just threw alabama in there again. alabama is nowhere near the projected cone as of tonight. so be an educated consumer. if you see this, if you see a kind of sharpie protuberance adding alabama to this storm, it means in plain english somebody thinks you're stupid. stay with us for storm updates all weekend long. please have a safe and healthy weekend. that is our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. thank you so very much for being here with us. on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. right after donald trump was elect elected the 45th president of the united states, one of the very first signs we were in for a presidency that would not be like any of the previous 44, one of the very first signs of how the president-elect decided to

spend the period between his election and inauguration. he held a whole bunch of campaign-style rallies. now, this was something that literally no president-elect had ever done before in the run-up to his inauguration because if you've just been elected president of the united states, especially for the first time, there's just too much to do. there are tons of vital briefings. you have to staff the whole federal government. you have to, you know, plan how to govern. but this president-elect, he held a whole bunch of self-congratulatory rallies in which he relived the glory of election night over and over. he bragged about his victory, attacked all the politicians he had beaten and all the media who said had done him wrong -- who he said had done him wrong. it was simply unlike anything that this country had ever seen before. this is how "the new york times" reported on his first rally 3 1/2 weeks after the election. quote, kicking off what was billed as a thank-you tour, mr. trump was incendiary and prideful, hopeful and indicting, event jful and determined.

his staff said the rally was the first of several he will hold before his inauguration next month. his tour is an unusual move for a president-elect, most of whom do not return so quickly to the campaign trail, especially while cabinet positions remain unfilled. so the whole idea of this thank you tour is classic donald trump. was the tour so that he could thank his voters, or was it so they could thank him? i don't know, but in any case, the tour was very clearly only for his voters. part of how you could tell is he only traveled to states that he won. the first rally was in ohio. then there was another in north carolina. then he brought the tour to louisiana, and he did it all again in alabama. the president-elect spent his whole transition celebrating with only the people who voted for him. there was scarcely even lip service to the idea of being president-elect of the whole country, of all its people. it was actually the opposite. now, predictably this became a theme of his presidency. when the "l.a. times" mapped all

of the rallies trump held in his first year and a half or so in office, the paper found that, quote, charting his stops yields a map that reflects his base, mostly red states and rural communities, a base that he hasn't tried to expand upon. and the president hasn't just rewarded his supporters with rallies. a few months into the trump presidency, "the washington post" ran this headline. quote, trump and republicans bolster red states, punish blue. since gaining control of washington, president trump and republicans in congress have pushed an array of policies that tend to punish states that voted democratic in last year's presidential election, end quote. the "christian science monitor" was even more blunt. quote, president trump's major policy moves over the course of his first year in office have had a common denominator. they either overtly favor his base of support, the roughly one-third of voters who solidly back him, or they appear to penalize those states that vote democratic. republicans say it stands to reason that trump-era policies would favor his own party.

to the winners go the spoils. all right, sure. all the administrations that we know about push policies favor the by their own party. but when a presidency operates primarily on that premise, it can only struggle when the need actually arises for a national response to something. last month nbc news reported that the president's advisers were having trouble getting him to focus on any kind of response to the nationwide protests over the killing of george floyd. quote, these aren't my voters, the president has said repeatedly, dismissing protesters in discussion with aides about how to respond. in one tense meeting about how to respond to the unrest, trump lamented that none of the protesters had voted for him. and this week when "the washington post" went searching for answers as to why the president had not tried harder to tackle the coronavirus epidemic, one answer they found is that president trump may not believe the virus is affecting people who matter to him. quote, some aides and outside advisers have tried to stress to trump and others in his orbit that before he could move on to

