states. in the meantime, with 79 days to go until election day, the president and his allying are falsely claiming that mail-in voting will be rife will fraud and may even take months, maybe even years to know the results of this election. >> we are going to have an election that takes place on a beautiful day, november 3rd. usually at the end of the evening they say donald trump has won the election. donald trump is your new president. whatever they say, you know what? you're not going to know this possibly for months or for years, because these ballots are all going to be lost. they're going to be gone. the. >> of course, there's no evidence of that. today's cnn's jake tapper confronted the white house chief of staff mark meadows with these facts. >> there's no evidence of widesuppress voter fraud, though. >> that's not -- >> there's no widespread evidence of voter fraud. >> there's no evidence of either, though, that's the definition of fraud, jake. >> kristin holmes joins us from the president's golf club. let's get into this issue. they're talking about coming back early from the summer recess to address the issues with the u.s. postal service. tell us what the democrats potentially are offering. >> reporter:, well, wolf, there are no make hurding to actually get a bill passed. it seems as though they might have some common ground, whether or not they would both be willing to pass some sort of stand-alone bill. now, remember, democrats have long said they do not want any extort of stand-alone stimulus. is they saided one be comprehensive big. however, they are changing their tune. today we heard from chuck schumer that he and nancy pelosi are considering some sort of stand-alone bill. the second hurdle was what the money would look like. you can see they proposed $25 billion for the postal service, and this was the same amount of money that was requested by the trump-appointed board of governors, in that 3.5 billion would be dedicated just to mail-in voting alone. republicans have floated by $10 billion. there's a huge discrepancy, but we are looking in an unprecedented time. that election is just around the corner. there were so many alarm bells set off this week. we heard from state officials, postal workers, all about the changes that the postmaster general was making, causing concern about the november election. one of the big things was a remove of about 700 mail processingments. take a listen to what meadows fold jake tapper. >> there's no sorting machines going off-line between now and the election. that's what my democratic friends are trying to stoke fear. >> are you saying that sorting machines have not taken off-line and removed? >> i'm saying that sorting machines with now and the election will not be taken off-li off-line. >> reporter: now, of course we know there was no stoking of fear. we heard from workers, union members, all that it was happening, but we heard from the postal service there would be no more dismantling. no more overtime, limited hours for the service, all of this causing major concern. >> kristin holms, thank you very much. joining us the president of the american postal workers union. his union represents more than 200,000 employees. in june, they endorsed joe biden. thank you for joining us. what are you hearing from your workers about the change to the u.s. postal service including as we just heard eliminating overtime and slowing down some delivery. >> well, thanks so much for having me on. what we're hearing from the workers throughout the country is that the policies the new postmaster general has implement implemented, cutting back the hours, changing transportation and cutting back transportation of mail, strict guidelines where somebody can't wait ten minutes to get all the mail on the truck to get delivered in a day, even though it should be delivered that day. all these policies are slowing down the mail. we're hearing that throughout the country, from workers. i got a photograph today, packages that have a date sitting in a processing plant, sortation plant of august 7th, and the pictures was taken this morning,ing august 16th. those packages have never been sorted. we've never seen anything like this, even in a christmas rush. so the workers are very troubled. or dna as postal workers is to never delay mail served customers, and it's very troubling to postal workers that we should be delaying the mail. >> do you believe, mark, that these changes are politically motivated? >> you know, i think people probably have all different views. we can only deal with the facts. i'm not in the meetings or a fly on the wall hearing the motivations, but i think there's a general political motivation. that is we're dealing with an administration that's not shy about their long run main goal, and that's to privatize the postal service. they put it in writing in june 2018, and that means dismanting it and sell it to private corporations. we're certainly seeing this will feed the agenda. if anyone had any doubt about the dedication of postal workers, we've been on the front lines during these challenging times, still proudly serving the people of this country. we're dedicated to move the mail, but we can't have our hands tied by a postal management that wants to do something else. >> as you know, mark, democrats in congress are calling for top postal service officials to testify, including the new postmaster general, a trump ally and campaign contributor. what do you want to hear from him? >> well, we certainly he's not in that -- but other concern is he's in blase to carried out the administration'senda. he will say some right things and nice things, but we can only judge people by their deeds. we're glad congress is involved. congress needs to also act, wolf. the pandemic, the economic crisis of the pandemic is deeply affecting the public postal service. in march there was a $25 billion ask from the postal board of governors that passed the house. there was a huge relief package, trillions, $500 million to private corporations. the post office didn't get a dime. congress needs to get it right and get it done. this is a crisis. this