beach at varying social distances. people are coming together for a wide array of reasons. president trump laid out one such reason. at mount rushmore he warned of a campaign to destroy america's history and its heritage. >> angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders. >> we have a chance to live up to the words that founded this nation. >> that's just part of the former vice president's rebuttal. we'll have more on that shortly. and we are live across america with the latest on everything from the protests to the pandemic to the president's performance. but we begin in washington with news that president trump is stepping back from being the daily voice of coronavirus, intentionally sidelined with vice president pence stepping up. this comes as guidelines for tonight's 4th of july celebration on the national mall tonight. a spokesperson for the white house tells nbc news that social distancing will be observed at the celebrations. this follows last night's events

at mount rushmore. no masks were worn or few, if anything, in a tightly packed crowd. nbc's monica alba is at the white house. monica, what more can you tell us about this? >> yeah, this will be the fist real test of a large event at the white house, joshua, that we've seen since the start of the pandemic. of course, the president has gathered with thousands of his supporters in placine s like tulsa, oklahoma. he spoke at this a indoor chuat in phoenix, arizona. we haven't seen him speak to a large group of people at the complex itself since before march. the white house is expecting a pretty large crowd, some who are front line workers whosk dealing with the pandemic. there will be nurses, doctors, law enforcement represented in addition to members of the administration who will gather for this salute to america where masks will be deliberated but won't be required and where social distancing will be encouraged but not necessarily a

requirement. we've seen some chairs that are spaced out. there are also tables and they're expecting hundreds of people to gather here tonight. now, of course, this is an outdoor event. last night in south dakota there were about 7,000 people there for that speech at mount rushmore where we did see very little social distancing or masks. so we expect more of that here tonight. but it comes during this major salute to america event that the president is going to be hosting from the south lawn, and then the d.c. mayor is saying there could be as many as 300,000 people on the national mall and the surrounding areas for the military fly yoover portion, an then the fireworks later tonight. she conceded that's not something she can control. she asked people to stay home. in case they don't, they will be distributing taing face masks t people who gather at those events. a year ago at the lincoln memorial with that giant price tag, this year osof course it c

during a pandemic. he'll only with speaking from the white house. many questions about the health and safety of the people, the department of interior and national park service event ordered by the trump administration. >> hopefully people will do plenty of spacing out at the washington monument, the lincoln memorial, the jefferson memorial, further west towards georgetown. plenty of room to kind of create some social distancing on their own. we're also reporting that the president is done being the daily voice of coronavirus. we haven't had daily briefings in a while, and the last time we had a briefing from the president, he said that there were just a few embers being put out and handed off to treasury secretary steven mnuchin. what does this actually mean? >> yeah, notably not taking any questions of that event you're referencing there, joshua. over the last week we've seen a bit of a shift in strategy. you had vice president mike pence and leaders of the task force taking questions from a lot of different places just not from the white house. you had the task force in their

continued meetings that have been quite consistent for the last few months, but now they are, again, emerging and taking questions from reporters, which is something that had been halted, but the location of that is significant. vice president mike pence traveled to dallas, texas, to phoenix, arizona, to tampa, florida, this week with members of the task force, and they took questions there from local and national reporters on the pandemic, and it was by design that that didn't involve the president. we're told by several officials that that plan was signed off on by the president, that he requested the task force to resume these briefings and we're told that we can expect that to continue next week, but we won't likely see them in the white house briefing room. it's more likely they'll continue to do this from beyond the white house gates and have the vice president be the lead messenger on that as he is the leader of the task force. >> and then of course we also hear from members of the task force at various congressional hearings as we've heard for the last few weeks. thank you, monica. that's nbc's monica alba. the 4th is always a busy day

in washington. today is no different, despite covid-19. some folks are packing the national mall as we mentioned. others are filling the streets nearby to protest police brutality. nbc's julia jester is among the demonstrators who joins us now. what are some of them telling you today? >> reporter: yeah, joshua, well, this is the sixth weekend of demonstrations since the death of george floyd, and though the crowd out here in d.c. today at black lives matter plaza isn't the largest we've seen, there have been several different groups protesting their own goals, their own hopes for change, whether it's at the supreme court, capitol hill or right here outside black lives matter plaza. we have various groups that, for them, 4th of july is not a celebration. it is a day of protest and reckoning of the racial injustice in america. i spoke with a few of the demonstrators who for them it's deeply personal, and this is what they told me. >> i don't really see much to

