>> jon cowart, appreciate your insights today. i hear the excitement in your voice. we hope this goes off safe and as planned. jon, thanks so much. >> you're welcome. >> thanks for joining us. that launch is this afternoon. stay with cnn for that. brianna keilar picks up our coverage right now. have a good afternoon. i'm brianna keilar, and i want to welcome viewers here in the united states and around the world. this is cnn's special live coverage of a world facing an uncertain future. from a deadly pandemic spanning the globe -- >> just about a month ago, a barn was being converted to a morgue. this is a significant milestone for the people on long island making the step to phase one. >> the numbers continue to get worse. for two days now, brazil has had the worst number of deaths. >> heartache and demands for justice in minneapolis. >> i can't breathe! [ crowd chanting ]

>> to tear gas and crisis in hong kong. to a historic launch -- >> three, two, one. >> -- that may forever change the way humans go to space. cnn is everywhere. and we begin with america on the verge of reaching a crushing reality in this crisis. 100,000 lives cut short by the coronavirus. at this hour, the death toll is 99,123. 99,123 people taken from their families in just four months. infections are approaching 1.7 million. and as the march to reopen also progresses, all 50 states are relaxing restrictions to begin to revive economies. this is the map showing the trends of each cases, of new cases in each state. overall, there is a gradual downward trend of daily new infections, but notice that their areas define this. there is an uptick in new cases from last week to the previous

week in some places. 14 states are in shades of red. let's listen to new york governor andrew cuomo right now. >> -- washington's history and the legacy. and i want to thank michael friedman very much, who is the president of the national press club, thank him for his hospitality and courtesy for having us here today. we are in washington. i spent eight years in washington during the clinton administration. secretary of housing and urban development. came down at the beginning of the clinton administration, stayed until the end. lived in virginia. that's where i got my southern accent. really southern queens, but -- and we had good discussions today and we'll be heading back, but we wanted to do a briefing from washington so it was timely. and let's talk about some facts as to where we are. number of hospitalizations in new york are dropping. the total change in

hospitalizations is down and continuing to drop. the intubations are down, and that's a very good sign. it's rare that good things happen after an intubation. and the number of new cases is down, which is very encouraging news. these are the number of new cases that are walking through the door. in terms of number of new yorkers that we have lost -- 74 yesterday, which is just about what it was the day before, which is -- the day before was an all-time low at 73. 74 is not as good as 73. again, only in this time of crisis would 74 deaths would be anything less than truly tragic news. but when you have gone through what we have gone through, it's a sign that we're headed in the right direction. and we are, when you look at the

curve in the state of new york, we are down. we're on the other side of the mountain, as we say. and the decline is continuing. that's different than what we're seeing in some other parts of the nation, where you see the curve either going up or just starting to flatten. so, we're pleased with the progress that we're making in new york and we're ready to go to the next phase, open a new chapter. memorial day is often a time when society transitions. memorial day, normally we're getting ready for the summer and people are starting to think about summer vacations and summer activity. we have that on a moderated basis in new york, but it's also a time of transition for us. and we're transitioning to a new chapter on reopening, restarting

the economy. this is all a situation that has never happened before, so this is a first case for all of us. and we're trying to learn as we go along. and we don't want to just reopen the economy. we want to have a really smart reopening. we want to watch those numbers as we go forward. and we want to reopen the economy to make it stronger than it ever was before. how do you learn from this? and that's the beginning of the new chapter that we're going to write. and we started yesterday by reopening the stock exchange in new york, where the stock exchange actually had people in the building, rather than just electronically. we're doing it on the numbers. numbers matter. this is not about politics. this is about science, right? we're fighting a virus. the virus is not a democratic virus. it's not a republican virus. it's a virus.

and viruses respond to science. and science is about facts and about numbers. and that's how we're doing it. we're doing it on the metrics. we're looking at the hospitalization rate. we're looking at the death rate, how many new people are coming in the door into hospitals, how many hospital beds do we have available, how many icu beds do we have available? do we have testing in place and do we have tracing in place? just take the politics out of it, right? just do it on the facts and do it on the science, and that's what we're doing in new york. and then you wouldn't reopen everything immediately. you would do it in phases and you would phase it by the most important businesses, the most essential businesses that pose the lowest risk first, and that's exactly what we're doing. and we then have several phases

for the actual business openings. but we're in washington, and the parameter is what should states be doing and what should the federal government be doing? i understand that states are responsible for the reopening. that's been the position of the states. it's also been the position of the federal government. so, states are doing reopening. states are responsible for testing. states are responsible for tracing. states are responsible for their health care system. states are responsible for the enforcement of all of the procedures around reopening. but at the same time, the federal government has a role to play, and the federal government has to do its part as we work our way through this crisis. and they cannot be a national recovery if the state and local governments are not funded.

