senate subway. the state's senior senator, republican roger wicker, was on hand as a temporary flag with the mississippi state seal was put in place. that does it for us tonight on "the 11th hour." thank you for being with us. on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, have a good night. ♪ this morning, president trump is facing growing pressure to respond to the firestorm over possible russian bounties on u.s. troops. the white house is denying the president was briefed as early as 2019. also with coronavirus cases skyrocketing in the united states, a growing number of republicans are breaking with trump to advocate for face masks. and joe biden takes on trump for his response in the pandemic, claiming trump has waved the white flag and failed americans. good wednesday morning,

everybody. it is july, july 1st, in fact. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we've got a lot to cover this morning. we are learning new information about that money trail linked to a suspected russian bounty plot, targeting u.s. troops in afghanistan. "the new york times" reports that american officials intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by russia's military intelligence agency, to a taliban-linked account, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence. and the "times" also notes that investigators identified the names of numerous afghans in a network linked to the operation, including a man believed to have served as an intermediary, in the distribution of money. afghan officials also confirmed that over the past six months they have arrested several businessmen, suspected of being part of a ring of middle men who, quote, operate between the

russian intelligence agency and taliban-linked militants. a white house spokesperson declined to comment on the times' reporting. meanwhile, abc has so lid slid learning about it. claiming no one had briefed him about the matter. the associated press reports that trump's national security adviser at the time, john bolton, told colleagues that he briefed the president about the intelligence in march of 2019. nbc news, though, has not confirmed that reporting. the trump administration insists the president was never briefed on the matter. the source added that the information was, quote, out there, at least a month before the april 2019 car bomb attack

in paff began stan that killed three u.s. marines. nbc news has not confirmed a link between the bombing and any alleged offers of bounties by the russians. and white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany told reporters that trump has now been briefed and attacks "the new york times" for publishing the allegations in the first place. >> president has been briefed on what is unfortunately in the public domain because of "the new york times." and the irresponsible leaks. yes, he has been briefed but that does not change the fact that there's no consensus on this intelligence that still has yet to be verified. >> i guess more broadly, you know, i would ask the question whether it was in the material, but asking makes you defend why the president isn't necessarily reading his pbd? >> the president does read. he also consumes intelligence verbally. this president i'll tell is you

the most informed person on planet earth when it comes to the threats that we face. he's constantly being briefed on important matters. i'm not going to allow "the new york times" to dictate when we give top-secret service and don't give top-secret information. >> meanwhile, democrats briefed on the bounty intel said the briefing was inadequate. lawmakers said they learned no new information and instead of hearing from officials within the intelligence community, democrats say they were briefed by the president's political appointees. one democratic aide telling nbc news that robert o'brien occasionally chiming in -- >> we need to hear from the heads of the intelligence agencies. in my view, the right people were not in the room to give us the kind of briefing we needed to get. >> i thought this briefing was the white house personnel telling us their perspective.

i think we knew the white house perspective. what we need to know is the intelligence perspectives. >> the president called this a hoax. publicly. nothing in the briefing that we have just received led me to believe it is a hoax. >> this was a red flag. it either was not waved, or the president ignored the wave. president truman said the buck stops here. president trump says i never saw the buck. >> so, the sources telling nbc news that the white house will brief the partisan gang of aet on the bounty issue today that is, the democratic and republican leaders of the house and senate and the chairman and ranking members of the house and senate intel communities. also senator mitch mcconnell was asked if he would support new sanctions on russia, he didn't answer the question directly, but he did say this --

