ben wedeman, our deepest, deepest condolences to all the people in beirut. you've got a great city there. our heart goes out to everyone for this horrific, horrific explosion. thanks very much for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. ♪ "outfront" next as the u.s. approaches 5 million coronavirus cases, the president insists the virus is just going to go away. we've heard it from him again and again and again and it's still here. plus the biggest event since the pandemic started, 250,000 people, at least, expected gathering in america in one small town. why is it taking place? i'm going to talk to the mayor. and republicans with ties to donald trump are helping kanye west run for president. let's go "outfront." and good eveningment i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight the numbers don't lie. that's the message tonight from dr. anthony fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert,

saying that when it comes to coronavirus, the metrics are nothing to brag about. >> i mean, the numbers don't lie. and every country has suffered. we, the united states, has suffered as worse or -- as much or worse than anyone. >> let's take a look at the numbers. the u.s. right now on track to hit 5 million coronavirus cases in the next few days. yesterday's death toll was 1,399. death is death. it's not testing. it's one of the highest since may. right now, 36 states in this country are trending in the wrong direction on that crucial metric of a positivity rate. yet just moments ago the president of the united states again was bragging about how well the u.s. is doing. >> it's going away. no, it'll go away. things go away. absolutely. it's no question in my mind. it will go away. please, go ahead. hopefully sooner rather than later. >> look, everything goes away. even our lives at some point,

right? but the president has no plan to make it go away, and today insisting again, without a plan, that schools must reopen. why? >> my view is the schools should open. this thing's going away. it will go away like things go away. >> things do go away, but the thing that he says is going away is just -- it's not been going away. the president has been repeating this line again and again and again. and here's the reality on the ground in state after state after state with positivity rising, in deaths rising, there is absolutely no sign at all that the thing is going to go away no matter how many times trump said it. and he said it a lot. here he is on march 10th. >> it will go away. just stay calm. it will go away. >> death toll on that day, 28 deaths. it did not go away. here he is on april 28th. >> but i think what happens is it's going to go away. this is going to go away. >> the death toll on that day

was 60,916. and it didn't go away. here he is on may 8th. >> eventually it's going to be gone. it's going to be gone. >> and the death toll on that date, 80,172, and it didn't go away. here he is on june 23rd. >> we did so well. before the plague and we're doing so well after the plague. it's going away. >> 123,715 deaths on that day. and it didn't go away. the virus is still here. he said today it's going to go away, right, as we're close to 160,000 deaths to. say schools should reopen because the virus will go away is not a plan. they can open with strong plans with explicit help from the federal government. instead there's denial saying there's a problem, saying the problem will go away. president trump did not stop there today. he also went on to make this claim. >> if you look at children,

children are almost -- and i would almost say definitely, but almost immune from this disease. so few -- they've got stronger. hard to believe. i don't know how you feel about it, but they have much stronger immune systems than we do, somehow, for this. and they do it. they don't have a problem. they just don't have a problem. >> well, they're not immune achlt recent study found children under 5 have a viral lode of 10 to 100 times of older children or adults. even if they're not sick themselves, studies show children can show the virus. dr. fauci says it has been shown that children 10 to 19 can transmit the virus to adults as well as adults can. when it comes to kids younger than 10, we still don't know how they transmit the disease. when you don't have all the facts, you can't claim children are immune. we all wish this thing would go away. it's sometime for the president

to stop saying that and start doing specific things. kaitlan collins is "outfront" at the white house tonight. kaitlan, the president doubling down tonight, saying yet again that the virus is going to go away. >> reporter: yep. he has said it from for months and it has not gone away and he is going to continue to say it, it appears, until there is some kind of vaccine or more therapeutics are developed. he also did not back off what he said about children earlier today, that virtually immune comment you just played whchlt he was asked at the briefing about it, he said children don't get as sick as adults do. we know there have been some children that have gotten ill with this. facebook is troubled with the president's post and the comment about children that they have removed a video that was on president trump's facebook page of him making that comment that he believes children are virtually immune from his page saying it's misinformation saying a certain age group is immune from this when the

