Covid situation. And everything we do, we need to be wearing the mask, we need to be practicing social distancing, good hygiene, get out of harms way if theres an Evacuation Order in place, whether its mandatory or voluntary, and understand our state hasnt seen a storm surge like this in many, many decades. Those are potentially lifethreatening, so keep yourself safe. Joining us now for the latest on the storms track is the today shows al roker and from port arthur texas, is sam brock. Al, two things. What is the track, and i dont think i have heard the National Hurricane center call storm surges unsurvivable in the past. What does that mean . Well, katy, we have been talking, i have been talking amongst our meteorologists at the nbc news climate unit, and nobody has ever heard the National Hurricane center use that term. What that basically means is at a 20foot storm surge, youre not going to survive that. Its going to wash over everything, take everything in its path. People dont realize how water can be moving at that speed. Laura, a category 4 storm. Its fairly wide, 400 miles in diameter, 200 miles southsoutheast of lake charles, lose. You can see the rain bands just south of new orleans just east of houston. 140mileperhour winds, moving northwest at 16. The path of this will bring it onshore along the louisiana texas border some time late tonight early tomorrow morning, as a category 4 storm. And then continue on up into the Mississippi River valley. Still very potent, bringing a lot of heavy rain with it. These impacts, were talking about the storm surge, katy. This is critical. Were talking a storm surge from galveston, about 6 to 9 feet, but as you get to port arthur, 10 to 15 feet. South of lake charles, 10 to 20 feet. This sastorm surge that could move inland 30 miles almost to i10. The rivers record flood stij was 13. This may actually be almost three feet above that over the next 24 to 48 hours. The storm surge, to put it in simpler terms, its the deadliest its the wall of wind pushing the water on. Six feet causes significant damage. The weight of that water blows out walls, breaks through doors and windows. When you get to nine feet, thats when it starts to move inland further and entire neighborhoods can be destroyed. The wind field with this will bring in damaging winds, knocking out power for days. You can see there, katy, the possibility, the potential of Power Outages go all the way up into southern missouri and parts of illinois and indiana. And of course, weve got rain. Widespread flash flooding, gulf coast of the Mississippi River valley. River flooding is going to be a big problem. Were talking locally 15 inches of rain. Hurricane watches and warnings now stretch all the way up into arkansas. So this is potentially a catastrophic situation. And the biggest problem with this storm surge, katy, is its going to happen in the middle of the night. You arent going to be able to see the storm surge coming. With these wind speeds, that water is going to come up awfully fast. We say potentially, not to warn anybody that they dont need to take it seriously, but because we dont know exactly how the storm will behave when it does make landfall. But you dont want to take those risks, potentially should be enough to make you get out of the areas that are under mandatory evacuations and to seek some safety. We plead with you, if you happen to be at home and watching this from one of these areas. Sam brock, youre in port arthur. What are you seeing there . And what are the preparations like . Reporter katy, in terms of the conditions right now, wind speed has started to pick up a little bit. Were just now getting overcast skies and rain pelting us. Nothing heavy yet, but thats going to be dialing up in the next several hours. As we discuss storm surge at the moment, 10 to 15 feet is what al just said for port arthur. We see we have rocks that im standing on top of. This is part of the seawall thats been built and fortified over the years the can blunt some of that storm surge, but when you get above 12 feet, this is not going to cut it. Not only will it come over where im standing in the gulf of mexico and sabine lake, just over my shoulder, but theres homes directly on the other side of the street here, and its going to be continually rushing forward. What we heard from the mayor of port arthur is that citys two miles from here, beaumont is about 18 to 20 miles from there, these are major population centers. We hear this thunder right now, and over 100,000 in beaumont, 500,000 plus mandatory evacuations between texas and louisiana. The whole key here, when you talk about harvey coming up here, having just experienced the threeyear anniversary, is getting people out in time. Governor abbott said there have been more called for mandatory evacuations at this point than there ever where for hurricane harvey. By 5 00 or 6 00 tonight, its you and god. Get out of town. Their last buses just left about noon local. So within the last hour or so, and i talked to plenty of folks who said they were here for harvey. They remember the water coming up to their shoulders. They do not want a repeat of that again. Theres one Silver Lining, this appears to be a quick storm, perhaps not dumping the 60plus inches of rain we saw during harvey several years ago, but the storm surge so unprecedented and so terrifying frankly, as soon as were done with this, were heading north. The reality of the situation is there are 5,000 people in the state of texas that are already in evacuation centers. They didnt know where they were going today when they came. Theyre getting checked for temperatures, they have their masks on, and theyre put on buses and shipped out to san antonio, dallas, other parts of texas, anywhere really than here as we wait and find out what the next several hours have in store. The last hour, had a local official on who said in order to accommodate the evacuations and the pandemic, the buses are not filled to capacity to get everybody out, but for needs of the social distancing