upcoming election. but we begin this hour with the breaking news and a brand new update on the tropical storm. the center of the storm will move very close to the east coast of florida today. the area of concern stretches further north now into the carolinas. parts of the bahamas are dealing with rain and wind and some storms are moving on shore. our team is following the latest as the storm comes dangerously close to the mainland u.s. kerry sanders is in singer island, florida, right near west palm beach. kerry, looking like you have surf up behind you and wind. how do things look to you? >> well, actually, right now things are pretty calm. you know, we've been getting pretty strong gusts here. but as you look over my shoulder, you can see the trees are not swaying that much. the surf is definitely up. isaias is a tropical storm.

no longer a hurricane. and that is good news. and the other piece of good news is right now it remains off the coast of florida. so floridians taking a sigh of relief. a big breath, quite frankly, that this did not come ashore. of course this is a state with coronavirus. but not only a pandemic here but even throughout the caribbean and the bahamas as you noted. we take a look at some of the pictures when it was a hurricane. you can see from dominique to the dominican republic to puerto rico and into the bahamas some really hard hit areas in some cases where the water came up with the rising waters to the roof tops in the dominican republic sadly at least two people died including a 5-year-old boy who was swept away in those rising waters. meantime, the hospital beds just north of here in cape canaveral at health first hospital in cape canaveral, they chose to take the covid-19 patients out. it made more sense on friday to

take the covid-19 patients about 35 miles inland rather than to roll the dice to see whether this was going to be just a tropical storm or could be a hurricane and, of course, it would be too late to move the patients. the very complicated to move covid-19 patients because of social distancing and everything else. sort of as i come now a little bit closer to the camera, i'm going to swing wide and put my mask on. joining us is the mayor of palm beach county. we're going to just get a sort of sense from you hurricane during a pandemic. this turned out to be a tropical storm. so if this was a rehearsal for the real thing, how did you do? >> well, it was a rehearsal. it was real at the same time. it shows that our county is well prepared. the people of palm beach county are inherently resilient. but i'll tell you, it's a challenging set of circumstances. we'll be ready in the future as well. >> you opened at least four shelters. the numbers were at 197 people. what are the big questions was people showing up with symptoms.

how did you check people coming in to make sure they didn't have coronavirus and how well did that work? >> every shelter we have staff there prepared to scan for temperatures. we issues masked. we enforce the rules w he have separate sleeping areas for those that are suspected -- >> did anybody show up with the symptoms? >> no, sir. no. the. >> so it worked? >> it worked. it will work in the future as well. >> we need to underscore this is still four more months to go in hurricane season. >> absolutely. palm beach county is making great progress on the coronavirus front. we don't want to retreat on that. so being very strict about the rules is so important. >> my last question to you is unfortunately, some people think a hurricane or a tropical storm is something to have fun with and they have parties. they call them hurricane parties. they're not unusual. but in a pandemic, as much as you stressed please don't get together like that, if that did happen and may have happened in just apartments and condoes and house that's we just don't know about, what do you fear may have resulted from that?

>> first of all, i fear we have -- we'll retreat from the progress we made. we're finally at an 8.9 daily lab positivity rate. loy lower than the statewide average. we don't want to see that progress go backward. it's the risk to human life and spreading this covid-19. it's a very powerful virus. i would hate to see people get sick unnecessarily. >> selfish if they did that. thank you very much. i appreciate it. that's the mayor here in palm beach county. i'll bring my mask down so you can hear me better. alex, as i said for the moment, the wind has paused. don't be fooled by that. a tropical storm just like a hurricane can give a big micro burst. palm fronds come down, trees come down. all those who live in the zone are being encouraged to stay inside their homes. getting out in a car and going out and sight seeing can seem like well it's a tropical storm. everything is fine. and then all of a sudden a tree limb or palm frond comes down and you're in trouble. >> for sure. >> the final piece to always

