good afternoon. i'm chris jansing. tropical storm isaias is moving up the east coast with high winds and heavy rainfall headed for the big population centers. philadelphia and new york. check out the live view of the statue of liberty coming to us courtesy of earth cam. it's only 1:00 p.m. in the northeast, but looking outside, you would think it's nighttime. we have a full report coming up

on that in a moment. on capitol hill, we've just gotten word that white house officials and democratic congressional leaders are about to meet again on those relief negotiations at the white house. president trump is grappling with a credibility crisis. a weekly tracking poll finds that just 31% of americans trust what the president says about the coronavirus pandemic. as the president struggles to defend his claim that the cases of covid-19 in the u.s. are falling. here he is with jonathan swan of axi axios. >> the united states is lowest in numerous categories. we're lower than the world. >> lower than the world? >> -- but first, let's begin with our breaking news. tropical storm isaias now barreling up the east coast. tropical storm warnings in effect for more than 50 million americans as the coastline

braces for potential flash flooding. check out this live look. seaside heights, new jersey, courtesy of earth cam. winds seem to be picking up speed. parts of the carolinas were pummeled with flooding and tornadoes leaving behind a trail of destruction. hundreds of thousands are without power. joining me, ron allen, live in long branch, new jersey, and nbc news meteorologist bill karins. tell us what you're seeing along the jersey shore right now. >> well, chris, it's been getting worse and worse. now we seem to be getting a little bit of a lull if you will. it is still very dark. you can see the skies behind me of dark. the surf is just pounding. it's been strong all morning. about an hour ago, we felt heavy rain blow through here, but now the winds have actually calmed down a little bit. i can step out of this shelter that we're using to protect ourselves. so it's a little bit easing off. looking at the radar, it seems

the worst of the storm may have passed here, but there's still some to go. the wind gusts were up to 70 miles per hour. we were told, moderating around 30, 40 miles per hour. there are reports around the state of trees down, not far from where we are. there was a building site, a construction site that collapsed because it wasn't secured enough. all up and down the jersey shore they've been trying to secure these outdoor dining facilities that have just opened up in the last few weeks as this state has moved further along in recovering from covid and, of course, now this. there's also been reports of at least two tornadoes touching down in different parts of south jersey. south of where we are, not confirmed by nbc news as of yet. some damage reportedly from one of them. but again, unclear exactly what's going to happen. we've been told this will be a short, quick duration storm. it's been pretty intense where we are, but at this moment, the beach is deserted. everything is closed. there seems to be a little bit

of a lull but there's still high winds blowing and rain squalls every now and again. the worst may be over but it's still pretty bad out here. the governor has declared a state of emergency hours and hours ago urging everyone to stay inside, stay off the roads and based on this community that we're looking at, they seem to be doing just that. chris? >> certainly looks different than i saw just a couple of hours ago when you were getting peltzed. bill, is this a lull? is the worst over? and where is the storm headed? >> chris, i think you're headed over to me. let me explain what ron was seeing there at the coast. we saw these heavy band goes through the areas around the jersey shore. that was where we had the possibility of tornadoes. the rain has lifted northwards. a little bit of a lull and the winds will pick up again where he is. he's probably done with all the heavy rain. and right now we're seeing 1.2 million people without power from north carolina all the way

up through the new york city area. and 600,000 of them are in a state of new jersey. so majority of the worst of the power outages are in my state. i know my power has been flickering on and off over the last hour or two. by this evening, there's going to be like a nice sunset. it will be like beautiful in areas of the mid-atlantic hit by this storm earlier today. we still have seen gusts up to 70 to 80 miles per hour on the coastal areas from virginia earlier to jersey and now those strong winds are arriving in areas like long island. as far as tornadoes go, this was a big problem earlier. thankfully over the last two to three hours we haven't had any new reports of tornadoes but 16 tornadoes reported since landfall. we had some big tornados. there was one fatality in windsor, north carolina, and that destroyed about 10 mobile homes. there was another big tornado that came onshore north of cape may, new jersey. that did some damage.

