hello. i'm chris jansing. we have got a lot to cover this hour. in just a few hours, president trump will be holding another news conference at the white house. we expect him to discuss the coronavirus vaccine development in the u.s. just hours after russian president vladimir putin claimed publicly, but without providing evidence, that his country developed the world's first covid-19 vaccine and that

his daughter has already been vaccinated with it. here at home, the virus continues its alarming spread with more than 5 million confirmed cases. that means the u.s. now makes up more than 25% of total cases on the planet as the latest grim worldwide total now surpasses 20 million cases. meanwhile, the nation's top infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci again making his case in the ongoing debate over reopening schools with a recommendation that's in stark contrast to what we've heard from the president and what we've seen from many governors. >> i feel that universal wearing of mask is one of five or six things that are very important in preventing the upsurge of infection. >> but we begin in washington where the trump administration has a new proposal to battle this harsh reality of growing cases. there are now new outbreaks in

reportedly nearly 20 states. these new reports today that the trump administration is considering temporarily blocking americans from returning to the u.s. if they have traveled abroad and are suspected of having the coronavirus. the potential impact is huge since hundreds of thousands of u.s. citizens and permanent residents crossed the border legally each day. and it comes as the president continues to downplay the recent rise in cases among children saying they are, quote, a tiny fraction of deaths, and that has administration has done an extraordinary job handling the pandemic. joining me from the white house is nbc's kristen welker. so kristen, what do we know about this potential plan to prevent u.s. citizens from re-entering the country if they are suspected of having coronavirus? >> well, white house officials, chris, are stressing a couple of points. first of all, they're not going to confirm or deny any of those details, but second of all, they stress that any type of plan like that would be extremely

preliminary. one white house official saying this -- career professionals at the cdc working on an overall approach to pandemic control, both now and in the future. the regulation is in draft form and subject to change. this is an ongoing process. and any reporting on this would be extremely premature. the bottom line there, again, chris, this is one of those things that is in draft form. gets sent around not only the white house but the administration. and has a lot of eyes on it before it gets presented to the president and before he would make any final determination. having said that, it does come against the backdrop of president trump looking at avenues to block those coming into the country who might be carriers of covid-19. we saw that when he limited travel from china and from europe at various moments. so this would certainly be within that broader context. but again, chris, just to stress, at this point, any draft is extremely premature and preliminary.

>> let me ask you to follow up on what we saw yesterday. you were actually in the briefing room, in the white house, when the president abruptly left yesterday's briefing. i was thinking about the years you and i worked together. and sometimes something would happen. there would be a suspicious package. somebody would get over the fence. i had never seen a president being pulled from the podium. tell us a little more about what we know about what happened. >> well, chris, i think you capture it. you and i were both at the white house together during former president obama's administration. and nothing like this ever happened where president trump was starting his briefing on coronavirus and moments into the briefing, a secret service agent essentially escorted him from the room and into the oval office. now he held there for about eight minutes. so not very long. but it was a dramatic and tense scene here within the briefing room. but the president did come back to the podium and he announced there had been a shooting outside of the white house at

17th and pennsylvania avenue. we got new details about overnight about that overnight with the secret service saying that a 51-year-old man essentially approached an officer with the uniform division. said he was armed and then made a motion as if he was going to fire at this officer. so the officer did fire at this suspect. the suspect and the officer both taken to the hospital. i'm told the officer has been released. the suspect was still at the hospital overnight recovering. one law enforcement official later telling me he, in fact, was not armed with a gun, but the bottom line, according to the secret service, this agent did feel as though he was charging at agents in a threatening way. a dramatic scene in the west wing. president trump expressing his gratitude for the secret service. chris? >> yeah, dramatic watching it on tv. i can only imagine being there. kristen welker, thank you. appreciate that. meantime, on capitol hill,

coronavirus relief negotiations with the white house remain at a complete standstill. senior democratic aides say there is still no contact between house speaker nancy pelosi, senate minority leader chuck schumer and the trump administration. now house majority leader steny hoyer is threatening to hold up any house votes until mid-september unless they break the gridlock and reach a deal. joining me is the democrat of maryland and house majority leader steny hoyer. so good to have you here at this critical time. how are you going to break a deadlock and make a deal? what's the plan right now, congressman? >> first, let me say, you said i've threatened to hold up votes. i haven't threatened anybody to do anything. what i have said and what i continue to say is that i will call the house back into session as soon as we have an agreement between the president and the senate and the house that the senate can pass. after all, three months ago, we passed a bill, but we are ready

