Trump. Governors and mayors in those states are now sounding the alarm, even as the white house pursues an aggressive new effort to reopen schools. The health and safety of students, teachers and faculty be damned. Its a racist approach that does not surprise me at all, which ill explain later in the show. But in the midst of all of this american carnage, President Donald Trump chose to prioritize the well being of just one man, selfdescribed political dirty trickster roger stone, the president commuting his sentence last night after stone claimed going for prison for three years during a pandemic would be a, quote, death sentence. You should expect that the president wont be extending such clemency to the thousands of nonviolent prisoners of color who havent obstructed justice. Such as those locked up in californias san quentin, currently experiencing one of the worst prison outbreaks in the country. Having protected his political cronies from the consequences of his felfellonious, ak activities, and the states own republican governor said he would not be in the crowd where face masks were going to be encouraged but not required. If you ask the president about the current disastrous state of his presidency and reelection campaign, insiders say he will tell you at length that he is the victim of a deadly pandemic, of a stalled economy and racial unrest and of bad polls and an unfair Supreme Court, all of which is out to get him. Haters mad at him for winning, like how he aced the cognitive test hes been bragging about. All that is where we start today. We begin with the speaker of the house, congresswoman nancy pelosi. Earlier i spoke with her about the president s erratic and illogical response to the coronavirus crisis. Im pleased to be joined by speaker of the house of the house of representatives, nancy pelosi, who in my judgment has led a gallant fight in these very troubled times. Madam speaker, first of all, thank you for being with us on politicsnation. Let me start by asking, i certainly want to get to the george floyd act and patriot act, i want to start by asking you how do you react to the president s handling of covid19, talking about reopening the schools and other things that clearly seems to be in many ways contrary to what his own Health Experts are talking about and advising . Reverend sharpton, always an honor to be with you. Thank you for your question about our children. We dont want our children taking any risks. We want them to go to school, we all do, but we want them to do so safely. In order to do that, we want to have the criteria, the requirements of the center of Disease Control to be very clear. Localities will make up their mind as to if they think its safe for children to go to school. Teachers overwhelmingly want to go back to teaching and to being in school but safely, but safely. So the statements made by the president had been reckless and have not been serious, but let us hope that each of the localities will make their own safe decisions. Let me just say when the president says that hes going to hold back federal funds, theres very little federal funding that comes nationally, maybe 6 , much of it for children in economically disadvantaged area, title i. Much of it for children with disabilities, children with special needs, some of it for children who are homeless. Its hitting right at those who need it the most and those why these specific initiatives were put into place anyway. Its cruel. Its cruel. I certainly agree with that. Let me before i get into the other issues and i think i said patriot act, though i maeeant heros act, though i think the front line workers are patriots but the patriot bill was another issue. But let me ask you, the Supreme Court this week came back with a decision on the president s taxes. He has gone with every reaction you can think from saying its a witch hunt to saying he won. What do you say . You clearly are in the middle of this and it clearly was a precedentsetting decision by the Supreme Court. What do these two decisions mean . As i go into that, i will say that the president also said that the action by the Supreme Court was based on a hoax. He says the coronavirus is a hoax. He says the charge that russia might be up to some bad stuff regarding our troops in afghanistan is a hoax. Hes really the hoax in all of this. Now, as far as the Supreme Court was concerned, it was a good day for the rule of law in our country. It was a good day for the constitution. It may put off receiving some of his financial records but the fact of what was larger at take was our system of checks and balances and the court clearly said the president does not have immunity, that no one, not even the president is above the law. Now, actually the tax case, reverend sharpton, is in a Lower District Court now, the actual tax case, and that is waiting to be decided. It has taken too long but nonetheless, thats a different case. This case people described as being about taxes and it may be. We dont know what the financial documents will reveal, but there still is another tax case put forth by the ways and Means Committee waiting in the wings for a decision by the District Court of the district of columbia. But im very pleased with the decision. Again, we wish that it could have been from this court, this is as good a decision as we can possibly get and 72 was a real rebuke to donald trump. 