in florida, a slew of covid-19-related data has suddenly gone missing in what researchers say is part of a government effort to censor scientific information and keep it from going public, an

extraordinary charge to even contemplate, given the size of florida's vulnerable population. late last friday, the engineer of florida's so-called covid-19 dashboard was suddenly removed from her post. the move quickly sparked backlash from critics who say florida's government is withholding important coronavirus data from its residents. here's an example of what that dashboard looked like. many states display very similar visual guides on their government websites. the florida database even received praise last month from the white house coronavirus task force coordinator, deborah birx. the news outlet "florida today" describes the database this way. quote, the dashboard has been a one-stop shop for researchers, the media, and the public to access the download tables of covid cases, testing, and death data to analyze freely. it has been widely hailed as a shining example of transparency and is accessibility. joining us now is alessandro

marazi sassoon, a reporter for "florida today," which was the first outlet to report this story today. take us through what has happened to this individual and how we understand that she's come to believe that it was because of her refusal to manipulate the data on the dashboard? >> right. so, what we have are e-mails that she sends out to the users of the data. these are researchers from universities, private companies, and local governments who are signed up to receive updates about the dashboard. and over time, progressively, the data became harder and harder to access. and starting in late april, she's indicating that she's being assigned work on reopening data. and then, last friday, she sent out this email, presumably in response to lots of inquiries about what's going on, as the

dashboard started to change substantially over the past few weeks, in which she said, i'm no longer working on the dashboard. i'm no longer working on the dashboard. i've been reassigned. i've only been brought back to fix bugs. and as a result of that email, and she's now also says, as a result of a refusal to follow an instruction to manipulate the data, she has been removed. she's been fired entirely. >> and some of the allegations were around the dates being moved around so the decline didn't look like this. it wasn't an up and down number of cases or deaths, but it was moving dates around. so it certainly had an intention behind it. does she think that it was coming from the highest levels of state government or what does rebecca jones, who's the woman we're talking about, what does she believe is the reason for her removal?

>> well, as she's indicated and has been reported elsewhere, she's indicating that it was because there was a narrative of wanting the data to make the reopening look like it was successful. the specifics of that and what data specifically was manipulated is still an evolving situation. i know that the data scientists that i've been in touch with, who have been consuming this data and analyzing this data for over a month now are looking at it, going through it with a fine-tooth comb, trying to figure out what's changed exactly. and hopefully, public records requests or statements from the department of health will show us what happened. >> is there a sense -- you mentioned that there is a pretty clear suspicion that there was a desire for the reopening to look

like it had gone really well. obviously, everybody hopes florida's reopening actually goes really well. but there were some crowded beach scenes and some skepticism about masks and social distancing. i mean, is it -- is it your sense that there is an undercount of cases or an overcount of testing? or what are sort of the lines of investigative reporting around the data in the state? >> right. absolutely, from the beginning, we've been looking at the data on a county level and then as it was available, at a zip code level, and constantly questioning it. i think reporters have done this around the state. as was reported by us and the tampa bay times and a few others, the medical examiner data, for instance, was also censored. and the reasons for that are still unclear and while initially that count, for instance, showed a discrepancy of cases with the medical examiner database of deaths having more deaths than the

department of health's count, those numbers -- by last count that was available, came closer into alignment. but why that is is unclear. the department of health has not been entirely forthcoming about all of their methodologies. and the governor has stated time and again a desire to reopen and make decisions based on data. and the concern from researchers, people who consume the data professionally is, how can that be if the data is now suspect? the concern among researchers is palpable that from this point forward, can we really trust the data. but the evidence of the data being tampered with is still evolving. >> it is such an important story and i spent some time in that state, one of the best state press corpses in the country. alessandro marazzi sassoon of

"florida today," thank you for spending some time with us. when we return, donald trump threatens to cut all funding for the world health organization permanently in the middle of a global pandemic. that's next. middle of a global pandemic. that's next. (soft music) - [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. and they're counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. grubhub. together we can help save the restaurants we love. overnight, they became our offices, schools and

