los angeles? all i see is confrontation. when you start closing bars as they have done in texas, arizona, i think you have got a real problem coming up. i hate to say it, that will be july 4th this year. time's up for me. neil cavuto. it's yours. neil: thank you, stuart varney. i appreciate that my friend. we are following the same things that stuart was just telling you about beginning with this hearing that is going on with dr. fauci and other top health officials. fauci's remarks, depending what you're hearing here, sort of rattled market as little bit, more and more we're looking at virus complications and issues directly affecting and being affected by young people. we'll go to explore that with top doctors meantime. our concern separately about a separate flu a another virus developing in china, even dr. fauci warns paying attention to. it is unusual strain to put it mildly. and could be maybe a problematic issue down the road.

right now the focus is on states and cities that are holding back on reopening and phased reopening plans at this stage here. looks like it is relatively contained but all of this in an environment where the number of cases has picked and the world health organization says the worse could be yet to come. interesting development as well in england they were reordered to institute lockdown measures. that is follows on heels with other foreign countries bedevil ed openings not going necessarily to plan. i'm not talk being about what is rapping in russia, india, spikes in cases in japan and the seoul, south korea area. the fear this seems to way on the markets eventually. something that will slow certainly the reopenings and the economy and recovery that many hoped to see from that. very tepid.

no matter what happens today. looking like a boffo month for all the major market afterrings, certainly a very strong quarter. the strong first half of the year, we'll get into all of that, first to chad pergram, what we're learning from top health officials at this early go round. chad? >> talk about the economics of this, we'll have a hearing before the house financial services committee with steve mnuchin, treasury secretary and head of the federal reserve jay powell. we'll learn more about that there. what we're looking at is how fast the vaccine could be put together. the administration put all their eggs in that wasket. they call it warp speed. they're putting it out quickly. dr. fauci said they could be close by the end of the calendar year. here is the fda commissioner steven hahn. >> the fda is committed to ex-pa department work. we will not cut corners in our

decision making. we're making clear in our guidance what is the data we need should be submitted to meet our regulatory standards of approval. this is particularly important as some people are skeptical of vaccine development efforts. reporter: the fda won't approve any vaccine unless it is shown to be 50% effective. the fda will require the drug companies to monitor those who take the vans seen for a year. they will not okay an vaccine that produces antibodies. antibodies can help but it is not clear how much they can help against the virus. bernie sanders is worried about the cost to the poor and as. >> unfortunately this simple life-saving practice has become part of the political debate, says if you're for trump be you don't wear a mask. if you're against trump you do. i said the president occasionally wear a mask.

reporter: now the chair of the coronavirus select committee in the house of representatives, jim clyburn of south carolina, he sent a letter to the republican colleagues on the panel yesterday imploring them to wear masks. he says he will not recognize them at the next hearing if they don't wear masks. just this mornings house majority leader steny hoyer, he said republican members who walk around the capitol walk around without a mask showing his word, disdain, disdain for the colleagues and the rules. neil? neil: chad, was there much support, nancy pelosi raised this, steny hoyer had as well, making a federal edict, you will wear a mask, no matter story, vagueries of states that will become federal government policy, what did that? >> that is something dan kill dea democratic congressman from michigan added yesterday. extends around the capitol, around the country, dianne feinstein, democrat from california she wrote to the faa

yesterday and also to the federal transportation agency asking that there be federal policy at least everybody would know what the guidelines would be, whether you're on an airplane, at the airport, in a metro station, on a bus. none of that exists right now. if these cases continue to uptick, chances are those calls for a nationwide standard will definitely increase, neil. neil: yeah. i bet you're right. chad, great job as always, my friend. much appreciated. chad was mentioning on dianne feinstein. california all of sudden is seeing a spike in cases. 7,000 new ones as of monday. that is the highest single day total of this pandemic here. hence the discussions being bandied about, maybe reclosing some beaches. maybe enforcing some distancing. capacity provisions, but it's a concern as more than a dozen states are dealing with double-digit upticks in cases. steve moore with us right now on the economic fallout from all of

this. steve, always good to have you. you had warned, got some headlines that when you said that the president could lose the election unless he cuts emergency coronavirus support to workers. now you based that on the idea that it could go too far. could you explain that? >> well, neale, we now have a situation, according to the congressional budget office. these are not my numbers, they are the official government numbers, four out of five workers are getting paid more for staying home than going to work. in fact i talked to my barber who just opened up, this was like a three-month paid vacation for me and my workers. that's a problem going forward, neil, because if you have got, now you're getting businesses opened up. you've got stores opening up. you've got factories opening up. if these employers can't get these workers back on the job, we will not have a recovery, it

is that simple. the stock market will fall significantly if investors believe that these businesses can't reopen because they can't get workers. we have a study coming out with my friend casey mulligan, who is the leading labor economist at the university of chicago. we estimate, just to give you a sense how dire this is, if you extend those unemployment benefits for six more months as nancy pelosi would like to do, you, we will have 10 million fewer jobs by the end. year. that means we won't have a recovery. neil: so looking at this, and battle back and forth, a lot of people are very anxious about returning to their jobs if that is even an option. for a lot of us it is taking care of kids. when you crunch the numbers, it is simply onerous to leave that behind. republicans have pushed go back to work bonus but i haven't seen one yet that tops people staying

home and getting those 600-dollar a week federal added benefits. what do republicans do? >> first of all, let me explain my position. i'm not saying that we should be heartless and throw everyone out in the cold. what i'm saying is we should go back to the old unemployment benefit system, you get paid 50 or 60% of your previous paycheck. when you, when businesses reopen, you go back on the job. you're, it is just human nature. economics is all about incentives. you know about that, neil f you're paying people more to stay home than go back to work you have a situation right now around the country where you have 30 to 35 million unemployed people, yet businessmen and women are telling me every day they can't get people to go back to their jobs, whether it's a construction crew, whether it is working in a factory, especially with respect to some of these blue-collar jobs. what i'm saying absolutely want to take care of people if they don't have jobs to go back to but not fair for workers who are

working to be paid less than the people staying home. neil: how do you think think this is factoring in the recovery? we have the spikes in cases. the president indicated we're not going back into lockdown provision but a number of states are reversing course by not just slowing phased reopening, steve, you know, reversing earlier openings that had been in effect, states like texas and florida, arizona, california, contemplating moves like that. does it worry you on just the economic impact? >> of course it does. i mean the one thing that could really derail this recovery, and there is a recovery underway. i agree with the fed chairman, it is proceeding at a faster pace than we had thought, but if you start to see states close down again and prohibit certain kind of activities and businesses reopenings, of course that will have a negative effect. but you know, neil, i don't think governors will be able to pull that off, i really don't.

first of all the american people are ready to get out. you see that every day, more cars on the road. you see people, you know, going whether to parks or playgrounds or into stores. consumer spending was up. people are getting out. i think it is really difficult for these governors to say, oh, you can't go out. i think what you have to do is leave it up to the individuals about whether they feel like it is safe to go back to their job or to a store, rather than heavy-handed dictates from governors. especially by the way, i mean this point has been made before, it's a little difficult for someone like cuomo or some of these blue state governors who allowed protests and tens of thousands of people marching in the street. what, you can burn down a building? you can't go into a building? it just doesn't make any sense. neil: we'll watch it closely. steve, good seeing you again. steve moore, following all of these developments here. i want to go to an drea

sullivan, james madison institute of technology innovation director. andrea, i wanted to talk to you about the whole facebook stuff and pile-on of advertisers or companies saying we want nothing to do with you, but ahead of that, the virus thing, from your vantage point and impact on the technology sector largely resistant to it, if anything benefiting from it but do you see that bigger picture continuing? facebook and social media guys not withstanding. >> sure, i mean if there is one thank that has helped us through the pandemic it has been communication technologies, right? for the 1/3 or so portion of american workers able to work from home, having, you know, strong internet connections, having great communications technologies, i'm talking to you right now over skype, that has been so important, to that extent i think we'll continue to see, you know, to the extent there is a need there, there will be demand and growth in that sector, but you know, there

