ellyn was always smiling and made others feel so very special. may they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." tweet the show at cnn sit room. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. outfront next, 3 million coronavirus cases in the u.s. as the president sidelines dr. anthony fauci and slams the cdc in his push to reopen schools. plus breaking news, 500 new cases of coronavirus in tulsa where trump held the indoor rally. was it because of the rally? the health director says connect the dots. who was the trump friend who allegedly took trump's s.a.t.s for him? we've got new details on that. let's go outfront. ♪ and good evening. i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight, overruling science. president trump again saying he knows better than the cdc and if the last time that he did that

is any guide, the lives of even more americans may be at risk. already tonight more than 3 million americans have tested positive for coronavirus. new cases today at a daily all-time high. and this vastly outpaces any increases in testing. as of tonight, more than 132,000 americans have died. in the past few months from a virus we didn't even know anything about in january. and in much of this country, cases and deaths are still climbing. yet today president trump decided to slam the cdc over its scientific back to school guidelines tweeting, quote, i disagree with cdc gov on their tough guidelines for opening schools. they're asking schools to do very impractical things. i will be meeting with them. three exclamation points. the cdc is saying schools need masks and scent lags systems. some are cheap and obvious, some not so much. all doable if we want kids back and laid out by scientists and

professionals who the president threatened i will be meeting with them with three exclamation points. the cdc seems to be on the brink of bending to the will of the president. soon after trump slammed the cdc for being too tough on schools and said he'll be meeting with them, the vice president announced the cdc will be issuing new guidelines for reopening schools. >> well, the president said today we just don't want the guidance to be too tough. >> they don't want it to be too tough. how about this? tough enough to keep schools open. harvard's dr. asheesh jha said today he thinks the cdc guidelines should go further. he says if the u.s. does not do what the cdc recommends the schools will end up closed by october and will not re-open for a long time. that will be bad. now all eyes are on the cdc and

whether they will stand up to what's right or whether they'll bend to trump's political wishes. let's remember the last time the president overruled the cdc's recommendations, repeatedly telling states to reopen even though they did not meet the cdc recommendations at that time to do so. >> i think the governors have to start opening up. we now know the disease. we know the weaknesses and the strengths. i think that a lot of these states are going to -- the ones that are sort of sticking to a certain very rigid pattern, i think they're going to stop. i don't think the people are going to stand for it. >> right. many tens of thousands of people have died since that day in this country from coronavirus. and many of the states who followed the president's advice are in bad shape. that's where people are dying right now. cases are growing faster in three states in the united states than any country -- that's right, any country -- in the world.

"new york times" put together this chart today. you can see it. look at all those states. there's a few countries on there but a bunch of u.s. states. top ones in the world, arizona, florida, south carolina, and then berain. in oklahoma where trump held that rally in defiance of what scientists said, the health department has seen nearly 500 new cases there in the past two days, two weeks after the president's visit. contract workers are inundated as the city is hitting single high day cases. when asked if the cases are going up because of two weeks ago, here's what the tulsa county health department director said. >> past few days we've had almost 500 cases and we knew we had several large events a little over two weeks ago which is about right, so i guess we just connect the dots. >> connect the dots to trump himself and that rally. the searches are not due to more

testing, as trump says. they are due to spread. as my colleague points out today, this is since june 12th. since that time, there's been a 37% increase in testing for coronavirus. that's the testing increase. look at the case increase. 152%. all of this as dr. fauci was notably absent from the coronavirus task force briefing today, 24 hours after the president slammed him and said he disagrees that the united states is knee deep in the first wave of the pandemic. jeremy diamond is outfront tonight, where was dr. fauci today? >> well, as you said, erin, dr. fauci noticeably absent from the task force briefing. we are told he did attend the task force meeting that happened beforehand, but he didn't attend it in person at the department of education where it was held. instead we're told dr. fauci was told to attend this meeting at the white house in the situation room. so, attending this meeting

remotely which prevented him from being able to be at this briefing that happened thereafter. so, very clear here that the trump administration limiting dr. fauci's public exposure here as we know that the president and dr. fauci have been publicly clashing. fauci has not minced words when it comes to the pandemic and where the united states stands while the president has been trying to portray the situation as far rosier than it is. the white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany was asked why dr. fauci was not at the task force meeting and says that was a task force decision. she was also asked whether the president still has confidence in dr. fauci. her answer is interesting. she said, the president has confidence in the conclusions of our medical experts. but notably she declined to say that the president still has confidence in dr. fauci just one day after the president himself in an interview said he disagrees with dr. fauci. >> thank you very much.