celebrate in america right now. i'm not seeing what i believe this country stands for these past few years. it's repeated over and over again with this administration how they try to sort of bury the truth. it's just not helping. it's just not helping the common peop people. i don't really know who it's helping. >> and as for the future of black lives matter plaza, we know that chant. however, there was a new bone that popped up overnight, that is occupy h street. demonstrators here held a sit-in overnight marking this as their -- asking d.c. mayor muriel bowser to defund the police as the city votes on its budget this week. lots of activity here and a presence that isn't going away as these organizers and demonstrators say their work is far from over this 4th of july. joshua. >> yeah, just for those of you who may be listening on sirius

m, that's occupy h street, the letter h, which is the northern border of lafayette square. thank you, julia. florida's covid-19 caseload continues to break records. by our triple the rate it was two weeks ago. florida's single day case reports are at a new record. today the state reported nearly 11,500 cases just today. miami-dade county has a curfew in place to ease the increase, and testing sites are set up throughout the state. one site is in sanford north of orlando, and that is where nbc's chris pollone is standing by under the central florida rain. how's the testing going? hopefully the rain is not deterring people from showing up to get a test. >> yeah, joshua, they say the key to tv is timing, and we blew it today with this little gully washer that's coming through right now. yeah, the key is testing. it's a very interesting trend here in the state of florida. over the months of may and june,

you were seeing about 30,000 tests a day. in the past week or so, the numbers on most days were about 50,000 tests and yesterday when the state reported 65 -- when the state reported that record number of positive tests, 11,500, there were 65,000, a big jump in testing of more than 15,000 more tests than the day before. so you might say, well, what's the rate of positivity? that must have gone way down. no, it didn't, and that's the problem for health officials here in florida is the rate of positivity stayed just over 14% of the tests coming back positive, and you know, as you know, the cdc has said that if a state wants to reopen, it really should be a positivity rate of about 5%. florida has been smashing that over the past two or three weeks with high numbers of positive cases. we were here at this testing center this morning. people were lined up around the corner to get tested, and the place ran out of tests after a little while.

it didn't last very long that people were able to walk in and get tests here, joshua. >> that's nbc's chris pollone under a typical central florida downpour in sanford, florida, north of orlando. chris, thanks very much. the beaches are busy in north carolina this 4th of july weekend. that's despite the state seeing its largest daily increase in covid-19 cases, and that happened just this week. nbc's amanda golden is live from the outer banks in corolla, north carolina. the outer banks chamber of commerce says it expects 300,000 visitors each week around this time of year on a normal year. are there precautions in place, and are people following them? >> reporter: joshua, those figures are actually for this year. that is what they're expecting to see both last week and next week, bumpering either side of the july 4th holiday. it's not a whole lot different than what we're seeing throughout north carolina. it's everything from 50%

capacity here in the phase two reopening of the state both for retail and restaurants and then just last week a mandatory mask order from the governor for all public spaces where you are unable to socially distance. here on the beach, that's not quite what we're seeing. we don't see a whole lot of masks for people here with the expectation they are spread out throughout the beach staying within their own family or friend clusters but not interrupting people that are next to them. aside from that, though, this community, which heavily relies on the seasonal business both of the tourists that come in to participate in their restaurants but also this area of corolla in particular is crucial for home rentals, cottages and the beach front communities that are here. i spoke with one small business owner in particular who was really worried going into the season of not being able to have that kind of support for his business that does rely on the tourism, but is really pleasantly surprised to see people returning. take a listen to what he told me. >> there's obviously a little worry, you know, and we're starting to see a bit of a spike in cases.

we haven't necessarily seen it here, which i think is a good sign. i've never seen this place so busy, so there's a little worry, i think, there, but it's definitely encouraging because for those eight weeks without any business it was a really internal struggle going, you know, how do we survive, especially as a seasonal business, a seasonal community without a season. >> and joshua, as you mentioned, north carolina's continuing to see these covid numbers continually rise, just their highest was actually yesterday with a record of over 2,000 new cases reported. the area of the outer banks has not seen those kind of spikes but there is concern after this holiday weekend and having so many folks come into this area, that we could start to see spikes like we have in other beach front communities throughout the country. joshua. >> it's especially important to socially distance on the beach because the cdc says you should not wear face coverings in the water because obviously they're hard to breathe through when they're wet, so social distancing is even more important where nbc's amanda

