the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they're doing. a lot of them aren't even pretending to be in charge. all those adults you used to think were in charge and knew what they were doing, turns out they don't have all the answers. a lot of them aren't even asking the right questions. >> good morning. and welcome to "am joy." it is amazing to think that poised measured man who effectively handled the ebola crisis without an overwhelming loss of life was our president just four short years ago. if anything, the juxtaposition highlights the importance of what is coming up in november. with almost 1.5 million confirmed cases of covid-19 in the united states, and nearly 90,000 fatalities as a result, it is easy to forget what would otherwise be dominating the news cycle right about now, the presidential election. of all the ways that covid-19 has up ended our daily lives,

perhaps none is more constitutionally dire than the threat to the vote later this year. it goes without saying that voting in 2020 is going to be very, very different. >> this november, for many of us, it won't be safe to go to the polls. >> i am almost 89 years old. >> i am 83 years old. >> i'm 93 years old. >> i'm 98 and 2 months old and i don't want to have to choose between my right to vote -- >> and my desire to live. >> luckily, there is a simple solution. >> voting by mail. >> to do that, we need congress' help. >> when we're dieing to vote, we would much rather just vote and not die. >> for one thing, it is simply not safe. for huge swaths of our electorate to leave the safety of their homes, and to stand in long lines to vote. in this week democrats tried to

do something about it, but as is so often the case, they met fierce resistance from republicans. on friday, the house passed sweeping legislation called the heroes act, which provides states with $3.6 billion to boost election infrastructure and allow every american to vote by mail. to no one's surprise, the self-declared grim reaper of the senate, mitch mcconnell, called the bill a left wing wish list, and donald trump said it would be dead on arrival. meanwhile, in texas, the state is fighting efforts to ensure vote by mail for all who need it. on friday, the state supreme court put a hold on a measure to allow the wider use of mail-in ballots. according to the texas tribune, citing with ken paxton, the supreme court blocked the state appeals court decision that aloud voters who lack immunity to the virus to qualify for absentee ballots citing a disability. why do republicans insist on

forcing people to risk their lives to cast a ballot by standing in line? they always charted thought bogus claim that making it easier to vote means voter fraud, which trump repeated ad nauseam. back in march, trump let slip the real reason they don't want you to vote. >> the things they had in there were crazy. they had things, levels of voting, if you ever agree to it you never have a republican elected in this country again. >> joining me now is someone who has been on the front lines of the fight for voting rights. stacey abrams, founder of fair fight and fair count and the former gubernatorial candidate in georgia. stacey, good morning. great to see you. this attempt by mitch mcconnell and donald trump to declare this huge bill, over $3 trillion to

help states, dead on arrival, flies in the face of their claims that democrats don't want to help states, they want to have a wish list, this bill would make it easier for people to vote. do you -- has it been as clear to you from republicans that what they object to with vote by mail is the fact that more people would get to vote and that would help them -- hurt them in in being able to win. >> good morning, joy. yes, that is the statement made not only by donald trump, but also made in the state of georgia by the speaker of the house. there was a reaction when the secretary of state in georgia agreed to expand access to vote by mail by sending out ballot applications. the following weeks he created a voter fraud task force, trying to use this to intimidate people out of using a right that they hold in the state of georgia and held since 2005. the challenge is this, if

everyone can participate, the choices we make will reflect the values and the needs of the community. because the ki-moon tiy communi, they're more diverse and they're facing the consequences of covid-19, not simply economically but physically, they're afraid the republicans are deeply afraid they will be held accountable for their mismanagement and incompetence and that's why they don't want voting to be expanded to every eligible american voter. >> just to gift audienve the au some facts to put on the table, an nbc poll from april 21st shows 58% say laws should be permanently changed to always allow people to vote by mail. this idea of voter fraud, it is bunk to put it simply. 143 cases of fraud in 20 years. the heritage foundation, the right wing heritage foundation reports over 20 cases of vote fraud in all forms resulting in

1100 criminal convictions. why is it that -- you're doing this work, the only pushback that you ever hear is, well it will create fraud, but there aren't any cases of fraud. so there aren't any cases that say, don't let people vote by mail. when you talk to republicans about this, is there some other case that they try to make other than this myth about fraud? >> no, in fact, that's the last refuge they have, because they know it is a false argument. mitch mcconnell's protege, the new secretary of state, michael adams, in kentucky, he's taken flack because he's acknowledged that vote by mail is the only way to ensure access to the ballot in the state of kentucky. ais crocross the country we hav bipartisan support at the administrative level, at the state level and federal level this is only a challenge for those who think their politics should trump the will of the people. and let's be clear. every state in the country has

the capacity for vote by mail. it is called vote by mail, absentee balloting, every state does it. the issue is making sure that every american has it. and that they don't have to jump through hoops or cross barriers that are impossible to cross. for example, we know in wisconsin, 600,000 people would have been eligible to vote by mail, but in wisconsin, you have to have a witness to your ballot. if you're quarantining at home and you aren't married or live alone, you can't get that signature. so thousands of people were disenfranchised. expand that to the entire country and you see the scope of the challenge. what fair fight is doing, fair fight 2020, we're in 18 states that cover more than 100 million voters. if we can ensure their access to the ballot, by saying that anybody who wants to vote by mail can, what we do is solve another problem that you mentioned earlier, there are some people who have to absolutely vote by mail, i'm sorry, those who want to vote by mail, because there are some people who have to vote in person. if you're disabled, if you have

been displaced by covid, homeless, if you have language barriers, or if you're a person of color, who tries to use vote by mail, but runs into obstacles, the only way to cure the problem is to go into the precinct, go to the polling place. voting by mail means we remanufacturemove as many people as possible from the line so those that have to go inside have the ability to vote safely. >> it is not lost on anyone that the community that is the most targeted by this are black voters who vote at the highest rate, black women are the highest rate voters in this country. black voter turnout, look at the chart here, 60% on average black turnout back particularly high in 2008 and 2012. i wonder why they're worried about that. i want to talk about another part of vote by mail, the postal service, in jeopardy as well by republicans. here is the speaker of the house on april 24th talking about the postal service and defending it. >> right now i see a very big

danger for our country in the form of trump administration's interest in privatizing the post office. if we don't have the postal system, and, again, all the people depend on it for, and they don't like vote by mail, and at this time, this time of the coronavirus, when vote by mail is so important in terms of -- as a health issue, but also medicines and all the rest, for them to be toying with this notion they have, that they're going to privatize the postal system is something the public should be aware of. >> are you concerned about that? it is not lost on me that the postal service is disproportionately the staff of it, is disproportionately black, turns out they don't like the postal service either. are you concerned about that? >> i am. i think vice president biden was

chided by some saying there is a conspiracy afoot. there is a conspiracy. there has been a notable intention by donald trump and his republican allies including his nominee for post master general, one of his largest donors, the man in charge of raising money for the republican national convention, to delegitimize and defund the postal service. as the speaker said, it is a pharmacy for people who do not have access in rural areas. it is also the only means of communication for the millions of americans who do not have access to the internet because our nation has yet to solve the broadband challenge. the postal service is a lifeline for communities. i grew up in mississippi, we have a lot of places that are urban, most of the state is rural. the same is true here in georgia, where we have between 24 and 40% of our people who do not have access to the internet. eliminating or limiting access to the postal service, not only will justify the diminution of the communities it will be used to block their votes now, and to harm their lives going forward. we have to push back and that's

