This morning where new hot spots are emerging and the damaging toll its having on the economy. On the record. President trump in a new interview overnight voicing outrage over George Floyds death at the hands of police its eight minutes of horror. Its a disgrace. But defending police and slamming protesters. The reaction straight ahead. And the new location for the Republican Convention revealed overnight. In the crosshairs. The growing momentum to remove confederate symbols once and for all. These are disrespectful and a slap in the face to africanamericans. But others say not so fast. 120 years its been there no input from the people of the city of mobile and its gone the rapidly changing tiakes y we go inside west point as cadets prepare for this weekends graduation after months of quarantine an inside look at how the u. S. Military academy is making things work in a year of unprecedented challenges all that plus back in the swing. The pga tour restarts its season with new rules, no fans fun to be back out playing and competing. But plenty of big stars thrilled to be out of the bunker today, june 20, 2020 announcer from nbc news this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb. From studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today. Rise and shine its friday morning and were glad to have you with us we sure are i know so many people are happy to see that sight. The time geos pinned to the ground b professional golfers, they are back on the course but i think maybe the most powerful moment was this one at exactly 8 46 thats symbolic of the time george floyd was pinned to the ground by police, play was stopped for one minute for a moment of silence. Were going to have more on that just ahead but lets start with the coronavirus cases increasing in parts of the u. S. At an alarming rate. This morning at least one major city is slowing its efforts to reopen because of that even as other states are seeing dramatic new spikes, theyre pressing forward with reopening. Yeah. The reignited worry sent wall street into a free fall yesterday. Were going to talk about all that with stephanie ruhle. But first tom costello has the latest hey, tom good morning reporter good morning. Right now weve got about half of the country seeing a surge in coronavirus cases. Now, some of that may be due to increase in testing. But were also seeing hospitalizations increase in select cities. Very disturbing. Also this morning, we have the story of a woman in chicago who suffered horrific damage to her lungs. When you see the photograph of her lungs, it is a stark, graphic illustration how serious this can be. Music city is pressing the pause button this morning with nashvilles mayor announcing theyll delay a move to phase three of reopening following a cluster of new coronavirus cases over the past couple of weeks. We will continue hopefully just a little bit longer with phase two while carefully observing our public health. Reporter nationwide 14 states have reported a 25 increase in covid cases including a 93 spike in arizona for the last week. Californias governor says his state which has seen daily numbers increase since memorial day has leveled off in the past couple of weeks and will move forward. This morning gyms, museums, campgrounds, and hotels will be allowed to reopen in l. A. County places like nail salons, movie theaters, concert halls, and theme parks will remain closed we anticipate an increase in total number of positive cases we are in a substantially different place than we were 90 days ago reporter as several Companies Race to develop a vaccine, moderna says itll enter a final testing phase last month earlier than planned phase three trials also planned this summer for Johnson Johnson and Oxford University vaccine candidates meanwhile, others are focused on therapeutics like regeneron now testing on humans. We are going to give people the actual antibodies. If you havent been infected, it should block you from getting infected reporter and in Northwestern Memorial Hospital in chicago, whats believed to be the first of its kind in the country surgeons performing a double Lung Transplant to save a woman in her 20s her lunged decimated by the virus. A drastic lifesaving intervention with hopes of a me this one sentence she said, doc, thank you for not giving up on me. As health care providers, theres nothing more gratifying to hear. Reporter yeah. Imagine that doctors say some people can take months or years to regain full lung capacity if theyve had a serious case of covid19 a very small percentage of people would need a Lung Transplant guys, back to you. Hard to believe she was just in her 20s, tom. Meantime, we talked about the dramatic rise in cases in houston, texas theres some stark warnings there. How bad is it there . Reporter the entire state has seen a very big surge in cases. In fact, texas has now posted its biggest surge in cases since the pandemic began, but a huge increase in houston itself and now county administrators are saying they may have to reimpose stayathome restrictions but im growing increasingly concerned that disaster reporter yeah. Theyre talking about actually reopening a covid19 hospital inside a stadium guys, we talked to a Hospital Administrator in houston yesterday who said his hospital has seen a 30 increase in hospitalizations some hospitals, a 50 increase in the hospitalization rate just in the last few weeks. Back to you. All right, tom. Thank you. Coming up on 7 07. Savannah all right now to the economic fallout. As we mentioned, the stock market plunged yesterday you may have been watching as the dow dropped 