see you. I think what were seeing with major League Baseball unfortunately might be a little bit prefiguring of what we might start to see in schools in the fall. People want to send their kids to school or to college, or to other really important things in our lives, sports is what we enjoy, when we have a moment off, but it is not the goal all of our lives for the most part. If major League Baseball is having trouble with this, just imagine what is going to happen with schools. They got great testing, they have more testing than anybody. I wish we had this kind of testing in other areas of life, i think were going to see until we control this in our communities, baseball, other sports will confront this on an ongoing basis. President , i want to get your thoughts on this, some comments the president has been making with twitter, we heard in that impromptu News Conference or statement there outside the white house. He continues to put out a lot of misinformation. He said yesterday, much of the country is corona free, even though a new government report finds that 21 states are literally in the red zone of this virus. Talk to us about that. It is frustrating. And im on social media too, it is so easy to get frustrated and dunk on the president and make statements. But it is really serious business. A press conference is an amazing opportunity to reach so many americans, who dont know what to believe, because quite frankly there have been so many misleading statements including from the president himself. Imagine if the press conferences were designed to educate people to say, like dr. Tedros said, do you know where to get tested . Do you know in your community where the virus is . Are you empowered with information . That is how you use a press conference, to help americans, and instead of just kind of controlling a news cycle or even saying Dangerous Things about drug like hydroxychloroquine, which medical science has really shown has no role in this crisis unfortunately. Let me pick up on that point, the president is touting the antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine, he tweeted out that viral video of doctors talking about how the drug has been with their patients. Youre seeing the video there, he defended her once again that doctor despite the fact that the video was removed off of social media platforms. The new england journal of medicine say hydroxychloroquine does not work, either to treat or prevent covid19. I want you to tell us from your medical experience about this drug and what you know about it. This drug is really important for lupus and for Rheumatoid Arthritis and used to be used for malaria. The problem were having here is that we have taken a drug and made it we havent, the president made it political. It is like a litmus test. If you believe in hydroxychloroquine, then youre with him. If you dont, youre against him. The problem with undermining science today to help you win a little turf battle like that is that it hurts you tomorrow. At some point we all hope there is going to be a vaccine and at that point youre going to want to say to your scientists and your physicians and experts, what do we do next, how do we roll this out . Undermining their credibility, our credibility now may help win a news cycle, but it is going to hurt americans down the road. We need to say, hey, look, were a country full of experts. Dr. Fauci san expeis an expert. When hes undermined, it hurts the people who may benefit today. Thank you for giving us the facts this morning. And speaking of dr. Fauci, a programming note, my colleague Andrea Mitchell will be talking to the nations top Infectious Disease expert today at 12 00 p. M. Eastern only on msnbc. Next, new pushback from President Trump on those reports that russia offered bounties on the lives of u. S. Troops in afghanistan. The president still not condemning the horrific reports in his most extensive comments yet. The president is asked whether he brought the issue up in a phone call with Vladimir Putin last thursday. The president s forceful denial adding to years of questions about his relationship with russias leader. Take a look. There was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly thats an issue that many people said was fake news. Who said it was fake news . I think a lot of people. If you look at some of the wonderful folks from the bush administration, some of them, not any friends of mine, were saying that it is a fake issue. But a lot of people said it is a fake issue. We had a call, we had a call talking about nuclear proliferation, which is a very big subject where they would like to do something and so would i, we discussed numerous things, we did not discuss that, no. You never discussed it with him . I have never discussed it. Shannon pettypiece is at the white house where the president left as we mentioned for texas. Shannon, the president also adding to those comments just a few minutes ago before he boarded marine one. Reporter right, and saying again that his conversation with putin recently was mostly about arms control, that he did not talk about this issue about whether or not they were paying bounties. And i think it is notable the way that the president continues to talk about this intelligence reporting like hes an observer rather than someone who has access to the primary intelligence and really access to anyone in the intelligence community. He would like to be briefed on this. Moments ago told reporters, said, ive read