what the heroes act does. >> i know that you are also, you know, some concerns about the census as well. vox talks about because of the pandemic, communities of color may wind up undercounted in the census, cost billions of dollars worth of covid-19 hitting communities of color at rapid rates. people being told to socially distance. the opportunity to spread the word to some has become little to none. that's according to antoinette sadler. are you concerned that this whole pandemic may hurt that, that hurts the funding that is needed in communities of color. >> we know that the undercounted occurred in 2010 despite the best efforts of president obama and vice president biden led to an undercount hurting communities of color now, you see the lack of access to ppe, the lack of hospital beds, those are directly related to undercounts from 2010. and now we face an administration that has been

he while they have been doing a good job of trying to adapt by extending the deadlines, you may have noticed they tried to sneak in language that would allow the census to use what is called citizen voting age population by sending out census track data about citizenship. they were told no by the supreme court. if they can jerry-rig the system, undercount communities of color, like texas and arizona and georgia, what they can do is ignore communities of color and racially gerrymander legally. we have to think about this not only in terms of what has not happened in this cycle, but the next decade. half the children under the age of 15 in the united states are nonwhite f they can use citizen age voting population, they can ignore anybody who was not 18 or older who was legally allowed to

vote in the united states. that means that in those states the communities that need the most help will lose it and that's why it is so important that the heroes act includes language that extends the deadline, but prevents the trump administration from weaponizing the census against communities of color who are already suffering. >> i would be remiss if i didn't ask you, while i have you here, i won't play the sound bite, president obama talked about the arbery case. your thoughts on it. it is shocking to see the video. and i am interested to hear what you have to say about the case. >> it took 74 days to get action for ahmaud arbery. i talked to the family earlier this week. what they want, as much as they want justice for ahmaud, they want justice for our communities. that means not only the hate crimes legislation that is being move in georgia, georgia is one of four states that does not have hate crimes legislation, also deeply concerned about stand your ground laws, about laws that allow briana taylor to be murdered in her own home,

concerned about what is happening in georgia, while the governor of georgia is giving lip service to hate crimes legislation, also pushing gang violence legislation that would continue to incourse rate and criminalize young black people. we know that we cannot have one shot at fixing this problem, we have to have a comprehensive solution, not only to criminal justice reform, but to justice for our people. and with briana taylor, ahmaud arbery, you can die while black simply for doing things that others take for granted. that cannot stand and i'm so privileged to be able to work with the arbery family to try and not only push legislation, but to hold the d.a.s, judges and sheriffs who have to participate in the census and the system accountable for their bad actions or inaction. >> i am out of time, but i would be remiss if i didn't ask you, an op-ed in "the washington post" talking about the importance of having a black woman vice presidential running mate for joe biden. there are two senate seats open

in the state of georgia, meaning that georgia is going to be very important state, you might be somebody that would help joe biden carry the state of georgia. do you, you know, do you -- are you being specially vetted. i asked everyone that comes on that is a potential running mate for him do you know you're being vetted, do you see the joint appearances with him as a sense of him trying to get comfortable having you as a running mate? >> joe biden is going to make the choice that makes the most sense for him and i don't think he's going to take anyone or economy community for granted. my message is to ensure he's elected the next president of united states and i look forward to him deciding how he wants to proceed. my mission is to make sure we get donald trump out of the white house. we also remember that this is not just about winning the white house, as you said, it is about winning the two senate seats in georgia, taking the senate back and winning down ballot races. the last thing i'll say is this, we're not just running a redo of 2016 to eliminate donald trump,

we're running the 2010 elections where republicans gerrymandered maps based on the inattention we had to down ballot races. and gubernatorial races. we have to pay attention to the whole map, up and down the ballot, and also across the country. otherwise, we're going to face the worst examples of the perfidy and terrible behavior of the americans played out over the next decade and possibly the next generation. >> stacey abrams, understandable why you're being considered as well. thank you very much. please be safe. >> thank you for having me, joy. take care. >> thank you very much. coming up, a closer look at the trump regime's warped sense of justice. that's next. p regime's warped s of justice that's next. guys! guys! safe drivers save 40%!!! safe drivers save 40%! safe drivers save 40%!!! that's safe drivers save 40%. it is, that's safe drivers save 40%. - he's right there. - it's him! safe drivers do save 40%. click or call for a quote today. safe drivers do save 40%. ♪ ♪all strength ♪we ain't stoppin' believe me♪

♪go straight till the morning look like we♪ ♪won't wait♪ ♪we're taking everything we wanted♪ ♪we can do it ♪all strength, no sweat so to breathe better, i started once-daily anoro. ♪ copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way, with anoro." ♪ once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. do not use anoro if you have asthma. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma... prostate, bladder or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain... mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes or eye pain, while taking anoro. the most common side effects are sore throat, diarrhea,

and pain in the arms and legs. ask your doctor about once-daily anoro to start treating your copd. we're here for you during this challenging time--and always. find support at anoro.com.

i have been since the beginning. this is a distraction to the hard work of the committee and the members. i think the security of the country is too important to have a distraction.

>> north carolina senator richard burr temporarily stepped down as chairman of the senate intelligence committee. the announcement came shortly after the fbi intensified its probe into possible insider trading. and seized burr's cell phone as part of the investigation. senator burr along with three other senators have come under fire for selling stocks after a january briefing on covid-19. senator dianne feinstein also spoke with the fbi about stock trades her husband made around the same time. another senator who is under fire, kelly loeffler of georgia sent documents regarding stock trading to the department of justice. the securities exchange commission, and the senate ethics committee on thursday. it is unclear if the senator sent the documents voluntarily or if the documents were requested. this all comes as -- it all comes as the scrutiny on them all is continued as we're starting to see a pattern

emerging of trump's closest allies and for those he sees as disloyal as coming a bit of a convergence. donald trump fired state department inspector general steve linnik, investigating mike pompeo and replaced him with an ambassador with close ties to mike pence. in an extraordinary move last week, the justice department dropped the charges against trump ally michael flynn who literally admitted and pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. but now flynn's case is in limbo after the federal judge on the case appointed a retired judge to argue against the doj's efforts to drop the charges. another trump loyalist paul manafort was released early from prison this week amid coronavirus fears even though he didn't actually meet the criteria for early release. joining me now is msnbc legal analyst maya wily and glen ke

kershner. there is a grab bag of issues here. but let's start with the potential inside trading investigation. how much trouble are these senators, particularly mar. measure, how much trouble do you think they're in? >> nice to so you again. it seems like the amount of trouble they may be in depends on how donald trump is feeling about their loyalty. you know, the problem is, when we see a senator richard burr apparently involved in insider trading, because, you know, 2012 congress passed the stop act, when it looks like richard burr is taking advantage of information he receives in his capacity as the chair of the senate intel committee, using that information before it is

available to the public and dumping stocks or buying stocks and earning a whole bunch of money in the midst of this coronavirus national emergency, it sure looks like potentially criminal conduct. the question then unfortunately becomes how does donald trump and by extension bill barr feel about richard burr's loyalty or lack of loyalty? we all know richard burr has not necessarily been a lap dog for donald trump because that committee has been issuing reports, intelligence reports, saying, look, you're darn right russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. and president trump doesn't like that. so he certainly has a motive to corruptly go after richard burr. and here is the real problem, joy. when you see a richard burr immediately having the fbi seize his phone, getting a warrant based on probable cause to investigate richard burr for potential crimes, and we don't

hear reporting that the same is happening to, for example, senator kelly loeffler, the illegitimacy of the justice department under bill barr causes us to immediately think, well, that must mean trump and barr want to hurt burr and they don't necessarily want to hurt loeffler. it is that illegitimacy of the department of justice under bill barr that creates so much confusion and distrust and corrodes and undermines the rule of law. >> yeah. i think that is the issue, there is -- there is a regime behavior, right. if you look at the case of the difference between burr and he's being treated and loeffler and then flynn. here is a guy who pleaded guilty, twice, for lying to fbi, at the fbi and all of a sudden

