first, a new nbc news "wall street journal" poll with 79 days until election day. it shows president trump trail ing joe biden and the trump administration contradicting itself again. the postal service warns states that ballots may not be in in time to be counted on election day, but here's how chief of staff mark meadows saying otherwise. >> we'll have the money allocated and as the postmaster general said just the other day, if it's about processing ballots, he's willing to spend the overtime to make sure that it happens and make sure that we get ballots back. >> that's great. >> also breaking this hour, a call for dejoy to testify on august 24th at an urgent hearing of the house oversight committee. that call coming from nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. and as we count down to the start of the democratic national

convention tomorrow, senator harris is responding publicly for the first time to racist and false attacks levelled at her by president trump. >> they're going to engage in lies. in deception. they're going to engage in an attempt to distract from the real issues. >> shaquille brewster and josh letterman are standing by with the details on those and other developments this hour. shaquille is in delaware and josh is at the white house. and josh, we'll start with you first. the trump administration today continues amping up its attack against voting by mail. what's being said? >> well, even as democrats are sounding the alarm with increasing an increasing levels of intensity about this crisis with the post office, garrett, protestors marching on the house of the postmaster general, the president's top aides are turning up the volume on their attacks on mail in voting.

take a listen to what the president's chief of staff and trade adviser had to say about mail in voting this morning. >> you realize how inaccurate that voter rules are with just people moving around? let alone the people that die off. but sending ballots out just based on a voter roll? anytime you move, you'll change your driver's license, but you don't call up and say, by the way -- >> voter fraud though there's no evidence of widespread voter froud. >> there's in evidence there's not either. that's the definition of fraud. >> what's getting chuck and nancy back to washington. it's not concern about the working men and women of america who really need our help right now. they want to come back so they can rename the post office the united states ballot harvesting service. >> ballot harvesting where ballots are collected by another individual then returned to election authorities really has

nothing to do, garrett, with this issue of the post office, but it reflects the continued drum ringing from the administration against mail in voting, but all this taking place as democrats are really gearing up their efforts to try to provide some oversite. and the house looking to have the postmaster generals actually appear before congress, answer tough questions a week from tomorrow. now we're not yet sure how the administration will respond to that question, whether the postmaster general will go ahead and answer those questions, but it's indicative of how really the top focus for democrats right now is trying to sort this out so that we don't have a massive issue as we get closer to the election.

>> now to the democratic candidates. a new poll gives joe biden and kamala harris momentum as they gear up for tomorrow's dnc kick off. shaquille brewster joins us from delaware where they'll be giving their speeches this week. what kind of boost are they get thg week? >> well, it's exactly the kind of momentum that these candidates are looking for. as they're just one day away from that democratic national convention and you mentioned those poll numbers, let's pull them up. our new nbc news "wall street journal" poll, let's dig into those numbers. vice president biden has the nine-point lead when you look at the race in the national perspective. that's a leap being mirrored in some other poles, but then you look at the issues. you see while vice president biden is leading on most of those issues, it's president trump with that double digit lead on the economy. and then, we also got a sense of how voters feel about the big

news we heard last week with the pick of senator harris as his vice presidential running mate. you see most voters approving of that. that's despite those innuendos, those rumors out there. somehow suggesting that despite senator harris being born in oakland, that she's somehow not eligible for that position. we know those are false and that's a question that senator harris got this morning or in an interview that aired this morning with the grio. listen how she responded when that question was brought up to her. >> look, i'm very clear eyed about the fact that they are going to engage, as you said, in what they have done throughout his administration. which is let's just be very candid and straightforward. they're going to engage in lies. they're going to engage in deception. they're going to engage in an attempt to distract from the real issues that are impacting the american people and i expect that they will engage in dirty tactics and this is going to be a knock down drag out. and we're ready.

