tv MSNBC Live MSNBC July 24, 2020 11:00am-12:00pm PDT
11:00 am
good afternoon. i'm katy tur. it is 11:00 a.m. out west and 2:00 p.m. in the east. white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany is holding a white house press briefing. we'll bring you any developments from that as they happen, if that happen. >> also, in a new interview with "the washington post," dr. fauci urged americans to remain vigilant. he also advised that states where the virus is surging should consider their reopening plans. >> in the states that have been trying to open, particularly the southern states which have gotten into trouble, i would say the first thing is you don't necessarily have to go all the way back to a complete shutdown, but you certainly have to call a pause and maybe even a backing up a bit. florida governor ron desantis will be at the white house next hour. one day after president trump
11:01 am
announced that the in-person republican convention in jacksonville, florida, would not be happening. florida announced more than 12,000 new cases of covid-19 today. it is still surging in that state. senate republicans have failed to come up with even an opening draft of new coronavirus relief legislation. mitch mcconnell was supposed to unveil the gop plan yesterday, after days of heated negotiations within his conference. but now, he says we will not see a plan until next week, blaming the white house for the delay. the democratic house passed its own proposal more than two months ago. and house speaker nancy pelosi warned last hour of the dire consequences she says americans will face without a new bill. >> you want to see how many people will beon the street being evicted because they cannot pay the rent? and then they can't pay the rent
11:02 am
exponentially because they're not getting the $600. >> with me now from capitol hill is msnbc correspondent garrett haake. garrett, always good to see you. where do we stand with this legislation? >> reporter: katy, we're just plain stuck right now. and so often when we get to one of these stalemates on capitol hill, you see the parties pointing fingers at each other and blaming one another. in this case, it's pretty clear this is an entirely republican problem. this is republican senators arguing amongst themselves about what they would like to see in their opening draft, and trying to come up with some kind of agreement with the white house over where they can even start negotiations with democrats. and the particular shame of it all is this isn't a surprise. the deadlines weren't a secret. all of us knew that this cliff was coming when these provisions in previous acts would expire, and republicans have largely sat on their hands until now. but don't take it from me. here's chairman richie neal in
11:03 am
the same press conference with nancy pelosi a short time ago. >> they can't say that they haven't had time to vet this. two months and ten days they had to go through this. the evidence was overwhelming about the pandemic. it wasn't getting better. >> so katy, the house is wrapping up their week as we speak. the senate skipped down yesterday, not due back until monday. until then, those of us on capitol hill and millions of americans around the country who need this to be settled are left pretty much to sit and wait. >> garrett, do you have any idea why republicans waited so long? >> you could pick your political issue here. i think there was a certain amount of sunshine, perhaps, some thinking that this problem would get better, not worse, on its own, and perhaps when it was time to engage in negotiations there might not be a need for the kind of aggressive measures that do seem to be called for
11:04 am
now. and i think perhaps there was also simply an element of kicking the can, knowing they would reach these problems, these idealogical disagreements in some cases amongst themselves about the best way to fix it, and just not wanting to grapple with that until they absolutely had to, and here we are. >> procrastinating, like me on all my term papers in college. >> deadline oriented. i get it. >> garrett haake, thank you very much. and the additional $600 a week in unemployment benefits passed as part of the c.a.r.e.s. act essentially expires tomorrow. this as all of that urgency that had been building and why democrats passed their new version of the heroes act two months ago. there are still about 30 million americans collecting unemployment, and many of them could find themselves in a situation where as nancy pelosi said, they can't pay all of their bills, especially their rent and their mortgages, which are due on august 1st. senate republicans still have not proposed an alternative to those benefits, which they want
11:05 am
