congress stalls and the election heats up. >> they wereying, that's true and it i what it is. robert c.: president trump pushes ahead, clashing with experts, asou the white is locked in a standoff over virus relief. >> the republicans and the president do not understand the gravity of the situation and every time we me with them it robert c.: 1k389 campaign turns vicious. president tru he's against god, helps against guns. robert c.: as the former vice president readies his own v.p. next. announcer: this is "washington week."

rporate sfunled funding is provided by -- n >> whe world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind with. fidelity wealth middleweight, a dedicated visor can give you announcer: additional funding is provided by -- the estatof arol adams and koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committgi to br cultural differences in ou communities. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pks station from viewors like you. thank you. once again from washington, model rator robert costa. robert c.: good evening. crisis cares on, millions of americans a looking at tight budget for sexrenlt grows rills anwant to know if the $00

unployment sup police t artment, which expired l -- supplements which exeerped last week being extended. but the answer is t.d. house speaker nancy pelosi is fully expecting to reinstate it but she's waiting for the president to blink. but thekwlowls chief of statue mark meadows is holding too an president trump said he will take executive measurings inted. the president spoke with axios's jonathan swan and the ierview revealed his mind selt. >> i think it's under control. >> how thousands of meverages are dying every day. >> that's true. it's under control as much as you can control it. ring announcer: and here's their exchange on theth deaate. pr

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

about w the psident is handing the virus? jonathan: the president, much before he went into political life, was aned a heernlts to a philophy called positive thinking, an idea populized by christian minister norman vincent peale that if you visualize something it can come true. television a perfectly harmless self-help philosophy when aprior real lied to commercial estate and reality tv with you history it's ever been applied to a adly pandemic and i think what you see in that clip is the perspective trying to euloge 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 -- stubbornly running into this viain and again and you even see him trying to spin t death toll. john: jonathan, is ohio he going to keep thisar hd line. he just spoke in new jersey about taking executive action? jonathan: people in the white house were foreshadowing this executive acon as something that was going to be used to formals democrats to either oppose itr come to the table and negotiate it. they're very frustrated depratsren't moving off their huge demands for state and loam funding.ow i don't kn where this ends. we're talking about a $3 trm gap between the republican and democrat position idhink if donald trump was left to his own devices without the republican presse, he'd be happy to do a

pretty big deal with the democrats buthere is significant republican pressure on the hill which is being represented in theoom by the chief of statue, mark 8dmudd 34. robert c.:isa, you're on capitol hill. is there also p ressure on speaker pelosi? lisa: i think speaker pelosi feels she has a strong hand and in talking to republican sources, they also believe she has a strong hand because as you just heard from jonathan, republans are divided. mark meadows pushing from the consertive side, worried about ma enoughen giving 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. congressional talks have real world conls consequences.

here is part of your rport on aamela frank, a single mom in georgia who was off from her job. >> so now that i have the fher, or knowing that until ends , so it's kind of like, ok now what do i do to maintain my lively >> her message to lawmakers -- >> please dot make us go back to being able to possibly call a shelterecse we can't afford to pay our refund this month or the next two months. robert c.: abby, ar lawmakers listening? abby: it's hard to see how on the republin side some of this is breaking influence because they're focused on this idea at the unemployment benefits are discoaging people from working but pamela is a great example of what is facing a lot of americans. she had mtiple jocks before the coronavirus in order to make ends moment. she has lost onef them and that josh, with a major sports

arena, is likely notming back for quite some time. she also has a 6-year-old daughter tha she's a single mom of and without the -- $600 check she is not able to make her refund. so there's a reality while, yes, you wan to push people back into the workforce, much of the un is not there yet. people like pamela ar e stil wait for help and i don't think they understand the idea of being o stuckf some ideological battles, for examp, the idea of state and loam fundg which is holding up negotiations on clip. that's why nancy pelosi i think feelles so confident because some of the debates areot going to resonates with americans and they're feeling totally overwhelmed by all of it. robert c.: that all looms over a this cn, rocket. you wrote a book before "t start a war," it was all about house conservatives and mark meadows one -- was one of tse

house conservatives that you oecovered. what that tell you about him right now and iois negoti 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 h hold caus together whilehe republicans remain fractured but there's an important difference in the president himself. president obama was very much involved and when he was not, he would deptiles bi on the do. so more importantly, that the president hielf wou do nothing to upset the process. that, i think, is the x factor here. the question mark that looms over any notiation where the president has some tan

