good evening, for days we have been pointing out that president trump, the self proclaimed war-time president has avoided mentioning the fact that more than 150,000 people have died on his watch. so far, he rarely in any detail mentions the dead. in an interview released today, the president was asked about the daily death toll, more than a thousand now americans dying a day.

his response, five words, it is what it is, he said. it is what it is. that is our consoler in chief, that is the message to mothers and brothers and fathers and sisters and friends of all the americans who have died and all the people still reeling from their loss. it is what it is. it would be a cruel and heartless thing to say if it came from any individual, but it didn't. it came from the most powerful office holder in the world. the president who in month of february ignored the spread of the pandemic saying it was going to magically disappear and who continues to claim, as you will hear that it's all under control. it is what it is. that's what he said in a new interview with axios, and there's so many outrageous and embarrassing and whinge-inducing comments from the president in this interview, that we want to show you a number of portions of it right now. until you see it, you might actually think this is a joke.

you might actually think it's some sort of a skit. that it does not actually happen. when asked about john lewis' legacy, he had no idea. then he talks about how lewis didn't come to his inauguration. his embarrassing lack of knowledge about mail-in votes revealed. for all the conspiracy theorists saying he is waging a war against child sex trafficking, he once again said about ghislaine maxwell that he wishes her well. second time. if this was on the hbo show "veep," you would think it was a tv show. but that is what aired, it is what it is, what are you going to do. 160,000 dead, 150,000 dead, it is what it is. what are you going to do? i want to start with the full exchange in which he uttered the five words. >> we had a tremendous crowd,

tremendous response, it was like an armed camp, you could not even get through. you could not get anybody in. we had 12,000 people, it was incorrectly reported the other thing that we had that nobody wants to talk about, so fox broadcast it. it was the highest rating in the history of fox television, saturday night. it was the highest rating. my speech -- wait a minute, you are saying something. >> yeah. >> that speech was the highest rated speech in the history of fox television on saturday night and nobody said that. >> i think -- i'm not criticizing your ability to draw a crowd, are you kidding me, i have covered you for five years, you draw massive crowds and huge ratings. i'm talking about the public health. >> and i canceled another one. i had a great crowd in new hampshire and canceled it for the same reason. >> here's the question, i have covered you for a long time, i have gone to your rallies and talked to your people, they listen to you, they listen to every word you say, they hang on every word, they don't listen to me or the media or fauci, they think we are fake news. they want advice from you. when they hear you say everything is under

control, don't wear masks, they are older people, mr. president. it's giving them a false sense of security. >> it's under control. >> how, a thousand americans a day are dying. >> it's true, and it is what it is, but it doesn't mean we are not doing everything that we can. it's under control as much as you can control it. it's a horrible plague that beset us. >> it is what it is, what are you going to do. more than 156,000 dead. possibly 231,000 by november according to the latest model. record unemployment, life as we know it turned on its head, no assurances that life can go back 100% to the way it was. it is what it is, imagine any war-time president saying that. any real war-time president saying that. president lincoln after the loss and death toll at gettysburg, it is what it is. fdr asked about the bombing in pearl harbor, it is what it is. after 9/11, president

george bush, with his arm around a firefighter, grabbing a bullhorn, proclaiming to the nation, it is what it is. this man has no plan. he is reeling day-to-day, as he has his whole life leaving bankrupt businesses behind. more than six months in to the pandemic. he has no comprehensive national plan. promises that something great is about to appear like pt barnum, like his forthcoming health care plan, remember that one? it was going to come, as soon as the obama care was eliminated, his health care plan was going to immediately take place. immediately, it was going to switch right over. >> we are in the process of developing a strategy that's going to be very, very powerful. >> we are in the process, july 21st, of developing a strategy and it's going to be very powerful. you know, it's been five, six months, but it's, we are developing the strategy and it's going to be powerful.

we are still waiting for that powerful plan, mr. president. the only plan, again, according to president trump in that axios interview is to make sure that we judge this president on election day is that we are looking at the metrics that he likes, not the ones that tell you what is happening in the country. the metrics that could embarrass him, like testing. >> when can you commit, by what date, that every american will have access to the same day testing that you get in the white house? >> we have great testing. we are doing -- and -- >> by what date? >> -- let me explain. the testing. we have tested more people than any other country, than all of europe put together times two. we have tested more people than anybody ever thought of, india has 1.4 billion people, they have done 11 million tests, we have done close to 60 million tests and there are those that say you can test too much.

