This has been a very strong year for less crime. Thats because we have great Law Enforcement. Im very proud of them. There wont be defunding. There wont be dismantling of our police, and theres not going to be any disbanding of our police. Our police have been letting us live in peace, and we want to make sure we dont have any bad actors in there, and sometimes youll see some horrible things like we witnessed recently. But 99 i say 99. 9, but lets go with 99 of them are great, great people. As you see in some of the papers, they want to end the Police Department. Quote, end the Police Department in minneapolis. End it. What does that mean, end it . Were going to be discussing some ideas and some concepts and some things, but we wont be defunding our police. We wont be dismantling our police. Tonight in an interview with fox news, trumps attorney general backed up his boss. What would happen if a major american city, chicago, d. C. , disbanded its Police Department . What would that look like . Would the federal government have to step in . Well, what it would look like is you would have increases in vigilantism. In american communities, a lot more damage, a lot more killing, a lot more fear engendered on the streets from criminal elements. In chicago, for example, in one weekend. If you pull back the police from these communities, there will be more harm done to these communities. Earlier today democrats on the hill kneeled in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the exact amount of time a Police Officer held his knee to George Floyds neck before they unveiled a bill aimed at reinstating reining in, forgive me, Excessive Police tactics. It calls for more data from local authorities on use of force, funding to investigate Police Departments, bans on choke holds and noknock warrants, and a National Database on officer misconduct. The legislation does not appear to shrink or expand Police Budgets. House Democratic Leaders are now advising their caucus members not to let the momentum for reform get hijacked by debates over funding. Earlier on this network, the House Speaker defined the vision for this proposed bill. Funding of police is a local matter as you know. From the standpoint of our legislation, were not going to that place. What were doing is talking about how we change policy to make our policing more just. Theres some issues that we ask police to do Like Mental Health issues and policing in schools and all the rest that perhaps we can shuffle some of that money around. But those are local decisions. Perhaps noting this would quickly be used by republicans. The Biden Campaign put out a Statement Today saying, Vice President biden does not believe that police should be defunded. As trump tries to govern amid the protests, the ongoing pandemic and its impact on the economy, a new poll shows his Approval Rating now stands at 38 . Thats down from 45 as recently as early may. We also learned from Economic Data just out today weve been in a recession since february. Meanwhile, nbc news has learned the Trump Campaign is gearing up to present the president with options to resume his rallies and that over the last week, the president has been asking advisers why he cant be holding mass rallies when thousands are gathered in the streets to protest the death of george floyd. One of the thousands in the streets on sunday was senator mitt romney, who is also working with republicans on a Police Reform bill. We need a voice against racism. We need many voices against racism and against brutality. We need to stand up and say that black lives matter. Today trump posted this about romney, and we quote. Tremendous sincerity. What a guy. Hard to believe with this kind of political talent his numbers would tank so badly in utah. Well, late today the senator was asked for his response. I dont know what the president s views are with regards to this issue. He spoke originally about his concern about george floyd. Are you considering voting for anyone other than President Trump in the fall . Im not going to be describing who ill be voting for, i dont imagine. My plan is to stay quiet on that. Tomorrow will be the final public memorial for george floyd in houston where he grew up. Today joe biden was there to pay his respects and hold a private meeting with floyds family members. As thousands gathered in houston for that memorial, fired minneapolis Police OfficerDerek Chauvin had his First Court Hearing where bail was sent at 1. 2 million. He entered no plea. Hes facing charges of seconddegree murder and manslaughter. He could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison. A lot to get to. Lets get to our leadoff discussion on a monday night. Phil rucker is with us, pulitzer prizewinning White House Bureau chief for the Washington Post and coauthor along with his post colleague Carol Leonnig of the bestselling book a very stable genius. Jonathan karl, chief White House Correspondent for abc news and the current president of the White House Correspondents association. His latest work is front row at the trump show, and that was before social distancing. And maya wiley, former assistant u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york, a veteran of the new york city mayors office, now with the new school here in new york. And, counselor, maya, id like to begin with you and this phrase defund the police because its out there now. Its visible from space on 16th street. Its all over the web and on every broadcast like this one. I heard democrats today call this a straightup valentine politically to the republicans. Weve seen the fruits