has embraced and promoted the qanon conspiracy theory, which is off the walls, if you look at some of it, but he did not answer. and when she tried to follow up, he moved on to another reporter. >> he certainly did. he was very careful to not respond to that follow-up question. so, abbey, we took the question and answer part of this briefing too, be clear, we find it to be instructive as the reporters are challenging the president with questions. but yesterday he floated, essentially a birther conspiracy about kamala harris, which is something that is -- i mean it's very othering, racist. he was asked during this briefing if he has an issue with women of color and he sort of swatted that away and says he doesn't see kamala harris as a threat.

>> that's what he says. i do think it's interesting the president has been, it seems, grasping at ways to get at kamala harris too, find something to stick to her in terms of how he can attack her on the campaign trail. and one thing that he has bizarrely settled on is reprising this racist birther lie that he used against barack obama. you know, it is, as you said, othering and racist. but it's also cynical. in so many deferent ways. it suggest people are stupid enough to believe kamala harris, who ran for months for the presidency. she ran to be president of the united states, and we didn't hear anything about this from the president until now, until she is now going to be on the ballet for sure running against the him and mike pence. so, all of this is truly bizarre

in a number of ways, but whether or not the president is aflad of strong, black women or what have you, it's clear he hasn't figured out what an above-board argument on kamala harris is that doesn't sink to the low depths of birther conspiracy and lies aimed at racist instincts of some people in this country. >> certainly we've seen that he reserves some of his most aggressive vit reall for women of color who challenge him. we've seen that time and again when it comes to the white house press core. this is jared kushner, the president's son in law on this birther lie. >> you accept that she's a qualified candidate? >> i personally have no reason to believe she's not. but again, my focus has been on the historic peace deal we've been able to achieve here. >> she was born in oakland, california. >> yeah.

>> makes for a qualified candidate. why didn't the president take the opportunity to debunk that theory? >> i have not had a chance to discuss that with him. >> abbey, what do you think? >> i mean, it shouldn't come as a surprise that jared kushner or anybody in the white house is unwilling to simply assert facts, if they contradict what the president wants to say. they are not absolved from the consequences of that. i do think that it's the responsibility of every person, including people who work in the white house, republicans on capitol hill to decide on which side of the issue they're on. they're either on the side of the racist conspiracy theory or they're not and i think jared kushner made it clear what side he's on. >> before, abbey's right, it's not surprising, especially with the president's comments yesterday because we saw how he

built his political career, in part, on the birther lie on president obama and that was before he worked in the white house and before jared kushner was a senior advisor to him in the white house. so, now he's making these comments from the briefing room and letting it float out there, instead of knocking it down. and jared kushner is answering the question from the front lawn and refusing to say it's not true and he knows senator kamala harris is qualified, legally, to be vice president of the united states. it's the back drop that makes it, not surprising, but all the more striking this is happening in 2020 with the president in the white house. >> it's despicable and history will not be kind to them in this moment as they conduct themselves like this. i want to ask about the president's comments on mail-in voting. because this as we're getting

he headlines on how it is going to effect the election and they plan to remove several mail processing machines across it country. >> reporter: i mean, these developments are coming every day, it seems. but the big picture is we're watching what seems to be a complete restructuring and really slimming down of the services of the postal service that's cause dg lays across the country. they say these machines, almost 700, as you said, are responsible for sorting thousands of pieces of mail. we're expecting it to be oplot in november because of mail-in voting. you've got millions of americans using mail-in ballots for the first time and they'll go through the postal service. how much -- what is going on at that postal service and is

president trump exerting political influence over that agency? he's appointed a top donor to be the post master general. luis dujoy is someone who, just last week, met in the oval office with the president. the president says it's a congratulatory meeting and came just days before the announcement of major restructuring and report of wide-spread delays across the country that we are tracking, brianna. so, it's a developing story but the president now is being very clear. he wants to -- or he is willing to hold up funding for the usps if it means holding up mail-in balloting. the question is will congress allow him to do that? >> he's talking about doing it out in the open. it's great to see both of you. the coronavirus crisis is still killing far too many americans. 1,076 lives lost just yesterday.

