good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where there are fast-moving developments today on competing police reform proposals. senate republicans led by south carolina senator tim scott unveiling a proposal that would discourage but not ban chokeholds but encourage broader use of body cams. >> we find ourselves with a package that i think speaks to the families that i spoke with yesterday who lost loved ones. we hear you. i think this package speaks very clearly to the young person who's concerned when he's stopped by law enforcement officers. we see you. >> this as house democrats are pushing ahead with their more comprehensive legislation which would ban chokeholds immediately and end qualified immunity for police officers. in atlanta this afternoon, the d.a. for fulton county is going

to announce his decision on possible criminal charges against garrett rolfe, who was fired one day after shooting rayshard brooks twice in the back and killing him. and a major change by pepsisco in its quaker oats brand of aunt jemima maple syrup which still has roots in racist stereotypes dating back in history. and we're tracking rising coronavirus cases in oklahoma days before the president's massive indoor rally scheduled for tulsa. joining us now, nbc's garrett haake on capitol hill, bill bratten, former police chief in l.a. and boston, and jonathan capehart, pulitzer prize winning opinion writer for "the washington post."

garrett haake, you had tim scott and the republicans not only announcing their bill but senate majority leader mitch mcconnell saying they'll do it next week, rapid time for them, as well as the big differences between the house bill advancing through the house judiciary committee and the senate bill. >> yes, the senate majority leader said they would move on their bill next week. meanwhile the house bill is proceeding in parallel in the house. it's being marked up today and could see the floor next week. now that both bills have been out for a little while, we're starting to see the compare and contrast here. democrats say the scott bill does not go far enough, it is not transformative enough, it does not rise to the occasion. it doesn't outright ban things like chokeholds. it doesn't ban things like no-knock warrants. it doesn't include anything on qualified immmunity. the question now that democrats

will have to answer first here is, do they want to allow this to proceed in the senate so they can amend it, do they want to have a discussion on it or do they say simply, this doesn't go far enough, go back to the drawing board. tim scott earlier today, his message was let's continue this discussion. let's hear from what tim scott said when introducing his bill this morning. >> certainly we achieve some of the same ends by our approach. frankly, this you think about the inability to have any grants if your department has chokeholds, that frankly is by default a ban on chokeholds. i think that there are things that i believe the conference will not support but they will all support a conversation. we don't make it about bipartisan or partisan politics. we make it about famous with lost loved ones, about restoring trust, about respecting officers. if we can put that on the table and not your skins game, we'll get to the finish line. >> andrea, the two sides pretty

far apart on a police reform bill. as i stand here today there's still a good faith effort going on to get to something that could get to the president's desk. remember, the time is short here. the next recess starts fourth of july weekend. we know how difficult of a time congress has in keeping its attention on anything over those breaks. >> indeed. and bill bratten, with your broad experience in policing, what do you think are the most important improvements that could be made in this legislation? >> one i'm particularly interested in, there are several, is the idea of a national registry of officers who have been discharged from various police agencies, who then oftentimes find opportunities to be hired by other police organizations. that national registry i think is essential. hea it's needed. it's something everybody should agree on. in terms of the defunding debate, that's an interesting

political hashtag, it means a lot of different things to different people. i think there's broad agreement that a lot of the functions that police have accumulated over the years as cities cut budgets and did away with various social efforts, that police are very willing to give those up and have others take them on. of course that's going to cost money and take time, it will take a lot of people. but i think we're starting to see consensus around some of the major issues of reform, police leadership, and indeed some police unions are solidly behind the need for reform. they understand it, they want to do it. the good news is through many of the consent decrees that have been put in place across the country over the year including one i headed up in los angeles for seven years, the way forward is already there, that we don't have to reinvent the wheel here. there's so many good programs already out there, it's just a matter of funding them and having them effectively agreed to. the problem we're seeing right now is we've got the president, we've got a senate, and we have

