try to rectify them. that doesn't mean every single person has been cleared from the backlog. it's the majority of the people have been cleared from the backlog and the fact that now 2 million new yorkers have been paid and it aligns with the number of new yorkers that have filed. we're getting very, very close. so for the people who are outstanding, that is now the exception, not the rule. and dol's working around the clock to address those issues. and commissioner reardon will be speaking exclusively in a call today just to answer this. >> she won't say how big the backlog -- >> she will today. good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington continuing our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. as almost every state now has some degree of reopening, the virus continues its horrific toll with 1.5 million confirmed cases in america. more than 90,000 deaths. new york governor andrew cuomo just now announcing that he tested negative for the coronavirus after being tested at yesterday's daily briefing. he is encouraging others to get tested, saying the state now has more capacity to test than the state is using. here are the other facts at this

hour. fears of a second wave of virus cases are increasing across the country after neighborhoods, parks, and beaches flooded with residents over the weekend. many, if not most people not wearing masks or social distancing. federal reserve chairman jerome powell says the fundamentals of the u.s. economy are still good, and there could be a rebound later this year, but he tells "60 minutes" a full economic recovery may not be possible without a vaccine. there's new progress on the vaccine front today. this morning, the biotech company moderna announcing positive results from their phase one clinical trial of 45 patients, all of them developing antibodies to the virus after first receiving doses in march. the company is now on track to reach phase three of their trial with thousands of subjects by july. and today, china's president, xi jinping, surprising the world health assembly by delivering a speech virtually, defending his country's response to the

disease from claims of a cover-up and promising $2 billion to the w.h.o., filling a void on the global stage as president trump continues to threaten a cutoff in u.s. aid. joining me now, dr. anearby adalja, senior scholar at the johns hopkins center and dr dr. patita patel, former health policy director in the obama administration. dr. adalja, how concerned should americans be about this lack of social distancing and the outpouring of people throughout the country, really, without masks? >> what you really have to look at is hospitalization measures, because that's what's driving social distance decisions. so when you interact with people, it's a simple fact that you're going to get more cases. the key will be keeping that pace of cases to a level that hospitals can deal with, that contact tracers and health departments can deal with, and that's kind of how we have to do social distancing. the virus hasn't gone anywhere and people will have to be mindful and take individual

responsibility, and we don't want this to spiral out of control, so it has to be done in a measured way with always an eye to hospital capacity and what's going on in the hospitals, and then ratcheting up or down based upon what's going on in the hospitals. >> to know all of that, you're also going to have to test more and contact trace. dr. patel, we have the highest single day yesterday in testing, but it's still less than 4% of the population, and there are arguments that the tests are available, for instance, in new york state, largely in new york state, as the governor was just pointing out, but not everywhere, not where they are most needed in some of these rural areas. >> yeah, absolutely, that's right, andrea. and it's certainly a challenge when it's not immediately available. and as we've started to learn more about the virus and its clinical presentation, and to the doctor's point, it emphasizes the need to have kind of testing of what we would call surveillance, meaning we need to start moving into a phase where we're testing people who are not presenting necessarily with

symptoms, just to understand how many americans really have this virus, particularly in special populations, rural populations, persons of color, children. so, we still have work to do, but it is a good sign that we're building up testing capacity. >> let me ask you, both of you about the vaccine front, because the president was raising expectations. a lot of very hopeful time lines for vaccine. but now we have this news from moderna. and does that back up what he is projecting, as you hear the positive news, at least from this phase one? dr. patel, to you, and then, i'll have both of you comment. >> sure. and i think perhaps the key here is the positive news, but that has to be kind of tempered with, there's still a ways to go, even though they are anticipating entering phase three trials. and really, what that means, as you mentioned, is being able to test thousands to tens of thousands of people checking for

safety. we have to also think about whether there is enough to manufacture doses. moderna thinks they can optimistically manufacture about a billion doses, but you can imagine the worldwide demand. but again, a piece of positive news in general from moderna, but also from at least four other developers that have some promising signals for a vaccine. but when you put the actual work ahead, andrea -- and i've worked on vaccines kind of in past policy lives -- it's still -- you want the fda, especially in the united states, to make sure safety is paramount. so, it is optimistic and hard for me to understand how we can get to a winter 2020 access for americans, but i know that they're working on trying to do that. >> dr. adalja, what do you think of the progress so far? >> i agree, this is very encouraging news from moderna, but remember, this was a phase one clinical trial, not really designed to show efficacy, but

