has now taken nearly 128,000 american lives. in no small part, because the president of the united states has decided to occupy a persistent state of denial. that same president, today, remarkably, declared victory. and said, once again, the virus will simply go away. >> i think we did it all right. we did a great job. we're credited with doing a great job. and i think we're going to be very good with the coronavirus. i think that, at some point, that's going to sort of just disappear. i hope. >> you still believe so. >> well, i do. i do. yeah, sure. at some point. >> just disappear, he said. those remarks, which are not new. which are a theme for this president, in fact, in as cases are, in fact, rising in 37 of the 50 states now. just two states in the entire nation show infections declining. those remarks and that claim, by the president, that we did

great. that this will all disappear. are set against that chart. a curve that is not just rising but rising more steeply every day. this is not what doing a great job looks like for a country. however, this is what is prompting governors in some 22 states now to reimpose restrictions. and for some, to mandate mask wearing. it is what moved european countries to ban travel from the united states, starting today. that's right. ban the u.s. as it admitted travel from other countries. it is what is making this country an outlier, a pariah, in the rest of the world. it is also what prompted the nation's most trusted public-health expert, to issue this warning yesterday. >> i would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day, if this does not turn around. i think it's important to tell you and the american public that i'm very concerned because it could get very bad.

>> 100,000 a day. late today, dr. fauci said he used that number to, quote, jolt people. perhaps, to jolt just one person because, as you know, the president has returned, time and time again, to this notion of the virus simply disappearing. >> it's going to disappear. one day. it's like a miracle, it will disappear. and from our shores, you know, it could get worse before it gets better. could maybe go away. we'll see what happens. nobody really knows. >> it's dying out. >> it's going to fade away. >> it's going away, but i think we'll have vaccines, and i think we're going to have therapeutics. and maybe, even beyond that, maybe a cure. and it won't be in the long distance. so i really think that's going to be helpful. and regardless, it's going away. >> follow the facts. follow the numbers. so as astonishing as it is to hear, this is nothing new for this president. and though, he has not said so out loud, it seems to be his

justification, at the end of the day, for not taking the kind of steps that any other presidents have taken in the grips of their own national crises. the president, as you know, calls himself a wartime president on this. yet, he seems not to notice that more americans have died in this battle than in all the wars since world war ii. he has essentially checked out. barely, mentioning the virus, in fact. focusing, instead, on things like this. people allegedly vandalizing statues. posting their pictures, like he is something of a crime show host. demanding the culprits turn themselves in, or else. or attacking new york's mayor. calling a proposed black lives matter mural there on fifth avenue, quote, a symbol of hate. ironic for someone who just recently tweeted out, to tens of millions of followers, a video of someone shouting, very clearly, at the beginning of that video, white power. right now, as the pandemic rages, this wartime president is

doing battle to save statues of dead people. and protecting the street outside trump tower from some words he simply doesn't like. this wartime demacommander is n leading the federal charge in places such as florida, which continues to see case counts hit new highs, almost daily. he is not leading the charge in texas which, today, reported more than 8,000 new infections. he is not at the front lines in california, where the governor, today, facing this rising curve, you see on the graph there, halted all indoor activities in hard-hit counties. instead, it is every state for itself. and mixed contradictory messages, as always, from this white house. such as the president, today, on wearing a mask. >> i think masks are good. i would wear -- if i were in a group of people and i was close -- >> you would wear one? >> oh, i would. oh, i have. i mean, people have seen me wearing one. >> keeping him honest. he's only known to have worn a

mask one single time. the rest of the time, he shuns them, he's mocked others for wearing them. and again, today, he said that mask wearing should not be mandatory. dr. fauci said he wanted to jolt people. but the president seems unjolted, at this point. and late today, his spokesperson seemed to confirm it. >> dr. fauci says we're heading toward 100,000 cases per day. so why does the president have evidence that it would just disappear? >> one thing i would note with regard to cases, we're aware that there are embers in the country. we're aware that there are places with rising cases. >> 37 states, in fact. they still call them embers. joining us now, florida democratic congresswoman and former clinton secretary of health and human services, leon

