Hurricane laura. There is heavy damage along the gulf coast, where the storm made landfall as a category 4. But search and rescue operations have just been suspended. The halt was caused by a plant fire that has spawned a chemical cloud right along interstate 10. Youre looking at that image. Were going to go live to louisiana in just a moment. We expect to see President Trump this afternoon as well. He will visit fema headquarters to be briefed on the storm response. And later, he is going to blur the lines between campaigning and governing again as he accepts his partys nomination for another term from the lawn of the white house. If you believe Jared Kushner, mr. Trump will offer a hopeful vision of america. But leaked excerpts of the speech sound less hopeful. Politico reports the president will unload on joe biden in a blistering convention speech. He will claim that he has spent his first term reversing joe bidens damage. All of this against the backdrop of extreme unrest that is shocking the country that mr. Trump has been leading for the past four years. A 17yearold is in police custody, accused of killing two during demonstrations in wisconsin. This is him, Kyle Rittenhouse. Social media posts that appear to be his show support for the president and Blue Lives Matter. And in response to the Police Shooting of jacob blake that sparked those protests, we have seen an Unprecedented Movement across the sports world. Play across several leagues was suspended as professional athletes effectively went on strike. Lets begin, though, with the hurricane. Louisiana governor jon behn bel edwards is expected to brief reporters in just a moment. In fact, hes just started speaking now. Let us dip in. Fire marshal bush browning who is here to answer questions perhaps you might have about the fire at the Chemical Plant in west lake and obviously, you can ask questions of any of the officials here. First of all, it is clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute catastrophic damage that we thought was likely based on the forecast we had last night. But we have sustained a tremendous amount of damage. We have thousands and thousands of our fellow citizens whose lives are upside down. Because their businesses and or their homes have been damaged. And we have lots of challenges around the state to say the least, with a variety of things, whether its electrical power, water service, you name it, so we have a lot of work to do. But were in better shape today than might have been the case. So we have a lot to be thankful for as well. As you know by now, im sure, hurricane laura made landfall as predicted last night. Or i should say this morning at 1 00 a. M. , as a very strong category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. This was the most powerful storm to ever make landfall in louisiana. And it is still a powerful storm that is in the state of louisiana, that is continuing to cause damage and lifethreatening conditions, including further loss of electricity. Before i get more deeply into lauras impacts in louisiana, i do want to discuss in particular a chlorine gas chemical fire in west lake that has resulted in us asking the citizens of west lake and moss bluff to be cognizant of whats going on and to shelter at home. And unfortunately, despite the heat that theyre experiencing, the shelter at home under those circumstances means they need to be on the inside of their home with the doors and windows closed, and the air conditioning off if theyre lucky enough to have electricity, whether its by generator or otherwise. And please understand were doing everything we can to get that situation under control, put out that fire, and to stop any migration. And again, we have the state police and the Fire Marshals Office here to answer specific questions about that. You may have seen some footage that shows the chemical fire in west lake that i just mentioned from the perspective of the lake and looking underneath the bridge, and if you have seen that, you have seen the olive capri casino that is on the barge that obviously came loose during the storm and is sort of wedged underneath the bridge. The bridge remains closed, so that means i10 is closed, and thats until we can do an inspection to see what sort of damage, if any, was caused by that barge. Obviously, there may be additional directions from local officials in that area. Were encouraging everyone first of all, this goes for everybody across the state to follow the directions that youre given by your local officials and your offices of emergency preparedness, but particularly in the west lake, moss bluff, lake charles areas, Pay Attention to their directions as it relates to the chemical fire. Hurricane laura which struck our state, was recently downgraded, i think about 30 minutes or so ago, to Tropical Storm. The center at that time was between shreveport and rusten. The track of the storm was that chemical fire is still burning. Thats louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards updating on the storm, still a lot of people down there without power, in both louisiana and texas. Joining me now from shreveport, louisiana, is Msnbc Senior National CorrespondentChris Jansing. Chris, what does it look like out there . Well, take a look, katy, because this huge oak tree came down. It absolutely crushed a car. I think if you look up a little higher, you can see where some of these huge branches split. And it literally sheared