handle on all this. more effort appears to be going into white house attempts to anonymously trash dr. anthony fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert who had committed the unthinkable by telling the american public the truth about how bad things are currently. so bad in fact that now even president trump's former acting chief of staff is criticizing the nation's handling of the virus, writing in an op-ed for cnbc, quote, i know it isn't popular to talk about in some republican circles, but we still have a testing problem in this country. nick mulvaney then related the difficulties his son and daughter have had getting tests. and he called it, quote, simply inexcusable at this point in the pandemic. you might call mr. mulvaney in february said that the media was only covering the coronavirus pandemic because, quote, they think this is going to be what brings down the president, unquote, that was false then, of course. he has now apparently come to see the seriousness of this pandemic now that it is impacted him and his family personally. if only this revelation had occurred before july. cnn's nick watt starts off our live coverage today from los angeles. and, nick, this is a massive backtrack for california which started easing some of its restrictions in may, only to see another spike. >> reporter: jake, california did pretty well flattening that curve when we were closed. not so much since we reopened as the governor says the virus is spreading. so as you mentioned he is now -- by the way, remember he use to do things county by county recognizing small counties were different from l.a. not anymore. now more indoor bars, restaurants, movie theaters. and in the counties that are on his watchlist, the ones that he thinks are doing the worst including los angeles, also hair salons will be closed again and a few other things. now, in florida where the numbers are arguably even worse, we are expecting to hear from the governor within the next few minutes. florida is smashing records. more than 15,000 new covid cases sunday, the most logged in any state, any day, ever. >> we have to get control of these numbers. these numbers are out of control. >> reporter: the number of covid patients in miami-dade hospitals is up 65% in just two weeks. the number in the icu is up 67%. those on ventilators, up 129%. miami might have to reverse re-opening. >> if we get to a point where we don't feel that we can care for the people that are getting sick, that's something that we're going to have to strongly look at. >> reporter: disney world just opened two parks. but if you don't wear a mask, you won't get the photo from your side. seriously, that's part of the enforcement. the nba is planning to play in a about you believe in florida. but among the players who have now tested positive, rustle westbrook. nhl teams started training today. but nine pittsburg penguins pulled after possible exposure. >> we believe as we go through this screening process and we actually get to our two bubbles in places that don't have a lot of covid-19, we should be okay. >> reporter: those nhl bubbles are in canada where they have just over a quarter of the cases per capita that we have south of the border. >> we can turn this thing around in two to three weeks if we can get a critical mass of people wearing face coverings. >> reporter: but there's no federal mandate. meanwhile in texas, the average daily death toll just doubled in a week. harvard researchers say these eight states should roll back re-opening. >> what we need to do is reinstitute measures to flatten the curve. >> reporter: georgia's governor is resistant, but atlanta already rolled back to phase one. the mayor and her family recovering. >> we are an example of how quickly this virus spreads. we have one child in the house who was asymptomatic. i was also asymptomatic and my husband didn't have any underlying health conditions and this has hit him really hard. >> reporter: documents uncovered by the "new york times" suggests that fully re-opening schools would be the highest risk option. and that's what the trump administration wants. >> the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall. >> reporter: there is a way out of all this. new york city, open slowly, mandated masks and just reported no deaths from covid-19 in a day. zero. and the los angeles school district, the second biggest in the country, more than 600,000 students, jake, they have just said that when they go back in august, it will be online only. nothing in person. as the governor of california said, listen, there are two things that are non-negotiable. our children's health and their education. it's not either/or, it is both. jake? >> and we're going to talk more about education leader in the show with a former cdc director. let's bring in cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta to talk about all of the breaking news about the pandemic. you see all these changes announced today in california with the governor ordering bars to close, no more indoor dining at restaurants. >> do you think other states need to roll back some of these re-opening plans until the virus is under control until, at the very least, they are adhering by the white house coronavirus's task force's guidelines, no state strictly adhered to before re-opening. >> yeah. that's the bottom line. the guidelines were pretty clear. get the 14-day downward trend. if you do that, you're going to have a low enough absolute number of cases that you can get a handle on