infection rates. meanwhile, new york once the epicenter of covid-19 in america is reopening with warnings not to take anything for granted. masks are the uniform of the day, even for the bronze statues surrounding rockefeller center over the weekend. joining me now, nbc news political reporter monica alba at the white house. jeff mason, also "usa today" white house correspondent is with us with her new job interview. first you, monica. the president furious about that rally. you were there. talk about what you saw with the white house, what they're claiming and how they got so far off on projections of the crowd. >> reporter: yes. significantly, andrea, we're learning that the president was already fuming before he even took off for tulsa, and that's because of the news that some of his advance staffers as well as secret service personnel tested positive for the virus. they had been on the ground for a full week before that mega rally and he was upset and annoyed that that was dominating coverage, and before he was

informed on air force one on the way to tulsa the crowds were completely under what they expected. they had billed this event to be filled to the rafters, as many as 19,000 people in that enclosed arena, and the reality on the ground is that it was really more like 6,000, maybe 10,000, depending who you ask. the tulsa fire marshal or the campaign. no matter what, it can't be disputed, thousands of empty seats there, which the president, we're told, was furious about. erupted in anger asking aides what happened? why it was even an outdoor event, supposed to address a crowd of thousands before the rally also scrapped because they couldn't get people together. they did end up blaming protesters for this but our own colleagues outside the gates didn't see evidence of enough of a closing of any of the checkpoints suggesting that thousands of people couldn't make it. all of these supporters had to sign a liability waiver. they did do temperature checks, but masks weren't required.

so, frankly, a lot of people were afraid of contracting the virus, and as you see it entering again, the president's inner circle with aides who tested positive last month, now you have the advance staffers, and also you have the campaign unclear on when they will hold another rally. since this was really viewed as a failure. they continue to defend it and say there will be more, but it's unlikely the president will allow a repeat of what we saw over the weekend which also raises questions just about what his re-election message is ahead of november. there was no clear strategy delivered on saturday night, andrea. >> and one of the things so surprising, jeff mason. you were inside. he spent at least ten minutes if not longer talking about that whole issue that he first raised about walking down the ramp at the west point speech and all the rest and blamed it on his leather soles. why bring that up in a rambling speech, and how surprised were you to see the empty seats in the upper decks?

>> yeah. a great question, andrea. let's just talk a little about what those rallies usually do for president trump. when he goes to these rallies and hasn't been able to for a few months because of the pandemic, he feeds off of the crowd. he feeds off of their energy. he likes to talk about things, like the west point issue that he brought up, even if it's rambling. he likes to go off on story, get reactions. so he didn't have that energy on saturday night from the crowd, and even very -- he rated his own speech at average. so the reason that all of us are reporting about the crowd size is because it's the trump campaign and president trump himself who make a big deal of these crowds, and that didn't happen. it didn't happen saturday night and had impact, i think, on his performance, and certainly as monica alluded to, causing questions, or generalting questions how to move forward.

>> susan paige, you interviewed john bolton. the other obvious irritant for the president. he calls the white house a pinball machine and talks about the 2020 election in this clip from your interview. let's watch. >> i think it's critical the day after the election whether trump wins or loses that the battle for the soul of the republican party begins, and certainly in the national security field, i think it's very important that the party come to the view that we need to correct the mistakes that the trump administration made. >> so you're not voting for trump or by biden. who you voting for? >> write in the name of a conservative republican yet to be determined. >> so, susan, you sat down with him. bolton caused a firestorm obviously. he won and he lost in legal arguments for the temporary injunction that came down. we heard the judge said that he

likely did include classified information, which he has not acknowledged which he denies, in fact, but they could not stop, the white house could not stop the book from being published. you have one. i've got one. it's all over town and 200,000-plus copies ashround th country ready to ge out tomorrow. >> that's right. the book is out there for sure. john bolton was, argued that the administration was misuse ag review process to try to delay publication of the book until after the election. he was quite determined to get the book out, because he wants his book to affect the election. he wants his book to stand as a cautionary tale for people who might be thinking about voting for his former boss. so he's taken actually quite a significant risk. the administration can go after his proceeds. he could even potentially be subject to criminal prosecution for not complying with the review process, but this is