safety. and everything looks good. we need to now move into phase two and phase three clinical trials, and that's something that's going to take some time. everybody is hoping that this vaccine is successful and everything looks encouraging, but there is going to be, as dr. patel stated, a big manufacturing problem because there is going to be a major demand for this and we're going to really need to vaccinate at least the u.s. population, maybe the world with this. and we have to think about supply chains even for things like the glass vials that these vaccines are kept in. so, this is a long-haul. vaccine development is usually measured in years, not months. everybody is moving as fast as possible, but i don't think we should pick a specific date this will happen, because we're not likely to meet that date unless everything goes perfectly well. but everybody's optimistic and preparing for the best, but we're preparing to face the virus without a vaccine in the fall. >> and to dr. adalja, let me ask you also about something that the trade adviser, peter navarro, who is running the defense production task force as

well -- this is what he had to say about the risks, the medical risks, talking to chuck todd yesterday, of the shutdown versus the virus. as far as i know, his background is in economics and trade economi economics, more specifically not in medicine. take a look at this. >> women haven't been getting mammograms or cervical examinations for cancer. we haven't been able to do other procedures for the heart or the kidneys, and that's going to kill people as well. so, if you contrast like this complete lockdown, where some of the people in the medical community want to just run and hide until the virus is extinguished, that's going to not only take a huge toll on the american economy, it's going to kill many more people than the virus, that china virus ever would. >> that comment to chuck todd on "meet the press" really struck me. it's going to kill many more people than the virus itself.

91,000 people are now dead, americans are now dead. and he's talking about just three months and comparing that to the number of people who will suffer from not getting routine preventive medical care. >> so, it's hard to quantify those types of things right now in the acute stage of this response. it's clear that the virus is going to kill more people than those who had delayed care. over a longer period of time, it will be important to track the delays in mammograms and pap smears and colonoscopies and things that were scheduled that got put off. i think there is a cost to those and it has to be balanced. but in this acute phase, especially in places like new york city, hospitals weren't prepared to deal with those cases. and we are now seeing hospitals around the country starting to resume normal operations, which goes back to hospital capacity. so, in order for them to resume normal operations, you have to keep the cases to a level that they're not inundating hospitals so they can do all of the preventive care. so it has to be a balance. it's not black or white. it's very hard to navigate.

but there are costs to it, and i think everybody realizes that and that's why hospitals have started to resume operations as quickly as they could in a safe manner. >> thanks for giving us some context on that. thanks to you, dr. adalja, and to dr. patel. meanwhile, president trump is lashing out at his predecessor while going full steam ahead with his push to pressure states to lift shutdown orders, tweeting in all caps this morning to "reopen our country!" even as the number of cases and deaths across the country, as we've pointed out, continue to rise. the president's medical advisers seem to be sidelined for now, in favor of his economic team, with peter navarro, the trade adviser, blaming the cdc on "meet the press" and telling chuck, as we just said, that more people could die from missing routine tests and treatment during the lockdown than from the virus itself. a virus that has now killed more than 90,000 americans in three months. joining me now, nbc white house correspondent and "weekend today" co-host kristen welker and "washington post" national political reporter robert acosta, moderator of "washington

week." welcome, both. kristen, we really seem to see peter navarro and other economic advisers taking, you know, front stage, whereas we haven't really heard from dr. birx or dr. fauci in quite a while. >> reporter: you're absolutely right, andrea. we are seeing this pivot away from hearing from the top doctors here who are on the controversy task force, and instead, this real focus on the economic recovery. president trump, as you pointed out, tweeting in all caps. he's obviously been traveling. we expect him to head to michigan a little bit later on this week as he tries to put the focus on these states that are starting to reopen. of course, the pressure is on. there is a risk to some of these states reopening. the president, though, knows that his re-election chances, andrea, are tied up in the economy, this economic recovery. so, in addition to the pivot that you just mapped out, we also know that president trump has been having more conversations with his team that is working on his re-election.

