good day, everyone. from msnbc world headquarters here. it is high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. in the west. breaking news. new insight into russia's bounty offer to the taliban in exchange for american lives. the tale of the fetweet. the president retweeting a video where a supporter yells, white power. new word from the white house in the past few minutes. long, long lines, covid

sites hitting capacity in a record number of cases in several states. plus, demanding action after the death of elijah mcclain. i'll ask his family's attorney where this case goes from here. breaking news. nbc news confirms the u.s. has gathered intelligence that russian intel officers have offered cash bounties to taliban fighters who kill americans and coalition forces. that's according to three people briefed on the matter. the president today tweeting nobody briefed or told him or mike pence or mark meadows after "the new york times" first reported the finding was briefed to president trump. nancy pelosi, the member of the gang of eight, says something's wrong with this picture. >> the president wants to ignore any allegation against russia. i've said to him in that meeting when i'm pointing to him, with you, mr. president, all roads lead to putin.

you would think the minute the president heard it, he would want to know more instead of denying he knew anything. we'll find out if he has been briefed. but if it were not, what does that say about the concern that those who brief the president have about not going anywhere near the russia issue with this president? >> now nbc sources were not able to make clear how persuasive the intelligence is and senior officials down played the report ing to nbc news saying there was no evidence any bounty was actually paid. let's go to josh at the white house. josh has been following this story for us the last 24 hours or so. what are you learning today? >> the white house, alex, has been trying to distance president trump from this with the president in this new series of tweets this morning saying, nobody briefed or told me, vice president pence or chief of staff mediciadows, and the prest going on to say everyone is denying and and there have not been many attacks on us.

the last part is not true. we know nearly two dozen american troops died in afghanistan just last year alone. but the president's tweets along with statements that were put out late last night from the white house and the director of national intelligence saying that he was never briefed, never got a briefing on it, is raising fresh questions from republican and a democratic members of congress alike about whether perhaps the president got the information, not in an in person briefing, but instead, in a document known as the president's daily brief. this is a highly classified, written document that's prepared by the intelligence community every day for the president. we've known in the past, there have been concerns that the president may not actually read that document despite the important information that it has in it, so i asked this morning, the office of director of national intelligence, whether they can also say that this intelligence was not actually in the pdp. the director of national intelligence declining to answer

that question for us. >> let's get to something else that happened today with the president retweeting a pretty controversial video reportedly taken in the villages in florida. a video of trump supporters chanting a racist slogan while facing off with counterprotestors. let's play part of it. >> racist! racist! >> white power! >> there you go! white power! >> did you hear that? >> you heard it there. now nbc has not verified where and when this video was taken, but what followed that part we just played was some pretty foul mouth protestors cursing the president. so has there been response on this from the white house? do we know if the president was aware of the entire contents of this video? it runs a couple of minutes and changed before he tweeted it? >> we know his sharing of this video lirl this morning prompted immediate outrage from members

of congress, from civil rights groups, 'en from the only black republican in the senate, tim scott, who called on the president to delete that. in fact, the president did, just a short while ago, delete that tweet. we should say at the time that tweet was actually deleted, the president was not here at the white house. he's on a golf course right now playing a round of golf with senator lindsey graham, but that tweet was deleted and we now have fresh comment from the white house on exactly what happened here. white house spokesman telling us president trump is a big fan of the villages, that retirement community in florida. he did not hear the one statement made on that video. what he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters, but of course, that claim, alex, coming under a lot of skepticism because that one statement he's referring to, the one statement about white power, comes only eight seconds into the the video that the president decided to share with his millions of followers on twitter. >> as i said, josh, the point should be made that immediately

following that point of the video, eight seconds in, there's some pretty unflattering la language being use ds against the president by counterprotestors, so xwen, the white house saying he just really didn't watch the video before tweeting it. didn't see the whole thing. >> we should note, the stories that you and i have been discussing all morning, this afghan russia bounty situation and this white power video, both of them, the white house's response is essentially the president didn't know about it. the president commands thousands of employees, has more information at his fingertips than you or i certainly, but in both instances, the explanation from the white house is that trump simply was not aware of this controversial information. >> josh at the white house, thank you, my friend ch appreciate that. joining me now, another friend of ours. a congressman, democrat from washington state, also a member of the house intelligence committee. the president didn't know. give me your reaction to that.

when it comes to these really important issues, a suggestion by "the new york times" that he had been briefed about issues under way by russia saying we're going to pay members of the taliban or militants linked to them for essentially assassination attempts on u.s. military. the fact that the president tweets this white power video eight seconds into it then doesn't realize what's followed, which is not flattering for him, by the way. the fact his excuses, i don't know, what does that say to you? >> well, alex, first of all, that he didn't know, secondly, these two stories are related. the president has a balletplaybook with four plays in it. deny, attack, play the victim and change the suspect for o outrageous utterance. he's used all. he denied he knew ait can from "the new york times." he claimed to be a victim of "the new york times" then sought purposefully to change the

subject about him shaking his most sacred responsibility, providing for the common defense and protecting american lives by tweeting out this blatantly racist video. >> how about your reaction to when you first heard that story, the story from "the new york times" that about russia offering money. i mean basically paying to assassinate military members of the united states over in afghanistan? >> well, it's the most agree jous abdication of responsibility the president can engage in. the failure to protect american lives. it's important we perceive this and evaluate this in a less than abstract way. for example, alex, i have the privilege to represent joint base lewis mcchord. one of the crown jewels in our national security installations and troops and service members from there regularly are

deployed to afghanistan. where they are put in harm's way. and more over, my senior military adviser in my washington, d.c., office, is a proud united states marine and he's been deployed to afghanistan. these are our neighbors. these are the sons and daughters of our friends and it is again, the president's most sacred responsibility to do what he can to protect them. and what is incredibly revealing here is that he is on the one hand, refused to refute the veracity of the underlying intelligence. on the other hand, refused to make a public statement to stand up to russia and this behavior. >> so, with regard to this one, congressman, we have the director of national intelligence, john radcliffradc. he said the president and vice president were never briefed. you heard nancy pelosi making comments. you heard the president himself saying i was never told about this. is there room for interpretation

in the white house and radcliffe's response? is it even possible that trump and pence could not have known anything about this at all or might this have been part of a daily written intel brief thag we have reported many times the president does not thoroughly read, so he can legitimately claim ignorance on this? >> well, if he legitimately claims ignorance, it's only as a consequence of him failing to read his presidential daily brief, which is in and of itself, an abdication of responsibility. as to whether or not it was included, john radcliffe refused to deny it was included and secondly, i can tell you, alex, from receiving i don't know how many dozens if not hundreds comparable, we don't receive a daily brief, but we receive top secret and classified briefings on a regular basis that matters of much less consequence rise to the top of the list to which policymakers are exposed.