you do know that? >> who says that? >> oh, just read the manuals and the books. >> what manuals? >> read the books. >> what books? >> what testing does -- >> what -- >> let me explain. what testing does, it shows cases. it shows where there may be cases. other countries test, you know what they test, when somebody is is sick. i'm not saying they are right or wrong, nobody has done it like we have done it. we have got absolutely no credit for it. >> the manuals, the books. we have absolutely no credit for it. for a man who seems to prize strength and power, have you heard someone as allegedly powerful and strong as he claims to be, have you ever heard someone whine as much as this man? it is what it is. let me play the last portion of that first exchange again. because he says something telling. >> it is what it is. but that doesn't mean we are not doing everything that we can. it's under control. as much as you can control it.

>> it's under control, as much as you can control it. mr. president, no it is not, it is not under control and certainly not as much as you can control it. an entire bloc of your voters think that mask mandates are an affront to their personal freedom. he has encouraged that reading. he has undercut the need. if it was anybody but the president of the united states doing that, you would think it's criminal. he is out there now, even now, all the months later, knowing full well of the death toll thus far though he rarely talks about it, because it is what it is. what are you going to do? he is out there now telling us that children are virtually immune. they aren't. they get the virus and they pass it on and people die, or their lungs are permanently scarred or

they have heart ailments the rest of their lives. it's under control as much as you can control it? that is just, that's a lie. and it's an excuse. more people wearing masks and social distancing would control it better. so would better contact tracing and testing. you have been claiming this is under control since the beginning. >> we have it totally under control, it's one person, coming in from china. >> we have it very well under control. we have very little problem in this country at this moment. we have it very much under control in this country. very interestingly, we have had no deaths. the coronavirus, which is, you know, very well under control in our country. and everything is under control. they are very, very cool, and they have done it and done it well, everything is really under control. it's something that we have tremendous control over. and the crisis is being handled. we are likewise getting under

control. we have embers and we have flames, florida was more flame like, but it's going to be under control. >> under control. that is president trump, the same unflagging belief in only himself and saying whatever he wants to say, it's under control. it is what it is. a man who will not change. just moments ago the president tweeted himself at the coronavirus task force briefing. you can see the pictures he tweeted there. what he doesn't say according to cnn, it's the first time he has met with the task force at a briefing since april. this is the president of the united states, great meeting today with the coronavirus task force in the oval office, stay informed at coronavirus.gov, first of all, does that even sound like him? that sounds like a minion typing that out. he has not been to a task force

meeting since april. what else has he got to do that is so important? he played golf this weekend as he has virtually every weekend. he watches cable news all the time. he watches all the shows. he tweets plenty of times. he can't go, he cannot have them all come in for a briefing since april? this is the first time he has been there. a war-time commander, that's what he is. he says. from the photos it looks like only three members of the task members wore face masks. two were dr. birx and fauci, they are both on the outs so they figured, why not wear a mask. all the others -- they all want to stay in his good favor. i'm going to talk to sanjay and other medical professionals about that in a moment. for now, we want to focus on the people that president trump dismissed. it is what it is. the people who lost loved ones. the people who heard about that loss, it is what it is.

david hart's husband, dr. joseph costa died after contracting covid, they have been married for 28 years. david joins me now. david, i'm so sorry for your loss and i have been reading about your husband and what an extraordinary man he was and is and if you could, could you talk a little bit about, about joe? what do you want people to know about him? >> yeah, anderson. thank you very much for the opportunity. and thank you for your sympathy. you know, who was joe? this is what i want people to know about joe. i'll talk a little bit about his work in a second. >> yeah. >> but joe was a fantastic uncle. he was a loyal and generous friend. he was a beloved son. an engaged brother. he was a humble, enthusiastic

and lived in the moment mentor to many folks. and he was also a gay man who worked in a catholic institution. you know, joe was many things. but he always did and went about his life in a very quiet, calm way. he would hate, hate that i was on tv right now talking about him, but it's all right. he will forgive us at the end of this. >> you know, i know you have called him the bravest man you know. he worked on the front lines, caring for patients in the icu. >> he did. >> he a rare underlying auto immune disorder of the lungs. and i mean, he didn't have to, he could have very easily said, in all good conscience, look, i have this dangerous condition in my lungs, i cannot be on the front lines doing this, as much as i want to.