pinetta. thanks to both of you. we benefit from your decades of public service to get some perspective here. secretary pinetta, when this president says, again, that the virus will disappear. and you've seen the graphs. they're going in one direction, up, and very sharply. it shows -- well, a state of denial, does it not? you served as chief of staff to a president. what would you be telling him to do, right now? >> well, it would be very different from what we're seeing, because this president has essentially gone awol from the job of leadership, that he should be providing a country in trouble. this is a major crisis. we're looking at 41,000 new cases today. and i think, you know, dr. fauci has said there's a good chance we may go to 100,000 cases. but the president, rather than bringing together some kind of national strategy to confront

this crisis, simply resorts to tweeting about vandalism and other things. to kind of divert attention from the crisis that's there. he's not good at crises, very frankly. he doesn't like to deal with things that he cannot solve easily or tweet easily about. and so, the result is that he's trying to avoid any responsibility for doing anything about the crisis this country is facing. and, very frankly, that's a dereliction of duty. >> congresswoman shalayla, today secretary for health and human services said, quote, testing is critical but we cannot test our way out of the current outbreak. you have an administration here and a president, frankly, who has derided testing, right? has even talked about, it seems, doing less, rather than more. what would that mean, in the midst of, really, growth across

most of the country now in infections? >> it would be tragic. this president's inability to lead his -- has literally led to americans dying. i don't think i'd ever say that about a president of the united states. this is an american tragedy. and we have to do testing as part of an overall strategy. look. we're about to celebrate the fourth of july. this is about patriotism. patriots wear masks, care about their countrymen and women. they wash their hands. they practice social distancing. and they insist that the president of the united states provide enough testing, and see testing and science as what we have to follow. literally, i'm running out of words about what to say about this lack of leadership.

>> deliberate assault on science, you could even say. secretary pinetta, you've served decades in government, at so many levels. can you think of another time where there's been such a lack of a federal response, federal leadership, to a major crisis? and really, an attack even on the data and the facts showing the scope of that crisis? >> not -- not in my lifetime. you know, i, in one way or another, served under nine preside presidents. and, you know, some were outstanding. some were not so outstanding. but every president that i can remember, over this last era since world war ii, has been a president that, when faced with crisis, has had to respond. and has been willing to respond. you know, whether it's war. whether it's 9/11. whether it's a natural disaster. they have had to respond.

and so, to have a president, now, who confronted by a myriad of crises. i mean, for goodness sakes, we're not just talking about covid-19, which is out of control. we're not just talking about an economy that is in deep trouble, as a result of covid-19. we're not just talking about a country that's trying to face up to racial inequality that's gone on for 400 years. but we're, also, a country that has a leadership crisis on its hands. we have a president that is not willing to stand up, and do what is necessary in order to lead this country during a time of major -- i have never experienced a president who has avoided that responsibility. >> congresswoman, the president has often deliberately attacked institutions in this country. to undermine confidence in them. and it's worked, to many degrees. i don't have to list them for

you. what does that do to this country's ability to respond? to get people motivated to do what is necessary to hem this outbreak? and even something simple, like wearing masks, easiest thing to do. >> you know, if -- if this crisis has taught us anything, is that we need government and we need a strong government. we need a strong federal government, with first-class leadership. and certainly, strong state and local governments. but we cannot deal with this crisis, without government, without public servants, without the great scientists that we've been investing in for years. that's what the crisis has taught us. but, more than anything else, it's leon's point. it's taught us that we need strong leaders, with courage, in a crisis. >> yeah. secretary pinetta, we can wait till we're blue in the face, i imagine, for that federal

leadership, that national leadership. does not appear that it's going to come. can this be done, right? can we, as a country, get a handle on this state by state? you see california. california, where you live, had enormous -- they were early on this. and they seemed to get a handle on it. now, cases are rising again. but it shows that -- that -- that it's hard to get it right, at the state level. >> you know, i think that approaching this fourth of july, one of the things that we can take some pride in, is the fact that we, the people of this country, are stepping forward. at a time when there is no leadership coming from washington. i mean, the reality is that governors are struggling to deal with the situation in their states. that people are trying to deal with the situation in their communities. i think the american people are trying to respond to the problems they're facing.