that is a fact. washington is now debating their next bill that would aid in the reopening and the recovery. prior bills have helped businesses, large businesses, small businesses, hotels, airlines, all sorts of business interests. that's great. but you also have state and local governments, and state governments do things like fund schools and fund hospitals. do you really want to cut schools now? do you really want to cut hospitals now, after what we've just gone through, when we're talking about a possible second wave, when we're talking about a fall with possible more cases? do you really think we should starve state governments and cut hospitals? would that be smart? do you really want to cut local governments right now? that's cutting police. that's cutting fire. is now the time to savage

essential services? and don't you realize that if you do this, if you cut state and local governments and you cause chaos on the state and local level, how does that help a nation striving to recover economically? the covid states, the states that bore the brunt of the covid virus, they're one-third of the national gdp. how can you tell one-third of the country to go to heck and then think you're going to see an economic rebound? also, state government, state economies, local economies, that's what the national economy is made of. what is the national economy but for a function of the states?

there is no nation without the states. they tend to forget that in this town. but it's the obvious fact. and we've made this mistake before. again, look at history. if you don't learn from the mistakes, you're going to repeat the mistakes. it's that simple. and we have seen in the past what has happened when state and local governments were savaged and how it hurt the national recovery. "wall street journal." not exactly a liberal publication. it makes the point that on the economy, cuts to employment and spending likely to weigh on growth for years. so, even if you believe the rhetoric, we're about reopening, we're about getting the economy back, great! then if that's what you believe,

you would provide funding to the state and local governments. the federal reserve chairman, powell, very smart man, respected on both sides of the aisle, said, "we have evidence of the global financial crisis and years afterward where state and local government layoffs and lack of hiring did weigh on economic growth." we want to reopen the economy! we want to get this national economy better than ever! fine. then act accordingly and act appropriately. this hyperpartisan washington environment is toxic for this country! you have people saying, well, we don't want to pass a bill that helps democratic states. it would be a blue-state bailout is what some have said. senator mcconnell stopping "blue

state bailouts." senator scott, "we're supposed to go bail them out? that's not right." on fox tv, laffer, "you want us to give our money to cuomo and new yorkers? hello, not this week." first of all, this is really an ugly, ugly sentiment. it is an un-american response. we're still the united states of america. those words meant something. united states of america. first of all, mr. federal legislator, you're nothing without the states, and you represent the united states. not only is it ugly, it is false. it is wholly untrue what they are saying.

100%. and there are facts, if you want to pose the question, which is, i think, divisive at this period of time. but if you want to pose the question, what states give money and what states take money, right? there is a financial equation that is the federal government. if you want to ask what states give money to other states and what states take money from other states, that's a question that senator mcconnell and senator scott and mr. laffer don't really want to ask, because the truth is totally the opposite of what they're saying.

you look at the states that give more money to the federal government than they give back -- you know the top, what they call donor state? you know what one state pays in more to the pot than they take out of the federal pot than any other state in the united states? it's the state of new york. new york pays more every year, $29 billion more than they take back. you know the second state? new jersey, massachusetts, connecticut, california. every year, they contribute more to the federal pot. you know who takes out more than they put in from that pot? you know whose hand goes in deeper and takes out more than they put in? virginia, maryland, kentucky,

alabama, florida. those are the facts. those are the numbers. the great irony is, the conservatives want to argue against redistribution of wealth. why should you take money from the rich and give it to the poor? that's exactly what you are doing. that is exactly what you have done every year. so it's only the redistribution unless you wind up getting more money. then it's fine. then it's not redistribution. take from the rich, give to the poor. that's redistribution. yes, unless you're the poor, senator mcconnell, senator scott, because you were the ones who have your hand out. you're the ones who are taking

