welcome to wednesday.

it is "meet the press" wednesday on a busy afternoon, i'm chuck todd. inside and outside the beltway, the president wrapped up a conference after meeting with poland's president. the house wrapped up a meetinging wig two whistle-blowers alleging serious misconduct and political interference under attorney general bill barr. a grand jury indicted all three in killing of ahmaud arbery in georgia. and senate democrats this afternoon blocked consideration of the republican party's police reform bill. we begin tonight with verdict of public opinion involving the president's failure of leadership particularly on the virus. according to a new poll in the "new york times" and sienna college, donald trump would lose by 140 points if the election were today. recent polls have had trump trailinged by 12, 8 and 14 points respectively. the average in double digits on the various sites that do polling averages.

two new polls in battleground states show that double-digit lead nationally is trickling dow down biden up 8 and results you might expect if the president was trailing nationally by those large margins. the presidents is pushing to reopen the economy, reboot his campaign, he seeing basically central to his re-election chances. growing alarm among public health officials about what you see on your screen. curves going up. states texas, florida, arizona, mississippi, reporting spikes. hospitalizations are spiking. texas 12 straight days of record hospital hospitalizations. and north carolina has seen a spike, so is arkansas among others. in confirmed cases overall in the u.s. at their highest levels

on a daily basis since the u.s. experienced its first peak, and peak rate of death. public health officials like dr. fauci are simply alarmed. >> as you continue to get these cases, what you start seeing, we don't want to see it but it's going to happen is increase in hospitalizations and getting into trouble getting back to the same kind of thing they were when we were in trouble. so we really need to push hard to try and contain these infections by doing identification, isolation and contact tracing. hopefully doing it in an effective way. >> let me ask you, dr. fauci. it was my understanding that in order for states to reopen, that they had to implement widespread testing. they had to have a plan for contact tracing. you're saying -- that hasn't happened? >> well, it's not working. i mean, i'm sure they are trying to do that, but what is happening, it's not -- it's not working. they're opening up and people

are very likely, not very likely, we're seeing it on tv and looking at it in the pictures in the newspapers, doing things you should not be doing. >> ever the diplomat he wanted to say it's not working. which is another way of saying, it hasn't been implemented the way it was supposed to. dr. fauci in his own way made his frustrations clear with aspects of the president's leadership in this pandemic. as the president flouts virus safety recommendations, suggesting the u.s. should scale back testing 120,000 americans died, tens of millions out of work, not to mention the president is struggling to address nationwide movements of racial injustice, all as alarm bells are sounded by his closest advisors about his fitness for high office. joe fryer on the ground in scottsdale, arizona. a state that set is a record for hospitalizations for nine consecutive days. priscilla thompson in houston, a

hot spot within one of the nation's major coronavirus hot spots. and kerry sanders, blew away a high of cases today and correspondent for the "new york times" and msnbc analyst also with us. joe fryer, start, move twoeft east. start with you out west. give me the situation in arizona and is today's situation, we know every day the governor sort of increased his concern, we saw him allowing municipalities to make their own rules. is he any closer to making his own decision on a lockdown? >> reporter: we haven't heard anything about that yet. one of the biggest changes we saw a week ago when the governor said local cities, counties, you want to put in mask mandates you can. many did. including where i am. i'm in a busy street on scottsdale with small businesses. you saw most people wearing masks. the worry, when arizona reopened last month, experts say, yeah,

fine to start reopening in mid-may but needed more restrictions in place to ease into it. that's not what happened. the result, worried too many places especially restaurants and bars filled to much. people weren't wearing masks at first, weren't social distancing. one of the biggest problems. arizona is like many places across the country. the number of young people getting infected way higher than with older people because they're the ones out and about. spoke with one young man here in scottsdale said he wasn't wearing a mask until the mandate came into play and now does wear a mask. one of the biggest worries here will be hospitalizations. today it was announced icus in the state are 88% full. yesterday it was 84% full. spoke with a former head of the state department of health here. he's fearing they will reach compart perhaps by fourth of july. that's a big problem. impacts care. you wonder, can people go next door to know state if hospitals

