Deal on major components by friday. The four key negotiators, pelosi, schumer, meadows, mnuchin, they plan to meet this evening. Lets start there with nbcs kasie hunt. Shes on capitol hill. Kasie, where are we seeing progress . Where are we seeing division in these talks . Reporter well, craig, we heard yesterday from the white house side that they are still trillions of dollars apart in these negotiations. So that suggests theres still a long way to go. We know there are three key areas. Theres Unemployment Insurance, which we hear they are making some progress toward. There was an offer on the table for 400 a week for people through december. Democrats have some reservations about that and are more likely to suggest perhaps 600 through january. Remember, Mitch Mcconnell signaled he may be willing to move forward with that, that its not a red line in the sand for him to include that. I think thats pretty telling. You also, of course, have money for state and local governments. That is still something that we havent heard as much about the disagreements on that. So it seems as though there may be incremental progress there. But one place where they still are pretty far apart is that Education Funding and how that can be used. We know reopening schools obviously has become so political with the president pushing for schools to reopen. There are questions about how much money, what kind of strings that money could carry. So nancy pelosi saying at the top of this press conference that just started that, while she does still see light at the end of the tunnel for these negotiations, the light could be the on coming train of the virus. So a rather dark way to put whats happening here. The reality is there is incredible urgency around this. The jobs numbers that you mentioned. Were going to see additional Economic Data coming tomorrow morning. There is an acknowledgment that this is really serious and they need to do something. Mitch mcconnell expressed that today in an interview with cnbc saying, look, its very important to get a bill on this. This is a little different from where he was just a couple months ago when he was saying, hey, we need to wait and see. Watch what mcconnell had to say. There is a desire on the part of both the democrats and the republicans, at least most of the republicans, not every single one, that we get to an outcome because the economy does need an additional boost until we get the vaccine. Exactly when that deal comes together, i couldnt tell you. I think it will at some point in the knee future. I have members, some who have been on your network this morning, who think weve done enough. Thats not my view. Reporter its pretty significant that Mitch Mcconnell has decided to go out publicly and say this on television. Its laying down a marker saying, okay, hey, white house down the street, we know President Trump watches a lot of cable news, this is what we want. We want a deal. Theres been a lot of pressure around this friday deadline. It seems as though they may not be able to meet the deadline. I read what mcconnell says as, hey, we need to keep working on this until we get what we need to development there are so many millions of americans hurting so badly right now. Craig. Yeah, youre right, kasie hunt. Kasie, thank you. In fact, breaking this morning, to kasies point, that dire snapshot of the pain that so many millions of americans are feeling right now in this pandemic. Nearly 1. 2 million americans filed new jobless claims last week. This is the 20th straight week where weve topped that 1 million mark. Nbcs jo ling kent has more from outside a food bank in paramount, california. Jo, we also have the monthly jobs report coming out tomorrow as well, that first friday of the month. What do these numbers say about the economic picture especially for American Workers right now . Reporter American Workers, craig, are feeling the pain right now, and theres no sign that that joblessness is going to let up. That number, while it did take down, as you mentioned, maintains at over a million right now. This is really ground zero of where you feel the economic pain. Were at an l. A. Regional food bank. I want to bring you inside. In about an hour this food bank is going to feed 2,500 families. This is what theyre going to be getting. Each family, regardless of how small or large the family is will get 80 pounds of food. Were talking Fresh Produce here, grapes and oranges. We have a cheese kit. This is the critical dairy so many families need. Milk, eggs, yogurt and cheese. Here you have shelfstable food as well. Then youve got a lot of chicken, protein, meat patties here. The idea here is to feed 2,500 families. All through out this area, we can show you, its going to be a drivethrough, and theyll serve up 220,000 pounds of food. What you need to understand about the unemployment picture and the food banks is that these Food Bank Directors have been telling us, they went through 9 11, been through recessions. Theyve never seen anything like this before. The demand is outpacing what they expect. Theres already cars actually that have been lined up since we got here a few hours ago this morning. You can really feel the pain of what people need here. As that 600aweek benefit is long in the rear view mirrors, states like california are trying to help fill the gap, extending Unemployment Benefits for another 20 weeks here. Thats not the case in every state. Depending on where you live, you may be coming up against different challenges as an unemployed person. So many of the people weve been talking to say theyve come here to this food bank and other places for the first time in their lives. Theyve worked. Theyre looking for work. Theyre unable to secure a job right now. As we look at the number, 1. 