reopening the economy and getting the country back to work and life, he needed to grapple with the reality of the virus. but until recently, the president was largely unreceptive to that message, they said, not fully grasping the magnitude of the pandemic and overly preoccupied with his own sense of grievance, beginning many conversations casting himself as the blameless victim of the crisis. in the past couple of weeks, senior advisers began presenting trump with maps and data showing spieb spikes in coronavirus cases among, quote, our people in republican states, end quote. and now we've got a new report suggesting that that world view in the trump white house, that there are our people and there's everybody else, that may have played a part in the deep-sixing of an actual white house attempt at a unified national response to the coronavirus outbreak. there's been reporting over the last few months about a white house task force that was run by presidential son-in-law jared kushner. the task force was supposed to

solve the shortage of covid-19 testing in the united states but was woefully unprepared for that task in part because it was run by a guy whose leading qualification is being donald trump's son-in-law. but a new report from katherine evenen at "vanity fair" gives a different view. quote, six months into the pandemic, the united states continues to suffer the worst outbreak of covid-19 in the developed world. considerable blame belongs to a federal response that off-loaded expense for the crucial task of testing to the states. the irony is that after assembling the team that came up with an aggressive and ambitious national testing plan, jared kushner then appears to have decided, for reasons that remain murky, to scrap its proposal. the plan, though imperfect, was a starting point. but no nationally coordinated testing strategy was ever announced. the plan, according to one participant, just went poof into thin air. among the reasons, quote, most

troubling of all perhaps was a sentiment a member of kushner's team reportedly expressed that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. let that sink in for a second. one public health expert in frequent contact with the white house told "vanity fair," quote, the political folks believe that because it was going to be relegated to democratic states, that they could blame those governors and that would be an effective political strategy, end quote. for the record, the white house says the premise of the "vanity fair" article is completely false, but now here we are in the middle of the worst coronavirus epidemic in the world by a mile. as of tonight, coronavirus has killed over 154,000 americans. the state of florida has just hit a record number of covid deaths for the fourth day in a row. mississippi hit a record number of deaths for the second day in a row. georgia is reopening a makeshift medical center for coronavirus patients at one of the largest

convention centers in the country next week. alabama, not only are covid deaths already surging past the number of flu deaths they usually have in an entire year, one county has seen twice as many deaths from coronavirus as it has from the flu in the last ten years combined. according to a document obtained by yahoo! news this evening, the centers for disease control and prevention is forecasting that the national death toll could pass 180,000 in three weeks. the coronavirus model that the white house used to use because it used to have the lowest death toll projections, well today it updated to project 230,000 dead by november though it says that a national universal mask mandate could bring that number down substantially. today the house special committee on the coronavirus crisis heard from the government's top infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci, and the head of the cdc, and the admiral who is the white house's point person on coronavirus testing. committee chairman jim clyburn brought a chart.

he asked why there are so many more daily cases in the united states than in europe. why are we doing so much worse at this than other countries? the committee zeroed in on two things -- a lack of a national response and a deluge of misinformation from the president and his allies. here was congressman clyburn's colleague, jamie raskin. >> is covid-19 going to magically disappear, dr. fauci? >> i do not believe it would disappear because it's such a highly transmissible virus. it is unlikely that it's going to disappear. >> does wearing a mask give people covid-19? >> does wearing a mask give it? no, not to my knowledge. >> okay. all right. is covid-19 a hoax? >> no. should people take hydroxychloroquine as a cure for covid-19? >> the overwhelming cumulative evidence of properly conducted randomized control trials indicate no therapeutic efficacy

for hydroxychloroquine. >> can people cure themselves of covid-19 by injecting themselves with disinfectant or bleach? >> no. >> i'm sorry? >> no. >> do we have the financial resources and the scientific expertise in america to do what other governments have done to bring the infection rate down to something manageable so the end is in sight of this nightmare? >> i believe we do have the tools and certainly there's been a considerable degree of financial investment. >> so what is the difference? why are all of the other countries defeating the disease and we're not? why do we not have a plan, a strategy for victory to win, to beat covid-19? >> when you look at the comparison between asia and europe as is shown by the chairman's poster up there, that when they shut down, they shut down to the tune of about 95%, getting their baseline to tens of hundreds of cases per day whereas when we did it, we got