his son-in-law, jared kushner, really at the center of that, andrea. and so, i think as we get closer and closer to election day, you can expect to see a whole lot more of this and this ongoing pivot that we are seeing to try to put the focus on the economy with president trump hoping that the economy does show signs of real recovery by election day, andrea. >> and kristen, i want to bring robert in on this as well. but it's very notable that the places where the president and vice president are going, so far, when they can't do actual rallies, to do covid-related events, all seem to be battleground states. we see pennsylvania, we see michigan coming up this week, wisconsin, arizona. coincidence? >> reporter: it's no mistake that the president has his eye on some of these states that are going to be critical to his re-election, andrea. so, i think you can expect to see more of that moving forward, and it's also notable, andrea, that when he travels to some of these states, he is breaking

with the governors. pennsylvania, for example, where you have a democratic governor who is not reopening parts of his state. that promised protests in pennsylvania. but president trump made it very clear he was siding with those protesters, that he wants more of the state to be reopening, even though those various areas don't necessarily fit into the guidelines that the president's own administration laid out. so, there is clearly a political and strategic element to all of this, andrea, even as president trump is visiting places that he feels have been critical to the response in fighting coronavirus. >> robert acosta, just within the past hour, the attorney general, william barr, who's been under fire for the decisions that were made in the michael flynn case, is basically throwing cold water on the president's attempts to allege that president obama or joe biden did something wrong regarding flynn or the russia investigation. this is what he had to say during a news conference just within the last hour.

>> as to president obama and vice president biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information i have today, i don't expect mr. durham's work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man. our concern over potential criminality is focused on others. >> this is, of course, the special investigation by former u.s. attorney -- well, current u.s. attorney in connecticut, durham. this is not really a surprise, but this is the first time he has said this, and clearly in action with what president was saying a week ago in rose garden, where he was making all kinds of allegations. your colleague tried to challenge him on it and didn't give a real answer. all sorts of, what many people call smears against president obama. >> reporter: you have the chief law enforcement officer of the country, the attorney general, now having a counter message from the commander in chief, his

boss, president trump, who continues to frame the unmasking of general flynn and the investigation of general flynn in 2017, in early january of 2017, as a crime. but you have the attorney general now on record saying, in his view, based on the durham investigation, any conduct by former president obama or former vice president joe biden does not rise to the threshold of conducting a criminal probe. that's not to say that they could be mentioned in a document. you already see there was this meeting in january 2017. but so much of criminal investigations comes down to evidence and intent. and the attorney general, despite the president's prodding on this front, knows that these are serious matters at the department of justice. you can't play around with accusing people of a crime. the president, though, continues to do so. he's a political figure, but he also is a federal official, which creates this tension inside the executive branch. >> and robert, i also wanted to ask you about this firing on

friday night of the inspector general at the state department. this is the fourth removal of a watchdog, an independent watchdog, just in the last six weeks. congress is demanding answers, as you know, but within 30 days from friday, this becomes official. >> reporter: when the history of the trump era is written, this is going to be a key component, in my view, because you're seeing the oversight power of congress, the legislative branch, totally hindered. the executive branch, led by president trump, continues to defy requests, sometimes subpoenas from the house of representatives, controlled by democrats, as they conduct oversight, and you have this sweeping removal across different agencies and departments of inspector generals, the people who are trying to hold public officials accountable inside of these agencies. and without igs, it's then the role of congress, per our constitution, to have this oversight role directly. there are so few witnesses who

are appearing that are connected with the trump administration, unless you're a whistle-blower like dr. bright or dr. fauci did go before the senate but didn't go before the house. so, accountability on all fronts being stymied by this white house. >> robert costa, kristen welker. and of course, nbc was the first to break some of the details of why he was fired. we'll have more ahead when we have new jersey democratic senator robert menendez on his call for an investigation into the firing of the state department inspector general. but first, back to school. what oregon is doing to try to help parents of young children get back to work, as oregon starts reopening. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. when you shop with wayfair, you spend less and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one.

