♪ welcome to friday. it is "meet the press" daily, i'm chuck todd. we're following crises facing this presidency and now this democracy. as this day unfolded we're reminded that every one of crises might be worse than we thought. 154,000 deaths into the pandemic and public health officials today testified there is no end in sight.

they also made it clear that we still do not seem to have a national strategy to combat and contain this virus beyond hoping for a vaccine. as dr. fauci suggested in testimony today, we never really had one to begin with. >> would you agree with me that the critical difference is either the presence or the absence of social cohesion and political leadership to actually develop a plan, execute it and stick to it? >> i think that with such a diverse of response in this country from different states that we really did not have a unified bringing everything down. >> at the same hearing the nation's testing czar said that we still don't have the testing capacity we need due to testing delays. >> would it be possible for our nation to have results for all covid tests completed and returned within 48 and 72 hours? is that a possible benchmark that we can achieve?

>> it is not a possible benchmark we can achieve today given the demand and the supply. it is absolutely a bench mark we can achieve moving forward. >> tens of millions are about to lose unemployment benefits due to an impasse on capitol hill and the president would not say what he wants in a deal when he spoke to reporters today. >> are you going to spell out exactly what you want right now -- >> -- what i want is our people to be able to live and live well because it wasn't their fault that china brought in this pandemic, that china brought in this plague. it's china's fault. china should be paying for it and maybe they will. maybe they will. you'll watch. you'll watch. >> and to cap it off, with just 95 days to go, the president right now seems to be fixated on attacking the legitimacy of this upcoming presidential election and his campaign admits the

current strategy is not working and warning that our election infrastructure could not handle a surge of mail-in voting. watch some of this exchange he had today with peter alexander because the president seemed a lot less interested in addressing the issue and more about sowing doubts that he thinks it a foregoon conclusion. >> mr. president, we heard yesterday your frustrations about how long it will take to count the ballots. why aren't you spending more energy to get the resources and the funding for the states to secure this election for all americans. >> peter, you know nothing about my energy. >> what are you doing specifically. >> you know nothing about what i'm doing. >> what are you doing? >> listen, you know nothing about what i do. everyone knows mail-in ballots are a disaster. they think they're going to send hundreds of millions of ballots all over the united states and it's going to come out. and maybe never know the

election result and that is what i'm concerned it. it will be fixed, it will be rigged. people ought to get smart. this is going to be the greatest election disaster in history. this will be catastrophic for our nation and you'll see it. i'm always right about things like this. i guess i must be. i wouldn't be sitting here. >> what would he be saying if he were leading in thes right now. ask yourself that question. joining me now shannon pettypiece, jake sherman from politico and analyst and ann geren from "the washington post" and a msnbc contributor. if yesterday we saw a president that seems almost a bit defeated by the virus, he came out there and he was sort of -- you could see, speaking of energy, he was a bit low energy. today that was an angry president. we've heard more angry rhetoric. i mean, is he this convinced he's losing and that is why he wants to do this to the election

itself? >> reporter: you know, i feel like i got a little bit of insight in the past couple of hours into the persistent attack on mail-in voting. i was just talking to someone on the campaign who is talking about a broader strategy to focus on these early voting states, that there has been this realization, at least a big emphasis, on the fact that the election doesn't start on november 3rd. it starts now. and when you talk about mail-in ballots, that is part of it. people being able to mail in ballots, some weeks before election day. they don't mail in on election day and there is a big concern they haven't put enough focus on the early voting states and that is where the shift is going to be with the ad buy and the ground ga ground game and that is under the new manager. so the attacks on mail-in voting and now think about this campaign strategy, i'm starting to see the two pieces align here, chuck. >> that is interesting. and geren, i want to play

something the president just said not long ago while in tampa. and, look, he uses dehumanizing rhetoric quite a bit on twitter but this felt like another level. take a listen. >> when you had a democrat run city, you have a city with problems. if joe biden is elected president, the chaos and blood shed will spread to every community in our land. you'll have a portland everywhere. in joe biden's america, you and your family will never be safe, riots and criminals will be totally protected, law-abiding citizens will be totally disarmed and american families will be at the mercy of the violent left-wing mob that you've been watching on television. >> the imagery he's painting and i know we get numb to the president's rhetoric, but, my word, this to me is part of the problem in our politics, we dehumanize the other size, that you don't disagree, you've got to destroy them, you've got to

