united states to play us off the air tonight. that is our broadcast for this thursday evening. on behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night from our temporary field headquarters. if the justice department drops the case against former security adviser michael flynn. also, one of the president's personal valets tests positive for the coronavirus. the valet serves the president his meals among other duties. and authorities in georgia say a father and son have been arrested for the murder of ahmaud arbery, a 25-year-old man

who his family say was gunned down while jogging back in february. good friday morning, everybody. it is may 8th. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we have a lot to cover this morning. we're going to start with the stunning move from the justice department dropping charges against national securities adviser michael flynn who sought for months to withdraw his guilty plea for lying to the fbi as part of special counsel bob mueller's investigation in russian interference in the russian election. in the court filing, the doj argued that after reviewing its case, including notes from fbi agents that were publicly disclosed last week from flynn's january 17th fbi interview was untethered to an unjustified by the fbi's investigation into mr. flynn and, quote, conductsed

without any legitimate investigative basis. the u.s. attorney for the district of colombia added that continued prosecution of this case would not serve the interests of justice. shay was the only u.s. attorney to sign the filing, which drew considerable criticism from prosecutors. the line prosecutors branden van grack withdrew from the case shortly before the justice department argued it could not prove the charges. speaking to reporters yesterday, the president celebrated the news that michael flynn's case had been dropped and accused the justice department under president obama of being treasonous. >> he is an innocent man. he is a great gentleman. he was targeted by the obama administration and he was targeted in order to try and take down a president. a thing like this has never happened before in the history of our country, and i hope a lot of people are going to pay a big

price because they're dishonest, crooked people. they're scum. and i say it a lot. they're scum. they're human scum. it should never have happened in our country. but much more than dishonest, it's treason. it's treason. so i'm very happy for general flynn. he was a great war your and he still is a great warrior. now in my book, he's an even greater warrior. >> so attorney general bill barr defended the reversal of the flynn prosecution on cnbc news last night. >> a crime cannot be established here. they did not have a basis for a counterintelligence investigation against flynn at that stage. >> does the fact remain that he lied? >> people sometimes plead to things that turn out not to be crimes. >> what should americans take away from your actions in the flynn case today? >> i want to make sure that we restore confidence in the system. there's only one standard of

justice. >> are you doing the president's bidding? >> no. i'm doing the law's bidding. >> you know you're going to take a lot of incoming, as they say in the military, for this decision. >> i'm prepared for that. i also think it's sad that nowadays these partisan feelings are so strong that people have lost any sense of justice. >> all right. let's get into this a bit. joining me now, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. this was stunning news yesterday amid all the coverage we've been doing on the pandemic and suddenly this happens. there are a lot of surprised folks across this network, to say the least. i find it interesting when you hear the attorney general say people plead to a lot of things that turn out not to be a crime, but, in fact, flynn lied to the fbi and he pled guilty to that. that is a crime, lying to the fbi is a crime and subsequently

pleading guilty to it. how unlikely is it for something like this to happen? >> on the one hand, this never happens where a defendant pleased guilty and then the doj takes a second look at his case. so less than any of you defendants out there who no one has ever heard of thinks the doj cares about or is going to examine your case after you pleaded guilty, forget it. it's not going to happen. this is because michael flynn is michael flynn. he's getting special treatment and it's the kind of treatment that most criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors never, ever see. but on the other hand, michael flynn's case is the rare case where you actually get to see inside the command decisions within the fbi and the doj and it's really disheartening to see, at least with the doj itself characterizes as overly aggressive investigative techniques and arguably just going to michael flynn's office for the sole purpose of getting

him to make a false statement. at least that's what the fbi's own internal memoranda appeared to show. so this is disturbing on both sides. whether you're a fan of michael flynn or not a fan of michael flynn. this id of thing that you won't see very often, if ever again, where someone pleased guilty and then the doj sweeps in and says, oh, geez, we made a mistake. >> so is this a done deal here? can the judge refuse? >> this is an interesting thing now procedurally, because he's already pleaded guilty. technically, the government in this motion they filed has to ask the court for permission to drop their case. and this particular judge is a bit of a match rick. he is almost certainly going to put his questions on the record about why this change now. it may be the most honest glimpse into the reasons why this case was dropped on the

