captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, a widespread surge-- coravirus cases spike nationwide as new infection records are set and some officials call return to more restrictions. then, abuse in the ranks-- survivors of sexual assault in the military speak out following the harassment and murder of soldier vanessa guillen. plus, friends in high places-- the president commutes roger stone's prison sennce despite his conviction in connecti with the russia investigation. and it monday, tamara keith amy walter break down th latest politics news from the ongoing pandemic response to the campaign for the white house. all that and more on tonight's pbnewshour.

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: the roll-back of reopenings is growing tonight, as the coravirus explosion ins new energy. but the man leading the public health fight is increasingly aim targetlf. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: at hospitals nationwide, the focus is on the

wave of new covid infections. at the white house, the focus has shifted to attacking d t'thony fauci, the governms top infectious disease expert. today, president trump retweeted critical posts about fauci. that came after the doctor publicly a repeatedly corrected the president's misstatements. c deputyef of staff dan scavino even posted a cartoon of fauci as a water faucet that needed to be turned off, and branding the scientist as" cowardly". >> i have a very good relationship with dr. futurey. i have from the beginning. i find him to be a very nice person. i i don't always agree with him. >> reporter: the president hasle often made ming he has wrongly said 99% of the cases are harmless and repeatedly claimed the virus will simply disappear. but, white house aides insist that it is fauci who has often been wrong about the pandemic. the broader public from wearing masks. he has since said officials took that stance in the beginning

because they knew shortages were so bpr that medical essionals couldn't get enough. early on, fauci also said historically respiratory-borne viruse through asymptomatic people. since then, as more he and others have learned about covid- 19, he has said asymptomatic is more prevalent than other viruses. for his part, dr. fauci has said that the science around theon virus isantly evolving. today, he spoke out again about the increase in nationwide cases. >> we did not shut down entirely, and that's the reason why we wenup, started to come down and plateaued at a level that was really quite high, about 20,000 infections a day. >> alcindor: all of this, comes as florida has set al single-day record for new cases and intensive care units across the state fill to the brim. i>> we can't get swept aw fear.

>> alcindor: still, sney world in orlando began its phased re- opening this weekend, asask- clad visitors flocked to the park. it also called for shopping malls, barber shops and places of worship to close in half of ths state. texahas also been hard hit and officials in houston are now calling for the state to halt its reopening efrts and reimpose a lock dosmx. houston's democratic mayor sylvester houston's democratic mayor sylvester turner: >> step back, a couple of weeksa let's lothe numbers, look at the data, see where things are and then gradually move forward again. >> alcindor: today, the state sueme court upheld houston refusal to host the state republican convention, as an in- person event. mayor turner said the city could not do so safely. threpublican leaders said ey will consider their next steps.h meanwhilpitals are buckling under surging admissions.

and, on sunday, white house coronavirus testing czar, admiral brett giroir, pushed the use of masks. >> it's really essential to wear masks. and for this to work, e to have like 90% of people wearing a mask in public in the hot spot areas. if we don't have that, we will >> alcindor: that came just a day after president trump maryland. military hospital in there, he wore a mask in public for the very first time. the same time, educatio secretary betsy devos on sunday continued the president's push to reopen schools in the fall. >> there's nothing in the data that sugsts that kids being in school is in any way dangerous. >> alcindor: other nations are wrestling with the same questions, and the same surge in infections. and,n mexico, officials say more than 35,000 people have died from e virus, now the fourth highest tally in the world. yamiche alcindor.our >> nawaz: even as education secrety betsy devos, some political leaders, and many parents, are pushing for a wider reopening of schools, some officials are worried about the

risks. today, california's two largest school districts, the los angeles and san diegunified systems, sd they will only do instruction remotely this fall. between the two districts, that affects roughly 825,000 students. in florida, where infections remain very high, the state's education commissioner wants schools physically open five days a week. some districts are looking at hybrid models instead. we get reaion to all this from the president of the teachers union there. fedrick ingram is with the florida education association and he joins me now. mr. ingram, welcome to tou "new. so your union represents thousands of teachers. you yourself are a teacher. what's your your assessment? will the schools be ready for students next month? >> well, thank you for having me, and i appreciate being here. we represent 150,000 educators and school employees across this state and, frankly, i believe our governor and our commissioner of education haverr beenponsible. they put out a plan last week to say that we must have a brick and mortar option for five days

