any patriot would do in face of these unprecedented threat which is is to stato stand up f country and to stand up for democracy. what he did in that speech eulogizing what i think is a future founding father of a new america, john lewis, what he did in that speech was not say it's about donald trump right now. it is about the fact that our democracy has been unrepresented and unfair for too long. he called for making election day a holiday, giving statehood covid crisis. to our citizens in puerto rico >> i've never seen anything like this in my 30-plus years in and medicine. welcome back. the panel is joining us from >> the u.s. averaging roughly recognize that if they can't 65,000 new cases a day. their remote locations. compete on an even playing field >> this is really an apocalyptic nbc news correspondent andrea of a truly representative democracy without cheating mitchell. journalist robert draper author they'll have to either get off time for us. >> 25 states in the so-called the field and find a new str red zone. of the new book "to start a amid the growing crisis, president trump re-tweets war." how the bush administration took strategy and that's what he was america into iraq and heather calling out and i think it was discredited advice. >> you don't need mask. very important and powerful. there is a cure. >> robert draper, i know you called hydroxychloroquine. mcghee from color of change. covered a guy that was also there eulogizing john lewis, >> this morning i'll talk to george w. bush. admiral giroir of the task force andrea, i want to start things >> yeah. the point that i wanted to make, off with this from alex burns in chuck, was i think the most and boston university.

>> plus, trailing in the polls. "the new york times" essentially the president floats delaying poignant articulation that was the election blaming without referring to the president as a evidence increased mail-in heckler in his own in the church it was three former presidents, one voting. >> these elections will be administration. let me read the quote up here if republican as well as two democrats while the current we can bring it up and you look president was not there. fraudulent. they'll be fixed. here, far from a strongman, mr. they'll be rigged. to me, more than anything else, >> many republicans push back. that served to underscore yet >> we'll cope with whatever the situation is and have the again just how much of an election on november 3rd as outliar this president has trump has lately become a heckler in his own party, already scheduled. playing no constructive role in become, how divisive a force he >> why even mr. trump's allies the management of the is and at moments like this when say this time he's going too coronavirus pandemic or an economic rescue plan in congress the nation is expected to put far. also while honoring john lewis, and complaining about the things aside to together president obama takes on and by moments like this, i also unfairness of it all. president trump. it seems like the president has include john mccain's funeral, >> george wallace may be gone, given up on doing the job of being president. the president once again is a but we can witness our federal >> exactly. he's at the golf course for the government sending agents to use second day in a row as the polarizing force. tear gas and batons against >> andrea mitchell, i want to negotiators from his own make a harder turn here in our administration are struggling peaceful demonstrators. with the hill in a divided and who will joe biden remaining minutes because we may choose as his running mate? get the answer to the question >> i am going to do everything i republican senate. of who does joe biden want as so it's a four-way conversation can to make sure that he gets his running mate? now, but he's not part of it and elected and once elected make our reporting indicates that if sure that. so the benefits have run out. there is a short, short list it >> i'll talk to a rising he's not contributing. is kamala harris, susan rice and f insight and he's not only heckling from the side, but he's creating karen bass. you're all over this reporting misinformation, re-tweeting that analysis for nbc news chief as well. viral video of suspicious doctor right now i feel like everybody

