on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. coronavirus case numbers climbing, and the u.s. has reached another record. 4 million infections recorded. health experts swarn that the virus is spreading rapidly. also, president trump abruptly cancels the republican national convention in jacksonville, florida, citing coronavirus concerns. >> and major league baseball is back. dr. anthony fauci was there to throw the first pitch for the washington nationals.

good friday morning, everybody. it is july 24th, and i'm yasmin vossoughian. we have a lot to covering this morning. the united states hitting another milestone with more than 4 million cases recorded. that includes new cases in just the last 24 hours. it's claimed the lives of over 145,000 people in the united states, and hospitalizations across the country are also on an upswing. according to the covid tracking project, there were thousa59,62 hospitalized on wednesday of this week. president trump touted the administration's response to the coronavirus yesterday, claiming, quote, the country, as he puts it, is in good shape. >> the united states has now conducted more than 51 million

tests, which is more than any other country in the world by f far. they're either point-of-care tests, service in both ways, both directions, and at the lab. neil half of them, which is a tremendous increase, are 5 - to 15-minute tests. some hospitals, you get the results back in a day. we're continuing test hot spots in miami and phoenix and test those with the virus and take steps to stop from spreading it further. this is a copy of the map behind

me and you see where the problems are. you see from that, great shape, lots of it. the northeast has become very clean. the country is very good shape other than if you look south and west, some problems that will all work out. >> okay. so despite the president's claim that it's all going to work out as he puts it, the white house coronavirus task force coordinator dr. deborah birx is warning of a disturbing rise in coronavirus cases in certain areas of this country. in a private meeting with local and state health officials, by says the task force is tracking increasing infections in 12 u.s. cities. >> there are other cities. through are new increases in new orleans, las vegas, san jose,

st. louis, indianapolis, minneapolis, cleveland, nashville, pittsburgh, columbus, and baltimore. so we're tracking this very closely. we're working with the state officials to make sure we're responding together, but when you first see this -- >> that audio of that meeting, it was first obtained by the non-profit center for public integrity. dr. birx went on to say finding and tracing individuals is critical to this process to mitigate the spread. so senate republicans and the white house, they failed to agree on a white house coronavirus relief package yesterday after all of this. there was in-party fighting on what to include. they attempted to reach a unified agreement this week but now hope to offer a roughly $1 trillion package to democrats on monday. the setback will push them right up against the deadline for expiring unemployment today.

there's contention on whether to continue the $600 a week pay. the president planned to scrap a pay cut after it was met with fierce resistance. joining me now reporter for politico daniel lippman. gosh, a lot of americans fairly disappointed today to hear that they haven't necessarily -- they haven't yet passed this relief package when they're up against the gun here. they're going to miss out on that $600 a week payment starting next week. that's not good for paying bills and such in this country right now. we talk a little bit about the holdup. talk me through how the president feels about that relief being taken away, the payroll tax cut that he wanted, and what happens next here. >> so the unemployment insurance

does not seem to be of the highest priority for the trump administration because if it was, they would have pushed to get it fixed. there are circles including the trump administration that having this whole benefit incentivizes people to stay out of the work force when they should be, you know, trying to find a job. but the problem is that there are not as many available jobs as there are unemployed americans, so a lot of people are worried or are concerned the trump administration was prioritizing the payroll tax cut, which doesn't lead to much more hiring, and so it was kind of a goal that wasn't going to solve the deep economic problems in this country. >> and it likely benefits folks that don't necessarily need that benefit right now, whereas, the folks that need it are getting that $600 extra in unemployment benefits. daniel, let's talk about the mixed messaging here.