the case is being made to go away. >> do we have maya? >> yes, sorry. yeah, i think the problem here and i think what glen articulated so well is that there is no faith anymore in the department of justice to be just. that is a huge problem for law enforcement in this country and it is one that the trump administration and bill barr have created. i will say it doesn't mean that the justice department is not always just, unjust, in other words, there are career people still in that agency trying to do the job the way it is supposed to be done and that includes u.s. attorney's offices, in justice and in the fbi. the question is when we see either trump making public statements as he has, for example, for paul manafort, when

he said he's such a great stand-up guy, this money launderer, convicted money launderer and what a raw deal he was getting or in the case of flynn, where we literally had him as you said not just admit to his guilt, he swore to god, he swore to god in his statement, in his first allocution about his guilt and then reiterated it a year later and only switched tactics when it became very clear that justice was not being done. he actually entered into what we would call a sweetheart deal with the department of justice, which is he recognized he had criminal vulnerability, and what he did is he pleaded guilty to the least serious charge. and probably was going to get off without any jail time as a result of his plea and his cooperation, but when he saw other people getting away, with

their criming, as my friend barb would say, that sent a signal to switch tactics. but that's the cost of a department of justice that is no longer perceived as delivering neutral justice. >> yeah, and i mean, glen, first of all, have you ever heard of this, somebody who pleaded guilty and then the justice department says, no, i don't think we'll prosecute them or in the case of paul manafort saying we're going to give him merciful release, even though he's not qualified for it, is michael cohen getting to get merciful release? probably not. >> no, because he's not a friend of donald trump and by extension bill barr. they will reward the president's criminal associates, roger stone, paul manafort, mike flynn, and they will punish his enemies or perceived enemies. maya is dead on. i never in my 30 years as a federal prosecutor have seen anything like this.

and when we think about the criminal justice system, with tove realiwe have to realize there are two parties, and we need to protect their rights at every turn. that's our job as prosecutors. but there is also a second party. the people, as represented by the prosecutor and the problem is it is supposed to be an adversarial system. when you have the prosecutor in concert and in league and figuratively in bed with the defense, nobody is representing the people and judge emmitt sullivan realized that. that's why he appointed an outside attorney, john gleason. think about this, if a quick hypothetical to highlight how bad this is. if you had a man boss on trial as a defendant, he was charged, he pled guilty and after that, he paid off the prosecutor a million dollars to dismiss the case. and the prosecutor walked in and tried to dismiss the case, a judge cannot be complicit

tacitly. can't enable that. they have to get to the bottom of it because the people as represented by the prosecutors aren't unrepresented in that scenario and in my hypothetical a product of corruption. that's why judge sullivan did the right thing, he's the right manafort right time in history. >> the people are unrepresent e. maya wily, glen kershner, thank you for being here. nurses get their day on "am joy." get their day on "am joy. ♪

it's velveeta shells & cheese versus the other guys. ♪ clearly, velveeta melts creamier.

because i trust their quality they were the first to have a vitamin verified by usp... ...an independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards nature made, the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand truly transformative sleep. so, no more tossing and turning. because only tempur-pedic adapts and responds to your body... ...so you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. during the tempur-pedic summer of sleep, all tempur-pedic mattresses are on sale!

just one republican voted for the $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill that passed the house on friday. the measure will likely never see the light of day in the republican senate where mitch mcconnell derided the bill with a second round of stimulus money for states and mail-in voting as a liberal wish list. does that have you feeling

disgusted? frustrated? fed up? democratic congressman tim ryan, he feels the same way. >> 36 million people unemployed. 40% of families who have a worker that makes $40,000 a year or less lose their job last month. 4 million people didn't pay their rent and the republican party says, we don't have any money to help ya! are you kidding me ? where do you guys live? food lines around the block at food banks in the united states of america. one in five kids are going hungry. your party can't even get food to them. this isn't a wish list. if it is a wish list, it is for the working class people. >> it is sunday, i think you can get an amen. coming up next, we will hear from healthcare workers on what it is really like to work in a hospital in the middle of a pandemic. hospitaln ithe middle of a pandemic open road and telling people that liberty mutual customizes your insurance,

so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. (vo) what does it mean to be america's most reliable network? n-n-n-no-no it means helping those who serve stay connected to their families. and now verizon wants to give them something back. our best pricing ever. $30 per line for all nurses, teachers, first responders, military, and their families. not for a few months, but for as long as they need. plus, up to $700 off the oneplus 8. because the people we rely on deserve a network they can rely on. subut when we realized she wasn hebattling sensitive skin,

we switched to new tide plus downy free. it's gentle on her skin, and dermatologist recommended. new tide pods plus downy free. safe for sensitive skin with eczema and psoriasis. ♪ ♪ ♪ america's frontline aid organizations are in desperate need of essential supplies to help families and communities. so unilever, the makers of dove, hellmann's, vaseline and more, is donating millions of products to feeding america and direct relief.

to get help or give help, join us at weareunitedforamerica.com. ♪

my name is vanessa, i'm a registered nurse. one of the struggles i dealt with is a lack of consideration from my employer and company in regards to lack of communicat n communication, honesty, related to a nonpositive covid patient. >> that is just one example of

nurses trying to tell people that their lives are still in jeopardy, whenever they walk through the doors of the hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities where they work. when we think about it, nurses are the medical workers that many patients see the most. not the doctors. it is the nurses who are coming in to change bed pans and check vitals. sadly nurses were among some of the first fatalities of medical workers known to have covid-19. no of those were kious kelly in new york and araselli iligan in miami. despite the spin machine, nurses are still scared because they don't have enough ppe. take a listen to what happened in the oval office last week during a ceremony to honor nurses. >> i that uck to my colleagualk the country, there are pockets where ppe is not ideal.

my youngest patient is 4 days old, 4 day old infant. and so ppe has been sporadic but it has been manageable. >> prsporadic for you but not f a lot of other -- >> oh, no, i agree, mr. president. >> i heard the opposite. i heard they're loaded up with gowns now and, you know, initially we had nothing, empty cupboards, empty shelves, we had nothing, because it wasn't put there by the last administration. >> joining me now is lorna johnson, a nurse midwife, jesse burnt, icu nurse at a va hospital in wisconsin and karen fountain. how does it make you feel when you hear donald trump try to refute what nurses are trying to tell him about the fact that they don't feel safe and don't have enough ppe? >> joy, thank you for having me. when i watch this, it makes me

cringe. i also notice that vanessa garcia, like a baby for me, i helped to raise her and mentor her and, of course, i've been getting many calls from all over the country, joy, and when you listen to some of these stories, from these nurses, it just makes you cringe. because as you know, i started a clinic in the inner city of east l.a. to serve the underserved community and bring quality healthcare. i was a lecturer at ucla school of nursing. ry i felt i had to do something. i started change.org to bring more voices to this need of these nurses. they cannot speak because they're not allowed to talk about it. they cannot come out and talk about it. they need voices, your voices to be able to speak for them, and all they're asking for is simple protection gear to wear. they need medical care.

simple things like that, they do not have. america, these people are fighting a war. this virus is a war. and they should be treated and given the similar designation as a soldier at war. by giving them the designation of priority of service, making sure that they have -- hazard pay, grief counseling, and basic medical care. that's why i'm here fighting for them, joy, fighting for nurses, to make sure that they have all these protection and gears they need to work. if they don't, they will get sick. and as you showed earlier, they're going to die. the medical infrastructure is going to be broken. >> yeah. national nurses united union says more than 100 nurses who have lost their lives to covid-19 thus far and, jesse, if you can -- you're an icu nurse, tell us what it is like day to day, treating these patients.