>> i can't verify the current rumors that all of you are writing about, but would i be surprised if the russians were doing something like this? absolutely not. they are trying to create a problem for us everywhere. they particularly want us out of syria and out of afghanistan. so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that they're going to try to create as many problems as they can for our continued presence in the middle east, or for that matter, anywhere else in the world that they can stick their thumb in our eyes. >> let's be clear here, though, these are not rumors. this is based on intelligence of the u.s. intelligence community. so, mcconnell also broke with the president when asked if russia should be allowed back into the g7, saying, quote, absolutely not. joining me now nbc news news correspondent leigh ann caldwell. leigh ann, thank you for getting

up with us. >> of course. >> lawmakers on capitol hill, as we are hearing, they are fighting for more access to intelligence reports about the afghan militants being offered russian bounties. do you think they're going to get what they want? >> this administration, yasmin, has not been completely open with information when democrats and republicans have asked for it, when it is critical to the president. so, if the past is any indication of what's going to happen in the future, it's unlikely. democrats sent a letter to defense secretary esper yesterday, as well as secretary of state mike pompeo asking for what they knew in this situation as well. and democrats have made the point yesterday, as you mentioned in your opening, that they -- they got a political briefing. they were briefed by mark meadows, the head of -- john

ratcliffe, the head of director of national intelligence. just two months ago he was a very conservative republican congressman. so this briefing had a definitive spin on it. and even republican liz cheney, a member of leadership, she says she has a lot more questions. and she absolutely wants to hear from intelligence officials such as the head of the cia gina haspel. one thing serious, yasmin, this has raised a lot of question and questions that the republicans are trying to downplay a little bit. the significant thing, of course, we know that russia was -- is a bad actor here. both sides definitely say they're going to continue to look into it, and they have a lot more questions. >> so, let's talk about republicans here for a moment. once again, republicans are in a position where they are facing questions about the president's

relationship to russia. and why it seems as if he continues to not be tough enough on russia, considering this most recent intelligence. what are you hearing in that respect? >> republicans continue to say that they are have been more -- tougher on russia than in recent history. that this administration has been tougher on russia, as far as their policies are concerned than any recent administration, and that is a line that i have heard over and over again since, you know, over the past one to two years. and that's one that they maintain as well. you heard that in mitch mcconnell's response saying that absolutely russia should not be part of the g7 and it should not be expanded to the g8. and that is something that they're going to continue to hone in on, especially leading into the election, as more and

more questions are raised about the president's, you know, relationship with vladimir putin. and what role he puts national security in that relationship, yasmin. >> but mcconnell not willing to go so far as to say he in fact will support sanctioning russia because of this latest intelligence. nbc news, leigh ann caldwell, thank you so much. i'll talk to you in a little bit. let's talk covid for a moment. the nation's infectious disease dr. anthony fauci sending a stark warning over the country's efforts to combat the coronavirus. >> well i'm very concerned about what's going on right now, particularly in the four states that are accounting for about 50% of the new infections. but the other vulnerable states. so, i'd have to say the numbers speak for themselves. i'm very concerned. i'm not satisfied with what's going on because we're going in the wrong direction.

clearly, we are not in total control right now. we can't just focus on those areas that are having the surge. it puts the entire country at risk. we are now having 40 plus thousand new cases a day. i would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day, if this does not turn around. and so i am very concerned. >> a very startling and scary prediction there from dr. anthony fauci. still ahead, everybody, a major blow to president trump's immigration agenda. a federal judge has just struck down a trump administration policy on claiming asylum. also later, the governor of mississippi signs a historic bill to remove a confederate symbol from the state flag. those stories, and then, of course, a check of your weather, when we come back.

welcome back. late last night, a federal judge struck down a trump administration rule that required those seeking asylum in the united states to have applied in another country. the rule is deemed unlawful for a lot of reasons including being contrary to the immigration and national act. u.s. district court judge kelly generally allows anyone who has made to the u.s. asylum. and joining me now sh, msnbc le analyst danny cevallos. danny, good morning. nice to see you this morning. >> good morning. >> this came down for the same reason that the supreme court received daca last week. a flaw. break this down for us? >> congress is made up of our

elected representatives and when they enact legislation, they do so through the legislative process. but it was generally worded, thou shall pay your taxes or something like that. then there's the executive law that enforces the law that has to create all of these rules and regulations that essentially have the force of law. but when the executive branch creates that law, it's not through an elected representative. it's through some person in office in an executive branch. so these laws, so to speak, aren't subject to any sort of democratic process. for that reason, we have the administrative procedures act and other laws that require the rules to be put out there for the public to comment on them. and they do comment on them. but in this case, the government, the executive branch, decided to streamline these without the notice and comment procedure, under what it thought were some valid exceptions. and the court said, no, these exceptions don't apply. you still have to put this out there for notice and comment.