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world leaders are wrapping up their annual world health organization assembly today, but donald trump, who isn't even there, found a way to isolate himself even further. overnight, trump threatened to

permanently end u.s. funding to the organization, accusing it of missteps and a, quote, alarming lack of independence from china, where the coronavirus began. trump may have been triggered by china's aggressive move to step into the leadership void the president left by skipping any sort of participation in the event. china's president yesterday promising $2 billion in funding to help fight the virus. back with us again by popular demand from london, nbc news senior international correspondent, keir simmons. so we didn't have enough time yesterday, but take me through -- my demands! take me through what happened since we last talk, and the headline yesterday was china rushes into this leadership vacuum, created by donald trump's refusal to even participate. 24 hours later, what does that look like? >> reporter: yeah, we didn't know that the president, though, was going to threaten to completely withdrawal america

from the world health organization, nicole. and the amazing thing about this is that what you have is the president complaining that the world health organization is too much lurching towards china, but then pulling away from the world health organization, which effectively allows china to dominate the organization even more. i mean, if i can describe the seriousness of this to you this way, nicole. here you have the chinese communist party, which at one point sent security officials to question doctors who were raising the alarm about this coronavirus, who are now being enabled to be more dominant in the w.h.o because president trump is so angry that they're so dominant in the w.h.o. and, you know, look, this letter that he sent to the leader of the world health organization, we talked about fact checking. let's just fact check this. we talked about fact checking yesterday, nicole. let's just fact check this a little bit. because there are so the good points in this letter.

donald trump said that the world health organization ignored credible reports of the virus spreading in wuhan in early december 2019, including reports from the medical journal. but in fact, the lancet said that their report didn't come out in december, it came out in january. just to give you another from this list. the letter says that the world health organization praised the chinese government for its transparency, but of course, on january 24th, president trump in a tweet praised the chinese government for its transparency. so i don't know who writes these letters for the president, but it would really help if they fact checked them before they sent them, because there are some important points in here about questions about what china did, particularly in the early days. later, they were more open, despite those early actions of questioning doctors and things. but it doesn't really help if the letters got kind of factual issues in it to make your point.

>> you know, keir, next time you're in new york and we're all in the same place, i can go through the three years of sending out factually inaccurate things. the headline, though, in terms of that letter and its impact is also the withdrawal. i mean, a real leader or an american president that wanted to turn the world health organization to hold china to account, to be tougher on china, to be more fair, would lead it! would make their contribution and make it conditional on more transparency. i mean, what are -- who else -- i imagine, you know, angela merkle has obviously been a strong voice on the pandemic. who else is rushing into that leadership vacuum? >> well, angela merkel spoke at the world health organization assembly event this past few days. the leader of france spoke. world leaders from around the world, including many, many allies of the u.s. spoke at this event. the thing is president trump could have given an address and

could have made all the points that he makes in this letter. he didn't. and again, another example, really. we talked about this yesterday, nicole, of china really seeming to do the diplomacy better than america at this stage, where president xi steps up and gives an address, we didn't know he was going to do that until hours before. and kind of steals the limelight. and here's one of the issues, again. is there is no proposal from the white house on what to replace the world health organization with. so what is britain or france or germany or australia supposed to do with this? because, of course, you can't just pull out of a world health organization in the middle of a pandemic, because president trump wants you to, when there is no proposal for what to do instead. >> keir, i'm going to put you on the spot. they're yelg ling at me that it time to go, but i have one more question. what does the world think of a president taking a drug that his own fda says is deadly, not wearing a mask, and really not leading the world's epicenter of

the coronavirus pandemic? >> reporter: the world -- i'm going to give you a short answer. the most disturbing part of it is that more and more world leaders, including allies of the united states, just don't think about it. they just move on and do their best -- we need american leadership. america has been such a powerful leader in the past 75 years, in particular. but increasingly, countries just make their own way and ignore what's coming from the white house, if they can, because of those kinds of issues, those kinds of questions. it is a sorry state of affairs, i think, that's the view in many governments of u.s. allies around the world. >> that is so sad. nbc's keir simmons, thanks for spending some time with us today. it's great to see you back. >> reporter: you bet. when we come back, donald trump won't host barack obama

for the former presidents white house portrait unveiling. it's something republicans have done for democrats and democrats have done for republicans for years. but not anymore. it's the latest example of trump's disdain for his predecessors. ecessorsnext. and i'm still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'll go for that. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. what's next? sharing my roots. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk

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donald trump's disdain for his predecessors may have hit a new low m -- two sources tell n news trump is refusing to unveil former president barack obama's portrait at the white house, the first time a president has cancelled the er ceremonial eve. for 40 years, the unveiling the portraits, their staff and families an opportunity to return to the white house and ming well the new administration, an occasion that transcends politics. here's barack obama celebrating his predecessor jochgeorge w. b.

