robert: inside the push to reopen and the pushback. >> our team o experts now agrees that we can begin the next front in our war, which we arealng opening up america eain. robert: resident forges ahead on reopening the american economy, which has been ravaged by the pandemic. in many states, each day brings anxiety and rebellion. a small segment of the state is protesting. and that's their right. the d part is the more likely they're out and about the more likely they're to spread covid-19. robert: thisas sparked an intense debate over execuve power. >> when somebody's the president of the united states, this authority is total. and that's the way it's got to be. >> the federal government doesn't have absolutely power.

it's the exact opposite. it says that would be a king. robert: next. announcer: this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided b -- >> life isn't a straight line. and sometimes you can find yourself heading in a nw direction. fidelity is here to help you work through the uxpected with financial planning and advice for today and tomorrow. ♪ aughter] announcer: additional funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams, and koo and patricia yuen, through the yuen foundation committed to bridging cultul differences in our communities. the corporation for public

contributions to y pbs station fromew viers like you. thank you. once again from washington moderator rcoobert a. robert: good evening. it was a critical week for the trump presidency. at its core it was about hi decision to encourage the reopening of america. he veered from claiming total authority toultimately leaving it in the hands of states. but there's no doubt about where he stands. earlier friy, the president tweeted in solidarity with protestors in minnesota, michigan as well as wrginia have grown furious about stay-at-home orders. according to "the washington post," conservative gups have organized many of these events and joining me tonight are four top reporter who isen have be covering the president all week and asking sharp questions of him and his officials, kimberly atkins, senior washington cporate for wbu, boston's n.

peter baker, chief washington correspondent for the "new york times." paula reid, white house correspondent for cbs news, and kristen welker, white house corporate for nbc news. al anday friday there have been headlines across the countr about different states taking their own steps to reopen or remain closed. is week, peter baker had an exchange with the president about these issues. >> can you give us some sense of how many yesterday, you said 29 states were in good shape? >> well, i think -- peter, i think 29 states are in that ballgame not for opening but i b think they'lle able to open relatively soon. new york, nejersey are having very tough times.d they'll be there. they're going to be later, obviously. it's going to be up to the governors.

we're going to work with them. we're going to help them. it'soing to up to the governors. you're going to see quite a few states start to ope andall a beautiful puzzle. robert: a beautiful puzzle. i know all of you have been working hard. paulatepped right over from the briefing room. president trump sl wrapping it up. what explaits this tran from claiming total authority to now stepping back a little bit and saying he's sharing responsibility with the stas? well, sharing responsibility, i think sharing blame as well, right? if something goes wrong they can say it wasn't him. he provided guidance and the governors provided the decision. there'r a real f that if there are cities and towns and states that open up too early whatever that's defined as being and ri a resurgence of the disease it will require

everybody to goght back where we started shut back down again and cause a lot of unpleasant illness and pbably even death if that happens. so i think the president kind ob switchetween monday and thursday under the idea that look, if i'm going to be held responsible for everythingma, e i ought to share that a little bit with the governors since they're the ones that have the constitutional authority robert: and kristen, there not following this may 1st encouragement from president trump. what have you learned about how ates are reacting to the prident? >> well, really, it's a range. o you have sothe wpublican-led states, texas for example, floridach have really shown florida to cite one have not wanted to shut down. thf were sort o late in terms of doing that. and texas really defiant a really signaling that they are

sooner than some of these other states. and so i think it runs the ga met. new york, some of thstates. virginia, missouri, michigan saying liberate these states essentially siting with some of the protest ors saying that some of these state at home ords have been too tough. you see president trump really trng to share the blame of this crisis particularly as h enters this next phase of dealing with it.ro rt: that's a great point, kristen. trump's comments, is there any concern inside of the white house that he's encouraging t vil unr? >> if there is it's not getting throh to him. we know that this is a presi who likes to leady b instinct, lead with his gut. and this is aresidentho is

very attuned to iwhats supporters want. he saw these protests happening led by t conservative groupat are pushing back against these democratic governors, and it seemed almost resistible for them to side with them despite the fact that some of these protests featured hundreds of people actually gathering to in violation of the sixinoot distarule this the president's own council habeen advising americans for weeks. we do see -- in michigan though, it's a risky -- it's a risky proposition. if the president ishinking about his political future, michigan is a key state in his election. it's one he will need to win as he did in 2016. and michigan i one of the places where there is a hot spot. there's a real growth in covid-19 cases. not just in wayne county where detroit is lut a of the

