the mayor of minneapolis is calling for charges to be brought against the sit difficult police officer who held down george floyd with a

knee on his neck. floyd later died. last night demonstrators took to the streets and clashed with officers. the protest began after disturbing video surfaced of the incident. george floyd repeatedly told officers he couldn't breathe, but the officer kept his knee on his neck for at least seven minutes. we would like to warn our viewers that the video you are about to see is very disturbing. >> i can't breathe. please, with your knee in my neck. >> four police officers associated with this tragedy have since been fired and the fbi is investigating floyd's death. the state of minnesota has launched its own investigation. the minneapolis police department said it's cooperating with those investigations. earlier today my colleague craig melvin spoke to rodney floyd, george's brother. he shared how he wants his brother to be remembered.

>> i mean, he was murdered in the streets. you hear him crying. everyone heard that. i'm not surprised because i grew up in a ghetto environment. and police do not, i mean do not listen to the people. >> joining me is nbc reporter shaq brewster. what you hear on the tape is exactly what you hear him describe on the street. he's crying and begging for his life. where do things stand with the fired police officers and the prospect of any charges being brought, shaq. >> you mentioned the mayor wants to see a charge, at least against the officer who had his knee against the neck of mr. floyd. we do know the officers have been named officially by the

police. that just happened in the past couple minutes. we also know the investigation now stands in the hands of the fbi investigating for the federal government and then the state investigators, that they're going through things. going through body camera footage, through the facebook footage we had that caused the outrage we're seeing right now. i'll tell you on the ground, the protests and outrage continues to grow as more people call for charges to be filed for the officers. that's what the family is charging for and that's what community leaders are calling for. listen to my conversation with the vice president of the city council. she represents the area where this incident happened. listen to what she told me, nicolle. >> this is a community where we just saw a police officer last year go to jail for shooting a minneapolis citizen. it just so happened that that citizen happened to be a white woman from australia who had a

lot of family support. we don't see that kind of justice when black people are -- unarmed black people are killed by the police. we want to see charges, and we want to see a conviction. of /* of these officers. >> we're still waiting for the medical examiner's report. we've learned that that might not be made public for a couple weeks. we saw by the federal government via ems. they said when they encountered mr. floyd he was unresponsive and pulseless. >> shaq brewster, thank you. i want to bring in eddie glaude, the chairman of the center for african-american studies at princeton university, also an msnbc contributor, a regular on any hour i host. eddie, this is the worst kind of story we've covered together on the years we've been on tv together. in shaq's reporting, the outrage

and the response is over a facebook video. why isn't the outrage and the response over the revelation that this is how that city's police officers conduct themselves. i asked this question yesterday. this is what they do in the light of day. what questions do you have about what other practices that are going on that weren't caught on camera that didn't happen in the light of day. >> nicole, i think it's pretty much common knowledge in the united states that we have multiple americas, and that is evidenced in the way in which those americas are policed. people need -- the video exposes a kind of willful ignorance. it provides light on the shadow -- against the idea of innocence of the country. but i think there's an intimate knowledge around the country that there are two americas, that police don't value the lives of black folk. when you look at the face of

that officer, he doesn't seem to assume that he has his knee on the neck of a human being. he's with his hand in his pocket. he doesn't hear him call out for his mother. he doesn't hear him crying. so this is the america we live in. we just need to confront it honestly, nicolle. >> to that end, let's listen once again to george floyd's brother describe what you just talked about. >> he was murdered in the streets. you hear him crying. everyone heard that. i'm not surprised because i grew up in a ghetto environment where the police do not, and i mean do not listen to the people. the protesters heard his voice, heard his anger. they felt the same. >> eddie, this is all now chronicled on tape for us to see. i watched a lot of the facebook

streams. people are literally as it's happening saying they're killing him, they're killing him. i don't want to be ignorant enough to say how does this happen, but i do want to ask you how do we stop this from happening? >> we have to finally be honest with ourselves. we talked about this when this happened with el paso. we have to understand how profoundly racist our country is and how it shapes the very ways in which communities are policed. that doesn't lead to an indictment of each individual, but it gets us to the systemic nature of inequality. think about this, nicolle. you have a community experiencing trauma and terror simultaneously. minnesota just hit its peak with covid-19 yesterday in terms of the number of hospitalizations and number of dead. african-americans in minnesota are disproportionately impacted by coronavirus. so we're dealing with the

devastation of this pandemic, and we're seeing ahmaud arbery, breonna taylor, george floyd. co-vin has arrested so much of what the country has been doing about the business as usual, except killing black folk, except the devaluation of black folk. it's been echoing in my head over and over again, a character in toni morrison's novel "be loved." how much are we supposed to take? when you see the police response to white protesters clam aring to open up the economy coming into the state capitol in michigan, spitting and getting in the face of police, having a gun on their side, refusing to have their arms locked into handcuffs. they're so patient and restrained. here we are responding to the

fact that this man treated george floyd like an animal. what do we get? rubber bullets, teargas and the like. more than two americans, nicolle. this is the ugly underside of who we are. >> eddie glaude, you leave me every time with no words, especially today. let's just vow to keep having this conversation every day. >> indeed. up next, donald trump is tweeting away about twitter, tweeting about twitter and its decision for the first time to fact check some of its tweets. he's threatening to shut it down saying it's stifling free speech, on twitter. democrats saying the president laying the groundwork to invalidate the november election. all that good stuff coming up. to baking fails... to sweat sessions. even life inside can bring on things like sweat and oil.