so it is beyond defying credibility that it feels not included in either of the daily briefing or subject of a verbal briefing by his team. but you know what, if both of those thing rs true, it even suggesting something more serious. namely, the intelligence community, which knew of this, is now so afraid of the president's personal relationship with putin in russia that they didn't want to expose him to this information. doesn't matter what the case is. it's bad, bad, bad. >> from your experience there on the intel committee, have you heard of an instance where this would be targeting them on this matter? >> that's the key question and thank you. we just have to remind yourselves after all we've been through over the last few years, that vladimir putin seeks to relive the glory days of the soviet union and his premise is

they can cnot be bigger unless e united states and specifically, nato, are weaker. we know he has an expansionist ambitions because he indicated crime crimea. we know he wants nato to be weaker and for some reason that's not yet revealed, he has some kind of hold on president trump, who refuses to put america's interests ahead of those of russia. >> all right. a sobering conversation, but i thank you for it. appreciate it. now to the latest on the coronavirus pandemic as today, the battle against covid-19 reached a troubling new milestone. the number of confirmed cases across the globe surpassing 10 million. according to johns hopkins. the united states accounts for 25% of those cases. then take a look at this video. from jacksonville, florida. hundreds of cars in line for a coronavirus test. that center has hit capacity and had to turn some people away and

just moments ago, florida reported 8,530 new cases just today. the state has seen a rapid rise this past week. meanti meantime, mike pence canceled campaign events in florida this week after an abundance of caution. and a new warning today from new york governor andrew cuomo on the response to this surge. >> this is a virus. it doesn't respond to politics. you can't tweet at it. you have to treat it. and we never did that. i'm now afraid of the spread coming from other states because we are one country and people travel and i'm afraid the infection rate in the other states will come back to new york and raise that rate again. >> and the european union could be just days away now from banning american travelers even after it reopens its borders. let's go to molly hunter in paris for us. hello to you.

what about the folks there? how u are they reacting to not only the potential shutout of millions of tourists, but their money? >> that's exactly right, alex. twofold. so parisians are loving having their city to themselves. we spoke to some couple of days ago and they feel like they're getting a secret look at their city and they're getting it to themselves, which was normally be the height of tourist season. businesses have a different take. they are desperate for tourists and for american tourists and american dollars. we spoke with a cafe manager at a famous cafe on the left bank and he says he's used to normally hearing 14 different languages a day. he says the joy, the fun is tons of different tables packed together, speaking different languages, speaking, laughing, touching. he can't wait for more people to come back, to start spending so this economy can start

recovering and the other element is the personal element. we spoke with this american woman who has two sons in the states. she's not sure when they can come visit her. i'm in the same position. i'm not sure when my california based parents can come visit me in europe. this list we've been reporting on all week unlikely to be finalized today. could be finalized as herbearly tomorrow. the list is approved countries who can travel into the eu starting on july 1st. not on the list is the u.s. >> which is a bummer for me personally. you mentioned the cafe. why do i know that? because my brother lives in paris and a apparently, it's going to be quite a while before i get to visit him and the family. thank you for that. joining me now, dr. natalie aczar, good day to you. look at these states. there are a number of them s

seeing a record number of new cases. what is behind this? >> dr. fauci himself on friday said that it is probably multifactorial. states might have opened too soon. they may have not done it correctly with the proper precautions then you have the attitudes and behaviors of those living in those states, who you know, were not mask wearing and not social distancing. so i think it's just a perfect storm of things that have led to those rises in those states and all i can hope as i'm listening to this is that all of the other states in the country who haven't seen a spike yet are watching really, really closely. >> yeah, among those states, new york watching closely, the comment from governor cuomo, which you heard about how he's afraid of the infection rate we are seeing in the south and the midwest, potentially spreading back to new york. so as new york and other states start reopening, what do you think the risks are of another surge? >> yeah. i mean i think they're very real. there's been a lot of conversation about opinion about travel restrictions or

quarantining folks coming from other states, but make no mistake, this is not meant to be something immuneti punitive or political. rather, it is smart and preventive. i can tell you that hospitals in new york right now are following the metrics very, very closely. and while we are in certain places enjoying this lull and downward trend, hospitals are absolutely preparing for almost inevitable second wave. whether that happens natural ly seasonally with the virus or because of imported cases from other hot spots in the country! very concerning. especially michigan. this particular incident where health officials are saying that 85 new cases are being linked to one single bar in east lansing. are bars superspreaders? is it that alcohol consumption lets people relax, lose their edge of concern and the whole reason people go to bars is to hang out together. >> yeah. i know.

i do think that's the reason. it would be interesting if we ever found out if there was any other, we know alcohol can lower your immune system generally, but it's crowded, certainly indoor spaces and alcohol makes you lose your inhibitions so you become less vivigilant. way back a couple of weeks ago in the northeast when we were preparing to open, the biggest guidance regarding memorial day picnics and gatherings was to really limit the alcohol because you lose that vigilance. >> i thought you were going to say a couple of weeks ago when you had some alcohol and lost an edge, but no, my friend, you never went there. thank you so much. all right, everyone, coming up u next, there's a closer look at the elijah mcclain case. the last heartbreaking moments of his life and the very simple question about his death.

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those were the sights and sounds in aurora, colorado last night. violin players honoring the life of elijah mcclain and protestors marched outside that police department demanding justice for his death. he died last august after being stopped by police and placed in a choke hold. david is joining me now from aurora with a closer look at this case. david, this one is a heartbreaker. what have you learned? >> yeah, it was a busy day of protests here yesterday. there were calls for reform of policing here in colorado springs and policing generally. there were cries for justice. take those three police officers who were involved with the confrontation to prosecute them, but what we heard over and over again was this chant. say his name, elijah mcclain. folks here, the thousands who gathered here today, want the world to know who he was. this is elijah mcclain.

his name is now known by hurricanes hundreds of thousands on social immediate yachlt his friends and family say he was full of wonder, a shining star. >> surprise! >> he was a son and a brother. he was someone who liked to dance. he was slight. about 140 pounds. he was anemic. just 23 years old when he died. >> the very first time i met him, he danced out of the back, through the doorway. >> he was a massage therapist and that's how he met marna arnett. >> he was welcoming and just loving and kindness and just encapsulated. >> the night of august 24th, 2019, elijah mcclain went to a convenience store to pick up ice tea for his brother. he was wearing a ski mask. people who know him say he got

cold easily because of ameneman. someone called the cops because of the mask. >> stop. i have a right to top you because you're being suspicious. >> they put him in a choke hold. he plead ed with them to stop. >> he came out. was he hot? >> no. >> i heard a story. >> he didn't respond. respond >> i don't do that stuff. i don't do -- >> the other units that aren't here. >> millions of people now know those words. in the last few week elijah's life and death have attracted attention worldwide. >> it's a bittersweet moment because for the mcclain family, their son was killed almost a year ago and this has been an

entire year of mourning. >> this week, police officers have been reassigned. colorado's governor promised an independent investigation but the family's lawyer says -- >> what troubles me is the fact it takes millions of signatures and media pressure for there to be a second look. this should just happen as a matter of course. when law enforcement kills somebody, there should be an independent investigation. every single time. not just when the entire world demands it. >> the official autopsy was inconclusive. a local prosecutor decided not the press charges. >> it fracture d the relationshp between our law enforcement and african-american community. >> the independence of aurora's own independent investigation was called into question. so the city is starting over. >> we want to bring closure to this to where there are no credible ility questions. >> colorado has implemented sweeping new police reforms