they're not getting much leadership, and that's -- that's a tragedy. but the fact is they are stepping up and they're trying to do what's right to protect themselves and their families. and thank god for that. i -- i -- i still remain hopeful that, even without leadership from washington, that we're going to be able to overcome this crisis. >> yeah. and i've seen a lot of examples like that, like you're talking about, myself. congresswoman, secretary pinetta, thanks, very much, to both of you. coming up next. a nationwide look at why scenes like this one may, soon, be vanishing rather because the virus is not. dr. sanjay gupta will join us. and later, former national security advisor and potential biden running mate, susan rice, on the breaking news about russian bounties on u.s. troops. and more broadly, the president's resistance to hearing anything negative about russia.

has said the coronavirus will just disappear. the breaking news. follow the numbers. they say otherwise. just moments ago, we learned that the country saw 46,853 new cases of covid-19. that is, sadly, a new daily record in this country. more, now, from across the country from cnn's nick watt. >> every state beach parking lot in southern california and the bay area will now be closed for the fourth of july weekend. >> a weekend that has raised a lot of concern. >> bars, dine-in restaurants, and movie theaters will, also, now close again in 19

californian counties, for at least three weeks. today, the daily death toll in this state, like we haven't seen since april. >> do not take your guard down. please, do not believe those that, somehow, want to manipulate the reality. >> and record numbers, now, hospitalized in arizona. >> i'm not sure what more we can do. short of a total shutdown. >> record-high hospitalizations, also, in texas. and long lines to be tested. >> while, we opened in phases, we went from one phase to the next phase to the next phase, too quickly. so we weren't able to see the data. >> he's echoing dr. anthony fauci. one of the most respected voices on this virus. but, no longer respected by all. >> he doesn't know what he's talking about. we haven't skipped over anything. the only thing i'm skipping over is listening to him. >> 37 states are seeing their case counts climb. at least 22 of them, now pausing or rolling back reopening.

new york city was due to open indoor dining monday. not anymore. and a new warning from the federal official in charge of testing. those under 35 are driving outbreaks right now. and testing, alone, will not be enough to stop them. >> testing is critical. but we cannot test our way out of the current outbreaks. we must be disciplined about our own personal behavior, especially around the july 4th holiday and especially among the young adults. >> a vaccine would, of course, be the game changer. some promising data from pfizer today. >> we have an effective vaccine that's proven on january 1st, this thing does not end on january 2nd. it's going to be another six months, nine months, could be a year, before we get it distributed and enough to make a meaningful difference. >> so, nick, california forced to dial back its reopening after initially getting on top of this.

ahead of the game, you might say. what will the state look like, going forward? >> well, in the immediate term, jim, expect to see maybe some more coastal cities closing their beaches. newport beach just pulled that trigger, after a couple of lifeguards tested positive. then, it really depends who ends up on the governor's watch list. 19 counties, right now, on that list. that is where he just closed indi indoor dining. but counties can come off and on that list. so we will see how that evolves. also, jim, a lot is going to depend on how we behave. here, in los angeles, today, we were just told, over this weekend, to avoid what they call the three cs. crowds, confined spaces, and close contact. jim. >> smart advice. easy to remember and it is on us. nick watt, thanks very much. joining us now, cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. sanjay, you know, we've talked a lot through these last weeks

here. and i've measured your rising exasperation in recent days, with some of the comments and lack of leadership, frankly, coming from washington. so the president says today, again, the coronavirus is going to disappear. you heard the lieutenant governor of texas saying he's not going to listen to dr. fauci anymore. what does that mean for the country, when you still have that kind of resistance to the facts before us? >> well, it -- it's -- it makes you feel like you're going backwards, jim. i mean, at a time when we need to go forward more than we've ever had to go forward in our country, we're going backward because of this sort of stuff. and let me give you a little peek behind the curtain, jim. you know, the president says the virus is going to go away. let me concede this point. nobody knew anything about this virus at the beginning. that's the nature of a novel coronavirus. there is a lot that we've learned, and there's a humility. but back in february, i interviewed the head of the cdc that said it's not going away, it's clearly going to be for