>> what's separate from that tone is what you heard from the two this morning. vice president biden and senator harris sending their condolences to president trump. he lost his little brother last night. vice president biden saying he knows personal tragedy. he knows the importance of family. both sending their prayers to the trump family. >> classy touch there. thank you. joining me now to discuss this, brittney, an activist and msnbc contributor, former member of president obama's 21st century policing task force. michael steele, former rnc chairman and msnbc political analyst. chris liu and anthony scaramucci. i want to dig into these poll numbers. michael, we'll start with you. a a stable race so far. what do you see in these numbers and how would you characterize

the race we're in 79 days out now? >> it is stable. the one thing that struck me and i think it's important for folks not to -- is the economy number. that could be a problem because that number matters. there's a strategy why the president came out and started talking about what? suburbia, how you could lose that life you built. the comfort you have, the economy you have there. you've got to look at the

economy how suburban voters see it. >> brittney, is there anything in this poll that concerns you? >> it's something the campaign certainly has to pay attention to. i'm going to push it though because from my seat, donald trump talking about suburban voters had little to do with the economy. it had everything to do with dog whistle politics. that frankly were louder than a dog whistle. these ideas about losing your way of life are central to tactics and that was r familiar to a lot of us. what i think the biden campaign has to make sure to do is to

connect the -- in the suburbs. but what they also need to do is clearly connect donald trump's complete and utter failure with the coronavirus response to the economy. when we look at the fact that his heinous nonresponse has made it more difficult for businesses to reopen, for people to get back to work, young people to get back to school safely, they should be able to connect the dots clearly that donald trump is actually the greatest threat to this economy as proven by his nonresponse to this pandemic. >> yeah, the pandemic seems to hang over all of this. chris, i want to ask you about enthusiasm level. this is something the trump campaign talks about all the time. the idea their voters are so much more enthusiastic. we saw those numbers recovering for biden in this poll, but does that concern you at all?

>> it really doesn't. you know, look, there is more enthusiasm among trump's strong supporters, but there's a strong momentum among democrats and independents to vote against trump. and in the end, the people's propensity to go out is the most important thing regardless of what you're motivated by. it's one of the reasons when you look at all these poll numbers, screening for all voters or registered voters or just likely voters, biden's margin really doesn't change because people are so motivated and what's interesting is when you look at these polls, the disapproval number of of donald trump is well above 50% so he's going to have a very, very hard time moving above from where his floor is right now. and i think it is important, this economy issue. it's also the main issue that's going to be on people's minds is the handling of the coronavirus and in the nbc poll, 61% of americans were disatz fied wi satisfied with the trump administration handling f of

this. they said it was unsuccessful and ultimately his approval or disapproval on that, affects his disapproval on the economy. >> the president is the president in part because of how well he did relatively speaking with independent voters in 2016. so much of his strategy has been about appealing to republicans since that time. as you look at these poll numbers, do you see anywhere for the president to try to make up ground with some independents who supported him back then, but who they've stopped even trying to talk to in the interim? >> yeah, i think we're also, you look at what's going on in wisconsin and michigan. the poll numbers in wisconsin are a disaster. paul ryan has said publicly it's 2-1 in wisconsin. so to me, i think brittney's ultimately correct. we have to explain to the american people that his danger is in his lack of management skills, his lack of crisis management and he'll hurt the economy again. look at what happened here with covid-19. they're already maskless in europe and parts of asia and

they are enjoy iing a robust economy. had we handled this better and not lie d about the science, we would be there, too, and so i think we just have to continue to hammer that home as a message. but michael's also correct. the economy is weighing heavily on people. so i'm hoping that the vice president and senator harris will tack to the middle on the economy and talk about the achievements that the obama administration made during that recovery starting in 2009. >> want to pivot a little bit. the president has been back planned hits essentially, going back he has liked to talk about since he first came on to the public scene, first with this false, racist, birther conspiracy theory. this time, against kamala harris now. his obsession with the postal service has been an ongoing story and now this new story we're reporting at nbc, that he wants to talk again with vladimir putin. here's what he said when he was first confronted about this birther question. >> i just don't know about it.