of that already today and tonight. Ive heard democrats reassure people that this isnt what it says, and ive seen a lot of complaints on social media that when you use the phrase, explain the phrase. Assuming reasonable people want something to happen when they call 911, maya, whats your understanding of defunding the police . So my understanding of defunding the police is fundamentally about recognizing that we have had a peace dividend that we have not spent on our people. And what i mean by that is Police Budgets have been growing, and staffing of police have been growing despite the fact that we have had three straight decades of rapid drops in crime. If you just look at the new york city Police Department, which is the largest in the country by far, twice as large as the fbi, it literally has seen a 22 increase in budget, as i understand it, over the last four years, and we have had historic low Violent Crime rate for years, for years. And just to give you one practical example, it means that in new york city, we have, say, 5,500 Public Safety officers in schools. Theyre on theyre Police Department personnel. We have only 560 school psychologists, but we have 1. 1 million children, including over 100,000 of those who are homeless. So part of what people are saying is were not spending our resources wisely. When we think about black lives, when we think about latino lives, when we think about the lives that are disproportionately lost in the kinds of incidents we have seen with george floyd, breonna taylor, and far too many that we can name on this program, what i think were hearing from people and its people. Its not just activists. Its people showing up at these demonstrations. Ive been at these demonstrations. Its ordinary people just calling for it. They want a recognition that we have a fundamentally dysfunctional relationship with preventing crime and with supporting people and that that has to shift in a dramatic way. Now, the word a go ahead. I agree, does not capture it. All right. And Jonathan Karl, maya just delivered a perfect toptobottom definition of the phrase as its defined by the movement, as its supposed to happen where the rubber meets the road. We are still left with this twoword phrase defund police. How has the president in the space of one day tried to turn that to his advantage . Oh, hes jumped on it immediately. The president is looking at the broader political context here. Hes getting hammered across the board in the polls, national polls, the polls in virtually every key battleground state, and hes, you know, struggling to find a message here. And here he has this. They have jumped on this, both the president himself. You played it at the top of the show what he said with Law Enforcement. I think he will say this, talk about this every single day. He will try to portray its interesting. They were attacking biden before from a different direction, citing his role in the crime bill back in the 1990s. Now even though you saw biden put out a release saying pointblank he does not support defunding the police, they will tie him to this position. They will tie him to the Cartoon Version of this position, which is abolishing the police, and this will be i think youre going to see a Trump Reelection Campaign that is part im the one that can bring the economy back and i am the candidate of law and order. Okay. Phil rucker, that nicely sets up a question about polling. The latest polling shows the president under water to joe biden, and to quote brianna keilar, all of the polls show the same thing. We learned today, by the way, weve been in a recession since february. Depending on which stat keeper you quote, coronavirus is showing up levels in either 20 or 26 of our states. And, oh, by the way, there are new barricades around what passes for our president ial palace. So the job Jonathan Karl is talking about, reelecting this president , none of that organically adds up to being awarded a second term. Yeah, brian. The president s in an incredibly weak position right now, and he has a lot of challenges in the five months ahead between now and the election. Hes clearly trying to address some of those with his law and order messaging, but the reality is a lot of americans are in pain, are suffering right now. And theres chaos all around them. And, you know, in addition to those topline numbers that you called out from the polls and what i mean by that is the headtohead matchups between trump and biden where trump is losing ground, its also notable to point out that so many more americans have a pessimistic view of the direction of the country right now. They think the country is chaotic. They worry about whats going to happen next. Theyre looking for stability and leadership. Thats according to some of these polls, but its also according to the focus group that strategists in both parties are having. Ive talked to some of the strategists over the last couple of weeks. Theres a real concern and fear out in the country, and the challenge for the president is to try to speak directly to it. He has struggled to do that to date. There is some hope within his circle that once he can get back to a little bit of a normal routine, back out on the campaign trail with some of the rallies that he likes, that he can, you know, somehow find a way to recover here. But its a tall order for sure. Maya wiley, i share this with you and our audience. Here is Jared Kushner from today. The Law Enforcement community heard the cries from the community, saw the injustices in the system that needed to be fixed, and they responded by coming together to fix