brought about by what happened to elijah mcclain. >> colorado's bill is sweeping reform, but it would not have happened without the protestors and the victims and families of the victims coming forward and testifying. >> that's what they did to elijah mcclain! >> there's a desire here for change and for closure. >> i'm outraged, but i'm just so grateful that somebody's finally listening. because he deserves a voice. he deserves justice. >> and i want to go back to the protest yesterday to the footage you played at the top of those violin and cello players. there was a violin vigil scheduled to take place lasting night. elijah mcclain would go on his lunch break to go play the violin for pets in a pet store across from where he worked. last night ended tragically. they were plyplaying music. another protest was taking place. a string of several dozen police officers and riot gear moved the

protestors off the lawn and the violin players had the follow. but rather movingly, someone like me, who plays the violin, that has music continued, as those protestors were moved to the city municipal area. >> i'm talking about my brother today, he's an extraordinary musician. this tugs as my heart as well. looking ahead to what happens now, what are going to be the political implications here? >> so the governor has called for this independent investigation, something that the family of elijah mcclain has wanted for a long time. there was an independent investigation taking place here in colorado springs, in aurora, excuse me, that was being conducted by a former police officer. that came the light and they ended the investigation. the mayor with whom i spoke said they're going to reopen that, get somebody new. you heard from the state representative, the leader of the democratic caucus here, new legislation has been pass and for folks looking at the anger around this country and

wondering how that can translated into policy action, that did happen here in colorado, alex e. a bill was passed in short order by both passes of the legislation, signed into law by the legislature of the state. outlawing qualified immunity, certain choke holds. that state representative holding that up is a model. something that could bepolicy s that they couldry gree need reform. >> david, just for the record, if anyone wants to listen to you play the violin or fiddle, they can do so on your twitter account. you've got a couple of great examples of that. zblvrnlgts next, i'm going to speak with the attorney of the family of elijah mcclain about her investigation and why she is so distrustful of allegations of police misconduct and the road to reform in a special report, joy reid talks with members of the congressional black kaucauc.

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it took just about six mo h months, but today, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world has surpassed 10 million. about one in four of them are right here in this country. meanwhile, health and human services secretary says the window is closing for the u.s. to curb the virus. he says people have to act responsibly by wearing face masks and practicing social distancing. joining me now, national correspondent for politico and msnbc contributor and peter baker, chief white house correspondent r frlt "new york times" and nbc political analyst. peter, you first. here, you have secretary aczar say iing the window is closing r the u.s. to curb this virus, but

it's not the message conveyed by the white house. >> no, it's been a consistent message now from the government everywhere expect for the white house. you hear it from congress, including both democrats and republicans. mitch mcconnell held up the mask. you heard it from dick cheney who wore a mask in a tweet his daughter tweeted out there along with the hash tag, real men wear masks. you heard anthony fauci saying that this is not fading away. you heard the admiral saying we had not gotten through the worst of this yet. we heard this everywhere except the president and to some extent, the vice president. and that's you know, really telling. we have now seen more deaths since the president stopped the daily coronavirus briefings than we have seen before he had stopped them and i think there's this desire for the white house to say it's past us and we've moved on. he used a tweet in the last few

days and referred to the coronavirus in the past tense, we did a great job, i think he said, on the coronavirus. it's not over, not even close to it. >> we're going to get to a statement from mike pence. here's how "the washington post" summed it up. america's coronavirus failures exposed by record surge in new infections. is what we're seeing today a result of the president down playing this virus to any degree? >> well, look, if you u compare it to what's happening in other countries that impose these social distancing measures and lockdowns longer and have more strict cry tier yar area for reopening, you have to wonder why it is things are happening in the united states that haven't everywhere. why has that curve started to go up so startingly. the number of cases is dramatic, more than when we were more focused on it in march and april. the death rate has yet to reach

that. it's possible that it won't or it's possible that's a lagging indicator. a week or two from now, we'll see that really climb as well. it's not something you want to play games with and so i think yeah, i think that this is a, you know, a serious issue for this president. whether he wants to take it seriously or not. what you're seeing him talk about on twitter with the vandalism or statues in the streets and law and order and issues where he thinks he can get gain on democrats. we don't see him addressing this topic in the way that you would expect, if we were having a new 9/11 every few days. >> so betsy, the washington governor criticized the vice president for painting a picture that does not reflect the reality on the ground. let's listen. >> when i've heard the vice president talk about how things are just hunky dori, it's just maddening. the situation is critical in many places across the united states and all the happy talk, wishful thinking the world is not going to wash that away.

>> so betsy, he's really highlighting this stark difference in the narratives there. but is anyone buying the white house's version and if so, who would that be? >> the president's own health experts aren't buying the version that's being pushed by the president himself and by his political allies. there will always be a certain cohort of the electorate that assumes that anything that trump says is true. we know that he has a core base that is skeptical of any institution or any authority outside of the president himself. but polls suggest that even the number of voters in that cohort were sort of die hard trump true believers maybe shrinking or softening, and of course, the reality of the statistics and numbers we're seeing of coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths, coupled with the simple facts that the president's top health advisers are laying out when

they talk about it publicly, goes quite along way to undermine the unrealistically optimistic picture this trump and many of his political advisers are trying to persuade americans matches reality. >> yeah. so we know the president's getting ready to attend the mt. rushmore fireworks show despite concerns wildfires in the time of season and covid-19. is spectacle more important than public health? >> there's no question that having this event brings risks that previous presidents have seen as so significant as to justify not having it. there hasn't been a fireworks display of this size there at least since 2010 because the area around it is full of dry forests that could literally be described as a tinderbox. when you couple that with the

fact there will be thousands of people invited to watch this and anytime you have any large gathering, the risk of covid transmission goes up. what you see is a particularly risky gathering that will also give the president the spectacle he's really excited about. i don't know that there's a way than anything other than him choosing to engage in significant risk because of the importance of a spect cal. >> peter, to you, to further this question, is it about spect cal? what is the president hoping to achieve by making this appearance during a pandemic and also amid a national wrereckoni with rational justice? >> well, look, what he wants to do with mt. rushmore visit and what will no doubt by a robust fireworks display, if he can make it happen in the district, is i think they're going to do -- so forth s to show that

america's back. that after period of months of locking our homes and during this terrible disease, we by this point would be rocking again. that was the phrase jared kushner once used. it was meant to say america is back and a president wanted to provide a sense of momentum going into the fall campaign. the problem is that the reality on the ground hasn't cooperated. the coronavirus has not gone away. that people are seeing you know even red states with governors who support the president turning back the limits on bars and restaurants and public gatherings in texas and florida and places like that. so the desired spectacle he was looking for at this point is not, you know, is not keeping with what the reality on the ground is. it may be like the tulsa rally where he thought that would be a way of restarting the campaign wi with verve and energy and turned

out to be an embarrassment. only a third of the stadium was full and he looked dejected afterwards. that's the danger for him. if the spectacle seems so out of concert with the reality people are seeing on the ground, it will probably backfire. >> okay. that's a wrap for this chat. thank you so much. see you next time. a new report claims the president finally realizes losing to joe biden but can anyone trust the polling at this stage of the race? anyone trust s stage of the race? als on refrig, als on refrig, microwaves, gas ranges and grills. and if you're looking for... (grilled cheese sizzles) (timer chimes) and still going for my best. even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib... ...not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i want that too. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both.