epicenter of this virus, withthe cases day -- in fact, in the next couple of days, our state will eclipse over 300,000 positive case-- i think it's irresponsible to think our schools, teachers, educational support professionals and first and moststmportantly our ents are ready to go back to school in the brick and mortar option. >> nawaz: in the meantene, you have dof school districts in florida each with their own plan, they all seem to be in different stages. some have been reliebod, some scoods are voting on them, some still very much in the works. when you think about how students could physically return to school, do any of the plans catch your attention? do any of them look like a gd plan to you right now? >> listen, kudos to our superintendents, school boards, local teachers unions, trying to put plans together to be as a advantageous as they

but they can't do it without guidance and regulations and funding. it's going to cost us more to educate than less. we have to deal with ventilation of school buildings, social distancing, meaning smaller classes, and we'll have to deal wi masks in terms of congregation, in terms of the buses, lunch rooms, assemblies, or cosmetology classes, we have no gotten no guidelines on how to do that. the districts are frantically trying to create the plans and have beeworking hard this summer, but under the guise of our governor and our commissi have given us a slogan, we must open with brick and mortar, they have not given us a comprehensive plan.at >> nawaz: re teachers worried about now and do they see specific steps they want to see put in place as s tigation effofore they walk back into schools? >> teachers are scared. teachers, frankly, have angst that i've never seen before. some teachers are making the

decisions to retire early simply because ey cannot go back into a school either because they are over age 60 or may have an unrlying issue, or a teach may be healthy and taking care of an elderly parent, or they may be t sick child with a bronchial issue, who has juvenile diabetes, but they don't want to be the cause of bringing that home from an asymptomatic child. and so we're putting these things inth gs in place. our state has said nothing about reasonable accommodations for our achers, and that's what they're looking for. if they get sick, what happens? if there's a breakout, a pandemic, a virus episode at a school or a particular feeder pattern, what's going to happen? do we invi a substitute teacher to come in and teach a class, given the circumstances of a teacher or a child being in that class that's sick? there is no guidce here in the state of florida, and we have to do better because our kids are depending on us. >> nawaz: let me ask you about the kids, then, because there are a lot of conrns about the effects the lockdown has already had, the concern e ing based on ps will be widened after

kids go back to the school. if they didn't have internet have it in the falng, they won't how concerned are you that the longer schools stay closed, kids will fall further and further behind in the way they can't make up. >> sure. i'm a parent first. i have a 15-year-old goong to high sthis year. i want her high school to be as safe as it posbly can be, knowing there will be some academic regression, knowing she has been out of school five and a half months. from march till may, our lawmakers have put in a testing vacuum that is -- that has very little to do with teaching. so i feel our teachers still will do the magic they always do. whenever we get the kids back, be it online, hybrid, brick and mortar, our teachers will do what they need to. do right now, our parents need to concentrate on exactly the cafeteria workers our bus drivers and secretaries are

saying, this is life or death. kids and peoplaue will die b of this virus and, in florida, we do not have this under control, and we need to concentrate on that to protectr mmunities and families. our teachers will still be there and our schools will be there ay strong as ave ever been because i have every confidence in our public schools. >> nawaz: based on what you've seen so far in the steps being taken, do you see any way schools could be open onth safely? >> yes, i do see a way, if our state shows they trend like the c.d.c. regulations told us of 14 days of a decline getting the virus under control. schools will becom because our microcossum of what's going on out in the community. we know the kids will either be asptomatic or they will ge sick or be hospitalized and/or will affect other people. and, so, we have to see a 14-day decline, which we have not seen over the last six weeks here in florida. so until we get to that point, i don't think that we should even be in the discussionof opening

schools one way or another. we should be talking aboutma delaying ovee a two-week period of time so that we can see if we're going to get control of this.en if not, e need to talk about the fall itself and moving and shifting to distance d learningng the very best we can given the circumstances. >> nawaz: a lot of uncertainty ahead for sure. that is fedrick fedrick of the florida education associaitonus joininonight. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> nawaz: in the day's other news, the united nations warned the coronavirus pandemic could push 130 million morle worldwide into chronic hunger this year. last year, the annual u.n. report estimated 690 millionry people went hu that's nearly 9% of the overall increase of 10 million from the

year before. more than 200 iversities have come out in support of a lawsuit against pandemic curbs on internional students. the trump administration is denying visas to those n taking at least one in-person class this fall. the schools filed briefs today, backing the suit by rvard and m.i.t. in addition, 17 states and the district of columbia filed a separate suit against the policy. the white house is defending president trump's grant of clemency to roger stone. on friday, the president commuted his long-time ally's 40-month prison sentence for witness tampering and lying to congress. today, the white house press issecretary dismissed critof the decision. >> it is not the case that only those who are politically coected get a pardon. of criminal justice reform.dent this president did the first step act. this president has fought for those who are given unduly harsh sentences more than any democrat never actually did it. it but >> nawaz: the presiding federal