or else, the regulations are completely unfair because the public has had no opportunity at all to weigh in on it. >> so, first of all, this seems like a major win for asylum seekers. take us through that. and also the decision suggested it was illegal for other reasons as well as what i suggested. so, is it unlikely there's going to be some new and improved version of this rule that would eventually pass muster? >> anytime a district court invalidates a regulation based on the administrative procedures act, it's essentially saying, it's not passing on whether or not the executive branch had the power ultimately to do this in some other way. it's just saying it didn't follow the proper procedures in this instance. but the court's opinion does suggest that the urgency and the need that the government had to enact these rules, or put out these rules, wasn't as urgent as the government made it out to be. so that could be a harbinger of

what courts in the future may decide on this. but keep in mind, anytime a court invalidates a regulation on the procedures act it just means the executive branch failed to follow a procedure. it really doesn't mean that the executive branch can achieve what it wanted to achieve through other means. >> all right. we'll be watching this develop. danny cevallos. thank you as thaulalways, great see you. still ahead, we're breaking down election results that impacts several key senate races this november. we are back in a moment. oment. a continuous glucose monitor, you don't have to. with a painless, one-second scan you can check your glucose with a smart phone or reader so you can stay in the moment. no matter where you are or what you're doing. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. you can do it without fingersticks.

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welcome back, everybody. amy mcgrath has won one democratic primary, nbc news is projecting that and will face off in november. mcgrath edged off charles booker, a margin of 15,000

votes. a really close race with 90% of the state's precincts reports. the kentucky secretary of state said that more than 161,000 people voted in person last tuesday, but there were more than 500,000 million ballots that needed to be counted. mcgrath initially held an enormous if you wafundraising o booker. also, former governor john hickenlooper won tuesday's primary in colorado and will face senator cory gartner. hickenlooper beat back a challenge from andrew romanoff. across to politico, the colorado senate race was the most significant on tuesday because

the state was essential for the democrat's path back to the senate majority. let's switch gears getting first look at your forecast with meteorologist janessa webb. good morning, janessa. >> good morning, yasmin. here in july and we're tracking the storms ant heat that continue to build. we'll take a look at current radar. nothing too severe. but we'll see a squall line across the south and from south carolina into georgia. the primary thread will be damaging winds and a little bit of hail this afternoon. possibility with all of the heat that we are currently seeing an isolated tornado in that area. but you're going to see pockets of cells that are going to produce torrential rain. potential rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. i do think for the central plains we'll start to see the flash flooding concerns start to

expand from memphis to nashville, even to the ohio valley. and this as the storm well to the south, it's producing well air. and the storm will pop up across this front causing gusty conditions all the way through thursday afternoon. i think the real big story for today, we're going to see this expanse of heat from oklahoma city all the way to little rock, even parts of the deep south. right now, we're only seeing 19 million. but this will start to make its way to the southeast, to the mississippi valley, ohio valley, as well this afternoon. but we're talking about these heat indexes, they're going to reach 105 to potentially 115. that's what it feels like on the skin. the air temperature is going to be sitting in the lower 90s. and then this starts to really make its way into the northeast. so the ac is going to be cranking across the great lakes, even from minneapolis this

afternoon where it's sitting at 93 degrees. then 90s will be the thing as we go into this weekend, fourth of july, washington, d.c., sitting in the 90s, yasmin. >> thank you, janessa. still ahead, everybody, with coronavirus cases on the rise in several states, we're seeing a growing number of republicans break with the president on the issue of face masks. also, joe biden tears into the president's coronavirus response and explain what is he would do differently. we are back in a moment.