two injuries from a tornado in coastal areas of virginia in lancaster county. so we still have our tornado watch that goes until 4:00 this afternoon, and now it looks like the brand-new tornado watch has been issued for the hartsford area to boston and southern portions of new england. they've continued that tornado watch and that will extend to sunset. as far as the current winds go. it's getting sporty around new york city and long island. gusts in the 40 to 50-mile-per-hour range. they could peak around 60, maybe as high as 70 as we go throughout about the 3:00 to 4:00 hour. that's the worst of it. if we get additional power outages, it's going to be in this area of orange that's going to be the hudson valley, connecticut, long island and still more power outages occurring in philadelphia. i think you're fine now if you are south of philadelphia. down through the delmarva and chesapeake. if you have power now, you'll keep it on. not expecting any more high wind gusts for you for the duration of the storm. and we still have water problems, too. 35 million people in flash flood

watches. the maroon color, we have really heavy rain over the delaware river area. and we're seeing flash flood warnings throughout much of southeastern pennsylvania and the western half of new jersey. chris, still multiple problems with this storm, and one of the big ones in the days ahead will be getting everyone's power back on. >> no kidding. almost everybody on the staff of this hour lost power. so kudos to the people who still have power and were able to get us on the air. bill karins, thank you for that. thank you to the staff. thank you, ron allen as well. joining me now, retired u.s. army lieutenant general russel honore who led the effort in new orleans following katrina. he's a 37-year veteran of the armed forces and author of "leadership in the new normal." so good to see you. how do you even begin making a plan for disaster recovery from a storm in the middle of a pandemic? >> welly we keep writing new chapters of this book called

"disaster preparedness." guidance came out from fema and from the red cross, as well as cdc on how we set up shelters. good news, we haven't had -- haven't been tested yet. this storm was a good practice. and there will still be a lot of people without power, but everything looked like it's well inside the state's capacity to handle it, but fema is there. backup supplies and generators ready to go in at the request of the governors. but i think our biggest issue will be power and it's going to be whether we shelter people and that's going to be in smaller group concentrated on hotels as opposed to big shelters. >> a storm season can be a long one. what concerns do you have going forward for vulnerable places like nursing homes and hospitals at a time like this? what if these places experience flooding? lose power? what is the typical protocol, and then what do you do when dealing with a highly contagious

and very sick group of patients? >> that vulnerable population, who is the most -- who do we lose most in katrina? the majority of the people that died were disabled, elderly and poor. and they were home alone. and i think when we look at the data associated with this pandemic, again, that vulnerable population. but i think to get ahead of this, because the hurricanes are coming, to get more people tested, figure out who has the virus and isolate them or quarantine them. and there's a plan that hopefully will work its way through the white house and the president will work on it that will use the department of defense as a backup to the civilian agencies and industry working with the state and national guard. so we'll get everybody tested by the end of september. everybody in the country will get a test and some will get it multiple times a week, but we need to expand that ability to

test. you need it fast, accurate, reliable and it needs to be flexible and sustainable. we don't have that with testing, and that is what we're trying to propose through the administration. senator cassidy is helping to lead that up. >> speaking of leadership and responsibility. i want to play what president trump said in an interview with axios about communicating with the people who trust him. >> i've gone to your rallies. i've talked to your people. they love you. they listen to you. they listen to every word you say. they hang on your every word. they don't listen to me or the media or fauci. they think we're fake news. they want to get their advice from you. when you say everything is under control. don't worry about wearing masks, these are people, many of them are older people, mr. president. >> yeah, under the -- right now, i think it's under control. >> how? a thousand americans are dying a day. >> they are dying, that's true. and it is what it is. but that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. it's under control, as much as

you can control it. >> it is what it is. what kind of response do you take that to be coming from a president? >> well, we wish he was more articulate there. move into the furkture, we've g to get him to embrace the public health message led by fauci, birx and cdc and get him to embrace testing. we've got to spend some time with him, bring him on board like we brought him on board with masks. he's our president now, and we've got to solve this problem. otherwise, we will go into thanksgiving with a half a billion people dead. we've got to get the testing fixed and figure out who is sick. one person that's sick in a period of ten days can infect 40 other people. there's numerations that are not working with kids going out to play soccer and football. we are going to blow up again even before the fall flu. we've got to get this fixed and