are full? keep no mind, governor newsom in california said today in the last two weeks hospitalizations in california are now up 29%, chuck. >> let me play that bite for that interview. honestly, it was alarming what that former arizona health official said. play that bite. >> the thing i'm most concerned about right now is getting the hospitals prepared for what's coming. probably by about the fourth of july. you know, the time -- and here's the thing. somebody asked me earlier today. what is it we, what would you be doing if you were in your old job? they were asking me for prevention measures, and what i had to tell them was, the time for prevention measures was a month ago. now, i mean, the wheels are coming off. >> that's pretty dire, joe. >> reporter: yeah. i mean, basically saying we can't turn back time now. one of the major focuses would

be staffing up hospitals, making sure hospitals are as prepared as possible to deal with not just the surge now but inevitable surge in the future. i asked him. what do you do about policy as far as outside of hospitals what can you do to try to get things under control? obviously, mask policies help. also maybe sharpening the punishments for people who weren't quite following the rules. businesses, things like that, that aren't doing their best to make sure they're social distancing. sharpen those policies so people feel they might be punished if they aren't doing what's best. >> joe fryer, a start in arizona. joe, thank you. move to houston, priscilla thompson on the ground there. you're in a hot spot within a state that is a hot spot. we know the governor is alarmed enough he's asking for a voluntary stay-at-home with another day of 5,000 new cases, 4,000 new hospitalizations. is he going to get ready to make a mandatory order?

>> reporter: well, a mandatory order would be a last resort he has said. with houston at 97% hospital capacity, it's very possible they will hit that very soon, and so you see the hospitals here sort of preparing those surge plans. here at houston methodist they tell us they're adding icu beds and isolation areas in rooms. one official put it, we are preparing every minute of every day for the worst-case scenario and these cases and hospitalizations continue to tick up, and the governor, not too long ago, was saying there was an abundant amount of hospital beds left. we see him present ag-oing a mo urgent term this week. and issued a new executive order more restrictions on gathering of 100 people or more and signaled he could stop eliquidive surgeries to free up the hospital beds. it's likely we'll see things

like that happening before he were to consider another state-wide shutdown, chuck. >> and priscilla, alarming news. local officials worried the federal government would pull its support for some testing sites in texas. i saw with minutes of when we went to air that senator john cornyn obviously a republican senator in texas running for re-election, he expressed concern about this as well and is asking the trump administration reverse this. what else are you hearing on the ground about this? >> reporter: well, he's not alone in that. a lot of officials here are very concerned. i know the houston health department has also sent a letter urging that those resources remain here beyond the month of june. and in dallas, they're looking at possibly bringing in third-party vendors to help with some of that testing. one thing that officials here are saying is that even if the fema resources, the federal resources do go, test lg staing

stay. they have to work that out, chuck. >> priscilla thompson in houston. thank you. the state of florida, we find kerry sanders. cases up 5% in a day. how concerned are officials that we're starting to see ex exponential spread in florida. >> reporter: the exponential spread appears to be in a lower age grune and expanding. number, 5,511 new cases of coronavirus. but the age is decreasing from what was 37 to 34. now talking about in the 18 to 26 age group where's they're most concerned about the spread of the virus. now, what you see is, while the numbers are going up, the death rate is going down. and the government is talking as

if that is a good thing, but the concern, of course, is that young people then go see their parents, see their grandparents and it spreads and it keeps the coronavirus moving throughout the community. i am in clearwater beach, which is part of pinellas county. where i am right now, you must wear a mask, like i have on right now. if you go into a business. what is confusing to so many people is, wearing a mask, going into a business here in clearwater has been required now for just 12 minutes. it just went into effect. you have 67 counties, multiple cities in the state and depending where you are, it's a patchwork of regulations of what people need to do. on top of the fact that coronavirus doesn't really respect geographic boundaries of cities and counties. you have a lot of tourists coming down here and are like, ah, i don't have to wear mask. great. just came from where i had to wake of a mask in massachusetts.