doctors and health experts. that's the notable because it's the first time facebook has removed anything from his page and comes amid twitter flagging several of his posts amid covid-19. you saw him meet being the governor of arizona doug ducey, and he was praising his handling of the covid-19 outbreak and the surging in the outbreak in his state. but when he was asked about the idea that ducey had, the president didn't agree with that. but the governor did that to stop the surge in cases. but the president still maintains he still thinks schools should reopen as he's insisted for several weeks. >> thank you very much. "outfront" tonight dr. sanjay gupta and dr. ilene marty, infectious disease manager at florida state university. her state today hit a grim milestone, 500,000 cases. sanjay, you spent an hour today with dr. anthony fauci and you talked about a lot of things. you talked about vaccines. you talked about testing. you talked about it all.

he's sending a very different message than the president. i find it disturbing because it was consistent. it was on every single point you talked about he seemed to be saying the opposite. >> he really did. he was pretty candid today and many of the same points you just mentioned with kaitlan, just what is the united states' overall stature in the world when it comes to this. you heard over the last couple of days, we're not doing so bad. we're one of the worst if not the worst as you mentioned in the opening part of the show today. that's what dr. fauci said. testing. big deal, right? you've heard over and over again from president trump, maybe we're doing too much testing. dr. fauci said today, and it's probably the strongest i've heard him talk about this, he said it is unacceptable with where we are with testing. we're simply not doing enough. on this point of immunity with children, i get the sense that the president doesn't know what immune means. it means when someone becomes

infected -- we know -- we just did the calculations before your show tonight, earn, that 250,000 children have been infected by this virus. we know that children are less likely to become ill, very ill from this. although, you know, as we start to open up schools and you get a lot of kids clustering together, there's no doubt that there's going to be an increase in infection rates and possibly increase in serious illness as a result of this. it would still be lower than adults but that's a real worry for parents. >> dr. marty, i just want to look at it from your state. 21% increase in the number of children under the age of 17 testing positive for coronavirus and a 28% increase in the number of children being hospitalized. obviously these are extremely low numbers chin is important to emphasize but you have seen this big jump. so, what does this tell you about children and how sick they get? >> well, having seen children

sick with covid-19 and having known now, we've had several deaths of children with covid-19, i think that it's -- not to mention multi-system inflammatory disease where actually where i am in miami-dade, we have 1/3 of the kawasaki-type syndrome in the state. we definitely see very serious illness in children. even that is not the point. the point is this entire conversation is missing the most important point. that is when you said earlier in the show that children have high viral lodes, let me translate that. that means they can transmit the virus to other people. and schools don't just contain children. they contain adults doing everything from janitorial work to administrators such as the principal to the teachers and everyone else. and these children do not live

in home alone and they do not get to school unless they walk to school, but generally speaking they're transported to school. it's an adult that transports them. there are many adults that can be infected by these children. that's the point. >> so, sanjay, when we look at the issue with all these kids going back to school in places like new york has a positivity of 1%. that has been the metric that they're fine to go back. but we have the issue around the country as it's 5 million cases of who's spreading it. you asked dr. fauci about that. what is driving the new case lode we are seeing now since it's not testing and here's what he said. >> the good news about covid-19 is that about 40% of the population has no symptom when is they get infected. that's good. i mean, you get infected, you've got no symptoms.

the bad news for messaging is that 40% of the population get no symptoms. >> and sanjay, that is the bad news. you still have people saying because 40% of people don't have symptoms, this isn't that serious. we are still hearing that. and yes, it's often a political point. but we're still hearing it. >> right. and both things can be true, right? i mean, that's the thing is that we're capable of more abstract thinking. this is an unusual virus in this regard. typically when people are very contagious, they may be coughing and sneezing and not feeling well, hopefully staying at home. but this virus as we've known since middle of february, people can spread this asymp matically. there's even been evidence that people are more likely to spread this before they develop symptoms. it makes it challenging. but it also makes the strategy nerm it is of how to deal with this a little bit clearer. that's why people are recommended to wear masks when they go out in public. you don't know because we don't have testing.