golden is on the outer banks. thanks very much. coronavirus cases are surging across most of the u.s. still, many americans are trying to celebrate this holiday weekend as safely as they can, especially in places where the 4th is a big local tradition. today prescott, arizona, is holding its prescott frontier days festival and rodeo, and that is where we find nbc's vaughn hillyard joining us live. vaughn, are folks finding ways to celebrate safely? >> reporter: we're in prescott, arizona, which is actually the original capital here of arizona, joshua, and we came out here today because if you're looking for a place of western spirit and independence, i think prescott is the place you're going to find it. at the same time, 4th of july fes ti festivities very much going on as planned. i fers wairst want to introduce you, ted. here at prescott, these events are still going on in the middle of the pandemic. what leads you here today, and

does the lack of masks, including on your part? >> well, we're here to support president trump and the republican ticket. this is our protest against all the other protests that have been going on in the country trying to take our nation down. >> are you concerned about the pandemic? >> no, we support our police department in prescott, and we do not support antifa, which is a communist organization just like blm. if you listen to the founders of blm, they're communists. if they cared about black lives really, they would think about the million abortions of black babies, and they would think about the thousands of young black men that are killed in the inner city, but they don't. it's an anti-police organization and antifa is just as bad. if you notice -- >> we're going to jump over here, all right? we're going to talk a lot more, okay? you and me.

we've got to jump over because we're short on time. let's jump over here to kathy and tom. you guys are also prescott residents like ted here. you guys are also out here today. what are you seeing here in your city? >> well, i'd just like to say that my husband and i, we're both health care professionals. he's a retired general surgeon. i'm a retired registered nurse. we're long-time arizonans and prescott residents, and we're down here celebrating the 4th of july, and even though i'm an elected public official, i need to let people know that i am speaking as a concerned citizen, and also as a health care professional, and i would just like to deliver the message that arizona and prescott, please wear your masks. social distance, and practice good hand hygiene. we have a lot of wonderful businesses in this community

that are following those guidelines in keeping prescott safe, so i'm just asking everyone. there's people down here without masks but it does not reflect eoee that are masking up, and it is a nonpartisan issue. >> i've got to cut you off, kathy because we're short on time. we're going to be talking a lot more through the afternoon. this is a place dpfrgs hefor con here in the prescott square at a time when the pandemic is sweeping through arizona and folks are still trying to celebrate the 4th of july. >> that's vaughn hillyard joining us from ples prrescott, arizona. the culture wars were a big part of donald trump's campaign. this year seems to be more of the same amplified by the debit over t debate over removing confederate statues. how might that strategy work this time around? let's discuss it with sir

michael singlingt micha michael singleton and former deputy secretary of state and spokesman for hillary clinton. fil last night, the president again did not wear a mask. there was no social distancing at least enforced at the event at mount rushmore. there was plenty of rhetoric about cancel culture, about disrespect for america's heritage. is this more of the same from 2016 or is this something slightly different? >> no, it's movie theater re oft it has more -- it's more ferocious because he now knows it works. from his point of view, he defines works as got him elected, and he believes he just has to run the same playbook. but you know, listening to the program and you were talking to monica alba about changing his tone and not being the person out front, and you read all the time and you hear republicans saying we need a message.

we need something more clear, they need to wake up and realize this is their message. donald trump, he has a message. he is basically feeding on hate. he is feeding on racism. that is not going to change. they might not like it. they might not agree with it. they might be embarrassed by it, and they might be scared by it. let's all stop pretending he doesn't have a message and he can't articulate it. >> there has been a cultural shift on statues of confederate generals, of slave owners and others. president trump just issued an executive order for those monuments to be replaced if they're torn down presumably if they are federal monuments or on federal land. how do you see his campaign reckoning with this cultural shift over these cultural symbols? >> i think that's part of the concern in regard to the president not having an official message. that is not a message.

i can tell you that republican senators who are running in very tough re-election bids, particularly those in some battleground states want to run on. there are many republicans who are looking at what happened in 2018, and they see how republicans have essentially lost the suburbs. if you look at the most recent data and analysis of suburban women who supported republicans and supported trump in 2016, they are beginning to see a decrease and decline in support there, and so i think a part of the risk and concern for republicans who are somewhat removed from the president and running in their own elections that is is that while this messaging may have worked in 2016 against someone like a hillary clinton who was a very different candidate, i'm not necessarily certain that that landscape will exist in november. and while josh it may help his most ardent supporters, he also runs the risk of increasing anger and angst on the other side.