record when the judge hears this case. but in all likelihood, the government's motion will be granted. still, this judge does have this power to at least conduct a bit of an inquiry at this stage. >> all right. danny cevallos, thank you, as always, my friend. great to see you this morning. so an associated press analysis has found a lot of governors with regard to the pan dem you c demic across the united states are disregarding white house guidelines and easing their state's lockdown measures. the ap determined that 17 states have not experienced a 14-day downward trajectory in new cases or infection rates, a key benchmark set by the white house. yet a lot of those are moving forward with reopening plans, nonetheless. while other states like georgia, because of the broadway in which the guidelines areen have managed to meet the criteria to reopen, despite not seeing some of those declines.

now, the ap points out that the white house has not been specific about how states should calculate the 14-day downward trajectory, depending on how you calculate it a state might pass or it may fail. meanwhile, president trump yesterday again placed responsibility on the governors. >> 20 states by the count of multiple organizations right now that haven't met the guidelines that you set here. what do you say to those states that haven't met the guidelines that are starting that process now? >> we've looked at all of them and we've spoken to many of the governors, most of the governors. as you know, we give leeway to the governors and these are governors that have done a good job in i think all cases. i have some that i don't think are doing a particularly good job, but for the most part, they have and these governors have. and we give them the leeway. the governors have great power as to that given by us. we want them to do that.

we rely on them. we trust them. and hopefully they're making the right decisions. >> so for the seventh straight week, unemployment claims are now in the millions once again, totalling to more than 33 million americans since the coronavirus began. yesterday, the department of labor announced that last week, 3.2 million jobless claims were added, slightly down from 3.8 million claims the week prior. these numbers are coming ahead of today's april jobs report, which is expected to show some devastating figures. the worst projections show the unemployment rate reaching 22%. wow. that's a huge number. and 35 million jobs lost. the report will cross later this morning and, of course, we will bring it to you as soon as it does. joining me now, political editor for the washington examiner david mark. let's address unemployment claims here first, david, this morning. and good to see you, by the way.

good morning to you. >> good morning. >> surpassing 33 million since march with parts of america beginning to reopen. what should we expect from the new numbers out later today? >> well, undoubtedly, it's going to be well into the double digits. this is getting into, sadly, great depression-type territory. numbers we will have not seen since the 1930s, even during some of the really bad recessions we've had in the early 1980s and then ten years ago during the great recession. unemployment got up to 10% and change, but it never got any higher than that. and it quickly fell away. the good news, if there is any, is that hopefully when things reopen in the not too distant future, this number will start to fall away. but this is going to be awfully painful for millions and millions of people. >> i want to talk about, also, this idea that the governors are

sdafrding white house guidelines for safely easing restrictions during parts of the reopening process. it seems as if there is a lot of room for interpretation of these governors. is that a problem, first and foremost? you have 17 states that are not supporting the benchmarks. >> the governors in those states would say that they have their own outlook on things, they've got their own plans and that the federal guidelines aren't really tailor made to their own specifics in their states. we will be finding out in the coming weeks whether or not that's a good plan or not. the most aggressive test case here has been georgia, which is a relatively large population state in which a lot of facilities reopened about a week

ago. we're still getting numbers in. and it will she a very interesting thing to see whether or not those are on the rise. there's some indication that's the case, but we're still waiting to get those figures in. >> that will be key to the analysis on all of this stuff. by the way, david, i didn't recognize you with your coronavirus beard, which it seems as if you've taken on in the last couple of weeks or so. it looks good on you. >> well, thank you. it's hard to keep track of time at this point. >> i do have to say, when i saw you, i was like, is that david mark? yes, it's david mark. sounds like him. stay close. still ahead, we are digging into new report background children being hospitalized with a mysterious illness that could possibly be linked to the coronavirus. also, new questions about the president's health risk after one of his personal valets test positive for the virus. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from anyone else.