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welcome back, everybody. i am yasmin vossoughian. we're going to begin this half hour with the u.s. hitting a new record. nearly 48,000 coronavirus cases were reported yesterday alone. that is the most any day since the beginning of this pandemic. texas, florida, arizona, continuing to emerge as the country's latest epicenters as cases are surging there. texas reporting more than 6,800 new cases just yesterday, bringing the state's total to over 166,000. florida, nearly 7,000 cases reported there. the state is one of several that have shut down bars to slow the spread of the virus, as it has start stod ed to increasingly i younger people. california, more than 6,000 cases, surpassing the deaths. arizona, the state reporting a

record for current covid hospitalizations at nearly 3,000. and the skyrocketing number of coronavirus cases emerging as a breaking point for some gop lawmakers who have repeatedly stood by the president through past controversies. while the president has given different reasons for not wearing a mask in public, a growing number of republicans are now advocating for face masks, arguing that the matter is not a political one. >> if you're pro-trump, you don't wear a mask. and if you're anti-trump, you're more likely to wear a mask, but that makes no sense. it actually would help restore the economy if we contain the disease. and the better the economy is, the better off the president is, i would think, running for re-election. so, it makes no sense. so, i hope the president will help us just get rid of this mask politics. it hurts the country. it doesn't help him. >> what we're all trying to

demonstrate for everybody in the country is the single most important thing you can do, not only to protect yourself, but protect others, until we get a vaccine, put on the mask. it's not complicated. >> wearing the mask is the best opportunity for us to keep this economy open, keep us working, keep us safe. and help us as we build towards that vaccine, where we're in a much stronger position than any other country before. for the fourth of july, also the patriotism of red, white and blue mask out there. >> it's good to hear these folks saying it. they should have been saying it earlier. in that same interview with house kevin mccarthy, fox who is rarely critical of the president offered the president this piece of advice. >> i just don't see any downside in the president being seen more often wearing it. it's symbolic, obviously, it's patriotic because you're not only protecting yourself, you're

protecting other people. i've heard people around the president say, no, you shouldn't wear it. but nonetheless, it would be a powerful symbol. >> so former vice president joe biden in a speech yesterday ramped up his critique of the trump's administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. >> it didn't have to be this way. month after month, as other leaders in other countries took the necessary steps to get the virus under control, donald trump failed us. month after month, as many of us urged him to step up and do his job, he failed us. now, it's almost july. and it seems like our wartime president has surrendered, waved the right -- white flag, left the battlefield. today, we're facing a serious threat. we have to meet it. we have to meet it as one country. but the president gives no direction. and he pits us against one

another. we can't continue like this. half recovery and half getting worse. we can't continue. half wearing masks sand half rejecting science. we can't continue, half with a plan and half just hoping for the best. >> and the presumptive democratic nominee also addressed the way his campaign is going to proceed during this pandemic. >> where do you think the race stands at this moment? what keeps you up at night as you look ahead? and you can maintain this advantage without campaigning in a traditional way, especially this fall, when voters begin to really tune in? >> well, you know, this is the most unusual campaign. i think, in modern history. in that -- but i start off with the premise, mike, that i'm going to follow the doc's orders. not just for me, but for the country. and that means that i am not go to be holding rallies.

i am not going to be, for example, you all are here. but thankfully, the school has put those circles around so we keep the social distancing. everybody has a mask on. as soon as i finish this, i'll put my mask back on. so, it's all been -- almost all been virtual. although i have gone to houston. i have gone into pennsylvania. i have traveled. but what i do, i get in, make my case and leave, take questions and leave. >> have you begun to prepare for debates against president trump? >> i can hardly wait. >> so, in a statement issued earlier yesterday, the biden camp revealed new elements of his plan to combat the pandemic saying if elected, biden would give dr. anthony fauci, quote, full access to the oval office and an uncensored platform to speak directly to the american people whether giving good news