disagrees and went on to criticize him specifically for things he said. i want to go to jonathan reiner, card yolgs who advised the white house team under george w. bush, and dr. william schaffner from vanderbilt university medical center. dr. schaffner, let me start with you. you worked for the cdc. the president says he knows better than the cdc. he's threatening them with this meeting, says the guidelines are too tough and they're going to come up with new ones. yesterday he said he knows better than dr. fauci. he's overruling science at every turn. how dangerous is this at this point? >> oh, erin, it's very sad and it is dangerous. you know, this country has been led in the past through epidemics and when there's threat of new infection such as ebola and zika and the cdc has done an absolutely stellar job. it has the reputation of being the finest such agency in the world by far.

and it has been pushed aside and down by the political leadership in washington. that's very sad. and there's terrific confusion out there because the cdc is trying very hard to get a solid public health message out, and there's a black editorial pen coming from the white house that interrupts that message and changes it, often making it much milder, less direct and less useful. this is not a good thing for any of us. >> and, dr. reiner, you know, the tulsa health director i just pointed out, he said today, connect the dots. 500 new cases in the past two days, two weeks after the president's rally. he says connect the dots to those large scale events two weeks ago. and at that rally, dr. reiner, i just want to make it clear, we saw staffers, we have them on tape, removing social distancing signs so people would sit every other seat. they removed them because they

wanted it to look crowded. the president did not wear a mask. his press secretary proudly said she would not wear a mask. she did not wear a mask. how much responsibility do their bear? >> very great responsibility. the english philosopher thomas hobbs said that science is the knowledge of consequences. but we have a president who apparently doesn't believe in science and doesn't really care about the consequences. and time and time again he has undermined the good work of some of the professionals that work for him. his administration recommends face masks. he says, not for me. i can't -- i can't see. it's a double edged sword. his administration touts their success in increasing testing, and he says testing is overrated. the cdc puts together as you mentioned in the opening, a really measured plan to get the states back online. the president completely undermines that, urges the states to open rapidly. now you're seeing with this

whole school business, again the cdc putting together a very measured plan for getting schools up and running. the president saying, uh-uh, got to get them open. apparently the only thing that the president does believe in is the president. the only thing donald trump believes in is donald trump. he doesn't really care about the >> to show that chart again, the whole world cases are growing again. cases up 152%. so, these increases in the u.s. are not due to increases in testing. the top three in the world are arizona, south carolina, and florida. states, not countries. then bahrain, then louisiana. then alabama, mississippi, texas, georgia, in comes panama, tennessee, kazakhstan, california. this is terrible. i don't think there's any american can look at this and say this is acceptable. are we anywhere close to having

this under control? >> erin we're not. i'm a pretty optimistic fellow. but i'm very, very sobered by these numbers. tomorrow we will release the information that, in my own community, we have the largest number of new cases that we've had. this virus is not under control. it's a tiger. we have it by the tail, and we're running hard to keep up. there's no semblance of control because we don't have a national policy. if i perceive a national policy, it's to ignore it, try to pretend it doesn't exist, to try to say good-bye boy, don't bother me, as though it were not there at all. we need a coherent national strategy so that we're all doing the same thing across this country. this virus could get even worse this fall with flu. yes, the second wave could be even worse than the first. and that's from an optimist. >> and i want to make a point as you say that that the head of