kick them out of the country, this or that. this is the sitting president of the united states speaking about fellow americans this way. painting this imagery that ironically, ann, is taking place in trump's america right now, not biden's america. >> right. chuck, the president was giving a particularly apocalyptic version of what really has emerged as one of his main campaign arguments which is you will not be safe in a joe biden america. but what he's doing is scaring people about something that is happening right now. and it bears mention that liberal democrats have run cities in america for decades. and we've not had the kind of clashes and the kind of violence and really disturbing things that have happened on the streets of american cities very

often and now we've had four months of it. and many of those conflicts were brought on by the fact that the federal government instigated it in one way or another, from lafayette square to portland. >> i mean he seems to be counting on people only watching this through the prism of his favorite cable channel which clery picks rather than seeing what is before their eyes. jake sherman, i'm curious about sort of the view on capitol hill among republicans in particular. because i feel like a lot of times the republican party that is left on capitol hill, if anybody speaks for them at times, it is the "wall street journal" editorial board page and i thought it was fascinating that the "wall street journal" said have you thought about quitting. let me read what they wrote. it is not to suggest that the november election will be rigged as mr. trump asserts but if he believes that he should reconsider his participation and let someone run who isn't

looking for an excuse to blame for defeat. the "wall street journal" editorial board, it is more of a senate republican party, it speaks more for that wing of the party and not trump. are they speaking for that wing? >> well, you know, chuck, they used to call it the paul street journal for paul ryan so you could tell where they used to be aligned. the wall street journal editorial board has taken a series of positions recently that do reflect the broad consensus on capitol hill. they took a position against the president's negotiating tactic in the covid relief package where he's just a completely absent figure in this package. and yes, he said two things this week that were pretty stunning. he has slammed absentee balloting which senate republicans say this is a guy who we count on to turn people out to the voting booths and he's not doing that. that is number one. number two, that he said he

wanted to change the election. senate republicans, house republicans, basically everyone with an election certificate besides donald trump said that was ridiculous. so, i mean, this is the story of his presidency in many ways. the elects officials coming out against him when he says more outlandish things and we saw that again this week. >> let me follow up with both you and shannon here a second. so, jake, this morning, you reported that the white house offered an extension of four months of the unemployment benefits with the eviction moratorium, for the full $600 and the democrats seemed to say, no, no, no, they made a one week offer. >> yeah. >> i know you're standing by your reporting. have you gotten any clarification all day. i have to tell you this, if the white house did offer that, i don't understand why they're not tripling down on it today. they don't seem to be. >> well, it is interesting. reporters heard that that reporting was wrong.

one refer that never heard that being wrong is me. so i have no reason to not stand by it and my sources stand by it and it is absolutely the truth. the white house yesterday came out in favor of $600, which a time undetermined. listen, here is the reality, republicans right now are desperate to get some sort of resolution on unemployment insurance and democrats know that and that is why democrats hold all of the cards. the most amazing thing, chuck, if we look back to the obama administration, the president is just completely absent here. he's not calling the principals down to the white house for a meeting. this is a relatively straight federal negotiation. and we're just seeing no resolution from the president, no resolution from any side. and we've already gone over this proverbial cliff. this is real for a lot of americans who have been receiving enhanced unemployment and just one more note here, chuck, tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. nancy pelosi is hosting another meeting in the capitol in her office in person. so important to keep that in

mind, too. >> shannon, today did you get any clarification? i mean, i was stunned at how sort of that there was nor ambiguity, if it was possible today. >> reporter: yeah. i think there is negotiating going on through the press. so i don't know. i've been through this enough time, at this point you can't believe anything that anyone is saying because they're saying things to try to put pressure and leverage the other side. but it does seem there is a genuine sense in the white house that they're not going to be getting a deal done in time soon. now does that mean by the end of the day or over the weekend or monday? it is hard to tell. but there is some pessimism about getting a deal done and jake is correct about the president being ab sent for this and his attention is not focused on getting this deal done. it is on many other things, it is on crime, it is on mail-in voting, it is not on $600 a week unemployment. >> well, if there is one other thing they don't seem to be