off the side of this house while people were inside. You see some of the folks who are up on the roof trying to stabilize it. They are putting a tarp over it, trying to save what they can inside the house. Let me bring you over here. To thomas, whose brother owns this house. You get a call this morning, and he says what . Thomas, youre going to have to come to the house right now because our oak tree has come down onto the dining room and the kitchen. And mia is hurt, and well be going to the hospital. Originally, when i spoke to the fire chief today, he said that there was a serious injury here. Now it looks as though it may be a little better than they initially thought for your sisterinlaw . They did a ct scan and verified she does not have a fractured skull. She does have a hematoma that they have to give her stitches and i think theyll probably chemoh keep her in the hospital overnight. You came running over here. You have a house four blocks away. You dont know whats happening in your neighborhood . I understand theres a tree down a block down from my home, but im praying my home is intact. One of the things you said to me, because i said who are the folks up thon roof . It looks dangerous up there. You said every one of these are neighbors that have responded to the call for help when it was put out on facebook that michael and mia had had damage done to their house. When you look sxup and see all these kind people, these are our friends. You sound emotional. Its touching when people come out of nowhere to help, but thats what good people do. What do you want people to know . Because so many people here have been through this before, when rita came through, theres been flooding here. What do you want people to know about shreveport . Remember, say some prayers for us. If you can help, come on out. Theres an awful lot of people hurting right now, and were a great community. Youll see us come together like the state of louisiana will, and well recover, but this is when we really dig deep and stand tall. Well, we thank you, and were so glad to hear about your sisterinlaw. Thank you. I want to show folks one more thing, if i can. Muddy old oak here in louisiana. Take a look at this root system. Take a look, katy, at what ripped out of the ground here when this oak went down. And this also gives you another perspective as you look in the yard. A couple young kids here who are helping out. Theyre moving ladders in, and the folks who are up there on the roof trying to do what they can. Neighbor helping neighbor, and this is just one part of what we have seen. We have seen a lot of trees down, but we have also seen and heard about power lines, at least 68,000 people is the latest number were getting in this immediate region of people who are without power. And so a lot of cleanup is going to be going on here. A lot of people looking to get their power restored. Theyve got a long weekend ahead of them, katy. The Power Outages are going to be the next really big story down there. Chris jansing, thank you so much. And good luck to that man and his family. Lets go now to cameron parrish, where the storm made landfall. Joining me is stott trahan, the Vice President of the police jury, the governing authority of the parrish. Thank you for joining us, scott. What does it look like there right now . Well, im on the northern end of the parrish. We have been using our tractors, moving power lines and trees off the roads to make them passable, but the grand lake area, where i was at, the sweet lake area, its destruction. It looks Something Like rita did with us and south, on the south end. Thats where im from, down in the creole area. And theres roofs missing. Theres shingles blown off, power lines down everywhere, trees down everywhere. Its bad. Its bad. Its the third time in 15 years its really hammered us hard. As a matter of fact, i just got a call. My house is down in creole. It survives rita, it survived ike, and its probably going to be totaled this time. Its there, but its its in bad shape. And its built to code and everything. At elevation. But these winds were so bad, its horrible. Not a lot of water. Category 4. It was bad. It was bad. Im looking at the trees right now in sweet lake right now. They look like they have been whipped hard. Its no leaves on them at all. And broken all up, broken pieces. A lot of houses with the roof completely gone. Power lines down everywhere. Its bad. We have to move the trees and power lines out of the way so people can pass and try to get people in as quick as we can get workers in and try to get us back in as quick as we can and get things going. And i talked to our assistant director, ashley kelly, and she was telling me that the power lines, i hadnt had a chance to get down the bridge to try to make it back to creole, but the power lines were down everywhere, so it looks kind of like what youre showing right there. I mean, its terrible. Yeah. I have seen businesses with roofs scott, did anyone get hurt . Not that i know of, as of right now, no, maam, i dont know of anyone being hurt. I know they said something about 150some people might not have left. Everybody was told to get out. And im for sure lai would say nobody stayed. Everybody was leaving early. Beginning of the storm, days ahead, bringing all their equipment out. And now i was told maybe in the upper parts in the sweet lake, grand lake area, there might have been some who stayed, but i goe dont know for