foreign affairs correspondent is focused on all their down andrea mitchell. and her miracle cures which went sides. journalist and author robert what are the upsides that the biden campaign is being looking at? around the world, if not, all draper and heather mcghee of >> there are a number of upsides over the united states. so there's no message in the and i should point out that all color of change. campaign and they talk about the women on this list are welcome to sunday. better qualified than some of it' press." after suspending getting back on the runningmates that have been from nbc the air, but he keeps undermining the message which he chosen in recent years so let's briefly tried to get back on pause at that. television history. my sense is that history and this is "meet the press" with track and you can't cure the chuck todd. where the country is now economy unless you cure the indicates that it is going to be pandemic and you can't cure the a black woman. pandemic if the president is it just seems that this is an good sunday morning. sending bad messages and masks so much for that new tone. important choice, a choice that they've obviously been focused this past week, president trump on and that's why we seem to be re-tweeted a video of a doctor and undermining will will the focusing on these three women, who said masks were unnecessary. as well. efforts and attacking dr. fauci and all of the experts. hydroxychloroquine is a cure for >> heather mcghee, it's funny, there is a lot of incoming right covid-19 and diseases are caused by dreams of sex with demons. now and carly going to be an andrea brings up this messaging meanwhile, the number of deaths from covid-19 passed 150,000. issue. let me play this clip of the president. issue. he went to florida on friday. florida is so important. nine states set one-day records he didn't really talk about the i don't want to restress the for covid cases while 11 set de. crisis that's in florida right importance of florida. now with the virus, but instead marco rubio, as you pointed out hitting on that. i was on those trips with among those deaths was former he read the following remarks republican presidential secretary kerry, president trying to scare folks about a candidate herman cain. obama, those were huge joe biden presidency. congressional delegations, pat take a listen.

leahy, amy klobuchar. >> in joe biden's america, you and your family will never be that was not the piece that they're really looking at, but economic output fell since safe. when she said she was expressing records have been kept at an rioters and criminals will be totally protected, law-abiding condolences to the cuban people annualized right 32.9% and that is more recent than the citizens will be totally 1970s and as you said that is disarmed and american families will be at the mercy of the going to be difficult in thanks before benefits ran out florida. violent left-wing mob that the upsides. on friday. you've been watching on these are all to the definition president trump made the most of jim clyburn, these are un-american and un-democratic of teand passionate women. susan rice knows him best. suggestions, proposing to delay has the most experience, maybe, the election, insisting again, the reality d talking without evidence that mail-in voting will result in a about the virus or the economic ready on day one, but has never fraudulent outcome. run for elected office. and remember all of this was just this past week. pain we're in? >> this is his playbook, but they would all be strong in mr. trump's delay the election when we know now is that it's debate. kamala harris, the only one as not working, and in fact, it's he said some weeks ago who has run a presidential campaign, not game from the terrible economic backfiring. well, but run a campaign and been in debates and very tough because of his hand-fisted and news, a president whose on him. desperation makes him even more i think it is true that that is forgiven because they want to unpredictable. in short, a president who see that against donald trump expects to lose. the demonizing in the country and karen bass, i should point ultimately mr. trump increasingly looks like a man out really does work well with with the black lives matter who looks like the more the movement which seems to be the republicans in california and in the congress. virus is out of control, the largest protest movement in american history, it looks like >> right. more his presidency does, too. heather, very quickly, when jim donald trump is on track to do clyburn told me on friday what >> this is going to be the something with white voters that hasn't been done since lyndon he loves about joe biden is his greatest election disaster in johnson signed the civil rights compassion, but he needs a

history. >> president trump casting doubt act and republicans started running mate that brings out the on the integrity of the november their racialized strategy which passion. he would not tell me who that election which polls currently is actually lose the white vote. was. who do you think that is? suggest he is losing. >> do i want to see a day >> you know, if you look at the joe biden is now leading with change, no, but i don't want to white voters and why is that? polls, the most -- the people it's not in spite of the black see the crooked election. who are the least enthusiastic this election will be the most lives matter movement. rigged election in history? it's because of it. lean biden folks want, new poll because it's enormously popular renewing his attacks on mail-in from avalanche is elizabeth and it's made a moral awakening voting despite no evidence it warren. in this country and he's losing leads to voter fraud and the suburbs because of it. she has young voters and sort of suggesting a delay which he has he's losing the suburbs because not so excited about joe biden. no constitutional authority to he's trying to race bait and that's who they want. enact. >> this is not something t divide us at a time where you've >> yeah. president can do. to distance >> one quick point. got big suburban houses with >> before we go. >> the biden people are not themselves. lawn signs that say black lives >> never in the history of the country through wars, matter. > you robert, when goiki depressions and the civil war sure -- have we ever not had a federally >> yeah. i'm tight on time on this one. about having you on this week go quickly, andrea. scheduled election on time and >> you got it. thesepu that he would we'll find a way to do that and i'm glad you stuck with the again this november 3rd. iraq theme and you stuck with actually appoint a democrat. >> right to replace elizabeth. >> never in the what you've been working on for >> before we go i want to share years in covering the bush elections have we not held an with everybody this great election and we should go administration. atlanta journal constitution i'm old enough to remember when forward in the election. >> it's the latest attempt for bush was the stubborn one when ca bush wasn't hearing what the the president to sow seeds of public was hearing and compare doibt. with the coronavirus surging and death tolls up 30% in 30 states the two in crisis here. over the past two week, the cdc what do you see versus what