you don't know for certain. you're not harboring the virus in your body. how best to decrease the transmission. we all have a role. wear a mask. that's the point dr. fauci is making. >> i'm going to weigh in on this. >> go ahead. >> i'm going to weigh on this. i think there's a few points here. first of all, there's plenty of viruses, bacteria, et cetera that people carry around with them that do not make that vigil that can cause disease in others. 45% of people carry the horrible bacteria mrsa in their nose with no side effects. this is not an uncommon situation. but with this virus, here's a few other points, yes maybe 40% of other people don't have symptoms this time around. we don't know what's going to happen to those people the second time around. second of all, a fair percentage of those individuals who are not showing symptoms if you do serious testing on them, you do find that they have changes in their bodies that may have consequences for the future neurologically, cardiologically,

their lungs, et cetera. >> and i know that's important and people who have even gotten sick and gotten better, we don't know whether the neurocognitive issues could be life long. sanjay, the health and human services today said the u.s. has seen the most historic advances in vaccine development over the last two week. we're on track for many, many doses of a gold standard vaccine by the beginning of the year. do you think this is really possible that there is going to be possibly some silver bullet solution? >> well, i think we are certainly making a lot of progress with the vaccine. i mean, and i keep asking, you know, this has been a big topic of conversations. i'm making calls about this all the time. frankly i was surprised at the enthusiasm i was getting from some of these hard core scientists about this because typically it takes a long time to make a vaccine. even dr. fauci today said look, we've had remarkable pace when

it comes to innovation around the vaccine. two points though. we still don't have it and we've got to get data to actually show it works, early promising data. until we prove this works in large populations of people, old and young, people with pre-existing medical conditions, we won't know for sure. secondly i don't know that i would describe it as a silver bullet. we don't know how protective it will be. it may require two shots. it may require boosters to the vaccine. and people got to take it ultimately if it does become available. so, a lot of work to be done. but still promising, erin. >> all right. dr. gupta, dr. marty, thank you both. next it's the biggest event to take place since the pandemic started, a quarter million people about to descend on a small city in south dakota for a motorcycle rally. why? the mayor is my guest. new private sector job numbers and no deal on the trade

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. tonight, the nation's infectious disease experts are calling for a federal mask

requirement. infectious disease society of america urging the white house to require all individuals in the white house complex to wear masks at all times when they are in the company of others both for their own protection and to serve as role models for our country. it's kind of incredible that at this point it still needs to be said. we know in the 124 days since the cdc recommended all americans wear masks, you can count on one hand the president of the united states has worn one publicly, as states in the northeast start to see resurgence of the virus again. sara sidner is "outfront." >> the virus is winning and the american people are losing. >> reporter: the coronavirus are teaching us a terrible lesson. in person lesson already disrupted in cherokee county, georgia, after a second grade student tested positive within the first couple of days. students and teacher in that class now home for a 14-day quarantine. in georgia's largest school system, 260 school employees staying home due to positive

tests or expose your the virus. >> this is a community issue and we need to find a way to be able to get you through to the higher ups and help them see that if the teachers aren't safe, then the students aren't safe and then the community is not safe. >> reporter: dr. anthony fauci says if in-person learning happens, one way to mitigate the danger -- >> keep the windows open. that, to me, when you're dealing with respiratory virus, its simplicity is so obvious. >> reporter: but in the third largest school district in the country, chicago public school officials announcing the danger is too high to reopen. >> the fact of the matter is we are seeing an increase in cases. combined with the trends that we're seeing, the decision to start remotely makes sense for a district of cps's size and diversity. >> reporter: an american academy of practice study revealing minority children have much greater rats of infections than

