back next week getting ready for the republican convention because if it's sunday, no matter where we are, it's "meet the press." new urgency and action. nancy pelosi pushes back on the president's campaign to sabotage the election. we'll have the latest on the postal crisis. also the democratic national convention kicks off with major star power as they kick off with candidate kamela harris. and the latest covid response as the president seems to be eyeing yet another unproven treatment. good morning, everybody.

it is monday, august 17th, and i'm yasmin vossoughian. we've got a lot to cover this morning. we're going to begin with the fast-moving developments concerning the 2020 vote and the postal service. many are looking at what many consider a crippling effect. house speaker nancy pelosi is cutting short the summer recess, calling on house members to return to washington later this week to vote on legislation to block the postal service from making any changes ahead of the election. the house oversight committee has also scheduled an emergency hearing moving up the date from mid-september to one week from today. postmaster louis degiant robert duncan have been called oomz e testify on the recent cuts. and six states are huddling to discuss possible lawsuits as

lawmakers are scrambling for ways to give voters more options. and president trump raised the alarm as to when we'll know the results of the november presidential election, warning it could take months or even years due to mail-in ballots. >> the problem with the mail-in voting, number one, you're never going to know when the election is over. we're going to have an election that takes place on a beautiful day, november 3rd, and usual at the end of the day, they'll say, donald trump has won the election, donald trump is your new president, whatever they say. you know what? you're not going to know this, possibly if you did it right, for months or for years because these ballots are all going to be lost, they're going to be gone. >> all right. so the coronavirus pandemic sparked most states to change their mail-in ballot laws to enable residents to vote safely. nbc news has reviewed more than

175 lawsuits in 43 states and the district of columbia, and found that suits are contesting everything from whether poetage must be prepaid on absentee ballots where you can vote and be legally transported from voters' hands to elected officials. the highest profile of recent suits has been the republican action, challenging nevada's new voting law for a provision in cha ballot harvesting is among the chief concerns. that's where a third party is able to collect and return multiple ballots and it was used in one of the rare recent incidences of voter fraud in north carolina back in 2018. republicans are arguing that universal mail-in voting presents a high opportunity for fraud because of ballot harvesting and the alleged inability to verify ballot signatures. joining me now, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos.

danny, thanks for joining us this morning. >> of course. >> really appreciate it. let's talk for a moment about ballot harvesting. since ballot harvesting provision has already been the source of recent fraud, could it feasibly pose a legal problem for jurisdictions that allow it? >> yes. even though they may currently allow it in their statutory framework, it could still pose a problem if because of the increased vacuuolume. you see a lot of the provisions that pre-exist, for example, mail-in voting, they really end up applying to a small percentage of voters wrchl you run into potential constitutional problems is where you have this massive volume, this uptick in people who are actually using this system. then with that increased volume, the republicans argue comes an increased risk of fraud. so collecting ballots in this way, en masse, big numbers,

could result in a greater chance of them being fraudulent. at least that's the republicans' argument. >> so what about the concern over signatures? how is that challenge defended in some of these suits? >> again, it comes down to a volume argument. as it stands now, there is always concern with signatures, validating signatures, and also requiring someone else's signature. a witness's signature has run into problems. on the one hand, some states think having a witness increases the validity of a ballot. on the other hand, if you require a notary public and that notary public charges two bucks, now you've created sort of a poll tax, and that's not something we want. if you look at the little tinkerings that states do to try to make voting more honest, you can see how quickly and largely applied to a big group can run

into constitutional problems. so the signature verification has always been a problem with mail-in voting and it affects those who move. when you say 60% of the people vote, these become real threats to the required federal -- the federal statute requiring voting to not only occur, but occur on a particular day. >> with all these roadblocks, though, in place, danny, as you mention, especially with the signature verification, it seems to lead to more voter suppression, more folks that won't vote, because there are so many things to do, so many boxes to check before you actually mail in that ballot. >> you're right. i mean the argument that mail-in vote willing make it easier to vote may make it even harder to vote. the challenge with all voting laws is increasing access to the