>> we maid have our differences politically, butff the presiden transcends those differences. >>en sources tell nbc news that obama has no interest in taking part with this administration, which continues to make unfounded accusations about him. an author has studied the relationships between the living presidents for her new book, the team of five the presidents' club in the age of trump. he writes about trump's refusal to participate in another white house tradition. quote, he has stripped them of one traditional job in retirement, their unique ability to unite the country in crisis. joining us now is the author of "team of five." kate anderson bower. this is my favorite topic on the

planet and i remember being at barbara bush's funeral, where melania was very much welcomed. her husband, not so much. and feeling like, like the chain-link fence that linked the bush bush 41, to clintons, bush 43, because of to polarizing nature of the current presidency, this seems like maybe an obvious next step but a shocking one that president obama's portrait won't be unveiled. >> you know, i interviewed president trump in the oval office and i asked him, do you have more empathy for the men that before you? and he said, absolutely not. in many ways i think the job has made him smaller instead of bigger. he said he doesn't have trouble sleeping at night. he, you know, sarcastically said asti i was leaving say hi to

president bush to me after saying bush had, you know, the worst president in history, his foreign policy has been the worst incy history. he's not upset about not being part of the presidents' club and he madepr that clear. would he go to president obama's presidential library opening. he said, why would he invite him? it's a sharp contrast to the transition between the bushes and the obamas was one of the best in modern history. and there's a genuine warmth and friendship and admiration between former presidents and first ladies. there are only four former presidents alive today and it's shocking that president obama has essentially a war room set up in his post-presidential offices to try and figure out how to responde to trump's attacks. i don't think we have seen anything like it before.i >> well, the thing that

confounds hame, look, when you talk about trump disprajing president bush, who continues to admires and respect him, it mas my blood boil, i think the more important and the more universal point, donald trump isn't benefiting by acting like a jerk to every former president. it would serve them to go out there and help make people comfortable with the idea of reopening, such a great national tragedy, did you get anything in your conversation with him, unlock why he's so self-destructive? past presidents have a hard time saying no when they're asked to serve the country they love. >> iun talked to people, you kn, george w. bush, if he would call him today, he would gladly hope. i'm sure president obama and president clinton would, too, in any way they could. it's truly shocking but i think

he feels it helps his base if he continues toba come up with this like obamagate and he needs to create an enemy and that's why bush 43 and obama haven't come outd recently and really responded to trump's attacks and to me it's really surprising to see, you know, it took obama a long time to get to the point where our core values were at stake. and the coronavirus and the mishandling of it was clearly enough for him to do that. >> yeah, i wanted to get your thoughts about the commencement addresses, i believe it was in the first i one where he offere his sharpest critique of the current leader, saying that people act like children and they're not doing a good job for us, are you surprised or does that seem like the kind of thing that will trip his trip wire. >> the way that the virus has

affected the african-american community and i think it caused him to feel like he had to speak out, but the interesting thing to me about donald trump is he feels more comfortable calling strongmen autocrats like putin than picking up the phone to call his most recent predecessor. i don't know armchair psychology. but he's very dismissive of his predecessors and in our rs interview he said he would consider a relationship with bill clinton, a friendship, because i said, you know, in history we have had john adams and thomas jefferson, many times where presidents have had riffs and come ritogether. he said anything's possible. i can't see that ever happening. i don't think the former presidents would, if trump were to apologize, which none of us expect him to, it's possible i

suppose. >> yeah, i think bill clinton would have to overlook the whole wanting tohe prosecute hillary clinton thing. the book is called "team of five: the presidents club in the age of trump." read it. it's so important. kate anderson bower, thank you so much for spending some time with us today. it's great to see you. coming up -- donald trump's announcement that he's taking hydroxychloroquine has exposed a sharp divide amongsted some of s most fervent supporters. "deadline: white house," next. are your asthma treatments just not enough? then see what could open up for you with fasenra. it is not a steroid or inhaler. it is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. it's an add-on injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils.

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hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in the east. with his announcement that he's taking hydroxychloroquine yesterday, donald trump has revealed a sharp divide at fox news at a point in his presidency when he needs that network rowing in one direction to shore-up support among viewers. with his claim that he's taking a drug that fda warned to be fatal. laura ingraham turning her fire on what she called, quote, the medical establishment for criticizing trump's use of the drug, for his part anchor neil c cavuto put the health of his viewers in front. >> if you're taking this as a

preventive treatment, or dealing with the virus and you're in this vulnerable population, it will kill you. i can't stress enough -- this will kill you. >> cavuto probably knew that a fwirt attack. last night, trump took to twitter to opine for roger ailes. choose between crazy trump and support for the president during a pandemic, nancy pelosi who will join us shortly, pointed out the risk is not only to americans be that trump has comorbidities and as far as the president is concerned, he's our president and i'd rather he not be taking something that's not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group, and

shall we say, weight group, morbidly obese. >> this entire episode is likely meant to distract from the 1.5 million infections and 91,000 deaths so far in the u.s. linked to coronavirus and the fact that trump remains awol testing and providing a national framework on reopening. 49 of 50 governors are now viewed much more favorably than donald trump because of their response to coronavirus. the 50th is brian kemp from georgia who's tied with trump at 43%. the surreal state of the american presidency is where we start today. dr. leane wen is here with us. jonathan lemier. and ab stoddards.

