robert c.: the virus surges, congress stalls and the ection heats up. and it is what it is. at's true robert c.: president trump pushes ahead, clashing with perts, as the white house is locked in a standoff over virus relief. >> the republins and the president do not understand the gravity of the situation and every time we meet with them it is reinforced. robert c.: 1k389 campaign turns vicious. president trump: he's against god, helps against guns. robert c.: as the former vice president readi his own v.p. pick. next. announcer: this is "washington ek." corporate sfunled funding is provided by --

>> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind with. fidelity wealth middleweight, a dedicated visor can give youti recommens to your life. announcer: additional funding is provided by -- the estate of arol adams and koo and patricia yuen through the yuen tion, committed to bridging cultural differences in ou communities. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pksn statom viewors like you. thank you. once ain fromashington, model rator robert costa. robert c.:ve goodng. as this health and economic crisis cares on, millions of americans a oking at tight budget for sexrenlt grows rillso and want to if the $00 up

unemployment police department, which expired last -- supplements which exeerped last ek being extended. but the answer is t.b.d. house speaker nancy pelosi is fully expecting to reinstate it but she's waiting for the president to blink. but the kwlowls chief of statue mark meadows is holding too and president trump said he will take executive measurings inted. the pokesident sp with axios's jonathan swan and the interview revealed his mind selt >> i think it's under control. >> how? thousands of meverages are dyi every day. >> that's true. as's under controuch as you can control it. ring announcer: and here's their exchange othe death rate.

president trump: well, right here, e united states is lowest in numerous categories we're ler than the world. lower -- lower than europe. >> in what? president trump:. take a right here's. -- here. cases of death. i'm talking about deaths as a proportion of the poplation, that's where the u.s. is really bad. >> you dant -- can't do that. wroism joining us is jonathan swan national political romplete for axios. abby phillip, political correspondent for cnn. lesion lease from the pbs newshour and dpe drame, ow -- author for the new yorktimes and "to start a war," jonathan, what did you learn from the interview about w the president is

handing the virus? jonathan: the president, much before he went into political life, was ed a heernlts to a philophy called positive thinking, an idea popularized by christian minister norman vincent peale that if you visualize something it can come true. television a perfectly harmless self-help philosophy when aprior -- applied t commercial real estate and reality tv with you -- but it's the firstime in history it's ever been applied to a deadly pandemic and i think what you see in that clip is the perspective trying to eulogize the techniques of salesmanship and for the first time in his political life running up against a force that he can't useis usual rhetorical skills to deflect.

he's just structure bonnly - sub torn -- stubboriny running this virus again and again and you even see him trying to spin t death toll. john: jonathan, is ohio he going he just spoke in new jersey about taking executive action? jonathan: people in the white house were foreshadowing this executive action as something that was going to befo used to als democrats to either oppose it or come to the tablea negotiate it. they're very frustrated the deprats aren't moving off their huge demands ftate and loam funding. i don't know where this ends. we're talking about a $3 trm gap between the republican and donald trump waseft to his ownif devices without the republican pretty big deal with the do a

democrats but there is on the hill which is being e represented in the room by the chief of statue, mark mudd robert c.: lisa, yon capitol hill. is there also pressure on speaker pelosi? lisa: i think speaker pelosi feels she has aon s hand and in talking to republican sources, they also believe she has a strong hand becauses you just heard from jonathan, republicans are dividws. mark mea pushing from the conservative side, worried abo ma en nougheving up too much to employeesy. i've heard high-ranking republicans call mnuchin the employees i -- pelosi whills pepperer, now it goes the other way. robert c.: abby, the congressional talks ha world conls consequences. here is part of your report on

pamela frank, a single mom in georgia who was laid off from >> so now that i have the fear, or the knowing that until end, so's kind of like, ok, so now what do i do to maintain my li?ly hood >> her message to lawmakers -- >> pleas u don't makes go back to being able to possibly call a shelter because we can't afford to pay our refund this month or the next two months. robert c.: abby, areawmakers listening? abby: it's hard to see how on methe republican side of this is breaking influence because they're focused on this idea that the unemployment benefs are discouraging people from working but pamela is a great w example t is facing a lot of americans. she had multiple jocks before the coronavirus in order to make ends moment. she s lost one of tem and that josh, with a major sports arena, is likely not coming back

for quite some time. she also has a 6-year-old daughter that she's a single mom and without the -- $600 check she is n able make her refund. so there's a reality while, yes, yoants to push people back into the workforce untry is not there yet. people like pamela are still wait forelp and i don't think they understand the idea of be sgck of some ideological battles, for example, the idea of state and log am fundich is holding up negotiations on clip. that'shy nancy pelosi i think feelles so confident bsoecause of these debates areot going to resonates with americans and there feelg totally overwhelmed by all of it. this campaign, rocket.oms over you wrote a book before "to art a war," it was all about house conservatives and mark meadows one -- was one of those