more than others. redistribution. you're against it, except when the richer states give you more money every year. and then the great hypocrisy -- they actually made the redistribution worse when they passed three years ago a provision ending what's called state and local tax deductibility. that didn't level the playing field. what they did was they took the states that were already paying more money into the federal government. quote/unquote richer states. and they increased the money they were taking from the richer states. they took another $23 billion from california, another $14 billion from new york, new jersey, massachusetts, illinois, connecticut. the hypocrisy is so insulting,

because when you start to talk about numbers, there are still facts. and people can still add and people can still subtract. and they know what they put in and they know what they take out. i know it's washington, d.c., but the truth actually still matters. and americans are smart. and they find out the truth. even in the fog and the blather of washington, d.c. so my point to those in congress, stop abusing new york. stop abusing new jersey, stop abusing massachusetts and illinois and michigan and pennsylvania. stop abusing the states who bore the brunt of the covid virus.

through no fault of their own! why did new york have so many cases? it's nothing about new york! it's because the virus came from europe and no one in this nation told us! we were told the virus is coming from china. it's coming from china. look to the west. yeah, well, they missed it. we were looking to the west. it came from the east. the virus left china, went to europe. 3 million europeans come to new yo york, land in our airports, january, february, march, and bring the virus. and nobody knew. it wasn't new york's job. we don't do international global health. it didn't come from china. it came from europe. and we bore the brunt of it.

and now you want to hold that against us because we bore the brunt of a national mistake? and because we had more people die, we lost more lives, you want to now double the insult and the injury by saying, well, why should we help those states? those states had more covid deaths. that's why you're supposed to help those states, because they did have more covid deaths. and this is the united states. and when one state has a problem, the other states help. i was in the federal government for eight years. when los angeles had earthquakes, we helped. when the midwest had the red river floods, we helped. when florida had hurricane andrew, we helped. when texas had floods, we helped. when louisiana had hurricane

katrina, we helped. we didn't say, well, that's louisiana's fault. they had the hurricane. well, that's texas' fault. they had the floods. it was nobody's fault, and we were there to help, because that's who we are, and that's what we believe. what happened to that american spirit? what thoopd the concept of mutuality? you know, there is still a simple premise that you can't find in a book, and washington hasn't written regulations for, called doing the right thing. there's still a right thing in life. the right thing you feel inside you. the right thing is a calibration of your principle and your

belief and your soul and your heart and your spirit, and we do the right thing in this country. not because a law says "do the right thing," but because we believe in doing the right thing, as individuals, as people. we believe doing right by each other, by living your life by a code where you believe you are living it in an honorable way, acting on principle, and you're doing the right thing. why can't the government? why can't the congress reflect the right thing principle that americans live their life by? pass a piece of legislation that is honorable and decent and does the right thing for all

americans. why is that so hard? and if you want to talk about reopening the economy, then do it in a productive way. people think this economy's just going to bounce back. i don't think it's going to bounce back. i think it's going to bounce back for some, and i think there's going to be collateral damage of others. we already know that tens of thousands of small businesses closed and probably won't come back. we already know that the large corporations are going to lay off thousands and thousands of workers and they're going to use this pandemic as an excuse to get lean, to restructure, and they're going to boost their profits by reducing their payroll. we know it. we've been there before. we saw this in the 2008 mortgage crisis, where the government bailed them out, the big banks that created the problem, and they used the money to pay themselves bonuses and they laid off their workers. they're going to do the same

thing again. that's why i propose the americans first legislation that said a corporation can't get a dime of government bailout unless they rehire the same number of workers they had prepandemic as post. don't take a gift from the taxpayer and then lay off americans who are going to then file for uninsurance paid for by the taxpayers. don't do that again. and if you want to be smart, we know that there's work to do in this nation. we've known it for years. you can fill a library with the number of books on the infrastructure and the decay of our infrastructure and how many roads and bridges have to be repaired, how this nation is grossly outpaced by nations around the world in terms of infrastructure and airports and development. now is the time to stimulate the

economy by doing that construction. if you want to supercharge the reopening, that's how you do it. this nation was smart enough to do it before. we did it in the midst of the great depression. we created 8 million jobs. we built an infrastructure that we're still living on today. we're still living on the infrastructure built by our grandparents, not even our parents. what are we going to leave our children? and now is the time to do it. we have major infrastructure projects in new york that are ready to go, that are desperately needed, that were desperately needed 30 years ago. build them now. supercharge the reopening. grow the economy. that's what we would do if we were smart. you're not going to have a supercharged economy, you're not going to see this nation get up and start running again, unless