>> it is very challenging. i've been in the covid world for two months now, that's when my fi facility got our first critical care patient. my hospital is like a smaller middle sized hospital. we have one icu 18 beds and it just wouldn't house the predictive covid surge that my medical facility predicted. so we moved our icu up to a bigger unit that was a step down icu. and we basically built it from scratch. so the first couple of weeks it was very challenging every day getting the equipment that we needed, and just setting up how, you know, we thought would be most beneficial to us. and, you know, taking care of patients, it is completely different than what i would normally do on a day to day basis in icu. i can't freely go into the room and out of the room. i have to mentally prepare and

organize my cares and just to be prepared because i'm in the rooms multiple hours at times. the longest i was in a room was six hours without leaving, going to the bathroom, eating, drinking, you know, it is very challenging and frustrating and when you're wearing an n 95 mask or i wear a capper helmet, which is just like a space el mehelme is heavy, you get a headache and it is uncomfortable and challenging. >> absolutely. there is a piece of mother jones that talks about the incredibkc lengths that hospitals are going to to just try to get n 95 masks, one thing they absolutely need. here is a little piece of it, aft could not swing a deal in china for the n 59 masks so the union turned to 3m.

3m agreed to designate the aft an allowable buyer the union had to sign a letter noting it would not resell the masks. can you talk a little bit about the fears that nurses have articulated, nurses are in the room most of the time with patients, exposed most to them. and thus at the greatest risk. what are the fears that nurses are having now? >> we're afraid we're going to get sick. we're afraid we don't have enough ppe. we're afraid we're re-using masks that before the crisis we were changing them each time we went in and out of the room, we're afraid that we don't have the proper equipment to take care of patients. we're doing the best we can do. we're following the cdc guidelines. but there is a lot of mixed information and things have changed. sometimes on a daily basis about what we should and shouldn't

use. >> and is the union helpful? this story is about the union going out of its way to on its own try to buy equipment. is that helping? >> that is correct. the union is trying to buy equipment. we are getting private donations. the police departments in new york city, which is where i'm located, have donated equipment. daily. my husband works for a manufacturing company, they donated several cases of masks to us. thousands of them. >> yeah. and, jess, you're working at a va hospital, this is a combination of the fears that medical staff have, but also dealing with veterans. it feels like a very precarious position, you know, for you and other nurses to be in. >> yeah. we're trying to do our best and, you know, the care of the veteran is our number one goal.

and, you know, when we -- it is very frustrating when we ask medical executives to launder our scrubs like a simple request like that and have that get denied, frustrating, and, you know, we take our -- home. it is putting the ki-mocommunit risk and our families at risk. we're trying to do our job and care for the patient, no matter where we work. we need the support from people that are making decisions to proactively make correct decisions, not just follow like cdc guidelines, i feel like that's doing the bare minimum. they need to step above that and get us what we need. >> what can people do to help, lorna? what can the people do that are concerned about our nurses that are out there in the middle of this struggle. what can people do in. >> i'm asking them to join -- join and go to change.org. look for lorna m. johnson and sign the petition, so

legislation legislator will pass legislation to make sure that these workers, frontline workers that are fighting for us, get the protection that they need. it is very important and if we get this legislation passed, it is not just for now, but it is for in the future. they must have enough -- they must be able to be able to work without thinking about going home and taking the virus home to their family. they got to be able to protect themselves and so this is what we're fighting for and we want to make sure if you go to lorna m. johnson, global institute, sign the petition, call your congress people, call your governors, and make sure that we have hazard pay, medical equipment, as well as medical service for any of our employees get sick during this pandemic because that's what it is. it is a war that we're fighting and we -- in order for us to win and maintain our infrastructure, we must support these nurses and

make sure they have the proper guidance, proper equipment they need. >> we'll make sure we get the links up on our social media. lorna johnson, thank you so much. jesse burnt, karen fountain, thank fountain, please stay safe. thank you for all you do. more "am joy" after the break. a. ♪ here's a razor that works differently. the gillette skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. the gillette skinguard.

right now, there are over a million walmart associates doing their best to keep our nation going. because despite everything that's changed, one thing hasn't and that's our devotion to you and our communities. our priority will always be to keep you and our associates safe, while making sure you can still get the essentials you need. ♪

truly transformative sleep. so, no more tossing and turning. because only tempur-pedic adapts and responds to your body... ...so you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. during the tempur-pedic summer of sleep, all tempur-pedic mattresses are on sale! "show me what you're made of." so we showed it our people, sourcing and distributing more fresh food than anyone... our drivers helping grocers restock their shelves. how we're helping restaurants open pop-up markets. and encouraging all americans to take out to give back. adversity came to town. so we looked it in the eye. and it won't be us... that blinks first.

coming up, the president delivered a message of hope and empathy to the graduating class of 2020. just not the current president. more on that next. feed a healthy lifestyle, with pure protein. high protein. low sugar. tastes great! high protein. low sugar. so good. high protein. low sugar. mmm, birthday cake. and try pure protein shakes, with 24 vitamins and minerals.

i come face to face with a lot of behinds. so i know there's a big need for gas-x maximum strength. it works fast. relieving pressure, bloating, and discomfort before you know it. so no one needs to know you've got gas. gas-x so no one needs to know you've got gas. 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, 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. take on ra talk to your rheumatologist about rinvoq relief. rinvoq. make it your mission. if you can't afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. our bargain detergent couldn't keep up. with us... turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. daughter: slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean.

it's got to be tide. so we're working 24/7 toected maintain a reliable network, to meet your growing internet needs. we're helping customers who are experiencing financial difficulties stay connected. we're increasing internet speeds for low income families in our internet essentials program. and delivering self-install kits to your door. nos comprometemos a mantenerte conectado. we're committed to keeping you connected. for more information on how you can stay connected, visit xfinity.com/prepare.

all those adults they used to think were in charge and knew what they were doing, turns out they don't have all the answers. a lot of them aren't even asking the right questions. so, if the world's going to get better, it's going to be up to you. >> good morning and welcome back to a"am joy." as president obama subtly pointed out in his graduation speech last night, we got confirmation that the trump administration and its allies have no idea how to fix the coronavirus pandemic. the death toll is 90,000 human beings. rather than outlining how they're going to save american lives, they fell back on their

familiar tactics, over an obsessed barack obama. the 44th president had made a rare re-emergence back into public view this month and now the mere act of him speaking again is enraging the right. it all started last week when leaked audio of obama criticizing the trump administration's handling of the coronavirus crisis spent republicans into a fury. the audio personal irked mitch mcconnell so badly he fired back with a blatant lie, ignoring the playbook the obama administration left behind to help future administrations deal with a pandemic. he had to deal with clean-up on fox news thereafter. >> he said the previous administration didn't leave a plan. they pushed back against that. >> i was wrong. they did leave behind a plan. i clearly made a mistake in that regard. as to whether or not the plan was followed and who's the critic and all the rest, i don't have any observation about that because i don't know enough

about the details of that. >> in a subtle response to a tweet from donald trump and the right's unrelenting obsession earlier would week, obama enraged republicans with a simple one-worded tweet, vote. and last night republicans got even angrier when president obama took over particularly all of tv. in a star-studded graduation special, he delivered a commencement speech for the graduating high school class of 2020. where he dealt out a few more subtle jabs. >> do what you think is right. doing what feels good, what's convenient, what's easy, that's how little kids think. unfortunately, a lot of so-called grownups, including some with fancy titles and important jobs, still think that way. which is why things are so screwed up. i hope that instead you decide to ground yourself in values that last. >> shade. joining me now is tara, president of the tara dell