sure, to be honest with you. Let us cross our fingers. You said maybe 150 people did not leave. Lets hope either they left in time or they were able to withstand thats what i was told. Okay. Lets hope they were able to withstand it if they did end up staying. Scott, im so sorry to hear about your home. So sorry to hear about your town. You go through a lot down there, and our thoughts are with you. We appreciate it. Appreciate it. I tell you what, i got to give this in here. General Russel Honore called me about 2 00 this morning to check in on us and see how our parrish was doing and how the weather was doing. And that he was going to be able to assist us, make sure all the cattle were out and stuff and all the people. He was checking in on me last night about 2 00 in the morning. Appreciate general honore. Well, Lieutenant General honore certainly knows a thing or two about storms and their aftermath. Scott, thank you so much for joining us. Yes, maam. Thank you. Appreciate it. Take care. And joining me now from vinton, louisiana, is msnbcs ali velshi. How does it look over there right now . Kind of amazing. I am maybe five miles east of where i was earlier today. I was on the texas side. The texas louisiana border winds along the sabine river. But its a different world. In five miles. The destruction is so much greater over here than it was on the texas side. Wrer rr nowere now of course i western texas. Heres a truck stop, sort of a truck stop complex, a social club, you can see theres an electronic bull over there, a saddle, some photos on the walls. This here on the ground, this thing in front of me, this is the facade of the building. This has completely come down. If we lifted this up, this would be the front of the building. The facade came down and the roof collapsed. This kind of damage is all over the place here. The gas station just over on the corner, the top is completely gone from it. Were seeing real, real damage here. 250,000 people at a minimum across louisiana are without power. Fortunately, the weather has cleared up on the Southern Side of western louisiana. You saw Chris Jansing, theyre still getting the back end of some weather. Its moved on, its now no longer a hurricane, but some places theyre not going to be able to get the bucket trucks out there to fix power stuff. Were starting to see that around here. A lot of bucket trucks on this side, but were now just on the western side of louisiana, as you go further east into lake charles or further south into cameron parrish, where this came ashore, and then in a Straight Line north from where we are, all the way to shreveport and beyond, there continues to be a great deal of damage. A lot of flooding. Were consistently seeing these helicopters above us, National Guard helicopters. We know there are highwater rescues under way. They were prepared for it because they did know how bad it was going to be, but as you discussed, some people didnt leave their homes. Some people remain trapped, but the destruction as we go further east is much, much greater. East texas was spared a lot of it. Western louisiana was not, katy. Ali, how is larry doing . Larry the squirrel is we believe in good shape. I left him where he was because you shouldnt really take a baby animal out of their habitat if you dont have to, but the guy taking care of us, tony, the guy i interviewed, he got a dropper and was going to give him gatorade every couple hours and there was a guy up the street who had rescued a squirrel recently who is prepared to take care of it. So i think larry is on his way to a good life. A little moment of joy amidst all this destruction. Small joys. Ali velshi, thank you very much. And lets bring in today show cohost al roker with a look at where the storm is headed next. So al, its over land. Its weakened. Whats the big concern right now . Well, the big concern, katy, is going to be the winds. And the possibility of tornadoes. As we look right now on the live radar, you can see the system now pushing up to the north. We still have tornado watches for a good portion of louisiana, into mississippi, and Central Arkansas at this hour. The latest, it is a Tropical Storm, 65 miles eastnortheast of shreveport, with 65mileperhour winds. That still is significant, katy, with northerly winds, a Northern Movement of 15. It will be weakening, but as you saw the root ball systems where Chris Jansing was, this system is now moving into a lot of residential neighborhoods. Not only do you have flooding but strong winds and tornadoes possible. Tomorrow, it still weakens, but still continues with those winds. The flood threat and more tornadoes continues on to the east by saturday, and then off the coast on sunday, and things clear out. Again, the big story right now, still the winds. Severe winds moving north into the Mississippi River valley. Were talking gusts that are tropical force wind gusts, as it pushes north, and thats the risk of downed power lines. Right now, we have reports of significant Power Outages throughout the little rock area. And we have got kind of a double whammy. We have a vigorous system to the north plus the moisture and instability from laura coming up from the south, and so you can see that there is a widespread area from the plains, great lakes, into the northeast, the appalachians, all the way down into the gulf for Power Outages due to also laura and this combination system thats going to be causing problems, Severe Weather