scott: theirus spikes. and the president's poll numbers sink. >> we've been hit badly. we've had now over0 120, deaths and we've had 2.5 io miinfections. robert: across the country states report record highs in coronavirus cases. but the president rains defiant. pushing to reopen the economy and rallying his base. president trump: lock them up, yeah. lock them up. robert: and as the nation wrestles with its past, the road to police reform remains uncertain. >> the senate will havech a ce to honor george floyd's life or too nothing.n' >> if you allow amendmenl in the house bil, then you won't accept how do we take you serious? l,

robert: next. announcer: this is "washin week." corporate funding is provided by -- >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. withidelity wealth management a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recndommeations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. ♪ announcer: kaiser permanente. ti adal funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams o and nd patricia yuen through the yuen foundation. committed to briing cultural differences in our communities.

the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs ew station from s like you. thank you. ce again from washington, moderator robertosta. robert: good evening. at week's end, president trump is confronting a grim reality. the coronavirus pandemic is spreading like wildfire many states with more than 40,000 necases on thuday alone. and spikes in florida, texas, andalifornia. here is what dr. anthony fauci said this week. >> what we're dealing with right now is community spread in the context of a substantial proportion of the people who are getting infected. do not know they're infected. ym they're notomatic. this is part of a process that we can be either part of the

solution or part of the problem. if we don't extinguish t outbreak, sooner or later, even ones that are doing well are going to be vulnerable to the spread. robert: but as governors reelse from tlarming new numbers, the trump administration has asked the supreme court to strike down president obama's health care law and i consider ending direct federal funding for 13 it testings in five states by the end of the month. then on friday, itaiit would actually extend funding in texas after an outcry. as all this criticism mounts, the president has blamed the risen cases on expanded testing as he did thursday with sean hannity on fox news. president trump: we have more cases because we do the greatest testing. if we didn't do testing we would have no cases. other countries, theyst don't millions. so up to almost 30 million tests. robert: joining us tonight are four reporters ready to open

their notebooks. abby phillip, political corresndent for cnn. kasie hunt, capitol hill correspondent fo nbc news and host of "kasie dc" on msnbc. dan balz, the chief correspondent for the washington post. and jonathan lemire, white house reporter for the assosated ps. good friday evening to all of you. appreciateou being here. abby, let's start with you. you look at these governors, t many ofm republican, facing a crisis in their stes as these case numbers soar, what's the significance of tse trump allies now having problems? >> wellthese are the very same people who just a few months ago were so eager to open their statt es back up t they were among the first to do it. and now they're realizing that there are real consequences doing it too quickly and to

doing it n in conjunction with clear public health messaging about what people should do. so when you s it places like texas and you see places like lora starting to reali that they have a potentially iscontrollable outbreak on their hands, tha real warning sign. because these were theolks who were the most ardent backers of the administration pushing for reopening. they are suddenly in texas in particular starting to close their states up again. this does not bode well for this administration that seems to want to pretend like these outbreaks are not happening and that they're not significant. they are real. and even the president are starting to realize it and having to respond to it. robert: jonathan, can you build on abby's reporting there? the task force that met on friday, dr. fauci sounding t alarm and vice president pence touting the administration's resp se, what's the story inside the west wing? >> well,s this e first coronavirus briefing they've had in a nber of weeks. vice president pence in front of the cameras asked americans t

three time pray. he didn't even ask once for americans to don masks which of course health experts believe is so crucial to stopping the slowing and stopping thepread of this virus. behind the scenes, bob, this is president who wants to forge forward and talking about the virus even in the past tene. touting success of the testing program, exaggerating the succprs of the testinram and so eager to restart the nation's economy believing at's his really only best chance to win re-election this november. he's forging forward, even plunging into the hotspot i was with him on tuesday when he wentri tozona. he touted the -- visited the border wall and touting the accomplishment as a signal to conservative base. but then also held a rally, a rally of sorts and a packed megachurch in t texast event, no social distancing. robert: right. >> no temperature checks. very f ew masks and it's one while the president fed off that crowd,

there arsome around him that worry, arizona a. state where the virus is surging, tt could have even been a super spreader event in itself. robert: kasie, when you're up on capitol hill you covered dr. fauci's testimony this week. are there republican cracks? we saw senator corneren and senator cruaz of ts push back against the administration's position on testing. what else are you hearing? >> well, bob, i do think that this is a scenario where the politics of the senate republicans and the president aren't necessarily the same as they have been on so many issues over the past several years because so many members of congress are seeinglair constituents suffering. they are seeing hospitals, health care providers in their states, in their home districts grappling with the intensity of this crisis. d that's the first foremt and most important reality tha they have to answer to.