2 million in just the last week. We look ahead to the jobs report tomorrow, its great that hopefully the unemployment number will come down tomorrow compared to the prior month, but the news really is about how many people are still unable to pay rent and pay for the food on their tables and theyre turning here to get these pallets of food to feed their families. 2,500 families expected today. I just talked to the local director here, and he expects that all of the food will go this morning and they will not have enough necessarily for the people who are showing up who, right out of the corner of my eye are lined up all the way out to the street. Craig. Again, just after 8 00 there in paramount, california. Jo ling kent, thank you. This morning cases in mississippi are quickly moving in the wrong direction. Right now the state is on track to have the states highest rate of new infections per cap tachlt hospitals are already overwhelmed. On wednesday alone, mississippi saw more than 1200 new cases. The state saw 51 deaths. Nbcs ellison barber is following this story for us. Shes outside the university of Mississippi Medical Center. Youre out in front of an icu that, as i understand it, is at or near full capacity right now. What are you hearing from the doctors there . Reporter doctors here say theyre overwhelmed. Theyre doing the best they can, but they are exhausted. Just back over here is one of the initial points where doctors, nurses screen patients coming in for covid19. If you look just above it at the building, if you look at those windows there, do you see those silver things . That is where they have actually converted rooms into negative pressure rooms so that they can treat covid patients. The university of Mississippi Medical Center started converting those rooms to negative pressure back in april. Mississippi has the lowest rate of physicians per capita. This hospital is not just out of icu beds, they are in a deficit. Were told they have patients right now who need an icu bed, but they do not have one open or available for them. Dr. Luanne woodward told us what they really need people to do right now is wear their masks, follow the guidelines and start social distancing. Listen here. I see the faces of our nurses and the physicians and the respiratory therapists in our covid units in the icu, in the ers. Theyre exhausted. Theyre so committed, theyre giving it all they have. I see a disconnect between them and people out in the community in mississippi. My friends not all my friends, but friends, acquaintances, family, people i know, many of them are carrying on as if theres nothing going on. Reporter governor reeves resisted calls for a statewide mandate for quite a while. Just a couple days ago he made the decision to issue a statewide mask mandate. When he made that announcement, he talked about some of the numbers seeming to drop, suggesting perhaps the data was starting to improve. Doctors that we have spoken to say that is just not the case. Cases, new infection rates on sunday and monday dropped under 1,000, but they say its not nearly enough to be any sort of trend. The last two days weve seen numbers, new infection rates per day go back up to a thousand and above. If you look back at the data this month, since mid july, the majority of days they have had over 1,000 or around 1,000 new infections per day. This is a small state. The total population of mississippi is about 2. 9 million. They currently have the highest per capita death rate in the country. When you look at their per capita infection rate, theyre right there with florida. Doctors say theyre in the middle of their peak and right now things do not seem to be turning around. Craig. Ellison barber for us there in mississippi. Thank you so much for that. Let us go from mississippi to texas now. Hospitals there cant keep up with the surge of covid19 cases along the border with mexico. In fact, one rio grand hospital rio grand Valley Hospital now transferring critically ill patients by helicopter to facilities in larger cities. Nbcs Morgan Chesky is in one of those larger cities. Morgan is in dallas. How critical is the situation in the rio grand valley . Reporter craig, it is tough to put into words when you speak to the Health Care Staff thats in that area right now, fighting to keep these patients alive, finding the help they need, and have to look not just here in texas but even out of state to try to get these critically ill covid19 patients to a hospital bed, simply because there is no room, not just there in the valley, but almost anywhere they call statewide. It draws a really sharp craftont to the situation were seeing in larger urban areas in texas. In dallas were seeing the cases, the hospitalizations start to stabilize, start to drop. If you go south to the rio grand valley. We talked about hidalgo county, but next is star county, a population of about 70,000 people. 