to cut significantly. and with the pandemic still raging and small businesses folding, it is not possible for every american to just go back to work. so joining me now from los angeles is nbc news correspondent jo kent. and i'm going to ask you what i always ask you, which is bring us inside the numbers. what are they -- what is the story that they're telling? >> reporter: one story that really jumps out to me on this issue is cindy crow. she lives in new orleans. she had her own tour business, relying on the robust tourism industry, which of course, was wiped out from covid-19. now, she fears becoming homeless because she has been using the $600 a week from the c.a.r.e.s. act to get through these months. here's what she told me earlier. >> so many people are counting on these funds and counting on the government to help them because otherwise you're going to have a whole ration of tens
11:06 am
of thousands of americans that are going to be homeless, that have never been homeless before. so we need help. we need help. >> reporter: so you will start to see some people getting evicted. those notices from landlords are eligible to go out starting this weekend, giving people 30 days to figure out either how to pay for their rent or find a new place to live or in some cases as cindy is worried about, becoming homeless. when you do the raw math, according to the data from the labor department, the numbers are pretty staggering. they speak for themselves. you have this $600 supplement in addition to state benefits. that expires starting this weekend, the last payments are going out. the average person will, after that, be able to collect $383 a week in state unemployment. now, you do that, and you think about that amount, then you look at the 1.4 million jobless claims filed last week, which by the way, katy, as we have talked
11:07 am
about, has gone up for the first time since late march. so the situation as it relates to how many cases that we see, say, here in states like california, they continue to go up. and we expect to see more jobless claims coming up in the coming weeks and into the fall as more of these businesses grapple with the fact that they can't bring their employees back. >> you know, it's so interesting because it's not just the individual employees and the people that are benefitting from this extra $600. there are a lot of economists out there who say that losing that extra $600 will mean a lot for the economy, moody's analytics chief economist mark zandi has said not only that expanded unployment but the s.n.a.p. benefits as well will provide the most boost to the gross domestic product with a one-year outlook. it's much broader than individuals. thank you so much. >> that's right. >> go ahead, jo.
11:08 am
>> i just wanted to add to your point. you make a very salient point. if you think about food prices, too, all these kids staying home with their families eating more at home. food prices continue to go up month to month. retail sales did recover, and that's because you have this backstop right now. so very much you're going to see the impact. you're going to see it continuing. jo kent, thank you so much. and president trump confirmed that an in-person republican national convention will not be happening in jacksonville, florida. the prospect of a live event which was the preferred outcome for the president, seemed troubled from the beginning. the rnc moved the location from charlotte, north carolina, last month after governor roy cooper, a democrat, pushed back against the idea of a packed stadium event. he said he couldn't guarantee it and was asking for the trump team to give him a plan on how to do it safely. florida, that's why it was moved there, because florida opened their arms and said come here,
11:09 am
but florida is now arguably the global epicenter of the covid-19 outbreak. which means that everything got thrown up and put into question again. so let's bring in nbc news white house correspondent carol lee. so carol, we know that the president likes these in-person rallies. he know he likes to see these events packed. it's part of the reason why those signs were removed in tulsa that said social distancing. he likes to see the entire crowd in front of him. that's why they moved it to jacksonville, florida. what happened behind the scenes to make the president relent on this? >> a number of things, katy, but it is as you note a more remarkable reversal for the president who not only moved the convention because it couldn't be as packed as he wanted it to, but mocked joe biden for holding a virtual convention and now he's gotten to the same place, but by a pathway of a lot of drama and back and forth. so now, what led to it, frankly, is florida is surging in cases.