is an emergency, and the postal service needs that, whether it's a stand-alone bill or part of a big stimulus, postal workers don't care. what they need is the support and that support isn't going to ceos or shareholders, it's going to the people of the country. it's a wonderful national treasure that 91% of the people support and trust. that's throughout the political spectrum, equal support. it's not a conservative legal issue, at least it's not amongst the people of the country. >> there was some encouraging words. mark meadows said that the administration is opening to seeing some stand-alone bill to rescue the postal service right now, and the democratic leadership is beginning to come around saying yes, it might be workable now. the house and the senate, they've got to come back and cut short their recess, and deal with all these issues, making sure that desperate people all over the country, unemployment people get extra money to put food on the table. mark, thank you so much for joining us. good luck. >> thanks, again, for having me. the democratic presumptive nominee for vice president, kamala harris, is firing back at president trump after he floated a racist birther conspiracy about her. >> there is so much at stake in this election, and i'm prepared to fight, because this is a fight that is for something, not against something. >> will the messaging from the president turn off voters. stay with us, you're in "the situation room" can match the power of energizer. because energizer ultimate lithium is the longest lasting aa battery in the world. 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[ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. and then found the home of my dreams. but my home of my dreams needed some work sofi was the first lender that even offered a personal loan. i didn't even know that was an option. the personal loan let us renovate our single family house into a multi-unit home. and i get to live in this beautiful house with this beautiful kitchen and it's all thanks to sofi. . senator kamala harris today slamming the trump campaign. here's what she said in her second interview since she announced -- was announced as joe biden's running mate. >> they're going to engage in lies, in deception, they're going to engage in an attempt to distract from the real issues that are impacting the american people. i expect they will engage in dirty tactics, and this is going to be a knockdown/dragout, and we're ready. >> this position comes as the president has resorted to racially charged claims about the -- to be innovated to affect the key demographic. rob brownstein is with us. we know the campaign playbook at this point. what do you think the senator harris' response? is that the right approach. >> look, i think basically yes even before the paechbd, the president was underperforming any republican nominee ever among college educated white voters, particularly in the suburbs, because they viewed him as racist, sexist and dividing the country. roughly 60% say he's failed on two big challenges. obviously the pandemic is number one, but also race relations. that verdict undercuts his effort to portray himself as a law and order president. if you look at polls now, many of the equivalent voters today believe trump's belligerent confrontational approach increases the risks of disorder in society and makes them less safe. >> as you know, top trump officials have been asked about this conspiracy. i want you to listen to some of their responses. listen to this. >> do you accept the fact, and it is a fact, that senator kamala harris is eligible to be vice president? >> sure, and i think the president spoke to this yesterday. this is not something we're going to pursue. it is not someone in our camp is talking about. the president said it's not something worth pursuing. we have nod made an issue of this. we will not. it's a nonstarter for the president and for the campaign. >> as you heard, they say they're not pursuing this false story, about you we do know the story has praised the author of that "newsweek" article saying it was brilliant. he was giving it in oxygen. what do you think of the way hi advisers, his aides are responding to this as opposed to a forceful condemnation clearly he's trying to have it both ways. i think the audience the president is speak to, the issue isn't the mechanism, it's her identity that makes her ineligible, that she's a woman of color, and the fact that she's just a woman for many of those voters. so no matter what he is saying about the validity of this kind of absurd argument, for someone who is born in california, what he's doing is try to remind his share of the electorate that she doesn't look like me. she doesn't look like the people who live around you. the problem is the president has is most americans live in places where they live around people who look like kamala harris. as i said before, there is a segment of the suburban vote that's traditionally leaning republican who is simply uneasy, uncomfortable, unwilling to go further along the lines of division he's laid out. the audience may be bigger than people thought or hope, but -- >> rob brownstein, you'll be busy. thanks for joining us. we have a quick programming note. joe biden and kamala harris are beginning to make sure torrie. the democratic national convention goes virtual. anderson cooper will look ahead. that will air live tonight, 8:00 p.m. eastern. coming up here in "the situation room," our own dr. sanjay gupta, with the so-called look at the long haulers, still dealing with the effects of coronavirus months after being diagnosed. >> i have not gotten better yet. some days i'm worse than i was even at the beginning. awesome internet. it's more than just fast. it keeps all your devices running smoothly. with built-in security that protects your kids. protects your info and gives you 24/7 peace of mind that if it's connected, it's protected. even that that pet-camera thingy. can your internet do that? xfinity xfi can because it's simple, easy, awesome. get advanced security free with the xfi gateway. download the xfi app today. as the u.s. now closes in on 170,000 lives lost, there's a desire prediction from the cdc director dr. robert redfield. he's now warning that the fall could bring a catastrophic loss of life as the coronavirus collides with the flu season. for many, recovery is a relative term. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta has more on these so-called covid long haulers and lingering debilitating effects they're still suffering. >> four months later, my stomach is not what it used to be. >> i've been treated as covid for 97 days. >> i'm pretty much in the throes of it. >> reporter: they are known as long haulers, diagnosed with covid-19, but months later still experting symptoms. >> everything from blood clots, seizures, tremors. i have a lot of neuropathy. i don't hapretty much on the le side of my face and memory loss. >> 50 years old michael reagan had been always on the go, and then just like that, everything changed. when did you first feel sick? >> well, on march 22nd, i woke up unable to catch my breath. i went into the bathroom and coughed up blood. >> reporter: he ended up the same day at the hospital in new york city. at the time in the spring, it was the epicenter of the u.s. coronavirus pandemic. >> i remember seeing stretchers come in with lots of people, people gasping for breath. >> reporter: his symptoms dire. >> my blood pressure was out of control. it was 200 over 100-something. my heart rate got as high as almost 200 beats a minute. i was gasping for air. >> reporter: fort naturally after five days he began breathing more easily. he never went on a ventilator, but he spent the next two months in and out of the hospital. >> we realized that the patients don't really fall into black and white. some patients are sick and then they get healthy again. some patients are sick and then they die. >> dr. chin is medical director of the center for post-covid care for the mt. sinai health system, a first of its kind focusing on covid recovery. they've just been trying to figure out this disease, but now the long-term effects are also proving equally mysterious? >> if you have shortness of breath, we're looking to see something on a cat scan or something through will monthnary testing to see if there's specific organ damage we need to look at it physically to see what the virus actually does to your organs physically. >> reporter: the cdc estimates 35% of adults are not back to normal, two to three weeks after testing positive. still experiencing difficulties breathing, nerve pain, even memory loss and brain fog. ed study of 143 i tannial patients found 83% of them had at least one lingering effect. is there in way of predicting who is mo likely to have the persistent symptoms? >> i would presume if you had a preexisting condition that the infection, the virus can worsen that condition, but again we're also seeing patients who were previously healthy, but their symptoms have also persisted throughout their illness and beyond. >> it's truly a medical mystery that dr. chen and michael reagan hope is solved. >> when i was in the throes of fighting covid, i was only focused on breathing. i was scared to go to sleep. it wasn't until i was generally doing better that i started to notice a lot of the other symptoms. i know other people must feel the same. >> dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. thanks, sanjay for that report. dr. murphy is joining us. a former u.s. surgeon general, and adviser to the joe biden campaign. let's talk about what sanjay was reporting on. could this be another legacy of the covid virus, many more having problems for months, even years, down the road? >> yes, we are concerned about some of these stories we are hearing more and more from people with covid, stories that tell us the effects go beyond the first full weeks. in fact it lingers often for months. we're learning more organ systems are affected by covid-19. in the earlier months we thought it was primary a pulmonary disease, but it's turned out, as we have learned more, that we understood the heart is affected, kidneys are affected, nervous system is affected, and the list at any times to grow. it's one of the reasons it's so important we are cautious as we approach this disease. >> you know, doctor, another 1,029 americans died just yesterday from the coronavirus. >> i offered on twitter alternates while ago some perspective. in manage march, the u.s. and south korea each had approximately 90 confirmed deaths. the u.s. now has almost 170,000 confirmed deaths, while south korea with a population of some 52 million was 305. let me repeat that, 305 confirmed deaths in south korea. so what did they do right? and what did we do wrong? >> well, that's a great question, wolf. it turns out we are at a very unusual place among other countries, particularly among other industrialized countries. many countries figured out how to bring the rates of he done, many countries are still dealing with small outbreaks. they have managed to keep those outbreak relatively small. they have done that with a combination of increasing testing capacity, but also building a contact tracing corps that can help to limit the spread. in our case what we have not done is we have not built the kind of tessing capacity we don't. we don't have the contacting tracing corporation that's required. we've allowed the infection to spiral out of control that such thats testing we do have is not sufficient. we have, one, observed the kind of measures that one needs to do by staying home. we opened up too early, and not done swiftly enough, which is to put in players universal masking orders. the simple trust and what the data tells us is masks work. but we've had a patchwork of mask man daze around the country, and the problem is, if you wait until there's an outbreak in your state to put a manda mandate, it's too late. other countries have shown us steps work, we just have to step up and take those steps. >> the one things south koreans good is they had a national policy. they didn't defer action to cities or counties or anything along those lines. they took action for their entire country and immediately