good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where the president today is challenging his own public health officials about when his schools can safely reopen. and public gatherings as the vices reaching levels in states. and the president openly criticizing dr. anthony fauci on fox last night. >> dr. fauci is a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes. a lot of them saying don't wear a mask, don't wear a mask. and now wear a mask. so, a lot of mistakes were made. >> of course, that is not true. in fact, dr. fauci has told the

"financial times" he's not personally briefed the president in over five weeks. he's still finding ways to get his comments out, including these comments thursday. >> as a country, when you compare us to other countries, i don't think you can say we're doing great. i mean, we're just not. >> here are the facts at this hour. there are stunning new numbers today out of florida. more than 11,000 new positive cases, another 92 virus-related deaths. and a record single day increase in hospitalizations. in texas, governor greg abbott, for months, one of the nation's leading opponents of mandating mask wearing is now warning that his state may have to shut down again if the surge there continues. and los angeles county is now reporting more total covid-19 positive rngesidents since the pandemic began than 49 states combined. this hour, i will speak with

former defense secretary and white house chief of staff leon panetta. on president trump and joe biden's plan to reboot the economy. >> joining me kara lee. and "the new york times" correspondent peter baker and michael steele, as well as dr. joshua sharsky, vice dean at the johns hopkins bloomberg school. first, sam, to you, that's where the president is heading. en route to florida, now there are devastating numbers in florida, about how the coronavirus is hitting the state. >> reporter: devastating numbers indeed, andrea. good to be with you. eye mentioned 11,000 new cases today. that means in the last eight days, 71,000 cases in florida. that's more than the states have

seen ago gretz. there are loblocks and blocks o people that would like to be tested. they're hitting the limit every single day. if you take a sliver of good news here, andrea, it's the fact for the state of florida, 95,000 tests, the positivity rate came down to about only 15% which is still shockingly high for the rest of the country. but the day before, it was 20.7%. the first time since testing started that more than 1 out of 5 people tested in the state of florida tested positive for covid-19. at the same time that this is happening, testing issues going on here at miami beach. i can tell you there's a protest happening as soon as we're done talking to that i'm about to go to. restaurant owners in the miami-dade area are protesting the fact that there's no more

in-room dining in miami. that's the steps that the mayor took to quell the surge of cases, many are angry about that because of economic desperation. you see a state grappling with absolutely spiraling numbers at the moment while still balancing an economy that is struggling amidst the weight of the surge in new cases. andrea. >> and as california is now experiencing as other parts of the country, what they're going to realize, these protesters, if you reopen too soon, you're going to go backwards and then you're going to have a stop/start economy that's only going to be worse. that's something down the road. thank you very much, sam broc in florida. and the president and his political team, kara lee, we're seeing reported with the cdc and dr. birx facing scrutiny because she was honest with the education department this week. talking about the concerns she

has about safely reopening schools, as well as public gatherings including rallies. yeah. andrea, it's really been the story of the pandemic from the white house, the president being at odds with his health and medical experts. it really started at the beginning when health experts were trying to tell the president it was an issue. he was dismissive this was a problem. there is a brief problem in march where he agreed to shut down parts of his economy. but he grew tired with that and pushed them to reopen parts of the economy faster than the experts thought should take place. and now, you're seeing him in this full push for the reopening of schools in the fall fully and that some of his experts are really saying that that's not necessarily going to be the best thing to do in the middle of a surge and the pandemic. and so, you've seen these tensions really throughout, in the past few months. and they just seem now, particularly the one with dr. fauci, spilling out into the

open publicly. where the president's criticizing dr. fauci. and dr. fauci, just a few moments ago at a coronavirus task force said that the united states is really in the middle of a very difficult and tough, bad situation, in terms of the coronavirus. and that's contrasted with what the president said earlier this week which is that everything is going well. so, you see how people who are working for the president, who are medical experts, in their field, are trying to walk this balance between not fully criticizing what the president is saying when he says things like everything is going well. but also giving their expert opinion and that's where inevitably, at some point, almost everybody who is part of the president's coronavirus task force is going to get on the wrong side of him. i think that's what we're seeing now. >> and we've seen another new tweet from the president going after schools and universities. peter baker, check this out, as we see the president just landing in florida. he tweeted that too many