is projecting the u.s. death you've covered with iraq? >> sure, chuck. toll could hit 182,000 in just i think that what the two have three more weeks. in common is that both and the president's testing czar presidents were telling a story to the american public that was is conceding a national lag in not grounded in the facts. testing. >> would it be possible for our nation to have results for all back in 2002 and 2003 what covid tests completed and returned within 48 and 72 hours. president bush was saying that saddam hussein was dangerous just like the people when it is not a possible benchmark we can achieve today given the attacked us on 9/11 and because demand in the supply. it is absolutely a benchmark we he is evil like the people who can achieve moving forward. it is an issue if you can't get attacked us on 9/11 these it within a 24 to 48-hour evildoers will attack us and period. >> in florida, which marked its almost anything i said there fourth straight day of record didn't have any basis in fact deaths on friday, the president and that, in a way, we are now simply ignored the facts. in a kind of perverse evolution >> i think we're doing a from that point in time to where fantastic job. >> instead trying to create fear we are now with a president who of a democratic precedence. said we've got it under control. >> if joe biden is elected certainly more underouries do. president the chaos and bloodshed will spread to every we're the envy of the world, in community in our land. fact. now we need to reopen and the >> some top trump advisors believe the president's playbook democrats don't want to reopen because they hate america. isn't working and are finding it the crucial difference between hard to keep him on message. these two is that back then earlier this week he re-tweeted president bush had the trust of this video featuring doctors the american people. this president has forfeited

insists masks don't work, but that trust. >> yeah. hydroxychloroquine does. andrea, it is that trust issue >> you don't need mask. where you -- and i think it's there is a cure. leading a lot of people to >> they're very respected doctors. wonder what's left? there was a woman who was spekt i think the fact that he's not involved on capitol hill, the fact that senate republicans have 20 different ideas of what to do, it seems as if elected spectacular. >> hydroxychloroquine is want effective in the treatment of coronavirus vaccine or covid-19. >> the president continues to respect r republicans are losing faith in reshare misinformation tweeting president trump. >> they certainly pushed back again on friday, if we had no immediately on his suggestion about delaying the election, but i haven't seen them stand up show very few cases. >> if you do more testing, you against him on a lot of these other issues. will see more cases, but the yes, the payroll tax cut looks increases that we're seeing are like they don't want it. real increasing in cases as also he still does and maybe they're narrowing their differences as reflected by increasing in we speak, we hope, on capitol hospitalization and increasing hill, but i don't think that in deaths. elected republicans are yet >> and joining me now is the a running away from him because they're so embedded with him. they really have no choice ski assistant secretary of health, admiral brett giro, i r. except to home that he can undermine discredit and undermine the election results and push down and suppress the >> since the start of the