but he chose to do that. can you -- i mean, that courage is extraordinary. >> it is extraordinary, anderson. but let me say this, he is not the only health care worker who has an underlying condition. and when i used the term health care worker, i want everyone to understand that it is not, yes, it is doctors and nurses who are really on the front line like they are in the trenches on the front line. but they are supported by house keepers, and medical technicians and physicians assistants and receptionists and security guards. all of these people. think of the number of people that it takes to run a medical facility. all of those people are on the front lines. >> yeah. >> it is like a war zone trying to get in to a hospital. i mean, you go through check points and your temperature is taken. i mean, so, yes, you know, joseph was the head of the icu. he developed many of the protocols that the icu that he

died in uses and you imagine his colleagues, his fellow physicians and nurses you know, after he died, they had to walk out of the room and go back to work. >> hm-mm. >> they have just lost their, you know, their boss. and the guy who was the head of things. i mean, it is astounding to me what that must be like. >> um, i want to ask you about what happened at the end. because you mentioned it. from what i understand, 20 of joe's colleagues were in the room. they placed their gloved hands on him as he lay dying in the final moments and in the same icu that he supervised. and i know you were able to be there, i know it may sound odd to anybody else, but that is such a blessing to, you know, there's so many families that are not able to be by the side of their loved one in that, in that moment. can you just talk about that a little bit?

i read something that, um, i found extraordinarily moving. >> yeah. >> that you took off your ppe and -- >> i did. >> explain why you did that, and what you did. >> yeah. i mean, to your point, so many people did not have the privilege that i had and i cannot imagine going through what i went through and not being able to be in the room. i contracted covid from joe at the time he was dying. i was just not going to not be able to touch him with my bare hands, with my cheek. so i took everything off. i just took it off. i know i was not supposed to do that. but at that point, it was what i

wanted to do for him, to help support and comfort him, and unfortunately those 20 people that he worked with, his fellow physicians and nurses, as i said, they had to leave the room and go back to work. so they did not have that luxury. so they had their hands in blue gloves on his body. which is a poignant moment for me. i was holding him and looked down the length of his body and that's what i saw. and i feel for them. they didn't have the privilege that i had. i mean, it is -- it is i don't know for everybody i heard the woman who spoke before me. for everybody who has been in that situation, for everybody who has lost a loved one, it's important to be there. and it's important to touch somebody. i mean, that's what's so cruel about the disease. the quarantine, not being able to touch somebody and not give a hug. everything is separated by ppe and plastic and what have you.

and for good reason, for good, good, good reason. >> but for somebody to die without human touch, skin to skin, it's, i was, i was lucky that i was able to be there when my mom died in if final seconds and to hold her during that, i mean, it's a life changing experience. and it's a great blessing in my life that i was able to be there. i don't want to ask you about politics and stuff, but i mean, when you hear somebody say, you know, it is what it is. knowing the pain that you go through, and that so many are going through. what is your message to people out there? >> well, i think of this through the lens of can you imagine if my husband joe walked in to a room of covid patients and said, oh, it is what it is. and shoved their beds to the corner and walked out? i mean, i still can't process that, it is what it is. it is unbelievable. i mean, i want to say to the

president, get off your ass, drive 20 blocks and spend 15 minutes in an icu with a covid patient who is dying. do that. you know? i mean, i don't know. you know, it is -- anderson, yes, this can be a political moment, but i believe this is an ethical and moral moment for this country. >> david, how did you two first meet? you have been married 28 years. that was not even legal back then. >> you are really putting me on the spot and if the lights start blinking, that's joe. >> oh, you can tell the story that you told to like mass audiences. you don't have to tell the actual story. often couples have two different stories how they met. >> yeah, i met joe 28 years ago. and i met him august 15th and i have never been apart from him from that point forward. he just exuded something, you

know, the image i have seared in my head was the second day we were together. he is italian and i did not know it at the time. and i made him spaghetti in my world is boil the spaghetti for 30 minutes and opening a can of ragu and anything in the fridge goes in the pot. he graciously ate that dinner. and as he was leaving, i don't know, in that moment, i was really -- i just felt this attachment to him, and i was afraid that i would never see him again and the image i have that i hold in my heart all the time. he walked out the front door to this crazy old toyota corolla that was 20 years old and as he was walking to his car, he turned around with a big beautiful smile and he said, it's not about worrying, dave, i will see you tomorrow. and he did. you know, and 28 years is a long time. >> extraordinary. >> but i'm blessed for every second that i was able to be with that boy. >> yeah. >> he was a good person.