i start a lot of questions out during that coronavirus coverage with that, mixed messaging, the president saying the country is in good shape. but then you have dr. deborah birx warning of a rise in coronavirus cases in certain cities of the country that they're tracking. what reaction are you hearing? >> i think the administration is taking the coronavirus pandemic more seriously because it's as stark as day. it's hard to deny that the cases just keep rising. and so they can't call the sky green when it's -- everyone can see it's blue. so a few days ago when trump started his first new coronavirus task force briefing, he did say that it's going get worse before it gets better, but he was using prepared remarks for that. later on in the briefing, ten minutes later, while he was just speaking spontaneously, he said

one day it's going disappear. so he clearly is not wholly onboard with reminding americans that this is going to get worse for a little bit until we're all wearing our masks and we practice better social distancing. so i think it would be unfair to say that the administration is totally, you know, saying it's not -- that everything is going well. i think there's recognition that this is tough sledding. >> i can't imagine. i think americans see the writing on the wall when you have 145,000 people dead from the coronavirus over the last five months, and we are breaking records every single day with 70,000-plus cases in 24-hour periods it. is astounding, some of those numbers we hear every single morning and the lives that are lost. daniel lippman, thank you. stay close. i'm going to talk to you again in just a little bit. let's talk about new york's

democratic congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez. she took the opportunity to discuss the opportunity of sexism facing american women. >> in front of reports, representative yoho called me, and i quote, [ bleep ]. these are the words representative yoho levied against a congresswoman, a congresswoman that not only represents new york's 14th congressional district but every congresswoman and every woman in this country because all of us have had to deal with this in some form, some way, some shape at some point in our lives. this is not new. and that is the problem. it is cultural. it is a culture of lack of impunity, of accepting of violence and violent language

against women, an entire structure of pow their supports that. >> so a lot of female lawmakers, they joined ocasio-cortez in sharing their experiences, including house speaker nancy pelosi who said this. i can tell you that firsthand they've called me names for at least 20 years of leadership, 18 years of leadership. there's no limit to the disrespect or the lack of acknowledgement of the strength of women, and nothing is more wholesome for our government, for our politics, for our country, than the increased participation of women, and women will be treated with respect. still ahead, everybody. the department's inspector general announces an investigation into use allegations against federal officers in portland and in washington, d.c. michael cohen is to be released from prison after a

judge sides with claims of retaliation. that story and a check of your weather when we come back. your weather when we come back (burke) at farmers, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. like how nice it is to save on your auto policy. but it's even nicer knowing that if this happens... ...or this happens... ...or this.... ...or this... ...or even this... ...we've seen and covered it. so, switch to farmers and you could save an average of three hundred ninety-five dollars. get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

well, actually...we're from a lot of places. you see we're from here and there and here... your family's story is waiting to be shared. at ancestry.com [(vo)stinct radio chatter] audi e-tron. the next frontier of electric. your family's story is waiting to be shared. get an exceptional offer at your local audi dealer.

49i found you! good job. now i'm gonna stay here and you go hide. watch your favorites from anywhere in the house with the xfinity stream app. free with your xfinity service. now any room can be a tv room. stream live tv, on demand shows and movies even your dvr recordings. download the xfinity stream app today to stream the entertainment you love. xfinity. the future of awesome.

welcome back. the president's former fixer michael cohen will be released back into home confinement after a federal judge agreed a return to prison was retaliation for writing a book about the president. the u.s. district judge ordered cohen released by 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. doj lawyers argued cohen and his attorney, they were combative about his house arrest agreement. they also claimed not to know he was writing a book when they included that restriction in the document that he resisted signing. the judge ruling cohen's return to prison was, quote, retall tair over his exercise to write a book. he said in 20 years of sentencing people and looking at terms and conditions of supervised release, i have never seen such a clause. in a statement after the ruling an unnamed borough of prisons

officials called it, quote, patently false. and the departments of justice official announced he's launching an investigation. he said the case was referred to him by a u.s. attorney in oregon, requested by members of congress and fueled by public complaints. he will coordinate the review with the homeland security i.g. they're going to review the charge that officers sent to portland to protect federal property from vandalism unlawfully detained protesters without probable cause. acting homeland security secretary chad wolf denied that congratulations saying they were going after rioters. harwood said he'll look into peaceful protesters who were removed before a presidential

