and i don't even think this were as powerful as they could be. and the federal government has tremendous, tremendous capacity that we need now. so, yes, he's right on all of that. he's right we asked for cooperation and assistance. and he's right that he delivered. and i've said that all along. but this mutineers, it can't exist. [ inaudible question ] i don't have anything specific to talk to him about today. there's no action item for us to talk about. >> talk about what's going on? >> it would be my pleasure to speak to him but we don't have anything -- do we have anything pending? no. i did speak to the white house

this morning about a hospital matter. but other than that, we don't have anything immediate. >> have you heard from the president about your role that he said yesterday he had any governor guidance and that role is this. >> no, we haven't had that conversation. and, look, this is a shift in federal position, which is also fine, by the way. we're entering a new phase. the quote/unquote reopening phase. on the first phase, which was the close-down phase, the president took a different tact. the president did not close down the economy. he did do the travel ban with china. and he was right on the travel ban with china. the closedown of the economy was left to the governors. and i closed down new york.

governor pritzker closed down illinois. governor lamont closed down connecticut. did it different times, different ways. but he left that responsibility, the closing down of the economy, to the governors. you get to the reopening of the economy, well, the governors closed it down, wouldn't the governors reopen it? president says, no, i haven't a different model i'm envisioning. that's okay too. but it's a shift but that's okay. then what is that model? be let's talk about who does what, which is the intelligent conversation we have to have. how do we do this testing? how does that come up to scale? i can't do it. how do we do this technology? i understand he's right, it raises constitutional questions. and do you really wunt that cell phone in your pocket to be a tracking device, right? okay. so let's talk through how we do

that? how do we disinfect a public transit system? that has to be understood. how do we have masks for every new yorker? how do we do that? how do we get 10 million, 20 million masks so we have that added protection? how do we get gloves? how do we make sure, god forbid, there's a second wave or another uptick, that we have the medical equipment we need after we just went through this horrendous, hurry-up exercise. by the way, where is the funding for states to help do this? i'm broke. there's no fancy way to say that. we have a $10 billion deficit. the state should do this and do this and do this. i don't have two nickels to rubbing to the. and the past federal legislation didn't give us anything. only thing it gave the states

was some medicaid money. doesn't give us anything to do any of this. they talked about it in the next package of legislation, if there is one. but that's the intelligent conversation to have. >> will he have this conversation with you? >> i've always had an open line of communication with him. there have been times in the past where he hasn't been happy with me and i haven't been throwing bouquets to him but we've always communicated and i'm sure we will communicate now. but i just want to make my position clear, i am not going to fight with him. i don't want -- this is no time for any division between the federal government and the state government. and the governors who i work with, democrats, republican governor in massachusetts, it's

not a political conspiracy. governor baker is a republican. it's not about democrat or republican. it's just not. this is about new york, 10,000 lives lost. these were not 10,000 democrats or 10,000 republicans. these are people, period. forget the don politics. everybody is tired of it. >> how many covid cases and fatalities are specific, like ohio and connecticut is doing? >> would you like to speak to that, jim? >> we put out the nursing hole dea home death data by county today. you can see some had one case. we're working with personal privacy detection with the department of health. there's about 600 nursing homes in the state. this goes for hospitals as well. there are very small hospitals

that report one, two deaths a day. we just want to go through the data and make sure we're not releasing any personal information. as soon as that done, we will put out that for the people, aggregates by county. >> is there reports of specific outbreaks of the us inning homes, it's hard to tell, but are there any nursing homes in particular that the state is seeing a huge problem at? >> we are seeing issues like i talked about yesterday, hospitalizations in different parts of the state, we look at total beds being used, deaths, all of that. at certain down state parts of the region, new york city, outer boroughs in nassau county, we've seen increased cases. but that's across the board nursing homes or hospitalizations as well. that's part of the data that you already do see. >> they said there's 60,000 cases you do a month, but the one, is that true, 60,000 a month? be mayor de blasio said they're

start to be able to do 100,000 tests a week? 50,000 home grown efforts and 50,000 from indiana companies. how does that coordinate in the effort and is that 50,000 number correct? >> it's signed on the dotted line. what's happening with the testing companies is the same thing that happened with medical equipment, ppe and ventilators. there are just a handful of companies that produce the private tests. and they're all private tests, by the way. a handful of companies that do it. and now every state is going to those companies to buy the tests. i have spoken to the head of several companies myself. and they have limited production. and now they have to allocate it to 50 states. and we're, again, in a bidding war competition with other states. i would say to the federal