ballots. and so even something with great intentions like sending out mail-in ballots so people don't have to leave their homes and risk hurting their health could create challenges if you add too many safeguards, too many provisions that protect against fraud. it may disenfranchise voters who say, to heck with it, i don't know how to fill this out anymore, and they give up. >> all right, danny cevallos. thank you as always. great to see you, my friend. let's talk coronavirus for a moment. the u.s. has surpassed 170,000 coronavirus-related deaths nationwide according to an nbc news tally. the united states has at least 5.4 million cases in the world. a highly and unlikely count as the country has not ramped up testing levels. this is happening as health officials worry about a fall in resurgence. more than 200,000 more people have died since march, according

to analysis from the centers for disease control. that's about 60,000 higher than the number of deaths that have been directly linked to the coronavirus and suggests that official death counts may be substantially underestimating the overall effects of the virus. republican senator mitt romney criticizing the trump administration's response saying the federal government dismissed the virus's threat and failed to protect americans as infections spiraled out of control. >> short-term, i think it's fair to say we really have not distinguished ourselves in a positive way by how we responded to the crisis when it was upon us, and the proof of the pudding of that is simply we have 5% of the world's population, but 25% of the world's deaths due to covid-19. and there's no way to spin that in a positive light. why is that? i think it's fair to say that from the outset there was a tendency on the part of the administration to dismiss

covid-19 as a threat, not to consider how serious it could become, and there was not immediate action to, if you will, ring all the alarm bells, have the federal government take responsibility for assuring that the distribution of personal protection equipment could be done on a fair and equitable basis state by state. still ahead, the new warning about the virus spreading among children as the president pushes to schools reopening. also we'll go to joe biden's home state as the democrats prepare for their national convention. we're back in a moment. eir natil convention we're back in a moment (neighbor) whatcha working on...

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welcome back. new polling shows widespread approval of joe biden's selection of kamela harris as his running mate. in the latest abc news/"washington post" poll, his decision, 54% approve, 29%

disapprove. when breaking down the party lines, 86% approve and 8% disapprove. the highly anticipated democratic national convention beginning today in milwaukee, wisconsin, the mostly virtual four-day event jam-packed with big names, and all eyes are on the history-making tickets of kamela harris, the first black/asian-american woman to run for vice presidential nominee. joining me, i appreciate it. give us a preview from what we can expect from day one of the convention. >> reporter: yes. day one of what we know will be this very unconventional democratic convex. it's important to know you'll have the biden/harris ticket

rolling into this convention with a lot of momentum. you mentioned the polling with the approval of his big pick of senator harris as his running mate. you also saw the apoll with bidn leading on most of the issues out there, that poll being mirrored in some of the other polls we've seen so far. that's what this is about, generating excitement. yes, you have the formal party business of nominating these two to lead the convention and the party. but it's also about generating excitement among democrats. and that was the message we heard from tom perez, the democratic party chair last night when he was talking with kasie hunt "kasie/d.c." they have a high-quality production team.

that's what we're going to see tonight on day one of this democratic national convention. >> shaq, who can we expect to hear tonight who's basic listen on the docket, and what can we expect? is this going to be about joe biden and kamela harris building up or attacking the president? >> reporter: i think you're going to hear a little of both. the theme is "we the dreamers." you'll not only hear from michelle obama, but governor andrew cuomo who ee been leading the coronavirus efforts in the state of new york. but then you're going to hear from republican john kasich and also senator bernie sanders. so you have that wide coalition there. there's clear messaging in who will be speaking to the american people tonight.

you'll hear that tough tone we heard from senator bernie sanders when he was on "meet the press" last night saying his message will be about ensuring that we maintain american democracy. and he also started to line up his attacks against president trump going after the mail service, for example. but we know in 2016 we heard from michelle obama that key phrase that still sticks out among democrats when they go low, we go high. we'll expect to hear that tone. likely more unifying and an skpub rant tone from michelle obama tonight. that's what we can expect. you're going to have key speakers. you're going to see that all week long. several key speakers starting today here in wilmington where vice president joe biden and kamela harris will be giving their speeches that's turned virtual. >> i'm expect the former first lady will strike a tone as well considering the fact and that

joe biden and barack obama were so close when they served as president and vice president. shaquille brewster, thank you so much. stay close. i'm going to talk to you again in just a little bit. so the president is preparing to visit several states this week. today he's going to travel to minnesota and wisconsin, tomorrow, arizona, and finally wrap up in pennsylvania on thursday, the same day joe biden is expected to take the stage and accept the nomination, president trump will take the stage. trump plans to cal out, quote, joe biden's failures and peg him as someone who will destroy the country if elected. in response, biden's camp said this, this side show is a pathetic attempt to distract from the fact that trump's presidency stands for nothing but crises, lies, and division. also kamela harris responded to