11:10 am
the number of deaths continue to increase there. and a number of things. the sheriff of duvall county, where the convention was going to be held, kept saying he didn't think he could do this, that he couldn't do it safely. he couldn't put this on, and you had a bill moving through the city council in jacksonville to fund this that faces headwinds. they were having trouble raising money for this. there were a number of factors that went into this, and the president made the decision over the previous 24 hours before his announcement, and now the big question is what does he do? you talked about having telerallies the week of the convention and doing other online things and said he'll still deliver a speech. we just don't know exactly what they will look like. kayleigh mcenany said they're looking at a number of creative and exciting options. but again, this is not at all the convention that the president thought he would have when he moved the convention to florida, which was a really remarkable move in and of itself, and it's certainly not the one that he intended to have
11:11 am
from the start. >> and there were a lot of lawmakers, republican senators, saying they weren't going to show up because of the safety concerns. so carol lee, thank you so much. the cdc has updated the guidance for reopening schools on its website, after facing criticism from president trump. the bullet points, which are short on specifics, include repurpose unused or underutilized school or community spaces to increase classroom space. and develop a proactive plan for when a student or staff member tested positive for covid-19. joining me now is dr. peter hotez, the founding dean of the national school of tropical medicine at baylor school of medicine, also aped pediatricia. thank you for being here. i know there's not going to be a one size fits are solution to every school in america because there are some districts out there in cities or states or towns that are not having the
11:12 am
same surge in outbreaks as others are. but when you're looking at the places that are needing to deal with the very real possibility of an infection spreading within their school, are these bullet points from the cdc going to help? >> you know, to me, what i'm seeing out of cdc is extremely tone deaf to what the reality will be if they try to open up schools in an area where there's lots of community transmission. all it's going to take is a bus driver to get sick or a cafeteria worker to get sick and hospitalized or one or two teachers to get sick. and it will be very chaotic and very hard to maintain those schools being open. so there's a certain tone deafness about what cdc is proposing. they issued guidelines. they issued this document, this statement last night, talking about why schools are so important. and we all get that. and the american academy of pediatrics issued a similar
11:13 am
document. we understand the structure of education and we also understand the noneducational components, the critical need for food security for kids in low-income neighborhoods or mental health counseling, but they don't really offer what a viable strategy for how you do this in areas of high transmission. basically, what they're saying is the federal government couldn't manage this epidemic so now we're going to balance it on the backs of teachers and school staff. and it's completely unfair to ask them to figure it out when they were unwilling or unable to do the hard work to bring the different states down to containment mode. that's what we have to do. if you try to open schools in areas of high transmission, it will fail catastrophically. >> dr. hotez, you are in a unique position because of your expertise in infectious diseases and also as a pediatrician. if you were writing the cdc guidelines, what would you
11:14 am
include to make sure schools could do this in as safe a way as possible? >> well, what i would say is what you want to do is present guidelines of what types of community schools can open safely in, and base it on the level of transmission going on in the community, knowing that when it reaches a certain level, you'll unfortunately have to shut things back down, because the risk to teachers and staff is just going to be too high. you can only take social distancing -- you can only do social distancing efficiently probably in the older grades. i don't really see how you do social distancing among the little kids. you know what's going to happen. i mean, i have had four kids. they're now adults. on day one when the little kids come to school, the first thing they're going to do is take off their masks and show each other the masks. they're going to trade masks. then one of the kids an hour later is going to throw up, then two of the kids are going to cry and need to be comforted by
11:15 am
their teachers. this is what teachers do. they have the hardest job in the world. to just insist we can do social distancing under those circumstances, i don't see it. so what we need is ownership and leadership by the governors, by the white house, to bring down community transmission, bring every state down to containment mode, which is doable. i have a plan i have put out to do it by october 1. then we can start safely opening up schools with masks for the older kids. and a coherent plan. but right now, this is just fantasy. >> dr. hotez, i want to take to you more but we're running out of time. specifically, i want to ask whether or not it's possible to do this with pods, with the younger kids who are so far shown in studies to not spread it as much, but we'll have to invite you back on soon to have that conversation. for now, thank you for your time, sir, and your expertise. we appreciate it. >> thank you.
11:16 am
and california was an early coronavirus success story. now, it has more total cases than new york. what went wrong? plus, more than 40 states will allow voting by mail in some form in this election. but is the u.s. postal service ready to deliver millions of ballots, and deliver them on time? first up, though, just over 100 days until that vote, president trump finds himself in an unenviable position. a pandemic, an economic crisis, and falling poll numbers. add to that, he can't hold big rallies, he's not holding a convention. sam nunberg, who was an adviser to donald trump in 2016 joins me next to talk about what sort of handicap this is for the president. or the president.