i think he runs the risk of having individuals on the democratic side who already don't like him making sure that not only they turn out in november, but taking the extra steps and making sure that otherwise around them turn out in november. i would argue that that is a threat to the president because he has a cap on the percent of voters he can turn out. joe biden has a larger pool of voters to turn out which should concern the republicans and the president at large. >> joe biden wrote a new op-ed for nbc news for our platform nbc think. this part he argues that the president is eroding a foundation that mr. biden says he plans to help rebuild. he wrote, quote, independence day is a celebration of our persistent march towards greater justice. the natural expansion of our founding notion from all men are created equal to all people are created equal and should be be treated equally throughout their lives, unquote. before i got to let you go, what happens with these two strategies collide head on? >> the positive and the optimistic and the hopeful will

win. you know, reading that op-ed, i was optimistic and i'm a pretty cynical person, and i can't wait for joe biden to win because then we can get back to kind of restoring where we were. you know, the difference between now and four years ago is that trump now has a record and people have seen that even if they didn't like washington and even if they wanted to blow up the system, what was done instead was absolutely horrible. they've seen him choke with coronavirus and with everything else, and i think what people are seeing in joe biden is just an ability to take on our problems. there's another part of his op-ed where he was quoting someone by saying that this might do more in terms of racial progress than not, and i remember, you know, mark cuban of all people saying that donald trump is basically chemotherapy, and chemotherapy either cures the cancer or kills the patient.

and i think what we see in joe biden is joe biden represents saving the patient and bringing it back to health and maybe even better than ever. >> shermichael singleton, good to have you both with us today. we've got much more to come here on msnbc including more fallout from the arrest of former jeffrey epstein confidant, what are epstein's accusers hoping she will do. later, robert e. lee is clear, he did not want monuments to the confederacy after the civil war, but what do his de n descendants want? you will meet general lee's great, great, great grand nephew coming up. nephew coming up. and now, get the same fast relief in a delightful chew with new pepto bismol chews.

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jeffrey epstein is long dead, but the investigation into his sexual crimes is very much alive now with a new defendant. on thursday the fbi arrested epstein's long time associate gill len maxwell. she helped the financier recruit, groom, and sexually abuse girls. some were as young as 14. maxwell has denied any wrongdoing. let's get some context from nbc legal contributor katie fang. it's good to see you today, and epstein's accusers say she was more than just an enabler. tell us more about that. >> yeah, so the multicount

indictment that's come out of the southern district of new york indicates that throughout the six counts that have been alleged that she not only groomed, enticed and manipulated the young victims in this case, but she herself participated in some of the acts of sexual abuse and sexual assault. so really, joshua, oftentimes for the victims of jeffrey epstein, ghislaine maxwell was the first face of the abuse. she was the one who actually lured the victims to be able to eventually situations of abuse with jeffrey epstein. so if you were a victim of jeffrey epstein and ghislaine maxwell, you're looking at the feds now to give you justice, and i'm not talking about restorative justice. i'm talking about real punitive justice that you did not see with jeffrey epstein. >> nbc spoke with one of epstein's accusers. she says that he raped her when she was 15 and that this arrest is a big step towards justice. listen. >> this arrest probably, i

think, represents, you know, a new -- a completely new beginning, you know, for justice for all the survivors being that, you know, she knew just as much as he knew. >> so what would justice look like now that jeffrey epstein is dead, and how likely do you think it is that they will see that justice? does ms. maxwell become the proxy for jeffrey epstein now? >> well, obviously ghislaine maxwell could stand on her own two guilty feet, but yeah, to some extent she does. she can never really replace the atrocities of what jeffrey epstein represents, but you know, there's two different courses of i think justice for the victims of jeffrey epstein and ghislaine maxwell. there's the civil justice course, which is the lawsuits, et cetera, that we know are already being sought against the estate of jeffrey epstein, and ghislaine maxwell herself. from the criminal justice standpoint, you have to consider the reality that the prosecutors want to be able to prosecute here, but what valuable information does she have?

remember, she was the one who helped facilitate a lot of knowing witting accomplices in the sexual abuse trafficking and the horrible things that happened to the victims in this case, so she has a valuable, you know, bag of information that could end up being a mitigating issue for terms of sentencing for her. >> it will be interesting to see how much if at all she cooperates with the fbi and maybe the ten drildrils of this investigation could continue to grow. thank you, katie. much appreciated. coming up here on msnbc, it's just another example of how race relations have become an unavoidable issue. that issue includes the fate of confederate statues. some of which were taken down, others torn down. next, you'll meet a man who says these symbols should come down for good, a descendant of the confederate general robert e. lee joins us just ahead. stay close.