and making sure there are evacuation shelters that will be able to safely take people who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Two crises coming to a head right now in louisiana and texas along the coastline. Al roker and sam brock, thank you. Sam, please stay safe. You and your crew. Today, the Republican National convention enters its third day. Were following all of the developments in the convention. The theme tonight is america, land of heroes. On night two, we saw republicans attempt to revise history. Revise the script, if you will, on the president s record. They offered an alternate reality. In the process, the party shattered norms and blurred the lines between governing and campaigning. Americas secretary of state delivered a highly political address from jerusalem. The countrys first lady made the case for her husband from the rose garden. Then there is the president. In 2016, he ran on a promise to build a wall. His Administration Stands accused of separating estimated 2,000 migrant families. Yet he was recast as a champion of immigration and presided over a staged naturalization ceremony inside the white house during the rnc. If you watched the convention, you would not have known the country was still fighting a pandemic. You would have thought the virus was mission accomplished, thanks to donald trump. Joining me now is Geoff Bennett, our nbc News White House correspondent. And tim alberta, Politico Magazine chief political correspondent. Boys gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. Geoff, the rnc last night did paint an alternate reality. How is the white house responding to the criticism that they not only violated norms and potentially the law, the hatch act, but that they just werent honest about the state of the country, that larry kudlow wasnt honest about where we are in this pandemic. Katy, ill start with the first part of your question and talk about the hatch act, because youre right. The president has obliterated the line that his predecessors have observed between conducting official Campaign Business and official white house business on white house grounds. Previous president s, many of them, at least, tried to convey to the American People their policy decisions, their political approach, wasnt informed by them trying to do what was best for their own political standing but by them trying to do what was best for the country. President trump, however, apparently does not share those same concerned and the white house chief of staff was asked about that today. He basically said we in the media are making too much of this. Heres what mark meadows had to say. Nobody outside of the beltway really cares. They expect that donald trump is going to promote republican values, and they would expect that barack obama, when he was in office, that he would do the same for democrats. And so listen, this is a lot of hoopla thats being made about things, mainly because the convention has been so unbelievably successful. And meadows in that interview also said something that contradicted President Trump. Remember when the president announced he was going to have so Many Convention events here on the white house grounds. He said it was easier because of travel restrictions and all of that, and the pandemic. Meadows today said that the president is willing to travel anywhere and that he purposefully chose the white house, he said, because the white house sends the message that the president and his Campaign Want to send to potential voters, katy. That is remarkable. Geoff, what about the idea that the pandemic has passed already . You know, we have put that question to white house officials about what larry kudlow in particular said last night, speaking in the past tense. And what you get privately from these officials is the same thing you get publicly. They tout the president s handling of coronavirus. I dont have to thick through the list because im sure you have heard it from people like Kellyanne Conway and the White House Press secretary, but that does match the stark reality. It does not match the fact that nearly 180,000 people have died as a result of this pandemic, and the president s handling of it, katy. Tim, you wrote a gangbusters piece on the state of the Republican Party heading into the convention on monday. I want to read a portion of it, the whole thing is worth reading, so please read it if you havent already. Heres one portion. The good news for the republicans is that grievance politics as ben sasse describes it, continues to be highly effective in motivating their base. The bad news, it has diminishing returns when it comes to the many millions of persuadable voters in the middle. Its also especially difficult for an incumbent party to sell grievance to the passes as it amounts to a tacit acknowledgment of powerlessness. This is perhaps the most bafrling aspect of the gops approach to 2020 instead of down playing the social unheaval, treating it as a fleeting phenomenon that will pass with time and promising better days ahead, theyre highlighting it at every turn, claiming its a sneak preview of Bidens America when it is factually speaking the feature presentation of trumps america. So tim, the question is, the rnc was making a play and has been making a play to appeal to suburban women. The voters that made a difference in 2016 and 2018. Theyre using this law and order message, this fear that lowincome minorities are going to invade your neighborhoods and suddenly everything is going to be much more dangerous and less prosperous if biden is to be elected. Its the same message that nixon used successfully in 1968. We are in 2020. What is different now . A lot of things are different, katy. You start with just the racial proposition of american suburbs and its clear that, you know, even though largely speaking, especially in the industrial midwest, if youre in the suburbs of detroit or milwaukee or columbus, ohio, cleveland, the suburbs are still overwhelmingly white, but theyre far less white than they were just 20 