judge in the case demanded to know today if stone will still ve two years of supervis release. the justice department said the clemency order wipes out that requirement as well. we'll have more on thi later the program. tensions between the united states and cna are escalating again in the south cumna sea. the administration today rejected nearly all of beijing's region.rial claims in the in recent years, china has built military bases to back up those claims, and u.s. warships have sailed through the region to contest them. separately, china ans unced sanctiainst two u.s. senators: ted cruz of texas and marco rubio of florida. both have criticized human rights abuses against muslims in western chin the u.s. ambassador for religious freedom, sam .ownback, was also includ the sanctions could ban all three from entering ch in poland, conservative president andrzej duda has narrowly won a second term after he defeated warsaw's liberal mayor in sunday's vote. aduda apologized today fo campaign that stoked anti-

semitism and homophobia. but gay activists warned of what may lie ahead. >> ( translated ): it looks like we live in a country where hatred wins over lovlooks like we live in a country where fear wins over the opeess towards others, in a c where lies win over honesty and i am saying all of ts as an ordinary person who is disappointed with people around, disappointed wh my neighbors, sappointed with my fellow >> nawaz: duda has reduced poverty in poland, but has also raised fears that he isrt ling freedom of the press and independence of the courts. back in this country, more than 1,000 employees of the centers for disease control and preventi are demanding that the agency address internal racism. npr obtained a letter from the group, addressed to director robert redfid. it speaks of a "toxic culture os racial aggressagainst black employees. the c.d.c. confirms that redfield received the letter, but says nothing of his response. washinon, d.c.'s n.f.l.

franchise announced today it will change its name, long criticized as a racial slur against native americans.am the lso retired its indian head logo. the move comes after years of protests, and just days after the franchise launched a formal name review, under pressure from corporate sponsors. there's no word yet on what the new team name will be. ane u.s. budget deficit hi $ all-time high 4 billion in june. that came amid increased spending to counter the pandemic's economic toll, and an massive decle in tax revenue. meanwhe, trading was rocky on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average gained 10 points to close at 26,086. the nasdaq plunged 226 points, and the s&p 500 shed 30.an two passings of note: actor kelly preston has died ofa cancer, according to her husband john travolta. her movie highlights included "jerry maguire" in 1996.

she was 57 years old. and, naya rivera's body was found today in a southern lifornia lake. officials say she drowned. rivera starred in the former tv series "glee". she was 33 years old. still to come on the newshour: rgthe mayor of alexandria ia discusses the balance between reopening and public safety amid the ic. survivors of sexual assault in lothe military speak out fng the harassment and murder of soldier vanessa gulen. the president commutes roger stone's prison stence despite his conviction in connection with the russia investigation. plus much more. >> nawaz: we talk often about the implications of covid-19 on

a national level, but a lot of the decisions that directly impact our lives are made byca governments. we want to take a moment and focus on how those dions are made. a few days ago, i spent time with the mayor of my own home a closer look.inia, for friday afternoon in olde town alexandria, and mayor justin wilson is walking the city's >> this allowed more space for social distancing. >> nawaz: this is what phase three of virginia's reopening looks like. what's it like for you to come out now and see businesses open and people outside dining? >> it is definitely od to see. you see, i mean, these are distanced, tables are separated. folks are mostly doing the right thing. but it comes with, of cours some trepidation, right. you know, because you don't want to see a situation where we're back where we were.>> awaz: alexandria's a small city: about 160,ny0 residents, hom cross the river into washington, d.c. every day a federal workers. the economy here depends on

small businesses like these-- i restaurantependent retailers, mom and pop stores-- all of them, hit hard in the pandemic. this will be a three yearsre very. >> nawaz: "mayor" is a part time gig here. wilson also works for amtrak. but trying to stabilize histy economy has now become an enormous job. >> we have what was an $800 million budget that we lost $92 million out of, which is an ormous hit for us. and so we want to get our onomy back going. >> nawaz: the financial impact for alexandria is immense. in april of last year, dining out yielded 2.2 million dollars in tax revenue. this year? just 570,000. from hotel stays, april 20 brought in 1.3 million. that was down to just 96,000. already, pay freezes are in place for city hall staff, layoffs are a possility. >> if this is a prolonged, to be dramatic for us.g