universities and school systems are about, quote, radical left indoctrination, not education. therefore, i am telling the treasury department to re-examine their tax exempt status and/or funding will be taken away if this propaganda or act against public policy continues. our children must be educated, not indoctrinated. there's so many areas to that. i don't know where to begin, as we say, the gross threat for tax exempt status of universities for their allegedly left wing indra indrai indiai indoctrination. peter, your take on that? >> it's been through the years that the professors tend to lean and this is a hot spot of a new generation coming up without the

views of conservatives so this is an old issue for conservatives that the president is now tapping into as part of his broader culture war conversation he's been stoking in days and weeks. talking about the confederate statues and history. some of them played it with race, some with ideology. he makes a lot of threats that we know he doesn't have the power to follow through on. and doesn't intend to act on. he often makes them just to make a point. in this case, clearly, the point is i'm on the side of my base which thinks that about deem ca out to get us as part of the broader elite trying to get to us. it's striking how much the president, mid-july, is basically still trying to talk to his core supporters. he's not trying to reach out to

independents, much less democrats. he's not trying to bring in you some voters, he's trying to energize the voters that came to the dance with him in 2016. he's trying to make them feel they have a reason to come to the polls. and the reason here standing up against the liberal intellige e intelligentsia and the elite. and we'll probably here more of that tomorrow night in new hampshire when he has the second rally since the covid crisis began in march. >> indeed, all of the polling seems to indicate that independent and swing voter,s moving away from him, because of the perceived bad handling of the pandemic. and because of the protests with black lives matter and other issue, the confederate flag. so, he's losing those independent voters and, yes, needing to energize the base. doctor, i want to ask you a couple questions about the

schools opening. and the new information about remdesivir today and keep you out of the politics. you're a public health expert, talk to me how safely you think schools can reopen in some hot spots in l.a., arizona, texas. and now texas now thinking delaying the reopening by at least a couple of weeks, because of the concern of the spread, how children can bring it home, and now faculty and staff over the age of 50, let's say, could be affected? and the teachers unions, both major teachers unions, the nea and the federation of teachers saying they're concerned. and some of the teachers. the older teachers, the veterans might choose not to return. there could be a real branin drain. >> sure. i think the first thing to realize is you can't have schools free of covid when the community is awash with covid. in communities with high rates

of infection, you have to wait to reopen. you'll be testing positive, shutting down, reopening up, it doesn't make sense. the first thing is to get the epidemic under control, when you've done that, then you have to think about how to safely schools as soon as possible. i believe it is possible to do that. we've seen other countries do that as they've controlled the epidemic in their area. then you have to do those things to protect. students and teachers, keep them cohorted. clean more regularly, wear masks for kids who can wear masks. if you do all of those thing, the biology of the virus is such that it's likely you can reduce the ability of that virus to move around in the school. for people very high risk. older teachers, teachers with chronic illness.

you can also understand that grab parents with grandparents at home might be nervous. and students online that have a fear for getting it at home because there's somebody very vulnerable, they should be able to go online. so, i think we're looking at a situation that we want kids to have as much in-person learning as practical, while giving an option to both families and teachers to stay home. >> and, michael steele, there's news over air force one we just saw it landing that they're postponing that new hampshire rally because of the tropical storm that's heading up into the mid-atlantic. frankly, our weather unit, that climate unit was reporting that storm was expected to pass out to sea. midsaturday afternoon at new hampshire that he it wasn't going to be a big problem. obviously, the white house has the best information or better information than anybody else