for small prices, you can build big dreams. spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair today. and its mission is to give you truly transformative sleep. so, no more tossing and turning... or trouble falling asleep. because only tempur-pedic uses proprietary tempur® material... that continuously adapts and responds to your body, to relieve pressure... so you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. all night. every night. the tempur-pedic summer of sleep starts now, with all tempur-pedic mattresses on sale, and savings up to $500 on adjustable sets. with find a stock basedtech. mattron your interests

or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity.

chicago and its surrounding county of cook county, illinois, now has more coronavirus cases than any other place in the u.s. already more than 61,000 cases have been diagnosed in chicago, surpassing queens, new york, which until then had the highest concentration of covid-19 cases, until this month. nbc news reporter shaquille brewster joins us from a new drive-up testing center on chicago's south side. chaq shaq, what are people saying there about the spike in cases? >> reporter: andrea, officials are saying that despite the numbers that you're seeing, much of it has to do with the testing involved, the increase in testing here in the state of illinois. it was weeks ago when they were

testing less than 10,000 people every day. now they're averaging about 20,000 people. but local health officials are still warning that the numbers you are seeing are, quote, far, far, far -- that's a quote -- below actual numbers in terms of the infections. so that's why they're prioritizing and emphasizing the testing. this new facility came up this weekend, and they're not only expanding these facilities like the one behind me, but they're also expanding the criteria, the testing criteria. starting this weekend, any frontline or essential worker can go in and get tested, come to a drive-through facility like this one, without payment, without referral, and get tested. that also includes people who have chronic illnesses, for example. they can come up and get tested. in addition to that, anyone who has had interaction with someone who has tested positive for the virus can go and get tested. so, there's that dramatic expansion of testing, which officials hope will give them a much better view of what they're dealing with, what they're handling here in chicago's cook county. it's also important to note that

despite the increase in numbers that you're seeing, state officials continue to receive pressure to accelerate the reopening of this state. governor pritzker has talked about that. this weekend we saw protests again in downtown chicago. yesterday, some churches decided to reopen, despite, and defying the stay-at-home order. mayor lori lightfoot in the past hour or so commented on that, saying that those pastors may now face fines for reopening ahead of schedule. there is also a firm that has been tracking how chicagoans have been enforcing or complying with the stay-at-home orders. they gave chicagoans a "d" compared to new yorkers, who have a "b" in their practicing of social distancing complying with those orders. andrea? >> thanks, shaq brewster, in chicago, where mayor light foot has been doing an extraordinary job. thank you. now out west to oregon. officials are loosening restrictions on child care centers there.

they have largely been closed since march, giving parents now more flexibility to return to work as the state gradually reopens. nbc news correspondent steve patterson joins us from a child care facility reopening today in west linn, oregon. steve, what precautions are being taken? >> reporter: andrea, not to start off with kind of an old reporter cliche, but honestly, in this case it might be better to ask what precautions they are not taking. yes, restrictions have loosened within the state, but it is so slight, so minor, that if you were choosing to operate and open up today, you are almost doing so under the assumption that the entire nature of the way you're doing business has changed and the way you're interfacing with parents and students, and that starts even before kids come into the classroom. it starts with the drop-off. those have to be staggered, both drop-off and pickup. and then as you come in, the first thing you'll notice is a big booth where kids and parents get their temperatures taken as they go inside. kids are grouped off into sections, almost like pods. no more than ten kids to one

teacher to one classroom. anything they touch, whether that's playground equipment, whether that's classroom equipment, that all has to be sanitized in between sections. so, that puts a lot more stress and a lot more, i guess utilitarian purpose on the people that are taking care of the kids, because they have to have more ppe. they have to have more sanitation equipment. they're doing that with less enrollment. so there's budgetary concerns, and they have to worry about the safety concerns from parents and children. yet, and still, there are many facilities that are opening up today under these loosened restrictions. we're at a kinder care here in oregon. we spoke to the vice president, the regional vice president, about opening up, about why this is important and about why they're doing this, and here's what she said. >> seeing these children coming and knowing that they're going to be with their friends and back in a routine, you know, i worry about their emotional health. where we have close classrooms, we can put, you know, ten in each pod, and we're keeping the