we need to bring the first team out to help the white house get this done. and that's the department working with the national guard and working with industry. we've got to get testing fixed. >> lieutenant general russel honore, thank you so much. always a pleasure to see you. negotiations remain deadl k deadlocked on the coronavirus bill. democrats insist the additional $600 a week should continue. the republican leadership wants it at $200 while senator lindsey graham will push for a middle ground. bottom line, two sources tell nbc news that speaker pelosi said on a caucus conference call last night that the soonest they'll vote on anything is next week. nbc's shannon pettypiece joins me from the white house. what's the latest from there? what are you hearing from the hill as well? >> it's interesting. the press secretary kayleigh mcenany was just asked, why

isn't the president getting more involved because there is this deadlock and there's really been no progress made at all between the democrats and republicans and the white house here. she said the president is, but only through his chief of staff. so that it's mark meadows and steve mnuchin who are the ones leading the things for the white house and, at the same time, mitch mcconnell on the senate side, has been on the sidelines. the president is not the one making phone calls. he's essentially just being briefed at this point. so you have to ask, when is the real leadership going to get involved in trying to push things forward rather than having it up to the chief of staff and the treasury secretary? but, yes, no progress. and i do know at least one white house adviser who has been telling the administration that they need to get a deal done here because, while you might be able to blame democrats in the short term in the long term with the unemployment benefits running out, you'll see a decline in the economy. that $600 a week has been really propping up consumer spending.

this moratorium a iuium on evics been keeping people in their homes. if there's not a resolution, two months from now you'll see that in the economic numbers that the white house is so dependent on holding up to show the american people that the president is the one who is rebuilding the economy. so it is really in their interest to get a deal done and not just try and blame this on the democrats. i know that's at least one line of thinking being pressed on the white house. but, still, no progress. >> and you have millions of people who are worried about being able to keep a roof over their head, put food on the table. and you have the president who ran in 2016 on being this great dealmaker. he said that's what he would do. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has the power in the senate. how is it that they're not participating directly in these negotiations? let's just talk about mcconnell, for example. why is he on the sidelines? >> that's a good question. i'm not a mcconnell expert, but i do know from a white house

perspective, for a few years now really, the advice to the president has been to stay on the sidelines because, you know, you are more -- you cause more trouble than good when it comes to trying to deal with the democrats. and there's always people that make the argument that they know the hill, whether it's vice president or mulvaney. they know the hill, the players. leave the negotiations up to them. but we haven't really seen that many deals at all between the white house and democrats on the hill. when we look now at almost four years of this. the last two stimulus bills were really kind of rushed through with this emergency sense of urgency that you rarely see. when it comes to health care, immigration, guns, the tough stuff, we have yet to see the white house be able to facilitate any sort of big deals with the hill. >> shannon pettypiece, thank you for that. we're also following a developing situation in beirut, lebanon, where a major explosion has rocked that city. there are also incoming reports

of a second explosion. the cause of both still unclear. our team is chasing this story and we'll bring you an update in a few minutes. pandemic, hurricane and five states are holding primaries today. several key senate races could mean a shift to the democrats. we're digging into where it all stands right now. we're live at the polls in kansas, next. you're watching msnbc. 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

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universal orlando resort. buy now and get two days free at the parks. restrictions apply. don't take your eyes off kansas today. on this primary tuesday, one race may have the potential to determine whether republicans hold the senate in november or lose control to the democrats. the race to watch, chris kobaff and congressman roger marshall in the republican primary. one top mcconnell aide told "the new york times," quote, we have eight months of data that says the majority is gone if chris kobach is the nominee. right now the race is a, quote, jump ball sources tell "the wall

street journal." and the biggest mystery, why the president hasn't put his thumb on the scale to help marshall. the candidate best situated, they believe, to keep the senate red. joining me from a polling site in topeka, kansas, is corin griffith, the capital bureau chief at our nbc news affiliate there. so good to see you. what's been interesting to you as you watch this race shape up. is there a sense in the state of how closely this is all being watched nationally? >> people definitely understand that this is a big race. we see the political ads every time that our shows go to commercial break. so people definitely know this is a big race. we're also looking -- the front-runner which is a current state senator has broken state records for fundraising. so this is a big deal because kansas has always been such a red state. so the republicans definitely know and so do kansans.