it's causing more confusion and problems. one the governor says he philosophically believes should be resolved by local governments. >> play a little what the governor said today. somebody that wanted positive press a couple months ago thinking they had been in the clear. let me play his remarks today. >> ultimately, we've got to trust people to make good decisions. i mean, there's a ten-person limit in miami-dade county for gathers right now. been that way the entire time. it's phase one. have you seen any gathering in the last three weeks more than ten people? be real. you have what you can put out, but also a divergence between the requirements and what the compliance is. and i think what we've seen is you know, if you follow the guidelines, you follow those phase one guidelines here, if you follow the phase two guidelines in other parts of the state, everything works out fine. >> that sounded like a governor who believes they're still

making all the right decisions. it's the public's fault. >> reporter: and, you know -- i'm in south florida are over on west coastwhat i'm observing is not necessarily what the governor says is happening. i'm seeing out -- you know, right here. we've set up in this pretty background, but a block from here i'm at the beach and it's right along the sidewalk. it's packed with people who are not wearing masks. probably don't even know the rule just went into effect now 14 minutes ago, chuck. >> kerry sanders in clearwater, florida, for us. appreciate it. stay safe, my friend, and -- >> reporter: thank you. >> let's home we can get through this in florida. bringing in peter baker. i want to play for you what john thun said today, because it is easily the gnome direct critique of the president's leadership by a republican senator not named mitt romney i've heard in months. take a listen.

>> -- a problem with the middle of the electorate. interference and the people hoop decide national elections. i think he can win this back, but probably -- required not only a message that deals with substance of policy but i think a message that happen perhaps a different tone. >> peter baker, john thune isn't a guy that likes to stir the pot inside the party. not somebody who normally brings criticism that he'd like to level into the public sphere. it feels as if a lot more republicans are looking, realizing, these double-dump it polls are not outliers? >> reporter: i think that's right, chuck. you and i have seen this before. plenty of presidents get themselves in trouble. this is normal. abnormal three years of not seeing members of the republican party break with the president when his numbers were down. the numbers now have gotten so

far down that they're really, really worried. they're worried not just about the white house, not just about whether president trump will get a second term but whether they'll hold on to the senate. win or lose seats in the house. the senate is so close you know, of course, 3s 47. a number of democrats seem to be surging in some of those races. i think, you know, john thune and other republicans are looking beyond president trump and saying, okay. what about us? what's going to happen if he goes down and brings a lot of us with him? >> and it does seem as if the president is just not listening to any -- he's not reacting the way a normal politician in this situation would react. he's not -- you know -- you talk to people close to him. i do. they supposedly convey his problems to him. whether he just doesn't believe tore just doesn't know any other way. i do think a lot of republicans are wondering, are you not seeing what the rest of us are seeing?

>> reporter: that's right. even his own advisers are frustrated trying to get through to him making sure he see what's they are seeing, and yet understanding that they are risking the wrath of a volcanic temper if they are too blunt with him. people who have been too hon effort about him about his own political troubles on the polls find themselves on a pretty sharp end of a sharp tongue. a shake-up at the top. the rally in tulsa continues to sting. these numbers are just devastating for an incoumbent president at this point. the only june we've seen candidates come back from further behind by november but it's a pretty hard road for an incumbent usually in a stronger position by this point. >> the other thing, peter. the virus, the single most important story everybody is dealing with as a country. everything has been shut down or altered due to this, and he's

tweeting about mike flynn, flag burning. basically he's, he wants to deal with any other issue other than what's on his plate. >> reporter: yeah. he would like us to think that this is over. in fact, in his sweet yesterday i think it was said, we did a great job on the coronavirus. we did, past tense. it's not over, as dr. fauci told congress yesterday, as the admiral told congress yesterday. we're a long way from being over but the president would assume not focus attention on that hoping country is not focused on it and tired of it. the report you aired from arizona, texas, florida, are all states they're seeing big spikes, seeing big impact in will hurt the economy as well as public health, because he's going to reopen businesses if the public health seems to be in dire straits? and these are states the president needs to win. all three states you showed are states he won four years ago. he's counting on winning this

time around. if those are states suffering badly two, three months from now he's got a very, very tough road to hoe. >> arrogance in the state leadership thinking we're going to be great. come on pro sports. come on nba. the nba may regret ever doing business with florida under these conditions now. it may be that these states also shut down whatever hope we had for a shortened sports season as well. peter baker, chief without corners at the "new york times." always a pleasure to have you on, sir. thank you. up ahead, more on the trouble in texas. a top virus expert from houston joins me. later, an appeals court orders and end to the michael flynn case on the same day politics drove business inside bill barr's justice department. all of that up next. t.here! whoo! don't do it. don't you dare.