remember, if you see water, don't drive through it. it may look like shallow and can turn really deep and can you be in trouble really quickly. >> i'm so glad you remind people of that. can i say quickly? i was watching you. we had had video of a kite surfer who off the coast of ft. lauderdale, part of the video you provided, that kite was so erratic, i can't believe that guy didn't wipe out! what was he doing? >> i am -- i'm amazed by what the kite surfers have done. of course, you know, they are -- they like to call themselves professionals. there is some competition. but to get that kind of air time in the wind and be up 30 feet, i got to say, you better really know what you're doing. and more importantly -- and more importantly, remember this. if you get into trouble out there, there is nobody to come out there and save you immediately. yes, the coast guard is on alert. there are no lifeguards to get out there. if you get into trouble, you are on your own. so that is a real big gamble. i know people get excited when they see the surf kick up, wind kick up. but it is also something that

it's always fun until it becomes dangerous and then, well, it could be a whole other store ji. story. >> >> nick just put that video up. thank you. we're going to head up the coast now to my colleague. he's in melbourne, florida. what do you got, chris? >> yeah, hey, alex. but it continues to be encouraging. the sky is as bright as it's been all morning. we started out with blue skies at the first thing this morning. and, of course, the clouds rolled in. we have been hit by maybe two, perhaps three of those outer bands of this storm. periods of really intense rainfall for maybe three to five, seven minutes. but that's about it. right now it is dry out here. we are starting to see the wind pick up a little bit. i'm saying right now checking statistics, 17, 20, 25 miles an hour. certainly not reaching tropical

speed just yet. and, you know, in the last few minutes, the national hurricane center came out with the latest projections. saying that it looks like this storm is going to stay further east out over the water. rather than coming here, you know, bringing the eyewall on land. that certainly good news for this area along the space coast f that stays out 25, 30 miles out to sea, hopefully things won't be too, too bad here as the day goes along. but we've got a long ways to go as this storm is lumbering up the coast at about 8, 9 miles an hour. you know, we talked to some people, kerry talked a lot about coronavirus. you know, we were talking to people about what do you make of the storm coming? is it and some of them said they're actually relieved to have something normal and floridian to deal with. >> quite frankly, i have to admit this is the calmest i felt considering all the other stuff going on in the country. so in a weird way, it's almost a sense of relief because it's somewhat normal for people who live in south florida have to

pay attention to it. >> yeah. i just looked at the new numbers for today. the lowest number of positive tests of coronavirus in florida since early july. but that's got to come with an asterisk. will you'll remember, alex, they cut off statewide testing on thursday night. so haven't been any state tests in the last few days. we'll have to see what happens tomorrow and tuesday to get a good sense of how the coronavirus testing is going here in the midst of the storm. >> yeah. floridians certainly have been tested in ways. a very weathered, hardy bunch for sure. let's go to our meteorologist who is joining us right now. chris was mentioning that the national hurrica national hurricane center released numbers. he suggested it's going to stay off the east coast. do you concur? >> yeah. for east florida, with he see the cone of uncertainty shift way to the east. i do not think we'll have a land fall across florida.

but that doesn't mean that the impacts are still going to be really heavy across south florida into the east coast. and this system is going to race up the east coast. right now 65 mile-per-hour winds, gusting to 80 miles per hour in some spots. so the center of this storm continues to really spread very gusty weather. the beach erosion is going to be very dramatic across that area as these bands start to make their way n you saw kerry and chris on the shores. and what we're really going to be watching today is the water spouts in that area. also, you have that potential of severe weather threat. torrential rain. the pockets of rain really going to be coming down heavy. now with this storm, we've always said the rain is going to be the major issue. the winds throughout tonight up to 65 miles per hour. but i do think east florida starts to get about two to four inches. that's on top of the storm surge that we're going to see and now