group, eric boler, tim o'brien, msnbc political contributor david jolly and vanity fair special correspondent gabriel sherman, author of "the loudest voice in the room." what a great panel. i don't even know where to begin. let's go to tim since you're the biographer first. donald trump, one of the things that seems to tweak him more than anything else is president obama. so, let's play some more president obama for him. this is president obama at an hbcu commencement talking about the way, you know, his successor is running the country. take a listen. >> this pandemic has fully finally torn back the occcurtain the idea that so many folks in charge know what they're doing. a lot of them aren't even pretending to be in charge. >> how angry do you suppose,

tim, you would anticipate donald trump is right now hearing from president obama again? >> i suspect, joy, he's fuming. he's compared himself to barack obama for quite a long time. and, you know, i'm also reminded of the speech obama gave at elijah cummings' funeral when he said people are authentically confident and strong leaders and strong men, strong men can embrace kindness and compassion and lead with integrity. and we're now, especially on this point of integrity, we're 3 1/2 years into the trump presidency and he has compromised national security by courting dictators apparently to feather his own finances and he's courted ukraine's leaders to undermine a political opponent. he stocked federal agencies with cronies who have corrupted the agency's work. he's been willing to use his position in the federal government to further the financial interests and prospects of himself, his children and his son-in-law.

and he's now -- you know, he's the most overtly racist president of the modern era and he's used bigotry and division as his calling cards. now we're in the milgtsdz of the biggest health care and financial crisis in america a. donald trump -- >> you know, gabriel -- >> go ahead. >> no, go on. >> i just think donald trump is very aware of star power and he comes up very short next to barack obama in every category. >> yeah, i think that's fair to gabriel, you have the reporting on the white house. they don't know what to do, right? it seems like they're flailing around. they really don't know what to do so they're attacking on president obama, coming up with fake reasons to attack him.

they're dragging out russia and reminding people that russia helped him get elected. how is that helpful? is that really their strategy to remind people that vladimir putin helped trump get elected president? >> yeah, joy, as i reported in "vanity fair," really gr the beginning donald trump and his son-in-law, jared kushner, who have been leading the covid-19 response, approached this entire crisis with the central question, what do we need to do to get re-elected? they don't start with the premise, what is the right thing to do? how do we save the most lives? from the very beginning it has been a political problem. that is why jared kushner and donald trump did not want to stop the flights from china until it was too late. that's why they delayed every response because they both thought it would tank the stock market and the stock market was going to be donald trump's trump card, so to speak, to get re-elected. this is why we are now in the crisis we are where 90,000 plus americans are dead because they were slow to respond to this

pandemic other than how it might benefit this administration. and so what do they need to do now is to come up with a new political tactic, which is, you know, try to revive the classic idea which is they want to, quote, investigate the investigators. the polling will bear this out, i don't know if this is a smart tactic. i want to make one final point. donald trump takes advantage of the media because the media reports what he says. he's the president of the united states. he takes advantage of that good faith by injecting smears and right-wing conspiracies into the national bloodstream. and i think there's a real conversation to be had just because the president says something, the media doesn't need to repeat it. >> correct yes. i'm going to come to eric in a minute. i'm sure eric is amenning you. donald trump does not exhibit a thing -- this is remarkable for a president. 90,000 people being dead.

it shakes me every day. every time i see the number, i need a minute. it is really shocking that that many americans are dead at once. that 9/11, a day, right. he doesn't exhibit any emotion about that. that doesn't seem to bother him. what he gets angry about is that he can't reopen the economy. and he's gotten the whole media talking about reopen, reopen, reopen. people are dying and still dying. you know the guy. is he capable of having an emotional reaction to all of that death? >> he's only capable to having an emotional reaction if it affects him directly, period, full stop. and so the idea that somehow that's going to change at any given point and the media sort of acting as if that's going to change at any given point is just a gigantic waste of time and harmful to our democracy. in terms of this -- these attacks on president obama, i believe they were always going to attack president obama

because they knew he was going to come out to support whoever the eventual nominee, now we know the nominee is joe biden, but they knew whoever the democratic nominee would be, that president obama would be out there on the stump once it was established. they know president obama is the democratic party's most powerful weapon in this election. so, that was always going to happen. what democrats need to do is stay focused on three key points. point number one, trump's incompetence and corruption made this crisis worse. that's point number one. and they also need to amplify within that point how trump's corruption and incompetence hurt people directly. the fact his donors got ppp money, got grants, not just loans but got grants before small business owners, micro business owners, these moms and pops, before they got anything. before they got their stimulus

checks, donald trump's donors got this money. that's point number one. point number two, they need to smpl fi and underscore that donald trump has no plan going forward for either the economy or dealing with covid-19. point number three is democrats have a plan, we've been through this before, we handled it effectively through ebola. we want to do a massive infrastructure spending plan to pump money back into the economy and all the other key elements, giving people directly money, period. so, we need to lay out that plan. but those are the three key points. and democrats cannot be distracted by what they're going to throw out there. because this is a street fight and it's going to get uglier. democrats cannot allow themselves to get distracted. those three points. >> i want to talk about what the media needs to do because we talk about the media in this block as well because the democrats need to figure out their life but the media needs to figure out what to do. this week the game was to try to get the media to say a word that

had the word obama in it, right? and get people then to do stories about it and think pieces about it and get into that. we don't say that on this particular show because that isn't a real thing. it doesn't exist. so they want us to talk about a thing that doesn't exist, that isn't real so it gets into the vernacular. this is a game. how does the media unstop playing it? >> the media just has to detach itself from the trump nonreality. people have been saying, this is kind of 2016 all over again with the emails. this is worse. there were actual emails. there was a server in 2016. there was an investigation. the press wildly inflated it. thousands and thousands of stories about it. there is no obama/story, the one you're talking about. trump was asked about it at a press conference and he couldn't even articulate what it was. so, it's worse if we're going to take this seriously.

trump last sunday on mother's day, 126 tweets. the story the need day should have been president suffers nervous breakdown. that's what it was. if you watched it in real time. that's not even questionable. a friend of mine had done that, i would have sent him a note, are you okay? what's going on? but that was not the story. the story the next day was, trump launched this obama blank thing. so, the biden campaign is being very interesting. not only on the obama story this week but all these other rants and gutteral claims that trump and his son are making. the biden campaign isn't taking the bait. the biden campaign understands that's such overexposure with trump that it would be ridiculous to respond to every insult, every putdown. the press, as gabe has mentioned, has wed to this idea

that the president of the united states is behind the podium and if he says something, we should report it. the only headline this week should have been trump lies about obama. that's the headline. but no one really has the courage to say it. we saw lots of process stories. we saw this ridiculous notion that this is all some sophisticated strategy to go after obama. it's raging in the dark. that's all it is. there is not a republican strategist in this country who said a week ago we really need to bring back obama. that's going to help trump. >> remind people -- >> yes, exactly. >> bring back the most popular president in the last generation and also remind everyone that russia helped trump. yeah, that doesn't seem smart. i have to get david in here. i find it very hard to believe that your former colleagues in the republican party really take donald trump seriously.