this could totally change the layout of the senate. and one of the interesting things you mentioned, chris, is the president has yet to endorse a candidate, which is especially strange for president trump who is normally so quick to endorse a conservative candidate. it's especially strange because chris kobach was one of president trump's first big allies as he was beginning his running for president. so it's strange that president trump hasn't come forward to endorse chris kobach but rather, like you said, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and others are really pushing for him to endorse roger marshall because they believe that's the candidate that can beat barbara bowlier in the november election. it's a big race in kansas that could change history for the state. >> and we always use the word turnout, turnout, turnout. it doesn't look very busy behind you but it is the middle of the day. what are we seeing and expecting with turnout. i don't know if you're getting any early indications statewide.

any signs the pandemic is keeping people home? >> we're definitely seeing a lower turnout than we would normally expect. it's the middle of the day, so, of course, people might be at work and haven't been able to come to the polls yet. but kansas has seen a huge increase in ballot requests. we've had 240,000 mail-in ballot requests. so most people seem to be choosing to stay home and send in their ballots. we actually have two precincts voting. they've combined them into one location. and people are wearing masks. we're trying to keep socially distant, of course. but it has been a low turnout today, as it has been, as far as we're understanding, across the state. but we're hoping that people are still getting out to vote however they're comfortable. >> korinne griffin in topeka, kansas, thank you. kansas is just one of several states where senate races have the potential to shift to the democrats' column.

for more on where they stand, we bring in nbc news national political correspondent steve kornacki at the big board. you and i in the same studio, steve, socially distanced, but, wow, first time since, what, mid-march? >> like old times here. great to see you, too. >> what's going on with the senate races? >> let's look at this two different ways here. democrats trying to get control of the senate. trying to play offense here. let's take you through first two states here that republicans have talked about taking democratic seats. these are democratic held seats. alabama and michigan. both up this year. republicans have talked about trying to flip these. what's the polling showing? in alabama, deeply red state. doug jones here won that special election a couple of years ago. he trails in the polling right now running against the former auburn football coach tommy tuberville. in the other one that republicans are targeting, michigan, gary peters, democrat running for re-election. he's been leading in the polls. one of those two look right for

the republicans to gain seats. they need to gain as many as they can because this is where republicans are playing defense. this is where democrats are playing offense. all of these republican held senate seats, all of these states, democrats are talking about targeting, potentially targeting in kansas depending on how that primary comes out. democrats think he's a very controversial character in that state. they think they can compete in kansas if he wins the nomination. already there's five states right here where the polling already has the democrats up. it might be small, but the democrats leading in the polling in five of these states right now. what does that mean in terms of senate control? let's look at it this way. republicans think they can get alabama. they think they can get the doug jones seat. that would be a gain for republicans. michigan, we show you the polling right now is not looking good for republicans at this point. so for now, let's move it over there. then we showed you those five states right now, where democrats lead in the polling, arizona, colorado.

look, they are getting close to 50 here. iowa is a very small lead in iowa. what if they got iowa. what if they got north carolina? with a biden win, that's what they need. 50 seats. with biden winning. and maine, those are the states they're leading in right now. that would get them over 50. let's say they were to fall short in iowa. joni ernst hung on. or they fell short in maine. if kobach is the nominee. the democrats haven't won there in 88 years. but kobach lost statewide in 2018. what if he gets the nomination tonight? what if democrats pick that one up? just a lot of options for democrats because they are playing offense a lot more than republicans. >> turnout, turnout, turnout, as always. good to see you, steve. we're following a developing situation in beirut, lebanon. that major explosion that has rocked the city. richard engel joins me after the break. you're watching msnbc.