we do it together. that's states working with other states. that's a federal government that stands up and puts everything else aside. they were elected to provide good government. nobody elected anyone to engage in partisan politics. there was a time when as a nation we were smart enough to say, you want to play politics? that's what a campaign is for. run your campaign against your opponent. say all sorts of crazy things. that's crazy campaign time. but when government starts, stop the politics and do what's right and smart. don't play your politics at the expense of the citizens you represent. there is no good government

concept anymore. it's politics 365 days a year, from the moment they're elected to the moment they run again, it's all politics. and that is poison. we have to get to a point, if only for a moment, if only for a moment, if only for a moment in response to a national crisis, where we say, it's not red and blue. it's red, white, and blue. it's the united states. and we're going to act that way. in new york, we say that by saying new york tough. but it's america tough. which is smart and united and disciplined and loving, and loving. that's what makes america

america. thank you for having. any questions? >> spoken to washington. you met with the president, obviously. i was wondering, you were talking about politics. there are obviously a lot of political issues between you and the president, in particular the gateway project -- trusted traveler. i was wondering, have you spoken about that and what his reaction was to what you had classified as -- [ inaudible ] actions. >> yeah, there are political differences between myself and the president. he'll say it. i will say it. i don't even need to say it. you can go do a google search and you can find 400 nasty tweets about political differences between myself and the president. i said to the president when this started, forget all that. we'll have political differences and there will be a time to wear our political differences. not now. this is about getting things done for the country and getting things done for new york.

and i have stayed 100 miles away from any political anything all through this. personally, i went to great lengths to say to the people of my state, i have no political agenda. personally, i have no political agenda. i'm not running for anything else. i'm not going anywhere. i don't want to go to washington. there's no personal agenda that you have to worry about and calibrate, well, is he doing what's right or is he doing what's right for him? does he have a self-interest? i have no interest. i'm doing nothing. i'm governor of new york. that's all i'm doing. just to take the politics out of it. i said to the president when this started, put the political stuff aside. let's just figure out what we have to do, which is a heck of a mandate, since nobody's ever done it before, and let's do it. and that's what we've been doing. at the meeting we just had, it was the same way. it was not about politics. it was not about any of that.

it was about how do we supercharge the reopening, especially in new york, which has been hardest hit? how do we take some of these big infrastructure projects that have been sitting around for a long time, which if we were all smarter and better, we would have done 30 years ago, and actually get them up and running, because we have to do this work anyway, and because we need the jobs now more than ever? the cross-harbor tunnels, not to get in the weeds -- the gateway project is a larger project. it's a $30 billion project. it has many different components. the essence of the project are two tunnels that go across the hudson river that carry amtrak trains, by the way. federal government owns amtrak. the state has nothing to do with amtrak. and these amtrak trains come in through new york, can serve the entire northeast. and the trains go through two

tunnels. those two tunnels are old. they're dilapidated. if there's a problem in those tunnels, you stop train service to the entire northeast united states. it would be devastating for the nation because, while in washington, we have this fragmented view of the country, either the national economy works or none of it works. you cut out the northeast, you're cutting your nose to spite your face. so those tunnels have to be replaced. amtr amtrak, federally owned, has a proposal to build two new tunnels so there's additional capacity. that's a project that new york and new jersey said, we'll pay 50% of, just to be good partners. there's a project called the second avenue subway in new york, which goes up second avenue, hence the second avenue subway, and it's pending federal

approval, and we could start building on that immediately. there's also a project which is the air train, which goes from laguardia airport, where we're building a new airport to manhattan. that would cut down traffic congestion. it would be a great advancement. people have been talking about that for 30 years. and it's pending an environmental review by the federal d.o.t. and i asked if that could be accelerated, because we've already done an environmental review and nobody's more environmentally sensitive than our government. but can we get the bureaucracy to move faster so we can get that project done? and it was a good conversation. you know, the president is from new york, so he has a context for all the things we're talking about. i think the president also acknowledges and realizes that new york, we're very aggressive about getting these projects done and getting them done on time. this is not the typical