are some things technology can't fix. unfortunately the broader employment situation with people that can't work from home, that virus generally, right, telecom can't fix that. that will take a lot more science and smart policy. neil: you know, as you're speaking, we're showing big technology social media names. facebook is up smartly today. it has been getting hammered over the last few days as you know better than anyone. it lost 60 billion bucks of market value as one big advertiser after another bolts from the company. i'm just wondering where you see it all going? in the scheme of things i understand that even with that many big names leaving from you know, pepsico and starbucks and a host of others, the fact of the matter is, it still represents but single-digit revenue impact, but it could grow? >> you're exactly right. so these are big names. they make great headlines. facebook is always a

controversial company. people will write the stories and get that kind of coverage. the fact of the matter is, it is an open question, the extent to which a lot of these companies might have been cutting back on advertising without the current situation, right? so we are in middle of a pandemic. we're in very uncertain economic situation. advertising had already been down since march, just because consumer spending is down. companies might not have budgets they used to to spend on this so you know what looks better to say, oh, we might be going broke so we're not going to advertise anymore? or saying hey, we're taking a stand for that great political cause. so i think there is a it about of a marketing element. neil: interesting point. i didn't think of that. can i ask you though, about these companies doing that, the companies that are doing this, whatever their motivations, for facebook, they wanted to make a statement, that is the groups that originally pushed this, wanted to make a statement on hate speech, all of that. separately conservatives have

been angry at the facebooks and the twitters for not hearing them out or slapping down their speech. anti-these guys in a no-win situation? >> i think that is absolutely right. you're right, even if we didn't have some kind of general cutback in advertising, these platforms do, sorry, advertisers do have the ability to target their money for whatever value they want to promote, right? advertisers on the left are pushing more of a left-wing message today. it could be conservatives upset about taking down a message for president trump of the problem you indicated the centralized model of communications. so long as our policies and our technologies shore up that model where a central entity has the ability to censor we have will get censorship. the way you see technology moving, cutting-edge is more distributed systems. when it comes to money you think of something like cryptocurrency which is censorship resistant by design. we're seeing development of communications technologies that

are more censorship resistant. we'll be in a situation people couldn't censor even if they wanted to. what that means for people's business models and advertising is another question. there is a favorite quote, the internyet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it and we're seeing that now. neil: well-put. >> exactly. neil: these guys are under a big ol' magnifying glass and they're doing okay despite that scrutiny. in the meantime, some of the numbers on economy, technology bouncing around notwithstanding, what is happening on the mortgage front and new home sales front, activity for those looking to buy a home or bump from the one they're already in. that has been a remarkable development we'll follow up close in a special town hall we're planning on july 9th, we take a look with barbara corcoran, the real estate guru, what is really going on here? depending where you look we're

getting record activity, albeit nonexistent activity. the combination of low rates people and pent-up demand to buy stuff, it is happening across the country. what is interesting about barbara something we hope to explore, we'll give you the questions as well, what is not happening in big urban areas like new york city and chicago, philadelphia, atlanta. some of the other cities are not seeing the real estate appreciation that others have. this might not be a passing moment. we'll explore that with barbara and a host of other special guests on july 9th, when we take a look at the future of housing as we know it, no matter where you live. stay with us. you're watching fox business. as a caricature artist,

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that's why i like liberty mutual. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. almost done. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ neil: what has been a string of big energy names, that has indicated right now they're in a world of hurt. chesapeake energy claiming bankruptcy for example, now in the food arena, the fast-food arena at that, nbc international, largest restaurant franchise owner or certainly among them in the united states with better than 1200 pisa huts, about 385

wendy's, filing for chapter 11 protection. some are looking at the company's books and how much they are hurting in the covid environment even though a lot of restaurants offer drive-through and alternative places to go, not enough to make up for disappointing sales. wendy's were surprisingly disappointing. entering chapter 11. that could be complete later today. reaction to all this, fast moving developments with the restaurant brands international ceo. very good to have you. i mean when you hear reports like this and i'm sure you have to look at the bigger picture, what you're doing and try to make sure that is good, but it's a little bit of a surprise, when operators of big names, well-known name restaurants are in a world of hurt. it makes you think about the smaller guys, right? >> neil, thanks for having me. absolutely. i think it is why it was so important for us that at restaurant brands with our three amazing brands, burger king,

popeye's, tim horton, when the pandemic hit north america we were really focused on insuring we're taking care of team members with our guests and safety enhanced covid procedures for safety contactless procedures. that is additional components to really focus on that aspect of the business. then, secondly, focusing franchisees to make sure they had the liquidity to weather the storm in most difficult of moments. for us insuring that our franchisees were well-protected healthy, able to weather the storm. we made some cash advances in some cases. we worked on the real estate side as well. we have some property we rent to our franchisees. ultimately support from the government was critical with ppp for those small businesses to make sure they were able to manage it. it has been a tough moment economically. for many small businesses, our franchisees included. we're staying close to make sure they weather the storm to get through this stronger and better

than ever. neil: i'm sure, you're everywhere in north america, and canada, what have you. i do wonder when you hear news out of governors like phil murphy of new jersey, i'm going to push back in-room dining maybe indefinitely. new york potentially contemplating the same for fear of a spike in cases, you must be scratching your head saying all right, how do i continue to work around this? >> yeah. we have been working closely with local governments with state governments for quite some time since the onset of the pandemic here in the u.s. make sure we understand which direction we're heading in terms of lockdowns and shutdowns. our teams and franchisees have done exceptional job in difficult moment, insuring that we continue to insure our guests safely. through the off premise business that we have, whether delivery

through the digital app or drive-through, or curbside pickup and always taking care of our guests and our team members. now we started to reopen some of the dining rooms. we understand there is concern in some jurisdictions that may be tapered back a bit. we're ready and prepared for all circumstances and we continue to work closely in local jurisdictions with the franchiseees and governments doing the right thing. always focused on safety and security of our team members and our franchisees and our guests. neil: helps to have drive-throughs. sometimes they're in a world of hurt if that is option. go ahead. >> thank you so much. no, i was going to say, before the onset of covid-19 we have 95% of our restaurants with drive throughs in north america. we with well-positioned for off

premise business. delivery is a big part of that as well. we're ready to serve in any circumstance. neil: best of luck to you, hopefully these reopening orders happen sooner ranker than later, jose cil, the restaurant brands international. quite a few restaurants under his umbrella here. probably heard the news that joe biden wants to resign a lot of the trump tax cuts, but imagine telling some big donors the details while they're eating dinner? yikes! now is the time for a new bath from bath fitter.