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2020. joe biden is leading president trump in a new npr pbs news hour maris poll by eight percentage points. that is just the latest in a series of polls that find joe biden leading president trump including by double digits in some instances. joining me now is dnc communications director, sochi. good to see you. thanks for joining me an look, the numbers look favorable for joe biden at this point, but of course memories of polling leading up to 2016 can't be too far from everyone's minds. what is is party doing to keep the momentum going and do you worry about over confidence or complacency? >> well, this has bad news for donald trump and frankly, this shows the enthusiasm for joe biden. this is a snapshot in time. just shows where we are right now if the election were to be held today, but none of this actually matters unless you turn people out and one of the things

that we have done at the dnc and partnering with the biden campaign is we're partnering with the florida democratic party, georgia democratic party, pennsylvania and others to make sure we're out there and contacting voters during this pandemic through text messaging. in florida alone, we have text messaged 1.5 million people. in pennsylvania, it's about a million. we're going the same in georgia. this also just shows that in the expanded map and as you've seen in those polls, in the fox poll, biden was ahead by one point. that's a big deal in texas. but we need to make sure we are turning people out. and so as, if you look at the biden campaign's strategy, i think it is smart because they have expanded that map and making sure they're investing everywhere because we done want what happened in 20 where we weren't investing in arizona and others. >> you say this is a evidence of the enthusiasm for joe biden. is isn't that more than that being an indictment of donald

trump? can you really suggest a palpable presence of enthusiasm for joe biden at this point? >> well, when it comes to joe biden, people know him. people know, they trust him. and if you look at super tuesday and frankly, if you look at the primaries that have happened since, we have seen record turnout in some of these critical battleground states and especially super tuesday states that were also battleground, but i will say voters are also scared of donald trump and they're scared of what they're seeing. whether it is the pandemic, what you've seen over the weekend about russia putting a bounty on american soldiers. all of these things are things that are scaring americans and what joe biden is bringing is leadership and that stark contrast and what they're seeing is a leader who can actually lead and get us out of this mess. >> so we learned in terms of logistics this week, that august's democratic national convention in milwaukee, that is going to be for the most part,

an entirely virtual event with delegates being told to stay home. what is that going to look like? probably a lot different than the cheers and massive balloon drops, right? >> well, it will look very different. i think this is an opportunity for the democratic party. for the first time in history, you will have one major political party who is going to be innovative in the way they think about the convention. this is, while this convention is anchored in milwaukee and we will be highlighting and lifting up the state of wisconsin, it's actually a convention for the entire country. so what we're looking at is potentially satellite city that is we can go ahead and broadcast from and other things like that to make sure we're getting the biggest reach possible because while this is an important moment for our party, to nominate joe biden, it is even more important than the american people are actually listening to the message. and one thing i want to point out that i think is lost a lot

of times when we're talking about a virtual convention or anything like that, is this is going to be produced for television. the person who's producing this is one of the best out there. he actually has done events when it comes to the super bowl and other large scale events. so this will be an event for th american people and also produced for television. and actually, i'm quite excited to see the innovation that we could potentially put forth. >> well there is certainly a lot going on right now given the koi covid times and so much virtually. and let me ask you about joe biden who is doing his virtual share and will he be stepping up his frequency or does that depend on the status of how covid looks, wherever that is locally? >> well, you have seen his travel over the last few weeks in a way that is safe. what he will not do, is put people and his staff at risk and

that is what you saw from donald trump last week when you saw multiple members of the team that contracted the virus. he will listen to doctors and listen to health experts on what is safe. he is not going to do anything that is against a recommendation of those health professionals. so i think what he's doing is smart. he's out there campaigning, talking to people, whether it is virtually and also in person. and you'll continue to see him out there. i think -- i want to actually point just this last week was a huge week for the campaign. they had an event with barack obama and that was bringing in 175,000 donations. that is a big deal and it shows the power that virtually we have. >> dnc communications director, nice to see you, thank you so much. on the brink of history in the heart of deep south, a momentous change could be just hours away. ould be just hours away

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debate on redesigning the state flag to remove the confederate battle emblem. mississippi is the lone holdout state having flown a flag that celebrated the confederacy now for 126 years. joining me, christine ember, with a focus on ideas in society and here is her latest, a monument all shift, memorials to white supremacy are falling what, will replace them. welcome, christine. good to talk to you about this. this is historic in mississippi with the vote today. are you surprised it is moving this quickly? is this just long overdue or will future generations look on this as bold action quickly taken? >> i think it is long overdue. the latest debate over the flag being removed happening in 2005 and the motion was summarily rejected. and in this moment where we see protests for black lives and any

new acknowledgment, i think we need to acknowledge that people are changing and people are becoming aware. and mississippi is on the verge of doing just that. >> what you wrote here is that confederate monuments, quote, literally solidified the lost cause narrative as that cast the battle fought noble wli over states rights rather than the right to own african slaves they mark the streets and squares where they stood as white dominated territory. is this the heart of the reason for the civil war. do you think this narrative is still widely held? >> absolutely. in the south, i grew up in virginia, it is known as the last cause area and it states that the civil war was a noble aly fat battle for states rights leaving off the idea that the rights were to own slaves. mississippi is a great example of this. the confederate flag was not

part of the mississippi state flag until well after the civil war, added in 1894. that is when the state of mississippi started rolling back reconstruction. it was a pushback against efforts to give black people the right to vote, participate in society, adding the confederate flag to the state flag showed that mississippi did not approve of the measures and, in fact, wanted to go back to the time before the civil war was fought. >> if we look at the southern poverty law center of confederate icon ography, mavt majority of statues going up in the early 1900s, when white mobs were looting across america and we've recent talked about tulsa and don't forget the confederacy fought against the u.s. army and lost. is there any reasoned argument to be made in favor of celebrating this still in 2020? >> honestly, no, there is not.

the common phrase goes heritage not hate. but you have to recognize that the civil war lasted four years. the country's heritage is much longer than that. the confederacy fought against the united states. not for it. is that the heritage that we should be celebrating as a country? probably not. and then when you look at where the statues stand, the population in mississippi as almost 40% african-american. do they feel represented by these statues and flags? >> okay. christine emma, very good to talk with you. thank you very much. i look forward to seeing you again. a surge in nationwide coronavirus cases and a warning from new york governor, how he's trying to keep the northeast states from once again becoming a hot spot. still on the road today? subaru. when it comes to best overall value, who does intellichoice rank number one? subaru. and when it comes to safety, who has more 2020 iihs top safety pick+ winning vehicles? more than toyota, honda, and hyundai-combined? subaru.