60 of those people live at or below the poverty line. Half of the population, the county Health Director tells me, is diabetic. This is an atrisk population. In this county you have one small hospital with 45 beds that has had to airlift patients as far as new mexico, Oklahoma City to try to get help. I spoke to the county Health Director who shared some of his frustration on what its like to feel helpless. Take a listen. Helicopters we have had, none of them have thats heartbreaking to know that despite the fact weve put all of our efforts and families are going through suffering and pain to have their loved one far away in intensive care units, most of them have died alone, suffering this terrible disease. I asked that county Health Director what, if anything, can he look forward to as a potential solution. He said theyve recently had a partnership with the va hospital in san antonio, texas. He says he was hopeful about that, but keep in mind that, if a patient from starr county gets to san antonio, if theres no helicopter available, that means about a fourhour drive in the back of an ambulance up the highway. He says, craig, again, there are families who are losing loved ones to covid19 at these faraway hospitals where they have to go, and they dont have the money to pay for them to get them back home. That is a situation still happening in south texas today. Thats just causing a lot of frustration, and frankly, a feeling of hopelessness. Craig. Heartbreak for so many of those families. Morgan chesky in dallas, thank you. We continue to watch and listen to House Speaker nancy pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer. Just a few moments ago the speaker was asked whether she rejected republicans offer for 400 instead of 600 a week for Unemployment Benefits. Speaker pelosi was also asked whether they would compromise on lowering that amount. She said, and senator schumer agreed, that they wanted to stay at 600 a week in federal Unemployment Benefits. That would at this point, seem to be sort of a red line for democrats. Well learn more later in the day. Again, the four key negotiators set to talk on the hill. It is the kodak moment thats now under scrutiny on capitol hill. The Trump White House gave kodak hundreds of millions of dollars to do something you may not expect. Ill talk about the new investigation into what that deal was with congressman jim clyburn next. Also, quarantine checkpoints. How new york hopes to track everyone entering the city to keep its coronavirus cases low. When we started carvana, they told us that selling cars 100 online wouldnt work. But we went to work. 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House speaker nancy pelosi, Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer right now taking questions from reporters on the hill ahead of this afternoons latest round of negotiations over another Coronavirus Relief bill. Congressman jim clyburn of South Carolina joins me now. He is House Majority whip. Hes chairman of the select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis. Lets start there with these negotiations, congressman. We just learned another 1. 2 million americans filed for Unemployment Benefits under the c. A. R. E. S. Act have expired. Given where things stand now in the senate, where do we go from here . How do we somehow bridge this gap that reportedly is trillions of dollars apart . First of all, thank you very much for having me, craig. That 1. 2 million, people need to be aware, that brings the total to somewhere around 55 million americans who have filed, of which 31 million are still unemployed. So though that number may have come down from expectations, the fact of the matter is, its a part of a big, big number. What we are trying to do is have a comprehensive plan. You cant do this in silos. What the republicans want to do is pick something here, pick something over there and go out and jam us while they go back home. No. This has got to be comprehensive. People are unemployed and, therefore, we need Unemployment Insurance for them. People have mortgages to pay. They need mortgage protection. People are about to be evicted from their rental units, so they need support there. And people are short on food. We need to be doing something with the food stamps. So this is a comprehensive thing. So pelosi and schumer are trying to do something of a comprehensive way. If they want to talk about reducing unemployment to 400 supplement rather than 600 supplement which we think is required, then what else are you going to do in a comprehensive way . To reduce to 400 and not do anything for people about to get kicked out on the streets or about to be put out of their homes because of the failure inability to pay their mortgages, this is a very comprehensive thing. Not act and be doing one thing or another. Not to mention state and local governments. These small towns are going to find themselves laying off people, and then thats going to be another problem, and then that will affect the grocery stores, the drug stores and the other things in these small communities. This economy is in trouble and its going to be in a depression if we dont do something quickly, and thats got to be comprehensively, efficiently, effectively and equitably, is what weve got to do. Lets talk kodak here for a second. The Company Awarded that 765 million loan from the trump administration. Its a deal facing a storm of scrutiny now including from congress. Soon after the loan was disclosed, Company Insiders made a series of stock transactions that seem to have set off alarm bells. What are you concerns now with that kodak deal, and is kodak cooperating with the investigation so far . Well, i wrote them a letter when this came to light, and i signed on to another letter that was headed up by chairwoman waters on this subject. And i have read just today that maybe the sec is looking into these stock transactions. Something is going on here. Kodak make great cameras, but i dont know whether or not theyve got any business doing pharmaceuticals. Weve had people doing pharmaceuticals forever, experts. So why all of a sudden someone thats making cameras, all of a sudden theyre getting money from the federal government, 765 million, to go into a field they have no expertise in . That is very alarming. Its the same kind of thing we just got, you may have seen, 109 million, i sent out a letter back on june 16th, followed up on july 28th, and now weve got the insin group of Nursing Homes returning 109 million. They say to us they didnt even apply to the money. It came to them unsolicited. We decided that they didnt need it because we saw their quarterly reports. Their quarterly reports were saying they were making more money than theyve ever made before. Why are we giving them money to stay open when theyre making more money than theyve made before . Thats why our select subcommittee, our chair is so needed. 