we have tropical storm watches across the carolinas. you can see it slow down just a little bit for the northeast to new york city. the we're going to be watching this by tuesday. alex? >> okay. thank you for that. heads up on all of it. appreciate that. let's go from there to capitol hill. talks resume tomorrow as top democrats and white house leaders struggle to find a compromise on a in it you coronavirus relief package. but both parties agree, they did see some progress this weekend. let's go to my colleague, kelly o'donnell is joining me from the white house g . good to see you. what are you hearing about this? >> there is a session happening today. that is at the staff level. they're experts on the subject matter of how to crunch the numbers and how to put things together. so there is work going on today. and then tomorrow, there is a plan for the four principles here to get together again. speaker pelosi, leader schumer on the democratic side. the steve mnuchin and for the

republicans. so is there progress? all sides are saying they believe there's been some substantive conversation. but that there are still big issues. so those who are out of work can still get their state benefits. but it was major help to so many families and individuals who have been out of work to have that $600 per week on top of the state benefits. that just ran out. another big issue, evictions. there are protections to prevent evictions while people have the employment challenges. that expired as well. so people are now at risk of landlords who want to start a legal process for that to happen. and then beyond that, there are other kinds of issues that are being discussed like how to provide funding for schools so they can reopen safely. liability protections, something republicans want to limit the

number of lawsuits related to covid-19. we got a little taste of what the thinking is right now from both the house speaker and the white house chief of staff. and here's how they're sort of gauging where things stand right now. >> let's give the courtesy and certainty of some assurance that this support will be there. but again, it all depends on containing the virus and for some reason they have not executed a strategic plan. >> yesterday was a step in the right direction. our staffs are actually working today. we'll be meeting again tomorrow. but i'm not optimistic that there will be a solution in the very near term. >> and so one of the issues that they're grappling with which speaker pelosi is responding to is republicans and the white house said let's do a short term

deal where you extend the weekly federal benefit you provide the eviction protections for a week or two or some interim period. and then keep negotiating. democrats have not wanted to do that. i think there is a sense that the pressure points of the negotiation, the real world impact that this has on american families is part of how you get to a larger deal. and so democrats have thus far not been willing to do any incremental package that would continue those benefits. republicans are saying that's a way to at least address the urgent need and then keep talking. democrats are concerned the keep talking part will go on without any resolution. so progress, they say. certainly willingness to work at it. but the question is when will there be an answer for those americans who are counting on these benefits? and that we don't have any more information today to give people any reassurance. alex? >> you're echoing the sentiments of nancy pelosi who spoke to us a couple hours ago.

that is her reasoning for not doing an incremental deal and then moving on. all right. kelly, good to see you. thank you so much. let's go now to the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. the number of cases and fatalities once again on the rise. the death toll in the u.s. surpassing 1,000 for the sixth day in a row yesterday. there are currently 4.6 million confirmed cases of the virus in the u.s. more than 155,000 people have died. a warning from the white house coronavirus task force. the deborah birx saying the u.s. entered a new phase of the pandemic urging all americans to follow safety guidelines. >> what we're seeing today is different from march and april. it is extraordinarily widespread. it's into the rural as equal urban areas. and to everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus. and that's why we keep saying no matter where you live in america, you need to wear a mask and socially distance. >> and as the debate over

whether to reopen schools intensifies, "the washington post" reporting at least four schools, one in mississippi, fl three in indiana had students testing positive for the virus this week during the first week back in session. let's turn to one of the hardest -- one of the states hardest hit by the coronavirus, california. they have half a million confirmed cases. one group is being hit particularly hard latinos. they account for 56% of cases in the state. joining me now from the farming community of watsonville, california, scott cohen. i know this is a big community in the ag industry there. with very latinos making up 93% of the farm workers in the golden state. so what do you think that is going to mean for the nation's food supply? >> it's a source of concern, alex. the official word from the usda is that there have not been any food shortages at this point. the food supply nationwide is

diverse and spread out enough. but it's a reason, another reason that advocates here say you should pay attention to the numbers from out here which are really striking. latinos make up about a third of the state's population. but nearly two-thirds of the cases and half of the covid-19 deaths by contrast, the white population about 36% of the statewide population but only 17% of the covid-19 cases. statewide, the cases, the tests coming back positive, about 6.5%. we spoke to a local clinic out here that caters to this community. and they say that they're looking at a positivity rate of 30%. they are really essential for