the cdc, dr. robert redfield agrees with you ands that not something that the president wants to hear. he has silenced that. when trying to get him to correct it, in fact. remember when he brought him on the podium and refused to correct it. he said what he said. it could be worse than what we've seen. you've performed heart surgery on a regular basis in the hospital, ppe every day. here we are four months into the known part of this pandemic and america has not solved the ppe problem. we don't have enough of it. i join many americans saying how the hell could that be? i want to play what the vice president said today about his solution for the ppe. >> ppe, we hear, remains very strong, but we're encouraging k had workers to begin now to use some of the best practices that we learned in other parts of the country to preserve and to reuse the ppe supplies. >> so, dr. reiner, that shocks me as a citizen, right?

i understand you don't have a solution, something hits you in the face that you didn't expect to hit you in the face, your best policy. how about the only policy would be a final way to use it. now we haven't been able to get the supplies we need and best policy is to re-use ppe, what do you say to that? >> it makes my blood boil. every doc i know has been re-using n95 masks and other ppe since the beginning because we've had no confidence in our ability to get resupplied. we've suspected that there was going to be a shortage. this administration has touted their ability to build some ventilators, but we've had no update on what the national strategic stock pile has in terms of personal protective equipment. we've had months to build up our national inventory. where is it? let's hear the vice president answer that question. where is the ppe?

>> that's the answer we should have because the answer should be we've got it. we went and got it for you. we ramped it up and here it is. >> or we're manufacturing it now. >> but our answer is to reuse ppe. >> right. >> thank you both very much. i appreciate your time. i'm sorry it was a sobering conversation, but i hope it was heard. thank you both. next coronavirus raging in arizona, a record number of er admissions today, higher positive testing rates than any other state in the united states. we're going to talk to an er doctor who just got off his shift. plus trump threatens to pull funding from schools as he pushes them to reopen, in other words no reopen, no funding. the question is is it safe for them to return and can schools stay open? i'll speak to a public health expert who says it is safe. and the head of the teacher's union who says not so fast. a famous tennis star says it wasn't her husband. i'll ask author mary trump's best friend who it is. she's my guest.

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emergency room. >> to the vice president was big on platitudes. >> the american people are finding their way to do their part. >> but short on detail. even though yesterday we hit a new one-day record for new cases, again. >> just a few days ago, we were aghast that we had hit 50,000. without a national strategy and a road map, we'll quickly accelerate to 100,000 cases. >> but the vice president sees a silver lining. >> we're actually seeing early indications of a percent positive testing flattening in arizona and florida and texas. >> that blue line is what he's talking about, flattening in florida above a 15% positivity on tests. the w.h.o. guideline is to flatten under 5% before reopening. >> in arizona and florida, we are beginning to see declining numbers of emergency room visits as well. >> no mention of the full icu in

43 florida hospitals or the just 145 icu beds in arizona currently unoccupied. >> our medical professionals are already feeling exhausted, asking for reinforcements, and they tell me the worst is yet to come. >> the u.s. has a little over 4% of the world's population yet right now a little over 24% of the world's covid-19 deaths. but the vice president is upbeat. >> we are encouraged that the average fatality rate continues to be low and steady. >> although the death toll is now starting to climb in florida, arizona and texas, and in eight states from sea to shining sea, record numbers now of covid-19 patients in hospitals. today, dr. deborah birx asked everyone in surging spots basically to return to strict phase one recommendations.

>> asking the american people in those counties and in those states to not only use the face coverings, not going to bars, not going to indoor dining, but really not gathering in homes either. >> and, you know, now, erin, more than five months into this, we still haven't really got a handle on this whole testing thing. today the mayor of phoenix said that some people are waiting in their cars, have been waiting in their cars, up to eight hours to get a test. by the way, it was over 100 degrees today in phoenix. the federal government this morning said they are now working to open a surge testing site in the west of that city. erin. >> all right, thank you very much, nick. i want to go now to er doctor in phoenix. we've been talking to him as cases have surged. doctor, you look as exhausted as you must feel. you've had your shift, a record