throughout the next 48 hours. Rain is an issue still. We have some extreme rainfall rates up to 3 inches per hour with widespread flash flooding. We still have Tropical Storm warnings up. Little rock has never had a Tropical Storm warning. Shreveport never had a hurricane warning, but they got both of those today, katy. Al roker, al, thank you so much. And tonight is the president s turn to make his case to the american people. But with all the unrest around our country and a pandemic that is still not under control, will voters respond to the message that he says only he can fix it . Plus, an unprecedented moment in professional sports. Games across several leagues are postponed as athletes protest the shooting of jacob blake. But first, what compelled a 17yearold to drive to another town armed with a long gun and to take Law Enforcement matters into his own hands . Killing two people, injuring another, what motivated him . Next. A 17yearold is being charged as an adult accused of shooting and killing two people during protests in kenosha this week. In an interview, Kyle Rittenhouse did with the daily caller before the shooting, he seemed to paint himself on the side of police. He indicated that he felt it was his responsibility as a teenager from out of state to come protect businesses in the city armed with force. People are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business, and part of my job is to also help. If theres somebody hurt, im running into harms way. I have to protect myself, obviously. Armed with a rifle, a since deleted facebook profile that appears to belong to rittenhouse shows him posing with a long gun as well as support of the Blue Lives Matter movement. And rittenhouse apparently posted videos to a tiktok account from the front row of a trump rally back in july. Joining me is frank figliuzzi, former assistant director for counterintelligence at the fbi and author of the book fbi way. And elizabeth newman, former dhs assistant secretary for the Threat Prevention and Security Policy as a result of which she saw in the Trump Administration shes now part of a group working to elect joe biden. Both of you, welcome. Frank, i do want to start with you. Were asking the question, what motivated this 17yearold to drive across state lines with a rifle and that he believed he needed to help Law Enforcement in a town that was not his . Kati, were going to a watch a very thorough investigation take place with a complete examination of his social media. What were seeing so far is very similar to the process we see with islamic violent jihad radicalization. This wanting to belong to a cause greater than yourself. Wanting to get affirmation from a group who may not even know who you are or ever met you and feeling like youre part of this deployment, this cause. You heard him on the clip you showed saying its my job to protect this. Its not your job, but you think it is, and video last night shows him walking around, roaming around with the assault rifle, not doing much of protecting anything. I would assert that its time we stopped using the word troubled with regard to white young people who act out like this and start thinking about the radicalized term that we used when people of color or people of islamic faith act out like this. This is a radicalization process thats happening. It happened with the el paso shooter in texas. We kept hearing he was troubled. No, he was radicalized. And its happening online. Are there laws on the books that allow the American Government to identify people that might be selfradicalizing or getting radicalized online in this way, identify them in the same way that they try to identify islamic terrorists who might be here on american soil . What sort of, i guess, hurdles does Law Enforcement have in identifying those types of people . Katy, most americans are shocked to hear we dont treat International Terrorism the same as domestic terrorism. If youre with al qaeda or isis or some other recognized sponsor of terrorism, the fbi and other Law Enforcement can get inside your chat rooms, send in informants, work undercover, and there are laws that make it illegal to be part of that group or support them. There is no such law for domestic terrorism. Its not against the law to be a domestic terrorist. That means you have to wait for violence to be articulated or espoused for Law Enforcement to get in. We need to change that law because finding that lone wolf within that group is going to become extremely important as we ramp up to the election. Im very concerned about more people out there like this who hear a call to arms and perhaps hear it directly from some of our government leaders. Elizabeth, you said part of the reason you left dhs was because the administration was not doing enough about extremism. These events that were seeing, this event we saw the other night, does that fall into that category to you . Absolutely. Its one of the Biggest Challenges over the last few years is this threat that was emerging and evolving and morphing, was how do we characterize this for the American Public so they understand this isnt just a troubled youth. This is a radicalization process that theyre walking through, often online and sometimes it can occur extremely quickly because of what the internet brings to your doorstep and you can sit and watch hours and hours of film that ten years ago or twenty years ago would have taken months for you to get your hands on. So it