intended to be a statement by john bolton on the conclusions he reached about the president he once served. >> and, jeff, we both covered john bolton in past administrations as well. i've watched him through the years at the u.n. and state department. this is someone who is a committed conservative republican. when not in office, a fox contributor. he is a yale lawyer. he knew what he was doing. he knows the bureaucracy. known as a great bureaucratic in-fighter, because he is so committed to his ideology in previous administrations. how did it come to pass that he was brought in with such celebrity and then got on the wrong side of the president, the secretary of state, and a lot of other people, because of his hard lines and obviously took very careful notes. that was noted by everyone along the way. it's not a big surprise that this book came out. >> no, indeed. the notetaking no doubt helped

with the book writing. no question about that. the point you make is spot-on. john bolton is a controversial figure for sure, but no one can question his conservative bona fides, one reason when he came in to the administration he was supported from members of congress including lindsey graham and by the president who chose him to come in. so right now there are lots of questions about critics saying why are you bringing this up now instead of doing so while in the administration? but his background having served three republican presidents and having been there with those credentials is not a question at all. >> and susan, you're write ag bo bo book on nancy pelosi. saw a divide between adam schiff and the impeachment leader saying they did want to hear from him, and want to hear from him now, and the, chairman nadler and others saying you know, why bother? why waste our time on him? the argument, of course, is that

he could have, could have been a major witness on impeachment, and made it impossible to have him there, and by saying he would only come if subpoenaed. what do you thing congress is going to do? do they want to hear from him? >> i think there's division on that. i think they have other fish to fry, a lot of interest pursuing the attorney general william barr. i think that may take a higher priority than going back to john bolton. you know, john bolton told me one extraordinary thing which is if he was a senator thinks he would have voted to convict donald trump and remove him from office because of the ukraine affair. >> pretty startling. there's another departure pending from the white house, monica. we've confirmed geoff bennett, our colleague, confirmed kevin hassett is leaving again, for those who think this is deja vu all over again, chito paraphras

yogi barra. previously left in march and came back to become a top economic adviser and one of the great truth-tellers in that economic team during the pandemic, and now is leaving again. do we know the story behind this? >> reporter: exactly, andrea. he had said when he returned in march he was looking to serve 90 days, counsel the president specifically on economic matters and make a decision whether he would continue in an adviser capacity or leave. looks to be as we end that term he is going to be departing the white house and will still probably be somebody who informally advises the president and other members of the economic team, but somebody from the beginning has sounded the alarm bells about the seriousness of the pandemic, and quite frankly has been blunt about where the administration had missteps. also somebody from the beginning defended wearing masks and said he would do that in his own personal capacity before we saw other members of the west wing eventually do that, but only as a result of other members testing positive. so as we head into this new

phase, the questions are, what happens with the next stimulus or relief package? kevin hassett was an important member in those discussions. we'll see now where that goes, andrea. >> indeed. he's a real economist, former head of the cea and former federal reserve official. leaving his reputation intact. thanks so very much to tall of you. susan paige, jack mason, mosque kaw alba and this afternoon in atlanta a public viewing held for rayshard brooks, the 27-year-old father who was fatally shot by police after an incident that started when he fell asleep in his car in a weeke wendy's's parking lot and later tested positive for alcohol p. a dui that basically led to his death somehow. and with us from ap he's inner baptist church where dr. martin luther king jr. used to preach. you've covered from the beginning this tragic story and

this is the beginning of the public viewing, and i guess tomorrow the service for him? >> reporter: absolutely, andrea. you mentioned dr. martin luther king jr. his daughter, the reverend bernice king will be among the speakers speaking here at that memorial service tomorrow afternoon. so what we're seeing today, this is day one of two days of events honoring rayshard brooks. today is open to the public. it's a public visitation starting later this afternoon. in fact, you see behind me the area where members of the public can come in, line up and file inside to pay their respects for about four hours later today. now, this is the only day of public events. tomorrow everything turns appreciate and they'll be a memorial service. at the request of rayshard brooks's family, this is only going to be open to family members. to close friends. those who received an invitation to come inside the church tomorrow. as all of this is happening, though, andrea, of course, we are also watching what's becoming an increasingly notable reaction from some members of the atlanta police department. remember, two atlanta police