high number of er admissions today. i know you're just stepping out briefly to talk with us. tell us what you're seeing. >> thanks for having me back, erin. yeah, i don't really know what else to say that hasn't already been said so many times. the patients keep coming in. we continue to have many covid cases. even if the er slows down for a day, that doesn't mean the inpatient patients are going home any time soon. just a few minutes ago, my colleague and i were discussing how we got a negative test today. imagine that, when somebody gets a negative test, we talk about it in the doc box because it's rare. i've been saying for weeks basically everybody we test is positive. you're hearing the news reports now. we in the er noticed this a while ago. everybody was coming back positive. now you can see what's happening. >> i want to show you what dr. birx said today when asked specifically about arizona. here she is.

>> the 7-day average is showing some flattening and they find that encouraging. also equally encouraging at this point because we know that the test positivity rate is the first thing to increase and we're hoping that it heralds a stability in arizona of at least reaching a plateau in that curve. >> what do you say to that? do you see anything encouraging? >> i'm not real sure where she got that. she's a smart doctor. but we hit a record yesterday for positivity. you were mentioning the 5% flesh hold, erin. we hit 32% yesterday. 32% of the tests were positive. you don't have to be a math teacher to understand how to do the slope of the line. we aren't flattening. being flat at the worst place in the country isn't good anyway. that's a terrible place to be flattening at. flat lining means you're dead. flat is bad as it is.

we hit a new record of positivity yesterday, so i have no idea where these phrases are coming from. >> so, the entire state of arizona, if i'm right here on this stat, 91% of the icu beds are in use right now. so, my understanding is that means you have 145 beds left in your entire state. given what you're seeing, 32% positivity, is there any way that's enough? >> the short answer is i think it would take basically a miracle to be enough, at least a couple weeks from now. now we're holding okay. remember, if you're testing positive right now, that doesn't mean those patients are necessarily getting sick right now. the sickest patients i see are the ones where covid diagnosed five days ago, ten days ago, two weeks ago. we've been surging. and the real concern is when that spreads further to the elderly, the immunocompromised, and when those patients start getting sicker, how is it possible to have enough beds. we're already struggling. we have a surge line that would

help with covid add minutes, but we have icu and struggle to find them a bed. that's right now. imagine what it's going to be like as it's getting worse. >> i want to ask you, you've seen so many young people. i've talked to young people in miami. the white house is saying the death rate is coming down. that's something to celebrate. what's your response to that and what are you seeing? >> this is a classic example of paradox. that's like saying my parachute worked halfway down. let me close it and fall to the ground. it's ridiculous. young people are less likely to die, yes. we have a lot of elderly in arizona, retirees, snow birds. if they never catch the disease, that's phenomenal. you're telling me that the young people aren't going to infect the elderly because we're going to be in congregate et issings. young people can die and have been and older people can definitely die. >> i appreciate your time dr. as

always. >> thanks for having me erin. >> next the trump administration doubling down tonight on its push for schools to reopen stat. but if that's the right thing to do and will teachers do it. who was joe shapiro, the man trump allegedly paid to take his s.a.t.s for him. we've got important details ahead. . ...or this.... ...or even this... ...we've seen and covered it. so, get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ (vo) verizon knows how to build unlimited right. start with america's most awarded network. give people more plans to mix and match at a price built for everyone. with $700 off our best phones when you switch. because everyone deserves the best. this is unlimited built right.

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new tonight, vice president pence saying there should be no debate, that kids need to return to school in the fall despite the coronavirus pandemic. >> it's time. it's time for us to get our kids back to school. this is not just simply about making sure our kids are learning and they're advancing academically but for their mental health, for their well being, for their physical health, for nutrition. we've got to get our kids back to school. >> outfront now, joseph allen, the director of the healthy buildings program at harvard university, and ross moore, president of the el paso chapter

