which eight of his own campaign staffers, eight of them, have now tested positive for the disease. we learn of the latest two just today. so that makes them the butt of the president's so-called joke as well and if it was a joke, it came at the expense of tens of thousands of people, who need not have died and might not have died, had more testing been available to contain outbreaks. instead of letting them grow. or if a national plan for it were in place, which it were not and which it still is not. the plan put out with it by the white house is one that the white house and the president is now actively working to subvert. if it's a joke, it landed on the first of many father's day weekends in which some children will not have their fathers around anymore. here's what the president said. >> so i said to my people, slow the testing down, please. they test and they test. people don't know what's going on. we got tests. we got another one over here! >> the white house may have claimed it was a joke. but the lack of testing that's existed is no joke. calling it a joke is what people

like kayleigh mcenany and sarah sanders and others always do when the president says something that actually, seriously, reflects what he is really thinking. >> there was a comment that he made in jest. it's a comment that he made in passing. specifically, with regard to the media coverage and pointing out the fact that the media never acknowledges that we have more cases because, when you test more people, you find more cases. >> is it appropriate to joke about coronavirus, when 120,000 people have died? >> he was not joking about coronavirus. >> the way it always seems to go, whenever the president's defenders claim he wasn't being serious about something, their work is usually undone, completely, by the president, himself. here he is, today, speaking to a reporter for the scripts chain of local news outlets. >> so much testing. 25 million textsts. >> did you ask to slow it down? >> if it did slow down, frankly, i think we're way ahead of ourselves, if you want to know the truth.

we've done too a good a job. >> doesn't sound like a joke to him, does it? but whether he explicitly ordered testing to slow down or not, he's certainly okay with it. he's been clear from the early days of the pandemic, in fact, very clear, that he didn't like a lot of testing because it made him look bad. he said it repeatedly over the past weeks and months he doesn't like testing if it makes his numbers look bad. as if other people's tragedies are merely his numbers, instead of his sworn responsibility. and speaking of responsibility, it's hard to know where to begin with this next one and the absurd way the white house, today, tried to defend it. first, the racist remark. >> by the way, it's a disease, without question. has more names than any disease in history. i can name kung flu. i can name 19 different versions of name. >> lady in the hat in the background was like woo, kung flu, yeah. president said that in tulsa, to a far -- far less than full crowd. but with people in this country

dying, even as he spoke, he, instead, chose to riff a bit. maybe he thought a little racism would give the light crowd a jolt. and, now, here's kayleigh mcenany trying to say that he didn't actually say what you just saw him say. >> last july, president trump declared himself the least racist person there is, anywhere in the world. why does he use racist phrases, like the kung flu? >> the president doesn't. >> i don't know how much they paid kayleigh mcenany. but it's probably not enough, because when the reporter says the president called himself the least racist person of anyone in the world. kayleigh mcenany was like, uh-huh, yeah, yeah. that's right. that's what he is. keepi keeping them honest. let's just give the gaslight a moment and play again what kayleigh mcenany said the president did not say. >> by the way, it's a disease, without question. has more names than any disease in history.

i can name kung flu. i can name 19 different versions of name. >> woo, yeah. clearly, the president didn't think twice about saying it. what's so predictable about this -- and again, i mean, this is -- how many times have we seen this? his senior counselor, kellyanne conway herself called it wrong when asked back in march by reporters about allegations that white house staffers were using the exact same phrase. >> i'm not dealing in hypotheticals. of course, it's wrong. but you can't just make an accusation, and not tell us who it is. who is it? and that's highly offensive, so you should tell us all who it is. >> she's so clever. highly offensive. find out who it is. kellyanne conway wasn't lying about that. yeah, it's highly offensive. what she might not have known at the time is that she'd be talking about her boss.

