good day. i am andrea mitchell in washington where there is breaking news from the biden campaign. the former vice president will no longer travel to battleground wisconsin, to milwaukee, to accept the democratic party's nomination later this month. there is some movement in the high stakes talks to get desperately needed money to americans after the moratorium on evictions last week. as well, the president will also remain in washington to accept

his nomination. the number of cases in the u.s. are increasing with more than 57,000 reported in the last 24 hours and the nation's death toll now surpassing 158,000. today, florida is reopening some testing sites temporarily shut down during this week's tropical storm. dr. anthony fauci returned to the oval office for tuesday's meeting with the president after saying that the country needs to bring daily cases down to 10,000 per day by september to get control of the spread, something the president did not reflect in his optimistic forecast later in the briefing room. and those talks on capitol hill are reportedly making some progress on narrowing the gap with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell saying he is prepared to vote on a compromise. that is a big change from mcconnell's usual refusal to back anything not backed by his republican caucus. house speaker nancy pelosi joins me now.

madam speaker, thank you for being with us. >> always a pleasure. >> always a pleasure. this is a big daily. first of all, big news. wisconsin, battleground state, the convention, an enormous opportunity for democrats virtually if not in person and now joe biden is not going to milwaukee. how much does this damage the campaign? >> oh, i think that we're all learning this at the same time now, that he won't be there, but i think it's an indication of the seriousness with which he judges the situation. this pandemic is dangerous and the increase in numbers just demands that we keep our distances. i commend him for doing that. it's going to be a great convention. people will see it virtually and we're very proud of him. i think it's a great thing that he's doing this early enough so the rest of us now are told we're not coming either, i guess, and we can all make our plans from around the country for a great american victory for

joe biden as he is nominated for president. >> i also want to ask you about our reporting that the republicans are also planning not to have the president leave washington for his acceptance speech. but most interestingly, he has floated the idea today of doing it from the south lawn of the white house. our reporting is also that he has suggested monuments as a backdrop like the lincoln memorial. is that appropriate? i'm not sure if there's a law against it, but there certainly is a tradition, you don't use the white house as the backdrop for any politics. he has broken that with the rose garden and other events before. but the acceptance for the republican nomination coming with the white house as the backdrop, does that strike you as wrong? >> yeah, it's very wrong. again, when we're in the capitol of the united states under the dome, we have a limited opportunity to reference anything political. for the president of the united states to degrade once again the

white house as he has done over and over again by saying he's going to completely politicize it is something that should be rejected right out of hand. again, it's notionmongering, not serious thinking. it won't happen, let's put it that way. whether it's legally wrong or ethically out of the question, it shouldn't have even been something that was expressed. >> can you stop him? >> he can't do that. you can't do that. you would be very surprised, i think, at the fact that when you're at the white house, you're talking about policy, you're not talking politics. we never did -- that you would have a limited reference as it applied to our civic life in terms of politics but you don't talk politics in the white house. and you don't talk politics under the dome of the capitol, except perhaps a reference to

it, but not in an event. you don't have political events in the capitol. you don't have political events in the white house. >> i know you and other members, senators, you least building to do any fundraising, you have your own offices offsite. that siaid, if he's exempt from the hatch act -- >> he can't do it. >> -- his aides cited for unethical activity, you don't think you can get away with it? >> andrea, my friend, once again he is diverting attention from the fact that people are dying in our country. children are hungry. families are fearing eviction. workers are concerned about getting money into their pockets. states are suffering from the virus and the rest. and we're talking about whether he can have a political event at the white house. he can't. but again, it's curious, it's a diversion,

and he's a master of diversion. what we all need to be talking about is we passed our bill, the heroes act, nearly three months ago. in that time, over 3 million people have been added to the list of those infected. 70,000 people have died. and we're talking about the president having political events at the white house. he can't. so let's talk about what we can do. we can work together to get it done. >> let me ask you about that, because i want to ask you about the state of play of these talks. clearly mitch mcconnell, the latest that we're hearing, he's willing to bring something to the floor, indicating that he doesn't have his caucus. can you reach an agreement this week, even, on unemployment, on the key factors, on eviction moratorium, what can you do and how do you believe the talks are