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welcome back. we've been following new reports possibility involving the coronavirus. dozens of children, some as young as 2 years old have shown the effects of inflammatory syndromes. they're displaying results of a toxic rare shock syndrome. doctors don't fully understand what is happening, but it's been reported in several european countries, as well. we're going to be keeping an eye on that going forward and i will address it with a physician later on in the show, as well, to have him weigh in on it. with that, let's take a turn and get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. talk to me about this surprise may storm that we have brewing today. >> yeah. the cold and the snow is going

to cause some issues. and not what we need as we head through our friday and saturday. so let's get into the setup here. first thing's first. some unusually cold air is coming down from canada. i mean, really cold air. right now, the windchill in duluth is at 19 degrees. we're at 26 in green bay. that air is coming down across the eastern half of the country as we go throughout the weekend. and because so many people have planted their vegetable garden, all the flowers are out there in june, we will see a big killing freeze here. we have freeze warnings and watches for 89 million people. a lot of people are going to have to get out there with sheets and try to protect your vegetable gardens. we're talking tennessee. this is almost unheard of to be this cold that far south. so how cold will it be tomorrow morning when you wake up near freezing? even raleigh will be 42. look at the windchills from rochester to cleveland, new york, it will be plain old cold.

and even during the day, the sun warms you up a little bit, but it's still about 25 degrees below what it should be in areas like pittsburgh and new york and in northern new england. as far as the snow goes, if we're going to get it, it's going to be later on tonight and sunday morning it will be chilly, too. here is that snowy forecast. you can almost pick out where the cat skills are in the mountains of new england. that's where we could get some significant snow, enough to cause minor problems as far as the roads and power outages. but just the fact we're talking snow this time of year is ridiculous. so for today, there's the cold rain moving into the northeast later this evening. severe storms possible in areas of the south. on saturday, we clear it out and it's very windy. i'll end up with some of our covid-19 numbers. one thing that did happen yesterday, it was the record number of daily cases that came in. 319,000. that was the most daily cases we've had. and right now, we just passed over 8 million total in the country, about 2.5%.

>> just again, that number is completely shocking. thank you, bill. going to check back in with you a little bit later. still ahead, two people now facing charges in connection with a shooting death. that's received national attention. the latest in the ahmaud abrey case, next. ud abrey case, next cancer won't wait. it won't wait for a convenient time or for hospitals to get back to normal again. that's why, at cancer treatment centers of america, we aren't waiting. we're right here, still focused on the only thing we do,

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...zyrtec starts working hard at hour one... and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec muddle no more. and try children's zyrtec for consistently powerful relief of your kid's allergies. welcome back, everybody. georgia police arrested a father and son yesterday and charged them with the killing of a 25-year-old man following the release of cell phone shooting showing his fatal shooting. much of that inger was due to the fact that no charges had been brought against the father, gregory mcmichael and his son, travis. the georgia bureau of investigation said both men were taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault and murder. in a statement, the state police

agency said travis mcmichael fired the shot that killed aubrey. they pursued aubrey after seeing him running and later claimed that he attacked him. the mcmichaels claimed that he thought he was a burglar. during a briefing yesterday in the oval office, the president admitted that he had not seen the viral video of the killing of ahmaud arbery. there has been a video of a man shot by police while on a jog. there's been a lot of protests about this? have you seen the video? >> so i'm getting a full report on it this evening. my heart goes out to the parents and to the loved ones of the young gentleman. it's a very sad thing. but i will be given a full report this evening. >> haven't seen the video yet, to be clear? >> no, i haven't.