same children with the same teacher, so we are being told by our medical experts that that's the safest thing to do is to keep their environment as clean as can be. >> reporter: we also spoke to an executive of a summer camp in oregon, another seminole experience for children. we're hearing that overnight summer camp is restricted in many parts of the country. specifically here in oregon that's a big deal and people are paying attention to whether or not those restrictions will be eased, but a big day for parents. a big sigh of relief for parents who need kids in daycare in some way. andrea? >> a rainy day out there in oregon. thank you, steve patterson. thank you so much. coming up, a plan to help all of us keep safe, which could also give jobs to unemployed americans. a twofer. congressman jimmy panetta proposing a national health force. he joins us next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports."

boston light, america's oldest lighthouse, has stood strong through every dark hour and bright dawn our country has endured. it has seen the break in the clouds before anyone else. for the past 168 years, we've also stood by you, helping you weather storms like this one, to protect your loved ones. and we'll do it for 168 more. start with a round brush head. helpihow do your teeth get a dentist-clean feeling?

add power. and you've got oral-b oral-b's round brush head surrounds each tooth to remove more plaque. for a superior clean, round cleans better. oral-b. many of life's moments in thare being put on hold. are staying at home, at carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just can't wait. to help, we're giving our customers up to 90 days to make their first payment. shop online from the comfort of your couch, and get your car with touchless delivery to keep you safe. and for even greater peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a seven-day return policy. so, if you need to keep moving, we're here for you. at carvana-- the safer way to buy a car. 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

as states gradually reopen across the country, contact tracing for covid-19 is more important than ever to contain infections and spot hotspots when they come up. up to 300,000 contact tracers could be needed nationwide, according to experts, but there is no unified federal plan to hire or train them. joining us now, a congresswoman with a plan to do that, democratic congressman and majority whip jimmy panetta from

california. great to see you again. i've heard others like senator kuhns talking about bringing volunteers in from various service corps. tell me how your proposal works with that or could be part of a modified congressional approach. >> yeah, thank you, andrea. appreciate this opportunity. what it comes down to is we all feel the urge to open up, but we need confidence knowing allowing people to go out to these businesses, allowing people to understand who is sick and who is not sick, and obviously, testing and contact tracing does that. my bill, along with congressmembers underwood and crow and senators gillibrand and bennett, basically allows for using the existing infrastructure that's already in place. what you have to realize is this type of contact tracing, that's already been done when it comes to tb, when it comes to hiv, when it comes to measles, when it comes to stds. so you use that existing force with the existing knowledge of the people in those communities

to make sure that they get out there and make sure that they are able to contact people who have come into exposure to the person who has tested positive. you know, it's sort of a sharper-edged tool, as i like to say. for too long, we've been using a blunt-edge tool of sheltering in place. this is a sharper-edge tool to basically allow us to move forward, allow us to open up, but be it responsibly and be it carefully as we go forward. it's something that's definitely been used before. let's do it again. if we don't have a vaccine, let's make sure we have testing. let's make sure we have this contact tracing to stop the chain of infection that we're seeing can hinder us in fighting this disease. >> now, is this army of tracers the existing infrastructure that could be expanded, is this part of the cdc, part of the public health service? >> it's an excellent question. we want to make sure in our bill, we want to make sure that we fund the existing workforce that's already there, people who are familiar with the communities, rather than having

an outside influence come in. we want to make sure that it's sort of the ground up. people already have the wherewithal, have the cultural knowledge and the cultural sensitivities of the populations they are contacting. now, it can be reinforced with people from be it fema, be it from cdc, be it a national workforce, which i think is smart, especially considering the numbers that we're asking for, that we're calling for, that you're seeing governors call for. my governor, gavin newsom, is asking for a health force of close to 20,000. up north in santa clara county here on the central coast, they want 1,000. here in monterey county, we want about 68. so it's going to depend on the region, on the town, how many is needed. hopefully, we can use -- we want to use the existing infrastructure, but it will be reinforced by a workforce, and that's part of our bill, to have a resilience force, a force that's ready, willing, capable to go in, not just for contact tracing, but for national emergencies as well. and so, it's that type of