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there are growing disputes as well whether the report is even remotely accurate. the back and forth in middle of this with blake burman. blake is at the white house. what do we know? reporter: others have put out as well that russia had been putting bounties on u.s. troops in afghanistan. today over here at the white house it was the turn of top democrats here in washington to get their briefing. afterwards those democrats who attended the briefing here at the white house they were underwhelmed with what they heard. they said there was nothing substantive from that briefing and number two democrat here in washington, steny hoyer, is now saying as well that he still wants the entirety of the democratic membership to be briefed. watch. >> the white house personnel telling us their perspective. i think we knew the white house perspective. what we need to know the intelligence perspective.

i'm therefore urging the white house and the chief of staff to follow up on my request to make sure that we are briefed by the intelligence community directly. reporter: the white house was backed up by the pentagon last night as the department of defense said in a statement, quote, the department of defense continues to evaluate intelligence that russian gru operatives were engaged in malign activity against the united states and coalition forces in afghanistan. to date dod has no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations found in open source reports. kevin mccarthy, the top republican in the house said today, that he believes this was selective leak for political purposes. >> the idea that someone would try to do something selective inside of a report to play games is unacceptable. it doesn't matter what party you're in. we should not play any games with this. and no member should do that as

well. reporter: still though, neil, there are republicans here in washington say there are very serious questions raised in all of this. for example, the republican senator from nebraska, ben sasse told reporters here in washington the following, he said quote, the questions that he wanted to know, quote, who knew what when inside of the administration? did the commander-in-chief know. if not, why the heck not? what is going on in that process. that from a republican senator. neil? neil: so i don't want to put you on the spot blake, to be clear in my thick skull, the administration is still doubting the credibility of the charge, right? that that the russians were putting a bounty on u.s. soldiers lives? they're not convinced that even happened, right? reporter: they have said it is essentially an incomplete picture. that you get intelligence from all over the place, you put that together and you try to present it going forward or take from it what you will going forward and at this point, they're pointing to the pentagon statement as

well, there was as the pentagon put it, no corroborating evidence to validate what we have seen in many of those published reports. neil? neil: got it, my friend, thank you very much. blake burman at the white house here. the white house of course is under a whole lot of polling pressure as well, whether it is the coronavirus handling or some of these crises that popped up. it is combining to really wallop president trump at polls. the prospect after biden presidency has begun to look a little more, well, likely unless the environment quickly changes. you ought to think about that wherever you are, no matter what you think of joe biden personally, whatever you think the president personally, taxes will go up. that is inevitable, because they're very, very low right now. with almost any move the former vice president says will -- toes taxes he spelled it out with big

donors yesterday. i think he did it while they're eating. i'm not sure charlie gasparino if that was good timing for those donors, but what did you hear? >> they're all people that like low corporate taxes, and most of them are investors and wall street guys. we should point out, neil, i don't think any of them were surprised to be honest with you. i've been reporting for the past week how wall street is gearing up, starting to gear up for the potential biden presidency and just what it might mean for markets and you know, the fact that corporate taxes are going to go up dramatically, i found that interesting. he stopped at 28% from 20%. he didn't bring it back to the full 35% that president trump cut it from. it was interesting. you see a lot of stuff in here about capping capital-gains taxes, tax cuts and, capping capital gains and other interesting ways to raise revenue. listen, here's the thing, we'll see a market impact i am told as

we get closer if the polls remain the same. right now what you have is wall street, which usually waits until september gradually trying to figure out if they should start putting out election analysis now and how elections might impact stokes. that shows you that the just from the ground level, the wall street guys are getting very nervous about what how this might impact the markets. now what is fascinating about all of this, neil, the heads of wall street firms are not exactly trump supporters. if you go down the line of the big firms, david solomon at goldman, larry fink at blackrock, many others, with the exemption of someone like steve schwarzman at blackstone, the private equity firm, most of these guys are democrats. they, sort of profess theirance absolute, how much they despise him largely in private but you see their public comments are very progressive, guys on the

grounds wealth advisors are worried about the clients, clients portfolios are affected. what happens to stocks if you get 28% corporate tax rate? what happens to stocks, if you know, capital gains are capped. all those various measures. they're trying to figure that out right now. also what happens to stocks if regulations get ramped up which they will. what happens to stocks if elizabeth warren becomes treasury secretary? not, not a theoretical possibility, a very real possibility to appease his base. he may do that. she will definitely have a say in fiscal policy. what happens to stock if aoc is part of some sort of energy commission that may be renews the the war on coal? all that is going to be factored in. it has to be factored into the markets. what i understand, these vast changes biden will bring will affect every part of the administration. the consumer financial protection board, number one the head of that, would be fired and they will ramp up enforcement of

that board which is a, sort of another sort of lyle layer. it is almost like another doj but only on banks. that is going to be ramped up. mark calabria, runs the fhfa is undergoing fannie and freddie reform. that probably stops if he doesn't reform it before a lame duck or during a lame duck that reform, releasing fannie and freddie from government control could well not happen. this will be a fundamental change if joe biden gets there. this is not joe biden not barack obama. this joe biden will be heavily influenced by progressive politics and if you believe he will get elected, you better get your portfolios ready for that. i would say normally munis would be safe haven because they're triple tax-free, because of covid and municipal budgets are

bursting. they have have massive budget deficits. i don't get paid to give financial advice, if he gets elected it will be rough sledding. positive thing for investors, jerome powell is still there. he is committed to low interest rates, that does help markets to a certain degree. there you have it, not a pretty picture if joe biden gets there with money in the markets. back to you, neil. neil: i think most startling news item there you get paid. so that was remarkable. >> said i care about capital gains, right? neil: of course. of course you do. thank you very much. charlie gasparino. he is the best in the business and again for businesses they are looking at that higher tax rate as a given. just how much we'll be able to take on that, whether, you know, a biden should he win takes the senate, house and then he has the trifecta. then it's a whole different game. we're still monitoring that dr. fauci and hearing on the

coronavirus. he is spending a good deal of time apparently on this virus in china. it's a separate virus. not like this pandemic, the coronavirus but one that has the traits of the 2009 swine flu and 1918 pandemic flu. yikes! after this. ♪

♪ the upside of ongoing hearings on capitol hill, there a bunch of them, we'll get with edward lawrence with jerome powell, and steve mnuchin, treasury secretary. talking about the economic impact. dr. anthony fauci is not making easy for things to digest and one of the reasons the market turned negative. we're not out of the woods. prospect after vaccine, maybe end of this year, beginning of next year. there is reason to believe it

won't be 100% effective which is the case with a lot of these treatments. he is cautions out there, we're not out of the woods, also indications after second virus, second to this one, developing in china and has markings of the swine flu we saw a little more than a decade ago. maybe that is kind of weighing on the markets. he is a very sober read of things. also talking that young people have to be very cognizant of the fact it is a good idea to wear a mask, good idea to stick to distancing provisions. you're not bulletproof and even if you think you are you are endangering your older loved ones, stop it already. i don't know if he said stop it already. it does seem to be weighing a little bit. edward lawrence following the other development right now concerning jerome powell, steve mnuchin, affecting everything from the pp loans that are out there as well as the overarching economy which i guess the federal reserve chairman is

saying it is still dicey depending how it goes. reporter: live look, looks like jerome powell just sat down in the chair for the house financial services committee. they brought their masks for the social distancing that is going on there, as well, but now the news coming out, as you've been reporting, states are now closing bars. you have texas closing. arizona closing a bar. you have got florida closing bars down. california, maine and new jersey, postponing their reopening of bars. this is because there are businesses, these businesses because of this might need help in the cares four. now today marks the last day to get a loan under the payroll protection program. that door is closing. coming into today, 5500 banks, gave more than 4.8 million loans. ppp program gave it more than $520 billion. most of --. neil: all right. i apologize for that. we lost our audio with edward

but i am going to go, he had touched on it, what is going on in states that are reclosing some things. in texas where they're shutting down the bars, not good news for those who are now claiming you're taking away our livelihood. better than 30 of them are suing the go governor there, governor greg abbott. republican congressman joins us from texas. how bad is this getting? a lot were caught off-guard by the governor's efforts to shut them down again, now they're desperate, they're saying you can't do that governor, you're killing us, what is the reaction been? >> i'm very sympathetic to the fact that people will lose their livelihood if government mandates they just close shop. i think the governor is trying to be, on the other hand the governor is looking at hot spots and potential threats to

inundating the health system. that is the thresh hold. to me the thresh hold for government intervening has to be extremely high. we have to provide the information toe our public and electorate and our citizens are more than capable doing the right thing. if you do have a flare-up, this president, i mean this governor has done that in the case of bars. he cut back on restaurants and he said from the outset if there is a 10% positivity rate, if it rises to that level he was going to take action. so he put that out prior to taking this action and, it looks like that is where we are. neil: you know, he and you by extension a good many republicans are very stand-off when it comes to orders, you like people to decide. that makes a lot of common sense here but if people are not doing what health experts are advocating, keeping distancing in effect, watching about

crowding themselves in bars, what have you, is a not big government guy like you forced to say we have to take it to the next level because people are not listening? >> i think first you give the information. most people are smart and responsible enough to do the right thing, not just for them but for the community. but if you, if the threshold is fear of inundation or threat of inundating a system, so there is pervasive impact that will hurt the health and safety of the broader public then i do think it's appropriate to intervene. the question is are we there yet? the other piece of it should be temporary, it should be targeted to those areas that are a threat. it should be the lightest touch possible, and, this is important, we ought to work together at the federal, state level to compensate folks who we tell have to shut their business down, because it is their

livelihood, whether ppp, some other program, some other lending mechanism. we can't just say shut it down and act like there is no implications to the folks livelihoods and putting food on the table for their families. neil: congressman, good catching up with you, i appreciate it, sir, be well and safe. >> good to be with you. neil: thank you, in the meantime here, you probably heard europeans are putting a clampdown not welcome american tourists because the spike in cases here makes it too worrisome. so much for that european trip, or is it? after this. ♪