it's going to be very, very significant for us >> nawaz: and thow to the city budget means badly-needed infrastructure work won't get done. yotmentioned a $90 million to your budget. what does that mean for a city like alexandria? >> i think the biggestion is whether it's going to, is how sustainable is it going to be. is that a $92 llion, one time t? we deferred to a whole bunch of capital projects we drew down o some of serves. so our plan to rebuild a high school is going be delayed for a couple of years. waterfront flood mitigation work is going to be delayed for several years. >> nawaz: there pushback against wilson's push to reopen. northern virginia had previousli coted plans with neighboring d.c. and maryland, which have beemore restrictive their openings. this month, that changed. and mayor wilson pressed ahead with the rest of virginia to relax restrictions. alexandria's had nearly 2,500 covid cases, and almost 60 fatalities. critics worry the re-opening has fueled further spread of the viru >> we understand that the prerequisite of any economic

activity is public health. even some of the states that rushed reopening learn that you can openverything, but people aren't going to show up unss they feel safe. a lot of businesses are trying at least to t adapted to some new normal. and so the last thing you want to see is to have to backwardke >> nawaz: uch of the country, black and brown residents have been hardest hit. wilson says resistance from the federagovernment to help undocumented workers and others who need it most, remains a problem. what specific steps would you want to see from the federalt government tuld help your community? >> what i have said every singlv time italked to both of our senators and our congressmen is to send money. i mean, i hate to say it so simply, but send money, send money to our residents and money to our businesses. >> nawaz: for his part, the mayor is trying to lead by example. masking upn public. >> nawaz: safely interacting with neighbors. >> nawaz: and running a one-man

social media p.r. machine for local restaurants, featuring new outdoor dining or curbside pickup options but like local leaders across the country, his optimism is tempered bthe uncertainty ead... are you worried that there could be another spike in cases? >> if you find me someone who is confident about anything in this environment, they're lying tous you bethis is unprecedented. right. you know, we're all making decisions that have noulebook. ere is no, there's no other jurisdiction you can consult. there are no scholarly journals you can look at. concerned.'m absolutely >> nawaz: the disappearance and murder of army specialist vanessa guillen has sparked an outpouring of stories from mainly-female service s with one common thread. like guillen, they enced sexual harassment and abuse in the ranks, but felt that the military's reporting system wasn't built to help them.en in a m nick schifrin

speaks with two experts about what needs to change. but first, he has some background on guillen, and the stories of womenin their own words, who are part of the hashtag "i am vanessa guillen" movement. >> schifrin: vanessa guillen was 20 years old when she died. guillen told them she was being harassed by a higher ranking soldier, but that a culture of fear inside the army afort hood, meant she was too scared to report it. she went missingn april 22. her body was found more than two months later. she'd been struck by a hammer, burned, and partially dismembered. the police zeroein on the man the family says was her harasser, aaron robinson. when they approached him last week, he died by suici outside fort hood, there's a memorial for guillen. and in houston last weekend, a march calling for justice, and accusing the military of failing to defend its female service members.

on thursday secretary of defense mark esper admitted the military could do better. >> we've made a lot of progress ovre 10 years, but nowhere w we need to be. we need to get zero tolerance of sexual harassment, and sexual assault, and we need to make re everyone in our ranks knows where they can get help, where they canchind help. >>rin: congress has a major piece of legislation called the military justice improvement act that would remove the cha of command from the decision to prosecute sexual harassment and abuse claims. but this moment different. the viciousness of the crime, and a social mia campaign, #iamvanessaguillen, has highlighted at countless female veterans say: thatis guillen's storot unique. we spoke to half a dozen veterans, victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault, who say they were silenced initially, and thanks to guillen, are silenced no more. >> my name is joanna sweatt andi i am ad states marine corps veteran. >> my name is tiffany summa.

i was and i am an army veteran. >> my name is rene yessman. >> my name is stephanie flores. >> my name is ashley martinez. >> my name is jorgina butler >> two months into my duty assignment, i was rape another soldier.>> was sexually assaulted by someone i knew. in october of 2016, i was at a party off base with some of my friends and then i just remember wakg up on my front rd. pants and a tan army t-shirt and my hair was braided over myd shoulder and, en next evening, i woke up and i was not maring that. and i had blood and i was covered in vomit. >> i personally experiencedt sexual harassmom my direct supervisor, right, and it was a lot of sexist comments, a lot o sexual langud comments towards me.

>> i didn't even know about the assault, the act or anything. that's how blacked out i was the male that they hisly call d.n.a. it took me an hour to build up the courage to even pick up the phone.wa scared. i was crying. >> they had all the evidence of him saying, "yes, i... yes, i do remember that night. yes, i did do that," and they still, they still, for some reason said that there was not enough evidence. and i chose, like vanessa, not to report it right away, because, you know, you see these things happening and nothing happens. the only difference between me and her story is that i walked away alive. >> with vanessa guillen's story, i think i saw myself in her. i was a young hispanic enlisted soldier. i was also too scared to tell my mother my attacker's name. >> i went to my chain of command and i told them what happened and i was immediately told to bury this. >> they made me feel like isn a victim, that it was me that initiated it. by going to a party. and they kick me out for having p.t.s.d. and he stayed in.