straight on, ann geren, it is a message for the re-election. i think in a remarkable sort of admitting it publicly, yes, we're retooling, we're pulling ourard our -- pulling our ads, and they're also scrambling for that and do you have a better idea of what the message is going to be out of the campaign? >> not really. because they haven't put out a replacement message for the one campaign ads that they've now taken down. it is obviously not a good look to go dark on campaign ads, poll advertising. at least for a few days. we don't know exactly for how long. with fewer than 100 days to go to the election. i think the argument that the president was making and the clip that you played a little bit earlier remains the main rationale. it is law and order, you'll be

safe with me, you won't be safe with the other guy. but of course, the president himself undercuts that routinely. what we do see from the campaign is an effort to reboot a bit. i think of this more as a re-set button than a panic button. but the new campaign manager is essentially trying to show value and show difference from the old one. you have a new guy and he has to come in and clean house and change things around or otherwise it looks like the same old same old. so it is not surprising that he made some changes. and it seems that the advertise that you broke last night seemed like a major one. but it is mentioned that donald trump tried to do the same thing in 2016. paul manafort was supposed to come in and install a more disciplined rigorous campaign and get things back on track and now he's doing it went good sepien. >> jake sherman, do house and senate republicans want to run on this same law and order

message or do they want to run on a slightly different message having to do with fiscal issue? >> well, i haven't seen many senate republicans run on this law and order message. frankly there are very few house republicans, because they've been wiped out in the house, there are very few in competitive messages. cory gardner is running ads about an outdoor bill he did. they might do it in some places but the fiscal matters, the stimulus to the economy, i think that is what they're running on in the immediate. and who knows where this could go. they could split with him in a dramatic way if this goes south. but everyone republican in the senate is becoming more and more bear is about their prospects in 95 days that is remarkable and stunning to me. >> it does feel like it is every republican for themselves now.

and and it begins with the guy running for re-election and that does feel like that is what we're seeing right now. thank you all for getting us started. up ahead, we're going to get into some detail on this stuff as the president attacks the legal voting process and trying to sow doubts about the legitimacy of our election. we'll going to fact check his voter mail fraud claims and i'll talk about the real concern when it comes to mail-in ballots. we have just got word that ruth bader ginsburg was just released from the hospital. a spokesperson said she's home and doing well. on said she's hoe and doing well i'm greg, i'm 68 years old.

i do motivational speaking in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

an army family who is always at the ready. so when they got a little surprise... two!? ...they didn't panic. they got a bigger car for their soon-to-be-bigger family. after shopping around for insurance, they called usaa - who helped find the right coverage for them and even some much-needed savings. that was the easy part. usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it- easy. usawelcome to campmade the wtonsafun on xfinity! it- it's summer camp, but in your living room. learn how to draw with a minions expert... how to build an indoor obstacle course! plus... whatever she's doing. and me, jade catta-preta. the host of e's the soup! camp tonsafun. it's like summer camp,

but minus the poison ivy. unless you own poison ivy. in which case, why? just say "summer camp" into your xfinity voice remote to join. wb. as we mentioned, president trump renewed his opposition to mail-in ballots claiming it will lead to a rigged election. but he's still for absentee ballots. but the distinction is very

difficult to make there. he said the country is not prepared to handle the millions of mail-in ballots that will likely be cast this november. >> why not commit to putting in resources -- >> oh, we're putting in all of the resources, you can. but as a couple of radical left people said, you know, who actually agree with me, they said no matter what you do, we're not prepared for this. they're not prepared for an an slaut of millions of ballots. they're not prepared. they're not prepared. you watch. they're not going to announce anything on november 3rd. they're not going to announce on the 4th or the 5th or the 6:00th. it will go on forever. >> in a moment we'll address the issues facing election that could be conducted by mail but first let's dive into the efforts to sow doubts about the legitimacy of this election. with me is trevor potter, from the federal election commission, former general council to john mccain and i have' feel he's going to be very busy as the