it down, but unfortunately o our -- >> so would you agree the critical difference is the absence of social cohesion and political leadership to actually develop a plan, execute it, and tick to it? >> i think that with such a diversity of response in this country from different states, that we really did not have a unified bringing everything down. >> no unified action, a lack of a national response from the president, who may not see doing so as his job. joining me now, congressman james clyburn of south carolina, the third ranking democrat in the united states house of representatives. he currently serves as the chairman of that committee, whose proceedings we were just watching. it is the house select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis. congressman, thank you so much for making time to be with us tonight. i don't know if you know this because you were busy conducting a hearing, but in the midst of it, the president of the united states tweeted at you and said, somebody please tell congressman clyburn, who doesn't have a clue, that the chart he put up

indicating more cases for the u.s. than europe is because we do much more testing than any other country in the world. if we had no testing or bad testing, we would show very few cases. i don't actually have a question attached to that, sir, because i don't really know what the question would be, so i just put it to you, sir. >> well, thank you very much. thanks for having me. you know, i am aware of that. i'm glad that the president is paying attention. and if he is, i would hope he's absorbing what three of the experts who are connected with his administration that are on the task force, if he would pay attention to what they were saying and act upon it, i think we can start developing a national plan. the problem here is we have a president who saw one person, then 15 people, and then said

they would soon go away magically. that's what he's still waiting, on some magical intervention to take place. the fact of the matter is we are lacking leadership at a time when we need it most. and the problem here is when they said -- the "vanity fair" article that you referenced earlier. >> yeah. >> we are aware of that article. we are aware of what's behind that article. and the fact of the matter is we are aware that jared kushner came up with a plan back in march, that it went away, and what we understand is that because it was new york and new jersey, both so-called blue states, they didn't think that there was anything that they had to be concerned with because it wasn't their states. the fact of the matter is

tonight it is florida, georgia, alabama, texas, mississippi. need i say more? those are red states, and one thing we have to understand, this virus does not know color. it does not know partisan politics. this virus is something that's affecting american people, and i would hope the president would tune into that and stop playing politics with people's lives. >> congressman, the one thing this virus does seem to know is poverty versus prosperity. it does seep into those places where people live in more concentrated areas, in which they don't have health care, in which they have pre-existing conditions, in which they cannot take time off from work or cannot effectively social distance. and for many millions of those people, tomorrow makes all the difference in the world. the federal boost to unemployment, the up to $600 a week is over. the moratorium on evictions is

over. the prohibition on foreclosures is over as of tomorrow, and there's no deal to replace it. >> well, as you know, the democrats control the house, and we passed a bill, sent it to the senate, and mitch mcconnell laughed at it when we did it. and he has decided that there is no rush here. well, the fact of the matter is there is a rush in the lives of those people who need that $600. there's a rush in the lives of those people who could get ejected from their rental units and people who have mortgages that they aren't going to be able to pay as well as the people who own those rental units. they too are being hurt by this. this administration seems not to be able to look globally at anything. they appeal to their 25% or 30%,

and the rest be damned. >> congressman, i want to ask you very quickly about vice president biden, who has said he will announce his running mate next week. one of the things he said, there are a number of people in the united states who think that his running mate -- we know it's going to be a woman, but who think it should be an african-american woman. when asked about that by joy reid, he said african-americans brought me to the dance, and they will be represented in my administration. well, if african-americans brought him to the dance, you, sir, symbolically were his date right ahead of the south carolina primary. so what's your take on his selection process? >> well, i think the vice president is doing a thorough job of vetting, polling, and i think within the next two or three days, he will come to a conclusion, and we'll find out about it by the end of next week. i like the way he's doing this.