years to come. the point is, it was known back in mid-february, february 13th, timeframe. so why now, at the end of june, are we using that as some sort of statement? when the lieutenant governor in texas says i'm not going to listen to dr. fauci. we met all the criteria for reopening. let me show you this graph, if we have it. you remember what the criteria? you have to have a 14-day downward trend. i don't know if we have the graph or not. but let me just say the data doesn't lie. the two weeks before texas reopened, texas, they did not have a downward trend. you can take my word for it. point is, the science matters here, jim, more than ever. >> and to your point, those guidelines came from this white house. i mean, their -- their team wrote those guidelines. and yet, are endorsing states as they violate them. so let's talk about a state, california, that -- that led the way, in many respects, early on. even with a low number of cases, they had some pretty comprehensive stay-at-home orders, et cetera. seemed to get under control.

began to reopen. conservatively. the numbers jump, again. did they do something wrong? >> you know, i think -- i think it's an idea that the policies versus the people, right? i mean, how much can you legislate of this, in terms of how people are going to behave? i think they -- they followed a lot of the guidelines. they, also, opened without meeting all of the criteria. but i think one of the things that governor newsom has pointed at is, again, the people, if you are having these large private gatherings, for example, not a public institution but large private gatherings. neighbors, community members. those are a source of, he thinks, significant spread. so the numbers don't lie. clearly, there's been explosive growth. and you double the numbers every couple of days, you can get to a large number very, very quickly, jim. >> yeah. and we see dr. fauci's warning there has substance behind this. sanjay gupta, always good to talk to you. >> you, too, thanks. >> just ahead, susan rice, the

former national security advisor to president obama will join us. we're going to discuss my new reporting on why the president's intelligence briefers are weary of even raising russia with him. as we probe what the president knew about the russians offering bounties to kill u.s. troops in afghanistan. because heart and kidney disease shouldn't prevent you from pushing your limits. because every baby deserves the very best start in life. because a changing environment should mean caring for the land that takes care of us all. at bayer, everything we do, from advances in health to innovations in agriculture, is to help every life we touch. at bayer, this is why we science.

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to stream the entertainment you love. xfinity. the future of awesome. we have breaking news now to report on president trump's denials he ever received intelligence reporting about russian bounties on u.s. troops in afghanistan. multiple former trump administration officials, who briefed the president, tell me

that trump's resistance to intelligence warnings, specifically about russia, led his national security team, including those who delivered the president's daily brief to him, orally, to do so less and less often. today, the president's national security advisor, robert o'brien, said the president was not briefed was, at the time, the information, rather, was, quote, uncorroborated. however, cnn has confirmed that the information was in his written daily brief this spring. still, president trump, today, hung to the line that he didn't see it. also, that there was nothing to see. >> when you bring something in to a president, and i see many, many things. and i'm sure i don't see many things, that they don't think rose to the occasion. this didn't rise to the occasion. and from what i hear, and i hear it pretty good, the intelligence people didn't even -- many of them -- didn't believe it happened at all. i think it's a hoax. i think it's a hoax by the

newspapers and the democrats. >> well, in fact, it was information shared with u.s. commanders on the ground in afghanistan. joining me now is susan rice. she was national security advisor under president obama. she would be in the room, as the president received his intelligence brief, daily. she is also the author we should mention of "tough love, my story of the things worth fighting for." appreciate having you on the program tonight. >> good evening. >> i want to ask you what consequences are there for u.s. national security, when you have a president who blows up when he hears critical information or intelligence about one of his primary adversaries, russia. what does that mean for the safety and security of this country? >> well, jim, the advisers to the president, particularly national security advisor, but also secretary of defense, chief of staff, director of national intelligence.