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taking a knee has been a common sight at protests across the country. former 49ers -- the former 49ers quarterback who popularized that is sharing his thoughts on this holiday. colin kaepernick went to twitter and wrote, quote, black people have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized and terrorized by america for centuries, and are expected to join your commemoration of, quote, unquote, independence while you enslaved our ancestors. we reject your celebration of white supremacy and look forward to liberation for all, unquote. kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem for the first time on september 1st, 2016, to protest the oppression of people of color. he played his final nfl game four months later. symbols are a big part of today's cultural debates. among those are monuments to those who oppressed and enslaved black people. for decades, civil rights activists have demanded the removal of statues honoring confederate generals.

now some people have lost patience and are tearing them down. joining us now is the reverend robert wright lee iv. he is a direct descendant of robert e. lee, and he is calling for his ancestor's statue to come down. reverend lee, welcome. >> thank you for having me. before we talk about the statues, what is your relationship to your name been like? were there moments where you became fully aware of what it represented or decided how to live with it or maybe even had to wrestle with some shame about it? >> well, i think anybody has to recognize that names say a lot about who we are, and whether that was me going to the home improvement store in my hometown of statesville, north carolina, and having people say the south will rise again when i hand them my credit card when they see my name on my credit card, but it's also been a moment of reckoning for me, too. i've seen my black confirmation

mentor bertha hamilton remind me that if i was called to ministry and wanted to join a church that was combatting racism, that i needed to deal with that, too. i needed to reckon with my name and what it meant ask the flag, the confederate flag that was hanging in my bedroom. so for me this has been a personal reality for a long time, but ultimately i'm glad to see it on the national scale and us having this national conversation at this particular moment. >> you wrote an op-ed for "the washington post." here's part of what you wrote, quote, to rest when symbols of oppression fall is to have only done a portion of the work, unquote. talk about the next portion, particularly the hearts and minds piece. i mean, for people who want these monuments removed, what is it they need to know about the heart, the mind, the spirit of someone who would say to you the south shall rise again? what's that about? >> well, honestly, joshua, it's deeply embedded in our culture and way of life down here in the south. i mean, it's one of those things

that i think you can't really escape, the lost cause mentality, the idea that general lee was a genteel christian general who fought for states' rights. they never finished the statement. it was for the states' rights to own slaves. so i think we have to do a little bit of the hard work of trying to get people to figure out that there's a way to be honest with our history and be honest with what we value because, joshua, honestly, i don't go to a statue and learn hate, what our country and our systems value, so it starts with realizing what we value and then it matches policy. we see that in the current policies that are being made, the value that of the past. we need to look to the future with hope. >> i am sure that there are some in the south who based on your views might consider you a traitor, might consider you ungrateful for the legacy that you've been given. for people who feel attacked or insulted by these demands to take these monuments down, what

would you say to them? >> well, i think it is an issue of compassion, first of all. we have to realize the world is not centered around the southern united states. it's not the correct history that needs to be told. on top of that, i think it's an issue of empathy. how do we feel when we walk into the voting booth at the justice center near my hometown where you have the confederate statue. we may not feel anything as white people. i may not feel anything as a white man, but that doesn't mean that other people don't feel oppressed, and for me this is an issue of christian compassion and empathy. if i'm going to be someone who claims the name of christian, i'm going to engage in the long hard work of learning what other people feel and how they feel it. >> a conversation for another day about empathy including those who feel like if you keep waving a confederate flag you have burned up all of my empathy, i'm out of empathy for you, but that's a conversation for another day. the reverend robert lee the

fourth, we appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> thank you, joshua. up next, we'll shift gears and focus on the krocoronavirus pandemic. theme parks are reopening, including the number one in the world, the magic kingdom. we'll take a look at the risks and the president's new slogan that contradicts the cdc's guidelines. dc's guidelines that helps you turn the stressed life... into your best life. stress less and live more. with stressballs.