campaigns sue each other and we look to expertise to figure out what is going on. trevor, it is good to see you. let me start with there is a lot of the president's allies cherry picking some stats to try to create more doubt about mail-in voting. let me play something that the press secretary said. take a listen. >> always a mail-in ballot system, mass mailout ballots are more at risk at fraud. look at l.a. county where 112% of l.a. county is registered. >> that means you have 12% of excess ballots floating around that are, we know, at least 12% that are not accurate ballots that were mailed out. this is a very basic concept and it is one that the media has done a very good job reporting on. >> so, 112% of ballots get mailed out. to me it sounds like a lot of people move in and out of l.a.

how much of it is that? how normal is something like this? >> well, it is -- you're absolutely right. what the press secretary is saying is that you have people who moved, you have people who died, and when people move they tend not to go and stop on their way out of town and tell the voter register that they're leaving. they register in their new place and it takes a while for it to catch up. but that has nothing to do with whether there is going to be fraud in the election. because what happens is, in los angeles, which is one of the few states that mails every registered voter a ballot automatically, when that happens, if it's nondeliverable, it is returned to the election office. if it is delivered, let's say to the apartment of the next tenant gets it, it doesn't matter because only the registered voter could actually vote that

absentee ballot. they have to provide identification when they're voting that ballot, they're signature, on the envelope, sometimes a social security number, the ballots are often bar coded by the state so they know who it is supposed to be from and when it comes back, then the state looks at it to make sure that the signature matches the one on the file and the registered voter is still registered. so having excess ballots, quote, floating around is what happens in every state in the sense that not everybody is still there and so those ballots aren't voted. and if for some reason they get grabbed out of a mailbox and somebody tries to vote them, then they are stopped when the signature is compared and the state reaches out to say to the real voter, did you vote this. >> let's take a look at the state of oregon. they have been all mail

basically since i think they started in 1995 and it took off around that. the instances of voter fraud in oregon are what, very minuscule. what safeguards do they have that made that system, and i think it is been duplicated, what made that system work in your mind. >> there are now five states that do all -- basically all mail which is the primary way of voting. people register, they receive the ballot in the mail at home, they fill it out, as i've said, they put a signature on it, the state then return it to the state and oregon, washington, colorado, utah, a very red state, are the four that have been doing it, hawaii has just shifted to mail. and in those places, they're ballot is received by the election officials and it is compared to the records before it is accepted. they have the option, interestingly, of not putting it

back in the mail. they can drop it off in lock boxes or at government offices, slots in the outside of government buildings. and a number of people do that. so they have a very efficient system. colorado has a way that online you can track your ballot and see that it has been received and see that it has been accepted by government. so you talk to people in those states, election officials, secretaries of state, of both parties, and they say that is a great way of voting and very secure. >> i love theoid of tracking your ballot. that is fantastic. last question for you, simply this. absentee balloting, absentee voting verse you mail-in voting. the president insists there is a difference. other than a request versus getting it automatically until the mail, do you see a difference? >> first, i don't. both of them use the mail to deliver the ballots.

but i think the interesting thing here is the president is now saying he's fine with absentee balloting, it is universal mail-in voting that he objects to. so almost the entire country this year will have absentee voting, not the universal voting he's objecting to. california is the only state that is going to send an actual ballot to every registered voter, and by the way only to registered voters, with this security procedures we're talking about, and every other state is doing the absentee that the president said is okay. they're going to give voters the option of voting absentee, some of them are going to send them applications for absentee ballots. but nobody is going to be sending out what the president calls universal mail voting to everyone in the state. california will do it only to registered voters, everyone else is going to do it the way the president said he likes, which is an absentee ballot that people ask for and then receive