that they really think he is competent. that they really think he can handle this historic crisis. in their hearts they know he can't, right? that's why -- richard burr wouldn't have sold on the market if he thought that trump was going to bring the stock market to new heights, right? the fact that they're hawking stock tells me they know, they know what they're dealing with. >> yeah, except i also think we have a bunch of followers and not leaders and they think donald trump will take care of them. this conversation is critically important, joy. any politician has a finite amount of time and resources for which message they deploy. it's true in the media as well. and rather than talking about donald trump's attacks on obama, the story this week, the scandal of our time was the testimony of dr. rick bright, the head of our biomedical advanced research agency. the former head because he was reassigned. donald trump deployed this deflection, this distraction at a moment when the nation should be talking about the fact that

the barta former head testified that he was told to reassign medical researchers towards hydroxychloroquine because of a political interest of the president away from a vaccine that could address covid-19. he also said that he rang the bell, rang the fire alarm on ppe and masks months ago and they were ignored. donald trump deployed the obama attacks to distract from rick bright. that is a story, a scandal, during a pending pandemic. the federal of the head of the federal agency responsible for responding to it was ringing the alarm bells and donald trump ignored it. what he wants is politicians like joe biden or commentators like me or you to talk about the biden/trump showdown. which is a loser for trump in and of itself but it is a deflection from the scandal we face with dr. rick bright. >> absolutely. you're absolutely right. that was a scandal. that's the scandal of the week. and what's so shocking and sad about where we are as a country

is i'm quite sure donald trump was more upset that president obama got to be around, you know, pharrell and lebron james and celebrities last night and he wasn't invited to the party. he didn't get to be with the famous people. i'm sure that's more upsetting than the fate of fellow americans. that's not the way the president is supposed to be. tara will be back later in the show. thank you so much, eric, tim, gabriel, stay safe. the supreme court phones it in. es it in my gums are irritated. 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. ♪ (announcer) reliability is everything. so, if your network's down, you're down. verizon knows your customers need to reach you seamlessly.

your team needs to work from different places across many devices. plus, you want the security trusted by some of the largest companies in the world. and that's why you trust us. the most reliable network in america. yoo-hoo, progressive shoppers. we laughed with you. sprinkles are for winners. we surprised you. on occasion, we've probably even annoyed you.

we've done this all with one thing in mind. to help protect the things you love. and if we can't offer you the best price we'll help you find a better one. it's not always the lowest! even if it's not with us. that's how we've done it for the past 80 years. not just today, or this month, but always. sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you.

they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale

go to stamps.com/try and never go to the post office again! good morning. i think what strikes me about this case is, you know, this isn't the first conflict between the president and congress and we haven't had to address this issue because the president and congress have reached

accommodations with each other. one has gotten more and other times the other has gotten more but there's always been this accommodation seeking. and what it seems to me you're asking us to do is put a ten-ton weight on the scales between the president and congress. and essentially to make it impossible for congress to perform oversight and to carry out its functions where the president is concerned. >> this tuesday we were able to hear two cases argued in front of the supreme court in real time. those cases may be among the most important of this year, if not of this decade. the supreme court will now decide whether donald trump's tax returns and bank records must be handed over to investigators and congress and the manhattan district attorney. what did trump's lawyers argue? i'll let me friend rachel maddow explain. >> today it did take on slightly more weight than usual because while the president may literally had only two things on

his schedule today. he had an intelligence brief at noon, which is the thing he is often said to skip, and then he had a meeting with republican senators at 4:00. other than that, he had nothing else on his schedule today. and we know from his public online pronouncements that what he really did all day was just tweet, including just tweeting about stuff he apparently saw and liked while he was watching cable tv. the president manifestly not busy today. but while he was showing us that, today his lawyers at the same time were at the united states supreme court arguing that the president should be immune from any form of investigation. not just immune from prosecution, but immune from investigation. in part because responding to requests for information in any sort of investigation is such a hassle. >> joining me now is neil, former acting solicitor general of the united states. thank you for being here today. there are two different cases in front of the supreme court here. i'll let you explain them

briefly. you have trump versus mazars usa, the house oversight financial and intelligence committee and trump versus vance, which is the manhattan d.a. case. what's the difference? >> yeah, these are two sets of cases in which the requests to the president's accountants for financial information, they both stem from misdeeds by the trump organization and by trump himself, including what michael cohen said about payments trump made to stormy daniels. the prosecutors in new york want a look at that because michael cohen said trump lied about that to the authorities and inflated and deflated certain assets and then congress, the house of representatives, wants other information about his financial records. president trump's lawyers went to the supreme court on tuesday and basically said, the president is above the law. he doesn't have to comply with these subpoenas, these requests for information, even though, joy, if it were you or me who got those requests, we would

have to do so. his reasoning was basically, look, attorney general barr says i can't be indicted. i'm a sitting president. i also can't be impeached, and then his lawyers said, look, you can't even investigate the president. that that itself is unconstitutional. if that sounds astounding to you, it should because literally there is no support for that in the law. that's what i think you heard justice kagan getting at a moment ago in that excerpt you played. i know that normally americans think of the supreme court a bit as a partisan institution. there are five republican appointees out of the nine. but this one, you know, didn't seem partisan in the way that the court analyzed it. in general, these cases haven't been. for example, in clinton, the paula jones went up and two justices, justices grier and ginsburg was appointed by president clinton and yet they ruled against him. the nixon case, when it was about his tape, there were three different appointees that nixon put on the supreme court, all of them voted against him.

and i suspect something similar here. >> well, you are much more hopeful than i am because i suspect that donald trump wouldn't have put his two picks on the court if he didn't think they would rule in his favor to protect his finances, but i will be the cynical one and i'm going to allow you to be hopeful here. i'm going to quote from a "new york times" article that says, donald trump -- this is the thing he wants to protect the most, not just his time, but also his money. he wants to block deutsche bank from sharing his financial records. quote, the rich trove of records held by deutsche bank includes ternl internal corporate documents, the description of his assets and portions of his tax return. the subpoena issued april 15th casts a wide net related to trump's businesses and entities, including family trusts. i think what people are concerned about, to be blunt, is that kavanaugh and is will to

keep from seeing the president's financial records. >> i don't doubt he would influence the supreme court in his nominees. i just don't think that's the way the supreme court does business. i think that story you pointed to is really telling. donald trump is scared out of his mind to have these records revealed to congress or to prosecutors. and he's doing everything he can, including deploying his lawyers to make silly arguments in order to try to hide that. and his lawyers went into the supreme court and said, this is unprecedented. no president has ever had these requests before. i mean, give me a break. almost every president has, started with george washington, andrew jackson, jimmy carter, they all have and they all turned over that information. this is the first time in which you've had this president complete stonewall and say, i don't have to be bothered with the separation of powers. i don't have to be bothered with the constitution. madison and, you know, lincoln would be turning over in their grave if they saw these kinds of

arguments. >> i think madison and lincoln are, perhaps, turning over in their graves that they have the same job as donald trump. that is shocking to me every day. i'll put that on myself. i said that, not you. thank you so much for being here. stay safe. the trumpkins are out and about. our never-ending quest for reality continues in ex. inues i. (bell rings) when heartburn hits fight back fast... ...with tums chewy bites... beat heartburn fast tums chewy bites frustrated that everyday activities cause wrinkles and there's nothing you can do about it? now there's a solution! downy wrinkleguard is a fabric conditioner that helps protect you from wrinkles all day. just pour the dye free liquid into the rinse dispenser. after a day of wear, pants washed with downy wrinkleguard and detergent are virtually wrinkle-free. it even comes unscented.

if you don't love downy wrinkleguard, we'll give you your money back. home is playground,gym, and concert hall. and cvs health is helping, with free home prescription delivery, telehealth from aetna, and support for caregivers. we're doing all we can to help you stay well, as you stay in. because now more than ever, home is where the heart is. cvs health.

we're finally back out in our yard, but so are they. scotts turf builder triple action. it kills weeds, prevents crabgrass and feeds so grass can thrive, guaranteed. our backyard is back. this is a scotts yard.