a house of representatives, all on different tracks. trying to get them to collaborate is going to be very interesting to watch before the july 4th date. >> jonathan capehart, we're watching tim scott, he was on "meet the press" on sunday. he's been legislating behind the scenes, trying to compromise, trying to push the president in one direction. this is a moment for him, trying to show leadership and getting criticism from all sides for not going far enough. it's a very tough role to play. >> right. and especially for a senator who has been very vocal about his experiences dealing with law enforcement, both before he got elected to the senate, and even as a sitting u.s. senator, even on capitol hill, the experiences that he has, he has had. so he brings a lot of gravitas to this issue. what i'm fascinated to see going

forward is how he, to commissioner bratten's point, how he and the republican conference deal with the house bill and the democrats and what they want in their respective bills, their in the old days, andrea, it used to be the house passes a bill, the senate passes a bill, and then they meet in conference. i don't remember the last time there was a conference committee on a major piece of legislation. maybe that will happen here. and so we could have -- we could watch them have a real debate about whether, is it better to provide disincentives for chokeholds or to outright ban chokeholds? to my mind the way the senator described it, i could envision a police jurisdiction saying, we'll forego the money rather than abide by this rule. so -- but this conversation and this debate is happening at a

critical time and at the right time. who knows what will happen in terms of the final outcome. but the fact that you have democrats in the house majority and republicans in the senate majority actually talking about these things is a good thing. >> it's a big step forward indeed, at least as far as it's gone so far. i also want to ask you about a major cultural change being reflected in quaker oat's decision to get rid of aunt jemima as a brand. they've changed the image over the decades but that does not change what aunt jemima represents. that's the original image we're showing now which goes back to its roots in slavery. this is owned by pepsico. why it took so long is another question. is this a positive step? >> sure. of course it's a positive step, when we can get rid of imagery

and stereotypes -- imagery that plays on stereotypes that have roots in hatred. it means that pepsico is listening to the country, paying attention to the mood of the country and the cultural movement, and also paying attention, perhaps, to members of its board who are african-american and taking leadership positions and saying this is 2020, we should not be perpetuating stereotypes that go all the way back to slavery. we are a better country than this. and i also think it speaks to the larger role corporations are playing in american culture rather than being reticent and conservative with a small "c" in how they deal with these things. they're stepping forward, and we've seen it time and time again over the last -- in this last decade on a host of social issues. >> and it's a reflection of the marketplace and purchasing power by people of all colors who find these images offensive.

thank you so much, thanks to chief bratten, of course, commissioner bratten, and to garrett haake on capitol hill and jonathan as well. stephen jackson joins us, a lifelong friend of george floyd, retired nba champion. mr. jackson, first, my condolences on the loss of the man you called your twin. i know very little time has passed in the last three weeks for you to even deal with that. we're grateful for you being willing to speak out on how you view these changes, legislative changes potentially, in response to george floyd's death. >> thank you for having me and i appreciate everything. his death is not going in vain. that's the big thing for me. he was somebody that showed so much love, killed by somebody who had so much hate in him. it doesn't make sense to me. when you hear the name george floyd, it will be the name of change. i know he's looking down, seeing

everything that's going on, leading the charge. after his death, 50 states, everybody posted at the same time because everybody is tired. i know he's looking down smiling right now. >> it's more than three weeks, and it's a global protest movement, very diverse movement. we've yet to see tangible effects other than in some cities where mayors and police chiefs have taken steps. we have yet to see a national conversation that has led to real action. what would be your message to president trump, who issued an executive order while criticizing president obama yesterday for not doing anything, even though the trump administration reversed all of the reforms after ferguson that had been effected by the obama white house? >> well, i honestly can't just put it on one president. every president that's came

before, every president that's been to the white house has seen what we've been dealing with all this time. this just happened to happen to my brother. my answer is, to whoever is in the whouite house, whoever is going to be in the white house, all the changes need to happen now. this is the moment. i've talked to people, my elders, who say we've never had this moment, never had this much protest, understanding that enough is enough. black lives do matter. this is the moment. i would tell him now is the time to make changes, not to talk about it, not to say what we're going to do in the future. he needs to sit down with the right people and have this discussion right now and make changes right now. and as you see, even with the nba, some players are even understanding this moment. and that's my family. so it's a sensitive time right now but i would tell the president, understand this moment, understand if it was your son, understand if that was your friend or somebody you

called a twin. i seen myself down there with the cops' knee on my neck so many times because we're so much alike. it's not rocket science. it's common sense. everybody sees how black and brown people get treated. i'm a person that always puts love up front for everybody. that's why people follow me because they know what i stand for. >> mr. jackson, when you have the senate today talking about studying chokeholds but the house arguing to get rid of chokeholds, after what happened to your friend, can you find any reason why any police department should be using chokeholds? >> not at all. not at all. i mean, i honestly know -- you know, i'm a realist and i know sometimes they pull up on people, you know, that's under the influence of certain things and they're not in their right mind. so there's certain things they need to do to restrain them.