jeveragefl involvement as he does now from his golf club, will he blow it up with some an noxious tweet? heemains, as he always is, sp e his reputation of being an amazing tra actionalist, thea or. robert c.: is the are the -- president going to continue to let m lead lue these talks or let secretary ma a deal with the speaker like we saw months ago? jonathan: it's hard to make predictions but if one was to base it on previous behavior, one would expect tht he move more in the mnuchin direction. because donald trump wants the to be another round of stimulus checks going out to americans me with his na written on them. he wants there to be a b bun of liquidity ejected into the economy to gi ave him nice run

threw to the election. he's not particularly concerned abou the debt and deficit, as we've seen for three d a half years. yes, he's frustrated, o nt to give a bunch of money, a trillionollarsmocrat states that he believes are orly 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 mnuchin. the question is what will republicans on the hill toll rate and that suspect real question mark. robert c.: lisa, what's yo answer to that question? leasea: the such is, again with nose republicans andn what they toll rate. i reported earlier this week and was happy whe leader mcconnell publicly certificate that would he has 20 senators that are rebels, that he doesn't haven ard any one plan so when you talk about this huge divide that

jonathan mentioned. $1 trillion r the white house, $3.4 trillion itially for democrats, that $2 trillion, that usually how much they have to spend for all of government in a year. so it's a 1/2p. 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 if weekhey decide to come back to discuss things and that puts us right other big politice he democrat kind of convention. robert c.: that's true. could you see some republican or democratic senators making some noilings in the coming days to get a deal done because of the 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 eople onomic pain that p are feeling that they're being dragged down by the president and his poor approval ratings overall on his handling of this. so i definitely think -- first of a, senate democrats a already there. they are already eager to gets something done because with their con still wenlts there's ut debate a this but i think increasingly outside of some of the more conservative republicans who are not going to fall into line with mcconnell, there are going to be others, especially more moderate ones and those up for re-election who are going to starts to make some noise. this is a bad look politically and three months away from the belection, nobody wants t in a position where they're holding money from the american public hostage to basically political maneuvering. bert c.: robert, any final thoughts?

robert d.; on they don'tty think it's helpful for the president to threaten an executive order. it's not feasible, probably not legal and on going to cree for political ill will. robert c.: this was an important week on the campaign trail. just days away from biden noumsing his running mate. several tell medical for 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, ai we dscussed, going virtual and mr. biden will now self the nomination from delaware and accepting the nomn from dering the white house. the president's messagemean is, getting point and would personal as he tries to catch up to biden in the pollles and shore up his base.

president etrump: going to do things that nobody would ever any possible because he's following the radical left agenda. take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no relifpblg, no anything. hurt the bible, hurt god. he'sgainst god, he's against guns. robert c.: mr. biden responded by calling trump's attacks "shamel"nd said his own foundation of my life. why is he attacking biden on faith? sit because the republicans are worried about therevangelical support? jonathan: it's more that they're ry frustrate that would biden is simply not as despised as hillary clinton wa athis point in 2016. when the trump campaign advisors lo at the polling, one of the metrics they pape close nt atn to is the very

unfavorable number. th number that s intensity of dislike tards the candate. hillary cinnton's wahe 40's. biden's is usually in the 20's. they're flties to drive up t number. they know that in magrny battnd states, donald trump may not get to 50% so in orr to win, tey need to make bidennacceptable. for voters choosing between biden and maybe a third party, they need to make biden unacceptable to those voters so you've seeing them go all in on attacks to basically -- they don'tb think it'elievable to make joe binden this evil, maniacal figure. what they do think voters will buy is that bind can be portrayed as a mntly incapacitated vessel tock filled with the greatest ex eggses the far left so -- ex sellss of the far left.

john: abby, what's your latest reporting on the v.p. search? that pick wil say a lot about thth how campaign unfolds abby: i do think the pick will play a role in some of this. especially because some of theh thingsrump campaign is trying to do, they want to chip away as much as neck at that support. even if it's a percentage points here o there because they think it could make the difference and it did20 i in states like michigan and elsewhere in the dwest so that's the objective and biden is now choosinra between se women, many of whom are black womend that list you mentioned at the top, bob is, also what i'm hearing. three black women among the choices being considered and one ofy colleagues reporting this

week that gretchen whitmer of michigan is also still in the running so you're looking at three black women who could potentially help biden shore up black supporters to some stefpblets, ailthoug do think that particularly when we talk about susan rice, the choice there is less about issues of race and more about issues of ability to govern and that is actually where biden wants to be. he wants to make in a referendu on how president trump is managing the federal goverent and its response to the pandemic. robert cou.: robert,e done extensive reporting on ambassador rilesnd vice president's binden foreign policy. what would her as the pick choose? robert d.; that is is what governance would like like.si the vice pnt has every right and should be factoring