it. jake, i think the question now becomes do some of these states need to go into a sort of complete lockdown mode, which would be the most aggressive treatment? or can they do some of these more minimally invasive procedures, closing down bars and restaurants? i think there's a lot to be said. we know what the biggest sort of source of spread likely is in this situation. it's indoor settings, lots of people clustered together. and typically bars and restaurants people don't wear masks, they're eating, drinking. so those are going to be the biggest challenges. and if you can make a significant impact in terms of reducing spreading events there, i think it goes a long way. compound that with, you know, face mask laws, face mask requirements. i think you start to at least see the numbers not growing, the pace of the numbers not growing as fast as they are and hopefully starting to slow down. so, i think that's going to be the decision tree. status quo, as we see, jake, in many places, isn't working. >> indeed cases are increasing not just in california but in 34 other states. the u.s. now averaging 60,000 new cases a day. how much worse do you think this is going to get before steps are taken to start flattening the curve again? >> i don't know, jake. i mean, this is almost a philosophical question at this point. i mean, we've been talking about this for months now. how bad does it need to get in order for people to start making the changes that we know need to be made? i think there's no question that eventually we're going to make these changes. the question is how bad will we let the problem get before we do so? it's ridiculous, obviously, at this point. if this were a patient, it's like the patient's refusing all sorts of treatment until the patient is getting to the point of going into some sort of crisis and then afrp loing the intervention to take place. what point that's going to be, i don't know. we know what needs to be done. i think the hospitals and the surge capacity being exceeded, that'll probably drive the decisions. at some point, jake, the thing is that i don't know that we or leaders or any human is going to be in charge of the decision anymore. it's going to be the virus that dictates that decision. >> and i can't overstate how much of the rest of the world is looking at the united states and not understanding why we can't get our act together, why we can't come up with one cohesive national plan, as they have been able to. the fact that the nhl is going to canada because it's safe there says it all. former acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney who was an early sceptic of the coverage of coronavirus, he was wrong, of course. but he wrote in a new op-ed today, quote, i know it isn't popular to talk about in some republican circles, but we cstil have a testing problem in this country. my son was tested recently. we had to wait five to seven days before results. and my daughter was told she didn't qualify. that is simply inexcusable at this point in the pandemic. again, let's set aside the fact that mulvaney belittled the threat of the coronavirus in february. isn't he right? testing is nowhere near where it needs to be. >> it isn't, jake, and i'll take it a step further. i think this is the original sin, the lack of testing. i think every other thing that we talk about in some ways derives from this because we did not have adequate testing, partly, as we know, that there was a flawed test near the beginning of this and that caused a lot of problems. but come middle of july still, we still don't have a national testing program. i talked to the head of the cdc last week. he says, you know what, we should probably think about having a national testing program. he's offering that up as a suggestion now in the middle of july. it really boggles the mind. jake, the idea that you can have simple ready, quick response testing that's widely available that could get people back to a sense of normalcy, let them know, a, they don't have the virus, at least at that point in time. b, the people that they're going to be coming in contact with at their workplace or wherever their going, also don't have the virus, is so significant. not only would it give people the physical confidence to start being able to isolate and trace and all that, but also the psychological confidence. i think we have not probably -- you know, that's more of a subjective thing. we haven't talked as much about that. i can't get my own family tested. i had the same problem mulvaney had. it was hours to try and get tested, days before we could get results back. not qualifying despite even having minimal symptoms. it is ridiculous still at this point in this pandemic in this country that testing is still where it is. ambassador birx talked two and a half months ago we're going to have a breakthrough in testing. well, where is it? we still haven't seen any kind of breakthrough in testing. >> no, not at all. and a new study, i want to ask you about this because it's potentially troubling news. a new study finds that a person's coronavirus antibodies after they have already been exposed to the disease and have developed antibodies that those antibodies start to decline. somewhere 20 to 30 days after they first show symptoms. does that mean if somebody's antibodies can decline, and ultimately even possibly go away, does that mean the people can get this illness more than once? >> well, you know, i think the answer to that question for the time being is we don't know for