he shouldn't rush into this thing. he said it's going to be a woman. he's got to make sure that it's not a woman that will get into the trap that, say, geraldine ferraro did and sarah palin. we need to make sure that it's somebody that will complement the ticket, somebody that will instill confidence in the american people, and somebody who will be able to step in and be president if need. >> do you believe that that needs to be an african-american woman? >> well, you know, i've said from the beginning it would be a plus for me. i'm the father of three african-american women, and i'm very proud of african-american women. i'm very proud of what they've done for this party and for this country. but i've also said that is not necessarily a must. it is a plus, and i really believe that. what is a must for me is to win this election and put in place

someone to run this country who will provide leadership so that when we have something like this pandemic, we can look to the white house for a coordinated, comprehensive, and compassionate leadership. that is what's lacking today. that's what's a must for me. >> congressman, good to see you. thank you, sir, for being with us. congressman james clyburn of south carolina. he's the third ranking democrat in the house of representatives. thank you, sir, for being with us. coming up, the last of the coronavirus relief checks have been written, so what now happens for americans who aren't back on their feet? we'll have some answers after this. - [narrator] did you just reward yourself

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when the dust from the 2008 financial crisis started to settle, america was hurting. hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes. millions lost their jobs. it was the kind of economic pain that had not been felt in this country since the great depression. in the two years following the collapse of the housing market, the net worth for the vast majority of american households went down. for the lower wage earners in this country, who by the way made up 93% of the american public, the average net worth of those families decreased by an average of 4% over two years. but that's not what happened to all americans.

for the wealthiest americans, who make up just 7% of the country, their net worth went up, way up. in the two years after the financial crash, the net worth for the richest americans increased -- look at this chart -- by 28%. if all the wealth in this country were a pie, the richest people in the country made it out of the other side of the last financial crisis with a bigger slice. same number of people, more wealth because that's what happens in an economic crisis. it exacerbates our economic fault lines, the gap between the rich and the poor gets bigger. inequality gets worse, and now with the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis bearing down on us, we may very well be in the opening days of a repeat performance. tomorrow as we mentioned is the first of the month. rent is due. it will be the first rent check that unemployed americans will have to write without the benefit of the unemployment boost from the federal government. republicans in congress let that

$600 unemployment benefit expire today. 25 million americans had been relying on those benefits to help make ends meet, to help make the rent. but that unemployment boost is now gone. so too is the federal moratorium on evictions for qualifying tenants. congress let that rule slide too. by some estimates, in the absence of eviction protections, up to 40 million americans could be evicted due to the economic fallout of covid-19. one expert actually thinks there could be as many evictions in the month of august as there were in the entire year of 2016. now, put those two pieces together. the loss of the $600 boost and the protection from eviction, and millions of americans, millions of the poorest americans are facing an economic free fall, one that the federal government appears to have no interest in saving them from. the republican-led senate took the day off today. they are adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on monday. while there are some meetings planned, congress will not be working through the weekend to try and stave off this first wave of economic pain.

and even if they were working, even if republicans were treating this like the dire and urgent situation that it is for millions of american families, it's not like an easy fix is on the horizon. republicans remain hopelessly deadlocked on their own recovery bill. their idea to replace the expired $600 unemployment boost could take months to pull off. so what are americans supposed to do in the meantime? joining us now is congressman hakeem jeffries from new york. he's the chair of the house democratic caucus. congressman jeffries, you've been asking this question. thank you for joining us, sir. you tweeted on unemployment insurance. emergency unemployment insurance benefits expire today. senate republicans need to address this critical issue. instead they want blanket liability protection for multinational corporations. get serious, mitch. congressman, you're touching on something that a lot of people don't understand, that there's a real effort in congress to make sure whatever bill comes out of it protects companies more than it protects people. >> well, that is correct.