minority vote and that's the hope in many of these places. pandemic. i've had quite a few members of >> heather, i know you wanted to the task force on and i've asked jump in before we go. >>thacy right. where are we on testing and i mcconnell pushed back against this delay in the election, but bracing for isaias want to play a sample of answers the carolinas hunkering down he's doing nothing to protect the postal service which is what this morning after the tropical is actually going to sabotage dating back through april. storm skirts florida, packing take a listen. powerful winds and rain. >> we will continue to partner from within from the mega donor extraordinarily widespread to increase the supply to make is what's going to create delays sure they have the reagents and the sobering new assessment of and a risk and chaos in our the pandemic from a top u.s. the test kits necessary to official as lawmakers hit a walf perform those tests. election. they need to walk the walk and >> my job is to make sure people not just talk the talk. of america have enough of what >> and you just bring up a bill >> hurdle back to earth they need going forward. point. as we erode institutions, the -- >> so we'll get this virus under from the historic mission that control. >> what we're doing now is we've we are now going to erode trust could reshape the future of space travel in the delivery mechanisms of got to test entire communities the united states mostal servpo and find all positive cases good morning on this monday. because this is a very different virus with this asymptomatic service, too. let me pause it here and we'll spreading and get every positive case and get those people talk veep stakes when you come isolated. back. when we come back, we'll talk >> that last comment was at the end of june. about the suburbs. it used to be the home office of we are now at the beginning of the republican party and they're august. changing and changing we still seem to have the same testing issues and in this case, it's the supply issues and all it's easy to get lost in the economic uncertainty. of that and the lag issue which you testified to on friday. the volatility.

four months now. the ambiguity. are we ever going to be able to this moment calls for more. get this testing strategy right? and northern trust delivers more. with specialized expertise. >> so, thank you, and it's good proven strategies rooted in data and analytics... to be on again. i do want to put some things in and insights borne from over 130 years perspective. of course, we've increased our of successfully navigating economic turbulence. testing by 32,000%. giving you new clarity. we've completed 80% of the tests inspiring confidence. within three days and 80% within and helping you uncover new paths forward. five days. northern trust. wealth management. of course, we're continuing to improve that. by september we'll have 32 million point of care tests so we are improving that, but i do (burke)eighbor) oh, just puttering, tinkering... want to get the opportunity to commemorating bizarre mishaps that farmers put testing in context, and i has seen and covered. think that's very important how we use it, how we rely on it and had a little extra time on my hands lately. how we fix the outbreak right (neighbor) and that? (burke) oh, this? just an app i've been working on. now by using testing selectively the way we're doing it in all of it's called signal from farmers, and it could save you up to fifteen percent on your auto insurance. the southern states. >> i'm curious with this simply sign up, drive and save. but i'm sure whatever you've been working on selective is equally impressive. have the capacity to do these quick -- for instance, the ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ abbott tests, why is that not something the dpa could have been used for to make this a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer

available across the country faster, to speed up can bring up questions manufacturing? that make you feel like shutting down. it seems as if we've let these private labs dictate the speed go here: findyourmbcvoice.com with which we get the equipment necessary to complete the tests. >> so that's really absolutely not true. we look for opportunities to use the dpa and other investments and when it's possible to do that we do that. we make two large investments into swab production. last week you saw an investigation into veritor by the defense department and quidel by the national institutes of health and that's why in september we'll have 32 million point of care tests. it can't create something out of nothing. it can be used as an effective tool and that's the way we're doing it. let me talk about the testing and this has been misconstrued a lot. obviously, we want to increase testing. we've done that and i've told you how we've done that and testing is a part of the strategy. we don't test our way out of this and we do small policies

with testing as an adjunct. that's why states like arizona have gone from over 5,000 cases ♪ ♪ welcome back. a day to in the hundreds of "data download" time. cases a day. florida, south carolina, south president trump used an old carolina, louisiana, texas are all on a downward trajectory scare tactic. because they've instituted small it felt mid-20th century because policies and you know where that is, wear a mask and avoid the suburb, they are a-changing. crowded indoor places and avoid we have reporters in two of the crowds and if we do those things largely suburban county that will reduce the overall communities that we are watching outbreak to levels that will go through election day. maricopa county, arizona and down significantly, and that's kent county, michigan. what we're seeing across the let's start in maricopa, where south. >> let me ask this, though. it does seem as though we've got two different challenges in t the percentage of non-hispanic rates has dropped while the front of us, right which is this percentage of black and latest outbreak. it seems like it's too big to hispanics has grown. get our testing around. >> a suburb of phoenix, vaughn, there are some that are what do you see there? advocating partial shutdowns in some of these worst communities. >> reporter: chuck, these is that something the task force changing suburbs of maricopa is recommending in these sort of red zone states? count >> so both for the red zone county could change the election, and now joe biden owns states and in the emerging