their job and my job was to brief the president. to bring to the president all that he needs to hear. not what he wants to hear. not that it's nice to hear. and, in fact, when i served president obama, he would sometimes joke that i, and others, who brought bad news were the doomsday people. but he always listened to what we had to say. and he never conveyed the impression that news was too bad to be worthy of him hearing. you don't intimidate the messengers. you welcome the message, and you get to the business of solving the problems and resolving the threats that face the american people. and this president is derelict in his duty, as commander in chief, to brush off information that is critical to the life and death of our service members. and do so, just because he doesn't want to hear bad news. >> you know, better than anyone, that intelligence is rarely

unanimous or 100% clear. and you said that, if, as national security advisor, you received even raw reporting that russia was paying taliban fighters to kill u.s. service members, you would have walked right into the oval office to brief the president. is there any reason, that you can see, to justify not raising intelligence, like this, directly to the commander in chief? >> there's absolutely no reason, jim. when it comes to our men and women in uniform in a war zone, in harm's way, and one of our arch adversaries, in this case, russia escalating their hostility toward the united states by actively paying taliban terrorists to kill our forces. i would have walked into the oval office, as soon as i saw that information. and, even if it were pretty raw and unverified, i would have said, mr. president, we have, immediately, here, some very troubling information that the russians are paying the taliban to kill our forces.

i'm going to run this to the ground. i'm going to work with the intelligence committee -- community -- to figure out how strong it is. in the meantime, we're going to work on options for you to respond appropriately to russia. and we'll get back to you when we know more. you don't fail to tell him. and, jim, let ame just say, i don't believe that they didn't tell him. i believe, the more we've learned about this, that when this information came to light in 2019, early 2019, which is now what we understand to be the case, i'll bet a dime to a dollar that my predecessor, john bolton, did just that. and walked into the oval office, and told him what he needed to hear. i think they're obscuring that. they've prevented him from talking about it in his book. and now, those around him, who don't have the backbone that bolton had, probably were too scared to tell him when it was put, again, in the president's daily briefing. this is the top-intelligence

product. everything in that is meant for the president's eyes. he doesn't read it. but the national security advisor has the obligation to make sure that he, at least, knows what's in it. >> let me ask you this because "the washington post" is reporting tonight that president trump has decided, already, that this is not actionable intelligence, as it can be described. meaning, he's not planning any response to it. he's made that decision, already. what's your reaction? >> how can you make a decision? jim, think about this. first of all, it's not important. then, it's fake news. then, it doesn't merit his attention. but, all of a sudden, he knows enough to know it doesn't merit action? this all does not add up. we have known about this, in some form or fashion, for over a year. it does not take the intelligence community over a year to come to an assessment about the validity of something of this importance. they come to an assessment. they put it in the pdb. they put it in the wire which, as you know, let me tell your

viewers, is a document, an intelligence product, that goes to everybody with a clearance in washington. and all over capitol hill. so you don't put something out with that kind of dissemination, without the intelligence community having a certain, significant degree of confidence in it. so the president is denying and deflecting from his responsibility to protect our troops. and i think it's one of the worst breaches of his responsibility that we've seen, to date. >> one of the most consistent features of president trump's foreign policy is, frankly, deference to russia. you've so you've seen it in a whole host. and i've asked senior members of his administration, repeatedly, to explain that. and they can't. they can't. they'll shake their heads, frankly, at that. how do you explain it? and do you suspect that he is not willing to confront russia? >> i believe he's not willing to confront russia. look at the pattern. it goes back before he was

elected president. he called on putin to interfere in our elections. to hack hillary's e-mails. he praised wikileaks. he denied the fact of russian interference in our election, on his behalf. he obstructed the mueller investigation. and then, distorted its findings. he met with putin in helsinki, and took putin's word, publicly, over our intelligence community's. he withdrew u.s. forces, precipitously, from syria and allowed russian forces to take over u.s. bases. and more recently, he called on putin. he invited putin to join the g7 again, over the objection of our allies. he ordered the withdrawal of nearly a third of our forces from germany, without ever consulting with the germans, which is a huge blow to our bilateral relationship and with nato and a huge boom to putin. and now, we learn that, even when it comes to the life and death, the blood and toil of our