surrounding suburbs where he got a lot of votes last time. so by pushingack against this, it could really backfire on him politically, let alone saying what it could do from a public health andp int. rober terms of public health, i kept hearing all week from xbusinessecutives that testing matters. if the country is going to reopen, they need toave testing in place so they feel comfortable and they're not going to have liability if theyr reopen t businesses. and president trump was facing question after question about this kind of issue this week about tesng about his administration's early response to the outbreak as states in co. this was paula's exchange and the president defendedis action. >> the argument is that you bought yourself some te and you didn't use it to prhoare itals or you didn't use it to ramp up testing. president trump: you're so ssgraceful. disgraceful the way you say that -- >> what did youradministration

do -- president trump: a lot. a lot. and in fact, we'll ge you a list. robert: paula, you've been persisting pressing the administration of hodhey handebruary of this year. what's the latest update from the white house where you are right now?>> here are clearly on the defensive on this issue of testing. in the briefing a short time ago, they spent t ab minutes having various task force officis do presentations, power point presentations talking about tesfeting, deing their record on testing and the headline from these officials ie that we do hhe capacity in the u.s. to do the testing they need to d to make those local officials, thoseusiness leaders even the president's own medical experts comfortable in reopening the economy. let's be clear. the issue isn't just capacity, it's also implementation. over the past veral months the administration has engaged in a pattern of overwhomsing and under delivering of implementation of t westing.

six weeks ago that the administration said you will soon be able to do drive-thru testing. they promised a google website ere you would be able to find places to get tested. that's not truly comeo fruition. and the president famously promised that anyone who needed a te cod get one. and right now, it's just not clear why they are not using the full authority of the federal government. the d.p.a., d.o.d. lapse, fema to issue a comprehensivtesting strategy because we've seen with fther countries, germany and south korea one the reasons they were more successful in containing this is because they had a central national stadium. robert: kim, you want to jump here? i saw you nodding. >> that's exactly right. and that's what local oiaff officials have beeling me all week. one point that was made during the briefing today is that sting is not thend all and be all. that's what dr. fauchy said.

but what is is data. s no community, ate can without data toe able to know y where the virus is where the incidents are coming down, the level of the number of deaths, where it might be a place where you could start to reopen without the data and you can't have the data without the testing and the states on their own do not have the capity to do that. the federal government has that. now, p csident trumpe under fire, was criticized very early on for not using t defense production act for not using other levels at hisdisposal to ramp up testing, weeks and weeks ago. everyone has said correctly, he has chosen to deflect that blam back to the states rather than take that action he says he's saving it as leverage against private companies. but soar the peoe on the ground say the data that they need, they do not have and they do not have the meao get it. robert: kristen, what about these conference calls, the

counsels the president has been having all week inerms of moving forward with the economy? >> well, president trump is really reaching out toro a swath of people to try to get a sense of what the best way is to move forward as kimberly was mapping out. they need to have data in order to do that. having said tohat, there's s much pressure on the administration of the economy up and running. he's getting a lot of that from the business community, because businesses, the banks. itreally runs the ga met. there was a conversation today wi vice president mi pence, though. it's worthti it got heated with democratic senators saying you are not answering our questions when it comes to tsting. we don't feelhere's a nationwide strategy here. and that really needs to be i place.

administration on the defense during this befing that paula was talking about. behind this scenes there is a acknowledgement that they do have to ramp up. they're trying to figure out how to d that. robert: peter,e talk about executive power. you've been reporting on the presidency for years. when the presidentf the united authority is that true? al >> no, it not true. he heard that loud and clear, not just from liberals and democrats but from conservatives an republicansrepublicans. you heard the from liz chaney and constitutional experts like jonathan turly who was the only law professor to appear at the impeachment on trump's side. that got through to the president br his aidause he has a lot of authority and leverage if he wanted to us there's nothing in the