sure. i will say this, jake. we follow this very closely. i've been doing a lot of reporting in this area. at this point in the middle of july, we haven't seen a case reports of people becoming reinfected in this country. there was some discussion about that in south korea. that was probably not actually true reinfections. if it were true that the antibodies and protection were only lasting 20 to 30 days, i think we would have started to see some significant amounts of reinfection. we haven't. number two is that the idea that people who have minimal symptoms versus people who have significant symptoms, they do seem to have different amounts of antibodies that they're producing. this is borne out of two studies, one out of china and one out of italy. people may be producing less antibodies and maybe possibly less strong antibodies as well. again, the data's still coming in on this. i think that the big question going forward is how protective is it ultimately if you get exposed to this virus? and i have the answer is still that you do have some protection for a period of time. it may not be the antibodies specifically. it may be these other cells that quickly turn on in the body to make antibodies when you're exposed to the virus. we don't know yet. but i do believe, jake, based on all the reporting that at least for a period of time you do have protection after you've been exposed to this virus. >> all right. and the hunt for a vaccine goes on as well. dr. sanjay gupta, thank you so much. really appreciate it. president trump apparently values the opinion of the guy who once hosted "love connection." what the president just said about dr. fauci, that's next. new plus, the former acting cdc director will help me talk about the battle on whether or not students should go back to school after the nation's second largest school district announced kids will not return to the physical classroom in the fall. stay with us. attention veterans with va loans. record low mortgage rates have now fallen even lower. by refinancing, you can save $3000 a year with one call to newday usa. our team is standing by right now to take your call. and from start to finish, you can do it all without ever leaving the house. with our va streamline refi, there's no income verification. no appraisal. and no out of pocket costs. nobody works harder for veterans than my team at newday usa. 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"...flight boarding for flight 2007 to chicago..." so i talked to my doctor and learned- ...humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief... -and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened,- -, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor... ...if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections... ...or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your doctor about humira. with humira, remission is possible. if you can't afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. in our politics lead, the split between the president of the united states and his top doctors seems to have cracked wide open. president trump this morning re-tweeting a former game show host and conspiracy theorist who accused the cdc and doctors of lying about the coronavirus in order to keep the economy closed and hurt trump politically, a rather deranged accusation. meanwhile, the white house is trying to undermine the nation's leading infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci, disseminating what amounts to opposition research taking quotes of his out of context, trashing him anonymously to reporters. a clear coordinated effort to undermine dr. fauci. so, yes, just to sum up, i want to make sure you heard me correctly, the president in the middle of a pandemic is promoting the views of the virus of chuck woolry while his white house is attacking dr. anthony fauci. moments ago president trump talked about this as cnn's kaitlan collins reports. >> reporter: after multiple attempts to undercut him, the white house insisted today that president trump isn't trying to discredit dr. anthony fauci. >> i find him to be a very nice person. i don't always agree with him. >> reporter: press secretary kayleigh mcenany denied having anonymous officials distribute opposition-style research to reporters after they did just that over the weekend. >> there is no opposition research being dumped to reporters. simply provided a direct answer to what was a direct question. >> reporter: though trump has criticized anonymous sources in the past, an anonymous administration official claimed aides were concerned about the number of times fauci was wrong. >> there is no reason to be walking around with a mask. >> reporter: the list did not include statements from other officials who have also been wrong like the surgeon general. and it didn't include any of the president's false claims either. >> anybody that needs a test gets a test. >> reporter: instead when it comes to medical advice, the president appears to now be turning to the former love connection game show host chuck woolry. >> what does it take for you to fall in love? >> reporter: trump re-tweeted him after he claimed everyone including the cdc, media, democrats, and most doctors are lying about covid-19 in an attempt to hurt trump politically. mcnany said it was directed to rogue individuals who had leaked draft documents of re-opening guidance. >> when we use science, we have to use it in a way that is not political. >> reporter: it's a similar sentiment to the one once