the food supply. what we're seeing is the essential jobs are also low-wage jobs. we live in an area that has a really high cost of living. what this leads to is a lot of crowded housing with -- and also a lot of multigenerational housing. sometimes by choice, but sometimes because the cost of living is so high. in those situations, the virus can spread rapidly. >> the growers say they are taking precautionary measures in the field in terms of social distancing. but again, it's a question of some of the living quarters which are very tight. multiple layers of family living together. there is a great deal of person to person spread as opposed to community spread. so it is a growing persistent problem out here in california farm country. alex? >> i mean 30% positive rate. that is extraordinarily high. thank you very much, scott cohen. telling us about that. undercutting democracy. one tweet at a time. a new examination of a few words

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ncht i don . i don't want to delay. i want to have the election. i also don't want to have to wait for three months and then find out that ballots are missing. i don't want to see a crooked election. the this will be the most rigged election in history if that happens. >> the president's battle to erode confidence in the november election. an effort examined in the latest "new york times" piece, "more than just a tweet: trump's effort to undercut democracy." peter baker is joining us. i'm really glad to get into this with you. the so this tweet you reference is this one. we're showing it where the president suggests delaying the election. how would you describe this one in the entire catalog of electoral smearing tweets? >> well, look, on the substance of it, of course, the president does not have the power to delay the election.

he would need an act of congress to start with and even if if he did that, the inauguration date change of power still happens on january 20th, no matter what. that is locked into the constitution. so at best even if someone went along with delaying the election, it would be for three weeks. this not about actually creating a genuine proposal to do something. but it is undermining faith that voters have, at least his voters have in the election and results they may see in november. you see a preside heading toward a fall season behind by double digits in all the polls. casting a narrative out there to explain yes may lose. even some of his former advisors said that. basically. this is just about creating a narrative to explain a lot. it has larger implications, right? if it sews distrust and suspicion in the system, then there is a long term damage there. they talk to scholars, they tell you basically the key ingredient

in a democracy is faith that the system is at least fair on the -- in the fundamentals. it is not perfect. but in the end if an election result comes back with a winner and loser, we as a country accept that those results adequately reflect the election. >> so what do you think this tells us about his psyche as we're less than 100 days into this election. and when you talk about this kind of thing undermining the faith really of the american public in the -- in the -- i guess ability to have a free and fair election. short term, what would the result of that? i mean, can you envision riots? can you envision demonstrations, marches, a level of chaos? is that something this president is willing to put this country through? >> there are worse case scenarios that people are concerned about right now. >> the president has declined to

say he will accept the results of the election. he said we'll see. so that, of course, raises concern on the part of a lot of the critics about what that means. does he think he's going to stay even if the elections are declared against him? that's not going to happen -- work. but it can create a great deal of uncertainty in the country. and we're already going to be heading toward a volatile election anyway because so many votes will be counted via mail. so many will beecse of the coro, because people want to stay home and keep safe. invariably we'll not get the complete results on election night. this election night could stretch on for days. you heard the president talk about that. he's right about that. the danger to that, you know, entails is that longer it goes on, the more people begin to doubt whether or not it's a credible election. the president may or may not fuel that concern if he says, look, you know, the reason they're delaying it is because they're trying to alter the outcome. that would be, you know, very damaging, obviously, to people's

faith in the ultimate result. it may be a long drawn out process that a little like the 2000 recount florida tests people's patients and the system. in this case you have an incumbent president which we've never seen before being the one who is casting doubt on the system. that is something we've never seen before. >> for sure. so in addition to wondering about the psyche of the president, that also extends to wandberg t the psyche of the attorney general. i want to play what bill barr said this week when testifying. he wasn't able to give a straight answer. take a listen to a couple of sound bites. >> can a sitting u.s. president move an election date? >> actually, i haven't looked into that question under the constitution. >> in this upcoming november election, the president asked you to intervene and try to stop sta states from counting legal ballot. will do you the right thing and