everyone was wearing a mask without raising any questions about that, and all that contact tracing we of course have not been able to do. you're the former u.s. surgeon general during the obama administration. let me ask about this warning tro dr. redfield. he said, this fall, the coming months could be the worst period of public health the united states of america has ever seen with the flu season on top of the coronavirus pandemic. the president seems to scoff at that, said the spanish flu was so much worse. what's your reaction to what we heard from dr. redfield? >> i think dr. redfield is appropriate in his concern. the main concern is he will see influenza spread at the same time covid-19 is still here, and here's why this is a problem. at the times virus on its own would be enough to strain our health care system. there's a second issue, when is that family when they present with the flu, they often are a fever, they may have a cough at times or feel short of breath. these are actually somewhat similar to the symptoms that people can have with covid-19. that means at a time when people are coming in with flu and with a cold, their symptoms will be hard to division, and because of the challenges, you know, ongoing challenges with testing capacity, it may take us a while that the person who has a fever has covid or something else, which mean more people already isolated for longer. it also will be harder to keep schools and workplaces open. but number one, we can get our flu shot. less than half the people got their last year. we need to bump those up. secondly, wear masks, watches our hands, stay home if you feel sick. and finally we've got to accelerate our efforts to expand testing capacity, especially with the rapid home tests. those will be a game changer. finally i've got to say, it is concern and so saddening for me to look at what's happening around the world and to compare how we are doing in america. our ponce to covid-19 has been a departures from the usual character of america. what america usually does is we rise to the challenges, work together and sport each other. i know we have the knowledge, talent to overcome covid-19, but we can't do it without focused, effective leadership. that's what we need. >> would you compare how the u.s. has dealt with this and other countries, it's heartbreaking to see that. dr. murphy, thank you. >> good to be with you, wolf. joe biden is hoping to siphon op voters who don't want to vote for the donald trump. rahm emanuel has a pitch. she was all of 4'11" but very tenacious. a very independent woman. driven, passionate. embodied grit, perseverance. she marched. -she wrote. -she demanded. she was proud to pass on a legacy of civic mindedness to her descendants. i'm very proud to carry on her story. all: her story -find their stories. -make them count. at ancestry. -find their stories. robinwithout 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. a big part of joe biden's strategy is to win others weary republicans. but there's a chance to get democrat voters on their side pin permanently. he writing -- we want them to buy into our agenda so they fuel legislative victories through the next decade. mayor emanuel is joining us. he's an absence news contributor and author of "the nation city." why mayors are running the world. how convinced are you that republicans planning to vote for biden can be turned into long-term democrats? >> well, look, you do back to the touchstone of 1980, there were then became reagan democrats. through a series of strategies, the first was well fair and crime on cultural issues. the cultural terrain has become much more favorable -- and mainly in opposition to the republicans. they're basically voting against trump, but it's a break point we as a party, if we do the right strategy, we can broaden the coalition that makes up the democratic party and former anti-trump republicans can become part of the democratic party. it's not changing policies, but policy goals will always be the same, but making sure we do not alienate these voters who become a permanent part of the democratic party and broadening the coalition that it becomes a mandate for decades to come. as i said then, and i believe in this piece, the determination in this election will be whether it's a transactional election or transformational election. if you look at joe biden and his team, by asking former governor kasich to speak at the convention, they understand that. >> many of the so-called biden republicans, rahm, they argue that trump doesn't accurately represent the republican party that they have known and supported. what's your response? certainly a lot of these republicans, they don't feel very comfortable with a progressive wing of the democratic party. >> yeah, wolf, i would say more than trump doesn't represent the traditional -- i think he's antithey cal. i never knew the postal service was an issue. up he is basically counter to that, and i think thoob abhorrent to that notion, to the ant-science culture that's dominated the republican party. joe biden like any coalition is building a broad coalition. donald trump has depth. he has a sliver of the electoral down deep. biden has breadth. that's a big, broad coalition. one of the things that kamala harris brings is the spark and energy that takes that breadth and gives it a level of depth it doesn't have before, which is why it's such a powerful team together. that's how i look at this. i think how we govern can continue to submit this effort. if you go back to 1980, you had corporate interests and blue collar union members. they were put together with a series of issues, economic and cultural. that's what we'll have to do from climate change to economic inclusion to social justice, to things that respect diversity. i think that touchstone is possible, but it takes work in building a coalition of broad groups, but with some depth that sustains legislative victories. >> we'll see what they can do und like under ronald reagan did. could this impact his reelectireee l reelection chances? 