>> i can name kung flu. i can name 19 different versions of name. >> so, clearly, the president did say it. and clearly, one of his close advisers says it's offensive. so much so she wanted the names of whomever said it, presumably so she could discipline him. sure she's walked right into the white house oval office right after the speech when he got back, looking exhausted and unhappy. and said i can't believe you used that phrase. why stop halfway down the rabbit hole? >> kung flu is extremely offensive to many people in the asian-american community. to be clear, are you saying the white house does not believe it is racist? >> to be clear, i think the media is trying to play games with the terminology of this virus. where the focus should be on the fact that china left this out of their country. the same phrase that the media roundly now condemns has been used by the media.

the media has never called it the kung flu. calling chinese coronavirus and calling it the kung flu are very different things. >> the media and your network, specifically, have repeatedly used the term china virus and wuhan virus. and then, gone on to derive the president as somehow using a term that they, themselves, have never used. i'd be more than happy to go through cnn's history. on february 9th, you guys talked about the wuhan coronavirus. on january 23rd, you guys talked about the wuhan coronavirus. >> that's different than calling it the kung flu, though, kayleigh. you have got to admit that. it is not the same thing as calling it the kung flu. >> oh, kayleigh. again, this is what the white house is talking about. in instead of forming a true national plan for testing, treating for a disease that has continued to claim more lives here than anywhere else on

earth. instead of continuing to follow guidelines of their very own coronavirus task force, which they no longer allow us to hear from in daily briefings when the president so embarrassed himself when he entertained the notion of injecting human beings with disinfectant, in order to potentially, maybe, cure them of the coronavirus. and some, you know, healthcare official said, oh, yeah, we'll find the people. we'll look for the right people to do those tests. this is what they're focusing on. they're telling people not to wear masks. they're making wearing of masks seem like you're not macho. you're not masculine, if you wear a mask. i mean, it's -- this is where we're at. there is a virus/pandemic going on in this country and the white house is actually subverting their own guidelines, that the coronavirus task force put out, months ago. supposedly joking about the idea of testing, while failing on the reality and disparaging it constantly by making up supposedly funny names that insult entire nationalities, instead of doing some hard work

for the nation. by boasting and raging about crowd size instead of lamenting the fact that so much of this simply did not have to happen, and working hard to make sure it does not get worse, which it very well may. that is where we are right now. and where we are right now, tonight. get reaction to the president's remarks from democratic senator of hawaii. but first, even as -- even as the president stepped out of marine one, his tie undone. a crumpled up cap in one hand. not looking exactly happy at the low turnout in tulsa. cnn political analyst and correspondent maggie haberman was reporting from behind the scenes. reads president trump and several staff members stood backstage and gazed at the empty bank of oklahoma center -- center in horror. maggie haberman joins us now, along with cnn political commentator david axelrod. maggie, president trump in the rally saturday, racial divisiveness, the use of kung

flu, also calling protestors thugs which he's also done many times before. talking about how confederate statues coming down are assault on our heritage. the president had hoped to run on a strong economy. i mean, in the absence of that now, is this what the president sees as the strategy for winning in november? because this was supposedly the kickoff to his re-election campaign. >> anderson, i think the difficulty with that sentence is the word strategy. there isn't a strategy. the president is winging it. he is trying to latch onto whatever he thinks can help him right now, at any given moment. but, in that moment, what he s was, was stunned by what he saw at the bok center in oklahoma. which was row after row of empty seats. particularly, on the upper level but not only the upper level of the arena. and he was trying to recover from that. leaning into white grievance politics. leaning in to talk about our heritage. he's a man from queens. a confederate heritage is not his heritage but that has been something he's talked about

repeatedly. that is something he thinks appeals to some of his supporters, if not all. and he is burrowing into this political base of his, that he has always, over the course of the last three and a half years, been afraid would leave him. to your point, though, it's supposed to be the reset for a campaign that officially launched a year ago, this month. this was not the reset that they were hoping for. and it really brought into stark relief the fact that two things are real that the president has been saying are fake. one is that his standing in the polls has changed and his political fortunes have changed over the course of the last four months. and the other is that the general public, the majority of people, are still afraid of coronavirus. they are still afraid of catching it. even as reopenings are taking place, even as the president has tried to will public opinion to be less afraid of coronavirus and willing to reopen states, it has not worked the way he hoped. >> it surprises me that people aren't offended that the president is encouraging people to not to wear masks, by his own