refuse. yes or no? >> i'll follow the law. >> you won't say no, sir? >> i'll follow the law. >> is it ever appropriate, sir, for the president to solicit or accept foreign assistance in an election? >> it depends what kind of assistance. >> is it ever appropriate for the president or presidential candidate to accept or solicit foreign assistance of any kind in his or her election? >> no, it's not appropriate. >> sorry you had to struggle with that one. >> that one really does confound me. the first answer saying it depends what kind of assistance. and then immediately when pressed, does any assistance warrant, you know, foreign intervention here in an election? he's like, no. >> look, the law specifically prohibits candidates from accepting things of value, material help from any foreign national or foreign government or foreign entity. you can't accept money.

nobody would debate that. the question as a matter of law becomes what counts as a material thing? does it count as a material thing, for instance that, russia, you know, hacks into democratic e-mails and puts them out there? does that count as a contribution under our law? we never tested quite that way. it took them a few seconds to get to that point. >> yeah. all right. peter baker, thank you very much. you never delay in our answers, thank you so much. joining me now, a senator that questioned the attorney general on many matters. you questioned him when he testified before the house judiciary committee. there were heated exchanges there. let's hear part of that.

>> what am i supposed to say to my constituents when they ask me if the government has done everything in its power to protect their loved ones from dying? you tell me, mr. barr. what am i supposed to tell them? >> i would tell them that managing this kind of thing requires a lot of difficult choices, weighing difficult consequences. >> i'm not going to lie. i'm not going to lie to my constituents. i'm going to tell them that president donald trump and the attorney general working together, they're not following health guidelines, they're letting americans die needlessly because of political reasons. >> so what was your take away from his response? how did you interpret it? >> well, alex, let me just say that i come from latin america. i no he what authoritarianism looks like. trust me when i tell you that authoritarianism looks like bill

barr. he threatened states with lawsuits because they wanteded to put in place a mask order, statewide mask orders. he is right now protecting donald trump in his corrupt activities instead of following the rule of law. he is undermining the supreme court's decision to support daca. he wouldn't answer those questions either. if he was going to abide by the supreme court ruling. really putting us in a constitutional crisis. and he continues to deploy federal agents and defend unidentified federal agents violating constitutional rights in states like oregon. so i am extremely alarmed, especially because here in the state of florida, alex, that was part of my anger in the questioning. it was the frustration to see so many floridians die needlessly because they're not getting the adequate guidelines. they're not getting the information. we don't have all the data from

the state and the governor. governor desantos still has yet to put in place a statewide mask order. >> yeah. let me just say on the unidentified federal agents issue that we've seen what happened in portland. ever since the agents agreed to pull back, some leaving and others taking very sort of side lined positions, look what happened the last couple of nights. it's been calmer there. there's been chanting. there is marches. there's not been the kind of rioting that you've seen. that is an anecdotal observation. let me get with you on what is happening to speaker pelosi and senator schumer. you know they're set to resume negotiations with republicans. that is supposed to happen tomorrow. staff members are working on it today. but this new coronavirus relief bill, what can you tell us about that? what do you need to see included for your constituents to give it your support? >> alex, the house democrats did our job. we passed the heroes act as you know more than two months ago. the republicans in washington, d.c., refuse to even take a look

at the build bil that we sent them two months ago. they started reviewing it last week. they can't even come together to present to us a bill. you heard mitch mcconnell saying that 20 -- about 20 senate republicans are not going to vote on any bill. when i saw this bill, one of the things that i was very alarmed to see is that it had absolutely no funding for schools. i know we just had a conversation with more than 5,000 of my constituents. they're extremely concerned that the governor, governor desantos continues to push this idea that parents need to send their children to school. yet the senate he republicans don't want to include any funding to make sure they have the resources available to protect children, teachers, staff, in case this pandemic continues for the next year or so. another thing we need to include is a $600 unemployment benefit. they refuse to include that. they included $200. in my area in south florida, you can't live with 2 $200 a week.