>> meanwhile, joe biden addressed abrey's attack yesterday during a round table with african-american lawmakers in jacksonville, florida, saying the incident amounted to a, quote, lynching before our very eyes and demanded a, quote, transparent investigation. >> by now, many of us have seen that harrowing footage of ahmaud arbery out on a jog on a beautiful day in february in georgia shot down in cold blood, essentially lynched before our very eyes. his family and the country deserve justice and they deserve it now. they deserve a swift, full and transparent investigation into his brutal murder. but our nation deserves it, as well. we need to reckon with this. this goes on. these vicious acts call to mind the darkest chapters of our history.

>> the family contends that ahmaud was out for a jog when he was shot to death. coming up, how president trump responded after learning one of his personal valets has tested positive for the coronavirus. also, the former senate staffer accusing joe biden of sexual assault sits down for her first interview. what she's saying about her allegation against the former first president. we're back in a moment. we're back in a moment ill indoo, and because it's a ninja foodi, it can do even more, like transform into an air fryer. the ninja foodi grill, the grill that sears, sizzles, and air fry crisps.

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hour with the pandemic hitting the president close to home. one of the president's personal valets has been infected with the coronavirus. they were present throughout the day on a consistent basis serving his meals among other things. the president and vice president have since tested negative fort virus. it is unclear if and when the valet developed symptoms or when the president was last exposed to this individual. a person telling the white house the president was, quote, lava level mad when he learned the news saying he doesn't feel his staff is doing all that it can to protect him. when asked about it yesterday, the president disputed the claim that he and the valet had consistent close contact. >> mr. president, how is it possible that someone that tested positive for covid-19 got so close to you? >> well, i think probably that has to do with the fact that we all believe in tests. we have the best tests in the

world. but they were tested -- i believe they're test odd a weekly basis. i just had a test, as you probably heard. in fact, i had one yesterday and i had one today. and it's negative. mike just had a test and it's negative. but they do the tests and it just shows you that the -- it's what i've been saying. testing is not a perfect art. no matter what you do, testing is not a perfect art. so we test once a week. now we're going to go testing once a day. but even when you test once a day, somebody could -- something happens where they catch something. but we -- i've had very little contact, personal contact with this gentleman. know who he is. good person. but i've had very little contact. mike has had very little contact with him. >> so let's talk joe biden for a moment here. the former senate staffer accusing joe biden of sexually

assaulting her 27 years ago is calling on him to drop out of the presidential race. in her first on-camera interview yesterday, tara reade sat down with megyn kelly to address her allegation which the former vice president continues to unequivocally deny. >> if he's watching this, what do you want to say to him? >> i want to say you and i were there, joe biden. please step forward and be held accountable. you should not be running on changt character for the president of the united states. >> you want him to withdraw? >> i wish he would. he won't, but i wish he would. >> do you want an apology? >> i think it's a little late. i'm not a criminal. joe biden should take a polygraph. what kind of precedent does that set for survivors? does that mean we're presumed guilty? so i will take one if joe biden

takes one. >> when asked about reade's comments yesterday, the former vice president said nothing ever happened with tara reade. biden's campaign later backed his stance and released a statement questioning inconsistencies in his story. it reads in part this, women must receive the benefit of the doubt. they must be able to come forward and share their stories without fear of retribution or harm. and we all have a responsibility to ensure that. at the same time, we can never sacrifice the truth and the truth is that these allegations are false. and that the material that has been presented to back them up under scrutiny keeps proving their falsity. joining me once again, david mark. david, good to see you begin. >> thank you. >> before we get to the tara reade incident, i quickly want to get your reaction to the white house confirming one of the president's personal valets

had tested point of view. what are you hearing with regards to that? >> well, this is obviously the closest that coronavirus has ever reached the president, potentially the vice president. and president trump is right there that you can test on a daily basis and these things still crop up. the big fear, of course, being that the president is right in that age range, at age 73, that he would be most vulnerable or susceptible to some of these systems. it goes to show nothing is foolproof no matter what level of screen or security you have for these sorts of things. >> it also is interesting that despite the fact that the president thinks not everybody in this country needs to be tested, he, in fact, is tested it seems on a daily basis. so it seems just kind of ironic there, to say the least. i want to talk about the 2020 election here and, of course, tara reade's allegations and the former vice president