jonathan, donald trump is on the move today, shift him from location to location, the white house has had some outbreaks, what do those movements entail and is he still defending taking hydroxychloroquine a drug the fda cautioned could be deadly. >> he's very much his decision to use hydroxychloroquine. the president was on the move here, went to the capitol, had lunch with the senate republicans to talk about a number of topics, potentially another economic relief package, but that's not the headline today. the headline is indeed his defense of using those anti-malarial, he said today it was a personal decision, he again touted its possible benefits, he dismissed the fact that a number of medical experts have issued stern warnings about using it, if not carefully

administered in a hospital setting. there's real concern on both sides of the aisle, the president's use of this could inspire americans to do so also and not as safely. you know, that's something that people are worried about, the example this president is setting. he's not one to recognize his role as president is national role model and we can go through a long list of examples on that, i think, nicolle. but he said today in fact, he downplayed some of the research on this. he was dismissive of a study, a v.a. study, when it was administered to patients there that the patients had adversed responses to it, he declared to be a trump enemy statement. suggesting, again, nicolle, if there's ever a piece of news that the president disagrees with, it can't be seen as fact but rather he has to dismiss it as an attempt to deliberately demean and denigrate him.

so, yes, he's absolutely showing no remorse for using this drug, he said he'll continue to use it and now the question is, who else is using it? the vice president said today he wasn't. but i think there are a lot of questions right now about other west wing officials are going to be using it. >> dr. wen, let's listen to that attack on what donald trump described as an enemy but was as jonathan said, a veterans affairs study, not anything that trump has called an enemy before. let's watch it and see if we can figure out what he's talking about. >> promote the use of this drug when you're not a doctor -- >> well, i've worked with doctors doctoand if you look at only bad survey, the people were very old, almost dead, a trump enemy statement.

>> i'm going to leave for ab the idea that he's describing people in the veterans affairs healthcare system, people who have served this country in the military as almost dead. but dr. wen, can you address what this study was, the facts about hiydroxychloroquine and wy the president would be taking it? >> well, nicolle, we need to look at the facts and the data and that's what i do as a scientist and as a doctor. right now, there's no evidence that points to hydroxychloroquine being an effective treatment. if you have covid-19 or as an effective to prevent you from getting covid-19. hydroxychloroquine is one of the medications that's being studied but so far the results are at best mixed and at worst, they are negative against

hydroxychloroquine saying the risks outweigh the benefits. frankly, i'm worried about president trump. he has people around him. in case he faces side effects. he has good medical care. if he should have a bad event there are people around him to have resuscitate him. what about the other people listening to him who now want to get this medication? they may not have that solid medical care around them. i just worry about the message it sends the rest of the country. i also worry, why is he taking this medication? well, one is, he's taking it because of the high risk exposures he had. if they tested positive, shouldn't he be quarantining and staying away from other people instead of taking this unproven

medication. >> dr. wen, i want to ask -- i don't want to put you on the spot, do you think the pattern of the doctor, his doctor's office befowas raided. and then dr. ronny jackson now running for something who's turned into the trumpist of trump theorists. he said his weight was something, you know, i don't know, akin to a professional basketball player, if you have eyes you knew it wasn't the truth. and now, we have this really muddied letter the doctor didn't confirm he was taking it. the press shop did. do you think we even know the current health of our president? >> well, i don't know. i will say that medical care is

complicated. that relationship between doctor and patient is complicated. every doctor, we've all had patients who have come in and wanted a particular treatment that we don't think is necessary or is even bad for them. and it's our job to take into consideration their preferences, but also it's our job to give the best medical advice and but the best medical advice includes, sometimes telling the patient that what they want is just not possible and that they should -- we all should be following the best available evidence because that's what's best for their health, too. i hope those conversations are happening, too. >> okay, ab, i wanted to dive into what my cable neighbor neil cavuto said, which was, really powerful, i mean, he was speaking directly to his viewers who may be considering doing something trump's doing and telling them don't do it, don't

do it, it could kill you and it was about taking hydroxychloroquine, it invoked rage from the president who started tweeting long ingly about roger ailes. but the bigger structural problem for the president seems he opened up a fissure at fox news when he needs that whole in the work rowing in his direction. >> well, look, i mean, neil understands that our own fda has said that this is only supposed to be taken either in a hospital setting under the care of physician or if you're taking it for the clinical trials, the president dismissed it today. as not too good, he guesses, for people who are veterans, chosen as guinea pigs chosen for a study of this. he wrote them off as really old