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coronavirus pandemic as today the battle reached a new milestone. the number of confirmed cases across the globe surpassing 10 million. that is according to johns hopkins. the united states accounts for 25% of those cases. take a look at this video from jacksonville, florida, hundreds of cars in line for a coronavirus test. that center hit capacity and had to turn people away. today, florida reported more than 8,500 new cases. meantime vice president mike pence canceled events in florida and arizona this week. moments ago arizona reported another record single-day increase of more than 3,800 new cases. and a new warning from andrew cuomo today on "meet the press." >> this is a virus. it doesn't respond to politics. you can't tweet at it. you have to treat it. and we never did that. i'm now afraid of the spread coming from other states.

because we are one country and people travel and i'm afraid the infection rate in the other states will come back to new york and raise that rate again. >> and it bears repeating, today the number of confirmed covid cases worldwide reaching 10 million. nearly half a million people have died. again johns hopkins provided the stats. in california hospitalizations rose 32% in almost 6% of test results came back positive. that is a rate not seen since early may. let's go to msnbc gadi schwartz in los angeles with the latest on the staggering new numbers and the testing. so, gaddy, talk about what you know there. first of all, the testing situation in california, how is it going? >> reporter: well, people are struggling to get testing. they're saying that they should be able to get tests within a day, two days. right now in a lot of places they're asking if you're an essential worker or have symptoms and if you do not, those delays are significant. it would be a few days before

you're able to get tested and a few more days to get the results. but the second wave that we're seeing is pushing los angeles closer and closer to a possible second shutdown. one of the key metrics that we've been watching has been the positivity rate. that is been climbing across the state and here in los angeles. so far about a million tests have been given. about 9% are coming back positive. there is a little bit of good news with all of that. the hospitalization rates, the hospitalizations keep rising across the state but they are still below the surge capacity for now. although many hospitals are preparing to scale back elective surgeries if the numbers continue to climb. the number of deaths from covid-19 are also slightly down. doctors saying that one of the big differences that they're seeing right now is that there are a lot more younger patients which could be explained by the trifecta across california over the last few weeks. the massive crowds of hundreds of thousands taken to the

streets and bars and restaurants starting to reopen and both of those things combined seem to have given a lot of people the impression that maybe the threat has been passed and another reason to take off their masks but health officials are warning that is exact opposite of what people need to do. if you want to continue to have the freedom to visit local businesses and to go to restaurants and bars and the amount of people heading out is pretty massive. just for example here in los angeles, officials estimate that the day that the bars opened, about half a million people headed out for a drink. most places that we've seen so far, they're taking temperatures, they're asking people to keep masks on while indoors. but in some parts of california, authorities are finding up to 80% of the establishments they visit are out of compliance with the state's covid-19 guidelines. so the governor is saying that if those numbers continue to climb, california could be forced to implement restrictions once again. >> yeah. and have folked be urged to stay back at home. gadi schwartz, thank you. from my home state.

i appreciate this. >> joining me dr. lippy roy. what do you make of the surge we're seeing in several states across the south and west? >> i mean, good afternoon, alex. i'm almost speechless. so that white house briefing that we had on friday, the first one in two months. so two months have passed since. what do you think is happening in the country. it is just an explosion of cases. all over the country. we know, we in the public health communities what needs to be done to mitigate the risk to decrease the spread of the virus. it is not been happening in many of the states where we see a rise. in new york state, on the other hand, as you know very well, we went through a hellish period. and the local leadership at local mayors and at state level, governor cuomo made the tough but evidence-based decision based on the health advisers to

shut down. to really just stringent social control because that is the only thing ultimately that will decrease the spread of the virus. >> here is what is irning to me, to your point, in new york, we saw what is happening in florida, texas and arizona and those states and others had a three-month head start to pay attention and take notes. is there anything different about those three states? is there a health-based reason that they could approach health safety differently or not? >> the short answer is there is no difference. right. governor cuomo and dr. fauci said that, they have said the same thing, this is a virus. a very infectious pathogen that just doesn't give a damn about your political affiliation, the color of your hair -- a state border. it doesn't matter. it doesn't care. it is going to be upon us, alex, to control and dictate how it is going to work.

and new york state is a perfect example. after making the tough decision of closing down all businesses, all restaurants in new york state, now look, we have five deaths. which is still five too many if you ask me, but at peak, we have 799 deaths in 24 hours so new york state is looking good right now. but even governor cuomo said we can't afford to be lax. we don't want to become victims of our own success. >> here is something concern of so many young people and some are worried it indicating asymptomatic spread. do you agree with that and how concerned should we be about younger people? >> yeah. so we should be concerned by the way. again, going back to that briefing when vice president pence almost put up an inexplicable positive political spin and i think he said the good news is the rise in cases among young people. that is not good news. if there is a rise in any

segment of a population, that is not good news. because most of the young people, while they statistically data shows that they will not get severely ill, and hospitalized, they're going to infect other people who did not go out like older people like my dad who have had a triple bypass. >> and the message from the white house has been that we're seeing an increase in cases because we're doing more checking. fact check for us. is that the reason. >> unequivocally untrue to say -- and the vice president near the end of the briefing said repeated, just contradicted flori flat out about the test positivity. let's be clear. the rise in cases nationwide is not a reflection of increased testing, it is the test aren't causing the cases, the tests are detecting what is already out there. >> good point. dr. lippy roy, thank you so

much. let's go from there to breaking news. as nbc news confirms the u.s. has gathered intelligence that russian intel officers have offered cash bounties to taliban fighters who kill americans and coalition forces according to three people briefed on the matter. the president today tweeting that nobody briefed or told him, vice president pence nor mark meadows after "the new york times" first reported that the intelligence finding was briefed to president trump. washington congressman danny heck from the house intelligence committee responded to the president's claim right here in the last hour. >> it is beyond the find of credibility that it was not included other in the presidential daily brief or the subject of a verbal briefing by his team. but you know what, if both of those things are true, even suggests something even more serious. namely, that the intelligence community, which knew of this, is now so afraid of the president's personal

relationship with vladimir putin and russia that they didn't want to expose him to this information. it doesn't matter what the case is, it is bad, bad, bad. >> nbc sources were not able to make clear how persuasive the intelligence is and it is been downplayed to nbc news saying there was no evidence any bounty was actually paid. let's go to josh letterman at the house following this story for us. what more could you tell us on this, what could you build on, josh? >> reporter: well the president is in a situation where either way you slice it, it is really problematic. if you take the white house and the president at face value that he was not briefed on it, it raises the really problematic question of why would the president not have been briefed if the u.s. had intelligence about something so explosive, such as the top u.s. adversary actually offering to pay militants to kill u.s. and allied troops. and if he was briefed on it,

perhaps in some capacity, other than a formal briefing, it raises the also profound question of how is it that the u.s. has now gone months without actually responding to this, without doing anything to russia or even having a conversation with the russian government about such an egregious allegation. we heard this morning from john bolton, the president's former national security adviser expressing similar skepticism about how much the president really knew about what was happening here. >> when you say briefed, does that mean he's never been told of anything about it? we don't know the quality of intelligence or the extent of it, if it does go back to march, that raises other question. and the key point is if there is any accuracy to it, if the russians have been paying to see americans killed, that is a very, very serious matter. >> reporter: and the calls are growing from lawmakers on both sides of hill who want more information as well as a full response from the u.s.

government on this. the top democrat on the senate armed services panel, senator gillibrand of new york calling for a joint bipartisan investigation into the allegations in this intelligence as well as the way the trump administration has or has not responded. >> another story i want to get your comment on, josh, what happened today with the president re-tweeting that controversial video taken in villages in florida. this is of trump supporters chanting a racist slogan while facing out with counter protesters. here is the video. >> racist. >> yeah, you got it. white power. white power. >> there you go. white power. did you hear that? >> yeah, we heard that. nbc has not verified where and when the video is taken but what followed the part that we just played were foul mouth protesters cursing at the president. so i know the tweet has been deleted but what is the white house saying about this?