example. and, you know, his vice president can't wear a mask. people around them don't wear masks. and yet, he's got people, like testers around him at all times, testing anybody who comes into contact with him. testing, you know, he gets tested, probably, you know, whenever he wants. at the drop of a hat. it's just -- i'm -- i can't believe that people don't kind of see this guy hiding in, not a literal bunker, although that did happen. though, he denied it. you know, hiding behind walls of testers and everybody else having to wear a mask in his immediate vicinity in the white house. telling people ignore the coronavirus task force recommendations, which i used to back, until i made a fool of myself. >> yeah. well, i mean, that's one of the great paradoxes here is he is the leader of a government, that is providing guidance to americans about how they can keep themselves safe, keep others safe, and try and limit the spread of this virus. and he is the leader of the movement that is rebelling against his own government's advice.

and by doing what he's doing, he is encouraging that behavior. the thing that was so stunning about saturday night was that -- how so few people followed that advice. so many people stayed away. and i think, look, there's another thing that's happening here. which is the president was counting on a strong economy and an image of a guy who was competent and strong. and he looks like none of those things now. the economy is obviously in -- in bad shape. but there's nothing about his performance lately that looks strong or competent. and that story line, which they hoped to change with that rally on saturday night, actually was accelerated by the fact that they had the size of the crowd that was going to be there and called for an outdoor rally as well. and the turnout. and then, the -- the -- the strange, disjointed hour and 50

minutes, which by the way, was just a new version of his old routine in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of an economic crisis, and in the middle of a country riven by racial concerns. he had no new material. he had nothing to say. so i think, on the whole, this was a disastrous outing for the president. and he clearly knew it when he came, had hat in hand, back to the white house on saturday night, sunday morning. >> maggie, it was interesting. van jones did a piece that we -- we had on this program, on friday night. and he basically went back and met up with some trump voters who he had met, who voted for trump in -- in 2016. and they had problems and a lot of issues with trump -- trump and what he's done. all of them, in the end, though, said, if my memory serves me, all the three he talked to, that they were going to vote for -- for the president again. do you think there is a danger of democrats, you know, seeing

all these things and thinking that this is going to be an easy election? i mean, we still have a long way to go before votes are cast. >> i don't know any democrats, honestly, anderson, who think this is going to be an easy election. i think david can possibly speak to that more than i can. but i certainly don't know any who think this is going to be easy. in part, because a lot of people are very scarred by thinking that 2016 was going to be easy. and by people, i mean democrats being scarred by thinking hillary clinton was naturally going to defeat donald trump. hillary clinton thought that. her top advisers thought that. and they were sort of appalled and couldn't allow for the fact that he was doing as well as he was, and reality overtook them. so i think there are democrats who are concerned that that is what will happen again. look. as -- as much trouble as donald trump is in, politically, right now, a lot of it, of his own making. but certainly, not all of it. joe biden is still a very flawed candidate. it is running a flawed campaign,

so far. there are still four months left. they have to have what are supposed to be three general election debates. four and a half months ago, we were not talking about the coronavirus the way we're talki talking right now. so a lot can happen. and i think it's important to remember,at the end of the day, elections are still binary. and people, if they decide to vote, unless they decide to write someone in, are going to make a choice between these two men. and there are going to be a lot of people who, open if they aren't happy with donald trump now, there will be people who still decide to vote for him in the end. it is a real mistake for anybody to start calling the election today. and it's important to not overplay what happened over the weekend, which was ultimately a rally in a red state. they made it a big deal but, on its own, it's not that big a deal. >> david, i want to hear your thoughts on that because the campaign manager, brad parscale, tried to blame the media. saying they were stoking fears of coronavirus, keeping people away from the rally. that's not what -- i mean, what do you -- what do you make of the road ahead? >> people who have fears of coronavirus, it might be because

tulsa was being overrun by coronavirus. but, beyond all that, look. they -- they -- they over promised and under delivered. that's a horrible mistake for a campaign but i agree with maggie. look. we didn't know, four months ago, that we were going to have the corona -- that the virus, the economic downturn, george floyd. we don't know what the next four months will bring. the running, if you're joe biden against a candidate and donald trump who is willing to do virtually anything to win. and that makes a kind of asymmetric warfare. and the electoral college is such that, even if he is losing by a significant margin nationally, he still could win in these very closely contested battleground states. but one thing that was really interesting to me about this rally was a little tell of the president. he ad libbed a line. ripped biden as the tool of the radical left and he sort of ad libbed. he's not particle of the radical left. he's never been part of the