people are facing evictions and food insecurity. we're seeing long lines in the food banks. it is just cruel. i think what we need to see is funding for state and local municipalities. $600 of unemployment benefits -- [ no audio ] that's the least we can demand to protect our constituents. >> one final question. what are your thoughts on that and the rest of the women that are being considered? >> let me just say that i have become very close to representatives. she is a member of the judiciary committee. she used to be a chief in the police department here. she is fighting for economic

justice. i'm going to support any woman that vice president biden picks. i think that many of the women he has on the list are strong women that could be president. you know, the time has come. we need to see a woman on that ticket. i'm excited. we will see a vice president who is going to be a woman. leading the nation. >> listen if, the strong woman is, you know, a qualifying factor, that means you ought to be considered one of these days yourself. thank you so much. good to see you. thank you so much. >> thank you, alex. new comments today from two contenders in the biden veep stakes. is there a clear frontrunner emerging? rontrunner emerging ♪

♪

to me, being a partner with somebody who i have deep respect for, with somebody who i believe is authentic, genuine, has the capacity to have empathy, has tremendous experience and working alongside of him, aside

from being considered is a tremendous honor. but all of that is the reason why i would want to go forward with this. >> karen bass this morning on "meet the press." one of several names on the short list to be joe biden's running mate. he is set to announce the pick in the coming week or so. about whout is at t but who is at the top of the list? welcome. i saw you sneaking in popcorn and coffee. >> yeah. i have to eat. >> right. so on your podcast, you spoke with several of the women that are -- >> eight of them. >> okay. biden's vp. which of these candidates do you think really are at the top of the list or should be at the top of the list? >> well, look, they are all capable women. they are capable candidates. any one of them would be a terrific vp for vice president biden. but i think right now the conversation is centered around

senator harris of california. interestingly susan rice, the former national security adviser to president obama in the second term. the u.n. ambassador in obama's first term is being talked about a lot. karen bass who you just showed chairwoman of the congressional black caucus. the other thing that people don't appreciate, she was the speaker of the california assembly when arnold schwarzenegger was governor of the state and the economy imploded. so she has experience of people i don't think fully recognize. then there are people if, you notice, aren't really being talked about but are right there at the top. one person i have not had a chance to interview is senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts. she is, you know she looms large out there and also i heard some chatter about governor whitmer

of michigan who is riding high prepandemic and then disappeared for a bit in terms of chatter and talk and now i'm starting to hear a little bit more. so long story shors, alet, alex don't know. >> no kidding. so, look, i've got to wonder if part of the calculus for joe biden is the person who brings with her the least amount of baggage. what do you think? >> look, conventional thinking wise, sure. but this is an unconventional year. you want to talk baggage? okay, fine. one thing that people say about susan rice is that oh, well she's got benghazi. and i look at that and say, well, if you take the time and read the stories, particularly the stories about the public investigation into what happened, every investigation that there has been into benghazi, she's been cleared. she has been cleared. and then when you have an administration where we have a sitting president of the united

states who stands accused of ignoring intelligence about the russians paying bounties on the head of american service members in afghanistan. sorry, that's kind of cancels out to my mind. so you can look at people's foibles and some of the knocks that can you have against them. but, you know, we have to look at the strength that's these women bring to the ticket. and there -- each of them has a different strength they would bring. >> in terms of knocks against them this is extraordinary. the new reporting i know you're familiar with "politico." it shows that allies of senator camilla harris were lobbying on her behalf. after chris dodd was quoted saying, harris had no remorse for attacking biden during last year's debate. i mean, hey, a debate is a debate. >> right. >> she was running against him at the time. and she did get out in december. so there's been a long time for that to sort of simmer down. i know you covered the senator during this campaign and beyond. what do you think is behind this