it. Hopefully at this time where theres a lot of people in the country who are feeling different pain and feeling different concerns, Law Enforcement can be a leader in coming together and helping us work towards bringing solutions. So, maya, for all the complaining i heard mostly on social media over the weekend that mitt romney did the bare minimum, he marched, and he said black lives matter. Mitt romney did that and owns it, and he has thrown down on one side of this. It sounds, however, like the Trump White House is going to stay on the other side and throw down with the other side. Yeah, theyve made their position very clear because as we heard today, because trump won 8 of the black vote. So hes proud. That is true. The press secretary did flaunt that stat from the lectern. Yeah. I was she did that on camera, and so i think that shows you how out of touch they are that they literally dont understand or care that there is a fundamental movement, shift in this country that recognizes there is something deeply wrong with what is happening with Law Enforcement. You do not have thousands of people from not just in los angeles or new york, but in des moines and greenville who are demanding change. And the idea, the idea that you would say that Law Enforcement itself that has lost the trust of communities of color in particular and that communities that are white are saying, we dont even believe you anymore, we think youve got to change, we dont think youre accountable, we think you think youre above the law that those are the people Jared Kushner is telling us should lead reform. Literally the fox in the henhouse. So he is out of touch to say the least. Im sorry, maya. Jonathan karl, you cover charlottesville in your book. You talk about this president on race in your book. We kind of have come to know this president on the topic of race. So lets just say that maybe there are folks in the west wing who dont feel a National Speech on the topic is a good idea. Are they at a sheer political level, are they not, as some have said, on the wrong side of history . Are they now bumping up against demographics in a way that theyve moved on and it could be fatal to a Reelection Campaign . It sure feels that way, brian. I mean if you look at the west wing, its one of the least diverse workspaces in america. When the president made that walk across Lafayette Park to the front of st. Johns church, he went with a handful of his top advisers. Every single one of them was white. If you look at virtually any meeting there in the west wing, unless its one where hes brought in his opportunitys own group, it is almost entirely white. I wrote in charlottesville, his team back then, his advisers got him to give a national address, and he did it. Its been almost entirely forgotten to history because the next day he came out and made impromptu remarks about how there were very fine people on both sides of the protests in charlottesville. Very fine people marching hand in hand with white supremacists, carrying tiki torches in charlottesville. What i found out in reporting on that is they were so anxious to get him to talk to the country and give these prepared remarks that everybody quickly forgot about that in the meeting leading up to it, the president met with some of his top advisers right there in the residence at the white house, and he went through the exact same rants, praising confederate generals, Stonewall Jackson and robert e. Lee, talking about the fine people marching to keep their statues from coming down. And nobody john kelly was there. Jeff sessions was there. Christopher wray, who just become fbi director, was there. They all heard the president give this rant, and nobody pushed back at all. He went back, and he read his prepared remarks they wanted him to read. And then the next day, he said virtually exactly what he had said in private, and it became what i would argue until 2020 probably the low point of the trump presidency. All his advisers knew thats what he was saying. They knew thats where his head was at, and they did not try to talk him out of it. And, phil rucker, then we have just the visuals. We have the attorney general happening to drop into conversation today that, yes, indeed, the president was in the bunker that the president tried to pass off as a kind of routine bunker inspection one does. You have pictures of razor wire atop the new barricades outside the white house. You have protests on american streets every night for 14 nights. Those visuals start to add up. They do, brian. And what they tell is a story of a white house, of an administration trying to deceive the public about what happened last monday night in lafayette square. I would add, by the way, that visual, a documentary that our team at the Washington Post put together that showed minute by minute in that square the coordination among those federal Law Enforcement authorities about how they were going to go after the Peaceful Protesters and some of the weapons they used, and it completely contradicts the narrative that has come out of the white house. And it shows the degree to which they were trying to deceive the public. But beyond that, theres a picture here of an administration and a white house under siege literally with that barricade around thehe expanded White House Security perimeter. My reporting shows that the white house staff are eager to get those fences down. They claim they dont have any credit for it. Nonetheless, it feeds this impression of the president militarizing what has become a social Justice Movement across this country and using military force and