72 was a surprise to many. The george employed act, you worked hard with the black caucus and leaders to put legislation to the demonstrations many of us have been engaged in and will continue throughout the summer to really have a legislative answer to this point in history, yet the senate leader, Mitch Mcconnell seems bent on not bringing any substantive, real legislation with any teeth. Its about creating accountability and its best for all. Where are we with the george floyd act, where should we go and what do you hope ultimately we can achieve as a society at this time where theres so much interest, even polls are saying that they support the movement that many of us have been in for decades and i might add, for the record, that youve been supportive of even when it was not as popular as it is now. I thank you, reverend sharpton for that. Before i answer your question, thank you for the beautiful friendship and courtesy you extended to George Floyds family. I know from meeting them that it was a great comfort to them and it was a beautiful entree for the rest of us to see your interaction and your beautiful sermons. May i just say im very proud of the congressional black caucus, Karen Bassett is chair, for putting forth the George Floyd Justice and policing act. When georges brother came to the capitol to testify in his beautiful testimony, he said to me, is there a chance that you can name the bill for george floyd because i want it to be there for his daughter. And i said only if you think the legislation is worthy of george floyd. He said it was. Were very proud of it. Its very disciplined and to the point of justice and policing. We hope that the senate would pass a bill that we could then reconcile with or accept our bill because it does the job and it thoughtful. Many of the provisions have been introduced by the black caucus over time, so this is a culmination of many years of dedicated knowledge on the subject that you so much are a part of. Now, let me ask you before we run out of time about the heros act. I want to say very publicly on this show no one worked harder in trying to get some relief for our workers, our essential workers and our Small Businesses. I marveled at how late into the midnight hours we were on the phone with you and businessmen and republicans and democrats. You were calling me after hours i would go to sleep early in the morning because we were trying to get Small Businesses protected and essential workers. Where are we now, madam speaker . Because people have run out of funds and youve been the gallant fighter on their behalf. Well, i accept your compliment on behalf of the House Democrats as well as Maxine Waters and nidia velasqu velasquez, two of the Committee Chairs who are fighting for families and Small Businesses. Our time is running out. By the end of this month, there will be no more Unemployment Insurance checks going out. In another couple of weeks, there will be no more eviction moratorium. So the many things that happened in the lives of the American People that are on a timetable that is running out. So in our bill, the heros bill, we want to have state and local Government Support it, our teachers, our transportation, or first responders, our Health Care Workers who are risking their lives to save lives and now they may lose their jobs. Secondly, testing, testing, testing, testing, tracing, treatment, separation. We want to address the disparity and the impact of the coronavirus on people of color and that is in this bill. And then, third, money in the pockets of the American People, Unemployment Insurance, direct payments. Its hard for some people here to understand people need these checks coming in. And so thats kind of the fight that we have right now, but im optimistic because at first they werent going to do anything, now theyre saying a trillion dollars, we need more. In addition to needing more, we need it sooner than they may have thought. So again, across the country, mayors, governors, county executive, select people, labor people, union people, pass the heros act, its named for our heros and we lose all authority to praise our heros and to thank them unless we are willing to support them. So i know what will happen. I just hope its soon and big. All right. The speaker of the house of representatives, nancy pelosi. This is the second term as speaker. As we would say in brooklyn, she did it so nice, we had to do it twice. Thank you, madam speaker. Thank you, reverend. Thank you, al. Joining me now is former republican strategist david omalley. And let me go to you, tima. This push to open school has a disproportionate impact on blacks and browns and lower income people and has an impact on everyone healthwise when were seeing numbers on the uptick, particularly in some of the southern and western states and this president is acting oblivious to that and pushing for school opening. How do you respond to this and how do you think those states that are every day breaking records, how they ought to respond in terms of the governors and the mayors in those states . Theres no other way to describe this response than pretty frankly a catastrophe. That is the response. And the response is coming down to essentially a choice, and its a false choice. Its go to schools and if you dont go to schools, then funding will be yanked from those schools. Dont go into the offices when we know that coronavirus is now potentially airborne and in the form of droplets or, you know, not be able to afford to pay your rent. So this governments response has been under the Trump Administration has been absolutely abominable. What they should be doing is mandating mask requirements, they should be figuring out and actually looking to other parts of the world for examples on actually what should be done. Europe has figured out how to get kids back to school safely, new zealand is showing itself as a world model. Even the country that trump loved to mock as shit holes have figured out how to get this virus under control. Quite simply the reason we are where we are right now is because of choice. David, the fact is the politics of this also may back fire on the president because were talking