government project. we actually get these things done. we're building the first new airport at laguardia in 25 years in this country. we built the largest infrastructure project in the united states, which was a bridge that went across the hudson river, now named the mario cuomo bridge. it was the largest infrastructure project in the united states. we got it done on time, on budget. so, if he gives us the green light -- >> you're listening there to new york governor andrew cuomo. he's speaking here in washington, just after meeting with president trump at the white house. cuomo really taking lawmakers in congress to task there for delaying and refusing to inject more money into economic recovery, specifically in the local governments and state governments. he also acknowledged political differences with the president, but he did not reveal too many specifics about this conversation. he just said they were talking about supercharging the reopening, especially in new york. they were talking about infrastructure, a big pitch for him for some big infrastructure

projects there in new york to get some jobs going. and cases, of course, are rising, or they're remaining steady in many states. we have been watching scenes of summertime crowds with people close together, few of them wearing masks. and this has dr. anthony fauci making this plea. >> when you have situations in which you'll see that type of crowding with no masks and people interacting, that's not prudent, and that's inviting a situation that could get out of control. so, i keep -- when i get an opportunity to plead with people, understanding you do want to gradually do this, but don't start leap-frogging over some of the recommendations and the guidelines, because that's really tempting fate and asking for trouble. >> as the nation's leading infectious disease expert, dr. fauci also stressed that he tries to set an example by wearing his mask to show individual action is key to stopping the spread of coronavirus, a stark contrast,

of course, to the president, who still does not wear a mask in public. >> i mean, i wear it for the reason that i believe it is effective. it's not 100% effective. i mean, it's sort of respect for another person and have that other person respect you. you wear a mask. they wear a mask. you protect each other. i mean, i do it when i'm in the public for the reasons that, a, i want to protect myself and protect others, and also because i want to make it be a symbol for people to see that that's the kind of thing you should be doing. >> we'll have more on that in just a moment. first, though, just in, two of america's popular summertime destinations have just revealed their reopening plans. disney world and seaworld. temperature checks and reservations will be required for entry, and you can say good-bye to those sweet character meet-and-greets, at least for now. cnn's natasha chen is covering the story. natasha, these places are known for big crowds. they're synonymous with them. so when they reopen, what are

they going to be doing to take precautions? >> reporter: exactly, brianna. it's going to feel very different. disney said today they would like to reopen their four orlando-area theme parks in mid-july, starting with magic kingdom and animal kingdom on the 11th of july, followed by epcot and hollywood studios on the 15th, all pending approval by the state of florida. now, this is much later than some of the other attractions in the area. universal orlando is opening next week and seaworld said today they would like to reopen to the public on june 11th. now, what you might expect, if you were to go back to any of these theme parks, similar requirements -- required face masks, temperature checks, social distancing in the parks. there will be an encouragement to use cashless options for transactions, and there are more sanitary stations as well. now, disney said today during a presentation that there will be some things you won't see, if you were to return. here's what they said.

>> we are closing several of our higher-touch experiences, again, including character meet-and-greets, high-touch areas, such as playgrounds and water effects that may draw gatherings that may compromise physical distancing. >> reporter: and parades and fireworks typically draw large crowds, so those are also temporarily suspended. and there will be, for disney, an advanced reservation system. details on that to come later, the company says, but that's a way to reduce guest capacity. and disney would not tell me exactly the target percentage they're trying to get there but that there will be reduced capacity. we have our cnn business reporter frank palata interviewing disney's ceo and that will be later today and we're awaiting on the state of florida to approve these plans. >> natasha, no more pictures, at least for now, with minnie mouse. we appreciate the update,

natasha chen. thank you. i want to return now to dr. anthony fauci's comments saying that he wears a mask as a symbol of the right thing to do. with me now is dr. james phillips. he is a cnn medical analyst and physician at george washington university hospital. always good to see you, doctor. and of course, we know masks are effective, right? they prevent the spread of coronavirus. so, what is your message to people who are still not wearing one? >> we do know that they help prevent infection. you know, about a week ago, my wife gave birth to our second son, and -- >> congratulations! >> thank you. prior to going to the hospital, i was tested to make sure i wasn't bringing in disease to the hospital asymptomatically. and as soon as i got done getting my test results, i went to the grocery store and i still wore a mask. i wore a mask, even though i knew i did not have the disease, by the best test that we have available. and the reasons for that is exactly what dr. fauci said. it's respect for my fellow