the power of his office to try to hold back the calls for change from so many people in the streets. To our big three tonight, our thanks. Were always happy when Jonathan Karl takes a wrong turn on his way to abc news. And to our friends phil rucker and maya wiley, thank you as always. Coming up here tonight, theres a lot of talk about breaking down the police, starting all over again. We will talk to a former police chief who did just that. And later, passing fad or moment of reckoning . Why dr. Cornell west has a very strong opinion about what we are seeing on our streets right now, tonight, as the 11th hour is Getting Started on this monday evening. Hello everybody. Its me, gru. But you already knew that. And ive got some tips to help you get through these challenging times. First, practice physical distancing. Im sorry, i did not see you there. Ive been doing it my whole life. Or there. Plus, there are lots of things you can do at home. Like, stay active with some sick dance moves. Be daring. And whip up a new dish. I love the combination of gummy bears and meat. You can do video calls for all of your important meetings. What . Sorry. Or just have some fun. Ok, not that much fun. Now, this does not come naturally to me. But, try to be kind to each other. This is a tough time for everyone. So thats it. Stay home. Stay healthy. And remember, were all in this together. What . But totally separate. You know what i mean. Yaaaaay lets go back to this phrase defunding the police. It obviously means Different Things to different people. The Associated Press reporting supporters of the movement insist their demand is not about stripping agencies of all their funding, and, quote, they say it is time for the country to address systemic problems in policing in america and spend more on what communities across the u. S. Need, like housing and education. There is one recent bigcity example of a Police Department getting stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up camden, new jersey, just across the river from philadelphia, routinely referred to as americas poorest city. In 2013, the entire camden Police Department was disbanded. Back then we took a great interest in the new chief there, scott thompson. He and i spent hours together talking and riding and meeting people as he made the switch to Community Policing and deescalation. During one ride through the city, he told me if police can build relationships with the people they protect, quote, anything is possible. For more, were so happy to welcome to the broadcast scott thompson, former police chief for camden county, new jersey, where we add Police Headquarters now bears his name. Chief, its great to see you. And as you know as a jersey guy, ive always viewed camden and its history with a mix of pride and sadness just like everybody, i think. Riding around with you, i remember the corner store. I remember the parish priest. I remember the young single mom and her son. All were stops on your route. So cast modesty aside. Tell our audience how bad was it when you got there, and what were the improvements by the time you left . Well, brian, when you were with us in 2012, it was arguably the darkest hour in the history of the city. We had a murder rate that was 18 times the national average, Violent Crime rates that were exceeding that of thirdworld countries, and we had very high levels of mistrust from the community to its police. And it was in 2012 and 2013 that we essentially the entire organization was fired, including myself, and we all reapplied and started anew. And the key for us in creating the new organization was to have a department that realized it could not arrest its way into a safer community, that the only way we were going to make that city better was to do something different. And that was we were going to reclaim neighborhoods from the violent drug gang leaders who operated with a sense of impunity by empowering the people. And thats essentially what we did. We deprioritized arrests for minor offenses. We told cops to stop writing tickets. We put them on corners. We put them on bikes. And essentially what we did was we had moments of interaction with people in the public that were not predicated upon enforcement or moments of crisis. And by having those interactions, by having that communication, the people got to learn who the police were, and probably just as important, the police got to learn who the people were. People started to leave their homes. When you drove the streets with us, if you recall, very few people were ever sitting on their front steps. You didnt see little kids riding their bikes on the street. And the dynamic in that neighborhood has significantly changed. We had 175 openair drug markets within nine square miles. Let me say that again. 