since coronavirus began spreading across the u.s., the white house has struggled to get out one clear message on the virus. now the administration is reportedly preparing a concise, simple message on covid-19. live with it. officials say the new messaging is a quote, recognition by the white house that the virus is not going away anytime soon and will be around through the november election, unquote. this change reinforces the argument that the country has yet to fully figure out how to move on despite the virus.

pru president trump continues to ignore face masks or social distancing, that includes at last night's event at mount rushmore. he's planning a big 4th of july event tonight at the national mall in washington and all of this comes on a holiday weekend that experts have warned could cause cases to surge again. let's bring in dr. na heed baa delia, an infectious disease physician, medical director of the special pathogens unit and an msnbc medical contributor. first, i'd like to get your reaction to what is reportedly the new messaging from the administration on coronavirus. live with it. it made that their unofficial mantra because they've already sort of decided i'm going to go do my thing and take as many precautions as i feel like taking. so with that in mind, how does this messaging strike you? >> well, josh, i'm a little cautious about asking what it means because, you know, we've seen the sun belt states in particular being hit pretty hard recently.

the cases went up, and the hospitalizations went up, and now in texas, arizona, and south carolina in particular, now you're seeing deaths go up. so anytime we go back to living as normal, you know, not living with it but living as normal, not taking the precautions. the cost for the american people remains high, and so if the ask is let's do nothing and live as normal, that's really callous to ask of the american people. if it means that let's take the precautions, right, the institute for health metrics evaluation basically said if we wore masks we would batesicalret 3,300 deaths between now and october. if it means changing our lifestyles, if it means that the federal government and state governments make the commitments that are needed for us to open up some parts of society, continue commerce, you know, open up for education while keepikee keeping those cases down, hospitalizations down, i am for

it. it completely depends what they mean. >> we've noticed the cases are surging across much of the u.s. florida shattered its new case record yesterday. still, there are time lines for things like casinos and theme parks to start opening in places like new jersey and illinois, disney land in southern california is set to reopen its shopping area, the downtown disney area on july 9th. in florida's disney's magic kingdom and animal kingdom parks are set to open next saturday. epcot and disney's holiday studios open on the 15th. the universal orlando theme parks which are a corporate cousin of ours have already reopened. how do you view some of these cautiously optimistic time lines? >> let's tackle the casinos first. indoors, a lot of people, alcohol involved. we already know what that equation leads to. it leads to a lot of people getting infected. i think that for theme parks that are in states that have high prevalence like we've talked about in florida and

california, i do think it's a bit optimistic. in states that are not seeing as much high of prevalence, i think the things that they have to consider is the devil is in the details. are they going to limit the number of people? no matter where we congregate, yes, outdoor spaces are safer than indoor spaces but if you put enough people together without the safety measures in place, that's going to become a hot bed for transmission. will they limit the number of people? will they require masks? will they require physical distancing? will they maybe not do rides or any kind of attractions that have indoor spaces? will they ban indoor dining. i definitely would say for florida particularly and counties that are seeing high prevalence, there's a dangerous point where they're already seeing overwhelming health care systems and deaths. >> it is worth noting if you are planning a trip to one of these theme parks, they are requiring masks, they are requiring social distancing and they are doing temperature checks. if you don't abide by those rules, you are not getting in the park period. thanks very much. appreciate your time. still to come, there is more

fallout over the alleged russian bounties on american troops in afghanistan. we'll get to that in just a second. first, check out one independence day tradition that is adapting to covid-19, the world famous nathan's hot dog eating contest. yes, it took place this year, not on the boardwalk at coney island but indoors with no fans in attendance. on the women's side nicki sudo set a new record, she ate 48 1/2 hot dogs in one minute. that guy suffering on screen is chestnut. he ate 75 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes. joey chestnut has only lost the title once since 2007. 2007.nd . never letting anything get in my way. not the doubts, distractions, or voice in my head. and certainly not arthritis.