soldiers, he could care less to even hear that the russians may be doing something nefarious which, of course, they are. so, add all that up and it is mind boggling. and one cannot help but question, what are his motivations? why? is it -- is it money? is it something that they have on him? is it some fascination with putin and his power? there is something that must explain this. and i don't have the answer any more than his advisers do. but it's deeply, deeply troubling when any president would put loyalty to somebody in a foreign government or to a foreign government, above the health and safety of american forces. >> let me ask you this, before we go, because, of course, you know, you've been mentioned as a possible running mate to vice president biden. i know you're not going to comment on the process. but i will ask you, very simply, do you want the job? >> jim, look. as i've said before, i'm deeply honored and i'm humbled that i am, reportedly, among this group

of extraordinary women who are being considered for the job. i've, also, said that the most important thing, in my mind, and for this country, is for joe biden to be the next president of the united states. and for the democrats to control the senate, as well as the house. and that is what we need to right all of these wrongs. the fact that, you know, our foreign relationships, our leadership in the world, the quality and integrity of our government. all of the challenges we face with coronavirus, the economy, race. all of these issues need strong, principal principled leadership of integrity. and that's what i care about. and as i've said, i will serve in any capacity that i can to help advance that objective of joe biden becoming our next president. and then, to help him succeed if he does become president. >> susan rice, we appreciate you joining the program tonight. >> thank you, jim. >> coming up next. president trump stoking the flames of racial division, once again, today. as we touched on, he is calling

a proposed black lives matter mural in new york, in his words, a symbol of hate. but his press secretary insists, no, you read his tweets all wrong. we're going to have more when 360 continues.

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it should be clear now that president trump believes his road to re-election is paved with a daily culture war on his twitter feed. in the last 24 hours, he has defended military bases named after confederate generals. and attacked fair-housing regulations, meant to benefit minorities. this morning, he went directly after the black lives matter movement. his complaint was the plan to paint black lives matter outside his trump tower residence in new york. he said, quote, new york city is cutting police money by $1 billion and yet, the new york city mayor is going to paint a yellow black lives matter sign d denigrating this luxury avenue. he then called the proposed

black lives matter mural, quote, this symbol of hate. just a short time ago, his press secretary was asked what he meant by that. and as usual, her reply was that the press, and anyone who read that tweet as offensive, were the ones who got it wrong. see how she tries to explain it. >> americans of all races have protested in all 50 states, around that phrase, black lives matter. and the president is here calling it a symbol of hate? >> he is talking about the organization. >> keeping them honest. nowhere in the president's tweet does he refer to the organization or to its leadership. just the mural that says, simply, black lives matter. joining me now, bakari sellers, cnn political commentator and a former member of the south carolina house. he also just published his memoir "my vanishing country." bakari, good to have you on. >> thank you. >> you know, when you hear these phrases here, you know, let's

forget dog whistle. because they're really bull horn phrases, are they not? our heritage, when talking about confederate monuments. white power, being proclaimed in that video that he tweeted. kung flu, when you talk about the coronavirus. but even calling black lives matter a symbol of hate. a deliberate effort to appeal to -- to white sprupremacists? what's he trying to do here? >> this president, as you stated earlier in your introduction, he uses political and cultural wars as some type of currency. even more importantly, he uses racism as political currency. i think that everyone needs to understand that. that is a part of his political toolkit. for many of us, though, there is a great deal of pain that goes with these stereotypes. there is a great deal of pain that goes with things like the confederacy and the confederate flag and these statues. i remind people that, if you want to juxtapose what a president is, versus what donald trump is, you only have to look to five years ago.

where barack obama sang, so eloquently, "amazing grace" while eulogizing my good friend clemente pinckney, after ruth walked into a bible study and murdered him along with eight others. he then had pictures of himself enveloped in the confederate flag. the president doesn't care about that pain of all americans. instead, he'd rather stoke these cultural wars because he believes that's the only path to victory. >> so, let's play, if we can, something that the white house press secretary said when she was asked, exactly, why the president is digging in on race. specifically, why he opposed changing the names of military bases honoring confederate generals. i want you to listen to her, and then get your reaction. >> he believes that our young men and women, who left these bases o bases overseas, many of them lost their lives, and the last thing they saw is being on one of these military bases. they should not be told that the base they trained in, the last