photo op. now infamous presidential photo op. they're going to investigate the training of the officers and their compliance, the rules of engage&, and the law. joining me now, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. good friday morning. great to see you. >> great to see you. >> let's talk about the evidence that we have all seen circulated at this point. >> the i.g.s throughout the executive branch are given broad statutory power to issue administrative subpoenas, and if those subpoenas are ignored, then the i.g.s can go to the courts and enforce them. that's part of their critical mission, which is to investigate internally within their individual agency and possibly outside of it and coordinate with other law enforcement branches or agencies if needed. so the i.g.s all have very, very broad investigatish power and the courts have upheld that time

and time again. >> can the findings at all be used, danny, in the lawsuits against the departments for portland and for lafayette park? >> sure to. some degree, inspectors generals' reports are made public. they're posted right on their websites. sometimes they're very detailed. other times, not so much. depending on whether it's an audit or investigation, certain information is released. they'll sometimes publish summaries to congress, and that will be made available online. any time it's made public, it can be used in any lawsuit if it's information that's helpful to meeting the burden of proof. >> can we quickly talk about michael cohen here for a moment? >> yes. >> as i read, he's being re-released. does the government have any appeal to that? >> they can appeal that order, but they shouldn't appeal it.

this has all the indications of a bureau's messup and an administration failure. it could be something that goes higher up the chain of command in the doj. but the poorly drafted language of the release is something. keep in mind i'm biased. i have a lot of personal dealings with the bureau of prisons which leads me to think this is exactly what it is a run-of-the-mill screwup by the dop. if it is, people higher uld would be ill-advised to appeal this and double don on a bad mistake or what appears to be a really bad mistake by the dop, doj, or both. >> all right. danny cevallos, thank you as always. have a good weekend. still ahead, breaking overnight. china retaliates. now the u.s. will have to

shutter one of its own consulates. we're going to go live to beijing for the very latest. o l beijing for the very latest. r my father my grandmother my brothers and sisters my friends for going back to school the bbq the lake the beach my place for my neighbors my community my people my country my home for him for her for them for you. ♪

(vo) touch and go. for you. handwriting recognition and the audi a4. get exceptional offers at your local audi dealer. new tide power pods one up the can it one up spaghetti night? it sure can. really? can it one up breakfast in bed? yeah, for sure. thanks, boys. what about that? uhh, yep! it can? yeah, even that! i would very much like to see that. me too. introducing new tide power pods. one up the toughest stains with 50% more cleaning power than liquid detergent. any further questions? uh uh! nope! one up the power of liquid with new tide power pods.

welcome back. we're following breaking news overnight. china has retaliated by closing down the u.s. consulate. china's foreign ministry explained this. the measure taken by china is a legitimate and necessary response to the unjustified act by the united states. the current situation in chinese and u.s. relations is not what china desires to see. the united states is responsible for all of this. as "the new york times" explains, losing the chengdu consolation is a loss. they've accused china of using

the consulate as a hot spot for spying in the united states, trying to steal medical research and infiltrate the oil industry. joining me now live from beijing, nbc news correspondent. tell us more. >> we're hecaded into unprecedet territories here. it was a matter of learning where it was that they were going to target. there was a lot of speculation. but they have chosen the u.s. consulate in chengdu. an interesting post for

tibetans. a stree teej ic importance to united states. they've been given p 2 hours. there's about 15 american diplomats there. they've been given 30 days to leave the country. this, of course, mirrors the order that the u.s. gave to china earlier in the week to shut down its consulate general in houston, accusing it of being a hub of intelligence, and chinese officials today using much the same wording this their justification, again, calling it necessary, calling it a measured response. the big question, of course, is what happens next? will we continue to see this back-and-forth of each side ordering the other to close consulates? the problem, of course, is analysts on both sides of this do not see much optimism. it could lead in two very serious directions. first, there could be a breaking off of diplomatic relations, a