11:17 am
the moment has come to deal with the denial of the promise of this nation, made to so many. ♪ because if it weren't clear before, it's clear now. this country wasn't built by wall street bankers and ceos, it was built by the great american middle class, health care workers, docs, nurses, delivery truck drivers, grocery store workers. you know we've come up with a new phrase for them: essential workers. we need to do more than praise them, we need to pay them. as president, it's my commitment to all of you, to lead on these issues and to listen. for that's what the presidency is -
11:18 am
11:19 am
11:20 am
less than $16; and a schultz 4k television for less than $2. i won these bluetooth headphones for $20. i got these three suitcases for less than $40. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. michael cohen has been released back into home confinement today for the duration of his three-year sentence. the rest of it. right now, our crews are waiting on his return back to his manhattan apartment. cohen's release from federal custody was ordered yesterday after a judge found that the government had sent him back to prison in retaliation for a tell-all book he was writing about president donald trump. >> and this sunday marks 100 days until election day. and donald trump finds himself exactly where no incumbent president wants to be.
11:21 am
coronavirus cases in the united states are climbing by the day, having just crossed the 4 million mark. a lot of those cases in red states. any gains made to reverse the unprecedented economic crisis seem to be slowing if not rolling back. republicans just canceled plans for an in-person renominating convention in jacksonville, florida, and new polling out today from fox news shows joe biden leading in key states like pennsylvania, minnesota, and michigan. it is far from an enviable position for a president seeking re-election in any election year, let alone the unprecedented one we find ourselves in right now. joining me now is former trump 2016 campaign adviser sam nunberg. sam, thanks for being here. how hard is it going to be for the president to get re-elected? >> well, in order to pull this off, it would be the greatest comeback by a president or a
11:22 am
candidate since 1988. you're looking at someone who had inherited a re-elect where i don't think the campaign ever really figured out the fact that with him getting elected 46 1/2% in 2016, you had 7% to 8% of third-party voting. he was on a trajectory, obviously, before the coronavirus, to make a sound argument that he could reach over 270 electoral votes. there was, it looked like it would be possible for him to get around 49% in the national vote, and that was the target. now, as you were discussing in the prior segment, everything has changed. you look at the numbers, when you look at the numbers, he's losing with seniors. he's losing, barely winning with men. he's lost even more women in subu suburbia which he couldn't do. he had to make progress with them. this approach he's taken now is the only approach that was possible. the number one issue is covid. covid is affecting our lives. if you don't look like you're
11:23 am
taking it seriously, whether he was or wasn't, you're going to lose the election. although with 100 days out, let's also remember, though, katy, big difference is that joe biden will have to start campaigning more. he will be more omnipresent than he has been, and i look at this right now as worst case scenario for the president because he's essentially running against a generic democrat. when he's able to debate biden, let's see. i think he's going to get closer, but this is one of the worst positions you have seen an incumbent president in in modern history. >> why does the president suddenly seem like he's taking the coronavirus seriously now? >> i think the facts on the ground have changed. and whether he wanted to talk about the actions the administration took, and i'm not here to debate that one way or the other, his overly optimistic tone that he was taking, hoping out loud, which is something he does, in my experience, as well.