theories last week stoked by the president that as a daughter of parents who are not american citizens, she's not qualified to run. >> they're going to distract from the real issues impacting the american people. i expect they'll engage in dirty tactics and this is going to be a knock-down drag-out, and we're ready. >> so senator harris was born in oakland, california, fyi, which makes her a citizen according to the 14th amendment of the constitution. meanwhile "newsweek" apologizes for even printing the piece. still ahead, condolences for president trump's family as he loses his brother. we're back in a moment. loses his brother. we're back in a moment not just any retinol. accelerated retinol sa. for not only smoother skin in one day, but younger-looking skin in just one week. and that's clinically proven.

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hospital. not sure if he was 71 or 72. still don't know why he was hospitalized in the first place. president trump visited him and said he was having a tough time. ivanka tweeted, uncle robert, we love you. you are in our hearts and prayers always. joe biden wrote, mr. president trump, jill and i are sad to learn of your younger brother robert's passing. i know the tremendous pain of losing a loved one and i know how important family is in moments like these. i hope you know that our prayers are with you as well. in portland, police used smoke and deterrents to control crowds. 11 people were arrested there. police say they were injured by protesters showing rocks and other objects. so many officers were deployed to the clashes that more than 60

calls to 911 were reportedly placed on hold. a protest gathered peacefully in what they called a patriot prayer rally was countered with protesters. the two clashed in downtown streets and a parking gralk where gunshots were fired. there was a demonstration of about 200 people in an unlawful demonstration. police say people were throwing concrete and things at officers. there have been 81 days of straight protesting since the killing of george floyd by police in minneapolis. also, the president was asked over the weekend about the possibility of pardoning edward snowden. here's what he said. >> i'm not that aware of the snowden situation, but i'm going to start looking at it. there seems to be a split decision. many people think he should be somehow treated differently, and others think he did very bad things, and i'm going to take a

very good look at it. >> before his election he had repeatedly called snowden a traitor and a spy who should be executed. snowden was a former national security agency contractor who disclosed classified material on vast government surveillance. he was charged with violating the espionage act and faces prison time if convicted. he resides in russia after claiming asylum back in 2013. all right. let's switch gears and get a first look at your forecast with meteorologist janessa webb. good morning, janessa. what are you seeing today? >> good morning, yasmin, good to see you. good morning, everyone. weed really had a change in the weather pattern over the east coast. it was kind of lueke that ah moment where fall temperatures innovated our space. that's going to be the case this week. a ridge of high pressure has built across the west.

it's going stay in place for a few days and that will increase the fire danger we're seeing across the west coast. the excessive heat, we're going to see that for days. we're talking triple-digit territory with relative humidity across seattle all the way into the central u.s. it's down to about 10%. so we have firefighters that are really trying to contain all of the fires that we're seeing across this area, but due to the winds and the dry conditions, that will definitely continue. the jet stream is a little bit higher for the mid-atlantic all the way into sections of the northeast. and that will keep us on the cool side. we're still 38 days from fall. you're going to feel that with less humidity throughout the week. let's show you the fire danger as it continues with red flag warnings. they're spreading from oregon to northern california. i do think they will expand across this area going into the next few days, and you can see excessive heat alerts. yasmin, yesterday, we are

talking about 130 degrees for death valley. that's beating major records. kind of unbelievable there. >> that is stifling. thank you, janessa. still ahead, everybody, the latest on the crisis with the u.s. postal service as democrats eye new action to shore up the agency and the 2020 vote. we'll be right back. discover new worlds discover what's good - pantene nutrient blends

welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we're going to begin this half

hour as the u.s. postal service has sent letters to cousins of states warning it cannot guarantee all mail-in ballots will arrive to be counted. adding to the uncertainty of the high-station election, it indicate as grim possibility for tens of millions of americans eligible to vote by fall. the letter issued by the executive vice president of the postal service were planned before the appointment of postmaster general louis dejoichlt it reads in part this. deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous with the postal delivery service standards. this mismatch create as risk that ballots requested near the deadline under state law will not be returned by mail in times to be counted under your laws as we understand them. it comes amid sweeping cuts and financial conditions. also an internal postal service letter obtained by the nbc news