and almost dead, so they didn't have a good response. but neil who has been forced into the most unbelievable health crises any human being could ask for and overcome them, knows a lot about people having underlying conditions. by the way, we're going to run into shortages which people have been warning about for people who have lupus and need this to help them. if you have covid and this's no evidence that it helps preventively, if you have covid and you go into mass inflammation, it's too dangerous to take this drug and so that's why, you know, people like neil cavuto are not alone, they're going to be running around and the fda had to say, this isn't true. i'm not so sure that president is even on this. the doctor's note yesterday

didn't say he prescribed it and he didn't say the president was on it. he said they discussed it. i think the president doesn't -- i mean, when asked questions about people who don't respond well to it, he rebuts that, he's interested in finding hope for people, there's always treatment around the corner and even he dismisses vaccines, he said we're open for business. trying to convince people there's always another miracle around the corner. he's latched on to this and whether he's taking it or not, he'll continue to promise it as a panacea no matter what. >> and jonathan, let me ask you what the reporting suggests i think the president said, let's

listen to it. he said it's not like i own the company or anything, he didn't address whether he benefited from people taking it. >> lot of people are taking it. lot of frontline workers are taking hydroxychloroquine, lot of frontline -- i don't take it, because, hey, people say, maybe he owns the company, i don't own the company, you know what, i want the people of this nation to feel good. i don't want them being sick and there's a very good chance that this has an impact, especially early on. >> jonathan, do we know that the president and his family and his associates have no financial ties to this drug company? >> to this point, nicolle, none have been unearthed and certainly there's been a lot of looking into that, but ab hits on a couple of good points here, first of all, this is the president, always the one who latches on the quick fix the miracle drug, literally, to turn

the page on some scandal or bad news. hydroxychloroquine, these negative test results came back, he moved away from that, with the ending of the daily briefings, we saw his allies in the conservative media who had been touting this medication seemed to back away from it for a while. his focus shifted to the vaccine. someone told me recently best case scenario would be for a vaccine, if everything goes right, it would be available for frontline workers, small doses. regular americans won't see it if many, many months after that. according to our reporting even though he bablgd away publicly from this drug, he still believed in it. he's telling people that he

started taking it after his valet was confirmed positive and he had that exposure. that's why he started to use it and we saw yesterday, as much as neil spoke out against it, by evening, fox news was in line with it. very much talked about the benefits of the drug, so they're still taking their marching orders from the tone the president has been setting. >> well, in line with the president, out of line of every health expert in the country. dr. wen, i want to ask you if there's a single measure being recommended by scientists, mask-wearing, social distancing, not taking hydroxychloroquine, is there anything that he's modeling that makes public health officials feel any relief? he's for handwashing. an unbelievable picture of him

either rooting on the people who are defying staying at home or social distancing, refusing to wear a mask and now refusing to heed his own government's warnings about hi hydroxychloroqui hydroxychloroquine. >> that's exactly right. there are so many people for whom president trump is the most trusted messenger, we can talk about the health guidance in the world and they'll listen to the president. i'm worried about the message the president is sending. imagine if he was talking about social distancing, reducing our risks as state reopens. imagine if he was encouraging everyone to wear masks and practice good hand hygiene. imagine if he were promoting

these messages and how many more lives that would save, instead we're having a conversation about an unproven medication that will actually result in a lot of harm. i find that the real tragedy where we could be in this country and it doesn't have to be this way. >> i mean, it's what i said at the top the surreal state of the american president. a sitting american president passing up the opportunity to save lives and to protect the people he leads. dr. wen, jonathan and ab, thank you so much for starting us off. when we come back -- trump's admission of taking a drug has elicit a lot of reaction. 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.

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as far as the president is concerned, the -- he's our president and i'd rather he not be taking something that hasn't been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and shall we say, weight group, morbidly obese, they say. so, i think it's not a good idea. >> country has a new straight talker, we showed that to you at the top of the show. the president was asked about it a short time ago and at first dismissed it but then couldn't help himself. >> i don't respond to her, i think she's a waste of time. these people are sick. nancy pelosi is a sick woman. we're dealing with people that have to get their act together for the good of the country. >> joining us now speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, what you

said is actually something that can be korrobated in his last physical, his weight could cause him to be morbidly obese. >> i didn't know that he would be so sensitive, he's always talking about other people's weight, their pounds, so -- i don't want to spend any more time on his distraction because as you see in the last couple of days, so much of the time has been spent on what he said rather than that, i think he should recognize his words weigh a ton. telling people to put lysol into their lungs or taking a medication that's not been approved. he should be saying that your previous guest mentioned, things that will help people.