to negotiate. we're ready to discuss. peter navarro was on chuck todd on sunday. said, look, we're at a trillion. they're at $3.4 trillion. you take a number halfway in between, and you apply it to the priorities. i frankly think we're prepared to do that. we are prepared to do it. and i'm hopeful that we can do it. i will tell you that speaker pelosi -- >> no republicans also say -- i don't know if you heard secretary mnuchin say yesterday they want to go back to the table. if you want to go back to the table and they want to go back to the table, help the american people understand why this isn't getting done. >> well, i don't know the answer to that question, but mark meadows may be the answer to that question. mark meadows was not in the first four deals that we put together. mnuchin, the speaker, schumer and others participated. and we got a deal on four bills

to confront the crisis, to confront the economic downturn and to help families. we did that in a bipartisan way with overwhelming votes from republicans and democrats. the only thing that's new is mark meadows who helped shut down the government, who opposed his own republican speakers often and who simply does not want to get to yes. he's got some very strong feelings about state and local governments. we think that is absolutely essential. if you let the states go down and local governments go down, the economy is going to further tank. the health care fight will be weakened. so that i think, frankly, if it were secretary mnuchin and speaker pelosi, we'd have a deal. but i think the fact that we're not getting together, not getting -- moving forward, i think is largely the responsibility of one man, and that's mark meadows. it's a shame because i think secretary mnuchin and speaker pelosi would, in fact, have reached a deal by this point in

time. and we need to keep doing so and trying to do so. and i just spoke to the speaker half an hour ago. she is ready to do that. >> so does that leave you any options, though? do you just sit back and wait for meadows or what are you going to do? is there something proactively you feel you can do to get this moving? >> well, i think -- we've talked about -- the speaker and i have talked about some things we can do proactively. i'm not going to talk about them at this point in time, but i think we need to do some proactive action to show the american people we want to get this done. now, understand, we acted three months ago. since that time, 75,000 people have died. when we acted, speaker mcconnell -- excuse me, majority leader mcconnell's response was, let the states go bankrupt. that was a simply horrendous observation and a negligent reaction. and three months have gone by. we still don't have a senate

option that the senate can pass. why? because senator mcconnell will not make arrangements with chuck schumer to get something they both can agree on. that's what is required in a democracy. but having said all of that, we need to get something done for the american people. we need to get something done to fill the vacuum of the total lack of policy and strategy of this president to meet the coronavirus crisis. he's been in denial. their party is a deeply dysfunctional party. the senate doesn't agree with itself. they don't agree with the white house. it's very difficult to get a deal in that context when you have one side who can't come up with a consensus among themselves. but it is absolutely essential that we do so and -- and we need to include elements that mr. meadows does not want on the table. we need to deal with education. if you're going to go back to school, you need the resources to go back to school safely. we need to make sure our people are fed and do the nutritional aid that is needed.

we need to make sure that families have that sustenance they've had. and, yes, we need unemployment insurance at a rate that will make sure families don't fall through the cracks. we need to get there. we're ready -- >> understanding -- >> but we -- >> what's on the table, i want to ask you about -- >> let me say this. >> okay. >> we're not just saying it, we've done it four times with the administration led by secretary mnuchin and the united states senate. so it's not like we just are talking. we have done it. we need to do it this time. i hope mark meadows comes back to the table with an understanding that there's give and take, not just take. >> so let me get your reaction before we go to what we're hearing is the latest white house proposal to deal with the growing number of coronavirus cases. you may have just heard me talking about it with kristen welker. this proposal that the administration would temporarily block americans trying to get back into the country if they

are suspected of having the coronavirus. is that an effective way to slow the spread? >> it's an absurd distraction. what i'm worried about are the people in the united states who are getting coronavirus, transmitting coronavirus. those 75,000 people have died since we passed our bill. that's what the president ought to be focused on. but what is he focused on? he's focused on people coming into this country. he doesn't want people to come into this country. in this case, it's americans. in this case, it's people who are authorized to come in to this country. it is a total distraction and the same kind of negligence and incompetence that we've seen, which is why we are the worst performer in the world in dealing with this virus. >> congressman steny hoyer of maryland, house majority leader. always a pleasure to talk to you. thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. and while funding questions are still out there, they're still trying to make a deal, schools are trying to decide how