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welcome back.

texas governor greg abbott is considering new restrictions now that his state is reporting more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases two days in a row. yesterday we told you abbott urged texans to stay home, not requiring it. a shift from last week when the governor insisted the virus is under control. >> we are now in a situation we are co-existing with covid-19 and we do not have to choose between either returning to jobs or protecting health care. we do have the tools and the strategies in place where we can achieve both of those ends. >> there is a massive outbreak of covid-19 in texas. today we will have more than 5,000 people test positive once again. >> we are looking at greater restrictions and some could be localized. >> dr. petotez dean at the tropl school of medicine. nice have you on again. sadly under circumstances that i

feel like you saw coming. you and pretty much so many members of your field saw it coming. what could have prevented this resurgence in texas? what were the mistakes? >> you're very much right. this unfortunately, this surge was both predicted and predictable. and it's really worrisome. we're looking now at almost a vertical slope in terms of the number of cases. this very rapid acceleration, if you've ever seen one, what's called and exponential curve what it looks like. stays flat a while and goes up almost, almost vertically, and that's what's happening here in houston. we're seeing similar numbers in san antonio. in austin, in dallas, and it's not just the numbers, because some oh cert this is just due to increased testing. we're actually seeing a brig

surbrig big surge in the hospitals and icus. i don't see what brings us back. today we just got new modeling estimateses from the university of pennsylvania and their policy lab. they're looking pretty dire. pretty apocalyptic. i think we'll have to take ag z aggressive action. we did a good job initially. a good peak and the governor made a good decision to shut things down. didn't want to reproduce what we saw in new york, and we nerve her a big surge back in march and april, but then the modelers told us we had to keep it shut down throughout the month of may and nobody was prepared to do that. and we didn't put in all of the belts and suspenders for public health we needed to and now we have a situation we're facing currently. >> do you have enough contact tracers, enough tests in the state or not? because this is one of the confusing issues at times where the, you know, the federal

government decided they've washed their hands. right? saying it's up to the states. made the decision they're not taking the lead on this. what is the situation in texas with testing and tracing? >> well, it even goes beyond testing and tracing. most of the pieces there are. it's just the scale and scope is not adequate. we do have testing. it needs to be expanded. we do have contact tracers. they're not enough. one piece that we are missing s is, is an app-based system where we can look for clusters of cases of fever and cough. some people call that syndromic surveillance. there are several out there. so to build in, to reinforce that. we don't even have epidemiologic models for all of our cities and don't have a regular system of public health communication. it's better than it was but it's still not commensurate with all the effort that went into the

economic recovery. there was never really that recognition. they need to do both in order to sustain that economic recovery. i'm particularly worried about some of the people in the low-income neighborhoods. they're the ones that are disproportionately going into the hospital right now. >> that's what we saw in new york city. a lot. the summer was always expected to be a bit of a reprieve. the moment we all could exhale a little bit, and -- in that sense all of you guys were saying it's possible, it will be a little better then we're prepare for a fall hit. doesn't look like that's going to be the case. this looks like we're about to surpass our peak in the next couple of days, our national peak. what does this mean for -- what's facing us in the fall now? >> yeah. the all-american southwest. isn't it? it's texas, it's oklahoma, it's arizona, nevada, and as we know there's plenty of sunlight. there's plenty of warmth, at least here in houston, plenty of humidity.

not working in our favor. there's some just speculation that maybe with all of the hot weather that in fact it's the opposite. people are indoors, and in air conditioning and getting exposed more because of that. that may be a factor. but pretty speculative at this point. this is a new virus. we still don't know all of the factors responsible for transmission, but the impact is clear. we are facing a dire public health situation in texas. and in a couple of other southwestern states right now. >> and we haven't even hit the fall. doctor, appreciate you coming on sharing your expertise with us and fingers crossed somehow these models will get better, but it doesn't look good. thank you, sir. up ahead, it's looking like be last night may end up being a super tuesday for progressive democrats after all. break town what we know and don't know yet as votes continue to be counted. plus the senate dead locks. democrats block the republicans attempt to bring a bill to the