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also try align gummies to help support gut health and a strong immune system. so donald trump is on another twitter tirade today, this time threatening to shut down his favorite social networking platform. go ahead, i dare you. it comes after twitter put a fact check under two of trump's tweets after years of giving the president a free pass to spread smears and misinformation and disinformation to his millions of followers. the president quickly accused twitter of intervening in the 2020 election and claimed he and his republican colleagues will, quote, close them down.

the post that twitter deemed over the line were about mail-in voting and trump claiming that they would be, quote, fraudulent. under the small little warning where twisted posted a link to, quote, get the facts on mail-in ballots because trump wasn't sharing them. the facts on mail-in ballots are these. five states vote entirely by mail, colorado, hawaii, washington, oregon and utah. utah a deeply red state. there has been no evidence of voter fraught in any of those states. american service members abroad have been voting by mail since the civil war. another fact, mail-in voting continues to be extremely popular among the general public. according to a gallup poll from last month, seven of ten americans say anyone who wants to vote by mail should be al houd to do so. joining us, democratic congressman eric swalwell, a member of the judiciary committee and intelligence committee. congressman swalwell, i want to

get to the attack and assault on mail-in voting. nothing with donald trump is very well veiled. it seems like a blatant attempt to delegitimize the results of the election that hasn't happened yet. i want to first get your thoughts on the milestone today. 100,000 americans have lost their lives to coronavirus. >> thank you for reflecting on that, nicolle. many of us know people who have succumbed. an elected official in my district succumbed to coronavirus and we mourn his loss and the thousands of others. that's what leaders should be doing right now. but also thinking about what can we do to make sure we don't cross the 200,000 rubicon. if we don't get the testing and tracing and treatment down and leadership from the top, we're going to be there more quickly than we'd like. >> congressman, what do you make of the now days' long battle

that the president has engaged in over mail-in voting and clearly trying to mainline disinformation to his voters about the sanctity and integrity of the vote next november? >> he's trying to set up the argument he's going to make in november that the election was rigged. we saw him do this in november 2016 when he was saying it was going to be rigged, and it was being rigged in his favor which is why i think the obama administration was slow to respond. he had gotten into their head and they didn't respond to what russia was doing quickly enough. he's trying to seed the argument so that, if he does lose, he can go to the courts and stoke anxiety and uncertainty around the result. really for the first time in american history, hang an asterisk around the peaceful transfer of power. americans want to vote from home. 71% of americans want to do what service members have done since

the civil war, as you pointed out, what service members do in afghanistan. if it's safe enough to do in afghanistan, it should be safe enough in communities that do not yet have covid under control. >> congressman, where do you come down on this very, very public and flagrant attempt on the president's part to shame reporters in the rose garden out of wearing their own masks. he said to a reporter yesterday in the rose garden, take that mask off, i can't hear you. it's gotten worse to not just modeling the behavior that anthony fauci and deborah birx would like everyone to engage in, he's now shaming reporters who are wearing masks -- >> wearing a mask is not a political statement, nicolle. when i get within six feet with anyone when i'm out in public, i'm wearing my mask. it should not be like having an nra sticker on your car.

it should not tell people what party you're with. you're the party of public health. we also expect our leaders to lead by example. we need a president who will lead by example. every time he's had an opportunity to unite the country, he's really widened the partisanship. he can just start by wearing a damn mask and showing that he respects the people around him as much as they respect him. you saw the army folks who were standing around him at arlington cemetery, they were wearing masks because they respect him. i think it's disrespectful on his part that he wouldn't respect them. >> i remember some of the first interviews that i did with you right around the time that the first deaths were reported, and there was a real effort on your part and a lot of your colleagues' part to try to have a moment of national unit. now we're down to wear the damn

mask. are you surprised at how quickly trump and his supporters politicized this national tragedy, how quickly it descended into not just the usual rancor, but something uglier, pushing hydroxychloroquine on fox news and from the white house podium, attacking people over the death toll, saying the death toll is pretty good, not really leading the country in grieving the loss of 100,000 of our fellow americans. is it worse than you expected it would be or is it par for the course for where we are and who we are as a country? >> it is worse, and you are referring to when i said i'm rooting for the president, and i was rooting for him, just like you root for the pilot in the plane to do well. if he does well, we all land. in this case, we are seeing the same president whom we impeached in the house of representatives, someone who put his own personal

fortunes ahead of everyone else. when the reports were coming in about how bad this was and he was just looking at the stock market and fearing that his political fortunes would be tied to our health outcomes, he put himself first, rather than to o. we'll figure it out. and just bring the country together and see what happens. we've not gotten that. i still, nicolle, he can do that if he came out, you know, wore a mask, led by example, showed some empathy for those we have lost, thanked the people on the front lines the country will rally around him because we need him more than ever. >> i agree with you. i wonder if there's too much ill will and too much mocking of people that are wearing masks and making choices to protect their families. but for a vast majority of people, i think you're right. when we come back -- gather the kids. time for something in the news

that everyone can watch and everyone's excited about. nasa, spacex about to launch two astronauts to the international space station. the countdown has begun. we'll take you live to kennedy space center, that's next. - [narrator] did you just reward yourself