and when to reopen. some already have with no consistency to the approach. and missing in all of this, publicly at least, is education secretary betsy devos. she has been notably absent as critical decisions are being made on public school reopenings this fall. and, yet, has been a forceful advocate for president trump's desire to reopen schools in full, in person. joining me now is nbc's heidi przybyla. you wrote an eye-opening story on this. devos' press office says she has, in fact, been in constant contact with state and local leaders virtually and in person. yet nbc couldn't find any records of that. tell us more about what you found digging into this story. >> chris, we are amidst one of the most critical moments in public education history in this country. betsy devos is the top education official. she's demanding, like trump, that these schools all reopen but not providing any guidelines on how to do so safely.

she's not even saying that schools should abide or need to abide by the cdc guidelines. her public schedule, the one they post for the public with events, that's been pretty much empty for weeks. she is, most importantly, not reaching out to those public schools, touring those public schools, which we know have poor ventilation systems from a recent report. gao report showing that many of them need upgraded ventilation systems. she is not advocating for the funding that leader hoyer said that these schools desperately need to reopen. she even declined last week to testify before a committee about reopening and the challenges that schools are facing on coronavirus. she did visit a private school a couple of weeks ago that she held up as a model for reopening. days later, it turned out that that school in north carolina had to quarantine some fourth graders because of coronavirus exposure. here's why this is all the more notable, chris. secretary devos has a really

unusual security situation that we reported about back in 2018 that devos, unlike any other cabinet member, currently, and only one in history that we could find has round the clock armed security. while the price for that, through september of this year to taxpayers now, is $25 million. so her absence on the public stage is starting to really draw crit critics. and this week, there is a mobile billboard that traveled from washington to her resort area where she has a 22,000-square-foot summer home off lake michigan in holland, michigan, with a mobile billboard telling betsy devos that she should, quote, stop hiding in your mansion and get out and start doing more to advocate for those school children who are even now starting to go back to places and schools that people fear are just not safe. >> an important story at a critical time. people can read it at

nbcnews.com. heidi przybyla, thank you for your reporting and for being on the program. we appreciate it. we are now just 84 days away from the presidential election. and most americans aren't confident the election will be a fair one. speaking of that election, we're still waiting for joe biden to announce his vp pick, an announcement that could literally come at any minute. the pressure he is under to pick a black woman. plus, a look at ghislaine maxwell's life in prison. and what her attorneys want to change about it. you're watching msnbc. ♪ come on in, we're open. ♪ all we do is hand you the bag. simple. done. we adapt and we change. you know, you just figure it out. we've just been finding a way to keep on pushing. ♪

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with 84 days to go until election day, the majority of voters say they're not confident the election will be fair. according to the latest nbc survey monkey poll, 55% of all voters have concerns, including a strong majority, 65% of republicans or republican leaning voters. when it comes to voting by mail, 55% want to allow all americans to vote by mail this fall. but just 23% of republicans do. compared to 86% of democrats. and president trump is continuing his attack on voting by mail and pushing his unproven accusation that it will lead to fraud. opening the doors for him to contest the results if he loses. all right, the place, joe biden's house in delaware. the decision, monumental. the timing? well, could literally be any

minute now. every indication is that joe biden has cleared all the hurdles for picking his vp. now the question remains, when will he tell all of us? nbc news has learned the biden campaign has already put together a team for whoever she may be. joining me now, nbc's mike memoli who has been closely watching the biden campaign in wilmington, delaware. good to see you again, mike. so i understand the vetting is done. is the list at least narrowed? do we have a fuel final contenders? do we think he has made up his mind? give us the very latest. >> well, chris, joe biden became the de facto democratic nominee in mid-april. we've had three months of, you know, friendly and more fun veepsstakes conversation the last few weeks have turned a lot more intense as we've narrowed in on this final few moments here. all indications are the former vice president has made that decision. he was huddled with his family in rehoboth over the weekend and

returned to wilmington. if this decision is anything like the past major political decisions joe biden has made in his life, he's also been sounding out some of his closest political allies of late. but we don't yet have any firm indication of when the actual pick will be coming. we know the biden campaign has been capitalizing on the suspense. biden campaign official told me in the last hour that, listen to this, they've added hundreds of thousands of new supporters to their email, their text list, all the forms they've encouraged people to sign up to get information about this pick first from the campaign. so this has been an incredible organizing activity for the campaign. even if there are a lot of democrats and a few other folks getting frustrated by the timetable dragging on a little bit. >> all right. so we've also seen the speaker schedule for the democratic national convention next week. kamala harris thursday, the final night. gretchen whit pmer scheduled fo monday. susan rice's name is missing.