about it and since then ive talked about it. He references colin powell and says colin powell says it is not true. He commented on the Media Coverage of it, colin powell doesnt have access to this classified intelligence. And then the president goes on to say if it were true, i would be very angry about it. So, again, asking as if he is not aware as to whether or not this is true and, of course, there has been debate about this and the intelligence community, but not coming down again on putin and saying that this is something that he wants to get to the bottom of essentially. All right, Shannon Pettypiece at the white house with that update, thank you, shannon. Much more to get to on the pandemic, an alarming look at the outbreak in a california prison where inmates are allegedly being sent to solitary confinement to stop the spread of covid19. And after another night of demonstrations, the white house now in talks with oregons governor to draw down the president s federal agent sent to quell the protests in portland. Live on the ground there with new nbc reporting just ahead. Were just Getting Started on a very busy wednesday morning. Stay with us. On a very busy wednesday morning. Stay with us i like liberty mutual. They get that no two people are alike and customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. What do you think . I dont see it. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Out of california, prison system, 47 inmates in the state have died due to coronavirus. And in the states oldest prison over 2,000 confirmed cases and 19 total related deaths. These numbers put a spotlight on the difficulties of maintaining a pandemic in these facilities where isolation is usually used as a form of punishment, all while loved ones search for answers. Now that they have all of the covid prisoners in the hole, it is not a pretty situation from what he described. He described it basically as a living hell. So and like i said, no word from the prison system as to when he might be retested or what the protocol is for reintroducing them into the general population. Because you just cant keep them there indefinitely. Joining me now from that prison outside of san quentin, nbcs jake ward. Good to have you with us. Lets talk about the latest and what the prison is doing to try to keep the inmates safe as family members we hear there express their dissatisfaction with relatives being held in solitary confinement. Reporter the situation is very critical. Officials yesterday telling the state that they consider this the possibility of a volcano of infection. Really an unchecked situation. And when you look at it, the nature of being in prison is the problem here. The huge amounts of mass incarceration in the state and the crowded confinz es of san quentin where i am. What he could do, if he were inside right now, he was in here until about a year ago, i asked him, can you protect yourself as a prisoner of the state from coronavirus . Heres what he said. There is no way to escape covid19 or coronavirus in prison, absolutely no way. If you look at the architectural designs of prisons, first of all, the design prisons are built with the architect of punishment in mind. You have the smallest spaces with packed with as many bodies as possible. I lived in a building in san quentin with 800 people, 800 people shared 12 phones, pay phones, 800 people shared about 20 shower heads that are communal showers built maybe a foot apart. Reporter it is really just a terrible situation inside for the inmates here. And when we arrived at 6 00 a. M. This morning, the line of employees, correctional officers, staff, administrators who are lined up to get into work and then at the end of the three shifts that go on, because this is a 24hour facility, the fact that they then all go home speaks to the broad danger here. There is really no sense of when this thing could end. The California Department of corrections and rehabilitation saying theyre taking many step, they have reduced the number of inmates in here by at least about 700. They set up special facilities to deal with this. But it is it is not Getting Better anytime soon. Jacob, thank you very much for putting the spotlight on that important story to this. Thank you. Joining me now is someone who is brought in at the beginning of the pandemic to make recommendations on how to keep inmates safe at san quentin. Dr. David sears, Infectious Disease physician and director of healthcare quality at amend, a group that works on health at prisons. Im curious to get your thoughts on this. You saw the conditions of san quentin early on, up close and personal. Can you tell us about that experience and what your recommendations were to keep inmates safe from covid19 at the time . Yes, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to comment. My group was at san quentin in midjune. There were 16 cases at the time when we arrived in the morning, 25 by the end of the day and we were inconsiderably concerned there was going to be a huge outbreak there. As your viewers have learned, the conditions at san quentin like many prisons in california are inconsiderable l incredibly. We were concerned for a major outbreak and thats what we have seen, we have seen that play out throughout the country. It is a scary enthusiast to think of what is happening and the question is as we heard from jacob ward how family members are seeking information that their loved ones are being taken care of. How do you ensure these