radical left but he's a tool of the radical left now. and underscored his biggest problem and the reason -- to try and stop joe biden. joe biden is culturally inconvenient for donald trump. he looked too much like the people donald trump's trying to scare. and he is a comfortable figure. so they're going to have to work very hard to impeach him. right now, polling is showing he's not doing as well as he did against hillary clinton. his evangelical vote is down. so, you know, i think it is going to be a close election but there is plenty for the president to be worried about right now. >> david axelrod, maggie haberman, thank you. protestors are apparently trying to take down the statue of andrew jackson. we will continue to monitor developments, bring you live update as this situation unfolds there. >> just ahead, asian-american lawmakers take on what the president said and how the white house is spinning it. senator hirono joins us.

and the best experts we know in florida and elsewhere, dr. sanjay gupta and professor william hazelteen, who says we may all have to live our lives very differently for quite some time to come. find an investmentm with a truly long-term view that's been through multiple market cycles for over 85 years? with capital group, i can. talk to your financial professional or consultant for investment risks and information.

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his people to slow down testing because it makes him look bad. the actual number of coronavirus infections is rising again in this country, including in his own campaign staffers. two more revealed testing positive today. bringing the total to eight people, so far. take a look. here is the seven-day national moving average, showing cases rising back toward the 30,000 per day mark. now, here is the state of florida. upward sloping bars showing why some experts already consider florida to be the next epicenter of this outbreak. and in the president's hometown paper, the palm beach post, the headline reads, as cases go up, icu beds go down. joining us now is william haseltine, chair of access health international and former

professor at harvard university medical school, as well as the harvard school of public health. also a book titled a family guide to covid. with, as well, cnn chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta. sanjay, what's your reaction to rise in cases? >> we've been reporting on florida since the beginning, and i think there's always been concern about florida. in fact, in initial days, we were worried that the numbers were going to go into exponential growth there. even going back to april. the concern, really, i think more than anything, the numbers are obviously going up. they are going out of -- up, out of proportion to just testing, alone. we're seeing, obviously, the m demographics, younger people, obviously being more affected by this now. but the idea that, ultimately, it could affect people who are vulnerable in this state and possibly increase more hospitalizations. take a look at this graphic, anderson. people ask about this all the time. who is most likely to get infected?

who is most likely to get sick? who's most likely to die? sort of break this down, by age group. i think we have this. but one thing is, you look at the graphics, you look at the data that's coming out of these various places. keep in mind that florida, 20% of the population is 65 years or older. so they're a vulnerable population. cases go up in a vulnerable population, that's a real concern, anderson. >> professor, i understand you've been looking at the rising case numbers and -- and i know you're upset by the spikes. i've heard you compare -- you know, people talk about a first wave, second wave. i've heard you refer to this pandemic as a tsunami. >> right. the reason i call it a tsunami is i think the image most people have of tsunami is of a giant, very high wave. that's not actually a tsunami. a tsunami may be a two or three-foot wave, but it may be ten miles long. and it just keeps coming and coming and coming. and goes into any area where it can. so it pushes deep in.

you ever look at the pictures of a tsunami, it just doesn't go away. that's what this looks like. i'd like to say something else about what sanjay said, just very briefly. it's a new realization that the people who think that they've gotten off scot-free because they're young and just been infected, it turns out, if you do a ct scan, they have been very severely affected in their lungs. they just don't know it yet. it's like having cancer but not, yet, being diagnosed. their lungs, 60% of them have what is called ground-glass opacity, which is going to show up later as serious lung disease. so these young people who think they are getting off scot-free, oh, i got infected. it's not scot-free. they are affected. and it will cause them harm. >> i've heard some epidemiologists, you know, virologists, talk about this saying that things are moving too fast in opening up. i understand you don't think closing down things are -- is the answer.