of the american federation of teachers which includes about 4,400 teachers as well as other school employees. it's a topic i know so many viewers care deeply about including myself as a mother to three children, two of whom are in public schools. ross, you just heard the vice president. are you and your teachers ready for in-person classes, which literally would be in just a few weeks, right, when school begins across this country? >> i want to make this clear. nobody wants to be back in the classroom with their students than my members do. but the caveat is when it's safe and regardless of what the vice president says, it's not safe. i would invite him to come down to our middle school about 100 yards off the border and spend time in the classrooms there instead of speaking of things that he doesn't know about. it's not safe, and the conditions in el paso and in

texas have continued to rapidly deteriorate as the numbers go up. >> and i want to make a point that 76% of the students in your district are economically disadvantaged. i would imagine you're dealing with many barriers here in terms of your classrooms, how many kids are in them, right? >> that is correct. and a lot of our facilities are old. i know something in the paper about having adequate ventilation, half my members report they have inadequate or no airflow through their classrooms. add in this new twist to coronavirus where it can be an aerosol mist forming what i call a covid cloud, that even increases the probability schools will become hotspots. and children, the stats out here in el paso and in texas say the cases are going up and they are vulnerable to it.

so, don't bet your children's life on this. >> so, joseph, you wrote your recent op-ed and you're dealing with a different school system, but that you would be comfortable sending your own children back to school. you made an interesting point. that is if the standard is zero cases, then there isn't going to be any going back to school, right? and that's just the way it is, right? if zero is the standard, then we're not going to meet it. i mean, what do you say to teachers like those that are worried, they're scared? >> yeah, thanks for having me on. i understand the anxiety of teachers and parents. i have three kids of my own. and right. there is no such thing as zero risk and certainly no such thing as zero risk during a pandemic. that said, the goal of course is to deep schools as safe as possible for kids and adults. and i find vice president pence's comments totally irresponsible because much like everything this administration has done they blurt out a statement without supporting it with a plan for how to get it done.

the difference here what i'm saying is my harvard healthy buildings program has put out a 60-page report with risk reduction strategies that every school can undertake that doesn't have to cost that much money. i want to be clear we have to account for the massive costs of keeping kids out of school. it's untenable to continue the effort for another year. we have virtual drop outs. kids are sedentary. many kids rely on schools for meals. 30 million plus. there's security issues. neglect, exploitation or violence. on the flip side, they're less likely to catch the virus, suffer adverse consequences, and less likely to effect adults. >> you're shaking your head. >> yeah, first of all, the numbers are showing that kids are at risk. right now in el paso county we've got 285 current cases of kids under 12 years old and

another 326 who were teenagers. i would point out my understanding is harvard has decided to go to virtual across the board. some of the assumptions that were made from remote -- i guess you didn't talk to school districts -- both episd and kind of tiosd have/are doing twice-a-day feedings even during the summer to make sure our kids have nutrition. the virtual dropout rate, i question that too. >> 10,000 high school students in boston did not log in at all in may. in philadelphia, 50% of elementary school kids are checking in. there are virtual dropouts. that's real. i also want to say the medical community is behind reopening and reopening safely. the american academy of pediatrics has supported our

position that schools can reopen and reopen safely. there's a big difference between cases and cases that translate into severe disease for kids. i'm not minimizing the risk. i want to be clear. i take this seriously too. i think teachers and health experts have to work together. there's a way to do it and we can deploy healthy building strategies. if we're smart about it and invest in schools. we've underinvested in school infrastructure for decades and paying the price now. we can do better and have time to get it right. >>s there was a study in france. they looked about 500 kids in six schools. they only got three cases and those cases did not lead to more infection of teachers. you just gave the numbers. is it possible that you could put kids in if they're really not going to get very sick themselves and focus on protecting the teachers and that you could do that safely and get school to start? put plexiglass for the teachers, protect the teachers who were older? is there a way to do that and

open the schools? >> at this time i don't think so. i looked at mr. johnson's seven steps, and i also talked with the two superintendents whose districts i represent, one of the board presidents. and bottom line is they're not practical in the real world down here. they don't take into account kid behavior. and they don't take into account social behavior. i would point out that the only way, the only way, that your seven steps -- and there are others besides that where your seven modest proposals would work is the he.e.r.o.s act is passed immediately. they need to get on the phone with mitch mcconnell and tell him to get the hero's act