everyone has been trying to read the tea leaves. any leaves to be read? >> also karen bass and val demings, to names we've been tracking. the biden campaign, the democratic national convention team says, of course, listen, this schedule is subject to change. so we all are keeping our focus on who is in that wednesday night primetime speaking slot. the eventual nominee here for vice president. the campaign saying, of course, that can shift around. it's interesting to look at that. what does that tell you that those names are in versus out in the speaking program. it tells you those are the biggest political firepower in terms of the names on the short list. if the biden campaign, the former vice president himself thinks he needs a real political asset on the team, someone to help rally the bairx perhaps look at those three names rather than those not in the key speaking slots. >> mike memoli always with the

interesting analysis and inside info. thank you, mike. as we wait for biden's vp announcement, there's mounting pressure for him to choose a black woman. a choice that would, of course, make history. joining me, amy ellison, the founder and president of she the people. it's good to see you. look, this is not new to you. you've been pushing for democrats to do more for women candidates of color for years now. so with that experience, put the importance of the biden decision in context for us and why you believe it's so crucial. >> it's good to be with you, chris, and hard to overstate the importance of this announcement this week. it will set the tone for the last 80 or so days. and we believe that it's the most important decision right now that would set the stage to close the enthusiasm gap and bring the democratic party base together, unify a message and go forth with very high turnout. that's what it's going to take

in order to win, particularly battleground states that trump won in 2016. and, look, black women have been leading the fight for justice and for democracy for generations. putting a black woman on the ticket as biden's running mate is an indication and a recognition that black women aren't just the powerhouse base of democratic party voters and the expectation that black women will turn out for democrats in the high 90% which, you know, is more democratic than any other race and gender. but it's also a recognition that black women are ready to lead. ready to govern. and this is important, necessary step. >> and if biden doesn't choose a black woman, do you believe there will be a price to pay? >> well, i joined over 100 black women with a public letter that came out a few days back calling for that and pushing back against the racist and sexist attacks that were coming for those who were being considered

to be on the ticket. to be honest, it's not really a question of whether or not black women or the black community will vote for democrats. we're the most loyal base of the party. and the fact is that black women will vote in very, very high percentage for biden. but the question is, are we going to be able to close the gap in battleground states. places where there's a very thin margin like texas, arizona, florida and georgia, michigan. and black women are the core for really unifying a larger inclusive multiracial coalition. and, in fact, we need high turnout, record turnout in the middle of a pandemic. record unemployment, all the problems we're facing as a country. and to do that, we've got to have a very motivated base who are going to organize and turn out not only themselves but their friends and family. i think that's what's at stake.

an all-white ticket in the wake of national calls for america to deal with its racism and all-white ticket for a party that's half people of color and a quarter women of color, isn't meeting the moment. and we're calling for black woman vp because we think that's the healing move that biden needs to take to bring together americans and to go forward. >> you mentioned the letter that you signed. yesterday more than 100 prominent black men also signed an open letter to biden urging him to pick a black woman and calling out attacks on ambitious women writing this. was joe biden ever labeled too ambitious because he ran for president three times? should president obama not have made him the vp because he had to worry about his loyalty when he clearly had ambitions to be president himself? what's your expectation, aimee, of what's facing biden's pick, particularly if it's a black woman, and what should the game plan be for what's coming and

dealing with it? >> well, i think we can expect and we're already seeing attacks for the vp contenders, those who are being vetted. we know that for a woman of color, there's a particular ugly kind of attack, and it comes from left, right and center, to be totally honest as black women and women of color assert themselves as leaders. and the attacks, they're ugly and personal. attacks that say, you know, dismiss a woman's ambition to be president as if there's something wrong with that, are really steeped in racist and sexist beliefs about what a woman of color or black woman's place is in american democracy. and so we're pushing back against that. i was really happy and very pleased to see the letter of solidarity written by black men. men that are leaders in their own right. like reverend william barber who is holding up a moral and very