deaths from coronavirus over the last month. too many days with hundreds and hundreds of americans dying. the deaths are devastating and voe the number of people still getting infected. california is leading the country in the number of infections, becoming the first state to surpass 600,000 covid cases. over the last week, the u.s. has reported more than 365,000 known coronavirus cases, which is enough to fill this atlanta stadium more than five times. and there's a new warning today for georgia from the white house, coronavirus task force. your policies are not enough. that was kept hidden and not followed. we'll have more on that ahead. plus. dr. anthony fauci says the consequences will be devastating if we do not get it under control. >> you will never get a good market back economically, unless

you control the biologic. you have to be able to control. and one of the problems is in your understandable zeal to quickly get back to normal and revive the economy, you do it if you do it in a measured, prudent way. what we've seen is the jumping over the benchmarks and the guide posts that have been put forth. so too, think you can ignore the biologic and get the economy back, it's not going to happen. >> and yet the white house coronavirus testing say don't get hung up on the number. referring to the number of tests being done in the u.s., which is decreasing, not increasing. just over 700,000 for the entire country and county averaging more than 1,000 deaths per day

for covid and says the number of tests being done is flattening the curve. >> you beat the virus by smart policies, supplemented by strategic testing. you do not beat the virus by shotgun testing everyone all the time. it is just a false narrative and i'm really tired of hearing it from people not involved in the system that we need millions of tests every day. >> i'm joined by cnn medical analyst and deputy physician and chief of quality and safety at memorial -- pardon me memorial sloan keterring. i'm just tripping over myself today, doctor. deyou tell us your reaction to admiral gerard's comments. is testing in the u.s. sufficient? >> absolutely not. it's not even close. it's very dispointing to hear him say that. because even a few weeks ago, his tone was very different. it was more compatible with

public health thoughts. this does not bode well. the evidence is we have some areas with enough testing. a positive rate of 1% of all tests we do are positive. in contrast a positive test rate of 10 to 15%. that means there's a lot of cases out there still waiting to be found and until they're found, they'll spread to the next person. so, there's no way we're testing enough, not even close. >> so, you're disappointed by what he said. why do you think he said that? and i wonder, as an expert looking at public health officials connected to the white

house, sometimes it seems like they're being honest in that ne'er hewing to what public health consengss is and sometimes you hear, like this, admiral jurarsaying something that is not what any expert outside of the white house is telling us. >> you know, i'm not sure what his motivation is. he suggests he and his buddies are the only ones who really know the secret truth and we're all outside the bubble there. this is not new stuff. i mean, testing, isolating, tracking. this is decades old. nobody's reinventing anything where you have to be in the cool club with him to know how to do this. it's hard to do but everyone knows how to do this and testing has been the key since we started talking in march. it's always been testing and they have failed every day.

>> i want to ask you about an op-ed you wrote. do we know states are slowing them or that fewer people are going to get them? >> i know texas is claiming no one wants them now, which is peculiar to me. we don't know. it would strike me very unexpected. it's up to the public health community and encourage people to get tested for their own protection and protection of their loved ones. there's no other way to proceed. i would take it as a failing either way. if they deliberately suppress testing, that's a problem. if they suppress the urge to get the tested, that's a bigger problem because it's asking for trouble down later, where people

have now brought it home and given it to grandma, given the infection to grandma. so, it's disastrous eekter way. >> it's almost like giving up to do those things. thank you. next the white house is warning officials in georgia that they're not doing enough to stop the spread of covid, but they didn't follow that warning and never made it public. plus president obama weighing in on senator kamala harris and his biggest concern about the 2020 election and i'll speak to the reporter who asked him this question. >> after three and a half years do you regret at all all the lying you've done to the american people? >> all the what? >> all the lying, all the dishonesty. yes! until i realized something was missing... ...me. you ok, sis? my symptoms kept me- -from being there for my sisters. "...flight boarding for flight 2007 to chicago..." so i talked to my doctor and learned- ...humira is for people who still have symptoms

