robert: america cities and the trump presidency under siege. >> what cities are doing is absolute insanity. robert: the president open as new front, the streets. but his call for law and order sparks outrage. >> that kind of activity is the activity of a police state. robert: and the pandemic remains relentless as top doctors sound the alarm and lawmakers bicker over aid for struggling americans. >> replicans need to pull their head out of the sand, get their act together -- robert: next. announcer: this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided by -- >> when the world getsca compd, a lot goes through your mind.

with fidelity wealthanagement dedicated advisor can tailor recommendations and advice to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. announcer: additional fundi i provided by -- the estate of arnold adams, and koo and patricia yuen, through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again from washington, moderator, robert costa. bert: good evening. four million. that is the number of confirmed coronavirus infections in our nation. americans an 145,000 have died. grim mile stones. and they loom as heavy cloudsov our politics. inside the white house, the

bleak reality has prompted president trump to cancel h plans for a big arena speech in jacksonville, florida wn he accepts the republican nomination next month. and as thesi pnt slides behind former vice president joe biden in the polls, republicans are tense and scrambling to t addres breakdowns on public health and the economy. on the hill, stark divisio a rema talks have stalled. but the clock keeps ticking. the $600 a week federalitenefit, expires in days. and earlier today, i spoke with dr. anthony fauci about theth reviva week of presidential briefings on the pandemic. his takeaway, stay focused. >> the president has gone out there and is saying things now that i think have to do with wearing masks, crowded -- staying away from crowded places. they have been helpful now.

and also, they've been short and crisp, which i think is good when you're trying to get amessage across. . robert: joining us tonight, weijia jiang, cbs news, and rachel scott, is not yet with us. we're going to get that audio fixed. so stand by for rachel. we're also joined by peter baker, white house correspondent with the "new york times"nd jake sherman from the politico. i appreciate your patience as we deal with technical difficulties. we're dealingith this pandemic in the best way we can. g let' with weiji jiang. thopresident continues t push to reopen schools. white house?tory inside the weijia: you know, the president

had t acknowledge that the optics were not to be acceptable you were to go down to florida, one of the hottest spots in country right now no have this massive event for the sake ofis re-election. at the same time, he wants things, you know, to get back to normal. and that's why he continues to sesh for schools. and the white hs arguing that these are two very different things because with regard to students and schools, you're not talki about cramming thousands of people together at one place at one but certainly, the question still remains, why is it safe r students to go back whenever there's still, you know, admittedly from the white house itself and dr. birx, not enough how the kids transmit ts virus? this isn't just about the kids. it's about grandma and grandpa at home, and what it could mean from them if theyake it to

them. robert: peter, build on that. why the shift from the presidenc on coverings? peter: look, this is a moment when reality would come home to bite the president. he wanted to tell us that the coronavirus pandemi was behind us in large part. left. here were only embers week he admitted that there are big fires. that's the phrase he used aabou flornd some of the other states in the south and the west. it beenf a desire the president, of course, to move beyond this in order to try toh get economy going and try to get the country in semblance of normalcy in the fall when and the number is undeniable. 60,000 a week -- i'm sorry.ew 60,000 cases a day whichs twice the rate we were having back in march w and april whe thought we were at the peak. 1,000 n deaths. it's lower, but it's on the rise. and these hospitals are

overwhelmed in some of these places. i think the reality of that has come bnd forced the president to acknowledge what he would just assume not if he didn't have to. robert peter, a quick follow-up. who has pushed the president along on these issuesnside the white house? is there anyone playi that kind of key role? peter: well, that' a great question. a lot of them would tell you that ty have given him advice about this. he needs take this more seriously. in terms of the briefings,he was some skepticism early on, foinstance by jared kushner briefings should be fine. maybe they should be done at the health and human services department. but then there were other who is were telling the president, look, you've gotk to get b out in front of this, that the this.y is concerned about the poll numbers are terrible right now for the president on the virus. i looked at gallup today.