11:24 am
hoping out loud what will happen, trying to, you know, push an outcome that just unfortunately is not there, and i say unfortunately. unfortunately for the country and the world, frankly, but he is where he is now. if the election, if the president is not seen as taking covid seriously, is not seen as being able to want to protect the seniors, his most important voting bloc, frankly, then he will look at some kind of defeat, as i said a couple weeks ago, you're looking at something where he could possibly get under 100 electoral votes. i don't think he's there now. i think the election is probably around 42% nationally against biden, 50, 51, and by the end of july, heading into mid-august, if he's not looking at getting up to around 45% or so, it's going to be even harder to see a path to victory. but with that said, as you know and you covered it, they have
11:25 am
reset leadership in the campaign. the campaign will be run more, i think, more competitively and there are a lot of things they weren't doing, particularly such a focus on digital in this day and age, even without focusing on national tv and things like that, that we're going to be able city, i do believe, a closer race. the issue ultimately is going to be -- >> sam. >> yes. >> let me quickly ask you before we run out of time, why does the president keep bragging about taking a cognitive test? >> about taking a cognitive test? well, i think the president -- this is going to be -- yes. a good question. >> i'm asking you. yeah. >> well, obviously, because he's trying to set up -- i don't know personally, but i would say it's because they're going to be running on trying to set a comparison with joe biden. as you have seen, they have been trying to claim that biden is on
11:26 am
a cognitive decline. the president wants to say part of his argument will be if you elect joe biden, who will his vp be that he nominates and who is going to be controlling biden? and it's one of the reasons why a lot of people in the campaign and supporters think that the stratanyiegy they're able to doh holding biden, not able to appear much, has been helping. >> do you think it's going to work? he keeps repeating how impressed everyone was that he could repeat five words in a row. does that make him look smarter and better and more cognitively together? >> no, it does not. i think that the way he's handled the issue, it could have been an advantage for him, but as public -- you have seen in the public polling, but even so, it's not the way to go about it. frankly, what the president is going to need is some kind of -- is biden rambling during the debates or something along that line. i would agree with the sentiment that going over the test with a
11:27 am
doctor on fox news wasn't exactly the best method or tactic in the overall strategy that they're trying to make. >> sam nunberg, thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. and millions of people are expected to vote by mail this fall. is our postal system ready for it? plus, california appeared to have the virus under control. now it is, in the words of my next guest, a disaster. rills tos and more one of a kind finds. it all ships free. and with new deals every day you can explore endless options at every price point. get your outdoor oasis delivered fast so you can get the good times going. ♪ wayfair. you've got just what i need. ♪
11:28 am
no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. to bit never bothered me.dust? until i found out what it actually was. dust mite droppings? ewww. dead skin cells? gross! so now, i grab my swiffer sweeper and heavy duty dusters. dusters has three layers that grab, trap and lock away gross dust. gotcha! and, for dust on my floors, i switch to my sweeper. the textured cloths grab, trap and lock dirt and hair... no matter where dust bunnies hide. no more heebie jeebies. glad i stopped cleaning and started swiffering.
11:31 am
we're following the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic. here are the facts as we know them this hour. massachusetts governor charlie baker just announced a new travel advisory for that state. anyone coming from out of state will need to fill out a travel form and quarantine for 14 days. that includes massachusetts residents and students returning to campus for the fall semester. the new order goes into effect august 1st. there are some exemptions, though. new york city is facing long delays in testing results with thousands of workers waiting a week or longer. local health officials warn the new delay and backlog could hinder further reopening plans citywide. >> spain is seeing a surge in covid-19 cases as positive tests there have quadrupled.
11:32 am
mostly among young people. the country lifted a three-month nationwide lockdown on june 21st. now, as cases rise, the country is reconsidering its reopening. amc theaters will delay their planned reopening for the second time this summer. originally slated to reopen in june and then again this week, the newly scheduled reopening is now set for mid-august. the world health organization just reported a single-day increase, a record single-day increase in global coronavirus cases. there were more than 284,000 new infections reported in just the last 24 hours. here at home, california has reported a new daily record for virus related deaths. another 157 californians died from the virus, bringing the total number of covid-related deaths in that state to more than 8,000. the state has also seen surges in infections and hospitalizations. in a new op-ed, my next guest
11:33 am
explores how california went from a covid-19 success story to a, quote, disaster, and what could be done to turn it around. let us bring in the author of that op-ed, dr. george rutherford, a professor of epidemiology and head of the division of infectious diseases at the university of california san francisco. doctor, thanks so much for joining us. in your op-ed, you talk about how california needs to get creative and start targeting specific groups of people with specifically tailored messages. explain. >> sure, so california is a big complex state. the population is bigger than canada. it runs from the pennsylvania/new york border to south carolina, so it's gigantic by east coast standards. there are lots of different epidemics going on in california. some have -- there are some characteristics that we see across different counties.