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the state of georgia is in trouble. and that message is coming from the white house. they report the white house coronavirus task force is warning that georgia's current policies are not enough to handle the surge in coronavirus cases in the united states. but that information was not followed by the state and not made public to georgians. we're only aware of this information because it was leaked. the numbers don't lie. in the past two weeks, georgia has had at least 2200 new cases per day. on august 8, the single-day new case count was 4,423 and althou although georgia ranks eighth, it currently ranks fifth in total number of confirmed cases. joining me now is william body a member of the georgia

legislature and a democrat. nang you so much for being with us, representative. i wonder what was your reaction when you found out that your state has actually been getting reality-based warnings that completely contradict the public health stance from the state government and that they are not following this, and that they're keeping it secret? >> well, that's a great question. i was completely stunned and shocked. i mean, four of the citizens of the state of georgia to find out about this white house task force report with regards to their and my great state of georgia through a leak and basically making this leak come to light was very problematic for me because we're talking about people's lives and this is not a political issue. this is a public health issue that every citizen in the state of georgia needs to know what

needs to be done to stop the spread of covid-19 in the state of georgia. so, it was very problematic for me. >> and the task force, quote, strongly recommends that they adopt a state-wide mandate that citizens wear masks. the governor there, governor kemp, has recommended masks but refused so far to issue a state-wide order. he even sued the mayor of atlanta, which has been dropped. but i wonder what you think he might be doing going forward. what are you expecting? >> i think that is totally out of line for the governor. in the state of georgia, you have mayors, like mayor keisha lance bottoms in the city of atlanta and johnson in savannah, georgia, that are trying to do the right thing to protect their

constituents. they're closest to their constituents and they know. my request to the governor would be if you're not going to mandate masks statewide, leave the local elected officials alone and let them enforce mask mandates on the local and county level. the governor wants to control mask mandates for cities. however, he's letting the school system pick and choose if they want to mandate masks. so, if you're going to let the school system mandate masks on the local levels, let the local municipalities and counties do the same thing in the state of georgia. >> i want to add we contacted the governor's office and, quote, governor kemp continues to rely on data, science and the public health advice of dr. kathleen toomey and her team

in our state's ongoing battle against covid-19. as the governor has said many times before this fight is about protecting the lives and livelihoods of all georgians. >> what data is he looking at? i would say he's less than 15 minutes away from the cdc, from the univrsty, where you have global pandemics experts that are getting the data on a daily basis. and i will ask the governor just drive over to one of those facilities or both and sit down with the experts on the covid-19 virus and talk with them and analyze their data. because the data he's looking at, obviously, is not the right data. if you're a citizen of the state of georgia and we have 10.6 million people and we're with the other states twice that size, like the state of florida, texas and california, the state

of florida has 22 million people. the state of texas has 30 million people. and the state of california has 40 million. so, you're going to tell me that the data the governor is looking at and examining is the right data? because if it was, we wouldn't be in the top five with other states four or five times the state of georgia, if he was looking at the right data. >> we appreciate it. >> thank you so much for having me. just in the cdc revealing what you can and cannot do if you recovered from coronavirus. stand by for that. plus, don lemon will join me on the president amplifying another birther lie. this time it's about kamala harris.

president trump is turning back to one of his earliest chapters of racism. this time newly minted v.p. candidate, kamala harris. >> can you say whether or not kamala harris meets the legal requirements to run as vice president. >> so, i heard it today. that she doesn't meet the requirements. they're saying she doesn't

qualify because she wasn't born in this country. >> she was born in this country. >> i don't know about it. >> she was born in this country, as you heard the reporter make very clear. very irsponseible for the president to suggest. and his senior advisor was asked about this last time on cnn. and this is something to do with race. president trump's actions have been consistent with trying to fight for unforgotten americans. he has an unimpeachable prak record but for whatever reason, media likes to chase down rabbit holes and create controversy where one doesn't exist. >> the host of cnn tonight. this has to do, of course w race and i wonder what your reaction