>> no. you know, we can't close our economy down forever. we have to have an economy. and we can have economies that grow and flourish, when disease is all around us. i was born at just the cusp of the change, when we had antibiotics. i was born in 1944. and civilians didn't get antibiotics then, except very rarely. and so, we did build our cities. we built our railroads. we built all our great country. but we lived very carefully. i remember when polio was around. we didn't go out in more than groups of three. we never went to the pool. we never went to the movie theaters. there was fear. i remember that fear, as a child. i remember rfever, you might suffer the rest of your life from heart disease. we were much more careful. what i worry about is, yes, we have to open. but we're not being careful. in some places, we're being careful, like new york city, and the infection is waning. but in other places, we're not careful.

and we can see the result. you know, you mentioned how much the infection is increasing. it's increasing four to five times what it already was. so it was a thousand, it may be 5,000 a day. 5,000 a day means 50,000 infected people, because everybody's infected for about ten days. so you have 50,000 people, walking around florida, infecting other people. and in texas, it's about 40,000 people. so this is not a small matter. this is a very big matter that we can learn to live with. but we have to be careful. >> sanjay, i think -- >> one of the reasons i wrote the book. to help people live with it. >> i think the professor's point, sanjay, is so important. that i mean, the very thing that the administration is trying to do, of -- of open things up. the -- it's not a either open up or close down. there is a middle ground, which is open things up, to the degree it's safe. but wear masks and social

distancing and doing the things that we all know actually work, sanjay. and yet, that's the very thing this administration is subverting that notion. i mean, they've given up on their own -- they've given up on their own criteria. >> yeah. sanjay. >> we should have learned some lessons here. and by the way, i should point out south korea. people often hold up as a model to dr. haseltine's point. they never really shut down. they did things they should have been doing well. testing early. wear masks. physical distancing. they were able to mostly keep their economy open throughout this. and they have fewer than 300 people who have died. there is absolutely a middle ground and people who are absolutely against shutting the economy down, oftentimes, are the same people who don't, like, want to adopt any of those middle-ground strategies. masks really make a difference. they're not a panacea. they're not foolproof. physical distancing makes a huge difference. you start adding these things in

and, you know, you could have a -- a open economy. just, it would feel different in some ways. >> dr. haseltine, appreciate it. dr. sanjay gupta, as well. just ahead, administration fires a top official. a story familiar to my next guest, former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe. he joins us to talk about what president trump may have known about the as totor when we retu.

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we're committed to helping all families stay connected. learn more at xfinity.com/education. trouble explaining another burgeoning controversy. president trump's role in the firing of a federal prosecutor involving the investigation of his allies and organizations close to him. late friday night, attorney

general william barr announced the prosecutor for the southern district of new york was resigning. and according to cnn sources, it's currently conducting investigation into rudy giuliani and his former associates lev parnas and igor fruman. berman agreed to leave after attorney general named him as his immediate successor. president trump tried to keep fingerprints off this one. he said he was not involved. that's not the message from the white house today. >> but why did the president say he wasn't involved in the firing of geoff berman when he said the president was the one who fired him. >> he did come to the president and report to him when mr. berman decided not to leave. and at that point is when the president agreed with the decision of the attorney general to fire mr. berman and to promote mr. clayton. >> so he was involved in this then? >> he was involved in a signoff

capacity. he was not -- ag barr was leading the way but in a sign-off capacity, yes, the president was. >> the white house provided no justification for the firing. joining me now, the target of a fruitless investigation after his ouster, former fbi deputy director and now senior contributor, andrew mccabe. thank you for being with us. are you at all surprised by the mixed messages, lack of clear explanation or any explanation really for why mr. berman was unceremoniously fired? >> no, anderson, i'm not surprised by that. because, quite frankly, we've seen this level of confusion and incompetence with other maneuvers around, certainly, the administration and now the justice department. i think the thing that's most concerning about it, though, is it is a series of deliberate misrepresentations to the american people. so the letter on friday night, clearly, misrepresented the circumstances around berman's leaving the post as the head of the southern district of new york. and then of course, the attorney general and the president's conflicting stories about the