government, you take that piece. don't replicate the 50-state pandemonium -- you want to talk about an increased federal role, let fema do the testing. fema should have, in my opinion, done all of the purchasing of the medical equipment and they should have allocated it. why am i now competing for private testing capacity and private testing machines with illinois and california? i want to get out of the ebay competition business for vital medical equipment, and now vital testing. i would say to the president, you take it. god bless you. because you have different bids and different promises for companies to different governments all across the country. like i bought 17,000 ventilators, and then i didn't get -- we only got about 3,000, 2,500. the same thing is going to

happen with the testing. >> the city could get 50,000 made in a week -- >> they're told that from a company. do i believe we're going to see those numbers actually produced? no. because i think the same thing is going to happen that we just went through for the past month, where those companies will get oversubscribed. then will then bid up the price and it's going to go to the highest bidder. we learned this lesson. i saw this movie. i just lived it for the past month. it cost taxpayers tremendous amounts of money. private companies got very rich. you want to talk about going to a new phase with the different model, let's form it from the past model. tell fema, you buy all of the tests for the country, allocate them by need. this is where the cases are, new

york, your ex-percent of the cases, new york, massachusetts, you're z percent of the cases. the federal government is going to buy them and then the federal government is going to allocate them. not this let's give each government or level of government functions that they perform best. and one of the really painful lessons was all of this crazy competing by states and cities for medical equipment. we're going to do that again? that makes no sense. >> governor, what about the serological tests and what is the plan if they cannot get scaled enough before the reopen? >> the accuracies? >> it varies. there are many different tests there. we're looking at over 95% accuracy and looking to scale this up by our public lab, state lab, and private sector labs that are out there, we're looking at those, as well as hospitals which have labs as

well. >> how do you address the false positive issue? if someone goes back to work and they don't actually have antibodies and test those -- >> we are looking at that. for example, our state lab, the test we developed is basically six standard deviations out which means you're way up there over the 99% accuracy, if not higher. >> but you are right, you are right, there are different private sector tests with different accuracy rates. and that's one of the other complications. go buy tests. whose test, which test, what level of accuracy? and that i think is something we have to figure out one way or another, but i would say that's something the federal government should take. >> how many antibody tests can you do at this point? you mentioned a couple thousand? >> the state will be by next week at 2,000 tests we will be able to do per week at that

point. sorry, 2,000 tests per day, next week. >> that still seems like a long way to go in a state of 19 million. >> that's that part but we're also working with some of the private sector companies to get in the tens of thousands of tests as well as hospitals, vefrl hospitals developed tests. there are different ways to do these tests. you can do a blood test. we're looking at a fingerstick test as well, where you just do a blood spot. and there's technology for that as well. >> but to follow up, look, you can have a whole symposium on testing. there are two types of tests, antibody test and diagnostic test. the antibody test the state, health department has a test. you're right. it's nearly at capacity. let's say they can do 2,000 a day. let's say 14,000 a week. what is 14,000 a week going to do for you? and, by the way, the whole anti- -- what can the antibody

population really be in the scope of things? antibody population, people who had the illness and recovered. okay. that's important to know, and we're very aggressive on antibody testing, but how many people are going to test positive? what percent of the population at this point do you think had the coronavirus? what could the number be? >> 20%. >> 20%, 10%. okay, you want to find that 10%, 20% but then that's not enough to restart and get back to normalcy. that diagnostic test is going to be king. and now think of the volume on that diagnostic test. we're 19 million people. how many die nos tick tests do you want to buy for 19 million people? and then multiply that by the nation. look at the need, and i'm telling you, you literally have a handful of private sector

companies that do this now. well, how do you scale that up? i don't know. how do you get a rocket ship 220,000 miles back from the moon 50 years ago, but if you could figure that out, you can figure this out. and if the federal government wants to know a valuable role, this is going to be a key element to all of this. >> talking about testing everybody for coronavirus in the entire state as a prerequisite -- >> no, no, no. you would never get that. if you said that was the prerequisite, you would be closed ad infinitum. but you want testing as a tool where businesses can use it as a tool. you want temperature taking, right? you open up a business, they're going to say i want to take everybody's temperature as they walk in the door. all right. how do you take the temperature of 500 people walking into a business? just think of all of the things you have to do, and then divide