>> the first thing that they told me was like, well, you are new to the military. no one is gonna believe you or nothing >> the first questions they asked were, were you drinking? how mu were you drinking? and what were you wearing? >> i ended up dropping the case because i didn't fee comfortable prosecuting my attacker, because i didn't have faitin the system. >> my two friends thought that it was appropriate to go speak to one of our school instructors who happened to be on duty that day. he had a very candid conversation with me about how that would negatively affect my life if i were to report such a crime. >> i would like the "what were you wearing" to stop. "what did you do?" because in reality, there's no... there's no way to prect yourself against somebody who has this in theimind to do it. >> i really started to experience debilitating migraines. eventually, i was medically discharged because i was unable i still live with the trauma

every day. >> i still go to therapy every week. i'm on a lot of medications top, slo i have no nightmares, to function normally. i have a service animal. >> i wt to the e.r. and that's when i started to just like unreal reveal a lot of the things that was happening to me like a suicide attempt withco l and pills. >> i know that we all signed up for, and we have to really accept the reality that we may die fighting for this country overseas.we buid not sign up for to be sexually harassed and sexually abused by our own fellow soldiers who we are supposed to fight alongside. >> i would really like to see some more accountability. i don't know how it's le that vanessa was missing for over a month in an institutionis where suors are supposed to have accountability of their soldiers at all times of day. >> you can't investigate yourself and that's what fort hood does. they sent the cases back down to the unit, to investiga themselves. >> what a lot of the survivors and i have discussed is wanting

a separate civilian entity that only deals with military sexua trauma. i shared under the hashtag. and hundreds of people have been in my inbox for facebook and twitter wanting to share their stories with me. and for a lot of them, it's the first time they've ever shared their story. >> you can't demote me. you can't kick me out ofre anything any so me using my voice might protect somebody else. >> schifn: so why is sexual hassment and assault such widespread problem? and what can be done about it? for that, we got two views. first, retired lieutenantlo l geoffrey corn was a former army lawyer who now teaches criminal law and tional security at south texas college of law. and former captain melissabr nt served nine years in the army as an intelligence officer, including in iraq. she's now a veterans advocate and a legislative and policy consultant. welcome to you both to the newshour. secretaresper was quoted earlier saying that they had made some progress.

and i want to list some of the ings the military has do over the last few years. release sexual assault data every year. there's now mandatory training for all service members in whats ual assault, how to prevent it. legal officers known as special victims advocates are assigned to people to report who report sexual assault. and thchain of command at the colonel or navy captain level have to be notifieof sexual assault cases. melissa bryant, have those changes made the difference? >> those gradual changes were absolutely necessary for improved justice. it'seegradually implemented by d.o.d., but it still doesn't take away influencout of the hands of commanders and put it intohose special prosecutors that you jt mentioned. the fact that vanessa guillen stated to her family that she feared retaliation means that it has not been enough. and we need to take that unlawful command influence out of the military justice system when, we're talking about sex crimes like this. >> schifrin: jeffrey corn, do you think those changes have made a difference? >> i mean, they absolutely have

made a difrence. d one of the differences has reports of sexual misconduct in the military, which is a double edged sword because the military is criticized because of increased sexual assault numbers. but those numbers rean increase in reporting.in i don't they reflect an increase in the propensity of these offenses to occur. look, nobody in uniform deserves to suffer the way these women suffered. and there are male victims a well. tit there is no evidence that there is a subst amount of command influence that's imicating the willingness these convening authorities to send cases to trial when they're presented to the the challenge has been getting them notified of these incidents, which is why, as you noted, d.o.d. imposed a requirement that all incidts of sexual misconduct be reported up to the colonel or captain vel. that's to ensure that junior level commanders don't sweep them under the rug.