house conservatives that you what does that tell you about negotiation?w and this robert d.; you were on the hill, too, in 2011 when i was reporting on that book in the house. the same old thing, that molest pelosi is able to hold her caucusogether while the republicans remain fractured but there's an important difference in the president himse. president obama was very much involved and when he was not, he would deptiles bide on the do. so more importantly, that the president himself would do nothing to upset the process. that, i think, is the x factor here. the question mark that looms over any negotiation where the president has some t jeveragefl involvement as he does now from his golf club,

will he blow i up with some an noxious tweet? he remains, as he always is, despite his reputation of being anmazing tran actionalist, the x factor. robert c.: is the are the -- presidt going to continue to let meadows lead lue these tal or let secretary ma futurey cut a deal with the speaker like we saw months a? jonathan: it's hard to make predictions but if one waso base it on previous behavior, one would expect that he move more in the mtinuchin dir. because donald trump wants there to be another round oflu sti checks going out to americans with his name written on them. he wants there to be a big bun of liquidity ejected into the economy to giimve a nice run threw to the election.

he's not particularly concerned about tbt and deficit, as we've seen for three d a half years. yes, he's frustrated, doesn't want to give a bunch of money, a trillion dollars to democrat states that he bves are poorly run, yes, there are things he disagre with but if you're asking whether he's fill so havically closer to m inor meadows, it's mnuchi the question is what will ans on the hill toll rate and that suspect real question mark. robert c.: lisa, what's yo answer to that question? leasea: the such w is, agah nose republicans and what can they toll rate. i reported earlier this week and was happy when leader mcconnell publicly certificate that would has 20 senators that are rebels, that he doesn't have on board any one plan so when you talk about this huge divide that jonathan mentioned.

$1 trillion for the white house, $3.4 trillion initially for democrats, that $2 trillion, ow that's usuallyuch they have to spend for all of government in a year. so it's 1/2 gap. democrats have made an offer that they' getting closer to $2 trillion. republicans say it's fuzzy math but active let's talk about timeline. it looks like we need another week, if they decide to come back to discuss things and that puts us right other big politics like the democrat kind of convention. robert c.: that's true could you see some republican or deic senators making some noilings in the coming days to get a deal done because of e pressure that looms with the campaign? abby: yeah, absolutely but especially some republican senators. they're really under pressure in

some of these states to be responsive to the pandemic and the economic pain that eople are feeling that they're being dragged down by the president and his poor approval ratings overall on his handling of thiso definitely think -- first of all, senate democrats are they are already eager to gets something done because with their con still wenlts there's no debate about this but i thk increasingly outside of some of the more conservative republicans who are not going to ll into lineith mcconnell, there are going to be others, escially more moderate ones and those up for re-election who are goi to starts to make some noise. this is a bad look pitically and three months away from the election, nobody wants to be in a position where they're holding money from the american publ hostage to basically political ma cuvering. robe robert, any final thoughts? robert d.; on they don'tty --

think it's helpful for the executive order.eaten an it's not feasible, probably not legal and on going to create for political ill will. robert c.: this was an important week on the campaign trail. just days away fm biden noumsing his running mate. several tell medical former ambassador susan rice, kamela harris and representative karen bass is still in the hunt but they're saying c. isp. biden is saying little about the decision. the democratic convention is, as we discussed, going virtual and mr. biden will now self the nomination from delaware and president trump is consideringp acg the nomination from the white house. the president's message, mean is, getting pointould personal as he tries to catch up to biden in the pollles and shore up his base. president trump: he's going to

do thingshat nobody would ever any possible because he's following the radical left agenda. ke away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no relifpblg, no anything. he's against god, he's against guns. robert c.: mr. biden responded by caing trump's attacks "shameful" and said his own catholic faitha idrock foundation of my life. why is he attacking biden on faith? sit because the republicans are support?about there evangelical jonathan: it's more that they're very frustrate that would biden is simply not as despised as hillary clinton was at this point in 2016. when the trump campaign advisors look at e polling, one of the attention to is the very unfavorable number. th number that stholes

intensity of dislike tards the candidate. hillary clinton's was in the 40's. biden's is usually in the 20's. they're flveies to dp that number. they know that in m battleground states, donald trump may not get to 50% so in order to win, they need to make biden unacceptabl for voters choosing between biden and maybe a third part they need to make biden unacceptable to those voters so you've seeing them go all in attacks to basically -- they don't think it's believable to n make joen this evil, maniacal figure. wh they d think voters will buy is that bin can be portrayed as a mntly incapacitated vessel todck fil with the greatest ex eggses of the far lxt so -- e sellss of the far left. john: ab, what's your latest

reporting on the v.p. search? that pick will say a lot abo this how this campaign unfolds f. reste summer and fall. abby: i do think the pill play a role in some of this. especially becausehe some of things the trump campaign is ying to do, they want to chip aw as much as neck at that support. even if it's a percentage points here or there because the think it could make the difference and it did in 2016 in states likean mich and elsewhere in the midwest so that's the objective and bidens now choosing between several women,any of whom are black women and that list you mentied athe top, bob is, also what i'm hearing. three black women among theei choices considered and one of my colleagues reporting this ek that gretchen whitmer of