passed. i want it on my desk for signature monday morning at 10:00. >> quick response to you since he mentioned your point. >> i want to say our plan is detailed. i'm not sure the plan referring to. that's not ours. encouraging people to look at the harvard healthy builds, report on risk reduction strategies of schools. the most important one is this. we have to establish the culture of health, safety and shared responsibilities in schools. this is not just the superintendent's responsibility, the principals or the teachers. it's students and parents as well. if we follow these steps we can get kids back to school safely. >> all right. i appreciate both of your time very much. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> all right. >> have a great evening. >> you too. next, mary trump cannot speak publicly about the bombshells she levels about her uncle, the president of the united states, but her best friend can. who is this person trump allegedly paid to take the

s.a.t. and trump's own daughter and son-in-law urging republicans to vote my mail as the president rails against it saying it's full of fraud. >> safely and securely vote for mike garcia by returning your mail-in ballot by may 12th. we created massmutual healthbridge, a free life insurance program. it's specifically for healthcare workers battling covid-19. and it's our way of showing thanks. ♪

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tonight president trump's brother making a last ditch effort to stop the niece's tell-all book from publishing. his lawyers asking for a gag order. this comes as everyone is asking the big question, who is joe shapiro, the friend who mary trump says took the s.a.t. test for trump. outfront now, alex frank ton. she's speaking out on mary's behalf due to the gag order. she wrote the book at your house. you know a lot about this. it's got a lot of people talking. the allegation in the book that trump paid his friend, a man named joe shapiro, to take his s.a.t.s for him. everyone's been talking about this joe shapiro. they found the joe shapiro.

his wife says there's no way it was him. he, of course, has passed away. can you clear this up for us? is that the joe shapiro that mary is alleging did this? or is it someone else? >> that's not the joe shapiro, and the media has kind of zeroed in on pam shriver's late husband. the timeline doesn't match up and it wouldn't be logical because the incident would have happened when mary's uncle was at fordham. and this joe shapiro and mary's uncle would have been at penn at the same time. it doesn't really match up and that's not the one. >> you're saying they hadn't met. >> joe shapiro is a very common name on the east coast. >> which is a fair point to make. so, the white house says this claim is absurd, completely false. those are their words. does mary stand by this allegation of this joe shapiro

taking the s.a.t.s for donald trump? >> yes, absolutely. she wouldn't have written it otherwise. these are her accounts, which of course it would be better if she could speak for herself but she's silenced in an unprecedented way. she's a truthful person, always has been. these are her accounts that come from her conversations with sources including family members. so, yes, of course she stands by it. >> and is there anything more you can tell us about this person? and i know there is so much focus on it obviously because she's saying this sets up the kind of person that the president was and is, his dishonesty and his lies and that it started at this point. is there anything more we're going to find out about the joe shapiro that she says did this and whether he's still alive. >> i don't think that there's going to be more about it because really it's only part and parcel of what describes him

and how he operates. i mean, there's so many other facets to what we see about him other than just this. there's, you know, he's politicized wearing a mask. there's the whole country is in unrest, and everybody's focusing on this one little thing that, yes, it's an accurate account of something that happened. but there's so much more going on that needs to be spoken about. >> so, i want to ask you because you have been so important in this process for mary. she writes about visiting mar-a-lago when she was 29. she said she showed up to lunch wearing her bathing suit and a pair of shorts. she writes in the book, donald who was wearing golf clothes looked up at me as if he had never seen me before, holy s, mary, you're stacked. this is disturbing on many

levels. this is the man who said he would date his own daughter if he wasn't his daughter. this is deeply disturbing. what was the overall relationship like with donald trump? >> that's something that is well-described in the book. i do remember her telling me this story and others like it that are deeply disturbing. not surprising, any of it, but, yeah, i do remember her discussing that story with me in particular. and she goes into more similar accounts in her book. >> well, alice, i really appreciate your time. i know you've been a part of this with her. i hope we'll be able to hear from her. i know she appreciates and everyone appreciates you're being able to speak on her behalf. thank you. >> thank you. and next, the president says mail-in ballots are ripe with fraud but there's no way it should be allowed. so, why did his son urge voters to do this? >> this is donald trump, jr., calling from the republican national committee to remind you