on states that in many cases supported him, some by large margins, that now theyre the ones that are seeing the uptick, their families being affected, some suffering deaths and many are seeing icu units being filled to capacity. This isnt even not only is it not morally sane in my opinio opinion, its not even politically prudent. Donald trump is whistling past the graveyard and ignoring the fact hes going to be standing for reelection during a pandemic. I think donald trump thought this would be over, would have passed by november, but its not going to. This issue of schools reopening is going to throw this in the lap of every american family, republicans and democrats, the anxiety theyre going to feel. And what donald trump is doing by suggesting it doesnt matter, hes showing himself disconnected honestly from the populism that was part of his success. He ran in 16 and though it was a bit of a farce, he said i understand the common man and understand your challenges. The challenge is whether the kids are going to be safe when they go to school. Donald trump is mocking this. Florida is going to be a test case of whether or not donald trump can survive covid19 on election day. Now when david says that some republicans are breaking with him on the pandemic, others are concerned about what he has done in the midst of this, pardoning roger stone, what hes done with Michael Flynn and others, are saying that when we look at his list of pardons and commutations, all of whom are powers, he rewards those he sees at political allies, including joseph arpaio, rob i think its about deciding who gets power and who doesnt, right . And he by commuting his sentence, not by pardoning stone because stone is still considered a felon, hes ensuring that nobody writes any tellall books, goes on television. He canity side whether or not he gets pardoned and maybe gets to have any additional life. I think in this particular play thats whats happening here and when we look at some of how hes pardoned folks already in prison, such as blagojevich, and its to keep them on the hook and is very much a bullying play in my mind. You were a member of congress and usually when people run for office or reelection, they have a political strategy. We dont see a coherent strategy here. One day the president is talking one way, another the next day he goes in complete opposite. One day its a which for him and another day on the same issue says the Supreme Court doesnt like him. He says he passed the test in terms of his abilities and his mentality and his ability to move in an alert and fair matter as he tries to suggest his opponent, mr. Biden isnt what is the strategy here for this reelection . You dressed it up, rev al. I would say hes behaving like a petulant lying child. He cannot increase his numbers. Hes got a ceiling in the mid 40s. His only strategy will be to drive up the negatives on joe biden, theyll question his fitness for office, try to tie in criminality like hunter biden. That is the only tool they have to drag him down. We see donald trump engage in stone cold corruption himself last night. We cannot let members of congress and the senate get off on the stone commutation without their own responsibility. It is their fault that they have enabled him and allowed him to be this corrupt. No house members voted to impeach the president. The Senate Republicans refused to convict him. This is on them and we have to call them out. In my home state of florida, that means marco rubio and rick scott. It might as well be their signature on the commutation of roger stone. Donald trump is enabled by corrupt politicians on capitol hill. They should be held accountable in november just as donald trump should be as well. I think they also have a strategy of suppressing voters that may vote against them. Thank you for being with us. Coming up, President Donald Trump is putting forward his racism again, this time in his call to reopen all Public Schools. But first my colleague with all todays stories. Were taking a look at stories were following. Fay lost its Tropical Storm status today after making a move through the northeast. The posttropical low system continues to drop rain from new york to new england. Flooding and gusty winds hit some parts of the jersey shore especially hard. The system will move north toward canada tomorrow. The search continues for the body of naya rivera. Dive teams are searching a lake where its believed the actress might have round. She and her young son were out boughting ear boating earlier this week when she disappeared. Politicsnation continues after the break. Politicsnatio after the break. Aste of somethi. A taste we all could use right now. So lets make the most of it. And make every sandwich count. With oscar mayer deli fresh theyre going to be paying for this for a long time. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. Accident forgiveness from allstate. Click or call for a quote today. Accident forgiveness 49i found you . Good job. Now im gonna stay here and you go hide. Watch your favorites from anywhere in the house with the Xfinity Stream app. Free with your xfinity service. Now any room can be a tv room. Stream live tv, on demand shows and movies even your dvr recordings. Download the Xfinity Stream app today to stream the entertainment you love. Xfinity. The future of awesome. President donald trump stopped to speak to the press on his way to Walter Reed Medical Center. Lets take a listen. Some are badly wounded and theyre incredibly brave people and were going to see the warriors on the front line of covid, quite a few of them. Were going to spend some good time with them and i look forward to doing it and it will be my honor to be there. Reporter [ inaudible ]. Well, ill probably have a mask, if you must know. I th