but choking somebody, i don't think -- that's what you use in ufc. that's when you use when you're fighting something, when you're physically trying to hurt somebody. i definitely think that they have enough time to call backup and have enough guys to restrain somebody. i never think it gets to the point with a chokehold -- then again, on the police side, you're in the heat of the moment, you know what i mean? there's a lot of things that can happen, even with me, the brawl when i was in indiana, my teammate ran, i had to protect my teammate. things happen in the heat of the moment. but they're trained to handle it in a certain way. i think that's what they need to get better at. >> i want to pick up on your reference to the nba. you have so much experience. now various sports are opening up again. baseball is still fighting about money. there's movement among the nba. players led by kyrie irving, to commit to more diverse hiring practices in the front offices

before they resume play. where do you stand with that? >> i agree with kyrie. we've been talking a lot even before he came out and spoke. i feel like this is the moment. i got a lot of respect for adam silver. and david stern was somebody who i really respected. i honestly feel like it's possibly some way where they can play, and not take away from the moment. but i don't have the answer, because that is my family. i'm not trying to go against my family or battle with my family. the nba is my family. so i hope there's some way we can figure it out. but i just don't see it now because i haven't seen it in the past, and i hope people respect that. >> we really appreciate your views. and again, our hearts are with you in the sorrow, the continuing sorrow. i know you said you're going to take care of george floyd's young daughter and your family. thank you very much. thanks for taking this time to

be with us today. >> thank you. and coming up next, the coronavirus cases hitting record levels in several states including florida, arizona, and texas. next, we're live in coral gables and phoenix. plus blocking bolton's book. the trump administration filing suit against john bolton's tell-all. can they stop a book that's been published and distributed? this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. customizes your car insurancetl so you only pay for what you need? i should get a quote. do it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ so when it comes to screening for colon cancer, don't wait. because when caught early, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk.

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with coronavirus cases surging by more than 25% in a dozen states, arizona, texas, and florida now reporting their highest case numbers since the pandemic started. more than 2,000 new cases daily in each state. this is the government's top infectious disease expert. dr. anthony fauci says given the choice, he would not attend president trump's rally in oklahoma because he is at a high risk for contracting covid-19. and in beijing, a race to contain a second wave there as a hundred new infections are reported, three months after china declared victory over the virus. let's check in with two of those u.s. hotspots. nbc's sam brock is in coral gables, florida. vaughn hillyard is at the state capitol in phoenix, arizona. sam, the governor in florida claims increased testing explains the spike in cases.

why do experts say that's not accurate? >> reporter: here's the reason it's not accurate. according to the statistics we just saw, andrea, there has been more testing, that's true. but we just received the percent positives that were released today. 12.5% in florida, on top of 10% yesterday. that's a far cry from the 4, 5, and 6% figures we saw over the last couple of weeks. not only are we seeing more testing but the rates people are testing more positive is also spiking. andrea, this comes on the heels of anecdotes that would be eyebrow-raising and concerning around florida including what just happened in jacksonville where 15 friends went out for a night on the town. 12 of them contracted covid-19. here is one of those women who tested positive. >> i kind of noticed, this is a lot of people, you know, a lot of people in close proximity, a dance floor kind of thing, which i was excited for, i can't lie, i'm a person that was fighting

this thing, it's not that serious, and i got it. it's not about how you feel, always, because you could be contracting the disease and giving it out without showing any symptoms. >> reporter: andrea, big picture, right now 2,700 more cases announced today, that pushes florida's total to almost 83,000 cases since this started. and they have just eclipsed 3,000 deaths. very concerning and sobering numbers here in the state of florida, andrea. >> that's where they're planning the republican national convention now. now to vaughn who talked to the daughter of a man who went back to work in a phoenix casino and sadly caught the virus and died. vaughn, this is such a sad story. it's an example of what people are facing there. >> reporter: andrea, just this morning, more than 1,800 new cases reported by the state of arizona. a record-shattering week of more than 11,000 cases this week alone. you mentioned arlena washington.