>> but when you're looking at g the fact and you're look the overwhelming anecdotal evidence that unfortunateldoes not get captured by the reporting, then that's when we recognize that tre is a very real fear of retaliation that still exists. there is a very real command influence that exists over said commanders. and so, yes, while that may be elevated, that conveningon authority decio, two and three star general officer, flag officer rank.ti it does not improve the that bias is still there. we need to be able to ensure that any form of bias whatsoever, implicit bias has been removed from the chain ofd command moved from the from anywhere within the procedures for any pending trial. >>rin: geoffrey corn, you mentioned increased numbers just to put a number on that protect our defenders say sexual assaults jumped 38% from 2016 to 2018. show underreported assaults have also grown.

so is that not an indication that the problem is, in fact, getting worse? >> it is actually a manifestation that the efforts to enhance the probabif reporting have been imprk ed. and i there's a point of consensus between me and melissa. i can tell you as a private, tha hat i would go make a report against my sergeant or m capt my lieutenant was inconceivable. the instition, by its very ture, makes reports by subordinates to superiors extremely diffict, particularly when they perceive there's misconductlo so there is of work that continues and needs to continue to give soldiers, airmen, level the absolute confidence that are-- if they're candid and honest about an accusation of misconduct, they will not be subject to retribution.te >> l i was a 20 year old cadet who was at fort hood. i can understand what the pressure that a specialist like vanessa guillen could feel.

the reason why you need this is because we live and work among one another. and that's why you need to remo that bias. we need to be able to ensure that that survivor is able to comeorward and not face any one necessarily from their unit o may have undue influen over the outcomes justice. >> schifrin: melissa bryant, geoffrey corn, we'll have to leave it there. thanks vermuch to you both. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you very much for having me. >> nawaz: as we reported earlier, president trump's decision to commute the prison sentence of his long-time ally roger stone is raising questions. our lisa desjardins has this report. >> desjardins: roger stone, political strategist, lobbyist and frnd and adviser to president trump, friday night, celebrated becoming a free man, after mister trump commuted his upcoming three-year prison sentence.

al>> i had a very gracious from the president of united states who told me thahe had decided to use his extraordinary powers of clemency to commute my sentence at what he called a full commutation of my sentence. >> desjardins: stone was convicted by a federal jury of seven felonies, five counts of ing to congress, and one each of witness tampering andin obsta congressionalig inveation, all part of the investigation into how he and the trump campaign gotold of damaging emails about hillaryn, clinhat investigators found were part of a russian attempt to sway the election. >> roger stone was brought into this witch hunt, this whole political witch hunt and the mueller sc. >> desjardins: president trump maintains the probe by special counsel robert mueller politically-motivated "hoax" and defended his commutation o stone's sentence. >> i did end up getting rave reviews for what i did for roger stone. >> desjardins:fetone said he "confident" his conviction would be overturned on appeal anyway.

>> the president hasaid on a number of other occasions that he thinks i have a good chance of exoneration. >> desjardins: the president's extraordinary action brought robert mueller to break his year-long public silence, writing in the "washington post," "stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. he remains a convicted felon, d rightly so." mueller wrote his am," identified numerous links between the russian government and trump campaignersonnel, stone among them. while the president charges that he and stone are victims of political bias, his attol ey general, brr, last week defended the justice department's case against stone. >> i think the prosecution was righteous. >> desjardins: abc's pierre thom asked at the time if ba would recommend president trump pardon or commute stone's sentence. >> well, i think it's the president's prerogative. it's anique power that the president has, and it's certainly something that isd commit his judgment.

but as i say, i felt it was a appropriate prosecution and i thought the sentence was fair. >> desjardins: senator lindsey graham, a staunch ally of the president, supported the commutation, noting stone's offenses were non-violent, but some other republicans warned of political fallout, including maryland governor larry hogan. >> it's certainly going to hurt politically. >> desjardins: meanwhile, speaker of the house nancy pelosi called the president's decision "appallg." >> nawaz: roger stone is just the latest high-profile recipient of a pardon or commutation during the trump presidency. here to help put this move into lisa, it's good to see you. let's start with the context just of this presi ynt. whenou look at this decision to commute roger stone's sentence, how unusual is it? >> well, i spent the day talking to experts, some of whom worked in this office previously, and this is a highly unusual number for two reasons. there are two things unusual about what the president has done here. first, while the number of commutations is relatively low, it's a smallumber, it's

actually high for this point in this is the higheser of commutations any president has had at this point in 30 years. the other thing that's unusual, amna, of course, is who's getting them.th let's look agraphic to explain. so far the president has mmuted ten sentences. of those, at least three are people who are personally or litically connected to the president. it does depend on how you count it. that number could be higher depending on your deaf of those, roger stod blagojevich, and the hammond brothers who set fire to public lands in oregon and that became a cause for conservatives. it's important towns that commutation here's are actually of a higher ordethan pardons. commutations, that ends or short answer prison sentence currently underway or about to start. a pardon, a technical definition, is a forgiveness fo' a felon already finied their sentence. for those in the justice