constitution that allows m to supersede a governor's authority to havee peo stay at home. he might have the case to intervene in the case of an emergency. to say that is a whole new rp intation. he basically retreated on that heyesterday. an used the same language he used on monday in reverse. the president oni thed states calls the shots. yesterday, he got on the phone with the governors and says, u all wil call the shots. it struck me as not only a reversal, the latest we've seen of many. an effort on his rt to continue to send conflting messages so that nobody can hold him completely accountable for any particular aspect of this if things don't go right. bert: i don't just have two reporters. i have two lawyers. paula d kim. paul as an attorney and reporter, what do you make of what peter sai >> the constitutional is crystal have absolute power that he not

claimed. and he saw that. the legal,olitical clapback was pretty swift. you see these gups of regional governors saying that they were going to create their own coalitions to decides on a regional basis when it was best you saw nstitutional scholars, again, peter mentioned jonathan turly saying legally he does not have this authority. and low gistically, he was claiming this specifically a total authority to turn back on state local economies, schools, low gistically, it's just not clear how he would even dohat. that became crystal clear. that's why you see this swift al reve and now he's defering to the states and local leaders and in doing thatssng federal guidelines and deferring to states he'siving cover t the local leaders who wanto go back to business while shielding himself and theou white from any blame if there was a resurgence or new outbreaks.

robert: does it come down to tho rnor's comments about the president not being a king to this issue ofer executive p >> yes, it goes right against that instinct that he has, the president has that he is the leader in messaging tat everything comes down to him. help doesn't want to listen to experts. he doesn't always want to pay attention to the constitution ah the case were he missed the 10th amendment in asserting that aby.lute author he is pushing back against -- he also pues back against criticism. all that creates sort of the perfect storm and the perfect foil in governor cuomo. but what ie hea from other governors including governor baker in massachusetts also a republican is governors don't o have muc an appetite to fight with the president right now. they want to get the materls, the testing, the data, and the resources that they need ide to stop the spread of the

virus. andnk they that incurring the ire of the president is not always the best way to go. it's a delicate dance. robert: while all this happening the white house vs. the states, the nation's unemployment clms have reached 22 million. democrats in the they're continuing to negotiate tonight this weekend about the small business lg dprogram. that program i part of the $2 trillion congresonal deal has maxed out of its allocated $350 billion. senate democratic leader chuck schumer said this on friday. >> we've had conructive talks where they're going to continue through the weekend. and i don't seen any rea why we can't come to an agrment soon. robert: mitch mcconnell has held rm eding an agreement beyond the small business program. see democratic leaders treat support for workers and small

businesses something th need to be goaded into supporting. this really should be above politics. americans need democrats to stol king emergency paycheck money and let this job-saving program reopen. robert: kristen, we keep hearing about president trump, his tweets, his daily briefings. but there is a whole other story on the economy a on the congressional side. sides are coming closer together to add some money for hospitals, maybe $75 billion politico is reporting on top $50ouillion. do see it being successful this weekend? >> it se temsy are making progress. i've heard that figure as well, that $5 billion. democrats saying, look, we want money for hospitals, for state and lal governments. they were stalemated, deadlocked

just a few weeks ag but they started talking again. and that's because the white hoe has movedorward realizing that they need to give democrats something in order to get this done. there's immense pressure on everyone, both sides of the aisle to renew this fund, but as one administration official told me there's the most pressure on the presidentecause he is the one who sor of left holding the bag if this doesn't get resolved. and so that's why you see the white house moving an inch towards the democrats. will it be a done deal? that remains to be seen. they are hopefu they'll continue to talk throughout the weekend. tuesday is the earliest that they could actually be able to vote on this. robert: holding the bag a paula, the president's name is going to be on those stimulus payments goingveut. how hemocrats felt about that move from the ministration? >> nancy pelosi has criticized that as unnecessary delay, an

act of vt ity. terms of this phase three stimulus, this was passed in record speed, in record side. white house officials tell me re yes, t a lot of details that need work out on the fly bu specifically with refunding the business program. they're under a lot of pressure because the president is hearing that they do not want to vois necessarily see a phase four. they would prefer toe se the country reopen and get ba to business. if they can come to a deal on this to refu this specific program, that may help buy the more time before they're really pressed on a phase four. robert: peter, the reason this has all expired money is because all these businesses have applied for loans athey want to see more loans go out. what's your read? is the litical theater both sides ultimately come together like theyd in phase three in that $2 trillion or not? >> it's haro imagine they wouldn't. such dire straits that both have