push for harris? why does she have to defend being somebody who has great ambition? >> right. to me, all of these stories, particularly in the last week we've seen this rush of stories. tells me that she is pretty high up on the list. she very well could be the vice-presidential nominee and this is a hail mary pass. could be a hail mary pass to try to derail her. look, she went through this when she ran for the democratic nomination. and still sticks in her crawl a little bit the way she was -- the way she was treated. but this idea that, you know, she took a shot at vice president biden during that debate in june over bussing. and the idea that that could disqualify her for being chosen to be his running mate is silly. especially when you consider what happened in 1980 on the republican side. george h.w. bush and ronald

reagan went at each other on the economy. guess who became the vice president of the united states? >> right. >> george h.w. bush. >> there you go. jonathan, come see me again. this is fun. >> sure. invite me back. >> you think this will be wrapped up in it terms of the veep choice by this time next week? >> i give it one more week. >> really? >> yeah. >> all right. mid august. >> yes. all right. in portland, oregon, in the wee hours of this morning, a mostly peaceful demonstration on the second straight night since federal agents were withdrawn from the protest front lines. we were talking about that earlier. as the trump administration appropriates to send agents to other cities, a former homeland security official says dhs is badly damaged by what's happened in portland, oregon. >> there is a lot of dangerous work in this country. all this is about politics. there is no way that john wolf didn't understand that this was going to be a controversial deployment. that this was the wrong unit to

send to the streets of portland. all that was intentional about setting the optics of having the paramilitary officers deployed on the streets. officers who don't work with large city police departments and don't work in an urban environment. it was all about the optics. frankly, all the audience in one. the president is abusing dhs, turning it into his personal goon squad. >> joining me now is the former mayor of baltimore. good to see you again. glad you could join us. i'm curious all that he said there, do you agree with him and what do you think the likelihood of federal agents coming to your city? >> i -- first i don't think they'll be coming to baltimore. we have not had the type of destruction that we have seen in other cities. and i do think the president has damaged the reputation of dhs which is desperately needed by our country. i'm proud the citizens of

portland have taken their city back themselves and really given the people who are trying to destroy the movement with the looting and damaging buildings is really distracting from the message of police reform, better communities. it is a distraction that the movement cannot afford. so i'm very glad that they have taken it upon themselves to really control the situation. >> yeah. absolutely. >> baltimore's states attorney issued a warning to the president yesterday. here's what she told me. >> it's an election sequence. if you come to baltimore with your militarized agents, attacking citizens, assaulting citizens, arresting people illegally, kidnapping people, and according to the tenth amendment we'll have one standard of justice and we will prosecute. >> does this make sense to you? is there enough time for this kind of prosecution and what

will be the chances of success? wouldn't the federal government be able to just kind of throw out those charges? >> you know, i think it is not enough time for that type of prosecution. i think the president pulling out of portland was the right sign. he understands that it was an overreach for his department. i think he got enough negative feedback from republicans who believe in the constitution and believe that we don't have a police state. that the federal government should not be as in facist countries jumping out without -- with unmarked uniforms and snatching people off the street. that is not american. i do believe over objections are stubborn president has gotten that. yeah. when we look at what happened in portland, granted things are better now, but do you get worried at all that federal agents in baltimore could reignite protests there?

>> i don't get nervous about that. what i saw during the time of the unrest during many i term is mayor and more recently is that the citizens of baltimore understand that we need to keep the focus on the movement. and we're not going to be distracted by the prodding. you know, the president is really just trying to bait communities. >> he has band on his obligation to create a federal response to the pandemic. so he's trying to create distractions. i think people are on to him right now. >> stephanie, good to see you once again. come see me soon. >> good to see you. >> thank you. up next, the rising number of people losing their health insurance when they actually might need it the very most. might need it the very most.

