that's our broadcast for this tuesday evening. as always, thank you so very much for spending some time with us. on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. ♪ with coronavirus infections surging, the president returns to the briefing room with a shift in tone but still sticking to several inaccurate claims. also testing giant labcorp is warning that the virus is spreading faster in the united states than the company can expand testing capacity. and senate republicans slash over covid relief efforts. few in doubt that a package will pass by the end of the month. good morning, everybody.

it is wednesday, july 22nd. and i'm yasmin vossoughian. we've got a lot to cover this morning. yesterday, the united states reported its highest number of deaths from the coronavirus this month. more than 1,000 people. according to nbc news data, deaths from arizona, florida and texas were among the highest on record, with each state reporting more than 120 deaths yesterday. and that also reported its highest single day toll. the president is hoping to turn around his dismal poll numbers resumed his press briefings on the coronavirus yesterday. with a moderated tone. >> some areas of our country are doing very well. others are doing less well. it will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better. something i don't like saying about things, but that's the way it is. we're asking everybody that when you are not able to social

distance, wear a mask. get a mask. whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact. >> all right. so despite his shift in tone during that briefing, the president still continued to make inaccurate statements. he repeated false claims about the u.s. mortality rate testing and supplies and said once again that the virus will, quote, just disappear. >> you've been saying for month that's virus would simply disappear. now, you're saying it's likely to get worse before it gets better. if it does keep getting worse and americans keep dying, are you responsible for that? >> no, the virus will disappear. it will disappear. our case fatality rate has continued to decline and is lower in the european union than almost anywhere else in the world. if you watched american television, you'd think that the united states is the only country involved with and suffering from the china virus. well, the world is suffering

very badly, but the fact is that many countries are suffering. very, very badly. and they've been suffering from this virus for a long time. we've done much better than most. >> just want to note there, the president called the coronavirus the china virus throughout that entire briefing yesterday, despite the president's claims also about the u.s. fatality rate, the latest data from the johns hopkins coronavirus resource center shows the united states is currently ranked tenth worst in the world, relative to population. here's what the president said about testing as well. >> we've done more testing, by far, than anybody. some of the tests because it is massive volume it takes longer. others of the tests, as you know, very quick, they're five-minute or 15-minute tests. those are, frankly, the ones i prefer. we're doing massive numbers and the numbers are coming down. >> all right. so it is true that the united states has expanded testing.

patients are increasingly waiting a week or more for result which is impacts the usefulness of testing and contact tracing. here's what president trump had to say about supplies. >> my administration currently has zero unfilled requests for unfulfilled requests for equipment, or anything else that they need from the governors. no governor needs anything right now. and we think we'll have it that way until the end, because, frankly, we are stocked up and ready to go, wherever we have to go. we have tremendous supplies and a great supply chain. whether it's ventilators or gowns. or just about anything they need. so, that's a big difference from inheriting very, very empty cupboards. >> well, you heard him say there, quote, no governor needs anything right now. but just this week, governor

kate brown of oregon said her state needs help with testing, supplies and equipment. and as to the president's repeated claim that he inherited empty cupboards, former obama officials have disputed that remark calling it false. so, instead of putting recognized public health officials in front of the white house podium yesterday, the president appeared on his own. asked about the presence of doctors, deborah birx and anthony fauci. trump told reporters that birx was just outside the briefing room but did not respond on the whereabouts of fauci. he told cnn that hours before that he had not been invited. and vice president joe biden called president trump's response in leading the fight against the pandemic, quitting on the country. >> it's been reported by the president's staff that the president's, quote, not really working this anymore. he doesn't want to be distracted

by it. doesn't want to be distracted by it. his own staff admits that donald trump fails the most important test of being an american president. the duty to care for you, for all of us. for all of his bluster about his expertise on the economy, he's unable to explain how he will actually help working families hit the hardest. he's quit on you and he's quit on this country. but this election is not just about him. it's about us. it's about you. it's about what we'll do, what a president is supposed to do, a president is supposed to care, to lead, to take responsibility. to never give up. >> all right. joining me now political editor for "the washington examiner" david mark.