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right now, the white house briefing is still under way. we've just learned from kayleigh mcenany that president trump will deliver his own briefing later this evening at 5:30. that's what it's scheduled for. but we also want to get to the breaking news out of beirut, lebanon, where at least one large explosion has rocked the area. white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany was asked about that just moments ago. >> what can the administration tell us about the deadly

explosion in beirut? what led to it? >> that was breaking as i came out. we're tracking it and we're taking a very good look at that. >> nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is on the story for us. hoping you have information on that. we heard first one, then two explosions. what are you finding out, richard? >> so officials in beirut first are trying to contain the situation, deal with what they say are hundreds, many hundreds of wounded. they have just issued an appeal for all sorts of blood, all types of blood in all major cities in lebanon. not just in beirut. this initial explosion, and it appears there was a fire initially at the port, and according to the governor, he said there was a fire and there are some images of this fire in which there are projectiles coming out of the fire. it looked like fireworks to some and early reports this was a fireworks factory that had gone

up. they have since changed that story. but there was an initial fire in the port area. the governor said he sent in a fire brigade to try to put it out, and then came this massive explosion. a truly enormous explosion. so large that it sent a mushroom cloud up over the city of beirut. people who are in the mountains, beirut is in a bowl that goes down to the sea, but it is ringed with mountains. people in the mountains were knocked off of their feet. one witness said that it looked like hiroshima. people could see and hear the blast in cyprus which is 150 miles away. lebanese officials, a senior lebanese security official said that it wasn't a fireworks factory but that it was some sort of munitions storage facility. munitions that had been confiscated some time ago. he didn't describe what kind of

munitions, how long ago they were confiscated. just this very vague explanation that it was some sort of explosive deposit that was set off apparently by the fire that was initially going off. fire from which small projectiles, firework-like things seemed to be emanating. it is not the kind of thing that i have ever seen in a built-up urban area, and it comes as beirut is going through an enormous period of civil unrest and civil strife. the economy in lebanon has effectively collapsed. there are large power outages for long periods of time. so if this was an accident caused by the general state of collapse in lebanon right now, it is an accident on a truly massive scale. israel, according to the israeli media, israel said it was not involved. israel has had problems with

lebanon before. launched war against lebanese militia groups, hezbollah, including targets in beirut, targeting beirut, but apparently israel says it was not involved. >> and we are just learning the president has been briefed on this ongoing situation, and i know you'll update us as you get more. richard engel, thank you for that. as the coronavirus pandemic rages, states with spikes, like texas, are tackling how to reopen schools safely amid mounting pressure from the white house to reopen in-person this fall. we're live in dallas asking how they plan to pull it off, next. you're watching msnbc. ammatory . ammatory . because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor

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now for the latest facts in this pandemic at this hour. florida reporting another 5,400 cases today bringing their total to nearly 500,000. officials announced two teenagers died from complications of the virus bringing the total number of minors who have died in florida to seven. australia's second most populous state, victoria, will now fine

anyone who violates isolation orders. as much as $14,000 fine. the country's defense department announced it will be sending 500 additional military personnel to victoria to help enforce those stay-at-home orders. and this year's christmas spectacular show starring the radio city rockettes right across the street from where i'm sith has been canceled for the first time in 87 years. also today, there's more pressure mounting from the white house for schools to reopen in person this fall. the president tweeting again late last night, open the schools. one, two, three, exclamation points. meanwhile, in texas, schools could lose state funding if they don't allow students on campus after eight weeks but yesterday governor greg abbott said school districts have the autonomy to decide when they do open. if they opt for virtual learning longer than the school's first eight weeks they'd need an exemption from the texas education agency. and in dallas, today is the

first day of a three-week operation to deliver ppe to more than 200 schools in the dallas independent school district. it is the second largest in the state. joining me from dallas is nbc's morgan chesky. so morgan, break down what the governor said for us and what does it mean for schools there? >> yeah, chris, good afternoon. the governor abbott essentially said that help is on the way, although there is a lot of questions still up in the air as far as how exactly texas schools will be operating and what seems to be just about a month's time. september 8th is dallas school district's tentative start date, although it remains to be seen how that first day will play out. the governor basically reassured districts all across the state that they will be able to purchase supplies and then, as the dallas school district is delivering them to their schools, the state will be delivering supplies as fast as possible to districts all over the state. we do know that numberswise, the