175 drug markets in nine square miles. Today we did have less than 20. And we did this by empowering the people in the community, not by militarizing the corners. You diminished two policing staples. Both of them happen to have the word down in the fight. The takedown, pulling over cars on a whiff of suspicion, and the patdown. We all know what that is. And both can be less than subtle forms over time of harassment. And yet you managed to police your community with less of an emphasis on those two things especially. Yeah. Well, you know, that doesnt equate to safer neighborhoods. And really the definition of insanity, brian, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We changed the metrics by which officers were judged. In fact, in our organization, we actually investigate our top five ticket writers every month because that is not a priority for us. In cities that are extremely challenged like camden, you know, our per capita income is less than 13,000 a year. So a cop handing a 250 ticket to a single mom thats working two jobs can be lifealtering. You know, and the people in these really challenged communities, what they want is a police force that will treat them with respect, dignity, and put the full weight of Law Enforcement in a laserlike focus on the people who are negatively defining everybodys life. What the people of communities become extremely upset with is when the police dont seem to know who those individuals are and they apply broadbrush applications of enforcement and just essentially revictimize all the people that live in the neighborhood. And its extremely frustrating for them. Again, its polarizing. And then something significant as a shooting or murder will occur, and we would go into the neighborhood and ask them to cooperate to tell us who did the shooting, and we would wonder why people wouldnt want to talk to us. You know, in 2012 when you were with us, brian, our solve rate in homicides was 16 . In two years, we took that up to 61 , and we werent doing anything different. It was that we had the people of the community were finally talking to us. We started to build levels of trust, and we became better at our job because we were better informed. The man whose name is now out on the front of Police Headquarters, former Camden Police chief scott thompson. Chief, great to see you again. Thank you very much for coming on our broadcast to talk about the work you did there. Coming up for us tonight, today the mayor of minneapolis said this is a transformative moment. Harvards cornell west calls it a turning point. Weve got the second guy, dr. West, standing by to talk to us. Were going to ask him to explain. At this time for our country were fortunate to have back with us again tonight dr. Cornell west. Having taught at harvard, princeton, dart mulmouth, and ye for starters, hes currently a professor at harvard, Professor Emeritus at princeton. Hes the author of 20 books and in the spare time is cohost of the new podcast appropriately called tightrope. We are as always happy to have him on our broadcast. Dr. West, i had the great privilege in life starting at the age of 8 to know the late great peter gomes, who at the time of his death was chaplain at harvard university. He was my Brothers College roommate and was always in our house, and we kind of knew back then this was a wise and learned man. And one of the quotes he has left us with is who of us would not love to have the courage to act upon our convictions as opposed to acting upon our fears . And im curious is it because you see the convictions of all the people in the street that youre so convinced this is a moment of reckoning, to use your words . Well, i mean, one, peter gomes was my teacher and he was my very, very dear brother. I didnt know that. Peter gomes meant the world to me, and i think he would be fired up at this moment because he and i were fundamentally committed to calling for a moral and spiritual awakening about the evils in america. And he was convinced that we need to focus on the exemplars of love. And this is so very important to the black lives Matter Movement. You see, its hard to focus on black love in a society thats been living in denial for so long. So even talking about [ inaudible ] people must be deeply respected and adequately protected, and the system in place is not doing that. And so the movement provides a very sophisticated vision and analysis. It says theres got to be some oversight. Theres got to be some accountability. Theres got to be some Community Control, and you have to connect police power to wall street power and pentagon power because in our society, theres a priority on military spending. The National Budget goes to the state department and pentagon. Wall street, unaccountable, lack of serious answerability, of responsibility when it comes to their crimes, and, therefore, there has to be a shifting to housing, schools, quality education, civic associations able to flower and flourish. I was glad to see my vanilla brother talk about that in camden because ive been to camden. Ive been to the high schools there. I know brother keith benson, whos my dear brother, actually used to play drums with teddy pendergrass, but hes an activist as well. And they have been able to turn things around why . Because when you respect people and when you respect black people who have been so disrespected, when you protect people, protect black people who have been so deeply unprotected, then the possibilities of the Community Coming together with the policing agents who are part of that community, but you got to hit poverty. You got to hit jobs. You got to hit health care. Youve got to hit education. They all go hand in hand. Thats what the black lives Matter Movement understands. And thats why i love those brothers and sisters. I love their love and i love black people. Of course, as a christian, i love everybody, but i start on the chocolate side of town. One of my other favorite contemporary philosophers samuel l. Jackson said tonight on another network while talking to a guy who looks suspiciously like anderson cooper, this is how samuel l. Jackson sums up what hes witnessing on the streets. The water broke. Now were in labor. Now were starting the labor pains of this change thats about to happen. Does he have it about right . I think brother Samuel Jackson is right, but it can go in so many different directions. You and i know white backlash, neyo