keep it -- keep it holding up as long as possible until these stay-at-home orders can be effect ily rescinded. i think, it's hard to imagine this this negotiation period doesn't eventually lead some uc place consve. but you know, we'll see. it's a different era. in pviouser rass, this wouldn't have been that hard. but this is a moment ofti polari. you heard the president in his briefing right now not more than a half hour or so trashing nancy pelosi saying she was on vacation. she didn't want to come back and do her work trying to pressure her and make her lookike she's indifferent to the needs of the country that a lot of republicans went after her this week because of pictures involving ice cream. thbl're trying to turn the on the democrats even though, of course, the incumbent party in i the white hou usually the one that owns the party one way or the other for good or will ill. and eventually, of course, if

they get a deal this is a temporary thing that it might not matter. everybod s so sensitive abo it. as you point out 22 million people out of work. there's a great inntive. i did the math today, robert. 22 million workers put in to equivalent of ev single worker man or woman in 23 states combined. that's a lot of peop are facing pain rightnow. robert: to that point about pain -- youee it up close in any community. your heart goes out to people i love your ing because . you're always keeping an eye on boston fowbur up there. what's happening on the ground? we see the stmaocets steady. rising off some news off the of developmenew drugs. but for people in boston in your case, what are you hearing? what are you seein >> yeah, and it goes directly to these negotiations. you're seeing the cases -- the number of cases rising in the

states. it's one of its own -- one of the country's hot spots. at the same time you're seeing racial disparities and how this -- how this virus has manifested playing out in boston and surrounding communities. and you see the healthcare boston is one of the -- the hubs of heisthcare in thountry. and you're seeing the very -- the big impact on healtare workers as they are trying to provide aid for people. and it's just those types of communities that the democrats have in mind in this short-term funding negotiation. they understand and want the s.b. toomplet have these businesses. unds for small but they say if they don't address healthcare workers, in local officialhis bill, it's going to be that much harder to get everything they n need the next one and time is running out. that's the maiargument for pushg forward and requesting in this nend. business funding

a place like boston is a perfect example of what they're pointing to. robert: and paula, so many of these drugs that people are optimistic about, they still do.t have f.d approval. some tests are still waiting on so much of this is t.b.d. when it comes to the economy. >>so tely. so many of these business leaders have say robust testing is necessary. they don't mn for covid but anti-body testing. dr. birx is saying how little they know if they have been exposed if they are actually immune. we're flong wayrom that. there are questions about vaccines. we're a yearo a year and a half out for a vaccine. and about whether that vaccine would have to be mandatory in order to be effective. the sources i've spoken with saying based on the nature of this virus, the presidt -- the

government would need to mandate this vaccine in order to truly make itiv effe if they don't mandate it then this whole argument that we'll p be fine e in the sky. robert: that is all the time we have. many thanks to our panel. kimberly atkins, peter baker, paula reid, and kristen welker. first rate group of reporters. we thank you for your time and your reporting. and we will keep brging you as close to the news as we can. this conversation, it will continue on our extra. you can watch that live on our ial ite and on our soc channels. but for now, i'm robert costa. good night from washington. ♪ [captioning perfmed by the al captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.visit ncicap.org] announcer: corporate funding if

"washington week" is provide by -- >> life isn't a straight line, and sometimes you can find urself heading in a new direction. fidelity is here to help you rk through the unexpected with financial planning and advice for today and tomorrow. ♪ announcer: additional funding is provided by -- the estate of arnold adams, and koo and patricia yuen, thro th yuen foundation committed to bridging cultural gaps our communities. the corporation for publicti broadc and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likean you. you. >> you're watchin

nathan masters: unlike its italian namesae, venice, california feels eternally fresh and current. there's nothing self-consciously quaint about it. maybe that's because venice always seems to be undergoing at cual rebirth, from the flourishing arts and poetry scene of the 1950s to the commercial explosion we see today. in fact, when developer abbot kinney founded the neighborhood as venice of america,he wanted it to function as a beachhead for a cultural renaissance. and yet, despite this constant change, fragments of venice's pastp sist. visit venice and look closely enough, and you'll findc evideall around you of the neighborhood's fascinating, multi-layered history. how can a neighborhood that is constantly reborn maintain so much of its past? l.a. is an idea as muchs a d city, a set of hopes anliefs