david, good morning. great to see you. >> good morning. >> so, let's talk about the briefing from yesterday. the president is largely changing his rhetoric, it seems for now, just yesterday, admitting the pandemic is getting worse. but who knows what's going to happen today, right? he is message, though, is riddled with inaccuracies as i went through a little bit earlier. what do you make of this, his change of tone, yet continually putting out false claims to the american people? >> right. it's a rather reluctant change of tone. and it seems like it only happened after his staff members implored him to change course, because they knew, they explained to him that he is losing the election. we'll see if this goes beyond one day's news cycle. with the pandemic, the president basically wants out. on the one hand, he wants to be saying, yes, we're taking it seriously, it's a big deal

americans are hurting. but on the other hand, not a big deal, people are going back to school, 99% of people survived. governors are okay. and he's always wanted that out-message and this is a continuation of that. >> what reaction are you seeing because i think it was pretty shocking to see the president alone up there. we're used to these coronavirus press briefings happening with a plethora of people, especially scientists, doctors, experts, standing behind the president and giving their updates throughout as well. yesterday, we saw none of that. it was just the president on his own. and then hearing dr. fauci was not even invited. what type of reaction are you hearing from this? >> well, it's kind of the logical conclusion of how these briefings have been going. reportedly, president trump was rather jealous of dr. fauci's ratings, if you want to call them. the positive press he was receiving. probably didn't want the competition up there.

it's probably in a way in the best. that you don't have medical professionals there having to grimace and look really uncomfortable while the president made one statement. they went against their own -- >> can i stop you -- david, let me stop you for one moment, though? for the best for who? who is that the best for? the american people, as well well know, looking at polls across the board, they trust dr. anthony fauci over the president when it comes to the coronavirus briefing. so, who, in fact, does it benefit to have no other doctor or scientist up there, and just having the president delivering inaccurate claims? >> i actually think it benefits the american people, so you don't have doctors looking compromised in the medical advice they're giving. you could see it in their face, dr. fauci and dr. birx, some of the medical professionals up there, the president would say

one thing that went against their advice. it's better for the president to own it and be responsible for whatever statements he makes on his own. >> david mark. thank you, stay close, i'm going to talk to you in just a little bit. just ahead, the justice department saying that chinese hacker hackers on research. and also president trump offers well words for ghislaine maxwell. those stories and more when you come back. more when you come back. 00 00 to police violence because of their color, a proud nerd and a representative of the emerging america to cable tv news. i hope the great gwen ifill and

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welcome back. the justice department tuesday charged two suspected hackers working with the chinese government of attempting to steal intellectual property from companies working on treatments for covid. the 11-count indictment shows the vaccine research was just the most recent target in a decade-long campaign. the suspects who are believed to be in klein allegedly stole

across a wide range of industries in the u.s. and abroad, with assistance from the chinese ministry of state security. >> hackers also targeted the online accounts of nongovernment organizations and individual dissidents, clergy and democratic and human rights activists in the united states, china and hong kong. targeted industries included high-tech manufacturing, medical device, civil and industrial engineering, business, educational and gaming software, solar energy, pharmaceuticals and defense. >> so, according to "the wall street journal," the indictment is the first from the u.s. to link a foreign government to attempted theft in the race for a vaccine. joining me now, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. good morning, danny. good to see you this morning. >> good morning. >> let's talk about this indictment. it covers a few alleged crimes over a decade or so.