place they saw on american soil, was a racist institution. >> do you buy that? >> not at all. i mean, the -- so, there are a couple of things. one is the president's ignorance of history. and i know kayleigh extremely well. and she's regurgitating. and when people get close to the president of the united states, that ignorance, it metastasizes. so i'm going to say that ignorance has grown on her, as well. and one of the biggest problems we have is that there are people of color, there are black folk, who have served in this military, who still serve today. who have bled for this country. and who still look at the confederate bases that they served at, those generals, not the people they served with. but the bases they served on. what it stands for. those names as being symbols of hate. and i think we have to explain this, just so we're extremely clear, jim. black lives matter. i don't know if this praise, if it makes you raise your shoulders or your eyebrows. then, something is genuinely wrong with you.

no one is saying that black lives are more important. no one is saying that black lives matter more than white folk. but all we're simply saying is black lives matter. and why are we saying that? because there's not a question about the value of white lives in this country. there's not a question of the value of police lives in this country. but there is a question of the value of black lives. so, if you can't even utter that phrase, it's something wrong with you. it ain't those of us who chant it and wear it on our shirts. >> so when the president says it's violent, a symbol of hate. >> i mean, this is the same president who would have been on the other side of sclc. he would have been on the other side of snic. i would have been on the other side of core. i mean, hell, he would have been on the other side of dr. king. let's just think about that right now because a lot of these people who want to quote dr. king don't understand that he was a radical revolutionary. right? someone who was actually -- he was fighting for the rights of

sanitation workers and labor workers, when he was killed on april 4th, 1968. and so, this president's ignorance of history and the bar that we've come to, jim, i mean, this is such a low bar that my twin, at 18 months old can probably jump over it to be president of the united states. >> and it's language in a presidential race we haven't heard since george wallace, right? you've got to go back 50 years. bakari sellers, thanks very much. >> thank you, jim. just ahead, another step in the country's reckoning with racism and how remarkable it is, because that step was taken in the former capital of the confederacy. are you a christian author with

a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! it is a busy night of news. chris cuomo, "cuomo prime time" coming up. you've got two hours, chris. what are you going to talk about? >> take on a lot of the sticky

bits. now that the president is at least saying part of the right message, which is you have to wear a mask, has to be a part of it. he is not saying has to, though, right? he is not making it mandatory. we're going take a look with sanjay at what the numbers tell us has to be done. but then we're going to take on aspects of disagreement here. we have someone who is in arizona, which as we know is getting hit really hard. he is a gym guy. i'm a gym guy. you're a gym guy. i would love for the gyms to reopen. he wants to make his case. we'll hear him out. we also have a leader who is now the new head of the new city council in jacksonville, florida, about what they're going to do to reconcile the medical needs with the coming convention and the mixed messaging. >> i'm going to be watching, chris. we'll see you in a few minutes. coming up next this hour, a monumental change literally in the heart of the old south. you can't predict the future.

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in what was once the capital of the confederacy, the mayor of richmond, virginia, used his emergency powers to order the removal of confederate statues in the city this afternoon. the stonewall jackson statue was removed from its pedestal. that's what you're watching there. it stood there for more than 100 years. this, on the very same day a state law took effect giving localities the ability to remove or alter confederate monuments in their communities if they followed a series of steps, things like a waiting period. the republican party of

virginia, however, called the democratic mayor's actions an illegal stunt. it's time now to hand it over to chris cuomo for "cuomo prime time." chris, it's all yours. >> appreciate it. it's always a pleasure to see you. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." let's get after it. that now applies to the president of these united states. >> i'm all for masks. i think masks are good. if i were in a group of people and i was close. >> you would wear one? >> oh, i have. i mean, people have seen me wearing one. >> i guess he realized he really is what he put out on instagram today, the lone warrior. he was bragging about this, but this is only when it comes to mocking masks. one of the only tools we have to fight off a pandemic. but don't ask for too much, too soon. his reasoning for wearing a mask is still very trumpy. >> actually, i had a mask on. i sort of like the way i looked, okay? i thought it was okay.