virginians and it's also a symbol. it's a reminder to other people that this is still happening and we have to take precautions to prevent spread. so, what he's doing is leading by example and being responsible, and we could certainly use more of that right now. >> congratulations to you. it sounds like you guys really have your hands full right now, even amid all that we're dealing with. >> yes. >> you heard dr. fauci. he warned not to be overconfident as people are going out more, they're interacting more with others. what would it take to avoid a second wave of the virus? >> well, there's so many things. we should be proud of ourselves as a country, as a people, as individual states as well, for the flattening of the curve that took place in the united states. we lost a lot of people, and it's tragic. and our economy and individuals have lost their jobs. it's been a tragedy on multiple levels. but the worst thing i think we can do right now is just forget it all and say, okay, we're back, it's time to get back to

business, our economy deserves it. look, i know it's a struggle, and i know i see things through a purely medical lens, and that tells me to tell everybody to stay home. but realistically, we do have to start to reopen some things. but if we just forget about masking, forget about physical distancing, start shaking hands again, going to choir practice, and holding large gatherings, we are going to see a significant increase in the amount of disease that's spreading out there. there's just no ifs, ands, or buts about it. >> but now you're also seeing this through the lens of a parent, right, at this moment in time? and there's a lot of parents out there who are looking for answers when it comes to schools returning. and dr. fauci says that reopening schools, it's not a one size fits all. what does it take, do you think, to make it safe to reopen in the fall so that you don't have, you know, kids who largely have been able to have better numbers, certainly, when it comes to death rates than, say, older

americans, but are very capable of bringing this home to their families? >> and that is the real risk, right, is not that we're going to have a bun aevch of children very sick. obviously, we know that there are some rare complications of this disease, the kawasaki syndrome-like illness that's happening, but by and large, kids are safe, and for the most part, asymptomatic whenever they do catch this virus. but it's the risk of bringing it home to more vulnerable people, whether that's their parents, grandparents, neighbors, things like that. and so, the risks of reopening are real. and what we want to be able to do is to screen kids, but so many present without fevers, without symptoms, and without adequate testing, it's going to be really difficult to know if sick kids are coming to school and spreading it to their friends. >> dr. james phillips, we really appreciate you coming on here. again, congratulations. what a big moment in your life. >> thank you. >> and best to your wife as well. thank you. so, i want to go live now to

florida, because just a short time from now, there is a big-deal thing happening, the first manned rocket launch on u.s. soil in nine years. that is taking place today. cnn's rachel crane is there. and rachel, we've been watching the astronauts there arrive to the launch pad. a big day for america. a big day for spacex. >> reporter: that's right, brianna. we're all hoping here that the weather holds up and that we will be go for a launch in just, you know, a little under three hours now. as you said, the crew just arrived at launch complex 39a, which is the historic launch pad that the "apollo" astronauts blasted to the moon back in 1969. now, doug hurley and bob behnken are suited up. they'll be soon crossing through the crew access arm and getting into the capsule. and at that point, there will be a series of checks that happen to make sure that the rocket is a go for launch.

there will be many weather checks, many flight control checks, and then the critical go for launch poll 40 minutes out before launch. but as i said, everybody here at kennedy space center is crossing their fingers, hoping that the weather holds up. but it's important to remember that it's not just the weather here at the kennedy space center. it's all across the eastern seaboard, across the north atlantic. i don't know if you hear, but there's thunder happening here at kennedy space center. but across the north atlantic and also off the coast of ireland. that's because they have to make sure that the weather is clear across the whole ascent path, just in case a rescue operation is necessary. and this spacecraft, nasa says, could potentially be the safest spacecraft they've ever flown. that's because there's an end-to-end abort system, meaning that in any part of the ascent, the astronauts would be able to propel themselves away from the rocket and to safety. brianna? >> i mean, that is really amazing, right, that they've been able to look at that, because they haven't had that before, that precaution for the

astronauts. so, tell us a little bit about what they're going to be doing. what is ahead of these astronauts, assuming that this is going to be a go. i covered launches, it seems like -- it was years and years ago now. and you never know with these things. you sort of can't really know until they're up in the air. but what are they going to be doing? >> reporter: right. well, if this is a nominal mission, which of course is what everybody is rooting for, it will take off at 4:33 eastern standard time here at kennedy space center, and this mission is expected to take 19 hours before they rendezvous with the international space station. now, it's actually unclear how long the astronauts will be on board that floating laboratory. that's because they need to see how well the solar panels stick up or hold up, rather, to the atmosphere or space, rather, because they do degrade in space. so they need to see how long