neofascist clampdown. Thats the kind of thing that trump and barr and others are talking about. As you know, were going to bury our dear brother george floyd tomorrow, and thats a very solemn moment. But the memories of breonna and so many others as well, it means it could go another way. It could either go a way in which the community is actually in power, in which there is a massive reinvestment of resources in poor communities, in poor black communities, especially theres a brilliant piece on this with sister Kianna Taylor in the new yorker. Can america change . I think its the best piece we actually have now on this present situation. Weve got to connect the police crimes, wall street crimes, pentagon crimes. The ways in which lack of accountability generates violation of the law. It could be drones dropped by pentagon. It could be the embezzlement, insider trading, predatory lending. Not one criminal goes to jail, and then there is the Police Killing our precious young folk, none of them going to jail. Those are the issues of a democracy. Democracy is about accountability, answerability, responsibility. The history, the vicious legacy of White Supremacy in america has been one in which slaveholders, jim crow elites, can treat people black people any way they want and get away with it, you see . Thats what weve been dealing with for 400 years in america. Do anything you want. Say anything you want. Democracy is about curtailing the arbitrary use of power visa sri citizens and its nation state, citizens and its economy, citizens and its institution. And so when we talk about race, let us not just talk about Police Murder and Police Brutality. Thats the element, crucial catalytic the moment of catalyst that brother samuel is talking about, but it includes all of us in terms of our economy, in terms of our nation state. And when i look, for example, at what is happening in the democratic party, when i look at so much of black leadership these days, they so quickly want to incorporate the movement and make it more mainstream, next thing, you have sweeping legislation. Not a whole lot of talk about Community Control and civilian oversight as we see in newark with brother ras baraka and brother larry hamm. But they want to immediately grab it and mainstream it. And when you mainstream it, you deodorize it. When you deodorize it, you sanitize and sterilize it. I come from a funky people. Youve got to keep it funky. When you keep it funky, youre getting beneath all of the superficiality and dealing with the raw reality of struggle, pain, love, laughter, joy, freedom. Im going to start by listening to some teddy tonight thanks to you. Dr. Cornell west, its always a pleasure. Teddy man, we love him. Thank you for your wisdom tonight. Thank you, dr. West. Coming up for us, it took 100 days, but new york city is reopening, and the virus is still very much out there. Well have the very latest on what its doing when we come back. So whats going on . Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. Youve got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. Apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether its a new or chronic problem. And apoquels treated over 7 million dogs. Nice. And. The talking dog thing . Is it bothering you . No. Itching like a dog is bothering me. Until dogs can speak for themselves, you have to. When allergic itch is a problem, ask for apoquel. Apoquel is for the control of itch associated with allergic dermatitis and the control of Atopic Dermatitis in dogs. Do not use apoquel in dogs less than 12 months old or those with serious infections. Apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers to worsen. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling better . Im speechless. Thanks for the apoquel. Awww. Thats what friends are for. Ask your veterinarian for apoquel. Next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. Exactly 100 days after its first reported case of coronavirus, new york city has started reopening. But as new yorks governor pointed out today, the pandemic remains a threat in the city that was, lets remember, the covid19 epicenter, where it has killed almost 22,000 people. In our country in just the last 24 hours, there have been over 22,300 new confirmed cases. 888 people have died. 24 hours. The pandemic is now blamed for over 111,600 deaths, and were still trying to find out more about it. Today the World Health Organization said new data suggests to them asymptomatic carriers are not the main driver for spreading the virus. But experts warn way more research is needed to truly know for sure. Thats why we have one of our favorite guests back with us again tonight. Dr. Irwin redlener, pediatrics physician by trade, clinical professor with the school of Public Health at columbia university, where he is also the director of columbias National Center for disaster preparedness. Dr. Redlener, how do we process the number of cases we are seeing . Depending on which count you follow, either 20 states are up, or as many as 26 states where we are seeing a red line going up. Is that a function of increased testing, or is that a function of people who have gotten out, states that reopened early and theyre spreading it because of commingling or both . Yeah, brian. So actually all of the above. We have a complete mess of confusion about the data. We dont even have accurate or consistent guidelines for determining who has died from this disease. There are some states that are not reporting any of the covid dead to the cdc, and many states are using different criteria to say whether