i want to introduce you to her. she was a college class might of myself. as this virus spreads, everybody knows somebody that it's impacted. she's coming back to town, she's a sportscaster in sacramento, she's coming to town this weekend, andrea, to put her father robert washington to rest. she grew up in steubenville, ohio, went to notre dame to play football. moved out here. on may 15, arizona governor doug ducey allowed the state's stay-at-home order to expire. the casino he worked at reopened. he was 68 years old, a diabetic. he needed funds to pay his rent and health care. i want to let you hear directly from alina talking about her father. >> to not be able to see him, to not be able to advocate for him as a black man in this moment, at alarming rates, people who like like me and him are dying

of this virus specifically and the fact that there are no precautions, that starts from the top in terms of mandating masks. there's no accountability for those who aren't wearing masks. why isn't there accountability? >> reporter: you heard lina there, andrea, saying she's frustrated not only with governor doug ducey not taking any steps in order to change course here in the state but also with the casino. i went by one casino myself that very weekend. the place was packed, hardly a soul wearing a mask. now we're seeing the impact of those decisions three weeks ago, andrea. >> vaughn, i'm so sorry for your friend's loss of her father, such a sad story. thank you very much. doctors on the front lines in this states that are seeing spikes, rachel maddow spoke to the director of infectious diseases in birmingham about the toll on hospital staff,

especially in montgomery, alabama. >> i think the hospitals in montgomery are really being challenged right now. their ventilators are being maxed out. equally important, their staff. so i think people aren't paying attention enough to the fact that, you know, health care workforce is not an inexhaustible supply. the people who are working really, really hard to care for these patients are facing serious exhaustion, not to mention the psychological stress of seeing patients do i. die. >> let's bring in dr. david rubin, a physician and director at policy lab at the children's hospital of philadelphia. dr. rubin, thanks so much for being with us. we're seeing these spikes. we're still in the first wave of this pandemic as it moves to the southeast and the southwest. it's clearly a result of the reopening that we're seeing these spikes, correct? >> sure. i mean, i want to qualify that, that, you know, reopening itself is -- you know, we would expect some increased transmission. we need to differentiate what

reopening safely and not safely looks like. and even as we're seeing major risks now throughout the state of florida, continued risk in texas and throughout the southwest and new areas starting to flare up, we also need to understand that there are areas like denver, colorado, st. louis, missouri, columbus, ohio, areas that appear to be safely reopening. and i think it's going to become more and more important to understand exactly what those communities are doing that are allowing them to regain some of that open economy that people are seeking about without conferring extra risk to their communities. >> one of the things that has been so troubling is the lack of modeling from the leadership. we saw at the white house, in the rose garden, the fact that people weren't wearing masks other than the uniformed services there, in the rose garden yesterday, when the president was having his event. people were shaking hands, putting their arms around each

other. we're talking about senate leaders, the president, his staff. we saw the vice president in a diner the other day, without a mask. he's the head of the white house task force and he was in a diner mixing with the patrons there and not wearing a mask. don't people in washington have to show more leadership about this, to say nothing of the rally, of course, in tulsa? >> you know, i'm going to try not to speculate on the political leadership, but as we watch these outbreaks take hold in our southern and south we felt locations, it's clear that summer weather is not bailing us out here. the modeling at a toll level continuously is demonstrating that temperature and humidity can to some degree affect rates of transmission, it's not helping to change our routines. what i mean by that is in order to open safely, we have to

accommodate the way we go about our lives. that means masking rigorously and vigorously in indoor locations to protect ourselves, community members, people working those locations who need protection as well too. and then finally, protect us from travelers, as we've seen increased risk from traveling since memorial day. if we don't do those things and don't protect our outbreak locations, then we shouldn't be surprised even if we're dismayed by the tragedy that's now unfolding in the south and the southwest. >> and your reference to travelers, you're seeing -- your research shows infections along major highway routes. explain. >> well, you know, our forecast at our website, we actually look four weeks ahead. we're updating these models every week. we get to see how different metropolitan areas and communities change week to week. and we have been following, for