it between the federal government and state government. we have to clean all of the buses and all of the trains. we want to clean all of the park benches. we want to have a disinfectant solution where we have a cleaning protocol we have never had before. we want the technology to do the tracing once we find the person who's positive. and we can retrace them through the technology. how do we balance that with individual liberties? there's a lot to do hoar. to do here. the states cannot do this on their own. i'm not shy about capacity. i'm very proud of what we do in the state government. when i tell you i can't do something, it's the first time you've heard me say that since i have been governor. but i'm telling you, we can't do this. joseph? >> earlier when the --

>> governor andrew cuomo today saying that the state cannot do it on its own but saying the president is not king, saying he's not spoiling for a fight with president trump, but saying that if the president orders him to do something like reopening too early, something that he said would be irresponsible, then he would fight. but he said he does not want a fight with the president, on this ongoing feud, if you will, between the white house and the governors, democratic governors in particular. cuomo also pointing out the massachusetts governor, governor baker is a republican. and the governors are united in believing they have to be the people in charge, which is constitutionally mandated, of when their states reopen. also talking about testing and when the states would be ready and what it would require, a lot of important details coming. but, first, here in washington two presidents are making news at this hour. president trump meeting with recovered coronavirus patients

at the white house who have all been tested today to make sure they are safe, as the administration is fiercely defending its response to the pandemic. the president lashing out at reporters last night during his briefing, at one point playing a produced video widely viewed as propaganda from the white house podium, mimicking his campaign ads with reflective mix of bipartisan praise for the president and falsely asserting he has total authority over governors to order the nation back to work, that which governor cuomo and others are pushing back on today. today former president obama from his home in a video he tweeted out and put on facebook officially endorsing joe biden, after having staying out of the primary race since it began with two dozen contenders. more than a year ago. in some cases bernie sanders' enthusiastic endorsement yesterday clearing the way for barack obama, the party's most popular figure, to weigh in today. >> joe gets stuff done.

joe helped me manage h1n1 and preventing the ebola pandemic from becoming the kind of pandemic we're seeing now. he helped me restore the standardship of the leaders in the world on pro live times with things like climate change. joe has the guided experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery. and i know he will surround himself with good people, experts, scientists, military officials who actually know how to run the government, and care about doing a good job running the government. and know how to work with our allies and who will always put the american people's interests above their own. now, joe will be a better candidate for having run the gauntlet of primaries and caucuses alongside one of the most impressive democratic fields ever. each of our candidates were talented and decent, with a track record of accomplishment,

smart ideas and serious visions of the future. and that is certainly true to the candidate who made it farther than any other, bernie sanders. bernie's an american original, a man who has devoted his life to giving voice to working people's hopes, dreams and frustrations. he and i haven't always agreed on everything, but we've always shared a conviction that we have to make america a fairer, more just, more equitable society. we both know that nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change. and the ideas he's championed, the energy and enthusiasm he inspired, especially in young people, will be critical in moving american in a direction of progress and hope. and joining me now, an all-star panel. nbc white house correspondent and "weekend today" co-host peter alexander. "the washington post" white house bureau chief phil rucker,

correspondent mike memoli covering the biden campaign, 2012 obama manager jim messina and deputy national security adviser ben rhodes. mike memoli, let me go to you first. what does this mean to joe biden? it was long and coming throughout the primaries, i felt and i guess the obama campaign, felt he had to wait until they came to peace with his own candidacy as well? >> that's exactly right, andrea. joe biden just tweeted in response to obama's endorsement it means the whole world to him and jill and no one else he would rather have by his side. as you remember well, when joe biden announced his candidacy earlier this month, one question that dogged him is why isn't obama endorsing him? the one answer he gave to me in january and any number of times in between was consistent, that he needed to show democrats that

he wasn't taking this primary for granted and he could win it on his own merits. allies of the president, former president, were also very clear in that there is no one else other than perhaps michelle obama in terms of a singular figure in the democratic party who could accurately what was promising to be with so many candidates and difficult fight bring the party together as united. you see the president as part of that careful choreography the biden and sanders campaign worked out the last few weeks, letting sanders have his day last week, letting sanders endorse him, and now helping him essentially close the deal here. it was interesting not to just hear the praise from obama there, but to talk about joe biden and the candidate he is now, he has one of the most aggressive platforms than any democrat in history. he referred to, not by name, but very notably for people who