119 million returned thus far because we got 10 million back earlier, and we are in the process of overseeing various other transactions. Theres a lot that aint clean here. Lets talk politics here for a moment. Youve been quite instrumental to joe bidens campaign. Perhaps youve heard that the Vice President is meeting with a number of finalists for his number two slot. Out of the list of contenders, who should he pick as his running mate and why . Well, you know, i know as ive said often i think i know every one of these people personally, save maybe one. They are great people. I think any one of them, even the ones that i dont know personally, would make a great running mate. What weve got to do here is get someone who complements the former Vice President on the ticket and someone who will help energize our base. This is going to be a very, very horrible campaign, i can tell you that. We have an occupant in the white house who will not tell the truth about anything, will say anything, do anything to try to hold on to power. Ive been telling people he sees himself as americas first strong man, and thats what hes going to try to do. So this Vice President ial pick has got to be somebody that the Vice President is very comfortable with and somebody that will complement the ticket and help connect with our constituents. Those are your public thoughts. Privately, have you had any conversations recently with the Vice President . Have you said, hey, joe, here is who i think you might want to consider . Well, for the first half of your question, yes, i have had a conversation with the Vice President recently, and yes im not going to be coy about this. We have had discussions about what we need to do this fall, putting this campaign together, putting his team together. Hes asked my advice and ive given it to him. You know me very well, and you know well that im not going to share with you or the public any conversations ive had with joe biden. Well, you cant blame me for trying. Congressman jim clyburn, thanks for your time, sir. Thank you very much for having me. New york city taking a big new step to stop an increase in the number of coronavirus cases. Right now quarantine checkpoints are being set up at spots leading into the city. How will those checkpoints work . We are also watching for whats being described as a, quote, Major National announcement from new yorks attorney general, latisha james. Were going to head there live once that start. And cant wait until you are too. Universal orlando resort. Buy now and get two days free at the parks. Restrictions apply. When you have nausea, upset stomach, diarrheaon, pepto bismol coats and soothes your stomach for fast relief and now, get the same fast relief in a delightful chew with new pepto bismol chews. This morning new york city taking bold new steps to enforce the states quarantine orders. Checkpoints are now being set up at bridges and tunnels to screen for outofstate travelers from 34 states and puerto rico. Violators of the twoweek quarantine could face up to a 10,000 fine. Nbcs ron allen is joining us now from penn station. Ron, how are these checkpoints supposed to work . Reporter here at penn station theres a team from the citys testing and tracing program who are meeting a train thats arriving from florida, from miami. They are handing out literature, handing out these cards to people who they find on the train who are coming from out of state. If th earlier they met a train coming from the washington, d. C. Area. People from washington are not on the list, but people from maryland and virginia are. So they are trying to find people who are outofstate residents from one of those 4 states and part and educate them, inform them about the quarantine requirements here. Thats the level of enforcement thats happening. Its not a Police Operation run by the nypd or the state police. Its being run primarily by the sheriffs office, the Sheriffs Department in the city of new york which is an extension of the court system. They usually hand out summons, subpoenas, eviction notices, those kind of things. The bottom line is new yorks rate of infection, all the numbers are as low as theyve ever been during this whole pandemic. Of course, we know this was the epicenter for some time. Theres a determination to keep those numbers down low. About 20 of the people 20 of the new cases, i understand, are from people coming from out of state or out of the country here to new york city. So thats the goal. It still remains to be seen exactly how aggressive this enforcement will happen. One thing, by talking about it, making it known this requirement for quarantine is in place, that may dissuade people from coming here. It mae encourage people who are here to follow the rules, at least somewhat. Tens of thousands of people arrive in new york state every day. Some of them are commuters every day and theyre exempt. Some are essential workers. They are exempt. It seems almost practically impossible to reach everyone. They