michigan is also st till running so you're looking at three black womeno could potentially help biden shore up black suorters to some stefpblets, although i do thinky that particulahen we talk about susan rice, the choice there is less about issues of race and more abou issues of ability to govern and that is actually where biden wts to be. he wants to make in a referendu on how president tru managing the federal government nd its response to the pandemic. robert c.: robert, you've done extensive reporti on ambassador riles and vice esent's binden foreign policy. what would her as the pick choose? robert d.; that this is what governance would like like. the vice president has everyd right ould be factoring

into who his running maltemamentse. is how comfortable he is with them and exciting the base. but thpae trump cn is actually brain deadanchurian candidate. that this is likely to be the most brutal presidential campaign inen rmemory if not in all of american history. there's very little, i anything, that presidentd trum wot say or do to win. robert c.: is ambassador rice ready for that political fire steam -- firestorm? robert d that's my points. she's never been in a national i ca but neither has bass. she's never had a contested race so this is a big question, even in this sort of virtualeign campaign season, of who's going to be able to take a punch in this bruising campaign battle.

robert c.: where does her friends and allies on ith capitol hill? lisa: one of her bigges allies is nancy pelosi. nancy pelosi likes to bring in democrats.cy affecng she sees herself as a national mind for them. i don't have reporting that she is doing this but it seems easy elieve that she is lobbying for karen bass. she's a strong ally. side, everybody reading the tea leaves. the senators have had nothing to do all week because they've been waiting for these takes talks so everyone is talking about the v.p. pick and kamela harris was friends with bo biden when they were both state attorney generals. newshour zwruledy woodruff asked jill biden this week what they're looking for this a v.p. . jiffle biden said the number one r thing they're looking f

trust. after that she said i guess experience and wisdom but that idea of a former relationship of trust could be very important, whether it's susan rimece, harris or not. but i think as you've heard, he's thinking about these deeper issues, not thinking about which state he is going to win, it doesn't seem. robert c.: there's on so much you can do with this v.p. reporting because it's so flumed. jonathan, other big newsith foreign interference, russia trying to interfere once again. china programs th s thinking about interfering leaning against president trump. what's the's white hou response? jonathan: i -- great question, which i'trying to find out now. the trump campaign put out a g response say don't need help from anyone, etc., evtz. thedministration has been leaning in on china. they've made it very much a

china fus and have tried to elevate china as the great threat ine multi dimensions but certainly in terms of election interference. they've tried to make sure that china is theirst country we think of when we think of election interference. this is a findsing that is inconvenient for donald trump. when i was with him two weeks agand asked him about russia, as soon as you use the word "russia," doesn't even matter what the context is. i was asking about their payinge bounties to all banal. it's hoax, hoax, hoax, and he putsll 23489 same baskets with adam schiff and lution. i can't imagine he's particularly accepting to that intelligence. robert c.: robert, you've long reported on the national security apparatus.

this isn't a hoax. it's s serioff. jon robert d.; it's serious uff but if report lists first ra china then saying that russia favors trump but china and iran favor bin so it's a wash electoraly, maybe even advantage biden. it is well understood amongll inence officials that of election monitoring -- moniring. commoifpble can't even come close. they're throwing out propaganda but not tampering with our infrastructure. they're really not able to affect the integrity of our electoral system the way russia can. robert.: lisa, what's the reaction on capitol hill? lisa: democrats do feel like that's a false give lens, that's a progress but there's real concern on capitol hill that this serious topic of ur

election sies is getting too political so it was important we saw the republican and democrats ranking members for the senate intelligence committee to try to come up with a unified stateme when things are very rocky on this issue behind closedoors. john: abby, how are democrats, the biden campaign, reonding tohis? abby: of course, i think the bidesen campaign has been asking inr this of information for some file now. they've lien very p about their concern that there is foreign election interference and joe bi hden personallyas said that this is the issue that keeps him up at night. som you canine that they're concerned to be parts of this that affects them but i think you'll also hear more from democrats about what leasea an rocketked about, which is why in statement steamed create an give lens between what cna is doing or not doing and what russia is doing. ade statement it clear china has a preference for

president trump butt didn't give any indication that they're acting on that in the sameay that russia. is robert c.: well to leave it ther middl frien. many thanks, toonathan swan, abby phillip, robert draper and lisa desjardins for shom comele -- comy and sharing your reporting and thank you all for ining us. on our extra we'll haveeto stick around to talk about his new book. it's a deep dive on theush years and iraq. lots to discuss. find it on our social media or on ourebsite. i'm robert costa. good night from washington. ♪

announcer: corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> when the wod gets complicated a lot goes through glour find with. fidelity wealth middleweight, a recommendations four life.or announcer: additional debatable fundinis provided by -- the estate of adams and koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

sue: in the beginning... paul: gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. ohh! sue: there were 12. louise: oh! i can't believe that's just haened to me. valo they're not gonna alme into yorkshire ever again. [sighs] sue: now... there are 3. [timeeps] [sighs] right. calm down now.