example, the imperial area of southern california and the inland empire in palm springs for a few weeks, and saw a significant increased risk to those areas. then you start to see over time that risk marching up the i-5 corridor into the central valley. we understand that a lot of those outbreaks in the central valley in california occurred in nursing homes but we suspect that the staff or family members were exposed in their communities. and when you see it marching that way from south to north, it suggests the traveling and the reopening is contributing risk. we've also seen some of our memorial day locations get hit particularly hard like galveston, texas. an area i would point to this week, hilton head and myrtle beach, south carolina, up to charleston, those coastal areas are particularly impacted right now. >> it's fascinating. thanks so much for your research, dr. rubin, thanks for being with us today. coming up next, protecting

state secrets, or censorship? why is the justice department trying to silence the former national security adviser? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports."

the trump administration is suing former national security adviser john bolton, demanding bolton turn over to the government any proceeds from his book, and that could be millions of dollars, despite it already having been printed and distributed widely.

the white house says it hopes to delay the release of the tell-all book due out next week. the lawsuit claims bolton's book, "the room where it happened," is rife with classified information that could hurt national security. bolton's attorney denies that claim, even as president trump went beyond any known precedent for claiming national security this week, saying that anything he discusses with any aide is automatically classified. >> he knows he's got classified information. any conversation with me is classified. then it weeks even worse if he lies about the conversation. which i understand he might have in some cases. >> the department of justice is now asking the court to require bolton to establish a trust that would direct any profits from the book to the u.s. treasury. joining me is nbc white house correspondent kristen welker and robert costa, national reporter for "the washington post." kristen, first, to you, this is such a tale of a relationship that went bad, but bolton has

already clearly done interviews, he's talked about the book. there have been leaks from the book during impeachment, showing key things that the president said about ukraine that contradicted the president's claim. so why go to the mat legally with a suit that frankly, with the famous "new york times" pentagon papers precedent against prior restraint, has very little chance of holding up in court on the prior restraint front? >> well, andrea, it's an important question. we know that president trump has been enraged about this book for months. he is concerned that it will reveal damaging information about his presidency. and so this is the one action that the justice department at least feels as though it can take. you're right, not necessarily to block the book's publication but

to potentially limit some of the royalties that john bolton would get. it's sort of this escalating war. president trump, when asked about this, accused bolton of potentially engaging in criminal activity, saying that there could be criminal charges if he were to move forward with this. but we know that from bolton's team and from his legal perspective, his legal team's perspective, the white house has conducted a review that has not been on the level. in other words, they haven't acted in good faith, if you talk to bolton and his legal team. so that is why they're moving forward at this point. they say they submitted the manuscript for a review and never really got a response back in a timely fashion. now, we know that john bolton and the president clashed over a range of issues, not just ukraine. other critical hotspots, andrea, from north korea to afghanistan. so president trump and this white house are bracing themselves for this book expected to come out a little later this month, andrea.

>> and to robert costa, robert, you were actually texting with john bolton that day where he says he quit, the president then claimed he was fired. this relationship has been so fraught. but for the president to take it on, ultimately what this lawsuit is going to do is probably increase the book sales. >> the bolton camp is pleased with any attention for this book. and knowing ambassador bolton for years, covering him, he is someone who values his own credibility and his word. and that's why he was texting me that day, to insist that he was not fired, that he resigned from the white house. this gets to the issue of credibility. bolton values his own. but president trump always contests the contributed of his critics, whether it's robert mueller, house democrats with the impeachment, now ambassador bolton. when the question of "why" is raised inside the white house, the point about attention is

brought up, that it doesn't help the president to be giving this book attention. but he believes personally he wants to be fighting at every turn to defend himself because he thinks not everyone is out there every day doing that, but also to damage the credibility of any critic, whether it's an ambassador or someone on twitter. >> robert, what is the percentage here, what is the advantage to the white house for taking this on rather than focusing on their reelection campaign, the pandemic, race relations, all the other major crises? >> because the president believes that there may not be a political advantage, though there are some trump advisers who tell me they're trying to make sure republicans, traditional conservatives, don't get pulled aside and pulled into bolton's thinking on president trump and foreign policy. what they really want to do is litigate. when you look at president trump's career, he litigates everything. by bringing bolton to court and