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the president is not letting coronavirus hinder the elaborate military displays he has planned for this weekend. tonight the nation's capitol will see a mile-long display of 10,000 fireworks. this year's military-focussed festivities will include flyovers by the air force thunder birds and navy blue angels as well as a world war ii aircraft showing. alongside these celebrations are questions regarding bounties that russia reportedly put on america's service members. reportedly the president took no action to protect troops in afghanistan. joining us now to discuss it is msnbc military analyst general barry mccaffrey and msnbc

international affairs analyst michael mcfall. gentlemen, good to have you both with us. general mccaffrey, officials confirmed to nbc news that the possibility of these russian bounties was included in the president's written intelligence brief, the presidential daily briefing, but he was not verbally briefed on the matter. now, there's new reporting from "the new york times" on a memo that appears to undercut the level of confidence from the intel agencies of the evidence supporting the bounty claim. so, it was in the briefing. there was a memo outside the briefing to try to call the confidence into question. how do you see all of this? >> we have both worked in layout. i have been in both republican and democratic administrations. this is utter nonsense. the intelligence community saw a problem. they started picking up on it with the special ops community and intelligence officers in afghanistan. it got verified through other

means. they called a policy meeting of the national security council and discussed options to do something about it. they stuck it in the president's pdb as i understand it twice. there is no question in my mind that before one of those five phone calls to putin that his advisers told him politically, hey, watch out. these people are apparently trying to kill our soldiers. this is utter nonsense. the president trying to shoe horn russia back into the g7. he has some strange relationship with mr. putin. it doesn't make any sense. but the national security process is flat broken. >> ambassador mcfall, how does all this affect the president's plan to remove troops from afghanistan or to strike a deal with the taliban? the situation on the ground, at least as i see it, seems to be rocky at best. and rocky is the most generous

term i can use. >> well, i just want to underscore a point that general mccaffrey just made about the national security process. i did work at the white house for three years. i was the russia adviser for president obama. when we were making political policy decisions, like the decision to withdraw troops from germany, or the decision to invite putin to the g7 summit, the intelligence would feed into that process and surely the president must have been told about this information even if he didn't read it in his pdb. and if he didn't, i really want to underscore, that is equally damming. that means his national security adviser is not doing his job. so it should have a direct affect and if it doesn't have an affect in terms of those policies that you mentioned, then that just underscores that president trump no matter what information he receives about vladimir putin continues to befriend him, continues to engage him, and ignores what i think has been increasingly

escalation of russian belligerent policies around the world. >> well, general mccaffrey, in response to all of this, some democrats are saying that the u.s. has to immediately impose more sanctions on russia. we're talking about a country led by vladimir putin and putin just won a referendum that lets him stay president until 2036. i don't know what we can actually do to retaliate. general putin, at least in a number of ways, seems pretty untouchable right now. >> oh, i don't think so. look, the russian people deserve a lot better than mr. putin. this has turned into a dictatorship. he murders the opposition. he murders journalists. he's a thug. he scares his immediate neighbors. he's pouring his wealth into his armed forces and operations in syria and afghanistan. so, i think they've got a bad deal. the only thing the russians have right now that any of us care about is oil and nuclear weapons.

so i think we have a lot of leverage. but step number one, you know, ambassador mcfall within moscow, you pick up the phone, you call your ambassador and say, go in and tell these people to knock it off. >> and ambassador, before i have to let you go, if you do that, if you call your ambassador and say tell those people to knock it off, what is the or else, very briefly? >> or else you're going to declassify the secret information you have. that would be a major, major change in policy. if they declassified everything and we know that vladimir putin was giving money to the taliban, that is a way to embarrass president putin in the first instance. many other steps beyond that, but just telling the facts and being transparent would be a very good first step. >> glad to have you both with us, gentlemen. thank you very much. and thank you for making time for us on this independence day. let's meet back here at 6:00 p.m. eastern, 3:00 p.m. pacific. until we meet again, i'm joshua

johnson. the news continues after the break with aleelialicia menende msnbc. dez on msnbc. now is the time to support the places you love. spend 10 dollars or more at a participating small business and get 5 dollars back, up to 10 times with american express. enroll now at shopsmall.com.

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download the xfinity stream app today to stream the entertainment you love. xfinity. the future of awesome. good afternoon and happy independence day i'm alicia menendez. as preparations begin around the country from the evening celebrations the president is back in washington, d.c. after his trip to south dakota's mount rushmore. the president's visit came on the heels of an awful several weeks in the polls.

most of which showed joe biden in the lead as the country recorded more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases for a straight day, there was little social distancing in the crowd and even fewer masks. about 7,000 people gathered to listen to a dark and divisive speech from the president. >> angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities. they think the american people are weak. and soft. and submissive. but no, the american people are strong and proud. they will not allow our country and all of its values, history and culture to be taken from them. tonight's festivities in our nation's capitol, however, may