but it's not something -- >> but you do know, sir. >> don't tell me what i know. let me put it differently. to me, it doesn't bother me at all. i don't know about it. i read one quick article. the lawyer happens to be a brilliant lawyer. as you probably know. he wrote an article saying there could be a problem. it's not something that i'm going to be pursuing. >> is she eligible, sir? >> i just told you. i have not gone into it in great detail. if she's got a problem, you would have thought that she would have been vetted. >> brittney, the president's advisers seem willing to just say this is bs and we're not going to deal wit. why is the president incapable of giving a straight answer and just closing the door on this? >> we have seen over and over and over again how he responds to women just in that very clip with utter disrespect and a lack

of professionalism. we have certainly seen how he responds to black women and women of color when they hold him to account. kamala harris has been holding donald trump to account since he got in office and frank ly, eve before then. she very clearly called him a walking indictment in a red tie. so this is somebody that absolutely rattles donald trump. it is somebody who makes him come face-to-face with his own mediocrity and these are the kinds of responses we see when he's faced with that kind of power when it comes from a woman of color. she's a black and indian woman who doesn't take no for an answer and refuses to take these kinds of answers for the american people. donald trump only knows how to response to that with add homonym attacks and things that are racist, sexist and misogynistic in nature. >> michael, is there any electoral upshot to this behavior or just purely reactionary?

>> mostly reactionary. at this point, the whole birther line of conversation does not have this same kind of political impact. not the energy behind it. the president's trying to stoke a little bit of that. i just want to get off of it. i think we need to stop dignifying this subject. when it comes to trump. the more important subject i think right now is the u.s. postal service. not what he thinks about where kamala was born. the fact that they are with, you know, malice aforethought. looking to deconstruct our u.s. postal system to the point where it's not usable by the american people to cast their ballots. they're taking post boxes out of neighborhoods. they're shutting down the tech knowledge technology to use, to process that. that to me is a more important narrative to talk about. not what donald trump thinks about where kamala was born because we know that's nothing but bs.

>> i accept your recommendation to pivot to the postal service, but i would be remiss if i didn't ask anthony about this given his longer history with president trump. is the a racist security blanket for the president to keep going back to this kind of birther theory? >> he knows that a lot of moderates and independents ignored that nonsense, myself included. so he's making the bet that they will ignore it again this time, but his already racist supporters, he's blowing hard on that racist dog whistle because he wants their voter participation numbers up. do not underestimate his cunning, michighis political in. his tact is, i'm going to mention birtherism. that will get everybody that's in the kkk out to vote for me and the moderates and independents, they've been anest thized of this stuff, garrett,

so we have to hammer it. we have to wake people up and let them recognize they don't want to live in a racist, divided america with this guy running it. but that's what happened last time and that's why he's playing this again. >> i think we're going to switch to the racist horn section. i want to move on here. mark meadows this morning picking up this trump argument, argue that we might not know the winner of this election which is happeni happening, do you see that as a, a plausible scenario, and b, how much of a problem, if that's the case, if we're still counting votes for another week or two. >> when i worked in the obama white house, i managed president obama's relationship with the federal agencies. i never met the postmaster general. couldn't even tell you what he looked like, what his name was. that's the way it's supposed to be. politics is not supposed to play a role in how our mail is delivered. this isn't just about voting.

it's about veterans and seniors getting medicine. ability workers getting their paychecks. it is about small businesses getting their payments and so this has broader repercussions, but the truth of the issue is there is no fraud or widespread fraud when it comes to mail in voting. no functional difference when it comes to mail in voting and absentee voting. certain states like florida can do versus other states is just false. and so i applaud speaker pelosi, senator schumer for try iing to bring congress back to address this issue because it has much broader repercussions. all of this is trying to sew confusion about voting. and the truth is i think this will backfire because i think the message very clearly to people voting against donald trump is get your ballot early. return it quickly. drive it to the polling place if you need to. or just simply vote early. so i think in many ways, this is actually helped the gotv efforts of the democratic party. >> brittney, i asked speaker