would have on the weather. but it could be a political postponement. we don't know. the governor was not coming and they were reportedly having some problem drumming up support for this rally in portsmouth, new hampshire. >> i think, andrea, that's probably more of the story than the weather. i think the reality of it is, despite the appeal to the base, and the fact that a significant portion of the base still sticks with the president, people are also recognizing the risks here and they're taking that into account. you know, i don't need to show my president of the president by endangering my health. therefore, i'm not going to show up. now, that makes sense for the individual, but for the campaign, it says something different. it's a different narrative when you're, as you saw, in tulsa, and in arizona, where the numbers were far shorter off the mark than what the president's

team had projected and was telling the public. that kind of political embarrassment where polling numbers, just fresh out today are showing only 37% of the country supporting how the president is handling any of this. 33% of the american people supporting how the president is handling the racism. you don't need to compound that narrative with the visual of half empty halls. so, this, to me, smacks more of a political withdrawal as opposed to one being called by the weather. >> in fact, kara lee and her team are reporting that some white house officials are saying we don't need another tulsa. dr. sharfstein, let me ask you about remdesivir. at the conference in geneva that we were talking about a little while ago, gilead sciences did report what they're saying is

positive results. this, we should caveat, is positive results on their drug. information coming from their company. it is not a large control group, but it is that their drug does prove to reduce the death rate for covid patients who are seriously ill by about 62%. how important is this result? or is this just on the road to proving this? >> yeah. i think this is one piece of the data puzzle. it wasn't an actual gold standard study that they were reporting, randomized controlled trial. they were using a different set of patients for the controls. showed some benefit in the analysis that was done. you know, we do know from a gold standard study that it reduces the time that people spend in the hospital, and that's a good thing. it's clearly a benefit to patients, i think. and it's good that the fda is permitting its use for this purpose, but it's not a miracle drug, we know that. doctors using it know it's not a miracle drug.

it's really important for us to find other treatments and it's really important to find a vaccine. >> peter baker from your reporting with the president appealing to the base, how concerned do you think they are by internal polling? last week, we heard by polling he was in trouble in kansas in all cases? >> yeah, i think they're concerned at that. the president likes too lash out at polls, the truth is even his own polls show he's in trouble, and they know that. the question is whether they can turn it around. the problem for the president so far is it's been all about trump, right? it's a referendum on trump. the question is not whether you want trump or not trump, it's hard for him to frame that. given the pandemic, it's seen more so. what the president wants to do politically is make a choice between him and biden. so far, what he's been unable to

do is define that choice, to define joe biden as dangerous for the country, excessively liberal as a threat in some ways to the voters in the way that other incumbent voters have done for their challengers. he's got some time left. it's only july. but the fact that joe biden's team has stayed mostly out of sight has actually benefited him. >> although, he did come out with an economic program, we will talk about that later in the program. thank you. coming up next, on the front lines before a covid patients see a nurse or doctor the paramedics are there to help. and with cases surging, first responders in texas are stretched to the limit. in another hot spot, researchers rolling out a new testing method with positive results. and the cases there are spiking. we'll have more on that report on "andrea mitchell reports"

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turning now to texas which recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic so far. more than 100 people died there thursday, adding to the nearly 3,000 lives lost in the state. we offer talk of nurses and doctors on the front lines. but we shouldn't forget for emergency cases paramedics are the first to respond. nbc's garrett haake looks to the texas paramedics with what they're doing every day. >> reporter: across the state of texas, calls for help keep coming. >> i've never seen anything like this before. >> fear is the biggest part of this disease. >> reporter: paramedics in ft. worth stretched to their limits. >> so everybody that we come in contact with, we automatically treat them as if they're covid positive. >> reporter: i just think that sounds exhausting. >> it is. the days are longer. the weeks are longer. >> reporter: texas reporting 105 covid deaths on thursday.