officers, one current and one terminated charged with rayshard brooks's death. since the charges came down last wednesday, the city has acknowledged they've seen a higher than average number of officers calling out sick. in fact, the interim police chief spoke about this over the weekend and had a message directly to the officers. take a look. >> over the past few days we've seen higher than average number of officers call in sick. the explanation for calling out sick varied and include officers questioning their training, officers being challenged and attacked, and unease about officers seeing their colleagues criminally charged so quickly. i want each of you to know that we are in this together, and we support you. >> reporter: so andrea, the city's interim police chief speaking out over the weekend. first time we heard from him. remember, after this happened

the police chief stepped down. the officer immediately fired. we're see you now, when i spoke with the leader of a police union who actually represents the two officers facing charges, had says this isn't a coordinated sfrcoordinate ed strike or anything like that. just men and women on the force quite frankly feeling fed up and wanted to walk away. again, back here at ebenezer baptist church, the viewing begins at 3:00 this afternoon and is open to the public. andrea? >> thanks so much. blayne alexander. so many conflicts and such a sad story. up next, 26 states have seen coronavirus cases increase over the last two weeks. the facts you need to know. we'll have it all. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. >> we don't feel comfortable leaving our patients to take 20, 30 minutes break because we want to be there for our patients just in case something happens, because that's how unstable they are.

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with coronavirus cases hitting a record high globally according to the w.h.o., here are the facts at this hour. nationwide 26 states now have seen an increase in cases over the last 14 days. 7 of those states seeing a spike of 100% or more. in florida, new cases shot up by almost 50% in the past two weeks. 13 straight days of 1,000 new infections or more per day, and governor ron desantis pivoting away from blaming testing for

the spike. out west, california set a record for its highest count over the weekend. five months after reporting its first case. mask-wearing mandatory in california. texas is one of the nation's hot spots where we find nbc news the morgan chesky in dallas. more than 23,800 case counts in texas yesterday. to what do they attribute it? >> reporter: andrea, ub numbere absolutely concerning and seeing pushback to the governor asking for more ability to enforce policies in their cities. you mentioned austin and an santonio. they've made now an infamous list being in the top five hot spots in the entire country. meanwhile, here in dallas, city leaders just enacted a new mask policy where businesses are now being asked, to ask any customer who comes in to have a face covering on, except for certain

circumstances. and this all comes as texas is seeing a rise in cases. governor greg abbott expressing hospital space is available, but not taking away from the fact we had more than 4,000 new cases reported alone on saturday pap new daily high, and seeing a record number of hospital asians as well here in texas, and we know that houston has its own problems as well. you mentioned florida in particular as seeing a spike in cases there. we did see that stunning pivot from governor ron desantis there acknowledging the fact that not only are these rise of new cases not a result of just increased testing, but as of the virus that's spreading as well, the governor acknowledging a new type of covid patient not just there but here in texas and other states as well, andrea. that's just a younger individual that is now testing positive for the virus, and that's why you have older populations earlier on that were most at risk, and now as more people go out and

about, particularly in states like this where restrictions have been loosened, that younger population is going to be a key demographic to look for as the cases continue to go up, and city leaders try to figure out the best way to keep that virus karened. andrea? >> thanks so much. morgan, thank. and joining us, the emergency room doctor and the department of health and human services doctor, thank you very much. maybe you can tell us to what you attribute these spikes and the fact that the infection rates, the hospitalizations rates are increasing as dangerous numbers in a number of these states? >> sure, andrea. this is really concerning. two weeks ago we talked about states counts increasing. then 12. now up to 26 states the counts are increasing, but a sort of mixed picture, more testing or something else going on? what we see in many of these