followed elizabeth warren's campaign with the fact we can't do anything about big, structural change. that was a very important slogan for the warren campaign and very interesting. and lastly i ootinteresting to he never mentioned donald trump by name but he refers to, he said republicans both in the white house and senate, who are more interested in power than in progress. so careful with his words there as he is now helping joe biden to do what he needs to do at this point, this very critical juncture of his campaign, unite the party behind him for the general election campaign against the president. >> and peter alexander at the white house, coming after -- this was planned. it was taped on monday, yesterday, at his home in calrama, but coming the day two hours and 24 minutes from the president just yesterday arguably one of the worst briefings, if you can call it a briefing, because it was all about himself. and this from president obama's

comments on his online endorsement. he said, pandemics have a way of cutting through a lot of noise. this crisis is a reminder governments matter, science matters, elections matter. not exact but pretty close. that was a pointed reference to what we are seeing at the white house. >> andrea, you're exactly right. yesterday's briefing really more of a show than a briefing, the president folk using on himself and handling of the pandemic. and i'm checking my phone as i speak because the president is in the oval office hosting recovered covid-19 right now. so far from my understanding he hasn't yet commented on the president. but speaking this morning to sources close to president trump, he said it's not a shocker president obama would be endorsing his former vice president. he said what we should be watching is not so much his words but his actions, how much energy president obama lends to the biden campaign going forward. and my conversations with people close to former president barack

obama, they say that he will invest heavily in the biden campaign. they say they wanted today to be a big rally-type event. obviously circumstances didn't make that possible. but to the separate topics that relates to the president's comments, and i know we're going to get into this a little bit further, the president has been going back and forth through the course of this day, andrea. you saw a tweet in the last hour saying tell the democratic governors mutiny on the bounty was one of my all-time favorite movies. a good, old-fashioned mutiny now and then is an exciting and vig rating thing to watch, especially when the muteneers need so much from the captain. too easy, the critics comparing president trump to captain smith, captain of the "titanic," than captain bly of the bounty here. but they said this is an unnecessary foot foul as one described it, the president should be trying to present some unity in this moment. that it's unnecessary.

that things appear to be getting better despite some early failures and perhaps the president was listening, listening just moments ago. he did speak about this topic in the oval office saying in direct contrast to what he said earlier, we were all in this together. we must put politics aside. all of it following that remarkable statement, andrea, yesterday where he claimed he had, quote, total authority when it comes to in effect forcing governors to reopen their states. >> to consider your metaphor, some critics might have suggested that was more captain klieg but you're a literary writer. let's talk about the contrast between two presidents today and what the obama strategy will be, all in? >> yes, andrea. there's no question president obama will be all in for joe biden. frankly, he's been talking to all of the candidates throughout this process. one elected democratic voters

make, their judgment. always knew he would be a very active container and obviously a big supporter of joe biden. he can do a couple of things, andrea. first of all, he had clear success motivating pieces of the electorate, particularly young people who have a bit more of a chalg everyone for joe biden. secondly, he can testify to joe biden's qualities better than any other human being. he worked with him up close. he knows his values and how that forms his politics and he knows what kind of person joe biden is. that will be central to joe biden's message. president obama can say this was someone who bounced back from tragedy, with me lifted this country out of a great recession, and he can do this again. i think nobody will have the voice and credibility to do that. the final thing, andrea, this will offer a contrast, this is what it used to feel like who had a president who was decent, who cared about people, and didn't care about himself above everything else. the contrast from what you see from donald trump and video of barack obama, i think it reminds

americans we don't have to live in this kind of incompetent reality show of government even amidst the pandemic, as donald trump has basically turned his own responses to the pandemic as daily show of propaganda and dismfgs on his own behalf. you have barack obama, the memory of a president who put people first, who will show empathy and with joe biden handle a ebola pandemic that saved thousands of americans' lives. and i know for a fact he will be out there doing that aggressively for the next six months. >> again, that briefing yesterday, phil rucker, let's talk about that briefing. there was a moment when paula reid from cbs was trying to question him about what happened in february because in their video, in their timeline, they keep talking about what he did in january and then skipping to march. but all during february there were weeks, weeks where there was no mitigation. and those were weeks tragically lost. and this is -- let's just take a