closing of embassies in either of the countries o there's a risk for heightened military confrontation that's not being ruled out either. yasmin? >> not good prass expects. janis mackey frayer. thank you. still ahead, we'll talk about what is next for the national republican convention now that the president has canceled the event in jacksonville. also the president speaksy vladimir putin for the first time since the congratulations as the russia paid bounties to the taliban for the killing of u.s. troops. apparently that wasn't part of the conversation. we're back in a moment. e convern we're back in a moment and it continuously eliminates odors in the air and on soft surfaces. for 45 days. my psoriasis. cosentyx works on all of this.

cosentyx treats the multiple symptoms of psoriatic arthritis to help you look and feel better. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. watch me! learn more at cosentyx.com. we live in the mountains so i like to walk. watch me! i'm really busy in my life; i'm always doing something. i'm not a person that's going to sit too long. in the morning, i wake up and the first thing i do is go to my art studio. a couple came up and handed me a brochure on prevagen. i've been taking prevagen for about four years. i feel a little bit brighter and my mind just feels sharper. i would recommend it to anyone. it absolutely works. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric.

she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you.

welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we're going begin this half hour as the surge in cases in florida has forced the president to cancel the jacksonville portion of the republican national convention. the three-night celebration capped by the president's acceptance speech was supposed to begin exactly one month from today. this is the second time the president has canceled plans for the full-scale event that he had hoped for. last month he moved the event from charlotte after refusing to scale it down due to the virus. the president tweeted in may this. democrat roy cooper is still in shutdown. another tweet. governor cooper is still in shutdown in place mode and is

unable to offer the arena as promised. he responded. we have committed to a safe rnc convention in north carolina and it is unfortunate they never agreed to scale down and make changes to keep people safe. protecting public health and safety during this pandemic is a priority. so after canceling in north carolina and now canceling in florida, the president says the event will eventual chally be what the governor of north carolina proposed from the start, a scaled-down convention in charlotte. >> so the delegates are going to north carolina. they'll be doing the nomination, and we're going to do some other things with telerallies. i think we're going to do it really well, and i'll still do a convention speech in a different form. but we won't do a big crowded convention per se.

it's just not the right time for that. >> and the president has softened his stance on reopening schools now, saying some may need to delay reopening this fall as covid cases continue to spike across the country. >> given these considerations, we believe many school districts can now reopen safely, provided they implement mitigation measures and health protocols to protect families, protect teachers, and protect students in cities and states that are current hot spots, and you'll see that in the map behind me. districts may need to delay reopening for a few weeks. that's possible that. will be up to governors. the decision should be made based on the data and the facts on the grounds in each community, but every district should be actively be making preparations to open. >> so as this debate over whether to reopen schools continues across this nation,

assistant secretary of health and covid-19 testing coordinator admiral breck giroir had this warning. >> as you get older, you can transmit almost the equivalent of an adult or at least within a t range of that. so president trump and vladimir putin had their first call after it was reported that the russians had ordered bounties to kill u.s. soldiers. according to the call, they discussed, quote, efforts to defeat the coronavirus pan dem eck while attempting to reopen global economies. two leaders discussed critical bilateral and global issues. president trump reiterated his hope of avoiding an expensive three-way arms race between china, russia, and the u.s. and look forward to upcoming

articles control negotiations in vienna. also not includeded, russia is trying to steal coronavirus vaccine research, u.s., uk, and canada claim. joining us once again, daniel lippman. can we get a reaction? what are you hearing, daniel, over the president's phone call with putin and not addressing some of the top-of-mind issues that the president should have addressed with the russian president. >> so we don't know for 100% certainty that he didn't talk about the bounties tore vaccine-stealing issues because that could be labeled as part of the bilateral issues, the unspecified bilateral issues that were talked about in that readout. but clearly this is not a good signal to hold russia accountable for their level.