and while as jonathan lemire inted out the white house has sensed some serious mixed messaging on masks, that's not what you're hearing from members of the republican senate. marco rubio w very direc in saying everyone should put on a mask aeady. and you're seeing them do it themselves for the most part in the halls of congress. so this is something that i llthink republicans are r feeling the pressure on. and it is going to contribute to how the ay feout their own re-election chances coming up in the fall as people ar grappling with this pandemic, every person engaged in the election or not is having to deal with this in their own personal lives. and if they're not happy with how pple in power and right now republicans hold the white house and the republican senate, are doing and grappling with this crisis, they're going to be unhappy aal poten te for change. and i think you're really reaction to that in a way you have not seen repubtocans react

ther issues over the past years of the trump administration. robert: yet, dan, when you look at the republicans, they're still standing him in the polls. and they seem to applaud when heoes after the affordable care act. president obama's health care law. when you look at the trump demicks taking that move, making that move this week, you see a white house, an administration trying to hold republicansogether? what's the political explanation for that fight? >> i think the only political explanation, bob, is that it does play to the robert -- republican base. getting rid of the affordable h care a been an article of faith among republicans ever since was passed by the ra obama adminion. and i think they would dearly like to do that. but the politics oft, the timing of it probably couldn't be worse. we know that the affordable care act was unpopular for a number of years. that's not the case today. people have a much higher opinion of it than they once did. and at this moment, in the middle of a pandemic, the idea

of completely upending the health care system by getti rid of the affordable care act is something that will make many, many americans nervous. so i think both in terms of the pure politics of it and the timing it, it seems terribly awkward on the administration's part to d this. robert but abby, you look at vice president biden and the presumptive democratic nominee, he's ihing to have thiight on health care. so speaker pelosi, let's dig a little it deep noor this campaign issue and the latest polls because they do hover over everything. theresident is looking at tough numbers. according to a "nework times" siena college poll former vice president joe biden is leading in sixro battld states that president trump won in 2016. another times siena poll showed biden aheadf the president by 14 points nationally anded sho trump losing ground with his base of white voters. e the dent's response is pretty much been going back to his 2016 playbook from touting the border wall alongside jonathan lemire in arizona this

week, two accusing former abby, back to biden.reason. how does his campaign see all this? these polling numbers about the ace? are they looki a landslide? >> well, think you can find a democrat n the country that would sit here and look at polls in june and say this is going to be -- it's going to be easy for the nominee come november. democrats are so beyond nervous, the bidenamign is no exception. but they do understand that the polls are showing something very real which isha the president is not increasing his support at all in fact, his support is dropping like a rock in response to dua crises, the coronavirus pandemic and his handling of racial tensions. it's why you'veeen the president go back to his base ss e, that's why you see him and his campaign putting out new ads aimed at trying to f

depress suppor joe biden, especially among black voters. look, i mean, the biden campaign is keenly aware this this is an incumberesident. but they also understand that presidentrump, they believe, is his own worst enemy. many of these wounds the president is experiencing are of his own making. so that's why you don't see joe birying to go out of his way to create moments that don't necessarily need to be there. they're giving their speeches. but they are avoiding press eiconferences and they are very, very careful here. because they understand that what's going on here isid prt trump is himself creating a hole that might be very, very difficult r him get out of come november. robert: jonathan, what is the white house's plan to respond to these polling numbers? i was reading "the wall street journal" editorial page. and they took him on today saying, quote, as of now, mr. ha trum no second term agenda or even a message beyond fours more yea himself. i know the president is not

going to new jersey this aiekend. he may meet wits to talk about his campaign. what's next for the trump domain zph >> i believe the editorial sai if psident trump was looking for a nickname for joe biden it shouldn't be sley joe but esident-elect if things were to continue this way. my colleagues in the associated press addressed this topic wi toda our news story with the presint's campaign for a theory of the case. they recognize right now that there aren't many voters undecided about pre trump and may not that many they can persuade and win back. they believe and we can take exceptions with it but they believe about 40% of the country still likes the president. they think his approval numbers en relatively stable throughout his 3 1/2 years. their goal tourn out that 40% as high as possible. the 60% that supports joe biden may not turn out as high. because they think thapot the ion that supports the president, even though it's a smaller number, is more enthusiastic about it. they're diehards and come out for him. hence all the base plays this