more than 160,000 are hospitalized statewide. >> the coronavirus is spreading so rapidly across the state of texas. >> reporter: governor greg abbott warning next week will be the worst. >> the only way to prevent texas from being shut down is for everybody to adopt this practice of wearing a face mask. >> reporter: the surge in cases could delay the reopening of schools in august for at least a month. >> initially, that was a backup plan i had. now that backup plan is becoming more of a reality. >> reporter: for those on the front lines fighting the virus comes at a personal cost. paramedic jason reed spends his own money to stay at a home so he won't infect his son. >> even when i'm home, me and my son were really close. we really sit close to each other, since the covid thing is going on, i make sure i stay

decent amount of way away from him to make sure i don't bring it home to him. >> reporter: he's got to be so proud of what you're doing. >> i would think so. >> nbc's garrett haake is here. garrett, great reporting. talk to me about governor abbott, he said that a shutdown may be needed to contain the spread after another deadly day in texas. >> reporter: well, andrea, it seems that the governor is leaving that out there as a warning. he doesn't want to shut down the economy in texas. and he knows texans don't want a full statewide shutdown. and it's almost like a threat. to encourage people to social distancing, stick to the mask wearing guidelines. in the early phases of the pandemic, the mask wearing can't really catch on. i can tell you people are much more conscientious of it now because they don't want to see

parts of the state shut down. that's what the governor does, he gives a version of that warning, wear your mask, social distance, or we could be headed in this direction towards another shutdown. >> garrett haake, thank you for your reporting on the front lines. joining us now, texas congresswoman sheila jackson lee. thank you for being with us. the virus is spreading rapidly in your state. governor abbott is expanding the ban to surgeries in hospitals. putting the mask wearing into place. is it too little, too late? >> well, obviously, let me first of all thank you for having me. and give my best wishes to all of the hard working texans. they are without teaching, tired and contingent and trying to save lives. the government here in texas, may 1st, we had not followed the cdc guidelines. certainly, we're now working as a team. i appreciate what state

government is trying to do, andrea. but we have 10,000 people in hospital beds this week. we have people dying every day. i get phone calls every day of people who are either admitted or who have died. and if you speak to doctors individually as i have done and i plan to have a roundtable with medical professionals later this afternoon, and the best way to do that, i live in a county that is one of the largest counties in the nation. it's in a state that's the fourth largest city in the nation or maybe the third, we need to give the jurisdiction to a local community to be able to issue stay-at-home orders. and what we did not do right, andrea, when we did that stay-at-home order, we didn't educate people to say once the order is lifted, this is how you need to act. social distance, wearing a mask.

washing your hands. i think we're at a point of crisis. we're not going to get ahead of this. it's going to continue. my theory is more people will die. we need a stay-at-home order in our local community. >> and there's another problem as well that nbc and politico are reporting that houston saw a spike in deaths at home before paramedics could reach patients so the death toll could be hirer than people think. have you any sign of that? >> yes, i know that, attention has come to my office of people dying at home. and we also know that people who are experiencing other conditions, stroke, heart attack are fearful of falling. and reporting that husbands have covid-19. people are not piece tested. yes, we've done 2.5 million tests in the state of texas. but we're 30 million plus, the

we're not where we need to be, the nation is not where it needs to be. andrea, the federal government is pulling out, and i've argued vigorously that this is not the time for the federal government to pull it out in the infrastructure, it's working. and when we are not able to test, we can't find asymptomatic people. we don't know if they're infecting their loved ones, relatives, their neighbors. and we don't know what happens to someone who is infected and they ultimately die at home. i spoke to doctors, they told me that is what was happening. i was on notice that was happening. i don't want it to happen. that's why we need a stay-at-home order to give first responders some breathing room in terms of who they're picking up. all of our firefighters some of whom are now in quarantine, our police officers. they need to be able to have a moment where we can all collect

ourselves, and collect the data, we don't have the data we should have, to get in front of covid-19. it's not going to go away at our pace. it's going to go away at its pace. we need to help it go away by not giving an opportunity of having community spread and people asymptomatic spread it. i'm calling for say stay-at-home order that can be issued. the government can work it out by giving that authority to local jurisdictions. they can make the distinction on medical science and the medical profession. >> sheila jackson lee, congresswoman, it's always good to see you. thank you for your insight. have a safe and healthy weekend. coming up, as arizona's new covid-19 cases surge, researchers are preparing to launch say new less invasive test that they believe will help them quickly diagnose the virus.