or bad news. joining me again, correspondent leigh ann caldwell, leigh ann, let's go through the stuff talking from joe biden there, for 2020, any word on his vice presidential pick? and have i have to say, with how he proceeds based on the campaign is based on what we're seeing with the polling that former vice president joe biden is performing fairly well, even being out on the campaign trail and having campaign ralrallies. >> that's right, yasmin, what two stark differences between the two campaigns of joe biden and president trump who is ignoring doctor's order, as joe biden put it. not maintaining social distancing by forcing thousands of people under the same room. not wearing masks. vowing to continue to campaign as if it was 2016 or some other

year where there's not a pandemic. on the other hand, joe biden is taking a vastly different approach. the fact that he said that he's not going to hold any campaign rallies, that's kind of mind-boggling since that's a quintessential campaign element in american politics. but he is takes into account the circumstances. and as you mentioned, the polls do show it. the president has lost ground and so many -- not only the national polls, but in these critical state polls like florida, arizona, michigan. where he is trailing joe biden. and in some places by double digits. and so joe biden's talk about following doctor's orders is not only a campaign strategy for health. but it's a political strategy as well. as far as the vice president is concerned, he did say he is going to announce someone by early august. that's just a month away. we know that it's going to be a

woman. he's receiving some pressure to have it be a black woman, especially in these times. but we're told that he has a lot of people on this short list. and, you know, it's just a month away until we'll likely find out. but at this point, there's no indication of which way he's leaning, if it's going to be kamala harris or elizabeth warren or one of the other dozen people whose names have been floated. >> all right. let's talk lawmakers here that are breaking from the president and as i was playing a little bit early your. lamar alexander breaking from the fed urging people to wear masks. kevin mccarthy, mitch mcconnell, he's been fairly outspoken about wearing a mask since the beginning of this pandemic. but others not necessarily as outspoken as they have become now. does this mean anything for the 2020 election in that we can see more folks breaking from the president as we get closer to

november? >> i think it does. the insistence from republicans that people need to go out and wear a mask is correlated directly with republicans sinking poll numbers. not only at the presidential level, but at the senate level as well. every single republican you that talk to these days say that the majority -- the republican majority in the senate is at stake. and that it is tied in a lot of ways by the president's handling of covid. it also has to do with the issues how he handled the george floyd protests and issues of race, too. but republicans on capitol hill, they have become aware that pleading a culture war out of the coronavirus is not winning them any votes especially those critical independent voters, those swing voters, especially

suburban women who trump won and republicans won in 2016, they're going to need again in 2020 if they're going to maintain control of the senate and the white house. >> well, and we've seen in most recent polls that trump is most certainly losing a lot of support amongst suburban women. nbc's leigh ann caldwell. still ahead, mississippi's tate reeves' signing of a bill to change the flag. your "first look" at "morning joe" is back in a moment. nt

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removed on the senate side of capitol hill and replaced with a temporary flag, featuring the state seal. adopted nearly three decades after the end the civil war, mississippi's state flag was the only one that contained the confederate battle flag. signing the bill yesterday to take down the flag, governor reeves said, quote, this, whether you are proud of this step or angry with us over the process, i want you to know that i love you. all right. let's switch gears once again and bring in nbc meteorologist janessa webb who has been taking a look at the covid numbers for us as well across the country. and the numbers are astounding, as we see them spiking in many states in the south, janessa. >> yeah. we continue to see that, even houston and texas, today, we had our largest case amounts in the last 24 hours. so, we're going to continue to be watching that fairly closely in those locations. these hot spots are definitely a major concern.

now, weatherwise, we are watching our outlook that has just come in, our july outlook, warmer than average temperatures. look at this from el paso all the way into areas of the northeast. so, we're already dealing with some of the warmest temperatures of the season, so far for july, got to continue on that trend. now, precipitationwise, it looks like we'll be nice and dry for the northeast. and the drier than average july expected for the southwest. that's really unfortunate to hear because we're already dealing with this heightened fire danger across arizona into nevada in already. and july is going to be very dry along with relative humidity, going to be really down in these areas. and it doesn't help when we have the winds. they start to stir up, 30 to 35 miles per hour. and that potential allows for that fire growth. so, we're going to be watching those areas pretty closely