progressing? >> i do believe that we have to reach an agreement. what the timetable is really relates to the progress we make. ho how big will the bill be, how long will it last. we have specifics, because as you know, in legislation the devil is in the details. we think the angel should be there as well. we're having an understanding of what it actually means when you say this. but it is -- we still are a distance apart in terms of state and local, which we think is essential, that we honor our heroes, that's why it's called that, by supporting the work that state and local government does to fight this virus and supply -- provide services to people in the meantime. if we don't do that, we will be abandoning them with the costs they incurred for fighting the

virus and sadly they'll be firing many people, and that goes on to the unemployment ranks, which doesn't save money. basically, just to enlarge the issue, if we don't do something significant, we will not only be delinquent in our duties to fight this virus, which is the way to open our economy and open our schools safely for our children and grandchildren, we will also be increasing the damage to our economy. and that's what the economists, the chairman of the fed, everybody recognizes that. this is big. this is a pandemic which has caused an economic downturn. we have to do that and we have to do it in a significant way. that's the discussion we're having. i'm confident we'll have an agreement. the timing of it, i can't say. because i don't know, it just

depends. >> understood. do you have any confidence that the president would sign on to whatever meadows and mnuchin can sign onto? and they disagree between themselves. is the president going to agree to whatever you have negotiated? >> i do trust that secretary mnuchin and mr. meadows represent the president. he trusts them. we trust that he is aware of our conversations. what's really curious about this, because this is different from any negotiation we've had before, because we're in the middle of a pandemic. people are dying. so there's an urgency that is different from before. and the pandemic has caused economic suffering of such a magnitude that cannot be reversed until we address the pandemic. so we're in a bit of a different kind of a dynamic.

secondly, we have a bill. we passed it nearly three months ago. they haven't passed anything. and as you've discerned from majority leader mcconnell, they have the votes for practically nothing. they haven't passed anything. they don't have the votes within their own 51. in other words, i'm not talking about 60 votes, i'm saying what is it that they from strength can bring to the floor. last week they brought something that was $200. well, it was a nonstarter, but even with that, it didn't have the full support of the republicans in the united states senate. so it's unlike other negotiations in terms of it's a matter of life and death. the lives of the american people, the livelihood of our families and the life of our democracy. it's also a situation where they refuse to spend more money by and large in the republican caucus. again, there's a formula for further disaster.

>> can he do this by executive order? >> no. no. he can't do it by executive order. >> okay. >> do what? do what by executive order? no. >> extend unemployment, cut the payroll tax, i don't know. we're not in a normal world, madam speaker. >> he may be able to extend the moratorium on evictions. but unless you have some money with that, it's helpful but it's not the whole thing. again, he can't do the money without the congress of the united states. the power of the purse begins in the house. appropriations bill begins in the house of representatives. so here we are. >> you're going to meet later today is the post master general who has been slashing the budget of the post office and the suspicion is, cripple the post

office for mail-in balloting, democrats and republicans have voted with mail-in balloting, years of experience, and the president says only florida, a republican-led state where he votes by mail-in, is the one that does it right. with all that have, what do you want to know from the postmaster general, who was a major donor of the president? >> i think he was a major donor to the president's inaugural festivities. we're hopeful we can find common ground. the fact that we're in the middle of a pandemic where many people are depending on getting their medicine by mail, they always do, but more so now. many veterans get a high percentage of their medications through the mail. everything is intensified because of the pandemic. and he comes in and starts