years ago, and certainly less white they were 50 years ago. That has changed. Racial attitudes across the board have changed in pretty significant ways. Whereas suburban voters were the target of a willy horton ad back in 1988. Suburban voters writ large, were speaking in generalities, but suburban voters would be the first ones to sort of recoil from a willy horton ad now. Im not sure Trumps Campaign really understands the scope and the sweep of that transformation of not just the demographics in these areas but the voter behaviors and the Voter Attitudes in these areas. Theres one reason that trump has bled support in these affluent whitecollar suburbs across america in the last four years. Its because of the cultural unease these folks feel. They dont like the feeling of a guilt of association with donald trump when he speaks this way, when he deploys this sort of racist and xenophobic rhetoric. Thats a huge problem for him and it seems like his campaign only attempted to double down on it. How much are they banking on more unrest for whats remaining of the summer and into the fall ahead of election day . How much are they banking on the scenes out of wisconsin from last night, these protests that are across the country where they can, you know, try to mix them all together and say, look, this is a violent, dangerous mob, as the mcclauskys did the other night, and you just cant be safe in these democratic controlled cities . You know, its hard to answer, katy, the degree to which theyre banking on it, but i certainly think theyre benefitting from it, no question. As a matter of fact, you talk to top democratic consultants, and every night that you have scenes unfolding of violence, of mayhem, of anarchy on the streets, cars on fire, windows being smashed in, they feel their vest tighten up. They understand the threat that poses politically. If you look at polling over the last couple weeks, you have seen a steady but noticeable progression on the issue of violence. In particular, white voters, including a lot of independents and moderates, now ranking violence as a top five concern for them heading into this election. A concern thats right up there with the economy, right up there with covid19 and the governments handling of it. Obviously, for as many things as donald trump has working against him at this moment, including this social unrest, there is a potential Silver Lining for him in that it does it would seem in part to reenforce his campaigns message, however exaggerated and hyperbolic that this is a country in the middle of a total collapse and that lawlessness is ruling the day. Yeah. Its the same message that he put out there in 2016, which was confusing to many people because at the time, crime even though it was ticking upwards in some places, it waw down across the country, down significantly from its highs in the 90s, and he was painting this picture of america that just didnt line up with reality for a lot of people, except, except if you were going to the places where he was holding rallies. And you saw those clashes where the National Guard had to come in and protect the two sides from each other at these rallies where donald trump was telling people to punch protesters. It looked chaotic in these tiny bubbles where trump was in 2016, not in the broader country, and the same thing, you know, you could argue in some ways, is spilling over. Trump created it back then and hes using it to his advantage now. Tim alberta, great piece. Everybody read it. The gops meltdown. Also Geoff Bennett at the white house, thank you for all your reporting as well. Later this hour, ill be joined by a former Trump Administration official who does not think the president she worked for should be reelected. Why shes working to vote to elect joe biden instead. And the u. S. Just surpassed 180,000 deaths from coronavirus. This as the cdc releases new guidelines on who should be tested. Guidelines that are being met with surprise. First up, though, breaking news from wisconsin, where the third night of unrest turned deadly. Police have now Just Announced an arrest in last nights shooting in kenosha. A minor. Were waiting on a News Conference from Kenosha County officials. 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So we just Learned Police officers have arrested a teenager in connection to this deadly shooting last night. That incident captured on social media left two people dead and another injured as we said in a third night of protests after the Police Shooting of a black man earlier this week. We paused the video right before the shooting. The Kenosha County board of supervisors is asking the governor for an additional 1500 National Guardsmen to help quell the unrest in the city. Moments ago, President Trump tweeted hell be sending federal agents to restore law and order. He said he got tony evers on board with that. Were waiting for a comment from the governor. Again, all of this is happening after the shooting of 29yearold jacob blake, who remains in the hospital, recovering from his injuries. His family says his spine is severed, and hes paralyzed from the waist down. Still, theyre asking protesters to keep the peace. If jacob knew what was going on as far as that goes, the violence and the destruction, he would be very unpleased. So i really am asking and encouraging everyone in wisconsin and abroad to take a moment and examine your hearts. Joining me now from kenosha, wisconsin, is nbc News Reporter shaquille brewster. Shaq, what happened last night, and who has been arrested . Katy, ill first say were expecting to hear from the kenosha mayor, county executive, sheriff, and police chief at any minute now. I know you guys are planning to take this press conference live, so feel free to interrupt me if you see the officials start approaching the podium. But what we know right now is that with the shooting last night, Kenosha Police say that two people were killed, one person was injured, and now an arrest has been made. A 17yearold antioch, illinois, resident. Antioch