11:34 am
there are some that are relatively unique to certain areas in california, and truly throughout the west, covid has now become a largely latino epidemic, infecting people who live in low-income, dense housing, who have to geout to work every day in order to earn money to pay rent, to eat, to take care of their families. that's where we're seeing this infection. in large part. with lots of other pieces to it. but that's primarily one of the big things we're seeing. then we're, of course, seeing where places in bars and kind of much more of the pattern of the south, where people aren't wearing masks there or they're doing so only begrudgingly. there have been outbreaks in fraternity houses now and a couple of big universities here. in restaurants, there was just a large outbreak reported this week from mononcounty, which is
11:35 am
a big tourist destination. those are the kind of things added on top of the epidemic of essential workers and then all the institutional outbreaks we have had as well. >> california, as you said, is a very big state, with a lot of different demographics and a lot of different cities and counties and towns. is it possible to just roll back all of the reopenings in that state, go to a strict shutdown like we had here in new york, and start over? is that going to work? >> i don't think so. you know, the state is just too different. there are counties that have had zero cases, that have never had a case. i think that you could do that -- you're probably going to end up having to do that county by county or region by region to pull it off and make it be successful. the governor has rolled back a lot of the activities in highly impacted counties where transmission is clearly going
11:36 am
forward. pretty much unchecked or not particularly well checked. and those are the ones that were kind of getting a quasi-lockdown feel from. i think that that's probably the best option right now. i think going to state-wide lockdown and resetting, as some people have advocated, is probably too much. and i think we can get away with doing somewhat less drastic interventions but having them much more tailored to counties and building up our public health response to these very specific outbreaks in the latino communities throughout the state. >> you're right about california. it's so big, and there are places that haven't had a problem with this whatsoever. really interesting analysis. dr. george rutherford, thank you so much for joining us today. we appreciate all your time. >> a pleasure. thank you. and millions of americans are not sure they'll be able to
11:37 am
pay their rent next month, next week. yet federal protections against evictions are expiring. first up, though, is this country ready to hold a presidential election during a pandemic? we're voting in just over 100 days. don't go anywhere. i appreciate what makes each person unique. that's why i like liberty mutual. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. almost done. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪
11:38 am
♪ ♪ now is the time to support the places you love. spend 10 dollars or more at a participating small business and get 5 dollars back, up to 10 times with american express. enroll now at shopsmall.com. proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira. proof of less joint pain...
11:39 am
...and clearer skin in psa. humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. humira is proven to help stop further joint damage. want more proof? ask your rheumatologist about humira citrate-free. if you can't afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help.
11:40 am
and t-mobile doesn't just have a bigger network, if you can't afford your medicine, but a better one than ever before, with scam protection built into its core. introducing, scamshield, free from t-mobile. get fewer scam calls. period. with t-mobile's supercharged network, you can say goodbye to annoying scam calls, and feel free to answer your phone again. hello
11:41 am
in just over 100 days, this country will face the next major challenge of the pandemic era, and that is conducting a presidential election in the midst of all this. with a new focus on mail-in ballots, some election officials warn that instead of election night, we could be looking at election week or potentially election month. nbc news correspondent tom costello has more. >> with the prospect of more americans volting from home this fall, new concern that election day could stretch well beyond november 3rd. as the coronavirus sends states
11:42 am
scrambling to offer safe alternatives to voting at the polls. many are now expanding absentee or mail-in voting options. >> if there's a strong absentee ballot preference this time around, it may be election week. >> if recent primaries are any indication, final results could be delayed. key battleground states like wisconsin and michigan, which all nearly put president trump over the top in 2016, saw massive surges in absentee voting this past spring. for some who did go to the polls, long lines like these in wisconsin and in georgia that kept voters waiting hours. and this cautionary tale in new york's 12th congressional district. absentee ballots are still being counted after last month's primary, no winner declared. as of now, 41 states will allow vote by mail in some form this november. eight of those states will mail a ballot application in advance, while seven will automatically send the ballot in the mailbox.