making these cuts. what we had in our bill, the $25 billion in the heroes act, was what was recommended by the board of governors of the postal service. 100% appointed by donald trump, by partisan, 100% appointed by donald trump, and they recommended the $25 billion. so we have concerns about what it means for the pandemic, but we also have concerns of what it means for the life of our democracy. many people want to vote by mail so they don't have to risk their health or lives in order to have their vote. we have serious conference and we'll have a wonderful opportunity today to share them with the postmaster. this is by partisan, all over the country, the post office is 0 p so popular. this is what we used to call in my day, motherhood, apple pie,

the postal service, rain, sleet, dark of night, won't deter them from their rounds, this is what the american people count on them for. this has never been political until the trump organization, now all of a sudden it is, maybe they want to privatize it, but the fact is, again, nothing in government is as popular as the postal service, over 90%, democrats, republicans, people who don't declare a party, all agree that that's really important to their lives, the postal service. so we'll see what happens today. >> and they're all front line workers who have been working through the pandemic, which we should remember as well. briefly on the vice presidential announcement we expect soon from joe biden, two members of your caucus are in the group being considered and other friends and qualiti

colleagues. what are the most important qualities you think joe biden needs? jim clyburn said compassion to fill the gap, compassion, not passion, not electricity. what do you think is the most important quality? >> the most important is that joe biden has trust in the person, that they have shared values and that he knows, first of all, the three things i would say if asked, and you're asking me, is i don't think that who the vice president is makes that much difference in the election. it's about joe biden versus donald trump and that's what the election is about. since lyndon johnson, i don't think any vice president has ever made a positive difference except from a negative standpoint, perhaps, sarah palin. but in terms of significance, lyndon johnson. otherwise, it's nice to see who can do no harm in the campaign, who the president will trust, and that can be a good president should that need arise, god

willing it wouldn't. but i think he has a remarkable field to choose from. any one of them would be great. we're ready to embrace whoever it is. i'm very happy that two house members are being considered and actually tammy duckworth came from the house, then we have senators and we have just an array, a beautiful diversity of strong women. and we are all eager to find out. this is one decision of any that you would know, one decision that is strictly, your power as vice president is derived from the president of the united states. for example, when i go to a meeting at the white house as the speaker or leader in those days, it was about the power derived from my caucus sending me there. but this is about one person choosing someone to be vice president. so again, the confidence, the trust that that person has, you

know, of course they have shared values, which is wonderful, but in terms of how everybody knows about the vice presidency better than joe biden because he served for two terms as a trusted ally of barack obama, and i know that he will want someone like that to be serving with him. >> madam speaker, we are so grateful for your time. >> thank you, andrea. we'll have more on the breaking news from the democratic national committee that joe biden will not be traveling to milwaukee to accept the nomination for president. the inside scoop, next on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. you're watching msnbc. c.d your . >> tech: we'll fix it right with no-contact service you can trust. >> tech: so if you have auto glass damage, stay safe with safelite. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ among my patisensitivity as well tas gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely.

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biden campaign. mike, let's start with you. he couldn't go to pennsylvaniaa car so this is not purely covid. what's the catalyst to doing it from delaware? >> andrea, biden has had a team of medical experts advising his team for months, not just optics, very real engagement over everything including campaign strategy as it relates to campaign travel. and it's worth noting, you'll remember, andrea, at the beginning of last month when the former vice president began rolling out his economic plan, we were traveling often into that battleground state of pennsylvania to do so. he ended up doing the final few planks in delaware. there's a reason for that. pennsylvania has added delaware to its list of quarantine states. there are some jurisdictions that are doing that. all along, the biden campaign has closely monitoring spikes in potential travel locations for the former vice president. they've had this contingency in the works for some time, to do a