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couple of launches were cancelled or postponed due to weather. was today one of those days as well? >> they didn't know what to do, lot of them took the chance, it may pay off. this is such a close call. they're not launching for about another 30 minutes. we still have a chance. let me show you the radar. when the astronauts were loading two hours ago, we had a tornado warning in titusville. these storms have cleared out to the coast. we get into the sophisticated rules that they have for the space shuttle and also for the launch, you have to be at ten-mile clearance from the thunderstorms. here's cape canavarel.

they need from the last lightning strike, 30-minute window from at least ten minutes away. there's other criteria, too, they've learned. they don't want to fly through clouds of thunderstorms. those are the tallest clouds. we're looking at the visible satellite loop right here, if they launched right now, they'll still would have to fly through those clouds. that may clear. if you look back the west in orlando, that looks like that's improving, too. we have a chance here. they said 50% this morning. right now, about 70% to 80% of a go. things have been improving, nicolle. my kids are 8 and 10, they have never seen americans launch from our soil before. i'm hoping we get this opportunity for everyone. >> i mean, i'm in the exact same boat. bill karins stick around.

so don't go anywhere. coming up in the next hour, we'll watch for the historic launch of the spacex rocket and the return of a manned spacecraft in this country. "deadline: white house" after this. of cream cheese. you need only the freshest milk and cream. that one! and the world's best, and possibly only, schmelier. philadelphia. schmear perfection. that liberty mutual customizes your insurance, i just love hitting the open road and telling people so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated.

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from history in the making, the first time in nearly a decade that the united states is set to launch astronauts into orbit from american soil. the first time ever a commercial operation will carry humans into space. the spacecraft "crew dragon" is the culmination of the vision of tech billionaire elon musk and his private company, spacex, this event of course coming at an extraordinary moment of time as u.s. deaths from coronavirus cross 100,000. grief, fear and uncertainty gripping a nation that's also royaled by bipartisan politics. but today, for only an hour or two, we're all allowed to give way to something patriotic. to gather together in a social distance to witness a moment of

history. we have been watching the history in florida. 50/50 odds. . bill karins just upgrated them to 70/30 conditions would be right for a go. team of meteorologists on site who reserve to right to scrub the mission. if conditions aren't right today, the next chance to launch won't be until 3:22 p.m. on saturday. but if everything goes according to plan today, the launch could change the way world sees space traveling, opening up endless possibilities for sending human beings, not just rocket scientists into pace space. quote, if a private company can launch humans to orbit today, why not the moon next or mars some years in the future? space is a destination for more and more people.

of course, this stakes are high and the dangers for the flight crew are real f the mission fails, a long time before hand space flights return again to the u.s. the anticipation ahead of this historic space launch is where we start today. brian williams is here with us for the whole hour to cover this. peggy witson is us for the hour as well. spending the 3:00 or the 4:00 with me, you would pick 4:00? >> well, i have to say at the outset, i'm old enough to remember exactly everything about launch pad 39a of this location was where some of the highlights of my childhood as a space geek took place. i'm also old enough to remember when rockets took off from 39a

and the spent car cass landed in the water to be fished out. one of the big differences, assuming we see a launch the spent rocket gently flies back down to earth and lands on a floating surface, one of many, many changes including just the size and scope of the rocket during the apollo missions, this is a fraction of that, though this has a different job today. nicolle, let's start off our coverage with tom costello who covers all things aviation for us. tom, we'll be getting to bill karins for the meet logical read on. the weather is paramount. this will be a different launch than any other even for the grizzled veterans who remember the apollo and space shuttle

programs. >> for us space geeks, this is a lot of fun, but it's also turning a new page, writing a new chapter in american space history. brian, what you can't see, off to my left is the atlantic ocean and what you can't see we have a pretty good black cell right now sitting off to my left, now the concern is that as that continues to move this way and moves toward launchpad 39a over my right shoulder, it could pose a problem. so far they are go, but they're watching this cell very closely. they don't want it to violate their launch parameters. excuse me, i'm listening to the other ear and i'm listening to mission control, they're still in their final series of checks. just to put the viewers, you know, parameters at the very top of that rocket assembly, we have