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[confetti cannon popping] energizer. backed by science. matched by no one. the bathts -- battle everybody ared presidential finances. fighting for the president's records. prosecutors asked the judge friday to throw out the challenge calmi ing it nonsensical. jeffrey toobin joins us, his best-selling book just out. entitled "true crimes and misdemeansers: the indefendant gatien of donald trump." get to the book in a minute. hard to keep track of all the various investigations, congressional probes into trump world. how important is this case? where does it fit in with all of the others? >> well, it's very important, but also very private. and that's the important thing to remember about this investigation. which is that cyrus vance, manhattan district attorney, won his case in the united states supreme court, and it seems to me it's only a question of when, not if. he will get the financial records he is seeking. and that includes tax returns and financial records. but the important point about this case is that it's a grand jury investigation. it's not -- the documents are not going to be public and certainly not before the election in november. >> in all the research for your excellent new book and everything written because the trump troves over the past years what's the key takeaway you think voters need to know ahead of the presidential election? >> you know, this is a key issue, because one of the things i learned in writing my book is that donald trump is a classic bully. unless he is stopped, he continues to act. that's the most -- it's most dramatically evident in the famous july 24th, july 25th events. that's when robert mueller did a bad job testifying before congress, and trump was invigorated by that. so the following day he asks -- that's when he made his demands for the new president of ukraine. president zelensky for dirt on joe biden and used lever of american taxpayer dollars for ukraine the military to get that dirt on biden. if the president wins, this is going to be seen by him, and i correctly, as a ratification of everything he's done. so when he deals with foreign powers after he's re-elected, he will be working for his personal good, not the national interests. i think if you look at his dealings with russia, if you look at his dealings with ukraine, this is how he operates. if he wince he'll continue to do it. >> let's talk about the durham probe into the origins of the russia investigation, john durham, the u.s. attorney in connecticut. been charged with looking at all of this, if there's any wrongdoing at a result of the highly anticipated findings, one fbi lawyer, now set to plead guilty, former fbi lawyer, i should say, to making a false statement in an email related to the russia investigation. some say this is only just the beginning. do you believe homore charges a coming down the road? >> this charge was not a surprise, because the justice department's inspector general did a very extensive report on the exact same subject. in fact, it's rather mysterious why durham needs to do this again, when the inspector general covered exactly the same ground. in the inspector general's report, it was pointed out that this lawyer had made a false statement. so the fact that durham is prosecuting him is not a big surprise. you know, the president has been saying for years and bill barr, his attorney general and enabler has been saying that there was something deeply wrong in the fbi investigation that led to the mueller investigation. no one has ever proven any sort of conspiracy, any sort of agreement, and in the plea agreement that this fbi lawyer has made, there's no suggestion that he was working with anyone else. i don't mean to minimize that. it's a very serious thing if you're an fbi lawyer to make this kind of false statement. but the idea that it is part of some broader conspiracy to get donald trump, not only hasn't that been proven, it happy even been alleged with any evidence sorry far. >> before i let you go, quickly. turn to the election. the president this week said he's blocking funds for the u.s. postal office, because that money will be used for min-iail inbal its. some accusing him of even breaking the law. to which you say -- >> i don't know if it's breaking the law. it's a betrayal of his office it is a reason to vote in the election, but the -- the postal service is part of the government. the government can fund it or not fund it. and the president's motives sinister here, but, you know, he is still the president, and if he doesn't want to sign a bill that gives more money to the postal service, and if the republicans in congress don't want to confront him on it, i don't know what there -- i don't think there is any legal remedy. the only remedy is the one that will come on november 3rd. we'll see what happens then. >> certainly will. jeffrey toobin, thanks. to ow viewers, timely new book "true crimes and misdemeanors: the investigation of donald trump" congratulations just making the "new york times" best-sellers licht list. i'm not surprised. and rampant mail-in voter fraud claimed by the president, lawmakers not making a deal to help fund the u.s. postal service throughout the election. what will it take to get congress and the senate back at the bargain the table? we will discuss. you say the customers make their own rules. let's talk data. only xfinity mobile lets you switch up your wireless data whenever. i accept! 5g, everybody's talking about it. how do i get it? everyone gets 5g with our new data options at no extra cost. -that's good. next item: corner offices for everyone. just have to make more corners in this building. chad. your wireless. your rules. only with xfinity mobile. now that's simple, easy, awesome. switch and save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill. plus, get $400 off when you pre-order the new samsung galaxy note20 ultra 5g. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. this is a special edition of "the situation room." tonight leaders in the house of representatives are turning up the heat on the u.s. postal service. they're demanding the post master general testify before an emergency session t