precautions are keeping their loved ones safe and or if that information is being relayed to their family members in a timely fashion. There are a couple of issues when dealing with a prison outbreak. Once it is introduced, it is not impossible to stop, it is incredibly difficult to stop. We saw san quentin go from 14 cases to 2,000 cases within a month. So really for prisons that have not experienced an outbreak yet, the key more than anything else and even prisons that have is depopulation or deincarceration. All the Foundational Public Health interventions were trying to do in the community, physical distancing, isolating positive cases, quarantining people who have been exposed, you cannot, cannot do that in a facility that is overcrowded. When this outbreak started, they were at 117 capacity, very similar to california prisons as a whole. Having the room to move people around to provide Clinical Care and protect people uninfected, none of that can be accomplished if youre in an overcrowded facility. In addition, you bring up the issue of communications to the outside world, thats incredibly important. Really if people are being diagnosed, or have symptoms that are consistent with covid, they need to know theyre not going to undergo punitive measures. They need to communicate to the outside world, be in touch with loved ones and know if theyre isolated, they wont lose access to thepossessions and ability t communicate to people who are important to them. Is there anything that can be done on the state level to combat this . You talk about deincarceration, is there something that can be done to force prisons to release some that are held . Most of this is really a policy and legislature decision and through the governor. So we have seen some very positive steps in that direction in terms of trying to reduce overcrowding within our facilities. I think there is still more work to be done there because of the incredible risk this poses to incarcerated residents as well as surrounding communities and people who work within the prisons and jails. The same time we need really robust testing, this needs to be a priority within the state as a whole because of the huge risk that there is. And we need additional measures to correct to protect correctional staff who work in these facilities as well. All right, dr. David sears, thank you for joining with us that perspective this morning, i appreciate your time, sir. Thank you. Dont go anywhere. Four of the biggest tech titans face off with lawmakers in a rare joint appearance an hour from now. Next, new nbc news reporting on what kind of fireworks we can expect from todays historic clash. Ks we can expect from todays historic clash. 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Rounds of fireworks, pepper balls and tear gas capping a night of tensions there after two straight months of protests. Moments ago, President Trump warning of another potential escalation in the federal response. Told the governor, told the mayor, secure your city. If they dont secure their city soon, we have no choice, we have to go in and clean it out. Were prepared to do it. This as attorney general bill barr defends the federal agents actions there. Here he is during yesterdays fiery hearing on capitol hill. Do you think it is ever appropriate to use tear gas on Peaceful Protesters . Yes or no . It is appropriate to use tear gas when it is indicated to disperse on Peaceful Protesters. Unlawful assembly, and sometimes unfortunately Peaceful Protesters are affected by it. Okay. Nbcs Erin Mclaughlin is live in portland. Bring us up to speed, what is the latest from local officials there, both to last nights developments and some of the comments we have been hearing from the white house and been hm the white house and the attorney general . Hey, ayman. So far state and local officials have been pretty tightlipped about the negotiations that we know are under way between federal officials as well as the state governor, kate brown, according to Senior Administration officials talking about that to nbc. Theyre talking about potentially drawing back federal forces here, federal agents here from portland in exchange for local police filling the void, something that acting dhs secretary chad wolf told me repeatedly he wanted to see happen. Now, we were out among some of the Peaceful Protesters last night getting their reaction to news of this ongoing negotiation. They were hesitant about it. Remember, these protests began some three months ago in the wake of the death of george floyd. Theyre protesting police overreach. One pastor telling us, he said if a police force did come in to fill a void here outside the federal courthouse, hed want it to be a diverse reflection within that police force of the community, well trained in dealing with these kinds of confrontations. Ayman. All right, Erin Mclaughlin live for us, erin, thank you so much. Right now four of the worlds most powerful ceos are gearing up for a blockbuster hearing and what could be quite the historic moment on capitol hill. In just over an hour from now for the First Time Ever the leaders of amazon, facebook, google and apple will appear together before a house subcommittee. Lawmakers have already been investigating these businesses for more than a year. The question at hand, have these companies, which are collectively worth nearly 5 trillion, become too big and should they be broken up or in some way contained. Nbc news and tech correspondent jo ling kent