is a dangerous mixture. For me, the frustrations that i had with working within the administration were twofold. One, the nsc process that is usually used to tackle some of these tough policy issues that frank described, it was broken. It wasnt working fast enough. So while we made some progress, a lot of the progress we made was because there were good counterterrorism professionals at the National Counterterrorism center, at the fbi, and some of the staff of the nsc, and we got together to figure out what can we do wib existing laws. Before i left, i called on congress to create a commission to study this problem. It is complex. We need laws to be updated. I dont want to interruptd you, and i want you to stick around, but Kenosha Police are giving an update. Were going to continue this conversation on the other side. Lets listen for a moment. Much of what i have to say has already been said, so im not going to be redundant with that. I can tell you from the Law Enforcement standpoint, the situation is much calmer. Persons are lawfully protesting, and that continues late into the night, early into the morning, with persons making their views, making their concerns known. The voice of those people is not falling upon deaf ears. Were hearing what is being said. And the mayor has spoke to his commitment involving myself to usher in change where thats possible. Many people are out expressing their views yesterday. Those in support of every cause, different sides of issues, whether they were protesters, antiprotesters, antipolice, pro police, many people were out speaking their mind. And that is one of the things thats part of america. You have a right to do that. So much of what was talked about here is the number of resources being deployed and used. Both resources are being deployed to keep people safe, whether youre a resident of kenosha or somebody traveling here to express differing views. So we are doing our best to keep it a safe environment. And we thank those yesterday who peacefully protested and obeyed the curfew. Unfortunately, not everybody did so, but the sheriff spoke that it was a less tumultuous night, and i would agree. Unfortunately, there will still weapons charges. There will still persons arrested on warrants, and i believe there were some other cases as well. I wont go into the details of those at this time. I know we will be scheduling another conference soon. I thank those who peacefully protested and obeyed the curfew. Not losing their voice, their desire for change, to the violence which has gleaned this spotlight. Kenosha was once known for american motors and the lakefront. We do not wish to be known for violence of any kind. We continue to investigate the previous looting and arson cases that took place on sunday night and early into the morning. And we hope to bring those involved to justice through the court system. I have no Additional Information to share regarding the shooting deaths of those persons from the night before. Rest assured, those investigations continue, and we will build a strong case based upon the facts. We are working hard to keep the citizens of kenosha safe and to investigate and stop lawless behavior. And thats only by a small group. By no means do i or anybody up here think that 1500 people intend violence. Most of those people want change. They want accountability. And those are things i think we all agree upon. So regardless of being part of the protest or not, we encourage everybody to obey the law and help keep us, the community, safe so we can concentrate our efforts instead of controlling violence to building harmony and peace for all. Thank you. Good afternoon. Im Major General knapp. The adjunct yesterday for the wisconsin National Guard. I grew up here in wisconsin. Its where i make my home and where im raising my kids, and whats happening in this Community Goes beyond city and county borders. It affects us all as wisconsinites and americans. And with that, im here to give you an update on the role of the National Guard, as we continue to serve in a supporting role to local Law Enforcement. Were here to help preserve public safety, but were also here to insure individuals rights to exercise their First Amendment rights to demonstrate. Yesterday, i spoke about the sacrifices of the National GuardService Members leaving their families and homes to come here to support kenosha. Today, i want to make sure and reemphasize that there are also other people from all over the state, Law Enforcement, who have done the same thing. They have picked up what they were doing, left their jobs, left their families, and they rallied here behind this mission to bring peaceful conclusion to this event. So i think thats really important. I think we need to keep that in mind and keep them in mind as well. Going forward, in terms of National Guard presence, we mentioned yesterday that we were going to be bringing in guard members from other states. So we have solidified some of the details, and i can tell you that we have commitments from three other states, arizona, alabama, and michigan will be sending some of their National Guard members here to assist in this effort. And they will be here and hopefully be assisting us as early as tomorrow night in some cases. For clarification in that, i want to also say that those National Guard members, much like the wisconsin National Guard, those are not federalized troops. Theyre here on state active duty. Theyre here