>> i know this anniversary will be hard on the 15th and i will be thinking of you and we will talk again. david thank you so much. i am so sorry for your loss, i appreciate you sharing some of your husband with us. >> can i do one thing, anderson? >> yeah. >> i would like to thank the binnington fire and rescue. i would like to thank the southern vermont medical center for the care that they gave me when i was in the icu and i would like to thank the mercy medical center, especially the sisters of mercy for the incredible compassionate care that they deliver to patients in the city of baltimore. it's extraordinary. thank you for the time and opportunity. >> thank you, david. and my thoughts are with you. >> thank you. >> more ahead, the president's axios interview and how there's one way to count their, the number of deaths from this virus and then there's the way that the president prefers to count the deaths. later the president is no fan of

mail-in voting, nor of our guest, nevada's governor who joins us to talk about what he is doing with vote by mail and why it's angered the president. krooerps simply sign up, drive and save. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ .

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>> yeah, the point is, because we are so much better at testing than any other country in the world, we show more cases. >> i -- the figure i look at is death. and death is going up now, it's a thousand a day. >> if you look at deaths -- >> yeah, it's going up again, daily deaths. >> take a look at some of the charts. >> i would love to. >> we're going to look. >> let's look. >> if you look at deaths -- >> starting to go up again. >> here's one, well, right here, the united states is lowest in numerous categories, we are lower than the world -- >> lower than the world. >> lower than europe. >> in what? >> take a look. >> right here. here's case deaths. >> oh, you are doing deaths as a proportion of cases, i'm talking about deaths in proportion to population. u.s. is really bad. much worse than south korea, germany, et cetera. >> you can't do that. you have to go by, you have to go by -- look, here's the united states, you have to go by the cases. the cases --

>> why not as a -- >> joining us sanjay gupta, and dr. hotez, he is working on a potential covid-19 vaccine. you heard the president characterizing the numbers, does it make sense to you? >> well, it doesn't, really. you know, he is having a lot of trouble getting his arms around the scope of the problem. first of all, let's look at what is really going on. we will be at 160,000 deaths probably by the end of this week. anderson, that is 160,000 times the story we just heard, your interview. people losing their spouses, the parents, the brothers the sisters, and it's, it's just absolutely devastating and the deaths are, there's no end in sight to the deaths. we will soon be going up to 200,000 deaths by september, october. different health metrics says

230,000 deaths by the end of october. we could easily be at 300,000 deaths by the end of the year with no interest or curiosity of how to end the virus when we know we can do it. all of the deaths are preventable and we cannot get movement out of the white house. and i just can't understand why we don't move forward on this. instead, we see the sort of cherry picking of data. >> yeah. >> generally, totally irrelevant to the real situation. >> and sanjay, the president doubling down on this claim that cases are rising because of the testing and if we were not testing that there would not be as many cases. and look at numbers he's rattling off and it's still not as much as other countries. >> it's not, and you don't get coronavirus from doing a test. it's like people say, you do not get pregnant from doing a pregnancy test. to find try and find people infected and isolate them, and quarantine their contacts and bring the numbers down. we have never gotten to that point.

you know, right now, testing is sort of surged in to places that are hot spots to try and identify people in the places and then, moving to another spot in the country. it's like putting pressure on wounds as opposed to addressing the underlying issues. so, there are objective ways, anderson, to look at whether or not we are testing enough. the positivity rate, a term that a lot of people now know, basically out of 100 people, how many came back positive? if that number is five or below, that gives you an idea that you are testing enough. we have not gotten to that low a positivity rate. we are not testing enough and it's not accomplishing what it needs to accomplish in terms of turning the pandemic around. >> can you explain the difference of deaths per case, and deaths related to the population? >> so, you know, i mean, in this case, there's an ifr, infected fatality ratio, that the deaths out of the people that have been infected.