white counter parts. 30% of black children and 46% of hispanic children tested positive for the virus. across the country, a small bit of hope. 45 of 50 states are seeing new case states steadying or declining. but the death toll is still rising. nearly 1,400 people reported dead in one day. >> we need to focus on what's happening. 1,400 dead in one day is just a toll that is unacceptable. and we need to up our game. >> reporter: new york city's mayor announcing vehicle quarantine check points after numbers show 20% of all new covid-19 cases in the city are coming from out-of-state travellers. >> the check points i think are going to send a very powerful message that this quarantine law is serious. >> reporter: in jackson, mississippi, a nightly surveillance few for a five-day period announced by its mayor. >> and we are now hearing,

remember that georgia school district, cherokee county, which had the one student that left a bunch of kids quarantined and a teacher in one class. we're hearing now there are three more schools in that same county that someone has tested positive. that means that 61 students in total have to be quarantined. we're also learning that in a mississippi school district, there are several people the health department there says have tested positive for covid-19, so 100-plus students are having to quarantine because of those positive tests. erin. >> thank you. pictures of sturgis, south dakota. motorcyclists are gathering there for what will be the largest public event in the united states since the coronavirus outbreak. at least a quarter million people, 250,000 people, are expected to attend the 80th annual sturgis rally. "outfront" now is the mayor of sturgis, south dakota. mayor, i appreciate your time. we're showing video of the

rally, what it normally looks like. normally it's twice the size. you've got half a million people there. you're expecting half that but still an absolutely stunning number, a number 250,000 times bigger than anything else we've seen in this country since the outbreak. so, you thought the bankers were going to come whether you cancelled it or not. tell me how you let this go away. what's your thinking? >> correct. as the city council worked through this decision process, it was very apparent through the all the contacts that we made and input that we received is that many, many people are coming no matter what. and at that point in time, it made the best sense to make sure we prepare as well as we can. it's for several months now people have been visiting south dakota. we're a small state, well under a million people across our entire state. but during tourism season, it becomes pretty active and we

have quite a few people that have come over the last several months. >> so, you know, i know you look at other things. i'm sure it's got to make you nervous, that rally in tulsa, right, you had the juneteenth march there, you had protests all drawing large crowds when cases started going up there. tulsa top health official said this. >> the past few days we've had almost 500 cases and we know we had several large events a little over two weeks ago which is about right. so, i guess we just connect the dots. >> so, do you get worried? you've got people at the same campground. they're gathering together in town. they're at bars together. they're eating together. there's only so much you can do, right? i mean, are you worried? >> without a doubt every rally brings a worry. a lot of the big venues are outside the city limits of sturgis, and it's something that obviously we don't have control

over. like i said, we've had tourists visiting to this point -- i mean, obviously we have -- i think our daily cases in the state of south dakota range from 45 to 80. but again, we're a very small state in population. but without a doubt, i agree, erin, that yes, there are certainly worries from leadership and staff and all the residents in sturgis. >> so, when your residents were asked about the rally, 60% of them said they would rather it not be held this year during the pandemic. what did you say to them? just the people were going to come anyway? what was your -- what did you say to the people who live in town? >> the information that you're referencing, we sent out a survey to our residents. >> yeah. >> not all were returned. the ones that were returned, it definitely was a large majority wanted to at least postpone the rally. again, it was probably about a quarter to 33% of our population

that returned them. to be frank, there's a portion of our population doesn't want a rally any year, which, you know, the rally does a lot for the city of sturgis and for our community. >> all right. well, i appreciate your time mayor. thank you very much. i know all eyes will be on what happens, obviously, over the next several weeks. i know obviously you're not going to know right away. thanks so much. a appreciate your time, sir. >> thank you for having me. >> okay. and next, the coronavirus crisis gets personal. dr. anthony fauci speaking out today on his own stafty and the security of his family. >> getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where i have to get security -- and the kanye west for president campaign getting a boost from republicans with ties to trump. tonight can yea pulling for president in two more states. d t sight of your own well-being, aetna never did.