it always raises the question of why trump is just so positive in many of his interactions with putin, someone who most americans thinks is just spreading chaos and is not a good actor on the global stage. >> isn't that something, though, daniel that they may have wanted to include in this readout if, in fact, they had touched on it or talked about it or the president had addressed it with putin, confronting him on it, especially when the lives of u.s. soldiers were at risk with that bounty story? and when you think about the relationship as you mentioned most importantly, being under scrutiny between the president and putin. >> well, to be fair, these readouts are often the -- they're even decided before the conversation actually takes place, and there's a lot of back

and forth between the u.s. side and the foreign side about what's going to be in "the reidout." and so if sensitive topics come in, you know, are talked about, they don't necessarily want to put it this "the reidout" because it's embarrassing to one party or the other. and so that's why these readouts are often pretty vanilla. so in another administration, when there are tough conversations to be had, we might except similar readouts which are pretty vague and don't actually say, you know, the president of the united states was really asking about this highly sensitive and pretty embarrassing story for the russians. so that's how these things work, to save face often. >> okay. let's quickly address the movement once again of the convention here, forcing the gop convention to move from charlotte to jacksonville initially, then the president calling off the florida portion and having a scaled down

convenient once again back in charlotte, which was the original recommendation. what type of impact, if any, you do think this is going to have on the election? >> i think it's actually, you know, positive for trump slightly because then democrats can't hit him and say, why are you trying to make florida, which is always a basket case even worse. but when you're down 13 points in florida, this decision is not going to impact too many voters' minds, so i think it's kind of a wash. the president, he just has a real, you know, uphill battle to climb if he wants to get re-elected, which many people sometimes doubts that he actually wants the second term. >> all right. politico's daniel lippman, thank you as always. great to see you this morning. federal tactical border officers were sent to seattle ahead of protests planned for today. the administration says the special response team is going

to be on stand by for the determine stations, but seattle officials fear they will target participants as they have in portland. the agents are from the special response team operating under customs and border protection,ed a according to "the new york times" they're used for intense law enforcement investigations such as those by the department of justice for actions in portland and lafayette park that we addressed a little bit earlier. still ahead, everybody, major league baseball is back. highlights from last night's season openers, they're next. your first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment. g joe" is back in a moment.

welcome back. tyke now for sports and the start of the major league baseball season. i want go to the nation ees k's

capitol where dr. anthony fauci tossed out the first pitch, the game between the washington nationals and the yankees. we want to see that again. foul c fauci's throw just a bit outside. just a bit. he was really busy and may not have had a chance to practice his pitching, but nonetheless, given an elbow. like the abbreviated schedule, it also ended early after stormy weather forced teams off the field in the top of the sixth inning, but not before the yankees could mount a three-run lead. there was a two-run homer to stanton in the first inning, an rbi double to aaron judge in the third and stanton in the sixth. meanwhile erik cole struck out five on the mound for the yanks. a homer was given up to adam

eaton. let's go west now to the dodgers hosting the san francisco giants in los angeles. like the nationals and yankees game, the players and coaches took a knee to "the star-spangled banner." mookie betts and another eight members of the giants. as for the game, clayton kershaw who was originally scheduled to start was scratched from the lineup because of a back issue. instead may took the mound. he gave up a run in a little more than four innings of work. the dodgers beat the giants, 8-1. and for the first time since taking office, the president says he will throw out the

ceremonial first pitch in a major league baseball game, telling reporters he's been invited to do so at yankee stadium before they host the boston red sox on august 15th. >> and the nfl's washington redskins football team will be referred to as just that, washington football team. they bowed to pressure if their name which was long seen as racist. the logos will be replaced with players' numbers. let's get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, i have to say, i was watching dr. fauci's pitch yesterday and i thought to myself, it's really good he's a doctor. >> they missed such a moment, though, yasmin. who was producing that. imagine if he had gone out to the mound. he obviously hasn't thrown the baseball in a while. imagine if he walked closer to