making these legal challenges, they're trying to bring him into the trump orbit in a way that could make him uncomfortable and draw out this entire process. >> of course john bolton, the former u.n. ambassador, yale lawyer, and former state department official, and a former fox contributor before he went to the white house. we'll leave it there for now. thanks to both of you. up next, why dr. anthony fauci says he wouldn't go to the president's rally in oklahoma. next, a look at politics amid the pandemic. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. and take. it. on... ...with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill... ...can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some-rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system... ...attacks your joints.

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questions are being raised today about just what happened to mike pence during the coronavirus pandemic. he leads the coronavirus task force. he was seen last friday in a pennsylvania diner, mixing with patrons, not wearing a mask. a reporter wrote, there isn't a coronavirus second wave, saying, quote, in recent days the media has taken to sounding the alarm bells over a second wave of coronavirus infections. such panic is overblown, we've slowed the spread, we've cared for the most vulnerable, we've saved lives. we've created a solid foundation for whatever challenges we may face in the feature, that's cause for celebration, not the nation's media fearmongering. dr. anthony fauci tells the

daily beast overnight, i don't like to talk about the second wave right now because we haven't gotten out of the first wave. this comes as dr. fauci was asked if he would attend the president's tulsa rally. he says, quote, i'm in a high risk category, of course not. joining us now, dr. patel, a former health policy director in the obama administration and bill kristol, welcome, both. dr. patel, the celebration that the vice president is talking about, when we've got spikes in texas, arizona, florida, major issues still to be resolved, alabama running out of hospital equipment in montgomery. >> absolutely, andrea. there's certainly no reason to celebrate. and while i agree that we're certainly, you know, more prepared as a nation, it would be false, and i worry that the vice president's words and probably more importantly, his

actions, not wearing a mask, being in kind of close quarters with people and taking pictures, that that sends a signal that, you know, we can just kind of go back to life as normal. we can certainly look forward to parts of our life reopening in a new normal, but we shouldn't put aside what is statistically happening. these are just numbers, andrea. cases, even in tulsa, oklahoma, are increasing, 5 to 10% each day. that's not trivial. >> and outdoor events are, of course, much safer than indoor events, and there you've got the vice president and now we're going to have on saturday in tulsa, an indoor rally at an arena that has not been use income thred in three months but wasn't scheduled to be used until july 30th, the president's major rally. we're told, bill kristol, he might do overflow crowds

outdoors as well. local officials say they'll go to the state supreme court to stop it based on health concerns. >> and they have actual responsibilities in tulsa. this is a campaign event, this isn't the president going someplace he has to go to for an important reason of state that would override some local concerns and take some risks. this is purely a campaign event. the president has to justify this, if it does create, and we hope it doesn't, but if it creates an outburst or spread of the disease. what you show about the vice president, it's so interesting, also interesting about john bolton, the degree to which this president isn't just campaigning the way he likes to campaign but is using government to spread really irresponsible and damaging, dangerous messages. this is the vice president of the united states as vice president, not wearing a mask,

not going to a campaign event, this is as vice president performing his duties, supposedly, visiting, you know, a company, going to a diner. and he's not wearing a mask, no one with him is wearing a mask, there's no exhortation, even, to wear a mask. then he makes it sound as if we did it, i think he said it's a celebration. it's so irresponsible. there are parts of the country that are in trouble, parts of the country that are going to have to be even more careful than they are now about distancing and masking. not a word about that in his op-ed in "the wall street journal" which is entirely done as a political message. then with bolton, the president has a justice department, again, not his personal lawyer, the justice department launching a very dubious, to say the least, lawsuit. when you read it, it's very interesting, the career person worked with bolton for four months, they worked out all the problems, then suddenly, michael ellis who is a political appointee in the white house