yellow states we have really a 15-point edge and just take good data now both theoretical this city of surprise as an and data like arizona, texas and example. since 2000, the population has florida that if you do simple grown by more than 100,000 measures like avoid the indoor people. voters here largely aren't crowded places and a lot of buying into the idea that quote, times they're indoor bars and you can't have a hundred people chaos and bloodshed is going to overtake their cities as donald at your house either do less trump has suggested. take randy pinner, he's a 2016 indoor dining because that's another place, wearing a mask is trump voter. incredibly important, but we a maintenance worker at a school have to have 85 or 90% of district down the road whose individuals wearing a mask and republican has dated back to avoiding crowds. ronald reagan. that essentially givioes you th he said, i don't see that happening here. he is mulling voting for joe biden and all of this is shutdown. reflective in our polling. look at arizona. right now joe biden is leading look at florida, texas, among arizona voters 62% louisiana. these measures are being implemented and that changes it to 37%. chuck? >> vaughn, a 25-point swing in and the key is and that's why the suburbs in just that county we're going to all of the states and we're on local radio. would be astronomical for biden's chances. we give specific instructions to now to kent county, michigan, home to grand rapids. every governor by county and it's seeing the same changes what to do when those counties since 2000. the white, non-hispanic start tipping yellow, you have population in kent has declined seven points as the percentage

to institute these measures because the virus will keep of black and hispanic residents doing what the virus does unless we make an affirmative change. grows. my colleague dasha is in east >> it sounds like you made the case for a national mask grand rapids and dasha, what are mandate. if we need to 85 to 90% you seeing there? >> good morning. president trump won the state by less than 1% in the last compliance it sounds like a mask election. now he's campaigning on a law mandate is needed. is that a recommendation that's and order message in these suburbs, but the numbers and been made by the task force to what i'm hearing from the the president? >> our public health community here suggest it's not recommendations are across the resonating. board particularly in red or in fact, it's turning some voters off completely. according to the latest fox news yellow counties that you need to have mask wearing in a high poll, biden leads trump 50 to degree. there is a debate whether a 41% among suburban voters in mandate does an affirmative thing or whether people will michigan and one 2016 trump rebel against that, but it has voter here that i've been to be voluntary by the american following since last november, a people, when it's mandated by a mom of two named katie morris city like in phoenix or certain state, but the public health says trump is using scare tactics and she's offended by that messaging. message is if you have mask she was still open for trump wearing you have to reduce the r again and now she says that door below one just with these simple measures and we can stamp this is closed and she's going for outbreak out. if we don't do that and if we biden. chuck? >> von hilliard and dasha burns, don't limit the indoor, crowded both on the ground in those two

spaces the virus will c key suburban counties we will be tracking through november. when we come back, what concerned and this is a very serious point and deaths will continue to increase for the next few weeks because it's ♪ lagging, but we have decreased the amount of infects over the come on in, we're open. last two weeks. ♪ the hospitalizations have gone down. unfortunately, mortality lags by a couple of weeks. all we do is hand you the bag. so these measures do work, but simple. done. we adapt and we change. they've got to be implemented you know, you just figure it out. rigorously. one thing that seems to be we've just been finding a way to keep on pushing. scatter shot is the issue of ♪ contact tracing. it may take us back to our testing conversation that we may go back (vo) and millions of americans are astruggling to putushing. but it does look like the contact tracing, is this food on the table. outbreak too big now for contact tracing to be effective especially since we don't have so wells fargo is helping our nthe unthinkable has happened.ss the contact tracing army? now it's time to rference. >> so there's no black or white answer here, but in the very early parts of an outbreak or in wells fargo.