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that the number economists were expecting. this comes as roughly 18 million americans with officially unemployed. congress appears to be at a stand still for a new relief package. "outfront" now, peter navarro. 18 million, it's a stunning number. and the economy on an annual basis shrunk by a third last quarter according to the most recent gdp report. we know the americans want the unemployment benefits to continue and we know senate majority leader mcconnell suggests he's open to supporting the extension if the president does. if the president has not been specific on a number. do you think he would do that, that he could agree to extend $600? >> no, not my lane in the middle of this. with goeft a great team up on the hill and mark meadow, the chief of staff, the steve mnuchin, the treasury secretary. we've been encouraged over the last 24 hours on the willingness of both sides to move forward on the package. what i do know is president

trump cares deeply about the working men and women of this country, and nothing is more important than getting america back to work. so, let's see how the process goes. and i would urge caution in terms of listening to sound bites going back and forth at this point. as far as i know, there's very serious negotiations going on. the one thing i would tell you, erin, what my lane is is for example tomorrow i'm going to get on air force one with the president and we're going to go to what i view as the poster child for the trump trade policy, the whirlpool cooperation. we're going to a 109-year-old company. they went through hard times in the 2000s under the previous administration when predator companies from korea were trying to take them out. in 2018, president trump put a 50% tariff on washers. and the result has been

prosperity now at the nine different plants that whirlpool operates. so, i think it's going to be a good thing. and to your point, look, there's so many people unemployed right now -- >> right. >> -- i think the key to getting everybody back to work is going to be focus on manufacturing jobs. erin, we're losing a lot of jobs in the service sector which heavily impacted the hospitality, leisure, gaming, sports, all of that. people are leaving the cities. they're going to have to find manufacturing jobs. so, that's been my focus as the assistant to the president for trade manufacturing and policy. >> look, i understand. just to make the point here, obviously as you point out you can put people in those jobs and those jobs you're going the talk about tomorrow. we celebrate any jobs at this point. but you need people to buy those washers and dryers. this comes back to the point about how much money we should

be supplies in the unemployment system. he was an economist in the treasury department under president obama and did a fascinating analysis that showed that 70% of people who turned to work in june were making more from their unemployment benefits than from their wages. so, in other words it paid to stay home, and they didn't. they went back to work. for whatever reasons, they wanted the job, they wanted the c consistency. >> i can that's a rational calculation in many cases because even though they might get paid more today, tomorrow, next week, they're worried about the longer term security of their job. if they don't go back to work, businesses might go away. but on the other hand i think it's -- it's a concern. but i don't want to get in the middle. that's not my lane. i trust in mark meadows. >> right. >> the nation and the president. and i do think we'll get to a good place. but do you know what? this isn't the big thing about this. i know there's going to be probably a $1,200 payment to all the familys in america. that's great.

we're going to have to figure out how to make sure people don't get evicted. and i'm sure we're going to solve this unemployment issue. but there's other things in that big package that we need to do. and one of the things we need to do -- for example lindsey graham has a bill on personal protective equipment that would be basically buy american for that ppe. and that could be well part of the package as well because it's very -- >> okay. >> -- virus related. so, those are the kinds of things -- >> yeah. >> -- that congress has to start thinking about addressing structurally longer time to create jobs for america. >> look, i'm switching topics a bit but i'm doing it in something you wrote bt ait. obviously you got a lot of coverage for the op-ed you wrote, the one about dr. anthony fauci, that he's been wrong about everything i've interacted with him on t. reason i bring that up -- >> which is not the same thing about being wrong about everything which was misconstrued. there were a few things we had disagreements on.