>> reporter: well, the white house has been responding to this, by saying that the president is a big fan of the villages that retirement community in florida where the video was taken. but adding that president trump did not hear the one statement made on video, what he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters. but we should point out that one statement that he's talking about comes eight seconds into the video where this supporter of president trump is chanting white power. so it is difficult to see how the president would have known what he was re-tweeting if he didn't even get to that point of the video to see that. and we should point out, even though the president has deleted this while golfing on his golf course in virginia today, there is nothing in that statement that actually condemns what that supporter was saying. chanting white power. >> good point. thank you so much, josh letterman from the white house. and joining me now, msnbc security analyst and contributor

juan sersate. thank you for joining me. so the president tweeting that he was not briefed on the intelligence that russians had offered to pay bounce -- bouncies to taliban fighter to kill americans. is that possible? if the u.s. had that information why would the president not be informed about it or is it possible with this particular president that it would have been included in a daily written briefing and the president simply did not read it? >> yeah, alex, it is not clear without seeing the actual reporting or the form it takes to understand exactly. but there are three reasons in my mind. one, perhaps the information was still in raw form, had not been corroborated, intelligence officials didn't feel like there was enough sort of consolidated information to provide to the president in the daily brief. so that is one answer. another is folks just didn't want to present the president with something that was provocative without having more

information or an answer for the president. part of that has to do with maybe sensibilities around the president's relationship with president putin has been alluded to. third, it may be that the dislocation at the leadership level, keep in mind there has been a lot of changes at the top of the intelligence community, those dislocations may have affected the way that this was handled and of course maybe the president just didn't remember or didn't read it. so there is a lot of explanations. but there is a lot of questions as to why this kind of provocative information was not made known to the president in time. >> let's take a listen, yawn, to what house speaker nancy pelosi, a member of the gang of eight, said about the president's denial. here is that. >> so you would think that the minute the president heard of it he would want to know more instead of denying that he knew anything. we'll find out if he has been briefed and it was in his daily brief. but if it were not, what does

that say about the concern that those who brief the president have about not going near the russia issue with this president. >> so let's pick up on that last point. what is your reaction to that? >> well, i think there are two elements. i think there is a question in my mind as to whether or not the department intelligence officials are tip toeing around russia issues. it is not clear how that is being handled and the sensitivities in briefing the president or talking to him about it and there is a broader situation which is how do we deal with russia at large. this should not come as a surprise to us who have been watching russian provocations, russian engagement and hybrid warfare, the use of proxies not just in afghanistan, but obviously in places like syria and libya. so the broader question is what is the administration's policy

toward russia as opposed to dealing with these tit-for-tat episodes. so that is a big question. if you don't have a national security team to answer those questions it is very hard and difficult to present these difficult data points to a president. >> so when it comes to the intel itself, juan, have there been instances of an adversarial country like russia paying to target u.s. soldiers and if this is true, this particular report, why would russia do this? >> well, we certainly have seen where america's adversaries, state actors have worked with proxies, militant and terrorist groups, independent mercenaries to attack our allies. that is not unseen in the past. what is interesting here in the context of russia is we russia has been provocative. russia has been pushing the envelope to undermine u.s.

interests to attack u.s. forces and our allies in key parts of the world. what is interesting here is russia is making what appears to be a marriage of convenience where they've done that with iran and syria as well. they're doing that with others in libya. and they're very much willing, i think, through the gru, which is their military intelligence service, to be much more addressive than in the past. they're willing to push the envelope and see how the u.s. reacts. this is why u.s. policy and response, u.s. deterrence becomes so important. if we don't respond, the russians will be more and more provocative. we've seen this with poisoning in the u.k. and we've seen this now with this reporting in afghanistan. >> msnbc senior security analyst juan serate. thank you. president trump is growing concerned about catching coronavirus. so why does he still refuse to wear a mask? ask? no uh uh, no way

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we are the party of law and order. >> you saw the thugs that came along. these people call them protesters. isn't it beautiful. the unhinged level wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrate our beautiful monuments. >> it is got all different names. wuhan. wuhan was catching on. coronavirus, right. kung flu. >> yeah, the president there this past week, plus channeling a narrative that he seems both most attracted to and comfortable with at two separate rallies. joining me now to sort through this week, jeff mason from reuter and deb lew from the miller center. jeff, you first here.

so take a crack at this question. to whom is the president speaking with this and hasn't he already won over that audience that buys into this mostly offensive rhetoric? >> it is a great question, alex. i think the answer is to his base and we knows he cares a lot about his base. he spent his entire presidency doing things to appeal to the base and going into the election in november he continues to do that. yes, he's won them over. and no, there hasn't been a whole lot of sign or signs that the base has moved away from him in any way for the last three and a half years. but nonetheless, he still needs them to turn out in november. and so that is something that he uses and the decisions that he'd making and the rhetoric that he employs to make sure that happens. >> chris, this way of speaking about the coronavirus, the president finding justir

resisterable, what is your understanding. >> as an asian-american it foends me to the core. and words matter and when te come to the president and we know there have been over 2,300 racial attacks against asian-americans related to covid-19 and what is tragic is that we know that kids, asian-american kids will hear this on the schoolyards from other people because when the president said something, that gives license to other people to say it. and we have seen how this is happened when we've had hispanic kids who have been confronted with build the wall or go back to mexico. and so it is deeply offensive. and here is the thing, look, we could have a broad conversation about the president's approach to dealing with coronavirus. but his rhetoric is to divisive and it is going to have very tragic consequences for people in this country. >> and, jeff, after last week's disastrous rally and polling, you would think it couldn't get worse and here he is re-tweeting

this with video, a supporter said white power. the white house said the president was unaware of the contents of the video. but it also offers democrats like chris murphy the opportunity to succinctly sum up the last 48 hours. look at what he said there. >> yeah. you know, it struck me as i was listening to josh earlier recounts what the white house said in terms of reaction that at the very beginning of this presidency, white house correspondents like myself ended up asking people at the white house, staff members, do the president's tweets count as official statements. because in the very beginning it wasn't clear. and then he started using twitter not only to compress his opinions, but also to announce trade deals or other -- >> policy. >> so, the point i want to make with that is there is no differentiation between what the