you're watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. guys, times are tough.

but force factor's test x180 can help us man up, america, by boosting total testosterone. build muscle, fuel desire, and improve performance. get test x180 from force factor, the #1 fastest-growing men's health brand at walmart. new covid cases continue to surge in arizona. in the last three days, 32% of coronavirus tests in the state have come back with positive results. after taking little action for weeks, governor doug ducey of arizona announced one policy change on thursday now limiting indoor dining to fewer than 50% occupancy. but he stopped short of imposing a stay-at-home order or statewide mask mandate. arizona has struggled to keep up

with the demand for testing. now, arizona state university is launching a new noninvasive test. joining us now is nbc's vaughn hillyard at arizona state in tempe, arizona. tell us about the test. it's a saliva test, how accurate is the test? how is it going to work? >> reporter: yeah, that percent positive number that you mentioned there, andrea, provides the context how important the testing in the state is and, how, frankly, sparse it is. thousands of tests being done every day in the state. what that positive rate shows just how expansive the spread is across the state. that's why this new test here from arizona state university that they're rolling out tomorrow at a mass level for the first time is so crucial here. you know, i was talking with the director of research, covid research here at the university,

dr. josh lebaron, he said they intend or plan to have 16,000 tests a day to process. i asked him about the accuracy. take a listen. >> the case is quite efficacious. it's as efficacious as using a swab. we want to move away from the swab because it requires medical personnel to take the sample and ppe and could cause coughing and sneezing. the idea is, the entire specimen we're selecting is from the patient. >> reporter: other researchers, andrea, have made the case that saliva, there's more quantitative data you can work with. it's more than yes or no, you have covid or not, but to what extent covid is in your system. that is why the university, tomorrow, in the west location, they're planning to ramp up at a time when testing is crucial here in the state. >> just briefly, how quickly can

they get the results back which is such an important factor? >> reporter: it's very important. 24 to 48 hours they're able to process at this lab behind us. while most of the covid tests across the state are taking more than a week to come back right now, andrea. >> that is critical for contact tracing. thank you so much. vaughn hillyard in arizona. coming up next, thousands of migrants in i.c.e. custody now diagnosed with covid-19 after months of being separated from their families and caged at the borders how are children being treated as they suffer with the virus. jacob soboroff joins me next to talk about that and his new book. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." you're watching "andrea mitchell reports. have to pay for the rest. that's where medicare supplement insurance comes in: to help pay for some of what medicare doesn't.

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it's been two years since the trump administration began separating migrant children from their families and the cruel practice is still in place today. warehousing children and their entire families despite the pandemic which is also raging through the detention centers infecting migrants and staff alike. more than half the employees testing positive at one detention center. with migrants being held for 24 hours without access to showers or other necessities according to a report by jacob soboroff. and they may continue splitting up families after another judge

ordered the children to be released. migrant advocates are telling the. william i.c.e. is giving parents an unacceptable choice either agree to trauma and the family separation to protect them from covid or stay together for a bigger risk. joining me now is nbc correspondent jacob soboroff covering this since two years ago. his new book is "separated." a detailed explanation of trump's separation of families. jacob, this is groundbreaking work. all of your reporting, all of your original reporting in this book is extraordinary. thank you for bringing us and to the public. >> thank you, andrea. >> and one of the things you're reporting, i want to ask you about infection rates that you've been reporting on i.c.e. facilities. >> well, i think it's important to note, two years after family separations and again as you mention there's still children at risk of being separated from