is there any indication, danny, as to why the doj waits so long for these charges? why didn't they charge earlier? >> there's no indication that the doj necessarily knew back in 2009 when some of the acts mentioned in the indictment were covered. they may not have discovered them until later and then worked backward to build their case. so they may have discovered it in the last year or so and all of the data available led them to believe, oh, this has been going on for a long time, let's include it in the indictment. the conspiracy charges are they're not going to run afoul of any statute of limitations and they can move forward. and they have to prove under all of these statutes broadly squeaking that the defense act broadly mentioned protected computers to obtain information. and it's pretty clear that these are not people who had any authority to be inside of these computers. but look for the defendants to come up with some kind of

jurisdictional defense. some of these computers were in the u.s. some were not in the u.s. so the defendants may challenge the government's ability to from extra-territorially, in other words, overseas crimes that may have only happened overseas. >> so there's two suspected hackers that are working with the chinese government. this indictment was for these two suspected hackers. what about the chinese government here? what type of charges, or how could they be head accountable? >> first, this is a speaking -- yeah, this is a speaking indictment. the government here clearly wants to educate the american public. because indictments don't need to be this long and this detailed. and the question does arise, look, if you're going to indict these individuals why not indict the people that you identify in the chinese government as having been involved. >> yeah. >> one answer could be as simple

as it is much easier to indict, charge and prosecute individual citizens than it is to indict a member of the chinese government. and particularly, the individual or individuals that they identified not by name. but it seems pretty clear from the indictment, they know exactly who was involved. even though they're not naming them in the indictment which is standard federal practice if they're not being indicted. but that is a real hornet's nest to start indicting members of the actual government. however, when you look back, the mueller team did it in russia. they named people and indicted people in the russian government. so this may be something that we see happen with china. but it is ambitious, indeed, for a u.s. attorney to indict a member of a foreign government. >> i mean, it only seems logical for this sort of thing to happen, considering the fact that i'm sure the leash and directive there can only be given by the chinese government.

danny cevallos, thank you as always. great to see you this morning. president trump was asked yesterday by reporters about ghislaine maxwell, the british socialite being charged with the accused jeffrey epstein. here's what he had to say about that. >> i just wish her well, frankly. i met her a number of times when they lived in palm beach, and i guess they lived in palm beach but i wish her well, whatever it is. >> that question came after a reporter asked him if, quote, do you feel she's going to turn in powerful men? the president was photographed several times with maxwell and epstein, before epstein was ever indicted for sex crimes of minors. maxwell is awaiting trial for transporting minors for illegal sexual activity. she denies all of the charges. still ahead, the president

sent federal agents to portland to stop protests. and now the show of force in even more cities. we're digging into operation legend coming up next. taking metamucil every day can help. metamucil supports your daily digestive health using a special plant-based fiber called psyllium. psyllium works by forming a gel in your digestive system to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. metamucil's gelling action also helps to lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so, start feeling lighter and more energetic... by taking metamucil every day.

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of three hundred ninety-five dollars. get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ welcome back. department of homeland security officials are considering deploying mobile field forces to protect federal property until cities around the country that experience unrest. two people familiar with discussions are telling politico this. the move is coming as the justice department is planning to expand, quote, operation legend. a law enforcement initiative launched by attorney general bill barr earlier this month to fight, quote, the sudden surge of violent crime in kansas city, missouri. according to this report, the department of justice plans to announce that the operation will expand into more cities. the president is expected to deliver remarks on "operation legend" later today at a news conference. and former homeland security and

former governor of pennsylvania tom ridge condemned the federal government decision to send officers to portland saying it was counterproductive and not to act as domestic law enforcement. he also said, it would be a cold day in hell before i would consent for an unilateral ent intervention in one of my cities. and the homeland security amid unrest in that city, acting secretary of homeland security chad wolf said federal agents, quote, will not retreat in their efforts to protect government buildings in portland until the violence subsides. wolf cited u.s. code that allows homeland security officials have the right to, quote, conduct investigations away from federal property. tensions have risen after videos showed camouflaged officers g b

grabbing protesters off the streets and putting them into unmarked vans. the deputy director of the federal protective service richard klein defended the detaining of one individual who was put in a van, stating it was done so that agents could bring him to a safe place for questioning. klein did not address other comments of others being detained and put in unmarked vehicles and told where they were going. wolf saying they were only targeting demonstrators who had been identified as being involved in criminal activity, as they put it. he said the department respected the right of people tole protest peacefully, but urged demonstrators to refrain from violence. all right. let's switch gears and get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. hi, bill. hey, good morning, yasmin. wednesday is going to be an interesting day in the

