Okay. We also have a series of developments related to the coronavirus pandemic this morning. Espn reporting the big 12 conference will move forward with the fall football season. Meantime, the big 10 and pac 12 conferences will not play this fall. On the vaccine front, russias claim of a new Coronavirus Vaccine being met with widespread skepticism. Dr. Anthony fauci expressing serious doubts about its safety and effectiveness. Another sobering milestone in the United States. New singleday highs for coronavirus deaths reported in pl and georgia and a National Medical group just releasing new guidance on face masks, including which can be most effective and how you should be using them. Lets begin our coverage with cnns Arlette Saenz whos live in wilmington, delaware, where were waiting on that moment that john mention idea we will see biden and harris appearing together for the first time as that ticket today. We sure will, erica, a little bit later today with the democratic ticket, now officially set, as joe biden selected a Kamala Harris as his running mate. And were told this morning that biden actually interviewed 11 women who were in contention nor the job in the final nine days of the search process before making his final decision to select Kamala Harris. He actually informed harris of his decisionov over a video cal yesterday from his delaware home. Harris pick is an historic one. She wants the daughter of jamaican and indian immigrants. The first woman of color to appear as the Vice President ial nominee on a Major Party Ticket. And biden and harris campaigned and faced off against each other during the democratic primary. They had that heated moment over School Busing at one of the debates, but biden has insisted he doesnt hold grudges and ultimately decided to go with someone who has that tested experience on the campaign trail, as his partner on the ticket. And harris also had a unique and special bond with bidens late son, beau biden. Beau biden and Kamala Harris both served together as state attorneys general in their home state and developed a relationship. And thats something that biden cited in his announcement, saying that beaus opinion was a value and big input with him, reflecting on the relationship that his late son had with Kamala Harris and that was a factor in his decision. During this process, were told that president obama acted as a sounding board to biden as he talked about his possible running mates he was considering. And president obama actually tweeted yesterday, congratulating and praising harris as the pick, saying hes known her for a long time and that she is more than prepared for the job, adding that shes spent her career defending the constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake. Now, later today, biden and harris will appear here in wilmington, delaware, delivering remarks together for the first time as the democratic ticket. They are also set to hold a grassroots virtual fundraiser, as theyre trying to energize their supporters heading into fall election. The Biden Campaign said they had their most lucrative hours of the campaign to date immediately after the selection of arrest wharris was made. Arlette saenz, keep us posted. Joining us now, democratic senator chris coons of delaware. He is a longtime friend of joe biden, who has been working on behalf of the campaign. And every Biden Campaign wing, since you were a young man. Senator coons, thank you for being with us this morning. I know you spoke to the former Vice President not long after the selection went public. So what did he tell you about why he chose senator harris and why hes excited about this pick . Well, john, joe and jill biden were excited about Kamala Harris being joes running mate, being someone whos got experience, not just on the campaign trail, but governing. Someone who ran the largest law office in our country. As attorney general, she was elected statewide twice. She was responsible for 7,000 attorneys. In the senate, she served with me on the Judiciary Committee. Shes also on the intelligence, homeland security, and budget committees. Joe feels that shes seasoned, shes got experience, shell be not just a great running mate, but a great partner in governing. And that she will help him fulfill his promise that the ticket, now the biden harris ticket, will look like america, will represent the strechbt that immigrants bring to our country, the racial diversity that we need to make progress. He knows what it means, john, to take over as Vice President in the middle of an economic crisis. Thats what happened when he and barack Obama Took Office back in 2008. They had a lot to fix. He knows in Kamala Harris, hell have a great partner in making progress, in addressing the mess that the Trump Administration has made, bungling the pandemic response, and the economic wreckage thats resulted. You just ran down senator harris resume. You have served in the senate with her, including on the Judiciary Committee. Tell me about her. What dont we know about her that you do . Well, one thing you know that i know, that shes a strong lawyer, she prepares well, shes tough on witnesses. She knows how to step up to a challenge and how to get tough questions answered. What you wouldnt know is that in a moment that mattered deeply to