is about 30 minutes away from kenosha right now. Downstate in illinois. This person is in custody for that shooting. We know that the shooting happened after police cleared out the area in front of this courthouse. This plaza that im in right now, this area has been the flashpoint for protests. Police cleared out this area after curfew last night, and as people went into the streets, there were people with long guns, some of them saying they were protecting properties. Others saying they were protecting protesters and some sort of altercation happened that led to the shooting. Well expect to hear more later on. As you mentioned, President Trump said he is sending more assistance to wisconsin. Governor tony evers just released a statement saying that there will be 500 National Guard members here and activated and mobilized to help protect to help assist local Law Enforcement and also to help protect property. Well see if he has a direct response to what the president said, but hes confirming that there will be an influx in National Guard members. We know there were about 250 National Guard members out yesterday. And then we also have an update on jacob blake and his condition. His family saying he is in a lot of pain right now. Theyre saying hes doing better than he has been doing in the past, but they say he is not out of the woods yet. You know, we heard from his family yesterday. And they described the extensive nature of his injuries, the bullet still lodged in his vertebrae, the damage to his kidney, and to his liver. They say he has a long road of recovery ahead. But theyre continuing those calls for peace. Theyre continuing to ask for prayers for people not only here in kenosha but all across the country, as he goes through this recovery. Hopefully, this next night on night four, it will be a much more peaceful night. Thats at least what officials are hoping, for what residents are hoping for, as there is now an arrest and as we expect to hear from county officials any minute now. Katy. And i know his family members have said that when were talking about him, we should mention that he is a father. He is a brother. He is an uncle. And that he is a human, in describing jacob blake and all hes going through right now and all that family is going through. Shaq, just very quickly, if you can, who is out protesting . I know there was a difference between the protesters we protesters, ill put it in quotes, the people wewould see at night and the aftermath of george floyd, are the people that were seeing during the day different from the people were seeing at night in wisconsin . Definitely, katy. The people you see during the day, they usually have signs out there chanting. Theyre much more peaceful, and theyre making a point to be much more peaceful. I saw a sign yesterday that said please stop the looting, and also they were there to support the blake family. Then what you saw, there was a shift that night. I was here around 7 00 last night, an hour before curfew. We were aubt to set up for a live report, and it was eerily quiet. There were people still here and gathering, but there was uncertainty over what exactly was goepg ing on. Then as it got closer to curfew, chanting started and then there was a speaking series. Then you had a group of people come up and rush the fence of the courthouse. Thats when you started seeing the more tense exchanges with police. Shaq, im so sorry to interrupt you, but this briefing with Law Enforcement and city officials has now started. So let us go there live. Once the investigation is done, it will be turned over to the district attorneys office. What i want to talk to you about today is whats going on. There are a lot of very good people in this community. And what is happening to them is wrong. People have differences of opinion. We have different concepts of how things should be done. Those are all fine. But violence in the community is not acceptable. Violence to property, violence to people, absolutely unacceptable. And it is up to us to make sure that does not continue. We have called on many groups for support. And one of those i would like to thank at the moment is mrs. Blake. Who came out and said stop. This is not what her son wanted. And so i want to give a heartfelt thank you to her because she cared about the community and what was being done in her sons name. And that is appreciated. But we still have so many things we have to deal with. And a lot of misunderstanding of what is being done in this community for the safety of the public and the safety of the community. I want to kind of walk through a little bit of what occurred after the shooting. The city made the request to the state for support. And governor evers granted the guard to come the National Guard to come in. We have continually talked with him about the guard, and the guard has continued its numbers. Its in the community to help us deal with the looting and violence that has occurred. We also have had the situation where we have called for a curfew, which is 7 00 to 7 00. And that curfew is there to protect the public. We need to make sure people are off the streets so the Law Enforcement can do their job. And i think sometimes people forget that they think that because you call it a curfew, its there to give tickets to everyone. It is not. It is there to protect the public, and that is so, so very important at this point in time. Kenosha is a community that in the long run will recover. We will Work Together to resolve our issues. We will work with the Minority Community to continue to move forward. And we will make this a better place to live. But it will take time. It will take healing. And it will require us to reach out to all parties in the community. And actually have honest dialogue. So im here today basically to, number one, inform everyone that were not planning on letting this violence continue. Number two, we are going to Work Together to resolve the racial issues in our community, and were going to make that work. The only other thing i would like