northeast. we could have weather headlines coming out of today, especially if we get this line of severe storms as we expect. let me prepare you for your day. overnight, thunderstorms have been rolling through the ohio valley, especially in the state of ohio, waking up people a little early in the morning. as we go through the afternoon, the cold front will try to make us way over the hot humid air mass over the northeast. 56 million people at risk of severe storms. that's a lot of people, southern ohio, through west virginia, northern virginia, baltimore, washington, d.c., philadelphia and new york. damaging winds are possible. we could even see some large hail out of this. i don't think we're going to see any tornadoes. maybe isolated one or two. let's break down the timing of this. let's get to you 4:00 this afternoon. that line of storms will reach areas of central pennsylvania, harrisburg, washington, d.c., area. and then by 8:00 p.m., d.c., philly and new york, and then

9:00 p.m. the storms are over with. then the frontal system is going to stall out. we get another round of storms in the same area of the north as we go into thursday. i don't think the severe threat will be as large. but we will see heavy downpours. in most cases you'll be happy to get the storm because it's so hot and humid. and with all of the heat advisories down to north carolina. it's going to feel like 108 in norfolk. philly, 102, charlotte, 105. yasmin, there is good news. there's cooler air over the great lakes that's going to slide into the northeast for the upcoming weekend. it looks like a beautiful weekend in the northeast, especially considering how humid it's been. >> that is good news. thank you, bill. still ahead, lawmakers are working on another round of coronavirus relief efforts but infighting among republicans keeping anything from getting done. also, a new warning from

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♪ welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we're going to begin this half hour with congressional efforts for another round of coronavirus relief for americans. offset by internal divisions with the trump administration, senate republicans say the chances of passing a new plan before key programs like unemployment payments expire this week is unlikely.

republicans are continuing to negotiate amongst themselves but broadly oppose the extension for the $600 weekly that millions of americans are collecting as some say it's a deterrent to work. complicating gop talks is the white house which is trying to cut funding for covid testing and demanding a payroll tax cut that many in the party oppose. at a lawmakers' meeting yesterday, senator ted cruz of texas cast doubt on the spending costs asking, quote, what the hell are we doing? meanwhile, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell plans to offer a plan next week with fairly significant support among the party including another round of stimulus checks and paycheck payment. and the chief executive of lap corp. said the company is

expanding faster and labcorp is testing 100,000 cases a day. that translates to 1 million tests per week. meanwhile, quest diagnostics, the largest laboratory company in the country, has warned it will be impossible to keep up for the demand for covid tests once the fall flu season does start up. also new data shows the number of people with coronavirus in the united states could be vastly underestimated. according to data from the cdc the new infection rate can be 2 to 13 times higher than what has been reported. the findings suggests that large numbers of people who did not have symptoms or medical care may have kept the virus circulating in their communities. and indicates, new york city,

one of the hardest hit areas, is nowhere near achieving her immunity. experts believe 60% of people in an area would need to have been exposed to a virus to reach that point. and the florida department of health reported a record high number of hospitalizations from coronavirus yesterday, adding 518 admissions in just one day. there are nearly 370,000 confirmed cases of covid across the sunshine state with more than 5300 deaths reported. in a news conference yesterday, the president broke with florida governor's ron desantis' positive take on the florida response saying that his state is dealing with a tough problem. >> we have embers and fires. we have big fires. unfortunately, florida is in a little tough -- in a big tough position. you have a great governor there. you have a great governor in

texas. you have people who are very skilled people and i think they're going to handle it very well. >> we've seen obviously, the hospital censuses stabilize in most parts of the state, some of them have even declined which is a good sign as well. i think we're going to get through it. i think we are on the right course. i think we will continue to see improvements. we've just got to keep doing particularly the floridians who are doing the basic things that really make a difference. >> all right. so the mayor, lenny curry, of jacksonville, florida, said yesterday that he is working to ensure law enforcement will have the resources needed for the republican national convention next month. buttal agreed with sheriff mike williams that the security plans in place at the moment are not adequate. >> nothing sheriff williams said yesterday was a surprise to me or anyone on my team. he knows what he's talking about, clearly. so, the position that he takes that we're not prepared for this