house democrats passed the heroes act 2 1/2 months ago. we extend emergency unemployment insurance benefits into next year. we provide another round of direct stimulus payments to the american people. we include $175 billion in assistance for tenants who are struggling to pay their rent as well as homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgage and extend the moratorium on evictions. as well, we provide about $1 trillion in assistance to state and local governments in order to make sure that public education, public health, public transportation, public housing, and other public benefits can be continued in the situation where we see state and local budgets are cratering across the country. this is an extraordinary pandemic. rome is burning, and mitch mcconnell and senate republicans are fiddling around doing nothing, trying to enact blanket

liability protection for multinational corporations, to incentivize bad actors not to follow public health protocols in a way that will make the situation worse, not better. >> and in case americans are wondering what you're talking about, the invoking of the defense production act to get the meatpacking plants was exactly this. the president invoked the defense production act so that the meat packers could get their workers back there because there had been a spread of coronavirus amongst meatpacking workers. >> well, that is correct. what we want to do is to strengthen osha standards and workplace protections so that when we are in a position to be able to reopen, we can do so safely as it relates to everyday americans, consumers, and workers. and instead what mitch mcconnell is trying to do is again stand up for the wealthy, the well off, and the well connected, who as you pointed out in your opening are doing extremely

well. in fact, billionaires in this country have gotten more financially secure during the six months of this pandemic while everyday americans are struggling even more. this is extraordinary that senate republicans would leave town once again and do nothing. we are committed to making sure that we remain in washington. senate majority leader steny hoyer and nancy pelosi have made clear we will not have an august recess, period, until we get this done. >> it is kind of remarkable people with good credit and access to capital right now are doing phenomenally well. but i want to just put a map up of the danger of this eviction crisis. the likelihood in a given state of being evicted, of facing eviction. if you look at the really dark blue squares there, it tells an interesting story. the states with the highest likelihood of renter households unable to pay rent and at isk are of eviction is a share of housing, total renter house

holds are west virginia, tennessee, louisiana, mississippi, texas, and florida. this is not even good for republicans. >> well, it's extraordinary. it's one of the reasons why i think president trump's poll numbers are cratering and he's headed for a stunning defeat in november, because the american people see that he has not provided any leadership in the context of this pandemic. he only cares about himself. even the people who he purported to be concerned about, as in those states that you just discussed, they are doing nothing. can you imagine that they put forward a bill that would provide $0 in food assistance, $0 in rent $0 $0 in rent al assistance and at the same time want to spend $2 billion for a new fbi building and tens of billions of dollars for f-35s. house democrats want to feed

america because america is going hungry right now. they want to buy more warplanes. that's the distinction between democrats and republicans in washington right now. >> mitch mcconnell told our reporter the other day he didn't know about the almost $2 billion in there for the fbi building, but that he's got 20 members who think that congress has done enough. congressman, thank you for joining us. it's going to see you again. congressman hakeem jeffries. when we come back, biden's about to fill the blank on a whole lot of buttons and bumper stickers. and voters have an idea of what name they want to see flnext to his. that's next. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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okay. the time has finally arrived. i try to avoid any premature fixation on this but now we've reached that pivotal moment, that shadow contest that you all know and tolerate. it's veepstakes season. democratic presidential candidate joe biden says he will choose his vice presidential running mate next week and

already things are starting to get interesting. we know the former vice president is committed to choosing a woman to join him on the ticket in november. from there, something of a shortlist has emerged including all of the women that you see on your screen here. according to one report from cnn, at least three of the women have been the subject of more serious consideration, including senator kamala harris and former presidential candidate kamala harris. karen bass, the california congresswoman, and susan rice, the former obama administration national security adviser. today the paper of record in california's capital, the sacramento bee, decided to wade into the competition in favor of one home state contender over another. the editorial board of the paper published this op-ed entitled biden will likely pick kamala harris for v.p. here's why karen bass is a better choice. whatever you think about that prediction or that prescription, voters in key states have already made up their minds about what kind of vice presidential candidate they want to see. i spoke with a group of voters in the battleground state of season this wee-- pennsylvania

week. >> we have only two choices at this point. that's why i'm going with joe biden. but i also say i feel joe biden does need an african-american woman vice president. i say that because the state of the nation, i feel like having a woman as a vp will be very important in that stride in healing this country. >> he said, look, i've got four african-american women on my shortlist. but regardless, african-americans, the expression he used is they brought me to the dance, and they will be recognized in this administration, quite possibly with senior positions in the cabinet. would that be satisfactory to you? >> no. my opinion, i want him to select an african-american woman. it's time. >> mary katherine, what do you think about a woman as vice president? >> oh, i'm for a woman being president, you know.