pelosi about this, about why she thinks the president's opposition of voting comes from. she said she thinks he's afraid. how do democrats take advantage of that fear and drive it and bank those votes? what would your advice be to democratic candidates who want to try to take advantage of an opportunity here, i guess, that we're all talking about voting and we're talking about voting early. >> we're all talking about voting. talking about voting early and we're all talking about voting in community. making sure that we not only get our ballots in, but our neighbor's, our eilidh's ballots in. making sure we drive people to the polls if we need to. frankly, i think the party needs to take advantage of the attention on this issue to get a new crop and new generation of poll workers into the force. we have to recognize that early voting can only happen as much as polling places are open and we need polling workers and poll worker volunteers to make sure that that happens. so i think the individuals

should be taking advantage. i certainly think the parties should be taking advantage. ultimately though, we have to recognize that as john lewis said, the vote is almost sacred so it's up to each and every one of us to take action to make sure that our most important franchise is not continuously threatened. he is absolutely scared. no reason why you attack some friendly folks blue uniforms nueva leone you're scared of losing this race that you hold so dear and frankly, we need to be pushing back against the gop, not just donald trump, because they've allowed $25 billion of usps funding to sit, languishing on mitch mcconnell's desk. there are 100,000 veterans employed by the u.s. postal service. i thought those were folks conservatives cared about. we need to be calling them out on this and making sure the overwhelming number of americans who fully believe that the presidency matters a great deal to their every day lives are showing up and showing out in this moment. >> i love that recommendation

about volunteering at polling places. such a good way to get involved no matter where you live. michael, i want to kind of come back to where we started here. all these observations from the president, the fact that he's talking about the postal service and getting these questions about senator harris' background. where is the runway for him to provide something for independent voters, republicans who have made turned away from the party to grab back on? where do you see the recovery coming from if there is one for candidate trump? is it on an economic recovery? >> i think for the most part, it is, because he's pretty much shut down every other avenue. that would be available to him. in terms of how he handled the death of george floyd. how he handled coronavirus. how he's handled our relations with our allies around the globe. the fact he wants to ib vnvite putin to the u.s. before the election. those are hot button issues.

the economy is where he whips back around and says regardless of everything else you may think and feel about what i've said and done, at the end of the day, financially, you're better off, more secure, i have a plan to get us into the future. i don't know if that will sell. to rank and file voters out there. but that you can see is how the president sort of you know, has his cake and eats it, too. he throws out his racest memes and does that to stoke that hard core base, but for those independent voters, he comes back and says i know you didn't like that, but remember, you're 401(k). doing pretty good. and i don't know if that's going to be enough in this election. it was in '16. i don't know if it will be enough here. >> we're running short on time. last question, i want to ask you about this new book from michael cohen. the former trump lawyer and fixer. tons of new allegations in here, but we feel like we get a new trump book pretty regularly now. how much of any of this do you

believe and how much do you think any of this will matter in november? >> well, because of the volume of books, i'm not sure how big the impact is going to be, but i will say this. that book is going to be very honest. there's documentary evidence. he was the president's lawyer. there's tons and tons of back pages that shehe's going to sup once that book is published and so, i think people are going to be shocked at the level of criminality and shocked at the amoral behavior. is that going to be enough to move them that we go back to the michael steel question? is their 401(k) better off with him or without him or is the world and the country better off with him or without him? i think we know the answer to that. and so hopefully, he'll be roundly defeated. certainly michael's book will have an impact, but the volume of books makes it harder to have that big dent that we would all like. >> hard to imagine there's much we don't know when it comes to

the president's character at this point. >> there is, garrett. oh, there is. just wait and see. >> all right. that's a -- >> just saying. more bad stuff is going to be coming out that you guys are going to be head scratching. >> all right. well, on that happy note, thank you all for coming in this afternoon. it was really a pleasure talk ing about all of this with all of y'all. now moving on, a retired lieutenant general is now blasting president trump for post office cuts that he says may endanger the lives of countless veterans. you don't want to miss what he has to say. that's next. s to say that's next.

alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice. and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain!

for spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub? grubhub's gonna reward you for that with a $5 off perk. (doorbell rings) - [crowd] grubhub! (fireworks exploding) yeah. this moving thing never gets any easier. well, xfinity makes moving super easy. i can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. wow, that is easy. almost as easy as having those guys help you move. we are those guys. that's you? the truck adds 10 pounds. in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today.

they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the services of the post office plus ups only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4 week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/save and never go to the post office again

speaking of the active duty military that are deployed around the world, this is how they really stay connected with mom, dad, brothers and sisters and family members and get their morale packages. those packages are being held up because of the slowdown has been directed by the white house. and for me and the veterans, it's a slowdown that's affecting our medicine as well as elderly people who rely on e scripts to

deliver their medicines. >> with 79 days until election day, concerns are growing that a slowdown in mail delivery could lead to mail in ballots not being counted, but military veterans are being impacted right now by recent operational changes at the postal service. joining me now is catherine rice. a member of the veterans affairs committees. what are you hearing from veterans, from active duty military members in dealing with these changes and if what, if any alternative, do any of those feolks have? >> it's just outrageous to violate the men and women who wear the uniform of our country. it's outrageous. we need to address this issue. i'm happy to hear that nancy pelosi is going to be bringing us back the washington this week. this is the single worst attack on a democratic institution by this president and saying a lot.

considering the democratic norms he has destroyed in just three and a half years in office. so we have to do something about this. it's the veterans, yes, but it's also seniors who rely on u.s. postal service to get medication through the mail. i mean, it's just outrageous that we're violating our veterans and seniors in this way. >> we know there have been conversations about bringing the house back. the speaker sent a letter saying they want to get to joy in front of the oversight committee on the 24th, i believe. what are you hearing about this and do you think we'll see the house rushed back to deal with this crisis? >> at the least, we should be doing, i'm glad that chairwoman malone has said she's going to do this hearing on t24th, but w have to address this now. we are less than three months away from election day. i believe the speaker feels strongly that this is the most blatant way that donald trump is trying to cheat to win in november and this is an institution. vote by mail. he does it.

the president of the united states votes by mail. ameen, what are what kind of outrage usousness is this. it's dpood enough for me, my vote should count, but all of you other people who might not want to go out because there's still a pandemic out there, you can't use the same system i use. just outrageous. so i'm hoping we are brought back to washington because i want to hear what my republican colleagues have to say about this. there has been silence on the other side of the aisle and i know that there are a lot of good republicans who care about defending our democracy but they're afraid of being on the oerr end of a donald trump twee rant, but right now is when we need our republican colleagues to stand up and say, enough is enough. this is just beyond the pale. >> very true. a whole lot of big, rural states depend on the mail just as much as more democratic-led blue states. this is not a partisan problem. i want to ask you about this government watchdog decision

that found that the president's appointments of chad wolf and ken cuccinelli at the department of homeland security were illegal. you had questioned wolf concerning the legality at a hearing back in march. what's your reaction of this decision and what can congress do about it? >> well, i'm not spliz surprised because i was asking the questions a while ago because we knew the order of succession had been violated way back when kirsten nielsen was the secretary. do you know in the, under the trump mrks, there have beadmini there have been five secretaries of dhs. only two went through the senate approval process and check this wolf now and ken cuccinelli, were put in those positions in violation of the succession. that's what gao found and just so people know, it's called the congressional watchdog. they are a nonpartisan, fact based organization that does these investigations, submits

their results to congress and now department of homeland security that they look into this, too. it matters because of the policies that they are putting in place, all of which are illegal, because everything that stems from them being in their positions illegally, everything that follows. whether it's the attacks on daca, the i.c.e raids, all the terrible things that they are doing at the behest of the president, should be undone and that's what my hope is that's what the ig is going to find. >> congressional reporter had on, it's hard to imagine either would be able to get senate confirmed. we have to leave it there. thank you very much for coming in this afternoon. >> coming up, there is big news in the battle against coronavirus. about a new test that could be the sim l eest principlest test around, but how accurate is it? et around, but how accurate is it ls and more one of a kind finds.