the "crew dragon," that's the spaceship, the space capsule, it's named dragon. they have a cargo vision, they call it cargo dragon. below that is the falcon 9 rocket. when this thing accelerates with these nine engines it will eventually reach 17,000 miles per hour on a trajectory towards the international space station. a but a lot of things have to go right. they need to have that main engine cut off with the first stage, they separate out, then they have the second stage, separate the second stage from the spaceship and eventually they head off to the space station and the rocket boosters would come down and land on the barge very close on this location out on the atlantic ocean. the key right now is the weather not just here, hang on one

second. all right, we have lightning off to my left here that's a concern. lightning off to my left near the atlantic ocean, off of the coast from launchpad 39a. all of that is a concern. not only here, weather over the ocean. if they abort, they would parachute into the ocean. that's where we stand. that's where we stand right now as i listen to both mission control and you, brian, and where we stand on this weather condition. >> we're looking at the what they probably call the space coast of florida, nicknamed that goes back to the dawn of the robert age, a kind of -- out into the atlantic ocean. titusville is in nearest town. it has been the launch location

for america's manned space program. now to bill, we go, weather really is paramount. bill, you taught me enough over the years to know that's a deep red and purple center of the cell off to the coast, now obviously prevailing weather flows from west to east. but remind me the minimums that they have to meet to allow a launch to take place. >> yeah, the criteria that we're watching here, brian, these are two concerns -- one is that each rocket is different and with this one, with the dragon, they cannot have for 30 minutes after lightning is observed, within ten nautical miles of the launch pad, it's do not launch. if they see lightning now and within 30 minutes, an insta

instanteous cancel. now, the other issue is -- it also can't go through the clouds. throw back that picture the wide shot where you can see the sun in the background and you can see the thick cloud over. of the it. that over the launchpad, that's the cloud from the thunderstorms off the coast. they don't want the fly through that, either. that will cause issues with the rocket possibly because it's electrified as it goes up, it could induce a lightning strike. that's a do not go also. we need these thunderstorms off the shore far enough. as tom costello said, they just saw a lightning strike. that's 25 miles off. just above melbourne there, that was the lightning strike i believe they just saw, that's within the ten-mile radius. very interesting call.

the thunderstorms are moving away from the area, i believe in 30 minutes it's improving. another line of thunderstorms in winter haven area. it's a really small window, brian. this is an instanteous launch. there's no delaying it. they're threading the needle here and it will really depend on, you know, the 45th space wing just south of melbourne, they're in charge of this forecast, they're the ones telling the people in mission control that this is a go or don't go. the considerations with the lightning the clouds, the temperature of the clouds and it's a high-stress forecast right now, brian, because it's in really tight window. >> i'm hypercognizant of the fact that we have a astronaut standing by to join our coverage.

tom costello, back down to you for a second, explain how the weather feels around you, the floridians know, if you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes, but this highly charged atmosphere, you see these popcorn storms can develop as they come over land from west to east. >> yeah, that's right, and we're about 3 1/2 minutes away from spacex mission control in california doing their final go or no-go based on weather. for flavor and color the president has arrived. he's behind the camera at a building over there. the vice president is also here. you're right, we've been dealing with these squalls coming up through the kennedy space center, coming up the i-95 corridor up florida for the better part of the day, even at 7:00 a.m. on the "today" show this morning, we had lightning and thunder, i'd say at the moment this is the best it's been all day, really, it's calm,

no rain, we had some lightning over there that we discussed but at the moment, they were expecting and hoping for a lull in the weather. at the moment they have it. is it good enough? we should know about 4:14 p.m. eastern time, we should get that update from spacex weather on whether they're going to go or no-go based on weather. >> roughly two minutes from now. tom, thanks. we're cognizant of fact that we're sharing you with more than one network. thank you for the live update. nicolle. joining us now is nbc news correspondent kerry sanders who's out on the beach with thousands of eager spectators, kerry, what's -- i imagine what we're feeling is only amplified by the crowds who are gathered and waiting and watching. >> reporter: absolutely. people are holding their breath right now. it's started to sprinkle rain just off to my left, we've seen three lightning strikes, but as

you look there to where the launchpad is, you see blue skies, but if you look up, there are gray skies. all along here there are folks who have gathered along the causeway, they're here, some people got here at 4:30 this morning, elizabeth came over from tampa. give me a sense of how you're feeling right now. >> we're excited. we're hoping the rain doesn't come, but we want to see something cool. we have no idea what we're going to see really. >> you haven't seen a launch sf. >> i haven't seen a launch. >> your family is sort of elon musk fans. >> they like to follow what spacex does. >> i know all eyes are pointd that way. some other folks that we bumped into here, originally from indiana, we have cassie and zayn, you're here first time to

see this, what are you feeling right now. >> lot of excitement. >> you recognize the historic nature of this? >> absolutely. this is very cool to be here to see a private spaceship carry american astronauts off american soil to the spaceship. >> this may be the first step to us going again to the moon and then beyond to mars? >> i'm hoping this allows nasa to focus on the big things, mars and beyond. >> and your interest and support in this is because? >> history is happening. we just like to be a part of it. >> and we're big space fans. >> i don't want to distract you. lot of people had their positions blocked out, making sure that no one is blocking the other person. we're two miles away from where tom costello is, i have seen these launches before, of course the shuttle ones you could feel the vibration. one interesting note and we heard brian talking when the