through a mutual aid agreement or a compact between the states and specifically the governors. And they will be under my command as the general, ultimately under the command of the commander in chief for the state, governor evers. Again, i would like to emphasize that our mission here is to protect life safety here in the community and bring back peace. Were also very supportive of all of those who feel that want to peacefully demonstrate. We urge continued peaceful demonstration. But we also understand that there are people who are coming here to the area with the intent to destroy property and to ruin lives. And those are the people that we need to all Work Together to keep them out of this community and keep them from doing the harm that theyre intending. So in closing, i just would like to reemphasize how important it is for us all to be together in our efforts. I know that we all appear on the stage here together, and i hope all of you out there as well are together in our efforts to bring a peaceful conclusion to this tragic event as we go forward here in kenosha. Thank you. Thank you very much for your patience, ladies and gentlemen. So kenosha officers saying giving an update on the situation there and saying it has been much calmer in the last night. I want to fgo back to frank fig losa and elizabeth newman. You were talking about the efforts you were making with congress to push forward some sort of law that would address or a bill that would address what you saw at dhs and said was not being taken seriously enough by this administration. First, i want to get your reaction to what you heard from Law Enforcement in kenosha about the violence that we have been seeing there. Yeah. My heart goes out to the community. Clearly, we need to be able to have civil discourse about police reform, but it needs to be done in a way that is respectful of Law Enforcement and respectful of those that have been mistreated by Law Enforcement. That requires leadership. I think what has been really disheartening over the last four years is instead of having a president asking us to rise above and put aside our differences so we can work towards a better solution, we have rhetoric of division. And that rhetoric of division, that stoking of fear, that stoking of hate actually leads to violence. And i think frank alluded to this as well. I think there are cases to be made that much of the president s rhetoric has increased certainly the recruitment of people to radical causes that have violent tendencies like White Supremacy or nationalism, white nationalism. And it is possible well let the investigation, you know, go under continue. It will take a while, but it is possible that what we saw here may have ties to that, to those similar themes. Certainly, what we saw in el paso, the perpetrator there, caused or was motivated by a lot of rhetoric that he had heard from the president. And that was probably the most disheartening part, while we made some progress with domestic terrorism, we didnt have that clarion call from the top articulating the threat for what it was and worse, we had his rhetoric that often encouraged those that evil of White Supremacy to proliferate throughout our country. Elizabeth, how has the rnc played into this . Were on night four. For the past few nights, we have hearing democratic cities are overrun with violence, that Law Enforcement is told to stand down. Obviously, that is gnaw true. You have the mcclauskkys, the st. Louis couple who brandished weapons at protesters walking by their house and were charged for it, saying the democrats were going to overrun your cities and you need to protect yourself. What were seeing with the rnc with not just the president repeating this rhetoric but the establishment doing it, what is that doing . It is so disheartening as a lifelong republican and as a conservative to see a party turn into the cult of trump. The party that i grew up with was compassionate. They sought to better the other, to help the other, and this seems to be a party of division and us versus them. Its just really disheartening, and thats part of the reason im speaking out. I know that there are other people that share my concerns, and i am hoping that we can come together and make a path forward for a more productive and healthier Republican Party and put the experience of the cult of trump behind us. Frank figliuzzi and eelizabeth neumann, thank you for the conversation we should be having in the leadup to the election. Tonight is the final night of the Republican National convention. In just a few hours, the president will accept his partys nomination for another term from the lawn of the white house. Beneath the surface of the president s remarks is a period of National Unrest as we have been discussing. Continued protests against Police Violence, and a long overdue reckoning on racism in this country set against the backdrop of a once in a century pandemic. This afternoon, the Trump Campaign confirmed excerptses from the president s speech, calling bidens platform extreme and claiming only President Trump can reverse what his campaign called the damage inflicted by the Obama Biden Administration onto the united states. This mirrors what we heard from vp pence last night that you wont be safe in joe bidens america. Joe biden addressed those charges with my colleague, andrea mitchell, earlier today. The problem we have right now is were in Donald Trumps america. You know, to quote