it all ships free. and with new deals every day you can explore endless options at every price point. get your outdoor oasis delivered fast so you can get the good times going. ♪ wayfair. you've got just what i need. ♪ i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor,

and call 844-214-2424. i'm looking for my client. i'mi'm so sorry.nt. hey! hey man, you're here! you don't trust me here in vegas, do you? uh, well, i thought we had a breakthrough with the volkswagen. we did, yeah! we broke through. that's the volkswagen? that's the cross sport. wow. seatbelts! please just tell me where we're going. if you experience bladder leaks, you shouldn't have to sacrifice discretion for protection. try always discreet. the unique design features protective leakguards, which help prevent leaks where they happen most and an absorbent material that turns liquid into gel, for up to 100% leak free protection. the shapewear design provides a close and seamless fit, to ensure total discretion. choose the solution that keeps you drier. try always discreet underwear,

with a money back guarantee. brand power. helping you buy better.

i got this mountain bike for only $11. dealdash.com, the fair and honest bidding site. an ipad worth $505, was sold for less than $24; a playstation 4 for less than $16; and a schultz 4k television for less than $2. i won these bluetooth headphones for $20. i got these three suitcases for less than $40. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. now the latest on the coronavirus pandemic.

the u.s. surpassed 170,000 covid-19 related deaths according to an nbc news tally. the number of cases now tops 5.3 million. an arizona school district is canceling its first day of school after an overwhelming number of teachers said a they just won't show up. the school district, just outside of phoenix, says more than 100 staff members called out ahead of the first day on monday, indicating they did not feel safe returning to the classroom with students and as the u.s. puchs to expand testing capacity, the fda granted emergency authorization for a new saliva based test. developers at yale are calling it less expensive and invasive. joining me now is dr. natalie azar, and let's start there. what's your reaction to this new saliva test? how reliable is it? how confidence are you that this one could make a a difference in how we run these tests? >> yes. hi. and good afternoon, garrett. yeah so, this test could

potentially prove to be a game changer. right now, experts are saying we need to be performing roughly four million tests per day in the u.s. to get ahead of this virus. those are really, really tough metrics to meet. there are multiple different obstacles including the cost of the tests currently. the complexity, as well as supply chain issues, so what makes this test different again is that it is a saliva test. we have known from past research that the sars virus is quite stable in saliva and you may not need to do that terribly invasive deep nasal test that's particularly challenging to do and they basically say that the results of this test, the sensitivity, is pretty much on par with the current pcr test. what does this allow us to do? to test large swaths of people, potentially you know, at schools or at sporting events or before people go into a factory that they can get a turn around time

much more quickly than the currently available test. so like i said, you know, we'll see as this test becomes more commercially available in the next couple of weeks and months, but it could be a game changer, garrett. >> we're still talking about this testing problem in august now. you mention ed the idea of test coming back late. there's new data that shows something like 40% of these tests are coming back too late to be clinically meaningful. that means they take longer than three days. i know people whose results have taken 15 days. why are we still having this problem so many months in and we're just not getting the basics of fast testing right? >> well, you know, look. the testing in and of itself can be rather complex. and one thing about this particular saliva test that's probably worth thoeting is that part of the process that's been so difficult in what we've called a supply chain issue is being able to extract the genetic material, different kits

were required for that. that would really slow things down. what this particular saliva test, what they've done is they've actually tested it with multiple different reagents and multiple different venders and validated it among all these different you know, groups and companies basically. so that we won't run into those supply chain issues. so a lot of different you know, i would say factors have gone into the slowing down of testing, but yes. if the turn around time for a test is ten days or 14 days or as you said, longer than three days, it's absolutely useless and you can't get an actionable result from a test that takes ten days to come back. >> all right. we're going the stay on top of this testing. thank you very much. coming up, a new nbc news exclusive report says president trump wants a summit with putin before the election. and he thinks it will help him get re-elected. i'm serious. that's next. get re-elected i'm serious. that's next. we miss you.