to add, which i forgot to say earlier, and i apologize. Im a little off topic, theres been a lot of talk about the support from governor evers. Governor evers has been very supportive to the community. And i think Everyone Needs to know that. They also need to know that theres this concept that the federal government is not participating in kenosha. They are. The fbi is here. Atf is here, and the u. S. Marshals are here. Its important for everyone to know this has been an activity where everyone has been involved in trying to make things better. I want to leave you with one last thought. And that is theres an adage i have always used in all of my elections and campaigns, and its going to sound a little hokie, i suppose. A community is only as strong as its weakest neighborhood. As a country, we are only as strong as the weakest city. We need to make sure that we help create or stop this divide and this anger that is going on in this country, and that only begins with each one of us willing to honestly talk with each other. So thank you for listening to me, and i will now turn it over to the sheriff. I talked to mrs. Blake on the phone, gave her information, what hospital she had to go to see her son. She was probably one of the calmest, nicest people i talked to that entire evening. And i havent talked to her since, but she was, i agree, she was a very nice person, a calming person. Started off with, we got called in on sunday after 5 30 to assist the city in a shooting. Our job is to protect the scene. And it got a little hairy out there as the night went on. Squad cars were damaged. I have seen some video taken by people. Im very proud of our staff, the Kenosha Police Department Staff that went out there and protecting the scene calmly. Politely. And stood there in the face of rocks being thrown. One of the city captains got something that hit him in the back of the head and took him to the ground right in front of me. But everyone on our end was very calm that night and maintained security and got out of there really as well as we could. The march came downtown. The focal point for each and every demonstration that really we have seen is building that were in right now, the safety building, the police department, the Kenosha Sheriffs Department is stationed here. It is to some people, to some people its were the bad people. And to the majority of the community, were the people that go out and help save and protect. The other part of it is the courthouse. The courthouse represents justice. And i know the people are looking for justice. Whatever it is, theres justice whether were found guilty or innocent, so im sure that will come out in time. On monday, the numbers grew. Our resources also grew. We put out an all call throughout the state to local sheriffs departments and Police Departments, and they showed up in numbers. In the hundreds. We put it out to we also put it out there to monday, we thought we put it out to the National Guard, and we found that we had our wires crossed. We didnt actually request the National Guard on monday night. Or was it sunday . The first night, because we had wires crossed. The second night, they delivered people, and the third night, they delivered more. Were very thankful for the National Guard. Like i said, we had sheriffs departments coming from all over the state of wisconsin. They brought their personnel, they brought their equipment. They brought their armored cars. They brought things that we needed. The state of wisconsin and the federal government, the fbi, the atf, u. S. Marshals, they brought technology. They brought equipment, too. And the resources and the information they have passed to us, we have got the dnr wardens that are down here that dont have riot gear were out every day in the face of everything. State troopers were here. The local agencies here in kenosha and around us couldnt be better brothers and sisters than we could ask for for them to come and help protect kenosha. Tuesday, we put up a fence around this building. All of you were allowed to come in through the gate. And the reason we put the fence around here is, like i said earlier, this is a focal point for protesting, and it still was last night. The protesters want to come here, say their piece, which is wonderful. No one in Law Enforcement, no one has any issues with coming in here and protesting. We support that. I know that about a month ago, the mayor and i went to one, and we kneeled for the kneel for nine with a group of people that were there. We were there supporting. The fence thats around these buildings, what it actually allows us to do, because this building holds inmates. Somehow, the structure got caught on fire, we cant move these people that quickly to get them to a safe spot. We have to protect the inmates. And we put the fence up to help protect this campus. The first night, there was probably about 300,000 damage to this campus alone. And what the fence also does is allows us to take the resources we needed to protect it to move them out into the field on the outside of the fence and do an even better job of working with the people in the community. Last night, with the fence up, we were much more assertive in the way we handled things. Shortly after 8 00, the curfew went into effect at 8 00. We moved out an armored car, and we basically said you need to leave. Curfew is 8 00. Youre in violation of the curfew. And if you dont, well be taking you into custody. Then some left. Several left. We watched on the screen, we watched several leaving. They followed the orders. And then when some didnt come, i saw it live, but i dont know if you saw it, they started pelting the officers over the fence with stones and bricks and the armored car was pelted. There were molotov cocktails thrown. We gave them we gave them probably another 10 to 15 minutes, and then we did tear gas to help disperse the crowd. That was not something we wanted to do, but with the damage and everything that went on monday night, it was something we had to do. We had to disperse the crowd and get them moving out. The longer we let them go, the longer we let them build, the more dangerous the situation became. Tonight, were changing the curfew to 7 00. We will gladly support all of the peaceful protests that are really throughout Kenosha County, up until 7 00. After that, we ask everybody to go home. Last night, im very proud of the people of kenosha. Last night, when i went and moved from this building out to the command post, i drove down the streets, and there was no one on it. The people of kenosha let Law Enforcement and all our partners do our job. They let us do truthfully a much better job last night than we could do on monday night. And the people stayed home. They moved their cars. They did everything we asked them to. And i want to thank the people of kenosha for doing that. Tonight, were moving it to 7 00. 