throughout the month. now, temperaturewise, this is going to be a problem. this is a dangerous heat that is starting to settle in for the deep south into the southeast. the problem with it it's about to turn 5:00 a.m. in some of these locations. and the feels like temperature already at 95 degrees. 85 right now for dallas. so, your body just doesn't have enough time to really get some relief from the daytime highs. and it sees going into the even hours. so currently 19 million people are going to be impacted by these heat advisories. i do think it starts to expand into memphis, all the way into northeast ohio. the south and southeast as well. so, right now, we're just seeing kind of a minimal area, throughout the day, with temperatures this high, it's going to be very dangerous. look at this squall line that is forming across minneapolis and dangerous storms there.

just starting to make its way off to the northeast and offshore. today, man, yasmin, july is building for the hottest temperatures of the year. but this is a dangerous situation. >> all right. thank you, janessa. still ahead, everybody, we're going live to cnbc for a look at what's going on in the markets as the u.s. had its best day yet. the stories next. day yet. the stories next seriously? one up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. any further questions? uh uh! one up the power of liquid with new tide power pods.

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welcome back, everybody. despite the coronavirus dealing a huge blow to economies around the world, the u.s. stock market just posted its best quarter in more than 20 years. cnbc's karen cho is joining us live from london. karen, good morning to you. talk about this. how is the stock market able to post solid numbers? >> yasmin, good morning, first off, it was a violent selling in march so kicking off a very low base. a truckload in the stimulus and

the reserve. centered around technology and it was the best quarterly gains we witnessed in 20 years, the s&p 500 up 20% for the quarter. the nasdaq up 30s. the s&p 500 is still the stimulus i mentioned, $1.6 trillion in stimulus from the central bank and from congress, that certainly supported risk appetite for stocks. the rally we're seeing across many of the big technology names clearly benefiting under covid-19. retail stocks, though, staged recovery, and also many of those big engine names were back in the mix. the question is what lies ahead for the second half. it may be a little bit choppy from here, given the spike in fresh coronavirus infections we're seeing with the reopening of economies, also if there's a change in government, if there's a democrat-controlled government, there seems to be a risk to the stocks because there may be a rollback of those trump tax cuts. so that is one to watch as we also count down for some of the big data points out tomorrow around nonfarm payrolls. quickly readding jobs back to the economy.

so the economic picture still relevant here. meantime, across asia, there's a stark warning from the imf that the economy will shrink for the first time in living memory as they've now changed some assumptions around economic growth, saying it could take years to recover, likely seen contracting 1.6% versus flat growth that was anticipated in april, so worsening projections for the asian economy, yasmin. >> can we talk netflix here for a moment? they have been making a major move, karen, shifting $100 million worth of its shares to banks that actually help support black communities. talk to us about this. >> it's a huge initiative, isn't it, for the online streaming service, which is clearly growing its cash pile as it grows. and now it's decided to part money, roughly 2% of its cash, in banks that focus on black communities. there's been a long-running problem where they don't have the same access to capital, limiting economic opportunities, so it's a hope that netflix can

try to correct this. first up, $25 million into a fund for black economic development that will invest in black financial institutions, $10 million deposited with the hope credit union. so, it is a start, and it was an idea first floated back in april, but clearly gained momentum around the protests around george floyd's killing. >> all right, cnbc's karen tso live from london for us. thank you so much, karen. great to see you this morning. up next, everybody, a look at axios' "1 big thing." coming up, on the heels of an agreement to cut $1 million from the nypd budget, new york city mayor bill de blasio will be our guest. "morning joe" moments away. l del be our guest "morning joe" moments away $9.95? that's impossible. hi, i'm jonathan, a manager here at colonial penn life insurance company, to tell you it is possible. if you're age 50 to 85, you can get life insurance with options starting at just $9.95 a month. okay, jonathan, i'm listening. tell me more.