i agree. but what i really am for is the best person for the job, regardless of race, color, gender, sexual orientation. >> joining us now, renee graham, columnist and associate editor at "the boston globe," who's own take on the veepstakes this year is clear from her most recent posting, biden must choose a black woman for vice president. ms. graham, thank you for joining us tonight. it's a pleasure to have you here. tell me about why you wrote this. >> you know, it was getting to the point where it was heating up. more and more people were talking about this. more names were appearing as contenders. and i thought, you know, let's just call it what it is. we know biden is going to choose a woman. he said he would do that in march. so then we had to come down to whom. i just think in this moment, when the country is experiencing so much pain, when the country is looking at race and white supremacy, there is no one better to address that on this ticket than a black woman. >> all of the candidates that we just put up on the screen, the

potential contenders, of those women, they all bring something different. of the african-american women on the list, they also bring different strengths. what do you think about that? in other words, is it the idea that he needs an african-american woman, or within that pool of african-american women who he's closely considering, is there somebody you think is best qualified? >> you know, i think they're all qualified really. i mean, you know, there's not -- he can't go wrong with any of the women he chooses. he can't go wrong with any of the black -- you know, if he chooses a black woman. you know, i do think there are women who seem to have higher profiles, and that can be good. i think there are women who have more progress bona fides, and i think people do want that because they want somebody to balance out biden, who they don't feel is progressive enough. i think that will have a big impact in the way he chooses. he wants someone he can have the relationship with that he had as vice president with president obama. that's what he's looking for, and i think he can't go wrong if

he chooses karen bass or kamala harris or susan rice since those three women seem to be the top contenders right now. >> you wrote that biden's vp decision is an even more heated topic because he's 77 years old, and should he win, might not run for a second term. there's a decent chance that biden's pick will become america's first woman president. that's a remarkable -- i mean it's something we know, but you're putting it into words really makes me see it differently. the woman who he picks as his vice presidential candidate could be the next president of the united states. does that affect how you think about it? >> i think it does. we're talking about the fact that we've never had a woman president before, and that if he chooses a black woman as his running mate, that the first woman president could be a black woman in this nation is extraordinary. and it has been getting a lot of attention because of biden's age, because people have been asking, well, you know, if he wins, you know, he will be the

oldest man to serve as president. that makes a difference in who he chooses as his vice president, especially if he decides not to run for a second term, if he wins in november. that sets that person up. that sets that woman up to be the democratic standard bearer. and to have that be a black woman, again, in this moment -- you know, i constantly think about what congresswoman ayanna pressley from massachusetts often says. those closest to the pain should be closest to the power. and in this country, no one is closer to the power -- is closer to the pain, rather, than black women. it is time. it is overdue, and this is that moment to meet the movement. >> renee graham, it is a plash ta pleasure talking to you tonight. the first woman to be a vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket was geraldine

ferraro in 1984. 36 years later, america still hasn't had a woman vice president, but this could be the election as renee graham told us that changes that. as joe biden closes in on the woman that he'll pick to give it a shot this year, i'll be right here all weekend, serving up everything you need to know about who's on the list and why. i'll talk to some of the key players who might be charged with making it happen, with actually getting joe biden and the first woman vice president in u.s. history elected on november 3rd. so don't miss it. that's tomorrow and sunday from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. on "velshi." we'll be right back. wayfair has everything outdoor