7 00, the curfew will allow us to disperse whoever is gathered, maybe there will be no one, and i hope thats true, but disperse whoever is gathered in daylight, so it will help us to be able to see better. It will help the people to be able to see better. They wont be dispersing in dark. And we also find that after dark, we have many more issues with violence and things that go on. Last night, during some of the a lot of the we had several hundred Law Enforcement, a few hundred National Guard, and again, i watched on tv, i watched these hundreds of Law Enforcement go out there and calmly go out there and first of all, try to get people to leave, and then they assisted, many were taken into custody. For some, it was truly just a curfew violation. But were going to be very assertive in taking these people, if you dont follow the curfew, were going to do our best to take you into custody for that violation. Wednesday, we have additional staffing coming from around the state. Unbelievable the amount of sheriffs and Police Departments that come and have offered to come, both with equipment and people, to come down here and help protect Kenosha County. As the mayor said, we have got the National Guard, fbi, u. S. Marshal, dnr, wisconsin state patrol, and agencies throughout the state helping to protect this city. Last night, every day we get better. In kenosha, we are not accustomed to riots. Not accustomed to it. We pulled resources. We pulled knowledge from federal and state agencies. And the cooperation between all of them have been incredible. Theres some misinformation, as the mayor pointed out, that the state isnt helping or the federal government isnt helping. Everyone is helping. Everyone is helping. Can all these different agencies round up the numbers we would have love today have had on monday night . They cant. They dont work like Police Agencies do. So with a few days notice, these agencies were able to get more resources here. We have been finding and yesterday did a couple interviews in social media, i dont do social media. I dont do facebook. I would be too upset all the time if i did it. But the one thing that we found is that we do get we do get information from those sources, but theres also a lot of misinformation coming from those sources. Yesterday, as the day went on, it started off in the morning, there was almost no social media about anything happening yesterday. Almost none. By noon, had it grown. By early afternoon, it had multiplied again. Some of the things is, all of you get and the people of kenosha get facebook updates and social media updates from other people and it get passed and passed and passed. And we were getting the same misinformation on facebook that, again, hundreds of times. We get the same thing, and they would actually even say, theres 30 vehicles at this location, and we would send a squad car there and there was no one there. So whoever is doing this, put out this to scare the people of kenosha. And its working. Its working. What i want the people of kenosha to know, though, is that were working hard. Were working very hard, and were Getting Better at this. And we have got more resources coming in. And were not, like the mayor said, too, were not going to put up with what we saw monday night. Were not going to. Does that mean were going to stop it all . It depends on numbers that come. Were not going to be able to stop it all, but were going to be assertive in helping to protect the city of kenosha and Kenosha County. And our neighbors from around the county, state, and country are here to help, too. We blocked off the interstate. And we picked that up, other larger cities did that and it seemed effective, when i talked to other agencies on the state and federal level, that worked. And its an inconvenience for our local people. I am so sorry. Sorry we did that. But theres a reason for it. It was to help protect you. Yesterday, i had a person call me and say why dont you deputize citizens who have guns to come out and patrol the city of kenosha . And im like, oh, hell no. And what happened last night, and i think the chief is going to talk about it, was probably the perfect reason why i wouldnt. Once i deputize somebody, they fall under the constitution of the state of wisconsin. They fall under the county of kenosha. They fall under my guidance. They have to follow my policies, they have to follow my supervisors. Were listening to Law Enforcement in kenosha, wisconsin, talking about the unrest there. Confusingly, theres been so far no mention of the investigation into what happened to jacob blake, the shooting that has now left him paralyzed and in the hospital, shot seven times in the back by Police Officers in broad daylight. Also no mention of the suspect so far at least that they have arrested for shooting and killing two people and injuring a third last night during the unrest in wisconsin. So were going to keep watching it and once they Start Talking about that, well dip back in. Back with us now from kenosha, wisconsin, is nbc News Reporter shaquille brewster. The president was tweeting he was sending in federal Law Enforcement, federal National Guard, to help with the unrest there, and you