look at that moment between the cbs correspondent and the president of the united states. >> what did you do with the time that you bought, the month of february? what did you do the entire month of february? >> what do you do when you have no case in the whole united states -- excuse me. you reported it. zero cases, zero deaths on january 17th. >> february, the entire month of january. >> i said in january. on january 30th -- >> what did you and the administration do in february from the time your travel ban -- >> a lot, a lot. >> what? >> in fact, we will give you a list. in fact part of it was up there. we did a lot. look, look, you know you're a fake. you know that. your whole network the way you cover it is fake. >> well, of course, that's not the first or last time the president reacted that way against a correspondent, but, phil, from your reporting, wasn't there something different about last night's briefing?

>> andrea, it was extraordinary, because the president made it all about himself for more than two hours. i mean, the death toll is climbing, millions of americans filing for unemployment insurance. tens of thousands of americans waiting in lines for hours to get a food bank, and the president criticizing who should be praising him, using names to call them and defending his action. paula reid was right there to raise the question about the month of february. the president talks a lot about his restrictions on travel from china that were imposed in late january. thin from t then for the month of february they did almost nothing on the coronavirus. the president was holding campaign rallies around the country. he visited india for an event with the prime minister there and it wasn't until the very end of the month that he returned home from india that the administration got serious to really tackle the challenge of the coronavirus. and as the experts will tell you, that was far too late.

. >> jim messina, the contrast we are seeing today between two presidents and the president right now is in the oval office with coronavirus recovered victims, people who have suffered. so this can certainly -- certainly show the empathetic side they're trying to project now. but after a performance of more than two hours last night when he was constantly talking about himself, and it really was a campaign event more than it was a white house briefing. >> yeah, you know, in a campaign you realize there are moments that really define a campaign. andrea, my sense is you're going to see these 24 hours really define this. you had the clown show last night of donald trump who couldn't have been more egomaniacal, couldn't have spent more time worrying about himself and less about the american people. and then to ben rhodes' point, you have the former president of the united states who came out

and reminded americans what a contrast this was, what a real leader looks like and somebody who can bring this togethcountr together. donald trump is particularly not suited for these moments to pull everyone together. you can see they're beginning to panic. their battleground numbers are starting to slide. i saw numbers last night from the midwestern states that shows trump's numbers on the coronavirus really plummeting because americans are starting to figure out that everything he says isn't really true and it's all just an act to try to win today's war and isn't about really getting these things done, so you're having a president trump who's panicking and a perfect contrast with the biden campaign to bring out a calm, rationed barack obama who reminded them of better days and who says to swing voters, because remember barack obama's numbers are in the 60s with swing voters, where as trump's are in the low 40s, reminding those folks there's a real

contrast in this election and change is a coming. >> i wanted to point out, ben rhodes is a former deputy national security adviser. there was an instagram post in recent days from the acting dni, director of national intelligence. and it was basically reposting a tweet that had the constitution of the united states and it said signed your permission slip to leave your house. basically contradicting all of the advisories from all of the medical people from the professionals and even from the president himself when he's agreeing with fauci and birx to not leave your house yet, and aligning yourself with an anti-medical, anti-scientific post. this was coming from the director of national intelligence in charge of 17 intelligence agencies, whose job it is to assess china's response and putin's response and where are the facts about a pandemic

that's gripping the globe? >> yeah, i mean, andrea, what's truly appalling and astonishing about this is this is the single official in the u.s. government whose job is it is most important this operates in facts. this person is to coordinate the apparatus of the u.s. government to get fact-based information to the policy members and the president to make the right decisions. because president trump has a hostility to the intelligence community, has hostility to the core idea of the association itself, he has a no operative, no troll operation should be managing the apparatus. he was moved there after the acting director was moved out. because he didn't express enough of trump. this gets back to the point obama made in his video, government matters. competence matters.

ment basing acts on facts matters. in this case it's a matter of life and death, you not listen what is emanating from the director of the national intelligence of the united states that is telling people to not take this seriously and stay home. that's life-threatening of this government. so the question is can we get competent people back in there? can we get someone who will put the people in the right direction, and not someone who abuses it so casually he's giving americans disinformation in a pandemic. >> ben rhodes, jim messina, peter alexander and mike memoli, thank you all so much. phil rucker from "the washington post." and coming up -- when is it time to reopen? when are the tests going to be available? the states have the authority to lift emergency orders but the president is not seeing it that way. we'll take a look at who makes the call, how to do it safely. all of that coming up on "andrea mitchell reports." thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer,

which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs that can lead to death. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including trouble breathing, shortness of breath, cough, or chest pain. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, hair thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite.

be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. be in your moment. puberty means personal space. so sports clothes sit around growing odors. that's why we graduated to tide pods sport. finally something more powerful than the funk. tide sport removes even week-old sweat odor. it's got to be tide.