they can actually withstand. but you know, it's also important to remember that this is a test flight. this vehicle has not yet been certified by nasa to fly humans to space. so you know, there's a lot of excitement here, and of course, there are humans on board. but important to remember that there's a lot of systems that spacex and nasa are testing here in order to certify it for crew. >> yeah, no, it's such -- you can't really understate what a big day this is. it's been so long since we've seen a rocket launch from u.s. soil and spacex, i mean, a first for them with a manned flight. so, we are certainly looking there towards florida and hoping for the very best. rachel crane, thank you so much for giving us a glimpse of what's going on there on the ground. we appreciate it. as california's allowing churches to reopen, there's one pastor who says the holy spirit will tell him when to reopen, not the governor. and he's going to join me live to talk about his decision. plus, at a time when americans need the truth, the president threatens to shut down social media sites for

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a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! houses of worship across the state of california have been cleared to reopen with some restrictions and the approval of their county health departments. los angeles county said it will allow sanctuaries to reopen starting today. the guidelines set by governor newsom include limiting attendance to 25% of building capacity or 100 people, whichever is lower. asking churches to practice social distancing of at least 6 feet and requiring face

coverings. also avoiding singing, passing of collection plates, and the sharing of bibles. the guidelines will be reassessed in three weeks and this move is following a petition signed by more than 1200 california pastors who vowed to reopen church doors this sunday despite the governor's initial orders. governor newsom saying this should not be about politics. >> i have deep respect for those that want to practice their faith in person, not just virtually, but we have to do so safely. it's not a political issue for us. no one's immune from political pressure, but that won't be determinative of decision making. we'll do it on the basis of public health. >> one l.a. county pastor from the city of compton who signed the petition to reopen services this sunday said he would not open when the governor told him but the holy spirit told him to. pastor, thank you for joining us. i really appreciate it. >> glad to be with you.

>> you signed this petition and at the time, you said you were not necessarily committed to reopening this sunday but that you were showing support for the other pastors who wanted to resume in-person services. now that you have the governor and you have county officials saying that you can reopen but with limitations, what are you planning to do this weekend? >> first of all, when the governor first came out and gave the restriction for the church, i was offended by the fact he lumped us up with the entertainment industries in southern california, and now he's telling the church you can only have 100 people. we have a 46,000 square foot building here and we can accommodate far more than 100 people and i'm offended by that, because of like disneyland, tesla, nightclubs and bars are not restricted as to the numbers they can accommodate and i feel he should give us a freedom to accommodate as many people as we

can safely. i'm in favor of the cdc's procedure for safety, the hand washing, the temperature checks, the distances, all of that but it bothers me they're going to restrict us to 100 people. that's my problem. >> it bothers you. are you thinking though you're still going to reopen in some shape or fashion this weekend? >> not myself, first of all, i remained open two or three weeks because as a man of god, i have to be led by the holy spirit. and all christians are called to be led by the holy spirit and the holy spirit did not lead me to shut down. the next day, the police was at our door. that was offensive, and now, i will open the church back up when the holy spirit leads me and i will do so in the fashion it leads me. i think it's a slippery slope to

have the government to tell you how to worship and how many people you can minister to inside the local church because when you think about the fact, today, suicides are up, dmooiomc violence is up, alcohol and drugs is up. we deal with spiritual issues as well as assisting the poor. our church gave $45,000 to the poor last thursday and over 900 people that come to our church, not inside, but we are serving the communities from a spiritual standpoint and i don't think the government should restrict us. they talk about separation of church and state, and that should be in place even now. although i must say, we will abide by the hand sanitizers, the temperature check, the distances, but we should have the freedom to accommodate as many people as we have space to accommodate. >> even if they can't socially distance appropriately? >> well, that's what i'm saying.

we have a 46,000 square foot building. >> so you can move -- you have a lot of space. can i ask you, pastor, can i ask you, pastor hill because you say that you want to reopen when the holy spirit tells you to, and how the holy spirit guides you to. >> right. >> i mean, you're saying you are, i mean, you've made decisions though, you're going to use hand sanitizer, are you going to make sure that people don't share bibles, are there going to be masks? do you, i mean, do you expect that there would be a way you might be led to reopen that is not in compliance with county and state and cdc guidelines? >> no, i do not. and in the same way i wash my hands before i eat, i will make sure that we have procedures in place to protect the people. we love the people we pastor. we don't want to put them in a position to get ill or contract the virus. we'll have masks on.