echoed by trump's former chief of staff. >> they think this is going to be what brings down the president. >> reporter: but mick mulvaney appears to have reversed course. mulvaney cites first-hand experience that the u.s. has a testing problem, saying his own son waited five to seven days for results, while his daughter was denied a test altogether. asked to respond to mulvaney's criticism, it ignored the long delays in getting results. >> our reaction is that we lead the world in testing. we've done more than 40 million tests. that's an extraordinary number. >> reporter: now, jake, when the president was speaking with reporters today, he did not acknowledge the delays in getting test results that we are seeing across the country. instead, only talking about how testing has increased in the last several months and saying that that's the reason we are seeing more cases here in the u.s. and when it comes to fauci and trump, we do want to note that fauci has worked in the government since 1984. it's incredibly difficult to fire him. and we should note that the president has been warned and advised that doing so trying to remove him from his position could be damaging politically. >> all right, kaitlan collins at the white house for us, thank you so much. the battle over back to school plans. the former acting cdc director joins me next as more school districts announce students will not physically return to the classroom in the fall. stay with us. my name is christine payne, i'm an associate here at amazon. step onto the blue line, sir. this device is giving us an accurate temperature check. you're good to go. i have to take care of my coworkers. that's how i am. i have a son, and he said, "one day i'm gonna be like you, i'm gonna help people." you're good to go, ma'am. i hope so. this is my passion. if i can take of everyone who is sick out there, i would do it in a heartbeat. if i csimon pagenaud takes the lead at the indy 500!, coming to the green flag, racing at daytona. they're off... in the kentucky derby. rory mcllroy is a two time champion at east lake. touchdown! only mahomes. the big events are back and xfinity is your home for the return of live sports. in our national lead, this afternoon, california's two biggest school systems, los angeles county and san diego, both announced that students will not physically return to class when school starts next month. instead, classes will be online only. both districts called federal guidelines on re-opening vague and contradictory. the trump administration insists that all u.s. schools should reopen in the fall, but the administration will not spell out exactly how to do so safely. and, in fact, has undermined the cdc guidelines on the matter. let's bring in dr. richard besser, former acting cdc director. dr. besser, thanks for joining us. what's your reaction to the los angeles and san diego school districts' decision not to bring students physically back to class when school starts in august? >> jake, as you know, i'm a pediatrician and a parent. and the place for students is in school learning. but you have to do it in a way that's safe. and one of the things that's clear is if you have widespread transmission of covid in the community, there's absolutely no way to safely open the schools. it has to be a decision that schools are doing in conjunction with local public health, with teachers, with staff, groups with parents, so that it can be done safely. >> my colleague dana bash tried to get specifics on what federal school re-opening plan there is when she interviewed education secretary betsy devos yesterday. take a look. >> do you have a plan for what -- >> the plan -- >> for what schools should do? >> schools should do what's right on the ground at that time for their students and for their situation. there is no one uniform approach that we can take -- or should take nationwide. >> what's your reaction to that, dr. besser? >> well, you know, i think part of that is on target in that you need to respond to the situation that's happening locally. so in a place with widespread disease, you can't think about opening the schools. but in a place that has the pandemic under control where numbers have been going down, where you're slowly opening the economy, then the other half isn't right. you have to have the same approach. that means configuring schools in ways that are going to be safer for children. that means fewer children in the classroom, checking air flow so that air flow is turning over more so the kids aren't exposed to whatever's in the air as much. putting up barriers. the upside of this pandemic, jake, is that most children who get this will do fine. not all, but most will do fine. but that's not true for staff. that's not true for teachers. and so you need to make sure that schools are safe not just for children but for everyone who's working there. and children go home and they go home to grandparents, they go home to other people who have underlying conditions. and so you want to make sure that children aren't bringing something home. and the other piece of this, jake, is that we fund schools in america in a way that is actually cruel. we fund them based on property taxes. so it means that wealthy communities may be able to make the changes so that schools are safe for their kids. lower income communities are not going to be able to do so. so the same disparities we've seen play out in terms of who's dying from this pandemic with more black and latino and native american kids, adults getting