powerful message there. i think that we need to see solidarity from all corners, and to focus on the issues to really see who lives in this country, to uplift the issues of racial, economic and social justice. that's what people are listening for. that's what the polls show americans want. and so i think as we continue to go and the announcement comes this week, we're going to see a group of the black women that i've been organizing with, black women united who are volunteers who are giving their time and expertise to push back on racist and sexist attacks but also joining other groups, women-led groups to lead the country in making sure that there is no room for racism and sexism in the conversation about leadership that we focus on the really pressing, important issues to americans. >> we could know any hour, any day now what the decision is. aimee allison, i'm really happy

to have you here. thanks for taking the time to talk with us. >> thank you. and parents are continuing to raise concerns about in-person learning. >> walking into the school, i didn't see a lot of mask wearing. and i think that that should have been something that was mandatory and not optional. >> that's what we're seeing as president trump is adamant about schools reopening and continues to insist that children are essentially immune to the coronavirus, despite all the evidence to the contrary. you're watching msnbc. rance so you only pay for what you need? i should get a quote. do it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ start your day with secret. secret stops sweat 3x more than ordinary antiperspirants. with secret, you're unstoppable. no sweat! try it and love it or get your money back.

there are a number of new coronavirus developments we're following for you. here are the latest facts as we know them this hour. the death toll in florida hit a new single day record today with authorities reporting 276 deaths. that figure includes people who

may have died days earlier but were only confirmed on monday. new zealand reported the country's first cases of the virus through local transmission in 102 days. four cases in one household with an unknown source. in response, the government reintroduced restrictions in parts of the country. in georgia, more than 800 students and staff from the cherokee county school district have been told to quarantine just one week after schools reopened in that northern georgia school district. today, there's new backlash against president trump's ongoing push to convince people that the coronavirus poses virtually no threat to american children. >> 97,000 children tested positive for coronavirus in the last two weeks in july according to the american academy of pediatrics. does that give you any pause about schools reopening for in-person learning? >> no, because they may have, as you would call it a case, it may be a case, but it's also a case where there's a tiny -- it's a

tiny fraction of death. >> do you still believe that children are essentially immune? >> yeah, i think that for the most part, they do very well. they don't get very sick. >> joining me now is senior scholar at the johns hopkins center for health security, dr. amish adalja. we know what he said medical experts have told us is not true. parents watching that, they know our knowledge is growing all the time. what can you tell parents about what we know about children, the way coronavirus affects them, and what their real concerns should be. >> sure. so we know that children can get infected with the coronavirus. they can harbor it in their nose and mouth. what is true is that children tend to be spared the worst consequences. we don't see them represented

amongst the ranks of the hospitalized or the dead, although there have been dozens of children that have died over the course of this pandemic. it isn't the norm to do that. if your child is infected with coronavirus, it's likely they'll have a mild case, but you do have to be careful about them spreading it to others and watch for complications that could occur such as multi-inflammatory syndrome that occurs in a small number of kids, but it is a risk. in general, children tend to be spared but it's not the case they're immune to this or impervious to the disease. >> russian president vladimir putin created a stir announcing russia has registered the first coronavirus vaccine. even trying it out on one of his two daughters. and apparently other countries are interested in getting their hands on it. what are the concerns? >> well, the concerns are that they might have skipped some safety and efficacy trials. and the vaccine may not work or may have a side effect when you start to administer it to large groups of people. it's based on the astrazeneca

vaccine so there's some biological possibility it could work but we're not quite there yet to be vaccinating the entire population of a country. what happens if there's a signal, a safety signal or efficacy signal that emerges? that may derail and destroy the public confidence in other vaccines. we have to really be careful about this because we saw during the h1n1 pandemic the uptake was like 23% in the united states which is very, very low. we know people are already vaccine hesitant about this vaccine. so any kind of foul up in any country is going to really poison the entire field so we want to be very careful about this. i'm worried about what may happen in russia. >> meantime, espn is reporting on a possible coronavirus link to myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle. it's been found in five big ten conference athletes and among other several athletes in other conferences. we talk often about how much we don't know about coronavirus effects, including long-term effects. i'm wondering what you make of those reports.