department, commutations, to some degree, are more rious. i will say that the president has also issued a large number of pardons, and when you look at where those have gone, roughly aboua third, just like the commutations, have gone to people who are personally orca poliy connected to this president. >> nawaz: so let's look at the broader american context. if you go back into history, have other presidents gran this kind of clemszy to political allies and has there been the kind of politicalll t you heard in your report maryland governor hogan say there could be? almost anything thys tore past history.y we're in vprecedented days. but president trump is not the first president to commute or pardonhe sentence or the felony record of a political ally opersonal friend. rald ford, many of our viewers will recognize, pardoned richard nixon. he was not convicted of anything but ahead of any possibl conviction. that was very controversial. afr that george h.w. bush

pardoned six of the co-conspirators in iran contra. now bill clinton may be the closest example, though not a perfect analogy to president trump, he trump, he pardoned 140 people on the day he left office. consequences of thcal well, for clinton and for george h.w. bush, they did it on the way out the dord, but gerald id it while he was still hoping to have a future career. some people arguably say that's what helped end his career. >> nawaz: so we heard attorney general barr also mention this is all, of course, perfectly legal, it's been the predent's powers. there have been a lot of debate around presidential powers recently. of all the experts you talk to, where does this fit in to those theories of presidenal power? >> founding fathers put this power in the constitutio alexander hamilton, particularly, because they wanted to make sure the justice system wasn't overly harsh. they also wanted to have place for potential politicalrg

eness. there were is not in either of those contexts. let's look at how hard is it to get a commutat pardon. o look at how mathese requests are pending. over 13,000. those are process bid a small office of the pardon attorney. just under 2 dozen people work imthere processing those c but the white house canin rcede, and as we've seen, in most of the pardons under this president, the white house has interceded rather than goingtr through thitional process. >> nawaz: that is lisa desjardins with impofoant context us tonight. good to see you.h, lisa. >> you're welcome. president trump's s seized, on the stone commutation. the lincoln project, a group working to elect joe biden in november, released an ad calling the trump administration criminal enterprise, and listing

the members of the trump team ho have been convicted o felonies. here to break down the political implications of this and more, our politics monday team. that's amy walter of the cook polical report and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamara keith of npr. she alsoo-hosts the npr politics podcast. welcome to you both. and let's just start off with th m ad. it's wortioning, tam, it was on friday that sentence of roger stone. the on saturday, the lincoln project had that rea to go. an ad like that leveraging stone's commutation. what is the messaging there and who is the messaging goi towards? a rapid response uming out been with ads quickly whenever president trump doesnything they think deserves an ad. me of their ads are very trolley, seemed to be aimed at an audience of oneho might be watching "fox & friends" that morning united states. of the

in terms of who they're trying to reach, arguably tthey're tryireach republicans who the last time around in 2016 may orhave had some discomfort president trump but couldn't bring themselves to vote for hillary clinton, and now there t, a push, and it's broader than the lincoln projertainly, that's just one example, now there's a push to try to win over people who do feel president trump an norms-busting or his handling of the coronavirus. it's not clear to me, though, that the stone commutation is going to be the thing that puts people over the edge. i mean, president trump, as lisa reported, has done a lot of these things and, you know, look to how he sort of has rewarded his friends and gone aer people, like lieutenant colonel vindman and others who testifiee inmpeachment trial. >> nawaz: amy, what do you do you you make of this?

>> i agree. if the's anything hurting the n esident it's the coronavirus. the crisis we'reght now, his approval rating -- (indiscernible). the majority of americans believe that on the issues, the president is not doi a good job on that. that's what's weeshing this ent down, much more so than what is either happening with the commutations or the continuing back and forth with the president and (indisrnible) as his political enemies and the tweet storm. >> nawaz: so, tam remarks let me ask you about the president's pandemic response. we've seen an administration struggling to message on it consistently and coherently, and this new development that yamiche alcindor reported on

earlier of attacking the same persons working with the white house task force to help them respond to the pandemic, specifically dr. anthony fauci. what do you make ofhat messaging? and, also, about the fact that tthe president was seen f very first time wearing a mask this weekend?ea >> the president was seen for the very first time wearing a mask this weekend. it's been months since t recommendation was put out, andl he actavoided wearing a mask. he wore it, and then his campaign was sort of shouting from the rooftop, spiking footballs, whaver you want to ll it, on twitter saying how manly and amazing he looked and now he's going to win the ce. it was sort of an over the top response from his campaign to what is, you know, a fairly standard thing that most people so the white housetsns or not. response and its inabout to sort of land a message, this