kellyanne conway, she said and im paraphrasing today, theyre looking for more violence and more disruption because it helps them politically. He views this as a political benefit to him. You know, hes rooting for more violence, not less. With me now is nbc News White House correspondent kristen welker. Joe biden saying there the president and the people in his administration are rooting for more violence in order to convince the public that they should vote for him to restore law and order in november, even though the president has been the president for the past four years. Well, you hit at the key point, katy, which is this is all happening on President Trumps watch. So we will be listening very closely to what he has to say about whats happening in kenosha. Last night, Vice President mike pence did not mention jacob blake, who was injured and hospitalized in the wake of that policeinvolved shooting. And instead tried to paint a picture of fear if joe biden wins. President trump is going to build on that tonight. Hes expected to say we have spent the last four years reversing the damage joe biden inflicted over the last 47 years. At the democrat convention, you barely heard a word about their agenda, but its not because they dont have one. Its because the agenda is the most extreme set of proposals put forward by a major party nominee. There will be plenty of facch t facchecking about what the president has to say. Last night, Vice President pence tried to make the argument the biden harris ticket favors defunding the police, when in fact joe biden has been asked about that and has been definitive he doesnt support that. So the pressure will be on President Trump to end this convention not only in a way that takes aim at joe biden, katy, but in a way that stays true to what they promised at the outset, which was to deliver some type of optimistic viewpoint of what happens next. How will he deal with these racial tensions all across the country . Its worth talking about some of the mechanics of this because it does come against the backdrop of covid, against the backdrop of more than 180,000 deaths. We expect the president is going to announce expanded rapid tests. That will be i think something you hear him tout quite forcefully tonight. But there are going to be 1500 people here at the white house on the south lawn. Its our understanding that only the people who are close to President Trump are going to be tested. And while masks will be recommended, they will not be enforced. By the way, in terms of the counterprogramming, were going to hear more of that a little later on from senator Kamala Harris when she has an event here in washington, d. C. I am told she is going to start to prosecute the case against President Trump on the issue of covid and in terms of what we are seeing in kenosha, katy. We will be looking ahead to that as well. Kristen welker at the white house, kristen, thank you so much. And still ahead, pro athletes have walked off the court in protest of jacob blakes shooting. Jemele hill joins us to talk about how this could drive the injusting home to some americans. First, backlash to the new federal guidance on who should be tested for coronavirus. Several governors call it dangerous and deadly. What happens now . Now that the rents due but theyve cut your pay. Now that the virus has cost lives but your healthcare costs too much. Now that our president has had months but he still doesnt have a plan. What happens now . Joe biden knows how to lead through a crisis because hes done it before. When our economy was on the verge of collapse, joe biden led the largest economic stimulus in a generation and saved millions of jobs. Now joe biden is ready to lead us through this crisis. He knows rebuilding our economy starts with fighting the virus, increasing testing, getting more protective gear for healthcare workers and calling for mask mandates nationwide. As president , hell get working families back on their feet by lowering healthcare costs and helping Small Businesses recover. So what happens now . We elect a president who will build back better. Im joe biden and i approve this message. Today, the director of the cdc says he may reconsider some of the new testing guidance that has prompted criticism across the country. Under that new guidance, the cdc recommends only testing people who are showing coronavirus symptoms, specifically excluding anyone who has been exposed to the virus but does not show symptoms. Several democratic governors refused to comply. The governors of new york, new jersey, and connecticut issued a new statement calling it, quote, reckless. Then, cdc director Robert Redfield announced today testing may be considered for anyone ecposed to the virus, but the rest of the new guidance would remain unchanged. Joining me now is dr. Adologia, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins center for health security. Thank you so much for joining us. This change in the testing, these governors are calling it dangerous. Theyre calling it potentially deadly. Not testing those who might have come into close contact with somebody who had the virus, and thereby might have been infected themselves but might not be showing symptoms. Yeah, i think this is something when i first heard about it, i thought maybe this was because theyre trying to prioritize outpatient testing because we had long turn around times, but now it seems this might be, you cant help but think this is