. coming up in the next hour, congressman steve cohen joins alex witt to allow house members vote remotely. basketball icon magic johnson joins al sharpton. next up, trump's health of secretary feels the heat. trumpf secretary feels the heat r frien, r frien, or from the things they love to do? with right at home, it doesn't. right at home's professional team thoughtfully selects caregivers to help with personal care, housekeeping,

meals - and most of all, staying engaged - in life. oh, thank you, thank you. you're welcome. are you ready to go? oh, i sure am. we can provide the right care, right at home. and finding new ways to take of ourselves. but you can still screen for colon cancer. because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. so, don't wait. cologuard is colon cancer screening done at home. you can request it from home too. ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you... or learn more about online prescribers at requestcologuard.com. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask about cologuard today. subut when we realized she wasn hebattling sensitive skin, false positive and negative results may occur. we switched to new tide plus downy free. it's gentle on her skin, and dermatologist recommended. new tide pods plus downy free. safe for sensitive skin with eczema and psoriasis.

hold on one second... sure. okay... okay! safe drivers save 40%!!! guys! guys! check it out. safe drivers save 40%!!! safe drivers save 40%! safe drivers save 40%!!! that's safe drivers save 40%. it is, that's safe drivers save 40%. - he's right there. - it's him! he's here. he's right here. - hi! - hi. hey! - that's totally him. - it's him! that's totally the guy. safe drivers do save 40%. click or call for a quote today.

but when allergies and congestion strike, take allegra-d... a non-drowsy antihistamine plus a powerful decongestant. so you can always say "yes" to putting your true colors on display. say "yes" to allegra-d.

do we have a significantly disproportionate, diabetes, hypertension, these are demonstrated fact that do make us at risk for any type of disease burden. >> of course. but that doesn't mean it's the fault of the american people or the -- >> oh, my goodness. >> to take adequate steps in february. >> oh, no, jake, jake, please don't distort. this is not about fault. it's about simple epidemiology and stating if we have hypertension, if we have diabetes, we present with greater risk of severe complications from this coronavirus. >> health and human service

secretary sure did sound like he was blaming the american people when jake tapper asked him why america has been hit so much harder by covid-19 than any other country on earth. back with me, tara and joining us now, marreelet's play a litte justifying reopening the country come what may. here he is. >> there should not be one size fits all approaches to reopening but reopen we must because it's not health versus the economy. it's actually health versus health. there are serious health consequences to keeping us shut down, whether it's the suicidality rate or cardiac procedures, cancer screenings, pediatric, all of this is critical in reopening the

economy. >> he starts by essentially blaming -- i mean, he claims, no, no, i'm not blaming, i'm just saying if they would just be healthier, they wouldn't die of covid-19. then says, if people don't get to go back in the meatpacking plants, you know, they're going to die. does this make any sense to you as somebody who worked with -- in a white house? >> i'm so surprised by secretary azar throughout this entire crisis because he should know better. he was deputy health of human services under george w. bush. he knows what a normal administration looks like. and his performance throughout this entire crisis has just been really depressing. i do not understand blaming the victims, period. there are plenty of diseases made worse by other pre-existing conditions. we don't blame someone who dies of a complication, oh, you're

diabetes, that's the problem. we also shouldn't -- it is insane to me that the meatpacking plants, which workers have been in such crisis and have been infected at such high rates because there has not been an effort to protect them, that they are the ones getting the blame. not for the conditions at the plants but for their living conditions and for, perhaps, their coming into too close of contact outside of work. it just is absolute insanity to me and it shows no one is willing to step up to the plate and take accountability and try to make this better. >> indeed. at least i guess he didn't talk about big momma like the surgeon general did and try to tell people, you know, stop smoking and things. i mean, this administration, i think, it's fairly clear, does not know what to do, including their health and human services secretary. they're doing other things, blaming other people, blaming people for their health issues, et cetera. what they aren't doing is

telling us what in the heck they're going to do to stop people from dying. >> that is clear. this is one as part of an administration trying to take people's health care away even in the midst of a global pandemic. the reason he was trying to stave off covid is, don't worry, come spring, it's going to die off on its own because the weather is going to get better. this is very clear that the administration not only does not know what it's doing but is not curious enough to bring in experts so the science can dictate what we should do. governors and mayors are doing the best they can on limited information. but what should be guiding us right now are public policies, not guiding us by politics but should be guided specifically by what is happening in the forecast of the scientists. what are the scientists telling us. what the medical experts are saying to us. the fact that you have doctors who are often very private when they actually are on the front lines, speaking to people saying, look, stay home because

we're still seeing an influx. yes, we've flattened the curve that doesn't mean there's not contagion. the fact he's trying to put this at the feet of the poorest among us, disproportionately people of color that have to wake up and go to work, is not only not safe but it's malpractice. >> tara, as someone who has advised and worked with state governments, are you surprised so many republican governors and state officials are willing to go along with this? they have a responsibility to their constituents. you think they would not want to expose their own constituents to death but they're going along with this even though it's clear the administration does not know what they're doing. >> it's sad to say, but i -- it's sad to say, but i am not surprised when governor snyder, former governor of michigan, was allowed to poison an entire

community, the community of flynn, and it was zero accountability has opened the door for these kind of things. the fact that trump has not faced any responsibility for his malfeasance, for the lives he's cost. i think a lot of governors are watching and seeing there's no accountability, so that's driving their behavior, which is why accountability is so important. another thing, with respect to -- there's the democrats' bill right now, funds to states and local governments, which would help have testing and help allow us to have a more nuanced policy around, and i don't want to use the term reopening because i'm open, right? people are open. but it would help -- this funding would help us do it in a way that protects people's safety and health as well as allow certain people to get back on their feet. and, again, i think part of why you see some people pushing,

wanting to move too quickly, i think, around just making -- bringing everything back to, quote/unquote, normal is because of the incompetence and the corruption where people didn't get the money they should have gotten in a timely fashion while the richest of the rich did and the donors did. >> speaking of corruption, one of the things, elise, it seems the trump administration is very busy doing, while not solving this crisis, is using this as an opportunity for lots of score-settling. and also benefiting some of their friends, the michael flynns of the world. but in terms of score-settling, here's a list of the inspector generals that trump has fired in the last few weeks during this crisis. fire the intelligence community inspector general, the inspector general for defense department, the hhs principal deputy inspector general, and the state department inspector general, all fired recently. and on the state department

inspector general, who will be replaced by ambassador with close ties to mike pence of the department friday night. and here is nor ron johnson, an ally, come what may do or die of donald trump on cnn responding to that. >> there are inspector generals that bring a political agenda as well as those that do a phenomenal job. they're not all equal but in the end, they serve the pleasure of the president and he has the authority to hire and terminate. >> again, elise, the republicans have seem to have given up all idea that they even have authority as a co--equal branch of government, that they have ability to check this president and they seem to have just laid down for even this. >> joy, i don't even know where to start with this because that list, we all should have our jaws just dropped to the floor. the fact that four inspector generals have been removed by

trump just in a little -- a little over a month. i am most interested now in what's going to happen with steve linick at the state department because, reportedly, steve linick was investigating secretary pompeo and mrs. pompeo's misuse of a political staffer. and secretary pompeo urged donald trump to fire steve linick. how is that legal? how does that work? i have never heard of anything like this being acceptable in the past. i wonder how this 30-day period of notification, if congress really is going to stand for it and stand for whatever pompeo's purported misuse of power is at the state department. >> you think what they stood for. the postal service is in the constitution, i believe it's article 1, section 7. here is stacey abrams earlier talking about the abuse of the

postal service by republicans in congress. take a listen. >> the challenge is this, if everyone can participate, then the choices we make will reflect the values and the needs of our communities. and because our communities have evolved, because they're more diverse and because so many of them are facing the consequences of covid-19, not simply economically but physically, the republicans are deeply afraid they'll be held accountable for their mismanagement and incompetence and that's why they don't want voting expanded to every eligible american. >> voter la teen er latino is organization. ets what going to be done for communities of color to ensure they can vote safely 23 republicans are attacking the postal service and states like texas refusing to allow voters to vote by mail? >> voter latino has not -- i'm

sorry. i have a bit of a delay when i hear you. i have to share with you, right now along with the naacp, voter latino sued the state of texas because if you can imagine, you have to be 65 years or older in order to cast a vote by mail ballot in texas. that means you're not putting the health of your voter ahead of political gain. so, one of the things we're really looking at at voter latino is we want to make sure congress passes the $4 million earmarked for safeguarding our elections come november. this is something republican, democratic, independent voters all agree we need to have sanctity at the voter booth and there needs to be a sea change. if you're a person running for office, you shouldn't be afraid to compete for the vote. and the republicans are incredible cowards because they believe the only way they can win is basically by cheating. >> yeah. well, we shall see if that can be overcome.