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welcome back, everybody. joining me now with a look at axios a.m., political reporter for axios, hans nichols. hans, great to see you this morning. give us axios' "1 big thing" today. >> look, the one big thing we're looking at is the private numbers that the white house gets from credit card numbers, from geospatial companies. they're telling the white house that the economy may be

plateauing. now, tomorrow's a big day, right? you just talked about on cnbc, you're going to get that jobs report for the month of june. but in a lot of ways, that number, yasmin, is dated. it's from the middle of the month. and what the private data's telling the white house on the back side is that the economy is plateauing. that has huge implications when you talk about the size of the economic stimulus. there's obviously going to be a phase four package. what's neat about this moment -- and we don't want to call this moment neat in any other way -- but economists have a lot of new tools to try to measure just how deep the recession is, how deep the trough is. in a lot of ways, they've been flying blind. this gives them a few more tools. that said, there's always a difference between what the economists say you should do and what's politically feasible. and i suspect this july and august you're going to have a big debate about the size of the stimulus package. democrats want to go to $3 trillion. mitch mcconnell said he only wants to keep it under $1 trillion. the number will probably lie

somewhere in between there, but this is going to be a defining moment for the summer. and trump has shown every indication to spend, spend, spend, and he's not concerned about debts or deficits, as republicans traditionally have been. up to this point, they've given enough room, so we'll see how this plays out, but private data not overwhelmingly positive. >> it's interesting, hans, because congress already seems late to the game here for a phase four. scientists and doctors have been predicting how long this pandemic is going to last for quite some time, since the beginning of it, that it would last possibly until next summer. so, fact that they haven't already come up with a plan, a phase four, to keep money in the pockets of americans and small businesses throughout this country, is mind-boggling to me, to not understand that we weren't going to have a v-shaped recovery from all of this, considering so many people are jobless right now. >> yeah, so last month, house democrats put forward their

proposal. that's basically sort of died in the senate. and what white house officials have been saying all along is that, at least for the last few weeks, is that they want to assess the amount, the sort of recovery effects that the $2.5 trillion that they've already shoveled out the door has had, and they just wanted to pause for a little bit to take a look at the data. we'll get a big data number tomorrow. other data's going to be coming in, but you're very right on the deadline. remember, july 31st is when unemployment benefits run out, so if you are out of work because of coronavirus and congress and the white house doesn't act before july 31st, you will have in most states your unemployment benefits cut off. yasmin? >> yeah, a lot of folks worried about being able to just pay their basic bills, like keeping the lights on in their homes come august 1st right now. let's talk the 2020 election here, hans, while i have you. >> yeah. >> cognitive decline, it seems, is becoming a major topic for the first time in a u.s. presidential campaign, and that is because of the age of the two

men that are running. both joe biden and trump are two of the oldest candidates in history. how is age playing a factor in this election? >> well, we've had biden respond to it, right? i mean, president donald trump has been trying to gig vice president biden into this for months. the campaign daily sends out things. the vice president was asked about this yesterday in wilmington and biden responded by almost challenging trump, saying look, i'm fine. i look forward to taking a test against him. i am completely confident in my cognitive abilities. then the trump campaign quickly seized upon something biden said, that he said, look, i'm tested all the time. what campaign officials tell us that actually meant is that biden is talking about how he's been tested throughout this process. he hasn't actually taken a mental or cognitive ability. but this is a debate that the white house and the trump campaign so clearly wants. they want to make this about who, whether or not someone

misspeaks or transposes words. you and i on cable television certainly know that can happen. but this is what the trump campaign wants it to be about. i don't think we're seeing a preview of biden trying to turn this into that as well. he was attacked. he responded. he was answering a question posed to him by i believe a fox news reporter on this. so, this is biden's way of trying to say, look, this is nonsense, i'm fine. and the test on all this is we all know the test is going to be in the debates. and typically, debates don't really move the needle in terms of a presidential election. they one might be different. and trump has finally agreed to doing three. biden himself over the last couple days is saying he really is looking forward to it. and as most americans will probably still be under some form of stay-at-home orders, or wherever we are, i suspect those will get blockbuster ratings, and that's one thing we know