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welcome back. on capitol hill today a former prosecutor in the roger stone case testified there was pressure from the highest leveling of the department of justice to cut stone a break on his sentencing simply because of his relationship with president trump. assisting u.s. attorney aaron

zi zelinsky and with drew after stone the treatment was simply unheard of. >> what i saw, roger stone was being treated differently from every other defendant receiving breaks in my experience were unheard of. what i heard repeatedly this leniency was happening because of stone's relationship to the president. that the acting u.s. attorney for the district of clump wa was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the department of justice and his instructions were based on political considerations. >> let's bring in kasie hunt now. kasie, that was part of a hearing about the politicizing of the justice department. what else did we hear and i imagine -- i understand there was a little bit of weird drama with some of the house republicans? >> there was some drama, chuck.

you're right. to start with your question about the substance here, you know i think you captured well what this prosecutor, aaron zelinsky is alleges happened in this case, saying that the pressure he came under, that his office came under to reduce the sentence and he, of course, left the case after the department of justice reduced its recommendation for the sentence length for roger stone was motivated simply because stone had a personal relationship with the president, and that that was wrong. he identified that as coming from, or rather that he found out about said pressure from another official in the u.s. attorney's office and named that person and there were a couple others as well. but republicans basically accused him of making these allegations based on hearsay saying he had no direct knowledge. something he heard from these officials, and, therefore, the allegations weren't relevant. as for some of the moments

during the hearing that were a little tough and perhaps not on this topic, there were questions raised about why mr. saenzky didn't appear in person. he said because he had a newborn baby at home and the child's pediatrician suggested he not appear in person. suggestions he didn't have the same guts and others who decided to appear in person and jim jordan, of course, wasn't wearing a mask most of the hearing. jerry nadler had to threaten to anybody that wasn't wearing one he would not actually allow them to use their time in the hearing. chuck? >> and kasie, the other big story on capitol hill today on the senate side. police reform. i talked to cory booker earlier today. he is hopeful that this rejection of the senate republican bill will bring senate republicans to the table the same way when they rejected the, the last stimulus bill. what is your sense that that will happen?

>> reporter: chuck, i waurched that interview and thought what senator book her to say about his personal relationship with tim scott was noteworthy and sees senator scott has personal investment and sincere interest working on this. i think your interview with senator booker reflecteded and acknowledged that. i don't know if there's nudge goodwill left here. the answer to your question lie just how much pressure republican, feeling from a political perspective to do more to show that they care about the issue or are trying to get something done pt reality, trust between chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell is low. really saying something. hard to see how we move forward here. i leave open the possibility that personal relationship could produce results. >> fascinating cory booker was using a specific messaging by

saying, mitch mcconnell is standing in the way of bipartisanship. an interesting messaging point at an attempt to separate from republicans from mcconnell. whether they will take that invitation from cory booker is a whole other story. note worth noteworthy messaging i hadn't heard before. kasie hunt, busy day on capitol hill. thank you. >> thanks, chuck. talking about the politicization next. nasa announced honoring the agency's first african-american female engineer naming its d.c. base of operations the mary w. jackson nasa headquarters. jackson broke through racial barriers in the 1950s, in 2016 her amazing story chronicled in the best-selling book and hit film "hidden figures." last year jackson posthumously received the congressional gold medal. we'll be right back. old