answers response to all on of that. how do you think it's so far impacting his campaign now? and how do you think it will impact his campaign going forward? >> so far, former vice president biden has been able to keep this on kind of a low boil, you might say, where these stories keep dropping up, but nothing has really broken through with substantive evidence. there have been a few hints here and there where there are television clips in which mrs. reade specifies something about with a senator having done something untoward, but there's no direct evidence linking the then senator now former vice president to any of these acts. it is interesting that mrs. reade has hired a team of lawyers. that takes it to a new level. up to this point, she's been kind of freelancing and giving her own stories and interviews. now she's likely to be much more careful and perhaps consistent

with what she's saying. it's worth noting that she did file a police report with the washington, d.c. metro police even though the statute of limitations is long over for that sort of crime. they have moved it to the inactive list. whatever that says. they've released no more details. so all the details are still rather sketchy here. >> we also know the current president has been accused of many allegations of sexual assault. do you think those are likely to resurface in the run up to the elections in november? >> in a sense, it becomes a game of mutually assured destruction where one side brings up an allegation, the other rachets it up and before you know it, the whole thing is at a dangerous level, at least for one side or the other. but the trump campaign has shown no hesitation to bring up these sorts of issues.

they did so with bill clinton in 2016, the husband of the democratic nominee hillary clinton. in those cases, there were subsubstantial increase and appreciate. with joe biden, this is the only allegation we've ever heard of. that's not to take signs one or the other. but it's not really in line with his public character that most people wouldly think of with joe biden. so it's a question of how nuclear the biden supporters may want to go and the "access hollywood" tape and those allegations if it gets that far. >> thank you. as always, great to you, my friend. >> thank you. sdloo still ahe . still ahead, a new study of the coronavirus outbreaks in

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so to all those linked to the land, we say thank you. we're here for you because we all run together. welcome back, everybody. new york city's outbreak in march became the source of the new infections in the united states. new research reveals as thousands of infected people traveled from the city and saw outbreaks throughout the country, a wave of infections swept from new york city through much of the country before the city began setting social distancing limits to stop the growth. that helped to fuel outbreaks in the louisiana, texas, arizona, and as far away as the west coast. the findings are drawn from

geneticists tracking mutations of the virus, travel histories of infected people and models of the outbreak by infected disease outbreaks. new york case numbers are still increasing. they're a long way from being out of the woods. so far, there have been 340,000 cases and over 27,000 deaths. joining me now, infectious disease specialist dr. fernando. thank you for joining me on this. appreciate it. what do you make of this new study that was revealed by the "new york times," that the majority of cases began here in new york city and then spread throughout the country. is there any way, doctor, that we could have stopped this spread from the beginning had we had earlier testing measures in place, earlier contact tracing measures in place? >> good morning. thank you so much for having me.

it's an honor to be on your show. more importantly, to give the precise information to the public. i'm afraid so. new york definitely was the epicenter of the -- along with other cities lithe. at the time -- i feel -- going on. and at that time, we didn't have any sort of travel restrictions whatsoever. so people were traveling freely to -- around the country -- what caused the real problem. to confirm these, genetic samples -- >> dr. rajiv, i know there is a lot of information out there on social media with regards to the spread of the coronavirus and

what people actually need to look out for. you were one of the several medical professionals that sign add joint letter to the ceos of various social media platforms warning about the threat of viral misinformation to patients. tell us about this letter and any reaction that you have, any response or reaction that you have gotten from it. >> yeah. thank you. we work with a company called avase and a company around the world that unifies physicians, nurse and health care professionals all over the country. so we unified to form this -- of misinformation that's going on. unfortunately -- so many deaths on the front lines that have happened because of misinformation. unfortunately, this has to really stop. that's why we've all congregated to work with -- have seen happen because of this. what we're really calling out