president may tweet that is an opinion or an expression of his first amendment rights, which the white house and campaign officials also like to highlight, and his role as the president of the united states with the biggest bully pulpit in the world. >> chris, at the risk of letting you ride the coat tails there, do you believe the impulsive nature may have driven his tweet but not the understanding of what was in that video? >> well, look, whether he understood what was in the video or not, he has the biggest bully pulpit in the country. and we've seen this pattern. this is his m.o. he said or he tweets outrageous, racist statements and then quickly walk it back. he was joking. people are overreacting. he was being sarcastic. but each one of these things pile up. and what is important to understand is that even in the white house statements about this tweet, they never disavowed this idea of people chanting

white power. and you have seen this president over the past several weeks as these racial protests have happened around the country, with the exception of signing a relatively toothless executive order on police reform, he's spent the entire time attacking protesters, standing up for confederate monuments, threatening to jail people. this is just not the kind of tone that people, i think most people in this country want from the president as we're dealing with two crises of protests and coronavirus. >> reports of the president growing concerned that he could get coronavirus, have you heard about that and what -- where does that stand? >> yeah, i haven't heard about that. we are still trying to answer the question as to why he didn't go to bedminster, new jersey, this weekend. so i don't know if there is a connection there. if that is a concern, then it is questionable why they have stopped taking temperatures of everyone who enters the white house complex. because i know that they are

testing people with covid tests who are directly around the president. and that includes members of the white house pool. but all of us, who go in, whether we're in that pool or not, and this applies to people in the executive office building and elsewhere on the campus could be bringing in and could be exposed to the virus outside of the white house grounds. so it is perplexing that that decision was made. >> jeff and chris, thank you so much. always to talk with you both. coming up next, maxine waters on police reform here in america. will it finally happen? t finalln ♪

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today calls are growing for americans to take a closer look at monuments, statues and flags that mem oralize the confederacy. amanda goalen is in springfield, after a high school named after robert e. lee until this week. what is the story here?

what happened? >> reporter: so we're right here at robert e. lehigh. as you could see from the sign behind me. the school board voted to change the name as to not honor robert e. lee. now the community here is going to have discussions and votes over the course of the summer to make that decision for the what cool will be called going into the 2020 to 2021 school year. this comes as we're continuing to see the national moment of reckoning continued and demonstrations to reconcile with confederate symbols, not just explicit monuments though we're seeing those coming down but all of those with linkages to the confederacy and to slavery. and here in virginia, this was the home of the confederacy and houses more monuments that pay tribute than anywhere else in the country. there are still over 1,500 symbols of the confederacy throughout the country with 700 monuments still up throughout the country to date. but we're starting to see those come down and it is at a time with the national reckoning that

people are trying to best grapple within their own community. and i did speak with legal scholars and historians to understand the lodgist ecks and timing of taking down the symbols or renaming schools but as long as the social moment is doing for the timing and for that process to move to what th professors told me. >> it's society and the times that we live in and the unrest created by the recent racial incidents that have caused people to reconsider the names that they know are, indeed, offensive to a significant portion of the population. >> i think what symbols do is state the values of a community. and articulate those in a visible and expressive way and statues and laws have expressed functions an by expressive functions meaning they state something about the equal worth of people in the community. so it is not a surprise to me,

anyway, that the symbols could be a focus of attention. >> reporter: so as communities are grappling with the so many bombs, this wednesday, july 1st, sl is a new law in virginia that will delegate to localities to determine the fate of their confederate monuments. this is not allowed as the monuments were considered war memorials but with the new delegation and going into effect, communities could best decide if they want to take down the monuments, put them into storage and decide what they want within their own community. >> we'll see what happens. amanda golden, thank you so much. president trump under fire after re-tweeting a controversial video taken in the villages in florida in which it shows a trump supporter shouting white power. if you haven't seen it, here is part of it.

[ yelling ] >> white power. >> there you go. white power. did you hear that? >> indeed we heard it. as we've said. joining me now, maxine water democrat from my home state of california. glad to claim you as one of my own. so let's get to the tweet. it has been removed from the president's twitter feed. the white house is saying the president did not hear the one statement that we just highlighted until the video. but what is your reaction? do you think the president was willfully pushing an agenda or would he be unaware of what is being said there eight seconds into the video? >> well, you know, we have learned a lot about this president. and so it's not believable what he said he did not hear it. as a matter of fact, since he's been president and increasingly we're hearing all kind of racist comments. people, the white men who just did that, they felt empowered by

this president. that it is all right to do this now. to talk like this. and so he's responsible for the growing division, the more racist comments that we are hearing. let me show you how bad it is getting. here, three police officers in wilmington, north carolina, were fired after their department discovered patrol car video of conversations containing violent racist comments about black people. quote, we're going to go out and start slaughtering them f'ing n-word. said officer michael piner and predicted black lives matter protests would soon lead to civil war. i'm ready he told another officer adding that he planned to buy an assault rifle. and he also said we're going to wipe them off the f'ing map. saying that will put them back four or five generations. he can't wait.

well we should be concerned when this. not only blacks but all americans should be concerned that this outpouring of racism and talks of killing and violence is not good for this country. and so this country cannot progress as long as this president is in office and basically to this kind of constituency and having them feel it is all right they have the white house and they've got the president of the united states who is with them. and so it is more than concerning. it is absolutely outrageous that we're now living in a time when the president of the united states of america is responsible for this kind of division. >> and what you just read, that was shocking. it is something that under any circumstances should not be tolerated. but when you about the kind of

crude, inappropriate racist comments, where does that come from? is it a factor of systemic racism? is it something you believe is brought on by the power that some police officers feel they have when they know they have a badge and a gun, is it lack of training in police departments? how is this allowed to ferment and thrive? >> well, first of all, too many of the police officers come to their job with racist backgrounds. you know, we understand how difficult it may be for many of our own citizens to overcome the racism that they've been taught, that they've lived with and grown up with, that they've been socialized with. we understand that it is systemic and not only in our families, in the families of white, but it is also in all of our institutions of america. and so we think that we can do

better if, in fact, we did not have the leadership of our country encouraging this. we think that people even with racist thoughts understand that it is a need to -- they need to get along. that they have to be in the same workplace, perhaps. and perhaps some of the things that they've been taught are not the right things and they conduct themselves differently. but when we have a president like trump, what you have is people thinking too many thinking this is okay to do. this is all right for me to talk like this. i was right all along. if the president is saying it and acting it out and encouraging me, then what i've known all along, what i've been taught, what i've lived with is right and so we've got to -- as he said, we have to take back our country. who he is talking about taking it back from? basically he's talking about white being in total power and

total control and blacks and people of color and others are having to live under the domination of white power as they see it. >> this week we saw the house pass the george floyd justice in policing act. it is, however, unlikely to pass through the senate. senate republicans separately fast tracked their own plan for police reform as you know but democrats blocked that effort from reaching the house floor for debate. do you think, or do you have confidence that a compromise could get made and something will get done? >> well, you know, it would be great if the senate would take a look at what has been done on the house side and understand that it is absolutely reasonable, that it makes good sense, that it is something that should have been done a long time ago. but i don't think that is going to happen. because we have too many senators, led by mcconnell, who