we with have to dwell on over 90,000 americans have died, lost their lives to this villainous virus and a million and a half infected. we don't really know the full total of it and that's why heroes act says, test, test, test and trace and treat so that we can lower the amount of people who are dying because we know earlier if they're infected. let us, again, honor our heros who are fighting the fight, our healthcare workers, our first responders and the rest who risk their lives to save lives. and, again, let's do so in a way that keeps all of those who died in our hearts forever, this is a scar on america. >> madam speaker, i worked in the white house on 9/11 and are you surprised, i mean, the

people who are frontline workers in hospitals, in any city in a hotspot, they have the same dna as the same people in towers, they run toward the danger. are you surprised as a country we're not grieving collectively for people who lost their lives? >> as you know better than anyone, we have different leadership in our country now. i have a constant drumbeat in my caucus about when are we going to have real memorial service for those who have lost their lives to this villainous, as i said, virus. but the fact is we owe it to them and to all who are fighting the fight on the front lines, whether healthcare workers, emergency service folks, police and fire, sanitation workers, food providers, i said

sanitation but even our teachers and the rest, we owe it to them to make sure that they have the ppe, the protections that they need and we owe it to them to make sure that they can feel secure in their jobs and that their workplaces are safe and when they go there they don't bring something home that can be deadly to other members of their families and they still have the opportunity to keep their jobs, so it's many people died now, that was a shock to our country because of the attack on our country, but this is an assault on our country as well and we have a responsibility to be bett better respond to it in ways that the scientists are telling us is necessary, whether the president being a notion monger about for one reason or another will work. we have to put him aside. he need to honor our providers,

we need to test, trace and treat and we need to do so in a way that's unifying to our country. and respecting the dignity and worth of every person because this is assaulting people in a very desperate way in terms of communities of color as well, they need to be tested, traced and treated. >> whether we're missing an opportunity to grieve collectively and to celebrate the frontline heroes, it's my understanding that the heroes act has a very uncertain future in the senate. what's the prospect of its passage there? >> we have strong bipartisan support across the country. 19,000 or 19,000 mayors of townships, and smaller towns who need these resource, to

governors and mayors who need to offset the costs of coronavirus. this is absolutely urgent for our country to ignore it is to ignore all of the good sense and by the way, it only costs half as much as the republican tax scam that gave 83% of the benefits to is the top 1%. but when they talk about the costs, the money didn't seem to matter when you were enriching your friends at the cost of our children's future, this money is money is a stimulus to the economy, protects jobs and keeps services going for the american people, education, health care, public safety and sanitation, all the rest that helps us fight this vicious villain and to, again, meet the needs of the american people. i think it's going to be fine.

look, when they put forth their bills, c.a.r.e.s. one, when mcconnell put that forth, okay, let's respond to that. when i put forth our bill, it's not bipartisan. his wasn't until it was. everything in our bill, over 80% of what's in the bill had been initiatives that the republicans have voted for before, whether it's testing, whether it's putting money in people's pockets, direct payments, they've done that and that's largely what the bill is about. we have a few other items like the post office and election vote my mail and s.n.a.p. seems to be a problem for them, they don't want to vote for food stamps when people are starving in our country. and osha -- mandates for osha to

protect businesses as well. in the others, they've all voted and supported for all of those initiatives. we need to get the agreement with the senate and, you know, we have no red lines in the sand thshg this is urgent. our job is to shorten the distance between the inconceivable to them and the inevitable to the american people, democrats and republicans alike, across the country. >> madam speaker, i want to ask you about the way donald trump has spent every friday of the pandemic, he's fired inspectors general at least four agencies, department of defense, most recently the state department.

and he's also fired the inspector general of the hhs for the crime in his view of doing a survey, of hospitals and reporting out to the public as hhs's inspector, a lack of ppe, he didn't like that. that was made public. she was gone i think within days. what can you do to protect any inspectors general who are still there and unearth corruption if there was to remove the ig at the state department, who was investigating personal corruption on the part of mike pompeo and arms sales that wasn't approved by congress. >> first of all, just another example this friday night, also the friday night, people are getting engaged in their weekends and that's a nice time to slip something through and

then the next couple of days later say you're taking a medicine that's not recommended, so that you distract from that, you understand it. it's all a distraction. >> we won't be distracted. >> but i know you won't. but some of your friends are. in any event, the fact is that the president is clearly afraid of the truth and we as the country must insist on the truth, on the truth of how we're fighting the coronavirus, the truth on how we're securing our nation, not only was the arms sales to saudi arabia wasn't approved by congress, congress said no to it, they declared a fake emergency in order to do that and if in fact and i don't have all of the facts, if that's what the ig was investigating, then, again, the president was afraid of the truth and we must insist upon the truth. the truth in terms of science, the truth in terms of what the