thank you all very much. please stay safe. up next, one of your favorite segments is back. i will show you who won the week. after the break. [♪] looking to repair dry, damaged hair without weighing it down? try pantene daily moisture renewal conditioner. its color-safe formula uses smart conditioners to micro-target damage helping to repair hair without weighing it down. try pantene. the story where the chances are low, and the cost is high. the sacrifice is real. it's all around us. but this isn't a story about how tougher times beat us. this is our comeback story. the time when we rally and come from behind. the time when we defy the odds and get back to work

while the whole world watches. yeah, this is your comeback story. and when it's time to come back, we'll be ready. you ever wish you weren't a motaur? sure. sometimes i wish i had legs like you. yeah, like a regular person. no. still half bike/half man, just the opposite. oh, so the legs on the bottom and motorcycle on the top? yeah. yeah, i could see that. for those who were born to ride, there's progressive.

i wasn't scared for my own health or that of my family. i was scared for what it would do to our business. and it's a new kind of hard. >> we've been closed since the governor shut us down. it's almost a month ago.

it wasn't in our best interest to stay open doing takeout because being a downtown location, there's not a lot of people that live here. >> stayed open for takeout and delivery using our servers. my goal was to keep everybody employed. >> the government left all the small businessowners, not just me, all of them and all of new york city hanging from a string. >> it's actually a beautiful street. for the time being, there's just -- you don't see many people wandering around. there's not a lot happening here. >> i was at my big bank to apply for the ppp the day the c.a.r.e.s. act was signed into law. i haven't gotten it. i did get the 10,000 grant which was a godsend, but that's it. that's all i've gotten. believe me, it's not for lack of trying. >> how are you surviving?

>> how? >> yeah. >> i don't know. i don't know. i don't know how i'm surviving. i'm just surviving. >> we don't know what lies ahead for us or for anybody else. thank god for the first responders and the front line personnel in hospitals. he know, they are the ones that really have it tough. but small businesses like ours, we're doing everything we can. we may make it or we may not. like i said, time will tell. >> some of you may remember back in the old times before the coronavirus pandemic a game we played called who won the week. we're doing it differently this morning. as millions of americans shelter in place across the country, hundreds of thousands of homeless men and women are forced to fend for them servic s -- themselves on the street. they don't have to go it alone

like those behind the backpack campaign delivering supplies to new york's homeless. the winners of the week. the leaders of backpacks for the streets. jason and jeffrey, thank you for being here this morning. i'm going to let you explain the idea that you had and what happened. go for it. let's have jeffrey start. >> we started two years ago with putting together backpacks with food and supplies and toilet tries. when covid happened, we went into emergency go ahead. we have done 2,000 backpacks in the last four weeks. >> go on. >> we have done about 25 gallons

of hand sanitizer alone. >> that is fantastic. >> we have given it all out. as soon as we get it, we have to give it right out. it's flying out of our hands. it's incredible. >> one of you gentleman did face homelessness at one point. do i understand that correctly? >> that was me. i was homeless for two years. i was 25 to 27, one year in san francisco, one year in new york. >> obviously, you come to this from a very authentic place of wanting to help people do it. how did you guys actually gather enough supplies? i know just finding supplies is so difficult. you said most of it is coming from donations. is that how you were able to put these backpacks together? >> yeah. we have had an enormous amount

of donations from people around the country. and corporate sponsors. broadway cares gave us money. we have been pulling from every place we can. we just got in another 25 gallons of hand sanitizer. our warehouse is full of an antibacterial wipes. people are not helping the homeless. we have given out 2,000 boxes of gloves and masks. we have about 20 different places of people working on masks. we are making masks. we have 2,000 masks right now in stock. more coming. we're making sure the people on the street who need it the most have these supplies. >> i love that you are doing this. miami has issues with displacing homeless men and women. that's been a story. los angeles. a federal judge evicted thousands of homeless under the

freeways. people the most vulnerable are having the hardest time. how can people help you if they want to support what you are doing? what can people do? >> the main thing is they can go to our website and donate. bfts.org. they can volunteer. the more that we can get, the more we can help. we need people's donations. the more we can do the more we can help. excuse me, i haven't had coffee yet. >> we're literally doing this day and night. because of covid, we have a limited team now because of the social distancing. we're doing 15 hours a day on thi this. it's a labor of love. people need this. there are more people out there -- there are a million new yorkers homeless. >> indeed. >> when the rent evictions stop.

>> absolutely. you won the week. jeffrey, jason, cool picture behind you. i think it's a character. thank you for what you are doing. god bless. thanks for winning the week. we want to take a moment to also extend our condolences to the sister of maxine waters, our good friend of the show, who passed away. we wanted to add those condolences in. we will go over to alex. she's preparing to lead into the presser for andrew cuomo. see you next week. see you next week. oscar mayer invites you to take your backyard cookouts to the front. join us for the oscar mayer front yard cookout. enjoy sharing a meal together but safely apart, while we share a million meals with feeding america. and everytime you use the #frontyardcookout, oscar mayer will donate an additional meal - up to a million more, through the month of may.

let's head out front and give back. up to a million more, through the month of may. overnight, they became our offices, schools and playgrounds. all those places out there are now in here. that's why we're still offering fast, free two day shipping on thousands of items. even the big stuff. and doing everything it takes to ensure your safety. so you can make your home... everything you need it to be. wayfair. way more than furniture. so to breathe better, i started once-daily anoro. ♪ copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way, with anoro." ♪ once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. do not use anoro if you have asthma.

anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma... prostate, bladder or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain... mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes or eye pain, while taking anoro. the most common side effects are sore throat, diarrhea, and pain in the arms and legs. ask your doctor about once-daily anoro to start treating your copd. we're here for you during this challenging time--and always. find support at anoro.com. no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. to deliver your mail and packages and the peace of mind of knowing that essentials like prescriptions are on their way. every day, all across america, we deliver for you.

and we always will. "the retur"drafting"ing" "the return of the slide job" "ripping the wall" "gas-n-go" "bump-n-run" "the return of loud" "nascar is back, and xfinity is bringing you the best seat in the house."

good day, everyone, from msnbc headquarters in new york. welcome, everyone. dramatic steps, what's happened so far in the effort to reopen the country and whether it's being rushed. how much longer will we all be wearing masks and seeing empty sports arena s? friday night firing. reaction on the sunday talk shows to who might have urged the president to fire the state department's inspector general. plus this -- >> so much of your generation has woken up to the fact that the status quo needs fixing. >> that's not all. the former president said. the other comments he made that are getting a lot of