me, when my father passed away, in the middle of the night and i had to come to the floor to cast one more vote first thing in the morning before i could leave and go be with my family, she came to me and was incredibly warm, comforting, encouraging. She gave me real solace in a tough moment. And that was striking to me, because i was on the floor with dozens of my colleagues, some of them ive known for many years, and i had only known her for a couple. And hers was one of the most earnest, heartfelt, sincere moments of comfort and engagement. I also will always remember when i first met her as a senate candidate, she was compelling, she was engaging. Shes funny and shes warm. She is capable of being both a very tough questioner in the Judiciary Committee, going after attorney general barr or attorney general sessions, and then shes equally capable of being warm and engaging. She is someone who will be terrific to campaign with and to governor with. You talked about those moments inside the Judiciary Committee and inside those hearings. I think william barr will remember them, for sure. Yes, he will. This was one of those moments. Listen. Has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone . Yes or no, please, sir . The president or anybody else . Seems you would remember Something Like that and be able to tell us . Yeah, but im trying to grapple with the word suggest. There have been discussions of matters out there that they have not asked me to open an investigation, but perhaps theyve suggested . I dont know, i wouldnt say suggest. Hinted . I dont know. So how do you think thats going to translate on to the debate stage against mike pence . Well, i think President Trump and Vice President pence had a very bad day yesterday. And their flailing initial attacks on her suggest they dont quite know how to take on senator harris. And i think the Vice President , mike pence, will have his hands full on the debate stage this fall with senator harris. She prepares thoroughly and well. She delivers tough points, and i think shell draw a very clear and sharp contrast with his leadership, his values, his priorities . Frankly, what most Americans Care about is how will their lives be better if President Biden is our next president of the United States and Kamala Harris is the next Vice President . And one of the things i think shes focused on is how to make a difference for working families, who know everything they need to know about the trump pence record, and they want to hear, how will things be better . The first thing i think the Biden Harris Administration will do is stop the lawsuit in front of the Supreme Court thats trying to take away Health Care Protections from 130 million americans in the middle of a pandemic. Trying to strengthen health c e care, abandoning the court case thats trying to take it away wound of the most important firstday actions that i know a biden presidency would take. You know, you come from admittedly i think more of the center of the Democratic Party than perhaps some progressives that ran for president , that ran against senator harris and former Vice President biden in the primaries. And there are people in the party this morning who may not be as enthusiastic as you are about the harris pick. People who look at senator harris record when she was attorney general and district attorney, who say she didnt do enough to fight Police Brutal y brutality. This is one point from dave campa who says, you have someone saying all the right things now, but when she had the chance to do something about police accountability, she was either not visible or when she was, she was on the wrong side. Whats your message to that progressive wing this morning . My message would be, in recent months, in the senate, i saw senator harris fight harder than anyone else, right alongside senator cory booker, to make sure that the justice and policing act was not just the strongest and broadest policing reform bill ever introduced in the senate, but that that was the priority, that was the legislative agenda that moved forward. She has been a fierce advocate of policing reform in the senate. So frankly, im sure you can find folks who will be critical of anyone who joe biden could have chosen. He had a very talented, very Capable Group of a dozen candidates who he seriously considered. In the end, i trust joe that he made the right choice. I know senator harris, im excited about this ticket and she has been a very strong and very capable advocate for civil rights, for civil liberties, for policing reform, for immigration reform, for combatting gun violence, all on the committee where weve served together for years. I want to ask one question not about this selection. I thought about you when this was said out loud. I believe youre an ordained minister. President trump attacked joe biden on religion and said he would, quote, hurt god. I want to play this. Heres going to do things that nobody ever thought possible, because hes following the radical left agenda. Take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the bible, hurt god. Hes against god. Hes against guns. Hurt god. Against the bible, against god. As a man of faith yourself, how do you react to that . Well, john, first, just to be clear, im not an ordained minister. If i