at home and on the record there is that those are exceedingly secure and carefully checked by the states when they come in. >> i know. trevor potter, really appreciate you coming on and sharing your expertise. i have a theory of why the president has it in his head that mail-in balloting is bad and it goes to the state of florida. he won election day voters by 10 points and lost voters who voted before election day by ten points and he can't seem to shake is that stat out of his head. sometimes the simplest explanations apply there but we'll see. appreciate you coming on. i have a feeling you'll be busy this fall. up next, we're going to dig into the real threat when it comes to mail-in ballots during this pandemic. new trump administration policies are creating concerns that the postal service won't able to handle delivery ballots on time. but first the pandemic is delaying one election, in hong kong. the government is putting off the legislative election for

over a year. the vote was set for next month. some hebs of hong kong pro-democracy movement are calling this an attempt to call it election fraud. the white house seems to agree that delaying that election is bad for democracy. we'll be right back. ht back. the coronavirus is wrecking state and local budgets. if the senate doesn't act, it will mean painful cuts to essential public services across america. fewer teachers and nurses, longer response times,

dirtier streets. but some say our states should just go bankrupt. text fund to 237-263 to tell congress to fund our essential public services. afscme is responsible for the content of this ad. right now, there are over a million walmart associates doing their best to keep our nation going. because despite everything that's changed, one thing hasn't and that's our devotion to you and our communities. our priority will always be to keep you and our associates safe, while making sure you can still get the essentials you need. ♪ you can't always stop for a fingerstick.betes with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you don't have to. with a painless, one-second scan

you can check your glucose with a smart phone or reader so you can stay in the moment. no matter where you are or what you're doing. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. you can do it without fingersticks. learn more at freestylelibre.us. all the way out here just for a blurry photo of me. oh, that's a good one. wait, what's that? that's just the low-battery warning. oh, alright. now it's all, "check out my rv," and, "let's go four-wheeling." maybe there's a little part of me that wanted to be seen. well, progressive helps people save when they bundle their home with their outdoor vehicles. so they've got other things to do now, bigfoot. wait, what'd you just call me? bigfoot? ♪ my name is daryl.

welcome back. we just checked some of the unfounded claims, coming from

the president and his staff about the legitimacy of mail-in ballot voting, the safe and security. but just because vote by mail isn't riddled with fraud, the president said there is, more people are set to mail-in in their ballots. a election will rest on the efficiency of the postal service and it is unlikely if the resources are up to the task or if congress will give them the resources they need to do this. new reporting from "the washington post" details how new changes at the postal service, prohibiting over time and sorting mail by hand are causing delays in mail delivery and workers are raising the alarm about the consequences on election. joining me now is mark demonstein and sounding the alarm. i appreciate you coming on. i think a lot of us has been trying to understand, the president has overly invested interest in the business side of the postal service. it used to be about amazon before and now he seems to be

wanting to micromanage, what changes have you seen implemented in the last three months that have made you scratch your head? >> well, most of the changes that made us scratch our head had been implemented in the last few weeks. there is a new post master general who came in and implemented some policies that could do nothing but delay and slow down the mail for the people of this country. and, look, the postal workers are an extremely proud and dedicated group of public servants. that is underscored by the role in the pandemic as front line essential workers connecting the people of the country in these very difficult and challenging times. so anything that slows down the mail is counter to what we believe in is as postal workers. the law said to provide prompt, reliable services and we treat it as if it is our own and now we're told to hold mail back and changes in transportation of mail and when letter carriers

get out to the street to deliver to homes and businesses and that is very troubling to us and we have made our voices clear to the postal service but there is no question about the reports we're hearing from members on the front lines of postal work is mail is backing up and slowing down and we're hearing clients from the customers as well. 91% approval rating, full trust, and the people are going to speak and make sure it is still but most of the changes have been in the last few weeks. the hostility coming from this administration has been on going for last period of time. >> right. is this -- what i'm trying to figure out here, do you understand what they're trying to do? by slowing down the mail, are they hoping to goad amazon into paying morar goad fedex. do you have an idea of the motive behind putting in new