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in the polls are any indication, you probably know which candidate you intend to vote for this year but have you thought about how you're going to cast that ballot? are you going to do it in person or send it in the mail? perhaps you live in one of the five states which already conducts elections entirely by mail. maybe you live in one of the eight states in which fear of getting the coronavirus alone is not considered a valid excuse to

caust a ballot by mail. while you probably ought to start thinking about that in the near future with the election just 94 days away, the time for state governments to start figuring this stuff out is right now. the president likes to say mail-in voting is rife with fraud. he continued that now daily baseless line of attack today, and in case we have not said it enough times, donald trump is absolutely flat-out wrong about that. the statistical evidence tells us that vote by mail fraud is virtually nonexistent. but that are actually issues we should be worried about, namely the logistics of it. in 2016, over 23% of americans, almost one in four, cast their ballot by mail, which i think is a lot. but ramping up from 23% to who knows, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80% this november on account of the virus, obviously change of that magnitude requires serious planning and consideration. concerns are already being raised by u.s. postal workers that cost-cutting by trump's new head of the post office is resulting in days-long backlogs

in delivery time. they say it could put at risk their ability to deliver ballots in time for the election. then there's the fact that most states frankly are not accustomed to handling the expected surge in mail-in ballots. in 2016, in the majority of states, fewer than 10% of voters cast their ballots by mail. it's not that big a deal. many of those states are now rushing to line up the best vendors for printing and distributing paper ballots. they're also amending absentee ballot rules and making plans to hire and train enough workers to count ballots by hands. when you're looking for answers on how to do this, a great place to turn is the states that have already got experience doing this at scale. as election law experts wrote recently in "the washington post," state officials who manage elections with the highest mail voting rates know how to handle these risks. they've identified qualified vendors for printing ballots and envelopes, partnered with the u.s. postal service to deliver them, develop tracking systems so voters can see where their ballots are in the delivery stream and found ways to review signatures and count ballots that reduced the number of

rejected ballots. that's exactly the kind of expertise that states like colorado can bring to the game. the state's been using all mail voting statewide since 2014. i'm pleased to say now that joining us now is the colorado secretary of state jenna griswold. good to see you again. thank you for being with us. i want to be really clear here because i think there are real issues that you understand that we've got to deal with with respect to mail-in voting, virtually none of which have anything to do with fraud. >> well, that is exactly right, ali. thank you for having me on for this very important conversation. i do want to share with you, ali, that my mom is a nurse. she's been working on a covid unit saving lives. and as secretary of state, i want to do the same thing. it's 2020. unlike donald trump, i do not want to force americans to risk their health to cast their ballots, to exercise their most fundamental right. vote by mail is akin to wearing

a mask. it saves lives, and this nation needs vote by mail for all immediately. >> let's talk about the things that you know. i just want to quote from "the washington post" on colorado. as colorado switched to vote by mail, it implemented the first intelligence ballot tracking program. election officials use an intelligent mail bar code that is specific to the voter's envelope. it allows the voter to track the ballot at every step of the process where the ballot is on the way to them, where their ballot went after they dropped it off, similar to how you track a package. as you said, it's 2020. everybody who orders anything online knows that this exists. we can do it for ballots the same we can do for the billions of packages that get shipped around this country every day. >> that's exactly right. look, these are not complicated systems. we're really talking about having people register to vote, sending them a mail ballot, and then having them return it either in the mail at a ballot drop box or even voting in person. what the bigger issue, is that

the president and his allies are trying to use the pandemic to suppress the vote. that includes by lying about vote by mail, by lying about saying that he's going to change the election date or even has the authority to do so, which he absolutely does not. to the attacks on the post office. this is a president who is scared and using any type of tactic to try to suppress the vote to his benefit in november. >> thank you for reminding us that the president is not allowed to delay the election. the president's term will end at noon on january 20th, 2021. "the washington post" article i just talked to you about also said that the postal service is recommending that voters request their ballots at least 15 days before election day and mail their completed ballots at least one week before the due date. there's a certain amount of logistics that people have to understand, so the secretary of states can get it right, and in your state you get it right. but there is some experience that people in colorado have had with this that people in other parts of the country have not.