firing on saturday. only made the matter even more confused. this repeated misrepresentations to the american people have to really undermine people's confidence in the department of justice and the way they're doing their job. and i think that's a very bad thing, long-term, for the country. >> in the attorney general's letter to geoffrey berman, he writes about mr. berman's refusal to resign saying you have chosen public spectacle over public service. i mean, does that make any sense to you? especially, since there was never an agreement for mr. berman to step down. >> audio. >> i think we just lost you. we'll try to reestablish that. i believe we have you back. you're back. so, does it -- i mean, there was apparently no agreement for mr. berman to step down. so i'm not quite clear what attorney general barr is talking about. saying that, you know, he's chosen public spectacle over public service. >> well, i mean, you know, we

all know what happened here. the attorney general looked bad. right? he jumped the gun. he said something that wasn't true. >> sorry. we're having a problem with that. we'll try to reestablish contact with -- with andrew mccabe. just ahead, more on the disparaging term the president used at his rally saturday to describe coronavirus. and then, mazie hirono joins us to discuss. and later, the latest in the federal investigation into the noose left inside the garage stall of bubba wallace, the only black nascar driver's top circuit. the man who led to ban the confederate flag at races. at mercedes-benz, nothing less than world-class service will do. that's why we're expanding your range of choices. many dealers now offer optional pick-up & delivery and at-home maintenance, as well as online shopping

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and we're back with andrew mccabe, former deputy director of the fbi. hopefully, it stays -- stays up. just finally, let me just ask you. i mean, is this anything -- is there any other way to look at this, other than the white house justice department doesn't like the fact that the southern district of new york continues to investigate allies of the president? apparently, rudy giuliani and others. they investigated michael cohen. and they're just trying to get

rid of him, you know, late at night on a friday, with a lot of stuff going on? >> yeah. there's no other way to look at it. and, look, we know that for two reasons. one, the way they did it. they, not only took berman out but, they tried to put in the u.s. attorney from new jersey, to sit in as the acting, until their new selection could be confirmed because they didn't want berman's deputy to run that office, in the same way berman had. and also, historically, we know, anderson, this is the way this administration moves. if you are someone who becomes identified by the president as an enemy of his, either because you tell the truth or because he feels that you're running the risk of exposing something he doesn't want exposed, you get fired. didn't just happen to me. we've seen it happen to half a dozen igs, happened to colonel vindman in front of the entire united states watching throughout those hearings. it is the way they move. they eliminate threats, fire people, and try to destroy them, publicly. i sincerely hope that doesn't

happen to mr. berman now. >> andrew mccabe, thank you very much and again, apologies for the technical problems. we are getting reports the white house is asking reporters to evacuate from the white house. kaitlan collins, just outside, joins us now. kaitlan, what's going on? >> yeah, anderson. we were inside the white house. the secret service came around, and asked for us to leave. that is something that i don't think has ever happened since i've been inside the white house. often, they say you can't go outside. the white house is on lockdown. press is instructed to actual whetheractually leave the white house grounds. and you can see there are a swarm of protestors out in front of the white house. there were reports that they were trying to take down the statue of andrew jackson that, of course, is in lafayette square, right in front of the white house. and as we were walking back through here, we saw several protestors who said that they had fired some kind of substance at them. they weren't sure if it was tear gas, pepper spray. of course, that was a big debate last time they cleared the protestors. i'm going to step out of the way. but you can see, here, the

police have moved this barrier to where we are right now. earlier today, this has not been where the barrier was. and there are several protestors standing around. several police officers, here, forming a bit of a haphazard line in front of the white house, as we're waiting to figure out more details about what's going on. but clearly, they believe there was some kind of threat happening. that's why they had reporters leave the white house, in that very unusual move, anderson. and of course, this is the very spot i'm standing where they moved those protestors, not that long ago. where they forcefully cleared them out of the way when the president made his walk right over here to st. john's church, next to me. so we're still learning a little bit more about what exactly is going on, what transpired. but definitely, a much heavier police presence and protestors than you have seen here in the last several days. >> so, kaitlan, just so you know. we're seeing, on the right of our screen, from earlier, it looks like law enforcement personnel moving in to clear, i assume, the area around the statue. can you just explain where you