♪. neil: all right. might be a case of the europeans shooting themselves in the foot nevertheless as the continent get begins to reopen now it does not want american travelers given spike in cases in the united states. brazil and russia among other countries and regions where europeans are saying we'll take a pass. mark murphy, travel expert

extraordinaire what that could mean certainly for u.s. travelers. they were looking at europe. they're not looking now, right? >> no, absolutely not. it will have a significant travel impact for the travel industry in europe and vendors here in the u.s. and airlines that bring travelers with europe. they're gambling with the economy this summer and weigh that against the infection rate. what does not make sense, rates of death of covid are 25% higher or 120% higher than the u.s. currently and as we test more people, we're now over 33 million tests, we're going to have more confirmed cases but what is happening is, the percentage of those who are dying from this is going down dramatically from obviously the original projection to what we've seen in the last couple months. neil: i'm wondering too for the europeans, you know, they have been in a world of hurt.

they had the virus situation just as bad as us for a while. now, just as they're trying to coming out of this, that they have obviously weighed that, measured that, but this can lead to tit-for-tat type of treatment, can't it? >> i think you are already seeing that. we have the europe ban. now europe is opening saying we'll ban the u.s. what is really interesting, if you take new york and new jersey out of equation, they account for 36% of the deaths. last time i checked, just like the european region the u.s. is a very large country. there are plenty of spots around the u.s. where there is literally a non-factor, a non-factor. when you get into mortality rate equivalent to the seasonal flu, when you exclude those who died in nursing homes which are some states, 50% or as high as 80% of the death count, if you have somebody from idaho and south dakota why would you put them in the same bucket as somebody coming from new york?

that is the challenge. the way europe is with open borders, how can somebody, how can you basically enforce this when somebody can enter the country, you know, country a, then travel within that country without a passport, cruising around going anywhere they want? i think it is like a bandaid and i think something that is a little tit-for-tat but i don't think it will stop people if they really want to go to get into those countries. that is the reality of it. neil: there are other ways to get in to your point. mark murphy, thank you very much, my friend. be safe and healthy and markopolos murphy. to you as well. corner of wall and broad selling off a little bit here on concerns the virus thing ain't done. after this. ♪. turn on my tv and boom, it's got all my favorite shows right there. i wish my trading platform worked like that. well have you tried thinkorswim?

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neil: all right. we are continuing to follow this hearing going on on the coronavirus. dr. anthony fauci taking questions from the congressmen here. one of the items that's come up is the sflplit read we are gettg from states, some of them involving opening up schools, haven't made up their minds, others waiting to see what happens.

new york governor cuomo not exactly sure where that's going to go. they could consider targeted school closures, he says, but that they should make that their ultimate goal, to open up schools and the sooner, the better. that could prove a lot easier said than done. we will keep a very close eye on that as a mild selloff continues right now. but for a lot of states, regions dealing with this, there's also the issue of getting back to business once you can get back to business and the high cost of doing business in certain high tax, high regulation states. peter's company found greener pastures in texas because of the high cost of living. what made you make the move? since then, you have seen and heard about spike in coronavirus cases there. did that worry you at all? >> well, no, neil, it didn't. i mean, we think about things over the 10, 20, 30 year

trajectory because i'm a long-term investor and company builder ceo and for us, it came down to really three things. the first is i want to be a service ceo and i have got to consider where our people can live best. that includes buying homes, things like that. second is where the american dream is flourishing and that means we've got to pick a place where all the elements or a number of the elements are favoring the american dream and opportunity and liberty, because that's a better bedrock for business and for building a company. the third is i need to be sort of like a surfer and look where the next big wave will come. the last 30 years has been amazing in seattle and san francisco, with massive waves of amazon, facebook, google, microsoft. but the next 30 years, i'm not sure if it's going to look as good. neil: you also, you know, you are not immune to the political environment and certainly what has happened since protests and rallies which is everyone's right but got out of hand, certainly, and continues to in

seattle. do a lot of your workers now say boss, you made the right move? >> yeah. i mean, at first, people were shocked but within a couple weeks, our employees, their spouses, were actually very excited. i think as they looked at housing prices, they considered the cost of living, and the general open environment of ideas, more conducive as well towards judeo-cristian values, they got very excited because a lot of them have children and have to raise their kids so they have the same kind of concerns i have as well. neil: all right. we will watch it closely. peter, you are drawing a lot of attention right now. peter rex, bit the bullet, made the big move from high expense locales to decidedly less so and more business-friendly skies in texas. that was the argument for the move. so he made it. casey stegal with us still following developments on this

hearing. we were talking about texas where this fellow moved his operations there. again, the virus uptick notwithstanding. i'm wondering as you follow this, the spike in cases and bar owners who are suing the governor because he re-closed them, how is all this going down? reporter: tell you what, there is a lot of frustration and also a lot of fear mixed in with that as well, when you watch these cases just continue to climb and then also, the important metrics like the positivity rate of tests continue to climb and the number of hospitalizations as well. neil, as you know, at least 15 states including texas have either paused or rolled back some of their reopening measures and right now, arizona's governor is perhaps taking the most aggressive approach and you were just talking about schools. well, he has decided to delay the start of arizona public schools through at least the middle of august. that could be pushed back even further, according to the governor. he also ordered bars, gyms,

theaters, water parks and inner tubing businesses to close for another 30 days. the governor also limiting the number of groups to 50 people or less, and no groups larger than 10 people allowed to congregate at swimming pools. that includes at apartment complexes and the like. earlier today, texas governor greg abbott announced that elective surgeries would be put on hold yet again, in another four counties, to ensure there is enough bed space to treat covid patients. last week as you know, he suspended those procedures in four of the hardest-hit counties. that now brings the total to eight counties where the elective procedures are currently suspended. a short time ago, while testifying on capitol hill, dr. anthony fauci said that society must take responsibility when it comes to slowing the spread. listen. >> -- recommendations. what we saw visually in clips

and in photographs of individuals in the community doing an all or none phenomenon which is dangerous. by all or none, i mean either be locked down or open up in a way where you see people in bars, not wearing masks, not avoiding crowds, not paying attention to physical distancing. reporter: there is also a lot of fear with the upcoming fourth of july holiday weekend that it could promote further spread of the virus, as folks gather in groups to celebrate to try and stave that off. los angeles county beaches will now close. that includes piers, beach bike paths, access points, things like that. major counties in florida, as we have been reporting, also doing the same. speaking of florida, this year's republican national convention could look a little bit different, as as you know, that state or that city, the host city, jacksonville, florida, has now passed a mask mandate in that area, pretty much requiring

people to wear masks just about everywhere. neil? neil: all right. thank you, my friend, very much. following all those developments. in new york, by the way, they are also tossing around the idea of pushing off in dining that was supposed to open up i believe next week like new jersey, trying to play things very very cautiously. far more controversial for the time being is the crackdown on police and the police budget. they get about $6 billion a year. the push right now is to lop more than $1 billion off of that. former governor george pataki of new york with us right now. governor, what do you make of this effort? it's just the latest sign from the present mayor that police don't need all that money, better to put it in youth and related programs. what do you think? >> i think it's just tragic and it's tragic largely for the youth and particularly people in low income neighborhoods.