the catcher, measured six feet, and then threw the first pitch. it could be educational and fun. i know. they've got to call me up before they do these things. >> he was responsibly socially distant, and he was a really good sport. he is a huge fan of the nationals, so i'm sure he was really excited to be out there. wow, that pitch was one for the books. >> he was a little too far distanced. let's get into this forecast because we've got an active period in tropics. we've got three different storms we're tracking. we'll call it a tropical frenzy. the one of immediate concern is the one that heads to the coast. this is tropical storm hannah. the water in the gulf of mexico is extremely warm. we want the storm to move onshofrm we don't want it to sit out there any longer and get any stronger. the hurricane center thinks it could come close to hurricane strength by the time it makes landfall by saturday, 1:00 or

2:00 p.m. near corpus christi. it's bordering on getting into the serious case. even tropical storms can be deadly with the rainfall and flash flooding. we have tropical storm warnings south of galveston. and the rainfall, that's of immediate concern. when it moves onshorks isolated areas could have a foot of rachbl tropical storm gonzalo could be a hurricane. that's when we think it's going to suck in drier air and it should begin to weaken. as of now, puerto rico and virgin islands, you're safe from gonzalo. hurricane douglas, category 4. look at that pin needle of an eye. this one is going to try to scare the hawaiian islands by the time we get to the end of the weekend near hilo as a possible category 1 storm. it will be weakened as it approached the hawaiian islands.

as far as the forecast for the rest of the nation, hot and humid. we'll be dodging storms again in our nation's capitol. with unemployment benefits set to expire, congress is still at odds on the next round of coronavirus stimulus. the stories driving your business day coming up. g your business day coming up ♪all strh ♪we ain't stoppin' believe me♪ ♪go straight till the morning look like we♪ ♪won't wait♪ ♪we're taking everything we wanted♪ ♪we can do it ♪all strength, no sweat ( ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®.

with spray mopping to lock away debris and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. the shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one pad. yeah. this moving thing never gets any easier. well, xfinity makes moving super easy. i can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. wow, that is easy. almost as easy as having those guys help you move. we are those guys. that's you? the truck adds 10 pounds. in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today.

welcome back. as senate rps continue to develop the next coronavirus relief bill, they have opted to forgo a tax cut in favor of another round of stimulus checks. cnbc's julianna tatelbaum is joining us from london. julianna, good morning. great to see you. give us what is in the initial relief proposal. >> one thing that is not in this is a base bill, which president trump had been pushing for, this payroll tax holiday. it didn't get widespread support

from congressional lawmakers, even though it's been a priority for president trump, and this disagreement has led to the delay of this stimulus pack and. it's not due to arrive today. this means that congress will miss the deadline to extend unemployment miss the deadline to increase the unemployment, initial jobless claims for the united states came in at 1.416 million in the latest week, bringing us to july 18th. this marks the 18th straight week in which initial claims totalled more than 1 million. it also marks the end of a 15 week streak declining of the claims. we've seen a tick up so the stimulus more crucial as we look at the unusuanumbers. let's look at amazon, they are in hot water after reports

they may have stolen product ideas from several startups. what can you tell us about this? >> this is a new report published by "the wall street journal" saying they invested in startups and then made them themselves. the journal spoke with several that said amazon made the product after. business insiders spoke to them and said any legitimate disputes are rightly resolved in the courts. this has broke open a huge conversation around the way amazon has done business. that's the response from the big tech giant. back to you. >> julianna tatelbaum live from london for us. thanks very much. up next a look at axios' 1 big thing. and coming up, mayor quinton

lucas from kansas city, will join us to talk about the federal agents in his city. also, senator amy klobuchar will be our guest as they continue to discuss the next stimulus bill. o discuss the next stimulus bill. i don't keep track of regrets and i don't add up the years, but what i do count on... is boost high protein... and now, there's boost mobility... ...with key nutrients to help support... joints, muscles, and bones. try boost mobility, with added collagen.