states is that the number of hospitalizations and the sort of health care utilization is increasing's that tell us there is disease spread going on and only happens a couple of reasons. first is that these economies opened up too far and too fast before the transmission chains were broken. i think in a lot of these states the governors simply pushed too far too quickly. second thing is people are mixing in far too large numbers, without the use of appropriate barriers. not using face masks. and other things to socially distance appropriately. and then the third thing is that we just don't have good contact tracing and isolation in a lot of these places. so when a case is detectsed, we're not able to sort of isolate that person appropriately so the disease transmission continues. >> one of the things that was so startling about the rally this weekend was the president joking about, well, he says he was joking, but it was clear from his speech he wasn't really joking. at least as far as most people

there could tell, and most people watching. he said that the problem is that we're testing too much, and that he told his people to slow the testing down. the president acknowledging that he had actually slowed the testing of people around the country which is such a critical part of getting your arms around this pandemic. what do you make of it? >> well, it's unfortunate, andrea. i don't know any situation, president or not, where making light of 120,000 american fatalities is funny. i'm sure it's certainly not funny to their families and will speak about it from the health care perspective which sis to sy of the 1120,020,0001,000 were m colleagues, nurses, paramedics, doctors, who died from being exposed to this. we're battling a public perception this is not serious. for those that go to work every day and try to take care of these patients, in sis deeply personal. anytime the president or any

person who has power of a microphone behind them sort of i think tilts the public perception this isn't a real thing is extremely unfortunate and very dangerous for the country. >> one of the things so striking also about dr. eastoof oossterhf our colleagues on "meet the press" said he doesn't see it as a second wave or potential second wave in the fall. he sees this more of a forest fire that is going to be with us for the foreseeable future? >> sure, andrea. you know, when we compare the epidemiological curves for the united states to 1some of the other places around the world heavily hit, particularly europe and asia. they were able to drive down transmission enough the population affected decreased closer to zero. here in the united states we haven't been able to achieve that, haven't broken the transmission chains enough and now are seeing a steady state of approximately 24 to 30,000 new

cases a day. when that happens, you get to the situation where you don't see a second spike. what you really see is continued and sustained burn like the doctor mentioned. and it's unfortunate, because it's going to lead to much greater pain and suffering here in the country, and takes that much longer before we can all get back to life at normal. >> got you. dr. ramirez, great have your insight. thank you. coming up, you're fired. new york city's top federal prosecutor is out after a standoff over the weekend with president trump and the attorney general william barr. what does this mean for the investigations into some of the president's inner circle? that's coming up next. still ahead, a noose is found in bubba wallace's garage after the nascar driver successfully pushed to ban the confederate flag from the track. more on this horrific incident. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

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whatsome people sayorner that's ridiculous.ent. age is just an illusion.

how you show up for the world, that's what's real. what's your idea? i put it out there with a godaddy website. there's a new u.s. attorney reporting for duty in the renowned southern district of new york after a whirlwind series of blirnds by attorney general bill barr and president trump this weekend beginning with barr's attempt at friday night massacre to force out the incumbent jeffrey berman announces he had resigned. just before midnight berman issued an extraordinary letter of rebuttal. unprecedented denial saying he had no intention of quitting, and could not be fired by the

attorney general. significantly adding he intended to continue pursuing his ongoing cases. berman who showed up for work saturday morning had been overseeing the prosecution of first of all the president's former lawyer michael cohen, also investigating cronies of rudy giuliani and perhaps giuliani himself on lobbying issues, and handled the case against a turkish state-run bank that john bolton has written the president promised turkey's president during the transition he would protect once he took office. barr then played the only card interest in his hand asking president trump to sign off on removing berman, firing him. the president immediately distanced himself from the earliest opportunity. >> why did you fire jeffrey berman, mr. president? why did you fire him? >> that's up to the attorney general. the attorney general, barr, he's working 0en that. that's his department. not my department. but we have a very capable attorney general. so that's really up to him. i'm not involved.