it's totally not the same without you.

we're finally back and can't wait until you are too. universal orlando resort. buy now and get two days free at the parks. restrictions apply. we are breaking news. president trump has been telling his aides he wants an in person meeting with putin ahead of the election. with it potentially taking place in the united states. from the story, administration officials have explored various times and locations for another trump putin summit, including potentially next month in new york. that's according to four people

familiar with the discussions. roberto brian was asked about this a short time ago and denied it. >> we're not having a summit with putin before the election. in fact, putin -- >> but he would like one, right? >> what putin has floated is doing a p5 meeting with germany and russia to try and bully the u.s. >> so the president doesn't want something here? >> no, we've rejected that. >> joining me now is peter baker. the chief white house correspondent for the "new york times" and an nbc news political analyst and peter, what do you make of this, both the chances of it happening and why the president woul want to do it in the first place? >> it's a great question, obviously. politically, you have to wonder what the thinking is according to the reporting nbc has put out there, he'd like to use such a summit meeting in order to talk about progress made in arms control. we have a treaty that expires next year, the new start treaty that was negotiated under president obama. there have been no known progress to date about either renewing that or renegotiating

that. but it's an important issue and he'd like to show what he can do for a second term and the last few days, he's been talking about how he will do more to bring middle east countries together with israel as the uae just did. he said he would negotiate a new nuclear control agreement with iran within 30 days of being re-elected. he's trying to sort of suggest that the second term will have some progress we didn't see in the first term on these international issues. but putin is such a radio active idea. the idea of meeting with putin at a time when the president has not talked with him about bounties on american soldiers. we still have intelligence agencies saying russia is interfering in our election now. >> it's hard for me to imagine anything that could come out of that meeting that would be, and that would outweigh the negative headlines. just think iing about back to t he will sinky summit that he had, i think it so reminds

american voters of all the ickiness around putin. is there any upshot, having to explain and talk about his relationship with putin? >> yeah, it's hard to see. this team seems like easy am in addition for joe biden to raise that issue again. why though they would want to highlight that, i'm not sure. i'm not sure many of the aides around him would like to. the president has always been kind of immune to advice on this subject. a number of occasions, talked about having putin to the white house. he hasn't been invited for years for good reason. i think you're right. politically, it just raised a lot of questions and seems hard to imagine there's anything off setting that would be an advantage for him. >> let's talk about the other ways the trump campaign is taking on joe biden. we're learning on the same day biden is taking the stage to accept the democratic nomination for president, president trump will be campaigning in scranton

pennsylvania, which of course is joe biden's hometown. it's a big part of his personal mythology. what do you make of the president's strategy here to try to squash any bounce coming out of the democratic convention by doing this active campaigning? >> wasn't that listenilong ago presidential candidates would lie low during the other's conventions. conceding the territory for four or five days to the opposition. that's a thing of the past. president trump is going to do everything he can to put himself out there in front of the public. you've got other trips to arizona, wisconsin, and what he did during the primaries. every time there would be a primary, democratic contest, he would try to get out front by going to the same state a day before, day after torks try to put his own message out there. that's just the way politics are today. president trump is not going to sit there and concede the stage to anybody else for the next 77, 78 days. that's one thing the democrats

know and they're going to do all they can to counter that. >> the last time the president tried to go out an campaign in person, it was that tulsa rally, which obviously generated enormous backlash. now we see the white house talking about getting the president out there, more in pe versus the biden campaign which is much more comfortable doing these things virtually. i know there is no data on this so it is an impossible question, about what do you make of the in-person events and trying to do things online in the midst of the pandemic. >> it is a great question. they'll not have a tulsa like rally. they've given up on that. they recognize that is no longer a viable option for them. but this is a president that energized by tactile experiences. the rallies were exciting to him because it got his energy going and his -- it was a thing that he bases his campaigns on. he wasn't making an intellectual argument in front of a tv camera, he is making us against them kind of politics at the