puberty means personal space. so sports clothes sit around growing odors.

that's why we graduated to tide pods sport. finally something more powerful than the funk. tide sport removes even week-old sweat odor. it's got to be tide. walk to end alzheimer's alzheis everywhere.tion on every sidewalk, track, and trail across this country. all of us are raising funds for one goal: a world without alzheimer's and all other dementia. because this disease isn't waiting, neither are you. take the first step on your walk right now. go to alz dot org slash walk.

welcome back, everybody. joining me now with a look at axios a.m. dion ribo. great to see you. >> the 1 big thing today is the racial wealth gap. i dove into this over a ten part series that i published in the axios markets newsletter. it was published in axios a.m., we gave people a bit of a preview of that. it digs into just how large and really how consistently the racial wealth gap exists, whether it's across education lines, actual income lines. you know, looking at just how big that wealth gap when you talk about people's net worth and the difference between what

white americans have and black americans have in the u.s. right now and how that's existed over decades and really over centuries. >> so what did you find, if anything, about how we can even approach to close this wealth gap that has existed for so long? >> what i did in this series was looked at a number of different myths as i call them. whether it's the idea that the racial wealth gap can be closed through personal responsibility or using black owned banks or more black entrepreneurship things like that that you hear consistently from people on both sides of the aisle, you hear it from black people and white people. what i found was that was a myth. the gap is so entrenched that

any action is not going to put a dent in the gap. the top 10% of earners have the wealth gap. >> so it seems as if it's more about addressing and listening to so many of the protesters in the streets right now that want to see the address of systemic racism in this country because it has permeated every part of our society? >> yeah, and it's also about listening to scholars and people who have researched this topic. i talked to a number of people whether it's from the brookings institution, department of commerce, scholars that worked at universities like duke, and they've done scholarship, investigation and research into this. and they have found that no matter what you do, whether you achieve education, get married, have a sound family structure, all those things that people talk about, they don't eliminate the wealth gap it's still

massive no matter where you look. >> that's astounding. while i have you i want to switch gears for a moment. it's been five months since hollywood shutdown and axios is reporting a reopening still seems distant in the future. how has the shutdown affected production and when will a reopening be likely? >> that's a good question. we've seen some of the theatres push back to mid august. that's looking like the earliest it's going to be as far as theatres. a number of production companies that have a relationship with the streaming companies, obviously disney, they're taking these big movies that were supposed to come out and be big hits like "mulan," some are coming to streaming but some they don't know what to do with

them. so that summer movie wave we usually see is not going to happen this year. >> thank you as always. i'll be reading axios a.m. in just a little bit. you can sign up at signup.axios.com. that does it for me this morning i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts right now. like you'll go person, woman, man, camera, tv. so they say could you repeat that. so i said, yeah. so it's person, woman, man, camera, tv. okay. that's very good. if you get it in order you get extra points. okay. now he's asking other questions. other questions. ♪ >> and then 10, 15, 20 minutes later, you know the first question -- not the first, but the tenth question, can you do that again. and you go person, woman, man,

camera, tv. if you get it in order, you get extra points. they said nobody gets it in order. it's actually not that easy, for me it was easy. ♪ >> that's not an easy question. >> if you repeat them out of order -- >> good morning. and welcome to "morning joe." willie. >> that was so easy to make. >> i'm sure in 1971 when craft work was putting together a band that would bring electronic music into the main stream they knew that's where this was going to end up. a president very proud of the five words. >> everything is a game show with him. >> it's number four on the edm chart this morning. it's going right to the top. as jonathan lemire is going to tell us in a moment from his reporting, the white house likes this story line for the