reinforcements that will be needed. obviously, not just here on the central coast of california, but across our country. >> now, it seems to me very timely, given that the fed chair was just saying on "60 minutes" that unemployment could hit 25%. we're talking beyond depression-era levels. and this is the kind of thing that fdr did. >> yeah, no, that's correct. look, it's a workforce that we can put in place that will train and get people back in there. i think, you know, what powell said is he used the word people can get atrophied. and that's what we don't want. and that's why we want to make sure that we provide this opportunity for people who are put out of work to basically get back into work. i mean, as we're seeing with pandemics, and as we're seeing with these shelter-in-place orders, we're asking people to stand down. we're asking people to stay at home. it's okay to watch netflix all day. they're doing their part. but that's sort of averse to what we stand for in our democracy. we're used to standing up and

stepping into it. this type of workforce will allow people to do that, especially those who are unemployed. and that's one of the priorities, making sure we focus on people who have lost their jobs, focused on veterans, those in the health care force as well. >> congressman jimmy panetta, who represents one of the most beautiful districts in the entire country, as i can attest to. fabulous monterey and carmel area. >> i agree. >> thank you very much. good to see you. >> thank you, andrea. coming up, during the pandemic, the advice has been to stay at home, stay safe, but what if your home is not safe? amid an uptick of domestic violence calls, organizations are working overtime to try to provide support to victims in need. we'll have more on all of this, coming up next, right here on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

covid-19 has, of course, forced americans to shelter in place for months. but what happens if the place you are sheltering is not safe? the number of calls for domestic violence calls to police departments across the country have surged since this pandemic began. in new york, calls to the state's domestic violence hotline are up 32% compared to this time last year, increasing 53% between february and april alone. and in the washington, d.c., area, domestic abuse hotline telling us there has been a 300% increase in their legal clinic call center since the shutdown began. nbc's morgan radford interviewed one woman who works for a

hotline, and for her, this has become personal. >> you're the person who picks up on the other end. >> yes. >> reporter: anita flowers works for the illinois domestic violence hotline. 50 people a day are calling you saying they're in trouble. >> they're in trouble. they need shelters. they need to leave because the abuser is home, because he's unemployed due to coronavirus. >> reporter: and for her, this isn't just a job. she's a survivor of domestic abuse herself. >> some of them will tell me, oh, you don't know what i'm going through. i said, yes, i do. trust me, i do. i was physically abused. i survived. >> joining me now is ashley carter, the equal justice works fellow at the d.c. volunteer lawyers project. ashley, thank you very much. what are you and other lawyers in your project experiencing in these calls from women, mostly, who are sheltering in place and

are suffering from abuse at the same time? >> andrea, there has been an enormous increase in the number of calls that we have received on our legal clinic hotline, as you mentioned. we began this hotline when our other community legal clinics closed. so, normally, we would have clinics open in the community. i personally run a legal clinic in the d.c. superior court courthouse for people to walk in and receive legal assistance. but unfortunately, because of covid-19, we've had to close those facilities. so, now people are reaching out to us by phone, and it is incredible the number of calls that we receive and the variety of calls that we are receiving. so, myself and other attorneys who work for the d.c. volunteer lawyers project are on call from 9:00 to 5:00 answering those phone calls. and often, we are assisting people immediately who need to file for protection orders or stay-away orders, to get themselves safe, or we're responding to other legal needs

like dealing with custody orders that can't be effectuated, other issues that are coming up, including housing, including access to public benefits that have been cut off. so, there are a number of different ways that we're trying to assist people right now. >> and the other aspect of this is that children are home from school and now are witnessing more of the violence than they otherwise might. >> yes, that's right. children are home. and if children are at home with a parent who's being abused by the other parent, they are witnessing domestic violence. they may also be victims themselves of violence. so now that children are home, they may become victims of abusive behaviors themselves. and unfortunately, because schools are closed, one of the major life lines for discovering child abouuse has been cut off. so we now have women in their homes with their abusers with their children also home with abusers, and that has been an enormous problem that we're trying to address through protection orders and through