as i mentioned, there are eight states that wouldn't allow you to vote by mail if you said that you were worried about catching the coronavirus. >> you know, it's just ridiculous, the lengths that folks will go to suppress the vote and expand voter suppression. and i would say colorado has the key. we just set a record turnout even during the pandemic, and that's because the colorado voting model works. it includes in-person voting, early voting, same-day voter registration, and the use of mail ballots. and that policy that you just commented on from the postal service, that's what we do in colorado. we make sure that ballots are sent out about three weeks before election. then about a week, we start telling coloradans no longer return them by the mail because we need to get them by election day. and that's why we have hundreds of mail ballot drop boxes across the state and also why in-person voting is so important. you know, we need vote by mail

for the entire nation. no american should have to risk their health to cast a ballot. also even when we aren't in pandemic times, vote by mail increases participation. we increased our turnout rate by 9%, and that's what i want to see the whole country doing. >> so if we didn't have a president working against this, it would still be a challenge to get all 50 states up to speed in 94 days. who sets this up? who does this? if the president's working against this, we still have to do the preparation necessary. there are states who need to be on the phone with you understanding how do you pick vendors for this? how do you make sure it happens? what kind of tracking software do you use? are we ready for this? >> we can be ready for it. we still have some time to make sure that all americans have their voices heard. and, ali, rest assured all those secretaries have my phone number or can have my phone number. and i've been working with secretaries of state across the nation and our elections

division has also been working with other states to share best practices. but the question of who is ultimately responsible is both the states, but it also should be the federal government. you know, the federal government, congress passed $400 million in election funding. secretaries of state are asking them to increase it. we need to make sure that we're investing in our democracy so that all americans can have their voice heard. and we cannot allow the president to weaponize vote by mail, which is the best way to vote during a pandemic. it allows us to social distance and help stop the spread of covid-19, and we need the entire country to adopt colorado's election model. >> secretary griswold, you speak of it with great passion, and i appreciate you bringing that passion to our viewers. jena griswold is colorado's secretary of state. thank you ask thank you to your mother for the work that she and other health care providers are providing to keep us healthy through this pandemic. coming up next, a judge ruled that michael cohen is allowed to write his tell-all

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michael cohen was sprung from jail for the second time one week ago today. just to catch you up, donald trump's former personal attorney was serving his sentence of three years in prison in otisville, new york, but was released to home confinement because of coronavirus. and then cohen tweeted that he was almost done writing a tell-all book about his time as trump's fixer. shortly after revealing that to the word, he was thrown back in prison. last week cohen won his court fight against attorney general bill barr and the bureau of prisons. a federal judge called what the government did to cohen retaliation and warned the government should not try to take away cohen's first amendment right to write a book and speak to the media about it. the reason you haven't heard a peep from michael cohen is the judge gave them time to come up with an agreement about any

restrictions on his behavior while he is released. yesterday both sides let the judge know they had come to an agreement and as far as they are concerned, the whole issue of speaking to the media is now moot. quote, the parties agree that a specific provision regarding mr. cohen's contact with the media is not necessary. there is, therefore, no need for this court to resolve any further dispute about restrictions on mr. cohen's contact with the media. now, the judge still has to sign off on it. he gave the parties a deadline of today to come to an agreement. so now we are keeping an eye out on the doctor for the moment that michael cohen will be officially unmuzzled. watch this space. that does it for us tonight. i'll see you again tomorrow morning on "velshi" from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. now it's time for the last word with my good friend lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, ali. if you have michael cohen's phone number, please text it over to me right away. we'll see how many shows he's booked on next week if he becomes a free man for media.

>> have a good show, lawrence. good to see you, my friend. >> thank you, ali. appreciate it. well, nancy pelosi made public today her dissatisfaction with an intelligence briefing that she and other congressional leaders received today on russian interference in the 2020 presidential election. speaker publicly complained the trump administration intelligence officials are with holding information about russian interference in the election from the public. and that the american people have a right to know. adam schiff the chairman of the house intelligence committee will join us tonight with his reaction to the story. here's a friday night thought exercise for you. if a ivanka trump had married sean pen, would donald trump be on his way to a reelection victory