just heard that Law Enforcement officer say that the mayor or the governor of wisconsin has been very helpful, but we called the Governors Office to ask him if he requested this help as the president is claiming, and the Governors Office got back to us and said that the last part of the tweet saying that he asked for this help is news to them. Thats right, katy. It was interesting in terms of the timing. We saw it was just a couple minutes ago, probably about an hour now, where governor evers and the Governors Office releases a statement saying they were increasing the amount of National Guard members who were coming to this area and that were going to be assisting local Law Enforcement. He put that number at 500, which is an increase from the 250 that were on the street last night. But that tweet came right before that statement, so that was something i was wondering if there was a direct connection to the president saying he was sending federal help and the governor saying that there were 500 National Guard members that were going to be out there today. But what you heard in the press conference, it was very interesting not to hear anything about the original shooting with mr. Jacob blake and not to hear any specific details about the investigation in terms of the shooting last night between protesters. Well see, the press conference is still going on, so well see if we get more information about that, but one thing he started to get into as he was cutting out is that idea of the rumors about people coming from out of town with guns. That there are militialike people coming in to protect property or to keep peace, whatever that means for those different groups. I think i should just note, katy, i was here last night as the protests were going on. Our crew left after a certain point, once they cleared out the park in front of the courthouse where the pres conference is happening now. Shaq, im going to hold you off for one second. Theyre now speaking about the shooting from last night. Let us dive back in. 7 00 p. M. Curfew until sunday. It might continue afterwards and it might end before. At this point, its the interstate and east, a 7 00 p. M. Curfew. For those that this puts a hardship on, im sorry. I really, really am. But its something we have to do. Im going to turn it over now and let them explain the National Guard. Thank you. Thank you, sheriff. Hello, im major general. Im in charge of Emergency Management for the state. Number one, i want to express my condolences to the families of those involved in the tragic events of kenosha. Next, i want to talk about what the wisconsin National Guard and our role in supporting local authorities in kenosha. On august 24th, governor evers called the wisconsin National Guard to active duty to assist local Law Enforcement in preserving public safety. It sounds like they touched on it for a moment and moved past it. Again, no news about the arrest or about the investigation as of now. So were going to move on from the story and bring you the updates as they do come out of kenosha, wisconsin. Shaquille brewster, so sorry for interrupting you earlier, but thank you very much. We have a lot of breaking news so were going to move were go move on. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says his state will ignore new federal testing guidelines released today by the cdc. The guidance states that only people with symptoms should be tested for the virus, even if they were in contact with an infected person. Joining me now by phone is new York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Mr. Governor, thank you so much for joining us. This is confusing, because asymptomatic people can still spread the virus. Why would the cdc have you got any clarity from the cdc about why they would say only people who are showing symptoms should get tested . It sounds like were going back to the protocols in march and april. Yeah, good afternoon, katie. Good to be with you. A lot going on. Yeah, i dont think yes, you could it is confusing. I find it more alarming. My Health Commissioner spoke to the cdc, people who are at the cdc, and they suggested to my Health Commissioner on a confidential basis obviously this was basically more of a political position that theyre taking. It is totally inconsistent with everything the cdc has said. It is totally inconsistent with everything we have learned about this virus. It is totally inconsistent with everything, every Public Health official says. Remember, the cdc made this mistake early on, early on they said that the virus can only spread from people who have symptoms. That was wrong. And they acknowledged their mistake, couple of months later after many more people were infected. And we know that people who are asymptomatic can spread the disease. They now say this morning in guidance, even if you are exposed to a positive person you dont need to test unless you have symptoms. You cannot justify that on any Public Health basis. Thats politics. Thats this president saying, if you dont test, if we dont test, then we wont see the number go up and then well have this false comfort, right . President trump has been saying we only know that we have cases because we test. If we dont test, then we wont know that we have the cases, which is obviously absurd and more of his denial strategy. If you dont screen for cancer, then you wont know that you have cancer. Yeah, that doesnt turn out so well, katie. So youre saying that this is in your estimation a political effort by the president or the administration to keep down the number of cases in this country . Yes. Because he has said as much. You know, if you listen to this president , hell tell you where hes going. He has said that we shouldnt be testing this much because if we test, then were going to find a virus and the number goes up. He said that. You know this is totally opposite everything the cdc has said. You know it is opposite the facts that we know that people who dont have symptoms can spread it. So, no, this is all political propaganda, the