was an ordained elder. Im a presbyterian and thats a lay role within my church, just to be clear. That was a particularly of all the things that President Trump has said that are so hard to accept or to hear, from a person who holds an office, which all of us were raised to respect, that was particularly unfounded and uncalled for and untrue. Ive been with joe biden in moments public and private, in moments of joy and accomplishment and in moments of deep sadness and loss. Ive seen him turn in prayer to god for strength. Ive witnessed the ways in which his faith is the foundation of who he is. And moves him to act. So all im going to say in response is that i do my absolute best to never question or criticize the faith of others, to be humble myself in my practice, but i can say with confidence that over the 30 years ive known joe biden, hes a man whose faith is fundamental to who he is, and its a large part of why hes been such a committed and engaged servant leader. He respects the faith of others. Joe will be a president who respects americans of all faiths and americans of good conscience who practice no particular faith. And hes the sort of person who can heal us, bring us together, and remind us of the very best in our nation, which is freedom of conscience and respect for those, like joe biden, whose faith is private, personal, deep, and strong. Senator chris coons, presbyterian elder, thank you very much for that clarification. I do appreciate it. And thank you for telling us about how you know senator harris and what you make of this pick. Thanks very much. Thanks. This morning. How close the United States to a safe, effective Coronavirus Vaccine . Can all of these claims from russia about its new vaccine be trusted . More on the race for a vaccine with dr. Sanjay gupta, next. The sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now. Can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. 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Having a vaccine, debora, and approving that a vaccine is safe and effective are two different things. I hope that the russians have actually definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective. I seriously doubt that theyve done that. Dr. Anthony fauci casting doubt on russias claim that its and approved the worlds first Coronavirus Vaccine. Would it be even be safe and effective . So many questions. And of course, among them, just how close is this country to a vaccine. Cnns chief medical correspondent, dr. Sanjay gupta, spoke with one of russias financial backers last night and joins us now. So a financial backer. Hes not one of the researchers. Hes not involved in creating or testing this vaccine . Not at all. And i mean, he had some basic knowledge of the science, but it was pretty clear he wasnt involved with any of the vaccines sort of background, collecting any of the evidence. And basically said each time i asked and anderson and i were talking with him about the data, he said it would be forthcoming. So clearly, theres no indication of anything here, in terms of the data. Theres nothing to look at. Theres no objective. Nothing to evaluate in any way. So its really it was really hard to know what to make of this. From what we could gather, they said, we have a vaccine candidate. Its similar to other platforms like the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine candidate. We are through phase i and phase ii. Again, this is all what hes saying. We have no evidence of this, and well begin phase iii. But what phase iii is, according to mr. Dimtriv is giving this vaccine to Health Care Workers and not the tens of thousands to get the phase iii data we typically need. It was really hard to understand what to make of this. This is one of these cases thats actually simple. You saidnt take it. Dr. Fauci says, i seriously doubt that russias vaccine is safe and effective. On that idea of simple, im truck, sanjay, by a release this morning. Its out just now from the association of american medical colleges, which is giving consensus guidance on face masks. I know people may look at this and go, yeah, right, its simple . But simple can save lives here, what are they saying . Lets put this up. I think the idea of when to wear face masks, in what settings, i think, is really important. First of all, youve got to wear the masks correctly. And hopefully most people know this by now. Its got to go over your nose. Cant be sitting just on your chin. You want to have at least two layers, but preferably three layers when youre looking at this mask. But heres when to wear it. If youre at home with your own household contacts, you dont need to wear a mask then. But if youre in any other indoor public setting, whatever that setting may be, you need to wear a mask. Youre at work, at school, for some reason inside somebody elses house, you do need to wear a mask. All businesses should require masks indoors. Now, as far as outdoors go, you dont need to wear it if youre not going to be around others, but if you think youre going to be within 6 feet of other people, you should wear a mask then as well. We need to become more of a maskwearing country. I mean, you know, there havent been Strict National mandates, as we know. There have been some mask ordinances in various places. Even with