say theyre doing this randomly. Again, the bottom line is to try to make it clear that outofstate people coming from one of those hot spots need to take precautions so the virus doesnt spread here anymore. Craig. Ron allen, penn station in new york city. Ron, thank you. I want to bring in dr. Craig spencer, the director of Global Health and emergency medicine at new york presbyterian hospital. He was also notably one of the First Americans to contract ebola back in 2014. Very outspoken about the crisis we find ourselves in now. Dr. Spencer, in the absence of National Testing strategy, at least seven states have teamed up to create their own. I talked to Maryland Governor larry hogan about this new strategy that his state is a part of, on the third hour of today. This is part of what the governor told me. Fighting this virus is going to take robust and more rapid testing. Weve had these slowdowns in testing with labs taking as much as ten days to two weeks to get results. This is a new generation of rapid tests thats much more accurate than the ones they had months ago that didnt really work too well. The federal government did not put this kind of a deal together. What do you think, dr. Spencer, of this new Team Strategy for testing in the absence of a national one . Well, we should have a Team Strategy. It should be led at the National Level. I think its unconscionable that were half a year into this pandemic, half a year, and we dont yet have a comprehensive and coordinated testing strategy in place. Maybe we had contaminated tests through the cdc early on. That initial promise of everybody getting a test, its not only not materialized, its made us into a global laughing stock. We have more deaths than nearly every other place in the world. A lot of that is because were hampered on a daily basis by not having enough access to tests, people waiting five, ten days for tests which at this point its absolutely useless. Anything we can do to get more tests, to get more accurate tests in the hands of americans, whether its at the individual state level or preferably at the National Level is helpful. We need way more and we need it now if we want to get this pandemic under control. Were also learning a bit more about how the push for hydroxychloroquine as a treatment may have actually hindered the development of more effective con valles sent plasma treatments. Dr. Todd rice down at Vanderbilt University medical center, he talked about how his hospital dealt with the issue and said, quote, even though the Hospital System had developed a randomized placebocontrolled trial for convalescent plasma, the other trials took priority. How concerning is that to you, especially as some leaders continue to promote hydroxychloroquine as a treatment despite the fact its been proven not to help . This is something ive been worried about from day one, the push of politics over Public Health. We know and ive been on tv and social media trying to educate people that as of today theres no rigorous good science that says hydroxychloroquine, whether given early or late, whether alone or in combination with other medications, has any meaningful impact on covid19. Despite this we still hear people pushing this in a pedestal, our politicians. Its frustrating because we know its not true. Its frustrating because, as youre pointing out, is this taking up space, not just this conversation were having on tv, but taking up space in hospitals in terms of how were doing research and how were learning more about this disease. The fact were still talking about hydroxychloroquine when we should be talking about other ways to manage this, both with therapeutics, how we do research and amplifying Public Health principles is frustrating and maddening because weve been doing this for months. Dr. Craig spencer, thank you so much. Ive got to get to breaking news. New York Attorney general Leticia James about to make whats called a major announcement. Shes talking about the National Rifle association, nra. Lets listen in. Individual defendants. One, the first individual, longtime executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre who has been the face of the nra for decades. Two, former treasure and chief Financial Officer wilson woody phillips. Three, former chief of staff and the executive director of operations, Joshua Powell. And four, corporate secretary and general counsel john frazier. These individuals in the nra are charged with failing to manage the nras funds and failing to follow numerous state and federal laws which contributed to the loss of more than 64 million in just three years. Since its founding in 1871, the nra has been a registered notforprofit Charitable Corporation in the state of new york. These organizations are required by law to register and file annual Financial Reports with the office of the new York State Attorney general and the assets of such an organization are legally required to be used in a way that serves the interest of nra membership and that advance the organizations charitable mission. However, as todays complaints lay out, we found that the nra instead fostered a culture of noncompliance and disregard for internal controls that led to the waste and loss of millions in assets and contributed to the nras current deteriorated financial state. Not only were the nras internal policies repeatedly not followed, but they were blatantly ignored by senior leaders. The nras Boards Audit Committee was negligent in its duty to ensure appropriate, competent and judicious stewardship of assets by nra leadership. Specifically, the Audit Committee failed to assure standard fiscal controls. They