>> the drama continued in the next couple of hours as judiciary committee chairman lindsey graham broke with the white house, unusual step signaling barr's designated replacement, trump's golf partner, could not get confirmed by the senate. joining me now, former u.s. attorney chuck rosenberg and former fbi assistant director for the counterintelligence division. chuck, you've been a u.s. attorney in various venues. how crazy was all of this? i mean, we do have jeffrey berman's, current deputy as acting u.s. attorney for the southern district, but this was -- startling, to say the least? >> yeah. the very best you can say for it, andrea it was poorly handled. ham-handed. i did serve as u.s. attorney in two different districts. we all understand when we're in that role we serve at the pleasure of the president and that we could be removed.

but removing a u.s. attorney for what appears to be a political reason. meaning, interference in ongoing investigations is deeply troubling. you know, i wouldn't necessarily lead to that conclusion in the ordinary administration, in the ordinary course, but when you're talking about mr. barr and what he has displayed, including management of cases in the district of columbia involving allies of the president like roger stone and general flynn, it's hard not to lead to that conclusion. so the office is in good hands. i'm not worried about it. i'm worried about the leadership at the very top of the department of justice. that's where the interference has come from, and i worry that's where it could come from again. >> and the whole issue of putting jay clayton in to the nysd when he's never been a prosecutor, not been a litigat r litigator. was a white shoot lawyer.

one client deutsche bank, under investigation by that division. we don't know much about that. how strange? playing golf with the president within five or six days of this evolving and just sent a memo out to his whole staff at the s.e.c. he was looking forward to them all coming back and not working from home. the day before this happened. >> right. the lack of qualifications and who clayton is and his previous affiliations and current affiliations contribute to this perception that this is more than just a change of personnel. the best case scenario is that we simply have an imperial presidency philosophy. the president can do whatever he wants, if he like as gs a guy, n put him in a spot he wants him. the worst-case scenario, we have

an attorney general willing to enter into all of this conflict, bring a barrage of criticism. enter into what looks lying appearance of conflict all in service of a president. the thing most disturbing that needs to come out. you mentioned ierdogan and the turkish bank case. trump said i'll help you out, but the important part, those prosecutors aren't my people. guess what? prosecutors aren't supposed to be trump's people. they're supposed to be america's people, but this move looks like the president is trying to move "one of his people" into one of the most important prosecutor position in our country. that's what makes this smell very badly. >> and, chuck it was very significant, really noted that in berman's resistance on friday night, saying in that late-night statement, i'm not quitting, and by the way, i'm going to continue running these cases.

he pointed to the fact he was going to continue to be in charge of these cases. he seemed to be signaling that he was focused on the cases and protecting those cases which involved lev parnas, igor fruman and potentially rudy giuliani, we don't know and the turkey investigation. so many investigations, particularly deutsche bank and the whole inner circle of the president of the united states. why do this five months, or before an election, just say, potentially end of your term? >> well, to frank's point. seems like they want someone, and this is the worst, most nefarious explanation of what they did. they want someone to take control of these cases, nature of allies to the president can go scot-free. look, what the u.s. attorney, what jeff berman did on his way out was very important. he sent the signal to the work force, to the southern district of new york, to the department of justice, to the american

people at large, that they're going to follow the facts and apply the law and that's what prosecutors do day in and day out around the country. again, my concern, andrea, is not with the southern district of new york or its prosecutors. those are all civil servants. they're career men and women who are serving for the right reason. my concern is that the top of the department of justice. that's where the interference has come from. and so to frank's point. again, the best explanation is that it was ham-handed. the best explanation is that it was sort of a stumbling into this thing and thought nobody would notice and they could put a trump golfing buddy in charge of one of the most important prosecutors' offices in the country. that's the best explanation. the most nefarious is that they're trying to make sure that the president's allies are treated differently than anyone else. and that is the part that deeply concerns me. >> and finally, frank, the fact

of lindsey graham, who stood by the president through thick and thin saying he would let chuck schumer by the normal process decide wither this nomination of mr. clayton could proceed. clearly saying senate republican was not happy watching this evolve over the weekend? >> well, so there's good news/bad news in this coming from lindsey graham. let's not make the ins take thinking that lindsey graham is taking the moral high road here, but rather sadly politics have entered in more than ever before in what really should not be political. that's prosecution of personnel decision-making. but lindsey graham is up against it in his home state and trying to decide whether he wants to go down with this president. we're seeing distancing rather than the moral high road. all involves career doj people.

it politicized things that should not be politicized. >> thank you both. two of the very best. thank you so much. and make sure to check out chuck's latest podcast speaking with former surgeon general and subscribe to the oath on apple podcasts. coming up, the voice of america. fears over ending the independent journalism at the u.s. media agency after the president's new appointee forces all all editors and advisers as well. plus, nascar launching an investigation into the noose found hanging in bubba wallace's team garage. only fulltile black driver who successfully called for nascar to ban the confederate flag. this is "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc.