twice as many peoplehink the virus is getting worse than a month a half ago. 75% o americans are convinced that the virus will keep america shutdown or partially shutdown and possible intoext year. there's a great deal of fear and excited. the president had to get out in front and address it. robert: i'm so glad we figured out this connection. rachel, you joined us from troy, alabama the home of johnewis. he died on july 17th. a memorial service will be held on saturday. and we will discuss his life on our extra. alabama officials reported more than 2,200 new cases on thursday. a new daily record. people talked about the reality of the spike here. how is this affecting the rachel: the reality is setting

in. we heard from the president that gets better.o get worse than it some of the president's supporr who is think that t pandemic is a hoax, it's manufactured for a political purpose. and that is for democrats to t and defeat the president this fall. and i t alsonk as i'm talking to republican sources when it comes from the president backing down on his convention plans, they were breathing a sigh of relief the optics of the president going down to florida and possibly having anotherer headle he did in tulsa where his own staff had tested positive, where secret service had tested positive, and also not having a full arena, not having a packed house, right? the okeics of that l bad for the president just months ahead of the november election. robert: and down there in

alabama, are people wearing face coverings in a red state? rachel: i ameeing people wcer coverings in alabama. that was not always the case in places they traveled, notably in oklahoma where iseemed to be political issue as i travele there for the president's rally in tulsa not too long ago. but down here, people seem to be taking this very seriously. they're trying to keep their distance and the appropriate face coverings. robert: w weijia, yout to jump in? weijia: i do. i talked to some members of the task force saying that's great that inin areas people are now wearing masks. but they aret concerned ts too late to put the toothpaste back in the tube because the messaging was so jumbled on this before that the president said perhaps they shouldn't d that.

people are adopting their views and their behaviors. even if the president leans into the, scien there i conce that it is too little too late. robert: i ask fauci, should there be a national mandate. he didn't lean into the idea at this point. he left it up to local officials. but jake, take us on to capitol hill. is is a real issue you're writing the playbook at 4:00 in the morning. this is whether people are going to get $600 in unemployment. why did this break down and will they come together? jake: why did it break dn? it's interesting because senate republicans right now are not even negotiating with democrats. to put this in context, senate republicans can't agree with themselves on what should happen next, on what they should

propose. their negotiations. a marker for they have failed to do so. mark meadows and steven mnuchin have been meeting with senate republicans. they meet with the speaker of the house and chuck sumer. they can't get it together there's no way the currently enhanced unemployment can coinue. peop are not going to get $600. are underonsideration.as that but the current formula which expires one week from today isd . now, the larger question will be whether senate republicans with something. they coalesce there's an anecdote where ows and mnuchin said we're going to give you $500 billion. we're going to give you even more. and nancy pelosi said we need $400 billion -- not $100

that illustrates the gap between the two sides before the august recesshich is going to be delayed this year. this has realorld impacts. at this point i would be pretty bearish on a qesckution to a coronavirus package. robert: what do the republicans want? is it liability insurance for businesses? why are they holding back o aid for schools and states? jake: well, like everything else, there are some republicans who wanto spend more money. many republicans want tspend, you know, $1 trillion. there are some republicans who believe they only need $200 trillion. there are skeptics about state and local money. some want to give for money that they already have. so there's just a huge, huge gap between the republicans within

he senate republican conference, liability reform and a liability overhaul. mitch mcconnell said no bill will pass without it. so that is something that is going to be critical to see how congress rewrites these laws that would prevent peoe from suing if they get coronavirus when they go back to work. robert: all that is happening on capitol hill. but as the president strain, he's taking aggressive steps to contain american cities. a use of executive power and h moves have alarmed democrats and some republicans. >> there's no conceivable scenario that i think that this massive invasion basically should be de or can be done hofectively w local support. >> this is a democracy, not a dictatorship. we cannot have secret police