really does not want to rein in the police. they believe whatever the police is doing is right. and whether it is the choke hold or whether it is a knee on the neck of a black man for 8:46 seconds, that is all right. that is what should happen. and so they don't want to change it. and if you compromise, you get down to a watered-down resolution, it does no good. and it is no good to simply talk about training. we've been through that. we've had consent decrees and tried to have citizens commissions and we've done a lot. i've been working on this since 1992 when the choke hold was popularized by chief darrell gates in the greater los angeles area and it was supposed to have been banned. but we understand just a few days ago it was used by a police officer. and so we can't compromise this

law that has been put together. what we've ghot to do is contine to fight for justice, for equal opportunity and for the right for us to live our lives without the people that we pay to protect and serve us killing us, of unarmed black people must stop and we've got to keep fighting against it. >> well amen to all of that. and i will say since 1990, i know that you led that chant of no justice, no peace in the wake of the rodney king verdict which was in 1992. keep on keeping on. maxine waters, thank you so much. new reaction to a story from yesterday. in new york's 12th district, carolyn maloney holds a lead over suraj patel. ballots are still being counted. patel said that maloney will

challenge the ballots on technicalities next week. the maloney campaign had to to say in response. today one of my opponents made an outrageous and baseless accusation of voter suppression before a single absentee ballot has been counted and this calls into question both my integrity and the integrity of our electoral system and comes straight out of donald trump's playbook. this is a serious charge and a abuse of voterer confidence and i will not stand for it. that came a couple of hours after the conversation that we had on the air here. no entry as worldwide coronavirus cases reach a new milestone. the countries set to ban american tourists from coming in. coming in even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib... ...not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'm reaching for that. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin.

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livestock outnumber people. and the european union wants to keep out american tourist as the united states battles a new surge of coronavirus cases. let's go to molly hunter in paris. when could we expect a final decision on this and how long a ban could last? >> reporter: hey, alex, short answer is we don't. the latest that we have is that two e.u. diplomats involved, in part of the negotiations, told alex smith that the list has been finalized and on that list, a list of acceptables that the e.u. will welcome back in for nonessential travel starting on july 1st and not on that list is u.s. and russia. it is back at european capitals but 27 member countries making the decision. it takes a while. so negotiations were going on all last week. we could get a decision as early as monday. now "the new york times" reports that that list will be

re-evaluated and kind of negotiated every couple of weeks. we're waiting to hear whether or not that is true. but here in paris, a city that runs on tourism, businesses cannot wait for american tourists to get back. we spoke with a manager at a cafe that i know you know. take a listen. >> it is hard for business. so i hope for the world, not for only the cafe, i hope we find a solution for this -- [ inaudible ] and i would like to see you again quickly. >> reporter: that is the cafe deflora. and businesses really want to respect and they want americans back. parisians are pretty happy to have their city to themselves. what would normally be getting in the height of summer tourism season. alex. [ speaking foreign language ] that is what i say to you.

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young man who died in police custody last year during a demonstration in aurora, colorado, last night, a man performed a song to honor the life of elijah maclaine, using his favorite instrument, the violin. that closed out a full day of protest attended by hundreds of people. meanwhile, the family of elijah is demanding answers about the series of events that led up to his death. a special prosecutor was appointed to reopen the case now more than nine months after he died. joining me now is the attorney for the family of elijah

mcclain. why did it take so long for this case to be reviewed? >> that's a great question. and you know, the truth is, every single police involved death should be immediately reviewed and investigated by a truly independent investigator. the fact that it's taken nearly a year and an outcry by millions of people across the entire country for it to happen is really atrocious. that shouldn't be what happens. >> no. look, this entire incident was caught on body cam video. so let's take a look at some of that footage. it's pretty painful. >> stop. stop. stop. stop, i have a right to stop you because you're being sisuspicious. >> i'm an introvert. please respect my boundaries. i'm going home. >> relax or i'm going to have to change this situation. >> leave me alone. >> so we didn't get to the very painful part, which i'm glad about, because i have to tell

you, it has almost put me in tears every time i heard it, but what are your thoughts about the way he reacted when police tried to detain him. he said, you're looking suspicious. it looks like he was walking with a grocery bag in his hand. >> you're exactly right. the 911 caller who called in the fact he was walking said he wasn't suspected of committing any crime. he may be a good guy, he may be a bad guy. he just didn't know. he just looked sketchy because he was waving his arms and wearing a mav. he was just walking home. there was no legitimate reason for the police to stop him, much less to grab him, to tackle him, and as you know, to inflict two carotid choke holds, about 15 minutes of other sorts of horrible force, and ultimately, a massive dosage of ketamine leading to his multiple heart attacks. it's beyond tragic. >> i'm sure that you, as you mentioned the person who made

that call saying, look, there's somebody out there who looks sketchy or whatever the word was he used. there are those online saying that particular person, those who made those calls should also be held accountable. what do you think of that and is that even possible? >> i certainly think in the instance of the very obvious cases, for example, the young woman, amy cooper, who called 911 on an african-american birder in central park, right, who said an african-american man is threatening my life. now, that was obviously false, and obviously a race-based target to try to cause that man harm. certainly, on those kinds of circumstances, the caller should be held accountable. in this call, you know, i think this is really on the police. this is a reason why law enforcement need to exercise judgment. i mean, this is a young man who is just walking home. if they had stepped back and just observed him for a moment, they would have seen in fact he was walking home. and they should have let him go

about his business. so this is -- i think it speaks much more to the reasons why we need to reimagine what the role of police in america is. there are many, many 911 calls that do not require a militarized response, and this was certainly one of them. >> how is it that the autopsy was cited as being unconfirmed cause of death, as you suggested multiple heart attacks, ketamine in his system. how did that add up? >> i don't believe it does add up. in colorado, the coroner is actually an elected position, so while the autopsy is performed by a medical doctor, it's overseen by an elected political operarerative and in this case, autopsy was attended by two members of the aurora police department, the very department that killed elijah, as well as two members of the district attorney's office. and so it was a very politicized process. the fact that the autopsy came out as inconclusive is really

mind boggling. i mean, were he allowed to have walked home, he would be alive today. he was a perfectly healthy 23-year-old young man. >> do you thing the coroner is going to have to answer to this too? >> i certainly do think so. and the fact that the autopsy came out as inconclusive bending over backwards, really, to give all kinds of alternate reasons why he might have died that don't make a bit of sense. i mean, you know, it really just boggles the mind that they tried so hard to say everything but the truth. this was very clearly a homicide. >> we're going to let you get back to work because you have a case to pursue there. thank you for spending time with us. that's going to do it for this hour of weekends with alex witt. up next, alicia menendez speaks with a arizona mayor about what she's doing to flatten the curve.

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i'm alicia menendez. lots to get to this sunday.

let's jump in. the white house today is pushing back on a story originally published by "the new york times" that claims russia offered cash payments to afghan militants to kill american service members in their country. president trump responding with a tweet saying that neither he, the vice president, nor the chief of staff were briefed on the matter. but nbc reports it is possible that he may have received intelligence in another form. we'll get to that in a moment. it's another tweet from the president receiving the most attention today. just this morning, the president retweeted a disturbing video purportedly taken in florida of trump supporters chanting a racist slogan while facing off with counterprotesters. >> racist! racist! >> white power! white power! >> there you go, white power. you hear that? >> nbc news has verified the authenticity of the video,