into who his running ltemamentse. is how comfortable he is with them and exciting the base. but the trump campaign is actually brain dead manchurian candidate. that this is likely to be the most brutal presidential campaign in recent memory iot in all of american history. there's ve little, if o ything, that president trump would not say or win. robert c.: is ambassador rice ready for that political fire steam -- firestorm? robert d.; that's my points. ere's never been in a national campaign but neias bass. she's never had a contested race so this is a big question, even in this sort of virtual feign campaign season, of who's going to be able to take a punch in

this bruising campaign battle. robert.: where does representative basstands with capitol hill? d allies on lisa: one of her biggest allies is nancy pelosi. nancy pelosi likes to bring in major policy affecting democrats. she sees herself as national mind for them. i don't have repting that she is doing this but it seems easya to believe she is lobbying for karen bass. she's a strong ally.v alsoer here on the senate side, everybody reading the tea leaves. the senators have hadothing to do all week because they've been waiting for these takes talks so everyone is talking about the v.p. picand kamela harris was friends with bo biden when they were both state attorney generals. newshour zwruledy woodruff asked jill biden this week whate they looking for this a v.p. pick. jiffle biden said the number o

thing they're looking for is trust. after that sheaid i guess experience and wisdom but that idea of a former relationship of whether it's susan rice, kamela harris or not. but think as you've heard, he's thinking about these deeper issues, not thinkingbout 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 umed. h nathan, other big news wit foreign interference, russia trying to interfere onceagain. china programs they say thinking about interfering leaning against president trump. what's the white house's response? jonathan: i --r gt question, which i'm trying to find out now. the trump campaign put out a reonse saying we don't need help from anyone, etc., evtsdz. the administratas been leaning in on china.

they've made it very much a china fusnd have tried to elevate china as the great threat in multiple dimensions but certainly in terms of election interference. they've tried to make sure that china is the first cntry we think of when we think of election ithnterference. is a findsing that is inconvenient for donald trump. when i was with him two weeks ago and asked h about russia, as soon as you use the word "russia," doesn't even matter what the context is. i was asking about their paying bounties to the tall banal. 's hoax, hoa hoax, and he puts its all 23489 same baskets with adam schiff and ution. i can't imagine he's particularlyep ang to that intelligence. robert c.: robert, you've long

ported on the national security apparatus. this isn't a hoax. it's serious stuff.rt jon ro.; it's serious stuff but if report lists first china then iran saying that russia favors trump but chi and iran favor biden so it's a wash electoraly, maybe even it is well understood among intelligence officials that russia enjoys primarycy in terms of election monitoring -- monitoring. commoifpble can't even come close. but not tampering with our infrastructure. affect the integrity of our electoral system the way russia can. robert c.: lisa, at's the reaction on capitol hill? lisa: democrats do feel like that's a false give lens, that's a progress buthere's

real concern on capitol hill that this serious topic of ection securities is getting too political so it was important we saw the republica and democrats ranking members for the senate intelligence committee to try to come up with a unified statement wen things are very rocky on this issue behind closed doors. john: abby, how are democrats, the biden campaign, responding to this? abby: of course, i think the bidesen campaign has been asking for this kind of information for some file now. they've been very public about their concern that there is foreign election interference and joe biden personally has said that this is the issue that keeps him up at night. so you can imagine that they're concerned to be parts of this that affects thtem bu i think you'll also hear more from democrats about what leasea and rocket talked about, which is an give lens between what cnae is doing or not doing and what s is doing. the statement made it clear china has a preferenc for

president trump but it didn't give any indication that they're acting on that in the sameay that russia. is robert c.: well to leave it ther middle frien. many thanks, toan jonathan abby phillip, robert draper and lisa desjardins for shom comele -- coming byd sharing your reportingnd thank you all for . ining us on our extra we'll have rockets stick around to talk about his new book. it's a deep dive on e bush years and iraq. lots to discuss. find it on our social media or on our website. asm robert costa. good night fromngton. ♪

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sue: in the beginning... goul: gorgeous, gorgeouseous. ohh! sue: there were 12. louise: oh! i can't believe that's just happened to me. val: they're not gonna allow me into yorkshire [sighs] suow... there are 3. [timer beeps] [sighs] right. calm down now.