the assault on the police just is unending. we just saw the abolition of the undercover police agency within the new york police department. this last week, this past week, crime, incidents of shootings, up one and a half times as many as they were a year ago. 150% increase in shootings just over the last week compared to last year. this is just the beginning. without the undercover police, with a billion dollars less in funding, with the new rules where the police can almost look the other way when crimes are being committed, i fear we are going to return to the way we were when i took office, where there were almost 3,000 new york city residents murdered every single year. neil: do you worry, you know, the police and their, you know, attitude notwithstanding, some are so frustrated, many want to leave the force, there's talk of a july 4th sickout to make that statement clear, but the police

themselves are not looking promisingly at some of the ideas that are being bandied about in congress, including not only the more acceptable ones like limiting chokeholds and the like, but anything that has to do about their operations and how they proceed. do they risk looking, you know, intransigent to that and feeding this base of critics who say no, no, no, they're not open to admitting any mistakes that they might make? what do you think of that? >> first, neil, imagine for a moment you are a police officer on the streets of new york. this is a brutal [ inaudible ]. you are risking your life every day when you go out there. instead of getting respect you are getting nothing but scorn, not just from those who are abusing you on the street but from the public at large and in particular from the politicians. let's realize that the overwhelming majority of these police officers are wonderful men and women who risk their lives so that we can live in

freedom. now as you talk about what's happening in washington, there should be give-and-take. it shouldn't be just that the passions of the moment, particularly in the house where the left democrats want to just do everything they can to, as you hear over and over again, defund the police, disband the police, we want to make sure it doesn't go too far so having a dialogue where the police give their ideas as to what they think is appropriate and inappropriate is fine. yes, there is that risk. there are those who are going to say the police don't want any reforms but that's not the case. you look at senator scott's bill that should pass the senate if the democrats would stop their filibuster, stop their resorting to the tactics they used to stop civil rights legislation a generation ago to stop a police reform bill in this generation. things like that should be passed and i think you would find police across the country embracing that. but if you go too far, then of course they are risking their lives. they have the right and an

obligation to really say this is okay but this provision goes too far. that's not intransigence. neil: got it. governor, thank you very very much. good speaking with you. governor george pataki. i want to switch to joe biden right now. he's speaking in wilmington, delaware. he's been critical of the president's coronavirus response. he is willing to take questions as well. let's dip into this, if we can. >> -- quote, work out well. in february, i warned about the information we needed from the chinese government. what i said is the president should demand xi produce the evidence, demand it. trump said quote, we're in great sha shape. china's president said it was quote, doing very well. in march, i set forth a detailed

plan for 500 federally funded testing sites across the country, as well as guaranteed emergency paid leave. later that month, i called for a full and immediate use of the defense production act. critical, critical for the delivery of supplies that were basically needed. trump accused health care worke workers of stealing the masks. that's what he said. health care workers are stealing the masks. that's why we don't have them. in april, i released a plan to secure the supply chain for personal protective equipment, surge nationwide testing through a pandemic testing board, and launch a nationwide health corps to focus on contact tracing. trump's suggestions? americans should inject disinfectants into their bodies. in may, i condemned the false choice between preserving public health and our economy.

i urged the administration to focus on the basic public health measures like testing that would enable us to sustain our economic recovery. trump's response, he pushed the reopening without regard to safety and called testing quote, frankly overrated. this month, i outlined a path to reopen our country safely and sustainably. it provided workers, small businesses, schools, state and local governments the tools, resources and guidance that they would need. trump's proposal? he set a cutoff date for federal funding at testing sites in several states and actually went to court to take away health care for 22 million people by trying to get rid of obamacare. and now donald trump is in retreat. remember, back in march, when i called and he called, talked

about the need to act like we were at war with the virus, he called himself a wartime president. remember when he exhorted the nation to sacrifice together and quote, in the face of this inevitable and invisible enemy. what happened? now it's almost july and it seems like our wartime president has surrendered, waved the white flag and left the battlefield. today we are facing a serious threat and we have to meet it. we have to meet it as one country. but the president gives no direction and he pits us against one another. we can't continue like this. half recovery and half getting worse. we can't continue, half wearing masks and half rejecting science. we can't continue half with a plan and half just hoping for

the best. we won't defeat this virus with a piecemeal approach, lifting restrictions prematurely, increasing the volatility of the crisis, raising the likelihood of needing to reimpose restrictions. you know, until our science catches up to reality, until we have better treatment for those who become infected and ultimately a safe, proven, widely available vaccine, we have to continue to do all we can as a people and a government to keep our fellow americans safe and healthy. today, i'm releasing a plan for the steps i believe donald trump should undertake immediately to build on the road map i released back in march that would have saved lives if it had been adopted. it's a plan to save lives in the

months ahead. once again, i encourage him to adopt this plan in its entirety. this is too important for politics. first, testing, testing, testing. more testing is not only how you find more cases of coronavirus, mr. president, it's how you stop the coronavirus cases. testing followed by rigorous contact tracing, quarantine and isolation protocols for those who have been exposed. people aren't waiting in lines for miles and miles long in baking hot cars for drive-through nasal swabs for the fun of it. they are doing it so they can protect themselves but even more importantly, they know when they have this mask on they are protecting others. they are protecting others. we know we're not where we need to be in testing.

there are still hospitals and nursing homes that don't have access to the tests they need. testing is how we see what's happening in communities all across the country. it's our eyes on the ground. without that testing, we are flying blind. that's why it's so important to have reliable access to testing everywhere. we need to increase federal support for testing. that includes doubling the number of drive-through testing sites and keep increasing them until there are no more lines. we should create a pandemic testing board to spearhead a nationwide campaign so every worker, every worker gets called back to their job can have the confidence that they and their fellow workers are not infected. you know, experts agree that we need more contact tracers, to track the path of this virus. individual states like new york

and california are already hiring and training thousands of tracers but we need to do more. including hiring at least 100,000 federally funded workers to perform contact tracing and other public health tasks, and they should begin to be trained now. second, every single front line worker should have the personal protective equipment that they need to be safe. five months into this crisis, our health care workers still are forced to scramble for their own supplies and have to reuse these masks shift after shift. hundreds, hundreds of health care workers have died from covid-19, and tens of thousands have become infected. it should be zero on both counts for these health care workers, if they had the right equipment. you know, how are we this many months into this and still, still don't have what we need?

that's why we have the defense production act. you know, mr. president, use your authority, mr. president. use it this week. scale up the production of n95 masks. you know, the steps you have taken so far haven't gotten the job done, mr. president. fix the sthortahortage of ppe f health care workers before you tee off another round of golf. we can't just look at where we are today. we need masks and gloves and face shields for the foreseeable future and we need to be ready. we know more is coming. thirdly, we should be laser-focused on treatments and vaccines. we should be leading a coordinated global approach on the science, not disregarding experts while pushing dangerous and disproved drugs as if they're treatments. there's been some progress

toward treatment and vaccines but the administration hasn't been transparent about how they plan to manufacture enough doses to make sure there's equitable distribution to scale. i hope they're doing it now. i called for awhile ago they should be providing $250 million to have a plan now exactly how they are going to distribute this so every american has access when and if the vaccine's available. they may be doing it but we have no transparency. let us see, mr. president. the white house should report weekly on this progress. we can't end up in the same distribution problems we had in texas. neil: we are going to continue to monitor the former vice president, joe biden, in a blistering attack on the president's handling of the coronavirus. with us right now, edward better known as ted kennedy jr., the son of the late senator ted kennedy, the former connecticut state senator.