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welcome back. for months house democrats wanted to question bill barr under oath. we found out today they will get their chance in july. the justice department announced the attorney general would testify before the house judiciary committee july 28th. the chairman jerry nadler prepared to subpoena barr. the announcement came as aaron zelinsky was testifying in regard to roger stone. ordering to dismiss the case against michael flynn because the justice department wished to drop the case even though flynn had pleaded guilty not once but twice to lying to the fbi. with me now, former acting solicitor general, professor of law at georgetown university, nbc news legal analyst. neil, it wasn't just aaron zelinsky that testified about one action. other people testified. i want to play an astonishing quote here that was unlike, aaron zelinsky was careful not

to name barr. this next person wasn't. take a listen. >> i was privileged to serve in the department of justice under two republican and one democratic president, and i am here because i believe that william barr poses the greatest threat in my lifetime to our rule of law and to public trust in it. that is because he does not believe in its core principle that no spurn above the law. >> neil, we heard both in big ways and in minute ways how at least accusations basically of personal, political interference? >> absolutely. i mean it was an astounding hearing, chuck. you had basically all leveling of the justice department today represented in that hearing. you had career prosecutor, assistant united states attorney, aaron zelinsky saying it was political interference and in the stone investigation that i was pressured to go easy on him because he was the president's friend that i would

lose my job otherwise, perhaps. you had the career supervisor of the antitrust division john ellious saying similar things, actually reverse. they wanted to use the anti-trust laws to go after the president's enemies and was pressured to do that and then that clip you just played by don ayer who is an incredibly conservative lawyer. he was george w. bush's number two person at the justice department. so he's not some lefty like me or something like that, and he testified that this was on its way to being worse than watergate. you're right to say, yes, that barr has said today he's going to testify on july 28th. i'll believe it when i see it. this guy's been scared to go to the hill and testify in the house for months and months and months. he sets testimony and backs down. and you know, the idea we have to wait five weeks for his testimony, after hearing what we heard today? after seeing all of the drama about the southern district of new york over the weekend?

you know, and after his episodes at lafayette square and teargassing people, i find it unconscionable. someone accused me of those things at the justice department i'd go the next day and say, hey i want to testify. not wait five weeks to tell my side of the story. >> let me reverse that question. should house democrats be more, be -- be -- be trying to get him there sooner? i mean, i -- you know, is there another way to hold him accountable? they feel as if he's basically been an unaccountable branch employee and basically avoided any tough questioning from the democratic majority in the house. gone before the senate. but that is, you know, republican controlled. certainly faced tough questions from democrats, but should house democrats be pushing harder here and sooner themselves? >> yes. i mean, look. the primary culprit here or the top leaders of the justice department which is politicized

that they've, and the president, in ways that are beyond all recognition from anyone who served there in a prior republican or democrat administration, include by wait folks who serve ntd the nixon administration, this getting to be absurd, but i do think your question is right. i don't think that the house has done enough to exercise oversight and to sit and wait five weeks more for barr's testimony when we've been waiting like a year already is getting absurd. so, yes. they should. they should subpoena him. threaten to use the funding power against him. there's a lot of tools they have and need to exercise them all. >> it has been odd at how unwilling and i don't know why fully unless they feel like it's a distraction from other issues. let me ask you about the action today in the d.c. circuit on the michael flynn case. i've seen some legal analysis saying this ends it. but i heard barbara mcquade, former attorney said to me

earlier today she thought it was quite possible that the full circuit might say, you know what? let's -- let's listen to this one poor time. what's your sense of what's going to happen here? >> well, the full circuit doesn't like to hear things, hear cases very much as a whole. they do so incredibly rarely, but if there's a case to be heard, this is it. i mean, this is a really silly, absurd decision, chuck. it doesn't, it's not going to stand the tests of time. it's absurd on the idea that a judge can't even inquire into illegitimate machinations by political officials and particularly absurd on the idea that someone can go run to the federal appeals court before the trial court has even ruled. it's called a court of appeals for a reason. there has to be something to appear. here the trial judge hasn't even, all he wanted to do have a hearing to inquire. hadn't ruled in any way, shape or form. it is a decision really on a step with mainstream legal thinking.