election season is in full cycle. And my Health Commissioner spoke to someone at cdc who said the administration wanted to do this and they didnt believe it was backed by science. And i said, shame on the cdc for allowing the president to politically interfere with Public Health and thats another lesson we have to learn here. We need a real Public Health watchdog in this nation. They missed this virus coming to the country in the first place, they missed that it left china and went to europe, and new yorkers paid that price. We need Public Health people who do Public Health, and not politics. And were going to disregard the cdc guidance totally. So in new york, if you are asymptomatic, and youve come into contact with somebody, you can still get tested. I want to talk about more generally, more broadly the trust we have in our in our agencies, our Health Agencies. The fda just issued an emergency approval for a Plasma Treatment for coronavirus, one that only days earlier they had said wasnt ready, the president used it to announce a new breakthrough on the first night of his convention. There are serious questions and concerns that he pressured fda director hahn on that and youre saying based on what the president has said publicly, that it looks like the administration or according to your Health Official talking to the cdc was pressuring the cdc to issue this new guidance. When we come to a vaccine, mr. Governor, governor cuomo, can we be confident that that vaccine is going to be safe . Katy, i i dont mean to be unduly cynical about our federal government. I have dealt with this covid crisis every step of the way, more intimately than probably any other state official in the country, just because new york had such a bad situation from the getgo, because of the negligence of the federal government. Remember how the story starts. The virus left china in december, was in europe january, february, march, they all missed it. Cdc, nih, homeland security, the whole alphabet soup of federal agencies failed and we paid the price in new york. And then the cdc made a mistake about symptomatic spread versus asymptomatic spread, they made a mistake that children couldnt get infected, they made a mistake on not being ready on testing, so we know that this has been a politically influenced situation. So, no, i take everything with a grain of salt. I dont trust, frankly, im sorry to say that, i was a cabinet secretary, i have Great Respect for the federal government, as an institution, i dont trust their guidance on this. I believe the they have a heavy political hand, even in Public Health. And unless my Health Department affirms their findings, i dont follow federal guidance, and, again, it saddens me to say that. So just to be clear, in talking about a vaccine, what are you going to need to know what are you going to need to verify and what can you verify with your Health Commission about a vaccine and its safety for the American Public . If a vaccine comes to market, on january 20th or past january 20th and donald trump is still the president of the united states. Well, katy, they would have to put out their studies and their protocols and their findings on the efficacy of the drug. And we can, a, review their material, b, we can do separate tests ourselves. You know, many of the tests that the fda has done are done in new york hospitals. Especially when it comes to covid. I mean, we went through the whole hydroxychloroquine fiasco with them. Those tests, by the fda, were done in new york state hospitals because we have some of the best hospitals, and because we have many people who had covid in new york. So we participated in these tests with the fda and were in a position to affirm or not affirm their findings. And look i happen to be a democrat, but i think anybody who has watched the circumstances subjective at all would have to agree that the competence of these federal Health Agencies has been called into question by by documented mistakes that they have made. And anyone would have to agree that this is a very Political Administration that doesnt see a line between politics and government, and does interfere in legitimate Government Operations politically. They have done it again and again and again. And they do it with Public Health. They just they dont discriminate. It is all politics, all the time. You know, we heard that from doctors that we had on air with us, our trusted doctors, saying that their concern about the politization of a vaccine, but to hear it from you, sir, as the governor of new york, that you would be concerned about it based on everything you have experienced and seen with this administration and now this new cdc guidance, that is worrying to say the least. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, thank you for coming on with us and sharing some of your time. We do appreciate it. Thank you, my pleasure, katy. Have a good afternoon. And that is going to do it for me today. Ayman mohyeldin picks up our coverage right now. Good afternoon, everyone. Im Ayman Mohyeldin in new york. Breaking news on multiple fronts. A suspect has been arrested in connection with a deadly shooting during protests in kenosha, wisconsin. Officials are briefing at the moment. Were going to have a lot more on that as that continues. Down south, the National Hurricane center is warning of unsurvivable storm surges as we watch hurricane laura taking aim at texas and louisiana. State officials are urging residents to evacuate ahead of laura, which is intensifying with winds of up to 140 Miles Per Hour and is currently a strong category 4 storm. It is disturbing to note that Hurricane Katrina was a strong category 3 when it made landfall, but to repeat, laura could still be a category 4 when it hits land. This storm expected to wreak its devastation during the biggest nights of the Republican National convention. Vice president mike pence will speak tonight, and President Trump, of course, scheduled to speak tomorrow night
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