week abot the border, about confederate monuments, about obamacare. the support for joe biden, though, seems wide seems a little more tepid. the enthusiasm numbers aren't quite as high. but what the campaign is now worried about are they seeing some of those enthusiasm numbers for joe biden start to pick up? amid t o proteststhe last week? amid further worries about the present's handling of the coronavirus pandemic? which is why you're seeing the president's team try so desperately to drive biden's negatives down. of of why they won in 2016 course is because hillary clinton had such high negatives, too. just like trump biden's aren't nearly as high which is why the president and his team are trying to drag biden down t. they donnk they canring up trump's number all that much. robert: dan, you study these polls. any time the post has a story about a poll and usually on the front page writing about it. what ahe you learning you study these latest numbers when you see him hing soft support, with evangelicals and white voters?

>> bob, i think -- you know, as we know, you can't predict the outcome of this election at this smoment. but if you look at these polls, the president is in a terrible position. i talked to t strategists over the last couple of days about these polls. one aic repu, and one a democrat. and both of them used the same expression, unprompted, which is trump fatigue. id one of them o me if you look at these poll numbers, his ballot number the number of -- the percentage of people who him is actually below his for approval rating. and i said, well, you would gsume in normal times the president willt at least his approval rating in terms of the vote in november. and this person said i am not convinced of that. i think that there are a lot of voters w have just kind of had it with the trump era. this was a republican who said that to me. and a democrat had a similar view. he now, you know, will come a time or the summer when

vil president biden w be as the expression goes in the barrel. he will face some adversit you don't go through campaigns like this without having to do that. but right now, i think the biden campaign feels that the attacks that the president has e led against him and that the campaign has is leveling against him are not havi that much effect. and they d look at tfection among groups that have supported not just president trump but other republicans in the past, and they say that that puts biden in a stronger position at this point than hillary clinton was four yrs ago. so i think that this is a long, slow road back for the president. thiss not something that he can do by simply flipping a switch and that the electorate begin to turn around. he's going to have to do something that is difficult for him whi is to have a consistent and disciplined message and campaign opetion. robert: kasie, i know republicans are uneasy when they look at these numbers.

i was talking to a republicanth senato other day. and what's your sategy? and he saidvoid kasie hunt in the hallway so she doesn't ask me a tough question about president trump. but kasie, what about the democrats? coming back to what we were talking about wh abby they had big primaries this week. eliot engel could be on track to lose in a new york democratic house primary, a committee chairman, foreign affairs committee in the house. a tight senate race othe democratic side in kentucky. in your notebook what are the lesson week's primaries? >> bob,nk i t that the top line lesson here for any politician in power, and we saw the republicans go through this a little bit moreecently and mocrats have been grappling with a difrent version of it in recent years, is that complacency is absolutely killer if you are in power. and rht now, we are seeing frankly our government and the blame for this is falling atpr ident trump's feet for

obvious reasons. but alsony elected official who is seen as disconnected from either their voters directly or from the times or from the issues that people care about right now is at risk. and f democrats, you have seen more progressive ca iidates take strides her these primary elections. and you've flick seen some candides who perhaps had establishment backing. were part of the establishnt who many thought would easily cruise to victory.um d that aion by itself is proving to be damaging in these times. and i think in particular, you've seens candida of color in a couple of important inst rceslly rise on the moment that we are experiencing as a naton. people are saying yes, i want someone who is out in the streets, who isrotesting with me, who understand the pain that i am feeling and is willing to demonstrate that. so i think that's really an

portant force. and anybody who is running for- ction at this point underestimates it at their own peril. robert: that include the president's -- >> bob -- robert: do you want to jump in, abby? just quickly. right.k that -- that's exactly and what we've also seen in this past week, fueled by these protests, actually, that have i been othe streets, is voter registration is up. people a votg in really high numbers, historic numbers for some of these primaries. that's a trend that i expect to see coming november. and it's one of the reasons that the president himself is extremely nervous. he thinks that all of these people voting by mail are a thre to him. this is a battlefield that republicans could be competitive in. but because the president is so opposed to vote by mail, they are putting themselves at a disadvanta g. i think itng to be a huge factor as we go forward. ere is a lot of energy in the democratic base that is being harnessed not just by restration but by people having more means to vote. and that's something at could