the very late waning parts are ♪ in selective times like in packing, contact krasing can be we could never do what they do. very effective. when you haveoubreak where many but what we can do it be a partner that never quits. verizon is the most reliable network in america. people are asymptomatic, testing built for interoperability and puts first responders first, and testing are of limited outfit with public health policy giving their calls priority, 24/7. measures like mask wearing and closing indoor crowded spaces. we do what we do best so they can too. yes, contact tracing is important, but it is much less important right now than the public policy mitigation measures. once the virus gets down to very low levels again, then testing and contact tracing become much more important. where we are right now with the widespread, multifocal just like many other countries, the issue is mitigation steps and not the contact tracing. >> look, i know you're not a political person, but the president continues to advocate for hydroxychloroquine. is that a danger to public health?

>> so from a public health standpoint, at first hydroxychloroquine looked very promising and there were not the definitive studies and there are five placebo-controlled trials. at this point in time we don't recommend that as a treatment and there's no evidee on the other hand, we have remdesivir and steroids which reduces mortality by 30%. we still don't know about immune plasma and a vaccine looks promising. hydroxychloroquine, i can't recommend that. >> are you concerned that because of this mixed messaging that it's going to continue to

sort of create this fog, if you will, about treatments and misuse of this drug? >> so needs to be prescribed by a physician. there may be circumstances and i don't know where they are where a physician may prescribe it for an individual and most physicians and prescribers are evidence based and they're not influenced by twitter or anything else and the evidence doesn't show that hydroxychloroquine is effective right now and it is effective both from a public standpoint and i told you the masks and the crowds and wash your hands and avoid indoor spaces and for treatments. we know if you get covid your chances of dying are incredibly less than they were in because our health it better and we have remdesivir and plasma and a vaccine on the horizon. >> admiral giroir, i appreciate

you coming on and sharing the perspective of the task force. stay healthy and safe yourself. >> appreciate that. thank you. >> you got it. joining me now is dr. nahid will connor may be gone, but bedalia from the boston school today we witness with our own eyes police officers kneeling on of medicine and she's been an expert contributor to this the necks of black americans. program. good to see you. let me get you to react to the testing conversation that you heard from admiral giroir there, george wallace may be gone, but from your perspective, what we can witness our federal should our testing strategy be government sending agents to use right now? >> chuck, thanks so much for tear gas and batons against having me. i will agree with admiral giroir peaceful demonstrators. that testing is part of a national public health response strategy to this coronavirus and >> context is everything. pandemic. the trouble, though, is that president obama eulogizing john there's so much disease activity in our community is that the -- lewis. it happened to take place on the just setting an absolute limit morning of that infamous or number of tests that we need president trump tweet of doesn't work because that's a delaying the election. moving target. heather mcgheee, in 2018, and

we continue to need more tests as our outbreak grows biggerrow 2019, how come president obama doesn't speak out against president trump. i noticed there wasn't any of bigger with the level of those comments after those comments this week. was doing w activity that we have is in the u.s. every time we test about 12 people, the 13th person may turn out to be positive. in uk, it takes them 235 people to find a positive person. in germany, it's a little over 150 before they find a positive person, just telling you how much disease we have in this country and not only that, but we are about 4% of the world population and we account for about 23% of the coronavirus cumulative coronavirus deaths so far in this pandemic. the trouble is that testing -- our testing strategy and public health strategy needs to sort of link with the lifestyle that we want to pursue in the middle of this pandemic. if we are looking to only test people who are sick, then we have to roll back reopenings and not, you know, create an environment in which asymptomatic cases will continue to track the disease and move it