potential speech not in the state of wisconsin. it's certainly in contrast to what we've seen. mondica has been covering it vey closely, the trump campaign seems to be a little more erratic in terms of how they're trying to reschedule their own convention. the biden campaign has been from the early stages working on contingencies for every scenario including one i've been hearing about for several days, the possibility that the former vice president himself may not be able to travel to wisconsin for that speech. >> and kristen, you saw nancy pelosi just talking about that he can't do it. i don't know if there's a law that proikhibits it, not that ie been able to find, because the hatch act doesn't cover the president. accepting the nomination from the perspective of tradition would be completely out of bounds. he could also choose monuments in washington. but he's staying in washington. >> it would be completely untraditional for him to give his acceptance speech from the

white house, andrea, no doubt about that. i think you hit the nail on the head, this has really been a process that has brought about some whiplash as president trump has sort of gone boergt in terms of where he's boerack and forthn terms of is he accepting the nomination in north carolina or florida. this is shining a very bright light on the president's leadership at this critical motion and his decisionmaking process, andrea. to president trump today signaling that he is looking very seriously at delivering that speech from the white house grounds. of course we're scrambling to figure out whether he can actually do that and what type of backlash he might get if in fact he does move forward with that type of an acceptance speech from the white house, which would be unprecedented, andrea. >> and i want to talk to you and to mike about the veep stakes in

a second, but to monica, you've been covering this and you have a number of exclusive items on when they might choose. >> it's significant, andrea, in the last couple of weeks and months, we saw the president uproot the national convention from north carolina because he didn't like the democratic governor, and didn't want to enforce social distancing and face masks. he moved it to florida, where he had to subsequently cancel it because of how widespread the virus was, and now he's confronted with trying to decide where that renomination speech is going to take place. we're less than three weeks away and the answer is we don't know. they're looking at gettysburg as a possibility, the liberty bell. but the president signaling that he does want to look at the white house closely, all incumbents have blurred the lines between campaigns and white house official business, but this president is perhaps one who doesn't even see a line. and that is what is alarming

some ethical experts who, while they say there isn't necessarily a legal concern about giving that speech from the south lawn, we've seen the president give so many of those kinds of political remarks from the grounds, there are so many questions about the calculation of how the republicans would have to reimburse the white house for that kind of event. so many questions right now going into just how that would work. and what we do know is there will be a smaller event in charlotte on the monday of that convention. and it's possible the president will travel there to thank an already scaled-back group of delegates, andrea. >> great information. i wanted to share what joe biden talked about on the veepstakes to judy woodruff on the "pbs news hour" last night. >> i mean, the women that are candidates now, each and every one of them would bring something really special and unique to the ticket. so it's been really hard to look at each one and think, oh, my

gosh, wouldn't she be wonderful or wouldn't she be wonderful. it's a really tough choice, judy. >> mike memoli, how close is he getting and is the lineup -- we've seen the large number that they were looking. has he started interviews, virtual interviews? and is the lineup changing? we saw some of the problems that had emerged with a couple of the choices. and your reporting and kristen's that they're taking a look at at least one governor. >> andrea, i'll speak specifically to the timeline, because if there's one thing i've learned covering joe biden over the years is that he likes to establish his own timelines and then revise them as circumstances warrant. you'll remember in 2015, as he was considering joining the 2016 deng democratic field, he talked about a summer announcement, it ended up being late october. this is a person who is a very

deliberative person, who wants to take in all the information he can. it's a difficult choice for him. he knows he has one hard deadline, just before the start of the convention on the 17th. all indications are he will take every last second to make sure he's fully comfortable. as we've seen, he can use that time as more and more information comes out about these choices. >> kristen, briefly, do you think that there would be backlash from his largest group of most loyal supporters, black women voters, if he does not choose a black woman? >> there's a growing sense, andrea, that there is going to be an immense amount of pressure on him to choose a woman who is african-american. we know some of the names at the top that have list. kamala harris, susan rice, karen bass. there are pros and cons to each of them. but we are told not to rule out some of the other contenders like elizabeth warren and

gretchen wilmer, governor of michigan, who could potentially help him carry a key battleground state. as mike said, the word "deliberative" is the word of the day. joe biden taking a very deliberative approach to making this very critical decision. the biggest decision that he's made so far as a candidate, andrea. >> thanks to all these great reporters for their great reporting. and imagine struggling with covid symptoms for more than four months. that's what one boston woman has had to deal with since contracting the coronavirus in march. what doctors are doing for her now. what doctors are doing for her now. >> announcer: "inside scoop" is sponsored by infiniti. to severe psoriasis,