states procured more than 60 million masks, as well as more than a half million gallons of hand sanitizer, and the list goes on, whether it be gloves or reusable masks or plastic dividers that will be used in classrooms to keep students and staff safe. so that's basically the message we heard from governor abbott today. as you mentioned, there will be expectations put into place that schools at least try to get back to as normal an operational mode as possible with that eight weeks window put into place. we know as far as it goes here in dallas, they don't know if they'll be in class or out of class. that will all depend on the numbers that they see the week that that first day is expected to come back. and we know that they are calling on parents to kind of do their part. as far as asking students to learn how to use these new tools that will be given to them upon their arrival. listen what the district had to

say. >> for parents, some of the pieces are we would probably like help with because kids aren't used to wearing the face masks or doing the proper hand washing technique or hand sanitizing or keeping physical distance from another student. so teaching kids those things would be helpful prior to sending their child back. >> and should a positive case be found inside a dallas school, the district tells me, they'll immediately have that student or staff member go to the nurse's office and then if it comes back positive, they will disinfect that classroom and then begin a contact tracing protocol that's already been put into place. chris? >> morgan chesky, thank you for that. now i want to bring in michael hinojosa, the superintendent of the dallas independent school district. sorry about that. thank you for being with us. you have pushed back your start date to september 8th. so let me just ask you, bottom line, if you expect to be fully

prepared for in-person learning by then. >> we don't know. we'd like to be open, but it looks highly doubtful. we'll have to evaluate the numbers. but we're supposed to start august 17th. and the board supported us in moving it back to september the 8th. that gives us three more weeks before that eight-week clock starts that you have just described about when we might jeopardize our state funding. so things have improved in dallas county, but the numbers are still over 300 or 400 new cases every day. it's much better than the 1,000 new cases happening just a couple of weeks ago. >> do you believe that if -- when the time comes to reopen, if you don't feel confident that you can reopen safely, if there's a negative trajectory in the virus, are you confident you could get permission to delay? what do you make of the governor's announcement? >> well, we do appreciate the governor pivoting again recently. at first we were told we'd only have this eight-week window. but now they said you can apply

for another extension if things get bad later. so at least that's new development after the attorney general ruled that the local county officials couldn't overrule public school officials. so it's still in negotiation, but i think they are being responsive to our requests and our needs. we'll just have to play it by ear as we go along with this journey. >> we just heard about some of the recommendations, things parents can do to help get their kids ready when in-person learning, if in-person learning does start. what changes and other changes and rules are you implementing, and does your district have the money it needs to make these changes? >> well, we're fortunate we have a good reserve, but that's not going to last long. one of the other things that's a good development for us. we found out for ueven if you are wearing a mask you have to socially distance. that's a huge challenge for us on buses and transportation and also at the high schools. we have 37 high schools and several of them have over 2,000

students. so it's physically impossible for us to keep the students six feet apart. so we may have to go to a hybrid schedule at the high school to be able to accommodate such large numbers of students. and so we're going to be presenting that to the school board next week. and it was a new development that the state allowed us to have as recently as last week. >> so there's a school, a high school in georgia, that just opened this week. and we've confirmed this picture with our social media news gathering team. so you see all those people all together, not masked. are you going to see images like that if and when you guys reopen? what goes through your mind as you make your plans when you see a photo like that? >> i started as a superintendent in georgia for three years. i'm familiar with that area. no, i would be very startled if i saw a situation like that. we have very strict protocols.

we're working with all of our extracurricular activities about maintaining social distancing and having the mask and the shields and everything else. i'd feel very strongly if i saw something like that in our district in a few weeks. >> michael hinojosa, i'm in awe of the work being done in schools all across the country. good luck with what you are facing in dallas, and i hope you'll come back and talk to us again soon. thank you so much. >> i am going to -- and still to come -- president trump's explosive new interview with axios about how he really feels about congressman and civil rights icon john lewis and his passing. that's after the break. you're watching msnbc. when we started carvana, they told us that selling cars 100% online wouldn't work. but we went to work. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home.