it's not on the right side of the screen now, but i did the calculations earlier, that is roughly around 3%. but if you start looking at per population in united states, we are about 450, 480 rather, people die per million in the country, that is based on the overall population of the country. the thing is, anderson, i think this is just different. it's a pandemic as peter alluded to. the whole world is affected by this. we are less than 5% of the world's population and we make up 20-25% of the world's infections. 20-25% of the world's deaths, sadly, as well. however you want to look at it. absolute numbers, relative numbers, whatever it may be, whatever makes sense to you, but the fact of the matter is that we are doing an awfully poor job in the country compared to the rest of the world. >> and dr. hotez, the countries we are in league with, in terms of competing for the number one spot, which we are in, are brazil and india is now in

third. countries that have under resourced health systems. i mean, brazil, the health care infrastructure is nowhere near what it needs to be. >> no, no, absolutely. i mean, this is crazy. and the president, you know, made some comment of the fact that well, the high numbers due to the historical issue that we had in new york back in march and april. i just wrote the numbers down, right now, in the last seven days the u.s. is number one in terms of number of new cases over a seven day period. 421,000 cases. we are also number one in terms of deaths. 7,500 deaths over the last week. so, as was pointed out, a thousand deaths per day, we exceed india and brazil and everybody else. and what i am so angry about is the fact that there's still no good faith effort to do something about it. certainly at the federal level. when we know that's what has to be done. and how does it end? we cannot just let it go on now for another four or five months.

>> and sanjay, the fact that the white house tweets out the president was at task force meeting in the oval office, he has not attended one since april. >> he has not attended one since april. even if he is talking to the task force members, which i know he has, we have done reporting on this. he is not listening to them. that's the thing -- >> in fact, he is attacking them. he is attacking dr. birx and attacked dr. fauci multiple times. >> yeah, and it's sort of befuddling. i thought, does he just not know and therefore is saying things demonstrably wrong? that's not the case. he is being told by task force members. you saw him in an actually meeting in the oval office, he got briefed by dr. fauci before our last town hall but he is saying things opposed to what he is hearing. so, i don't get it. the meetings don't make much of a difference.

>> i appreciate it, thank you very much. more breaking news, president trump went on the attack against nevada and the new legislation of expanding mail-in voting. and at the same time he magically said mail-in voting is great in his new home state of florida, where they just so happen to have a lot of republicans who vote mail-in. so all of a sudden, florida mail-in is great, nevada not so. we'll talk to the nevada governor. my great-great grandmother. she was all of 4'11" but very tenacious. a very independent woman. driven, passionate. embodied grit, perseverance. she marched. -she wrote. -she demanded. she was proud to pass on a legacy of civic mindedness to her descendants. i'm very proud to carry on her story. all: her story -find their stories. -make them count. at ancestry.

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pushing legislation to expand the use of absentee balloting in the election in the state of nevada. >> in nevada we have a governor who just said let's just send out millions ballots and the post office cannot be prepared. i have not spoken to the post office about it. i don't know how they could possibly be prepared. >> and the general election, i think i said state election. the president called that legislation a coup, filing legislation to stop it. the governor steve sisolak, i spoke to him just before air time. governor the mail-in voting legislation that you signed, explain what it does and how it impacts voters in your state? >> what it does, it is extremely important to myself and the legislature, first off, i apologize. thank you for having me on and giving me an opportunity to explain in. what it's going to do is make it so that folks, our constituents don't have to choose between staying healthy and exercising their right to vote. it's important to me that everyone who wants to vote has that opportunity and we make it accessible for them.

right now, obviously we are in the middle of a pandemic, i don't anticipate that much changing by the time we get to the election. what will happen, everyone will have a ballot mailed to them. they will be able to fill out the ballot, send that ballot back and have it count in lieu. of having to stand in line and vote in person. if somebody sends it in, what happens if they go to the voting booth and try to vote? >> you can't vote twice. there's a cross reference in there. if they mail it in, then they cannot vote in person. you can only vote one time. you can fill in your mail-in ballot, and if you choose to bring it in. some people have a tradition of wanting to come in person and vote in the election. you can bring in your ballot and turn it in, or mail it. you are limited to voting one time, and it's totally safe. we had the same situation with the primary. we had an all mail-in primary. everyone had a ballot mailed to them. they could mail it in or show up

on election day at the polling place and vote. this gives you another opportunity to exercise your right and maintain your safety. >> now, surprise, president trump attacked you on the move. tweeting in an illegal late-night coup, nevada's clubhouse governor made it impossible for republicans to win the state. see you in court. post office couldn't possibly handle all the ballots, using covid to steal the state. i don't know if you want to respond to it. >> i don't know what a clubhouse governor is. i can't respond to that part. we took public comment, on this. there's no attempt to steal the state. if the republicans win, it will depend on who ever the most popular candidate is, that is most effective moving into 2021, that's who will win the state of nevada. >> the hypocrisy of trump attacking you on this, he is encouraging people to mail in votes in florida, because he was lobbied by florida republicans