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as researchers around the world work feverishly on a vaccine, doctors are searching for solutions to treat covid patients as some are experiencing symptoms long after they should have recovered. one 35-year-old woman in boston says she's been fighting symptoms like elevated heartbeat and shortness of breath for almost five months. >> i often fear that not only will this be permanent but is there something else that could pop up. is there -- am i, you know, going to develop a blood clot or something? i have shortness of breath that has not ceased in months. i have increased heart rate. i have certain imaging showing

that everything is okay. but when you're having all of these symptoms continue, you wonder what that does to the body. like, what does a fever do, on and off for 140 days? >> joining me now, nbc news correspondent sam brock who spoke with kate porter. sam, she also told you about her frustration with having to wait a month to even get tested. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. kate had been tested in the middle of march, at least that's when she contracted the virus, had to wait weeks just to be able to finally get that test. and that was the start of her journey, not the end. she has had the symptoms for 140 days, perpetually for months. there is help on the horizon. with antibody testing, they're taking those antibodies out which fight the virus and putting them in other people in

hopes that it will neutralize the spread. in florida we've just had 7,600 deaths in florida, stunning numbers. this does represent an opportunity for people who have been dealing with this, andrea, to at least manage the systems and hopefully more, andrea. >> thank you, sam brock. and joining me now, dr. kavita patel, former health policy director for the obama administration and an msnbc medical contributor. what do you say about these patients who are having symptoms long after they should have recovered? >> it's really troubling, andrea. her story, while it might sound unusual because of the length of symptoms, is actually consistent with what the cdc is finding in its survey of patients who are not hospitalized. up to two-thirds of them, weeks to even an month later, have had symptoms like fatigue. this is something, andrea, i predict will stay with us, patients with covid will

continue to battle different types of symptoms. >> i want to ask you about something dr. fauci had to say, that the united states needs to get daily cases under 10,000 by fall. let's watch. >> cases, you know, the last ones, anywhere between 50 and 60,000 per day with a thousand deaths per day, we've got to get those numbers down. if we don't get them down, then we're going to have a really bad situation in the fall, because as you get indoors and you get the complication of influenza, that's something we'll have to deal with. >> dr. patel, do you agree with that imrequest. >> yes, it's critical that we get cases down. just to ground us in a little bit of statistics, andrea, we haven't seen cases under 10,000 since late march. so we have a lot of ground to cover if we want to achieve those numbers. and it will involve some pretty drastic actions on our part.

>> yesterday, the president, who had a meeting in the oval office with drs. fauci, birx, the rest of the task force, fauci and birx were the only ones wearing masks, by the way, he came out and said we are already at 50% of rapid tests in this country. that's not true. >> yeah, that's just simply not true, andrea. i wish it were true. so we've conducted upwards of 60 million tests total in the united states. on any day, about 800,000 tests. the majority of those tests are the ones we're all hearing about with the swabs that go deep up into the nose, into the sinus, and have been taking anywhere from four to 12 days to turn around. the rapid tests, what's available at the white house, and to some clinics and doctors' offices, 15-minute turnaround tests, there's only two manufacturers approved by the fda to do those tests. and those kits are not widely available yet. i wish they were but it's simply not true.

>> fact checking the president. thank you very much, dr. patel, appreciate it. and dire warning. why former deputy attorney general sally yates testifying today says we have to remain vigilant as we approach the november election. senate democratic whip and judiciary committee member senator dick durbin joining me next. bin joining me next get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity.