behind. if we need to contact trace we need to increase the number of tests and bring down the activity as you and the admiral talked about to be able to accomplish that. here's what we want to do, we want to come back to some amount of normalcy. we need a test that comes back sooner than later. if you reopen schools and universities you need not only more tests, but you actually need tests that are closer to the consumer. maybe rapid tests that people can do at multiple levels and may not be as accurate, but immediately give you a sense. the trouble is our aspirations of the type of lifestyle that we want to lead do not match with our current resources. >> i'm curious, do you concur with the admiral that if we had 90 to 95% compliance on mask wearing nationwide we'd get control of virus? >> absolutely. in conjunction with avoiding

crowded indoor spaces and activity in the community we could bring this, you know, this pandemic under control. the other things that might help are these rapid diagnostics and we have some sort of big breakthrough in medical countermeasures or treatments that might decrease the mortality and that will go a long way in helping us control this pandemic before the vaccine is available. >> dr. bhedali,a, i'll have to leave it there. it feels like we're on a hamster wheel with this virus and it doesn't seem like anything will change until there is a vaccine. is that fair to say at this point? >> well, i think if we have more rapid tests as i mentioned and the countermeasures it will help, but we're in an inflexion point. we are at a point where we'll look at this moment the way we look at memorial day where we have a decision in front of us whether or not we lock duown partially or completely with by

all evidence so far means that will lead to more cases. i do think that's a decision we need to make more quickly than we are currently. >> i'm going to leave it there. dr. bhedalia, thank you for your expertise for our viewers. up next, joe biden seems to be ready to pick his running mate this week or next. mate this week or next. >> i'll talk to a ♪ (announcer) reliability is everything. so, if your network's down, you're down. verizon knows your customers need to reach you seamlessly. your team needs to work from different places across many devices. plus, you want the security trusted by some of the largest companies in the world. and that's why you trust us. the most reliable network in america. for as little as $5, now anyone can own companies in the s&p 500,

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welcome back. it's a quadrennial political parlor game guessing who might share the ticket with the party's presidential nominee. joe biden has pledged to pick a woman and he's considered more than a dozen. three names stand out right now l finalists. senator kamala harris ofury adv susan rice, and congresswoman karen bass of california. bass is the chairwoman of the

congressional black caucus and has been a leading voice on police reform. she's also unknown nationally, but she's now seen as among -- as a finalist among finalist, if you will, in the so-called vp race and karen bass joins me now. congresswoman bass, welcome back to "meet the press". >> thanks. thanks for having me on, chuck. >> let me ask this, i know nobody runs for the vice presidency and that people shy away from that, but let me ask you a question this way, why did you decide to go through this vetting process? >> well, mainly because i am so concerned with where we are in our country right now. 154,000 dead americans from covid virus. our country ripped apart because of race, the policing issues, the economic devastation that we're facing, all of these issues is the reason why i submitted myself to a very interesting process. a trip down memory lane. >> is there something about the post itself that is appealing to

you if you did end up as vice president of the united states? >> well, you know, to me being a partner with somebody who i have deep respect for, with somebody with who i believe is authentic and genuine and has the capacity to have empathy and has tremendous experience and working alongside of him, aside from being considered is a tremendous honor, but all of that is the reason why i would want to go forward with this. >> you've not been somebody who, at least we in political circles have known, with presidential ambitions. >> exactly. >> let me ask you this, why haven't you considered running for president before and by agreeing to this, i know it doesn't many you want to run for president in the future. >> right. >> but a lot of people certainly think you will. exactly. you know what, chuck, in my life i have always been focused on the work and you can look through my past and it's pretty clear i have not set out in my life to run for president. i have focused on doing the work

in a lot of different ways. my focus has been trying to do everything i could to make our nation a more perfect union especially for those people who are the most marginal, those people who are often not included in our country. that is what i have done for almost 50 years of my life. >> what do you believe makes you prepared for the vice presidency on day one. >> having served as speaker of the house in california. as you know, california is the world's fifth largest economy, the largest state in the union. i led at a time when we went through the worst economic crisis since the great depression. i led in a very bipartisan manner. i worked with governor schwarzenegger and worked well with my republican colleagues. my background in health care. i've been in the emergency room. i've been in life and death situations. my experience in foreign policy and over the years what i am most proud of is my ability to bring people together because i think that our country needs