>> we know coronavirus can affect the heart. it usually happens in severe cases but more and more wooerg seeing studies of people who had mild illness that have heart abnormalities. while that may not make much of a difference in the population, when you are talking about athletes, that could be a main concern because we worry about heart conditions manifesting themselves with the extreme physiological stress that football players under go. we want to have appropriate protocols for those individuals who have the coronavirus and are playing sports that they are cleared appropriately by sports medicine physicians before they return to play. so we don't have these late-term consequences that could occur from undetected heart damage. >> and we're going to talk more about decisions being made about the football season in college coming up in a little bit. dr. amesh adalja, thank you. remember these images from june. lines of voters in atlanta waiting for hours, sometimes in the rain, to vote during a pandemic. well, we're back there today for the run-off elections and a look

at how the coronavirus continues to complicate in-person voting and what changes election officials are making to counter that. and ghislaine maxwell, alleged accomplice of sex trafficker jeffrey epstein complaining about how she's being treated in jail and how she wants out of solitary confinement as she awaits trial. we'll have the details before the break. you're watching msnbc. boost® hi. -with 20 grams of protein for muscle health- -versus only 16 grams in ensure® high protein. and now enjoy boost® high protein in new café mocha flavor.

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primaries are taking place in connecticut, georgia, south dakota, vermont and wisconsin. and in georgia's 14th district, a major matchup in the gop primary between conservative neurosurgeon, dr. john cowan and marjorie taylor green. she has been disavowed by party leadership for racist, anti-islam and anti-semitic comments and attracted national attention for her support for conspiracy theories. and today's contests are yet another test run for voting during the pandemic. joining me, nbc news correspondent blayne alexander who is live from atlanta. georgia's primary june 9s was plagued with problems. you know that. heat, pouring rain, hours-long wait time to vote. what kind of changes have we seen to make today's process smoother, and how is it going? >> well, chris, i was here in this exact location about two months ago, really around the same time of day and i can tell you the difference is night and day. so when we were here two months ago, the line to vote was stretched down that way around

the corner and then around the corner again. certainly a very different look. when you look here today, we've seen a steady trickle when i speak with the poll workers. they've been in within a matter of minutes so completely different experience. a couple of reasons for that. one, when you look at a run-off you typically see lower voter turnout. here in fulton county, there was some 29,000 people who voted early. but on top of that, fulton county officials tell me they've taken a number of steps to really mitigate those problems, not only for today's runoff but looking ahead to november. having more polling locations, about ten more locations than what we saw back in june, and more poll workers. and this is important. remember, georgia is rolling out new voting machines. they used them for the first time in june. well, now every single polling location has a technician on hand to be able to troubleshoot in realtime. so i've spoken with voters today. i ran into a voter i talked to

two months ago. she was soaking wet, had been waiting for three hours. a very different story today. take a look. >> compare the primary to today. did you notice any changes inside? >> actually, there wasn't a big crowd like before. but the people were still just as friendly. they seemed a little more organized, which was great. and the biggest part of it, i was in, i was out, i was done. >> anything that has to do with machines not working, people in long lines, people getting turned away, provisional ballots, we're trying to make sure if there are issues or problems that we help the people who are doing the work here. the county employees to make sure things are going well. >> and that second sound bite was with christopher bruce who works with the aclu here. they have dozens of people going from location to location to look out for any of those issues he just listed. chris? >> blayne alexander, thank you so much. now from georgia to here in new york where ghislaine maxwell is not happy with conditions in

jail. her lawyers have filed papers complaining she's being held under, quote, uniquely onerous conditions. joining me, nbc investigative reporter rich shapiro. maxwell, of course, is accused of procuring girls as young as 14 for sexual abuse by jeffrey epstein. tell us about this filing and what else her lawyers are saying. >> yeah, so in this filing, ghislaine maxwell is asking a federal judge to order the prison system to release her to the general population. she's been in this restrictive housing situation and she and her lawyers are arguing that it's preventing her from essentially assisting in her defense because she's unable to access the computer, she's unable to review documents and the like. and the filing also raises a second issue and that is, maxwell and her attorneys are asking the court to order the

government to disclose the identities of the three alleged victims referenced in the indictment. so her lawyers point out that epstein has been accused of sexually abusing dozens, if not hundreds of young women and girls, and for them to mount a meaningful defense in this case, there -- maxwell and her lawyers are arguing they need to know the identities of the alleged victims in this case. >> let me go back to the original complaint that i mentioned. what's the official reason for the condition she's being held under? is it because epstein died by suicide or because she's a high-profile inmate? what do we know? >> so it's not uncommon for high-profile inmates to be held in restrictive housing. and that is in large part for their own protection because they could be targets.

