good morning out west and a good afternoon here in the east. i'm chuck todd. there are more than 2.3 million confirmed cases of covid-19 in the united states since the start of this pandemic. more than 121,000 people have died. but our curve is moving up. the state of florida is seeing record high cases today. the dow plunged 800 points on the news of the renewed concern about the virus. it's now down around 600 points. governors cuomo, murphy and lamont of the tri-state area of the northeast announced a joint state travel advisory. then just moments ago the house judiciary committee began its hearing into the politicization of the justice department under attorney general barr as republican members of the committee attempted to disrupt

the hearing. >> mr. barr's actions make clear that in his department of justice the president's allies get special treatment. the president's enemies real and imagined are targeted for extra scrutiny and the needs of the american people and the needs of justice are generally ignored. and a federal court of appeals has ordered district court judge emmitt sullivan to drop the case against michael flynn. we're going to have more on that news in a moment. a lot of moving parts this morning both in sort of some inside the beltway type of news and also some big stuff having to do with the virus and police reform. joining me now is my co-anchor for the next two hours, katy tur, and we're watching a lot this hour so where are we beginning? >> you can add climate change to that list but that's coming a

bit later. democrats called the measure flawed. we're going to talk to senator tammy duckworth about that shortly. we're also following more spikes in coronavirus cases across the country especially in places that reopened early, did not mandate masks and were lax in enforcing social distancing. the u.s. recorded more than 35,000 new cases yesterday alone. a lot of them in the south and the southwest. and that is the highest one-day total since april. the seven day rolling average of new cases is almost back to where it was during the height of this crisis with no signs of slowing down. and it's not just new cases. 863 americans died from the virus yesterday. that is the highest death toll in two weeks. chuck, we've been talking about death toll being a lagging indicator. this could be one -- potentially one example of it. >> the daily caseload curve is to me the most demoralizing of all of it. when you see we are basically

two days away it looks like from possibly surpassing what was our highest seven-day average peak. that -- i don't know if we're going to talk about first or second waves anymore but that's a troubling sign. meanwhile, we want to go over to that house judiciary committee, katey, because aaron zelenskiy who is one of the outspoken prosecutors alleging this bias is beginning his testimony. i believe we can start dipping into that now so let's take a listen. >> a nonpartisan career prosecutor. our job is to see that justice is done in every case without fear or favor, without party or politics. it's unusual for a prosecutor like myself to testify about a criminal case. and as outlined further in my written remarks there may be reasons why my testimony will therefore be limited in some

respects. the department of justice has cleared me today to discuss matters relate today the roger stone sentencing. let me now turn to the stone case. the first thing that every ausa learns is we treat every defendant equally and fairly. in the united states of america we do not prosecute people based on politics, and we don't cut them a break based on politics either. but that wasn't what happened here. roger stone was treated differently because of politics. at the time of these events, february of 2020, i was a career assistant united states attorney as i am proud to be now. i was not privy to discussions with political leadership at the department of justice. what happened is based on two things. what i saw and what i heard. what i saw was that roger stone was being treated differently from every other defendant. he received breaks that are in

my experience unheard of and all the more so for a defendant in his circumstances. a defendant who lied to congress, who remained unrepetitant and who made threats against a judge and a witness in his case. and what i heard repeatedly was that this leniency was happening because of stone's relationship to the president. that the acting u.s. attorney for the district of columbia was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the department of justice and that his instructions to us were based on political considerations and i was told that the acting u.s. attorney was giving stone a break because he was afraid of the president of the united states. i believe that was wrong, and together with fellow aligned prosecutors i immediately and repeatedly said so. unfortunately, our objection were not heeded. first we were pressured to reduce the initial sentencing calculation guidelines for mr. stone without any clear rationale for doing so. when we refused to go along we

were instructed instead to disregard the guidelines entirely and to recommend an unspecified lower sentence for mr. stone. i was told that to the best of anyone's recollection such a recommendation has never been made by the fraud and corrections section of the attorneys office. when we again refused we were told we could be fired if we didn't go along. i intended to withdraw from the case rather than file a memo that was the result of wrongful political pressure. and while all this was happening i was repeatedly told the department's acs were not based on the law or facts but rather on political considerations, mr. stone's political relationships and that the acting u.s. attorney was afraid of the president. shortly after i informed the office of my intent to withdraw office leadership changed its position and allowed us to file a sentencing memorandum. we filed the memo and heard nothing that evening. but at 2:48 a.m. that morning

the president tweeted that the sentencing memo was horrible and very unfair and cannot allow this miscarriage of justice. later that day we learned the department was going to issue a new sentencing memorandum, asking for an open ended downward departure for mr. stone. we were not allowed to see the new proposed memo. we weren't even told who was writing it. at this point i made the difficult choice to resign from the case and my assignment in the u.s. attorney's office in d.c. i resigned because following orders would have violated the oath i swore when i took my job. to be clear, my concern is not with the sentence mr. stone received. i'm not here to criticize. the department of justice treated roger stone differently from everyone else, and i was told the department cut roger stone a break because of his relationship to the president.

i take no satisfaction in publicly criticizing the actions of the department of justice where i've spent most of my legal career. i have always been and i remain proud to be an assistant united states attorney. it pains me to describe these events but as judge jackson said in this case the truth still matters. and so i'm here today to tell you the truth. i would be pleased to answer your questions. >> thank you very much. we will now proceed under the 5-minute rule with questions. without objection -- >> so that was roger stone prosecutor aaron zelenskiy. he's testifying right now before the house judiciary committee. we are going to monitor the hearing for this q&a and we will have more highlights fum the q&a for you as our two hours go on. garrett, the point of this hearing is to examine is the

justice department being overly politicized by the white house or in other ways. when or if -- i should ask is it when or if when it comes to a subpoena for the attorney general? >> reporter: well, it sounds like neither, chuck. it sounds like we're going to see the attorney general testifying in front of this same committee at the end of july. just a short time ago the doj spokesperson for the attorney general tweeted out he had accepted an agreement to appear in front of this committee on july 28th. that probably short circuits the subpoena conversation that had been going on. there's a process by which the committee has to go through to get a subpoena for someone like a cabinet official. they've been trying to get him there i believe next week, but now they're going to have this delayed hearing july 28th or at least they hope. >> has he ever testified before the house judiciary committee? i don't believe he has since during this stint as attorney general? >> reporter: i don't believe so. in this case he was originally

scheduled to testify in march and that was canceled because of the pandemic. so we're kicking the can at least these four months down the road until the end of july. i can't recall him testifying before the -- at least since it's been the democratically controlled house, no. >> what else do we expect at this hearing? and it seems we have the michael flynn news happening almost on a parallel track that some will argue has got the same issues. will that make it into this hearing or this larger investigation? >> reporter: almost certainly. i think we'll hear more about michael flynn and the back and forth with the justice department there from some of these other witnesses including michael mucasey, a former attorney general himself and a former judge who can speak on that issue. we're also going to hear from another prosecutor testifying as a whistle-blower about interference from the white house and any trust negotiations, essentially accusing the government of starting frivolous

investigations into cannabis companies trying to merge saying this was only done because the federal government opposes cannabis as a business and wanted to make life difficult for them. also on auto emission standards essentially using the department of justice and investigative practices but subpoena documents, to make it hard for companies to operate as a way to show disfavor from the federal government as a way to make it harder for businesses who the president perceived to be enemies of his or supporters to do their jobs. >> it's an ugly picture being painted right now in the justice department. garret, thank you. katey, the most fascinating part to me about the aaron zelenskiy testimony we just heard, number one it was cleared by the justice department so they knew in advance. they don't deny getting involved. they just deny it was a political motivation that got the attorney general involved. he just thought the sentencing thing was a mistake and he got

involved that way. they're not denying he was getting involved. they're just denying the motive, and i think that becomes eye of the beholder. >> he says he was told this was political, and that he believed that the i guess the assistant acting u.s. attorney was afraid of the president. and from the reactions we've seen a number of administration officials and conversations that i've had privately with senior administration officials that is the feeling. don't cross the president because if you do you could lose your job. >> katey, really quick -- >> go ahead. >> he did all this in plain sight. they're going, well, they were worried about -- as aaron zelenskiy laid out he did it on twitter. he's been interfering with the justice department in plain sight on twitter. the only difference with he and nixon is the nixon stuff was on tape. >> good point. and he's also done so much of this out in the open that it's

sort of -- it's committing a crime out in the open, it's like that. if you do it with everyone able to see it, it doesn't look like it's as shady or as sneaky when, you know, in the past when somebody had done this behind the scenes it would seem like it was more nefarious. that's kind of what the motivation has been i guess for lot of of this the president has always said the quiet part out loud. we are following breaking news surrounding the d.c. court of appeals which ordered a federal judge to dismiss the case against former national security advisor michael flynn. the doj filed to dismiss the charges against flynn last month, but the judge was reluctant to drop the case.