is -- not even calling out. we really want to would, with social media, facebook, twriter, youtube -- these sort of -- studies have shown by doing this, we can actually decrease misinformation by up to 50%. there are algorithms -- that social media experts can get this disinformation which is causing so many -- >> yeah. and it's much of the way people are getting their news and information now as they stay at home during the shelter in place orders. dr. fer demandso, thank you so much not only for joining us this morning, but also for the work that you're doing on the front line saving lives every single day. thank you so much. i want to turn now to nbc meteorologist bill karins who is standing by for us.

hey, bill. >> good morning. i want to track your mother's day forecast and then take a look at the trends and curves that we've been doing. areas of oklahoma and north texas have been hit hard by strong thunderstorms. we still have severe thunderstorm warnings just north of the dallas area. these are bringing 70-mile-per-hour winds. we have numerous power outages in oklahoma. and eventually towards to dallas downtown and to shreveport. keep that in mind as you wake up early this morning from that. also, a slight risk of storms today in areas of louisiana, southern half of mississippi. let's get to that mother's day weekend forecast. today is ralph day. we have a chilly rain throughout the ohio valley. at night is where we'll see some of that wet snow in areas of northern new england. tomorrow, that storm clears out and it's kind of a cold, raw saturday. for mother's day, we see things

improving in areas of the nooeft northeast. yesterday, we almost had 30,000 new cases reported. that was the 20th most cases in one day. so we haven't really seen a flattening of that curve at all. and as far as the fatalities, yesterday a little over 2,000 additional. so not much positive news this week. >> thank you, bill. have a good weekend, bill. we're going to go live to cnbc for an early look at what is driving the day on wall street. as we go to break, a reward for a selfless act in times of crisis. answering a call of donations by protective gear by andrew cuomo, a retired kansas farmer sent a

single mask. he was set to graduate in 1971, but after the death of his father missed his final semester while just two credits away from completing his degree and instead took over his family farm. congratulations to him. we are back in a moment. congratulations to him we are back in a moment. anyone . why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief when taking a break from everyday life is critical to everyone's health, there is one thing we can all do together: complete the 2020 census. your responses are critical to plan for the next 10 years of health care, infrastructure, and education. let's make a difference, together, by taking a few minutes to go online to 2020census.gov. it's for the well-being of your community and will help shape america's future. ♪

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welcome back, everybody. the latest unemployment figures are giving us a more complete image of just how much the coronavirus has affected this economy here. cnbc's julianna tatelbaum is joining us live from london on this. give us the latest on these astounding numbers we're consistently surprised by every single week from the department of labor. >> yes, we got an update on jobless claims. these are initial claims for unemployment. the nusmber came in at 3.2 million. that's the additional number of americans filing for unemployment in the last week. that's slightly higher than

economists had been expecting. when we look over the last seven weeks, now more than 33 million americans have filed for jobless claims. it is, though, the fifth straight week of declines, so we could be -- we could take this as a signal that the worst is behind us. we're going to get some more data today though, a more robust indication of how the labor market is fairing. that is the labor department's payroll report. that is likely to show a staggering 22 million jobs lost in the month of april. we're also going to get a check on the unemployment rate, which economists think surged to at least 16%. this would mark the highest rate by a long shot since the world war ii era. the latest record post world war ii was 10.8%. this is going to be a very grim report. but, bare in mind, that economists do think this could be the trough. this could be the bottom, as bad as it gets. we also got fresh data on the credit card front, showing

credit card usage took a dive in march by the most since 1989. people are spending less. it'll be a big area to watch as the different states reopen. will consumers get back to spending. yasmin, back to you. >> i have to say, our credit cards were a fraction of what they were back in february, shall we say. maybe that's a good thing though right about now. julianna tattelbaum live from london, thank you very much. coming up, axios' one big thing. also on "morning joe," actress tea leoni will be our guest, highlighti ining the cov9 response. "morning joe" is moments away. my patients

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featuring the emmy award-winning voice remote. access to your favorite apps, including netflix, prime video, youtube and hulu. all without changing passwords and inputs. the most 4k content and movies and shows on any screen. the best entertainment experience all in one place. welcome back, everybody. joining us from washington with a look at axios a.m., editor in chief for axios, nicholas johnston. good morning to you. great to see you this morning. >> morning. good the see you. >> talk about axios' one big thing.