senator, very good for you to take the time. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me on your program. neil: let me -- there's a big divide here whether the president is doing enough. the vice president seems to be saying he's not, that he has these plans for more testing, the testing has obviously indicated more cases. do you think criticizing the president on the testing part is a fair one? >> well, i don't think it's a real large matter of dispute that we are far behind on testing and many many people want a test and they just can't get one. so i don't see that as being an unfair criticism. i think it's just stating the obvious facts that americans are experiencing. neil: are you looking at this race and how much will be

decided on the president's response to the virus and since the virus to the protests? >> i think americans will evaluate the entirety of the president. the president will run on his record and i think he's been in office for almost four years and i think americans will size him up based on his entire record but certainly his handling of this national pandemic crisis will be one of the factors that americans will use to evaluate his capabilities of being president. neil: do you think, senator, the federal government has to take a bigger role here? nancy pelosi has indicated maybe we should just require, federal edict, everyone wear a mask until we're through this, everyone wears a mask? >> well, i think that what we need to do is rely on the

experts, dr. fauci, the cdc, and let us be guided by good clinical evidence-based decision making. that's what we need to do. i do think you need a more national response, certainly, as opposed to having 50 states all doing their different things, scrambling, competing against each other for masks as we have seen. so i do think that we need a national coordinated response, yes. neil: looking at the former vice preside president, no matter what you make of the fuss over who he will pick as his running mate, et cetera, does he need an african-american woman? he's indicated certainly that's the direction he's headed in. do you think that that is vital? >> well, i don't -- i think there will be a variety of factors that the vice president is going to use to evaluate his

running mate. he's already said he's going to pick a woman. i think it would in many ways strengthen his ticket. i'm sure he knows that. but really, i think that calculus will be made between -- in the synergies between he and whoever he picks as his running mate. neil: the reason i mention it with you, obviously amy klobuchar took herself out of the running, favoring instead that an african-american woman should be on that ticket. elizabeth warren is one of the small list of people, not african-american, on that list. do you think she should do the same? >> no, i'm not going to speak for elizabeth warren. i think she's very capable and probably would add a lot to the ticket. but i think ultimately, it's going to be the president's decision and he's already said as i mentioned before, he's going to pick a woman. i think that's a smart decision for him. and there's a lot of very

qualified people that are capable of taking on that role. neil: you know, i think of you and your dad and the environment where it wasn't too, too long ago when your dad would strike up a partnership and work with people like john mccain to get legislation done, to find common ground. it's very very hard to find today, senator. i'm wondering if we ever can, because there's a lot of division that remains out there and an inability of parties under whether it's a democratic president or republican one, to find that common ground. >> well, i think, neil, it's true that my father, they called him the liberal lion, as you know, but he never hesitated to cross the aisle if he knew he could make progress on an issue, and he did that all the time, throughout his 47 years in the senate, worked as you mentioned with senator mccain, orrin

hatch, even people like al simpson, names of the past for many of your listeners. but the point is, he believed in bipartisan collaboration. i think we need leaders like that. i think we need people who can work together as a team, respect one another's differences, not attack people in a personal way when they disagree with you politically. my father thought that was un-american. to attack somebody personally because they opposed your political point of view. it's not going to strengthen our country and i think we need to work more collaboratively and honestly, i think that's one of the things that joe biden brings to the ticket is, you know, he has a lifelong experience of doing exactly that, of working and collaborating and finding common ground, and i think that's what most americans want. but hopefully, after this political discussion, neil, you and i are going to be able to

talk about the initiative that i'm working on now which is to expand disability, equality and inclusion in the work force in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the ada. will we still have time to talk about some of those issues? neil: we do. i apologize. that was actually going to be my next question. you might say you're bs'ing me but i was. as chairman of the national association of people with disabilities, i remember what you went through, think you were 12 when you had cancer and they amputated a large part of your leg. there was -- that was a great union of sort of everyone came together, of all political persuasions. you were a pretty brave lad at the time. i think it's probably shaped your mindset on those with disabilities and those who would have to deal with a lot, certainly did your dad. i'm wondering now, are we doing enough in that area or with everything else that's going on,

deficits that are into the trillions, can we? >> we absolutely can, neil. you know, i did experience losing my leg to bone cancer when i was 12 years old, was the defining moment of my life in so many ways, and now it's kind of led me to my life's work in the area of disability rights. i currently chair the american association of people with disabilities, one of the leading national organizations on civil rights and social reform for people with disabilities. so you know, i mean, i have made this my work, i understand, i became a disability rights lawyer but the reality is that we can make progress. the ada, for example, that we are celebrating this year, 30 years anniversary, was signed by president bush the first and so we can, because disability knows

no political boundary or race or socioeconomic status. it can happen to anybody. but i know, for example, on the issue of pre-existing medical conditions, i'm a cancer survivor. i cannot purchase health insurance in the open market because no insurance company will cover me. that is why -- that's why i understand the importance of health insurance for people with disabilities, because there are millions of americans that if obamacare were taken away, those pre-existing health care conditions, protections, would be lost and those impact not just me but millions and millions of other americans. so these are the issues that i'm fighting for right now and the reason why i was so excited to be invited on your program on a business program is to discuss an initiative that i'm involved

with now, it's trying to make disability inclusion, disability equality, the next chapter of esg corporate social responsibility. so we all know that esg investing has been the rage of late and focusing on areas such as climate, lgbtq rights and so forth and i'm working with some of the leading investors, institutional investors, in the united states including new york's tom dinapoli, the states of illinois, vermont, connecticut, oregon, and other asset managers including bank of america and voya financial, we have a coalition now of almost $3 trillion of institutional investors calling on corporate america to do more, to accommodate people with disabilities in the workplace. we know that less than 30% of

people with disabilities who are able and willing to work can get a job. it's the real unfinished business of the americans with disabilities act. so i think your listeners and people who pay attention to financial affairs are going to see more shareholder activism, honestly, on the issue of disability equality. neil: i think you're right about that. it's not until you have a disability that you realize that covering disabilities and acknowledging them are important, especially in this day and age and certainly now with the coronavirus, where a lot of people are vulnerable and we are balancing that on reopening the economy. thank you for taking the time. it was a pleasure having you. be well, be safe, be healthy. >> thank you. i would like to come back and talk about some of the progress we're making because honestly, there are many companies who are doing a phenomenal job in

leading the charge on disability equality and we want to give those companies credit. neil: quite a few. >> yeah. so -- neil: all right. that owes a lot to your efforts, senator. i want to thank you again. i don't mean to jump on you there but the vice president -- former vice president is taking questions from the media. let's dip into this. >> number two, it's clear to me that, and i don't know whether he did, he should have immediately contacted our joint chiefs of staff, gotten them all in one room and sat and said okay, what are we doing to prevent this. what are we doing to prepare to deal with this if this is happening. how are we doing this. what are we doing. thirdly, he should at a minimum have picked up the phone and said vladimir, old buddy, if any of this is true, and it doesn doesn't -- you've got a big problem. a big problem.

and make it clear, get to the bottom of this. it appears as though from what i, and i don't have access to classified information anymore, but if what i have heard over the last week and the recent reporting that it was in the pdb, the presidential daily brief, the president of the united states, it's something i read every day as the vice president. the president read it every day. i was briefed every morning before i got to the white house, and then again. so the idea that somehow he didn't know, it is a dereliction of duty if that's the case. if he was briefed and nothing was done about this, that's a dereliction of duty. i guess the best way for me to end this is i was talking to jill, my wife jill, and i don't see her get outraged very often. she started asking joe, what would you have done?