is to what you heard from kushner. >> i don't think the media is insinuating anything. and he was asked about it and he responded to it and he didn't say i don't know anything about it. he responded. and if he doesn't know, he should say i don't know and let's move on because that's not important right now. i am happy to go up against her. and jared kushner should be more emphatic as well. he should know better than to insin ought or play footsy with this whole racist birther saga. he should understand how the president gained his political footing, by saying the former president of the united states was not born in this country and finding nothing. demanding his birth certificate. he should know this is not a winning strategy for him and quite frankly, it's bigoted, tired, old and, as i said on my rogram last night and i'm sure

you struggle with this as well. how much oxygen do we give this bs just because they want to tar and smear and taint someone? how much do we elevate this? or if we don't talk about it, does it just fester? >> and that is the discussion. i remember when birtherism is was starting to take hold, i was covering congress. and it was at a time where what do republicans think about this? and you noticed that a lot of them -- and thought because i think they thought obama wasn't born in the u.s., but because they weren't sure where they should politically stand to be safe. they started with their milk toast answers, like you saw from kushner, giving life to this. it's become very clear, when it came to birtherism, there was this red sns to not give it life but it gets life. it's weed being watered

somewhere else, right? and you actually reached out to all of kamala harris's republican colleagues in the senate. what did they say to you? >> we reached all 53 and only one responded and at the was senator john kennedy of louisiana. my show staff also reached out. they said he saidality the time they knew nothing about it and so, therefore, didn't have a response. jared kushner is responding if they have a response and will denounce it. and there is also a very prominent senator who has asked tusz go off the record with, i'll just say, their response, because i don't want to give a gender. not many in the senate, right? but there's one republican senator saying i want to go off the record.

we have not agreed to that yet but when we figure it out, we will let you know. and as you know lindsey graham did put out a statement and say kamala harris is born in this country. that is not in question but he did not really have anything nice to say about the senator, except to say she is one of the most liberal people in the senate. but he did denounce it and that means a lot. >> he did state the fact about where she was born and her parents and everything. i want to ask you a larger question about things being politicized. what isn't? masks, the military, college football, kindergarten, and now snail mail. what is this election going to be all about, as you see it? >> obviously everything is politicized. but i feel and i know this is, at the very base of this, it's about race.

it is about race, it's about race, it's about race. when you're looking at the postal service issue. what is at the bottom of that? it's about suppressing voters. people with means, who can go to a drop box or get their ballots early or just have means to be able to participate in this election in ways that poor people won't and disenfranchised people won't, that mostly means african-americans, right? they will be able to do it. look at who resuscitated joe biden's campaign. it was black folks. look whose on the vp side. black folks. look what comes out of the president's mouth every day. birtherism. some sort of racist dog whistle and sometimes not dog whistle. this election is about race. and that's why i said jared kushner, all the senators, all law makers and the president should be emphatic about denouncing racist strategy.

this country is ready to move on. the the event of the summer of 2020 has shown us people are in a different place when it comes to race. we cannot let our foot off the gas. people with platforms like us, should hold people accountable for their racism, racial blind spots and juls plain out in the open bigotry. so, move only, come into 2020, get with the program. people are tired of the racist jargon and actions and bs. >> don, thank you so much for coming on. 10:00 p.m. eastern. we will be watching. >> don't forget my podcast. silence is not an option. we're talking about sports. and i think -- i know you have to go. but i think people should listen to it because we're talking sports and i'm talking to bill

roaden, who is a prominent, legendary sports caster and writer. he wonders whether integration was good for sports, black people and black colleges. it's a very fascinating and provocative conversation. >> your podcast is excellent. you have such wonderful sgess. and i really appreciate it, don. so, thank you so much. >> be safe. just in the cdc revealing what you can and cannot do if you recovered from coronavirus. plus, two parents evacuate their 8-year-old daughter from wuhan, china, thinking the u.s. would be a safe place, only to have her contract it in tennessee. try wayfair. you got this!

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breaking news just in from cnn. new guide nsz from the cdc saying people who have had coronavirus and recover, do not need to get tested for three

months. they say this only applies if you donot develop symptoms again. their risk of reinfection may be lower in the first few months. but that natural immunity will decline over time as antibodies decrease within months. a question at inpresident's white house coronavirus briefing yesterday got a whole lot of attention. >> mr. president, after all inyears, do you regret all of the lying you've done to the american people? >> what? >> all the lying and dishonesty. >> that who has done? >> that you have done. >> and he's the senior white house correspondent with "the huffington post." tell us why you asked this question and did you know that it would get a response like it has?