flynn previously pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi, a plea he's now attempting to withdraw. joining us now is nbc news justice correspondent pete wi williams. this news dropped on our air about a month ago. bring us up to speed what has happened and what is happening today? >> so this is all about a rule of the courts that says when the justice department seeks to dismiss a case and drop a prosecution the judge shall grant it unless he finds that it's not in the public interest. and the question is how much latitude does the judge have to actually look behind the curtain about why the government wants to drop the case and intoday by a vote of 2-1 a panel of the federal appeals court here in washington says very little. the panel says based on supreme court rulings and other case law the only time a judge can look under the hood is if there's some indication the government is trying to pull a fast one on the defendant by dropping the charges and then refiling them

again. the court says there's no indication of that. gameover, the judge must drop the charges because the decision about whether to file or withdraw charges is exclusively one for the executive branch, in this case the justice department. so it's going to be over for flynn unless, there's an asterisk on this, in theory judge sullivan could appeal this or any judge on the appeals court could say you know what i want to take another look at this and that would wipeout this panel of opinion today. so we don't yet know. it goes back to judge sullivan for now with orders to drop the case, but we'll see whether the full appeals court wants to take another look at this or not. even though flynn pleaded guilty twice you can't say he was ever

convicted because the conviction only attaches if there was a sentence. >> pete williams, pete, thank you very much. chuck, i know we're going to go to the white house in a minute but i'd be curious to ask the president what happens to flynn now? does he have space in the trump administration? is there room for him going forward, does the president plan on bringing him back? >> didn't help his charge on not interfering. he tweeted about it so quickly that it only feeds the notion he is very hands-on with justice department decisions shall we say, that's perhaps being a bit generous. let's move forward to the white house. european union is planning to black american travelers from entry when it reopens its borders on june 1st. the stark repudiation comes as the u.s. has seen cases surging

in recent weeks while infections in the eu have fallen. even as the united states currently tops the list of countries with the most coronavirus cases the president has been more than happy to restarteralries and visit his racially charged nickname. jeff, i saw secretary of state pompeo was asked about this issue that basically americans are going to be blocked from going to europe. this would be a time many americans might travel to europe in july and august in general perhaps for leisure. but agency we're too infected of a country as far as the eu is concerned. >> yeah, and i'll tell you the official word from the white house and national securitying, chu chuck, a resounding no comment. the president instituted a 30-day travel ban for folks coming from europe to the u.s.

he criticized europe not being quick enough to stem the virus from china. poland as you know is an eu member so it's also a question for the president of poland. >> he is here for one reason and that is to get close to president trump. i have a feeling whatever the president wants him to say the polish president may be an amen choir for him today because of huz o his own politics. the white house is thinking of a couple of things even pulling out federal support of testing sites -- i know there's concern about this. and this other idea they may get rid of the national emergency. it just seems oddly timed given we're about to hit our peak all over again. >> yeah, i'll start with the

first point because earlier this afternoon i actually confirmed that speculation. you're right, the trump administration is at the end of the month ending federal funding a and support for those five states. so if anyone living in one of those states over the last three or four months got a cboe test outside a doctors office it was more than likely at these locally supported testing sites. the administration tried to end support for these sites back in april but extended in threw june given the outcry from local lawmakers who said, look, we don't have the capacity or money to hire the staffers. didn't the capacity to conduct the tests. what's interesting here is that texas has the most sights remaining and would bear the

brunt of this of all the of the remaining states. texas as you know is a state president trump won in 2016 and needs to win again in 2020. so the question i have is, you know, to what degree will that really inform and instruct how the white house deals with this because we're not talking about blue states like california and new york and new jersey anymore, chuck. >> you would assume if a red state asks if he's really going to politicize this the way he's done then at a minimum you would think perhaps he walks that back. it just seems like a strange time to be doing unforced error upon unforced error when it comes to white house handling of these days. >> the virus is not political. it affects all americans equally regardless of which party they vote for. let's get into this more, though, with pull pull

monologist dr. ven gupta. the governor has relented on masks and there's even talk of maybe another lock down, asking people to not go outiciside if y don't have to. what will it actually mean on the ground for texas? >> katey, good to see you. it's stunning. first time hearing of it i cannot believe this is decision they're making on the heels of the tulsa rally saying we're going to slow down testing. it's going to kill americans at worst. and unfortunately communities of color are going to really feel the impact from this because that's where you don't have a doc to get a test. you go to these community funded test sites,imably drive-thrus and they need that funding,

that's what that resource is supporting, katey. and taking it away makes our jobs harder in public health on the front lines. i just finished a seven day stretch in a covid icu and it was all people of color where they're having a huge outbreak. we need those families to get access to testing and they often get it through these federally funded sites, so i'm wondered about what's going to happen when we to it in the washington state next. >> what do you make of the governors in the tri-state area saying they're going to institute a 14-day quarantine for anybody traveling from a coronavirus state where cases are on the rise. florida is one of the states that currently meet those -- a number of them do -- currently

meet that threshold. so if you're nothing in from florida you will have to quarantine. is this a good idea? are we going to see more states following through, should we? >> yeah, we should. the people living in their states follow the rules, and they were leading with strength. they didn't shirk away from strong policies that were going to upset people. you're going to see a lot more of this and i hope so that administration gets the messa, ware we're going to see a lot travel bans overseas. you're going to see a lot of places that have implemented the right policies, mandating masks, social distancing they should not have to bear the brunt of leadership that's been frankly a straight up florida. governor abbott still not willing to go there. still talking about shutting

down as a last resort. listen, no one wants to shutdown but we need strength. we need strength. >> dr. vin gupta, we are all used to the freedom to travel wherever you want as americans, pretty much anywhere we want in the world. and this is a real change how we see ourselves. now to even more breaking news. senate democrats successtle wraurch wraur blocked. the artect of the republican bill says they have the opportunity to get but didn't act. >> if you don't like what you see change it. we offer them opportunities and their answer to me was you can't offer us 20 amendments, and i said why not? because mitch mcconnell won't

give you 20 amendments. i spoke to mitch mcconnell and he said you can have 20 amendments. they didn't want an open process. >> joining us now from capitol hill is correspondent and host of casey d.c., casey hunt. you had tim scott there who's by the way still speaking saying they had an open dunt opportuni do so. what is your reality from what you're reporting? >> katey the issue is trust basically. they simply don't believe he's going to be willing to come their way at all. the per censiception up here ha

that tim scott has been engaged and focused on frankly using more conciliatory language when he talks about democrats. but democrat have basically said you know what while that may be all well and good, senator, scott, we don't tres your leadership to go forward with this. and democrats have their own version of the bill been written on the house side by the congressional black caucus as well as house speaker nancy pelosi. that's what they argue has actual teeth and do remember all of the civil rights groups including the naacp, excuse me, legal defense fund has come out and said that this was what democrats should do, that they should oppose this senate bill at the outset because it doesn't go far enough.

basically saying they want to block this, make it harder for republicans to win in the fall because they won't have a victory on this issue to be able to talk to voters about, and then in fact they gain control of the senate back in november to write the legislation they want to write. so that's the view to republicans as to how and why this played out the way it did. there is a difficult reality for republicans on the hill that the president repeatedly makes incendiary, racist remarks. what he said about the coronavirus just yesterday that make it difficult for there to be trust that the republican party is what they say, where they say they are on this issue from the political perspective, katey. >> not to mention the nonvilled language he uses around law and order. thank you very much.

chuck, over to you. >> joining us now, we're going to stay on this topic is senator cammy duckworth of illinois. i want to it get you to directly respond to what we just from senator scott. he says contrary to popular belief he had gotten a commitment from mitch mcconnell for an open democratic process. and many republicans i talked to last week said if this was an open asettlement process i would look back again. i get the trust issue. if it's an open amendment process would you be willing to reconsider? >> not as bethe bill is written but it would still require 60 votes for us to pass any of these amendments. that's well over a dozen republicans who would have to vote on the democratic amendments. from the beginning it could have been by a bipartisan development process where democrats and republicans came together to

jointly write this bill. they shutout out of theest of this whole process and present us with a bill that doesn't do anything. remember george floyd's family, the families of the victims of police brutality are also opposing this bill as being presented by republicans. it's all show blut there's no systemic change allowed to happen. and democrats weren't allowed to be part of the process of writing it. you would still need 60 votes and memd athat's unlikely to pa. had that happened before this process do you think that would have created more pressure particularly say a dozen house republicans had voted for whatever the democrats had proposed, which right now you talked to various people, that's very possible.

>> well, i think we're getting the best pressure out there. and that is millions, tens of millions of americans marching on our city streets, in front of their homes, in public spaces calling for real reform and the republicans have resisted that. what we've been asking all along in the senate is please let me be a bipartisan process. there's a judiciary committee that could review this together and come forward with something. they just presented a bill, again, that is all just, you know, eyewash as we used to call it in the army where it doesn't really do anything. it's all studies, we'll gather data but none of it actually bans choke olds or mandates independent investigation of police reform. that's what needs to happen, systemic change of a system that is inherently racist against black americans.