hit hard, you're going to see it play out with schools and which schools can reopen and which ones can't. >> president trump has said that the cdc guidelines for schools are too tough and too expensive. the president has pressured the cdc to change the guidelines. if you were cdc director right now and you had the situation that we have, which is case numbers are going up in 35, 36 states. i think they're only going down in three. what would you tell the president? what should he be doing, and do you think that the cdc guidelines are too tough? >> well, i would say that the cdc guidelines are expensive. and the reason they're expensive is that you actually have to make physical changes to the school to make it safer. you have to hire additional staff to be able to do the kinds of cleaning that's necessary. you have to hire staff to be able to screen all the children who come into the school and screen staff and screen teachers. you have to be putting in place these systems if you want them truly to be safe. but you never change the science in a guideline. the science says what should be done to protect people's health. and if they're expensive, that means that federal funding has to come down to ensure that every school in every community has what they need to keep children, staff, and teachers safe. and i'm worried that schools are not ready in most places to be able to do that. >> well, what does it say about a society that we're willing to give hundreds of billions of dollars to huge corporations in order to try to keep the economy alive? but this money that you're saying schools need in order to safely reopen, we are not given. >> it's not just schools, jake. the supports to families, the protection from eviction, the protection from mortgage foreclosures, all of those supports are going away. and so you're going to be seeing lower income communities hit harder. you're going to be seeing workers having to go back to work to pay the bills to avoid eviction at a time when disease is ramping up in so many communities. we need the federal government to step up and make sure that everyone has what they need to be protected here. these things cost a lot. but so does losing a loved one. that needs to be foremost in people's minds. >> all right, dr. richard besser, thank you so much. we're finally getting a look at the staggering number of people hospitalized in florida after the republican governor's attempts to keep those numbers under wraps have unravelled. that's next. inflammation in your eye might be to blame. looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes! over-the-counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. ha! these drops probably won't touch me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. what is that? 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now is the time to call newday usa. from grills to play setsutdoor and more one of a kind finds. it all ships free. and with new deals every day you can explore endless options at every price point. get your outdoor oasis delivered fast so you can get the good times going. ♪ wayfair. you've got just what i need. ♪ an american tragedy. that's what democratic florida congresswoman donna shell alea, the former health secretary in the clinton administration reported after her state reported more than 15,000 new infections on sunday, more than any other state on record. randy, nearly a quarter of all of florida's coronavirus cases are from miami-dade county. what are the hospitals there seeing? >> reporter: we're now seeing, jake, more than 8,000 people hospitalized around the state of if. . will. 8,072 at last check. and they really are beginning to get overwhelmed. if you look at the numbers from the last two weeks, hospitalizations there are up 65%. patient icu beds are up 67%. and ventilator use is up 129%. the mayor of miami speaking just a short time ago saying that the hospitals are at 91 to 92% compas capacity. he hopes to maybe get that up about 50% if he can in the next couple of weeks. but he said that staffing is actually the biggest issue, jake, not the beds. as you said, one quarter of all new cases coming out of miami-dade, they are seeing a positivity rate in that county of greater than 26%. so it's very concerning to see what's happening in miami-dade, jake. >> more evidence that this is not just a result of more testing. it is actually spreading, and it is getting at crisis levels in some parts of the country. longtime trump friend roger stone speaking out after president trump commuted his sentence. he's already promising to do anything to get mr. trump re-elected, with one exception, he claims. we'll explain. stay with us. we've always put safety first. ♪ ♪ and we always will. ♪ ♪ for people. ♪ ♪ for the future. ♪ ♪ and there has never been a summer when it's mattered more. wherever you go, summer safely. get zero percent apr financing for up to five years on select models and exclusive lease offers. 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. president trump this afternoon praising his own decision to commute the sentence of one of his most loyal and infamous supporters, roger stone. stone told "axios," quote, i will do anything necessary to elect my candidates short of breaking the law, unquote. democrats and even a few republicans are accusing mr. trump of grossly abusing his power by issuing a commutation for someone accused of covering up for the president himself. as cnn's jessica schneider now reports. >> i'm getting rave reviews for what i did for roger stone. >> reporter: president trump's first comments on his commutation for roger stone at the same time stone is speaking out, reflecting on the deal that spared the 67-year-old more than three years in prison. >> i believe the whole matter was in god's hands and that god would provide, and he did. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: stone saying he promised president trump nothing in return. >> did you tell him that you were going to work for him? >> i did not. >> reporter: but stone says he is set to write a book debunking any russian collusion during the 2016 campaign telling "axios," i will do anything necessary to elect my candidate short of breaking the law. stone was convicted last november on seven counts including witness tampering, obstructing congress, and lying to congress about his communication with trump campaign officials about the wikileaks release of dnc emails, which prosecutors say stone hid in an attempt to protect trump. the man who led the prosecution team, special counsel robert mueller, writing a rare review over the weekend. saying in a "washington post" op-ed, stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. he remains a convicted felon, and rightly so. so far, only two republicans have renounced the president's move. utah senator mitt romney calling it unprecedented, historic corruption. and pennsylvania senator pat toomey writing in a statement that commuting roger stone's sentence is a mistake. the president punched back over the weekend calling romney and toomey rhinos. republicans in name only. house speaker nancy pelosi is promising the house will pass legislation that prevents a president from offering clemency to anyone convicted of a crime connected to a president's behavior. >> it's staggering corruption, but i think it's important for people also to know that it's a threat to our national security. >> reporter: and speaker pelosi did not answer when she was asked if trump's grant of clemency was in fact an impeachable offense. and in the meantime, the justice department just releasing the exact details of the president's executive order of clemency. the president not only erasing roger stone's 40-month sentence, but the president also getting rid of all the terms of his home confinement, also his two-year supervised release that was supposed to happen. and, jake, the president also erasing completely the $20,000 fine that stone was supposed to pay. >> all right, jessica schneider, thank you so much. joining us is the former u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york who was fired by president trump. thanks so much for joining us. you heard president trump there defending the commutation saying that it wasn't a fair trial. presidents do have constitutionally tremendous latitude in their authority on matters of pardons and commutation. you think this is different though? >> well, to certainly have that power is maybe the most unfettered power that the president has in the constitution, reviewable by a court. there's nothing congress can do about it. i don't even know if that piece of legislation that nancy pelosi is suggesting would in fact be constitutional, even if you could get it past. and there have been bad pardons before. and he also pardoned his half brother. so there have been bad pardons before and excesses in what rational people would say would be the useful value of a pardon. not only is it someone who has an association with the president. it's someone who committed the crime in order to benefit the president as the judge in that case said. in any ordinary case, you would think that that would be a tremendous and deep conflict of interest. it just so happens to be the case that our constitution provides for an unfettered right to pardon lawful doesn't mean it's right, doesn't mean it's not an abuse of power. >> i have heard people say that it's not unlike when george h.w. bush pardonened casper weinberger and others that had been caught up in the iran scandal because there are those who thought, including the prosecutor ken walsh, that george h.w. bush at the time was protecting himself or could've been interpreted that way. >> as i said, there have been not good pardons before. i think the degree to which president trump is trying to undo the work of the special counsel and the degree to which this was specifically in aid of donald trump and liability potentially criminally or otherwise for donald trump, takes it a step beyond. by the way, the fact that other people engaged in bad pardons or questionable pardons does not mean that what this president does should be celebrated. >> were you surprised that the former special counsel robert mueller came out so forcefully and publicly writing this op-ed saying that stone's conviction still stands and rightly so? >> i was. bob mueller is a very quiet person, is not a public person, never was. his fbi director certainly wasn't a special counsel. over the course of that investigation, time after time after time you saw the president engage in mueller himself and members of his staff. and mueller always kept quiet. so it's interesting to me that he would put this out. in part, he must be feeling some amount of, you know, anger or irritation as a human being, notwithstanding how quiet he is, seeing the work of the special counsel's office case by case being undone. i guess he thought it was a wise thing to defend the work of his office. i think there's a risk there because it makes him more open to not being