inefficiencies? is it really providing cost savings? >> well, it is interesting. it is not called the united states postal business. that is done for a reason. it is called the united states postal service. and the new pmg comes out of business community. he needs to learn that and understand that quickly. so it is not -- this is not just business decisions, this is about universal service, a small democratic right of the people. we go everywhere, no matter who we are, where we live, from the most remote rural outposts to the urban centers and that is the way it should be. and obviously that is not a normal business model. so the idea of cost savings is just a cover that is going to lead to undermining services and delays services. the question of why, who knows. except it is fair to say that

this administration has a written plan and proposal to privatize, ie, sell the public post office to corporations and we would lose the right to something that belongs to all of us and that sfrs that belongs to all of us. so our concerns are that some of what is going on could be an effort to carry out that agenda. the administration said through a postal task force, we want to reduce service and raise prices which will hurt every consumer in this country and we want to cut workers rights an benefits and we'll hurt the workers and our families an our communities. >> let me ask you this. if you were a voter voting by mail, if you were a voter voting by mail in two months and you're not able -- it seems you're trying to sound the alarm and hoping to get the policies changed by going public with it. if you're unable to change these policies, would you recommend people voting by mail or would you tell them go hand deliver

your ballot and go to your county courthouse or a collection center? >> well, vote by mail and vote at home are two ends, they both get it the same way. you get the ballot in the mail, some people drop it off, some people put it back in the mail. look, i have great confidence in the security of this the system, the dedication of postal workers to protect the privacy of the mail. to be able to track ballots, i think your previous guest dressed if well, that the idea of voter fraud by mail in itself is promoting that, that is a fraud, it is very safe, very secure and it is worked really, really well. what we're concerned about in this moment is the mail is slowed down. it affects everything we do. including the ballots. so the states who run the elections, the postal service doesn't run any election. if the mail doesn't pick up the pace, they'll have to take that into account as they mail ballots and have to leave more

time. i would advocate it would be the post mark rather than when it arrives back. but i think the main thing is to fix it. and congress could really fix this, this week or next week. there is a stimulus package talked about now and your guest talked about it earlier. the house of representatives passed $25 billion appropriated covid emergency relief for the united states postal service. the economic impact of this economic crisis is hitting the post office very hard. and the senate is now taking that up. they certainly took care of private corporations in the cares act to the tune of over $500 billion, it is about time to take care of something that belongs to all of us hit very hard by this economic crisis. and if that relief is there, everything we do will help speed back up the mail and help with this november election and elections beyond. >> all right.

and mark, i appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective on this and your expertise on how all of this works. thank you, sir. >> thank you so much. up ahead. you got it. up ahead, the good, the bad and the ugly, from dr. fauci's testimony on capitol hill. how does the world reopen for business? to return to the workplace, safely, companies will need the right tools. that's why salesforce created work.com it's an all-new suite of apps, expertise, and services. to manage this crisis today, and thrive tomorrow. everything companies need to return to the workplace. let's reopen. safely.

(groans) hmph... (food grunting menacingly) when the food you love doesn't love you back, stay smooth and fight heartburn fast with tums smoothies. ♪ tum tum-tum tum tums

welcome back. in his testimony before the house select sub kbhcommittee, fauci indicated that the piecemeal and patch work is why the countries have had more success than we did at containing the virus. and the testing czar admitted that it is not possible to get coronavirus tests back as quickly as public health officials say necessary. and dr. fauci testified that long testing delays could make them essentially useless. one piece of good news, dr. fauci suggested optimism that a

vaccine will be available sooner than thought. joining me now, from albert medical school, dr. rainy, it is good to see you. it is been a while. let's start wolf blitzer one piece of good news that we heard from dr. fauci. he seems to be cautiously optimistic about the vaccine. he should know more than the rest of us, since you assume nih is monitoring this. as you are as optimistic as most of the medical world is, given there are so many bright minds working on this we'll have something that is vaccine-like in the spring? >> yeah, chuck, the current data is very positive about vaccines. certainly i defer to dr. collins and dr. fauci on the inside of the nih but it is very promising for a vaccine making it through a phase three trial and manufactured by early 2021. so that is not in thafall.

