Good evening. I am nicolle wallace. As we continue msnbcs special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, new york city mayor bill de blasio, at the encenter of the Coronavirus Crisis will be speaking in a moment, we will monitor for developments, turn them around, bring them to you when they happen. At this hour, awaiting a briefing from the white house and the coronavirus taskforce. We learned that attorney general william barr will be there the first time. This comes as the Justice Department is seeking Broader Authority to detain people during the crisis. This briefing comes amid growing tensions between Public Health experts and President Trump over how long the country needs to shut down to fight the virus. Perhaps wary of the economic and political toll of fighting the virus, the president is signaling his intent to potentially roll back social distancing measures enacted to slow the virus spread. Tweeting we cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself. The nations top In
Account for nearly one third of all the cases worldwide. And the death toll is on track to surpass the 58,000 americans who were killed during the entirety of the vietnam war. The actual numbers are likely to be well above those milestones, as only about 2 now of the u. S. Population has been tested. President trump is about to speak about supporting Small Businesses through that paycheck protection program. You see the microphone ready. His remarks come one day after the Emergency Loan Program reopen after receiving another 310 billion in new funding. A lot of Business Owners have complained of delays and other issues with the application process. The 349 billion originally allocated for the program was doled out in under two weeks. The Navy Blue Angels and the air force thunderbirds, normally one of the great rivalries in the skies over our countries combined forces to show their support today for Health Care Workers and others on the front line of the fight against the coronavirus.
Downplayed. He suggested he was surprised but felt that he was fine. Yes, indeed he acknowledged that he and the Vice President would now, at least for the time being, be tested every day for the coronavirus. Lets get to that for a moment here. As much as this white house is trying to project this idea of a return to normalcy, they can do so from the security of knowing that everyone in that bubble is being regularly tested. Thats how theyre able to do it. Thats why we see the president in the oval office not six feet away from staff persons. We saw at the mask factory in arizona when the president refused to wear one in front of the cameras. No one else on his staff did either because they all knew they had tested negative. But americans cant have that same confidence because theyre not able to get those tests. Great point. Thats the issue. As much as the white house is leaning towards trying to push states to reopen, to try to get businesses to open their doors again and get workers
Washington and out into to the country where President Trump headed to missouri today and unlike yesterday he made sure to mention those people fighting for their lives in texas. Before moving on to make a pitch for tax reform. As we all know, our gulf coast was hit over the weekend with the devastating hurricane of historic people to the people of houston and across texas and louisiana we are here with you today. We are with you tomorrow. And we will be with you every single day after to restore, recover and rebuild. Texans after all are still battling biblical flooding as Tropical Storm harvey slowly moves east. And its made landfall now in louisiana. But well towns outside of houston have seen as much as 50 inches of rain thousands still in need of evacuation, shelter, rescue. The president tweeted about the storm and his trip to texas. Quote, after witnessing firsthand the horror and devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey my heart goes out more so to the great people of texas. But
Gets underway. On a thursday night, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 259 of the Trump Administration wraps up a lot of news to choose from for us, including the relationship between the president and his secretary of state whos reported to have called the boss a moron. Theres also some late news tonight, vague and ominous comments the president made to assembled reporters during a photo op with military commanders and spouses tonight at the white house. But were going to begin this evening with the Mueller Investigation because of a major development. As nbc news first reported tonight, muellers investigators have found and interviewed one christopher steel, the author and compiler of that explosive and salacious 35 page dossier about President Trump during the campaign, specifically a trip donald trump took to moscow as a private citizen. U. S. Officials have said the fbi has verified some of the dossier but not which parts. Just yesterday t