rocket comes back down, i was here for another falcon launch with cargo and when it came down the spacex people were really nice and took me over to where the rocket was just -- less than 20 minutes inafter it landed an you could smell the burn and it smelled like burnt marshmallows. having that rocket land with the computers as it does. history in the making, guys. >> kerry, i what want to ask you, you asked about elon musk in an interview earlier this morning, said if it goes well all the credit goes to the spacex crews and teams. if it doesn't, that's my fault. talk about elon musk. what does he have at stake

today, obviously this is the first manned spacex flight? how much does that make this different? >> we're talking about the race to be the company that would do what's about to happen here, if this launch happens f the weather holds. remember, boeing was in this race and a lot of people assumed that boeing was going to be the one that would take americans off u.s. soil up to space and to the international space station and beyond. but it's elon musk's team that did it. elizabeth said her kids and her husband are elon musk fans. excuse me, what is it about elon musk that has you so excited for what's happening here? >> i think it's awesome that he's able to produce the results that he does with the technology that's out there, the way he puts different technologies together and how it's paying dividends for what's in the

world. he's in the past he's been known for missing deadlines. the fact that he takes it on his shoulders and we'll see what he can do. >> great, well, we're all standing by, nicolle, to see that. you know, it's not usual if you go back to nasa days to really think that one person's name was associated -- >> kerry, let me interrupt you real quick. we've just heard they -- we just learned they're cancelling the launch due to weather. >> let's get some reaction. i'm about to give you some news that -- >> i think we just lost kerry sanders. brian williams. brian, i said to bill in the

last hour, when i was jeb bush's press secretary i remember having plans to go to a couple these and because it's florida, weather is always an issue. >> yeah, it just -- you know, those of us who aren't meteorologists just looking at the radar and folks who aren't familiar, those white, dusty slashes, that's all recorded lightning strikes via doppler radar. the yellow as we have come to know is light showers the weather doesn't always follow a strict west to east pattern, sometimes it can meander and rotate in the atlantic just offshore, that's exactly what happened here. being lay people we just know and this is melbourne radar, they're not within minimums, you can't have active shower activity and active anvil clouds over cape canaveral, you can't

do it. we're looking at the next window and this all has to match the orbit, saturday at 3:22. peggy witson, our veteran astronaut, a veteran of 665 days in space, peggy, just on my loose calculations that beats the time in space that nicolle and i have spent combined, first of all, congratulations on your life's achievements. second, were you ever part of a mission that was scrubbed for weather? did you have a buildup followed by a delay? >> absolutely. my first flight i was launching on endeavor and we had thunderstorms within 27 miles. that broke criteria for the shuttle. we weren't able to go. we saw an amazing lightning storm from the 195-foot level of

the launch tower. we didn't get to go anywhere that day. >> peggy, as someone who's followed your career with nothing but envy and admiration, i've been so looking forward to talking with you mostly about the differences, just the visual difference, launchpad 39a it took aldrin and collins and armstrong to the moon, it's part of the firment of space history. the craft couldn't look more different and be more different, pictures of the interior for anyone who's ever driven a tesla, this is basically a tesla going into space. this is liquid crystal dashboard, none of the old analog instruments that those of us with some years on us are used to, so, peggy, put it into words just how different this is

to observe? >> yeah, i didn't get to hear all the question, but i got most of it. >> that's all right. talk about the differences between this and your last ride into space. >> yes, so the dramatic differences, and you're right, it does look like a tesla on the inside and it was a big deal to come up with the special gloves for the touchscreens and you noticed that the guys are holding their fingers on a rail and that's to make sure they can keep their hands steady when the vibrations are going on so they can actually touch what they want to be touching, that was actually they had to look at in order to come up with making that an effective thing. it's going to be really different, i think, without the solid rocket boosters of the shuttle, less vibration from my experience launching on a shuttle versus on a soyuz.

liquid feel engines tend to run smoo smoother, but not as much vibration. i sure hope they can get off on saturday. >> peggy, talk to us about the two men heading into space now more likely on saturday, doug he hurley and bob behnken, they're both married to astronauts, they both have young children, one of them, they're close enough friends they're anticipating and looking forward to a moment at the end where vomit is involved, talk about the human beings that we're watching and cheering for in this mission. >> they're actually really great guys. i've flown with doug in the nasa airplanes and i worked very closely with bob, he was my deputy chief when i was chief

astronaut, i worked with both of them a lot. and i actually selected doug to be the pilot on the final shuttle flight, so, i feel really comfortable with these guys, very confident, they're extremely, extremely capable guys and they're the ones that we need to be on this test mission. they'll be there, you know, if anything goes wrong, they'll be very exceptionally prepared and i think they'll be, you know, in good hands. plus they're friends. and you know, there are, you know, nasty parts about space flight and one of them happens to be coming back home, adapting back to earth is always a challenge and landing on the shuttle was, i would say, very civilized thing. landing on the soyuz where you hit the ground is not at lo of fun and landing in the water is