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sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. president trump's choice to head a major government media operation, the u.s. agency for global media, launched a wholesale trashing of the venerable divisions of that organization. michael pack firing dozens of leaders from the voice of america, radio for europe, radio free asia and the middle east network and others all run by the u.s. government. the voice of america alone delivers television and radio programming to more than 236 million people across the world. pack's first step force out amanda bennett. winner of two pulitzers prizes.

this part of president trump's plan to gain control over an independent and federally funded organization? joining me undersecretary of state during the obama administration and he wrote this book. it comes out tomorrow in paperback. congratulations on that, and thanks for joining us. a lot of us have been really concerned about all the firings. not just taking out the top leaders of voa, bad as that was. a bad warning sign, but going to advisory boards that include people like ambassador ryan crocker. all of these independent non-partisan people, and the experts who run these different, these different video programs, language experts, all of these people who are so experienced as journalists. what do you make of it? >> yeah. it's -- it's a bit of a tragedy,

andrea. u.s. international broadcasting is vast. it has a 750 million dollar budget, not trivial, even in the federal government it grew out of the cold war where we were trying to reach people around the world, and talk about freedom with independent press, and that's basically what it has been. there's about 3,500 employees. they devoutly believe in their mission to bring objective, fair-minded news to people around the world. the appointment of michael pack and approval of michael pack is, he's kind of a propagandist. everybody who's been head of doa and the broadcaster board of governors, super global media have been fair-minded and not politically minded. to have somebody who wants to possibly create trump tv on an international stage is a really dreadful idea. >> and this comes at a time when

u.s. -- the whole profile of the united states has been so severely damped. look at the bolton book. whatever you think of john bolton, just the description of the way we are viewed, the way alliances have been damaged, and these independent journalists, i've seen them for years, traveled with them overseas. they are remarkable. the language experts involved. the legacies involved. this goes all the way back to our fight against the nazis, when you look at the origins of these agencies. >> yes. i mean, they do something wonderful for america. they're trusted by people around the world to bring fair-minded news. news that, you know -- these services actually criticize america at the same time and become a lesson for broadcasters and other people. like, wow, you could have a broadcaster that criticizes your own government? people didn't realize that. it's a really powerf excemplar,

and if it's the kind of tv he uses to broad casted within the u.s. for election in 2020, that would be an extraordinary violation of its mission and something congress should really get heated about. in fact, congress, you know, support for these agencies, the broadcasting board of governors, now international broadcasters, has always been bipartisan. bob corker, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, a republican, was a great champion of it. so we need to protect these. these are crown jewels of international broadcasting for america. >> and all we have to say is that steve bannon, the mentor of michael pack. we will stay on this. thanks so much. congratulations on the book.

and coming up next, nascar's bubba wallace says he will not be deterred in his fight against racism after a noose was found hanging in his team's garage. jamel hill joins us next. stay with us. you're watching msnbc.

ohorrifying raceant incident marring nascar's reopening in alabama where a noose was found in bubba wallace's garage stall. nascar is outraged. comes two weeks after wallace is nascar's only full-time black driver convinced them to ban confederate flags at its racing tracks and facilities. a plane also flew overhead with a banner saying defund nascar. wallace tweeting overnight today's despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a in aful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how

persistent we must be in the fight against racism. joining me now is jamel hill and host of spotify podcast jamel hill is bothered. we're all bothered by this. such a dreadful turn when bubba wallace had been so curages in standing up for what he believed in and changing the sport. >> right, for him what he has done and how he has been able to speak to some issues that frankly you never see discussed in nascar and for the blow back and the reminder, the painful reminder of just how much people are invested in remaining and maintaining racist institutions. for him to get that message, i think it's just beyond unfortunate. it's sad. but nascar they've had to deal with maybe not directly nooses in stalls, but the shadow of the confederate flag being a symbol