>> it's the misdirection of a virus drug. we have the administration's attempts to thousands of these treatment doses to the federal government to distribute to places that most need it. we're finding out now it is not going to the places where it is most needed because of miscommunication. what the administration is telling us, they didn't have the best data. a lot of the doses went to places where the virus had already spread or hadn't been that impactful. administration folks tell us this is why they want to push the relief efforts down to the states, because they have the best data and can make those decisions most effectively. also, there was a lot of miscommunication between how this was going to work. these were doses that were supposed to be directed by hhs, and then fema was suppose to be the machinery to push it out into all the states. when we speak to an administration official, we hear there was miscommunication, particularly on the hhs level, where they didn't know they were responsible for this. secretary azar telli ining colleagues he didn't know his agency was supposed to lead the

effort. it's another challenge of the administration, navigating this massive pandemic and how to deploy resources most effectively. >> miscommunication seems like the wrong word to use when there is the possibility of more lives being lost because of it. who is leading the charge on this, nick, with regards to where, in fact, to distribute a drug like remdesivir? >> what we learned this week is on tuesday, it got to the point where the vice president himself, who is heading the coronavirus task force, had to get people into a room and say, "this has to be something hhs has to take the leadership of." now, secretary azar says he is aware of that and is trying to make sure it gets to the right place. >> have they made changes so this doesn't happen again? >> we don't have new data yet. my colleague jonathan swan is reporting on this. we're seeing if they're getting the shipments to the counties

ahead of the virus, so it is ahead, not trailing, as it was earlier in the week. >> let's talk about the ramifications of the shutdown. axios reporting that as states start to reopen, there could be long-lasting effects that we're really already seeing of the shutdown. what are we expecting to see here? >> here's a new wrinkle we're reporting about today. we've written about the personal toll of people being sicki fatalities. economic toll. it's what the states are facing at the forefront of this, because of the shutdowns. they've lost enormous tax revenue from sales taxes, hotel occupancy, conventions. we're beginning to see how that is seeping into state finances. big news, california saying they were facing a $54 billion deficit because of the coronavirus. other states are expected to announce shortfalls this week. it is leading to enhanced calls in congress for a bailout. some congressmen said $500 billion in a relief package would be needed.

it is a contention point. republicans don't want to be bailing out so-called blue states that may have mismanaged finances in the past. if this plays out, it'll affect all states, not just red or blue states. as the numbers trickle in, we'll see increased calls for bailouts. at the state and local levels, it'll trickle down to layoffs, furloughs, to reduced services and possible tax increases later in the year to cover the shortfall. >> mitch mcconnell said, "left them file for bankruptcy" referring to new york. you can sign up at signup.axios.com. i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts right now. i also think it's sad that nowadays these partisan feelings are so strong, people lost any sense of justice. >> they're dishonest, crooked

people. i say it a lot, they're human scum. >> attorney general william barr bemoans a lack of civility, as the president attacks the agency that barr oversees. what a morning. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is friday, may 8th. with joe, willie, and me, we have former u.s. senator, now msnbc political analyst, claire mccaskill. great morning to have claire back on, given everything, joe. >> it really is. we're going to get barr proving once and for all that he really is donald trump's clone, he is corrupt and doesn't care the whole world knows he is corrupt. that's been established time and time again. it certainly was established yesterday. >> yup. >> before we do that, let's really quickly,