emergency custody proceedings. >> there are also fewer ways to help people get away from their abuser? i mean, do you have shelters or hotels or other ways that you can house someone who needs to get away from something that is increasingly violent? >> there are shelters available. we have had difficulties because those shelters are filling up very quickly. so we work with partner agencies who house shelters in the district of columbia area. and a few weeks ago, i had a client who had not been a victim of physical abuse lately, but she could see signs that her abuser was escalating, and she believed that something would happen to her very soon. so she called me, and i tried very hard to place her into a shelter, and unfortunately, there were no beds available. so, it's something that we are having a lot of difficulty with. we are doing our very best, all domestic violence service providers are trying as hard as they can to make as many beds available.

unfortunately, due to the nature of the covid-19 crisis, you also have to consider social distancing proceedings in our domestic violence shelters and how that can affect the ability to house as many people as we need. >> of course, it's really so complicated and also people, it's difficult to make a call if you are in a small space with your, you know, with someone who is abusing you, all of that. thank you so much. we'll follow up, of course, ashley. thank you for what you and your fellow volunteers are doing. and we should point out that if you need help and are here in the d.c. area, please, call the d.c. volunteer lawyers project call-in clinic at 202-425-7573. we'll put this up on social media as well. or you can call the national domestic violence hotline any time, day or night, at 1-800-799-7233 or go to thehotline.org. and now we want to take a moment to remember some of the

lives, the wonderful lives that were shortened by the coronavirus. valentino blackhorse was always there to help. when the coronavirus began to tear through the navajo nation, she urged her loved ones to stay home, to wash their hands, to wear masks. she cared for her companion, a detention officer, when he came down with covid-19, that is until she got sick as well. just one day after testing positive for the virus, on april 23rd, valentina died of the disease. she was only 28 years old. sean boynes was funny, was loving, he was dedicated, a lifelong resident of the d.c. area. he graduated from gonzaga high school and howard university, where he played football before joining the air force. sean's dedication was always to his girls, his two young daughters, his wife, and his mother. but he was equally dedicated to his job as a pharmacist, where he worked until he developed covid-19 symptoms. just eight days later, sean boynes passed away. he was just 46 years old.

and when dnynia armstrong was locked down, her boy found a way to steal a kiss from his girl. michael would wade by the transport ban with a for bidden hamburger and milkshake in hand. dnynia succumbed to the virus april 4th. michael planned a picnic on the day of her cremation, but when he came to visit michael, he found his stepfather suffering from covid symptoms, then michael died exactly a month after his beloved wife had passed away. she was 80. he was 79. our hearts break for all. wayfair has way more ways to renovate your home, from inspiration to installation. like way more vanities perfect for you. nice. way more unique fixtures and tiles. pairing. ♪ nice. way more top brands in sinks and faucets. way more ways to rule your renovation.

nice! on any budget, with free shipping. wayfair. way more than furniture. "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.

"ok, so, magnificent mile for me!" i thought i was managing... ...my moderate to severe crohn's disease. yes! until i realized something was missing... ...me. you ok, sis? my symptoms kept me- -from being there for my sisters. "...flight boarding for flight 2007 to chicago..." so i talked to my doctor and learned- ...humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief... -and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened,- -, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor... ...if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections... ...or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your doctor about humira.

with humira, remission is possible. if you can't afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help.

another friday night firing by the trump administration. the state department inspector general was removed from his job friday night. the white house says on the recommendation of secretary of state mike pompeo. as nbc news was the first to report this weekend, the ig, steve linick, was among other

things, looking into whether secretary mike pompeo had a staffer running personal errands, such as walking his dog, picking up dry cleaning and making dinner reservations for him and his wife, this according to two congressional officials. steve linick is the fourth acco congressional. his job was to lead hundreds of employees pelosi says the issue now is whether this involved unlawful retaliation against the i.g. by pompeo. congressional democrats in both houses are investigating and that is being led by dr. bob ma mendes of new jersey who joins me now. senator, welcome. thank you very much. i wanted to ask you about this and what other issues might be involved and whether or not you think it was retaliation by mike pompeo, at least from what we know so far, against the i.g. >> well, it certainly seems so,