1800 points, its largest single day drop since p th the start of this pandemic the s p and nasdaq indexes not fairing much better. Each sliding more than 5 . Whats it all mean lets go to stephanie ruhle. Stephanie, this is like a roller coaster because the markets had gone up. Now theyre plummeting again but not the kind of roller coaster we like to ride. Whats going on here it is directly tied to the coronavirus, savannah. When we saw the numbers go up across states, investors suddenly remembered, hold on a second, this was a Health Crisis that sparked an economic crisis. Until we really get a hold on the coronavirus and get those numbers down indefinitely, we should expect a roller coaster what about what the Federal Reserve chair said the other day about unemployment did that have an effect at all absolutely. Because remember for the last few weeks, were talking about reopening and as were seeing the unemployment number go down, people have felt more and more confidence okay were getting back in the game but when you have the Federal Reserve chair warn people we need to keep Interest Rates low. This is going to be a rocky start. Suddenly people realized, hold on a second. This is going to be a long walk back in fact, he said unemployment could be at 9 for the rest of the year and stay high for a long time. That despite the fact we saw the Unemployment Rate drop last month. It feels like the economy is sending so many mixed signals. And then you have people who know that theyre out of work and they need help, steph. Absolutely. And thats why its been so confusing and frustrating. And the stock market kind of caught up to that. Even if you saw unemployment go down last month, its going to be a rocky road. Were listening more and more states are starting to struggle. Can we reopen . What will that look like even if we reopen, it doesnt mean all the jobs are coming back so youve got to stay responsible. This isnt a time to suddenly say that market looks cheap. Let me jump in and buy something. This is a time to be really more responsible than ever. Its a really good time to save. Stephanie ruhle, thank you. Now to the latest tie to the george floyd case. In a new interview overnight, President Trump called his death a disgrace but he also had some pointed words for some of the protests that it sparked Kristen Welker has that story. Hey, kristen, good morning reporter good morning to you. President trump struggles with how to address the crisis in the wake of George Floyds death he said hes working on an executive order to make sure Police Officers are better trained while also taking an increasingly tough stance on many of the protesters President Trump on fox news thursday night condemning its eight minutes really of horror its a disgrace. Reporter but he insisted floyds death was a few bad actors not systemic racism in Police Departments nationwide police arent like that ive seen so many great Police Officers reporter protesters he used out of control singling out seattle where demonstrators have taken over a six block area of the city including a Police Precinct if there were more toughness, you wouldnt have the kind of devastation that you had in minneapolis and in seattle reporter local officials are at odds about how to deal with the protesters but the seattle mayor and washington governor noted they have largely been peaceful if they dont straighten that situation out, were going to straighten it out. Reporter President Trump also doubling down on his selfproclaimed title as the law and order president at a meeting with faith leaders in dallas the president praising the National Guard who were called to intervene and help contain the protesters in minneapolis last week. It was like a miracle just everything stopped. And ill never forget the scene. Its not supposed to be a beautiful scene, but to me it was after you watch policemen running out of a Police Precinct reporter mr. Trump also vowing to ignite the country against bigotry and prejudice. I think were going to do it very easily. Itll go quickly and easily. Reporter notably absent from the event, three key officials in the dallas area who were not invited including marion brown who spoke to cnnple that should b those are the very people who need to be included in the conversation reporter a white house official tells nbc news its an unfair insinuation that local Law Enforcement is not actively engaged in the round table all of it comes amid an apology from mark milley said he he says he was wrong to accompany the president on that Controversial Photo op at st. Johns church. I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that i have learned from and i sincerely hope we can all learn from it. Reporter senator lindsey graham, a staunch backer of the president , tweeting his support and admiration for milleys statement writing in part, he is an outstanding military leader three defense officials familiar with the matter tell nbc news on the night of the photo op, milley spent hours reading news articles in criticism of his actions on social media and even considered resigning, something he discussed with confidants a spokesperson for milley called those conversations private and had no other comment kristen, thank you. I should mention overnight theres a new location of the Republican National convention that was finalized jacksonville, florida. Tell me about it reporter thats right. It moved from charlotte, North Carolina as a reminder, the president pulled the event from charlotte because he did not want to abide by the States Social distancing rules. He wanted a big event, a packed event. The