>> senator, you just said that they're not going to listen to people on the streets and it's more than 50% of the country that wants police reform. it sounds like you're giving up, like this is not going to go anywhere and there will be no police reform passed in congress this year, newts wi not with th administration and senate. >> what we need is a process where democrats and republicans sit down and do this together. my senior senator from illinois dick durbin along with cory booker earlier this year actually -- in my session i mean -- earlier passed communal justice reform that actually decriminalizes some of the convictions for marijuana for example. success can happen if the republicans let us sit down with them.

we've shown them it can be done. we're just asking it be done again this time. and let's not put on a show and try to deceive the american people that buy put agvote on the floor. you know those amendments are not going to get 60 votes. all you're doing is trying to deceive the american people. >> senator, i want to pivot to the virus very quickly. i want to play an unfortunate comment from the president yesterday about the virus in phoenix. take a listen. >> i said the other night there's never been anything -- i have so many names. i could give you 19 or 20 names for that, right? >> senator, i don't know if you have reaction to what the president said or the cheers for

it. >> well, this president is racist. he said things like with countries in africa and countries where immigrants are coming from and a man who continues to use racist language trying to divide us. what this country needs is this man out of the white house and we need to real president going to unite us and bring us together. that's what vice president joe biden would do, provide real leadership. you know, president trump was out at a rally more concerned about the paltry people who showed up than he was about the 20,000 dead americans. it's shameful that this man is the president of the united states. >> senator tammy duckworth, democrat from illinois, appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. thanks very much. >> thank you.

>> coming up texas hit an all-time high of daily coronavirus cases and houston hospitals are concerned about running out of icu beds. plus former defense secretary james mattis is out with a psa calling covid-19, quote, a nasty little virus and urging people to wear masks or in his case a bandanna. you're watching msnbc. watching. come on pup, time to go. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet but can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. so you can really promise better sleep? not promise. prove. and now, during the lowest prices of the season, the queen sleep number 360 c4 smart bed is only $1,299, save $400. only for a limited time. to learn more, go to sleepnumber.com. at t-mobile, you don't have to choose between a great network and the best prices. we give you both. switch your family from at&t or verizon to t-mobile and you will save up to 50% off your current service and smart phones.... 50%

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we're following several new developments in the coronavirus pandemic. here are the facts as we know them this hour. florida has shattered its single day record for coronavirus cases reporting more than 5,500 cases today alone. the previous record was set on saturday with just over 4,000. that s-curve, sadly, going in one direction. the new york city marathon is officially canceling its race this summer. washington governor jay inslee announced a new statewide order

requiring facial coverings in public spaces. and former defense secretary jim mattis is appearing in a new psa for his hometown of richland, washington, urging people to mask up. >> hello, neighbors. i'm jim mattis. it's clear this little bugger is not going away on its own so let's wear those taface coverings and let's work together on this to defeat covid. >> katey, i have thought about this issue in another -- on earth 2 every famous person in america would have already done a mask psa on behalf of the president of the united states asking for these psas. on earth 2 that is what's happening. here -- yeah, here we have to do it locality by locality. >> it would have been led by the president and the president

wouldn't be holding inside rallies in the middle of a pandemic where people do not wear masks. rachel maddow said last night this is the only event happening in america and industrialized nations where people are gathering inside in those large numbers and not practicing social distancing and not wearing masks. we're the only country. no wonder the eu is considering not letting us travel there. let's go to texas which report another record number of new coronavirus cases on tuesday with nearly 5,500 in one day. the state is experiencing a steep rise in cases and an increase in hospitalizations. houston's mayor just announced the city's icu capacity is at 97% full with coronavirus patients accounting for more than a quarter of those beds. governor greg abbott is now recommending that texans stay home as much as possible. it's a little bit short of a lockdown order. joining us now is nbc's priscilla thompson live in

houston. so priscilla, what are people saying at home, and two what are you hearing from the hospitals out there? >> well, katey, the hospitals here are talking about that curve. and the curve here is very, very steep with those positive case numbers continuing to rise, and that is very worrisome for them because the hospitals may not be able to accommodate all of those patients going to be coming in needing treatment. the texas medical center which compromises more than 60 facilities are saying they may not have an many icu beds in as little as two weeks. and we've spoken to the doctors here at houston methodist hospital who tells us a lot of the people they're seeing are actually young people, people under the age of 30 having to come in to be treated interest covid-19 and be hospitalized. while their hospital stays may not be as long as someone older than them, it is still putting a huge strain on the system. and the question is will people

stay home, will people stop going out or make sure they're wearing those masks where they are out because at this point officials tell us that the onus is really going to be on people to help cop tantain the spread. take a listen to what the city health authority told me. >> people need to understand if you wear mask, you keep your distance from folks, you don't have large gatherings, all these simple, simple things they make a huge difference. so you are in control of your destiny. don't look to the government to solve this problem, don't blame the government for this problem. you're the solution. be the solution. >> and that is the very urgent message that they are pushing ahead of the fourth of july weekend which is right around the corner. they do not want to see the crowds of people out at the pools and beaches and restaurants like what they say during memorial day weekend, katey. >> it's called personal responsibility. priscilla thompson, thank you very much out there in houston. chuck?

>> you know, there's a lot of evidence that not only are people taking personal responsibility they're following the news very, very closely which is why -- maybe another reason why the president's poll ratings are dipping for what it's worth. coming up we're going to look at the president's standing these days. a brand new poll in wisconsin that lines up with the national polling trends we're seeing. you're watching msnbc. l polling trends we're seeing. you're watching msnbc. you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so when it comes to screening for colon cancer, don't wait. because when caught early, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard.

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for small prices, you can build big dreams. spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair today. breaking news in the 2020 presidential race. we are just getting in some new poll numbers out of wisconsin. the swingiest of all swing states of late. joe biden is now leading president trump by 8 points in this key battle ground state. 49-41 according to the folks over at marqette. joining us now national correspondent steve kornacki. kornacki, you and i both do to same thing. you see one of these national polls and you think is this an

outlier or part of a pattern. and i think three of the last four major polls have been double digits for biden and suddenly you look at this poll and the numbers line up. >> you see one poll that looks a little funny and you can match up national and state and see the same trend that probably tells you something. the average national is double digit lead for biden. this is not it actually, i apologize, but what should be here is biden in a "new york times" poll a 14 point lead over donald trump, 50 to 36. if you're seeing that kind of a lead nationally, anything in that ballpark than an 8 point advantage for biden in a state like wisconsin makes sense. now 8 for biden and nationally double digits. looking inside this national poll we can show you a little bit what is behind that. let me see if i can call that graphic up again. i apologize, again, this is not

how it was planned. but white college, non-college. think about this movement we've seen in 2016 first of all in the exit polls in 2016 donald trump did win a blow out victory of white voters without a college degree over hillary clinton, although in the exit that margin was closer to 40 points. white voters with a college degree. in a past a strongly republican group that had been migrating towards the democrats in the trump era, look at this. in the exit poll in 2016 donald trump actually won this group. there are some other post election surveys that suggest maybe clinton won it by 5, 10 points and now you're seeing it explode. this comports in the suburbs, the whole sort of blue wave in metro areas, this type of voter the white college graduate. >> huge margin for biden. and teefbl, the other thing in the national poll that seems to fit what we're seeing in wisconsin and also in iowa is older white voters.

and that seems to be the reason in particular i've been told why iowa shifted so much and that's one of the explanations in wisconsin. >> and in florida, for that matter we've been talking about senior citizen voters, biden having that advantage consistently in polling. let me see if i can call up the other. and the other is -- it's this gender gap here. take a look at this from the poll. among men group trump won in 2016, biden ahead. among women the margin for hillary clinton was 13 in 2016. it's up to the 20s in this poll. when you look at white women with a college degree it's absolutely massive. progress in the suburbs, exploding margins maybe in the suburbs but also potentially you're competitive in a state like wisconsin, maybe ohio. i think there's an ohio poll coming out this afternoon. let's see what that shows, too. >> it's definitely seeing a shift. it feels like you're annoy seeing it across the country. steve kornacki, thank you.

and katey, i know a lot of people have already e-mailed me and said the phrase "but 2016," so we shall see. >> that is a good phrase. chuck, thanks. up next if you're planning a european vacation this summer you might have to reconsider as the eu considers barring americans from visiting. plus what pandemic? that's a look at the tens of thousands of people who showed up for the annual victory day parade in moskow as president putin looks to extend his presidency into his 80s. many more years. you're watching msnbc. e years. you're watching msnbc.