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tonight trump family hypocrisy as the president repeatedly rails against mail in voting. this piece of tape is unearthed from trump's daughter-in-law in april. >> we can safely and security vote for mike garcia by returning your mail in ballot by may 12th. >> abby phillip is "outfront". >> reporter: president trump and his campaign saying one thing about mail in voting. >> there is tremendous evidence of fraud whenever you have mail in ballots. >> reporter: and doing another. >> you can safely and securely vote for mike garcia by returning your mail in ballot by may 12th. >> reporter: that's the voice of president trump's daughter-in-law lara pushing republicans to vote by mail in a hotly contested california special election in may. >> remember, your mail in ballot is arriving soon. make your vote count. >> reporter: in at least three

robocalls uncovered by cnn, laura trump a top campaign official and her brother-in-law donald trump junior urging voters. >> this is donald trump junior calling from the republican national committee to remind you to return your ballot for the congressional special election. >> reporter: as the trump campaign and republican national committee are fighting in court to restrict access to bail mail voting. >> president trump recently spoke out about the importance of voting in person. you said it. if we can stand in line at a grocery store and make sure we're safe, we can do it at a polling location. >> reporter: it's just the latest case of hypocrisy from trump officials on voting. at least 16 trump officials have voted by mail according to a washington postally including president trump who voted by mail this year despite being at mar-a-lago minutes away from a west palm beach florida voting location when they could have cast their ballot in person.

mike pence also cast his ballot in indiana by mail. white house press secretary like her boss also voting by mail in florida. >> he supports mail in voting for a reason, when you have a reason you're unable to be present. >> reporter: florida is one of many states that does not require an excuse to cast an absentee ballot. that list includes pennsylvania where the trump campaign blasted out these emails urging republican voters to request their ballots and voted a home. attorney general bill barr backing up president trump's unsupported claims of wide spread fraud with mail in ballots. >> could absolutely open the flood gates to fraud. those are delivered into mailboxes. they can be taken out. >> reporter: according to the washington post, the attorney general himself has repeatedly voted by mail in virginia including most recently last year. erin, we should say multiple studies confirmed that there is no evidence of wide spread fraud with mail in ballots.

the rnc did say in a statement that what they oppose is expanding absentee voting to allow every eligible voter to receive a mail in ballot automatically but that's of sour course something very few states are opting to do. many more states are asking voters to request a ballot for the november election. erin? >> abby, thank you. and next, an update brazil in even more turmoil after the country's president tests positive for coronavirus. a hige lexus suv at the golden opportunity sales event. lease the 2020 nx 300 for $339 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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brazil surpassed 1.7 million cases of coronavirus today, deaths there now about 68,000. only the united states has recorded more deaths. tonight brazilian journalists say they are suing president bolsonaro refusing to wear a mask around them. government employees that came into contact with the president

may not have the same legal resource. the government says tonight it will not remove them from their jobs and if they experience virus symptoms, they should just go get tested. thank you so much for joining us. ""ac 360" starts now. good evening today. the president of the united states did something rare. he expressed a notion that we can all agree on that kids belong in the classroom but then made it quite clear beyond what it means to himself and his reelection, he doesn't actually care about those kids at all. he doesn't care about their health and safety nor t, nor th health of their teachers and parents and federal guidelines for keeping them safe. guidelines based in scientific fact not fantasy. but facts about how to stop this virus from spreading in schools. the president bragged today about getting the cdc to change their guidelines to weaken them and low and behold the cdc which used to be a world respected organization, they are going to come up with new guidelines, less difficult ones. just think about