but i'll tell you this. today at 5:00 i spent about an hour with him on a zoom call and we get along well. happy to answer your question. he's on the team. i'm on the team. basically one of his missions is to encourage people to wear masks and my mission to make sure we can manufacture them. and it's a nice division of labor as a rule. >> right. all right. that makes sense. but what you obviously wrote in that op-ed, i want to ask you about something else he said today in that conversation he had sanjay gupta which was broadcast. here's what he talked about. here he is. >> getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where i have to get security is just -- i mean, it's amagz. i wouldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that people who object to things that are pure public health principles are so set against it and don't like what you and i say, namely in the word of science, that they

actually threaten you. >> erin, this is just so unacceptable behavior. and to me, it's so un-american. i mean, what's always puzzled me from the onset of this crisis is we is are the chinese communist virus effectively sending a virus over here -- whether it was done by accident or on purpose, i don't know -- but they send it over here and kill over 150,000 americans, cause trillions of dollars of damage -- let me finish. instead of being angry at them, we're angry at each other. i've never seen america -- >> you're the one who wrote an op said that said anthony fauci has been wrong on everything we've talked about. >> those are policy disputes. >> how is that your lane and stimulus isn't? >> that's another issue. i'll tell you this. a lot of people in this administration -- i remember when sara sanders went to the

restaurant and got tossed out for being part of the trump administration. that kind of -- this -- look, here's the thing. this president wants to defeat the virus and unite this country around certain common principles, and that's what we need to do. look, tony is a great guy, right? there's just disagreements. and on things like, for example, the hydroxychloroquine, he has a strong point of view. there's as many doctors on the other side. >> but there aren't. but there aren't as many doctors on the other side. >> yeah, there are. >> but there are. >> yeah, there are. >> peter, first of all, you're an economist, not a scientist. >> there are. >> but there aren't. >> hang on. let me say one thing. >> yeah. >> william o'neal at the ford hospital system submitted with a group of scientists from baylor a request for an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine. guess what.

over 500 doctors sent in a petition in support of request. so i'm just saying there's a lot of people out there. and i don't really -- it's like past time for us to have a debate about hydroxychloroquine. >> we shouldn't be. but let me just say there's many millions of doctors in this country, there's five peer reviewed studys that show it not to be true, there's dr. birx, dr. fauci. >> you can't -- >> that study is a flawed study. but i need to do this, peter, because what you're saying is irresponsible. >> all right. let me say this to you, okay? i reach out to all your viewers. scott adams -- you know scott adams, right? he's the guy who wrote the "dilbert" cartoon. he did a beautiful ten-minute video on twitter, and the thesis of the video is that cnn might be killing thousands because of the way they've treated that. so, i would just ask -- i'll let scott adams' video be my defense on this -- >> can i just say something?

i find that to be offensive because he's a comic strip writer. >> understood. >> i just said that because i want to be clear. i just said dr. fauci. >> i said dr. o'neal. >> dr. brett genard and dr. deborah birx. >> deborah birx has not come out against hydroxychloroquine. >> yes she has. here she is talking about the studies. >> we know in the randomized controlled trials to date, and there's been several of them, that there's not evidence that it improves those patients' outcomes, whether they have mild/moderate disease or whether they're seriously ill in the hospital. >> but that's out of context. all she's talking about is what they call the rct, not the observation studies. erin, i don't think it's a good use of our time to talk hydroxy. >> here's the deal. i'll leave it there. i agree with you 100 kt approximate. i enjoy conversations with you over the years. i just really -- i just believe

that you should not be getting involved in this. i think that the scientists should. >> well, here's what i think -- >> i don't think either one of us should be arguing about hydroxychloroquine. >> let me tell you why i got involved with this, okay? i got involved with this because as a defense production act coordinator i'm literally sitting on 63 million tablets, 63 million tablets, atrophy ma of hydroxychloroquine that would help possibly 4 million americans stay alive. and so i've got that stake in the game. and everything i've read -- let's just say, erin, please accept this. there's at least disagreement among doctors. you can argue about how many on one side or the other, but please let's understand that there is a dispute. >> i do believe that doctors should make the ultimate decision. but i want to make the point, five randomized placebo controlled trials do not show any benefit to hydroxychloroquine. he said the evidence doesn't show it effective right now.