who said, look, florida republicans, they have a very strong mail-in voting turn-out, and all his attacking of the mail-in votes, all the mail-in voting system was going to damage votes in florida, so he is now saying, well, mail-in voting in florida is fine, it's the other places that have a problem. he also went on to say he will be suing in nevada and probably will file something tomorrow. as far as you know, has the campaign or republican party taken any legal action yet? >> no, i did check with the legal representation if anything had been filed. prior to being with you. no, we have not been served with anything. i don't know if we will frankly. sometimes the president makes threats and doesn't follow through on them. my priority is to make sure that the voters have every legitimate legal option to vote. i think that this gives them that. it offers that to them. i will give you an example, my mother. i mean, she is in her early 90s. because of the covid, she has not been out of the house in

over three months now. she feels more comfortable filling out the ballot and having it sent in. and i'm confident other folks will be the same way. whether they are senior citizens or if they just feel more comfortable mailing it in. which is what we're here for. >> the legislation in your state will relax some roo strictions on who can handle ballots and republicans are saying that could lead to fraud. there's obviously not wide-spread voter fraud, that is another thing that the president is claiming and his own commission had to disband because they did not find anything. is that a valid concern? what steps are you taking in regards to this specifically to ensure that it doesn't happen? >> absolutely it's not a valid concern. what we have, folks, for example, if they are at home, and they have their next door neighbor because they cannot walk to the post office box, the mailbox or can't get in the car and drive to the post office, and have it mailed in, if they give it to a next door neighbor and say, would you mail it in for me. that ballot is totally safe. no problem whatsoever with that ballot.

i mean, i think they're trying to create a scenario that does not exist to raise people's suspicions about a process. we have had absentee ballots going as long as i can remember in the state of nevada and we have never had problems and i certainly don't anticipate any problems this time around. and i will guarantee you the post office in florida is same in nevada, it's the united states postal service. they have the same regulations. if they can handle it in florida, they can handle it in nevada. >> i appreciate your time, thank you. >> thank you so much for having me. have a great day. >> well, chris murphy is no stranger to the president's attacks against mail-in voting. yesterday, he attended a closed door meeting on election security in capitol hill, you heard the governor of nevada there about the mail-in voting program and the president's attacks do you have concerns about the voters mailing in ballots and the backdrop is the president thinks that mail-in voting is fine and dandy in florida.

>> yeah, there's just not these sort of secret band of vigilante absentee and mail-in voter fraudsters, they don't exist, the president is making up a problem that is not real. and you know, it's kind of ironic. he said that he is trying to stop democrats from stealing the election. well, in fact, it's republicans by and large who vote by mail and if you look at who tends to use the systems in states that you have the option. it's more rural voters and if tends to be older voters, and you count the mail-in votes the republicans do better than it does when it comes to the in person machine votes. if it was really about democrats trying sort out the rules to our advantage, we would not be pushing mail-in voting. we are pushing mail-in voting because it's the right thing to do. we just want to make sure that everyone can vote safely. >> i want to play his latest

comments about voting by mail in florida, this is what he said. >> florida's got a great republican governor. and it had a great republican governor. it's got ron desantis, rick scott, two great governors. and over a long period of time, they have been able to get the absentee ballots done extremely professionally. florida's different from other states. >> i mean, the u.s. postal service is the same in florida as it is in other states. do you have any knowledge that there's some secret sauce in florida's mail-in voting system? >> no, there's no difference in the data. i mean, there's not a mail-in voting fraud problem in states with democratic governors just as there's not a mail-in ballot fraud problem in states run by republican governors. this is a made up crisis that the president is creating. and again, it doesn't actually seem to be designed to give

himself a better chance at re-election, as you mentioned, you know, florida republicans are begging him to stop this, because he in fact is discouraging republicans who are the ones who historically vote by mail. it seems that he is just trying to create any argument as early as possible to delegitimize the election and perhaps contest the results when he loses. >> when it comes to elections, you have been on briefings on capitol hill and the latest was yesterday. what have you seen or heard that you can talk about in terms of foreign interference? >> well, we have received briefings yesterday, briefings that have been given through written documents as well to members of the senate over the last week. and they are very concerning. there are foreign governments that have active interference operations under way in this country. and there are narratives and