less fun because everybody's a little bit nauseous coming back home and being in the water is going to be amplified. it will be challenging when they come back home. >> peggy, talk about this mission being open-ended. i am not as a big geek as brian, i've read everything that's available to layperson. it's only in the sci-fi that things have an open-ended feel. >> ideally, with chris cassidy the only crew member onboard the station, we're getting a lot less science done as a solo guy, but having additional people onboard will benefit that. but the primary mission is to

test flight. we got to get them up and back down and we see how the vehicle handles while it's on orbit, they're going to have to be pretty flexible about how long the mission is going to be, and these guys are. they're both, you know, pretty laidback guys and they can handle this flexibility not knowing exactly what when the mission will end, so it won't be a problem to them, i don't think. >> peggy, there's no polite way to put my question, to those of us who are old enough to be around and alive and endure what will always be known as the space race, with then the soviets, have found it a little tough to take for almost a decade they've been our ride, there's been no other way to get americans up to the magnificent international space station and

i'll take this opportunity to remind especially parents of little kids, sign up for spot the station on your phone when it flies over your zip code you'll get an alert and it's one of the most exciting things to do on a clear night. but, peggy, it must feel good to finally have a homegrown ride to space? >> well, it is an extremely important factor. nasa is all about having redone did dansys. right now we don't have one. it put us at a huge disadvantage. having that redundancy of having the soyuz there to launch our crews enabled us to continue the space station, the construction dropped off dramatically obviously because we didn't have the shuttle carrying up the pieces and parts to build it.

but space station and our crews going to orbit did that. and redundancy was important. and the redundancy needs to include more than just spacex, we need more capability here from the united states. we always want to have that redundancy and i think, you know for future commercialization of space it's going to be necessary to have more and more people taking folks to orbit in order to keep that interest and keep exploration moving forward. >> we're also joined by another veteran of the space program, astronaut clayton anderson a veteran of 167 days in space, including a good chunk of time onboard the international space station and a good chunk of time out in the middle of nowhere, though tethered walking in space and doing external missions. clayton, same question i had for

peggy, were you ever part of a launch that was scrubbed, hurry up to only be delayed? >> amazingly enough, brian, it's great to see you again, nothing was scrubbed, every single launch that was associated with my time in 2007 went off exactly on time. every single one. >> wow. i wonder if you could work for amtrak? >> clayton, again, this is a terribly complex issue for you, but just for us lay people, talk about how different this is as a sight to be hold there at the cape, compared to the girth of the solid rocket boosters that we came to know as iconically representing the shuttle

program, this could not be more different, it looks like if tesla designed a spacesuit this would be it and indeed they've been called stormtroopers. it's a lot to get used to? >> well, you know, when i climbed on the shuttle it's like me climbing into a 1972 pickup truck and they climbed today into a tesla 2020 roadster. the upgrades if technology i certainly hope made their training easier and makes it easier for them to deal with issues should any arise. i'm very excited for them and going again saturday i hope they get a chance to play with the toys. >> any difference between heading into space on an elon musk-associated mission and the kinds of missions that you were

involved in, is there any sort of -- does one represent the future, his personality change anything about the experience do you think? >> i think so. i think elon musk is a guy that i would never bet against and i think he brings a nice, aggressiveness to the situation to the development -- he pushes to be aggressive and do new things. and, you know, a governmental organization like tamas sashgs we were more slow and plodded along occasionally. i think a guy like elon as a commercial company he doesn't have to jump through as many hoops and he can make things happen faster. of course, safety's always a concern, but i think he understands that very well and the buttons that he's pushing are the right buttons for commercialization. >> clayton, one more question for you, there's this sense that

we're having a debate in this country around science in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, and i wonder if you think this isn't a little moment for everybody, no matter their age, no matter their gender, to sort of stand back and give science and scientists and astronauts a round of applause and hold them up as our best hope? >> i'll always take applause. on social media today, someone asked, as a teacher, if they should have their kids watch this launch in case there's disaster, what should we do? now is the time to push the envelope, do the things that americans do and do in the way we have always done them.

so, i'm hopeful that everyone watches this launch and watches again saturday and sees what american knowhow can do. >> clayton, one more from me, i remember as a little kid seeing logos for rockwell before i really knew the company and what they did. where the lunar module was assembled on long island is now a television sound stage. nasa was always like a general motors car, always a collection of independent contractors though they were building to spec. i guess this is the ultimate contractor, this is our government and nasa saying, go ahead, see what you guys can do, and if it looks good we'll let you shoot it off. >> and i think, brian, that's the advantage to this kind of

arrangement, is nasa is still providing the requirements and they're still providing dollars, but they're counting on the ingenuity of the people at spacex and the various folks are acting as traditional contractors do, and so that's the beauty of this whole thing when we're done, e lon gets to keep the rocket and the capsule and we keep using it, but he gets to keep it and advance it and those are things that i think the future in space travel for the future are going to rely upon. >> two people who have been scared by big professional things aren't at all depressed by the thought of simply a weather delay in this mission. and we'll get back up and at it again. it's been our great joy and honor and privilege to have these two veteran astronauts