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[ laughs ] ibut nothing makes me feel like pnew always discreet boutique. outside, it's soft like underwear. inside, it turns liquid to gel. for incredible protection, that feels like nothing but my underwear. new always discreet boutique. sally yates blew the whistle on national security adviser mike flynn. she is testifying today before the republican-led senate judiciary committee. the top republican on the senate judiciary committee, chairman lindsey graham, is questioning why flynn's contacts with russia's ambassador during the transition set off alarm bells, leading him to lie about those conversations to the fbi. >> what did the administration do to stop the russians from interfering after they knew they

were trying? >> my understanding, senator, is that the intelligence committee and the administration, this is not something the deputy attorney general would be involved in. i understood they needed to shore it up. my further understanding is they wanted to make a bipartisan statement. and there were folks on your side of the aisle that refused to participate. >> yeah, but here's my point. you knew the russians were up to no good and you did nothing about it, effectively. so we don't need a lecture from the obama administration about being tough on russia. >> joining me now is senate democratic whip and judiciary committee member dick durbin. i was wondering about your blood pressure during that exchange. >> it's hard to imagine. it used to be the senate judiciary committee, now it's the senate history committee. we're going back to the early days of the trump administration to try and rehabilitate general flynn's reputation.

when obama discovered what the russians were up to, he sat down with congressional leaders. it was senator mcconnell, the republican leaders, who said i don't want to join any bipartisan statement. end of effort toward bipartisanship. i can tell you this, we knew what they were up to, at least had a suspicion, but it wasn't until after the election that all the details came through. >> we understand from bill barr, the attorney general, last week during his testimony, that the so-called durham investigation is going to be released, relitigating a lot of this, targeting some former administration officials, but released before the election. do you think that this, when it was released, however they describe it, will damage the biden campaign? >> i don't think america's voters are going to focus on what happened three and four years ago and who pointed a finger at whom and whether it was comey's fault or miller's fault or somebody else's fault. for goodness sake, that's ancient history at this point. the question is who is going to

interfere in this election, who will be interfering to try to get to an outcome that the american people really don't want to see. i mean, we know that the russians are up to it all over again. the question is, are we ready. i think we were in the off year election. i'm not sure we're ready for this election. we better be. >> i want to ask you about china, because i had an interview with china's ambassador to the u.s. at a point where the relationship is by all accounts the worst between the u.s. and china actually since almost 50 years. and the president again yesterday slamming china for the virus. let me play that first. and then we'll go to the chinese ambassador's response. >> it should have been stopped at -- very easily by china in wuhan. i think our attitude on china has changed greatly since the china virus hit us. i think it changed greatly. it hit the world and it shouldn't have. they should have been able to stop it.

>> and just about an hour earlier, i was asking the chinese ambassador about these repeated comments by the president and certainly the speech by mike penompeo. and this was his reaction. >> i don't know why people like the term so much. the correct lesson which we learn from past history, that such a cold war serves nobody's real interests. and today, we're in the 21st century. why should we allow history to repeat? why we should repeat what happened in the last century, when we are facing so many new challenges, emerging and global challenges? i don't think a new cold war would serve anybody's interests or give us any solutions to problems. >> and so, senator, he denied a

lot of the accusations that had been bipartisan against china for their espionage, intellectual property theft, what you might expect. he's trying to de-escalate this. how do you see the relationship right now? >> i can tell you there's a long litany of things we could be talking to china about. hong kong, how about that for starters. the expansion in the south china sea. the internment of muslim populations. the treatment of uighurs. the list is long. we should be in active conversation with the chinese on these human rights issues and other issues. but understand, andrea, what's at the heart of this. the president wants us to take our eye off of what's happening in the united states and really focus on china. we have 5% of the world's population in the united states. we have 25% of all the covid-19 infections in the world in the united states. for that, the president has to answer to the american people. when he ignores his experts, when he misrepresents facts