>> um, on the response part, no, i had no idea it would be taking off like it has. i've been wanting to ask him about that since the very first event in 2019. and have not had the opportunity to do so until yesterday. and it seems to be the key question of his presidency. sometimes it's not important but sometimes, in the middle of a crisis, it is. and i wanted to see whether, given any reflection, given all this time, maybe he a had regrets about it. and apparently not. >> did you think he would answer it? >> i wasn't sure. sometimes he picks fights and will say you're fake news or you're lying. i diddent know what was going to

happen but i thought there was a decent chance he would pick someone else and that's what happened. >>. >> there's a deep divide between people critical of the president. they feel very deeply their objections to the president's repeated 10s of thousands of lies. but when it comes to the white house press core, there's also, i think -- yeah, i guess i would say criticism of the question you asked. i spoke to a number of colleagues about that and what i learned is they respect you personally. they wondered, especially in your capacity of a print pooler, if that was an appropriate question or a stunt and i wonder, what do you say to folk

whose say maybe that wasn't an appropriate question. >> and i get that. but i've been doing this for a long time. and i think i understand that when, when someone is recovering is going to lie to you most of the time. there's not a whole lot of point in asking what do you think of the payroll tax and this vaccine? a lot of the time, he doesn't know the answer and makes something up. the one key question that we all have, i think, is why does he do this? and we're entitled to an answer. it's fine in a democracy to disagree about policies. that's what we're about and why we have have debates and legislatures, this whole giant system. but it's not okay to not tell the truth. that is a problem. whether you voted for the president or didn't, you're entitled to accurate information about what's going on about what

he sees as his policies and what the white house is saying about them ought to be accurate. they work for us, in the end. let's not forget that. i wrote a long piece about this in january and hipoths the what would happen and within weeks, there we were. >> i know this resonated with a lot of people and i appreciate you coming on to be with us and talk about it. >> it's been my pleasure. >> we've heard trump claim falsely on a number of indications that children are immune. our next guests know full well children can. they were living in china when the novel coronavirus broke out. dad, james, was working 200 miles away. they were able toboard one of the u.s. evacuation flights out

of wuhan. and they were safe until their daughter caught the virus here in the u.s. in memphis, tennessee. thank you so much. your daughter, hermoine, just tested pausetive for coronavirus last week. and james, i know you tested positive, along with your parents. tell us, first, how everyone is doing. >> well, we're hanging in there. luckily, most of our symptoms have been mild so far and we're staying in quarantine and trying to ride it out right now. >> and when you were leaving, i imagine there was considerable relief getting out of wuhan. did you ever think the real risk for your family was going to be in the u.s.? >> no. never. i thought that we were getting out and when it all hit, i was like, oh, my gosh.

yeah t was never something that came to mind when we were on that plane. >> did it feel like you were leaving the threat behind, that you were relieve snd. >> yeah. the build up to leaving, i thought wow, this -- we're able to get out. i can -- we can be safe. >> that's what everyone thought and you're both in this unique position because you saw how china handled the coronavirus and saw how the u.s. is doing. compare what you you saw there compared to the u.s. >> it's night and day, to be honest. you had to of course wear masks, get your temperature checked. and it got to a point where

people were being block aided inside of their apartment, inside of their apartments. people were not outside and here, people are going out and doing what they want to do. and there doesn't seem to be much concern as to whether people are going to transmit this disease or not. >> and somewhere between drak ownian measures like you saw in china, and completely letting this thing fly free is this this discussion of what's done in the middle. so, i wonder what do you think about how seriously they're taking the virus, considering what you know as a mom? >> i have to say they're not taking it seriously enough. where i live right now is a small little town and they don't have a whole lot of cases. there's not a whole lot of fear for it.