are for those who aren't familiar kind of with the layout of this? is that the white house, all the way in the back? and then, is that the jackson statue there, also, in the background? >> yeah. that's the jackson statue. it's right there, in the middle of the park. it's andrew jackson, on a horse. of course, that is lafayette park right in front of the white house. and so, we're standing here, on 16th street. right next to the church that, of course, the president had that infamous visit. and so, that is the question, you know, as we've seen this debate raging over the last few days across the nation about these statues, that are across the nation and what's going on. and there was something going on with that, and the police felt the need to move it. the question of course, is how they move these protestors, what tacti tactics they use and what the response of the protestors is going to be. tensions definitely seem to be running higher than they have been in the last several weeks over here. >> so lafayette square -- lafayette square park has -- that's been cleared? of protestors. >> yeah. there is no one -- there is no one in lafayette park that is

not a police officer, at this moment. we're at this barrier. it's exactly where you saw the protestors standing when they forced them out, so aggressively. of course, that infamous monday. and so now, police have come here. you can see these concrete barriers here. in front of it. and it is police officer on bikes. you can see a few more. but the park, right now, has been cleared. >> and -- and do you -- approximately, how many protestors would you say there are? obviously, it's always hard in a situation like this. but -- >> it's always hard, especially if you're on the ground. but we, actually, have been reporting over here a lot. so we have a pretty good idea when it's a lot of protestors. this is certainly -- it's somewhere in the medium range, i would say. it's not as many as we have seen on some days, where they fill this. this is of course -- the street i'm standing on is where the d.c. mayor renamed it black lives matter plaza. and that's where you saw so many protestors and demonstrators over the last several weeks. but there is definitely a good amount of people around. everyone seems to just be

watching, looking to see what it is, exactly, that's going on. as they are waiting and of course, the question is, you know, do they move the protestors further back? how does that go? because that was a decision they had to make the last time. >> it's interesting that the white house, the secret service, chose to ask reporters to -- to leave. it doesn't seem like, at this stage, there's an immediate threat on the white house, itself. >> no. no, and that's what's so unusual. because i'm telling you, i have been reporting on this white house since the day donald trump was inaugurated. and we have never been asked to physically leave the white house. they'll take us off of the front lawn. they will move us, slightly, indoors. keep us indoors if they think there is some kind of security threat. but they actually had us leave the entire white house grounds tonight, anderson. so it's not clear why the secret service made that decision. we're obviously now very far back from the white house. probably, 200 yards back from the white house, as we're trying

to figure out why the secret service made that decision to clear reporters out. very, very unusual move. >> kaitlan collins, we'll continue to check back in with you. want to turn our conversation now back to the -- what we were discussing at the beginning of the hour. the phrase the president used to describe the coronavirus. and one -- the racist phrase that he used, kung flu. the phrase is being used at a time when the virus is fueling verbal and physical attacks on members of the asian-american community. joining us now is democratic senator, mazie hirono, of hawaii. senator hirono, the term kung flu, when you heard the president say that, what did you think? >> that he was racializing the virus. and again, the raising of anti-immigrant fervor. so this is what the president does. he is a very divisive person, and he's up against it. and so, he uses these kinds of

phrases. china virus. kung flu. members of this administration have used both of those terms. and he must know that there's a rise in harassment and outright physical attacks on asian-americans, in this country. he must know that. but of course, he takes no responsibility for what he says and what that might engender. >> the white house press secretary, kayleigh mcenany, obviously, defended the president. tried to equate the president's comment to phrases china virus or wuhan virus. which is an argument i don't quite understand. i mean, kung flu has nothing to do with the actual origin of the virus. they're not the same thing, at all. >> they're constantly using -- they're not even dog whistles anymore. these are outright racist kind of terms. and they always try to make excuses but we all know what they mean. so it just makes them look even

more racist and, in my view, pathetic. when they try to act as though, oh, we really weren't saying that. please. so he continues to use divisive rhetoric and it's harming people in this country. >> when -- i'm wondering what you think of the response overall to covid by this administration. what is the situation in hawaii, which you represent? and what do you make of the administration's response overall? >> the administration's response has been totally incompetent and lacking, uncoordinated and living up to what he said, not my responsibility. states, you are on your own. our governor and the other governors have to go against each other for ppe and necessary items as the democrats call on the president to have a nationwide testing so that we are not doing haphazard testing and of course now we wasn't