healing. i do believe that president biden will be a healer in chief and we certainly need that now, and i have believed i've played that role, too. i have worked across racial lines. i have worked a kos political lines, and i have focused on really my goal which is to get work done on behalf of the american people which is why you find people like paul ryan or kevin mccarthy who have worked with me and worked with me well. >> let me turn to this issue of cuba. a lot of people have turned to this issue as they've dug in. you spent time there in the '70s as a young activist working with a group called seremos brigade building houses in cuba. you have rejected the idea that you have celebrated the castro regime. >> right. >> do you look back on that and think that you were a bit naive.

>> as any 19-year-old would be, sure. in my early 20s i went to cuba to help the cuban people to build houses, but over the last 20 years, chuck, i have been working -- one, i have always believed in bridging the divide between our two countries. cuba is 90 miles away and for the last two ways we have built relations issues. i've been recruiting those doctors to work in the inner city because they come in tuition-free. the cubans also have two medicines, one for diabetes for which my mother died for and i'd like to have those tested in the united states. i know castro regime has been a brutal regime. i know there's no freedom of press and interest of association and when i went in my late teens and early 20s, you know, one of the things -- one of the relations with the americans

that were there because there were over 100 young people that were there and all of us worked on different issues. well, what's interesting is we had the ability to come home any protest against our own government, but the cuban people most certainly cannot dond they can't do it now. >> you sound a lot t tn when yo described him as commandante and jefe when he died and you said something i found interesting. you didn't quite realize how sensitive folks were in south florida about this still. >> no. go ahead. >> so i'm just curious, that you thought, well californians wouldn't mind that description, but it might offend floridians. forget that a minute. it still seemed as if you had a soft view of castro, if you will. >> yeah. and let me explain, too, because i think the use of the term

commandante and jefe in florida that was a term endearing that way. i was expressing condolences to the cuban people, to the people in cuba, not cubans around the world. i don't think that's a toxic expression in california, but let me just say, chuck, lesson learned. wouldn't do that again. talked immediately to my colleagues from florida and realized that that was something that just shouldn't have been said. >> you said you were expressing condolences to the cuban people. there's many people who believe that the castro regime in general was keeping them confined, was stifling their freedom, that actually getting rid of castro might have been a celebration to some. >> yeah. maybe, and the island, i think it's slightly different because you know they certainly didn't have the freedom and wouldn't have the freedom to celebrate that. so i think that it is just very important the way the obama administration had opened up

relations with cuba, i think the best way to bring about change on the island is for us to have closer relations with the country that is 90 miles away. >> just very quickly, i'm curious of your reaction. you were called communist karen yesterday by the trump campaign and senator marco rubio essentially implied there for ts seen as so much of a castro sympathizer. how do you react? >> well, one, i don't want consider myself a castro sympathizer. number two, my position on cuba is really no different than the position of the obama administration. as a matter of fact, i was honored to go to cuba with president obama. i went to cuba with secretary kerry when we raised the flag. so there really isn't anything different, and frankly, i believe the republicans have decided to brand the entire democratic party as socialist and communist. so i'm not surprised by rubio's

characterization of me or of a role i would play if i were on the ticket. >> congresswoman karen bass, democrat from california, what do you think of all of the extra scrutiny you're getting, all of the extra attention. good or bad? >> well, you know what? i mean, it's okay because really my focus is about what this country is going through. i don't want to see another 154,000 americans dead, and the reason for that is because the lack of leadership we have in the white house, we are 90-plswi am looking president biden raise his hand and being sworn in. if i'm on the ticket or not, i will work just as hard to get him elected because i believe he has the leadership to get us out of this crisis that we're in right now. >> congresswoman karen bass, i appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. most importantly, stay safe and healthy. >> thank you. you, too. >> you got it. when we come back, president

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