New York Times reporting the new date is going to coincide with the 60th anniversary of something called ax handle saturday thats when the ku klux klan attacked mostly blacks they reached out to both the rnc and the white house. So far no response all right Kristen Welker at the white house with the headlines there also this morning, the push to remove confederate symbols is gaining momentum across the country. Theyre voting to remove monuments and statues. But defenders of the monuments argue they are important, historical artifacts Morgan Chesky is in dallas with that story morgan, good morning reporter hey, good morning to you and here in dallas, this is all youll see of their confederate memorial it is fenced up, wrapped up, and ready to ship out. This one is one of hundreds across the country now seeing ao change as hundreds of people look to get rid of them as symbols of racial injustice. This morning memorials to americas past crumbling down. Across the country, statues of confederate leaders vandalized turns into after anger over action these monuments are in fact disrespectful and a direct slap in the face to africanamericans. Reporter more than a century affect civil war and 50 years since the civil rights movement, nearly 1800 confederate symbols still stand across america including 700 monuments in parks, schools, even the u. S. Capitol building committed treason against the United States and their statuese navy joined the marines in vowing displays to are there because their states put them here. Reporter on tuesday the navy joined the marine vowing to remove displays of the Confederate Flag that would rename ten Major Military bases named after confederates but President Trump vowed to veto tweeting, my administration will not even consider the renaming of these magnificent and fabled military installations. Tammy duckworth a former Army Blackhawk pilot says its shameful we need a president whos going to be a leader for all thf americans, whos going to understand that the wounds of slavery are still with us to this day and we can do better and should do better reporter this has caused sometimes violent backlash to protest the citys plan to remove confederate monumentsn t confederate moderates. Scott is a peaceful protester. His great grandfather was a member of the civil war. He said these memorials should stay up because theyre educational. If you took this down and you would make one person feel les scott bowden is a peaceful defender his great, great grandfather was a confederate soldier in the civil war. He says these memorials are not offensive and should stay up because theyre educational. If you knew that by taking this down you would make just one person feel less oppressed, why not do it . I cant imagine anybody feeling oppressed by seeing a statue reporter but with more americans speaking out about the pain they caused, these symbols soon, too, may be history. And a recent poll shows that for the taking down of confederate statues, 44 of people are against it, 32 support it, and 23 either dont know or dont2e an opinion commander robert e. Lee had an have an opinion. Ironically, commander robert e. Lee, the confederate general had an opinion on this issue as well he wrote in 1869 that the u. S. Should follow the examples of other nations who endeavor to obliterate the past marks of civil strife hoda interesting all right. Morgan chesky, thank you we do have a lot more to get to including a heros welcome for some members of kentuckys National Guard the 206th engineer battalion returned to owensboro after a year in the middle east. The battalion is made up of 170 men and women. Family and friends were there to greet them with hugs and cheers. So happy to finally, finally be home nice images to see there savannah absolutely. All right. Let us get a check of the weather. Al is on duty. Tell us what the weekend holds hi, al good morning hey, guys things not too bad this weekend. Were looking at some rough weather thats going to be pushing its way off the coast. But down there the southeast we are watching showers and thunderstorms that are firing up were going to be looking at a stationary front that sits there. Heaviest rain is going to be from jacksonville to Cape Hatteras then tomorrow, another front pushes down. But that one is fairly dry but we do see those showers and thunderstorms continuing for the southeastern atlantic coast. Thats where the heaviest rain is going to be concentrated from Cape Hatteras to northern florida. We could see upwards of 5 inches of rain. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Fog and drizzle has quickly rolled into San Francisco and this will linger throughout much of today that will keep it cooler for San Francisco and along the coastline with highs in the 50s and 60s. Head across the bay, more sun in oakland with a high of 68 and mid70s as you move to the inland east bay. As we go through the forecast today will be very much like today and warming up by sunday. And that is your latest weather. Ladies all right, al thank you. Coming up, a closer look at the cultural reckoning thats happening in america what Lady Antebellum is saying about the groups name as things come under fire. And then how did a salon with two working stylists infected with the coronavirus avoid an outbreak . What may have prevented a major Health Disaster and what your local salon could learn from it. But first, this is today on coming up, cadets at west nbc. Coming up, cadets at west point ready for a one of a kind graduation ceremony. All after your local n at is a shot from Point Pleasant beach, new jersey providing so