their parents. this time with the coronavirus which has run rampant in the detention centers. as of today, 800 people detained that have the coronavirus. advocates are saying they must and can and if they wanted to, they could do it as we're speaking right now. again, is this why i wanted to write this book, two years after this policy, things are arguably worse than they were two years ago, although the 5200 children taken from their parents will tell you there's nothing worse than being separated from your parents by the united states government. >> and what you document, when this policy first started, one of the officials discovered that there was a list, or it was being reported by "the new york times," i guess, first that there was a list of the children who were being separated. and so, his response was, mr. lloyd's response i think his name was, was to get rid of the

list, so it could not be tracked? >> it's almost unbelievable when i heard that, dan diamond from politico first reported that this incident happened. and i was not just intrigued but i was almost obsessed to find out what exactly did go on. and scott lloyd, the director of orr, officer of refugee settlement, he was the custodian of the kids, and the first alle was to get rid of the list. and if it were not for the career officials in orr who decided not to do that, a critical linkage between children and their parents something that scott lloyd disputes today could have been destroyed sand they could never have been reunited. >> jacob, there's so much rich detail in this book, everyone has to read it. tell me about katie miller who at the time had the job down there and was working on this

whole issue at dhs, or was it hhs, which was her job before, she is now with the vice president. >> she was with dhs. >> let me read the quote, from the book, you have her saying, my family and colleagues told me that when i have kids i'll think about the separations differently. but i don't think so. dhs sent me to the border to see the separations for myself to try to make me more compassionate. but it doesn't work. it didn't work, you ask ask ? forget what i saw, seriously, are you a white nationalist, i ask? but if you come to america, you need to assimilate, why do we need to have little havana? >> it's unbelievable to hear today, even though she said this to me directly, and i'm not the only one that she's said this to, andrea.

first of all, katie tur, our colleague, was sitting with me at the table when she said this, it's being disputed now by kayleigh mcenany. but ask katie tur. saying similar things reported in the book to them. this is not the first time i hurt a version of that statement from katie miller. that goes to show the thinking that went into this policy, sore lack thereof. this is not something done with the best interests of children in mind, this is done from a political perspective. what i've come to learn, there's so many heroes fighting back against people with the attitude like katie miller. the idea you that don't need a little havana. the president is on the ground in florida today. ask the people of little havana,

what katie miller had to say, representing the vice president of the united states as the communications director for him. >> jacob, how many children are separated, do we know? >> we know, andrea, and i learned from the aclu, if it were not for the lawsuit, that 5400 children separated and it may not have happened. these children may still be separated from their children. and the original 2800 from zero tolerance policy are for the most part accounted for, for the 1,000 separated from parents is very hard to track them down because of shoddy record keeping, the same shoddy record keeping that we talked about in this record with scott lloyd. they did not plan adequately to put the children back together. at the end of the day there were people fighting within the

government, and the trump administration's philosophy so far took. torture is the word for human rights to describe what happened to these children as a result. >> jacob, your reporting is amazing. the book is "separated inside an american tragedy." i cannot tell people, if you care about children, if you care about your country, you have to read this book. thank you, jacob. your reporting and your team. >> thank you, andrea, that means a lot. >> this is an amazing piece of work. thank you. and coming up, commander in chief, another schism between president trump and the top brass. this time over names of confederate military bases. former secretary of defense leon panetta joining us next. stay with us.