that you often saw at nascar races. these very overt reminders about who this sport is exactly for and who should be a fan of this sport. this is something they have been dealing with a long time and, unfortunately, in this way these issues bubbled to the surface. >> and that had to be an impediment to nascar reaching out to a broader audience, as well as having more drivers want to even part of the sport. >> yeah, i mean, i think most people of color, if you've attended a nascar race or even thought about it, there are just certain symbols and a certain mood and a certain sentiment that has been bubbling at the surface of nascar events and nascar has been trying to somewhat move away from it. and i say somewhat in kind of air quotes but at the same time, you know, as someone who has attended several nascar races it's hard for people of color to feel comfortable in these environments when you see the

confederate flag everywhere when you just get this sense that you're at something that you're not welcome at. as much as nascar may try to distance itself from that it is a living, breathing part of their sport. for this reminder is very stunning, shocking, appalling, disgusting reminder of who, again, this sport is for. i'm very curious to see how nascar handles this because based off of what everything i've read is that this had to be an inside job because this garage was only open to essential personnel. so, somebody associated with nascar likely may have been the culprit, which what does that say for a sport that is trying to create a more positive racial future. >> and they have to investigate, they can't just brush this off. that's really, really smart point. they've got to find out who did this and they've got to, you

know, take action and bring in the police. bring in investigators because that's a hate crime. you know, there's no question about it. there's no place for it. this as so many sports have been dealing with these issues. we've seen, you know, the capper nack issue and how roger goodell has changed his position. i'm not sure whether he has apologized adequately to the cost of kaepernick's career by being banned from the sport by the owners rejecting but the whole change about kneeling and protests within the nfl is a major change. what do you think at this point as we just look around sports. do you have any optimism given the pandemic and the recent positive testing and training camps that we're going to see a baseball season at all? >> i'm not optimistic especially as you've seen that, you know, in the minor leagues that there has been some positive testing. the nba, obviously, they have a

plan in place to go forward. but at the same time, you see florida having an outrageous number of spikes in their cases. they don't seem to have as a state much less we as a country have a handle on any competent response to this pandemic, which is going to put a lot of athletes at risk. the nfl, college football, they seem to be determined to go ahead. but, you know, i guess as not just as a sports fan but, obviously, someone who chronicles what happens in sports as a living. i think they need to understand about what that is going to look like when you have an athlete that tests positive in the middle of a quote/unquote season about what that will do to the psyche of people who are watching this. you're asking people to put their lives at risk. i know they're athletes and they're healthy, but we still don't know what the full impact of what this virus does to say they'll recover and being okay some level of positive testing. it is really irresponsible. but an entire economy around

sports. but you have, you know, players i understand they want to return. you have leagues that have television money that they certainly don't want to give back and a lot of money that's at stake. but i don't know if we can comfortably proceed with sports just as normal when you have no fans and we're still under this pandemic until there is really a vaccine, no measure of safety they can guarantee anybody. you just have to wonder, what cost is going to be too high for them to pay when it comes to planning to proceed ahead with sports, particularly when you're talking about college athletes who don't have the same level of leverage or say so in what happens in that sport. >> well, thanks so much for all of your expertise. it's really good to see you, again. thanks for being with us. we all want sports to come back, but it has to be safe. and before we go, want we want to bring you some good news. this is a heartwarming update to a story we told you about several weeks ago. this weekend 66-year-old ron was

able to go home after 12 weeks in the hospital and rehab battling covid-19. he was home in time to celebrate his wife's birthday and father's day this weekend. so, congratulations to ron and to the whole family and, of course, to the great doctor who took care of him and made all this possible. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." ari picks up our coverage after a break. way more unique fixtures and tiles. pairing. ♪ nice. way more top brands in sinks and faucets. way more ways to rule your renovation. nice! on any budget, with free shipping. wayfair. way more than furniture. 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]

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