possibilities are for our country in every way, if we don't, we're no longer a great democracy, we're turning into something very different and by the way, as i said earlier, the president's words weigh a ton, when certain people hear his words, whether it's about our security, whether it's about anything in terms of even their personal health, they believe the president of the united states. so don't abuse the privilege that you have as president by not only not being fully truthful in your comments or careful in your comments but also firing those who tell the truth. and that's what's happening with the igs. the igs were established after the watergate, the purpose was to hold agencies of government accountable, whether democrats or republicans, the ig is a respected arbiter of what's happening, and to say, you don't

like what they're talking about they get fired and even -- even secretary pompeo said something to the effect, he wasn't operating the way we want him to. it's really unfortunate. it's very sad. it's a threat to our democracy. i know that some republicans are speaking out, i hope they'll do more, at least they're, again, saying that this is not right, not for a democratic president, not for a republican president, not for any president, or head of any agency in government. we must assist upon the truth. >> it really is unprecedented for years and years it's been a third rail that no one disparaged an inspector general. so nice to get to talk with you.

thank you so much. we're grateful. >> thank you, nicolle. my pleasure. after the break, more on that firing of a state department inspector general and what it's doing to the institution, our panel weighs in next. ghs in next (♪) i came across sofi and it was the best decision of my life. we're getting a super competitive interest rate on our money. we're able to invest through the same exact platform. i got approved for a loan and it was a game-changer. truly sofi, thank you for helping me prepare for whatever the future has in store. (♪) introducing tide power pods with cat & nat. that is such a large load, don't the stains sneak through? new tide power pods can clean that... whole situation. it's like two regular tide pods and then even more power. even the largest of loads get clean. it's got to be tide.

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as we're just discussing with speaker pelosi, the trump administration's ongoing effort to explain away a suspicious friday night firing has exposed a divide inside the state department. secretary mike pompeo, firing steve linick wasn't in retaliation, here's what the department is saying. from the washington post, one of pompeo's top aides, said concern over linick had grown because of pattern of unauthorized or leaks

to the news media about investigations that were in the early stages. he said officials had no evidence that linick was personal responsible for the leaks. he also said the secretary was frustrated with linick's indifference to a, quote, ethos statement pompeo formulated from employees last year that includes mottos such as i am champion. there's a sharp rift in the department. for the secretary's hand picked advisers who found themselves on the wrong end of the investigation, the former prosecutor could be a source of embarrassment. joining us is steve which mitt and donna edwards. steve schmidt, every friday

night of the pandemic it's a 50/50 shot that donald trump is going to fire another inspector general, either investigating his misconduct or likely unearth something that will make him look bad, we're at four and counting. >> good afternoon, nicolle. this is the most corrupt administration that we have seen in the american presidency i'd argue ever. but certainly in modern era. no comparison to anything. i think the story here right now is how blatant they are, they're not hide it, they're not trying to deny it, they're simply attacking, full-on all of the institutions, all of the offices that are there to protect the american taxpayer, that serve a responsibility to the taxpayer, making sure there's no corruption going on so we see with this administration, just

another example of the wanton corruption and we're going to see more of it. what donald trump took away from impeachment was that he can do anything he wants, there's no accountabili accountability, he looked in mirror, they impeached me, i'm still here, i'm not going to be accountable for any of this stuff. the only measure of accountability he'll face is through the vote of the american people who will either repudiate this or endorse this in the election in november. >> donna edwards, i asked speaker pelosi if there's anything the house can do to protect the few inspectors general still there, because it was pointed out friday night, the four had been removed, one was investigating a shortage of ppe, two were for retribution, and then the latest was

investigating mike pompeo, some personal corruption, doing something that when steve and i were in our 20s working in the white house, we knew we couldn't use the federal government or any of its asset to doi anythin political or personal. >> well, i mean, unbelievable and i think, you know, to the speaker's credit, i think the house, you know, does have the ability to do some oversight here but unless republicans really step up and defend the office of inspectors general, then i think there's very little that can be done to hold this president accountable and let's look at what the responsibility the office is, it's supposed to be an independent investigator of kor rurpgs and wrongdoing and

managing of resources within an agency, they're not supposed to be this -- at the director or secretary of state or of the president. i thought it was startling that the president came out, i don't know why i fired him, ask mike pompeo and of course, now, every day we find out more and more what these investigations were entailing, maybe the real reason that steve linick was let go. i'm looking forward to at least maybe somebody like a chuck dpras leigh, senator grassley stepping forward who has been a defender of whistle-blowers and inspectors general to come forward and defend these career officials and defend the office. >> all right, no one's going anywhere. because after the break, we turn to the topic on most parents' minds.

getting through this school year has been a challenge. what about next school year. we'll talk about that, next.