peggy whitson and clayton anderson with us for what we sure thought was going to be coverage of this spacex launch today. thank you, we'll do this again. but we greatly appreciate it sharing the air waves with you. nicolle and i will take a break. when we come back -- among other things, a better than average meteorologist standing by with a look at what the weather is looking like on saturday along the space coast in florida. - [narrator] did you just reward yourself

for spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub? grubhub's gonna reward you for that with a $5 off perk. (doorbell rings) - [crowd] grubhub! (fireworks exploding)

brian, it was good as long as it lasted. it was good to talk about something other than donald trump's abdication of leadership during a global pandemic. >> yeah, i'm tempted to say something like, i thought maybe space was going to be the answer if only for one day, if only for this brief shining moment of happy distraction to make us feel good about not quite the national effort that the space program felt like in realtime in the '60s and '70s but a triumph of science and engineering and a way of getting our country back in the game. you have the distinction of being thrust into the role of teacher, something you probably didn't see coming at home with a

young son to raise. i don't know whether it complicates your life or not to add the subject of aerospace engineering to your daily lesson plan. i hope your son and all the little kids out there are paying close attention because this is cool stuff and it tends to launch future engineers among the supergeeks in the viewing crowd. >> well, two thoughts on that. neil degrasse tyson was on in the last hour, he said it's a chance for us to walk tall. root for the success of this mission, the success of these astrona astronauts. to get to hear from them was such a pleasure. elon musk is a fascinating figure in all of this. the topic of my 8-year-old, he does not find himself drawn to my basement studio very often but he came down here at the top of the hour and when i told him

it was called off he went back upstairs. but for a moment. we'll be back saturday. >> we'll revisit the topic as we hope the american viewers will on saturday. before the break, we promised our viewers an update on -- and this is a risky business on the best day, long-term forecast on the space coast of florida in what is already an active tropical system. we have bill karins standing by to take a look into his electronic crystal ball, bill, go ahead. what does saturday afternoon weather look like off the coast of florida? >> i'll let you do it. florida, saturday afternoon, just to let you know how strict they were with this last launch,

i got word they had three red lights for the weather for this go. it was a red light for lightning within ten miles of the launch pad within 30 minutes. a red light for going through an anvil cloud and an electronic field. the air was way too electrified. our ask our director to go f graphic 306. right now, 30% chance of favorable weather. the yellow would with thunderstorms. hit and miss storms in the area, 70% chance of thunderstorms at 3:00 p.m. saturday, again, launch time is scheduled for 3:22 saturday afternoon. they don't have a lot of choice, brian and my cole, when they choose these windows. they have to time it perfectly. so, i'm sure they know going

into this, saturday afternoon, any afternoon in the rainy season in florida is a high risk, they'd be lucky to get this up saturday afternoon. we'll be there with the kids and root it out. >> all right, bill, thank you for that. again to those watching who are used to forecast of a 30% chance of rain, that's 30% chance of favorable weather, put another way, 70% of inclimate weather. thank you for having me and letting me talk about space during your hour which i know has to continue on the subject of your coverage every day. >> it was marvel to hear you talk about the rocket looking like a tesla. thank you so much. >> thank you. a quick break for us. afterwards, turning back to

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if they get the virus and contact in older and more vulnerable americans, that could be a disaster for others. that's why in the short period of time it's only temporary, you can't social distance, please wear the mask. my humble advice. you don't have to listen to me. i'm not a doctor. but we need to use some commonsense. you need to be cautious, take precautions because we don't want it to spread to vulnerable people. we've seen what happens when we do. >> okay, you guys, pick your jaws up off the floor, that was sean hannity and that's important because he's dispensing mainstream advice the public health guidance that stands in opposition to the

president's conduct. yesterday, trump openly mocked a reporter for wearing a mask at a public white house event. tried to shame him almost into taking it off after knocking joe biden for stepping out with a face covering on memorial day. open warfare until last night when biden fired back. >> the president is supposed to lead by example and i watched the president yesterday wearing no mask, you know, and making fun of the fact that i wore a mack. he's supposed to lead by example. he's a fool. an absolute fool to talk that way. i mean, every leading doc in the world is saying, we should wear a mask when we're in crowd. >> you think wearing a mask projects strength or weakness?