about medicine to the people of the united states, when he tells us this is all over, didn't he tell us that within the last 48 hours? i mean, you just wonder. we don't have the leadership in this country to deal with the serious problem. i'm worried about china, but first i'm worried about america. what are we going to do to stop this virus and the spread that we're seeing across the united states. >> do you think there will be a deal by the end of the week, senator? >> well, we're working toward one. the odd thing is that senator mcconnell refuses to sit down in the same room with the negotiation. it would be helpful if the congressional republicans would join us in a bipartisan effort. the c.a.r.e.s. act passed 96-0, it was bipartisan. this will have to be bipartisan too. if we had theers a republican ls in the room, it would move more smoo smoothly. >> thank you very much, senator. in beirut, an explosion

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in beirut rescue officials are sifting through rubble looking for survivors and answers for the massive explosion at the warehouse that rocked the port area of the city. more than 100 people have been killed. thousands injured. the blast crumbling buildings. people couldn't get away from it fast enough. the shock wave barreling through stores. and at a church service the ceiling coming tumbling down on this priest in beirut.

thankfully he is all right. sky tv on the ground in lebanon, talking to survivors. >> reporter: they are in complete shock. i mean, anyone who survived, anyone who has returned this morning was lucky enough to be away at the time, anyone who went through this huge, impactful explosion is really, in many ways, struggling to come to terms with it. look what happened. now this is a huge, big building. every one that you look at has holes punched into it, balconies brought down. if they were half being built, the scaffolding has crumbled. people are in there trying to rescue their belongings or trying to save parts of whatever is left of their business. and this is a city which has suffered so much conflict, so

much terror, so much devastation over the years. and yet this reached really new levels yesterday when the port exploded. >> alex crawford from sky tv. and now a number of beirut port officials are under house arrest pending investigation into how 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate -- that's what blew up the oklahoma building in oklahoma city -- were stored at that port for years. joining me now a former assistant director for counterintelligence at the fbi. the president yesterday calling this an attack and also saying that it was a bomb after a photo-op in the oval office with the generals. nobody at the pentagon or if other agencies are confirming that as officials there indicate it was potentially malfeasance. what do you know, frank? >> yeah, we know that reputable

media platforms are actually have sources including generals at the pentagon who are saying they have no idea what trump is talking about. look, i'm not a medical or mental health professional. i don't know why this president seems unable to be grounded in reality, but i am an intelligence professional and can tell you when the president of the united states stands at a podium and actually engages in conjecture and simply makes stuff up about an attack, there is both short-term danger involved and there is long-term damage involved. the short-term danger is when something like this happens, andrea, you know all the intelligence agencies kick into high gear, try to find out what happened. the world is listening to the united states. they want leadership and guidance. for the president to say there's an attack or bomb could cause troops to go on alert, could cause terrorism organizations to consider launching a counterattack to something that didn't happen. in the long term america has its stature eroded as the go-to source of reliable intelligence. it's dangerous and we can't have

the president simply making stuff up. >> what about having that amount of ammonium nitrate stored? >> and our intelligence agencies likely knew that there's a place in beirut that is storing 2,700 metric tons of ammonium nitrate. that is easily discernible and we can find it out. and the lebanese government has said this is the absolute best theory as to what happened. we'll let them investigate, but -- and it is the kind of bomb that went off in oklahoma city. but for the president to actually say to the world he thinks it was an attack and it's a hunch of his, isn't going to work. >> thank you so much, frank figliuzzi. that does it. a busy day on "andrea mitchell reports." remember to follow us online. chris jansing picks up the coverage after a short break. bk

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good afternoon, i'm chris generalsing. the battle is intensifying. 90 days from election day, some big developments. joe biden, who has made safety and setting an example during the pandemic central to his campaign just announcing he will not travel to battleground wisconsin to give his acceptance speech. are and president trump, who has never been shy about using the white house as a backdrop, suggesting it could be the perfect place for his con