abcting people into and putting them in unmarked vehicles. >> that's what call tyranny and dictatorship. and we are not having it in chicago. robert: weijia, we've seen federal agents work with local officials are drug task forces. we've seen coordination. but this is a situation where federal agents are coming itint without coordination often, with the mayors, with the governors. will the white house, will the president listen and back off? weijia no, i don't think so, bob, because c he's madear that despite all t pushback that he's received from sending those federal agents to portland specifically that he's ready to send up to 75,000 more to cities across the country even when the city and stateoc and leaders are saying we don want the help. and the irony here is thaten pres often cited federalism

when he was urging the states to take control and t governors to do their own things with regard to covid-19. but now he is interfering in places that, again, are saying, please do not get involved with, you know, our policing of our reets. and so i think what's important here and you mentioned it,hi is thatis part of his campaign. he's trying to portray himself as the law and order president who can, you know, reduce crime in this country. an so i don'think he's going to back away from that despite all the criticism that the i whe hous getting. robert: peter, let's pse on that word "law." are these federal agents working legally constitutionally in these cities? and the other question i have for you, peter, who are these agents? they're not wearing any kind of insignia on their uniform. who are they? peter: most of them ared homel

security security and tt includes the secret service, ice and border patrol andn immigrat services. they're hoping out with the federal protective service, which is the police force of the federal government. and we've got two different things here. there's the intervention in portland where they're sending to protect federal property, ght, against the protestors orrs rio whatever. you're seeing them justify -- there's law that spefically allows the federal government to protect prorty agents lik these. then they're talking about basic crime and getting contrf the streets. that's a different legaln. situat you're supposed to work with the local authorities. e mayor of chicago has accepted on some level a degree of help. butheou hear like

prosecutor, the chief district attorney of philadelphia threatening to sue the federal government if they send tops there without permission from the local authorities. so it's a real legal murky ground because you're talking about a couple different purposes and a couple different missions in effect. robert: rachel, what does that mean for black and brown communities? these are urban areas that areo reeling he pandemic. now, they have federal agents coming in. what's the realityd on the groun based on your reporting? rachel:ts activhat i've been talking to point out that there's a difference between c fightime and fighting violence and fighting protest. that's the message that they want to get across as there are talks aboutnd escalated and government on the ground in some of these students. listen, protestors wt to be heard. they want the president, they want the federal government to co t and listen toir stories, to understand what is happening in their communities. they doeeot want to more

policing. and i think just a few weeks ago when the protests were happening just outside of the whi house and we saw every single day, we saw the people get ffrther away the people's house, the gates, the military presence that was on the grouneople were really upset about that. they thought the president was missing the messaget they wo see a community investment. it's important to know here that as we talk about all of this happening in the backdrop ofshe presidenampaign and painting himself as the law and order candidate and he's painting joe biden indi def the police, which is not true. he does not believe in defunding the police. jacksonville is seeing an increase in violence. they're seeing o of their deadliest years in the past decade. robert: that point rachel just made about the campaign, when you're tliking to repns on capitol hill about the president's move withnd d.h.s. other agencies, is it all quiet on the g.o.p. front? do they see this as an eort to win over suburban white voters

in the suburbs? jake: yeah,here's a dynamic that i think a lot of republicans in the hense of reprtives represents a different slice of the american people. in the house, there's widespread comfort with this. and people believe -- that these cities have gotten out of control and the voters nt they repreant to see the federal government get ahold of this. and the senate where they with moderates,ep idents ates with suburban and rural voters, it's not welcomed. they were makintthe point t within the president's base this is widel popular. this is reminiscent, bob, of something we all remember when the president sent troops to the border before the 2018 midterm

election because he said tre was a dangerous wave of immigrants coming into the country. we'll see if this continues the pace just like this. but it davs that reminiscent feeling. meanwhileemrats are plus 10 on the generic ballot, which means 10 percentage point is the lead voters want democrats over the generic republican. so democrats are really on the congressional level pulling a way with this election in a vouy se and profound way. robert: weijia, we saw that the press secretary was following up onhe president's message showing images of protests and these different scenes in american cities. weijia: yeah, and i think it's important to note that her own argument kind of fell apart because she was focused on what was happening in portland where the ad already said that reason why, you know, these troops cou go in was to