effort to separate from fauci to have dr. fauci be less of a public face, you know, part of that is when fauci goes out and does these interview he often is asked questions that lead to him revealing that there is space between his view and the white housview, and white house officials i've spoken to are frustrated about that. and they keep saying, you know, well, he's just one to have the experts, and, yet, fauci has a been held "the" expert. he's on socks, he's on donutsd ayer candles, he's everywhere, and the white house is sort of frustrated by that. but the bigger question is what is their plan, what is their response? and that is much less clear. strategy on how thgoing tord deal with the coronavirus. ngmean, the president is d his best not to really talk

alout it, and when he does about it, he's often downplaying it or downplaying the deaths. >> nawaz: amy, some people are looking at t way the white house has been messaging recently specifically regard to dr. fauci saying he's trying to undermine dr. fauci. when you look at how people are viewing those two messengers, what do we know about how people are taking in those two sources of information? >> in the recent pollingdr fauci has much higher positivity rating than the the president loves to muddy the waters, the russia investigation is a perfect examp of that. there is enough stuff out there that people start questioning and doubt what they're seeing and hearing. if they throw their hands up and say, i don't know, it all seems like a mess, that's sort of a win for the president. the problem with mud i didn't think the water in a public health crisis is it puts people's lives in dang there's no way that the epresident will get back

economy he would like to have, talkinabout how great the economy was before covid, how important it was to get schools back in session this fall, none of that can happen unls covid is under control and unlessop in this country feel safe doing their everyday activities. so this is, again, the president goes back to his traditional strategy of just make it somebody else's fault, make it r so that i don't get th blame. but in this case, when you're president of the united states c in a majsis, the buck definitely stops with you. >> nawaz: let mesk you about how we're seeing some indication the virus can help sha in some way the presidential election. when you look at new poll numbers out from cbs news and you look at three key sun belt states, all states that have been hit very hard by theei pandemic, are surges. in florida, joe biden is now leading president trump by six

points, they are virtually tied in arizona, and biden is nowe competit texas. when you look at those numbers and how close they are, where they are today, what do they say a you? >> well, one thiut those three states is that they are demographically shifting, and th they are states that ar growing more diverse, and that would matter, but what matters more now, also, is that president trump is doing really poorly with older ters. they have been a critical part of his base, and it's possible he can get them back, but right now, biden is performing quitede well with voters who are certainly a presence in those states and are a significant part of why president trump was able to perf well as he did in 2016 in those states.is and the with older voters is the coronavirus is affecting their lives in a very real way. i was talking to a republican pollster who also does a lot of focus groups with women who said

grandmhers are mad, grandmothers are lived. it's notust about, you know, having to shelter in place or, you know, feeling at risk from coronavirus, they can't see their grandkids, and that affects them in a very visceral way. >> amy, let me ask you about some related or possibly related senate races, too. if you look at the battleground states athand see president trump could be vulnerable there, what about other incumbent senators in red states? should they be similarly concerned?e >> they shouldncerned and will very concerned. amna, going into 2020, democrats had a little advantage on the overall playing field. they're not playing as much defense as, say, 2018, but they didn't have a lot of obvious target. as the president's numbers sink, that means republicans numbers are sinking even in places that theoretically, at least earlier this year, looked safe for them,

like iowa, or we put up arizona, which is a purple state, but we are starting to see states like nntana come online. so what this mea is, if you're a republican incumbent in a state that is at all s competitive, yuld be very nervous and part because the president is not just a little bit of a drag, but he's like an anchor right now around the ankles othese incumbent publican senators. if he doesn't see his numbers go up as we get closer to the election, it's going to be very hard for some of these senators, anarizona is a great examp of that for the incumbent republican senators to be able to get enough oxygen to win these races. tethe other thing i would haout arizona and texas, w a preview in 2018 of why those states are more competitive, and, as tam pointed out, they're very suburban.

arizona, more than 60% of the votes comes from phoenix and the suburb. as the suburbs are changing and places like dallas and houston, san antonio suburbs, the austin suburbs become more deic tougher for republicans to pull out the kind of margins that they're used to seeing in those stat. >> nawaz: there is a lot toin trache weeks and months ahead. that is amy walter and tamera keith breaking it all down for us again in "politics monday." thanks to you both. good to see you. >> good toee you. online, the supreme court recently made its first major decision on abortion since it was broadly seen as a win for the reproductive rights

movement. stt some scholars and acti caution that the narrow ruling do not necessarily signal abortion rights will be protected by the high court in future cases. we take a look at the implications of the june 29 decision, and what it means for abortion access in the u.s. going forward. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the nghshour for to i'm amna nawaz. joine us online and again h tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. pr major funding for the pbs newshour has beeided by: >> since our beginning, our busiss has been people, and their financial wellbeing. that mission gives us purpose, and a way forward. today, and always.

>> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investmentin transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur fountion. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful pworld. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this prograwas made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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