right now, yeah, yes. i agree with him. however, he also has communicated that he's continuing to work with the planners to configure this in a way that's safe. and beginning to get the resources that he needs. >> republican congresswoman liz cheney taking some heat from her gop colleagues for supporting dr. anthony fauci in a closed-door meeting. cheney is a chair of the committee and after the meeting, matt gaetz said she should either resign saying this, liz cheney has worked behind president trump and his agenda. senator rand paul tweeted we should all join president trump. liz cheney not only wants to stay forever, she's leading the fight to try to stop him from leading. unacceptable. asked about it, cheney told

reporters this, we had an exchange of views. i think it's very clear we're all unified in the sense of recognizing the danger the country would face if joe biden were elected president. we talked about at lent about joe biden. and once again, a political editor for the "washington examiner" david mark. it seems that cheney is saying, look, weal agree on one thing, that is the fact that we don't want joe biden to be president of the united states. or the democrats to take back control of the senate. but they had some major rifts yesterday, david. what are you hearing about this rift that took place between gop lawmakers and liz cheney, with regards to dr. fauci? why it is they would attack her because of that? and what greater implications does this show about the party? >> right. this was, you might call it,

airing some family business that was supposed to be behind closed doors. but, of course, it leaked out rather quickly. it actually began with another congressman, republican congressman thomas massey of kentucky going after liz cheney for supporting a primary challenger to him. in which she easily backed last month. then it opened up the floodgates for other republican lawmakers to voice criticism there. mostly for cheney's somewhat occasional criticism, or at least differences with president trump. she actually supports dr. fauci and science and dr. fauci's approach to battling the coronavirus. she's also been rather cautious about reopening the economy and schools. and essentially, unless you beat back the virus there is no economy. no one is going to want to combat the business. for that, she was hit hard by

republican colleagues who might have their own agenda, might be rivals for leadership position. this is the kind of thing that happens when the party is in the minority and they have no power. all they can do is fight against themselves. >> i'm just hearing you saying she actually respects and believes in science and doctors and dr. anthony fauci in fighting this coronavirus and being cautious about opening up schools. the fact that she was attacked for that is unfathomable. let's talk about the new covid relief bill. a lot of americans are going to need that money. their benefits, extra benefits, running out at the end of the month. small businesses, it seems like, are under water at this point. what needs to happen for a package to be passed by the end of this month? and what happens if the deadline is not met? >> well, there's nothing magical about the deadline.

congress is supposed to adjourn in early august. and they could stay through the vacation. there's nothing stopping them. the one deadline that is looming is the expiration of these unemployment benefits. and there is absolutely no consensus on what to do here. republican -- many republicans in congress are taking a hard line against it. probably seems like there's some room to negotiate for senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. another sticking point, though, is a liability shield. basically mcconnell and republicans in the senate and congress more broadly want protections from business to be immune from lawsuits. also hospitals and other entities. house democrats haven't exactly said no to this, but they're not very enthusiastic. so there's a lot of divisions among republicans and democrats but also among republicans say this is spending too much money. the national dead is $23

trillion, we can't just keep giving money. it's not clear what's going to happen on that front. >> it's sad, though, there are a lot of americans depending on that money right now and it's about to run out. and the fact that people are arguing they're not willing to go back to work because of that extra money doesn't make any sense to me because there are no jobs to go back to right about now. looking at at the uptick in unemployment in this country. washington examiner's david mark, thank you. and trump's ploy to host the oldest and one of the most prestigious golf championships in the world. your "first look" at "morning joe" is back in a moment.