following a couple international stories, and we have a couple correspondents standing by to help. nbc's keir simmons is in london, and nbc's matthew bogner is in moscow. first, to the european union. it may block americans from entering as it reopens its borders. joining us is nbc news senior

international correspondent keir simmons. what's the reasoning? >> well, katy, european officials are quick to tell us they haven't made a decision yet, and that even if they do, individual countries may not have to go along with that decision, and you can see why they would be saying that, because they must be so nervous tonight. effectively, the european rules are that if there is an infection rate in a country that is higher than europe's, substantially higher, then the citizens from that country should not be able to come to europe on vacation or for business, nonessential travel, they call it. that includes the united states. the u.s. infection rate is higher than europe. what they're trying to decide now is from the first of july, whether to effectively not allow u.s. citizens to come to the european union, while at the same time, for example, china, which where the infection rate is low, they may say those

citizens can come. you can see why european countries, their representatives, are still talking about this. and these politicians are trying to manage the health of their citizens and the economy and add in a potentially furious response from the trump white house, it's pretty explosive stuff. >> keir simmons in london. thank you very much. >> chuck. heading now to moscow, where thousands turns out for a delayed victory day parade to mark the 75th anniversary of world war ii as the number of cases passes 600,000 and it happened on the eve of a constitutional referendum vote that would allow putin to extend his current term to 2026. let's go to our moscow producer, matthew. how did it go, and is this a fate accomp lay, this

referendum. >> it's finally here, the day president putin has been waiting for all year. it's probably almost everything he wanted it to be. earlier, we saw thousands of troops marching through red square. we saw hundreds of tanks. even nuclear missiles and airplanes flying over the center of the city, and since then, thousands of people have actually defies a request from the mayor to stay inside and just watch this on tv. they're all outside right now on the embankments here with us. and hardly a mask to be seen. so this is all happening at quite a public health risk. and basically, what's going on is it was very important for the kremlin today to use this parade as a kind of declaration of victory over the coronavirus, even though as you said, just today, surpassed 600,000 new cases. but also, it was important to declare this victory as kind of a patriotic kickoff to this constitutional referendum, which will happen over the next week. and if it passes, it will reset putin's term limits and if he wants, he's going to be leader

until 2036. now, of course, this is all happening at substantial public health risk. russia's outbreak continues to grow beyond the 600,000 mark. and despite, and as i mentioned the warning from the moscow mayor, 20 cities across russia straight up canceled their parades today and russia opposition leaders have already accused the kremlin of putting health considerations above public concerns. >> and katy, a handful of sort of world leaders that were invited, i think one canceled at the last minute claiming his plane broke down. i think a lot of folks were concerned about traveling to a hot spot like russia. >> yeah, i mean, yes. what else can i add to that? i think vladimir putin, by the way, is 67 years old. that means he would be in office if i'm doing the math right, until 84. i know there's been some different leadership, but i can hardly remember a time during my

lifetime, even though i know there was other leaders, where vladimir putin was not in charge of russia in some way or another, and it's going to continue, it sounds like. >> coming up in the next hour, we'll be joined by senator cory booker, fresh off the block of the republicans' police reform bill. olice reform bill ed to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis. eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didn't experience another. -and eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily- and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop.

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good afternoon. i'm chuck todd. it's 11:00 a.m. out west, 2:00 p.m. here in washington, where we're following a number of developing stories this hour. today, the d.c. court of appeals ordered a judge to dismiss the case against michael flynn. today's decision likely means the end of all prosecution against former trump national security adviser unless as pete williams reported, the entire, another judge on the court of appeals decides they want the entire appeals court to hear this. on capitol hill this afternoon, lawmakers are hearing testimony on the justice department's treatment of another longtime trump ally, roger stone.

>> the former lead federal prosecutor told the house judiciary committee he and other attorneys were under pressure to cut stone a break. >> in the united states of america, we do not prosecute people based on politics. and we don't cut them a break based on politics either. but that wasn't what happened here. roger stone was treated differently because of politics. >> and a clash in the senate today over police reform. democrats block a gop bill from going to the flor to begin debate. is there any hope for bipartisan police reform to pass on the hill this calendar year? unlikely, but let's bring in my coanchor for the hour, katy tur. i'm pretty pessimistic, but we have been pessimistic about this for about a week. felt like this was the inevitable end of this, of at least this period. i'll be curious to see what cory booker has to say when we talk to him in a few minutes.

>> me, too. i was reminded on something by something ken buck said to me. he said that a lot of lawmakers don't really want to act. they want to look like they're fighting to act to pass legislation. that way, it gives them points with their constituents. but if they don't actually act and nothing does get passed, they don't have to suffer any consequences for that action. especially with donors. that's a very cynical way of looking at things today. let's ask cory booker what he thinks on that, but we'll be watching for reaction to today's developing stories as president trump hosted the president of poland at the white house. president duda is expected to arrive at any moment. they'll hold a bilateral meeting followed by a joint news conference. it will be the 11th time they have met. this comes four days ahead of poland's presidential election. duda, who is the conservative incumbent, is facing a tougher than expected challenge from the liberal mayor of warsaw.

let's go to capitol hill where right now the house judiciary committee is hearingolding a he on the oversight department. witnesses are testifying about actions the doj took under attorney general bill barr that they say were based on, quote, political considerations. assistant u.s. taerg from maryland testifies the doj exerted pressure on prosecutors involved in the criminal trial of trump associate roger stone. >> what i saw is that roger stone was being treated differently from every other defendant. he received breaks that are, in my experience, unheard of. and all the more so for a defendant in his circumstances. a defendant who lied to congress, who remained unrepentant, and who made threats against a judge and a witness in his case. and what i heard repeatedly was that this leniency was happening because of stone's relationship to the president.

>> joining us now from the white house is nbc news political reporter monica alba. i'll have you pick it up right there. he's saying stone was giving leniency because of stone's relationship with the president, it goes back many years. and that also, the president's appointees in the doj were afraid of him, and that's why they're willing to do that. >> exactly, katy. we haven't heard reaction yet from the white house specifically on that testimony, but what the president said a few months ago is probably the best indication of how he would respond, and that's when that original sentencing recommendation came from that prosecutor and others which the president back then called a miscarriage of justice. and expressed his frustration with that. later, the sentencing recommendation was reduced, and now you have a spokeswoman for the department of justice saying zelensky didn't necessarily discuss that with attorney general william barr. he didn't go into the specifics on stone's case, but we're waiting to hear from top white house officials what they see as these new charges are brought

forward. but what they are weighing in white resoundingly and what you hear from the president in a recent tweet is on the case of michael flynn, as you just laid out with the federal court moving to potentially drop and dismiss those charges from the president's first national security adviser, michael flynn. we're hearing the president there take on jim comey, take on democrats, trying to train his ire there instead of elsewhere. the president has floated, he has considered pardons potentially for both michael flynn and roger stone. he has a news conference coming up in the next hour, where reporters will likely push him on that. and the president of poland is set to arrive in the next couple minutes here, katy. >> no doubt, he'll be asked as well about the eu travel ban for americans as well. monica alba, thank you very much. chuck, over to you. well, cases of coronavirus in this country are now at their highest level since april. the u.s. not only recorded its

biggest single day increase in two months on tuesday but also its third highest total of any day since the start of the pandemic, and unlike the first time when we hit this, it was all concentrated in a region, this is a little more spread out. florida keeps breaking records, and it just broke another. the state reported 5500 new cases in the last 24 hours, and cases in texas are spreading as well. let's bring in the director of the global health institute. at this point, i guess we're starting to see the second wave. something you said last night caught my ear. and that is, as we're watching the lagging indicator, that is the death total here, number one, you thought we still were undercounting deaths. explain. >> chuck, thanks for having me on. there's lots of evidence that we have undercounted deaths, that many people died during march and april and may who got very

sick, couldn't get a test done, and then after they died, they weren't tested. we have seen this in the excess mortality analyses that the cdc and others have done. dr. fauci has talked about this. while 120,000 deaths is an astronomically high number, it's awful, it unfortunately probably underestimates how many americans have died of this disea disease. >> by how much do you think, and is there -- is this something we're just not going to be able to know until we do death certificate comparisons, for instance, a year from now? >> it is going to be hard to quantify. we don't know, i don't know. some people have estimated that maybe the proportion of people who died, you know, if we could count all of them, our numbers would be 30% or 50% higher. it's not a trivial, we might have missed a few here or there. it's going to be sizable. hard to speculate exactly how many. >> doctor, the president is

going to continue holding inside rallies, indoor rallies where many people are, the majority of people are not wearing masks. they're not practicing social distancing. what sort of spread are we likely to see from that? >> you know what's funny about this virus is there's enough idiosyncrasy in terms of who spreads, when they spread, that you could imagine one or two rallies here or there, which may not end up causing major superspreading events. it's sort of like taking really big gambles. you're going to end up getting caught every once in a while. what i'm worried about, and especially since the president seems to be doing it in places that have large outbreaks happening already, is that one of these or more than one of these rallies is going to spread, is going to be a superspreading event, is going to sicken hundreds and hundreds of people and maybe even lead to some people dying. obviously, we all hope that doesn't happen, but the president doesn't seem to be taking the steps necessary to reduce that risk.