rally and he's trying to find ways to campaign in person. i don't know how much impact that will have. at this point everybody recognizes that large crowds are not a viable option at this point and that joe biden has shown basically that he could win, at least pull ahead on the polls for now with a low kiev for the that he's been making so far. >> peter baker from "the new york times" and in an immaculate, kitchen. and what californians think about kamala harris now that it had a chance to sink in in california. o sink in in california

when you think of a bank, you think of people in a place. but when you have the chase mobile app, your bank can be virtually any place. so, when you get a check... you can deposit it from here. and you can see your transactions and check your balance from here. you can detect suspicious activity on your account from here. and you can pay your friends back from here. so when someone asks you, "where's your bank?" you can tell them: here's my bank.

or here's my bank. or, here's my bank. because if you download and use the chase mobile app, your bank is virtually any place. so visit chase.com/mobile. here's your iced coffee! ♪ america runs on dunkin'

before senator kamala harris was the first black woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket, she was part of her local government in her home town of oakland, california. her political career started in the alameda county district

office and became san francisco d.a. and attorney general and u.s. senator. scott cone is in oakland where he's learning from the people who worked with harris in her early career. and scott, what are you finding out? >> reporter: yeah, well, garrett, as we all know very well by now, kamala harris was born here in oakland. not far from where i'm standing in 1964. she spent her early years next door in berkeley. so people have had a good 55 years to get to know her and they're not have sh much success putting her in a political box than the rest of the country paying attention now. case in point, nicki solis is the deputy public defender in san francisco and she and kamala harris were natural adversaries when harris was d.a. solace said that for a prosecutor, harris was unusually progressive. >> when it comes to alternatives

for incarceration and when it comes to mass incarceration, that has a desperate impact on communities of color, it is important for folks to understand that senator harris, when she was district attorney in san francisco, was very progressive. whether or not that harms her is another story. >> reporter: this being the bay area, there are plenty of people who believe that she is not progressive enough. like david campos, who is the head of the san francisco democratic party, former member of the police commission, he points to harris's declining to get involved in some officer-involved shootings. >> she did not turn out to be from our perspective the progressive prosecutor that she promised to be when many of us supported her. i believe so, i believe that she did not do enough to hold law enforcement accountable.

>> reporter: nonetheless, campos said that he certainly plans to support the ticket that will be officially nominated this week. but it does appear that the line of attack against kamala harris might be a little bit difficult to define. garrett. >> scott cohn in oakland, scott, thank you. folks, we have one day to go, the democratic national convention is about to begin. we'll have a guide for who you'll see and how the whole thing is going to look. thing is going to look uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card.

(vo) ♪ through our love promise, subaru and our retailers n-n-n-no-no are proud to be replanting 500,000 trees... ...in areas devastated by wildfires. subaru. more than a car company. a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, your dedicated adviser can give you straightforward advice and tailored recommendations. that's the clarity you get with fidelity wealth management. wabba wabba! all new, plant powered creative roots gives kids the hydration they need, with the fruit flavors they love, and 1 gram of sugar. find new creative roots in the kids' juice aisle. here's your iced coffee! ♪ america runs on dunkin'

♪ now, there's skyrizi. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. 3 out of 4 people achieved... ...90% clearer skin at 4 months... ...after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections... ...and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection... ...or symptoms such as fevers,... ...sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs... ...or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. i feel free to bare my skin. visit skyrizi.com.

good afternoon from washington. welcome to weekends with alex witt, i'm garrett haake and there is lots to tell but this hour. breaking news, the democratic leaders in congress ramping up oversight of the post office. they're calling on lewis