specific actors promoting those narratives that are not reliable. are not to be trusted because of their connection to foreign sources. and i am very hopeful that this administration and our intelligence services will make that information public. because i'm not sure why you do all of this research and all of this intelligence to sort out whether there are foreign agents acting in an american election if you are not prepared to tell the american public who the foreign agents are. i think it's a really critical next few weeks the administration has to let the american public know what they know. >> thank you, more on that to come. >> thanks. >> the latest on the massive explosion, killed 78 people and wounded 4,000 others in beirut, and what the president has been saying about it that is being contradicted. given my unique lifestyle, that'd be perfect! let me grab a pen and some paper. know what? i'm gonna switch now. just need my desk...

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there was an explosion so powerful in beirut today that according to the u.s. geological survey, it registered as a minor earthquake. take a look. so far at least 78 people are reported dead. cording to the lebanese health minister 4,000 are wounded. president trump said today he had talked with, quote, his generals about the blast. >> this was not a -- some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event.

this was a -- seems to be, according to them, they would know better than i would, put th -- but they seem to think it was an attack, a bomb of some kind. >> late tonight, three senior state department officials told us there is no evidence of an attack, as the president referenced. ben wedeman joins us from beirut. ben, despite what the president said, do we know what caused the explosion? >> well, we do understand, anderson, that the explosion occurred in a warehouse, where according to the prime minister, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate was being stored. that was a substance that has been taken from some sort of contraband shipment. and how the actual blast occurred is still a mystery. no one is here -- of course there are always many suspicions lebanon being lebanon that somebody was behind, but no official statement has been made

suggesting that this was an attack. the blast was something i've never seen before. and you mentioned a minor earthquake. i'm less than a mile from the port, and it felt to me like a major earthquake, and, of course, our bureau is in shambles, as are most of the homes in beirut where windows have been blown out. people wounded in the street were being treated by ordinary citizens trying to provide some sort of assistance. but as you said, more than 4,000 wounded, more than 70 dead, and these numbers are really just preliminary. on the local television, reporters doing live shots outside of the hospitals are reading the names of people who were lost and others who have been located in the hospitals to try to just sort of spread

information around because lebanon is at the moment in a state of economic collapse. it's struggling with the coronavirus outbreak. the country is essentially bankrupt. and so dealing with a crisis of this magnitude, crises, because we're talking about an economy in free-fall. a country struggling with the coronavirus outbreak that has seen the number of new cases tripled since the beginning of july. and now this has really, really put an intolerable strain on a country that has suffered for so long. lebanon now -- at least beirut is in a state of emergency. it's been declared a disaster zone. there's concerns now as a result of this explosion that beirut's port, through which around 70% of the country's food and most of its food is imported, passes. an explosion happened right next to beirut's main grain silo.

so this is not just an explosion that has injured hundreds, thousands of people, and killed dozens, it's -- it goes well beyond that -- >> yeah. >> reporter: to reiterate, anderson, no one here is, as of yet, talking about this as being some sort of attack. >> hmm. well, i mean, beirut, which has seen so much -- so much loss, you know, over the decades. it's an extraordinary city. ben, i appreciate you being there. and i hope everybody around you is okay and cnn -- cnn office there. we'll obviously have more information about the death toll tomorrow. up next, more perspective on the trump white house and the politics of the coronavirus. i talk with cnn's paul begala.

audible is my road-trip companion. it's kind of my quiet, alone time. audible is a routine for me. it's like a fun night school for adults. i could easily be seduced into locking myself into a place where i do nothing but listen to books. i never was interested in historical fiction before, but i'm obsessed with it now. there are a lot of like, classic and big titles that i feel like i missed out since i don't have time to read, mean i might as well listen. if i want to catch up on the news or history or learn what's going on in the world, i can download a book and listen to it. because i listened to her story over and over again, i made the decision to go ahead and follow my own dream, which was to help other veterans. i think there's like 180 books in my, in my library now.

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we're having trouble reaching paul begala. we had a problem with the shot so we apologize for that. we had hoped to talk to paul about his new book, but we'll do that later this week. i want to give you a quick reminder. don't miss "full circle." we were on until march 19th was the last time we had done it and then we stopped during covid. technically it became too complicated. we are back starting yesterday. you can catch it stream live, monday, tuesday and friday,