failed to respond adequately to whistleblowers, affirmatively took steps to conceal the nature and scope of whistleblower concerns from external auditors. And they failed to review potential conflicts of interest for employees. In our lawsuit, we outline dozens of examples of these failures, many of which were led and perpetuated by the four individual defendants named in this lawsuit who failed to fulfill their fiduciary duty to the nra. They used millions upon millions of dollars from the nra for personal use including for lavish trips for themselves and their families, private jets, expensive meals and other private travel. Wayne lapierre, woody phillips, Joshua Powell and john frazier instituted a culture of selfdealing, mismanagement and negligent oversight at the nra that was illegal, ap press sive and flawed lent. They overroad and invaded evaded internal controls to allow themselves, fair families, favored Board Members, employees and vendors to benefit through reimbursed expense, related party transactions, excess compensation, side deals and waste of charitable assets without regard to the nras best interest. The central figure behind this scheme was none other than mr. Wayne lapierre, the National Face of the nra who was entrusted with running its daytoday operations. Mr. La pierre exploited the organization for his and his familys financial benefit and the benefit of a close circle of nra staff, Board Members and vendors. Specifically, mr. La pierre spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of the nras charitable assets for personal private plane trips for himself and his family, including extended family when he was not present. He visited the bahamas by private air charter at least eight times in an approximate threeyear period with his family at a cost of more than 500,000 to the nra. He traveled on multiple luxury Hunting Safaris in africa at the expense of an nra vendor. He spent millions of dollars on unwanted travel consultants for decades including for the booking of luxury black car service. In the past two years alone, mr. La pierre spent more than 3. 6 million on these travel agent services. He secured a post Employment Contract for himself with the nra without board approval, currently valued at more than 17 million. He allotted several Million Dollars annually in nra funds for private security costs for himself and his family without sufficient oversight on their use. He received more than 1. 2 million in reimbursement in just a fouryear period for expenditures that include gifts for favored friends and vendors, travel expenses for himself and his family and membership fees at golf clubs, hotels and other member clubs. He even secured lucrative consulting contracts for exemployees and Board Members worth millions of dollars, yet often it resulted in little, if any, actual work. In addition to grossly misusing these funds for personal use, mr. La pierre created an illegal passthrough arrangement to conceal the very nature of these expenditures. For decades, mr. La pierre and the founder of Ackerman Mcqueen, the nras longtime Advertising Firm had a practice whereby Ackerman Mcqueen would pay for these noncontractual outofpocket expenses for mr. La pierre and other nra executives and pass those expenses through to the nra. These expenses would then be paid for by the nra without written approval, without receipts, without any supporting Business Purpose documentation. Ackerman mcqueen would aggregate the expenses into a lump sum amount and then bill them to the nra without any details on the nature or purpose of the expense, completely in violation of state law. These expenses did not comply with irs requirements and as a result all such expenses should have been included by the nra in taxable personal income for mr. La pierre and other recipients. In 2017 and 2018 alone, just two yea years, Ackerman Mcqueen was paid more than 70 million. A significant amount of these funds included payments through this side agreement. When Board Members challenged mr. La pierre and the three other defendants over this lavish spending, their financial governance or their leadership of the nra, mr. La pierre retaliated and turned the board against those who attempted to challenge his illegal behavior. The complaint lays out numerous other instances in which mr. La pierre, mr. Phillips, mr. Powell and mr. Frazier and other executives and Board Members at the nra abused their power and illegally diverted or facilitated the diversion of tens of millions of dollars from the nra. These funds were in addition to millions of dollars the four individual defendants were receiving in grossly excessive salaries and bonuses that were baseless and did not adhere to prudent standards for evaluating and determining compensation as is required by law. Altogeth all together there are 18 violations, and that includes laws governing the nras charitable status, false filings with my office and the irs, improper expense documentation, improper wage reporting, improper income tax withholding, failure to make required excise tax reporting and payments, payments in excess of reasonable compensation to disqualified persons and waste of nra assets amongst other offenses. For these years of fraud and misconduct, we are seeking an order to dissolve the nra in ins entirety, to require mr. La pierre, mr. Phillips, mr. Pow l powell, and mr. Frazier to make full restitution for funds they unlawfully profited and salaries they earned while employees and pay penalties, to remove mr. La pierre and mr. Frazier from the nras leadership, and to ensure none of the four individual defendants can ever again