joking saying ease up on the testing equating the tests with the increasing numbers of people getting the virus and this is a president who does not pay attention to science or facts. so yes. what is happening in hawaii is that we have had a stay-at-home kind of provisions. we are slowly opening carefully reopening various businesses, et cetera. we've had, you know -- because we have social distancing and wear your masks to prevent i think the spread of the virus in a way that some other places have not but we are being cautious and realize that we have not tested enough people. that is my view. in hawaii as well as the rest of the country. >> senator hirono, appreciate your time. thank you. >> you're welcome. up next, the racism directed at a star of nascar helping in the drive against hate and the use of the confederate flag

there. the question of how someone go in bubba wallace' garage stall to leave a noose. can i find an investment firm with a truly long-term view that's been through multiple market cycles for over 85 years? with capital group, i can. talk to your financial professional or consultant for investment risks and information.

talk to your financial professional or consultant here's what we want everyone to do. count all the hugs you haven't given.

all the hands you haven't held. all the dinners you didn't share with friends. the trips you haven't taken. keep track of them. each one means one less person vulnerable, one less person exposed, and one step closer to a healthier community. so for now, keep your distance. but don't lose count. we'll have some catching up to do.

tonight the fbi and the justice department are investigating after a noose was left inside bubba wallace's garage stall at the talladega superspeedway in alabama. he is a pioneer among black drivers in the sport and displayed the black live matters hash tag in his car and asked nascar to ban the confederate flag at its events. sunday someone made it into the secure garage area and leave the noose. randi kaye on the show of unity

this afternoon. >> all of nascar's -- >> reporter: a show of force. nascar drivers walking in solidarity with bubba wallace's car, a source saying also today that wallace never saw the noose hanging in his driver's stall. >> there is no place for racism in nascar and this act only strengthens our resolve to make this sport open and welcoming to all. >> reporter: wallace has yet to speak about the incident but tweeted last night he was incredibly saddened and called it an act of racism and hatred and a painful reminder how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism. he went on to say this will not break me. i will not give in nor will i back down. i will continue to proudly stand for what i believe in. wallace's fellow drivers

escorting the car to the front of the grid and standing together for the national anthem. ♪ wallace tweeting this selfie writing together nascar also showed support painting an i stand with bubba hash tag in the infield. bubba wallace' team gave him a pep talk over the radio. >> i love you, man. we all do. put us in a good spotted. get your mind right. let's go shut the haters up. >> anderson, they're trying to figure out who did this and because there's been limited access to the track, because of this pandemic, that may make their job easier because really it is just essential employees like race teams and nascar employees so the president of nascar says they're investigating along with the u.s. attorney's officer, the department of justice and the fbi and wouldn't say if security cameras might have picked up anything and did say that they

have ramped up security around bubba wallace himself. they're concerned about his safety and let the team inspect his car today before the race to make sure it was not tampered with and the race ended. wallace came in 14th but said all in all we win today. back to you. >> thanks very much. to everyone just joining us, chris cuomo is off tonight. we have breaking news. reporters asked to leave the white house. we want to go back to kaitlan collins across the street. if you can, explain what's been happening the last couple of minutes. >> reporter: so, anderson, we are in front of lafayette square and maybe a half hour ago protesters put ropes around a statue of andrew jackson in the park they're trying to topple that statue and then very quickly you saw police try to move those protesters back. they were using some kind of chemical irritant, we are not

sure what, and now pushed back. the park is closed and we are back here standing of course exactly where you saw the president do that walk where he came and posed in front of st. john's church and they pushed protesters back and they are somewhat facing off with the police. you can see they're literally face to face with officers standing behind the bikes. after that happened just a few moments ago, chanting things like hey ho andrew jackson's got to go and we were inside the white house and secret service officers came around to the reporters and said that we had to leave the white house grounds. someone listening at home may not think that's unusual but it is incredibly unusual and i don't think we've been asked to physically leave the white house at a time like that but instead officers are coming around telling reporters to get off the white house grounds at that moment. though it's not clear why because, of course, if you're looking at lafayette square the