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notre dame one of the first major universities to announce how it will reopen in fall. classes will start two weeks earlier so a full semester can be completed by thanksgiving. avoiding the chance that students will go home and then come back and bring the virus back with them. the return of students and staff

will force a new normal on campus as "the new york times" reports, quote, among the challenges for notre dame, officials there said they'll be doing enough testing of students and staff to detect infection and isolate and quarantine if necessary. faculty members have been prepared to provide in-person and online classes. notre dame's decision came one week after california state university system announced their campuses would not reopen as usual in the fall. steve and donna are back. huge consequential decisions for students and parents. donna, take us inside how you would advise a university or family about how to make decisions about the fall. >> each university and its campus is unique. i'm a trustee at wake forest university. like many small schools that are contained like a notre dame you can make decisions about how

you're going house students, going into single dormitories, making sure that classes can be offered both remote and in person. creating social distancing on a campus like that, which is very different from large state institutions that might have different considerations. at wake forest for example, connected to a medical school, so they're actually able to use the resources of that medical school and hospital to ensure testing and safety. i think every campus is different. and this is going to be a tough decision for students and parents to make a decision about whether to send their student to a campus and for the campuses to make sure they're ensuring the safety and security of those students. >> i can't imagine having to go through those decisions as families. i remember my freshman year so vividly. i can't imagine a more stressful circumstance and for the

teachers and the people who work at universities it's just putting a whole bunch of people potentially in a pool of risks. steve, i want to ask you about something else coming back in fall. home state, california, saying professional sports are welcome here. i believe he was joined by a couple of others. how would you advise professional sports leagues or teams to go back safely? >> well, nicole, sports are the lifeblood of the nation in a lot of ways. they'ring? that's profoundly been missed in the country. this is something that people turn to to relax to check out of the stress of their daily life. and even at the height of some of the most challenging moments in the nation's history, the great depression, the second world war, there was sports. there was sport. and so we have to have sports in america. we're a sports-crazy country. and this has to be done in a way

that maybe fans will be enjoying the experience watching the competition not play out in a stadium. maybe a while before we're back to that. but watching it pay out on tv, we'll have modified travel schedules. the most important thing i think is to understand what the public health officials are saying, that if you look at the trajectory of these pandemics we have a great risk in the fall of having a second wave of this. the second wave could be worse than the first wave. so it's a time to be exceedingly cautious. and to pack 80,000 people into a stadium on a sunday may not be something that the country's able to do. nevertheless, being able to watch a game between the yankees and the red sox on television may be something we can do. i think it's important for the fiber of the country that we get sports back and going. everyone wants to get out of their house. everyone wants to get back to work. everybody wants to live again. but the world we're going to be coming back into is going to be materially different than the

one we left. this is an enormous event. and i want to just add that we're not through it yet. we will soon pass 100,000 dead americans on our way likely before this is all said and done to 200,000 or more. cases are still happening. people are still dying. and so we'll see how all of this plays out. but this is an epic event. we've had terrible leadership from washington. there's profound confusion. and when we look at the universities it's just a reminder that the degree to which -- because of the abdication of responsibility of the federal government, that everyone's on their own. notre dame's going to have to decide. stanford's going to have to decide. university of california. everyone is going to have to figure this out. and that's too bad, and it's part of the high cost we're all paying for this. >> steve schmidt, donna edwards, thank you both so much for spending some time with us. it's wonderful to see both of you. after the break, an advocate for people with communication disorders and a renowned brooklyn doctor.

we're going to celebrate two lives well lived. two lives well lived

annie glenn died today at the age of 100 from coronavirus. yes, she was john glenn's wife. and yes, they were together when he became the first american to orbit the earth in 1962. they loved each other through his 25 years in the senate. when john died in 2016, they'd been married 73 years. love between high school sweethearts deserves celebrating. but then again, annie glenn was also annie glenn, her own woman. a monumental american woman. in her early years in the spotlight she had a severe stutter that forced her to avoid media attention. but she learned to manage it, to control it, thanks to an intensive program at what is now hollands university in virginia. so began a career in advocacy, serving on advisory boards for organizations having to do with child abuse and speech and

hearing. she helped so many people that today there are awards named after her. so we celebrate a life well lived for an american pioneer in her own right. thank you so much for letting us into your homes today. it means a lot to us. our coverage continues with chuck todd right after a quick break. break.

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♪ welcome to tuesday. it is "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd continuing msnbc's special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. by tomorrow every state on this map will be green. all 50 states will have partial reopenings officially under way. just in time, of course, for memorial day weekend. more than 91,000 americans have died so far. more are expected as we reopen. job losses are at great depression levels, which are expected to get worse before they get better. and the country