if beau was still in harm's way and this information came out? and the president, my son, i'm sorry, who served in iraq for a year, was in the army. but if he had been in afghanistan, what would you do, joe? what are those parents thinking out there? what are those sons and daughters, husbands and wives, it's an absolute dereliction of duty if any of this is even remotely true. so i think the president has a lot to answer for and we should get answers quickly. quickly. reporter: what kind of consequences should he face if these allegations are true or these reports are true? >> if shes allegatithese allegae and he did nothing about any of this, then in fact i think the public, unrelated to my running, should conclude this man isn't fit to be president of the united states of america. i was told nbc -- mike is

relieved he doesn't have to follow me every day around the country. reporter: last time we saw you on the campaign trail you were still locked in a very difficult nomination battle. the polls today show you with a sizeable national lead, a lead in a lot of states that are critical in the electoral college. i wonder, where do you think the race stands at this moment? what keeps you up at night as you look ahead and can you maintain this advantage without campaigning in a traditional way, especially this fall when voters begin to really tune in? >> well, you know, this is the most unusual campaign i think in modern history but i start off with the premise, mike, that i'm going to follow the doc's orders. not just for me but for the country. that means that i am not going to be holding rallies. i am not going to be, for example, you all are here but

school has put those circles around so we keep the social distancing, everybody has masks on. as soon as i finish this i will put my mask back on. and so it's all been, almost all been virtual although i have gone to houston, i have gone into pennsylvania, i have gone to -- i have traveled but when i do, i get in, make my case, and leave, take questions and leave. and so -- but you know me, i would much rather be out there with people because that's where i get the greatest feel. i can get a sense by the look in their eyes, by the plaintive voices they have, what they're concerned about. notwithstanding that, i have been surprised, the irony is we probably reach more people directly on one-on-one, you all, particularly those of you who are with television stations, you all know that when you are on, you have a one-on-one

conversation with someone out there because one person on tv is looking at you. i never thought of it that way before but they tell me 200 million people have watched what i have done from home and the half dozen things we have gone out and done. so the irony is i think we are probably communicating directly in detail with more people than we would have otherwise. but i would much rather be doing it in person. so far, it remains to be seen. i don't want to jinx myself. i know the polling data is very good but i think it's really early. it's much too early to make any judgment. i think we got a whole lot more work to do. i plan on laying out in detail my economic plan how we recover from this, plan on dealing with foreign policy, working out in detail what i'm going to do if i am elected president so people know what's coming. so i don't know the answer to your question, but -- reporter: quick followup first.

have you qualified a classified briefing as you would be entitled to as the nominee? has the administration offered you a classified briefing? >> they have not offered a classified briefing, and as this proceeds, i may very well do that. i have been talking to -- i have a significant foreign policy staff, as you know. matter of fact, dozens of them. so i had a long meeting with my former national security advisers, former secretaries of state, et cetera, and got their read what they have heard so far. but if this doesn't get cleared up quickly, i will seek and ask if i can be briefed. reporter: have you begun to prepare for debates against president trump? >> i can hardly wait. reporter: over the weekend, princeton decided to remove woodrow wilson's name from their

school and buildings. president trump yesterday called that decision incredible stupidity. what do you think about princeton's decision and the president's comment and more broadly, as the nation is in this moment of reckoning when it comes to race, we are seeing the removal of statues, also the removal of names from institutions and schools. do you think this is the right approach to come to terms with our nation's history and its leaders? what do you think when you see the removal of some of these statues? >> well, i think there are sort of three categories on that. one, any institution that chose a name and wants to now jettison that name, that's a decision for them to make for whatever reason they make it. i'm assuming the board of trustees at princeton university made the judgment about the woodrow wilson school, i don't know, but it was made within the context of an institution that chose that name and now no longer wants to be associated with that name.

and i think the president is -- well, secondly, i think there's a distinction between as the former mayor of new orleans said, a difference between reminders and remembrances of history and recovering from history. so the idea of comparing whether or not george washington owned slaves or thomas jefferson owned slaves and somebody who was in rebellion committing treason, running, trying to take down the union and keep slavery, i think there's a distinction there. i think the idea of bringing down i think all those confederate monuments to confederate soldiers and generals that strongly supported secession and the maintenance of

slavery and going to war to do it, i think those statues belong in museums, not in public places. with regard to those statues that are -- and monuments like the jefferson memorial, i think there's an obligation that the government protect those monuments because they are different than -- that's a remembrance. it is not dealing with, you know, revering somebody who had that view. they had much broader views, they may have had things in their past that are now and then distasteful, but that's a judgment for -- for example, taking down, toppling christopher columbus statues or george washington statues, et cetera, i think that is something that is -- the government has an opportunity and responsibility to protect from happening. reporter: on a different subject, you have been doing these public events for the past month which has put you in contact with more people. have you been tested for

coronavirus and if so, how frequently are you doing that? >> no, i have not been tested for the coronavirus for two reasons. one, i have had no symptoms, as my mother would say, knock on wood, and number two, i haven't wanted to take anybody else's place in the process. but the secret service, they all get tested. they are around my home. and anyone who comes into my home, including staff, are tested to determine whether they have the virus. i expect what i'm going to do so it doesn't look like i'm, you know, moving to the front of the line here, is be tested relatively soon. my daughter has been tested. she was in florida as of -- she's a social worker working with the boys and girls club. she came home and before she could come home, she has been tested twice so to make sure she's clear and quarantined, she

lives in philadelphia, but i haven't yet. i have not been tested yet. yes. i'm sorry, who was i supposed to go to next? i got to make sure i get to the wilmington newspaper here before i leave. reporter: thank you, mr. vice president. good to see you. i know we all hope that you continue to do this until november as often as possible. >> we will. the more i have an opportunity, i will do it. reporter: just two quick questions. one to follow up on russia. you talked about what our president has done but yesterday, you said at a fund-raiser regarding vladimir putin quote, i'll confront putin, i'll strengthen nato, i'll make clear to putin that he'll have a price to pay for interference in our democratic processes. specifically, can you tell us what you would do to putin? for this and in general, what's happened in the past?

>> i can but i will not, but i will tell him. here's the deal. the idea that putin or any other foreign leader can engage in attempting to manipulate a presidential election, the idea that he continues his activities in central and eastern europe that he's doing, the idea that it can be done without any consequences is not going to happen if i'm president in my administration. that ranges from everything to making sure we go through the united nations security council all the way to imposing sanctions that would be commensurate with the action that he has taken that is inappropriate but i have had some very blunt, straightforward conversations with president putin, when i was vice president and before that, and i think one of the reasons why it appears as though he doesn't want me to be president, he knows we will have more blunt conversations. reporter: another issue that's been in the news last week, this

week and probably next week, the supreme court. the president says he will issue an updated list of potential nominees to the court. you have said you would put a black woman on the court should a spot open up, but there are groups calling for you to release a list of specific names you would put on the court. are you going to do that? >> one thing i hesitate to do is follow anything the president does at all because he usually does it all wrong. i have -- we are putting together a list of a group of african-american women who are qualified and have the experience to be in the court. i am not going to release that until we go further down the line of vetting them as well. just like a logical question about the vice president. i'm not releasing the names of all the vice presidential potential nominees. there are a number of women of color, there are latino women, there are asian, across the board.

we are just under way now on the hard bit of going into the deep background checks that take anywhere from six to eight weeks to be done. the committees have been formed and that's under way. reporter: august 1 is still the target announcement? >> early august. i can't guarantee you august 1. but it will be in early august, several weeks before the convention, i believe. yes. reporter: thank you, mr. vice president. this is a two-parter just to follow up again on russia. do you believe that if those reports are true, that trump igs guil is guilty of violating his oath of office and on your vp choice, you have said you want your running mate to be ready on day one to do the job. do you think that someone who does not have national security or foreign policy experience can be ready on day one? >> yes. that depends, look, one of the

things you try to do, i have talked at length over the years with president obama about this, you try to find people who have a background and expertise that you may not have, so one of the reasons president obama picked me is because i had considerable experience in getting things done in the congress and secondly, i had considerable experience in foreign policy and national security. and although he had clear views of what, in fact, he wanted to do and what his strategy was in terms of america's role in the world, he was looking for someone that had day-to-day experience and knew a lot of these world leaders. so i think that although that's a helpful thing to have, it's not necessary because i start off with the two places i still have some expertise are in both those places. and uniting the country in congress and foreign policy.