welcome back. woody johnson, the u.s. ambassador to the uk told colleagues, he was asked by president trump back in 2018 to see if the british government

could help move the prestigious british open golf tournament to one of trump's golf resorts in scotland, according to a "the new york times" report. ambassador johnson was warned that it would be an unethical use of the presidency for private gain but he went ahead and asked secretary of state david mundell. last week, mundell felt it was inappropriate. and said, johnson, quote, made no requests mr. mundell regarding the british open or any other four events. for now none of the british opens are scheduled to be played at the trump resort. according to the time, trump owns two resorts in scotland and one in ireland which had been losing money across the board. let's get a check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins who, once again, has a check on the covid numbers. bill, gosh, we had an abysmal

number in the last 24 hours of deaths across the board here. >> yeah, a bunch of states reported big numbers. over 100 in some states. let's get into the numbers. at least on this site, we passed the 4 million mark. a lot of sites are close to each other. new cases tuesday, 67,140. that's 16 states with over 100 cases yesterday. let's talk about the seven-day average because it gets interesting and we've been waiting to see when we don't see the rapid increase and it looks like we've got there been. you notice we've gotten a pause in the seven-day average. farce the fatalities yesterday, 1,119 new deaths. that was the highest daily number since june 2nd. again, that was a definite uptick in the seven-day average

now. we're averaging 829 new deaths per day. as far as other areas of interest go with the weather, we are tracking the tropics, of course. we do have an area of interest in the gulf of mexico. 40% chance this does develop into a tropical depression. it's going to head to the texas coastline. we do expect to bring heavy rain, gusty winds. at this point, yasmin, it does not look like it's a powerful storm to do any damage for anything like that, but we'll keep our eyes on it. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, everybody. twitter has moved to stem the spread of coronavirus conspiracy theories on its platform. also president trump's controversial fed nominee moves one step closer to the board. the stories driving your business day coming up. all in one disposable pad. just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. the shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one pad.

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welcome back. twitter is now taking broader steps in police iing qanon on i site.

they have introduces linked to conspiracy in recent weeks. cnbc's julianna tatelbaum is joining us live from london. talk to us, julianna, the steps that twitter is take against t spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation online. they pledge to step up enforcement against followers of this group. and they say that they've made it clear that they would take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and that's what they're doing in removing these 7,000 groups. this does mark the first major platform of its kind to take aggressive action to limit the spread of a discredited movement, and that's what we're seeing now with qanon. now, in other news in washington, i want to highlight for you, the senate banking committee, a key committee of the senate, has given approval for judy shelton and christopher waller as nominees for the federal reserve.

shelton was approved on a party line 13-12 vote, while waller's vote was 18-7. now, shelton's name may be familiar to you. it was getting a lot of press. she's come under fire for her support of the gold standard and also around questions regarding fed political independence. so, that's one of the many developments we've been watching in washington over the last days. >> let's talk walmart for one moment while i have you. they're straying from their door-busting traditions this year, and they will not be opening for thanksgiving, as they normally are. what more do you have on this? >> that's right. usually, walmart opens its doors on thanksgiving day ahead of its black friday sales, but not this year. walmart says that they will close all stores on thanksgiving. and in a message to employees, the ceo said, "we know this has been a trying year, and our associates have stepped up. we hope they will enjoy a special thanksgiving day at home with their loved ones."

it also announced that it would pay out a third round of bonuses to employees in august. >> wow. >> it will provide another bonus of $150 to $300 on august 20th. so taking a lot of measures to support those employees who have continued working and keeping food and other supplies on the shelves through the pandemic. >> that is some good news for walmart employees. cnbc's julianna tatelbaum live from london for us. thank you so much. up next, a look at axios's 1 big thing. and coming up on "morning joe," mayor bill de blasio weighs in on the recent crime wave as the president plans to send forces across the country. also, as the senate debates a new coronavirus relief plan for americans, senator cory booker will be our guest. "morning joe" is moments away. booker will be our guest "morningoe j" is moments away. find your keys. find your get-up-and-go. find pants that aren't sweats. find your friends. find your sense of wander. find the world is new, again. at chevy we'd like to take you there.