>> so what is the outlook here for the rest of the summer? i know there was some thought if you're outside, that it's harder to spread this. summer time months, people go outside a lot more than they do in the wintertime, but then there's also the issue of when it gets so hot, people go inside to get the ac. so i mean, what are your expectations for what's going to happen this summer across the country? >> so we do have, i think, reasonably good evidence. not foolproof, but being outed is safer than being inside. the challenge, as you said, is that large parts of our country during the summer can get pretty hot, and people are not spending that much time outdoors, especially in the middle of the day, so the bigger picture point here is that this idea that we have had that the summer would somehow make the virus magically go away would be no big deal, i think we're learning quite quickly that is not the case. and whether it's the summer or fall or winter, we have to understand that if we're going

to spend time indoors, we have to wear masks, we have to do social distancing, or we're going to see large spreads of the virus. >> doctor, it feels like deja vu all over again. i mean, i feel like in some ways we did this before. we talked about this, right? and all of a sudden it's like, i guess there's another part of the country that still needs to learn the same lessons. doctor, thank you. katy, over to you. >> and turning back to capitol hill, chuck, where this afternoon, senate democrats blocked a republican-backed police reform bill. democrats sunk a vote to proceed on the justice act by a vote of 55-45. republican south carolina senator tim scott addressed democratic claims that the bill did not go far enough. >> i said tell me any issue you have with the legislation. well, we went to de-escalation training. duty to intervene, best

practices. i said in the legislation, in the legislation, in the legislation. >> joining us now from capitol hill is new jersey democratic senator cory booker. senator, thank you very much for joining us. i want to get you to respond to tim scott, who said that there would have been an amendment process. there was room for negotiations if the democrats came to the table. and that the democrats just refused. >> well, that's actually not true. we have written letters, i have pled publicly that we do this like we have been able to do on so many other bipart wherein compromises which is not go to the floor vote where any amendments have a 60-vote threshold and mitch mcconnell can bat every single one of them away, but go into the judiciary committee. go through committee processes on things all the time, or do like we have done on everything from immigration reform to other big compromises. form a gang of eight or six to work this out. this was a process that mitch mcconnell set up knowing that he could control it and he could make sure that real substantive

police reform did not happen. he set it up to fail. a person that calls himself the grim reaper was standing there ready to cut down any kind of things that folks were out actually marching and protesting and demanding in terms of real accountability. >> so if you're one of those people that was outside marching day after day, asking for change, demanding change, demanding our government do something, what do you say to them now? sorry? just not going to happen? >> i mean, i have been receiving text messages and letters from a lot of those activist groups, lawyers committee for civil rights, the naacp, the poor people's movement leader, so many people saying thank you for not going into the mitch mcconnell trap, a bill that would not have actually changed the things that got us into the streets in the first place. remember, breonna taylor died from a no-knock warrant. our bill bans no-knock warrants. theirs does not. ours says the choke hold should be illegal. their bill does not.

our bill would allow george floyd's family to sue the police officer in federal court, use federal courts to hold them accountable. our bill establishes that both in civil and criminal claims. their bill does not. our bill would have led to have subpoena power to do pattern and practice investigations of the minneapolis police, empowering the justice department with new tools. our bill does that, theirs does not. all the things people are marching for, mitch mcconnell set up a process that doesn't address any of the real concerns of police accountability. the real things that would stop black lives from being lost in our country. instead, he set up a process he could protect from real reform and get us back to what, and you heard tim scott's own words, more commissions, more studies. people aren't in the streets chanting we want a commission, we want a study. they want accountability. they want transparency, they want what's in our bill, and that's why we stood against what is a sham effort to try to diffuse this moment. >> senator, are they still going to say thank you if no bill at all is passed?

>> well, again, we got to this point, remember, some of the stuff that's in this bill, myself and other people had put forward years ago. and we didn't have a moment. the moment we're in right now was created because of folks who are protesting and marching. the bill we wrote, there's no way you could get the majority of the house of representatives and about 40 senators in the senate to actually join that bill. that wouldn't have happened a month ago. this moment has created because of protests, and we have to continue. a great abolitionist frederick douglass said, without struggle, there is no progress. the struggle must continue. >> senator, so where do we go from here? and this is the part where the po poe tray is gone. it's figuring out how do you get back to where you can get a process going in the senate. is if going to take the house passing its version of this bill? can you find a republican cosponsor? i feel like people like mike braun at least seems to be

interested. do you find folks like that and try to convince the judiciary committee to take up a version of the dem bill? give me a process timeline here of what's feasible in your mind. >> you covered this just a number of weeks ago. when the democrats refused to get onto a bill covering covid because we said this is a republican bill. we refused to get on it. people said democrats are obstructing. no, because after it failed, we then did the right thing and worked in a bipartisan way to start talks to get to the bills that actually passed. this is not an end. and i'm already reaching out to my republican colleagues. many of whom have shown my good faith in engaging in talks already. this is not an end. this is, for me, a signal to work harder. to keep reaching out to folks. and i know for a fact to your point, that there are republican colleagues that favor things that are in our bill that we're going to try to work with to build a coalition. >> do you believe this is just a mcconnell issue? >> i believe he is, as he has called himself the grim reaper, i think he has stopped the kind

of bipartisan work that could make our nation from gun reform, bipartisan bills that would get the 60 votes in the senate, all the way to issues of social justice and racial justice, he could put the lynching bill on tomorrow, it would get 99 votes that he has stopped the bill after bill going to the floor, and that again, this to me is one of the most greatest kaucau. i know a lot of folks are on the presidential election, but as long as he's in control of the senate, he will stop bipartisan legislation. i'm a prisoner of hope, but i'm telling you right now, six years in the senate, he has blaked so much progress that is bipartisan, it's unacceptable. >> senator, you are so far apart from where tim scott is, you said just a moment ago that people don't want more commissions. they don't want more studies. do you believe that senator tim scott is acting in good faith? >> tim scott and i have had so much success, opportunities on legislation, the antilynching legislation i just mentioned, criminal justice reform, work on

hbcus, work on a sickle cell anemia. so many things we have worked on together. i honor him, i love him. we are far apart right now, far apart on many issues, but he's always been somebody i have been able to sit down and have conversations, and that's the beginning of hope for me and i'm going to go to right away. >> are you going to have a conversation with him soon? >> tim and i talk all the time. i will never shine lights onto our conversations, but he's a friend if anything, and i'm confident he is sincere in his earnestness to stop black lives from being killed. so i just will continue the way i have operated here since i got here, being somebody who reaches across the aisle to get real substantive things done, and this is an urgency. lives depend on us getting things done, so i'll be talking to anybody who will listen to me on the other side of the aisle. >> new jersey senator cory booker, thank you very much, sir. we appreciate it. >> thank you.

>> chuck. time for a quick break. but next, an nbc news exclusive. minnesota attorney general keith ellison joins us for his first live interview since joining a multistate lawsuit against big oil. what he claims companies have kept from the public and the impact it's had on the state of minnesota. >> and we'll get an update on the investigation into george floyd's death in minneapolis. stay with us. hot! hot! no no no no no, there's no space there! maybe over here? oven mitts! oven mitts! everything's stuck in the drawers! i'm sorry! oh, jeez. hi.

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than $24; a playstation 4 for less than $16; and a schultz 4k television for less than $2. i won these bluetooth headphones for $20. i got these three suitcases for less than $40. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. we have some breaking news this hour. a 5.8 magnitude earthquake has struck near cartego, california. early reports indicate the quake was felt as far as los angeles and bakersfield, both over 100 miles away. we'll bring you more developments as we get them. i believe i said cartago, it's cartago. katy, you're the californians, did i get it right? >> i do not know. i have not heard of that town. sorry, chuck. let's go to the state of

minnesota. we can stick on a similar kind of story. the state of minnesota files -- sort of, not really -- filed a lawsuit against the american petroleum institute, exxon mobile, koch industries, and flint hills resources. keith ellison alleges minnesota is in the midst of a climate crisis that is impacted its economy and public health, and he blames the defendants saying, quote, they well understood the devastating effects that their products would cause. but failed to disclose that information to the public. minnesota attorney general keith ellison joins me now. so mr. attorney general, thank you very much for joining us on this. why did you decide to join this series of lawsuits and accuse these companies of fraud? >> because those companies exxonmobil, koch industries, and the american petroleum institute, deliberately misrepresented and lied to the public about the dangers of

burning fossil fuels. they did it anyway. they knew it would have a devastating effect. and so we're holding them accountable for that. we're requiring they're going to disgorge all their ill gotten gains and they engage in a public education campaign to tell the truth about what they did. give back all the documents -- give the documents to show what the truth really is, so that the public will know. but they have caused a lot of damage in the state of minnesota to farmers, to young people, to seniors. a lot of damage, and we're going to get compensation for the people of our state. >> this is the same tactic that was used in the lawsuits, the successful lawsuit against big tobac tobacco. where are the parallels here? >> well, you know, the big tobacco lied too. they said that cigarette smoking did not cause lung cancer. it did. they misrepresents. they knew it was -- what they were saying was not true. so we're using consumer

protection laws to hold them accountable, as we did back in the landmark litigation involving tobacco. >> attorney general ellison, the beauty of these multi-state lawsuits in some ways is that, and sometimes you force a settlement, right, because you know, one of the things i think that the big oil companies and tobacco, they are afraid of a word called discovery. and so if that is what this forces, what does a settlement in your mind, what would that look like? >> you know, chuck, we're getting ready for trial. we're ready for trial. we have witnesses. we have documents. we're not really looking to settle the case. they're going to have to tell the truth. they're going to have to share documents. in the tobacco litigation, my predecessor, skip humphrey, said no, you have to tell the truth. you have to share the documents.