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well, for the second time now, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is standing up to donald trump publicly, first apologizing to the troops and the public for crossing a line

and making a political appearance with the president on june 1st at that photo op after protesters were cleared from the park across from the white house. and now general mark milley says he's taking a hard look at renaming ten army bases that eastern confederate leaders despite president trump's objections. >> well, he also has to take a hard look at the symbols and confederate flags and statues and bases and that kind of stuff. the confederate -- the american civil war was fought and it was an act of rebellion, it was an act of treason at the time against the union, against the stars and stripes, against the u.s. constitution. those officers turned their back on their oath. >> joining me now is leon panetta who served at secretary of defense and cia director in the obama administration and white house chief of staff in the clinton administration. mr. secretary, thank you very much for being with us. this is a point that colin powell, a former joined chiefs

chairman, made in the interview with me as well. they were not defending americans, they were killing americans. >> there's no question that general milley is doing the right thing. there is a bipartisan committee and armed services committee on the senate side. i think true on the house side. i think secretary esper is supportive of. i think there is a recognition it's time to move into the 21st century, review the names of these posts. and identify war heroes that really represented a united country and that fought alongside of our military as it is today, regardless of race or color or creed or gender or sexual preference. the fact is we have all of those people serving in our military. there is no reason why our military posts ought not to be named after individuals that

reflect that military that we have in the 21st century. >> now, i also want to ask you about joe biden and his proposals yesterday, his buy american plan. he is talking about investing $700 billion and trying to revive the economy in the midst of this pandemic, a big challenge if he is elected. he is also talking about buying american, there is a populace tenth to this saying he was trump proposals and even steve bannon was praising biden. it does meld a lot of green issues that reward companies that invest in minority ownership and female ownership and businesses that are green. and in companies that also help us to combat climate change. what is your take on how he is trying to bridge this divide? >> i think joe biden is doing

something that is natural to him because he has a very deep feeling about american workers and the importance of trying to provide opportunity to workers across the board. so this is a natural for joe to present a strategy that will, in fact, help us develop our industrial base, develop domestic manufacturing, develop jobs here in america. he refers to the need to use clean energy and clean energy opportunities in that effort, and he understands that our country has to to care of the workers that are here. it does go after some of the arguments that president trump has made. but president trump has dealt with issue through trade wars, through threats, through bullying. he hasn't really developed any

kind of comprehensive strategy. i commend joe for developing a competitive strategy i think is important for america's economy in the future. >> now i also want to ask you about reopening schools. you're in california. despite exemplary leadership by the governor and mayors of the big cities, california, especially southern california, is seeing a verge in the coronavirus cases and the president is putting so much pressure again today threatening colleges and other schools with taking away their tax-exempt status if they don't reopen and if they try to have online education. also, of course, threatening take away money from them in other ways. is it safe to reopen schools the way the president is demanding? >> having a rampage in this country with this pandemic, you know, it is literally out of control across the nation.

and in some ways, we have a president who is out of control as well and on a rampage. somehow thinking that through threatening people, through bullying people, that somehow that is the way to deal with it. you know, we really three or four main crises in this country. we have a pandemic out of control. we have an economy that, obviously, is being impacted by that, jobs that are being lost. we have this whole effort to try to achieve some kind of racial justice and equality in this country. but the most important crisis we have is a leadership crisis. we do not have a president that understands how to develop a strategy to help states, help communities, help people deal with the problems involved with this dangerous pandemic. and rather than just threatening people, rather than cutting off money for schools, my god, talk about harming our children.

he should be developing a positive approach to trying to help these communities. this is a tough challenge. these kids face, obviously, serious problems, not only in terms of getting a good education, but also protecting their safety in that process. that is not easy. it would help if we had a president who, with a little bit of compassion, understood the challenges that these communities are going to face and try to provide help, rather than threats to assist in that major challenge. >> leon panetta, i know you deal with a lot of students at the panetta institute out there in monterey. thank you for your time. good to see you. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." chuck todd and katy tur pick up our coverage coming up. stay with us.

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good afternoon here in the east and good morning out west. i'm chuck todd. president trump is florida this hour which just reported well over 11,000 new cases of covid-19 and a record new number of hospitalization in the state, 435. this as trump's top infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci contradicted the president's campaign message using the very word that has been key to the president's political slogan -- great. >> how do you think the u.s. is

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