serve on the board of a charity in new york state. Its important to note that mr. Fill sxhips mr. Pphillips and m left nra. Its clear that the nra has operated as a breeding ground for agreed, abuse, and brazen illegality. In this state we have a set of laws that every individual and entity must be held accountable to, regardless of who you are, regardless of your power, size, influence, wealth, or station in life. One set of laws. And today, we send a strong and loud message that no one is above the law, not even the nra, one of the most powerful organizations in this country. Again, i would like to thank the chief of the charities bureau, jim sheehan, and the cochief of the enforcement section. And there you have it. The attorney general of new york, letitia james, announcing that she is going to try and dissolve the National Rifle association, accusing its top leaders of essentially using the organization for years as their personal piggy bank of sorts. Lavish private jet vacations, black car services and a host of other accusations. I want to bring in nbcs National Security and justice correspondent tom winter. Tom, in simple terms, and im just going through the press release that the Attorney Generals Office sent out, but in simple terms, what does this lawsuit seek to do . Craig, a couple of things. Lets point out what its not, first. Its not a criminal complaint and it has nothing to do with the nras lobbying efforts. Some people might quibble with that, that the nra is being targeted for their lobbying efforts. But nothing in the complaint has anything to do with that. If youre looking for wayne la pierre to be brought around in handcuffs, that isnt it either. This is a civil action. What the lawsuit seeks to do, craig, is essentially in this case go after them for what theyve done as a Nonprofit Organization, from running their organization. So this is not targeted toward what they do on behalf of gun rights advocates. Its on what wayne la pierre has done, and you said it perfectly, him as well as three other officials have used this as a personal piggy Bank According to the attorney general. You laid it out, 3. 6 million in black car expenses, the use of private jets, expensive meals, and having personal trips for their families in the bahamas. Essentially what this lawsuit seeks to do is say, okay, this Nonprofit Organization, just like any other Nonprofit Organization, has to file and be operated in a certain way. They failed their fiduciary area responsibilities here, according to the attorney general. The attorney general says as a result, this organization cannot be run as a Nonprofit Organization any more and it has to be dissolved. On top of that, it calls for the ouster of wayne la pierre as its executive Vice President and on top of that, the lawsuit seeks to make sure that all four of those officials, current and former, pay restitution, which is fairly significant given the amount of money thats alleged here in this case, craig. Thats kind of the heart of it. It is a significant action, its been an investigation thatsunder way since february of 2019. Its a 169page civil complaint thats been filed. So this is something that will not be resolved right away. The nra can certainly respond. It will be interesting to see whether or not the nra responds here behalf wayne la pierre or they respond separately, and where this goes from a legal perspective. Certainly i would imagine for the many folks that donate to the nra, and its obviously an extremely powerful political lobbying arm as well as just a powerful organization period, it will be interesting to see whether or not the members take issue with this and whether or not theres a clearing of house at the nra. So i think a lot more to come, this is not something that is going to be immediate. I expect a longdrawnout legal fight. It is a very significant action and i think it has some chance of succeeding because it doesnt attack on the nras activities, it doesnt attack what they have lobbied for behaon behalf of gu rights advocates and their members. It goes after them for their actions as a Nonprofit Organization. Were out of time, tom, but well have much more on this throughout the afternoon here on msnbc. Lots of questions, including why this perhaps is a civil complaint and not a criminal complaint. Well dig into that later here. Thats all for me today. 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Good day, im Andrea Mitchell in washington, as the debate over whether children can safely return to classrooms intensifies. And the president is facing new scrutiny today for again falsely saying children are almost immune from covid19. Here are the facts as we know them. In georgia, four schools have already had to shut down classrooms after three students tested positive and one Kindergarten Teacher began showing symptoms. Another 1. 2 million americans filed for jobless claims last week. That is slightly down from the upward trend over the last two weeks. This as the United States is rapidly approaching 5 million confirmed cases of the virus and 160,000 deaths with more than 60,000 americans testing positive in the last 24 hours. Health and Human Services secretary alex azar now joins me. Mr. Secretary, thanks for being with us on a very busy day. I wanted to ask you about the president s statements because he again said that children are almost definitely immune from covid19. And that it doesnt have much of an impact. But the cdc tells us that at least 250,000 children and teens have contracted the virus and some have died. Isnt the president sending a dangerously
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