it is winter at best before we get a vaccine. and it is most likely next spring or summer before we have a vaccine in sufficient quantities to be able to really shut down the pandemic across the united states. >> during this pandemic, i think a lot of us think we've become lay experts, if you will, so at this hearing dr. redfield said it is impossible, he acknowledged that we don't know if antibodies do provide immunity. i'm asking as a lay person. if we're not sure if antibodies provide the immunity, then what vaccines are being developed? are they using antibodies or is there some other science behind this? >> yeah, chuck, that is a great question. and it is a complicated one even for those of us in the medical profession. there are two parts to of the immune system response. antibodies are a part of that. but there is another part that is driven by another element of the immune system with t cells

and inate immunity. your antibodies could decrease and you could still maintain a response and it is awfully complex. but the short answer of it is, even if antibodies are not the magic ticket to immunity, a vaccine could prime your body to be able to respond more quickly and fight off that covid-19 virus in a way that prevents you from getting really sick. and that is what we're hoping for. we don't yet know if it is the antibodies themselves or that other complex parts of the immune response that are most effective. >> all right. now let's talk about the testing issue. admiral giroir was asked the magic question, can we get to a point where we could get test results back in no more than 72 hours. are we at a position and he says we're not. we thought we could get there. do you think we could get there at this point or is the virus to widespread for us to get to ramp

up our processing enough to sort of get ahead of this? >> yeah, so, chuck, it is absolutely possible to do the testing in the time period that is needed for us to be able to use those tests in a way that informed our public health response. it is happening in some parts of the country. but it requires a dedicated national strategy to get us the swabs, the reagents, and the access to the lab tests in a way that makes them usable. if you have a test done, ideally you could get the results back at most within 24 hours and it is impossible to have people convinced they need to self-quarantine and it becomes tough to do that contact tracing that is a necessary part of the public health response. i know that we can do it but it requires that national strategy that so many of us have been calling for and that has been up until now largely -- >> when we first talked, i think

it was early april and i believe there was this abbott test, you get a result in 15 minutes to an hour. that testing still exists at the white house. in some places it exists. did you believe -- was it -- were people like myself naive to think that by july we could have had this around the country and done this? is this a defense production act mistake? is there a way we could have had this rapid testing scaled up to a point where we all could have access to it? >> there are a couple of parts. yes, this is a defense production act mistake. yes, we could have scaled up testing to the point where we all have access results to that 24-hour period. so there are mistakes made. but the science is not yet there where we want it to be where we have something like a appreciatipregnancy test. something at home where you spit on a stick and get your results in 10 or 15 minutes.

the science isn't there yet anywhere in the world. there are some initial promising tests out there that we're hoping are getting to get to that point but that is not a fault of the united states and i would say the nih has invested in trying to get the rapid tests through fda clearance. >> doctor megan rainy, it is good to have your expertise on again. good to see you. glav to have you there. and stay safe. >> thank you. you you too. up ahead, another strike in major league baseball season. how all sports are struggling to handle the coronavirus. and don't miss our all new obsessed segment that streams live right now on nbcnews.com and facebook and twitter. this week i'm obsessed with how confederate monuments are being moved and removed. use the #mtpobsessed. we'll be right back.

where can a healthier heart lead you? for people with heart failure taking entresto, it may lead to a world of possibilities. entresto helped people stay alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto.

we live in the mountains so i like to walk. or high blood potassium. 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. welcome back. just moments ago, mlb commissioner is warning the organization that he may have to shut down the league by monday if they don't get virus under control. it seemed to be that he's implying the players are not following proeg well enough.