but at the same time, we have to be more cautious about how we're going out and what we're doing and school pflgs going to be starting. we have to think about how we want to get our kids back into school, if they're going to school. and just think about the community as a whole. >> well, i'm sorry you're dealing with this. i'm so glad to know your family is doing well and i want to thank you both for talking to us. >> thank you. we have breaking news. the postal service is warning several states may not be able to deliver ballots in time for the election, depending on current election rules. part of the reason, lags in mail delivery time. some of the states include, washington, california, north

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for their soon-to-be-bigger family. after shopping around for insurance, they called usaa - who helped find the right coverage for them and even some much-needed savings. that was the easy part. usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it- easy. . today on homefront, our digital and television column where we try to bridge the military/civilian divide, we're talking about whether the military should evict trump should he lose in november f. that sounds crazy, welcome to 2020. but a retired colonel in national security publication defense is calling for exactly

that. this is the key line. if donald trump refuses to leave office at the expiration of his constitutional term, the united states military must remove him by force and you must give that order. they address this letter to the chairman of the joint chiefs general mark milley and this sparked big fiery conversations in military and civilian communities alike and it prompted an op-ed in defense one in response. quote, the military won't save us and you shouldn't want them to. it is deeply irresponsible not to mention organizationally nonsensical to suggest that general milley should evict an election-losing trump from the white house. joining me now is jim goldby from the clement center for the university of texas, austin, and co host of a podcast called thanks for your service. thanks for coming on. >> thanks so much for having me

on. >> so this was a swift reaction that you had to this initial op-ed. tell me why you and your co-author felt it was necessary to respond. >> well, thanks, so much. i think the main point is we think it is dangerous to think that the military should be the prime tool to solve our domestic political disputes and we don't think a call to do that would end well. and we're worried that raising the idea that we would turn to the military to settle an election could undermine the trust that the american people put in the military, that is an unbiased tool of the leadership of our country. >> and you have major concern. people have valid concerns. the military has been incredibly politicized. this is something that we've seen in the past, both parties do. but this is something that president trump has done on steroids, from using them in

protests, or even raising the issue of activating them for protests having military on border when really they can't do the job that is seems they're supposed to be doing there. what are your concerns about the long-term damage of the politicization. >> i think in the united states we've been rightfully skeptical of using the military to solve our domestic political disputes since our founding. something that george washington could have used his military and political power to install himself as a king. instead he retired and went home for several years before he was later called again to run for office and he won the civilian political election. i think if we fall into the idea we're going to use the military to solve our political disputes we undermine the soul and character of our military, a military that willingly

subordinates itself to the willingness of the nation. and we would also undermine the character of our nation. one that prides itself on the nonviolent transfer of power from one party to another. so i think the more and more we turn to the military, and the less we turn to political processes, which we do believe could handle these challenges and have handled challenges like this before, in previous contentious difficult elections as recently as year 2000, the more we turn to the military to solve those disputes, the less we'll be america and less we'll stand for things that america should stand for. >> thank you so much for bringing your academic and your past military perspective to this. we appreciate it. and just a plug for your podcast, thank you for your service. did i miss your predecessors thomas and nick. to give them a plug too. if you have any story ideas email me at homefront at cnn.com and check out my column sat

cnn.com/homefront. we're back in a moment. i get cash back with almost everything i buy when i use rakuten. i used rakuten to get lisa's birthday present. it's free money. oh i could use it to get takeout on the ride home. i'm making food. i'm a vegan. since when? since now... rakuten sounds cool. rack it up with rakuten, sign up today to get cash back on everything you buy.

you can't claim that because it's inanimate! people ask me what sort of a person should become a celebrity accountant. and, i tell them, "nobody should." hey, buddy. what's the damage? i bought it! the waterfall? nope! a new volkswagen. a volkswagen? i think we're having a breakthrough here! welcome to caesar's palace. thank you. hi there, i'm brooke baldwin. it is friday, you're watching cnn. thank you for being here. here is what we have for you today. there is a dire and ominous projection from the cdc about the future of coronavirus deaths here in the u.s. the agency is projecting nearly 189,000 americans will die from the virus by september 5th. that is three weeks from now and that figur