so it is almost all of the women i'm considering have had some exposure to foreign policy and national defense issues, security issues, but that is not a minimum requirement. the requirement is that they have the intellectual capacity as well as the temperament as well as the leadership qualities that lend everyone to believe that they would be ready on day one to be president of the united states of america. with regard to whether or not the president, it depends on exactly what he did and what he knew but at a minimum, at a minimum he either doesn't understand his job and is having difficulty sitting down and being able to read a report, because a lot of those reports come across that he says, you know, i didn't read it or i didn't see it or i didn't know

it. i don't know how he could not read and not see and not know so many different things that have come up over the last three years, and so -- but it is clearly a dereliction of duty and it is clearly something that i think everyone including my republican friends and my republican opponents in the house and senate are worried about as well. thank you. where is the wilmington -- the delaware state news? i mean delaware news journal, i should say? that's my hometown team. i better call on them. reporter: how are you, mr. vice president? >> how are you? reporter: like other states, delaware, your home state, is seeing an increase in coronavirus cases. do you have a message for delaware officials, state and local governments, for how they have handled the pandemic so far, how they need to handle it going forward? >> i think they have handled it pretty well so far, but now i

think you're seeing the governor make some adjustments because there has been an uptick, not tremendous, but there's been an uptick. it was one of the states that was, i get briefed every day by a group of leading docs around the world, around the country, and so every day i get a printout of the states that are doing better and doing worse. up to now, there has been a decline and now it's opening up slightly, and i don't -- i have not spoken to the governor today but my guess is, he's going to be looking very closely at what happens on the delaware beaches now, and restaurants and bars. i don't know enough to know that, though. the good news is that it's flattened out. the bad news is there's a slight uptick. i have not gone into the details

with the governor, nor have i -- i speak to him not infrequently but a couple times a month, three, four times a month, and so i don't have any advice for him yet because i don't know where it's popping up. reporter: thank you. >> thank you. i'm going to get in trouble. i know. tell him i'll be late just a little bit, okay? all right. reporter: thank you, mr. vice president. >> i always get in trouble on the last question. go ahead. reporter: we appreciate it. the response to this pandemic has become very politicized, even wearing a mask has become political. if elected, how are you going to get americans on the same page and can your plan be successful if they aren't? >> well, i think the way to get on the same page is to -- i'm going to try to say this

politely -- is to lower the rhetoric based on division. stop appealing to the less hope fl si ful side of society. for example, instead of when a golf cart goes by yelling white supremacy and the president tweets it out, don't do things like that. bring the country together. we are giving a portion of the population who has responded to the sort of race baiting the president has engaged in a sort of free pass, and it generates division. we are also talking about it in terms of the president talks

about, you know, manhood and being strong and you don't need the mask. i think we have to start appealing to the better side of human nature by pointing out that that mask is not so much to protect me. it's if i have an undiagnosed, i have it, it's to protect you against me. it's to protect other people. and it's called patriotism. it's called responsibility. it's called making sure you look out for the other person. and we have spent too much time, if you notice, the president puts everything in terms of him. i'm not being facetious. everything is him. it's i don't think or i don't take responsibility or i didn't do that or i believe that. i mean, it's not about i. it's about us. i think changing the tone of an administration across the board, allowing scientists to speak,

making sure that people understand the facts, good, bad, indifferent and when a mistake is made, say i made a mistake, i was wrong, shouldn't have done it that way, we should do it this way, i think all those things change the atmosphere. let me conclude it by saying this. i apologize if you heard me say this before. the words of a president matter, no matter who the president is, no matter how responsible or irresponsible the president is. a president, whomever he or she is, can take us to war or bring peace, can have markets rise or fall, appeal to the seniedier se of humanity or to our better angels. it matters. it really matters. i think it's about the tone. i think it goes across the board. i know, i will conclude with this, i know that i was criticized, legitimately criticized during the primary,

during the primaries by saying that i plan on uniting the country, bringing democrats and republicans together. we have to do that. if we can't do that, we can't function. we have to bring the country together. i think on this piece, if, in fact, we stand up and by the way, don't hold me to numbers, please, you can correct me on this, i think something like 70 or 74 or 75% of the american people think you should wear a mask. the overwhelming number of people think you should take these precautions and so on. think we should open more slowly. i think that, you know, we should be talking to our better angels and actually making people indirectly feel guilty for not doing the right thing, appeal to their better nature. i know that sounds almost idealistic. but it's not.

remind people, you don't wear this mask, you end up hurting someone or you get infected, you take it home to your child, you can take it home to your mother, your father, your husband, your wife. you have a moral obligation because it really is, it really is. thank you. guys, i really do have to go. i apologize. i'm going to get in real trouble. i'm probably already in trouble. >> go ahead. what is the last -- neil: vice president joe biden. i think he is taking one more question. >> about the destruction of monuments. you talked about the fathers of this country, washington, jefferson, worthy of preservation. are confederate monuments worthy of preservation, should they be torn down the manner they're torn down without the vote of elected officials? >> i think it is very different. i think it is better taken down like they took the confederate flag off the mississippi flag.

that is the better way of doing it. but i can understand, i can understand the anger and anguish people feel by having for years and years been under the statue of robert e. lee, if you're an african-american. so it's a difference. i always, better to do it peacefully. but there is distinction, between those, those monuments and, i, i shift responsibility and i'm not, i think the elected officials where those statues are have a responsibility to move. put them in museums. get them down but don't expect, if you have sitting in front of you after all these years and finally, finally are going through another phase of maybe responding to the systemic racism in america, and what we've seen happen, is, don't be surprised if someone pulls down the statue of jefferson davis. it is better that they do not

but it is fundamentally different than pulling down the statue or going into the lincoln memorial and trying to pull, not lincoln memorial. that is a bad example. the jefferson memorial and grabbing jefferson off his chair. >> two quickkies. will you commit to three debates. >> ode, yes. >> three? >> yes. i commit, i am committed to following the debate, the national debate group that sets up the debates, who they pick as moderators. three of them t has been this way for a long time. the first one is a one-on-one debate with a moderator. the next one is town meeting setting and the third one is, a normal debate again. i commit to those. i'm looking forward to it. >> last question real quick, some -- >> you're a lying dog faced -- >> you are subject to some degree of cognitive decline. i'm 65. i don't have recollection i used

to have. i forget my chain of thought from time to time. you have 12 years own me. have you been tested to some degree for cognitive decline. >> i'm positive on testing. all you got to do, watch me, i can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man i'm running against. thank you so much. neil: all right. there you go. the cognitive issue coming up with 77-year-old former vice president here on, depending on your point of view, if you really like joe biden, you thought that was a very deliberate response to series of questions on everything from the tearing down of confederate statues to the president's mishandling, you should say of the coronavirus. for critics it reinforced the image, sometimes his answers can be tortured, long and rambling. something the president will likely try to pounce on in the

promised three debates. it is whatever your cup of tea and how certain candidates respond to the pacing, the tone, the pressure of those debasements for now two different styles, two very different men. the battle is on. continues now with charles payne. hey, charles. charles: hey, neil. thank you very much. the battle is on for the white house. it is on wall street as well, folks. good afternoon, i'm charles payne. this is making money. right now the markets in the tug-of-war we just talking about. most of sectors in the s&p 500 are higher. nasdaq is the big winner, led by semiconductors today. in many ways the today's sessions is microcosm of first half of 2020. the same script. what changes can we expect in the second hatch of the year. we'll have answer force you. they are watching fed chair jerome powell and steve mnuchin. powell saying extraordinarily uncertain. what does that mean for further stimulus? th