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the u.s. census bureau announced it will be ending the collection efforts for the 2020 census a month earlier than scheduled. the bureau wants to wrap up the collection at the end of september instead of october so it can meet the end of year deadline to finish its report. the early end date does work some experts who flag that the rush may have an impact on accuracy. remember, census data them determine how many congressional districts each state is delegated, as well as how federal funding is distributed

for the next decade. the trump campaign that is just announced the president will attend an in-person fund-raising attempt this weekend. that in three states over the next five days. thursday the president is in ohio. saturday in new york, sunday in new jersey. by contrast, joe biden has suspended his in-person fund raisers. remember, when the president's campaign said thinks july rally in new hampshire was canceled due to tropical storm fae? well, now trump claims it was for public health reasons, touting the size of his ratings and rallies to jonathan swann of axios. joining us is the white house reporter for npr. so good to see you. i want to play another clip that took place just days after three former presidents eulogized the late congressman john lewis. president trump was asked how he thought history would remember the civil rights icon. here's what he said. >> i really don't know.

i don't know. i don't know john lewis. he chose not to come to my inauguration. he chose -- i don't -- i never met john lewis actually, i don't believe. >> do you find him impressive? >> uh, i can't say one way or the other. he didn't come to my inauguration. he didn't come to the state of union speeches, and that's okay. that's his right. >> ayeaeesia, have you heard an reaction? >> i don't know that it's ma surprising. president trump made clear he wasn't going to go to the funerals. like so many things he personalized this. he was asked about john lewis' legacy, but instead he talked about his personality relationship with john lewis, and talked about john lewis not attending his inauguration. it was all about president trump, and not very much about

john lewis. in about ten minutes. ivanka trump and a.g. barr will have a special meeting, and yet in that same axios interview, the president doubled down on his comments last month about ghislaine maxwell. when he was at the pressed why he would wish someone wells who was arrested for sex trafficking, on the same day that his daughter is announcing help for people of human trafficking. >> her friend or boyfriend, epstein. >> either killed or committed suicide in jail. she's now in jail. yeah, i we should her well, i would wish you well. good luck. let them prove some been was guilty. >> is that interview clip going

to overshadow the white house event that's about to take place which could actually be positive, or at least send some pretty strong mixed messaging? >> it's definitely mixed messaging, and it will likely overshadow what the administration is trying to do when it comes to human trafficking. we have a president who has no problem declaring certain people guilty if they are a political opponent of his or he doesn't like them. he could call for them to be locked up and say they committed a crime, but in this case, he's basically saying he wishes her well, hope she's safe while she's locked up. it boggles the mind he doesn't have harsh word for this person who is accused heinous crimes, but when it comes to hillary clinton or other political rivals, he has no problem saying he thinking they committed crime. >> the accusation are heinous

instead. at least the often question, which is whether the trump campaign, or whether the position who i'm sure will be asked about some of this at the briefing this afternoon. if they think these interviews play well for him, or do you think we'll see some tightening of the belt essential when it comes to these sit-downs as the election year, some trying to minimize these kinds of interviews? >> the campaign same to wall to show president trump out there so these can say, unlies former vice president joe biden, that president trump is willing to sit down, go under tough questioning. they tried to say this shows that president trump is willing to go back and forth with the media, and they tried to use that as a way to differentiate. i don't know if the type of headlines they are getting particularly from this axios interview with make them rethink things, because this is a lot of -- it's not on message, and

it's certainly not portraying the president as someone in control of the coronavirus. you know, he's talking about all these other issues. so you would have to think they may try to rethink their strategy, but president trump is going to be president trump. he's going to say things. he's never been on message. he's never been consistent with any of these things. even if they pull away from the interviews, they still have briefings, things like that. >> always good to see you ayesha. that's going to wrap up the hour for me. i'll be here again 1:00 tomorrow afternoon. my colleague katy tur picks up our coverage right after this quick break. our coverage right after this quick break. i just assumed all bladder leak pads felt the same.

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good afternoon. i'm katy tur. it is 11:00 a.m. out west, 2:00 p.m. in the ease. tropical storm isaias is pounding the east coast. we'll have the latest update on the tomorrow's track from the national hurricanes center. also go to new york where lower manhattan is getting ready for what could be 60-mile-an-hour gusts and damaging storm surges. a series of mass sieve explosions rocked downtown beirut this afternoon, one sending a join mushroom cloud over the city. the damage appears to be extensive. authorities say hundreds are injured.