we're not going to do any less here. >> and how many -- at what point do you believe this hits critical mass of what are we up to now, nine states on this? i hope i have that correct. you hopefully will correct me. what is the goal here that you think will sort of tip this, and where is this trial going to end up being if there is one? >> you know, chuck, what's going to tip this is the truth. the truth is going to tip this. they lied. we can prove it. they know it. and they falsely advertised. we can show that. our lawsuit is based on minnesota law. so that our other states that have pursued litigation against exxonmobil and others, but our case is a minnesota-based consumer case in minnesota state court. >> mr. attorney general, forgive us for pivoting, but we want to get your thoughts on the day's

news. we were just talking to senator cory booker about police reform. the democrats and republicans are very far apart on this. democrats have blocked the republican bill. what do you think needs to happen for both sides to try to come together to pass legislation? >> well, from my purposes, we're going to do all we can to convict the individuals responsible for george floyd's murder. we think that is critical to help the process of reform. we don't think it is sufficient, and i urge all the parties involved to continue to stay at the table. cory booker is right about this. you know, we do need two to tango. and having people in the senate who simply don't see any possibility of wanting to come together for a bipartisan solution is definitely a problem. but i know he's going to stick in there. he's going to keep on talking. he's a tenacious guy. and i believe that, you know, justice is going to prevail in the u.s. senate. but it's going to take a lot of

effort because there's folks who just don't want to see it. if you can't change the people's hearts, you have to change the people, period, and that's why we have elections. and i hope folks understand that things aren't going to go the way they have been going in the past. the public is in a mood for change. >> mr. attorney general, very quickly, given your experience right now and the difficulty it is in the process you're on trying to get these convictions against these police officers, what is something you would like to see changed into law that would make your job a bit easier? >> well, i think that there's so many things. i mean, i think it's important to make sure that these arbitration agreements allow the chief to discharge people who are engaging in misconduct and excessive force. that's critical. i think that there needs to be a national database that follows these officers around so that they just don't go from one force to another. that's critical. i think that it's critical that we change use of force standards, that we reemphasize

nonviolent ways to have safety and security in our communities so that we're not just always seeing a person, a cop with a gun to respond to every single conceivable problem, like a fake $20 bill. we need to do all of these things, but i think staying at the table and reminding people about the human cost is essential. and i just urge them to do that. i know that my former colleagues are committed to it. i think that there are some republicans who want to get it done, too. work together, and think that the moment is going to require that people either get it done or there will be some shake-ups in the upcoming election. >> minnesota attorney general keith ellison, i'm sure you don't miss being a member of a legislature now that you can sort of take matters a bit into your own hands on the executive side of the equation. >> it is nice. >> thank you for coming on -- >> i bet.

katy, over to you. >> also, thank you for coming out and sharing the news of that lawsuit. we appreciate it. up next, baseball is coming back, but what will the shorter season look like? and what about overtime? extra innings? what's that going to look like? also, can the league keep teams and players safe? you're watching msnbc. alike andr insurance so you only pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ because the tempur-breeze° transfers heat away from your body. so you feel cool... night after night. during the tempur-pedic summer of sleep, save $500 on all tempur-breeze mattresses. during the tempur-pedic summer of sleep, in so many ways. which cage free eggs taste fresher and more delicious? only eggland's best. which organic eggs have more vitamins and less saturated fat?

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we are following several new developments in the coronavirus pandemic. here are the facts as we know them this hour. right now, there are more than 2.3 million cases total of coronavirus in the united states since the start of the pandemic, and 122,000 approximately have died. today, the governors of new york, new jersey, and connecticut announced a new rule requiring visitors to the tristate area from covid hot spots to quarantine for 14 days. nine states currently meet the threshold. among them, arizona, florida, and texas.

>> a judge has ordered brazil's president to wear a face mask in public. he has repeatedly appeared at rallies without a mask. brazil has the second highest number of cases in the world behind the united states. and they sadly trade back and forth who is on top of the daily case rate. today, our five-day average sadly is ahead of brazil's. katy. >> and chuck, you're going to like this one. baseball fans can rejoice. there will be a season this year. a truncated season. the league and players union came to an agreement for a 60-game season with a potential start date set for july 23rd or july 24th. the agreement comes with a new set of rules for the game. they include no contact during celebrations. that means no high fives, no fist bumps, no hugs. no spitting, no chewing tobacco or sun flower seeds. balls will be thrown out once they are touched by multiple players. and fights will be strictly prohibited. so joining me now to talk about the safety is art kaplan, the

director of the division of medical ethics at new york university's langone medical center. art, good to see you. let's talk about the safety here. we just had word of novak djokovic and the tennis circuit coming down with covid, a number of other players high fiving, doing the sorts of things that baseball is going to ban. is that going to be enough to keep the players safe? >> i don't think so. it's good to do it. good to try. you know, we have seen a lot of the independent baseball workouts down in spring training facilities had to shut down because of outbreaks with the phillies, with toronto, with colorado, many of the teams. but i think the biggest risk right now, katy, is travel. the more you travel from port to port, facility to facility, the worse the risk exposure. it's not just the players and who they contact from the other team. it's the people handling your baggage, doing your security,

driving your vehicles, checking you in. really tough to keep the players from getting infected without more of an isolation or bubble approach, like the nba thinking about. >> i was just going to say, art, it sounds like you're a big skeptic of baseball being able to pull this off. and i'll be honest with you, as much as i would love to see it, and i miss my evening routine here, i don't see how this is feasible, both strategically, the players will find out the day before, you have to change pitches, you don't know who -- it just seems you can't really function as a competitive team sport in this environment. >> well, look, it's likely to fall apart in two ways. one is, if you have a team with a big outbreak, say five or six people going into quarantine, you have to call up new players, fine. but then it's not the same competition, right? it starts to become more of an exhibition than a real

competition. the other problem is, you get one hospitalization of somebody who gets sick, you're done. the whole thing will shut down. remember, there are players who have underlying conditions, people playing who have juvenile diabetes, other things that coaches have, hypertension, that put them at risk. it's not crazy to think somebody could require hospitalization or get very sick. and some of these players live with people at home who have grandparents at home or someone with an immune disease at home. i haven't heard from some of the stars of the game like mike trout. they're thinking about whether they want to try this at all. >> well, it's interesting. there's a gm who spoke anonymously to the athletic on the nba side. and he just sort of said what you just said there, art. he said this gm said okay, if nothing happens, fine, what have we gained? but the downside is so bad, is it worth it? meaning what you just described,

just one hospitalization or, gosh forbid, one death of a professional athlete in one of these circumstances, and i think all these leagues are going to be asking themselves, was it worth it? >> yeah, plus not to disparage our american lawyer contingent, but i don't know how deep the bench is for calling up players, let's say in baseball if people get sick, but the bench for lawsuits, pretty big, pretty active. people are going to start claiming liebt aability and you didn't protect me adequately. that's a pretty big danger behind the scenes for the leagues too. by the way, chuck, i have to add one other thing. if baseball is in trouble, what are the chances that football is going to pull this off? zero. >> correct. >> i mean, just too much. >> well, art, i think you and i have just made sports twitter as unhappy as we possibly could have made them, but you know, and we have to live in the real

world. art, appreciate you coming on and sharing your expertise with us on this. katy, over to you. chuck, on that, i mean, tennis, you think would be the easiest sport to get back going because you have no contact really in tennis and you're far apart the whole time, but again, novak djokovic and a number of other tennis players came down with covid because they couldn't control themselves off the court. >> katy, two golfers are already pulling out because caddies have tested positive. i mean, golf and tennis should be the low hanging fruit. and we can't get through golf and tennis. i don't know how the team sports are going to work. >> it is an infectious disease. also, chuck, that's happened to me, not on air, but that's going to happen to me at some point. chuck, i hope you forgive me for saying overtime when i meant extra innings but i corrected myself immediately. >> coming up, more bad news for the president and yet another

new battleground state poll, and the d.c. court of appeals orded to drop the case against michael flynn. whatdi does nat mean for presidt trump's former national security adviser. the president just weighed in. that's next. how about no no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card.

we have more breaking news out of washington this hour. in a 2-1 ruling today, a three-judge panel on the d.c. court of appeals ordered a judge to dismiss the case against

michael flynn. the former national security adviser who twice pleaded dpaelt to charges that he lied to the fbi. today's ruling caps a long fight by flynn to reverse his guilty plea and frees him of the possibility of a prison sentence. the news also marks a victory for the president himself, who immediately called it, quote, great in all caps. moments ago at the white house, the president declined to answer multiple questions about whether he spoke to mr. flynn. joining us now is former u.s. attorney in michigan and msnbc contributor barbara mcquade. barbara, good to have you. can you explain what happened here? >> sure, katy. it's a decision that's really quite surprising to me and many other court watchers, i think. what happened here is while the motion to dismiss was pending before judge sullivan in the district court, the trial court level, and he was considering this motion, he actually appointed an amicus, a friend of the court, to argue the side of

the case that the government would ordinarily argue since it was the government that had moved to dismiss. the defense attorney for michael flynn filed a very unusual motion in the court of appeals asking for a writ of mandamus. this is by definition an extraordinary relief that should be granted when a party has a clear legal right and a court should be ordered to implement that right immediately without any further discussion. what's so surprising about it is during the hearing, i thought at least two of the judges demonstrated skepticism that this was the kind of situation for which that extraordinary remedy would be appropriate. >> so barbara, what can judge sullivan do at this point? and what would you -- what do you expect him to do? i know pete williams said there's a chance another member of the circuit court could say, you know what, we should hear this again. >> yeah, so the way it works is