- [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. and they're counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. grubhub. together we can help save the restaurants we love.

president trump is hearing some pushback, even from some leading republicans, to his claim of total authority over states when it's time to reopen regions of the country. >> i think the white house and the federal government issues guidelines. ultimately it's going to be the governors since it's the governors who instituted the different shutdowns in different states, depending which states we're talking about. it's the governors who will make decisions on when certain activities are allowed. >> florida congresswoman donna

shalala, former health and human secretary in the clinton secretary and former president of the university of miami and dr. patel, nbc news medical contributor and former health policy director in the obama white house joining us now. congresswoman shalala, what about the president's argument that the states have to answer for him rather than having their own authority over when to go back to work? >> well, the president clearly has not read the constitution, because the tenth amendment gives the power to the states. but there's no question the white house and the administration has to be involved. in fact, we're introducing a bill, representative raskin and a group of other members of congress, called the reopen america act, which is based on science and there's a process there in which the states would submit plans, we would make sure they meet the scientific standards. their incidents are down, they have the supplies they need,

they've been able to manage through their hospitals a whole set of criteria, and then the federal government would fund that. but it's an all process for reopening the country. we need that. i actually was so upset with the president not understanding his role versus the role of the states that i actually sent him a copy of the constitutions and highlighted the tenth amendment, because it's going to be a joint effort but he doesn't have the authority to order them to open. they have the tlorauthority buty need help. they need help from the federal government. we need to manage the supply chain issue. and in our bill we put a whole board together and has the federal government taking over the supply chain. look, we're back to the articles of confederation with states competing against each other. this is one country with lots of important parts in it and we have to do this together but it has to be science based.

>> dr. patel, let's talk about the supply chain, the testing, because we understand from the associated press that dr. deborah birx was on a call with the governors yesterday complaining that their labs have to step up because tests are sitting in the labs that are not being processed more quickly enough and millions more can be done than the 100,000 or 200,000 or 300,000 that have been run. >> yes, absolutely, andrea. just to give people a sense, we talked a lot about the testing where you have to get a swab up your nose or down the back of your throat, not only do we have a problem with getting enough of those cotton swabs but the machines and the chemicals that those machines require, even the little plastic cartridges you have to use to insert the sample into the machine, what this is showing us, andrea, it's a really global supply chain and if you look, the entire world wants these supplies. this is an example where the

president is alienating the very state leadership that he absolutely must work with, and i worry not just for today but this is months of testing, tracing, isolation and so this is a critical piece the global supply chain and all of the consequences we're going to struggle with for months. >> donna shalala, as a former hhs secretary, you know as well as anyone other than perhaps some people in the white house, that dr. fauci cannot be fired by the president. i guess the hhs can do a number of things and tell the head of nih to fire him. he's been there for decades and decades and all of these presidents. but what about this conflict, brewing conflict, they tried to smooth it over yesterday, between the medical advise everies and the economic advisers. the president is going to stand up a new economic advisory board this afternoon or tonight on the briefing when it reopen. he's pushing the limits on

reopening when we don't have the volunteers we need for contrast tracing to say nothing of the testing, as dr. patel was just saying. >> first of all, no one is going to fire tony fauci. the nih director is certainly is not going to do it and the hhs secretary is certainly not going to demand that be done. but we need to protect tony fauci and listen to him and the other scientist physicians that are giving us very good advice. there shouldn't be a conflict between the economists and the scientists. the economists know better in a situation like this that they need to listen to the scientists. we cannot reopen this government without a systematic way of measuring, of getting the equipment, the federal government's clear role to get the equipment and stop this competition, but more importantly, until the incident goes down, probably until the