other inmates could seek, you know, a level of fame by attacking them or demeaning them in some way. in this case, we -- the bureau of prisons is not -- does not comment on how they are treating individual inmates so we haven't gotten an explanation of what's going on here, but it's likely that it's because she is a high-profile inmate. and i should note that in her filing, she argues that part of the reason she's being treated this way or in large part, is because of epstein's suicide. and that she -- they are essentially treating her the same way just because he died by suicide and she's arguing here that that's unfair. >> rich shapiro, great reporting. thank you. it's not just the future of the school year that's in question right now. the future of sports is also up in the air. from big ten football to major

league baseball's postseason, whether sports can survive into the fall. you're watching msnbc. than rheu. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. xeljanz can reduce pain, swelling, and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. 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 if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra

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there's a major meeting happening today in the sports world. sources say leaders of the big ten schools may hold a vote on whether to allow the football season to begin. following outbreaks in the clubhouses of the st. louis cardinals and miami marlins, major league baseball is reportedly in discussion to host the postseason in a bubble type of format, similar to the nba. joining me to discuss the latest is mike lupika. good to see you, my friend. obviously a lot of pressure being brought to bear. what is at stake, mike? what are the pros and cons? >> well, chris, i believe if the big ten doesn't play -- i know the acc keeps saying it will

play, but that would be a very big domino to fall. and what we're seeing now is that the people who -- college sports in this country, they are great at opening the statium and cashing their television checks, but when they're actually asked to lead, it can be kind of a brain buster for them. the big changes came out with a schedule about a week ago. somebody's got to explain to me what is going on between now and then where we're now having they emergency meetings. i saw senator ben sasse say we need leadership now more than ever, which is like -- is kind of anecdotal. these young men need college football? no, they don't need college football. everybody would like to see them play, but we've got to get it out of our heads that sports is like national service in this country. >> when you look around the different leagues, let's go

beyond this deciding being made we're seeing, we've talk about concerns about myocarditis. we were talking about that earlier. what about your assessment about how they've been able to adjust, or is it different when you look at one sport as opposed to another. >> while your cleveland indians are trying to play baseball -- i can't even. i can't. i can't. >> okay. listen, the fact that baseball, even though the cardinals have only played five games has made it this far is like a christmas miracle. they have done a lot to get their season, what, a quarter of the way in for most teams. the nba so far playing bubble ball is doing extremely well. golf is different.

it's an individual sport. am i still convinced all of these sports are trying to finish? i'm not. when i look at college football especially. i have a senior, my daughter is supposed to back to college and be on campus. i wonder how they assimilate young people cooped up for five months, put them back into the old college campus setting, and then have them interact with athletes. i honestly believe that, no matter how many college football teams start, it is impossible for me to believe they're going to successfully finish the season. >> basically you're young, and they decided they were going to go out, and it puts other people at risk, clearly, including the entire team, the sport, all of that.

mike, always good to see you. let's see what happens today, and exactly where they go with this. we appreciate it. i love seeing you. that room is gorgeous. that does it for me -- i'm doing my own room raider for people who follow it on twitter. my colleague joshua johnson will pick up our coverage after this pick up our coverage after this quick break. this isn't just a wifi upgrade.

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it's 2:00 in the east, 11:00 in the west. hey there, i'm joshua johnson, sitting in for katy tur. evening president trump plans to hold another press briefing on the fight against covid-19. we're told the focus is on operation warp speed, but the russians claim to have warped so far ahead of us that they have apparently ben time. vladimir putin says russia has a vaccine ready to deploy this

fall. even if true, there's another obvious concern. is it safe in vac trials take year for a lot of good reasons like safety. many people are raising doubts, including the secretary of health and human services, alex azar. >> the point is not to be first with the vaccine. the point is to have a vaccine that is safe and effective for the american people and the people of the world. we need transparent data, and it's got to be phase three data that shows that a vaccine is safe and effective. that's what the president is leading with the operation warp speed initiative. >> the start of the school year is approaching fast. the american academy of pediatrics and american hospital association analyzed the last four months of tests among children. the caseload among kids rose 90% in four weeks. we're racing to election day, with some states getting their