specifically protect federal property as peter so importantly pointedut. but then these images showed clashes with police, and, you know, -- you know, some burning things that were on fire. but then when she came out she said those weren't pceful protests at but with regard to the federal troops in portland, the s administrationot saying they'rehere to make sure the protests are peaceful. they're saying they're there to protect the federal property, d which again, not jibe with her message. continue to say that the president is just focused on safety and that's why, you know, he launched this new initiative called oration legend as peter mentioned to go into other cities a try to reduce crime in general terms. but you know, jake bring up really important points that whenever you're talking about cities tt just simply do not

want the help, it's a hard case to make. robert: peter, you covered president george h.w. bush and homeland security.partment of now, we're seeing d.h.s. evolve intohi som new? peter:ne thi that's important here is to remember to listen to what the president he's using this -- he's framing this in very overtly partisan terms.ng he's u terms like democrat cities and he makes the direct connection to ben b saying if biden wins then all of america will be unsafe like these cities. president bush wou - not- if he were trying to establish control of cities who were having trouble with crime or out of control protestors,ld he w not talk about the political affiliation of the mayor or s governor he trying to work with. and he would not make it aro

coation. he wants to say these democrats are ruining our citie and we have to vote out at least joe a biden itery open political argument. i heard the press secretary t refer democrat streets. i wasn't aware that streets in america were democrat or republican. i thought they were american streets. that's the way they're talking about this issue. it's very partisan i don't think we've heard in otherus white . robert: does this whole moment inform theam bidenign and thinking about the issue of race and politics and these issues with karen bass from california and from the l.a. area, how does this py out in t biden world? rachel: they're certainly keeping the time in which we are here in mind as he narrows down his sele for his vice presidential pick. it's important to note on the

republican side the trump campaign sources they're hoping and betting on biden picking something that's to the left of him, right, a progressive? paint biden people know biden but they don't know biden so they're trying to paint this picture of what biden they believe can be. but there's no doubt about it. a vote on the edge of their seats waiting to hear -- i was o just speaking one voter in minnesota, he said it's going to come down to two things. v.p. ho biden picks for and then the debates. robert: when you talk to top advisors, and i know you talked to them this week. what isheir view on the president's efforts on the cities in this country? jake: they think it's strong. it shows his strength, h resolve, and shows his ability to get control of the situation.

i would be inaccate to say they all agree. but they believe these scenes around the country are aboar rent. -- apore rent. it plays intthis re-election effortt' robert: t all the time we have. many thanks to our reporters for night that had a little bit of techcal difficult, but everyone held steady. i appreciate it. weijia jiang, rachel scott,te baker, and jake sherman. four of the best. thank you fs. joining tribute t congressman john what a life. what an american. whenever his country called, he stood up on a bridge in selma, in the streets and in congress. i'm robert cta. good night from washington. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and

accuracy.visit ncica announcer: corporate funding for "washington week" isy provided b -- >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes throu your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor canlo t your life. recommendations to that's fidelity wealth management. no cer: additional funding is provided by -- theste of arnold adams, and koo and patricia yuen, through the yuen foundation committed to bridging cultural differencesur communities, the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. welcome to s

ny somerset. we're s to our summer party with all the classic ingredients you'd need for such a thing -- balloons, bunting, bandstands, bickering relatives, and three of the finest amateur bakers in the land. im last it was french week. [ksing] and the sere-finalists tackled the gallic classics. canapé. llyou are bakery rock'n'ro, frances. -charlotte royale... llyou are bakery rock'n'ro, mm...slop. -...and opera cake. -it's bet nd multi-tasking, isn'it? t' -i-- yeah, no, it's a new level. -oh, god. -i don't i need to sayell thhow upset i am.hi -now, it's the final. -spoon, spoon, spoon. -oh, god! -what? what, what? but who will be crowned champion the winner is... ♪