benefit top and bottom of the ticket comeovember. robert: jonathan, house democrats passed sweeping cing legislation on thursday. but the whole thing is stalled in the senate. is thereny chance of a bipartisan breakthrough this summer? re doesn't seem to be this moment one. you know, i'll defer to kasie and those who cover the hill who have a better read on this.d but thes seem to be some momentum from the republicans. we know that something passed the senate but seems to be a bit of a gap to bridge here. what's interesting is whether -- how much thean president to perhaps put his thumb on the scale. we know that he signed an executive order of course on some police reform that was his campaign was very pleased with. they thoug sht theyt of -- managed to have it both ways and sent a signal that he of course cared about issue. but yet it didn't go too far. he didn't want to alienate law enforcement, police unions and so on who support he's banking on this fall and contuing with the rhetoric of law and

rider. we're h from that, from him nearly every day in a tweet. whe he still wants to be aligned with the sort of the toughness of keeping the stres safe as h puts it, even after the blowback he received for when he ed federal law enforcement to clear lafayette square nearly a month ain. anfact when he decided not to go to bedminster, new jersey reason he cited was to oversee and make sure there weren't more protests in washington, d.c. at least for now there seems to be reluctance for the president to go any further on this issue. robert: dan, you' been studying the polls and the post did aoll of black voters nationwide. ngere's such momentum for action in wasn. what is the lack of action tell you about this polital moment >> well, bob, we're certainly -- there is ferment and change in the racial politics of this country. and i think that the problem for the republican party right largely all white political

party, is that on public opinion, the repubcans in this country are on the wrongth side o majority. they are in the minority on public onion. so -- and at the same time, s white democrave moved sharply on many of these racial issues and now theiitr attes are much more similar to black democrats than they were four or five years ago. so this puts pressure on democrats, not to compromise cause they have to thi about their own base and their own coalition. so they're n going to look for half measures. the republican -- the republicans in the senate clearly recognize that they need to respond to this. but t president keeps trampling on the message with the kinds of things that he has done and said not just in ts moment but over a long period of time. and so his credibity on these issues is very compromised. speaker pelosi this week and did an interview with her and

her position. not moving on she's sticking with the house position of federal ba on chokeholds. a national database on police misconduct. does that meademocrats are waiting for vice president biden to win the election and would he pursue the house bill first tryhing jan 2021 if he won? >> i think y probably could expect joe biden to pursue something close to the house bill or the house bill if he were tal win. and ac for thateason, probably disincentivizes many use democrats to try to move forward th some kind of compromise. t you know, i do wonder if there are individuals outside -- outside of sfort o nancy pesi in the rank and file of the democratic party in then house,e rank and file of the republican party in the house, and in the senate, who might be able to come to some kind of compromise. but the question i will leadership allow them to move it? you know, nancy pelosi doesn't v have any ince to take half

measures for all the reasons we andh mcconnell has absolutely no incentive really to actually move forward with this bill. they have alreadyade the point that they're willing to act on something. i don't think mcconnes a lot of political advantage in actually passing something. so it could be that leadership actually is the impediment here to progresce not arily the rank and file which might -- if they were sort of left up to their own devices be ab to come to some kind of agreement on some of these issues. robert: kasie hunt, 30 seconds left in the show. where does this all go on capitol hill? >> bob, i actually do think that there is some impetus to try to get thisone. as abby was saying. but i think the challenges at the end of the day,hey have to come up with a bill that president trump would si and i don't think democrats have any faith that president r trump would e sign anything on racial justice that they could actually stomach. that he was willing to sign, it

would actually end up looking bad for them. it seem tas though bet is being made that the momentum on this will continue. they will be able to pass something in a more -- in a friendlier polical atmosphere next year. robert: that is it forhis week. the time flies. thank you very much to our porters, abby phillip, kasie hunt, dan balz, and jonathan lemire, really appreciate your time on a friday night. lot of fun. and thank you all for joining us. we will keep taking you as close to ts ns we can. make sure to check out on the extra, our social media and bsite will have a discussion about the attorney general all means for d.o.j. what it i'mert costa. good night from washington. announcer: corporate funding for "washington week" is

provided by -- >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicateddvisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. announcer: kaiser permanente. ng additional funs provided by -- the estateof ald adams and koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in ourmu cties. the corporation for public broadcasting and by coributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thanyou.

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