we'll have hand sanitizer. we'll check their temperature, and we'll have distances for them to be safe, but at the same time, at the end of the day, the church has to be led by the spirit of god and it's a slippery slope to have the government to tell us what we can do and cannot do inside the church. give us the same respect that you give disneyland or any other company that's going to be having the thousands of people coming in, they're not going to restrict them, and they shouldn't restrict us and give us the freedom to use wisdom, to protect our people, but don't tell us how many people we can preach do, and won't do anything in terms of passing bibles around. we're going to be safe as possible. >> i want to ask you before i let you go because you're in a situation where you are balancing what you're being told by the state to your highest authority, and we've heard from a lot of people who say they're not wearing masks because they believe that they will be protected, that they'll be

protected by jesus. we've heard people say that. i wonder what you would say to them and they say, i'm not going to wear a mask because jesus will protect me from coronavirus. >> there's a scripture where jesus is told to do something that would put him in danger and he said, don't tempt the lord your god. the snakes, i don't have snakes. i'm not going to put myself in danger, just like i drive the speed limit, i obey the sanitary laws, i do the same thing now. the sticking point with me is for them to limit the number of people that we could have in this sanctuary safely f. th lys. if they do the same thing to the amusement parks and to cafes and to restaurants, then i'm fine with it, but to just do this to the church, i think that it is a heavy handed against the church. >> pastor, thank you so much. we really appreciate you joining us and giving us your

perspective. >> thanks for having me. >> pastor ron hill there with us of love and unity christian fellowship church. president trump to strongly regulate or shut down social media companies. the warning aimed at twitter after the site for the first time added a fact check to a couple of the president's false tweets about mail-in voting. while the president threatened, quote, big action in one response, did not elaborate what he'd actually do. renee is a researcher at the stanford internet observatory and she studies digital misinformation around the world. she's the person to talk to about this and i wonder what you think about the president's first off, threat confusing fact checking with sensorship. >> the idea he's going to close tech companies is fantasy. a fact checking link is not s

censorship. originally, this pertained to accounts being taken down. that expressed conservative points of view, and then extended to shadow banning, down ranking some of the accounts and now extended to just a fact checking link. that is not censorship, that never has been under any definition of the term we've had in free speech debates in america. >> what did you think about twitter's reaction? it was under considerable pressure but it was under a rock and a trump space as it made this decision, what did you think about it? >> fact checking shouldn't be politicized to this extent. it's disturbing it's gotten to this point. i think what we're seeing particularly in the case of the pandemic that we're all living through right now, bad information can have life or death consequences, so incorporating a degree of fact checking, trying to assign more reliable information or to say, hey, this information was wrong or even this information is now outdated, that's the kind of thing we actually want to ensure that people are getting better

information. one of the real challenges with twitter, with facebook is that the misinformation will go viral but the correction will not, which leaves people with a misleading or false impression. so by trying to have some degree of fact checking to very specific well defined topics, they're trying to ensure people get better information about things that have potentially significant consequences. this is not every comment that the president makes is being fact checked. >> what do you think about what twitter might do going forward? how sustainable is it for them to consistently fact check the president's tweets? do you expect they'll be surgical about it? >> i think they'll be surgical about it. as we saw yesterday evening, the gripe was about the fact check related to the mail-in ballots, the fact check that actually happened. the morning controversy, if you recall, was about the tv anchor he didn't like was potentially a murder suspect.

i don't believe that was fact checked, so there is a lot of tailoring within 24 hours we've seen. so it is possible but companies may have decided health misinformation, voting misinformation are two things that have very significant consequences on people's lives and those are topics that should be subject to fact check. one of the other things i want to add is that the platforms are not going to take things down or down rank them, fact checking is really the way that allows the preservation of free expression to the greatest extent possible. it says, this is what this person said and here's the counter to that speech. it's not taking down the speech. it's not stifling the speech, simply presenting an alternate point of view. >> thank you, renee. we appreciate your perspective on? >> thank you so much for having me.