the d.c. circuit court of appeals is a three-judge panel. but in any case, there is the opportunity for the full court, all of the judges of the d.c. circuit, to make a request that it be reheard, what's called en banc, the entire panel would hear it as long as a majority of judges agree to rehear the case, that could happen. i would think that would be the next step, to wait and see whether they go through this onbonk process, and i think there's a decent chance for that. even if judges might be inclined to disagree on the merits about this, we set that aside for a minute. the process here is really highly unusual, and i think creates a very dangerous precedent, which is we don't wait for judges to make their own decisions in their cases. you can run straight to the district court of appeals, the circuit court of appeals and ask them to direct the judge what to do before he's had a chance to do that. that really disrupts the way our courts normally work where you

first go to the lower court. if you don't like the outcome there, you can appeal it. i think there might be an appetite for the judges to go through this review. >> barbara mcquade, thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate your time. and chuck, i think it's only a matter of time potentially when we're going to see michael flynn back on the campaign trail with the president. remember, in 2016, they were almost inseparable. he was almost always on the plane with the president. he had the president's ear, and he was one of their go-to speakers to introduce the president at his rallies. and a leader even at times in the lock her up chants. >> yeah, look, i thought barbara mcquade made a compelling case that perhaps the circuit, that they will have that en banc. it was a compelling case. >> a just released poll from quinnipiac shows joe biden and

donald trump in a tight race in what used to be a major battleground state in the country, ohio. biden just one point ahead of the president among registered voters, but considering where ohio looked like it had been drifting, red over the last four years, and last night, president obama made his first big appearance on behalf of the biden campaign. he helped bring in $7.6 billion during a virtual fund-raiser while delivering a rebuke of the trump presidency. >> what we have seen over the last couple of years is a white house enabled by republicans in congress and a media structure that supports them, that has not just differed in terms of policy but has gone at the very

foundations of who we are and who we should be. >> joining us now with more on that event, nbc news correspondent mike memoli. that figure for a virtual fund-raiser, and that does not count a high-dollar secondary fund-raiser they had, that was an impressive figure. are they going to try to have the former president do a couple more of those for them financially between now and november? >> yeah, chuck. you can count on the fact that is not the beginning of the end of president obama's participation, especially on the money front. the biden campaign, it must be said, has done far better with virtual fund-raiser than any of us might have expected three months ago when we wondered how they would still be able to bring in money without the rope lines, without the in-person events, but chuck, the other thing that struck me watching last night was the difference between president obama's surrogate for the clinton campaign in 2016, and president obama surrogate for the biden campaign in 2020.

i was part of the white house press corps in 2016. as you remember, he was unshakable in his belief hillary clinton was going to be elected president. wherever he would be asked about trump's chances, he dismissed it. overly dismissive in retrospect, but the word of last night was urgency. the former president using this event as a call to action for the former vice president's campaign supporters to do everything they can. let's take a listen to what he had to say. >> whatever you have done so far is not enough. and i hold myself and michelle and our kids to that same standard. whatever it is that we have done so far to help joe biden get elected, we have to do more. and there is no disconnect between the urgency of this election and the political moment and what has been happening on the streets and what we have been seeing on the tv screens. >> the other takeaway from last

night, chuck, is to look at that event in comparison to what we saw in tulsa over the weekend. the biden campaign, especially given what we saw in terms of members of the advance team, secret service coming down with the coronavirus, feel even less pressure to put former vice president out on the campaign trail aggressively and so that's why tomorrow i'll be making my weekly trip to southeastern pennsylvania where the former vice president will be an event on the affordable care act. >> mike with the biden campaign, covering it for us. katy, i don't think people can -- the amount of unity inside the democratic party on behalf of a presidential nominee, normally there's always a contingent that's angling for, well, that person might lose and i want to be ready four years from now, you're not seeing any of that this cycle, i think the issue of urgency is felt in a real way with every

democrat-elected official. >> i think that's interesting, also that as memoli was saying, biden isn't going to be venturing too far from home. one official told me this isn't about biden, he's best to try and not, you know, shoot himself in the foot, stay out of the way, allow donald trump to run against himself that's his best chances for re-election and i know that the trump campaign privately sees that too, they want to make the election much more about biden and less about donald trump. up next, chuck, something happened on the senate floor today. that will cement donald trump and mitch mcconnell's legacies for a generation. stay with us. wanted my hepatiti. i put off treating mine. epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c. whatever your type, epclusa could be your kind of cure.

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appeals today. corey wilson's confirmation makes a major victory for mitch mcconnell and donald trump. they now have 200 judicial confirmations under their belt. mcconnell's success at confirming so many lifetime conservative judges means the bench is now younger, more white and more male. joinings now is leeann caldwell. this has been of mcconnell's main goal if not the goal for his time asth majority leader i congress n the senate. >> reporter: that's right, katy. mcconnell has had this strategy and saying, leave no vacancy behind. he's moved extremely close to that today. a second highest court in the land where he confirmed the 53rd person. which means no more vacancies

left in that court. that hasn't happened in at least 40 years. but while he has successfully shifted the makeup of the court more conservative, he's also made the court less diverse. they are more white, more male, and younger. so here's some statistics. under trump, 76% are men compared to under obama. now, the person that was confirmed today was corey wilson to sit on the 5th circuit. he was opposed by democrats and republicans susan collins. mcconnell is walking a i way saying this is significant win for conservatives and himself and the president. katy? >> leaan caldwell, thank you

very much. don't underestimate how much this would potentially, could potentially mean for the president's re-election campaign being in charge of judges is a big deal. >> it is. i will just say this, i think the politicizing of the judicial process as badly as it's become, i'll say this, you're going to see political physics come into play, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. some day democrats are going to control the senate. i think the -- we'll look back on this, it's a legacy whether it's positive or negative is something that we'll continue to see for years to come. >> thank you for tuning in. thank you for trusting us. brian williams picks things up right after this quick break.

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good day. brian williams here with you on a wednesday afternoon. 3:00 p.m. here in the east. 12 noon on the west coast. nicolle wallace enjoying a well deserved day off as we begin this hour with our top story the intensifying battle against the intensifying coronavirus pandemic. here are indeed the facts as we know them -- there are now nearly 2.4 million known cases here in the u.s., pandemic still accelerating, moving into new territory, over 122,000 american lives have now been lost. over half the states in the u.s. have seen an increase over the past week as the south and the west continue to bear the brunt,

continue to witness this dramatic surge in cases. . u.s. now at its third highest level of new infections since records were kept at the beginning of the pandemic. this afternoon the world health organization announced we're quickly approaching another milestone in this crisis by next week, there will likely be 10 million cases of coronavirus on our planet. and in florida, the state saw a record-shattering 5500 new cases in just a single day, over 100,000 floridians now infected with the virus. meanwhile the governors of new york, new jersey and connecticut, all states that have seen a decline in cases after a lot of hard work have announced jointly that visitors from nine hotspot states must quarantine for 14 days if they set foot in the new york, new jersey, connecticut tristate area. while there are big questions about enforcement and

workarounds, here's some of what governor cuomo had to say about this mandate. >> only for the simple reason, we worked very hard to get the viral transmission rate down. we don't want to see it come up. because a lot of people come into this region and they can literally bring the infection with them. >> while the state governments scramble to contain the accelerating outbreak the trump administration announced it will cut funding and support for testing sites on june 30th, that's a less than a week from today. we're happy to have with us as part of our leadoff discussion, yamiche alcindor and and the director of harvard med school's global health delivery, also a professor of global health and social medicine. thank you both for being with us. yamiche, i'd like to begin with

you. is this going to be the trump administration policy toward this illness, because their output does not match the buildup we just reported at the top of the hour again, the cdc has been silent. white house coronavirus task force has been silent as we said here last night, it's a given that mike pence is scared of his bo boss, and a good number of americans are scared of getting this. >> that's right. what you see really is a schichl what's happening. you have the if the posting himself as anti-mask, anti-pandemic believer who's said we're basically have this virus under control, now it's really about getting back to a good economy we're basically at the end of this. you have vice president pebs backing the president up.

there's not going to be second wave. dr. fauci and health officials there will likely be a second wave. we should know that we're not anywhere near the end of this. i was just on a call with the assistant health secretary and he was talking about the fact that the white house and white house officials are actually pushing for more testing, they're pushing for ramping up testing and states will be controlling a lot of this, they think at this point, the 1.0 version the federal government trying to run everything but the 2.0 is states taking over this. we're nowhere out of the woods. president trump saying nearly the opposite. >> doctor, could we have predicted this delay, we're watching the numbers and watching the states turn from green to red on the infection map as it gets pushed south to where the weather is very warm in the south, sun belt, western

u.s., and a subset of my question, where are we in the life cycle of this virus? >> well, brian, thanks for having me on. i think this -- it's hard to tell if this is the second wave, you know, this is the first wave that has never finished. you know, we've known from the very beginning when you sequester people at home you're doing that as a stopgap measure, you want people to stay at home and you then want them to wear mas masks. a lot of states lifted those things very early. they didn't give the virus a chance to die out and they didn't invest -- very little investment in keeping public spaces safe. so, when you look at this, this is actually no surprise because the virus passes and we see that it's very high in urban areas

and unless you do something to interrupt transmission, and there are many things that you can do, other than what i've explained about, if you don't do that you expect to see a rise. it's really not a surprise. >> doctor, what's your level of frustration, disappointment that this virus, along with everything that we always talk about on television, the wearing of a mask, et cetera, has been caught up like everything else in our lives in 2020, in red and blue politics. >> huge frustration, brian. because as i said if you sequestered people and did contact tracing initially you can -- you can stop the transmission a lot. it's necessary but not sufficient. then if you actually have people wear masks, use hand sanitizer, social distancing, it's part of