number of new infections of one, we cannot reopen this government and the president has got to see his role add listening carefully to the scientists and then clearly communicating with the american people. i just -- it's just a mess in terms of communication. and no one wants to reopen the government, even the pressure the president is under with some business people, if it's dangerous. and that's what we're talking about. we're talking about life and death. we're talking about danger and we're not -- we're talking about not having either the splays or the testing or the strategy in the state because they don't have the kinds of support and a strong role by the federal government helping them to work through this. >> donna shalala, congresswoman, thank you very much. dr. patel, thank you as well. coming up next -- the look

at an impact of coronavirus on rural america. i will be joined by senator jon tester of montana. stay with us, you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. d. i don't have to worry about that, do i? harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line. crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. it works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. gum detoxify, from crest. so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions. decrease alcohol use. use caution driving or operating machinery. tell your doctor if you've had mental health problems.

the most common side effect is nausea. talk to your doctor about chantix. many of life's moments in thare being put on hold. are staying at home, the most common side effect is nausea. at carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just can't wait. to help, we're giving our customers up to 90 days to make their first payment. shop online from the comfort of your couch, and get your car with touchless delivery to keep you safe. and for even greater peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a seven-day return policy. so if you need to keep moving, we're here for you. at carvana-- the safer way to buy a car. apps except work.rywhere... why is that? is it because people love filling out forms? maybe they like checking with their supervisor to see how much vacation time they have. or sending corporate their expense reports. i'll let you in on a little secret. they don't. by empowering employees to manage their own tasks, paycom frees you to focus on the business of business.

to learn more, visit paycom.com neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair®. we've got the retinol that gives you results in one week. not just any retinol. accelerated retinol sa. for not only smoother skin in one day, but younger-looking skin in just one week. and that's clinically proven. results that fast or your money back. unless you're attached to your wrinkles. one week is all it takes. neutrogena®. oneyou don't just own horses. you own a pasture. a fence. a barn. an arena. more fence. and hay. lots of hay. so you need a tractor built to do it all. and do it right. you need the power to handle anything. you need versatile performance matched-attachments. you need the #1 selling

compact tractor for a decade. the kubota l series tractors.

coronavirus-related deaths have occurred in urban areas, but rural america is also experiencing the spread of the disease. an icu ners from iowa pleading with americans to continue their self-isolating. >> keep the quarantine going. i know we've been doing it for a long time, and it's easy to get lax, but we're going to keep getting more and more admissions and these people might walk in through the emergency department and within an hour, they're on life support. >> joining me now is senator jon tester from montana. senator, great to see you. the thank you very much. i hope you and your family are very well out there in the great state of montana.

tell us how you're managing in the big sky country in terms of people self-isolating on their ranches and in their towns and cities, but what is the effect on farmers and ranchers? >> well, we have some in rural america, we're self-isolated by default. but the bottom line is we've got about 400 cases in the state of montana. about seven deaths. i don't think it's gotten here fully yet. it's going to take a little longer to get here, but we have to be prepared for it. no doubt about it. i can tell you that the cattlemen are getting hammered right now for whatever reasons, whether it's the coronavirus or some other reason, they are really getting beat up badly. and we may lose some of those operators if we don't deal with them and help them out from the federal level. but, no, look. we've got our challenges out here in making sure that our hospitals and that whole network of health care is out there in rural areas.

it's critically important. we just had a hospital in northwestern montana lay off 600 people because they're not doing effective surgeries and they don't have the income coming in so they're running into the negative cash balance. we have to make sure that they are kept afloat during this very difficult time as we're trying to keep the businesses afloat and the folks here employed. so we've got our challenges, make no mistake about it. but the real challenge going forward, i think, andrea, is making sure that we have adequate testing. making sure that it's -- the gas pedal is to the floor trying to figure out a vaccine for this. i think until we get to a point where everybody feels comfortable about going out into the business world, into the economy, our economy is going to be suffering. it's time -- it really is time that everybody needs to work together and do treat this like this is a time of war to get through this pandemic. >> and i saw steve bullock, your

governor, who was saying just a couple of days ago that your state, as well as other states, are competing against other wealthier states, the coastal states that have had the hot spots, and the federal government and fema and trying to get the test kits and other supplies. >> andrea, that's exactly right. we're competing against other states. we're all competing against the federal government. it's all tanxpayer dollars. this is all taxpayer dollars and we're driving the prices up. and it's really, where i think the federal government needs to be more centralized, be much more aggressive in the area of personal protective equipment. fema has done some really great things but they need to step it up even more to make sure these supplies get to where they're needed. they're the only ones that can do it. there's too much dependence on the private sector when the federal government needs to step up and say, this is the way it's going to be. these are the areas that need it. they'll take some heat, but they'll take some credit, too,