i think we need to move on from that and talk about what is effective. >> let me say one more thing. i want to say this. this is a drug that's been around for over 60 years. it can't hurt you under a physician's guidance. it's used for pregnant women by the cdc. if i'm wrong about hydroxychloroquine and people use it, nobody's going to die if they use it under a physician's guidance. but if fauci and the rest of them say hydroxy can hurt you or doesn't work, if they're wrong in a month, then thousands of people died on their watch. that's all i'm saying. mark that down today on august 5th or 6th or whatever it is. i'm losing count because working hard to keep americans and live and employed. but if i'm wrong, nobody dies. if they're wrong, thousands of americans die. >> study after study after study. all right. peter -- >> no, no, i can quote you as many studies -- >> no you can't.

you actually cannot do that. >> i can. i'll come back and we'll do that. >> all right. >> but it's great talking to you. remember i was here to talk about whirlpool and jobs -- >> and you did. >> we didn't stay focused on that. >> you did, you did. >> it's good to see you. >> it's good to see you and i appreciate your conversation. i want to go to dr. jonathan reiner. dr. reiner, you just heard peter navarro saying if he's right, thousands of lives would be saved and that maybe jar and birx and fauci are wrong. >> well, he's wrong. no one should care what i care about economic or trade policy because to use mr. navarro's words, that's not any lane. and i don't give a damn what he thinks about clinical trials evaluating this agent because he's not qualified to have an opinion. look, if he wants to discount birx and fauci and redfield, the

fda pulled the emergency use in june. they said first of all in the doses used the drug doesn't have any antiviral affect. number two, when they tried to replicate the early studies which suggested viral shedding was decreased by the drug, it couldn't be replicated. and five randomized clinical trials show the drug doesn't work. you don't get to have an opinion about science. you only get to have facts. he doesn't have facts. he doesn't have any idea what he's talking about. this drug can hurt people. if used without careful ekg monitoring, this drug can cause fatal erythremias. the reason this drug has been safe in some clinical trials is that it was studied closely in clinical trials where most patients were monitored. that's much different than being out in the time. >> i appreciate your time. we'll leave with the words,

we're wasting time that we could be testing and doing things that may be hugely effective. >> clinical trials are how we keep from fooling ourselves. >> thank you very much. >> sure. next republicans with ties to the president helping kanye west run for president. what trump is saying tonight. and beirut explosion being called an accident. but president trump not backing down on what he thinks could have caused it. cooling sensation for your throat. live claritin clear. for only week only, save up to $30 on select claritin products. check this sunday's newspaper for details. olay's new serum is so powerful, won. it renews skin better than $300, $500, even $600 serums. pretty amazing. olay. face anything.

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tonight, kanye west getting an assist from republicans, some with ties to trump and his bid for the white house. party operatives are helping west get his name on the general election ballot. but when asked about it tonight, president trump says he has, quote, nothing to do with the efforts. so far, west has filed to appear on the ballots in at least nine states, including ohio and colorado just today. one state where he got republican help is wisconsin. so why would republicans be willing to help him there specifically? well, let me just show you this. president trump won that state by 0.8%. when you look at jerry johnson and jill stein, they got 4.7% of the vote. so you understand the math, right? kanye west just needs to do well enough, well, give it to trump. "outfront" now, ben jealous,

president of people for the american way and foundation, and former president and ceo of the naa naacp. ben, always good to have you on. so kanye west, should democrats be concerned about his run? these razor-thin margins in several states would make it possible that someone does not need to do really well to flip this whole election. >> look, what's clear is that trump supporters are giving up on donald trump's ability to win, fair and square. and they're getting desperate and they're throwing whatever they can at the wall. and this week, they're throwing kanye west running for president a the wall to see if it sticks. >> so the woman who submitted the signatures needed to get west on that ballot in wisconsin. i was just laying out the numbers. a republican lawyer with ties to the trump campaign. so, you know, it's pretty clear there. i mean, do you have any doubt that republicans are organizing to help him? whether kanye west is onboard with that or not is a totally separate question. it's more, are they doing it?