a new study revealing that

millions of americans lost their health insurance between february and may due to the impact the coronavirus had the on economy. one of the hardest hit states, north carolina. joining me now from winston-salem, nbc news reporter jordan jackson. welcome to you. how bad is this situation there? >> yeah. you know, the situation is tough. it is really creating hardships for so many people here. it's estimated that about one in five adults are uninsured in the state. you know, north carolina is not alone. this is playing out across the country now. and experts tell me that the main issue is that, you know, a lot of people can't afford new coverage premiums or in some states they're just unaware that they might be eligible for medicaid. now these numbers are about 40% higher than what we saw during the great recession. and i want to talk about another worry that sort of plays into some of the issues. state leaders here in north

carolina actually recently addressed some reports that immigrants here are not receiving the level of care that they should be at some of these hospitals. because they do not have health insurance. i want to play for you what officials said at a briefing in response to some of play what officials said. >> our hospital systems are already by law required to treat anyone who walks through their doors. they cannot be asking about either insurance status or immigration status in order to treat someone who is right in front of them. so that should not be happening in any hospitals. >> reporter: officials also said that the state is offering more testing events for the community really trying to correct some of the access issues that some of these marginalized groups are facing. >> yeah, disturbing concept there that she had to address. thank you so much for highlighting that for us.

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the airline industry is sounding the alarm about potentially massive furloughs and job cuts in the coming months which could impact hundreds of thousands of americans and their families. the issue, far fewer people are traveling by air due to the pandemic and federal relief money is set to run out. joining me now is the president of the association of the flight attendants. and welcome back. i know it is always difficult conversations lately. but sarah, the industry got about $32 billion to cover six months of payroll in exchange for not having layoffs. that expires october 1. explain the effect this could have for flight attendants and haven't there already been a

number of furloughs for airline employees in general? >> no, actually, what we did in march kept people in their connected to their health care and other benefits. and we're hopeful that the elements of this program will be duplicated for other industries in the current coronavirus bill that is being negotiated by congress. so what this also did, it capped executive compensation, banned stock buy backs and dividends, kept people connected to their jobs, but it position dit also the airlines had to continue to serve all the communities that they were serving before. so if this runs out, we could be seeing hundreds of thousands of layoffs three weeks before the election and we could also be seeing a cancellation of some of the small cities getting service which will make it much more difficult to fight this virus and get the communities the goods and services it needs and keep our country connected.

it will also push people out of their jobs and we'll have to retrain, recertify and that can take months and up to a year which can slow the recovery. so this is through no fault of our own and we just want to continue the relief that was already in place. >> 100% for all the reasons that you are eloquently putting out there. but if it had to come can to job cuts, is there a number that would be acceptable to the majority of airline employees, like 10% cut, 20 % cut, whateve it would take just to keep things going? >> well, none of this is acceptable. actually we've already taken an incredible hit to our pay. the minute that the hours were cut back, people took anywhere between 25% and 40% cut in take home pay. the pay cuts are only considering about 80% of what would be considered full-time. so we've already taken a big hit. and we're just wanting to keep people in their jobs and

connected to their benefits. and this is the most effective use of the public's money. >> and how are the majority of those -- i'm constantly getting emails on what they are doing and i know there are some that have been a little less forthcoming with that information. >> it is very difficult because there has been no leadership, no federal plan. and the airlines i have to say have really stepped up and done a lot of things that we've asked them to do. but this is a major disrupter. we only have 20% of the traffic that we had just a year ago. and there is no sign of this being revived at this time. so economics 101 would tell you that major disrupter like this does not lead to the market having good public health policy initiatives. so we need to have the federal government step in with a plan for everyone. and i have to give kudos to some of the airlines who have done the best job that they can in these circumstances.

>> and so do you. i always appreciate talking to you. a new warning the democrats to joe biden, don't debate donald trump. don't debate donald trump ♪ ♪all strength ♪we ain't stoppin' believe me♪ ♪go straight till the morning look like we♪ ♪won't wait♪ ♪we're taking everything we wanted♪ ♪we can do it ♪all strength, no sweat ♪ book two separate qualifying stays and earn a free night.

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whatever your business needs, comcast business has the solutions to help you not just bounce back, but bounce forward. call or go online to find out more. good day from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome, everyone. a lot to tell you about this hour. as we have the breaking news, tropical storm isaias