in the process. and you were right, andrea. the governors have done a great job. governor bullock has done a great job trying to stay ahead of the curve. we need the federal government to be a partner to help us get through this process and really help direct things like personal protective equipment, testing and those kind of things. >> senator jon tester, great to see you. stay safe out there in montana. thank you. joining us is one of your former colleagues, senator claire mccaskill, an nbc contributor and msnbc contributor. senator, from your perch, you are watching this brewing fight, ups and downs between the president and the governors. how do you rationalize it right now with the daily outbursts from the president and then peace offers. they need each other as andrew cuomo said today. >> yeah, it's really fascinating to me that this president -- i

guess we've gotten so numb to his antics that many americans don't realize the lack of leadership that is showing itself right now. this is not hard what he needs to do. he needs to step up and take over the federal function which should be acquiring the supply chains, making sure we get a fixed price so we're not wasting taxpayer dollars. distributing the materials where they need to go. figuring out testing and tracing before he talks about opening up the government and reaching out with warmth and support and compliments to all the state and local leaders that are doing their best. instead, we get 2 1/2 hours of campaign propaganda. and fighting with the press and calling people names. you know, it is shocking to me that we have a president that is running a campaign ad from the podium in the white house briefing room and all hell is

not breaking loose. it's astounding. so it's just -- i can't help but believe that the governors are going to have to continue to do what they're doing, joining together, exerting leadership, and if the president would just focus on testing and tracing and getting the equipment out without everyone getting robbed by the private sector, then we'd have a much clearer path forward. >> i want to briefly ask you about president obama's endorsement which has certainly contributed to joe biden starting to look at the women, and they're all women on his shortish list. and they're governors. there's former competitors. kamala harris and elizabeth warren, certainly governor whitmer of michigan, as well. but she's now taking -- getting a lot of criticism from conservatives in her state for being too tough on sheltering in

place. do you think that that will hurt her even though michigan would be a great add certainly for a running mate in terms of geography. >> asking me to pick between these women is like asking me to pick between my grandchildren. all of these women are amazing. all of them are qualified to be vice president and president. whether it's the governor of new mexico or the governor of michigan or whether it's the senator from nevada or kamala or any of the other senators who ran, elizabeth or amy. they are all terrific. don't forget we've got stacy abrams on that list also. there are really a lot of strong women to pick from. i think the most important thing about presidential politics today is the democratic party has figured out that the greatest threat to our country is, in fact, donald trump, and we have to come together. and the fact that bernie and joe biden have communicated so well and have come together so well, so quickly and now the whipped cream and cherry on top with the

stinging endorsement of barack obama calling out indirectly this president by saying that joe biden will surround himself with the best people and will, in fact, consult experts and not his own ego. >>e mccaskill, great to have you. tune in to nbc and msnbc with our special tonight with hoda kotb and savannah guthrie. chuck todd picks it up after a break. and save in more ways than one. for small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair.com

stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and take. it. on with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some... rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious infections and blood clots, sometimes fatal, have occurred as have certain cancers, including lymphoma, and tears in the stomach or intestines, and changes in lab results. your doctor should monitor your bloodwork. tell your doctor about any infections and if you are or may become pregnant while taking rinvoq. ready to take on ra? talk to your rheumatologist about rinvoq relief. rinvoq. make it your mission.

i've been involved in. communications in the media for 45 years. i've been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. for me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. and i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. it has helped me an awful lot. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. more than ever, your home is your sanctuary. that's why lincoln offers you the ability to purchase a new vehicle remotely with participating dealers. an effortless transaction- all without leaving the comfort- and safety of your home. that's the power of sanctuary. and for a little extra help, receive 0% apr financing and defer your first payment up to 120 days on the purchase of a new lincoln.

eveso we can stillg a answer your calls. now. and we are monitoring our system 24/7 to ensure that we have a fast reliable network, keep the customers connected, and making sure people are staying safe. and we're still on the road. solving critical issues as they arise. ♪ go to xfinity.com/prepare. thank you.