counsel's office, he used to work for devin nunes, he says, oh, no. i'm sure robert o'brien was ordered by trump to cause trouble for bolton. fine, trump can denounce bolton personally. he's got the justice department intervening in court on behalf of a frankly ridiculous lawsuit when, again, their own statement when you read it shows that the career officials had worked cl with bolton. whatever you think of him, he's a responsible person, he's been in government a long time, he's careful about classified information. he wrote a book about the bush white house, he knows what this is like. the president is using the machinery of government to pursue their campaign agendas. silencing dr. fauci is worrisome, i think. >> the voice of america, now

being led by michael pack, a newly confirmed campaign contributor who has basically been purging the professional journalists including amanda bennett, the pulitzer prize winning editor who has been leading the agency for years. it's a storied legacy of the voice of america, going back to world war ii and radio free europe, it's an outrage what's happening at the state department with the politicization of a very independent and highly recorded journalism organization. let me leave it there for now. bill kristol, we're out of time, but we'll revisit that, i hope you'll come back and talk about that and dr. patel as well. coming up next, former vice president joe biden out on the campaign trail with two stops in pennsylvania today. we'll talk to mike memoli covering the presumptive nominee. stay with us right here on msnbc. - oh. - what's going on?

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presumptive democratic

nominee joe biden is campaigning in pennsylvania today, and doing his first back-to-back event since the pandemic lockdown, meeting with small business owners this hour. in suburban philadelphia ahead of a speech on the economy, coming up at 2:00 eastern. last night, biden slammed president trump's response to the pandemic. >> the president sort of total disregard for science has become so consequential. 115,000 people dead, dead. the impact on the economy is mind boggling. mind boggling. and it shows what happens when our leaders just ignore science. people die. >> nbc news correspondent mike memoli joins us from yeadon, pennsylvania. the vice president is stepping out more. the focus is the economy, suburban philadelphia, where they need to improve their game

in terms on how hillary clinton polled on election day back in 2016. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, andrea. you know this area very well. if democrats are going to win pennsylvania and the biden campaign certainly hopes to do th that, they know they need to turn out the vote in areas like exactly where we are, yeadon, pennsylvania, delaware county. working class, heavily african-american community and, as you say, it's an indication of the former vice president beginning to slowly but surely step up the pace of campaigning in terms of his public events. we've seen him go from -- we talk about states going in phases. biden began with phase one, a small trip in wilmington, the local church, a speech in philadelphia. as you say back-to-back events. and the biden campaign wants to try to flip the script on the economy. the former vice president saying last week, and we expect to hear him in more pointed language today saying that the president's plan for reopening the economy is simply to say we're open and hope for the b t

best. as he has been planning to say it's not been health oir safe for the country. as biden put in a memo to his allies as well, they believe this is an effective weapon to turn against the president, who had hoped to run on the economy, andre andrea. >> how have the outrage over police killings, these events in three weeks in particular, affected his potential for a vice presidential running mate? >> reporter: i've been surprised in talking to biden advisers and outside democrats who have been talking with his team just how little, in fact, his search, his short list as it were, has changed from what we were talking about months ago. he has, in fact, narrowed it down some since we talked about this. we're at a much more intense phase. kamala harris and elizabeth warren continue to be among the favorites.

amy klobuchar, questions about her record as a local prosecutor in minnesota has fallen out of favor, certainly, and congresswoman like val demings in orlando has certainly raised in that list. the biggest thing that has changed were any conversations that were happening about whether to announce a running mate early, in july, before the convention, has gone by the wayside. part of that is because the pace of events have changed so much. why wouldn't the campaign take every last minute that they can to make sure they have the vetting right, the polling right and biden is fully comfortable with whom he is going to choose as his running mate and potential partner in the white house? >> critically important, especially since he'll be the oldest first-term president if he gets elected at 78. thanks so very much, mike memoli in yeadon, pennsylvania. that does it for this hour of "andrea mitchell reports." stay safe. chuck todd and katy tur pick up our coverage after this short

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good afternoon. i'm chuck todd. the latest headlines we're following at this hour, including the pa party's loan black senator tim scott are unveiling their proposal for police reform. county district attorney is expected to announce his charging decision in the killing of 27-year-old rayshard brooks by police.

we'll bring you that announcement live.