common sense and part of responsibility and part of civic responsibility. you can really stop transmission and then if we actually gave resources to other technologies, like uppv light and repurposingr vaccines. you could -- you could see a change and you could get our country back to work and people back into public spaces sooner. we haven't had that. if you look at the heroes act, $75 billion is given for testing and tracing, really nothing to keep the public space safe. i have a lot of frustration. i think a country like ours should be able to stop this. we don't need to be having this continued first wave. >> so, yamiche, we're a country

of two different colored maps, going into an election season and sadly number two, describes the hot zones in the midst of a pandemic. on both maps, there's a lot of overlay between the red states, it's another way of saying that this is just getting wound up now in states that the president looks to as his political base, it was theorized that coverage to the contrary on some of the conservative networks what suppressed a lot of the crowd over the weekend in tulsa was people actually stopping for a gut-check and realizing that perhaps the reality on the ground doesn't match what we're hearing. >> that's right, and what you hear from americans, whether you're in a blue state or in a red state, republican or democrat, they're fearful for their lives. they're scared of this virus. and even if they support president trump as we saw in

tulsa, it's a ruby red state the majority of the state is likely supporting president trump. within given the opportunity or the decision whether or not to stay home in safety or go out and be among thousands of people, most people stayed home. you had 6200 people instead 19,000. what president trump is doing here is taking a risk. it's a very -- it's a political risk by saying, i'm going to move forward, act like this virus is behind us and i'm going to test people and continue to go out in these rallies. from what i'm hearing, they're continuing to move forward with rallies. because the president loves to be around these big crowds. there's a big risk there. suburban white women, suburban evangelicals they might look at the president, is this the person i want to lead us through the next wave of the virus?

on the other side, you have joe biden who's saying, i'm going to leave my house very sparingly, continue to tell people to wear masks and continue to be very cautious. >> doctor, let's talked about what we learned in the midst of all this. after a hundred days for most of us of locked down, if i invited you to lunch for example in boston or new york, to an outdoor restaurant that advertises they've taken all the steps and have barriers and s n signage up, would you accept the invitation? >> well, brian, this is a scary virus. i'd have to think twice about accepting your invitation. you know, the -- i'd look at

what's happening in the neighborhoods. now you can see the rates of disease by neighborhoods. this is being posted. i'd have to look at that before accepting your invitation. i think what we've learned, this virus isn't going to go away by wishing it's going to go away. you referred to red states and blue states. my feeling is that every state should care about the fact that elderly people, young people now, you know, workers, essential workers whose labor we value so much is all at risk. when you look at what's happened in the united states, we've had up to 40 million people claim unimemployment. we're a country capable of giving them that protection. we've had our proverty rate goe

up two percentage points. that translates 6 to 10 million people in poverty. we can't wish this away. we have to have civic responsibility and our states have to help us do that. >> i was just going to perhaps a lunch once there's vaccine. our thanks to our two friends. yamiche and doctor, thank you for joining us this wednesday afternoon. a break in our coverage now. when we come back, the house judiciary committee hearing testimony from a prosecutor on the roger stone case. - [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.

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the department of justice you should two republican and one democrat president and i'm here to believe that william barr poses the greatest threat in my lifetime to our rule of law and that's because he doesn't believe in its core principle and that's no person is above the law. >> that little bit got our attention from today, it wasn't the only part. that's former deputy attorney general donald heir who served

under george herbert walker bush. that comment part of the testimony during a hearing still ongoing before the house judiciary committee on the threat that political interference poses to the department of justice under this president and under attorney general barr. the witness list includes two current doj officials, including aaron zelinsky who prosecuted president trump's longtime friend roger stone. he testified there was pressure if from high-ranking officials to cut roger stone a break. >> what i saw was that roger stone was being treated differently from every other defendant. he received breaks that are in my experience unheard of and all the more so for a definiendant his circumstance. what i heard immediately this relin yensy was happening this

was because of his relationship with the president. having pressure from the highest levels of the department of justice and instructions to us were based on political considerations. and i was told that the acting u.s. attorney was giving stone a break because he was afraid of the president of the united states. >> the justice department responded to his allegations in a statement, it reads in part, that mr. zelinsky's allegations concerning the u.s. attorney's motivation are based on his own interpretation of events and not firsthand knowledge. william barr will be asked about this when he appears before this same committee july 28th if that goes through. after last weekend's firing of geoffrey berman the u.s. attorney, now former for the southern district of new york, the justice department's new york office. berman's office is investigating several of the president's allies, including but not limited to trump's personal

attorney rudy giuliani. barr said on friday night that berman was stepping down. a short time later during our broadcast in fact, berman said he was not resigning and he would leave when the senate confirms his replacement. the next day, barr 1k8d the president to remove him and did so, later the president said he wasn't involved. this hearing comes after a huge development in the first of the first national security adviser michael flynn. a federal court appeals order e the judge to dismiss the case outright. after the department filed a motion last month the judge appointed a retired judge to examine the government's justification for dismissing the case. that judge accused the justice

department of exercising a gross abuse of prosecutorial power. should the judge comply and not appeal the order, the case against michael flynn would be over. moments ago, the president reacted to the decision during an oval office photo-op with the president of poland. >> he's been exonerated. and i want to congratulate him. he's been through a lot. he's been through a lot. he had great courage. great fortitude. they spied on a campaign. there's never been anything like that happened. >> our next guest someone we frequently turn in order to make sense of issues of the law, just like these, neal katyal. a law professor at georgetown. happens to have argued 41 cases before the u.s. supreme court. counselor, we'll take these one at a time.

i was going to begin with barr. let's begin with flynn, because we just heard out the president. his use of the word "exonerated." his use of the words "spying on a campaign." so much of the corruption, neal, just gets baked into the cake because of repetition, what's the chance this doesn't go another step and mike flynn becomes a free man? >> okay, before i answering that, brian, we'll go one-on-one, it's all four of those things that you just started with in your lead-in, that paints a dismal picture in the rule of law in america. a conservative lawyer, bush's number two person at the justice department who's saying basically this is on the way of being worse than watergate aaron zelinsky saying i was a career prosecutor and i was pressured to do career favors for the

president. now, we have michael flynn and a president's totally wrong, 10 on% when he says flynn is exonerated. no exoneration of him. this guy pled guilty to lying to the fbi and he's never been exonerated from that. the president through his attorney general has exercised his raw political power to try and stop the prosecution -- or stop the sentencing from taking place. that's an exoneration. all the court today said that the president has the power to do it. it doesn't have anything to do with the wisdom to do it. the president's national security official lead to the fbi and expressed himself to massive compromising information. the russians knew he had lied to the fbi when he was the sitting

national security adviser. >> people are worn down, they're pessimistic, people are dieing in the middle of a pandemic and forgive the pes schism that fuels this question, attorney general barr isn't going to resign, congrepeople watched th. in a quote we ran on our broadcast last night, in effect, congress has more power than it has courage. what could possibly happen? what could be done to the principles in this case? >> i think that congress, first of all, should have barr testify tomorrow not on july 28th. an attorney general who always sets testimony months in advance and never does it. any attorney general who has any sense of respect for the rule of law should be testifying tomorrow. he's been accused by one of his

own prosecutors of acting politically. in his responses, oh, i guess i'll bother to show up five weeks from now and we don't know if he will then. that's not the way a responsible government official behaves. if i behaved that way, they would be out there the next day. i would be there right away. i wouldn't be delaying and delaying and delaying and not providing an explanation for what happened. so, yes, i think that the house has the funding power, they can defund the office of the attorney general or programs they want to defund and this is, you know a justice department that's run amock as a very conservative lawyer reminded everyone today. >> then there's how barr presents as a human, as an attorney general, beyond unbothered by any of this,

beyond loyal to levels of his boss and a lot of people in your profession view his largest standing act of loyalty to be taking the bullet on the mueller report, being the coffee filter the mueller report was poured through before any of us got to see it, barr branded it a certain way, and put into the water this notion of innocence. >> yeah, i'm not going to get into barr's personality or politics. i don't know any of them. i agree with you that barr totally distorted the mueller report and then hid it from the american people for a period of weeks. but look, maybe he's got some sort of explanation for it. i haven't heard it. the american people haven't heard it. i think he should take a break from tear gassing people and show up in congress and answer some questions. >> neal katyal, our thanks for

taking our questions this afternoon. thank you very much, counselor. we're following two breaking stories, first to georgia, where we're expecting an update in the killing of ahmaud arbery, we expect to hear from the district attorney of cobb county, georgia, shortly. also on the other front, at the white house, the president's going to be holding a joint news conference with the visiting president of poland. a lot to cover. we'll get to it when we continue. we continue

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at the white house since around about the second third week of march happens to be president duda from poland. both presidents are going to be reading a statement to start and then taking questions from the press corps, because we have otherwise busy afternoon, we'll be monitoring the comments made in the rose garden and let you know of anything news worthy or of note. we can announce that we have breaking news to report in the case of the killing of 25-year-old ahmaud arbery. a grand jury has indicted all three suspects on murder charges.