this news came after today the st. louis cardinals said that two members of their organization tested positive, delaying but not canceling their series with the brewers. that came on the news of the miami marlins, as 17 members of the organization plus two players with the phillies. talking about the return to sports, what virus safety may look like for leagues that have made their return. he is an epidemiologist with a focus on athlete health. i have a lot of questions for you. i want to start with this news with baseball. do you look at this? are you surprised? because the baseball bubble was not necessarily a bubblecoared that we see with the nba. yes? >> yeah. so if we sort of look at the whole scope of things that we see, we see a number of league in the u.s. that opted for bubble plans having a lot of

success from the national women's soccer league, major league soccer, the nba, wnba and the nhl in canada. if we look in some other countries like europe, germany, spain and italy, we're able to bring back there thighest level soccer leagues outside of a bubble with relative safety. you look at us trying to come back with major league baseball, you have one outbreak on the marlins. we don't yet know what's going on on the cardinals but there's reason for concern. and you also saw outbreaks in major league sockers, dallas and nashville that started just before they enter the bubble. so here in the u.s., with the amount of virus we have, it looks like when you try operate with players and staff living at home with their families and communities, that can lead to some cases. >> so it almost seems to rehe sa said, to reinforce the bubble issue. it felt like basketball was easier to put in a bubble because of roster size.

if baseball is struggling with that, what chance does the nfl have? >> well, look. i'm a big football guy, chuck, and i know you're a south florida fan. i want this season to happen more than anything. i am concerned. we've seen the, how fast the virus can move through an mlb locker room. in the nfl, there's a lot more people and a lot more contact. a lot more people means a lot more chances for the virus to work in from the community. a lot more contact means a lot more ability for it to move around. the nfl right now is trying to run mlb's play book with players and staff living at home, doing testing every other day. if that's not enough for major league baseball, i think you have to be very worried that it might not be enough for the nfl. one thing that i've been advocating, what i call home market bubbles. there are so many people in the nfl and so much space that you

need, it would be dill to have one bubble. if you can create little mini bubbles in each home mark and you travel from bubble to bubble, that might be more feasible. >> one quick question. there was a report this week that virus survivors were, there is some indication they were having some heart issues. we know of a boston player complaining of fatigue. i have to think some world class athletes are going to be wondering here, i don't know if i even want a minor case. it can cost me millions in the future. >> that's right. and i think that's exactly the way to think about it. we know that, you know, you can't just look at this virus as you he's die or you're fine. it is only been around in humans for about seven or eight months as far as we know. so if you ask me what happens a year or two years down the road, that is literally not knowledge that exists in the universe. where you and i, chuck, if we get a 5% reduction in our lung capacity or our cardiac capacity, that doesn't really

matter that much. i sit in my chair and i work all day. if i'm an elite athlete, that could be career altering. so they're right to be concerned about even minor long term effects. >> well, the big lesson i got from here, if you really are going to have a bubble, you'd better have it tight and you'd better not stay at hole. i'm with you. i home we see football but i would like to see it safe so they don't have to cancel. thank you, sir. we'll be right back. thank you, r we'll be right back. we made usaa insurance for veterans like liz and mike. an army family who is always at the ready. so when they got a little surprise... two!? ...they didn't panic. they got a bigger car for their soon-to-be-bigger family. after shopping around for insurance, they called usaa - who helped find the right coverage for them and even some much-needed savings. that was the easy part.

usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it- easy. right now, there are over a million walmart associates doing their best to keep our nation going. because despite everything that's changed, one thing hasn't and that's our devotion to you and our communities. our priority will always be to keep you and our associates safe, while making sure you can still get the essentials you need. ♪ the coronavirus is wrecking stif the senate doesn't act, it will mean painful cuts to essential public services across america. fewer teachers and nurses, longer response times, dirtier streets. but some say our states should just go bankrupt.

text fund to 237-263 to tell congress to fund our essential public services. afscme is responsible for the content of this ad. this is xfi this complete from xfinity.ade. you'll get the xfi gateway with advanced security, so your connected devices are also protected. and stay out! plus with unlimited data, you can stream and scroll more than ever. and we'll ensure that you get the most wifi coverage throughout your home. this is xfi complete. simple, easy, awesome. get the security, unlimited daa and wifi coverage you need. plus, xfi customers can add xfi complete for $11 a month. click, call or visit a store today.

welcome to "the beat." we have new reporting on jared kushner's covid policy problems. we have a special report on joe biden's vp search with a string of new stories breaking well into friday as several contenders jockey for the top spot on increasingly shrinking list. and later tonight, the oscar winner louis gossett jr. joins us with our friend claire m