a part strategy to decrease testing. This is very confusing for the governors and the general public to know what to do. It is important, if youre a highrisk contact, you selfquarantine for 14 days and talk to your health department, see what the protocol is in your area to be tested. Were seeing states and localities are not necessarily following the cdc guidance, which is confusing at best, and damaging at worst. Doctor, thank you so much for joining us on this truncating day because of all of the breaking news. We appreciate your time. Now i want to go back to the story story about whats happening across the sports world. Robert orie formerly of the nba shared his story talking to his children. Its hard to tell your 14yearold son that i worry about him when he walks out that door. I have a 21yearold son. I worry about him because black men are an endangered species. These cops are just killing because they feel like if they dont have their body cams on, they have a right. I tell my kids all the time and i dont think people understand, especially white people, how hard it is for black people to watch that. Under normal circumstances the seventime nba champion would have been talk about the nba playoffs. On wednesday nba players went on strike to protest the Police Shooting of jacob blake. The nba announced that games will resume on friday. For a day the sports world ground to a halt as their actions snow balled from the nba bubble in orlando to the wnba, Major League Baseball and major league soccer. Twotime grand slam champion naomi osaka announced she will not be competing today at the western southern open. It was one of the most organized displays yet by athletes. The whole thing was basically dismissed by white house Senior AdviserJared Kushner. The nba players are fortunate they they can afford to do this. They put a lot of slogans out, but we need actions that will solve the problem. Joining me now is the contributing writer for the atlantic. Her new show stick to sports is on vice. Thank you for joinliing us toda. Do you want to respond to Jared Kushner . Yes. I think its interesting that somebodys fatherinlaw who ran on the campaign that america wasnt great enough. Thats fine if the billionaire or purported billionaire complains about the condition of this country, but not black athletes. It was a shot by Jared Kushner at these players. Black athletes have been told this throughout history, that theyre not worthy of having a voice in this country. I thought what he said was tone deaf and embarrassing. I shouldnt be surprised. Consider the source. What do you think the effect of this strike is going to be on the National Conscious . I think this message communicated effectively that black athletes are really fed up. Theyre fed up. Theyre frustrated. Theyre angry. Theyre hurt. Think about it this way, theyve tried to have a calm conversation with america about Police Violence against black people. Theyve worn tshirts. They have a court that says black lives matter. In this nba bubble the players have done an excellent job of trying to steer conversations away from basketball to talk about Police Violence and voter suppression. Their reward to doing this is to have an incident like jacob blake. To see a black man shot in his back seven times nearly executed in front of his own children. I cant blame them for feeling frustrating, but also feeling like they have to do something more drastic. To them it seems like america still isnt listening. Of course one of their resorts is to take away the entertainment value from these games and to get people to realize you dont get to disrespect black bodies in the street and still get the benefit of having them entertain you. I guess my followup question, you sort of answered it. It bears repeating. What arent people understanding . Its not so much as the awareness that people arent, you know, aware, the zbrgeneral public is not aware this is an issue. We have to look at the history of policing and the role police have played in black and brown communities. Their role has been from the beginning to terrorize, to keep them away frankly from white people. There are too many white people in this country who are still rationalizing this violence against us because they feel as if its somehow deserved. Already youre seeing so many attacks about jacob blake in terms of what kind of person he was, what his criminal record may have been. Regardless of what that record is do we want to be the kind of country where a Police Officer is able to grab you by the shirt with your back turned and shoot seven bullets into your body . Is that who we are now . Black people are tired of having to beg for our humanity. It shouldnt be that way for anybody in this country. Unfortunately theres just too much invested in seeing that happen. Its not that people dont understand. Its that people like it this way. Thats the heart breaking part for those of us who are black in this country. Jamel hill, thank you very much for joining us and expressing all that. We appreciate your time. We appreciate you. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. That right there is going to do it for me today. If youre going outside and if youre public, please wear a mask. If youre inside Ayman Mohyeldin picks up our coverage after a quick break. S up our coverage a quick break. And ill tell you some important things to know about medicare. 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