11:43 am
meanwhile, nine states are still requiring an excuse beyond covid-19 concerns to vote abs t absentee. the changes in how we vote, a dramatic shift until now. only five states voted primarily by mail. washington state is one of them. >> results are going to come in much later than people are used to. there's going to be a lot of pressure to know who won and it's going to take time. >> what can states do now to prepare? washington's secretary of state suggests election officials should send out absentee ballot requests early to deal with demand. >> i think nationwide, we're going to be somewhere between maybe as high as 80% to 90% turnout in many states. the sooner you know what that field looks like, the better prepared you're going to be. >> officials are also urging state legislators to change laws to allow the processing and verifying of ballots in advance so they can count and report results faster on election night. also, election administrators say voters need to educate
11:44 am
themselves about how the process will work in their state to prepare. all of this as president trump is stepping up his effort to discredit mail-in voting as vulnerable to fraud. ramping up attacks on twitter and on television. >> i think mail-in voting is going to rig the election. i really do. >> but there is no evidence of widespread fraud, according to multiple studies. republican tom ridge. >> there's not widespread fraud. there hasn't been widespread fraud, and with the right collaboration with the state locals, there won't be widespread fraud. game, set, match. >> also at play, some experts fear the election outcome could be headed for the courts. both republican and democratic national committees are pledging millions for legal challenges, as well as planning to deploy lawyers across the u.s. to monitor poll sites. all of it seting the stage for a presidential election unlike any other. >> our thanks to tom costello for that report. and joining me now is john nolan, who served as deputy post
11:45 am
master general from 2002 to 2005. thank you for joining us. one of the things tom didn't totally touch on in the piece is the ability of the postal service, the usps, to deliver mail on time. are you confident given the surge in the number of ballots that are going to be sent out, that all of those ballots, if sent with the proper time beforehand, are going to be able to make it back and then be counted? >> yeah, the least of the concerns with mail-in voting is with the postal service. this is -- their business is handling mail, and the postal service handles over half a billion pieces of mail a day. so they know what they're doing. they've got capacity. they have got transportation, so the key with the postal service and with the mail voting is really before and after it
11:46 am
leaves or comes back to the postal service. because the postal service knows what they're doing. they have done this before in states. they handle incredible volumes of mail every day. they're ready. >> respectfully, sir, the postal service has had its funding cut, and even on their own website, when it comes to election mail, they have this disclaimer. they say that they cannot guarantee a specific deliver date. i'll read it to you, most domestic first-class mail is delivered in two to five days. most domestic marketing mail is delivered in three to ten days. however, the postal service cannot guarantee a specific delivery date or alter standards to comport with individual state election laws. that's concerning, no? >> first-class mail within a state is normally delivered within one to three days. while there certainly is a tail
11:47 am
on some mail for a variety of reasons, it's minuscule. the postal service's performance has been outstanding, and while there certainly are situations where a piece of mail can be delayed, the fact is that almost all of it would be delivered within one to three days within state. >> you say almost all of it, and that's where i think people have the hair on the back of their neck stand up, because almost all of it is not all of it. and when you're looking at a very close election, there are not that many ballots that don't get counted that might sway the election one way or another. 1%, 2%, 3% of ballots that are sent in is actually a lot of ballots, and in some specific counties or some states, that could mean a joe biden or donald trump or in the 2016, could have potentially meant hillary clinton or donald trump. >> but you're talking about an
11:48 am
infinitesimal amount of mail that could be delayed. the postal service performance within its service standards is probably close to 98%, 99%, and we're not talking about days and weeks after that for the remainder to be delivered. within a post office, and especially the way they design these mailing envelopes, it stands out. you just don't see it hidden. >> but even one ballot that doesn't make it there on time through no fault of their own, and npr did an analysis in the 2020 primary, 63 mail-in ballots have been rejected because they arrived late through no fault of the sender. if you're going to take that into consideration and even say it is infinitousmale small, what is the advice you would give to somebody who is going to mail in
11:49 am