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welcome back, everybody. joining me now with a look at "axios a.m.," political reporter alexei vercammen. good to see you this morning. give us axios' "1 big thing" today. >> good morning, yasmin.

it's good to see you. in just over 100 days, we're having a national election, and some national experts are telling axios that it could make the bush v. gore race of 2000 look like a walk in the park, and that's because states like pennsylvania, north carolina, wisconsin, and georgia, are all battle fronts for voting rights advocates and election lawyers, as they're looking at how we're basically going to be able to pull off voting in november. now, that matters because these states have had very little experience historically with voting in person. but the other thing that they share is they have surging coronavirus cases at the moment, and they all have really competitive elections, not just the presidential race, of course. so, what we're anticipating and what we're hearing at axios from election lawyers is that they expect a lot of litigation to be popping up everywhere in different states after the election, especially if these races are really close in battleground states. the other interesting thing, yasmin, is last night we had one of our virtual focus groups with obama/trump swing voters in michigan, and they told us that

if the margins are close between trump and biden come november, they will think that there was election fraud. >> wow. that is huge. while i have you, i want to talk about jim comey, because he is coming out with another book, a new book in january. talk to us about the significance of this book, what it will be covering and the timing of it. >> well, the former fbi director, of course, his firing is what ultimately led to president trump's impeachment. so he's kind of been a thorn in president trump's side since he tried to get rid of him. now, as you mentioned, as we have been reporting at axios, he's coming out with a new book just ten days before inauguration in 2021. this time, unlike his first book, "a higher loyalty," it's focusing all on how he says president trump has tried to politicize the justice department for his own gain. it's really a call to a new form of non-partisan politics in or past the trump era. obviously, we don't know who's going to be the next president,

but that's an interesting part of james comey's timing for this book. he's doing it right before the next president is inaugurated, whether that's trump or biden, as a sort of clarion call, his publisher says, to return to non-partisan politics in the next term. >> so, let's also talk quickly about kids heading back to school. it seems as if axios is now reporting that parents are banding together to hire private instructors on if their kids are not going back to school, to secure child care and also make up for what they're missing with these online classes, these zoom classes that a lot of folks are having, a lot of kids are having throughout the country. how could this deepen the socioeconomic divide, the educational divide along racial and class lines? >> it's such an important point, yasmin. to your point, we have reporting that shows that parents and neighbors are kind of banding together to bring in private instructors that could cost as much as $1,000 a day, to bring in for their kids and maybe a

couple of other kids that they choose from the neighborhood. but to your point, that is obviously something that is only accessible to wealthier families. and early studies and results show that it's actually mostly white families who are able to do this. and we already know that there are a number of racial and economic disparities inherent within education and that are perpetuated because of the educational system. this is something that could perpetuate it as well, because you know, students who come from low-income areas, who are already having difficult times meeting their online virtual requirements aren't obviously going to be able to have the same access to those private instructors. and of course, the bigger-picture problem, yasmin that we don't have time to discuss is neighborhoods, right? and the people who live in certain neighborhoods and the issue of red-lining and historically who lives in what neighborhoods. so, certain parents in one neighborhood are banding together to do this, and you don't even live in that neighborhood because of a number of other things, you're further behind. so i think it's a fascinating trend to watch. but of course, to your point,

it's something that could further exacerbate these racial and economic disparities that we're already trying to come to grabs with and figure out solutions for in this time. >> yeah, and this pandemic has further exacerbated that racial and economic disparity. alexi mccammond, thank you. always great to see you, my friend. i am going to be reading "axios a.m." in a bit. you can sign up for the newsletter at axios.com. that's it for me this morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts right now. all of our friends who are just fighting to survive, they would love him to follow the biden plan, even if they're republicans and conservatives, to listen to the scientists, listen to the doctors. >> i feel like he should really say from the outset, ladies and gentlemen, i have reflected on this period and i have decided that i am now embracing the spirit of bipartisanship. one place in which we will not have a fight or a brawl in this campaign is over a matter of public health. and so, in the spirit of leading the country and unifying the nation, i am now embracing publicly and fu-t