has new reporting on what we can expect to play out. Also with us, tony rahm, senior tech policy reporting for the washington post. Jo, set the scene for us today. What do we expect to hear from these four titans. Reporter good morning. We do know President Trump will be watching this very closely, he just said that moments ago, saying what the Tech Companies are doing is, quote, very bad, without specifying exactly what that is. But this comes just as weve gotten our hands on the prepared testimony from all four of these tech titans. I want to show you a few of the things that they are planning to say. Bezos, who will be testifying before congress for the first time, plans to hit on the fact that amazon does face a lot of competition. Hell say every day amazon competes against large established players like target, costco and walmart, a company more than twice amazons size. Zuckerberg will also hit on some of the same things before congress saying i understand people have concerns about the size and perceived power that Tech Companies have. He says he welcomes regulation. Now, tim cook, the ceo of apple saying apple does not have a dominant market share in any market where we do business, and he is specifically talking about the app store and the iphone, their number one selling item for apple. And alphabets ceo saying people have more ways to search for information than ever before. What Sundar Pichai is planning to say as well is there are so many different ways to search for information on line. If youre looking for flight you go one direction, if you are looking for retail, you may go to amazon. Theyre all saying this is a competitive environment. However, todays hearing is not the only time these companies are under scrutiny. We also know that they are being investigated by the ftc, by the justice department, and dozens of states attorneys general about how exactly theyre treating consumers here and whether consumers are coming out with the short end of the stick, as they use all of these popular products, ayman. Jo, thanks for that. Stay with me for a moment. Tony, this moment is being compared to other historic industry hearings like when the nations tobacco chiefs testified together in the 90s and i think of others with airline executives. Could this be an equally Pivotal Moment for the entire Tech Industry and how lawmakers interact with it . Right. Well, thats fully going to depend on lawmakers and the executives themselves. Weve had a number of these hearings as youve pointed out where major executives have submitted to unprecedented congressional oversight. You remember those images where the tobacco ceos and others have their hands raised swearing to tell the truth here. The issue here with congress is whether they take the concerns that they have shared and they have aired about facebook and google and other companies and do something with it at the end of the day. You know, the reason that were having this investigation in the first place is because democrats and republicans want to see if antitrust law is up to snuff, if those protections against bigness have really survived the advancements of the digital age. Theres this early feeling that, yeah, congress is going to put forward some sort of proposal to update these kinds of things. Whether lawmakers can come together and actually adopt those reforms and make a real difference, thats the thing that remains to be seen here. To that point, i want to ask you about a broader question to deal with the Tech Industry. Aside from antitrust issues which is the focus of this one, are these companies too big and too powerful, do we expect lawmakers to talk about the elephant in the room, which is concerns over misinformation on social media in light of what weve seen play out this week, especially as the New York Times notes newly declassified u. S. Intelligence accuses russia of spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. Are we likely to see that come up in this hearing . Oh, yeah, literally everything will come up at this hearing. Misinformation, privacy concerns. There are even some republicans who with the backing of the president want to talk about allegations that Tech Companies are biased against conservatives, which is something the Tech Companies say they most certainly arent. I mean this hearing, as you said, is about antitrust but really its going to be this unprecedented opportunity for lawmakers to ask a wide array of questions about how facebook handles harmful content, for example, or how a company like amazon treats its workers. And so thats really where the potential is here. Its not just to potentially update federal antitrust laws, its whether this sets the stage for lawmakers to do a wide array of additional work on a bunch of issues that have sort of been left neglected on capitol hill for a while now. And if it is a sign of the times that these four ceos will be appearing virtually so we may not get that iconic image weve seen in the 90s with other ceos of big industry. Thank you both for joining us this hour. We are taking your questions on the coronavirus next hour. Make sure to email them to us at tal talk msnbc. Com. Im Ayman Mohyeldin. After a quick break, a lot more news with my friend, craig melvin. 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Craig melvin here at msnbc headquarters in new york city. Lets start the hour with the latest facts on this pandemic. So far weve lost more than 151,000 americans. Arkansas, florida, monna