able to reject an invitation from lindsey graham to come testify in front of the senate, which is something i predict he does not want to do. >> here's what white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany had to say about all this this morning. take a listen. >> what did robert mueller have to do to justify his investigation and waste of taxpayer dollars and waste of america's time? he had to come up with process crimes, which is exactly what was done in the case of roger stone. >> just to be clear, process crimes in this case were lying to congress, obstruction of justice. do you consider these process crimes? you're a former u.s. attorney. is that how you see it? >> we didn't refer to crimes as being process crimes or other kinds of crimes. crimes are crimes and these are very serious matters and very serious violations of criminal law. they go to the core of what the criminal justice system is and the integrity of the criminal justice system and law enforcement. if you didn't have crimes like this wou wouldnyou wouldn't be good faith prosecute anyone. that would be lawlessness on an unparalleled scale. you need these crimes on the books to prevent the per versve of justice. there are other people who were swept up in the special counsel's swetion as well. paul manafort was convicted of, among other things, bank fraud. even using their terms which they use to try to make something sound innocuous doesn't really carry the day when it comes to other defendants as well. >> all right, thank you so much. really appreciate it. and as president trump rewards roger stone, he is at war with his own former attorney general jeff sessions, and sessions is firing back to a degree. stay with us. heumatoid arthriti. and take. it. on... ...with 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can to further humiliate jefferson but regards sessions. >> reporter: jeff sessions has never lost a political race. >> what i'm saying to the people of alabama is i can represent you best. >> reporter: yet, in the fight to get his old job back as senator from alabama, he's the clear underdog. a republican primary against former auburn football coach would not be enough. >> he quit on the president and he failed alabama. >> reporter: but it's made even harder when the real enemy is president trump. >> jeff sessions was a disaster as attorney general. >> reporter: the president still carries a grudge against sessions for recusing himself from the russia probe. he's been obsessively tweeting about the senate race, including this week with the president fuming we don't want him back in washington. ♪ sweet home alabama >> reporter: the alabama senate race is all about trump. >> and i keep fighting for president trump and his agenda. >> god sent us donald trump because god knew we were in trouble. >> reporter: in deep red alabama, loyalty to trump is paramount. >> donald, welcome to my hometown. >> reporter: and sessions reminds voters that five years ago he was one of the only u.s. senators to take seriously trump's white house bid. but through more than a million dollars in tv ads, tuberville is blasting sessions for being exiled. >> you're either strong or you're not. and jeff sessions, he's not. he wasn't man enough to stand with president trump when things got tough. >> reporter: sessions has returned fire. >> and as for tommy tuberville, where was he when president trump needed him? what did he do for trump? >> reporter: the republican runoff will test trump's ability to influence a race or show whether old loyalties hold more value. >> donald trump is not on the ballot this time. tommy tuberville is. the charge between jeff sessions and tommy tuberville. >> reporter: now a short time ago in alabama, senator sessions says the people of alabama will decide this race, not washington. of course, the voters will have their say tomorrow. he encouraged people to come to the polls. he said wear masks and vote safely. but, jake, republican leaders and officials we talked to in the state believe that tuberville has the upper hand here. but it does depend on president trump, what strength he has to carry him over the finish line. it's a test, no doubt, of his standing. jake? >> all right, jeff zeleny, thank you so much. as the united states marks more than 135,000 lives lost to coronavirus, we want to make sure to take some time to remember the victims. for instance, richard rose. he was 37 years old. he served nine years in the u.s. army. he did two tours in iraq and afghanistan. rose died at his home in ohio earlier this month. he was kind and funny and caring. regrettably in april rose posted on facebook, quote, let's make this clear, i'm not buying a mask. i've made it this far by not buying into that damn hype, unquote. rose's family says he tested positive for covid-19 on july 1st and died just three days later. his family said he had no known pre-existing health conditions. may his memory be a blessing. our coverage on cnn continues right now. thanks for watching. i'll see you tomorrow. this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're following breaking news. the u.s. coronavirus death toll now topping 135,000, as nearly one in every 100 americans has now been infected. right now, 35 states are heading in the wrong direction, including california where the governor is just announced a sweeping rollback of the state's re-opening. and the state's two largest school districts los angeles and san diego nearly

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