their ballot? should they make sure they get the ballot earlier, make sure they have even more time to send it back so they're doing it with at least two weeks before? >> my recommendation is in each of the states that are mailing out these ballots, that they get it to the voters in plenty of time, and that the voters, i think mailing it back a week in advance would be a good idea. that way any potential problems that could occur, flat tires or whatever, that could delay mail by a day, would not come into play. but again, the postal service delivers an incredible percentage of this mail within service standards, and they have got the capacity. but yeah, i would recommend that people mail it back early. >> take extra time. it's worth it. john nolan, thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate it, sir. >> my pleasure. and federal protections against evictions are set to
11:50 am
11:51 am
11:52 am
11:53 am
announced that customers will have to wear masks nationwide inside their restaurants. chipotle's mask requirement is effective today and signs have been put up at restaurants to let people know about the policy. mcdonald's mask mandate for its 14,000 locations will begin august 1st. the company says it will also be pausing dining room reopenings for an additional 30 days to "create even safer conditions for our employees and customers." a potential catastrophe could be just around the corner for an estimated 100 million renters around the country. tomorrow the federal pause on evictions on the 12 million rental units backed by some form of federal financing expires. and while many cities and states passed their own moratoriums, many of those have either already expired or are set to expire soon. according to the census bureau's most recent household survey, nearly 1 in 5 renters, about 14
11:54 am
million people delayed or have not made payments for the last month. as for next month, more than 9 million renters have no confidence in their ability to pay, and another 14 million were only slightly confident that they could. the joining me now from tulsa, oklahoma is nbc news correspondent david gura. what can you tell us? >> evictions have continued in this community for those properties not covered by the c.a.r.e.s. act. we are in new terrain here. the protections you just mentioned a moment ago, they're in the c.a.r.e.s. act, they apply to units where tenants are receiving subsidies like section 8, where people have federal mortgages. in this community in particular it's worrisome. there are no local protections here in tulsa, there are no state protections in oklahoma. all they have are the federal protections which are scheduled to expire tomorrow.
11:55 am
there's real concern here as 32,222 units in this community are protected by the c.a.r.e.s. act at this point in time. so there's potential for thousands of people to be out of their homes by august. that can expire tomorrow. people could be evicted as soon as august 24th. just about a month from now. i sat down with eric howlett, he is with legal aid of oklahoma, and i asked who is fearing right now that they could lose their homes. >> it is a wide spectrum of people. surprisingly it's a lot of people who have never experienced financial difficulty in this way. sure we have a lot of people who were living paycheck to paycheck, those people are devastated by the situation. but we have a lot of people who, you know, have always been financially responsible and able to take care of their families on their own who suddenly find themselves just hopeless and helpless to do anything about this situation.
11:56 am
>> this is a community that had an eviction crisis before covid-19 hit. a lot of this will take place in the building behind me. they moved from the regular courthouse to this one so tenants can be socially distanced. what eric told me and what many other local policymakers told me is there's a disparity when people get into that courtroom. a tenant is not required to have a lawyer, most of them don't. most of the landlords do. so they're automatically at a disadvantage. and i'll close with this, 0.7% of those who come here to fight their case end up winning their case. >> really interesting. david, thank you very much for bringing us all of that information and that report. it is a catastrophe waiting to happen. and that will do it for me today. if you're going outside, if you're interacting with people, you can't socially distance, please wear a mask. if you're staying inside, brian williams and nicolle wallace pick up our coverage after a short break. tant.
11:57 am
we walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. - we've both been taking prevagen for a little more than 11 years now. after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didn't notice before. - it's still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.
11:58 am
no matter what challenges life throws at you, we're always here to help with fast response and great service and it doesn't stop there we're also here to help look ahead that's why we're helping members catch up by spreading any missed usaa insurance payments over the next twelve months so you can keep more cash in your pockets for when it matters most and that's just one of the many ways we're here to help the military community find out more at usaa.com so when it comes to screening for colon cancer, don't wait. because when caught early, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard.
11:59 am
i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'm on it. that's a step in the right direction.
12:00 pm
good day, brian williams with you here on a friday afternoon, 3:00 on the east, 12:00 out west. nicolle wallace will be along with us in a moment. first the headlines and the facts as we know them at the top of this hour. for the third day of the row the coronavirus took the lives of over 1,000 of our fellow citizens yesterday bringing the death toll to nearly 146,000
107 Views
1 Favorite
IN COLLECTIONS
MSNBC WestUploaded by TV Archive on
![](http://athena.archive.org/0.gif?kind=track_js&track_js_case=control&cache_bust=1286838266)