>> leadership. presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine. >> joining us is phil rucker, abstoddards. phil, joe biden striking the rawest of nerves of donald trump. if biden can move the sort of ignoring and deanying the safety that a mask provides people around you, if not for yourself, it seems like biden could really bury trump on the public health messenger front. >> well, nicolle, that does appear to be what biden is

trying to do, setting a different example of how a president would lead during this pandemic. he changed his twitter avatar to show his picture wearing a mask as if that's a symbol of the kind of president that he hopes to be, in a contrast of the current president. i was at the white house earlier today, not only the president and the first lady didn't wear a masks. the aides were walking closely without wearing masks. certainly, the mask-wearing policy has become much more lax in recent days. >> you know, a.b., it would appear that trump is putting himself outside of the main stream and there's not a strategic purpose for this. when you were running for re-election, at this point of the year, you have your base

underneath you, 78% of americans spot mask wearing, most americans view the idea that we can do two things at once, we can social distance, wear our masks and easedistance, wear our mask, and ease our way back into the economy. trump seems to be putting himself outside the mainstream of public opinion at this moment. really important moment for his presidency. >> it's amazing because you cited -- i don't know what polls are citing but they're everywhere and i believe that's why sean hannity and others are joining this conversation, because the nation scathed democracy poll 62%, huck poll, 62% say it's a public interest and sign of respect. fox news poll 72% wear masks everywhere. so he's provided here an opportunity. he likes to play a doctor on tv, even though he's not one and

prescribe medicines that are not suitable and being warned against by our own fda. but when it comes to public opinion on mask-wearing and his own cdc guidelines, mitch mcconnell and all of these people wearing masks, milana put out a public service message on social media about mask-wearing april 9th. she wears them when she jumps in the car and jumps on the plane. ivanka trump is wearing them today. all of her children are wearing them. mike penls had to admit at a fox news town hall he should have worn a mask the first time he left and went to a factory where it was the rule. it's interesting this is the perfect gimme for trump to show leadership on and wear a mask and instead he thinks he's drawing a political contrast with joe biden. when it's bucking public opinion, it's unsafe, it's irresponsible and it's a wedge that doesn't really exist if you look at the numbers in polling. >> so tim o'brien, i'm going to

ask you to go where i didn't ask a.b. to go. deep inside trump's mind. joe biden called him a fool. that's gonna hurt more than anything that he read in the newspaper about him sflg today, don't you think? >> well, because he personalizes, as you know, everything, nicolle. you have been on the other side of donald trump personalizing and criticism. i have too. phil has, actually probably all of us on this show right now have been on that side of it. because at his core, he really is a child. he doesn't know how to process any of these things other than through two presence right now, what it says about him as a man and someone deeply invested in the idea this public health crisis is a hoax and were he to put on a mask, it would show he's taking it more seriously now than he should have back in

january and february. i also think he's playing very directly to his base. he's got november on his mind every step of the way. pt i think most of his actions right now are geared towards his own calculations about what he needs to do to win in november. of course, there is a rich and unsettling psychological landscape that always comes up with trump. when in doubt, put your finger on it. it's ironic a man who is refusing to put on a mask wears a plask in so many parts of his public and private life. he masks his dim wittedness. he masks his inability to form tight relationships. he masks his finances. he masks his devotion to the american public. he masks his inability to lead effectively. when the moment comes to actually put on a mask for

practical purposes and prove he's a leader, he refuses to wear it. >> oh, such a good point. phil rucker, i want to turn to the other place where he's getting crushed, where he usually gets teared and that's from conservatives who are rebuking his smears against joe scarborough. "the wall street journal" editorial page, "the new york post" editorialized against him. mitt romney has come out and attacked him and i believe liz cheney has as well. which means, you tell me if i'm wrong, trump's going to double down. i think he's tweeted in the past couple of hours good joe scarborough still. what is the anatomy of trump digging himself a hole and then digging deeper. >> nicolle, we've been watching now for five years donald trump dig hold with conspiracies and create conflict his advisers warn him is politically damaging to him and he will minority back down. backing down is conceding an error in judgment and he's

unwilling to do that. i assume he will continue to talk to joe scarborough, continue to revive these awful memories for the victim's family. continue to spread utter falsehood and not listen to the advise he's hearing internally and also the advice his own allies and other republicans are sharing publicly until he can get distracted by another conspiracy that comes along, and we all turn our gaze in that direction. >> a.b., the difference in this one is that he looks not just heartless, that's old, he looks crazy. >> it's amazing. to see this kind of response from, as you noted, "the new york post," "the wall street journal" and "the washington examiner." and several congressmen, kent dushing of illinois said this is going to destroy us. they're desperate to stop him.

and they really know, as phil said, after five years, they can't. he's not capable -- like a child, he's not capable of believing this is self-destructive or he wouldn't do it. he's on some kind of offense he believes is helpful. and "the examiner" editorial was so powerful because it said some may shrug this off as trump being trump but others forgive him to quickly conclude this man is unfit for this job and lead us through this crisis, especially at this moment. it's stunning, but i want to repeat, if they think he's going to stop, they're drinking something. >> we all probably should be drinking something at this point. a.b. stoddard, phil rucker, tim o'brien, three of my favorite humans, thank you for spending some time with us. i'm sorry it was so short. that does it for our hour. our coverage continues with chalk todd after a quick quick break.

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you're looking live at the kennedy space center in florida, where just a few moments ago the spacex nasa launch, which would have sent two americans into orbit from u.s. oil for the first time in nearly a decade, was scrubbed due to weather. they've been worried about the weather all day. finally, they made that call. the president was on site hoping to watch this