andrea. i read a comment that secretary pompeo made in an interview where he said, you know, inspector general was not doing the job in the way we were trying to get him to do it. well, the reality is that is inspect general does the job as he sees the fit to do it. it's not for the secretary of a department to tell you how to do your job. i read another comment by the secretary that he was undermining some of the work. for example, i am deeply concerned that my understanding is that the inspector general may very well have been on the verge of completing an investigation into emergency justifications for arm sales to saudi arabia. i opposed, as a ranking democrat, 60,000 precision-guided missiles going to saudi arabia because of the

way they were being used in the war in yemen. then we had 22 armed sales approved by the secretary of state under some emergency provision for which there has been no legal justification for and i can only assume it was to skirt congressional review. that would be a very serious issue beyond the ones that have been reported by yourself and others. >> in addition to the saudi arm sale that i understand was the nature of $8 billion last may and again without congressional oversight which would have been done, except for this emergency justification. that is one of the things that he was apparently looking into, as you say, correct? >> yes. and, you know, i think he was very close to coming to a conclusion on that. and i have been pressing, as the ranking democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, what is the legal justification

for these emergencies because there was no emergency at the end of the day that could be justified for the arm sales, but circumventing the congressional role in the advising consent of armed sales to foreign nations was clearly the result of the secretary of state did. and so the fact that may very well be the case that the department of state under secretary pompeo violated the law as it relates to these arm sales, would be something, obviously, both he and the administration would not want to come to light. >> now, many of us are dog lovers. i have nothing against the beautiful white lab that apparently the secretary mrs. pompeo have. what are the ethical guideline against staffers walking the dog or sending a staffer out to pick up dry cleaning or doing other personal errands? the secretary is a very busy

per. is that okay? is that something that the i.g. should or should not have been looking into? >> well, it is a lovely dog. and, you know, look. i guess to some degree, there is always an element of some personal things being taken care of so that, in fact, the other, you know, demanding issues that any secretary has surrounding the secretary of state would be free to do so. but the question is to what degree, to what abuse to what was the position of the person who was allegedly performing these personal functions? you know, those are some of the things. i mean, this is the most opaque secretary of state i've dealt with in my 25 plus years of sitting on the house and senate foreign relations committee. there is no desire for congressional oversight. there is no real transparency. it is constantly a challenge to

get vital information to make critical and national security decisions by members of congress. so if you add this and the saudi issue and i also had asked inspector general lenick for conclusion cases he did conclude those and issued one that was deeply disturbing. there is a lot here that the inspector general was obviously reviewing and in the totality, it is an alarming set of circumstances. >> only 27 days left before this becomes official. is there any way you could stop it? >> well, it's my hope that, in fact, chairman engel and the house have convening powers of the committee and subpoena powers, if necessary. i believe that the opportunity to bring inspector general before the committee would be there and it would be my hope that it would be done before the 30 days are up.

that might be a catalyst to change course. it is also my effort to urge chairman of the senate foreign relations committee to have a senate foreign relations committee hearing with the inspector general in person and maybe other members of his staff to get to the heart of the matter. we need to know why an inspector general who has been tough in two administrations and was already 3 1/2 years into this administration, all of a sudden, it gets sacked on a friday night, added to the three other i.g.s who have been sacked. >> thank you so much. we will be following up, of course. good to see you. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." thanks for joining us. please be safe. follow us online and on twitter at mitchell reports. a

ari melber picks up our coverage when we come back. up our covere when we come back.

there are times when our need to connect really matters. to keep customers and employees in the know. to keep business moving. comcast business is prepared for times like these. powered by the nation's largest gig-speed network. to help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. and a team of experts - here for you 24/7. we've always believed in the power of working together. that's why, when every connection counts... you can count on us.

good afternoon. i am ari melber. these are the facts as we know them this our hour. stocks are up with another vaccine heading human trials. we have a full report on that intriguing news for health and economic reasons, obviously, coming up this hour. the western parts of new york reopen tomorrow. new york governor andrew cuomo is saying and touting cases are on the decline. cuomo urging residents