somebody has died from the disease or not. This just leaves the door open to confusion, loss of trust, and im afraid an inevitable resurgence of covid, brian. And what do you make of an organization like the w. H. O. And let me get this right. They said most transmittal is through asymptomatic carriers. Do you agree . Do you highly doubt that . Do you think its irresponsible, as andy slavitt, the Obama Administration specialist said over this weekend, irresponsible for them to do that . Yeah, it was way too soon for the w. H. O. To make any kind of announcement about how its being transmitted. We just dont know. Some people have very mild symptoms, and you cant call them asymptomatic, but they may not report being sick. So we dont know whats transmitting, and also theres people before they actually get symptomatically ill, theyre presymptomatic, so that just adds to the confusion. But the w. H. O. Needed to wait a lot longer and get a lot more data than what they have before making a public pronouncement like that. It just adds to the confusion, brian. New york city, an area where you are indeed an expert, was expecting an influx today of 400,000 people. Mass transit, the streets, people who have been away, tucked away to get out of the way of covid19. How can a city like new york with a subway system, buses, uber, cabs possibly avoid an uptick in cases with an influx that large for just the first monday, stage one of reopening . Sure. Dont forget weve also had a tremendous number of people in the streets protesting against social injustice following the murder of george floyd. So that just really adds to the possibility of this disease spreading around. So we have that. We have what in many ways might be considered a premature reopening, and we are not doing enough tracking or testing. So we have the potential hot box here of new york city having a resurgence of covid, which could be pretty serious. Well know in a few weeks. Listen, all of us really want the city and all cities to be opened, but were dealing with a lot of unknowns here. And i am worried that were getting back too soon. Just a word, by the way, for people using public transportation. They need masks. They also need gloves. They need to not be touching with their bare hands the support bars, the seats, and Everything Else that occurs on our public transportation. People still need to remain incredibly attentive to what the risks are, brian. Youre in a scary line of work, but we are much obliged to be able to ask you questions from time to time. Dr. Irwin redlener, our thanks. More of the 11th hour just ahead. Robinhood believes now is the time to do money. Without the commission fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Bbut what if you couldg do better than that . Like adapt. Discover. Deliver, in new ways, to new customers. What if you could come back stronger . Faster. Better. At comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back, but bounce forward. And now, with one of our best offers ever, were committed to helping you do just that. Get a powerful and reliable internet and voice solution for only 29. 95 a month for three months. Call or go online today. 14 Straight Days of protests in some form or fashion in our city streets. Theres a police line right now as we continue to watch things for you from coast to coast. These are live local News Pictures from portland, oregon. Coming up for us, a Living Legend lives long enough to see the words he fought for all his life really, big enough for the whole world to see. Whole world to see the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now. Can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable its our weekend special, save 1000 on our most popular smart bed and adjustable base. Plus 0 interest for 48 months on all beds. Ends monday. Last thing before we go tonight. What must it be like for an old warrior of the civil rights struggle, a man who quite literally has the scars to prove it. What must it be like for him to read the words black lives matter in yellow letters 50 feet tall and visible from space on the street that visually leads to the white house, interrupted only by Lafayette Park, which is tonight territory occupied by the federal government. John lewis got to see it for himself this weekend. The Georgia Democratic congressman was invited and accompanied by mayor bowser of washington who commissioned the giant work. Well, its very moving, very moving, very impressive. I think that the people in d. C. And around the nation have sent a mighty powerful and strong message to the rest of the world that we would get there. John lewis is 80 now. The man who marched with dr. King and was severely beaten at selma announced six months ago hes battling stage four pancreatic cancer. He walks with a cane now. Hes undergoing treatment, and the man whos been fighting all his life admits this fight is very different. But he lived to see this sight in washington, and thats saying something. And that is our broadcast for this monday night as we start a new week together. Thank you so very much for being here with us. On behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night from our temporary field headquarters. As george floyd is laid to rest today in houston, thousands began paying their respects at a memorial yesterday as protection against Police Brutality continues. Also joe bidens president ial Campaign Says he does not support the move. And the u. S. Economy is officially in a recession. The longest economic expansion on record has come to an end. Good morning, everybody. It is tuesday, june 9th,