>> could judge sullivan go to the, ask, appeal to the supreme court? or did, does he -- would he have to ask for a -- what could he do next? >> there are two different paths. judge sell can to either ask the full court of appeals to hear it or go to the supreme court directly. i suspect he'd do the former almost as a matter of respect for them, because after all, he's a lower court judge in that circuit. i would suspect that's the thing that is prudent to do. the other thing that could happen the jumps on the d.c. circuit, our nation's second highest court can on their own vote to hear the case. that very well may happen as well. >> former acting slils ter general, professor at georgetown and nbc news legal analyst, thanks for coming on. up next. it is looking like it was a pretty big primary night for

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sorry i'm late, everybody, and apologies for my appearance. you look fine. we were just talking about -- yeah, right. i look like a wanted poster. i didn't have time to get my beard routine in this morning, so... what beard routine? ah. well, the key is maple nectar. gives it that sheen. is there something wrong with my screen? -mnh-mnh. -jamie, what are talking about? you're right, alan. we should be talking about bundling home and auto with progressive, not this luscious mane of mine. [ laughs ]

jamie, do you know what a beard is?

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following. declaring victory. he has a commanding lead but there are still plenty of ballots. and the rach race to take on mitch mcconnell. there is a lot of votes still outstanding. here to break it all down, what happened to me is nbc news contributor, mr. wasserman, kentucky is still counting. they're the fastest counting state. them in virginia. it is a new world. let me start there. what do we know about what's out? >> well, somewhere between 80 to 90% of the vote is out, chuck. and none of louisville, we won't know for another five, six days. we have virtually none of lexington. so look, this is almost as if

you know, we had next to no results. now, amy mcgrath is up 6 points right now, in the 10% we do have. look, the fact that louisville is all out means booker has more than enough votes left to overcome that. >> that's for sure. let's go to the new york house races. i want to start with what appears to be the predicted big upset. bowman over engel. do we have an idea how many votes are left to down and does bowman, it looks to me he has big enough lead but we don't know how many ballots are still left or do we? >> well, we would expect based on the figures that west chester and the new york city boards of elections have provided that total turnout in the district, if everyone sent back the absentee ballots might be in the 60 to 90,000 range. rye now there have been about

44, 45,000 votes counted. and look. jamal bowman has a massive lead. he's ahead 27 points right now. based on the patterns that we've seen, there may be more voters by the end of the day in this democratic primary. and we see it with this magnitude. the house committee chair, like elliot engel, there are multiple factor at play. the fact that engel didn't go back to the district during the first couple months of the pandemic. that he was caught on a hot mic. so these as you know, tend to cascade. let's talk about a neighbor of eliot engel's, what are we looking at here? i assume we're waiting for all the ballots to be down. that is pretty tight.

500 votes is the last i saw, i think. >> that's right. this is a rematch. maloney pete pattel, the same day that joe crowley went down. this is tighter. and she became chair when elijah cummings passed away. and the outstanding votes, according to most of the new york insiders on the ground i've spokesperson with, are probably going to be friendlier to malonmalone y than the ones counted so far because the absentees are likely to skew higher income. it is more in the brooklyn and queens section of the district, younger, a little more hipster and agitating for change. that's where maloney has run weakest. so at the ends of the day, it is stale better than 50/50 if she survives.

>> i'm out of time. i was going to ask but virginia five. have you moved that to lean r or toss up? >> we moved to it lean r. it is a perfect storm to win it but that storm could be brewing. >> dave wasserman. cook mit report, guru of all things especially when you'watc on election nights. 'watching on election nights in your feet?

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in charleston, south carolina, city crews took down a statue of. it to do in a public park only a few blocks in sight of the massacre that left nine black parishioners dead. calhoun who served under quincy adams and andrew jackson was one of the most ardent supporters of slavery calling it a positive good for the nation.

it was voted on to take it down last night. crews worked over 17 hours to bring it down to great applause from gathering crowds. that's all for tonight. we'll be back tomorrow with more shimon perpere "meet the press daily." "the beat" withari melber starts now. >> good evening. welcome to "the beat." we have a big newscast tonight. the top doj prosecutors making explosive allegations under oath against bill barr and donald trump. hear in the show, dr. fauci fact checking trump and a very special panel. we'll get to that. something you won't see anywhere else or even usually on "the beat." we're also staying on stories of protests and policing. we have a new update on an important one later in the show. that's all ahead. we begin with something truly unusual today. this testimony from normally tight-lipped federal prosecutors, indeed, you can go through an entire