>> oh, look, if you read "the times" article, it's clear in like every state, it appears that when the signatures get turned in, it's done by republican operatives. and what we know is that this is a lot of work. it takes a lot of money, it takes a lot of effort, and the folks who know how to do it are partisans and republican partisans with ties to trump are doing this. and they're doing it -- the only reason to do it at this stage is that it would help donald trump. there's no way for kanye west to win. you know, he just can't get on to all, even if he can muster a real campaign. but republican operatives can get him on the ballot in key states and try to drain skprovo and that seems to be the dirty trick here. there's even rumors that roger stone is involved. he probably wants us to think he's involved, that's the kind of guy he is. >> but does joe biden need to pay attention to this specifically? "washington post" poll, as you get younger, when you look at

african-american voters, they are less, you know, confident of joe biden and his commitment to them. right? so there is an age group -- is this a concern for joe biden? >> joe biden needs to campaign hard and bring his message to black people of all ages, to brown people of all ages. the only risk to the biden campaign right now is them not getting their message to those core demographics in our party. if they do that, he will win. >> all right. ben, thank you. appreciate your time. >> thank you. and next, incredible video from the very moment beirut, the explosion happened. in this case, there was a wedding. this was just before the world changed there. the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now. can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. and now, save up to $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. plus no interest until january 2023 on all smart beds. only for a limited time.

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exploding, sending a shock wave so strong, so vast, many who survived say they thought doomsday had arrived. prayers were lost to fear and chaos. life's iconic moments swept away in an instant, and in its aftermath, an apocalyptic wasteland. the destruction on such a scale many here cannot even find the words to express the depth of their emotions. with more than 135 dead, 5,000 wounded, and dozens of others still missing. there is shock, horror, and deep sorrow, coupled with anger and demands for answers. how is it that such a massive amount of dangerous explosive material, confiscated in 2014,

was restored in an unsecured warehouse? despite multiple warnings from the head of customs. the lebanese government said that many port officials will be put under house arrest and -- >> and to hold accountable those responsible and inflict on them the most severe punishment. >> but there's little faith in this country's rulers, in a nation where corruption dominates, and the people suffer at the hands of the political elite. u.s. president trump offered his condolences, floating the idea this may not have been an accident, but offering no proof. >> it looks like a terrible attack. >> reporter: and then his own secretary of defense refuted that claim. >> most believe that it was an accident, as reported. beyond that, i have nothing further to report on that. it's obviously a tragedy. >> reporter: it is a tragedy. the largest in a chain of many, a failing economy, the spread of covid-19 that have crippled this nation.

300,000 people have been displaced. damages are estimated to range from 10 to $15 billion. how do you recover from something like this? physically, emotionally, or as a nation? >> i can't imagine what it's like there where you are. i mean, how has this day been? >> it's been very difficult, erin. people are still reeling from the shock of all of this. and of course, it doesn't help when president trump increases and fuels this speculation over what was actually behind this attack. you have to remember that this is a region where conspiracy theories run rampant, where fiction can even lead to even more violence. and right now, what lebanon and the population here need is support. >> arwa, thank you very much. i hope you're doing okay there.

i know it's hard to see the destruction. just absolutely so tragic. thanks to arwa and thanks to all of you for being with us. "a.c. 360" begins right now. and good evening. a new report from cnn quotes a source who says that not only does president trump still not fully grasp the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, he just doesn't seem to be interested in the topic for any length of time. last night, the president attended his first meeting with the coronavirus task force since april. he put out pictures marking his attendance on twitter last night, but this source is telling cnn that try as the coronavirus task force might, he was just not interested. even tried to change the subject. quoting the source now, he starts talking about something else. he's either not interested, doesn't care, or doesn't think it's a winning topic for his re-election. dr. anthony fauci, a member of the task force, joined my colleague dr. sanjay gupta at a conference today in washington to discuss the virus. >> there's