plans to remove 671 high-volume mail-in machines across the country. these essential machines locate aid cross the united states can sort 35,000 letter assen hour with nearly 100% accuracy. it will cut into overtime and staffing that's a greater problem. a usps character rised the removal of hundreds of machines as normal business adjustments. meanwhile white house chief of staff mark meadows said the u.s. ps will not dismantle any machines between now and election day, and the u.s. postal service is walking back its plan to remove a number of blue collection boxes toward country, telling nbc news it will wait until after election day to evaluate the needs. they say, quote, the postal

service reviews collection box density every year on a routine basis to identify redundant/seldom used collection boxes as first class mail volume continues to decline. based on the density testing, boxes are identified for potential removal and notices are placed bachs to give customers an opportunity to comment before removing ismate made. this process is one of the many ways the postal service makes adjustments to our infrastructure to match our resources to declining mail volumes. meanwhile dejoy said it, quote, impacted our overall service needs. and as we have reported, dejoy has removed nearly two dozen postal leaders, implementing a hiring freeze and others.

also president trump continues to defend postmaster dejoy's decisions. speaking during a news conference at his private golf resort in bedminster, new mexico, on saturday night, president trump expressed that he could not point to specifics on what dejoy has done since taking office in june. >> dust post master dejoy have your -- >> yeah. he's a fantastic man. he wants to make the post office great again. have you ever heard that expression? the post office is a catastrophe. >> i don't know what he's doing. i can only tell you he's a very smart man. he'll be a great postmaster general. he's going to need funding. what the democrats aren't willing to provide other things,

so, therefore, they're not going to get the funding for that. >> meanwhile democratic lawmakers are calling on dejoy to resign. in a statement on friday, congressman gerry connolly called dejoy's term one of the darkest in usps history writing in part this. on the eve of a presidential election in the midst of the worst public health pandemic in 100 years, mr. dejoy has pledged his allegiance to the political expedient jens of president trump at the expense of protecting our democracy and access to the ballot. adam schied adam schiff also re. they talk about the delays that we're seeing in the mail in general. folks are waiting for prescriptions that would normally take two to three days,

taking three weeks up to four weeks, mail that is sent out that should take a kurp couple days, taking a month or so. it's happening across the board. not just concerns about voting but receiving your mail in general, especially things as important as prescriptions. what impacts have you seen from the mail-in voting issues so r far? >> reporter: not only brings but people waiting for their check, people who rely on the mail for their basic needs. one thing i've been look at in particular, what we saw from the first half of the year with voting, you saw that surge in people using mail-in voting. the reason people are so concerned with the moves of the post office is because you have more people flocking to that vote-by-mail system. so when we have this election coming up in less than 80 days at this point, people are concerned that they won't be able to vote by mail in as efficient of a manner as they did during the primary.

a little bit separately from that is what you've seen with that surge, what you've seen come with that surge. you've also seen the surge in the amount of ballots that have been rejected. i went to pegville, kentucky, and met a man who applied for a ballot days before the election, sent it back in on time, but then received a letter in the mail. listen to a little bit of my conversation with him that. >> and then election day comes. think you voted. >> yeah. i even got the sticker saying i voted. what really infuriated me is this came in around july 5th. it told me to verify my signature and have it returned by june 29th. . >> reporter: so his ballot was eventually tossed. this is something we've seen across the country. 1 102,000 ballots were rejected. in florida, over 100,000,

kentucky, 32,000. what it was was a signature that didn't match or a signature that didn't match his driver's license. sometimes they return ballots too late. those are issues that can be fixed, but right now it's a serious problem and that's why they're raising these alarm bells saying the mail-in system, while more people use it. it's a good system to avoid going out to the polls, but there are ways to improve the mail-in system and they're hoping the problems you see with the post office don't compound on that issue we've seen already during the primaries. yasmin? >> yet another issue on mail-in voting when we're just three month asian way on a very important presidential election, and they still don't have this thing under control and figure this thing out. talk about what some voter turnout groups are doing to reverse this trend of returned or rejected ballots as we saw

displayed in that interview you just did. >> well, experts have been telling me. as i said, it's a serious problem. when you look at the percentages of rejected ballots, you're looking at 1% to 3% of the total ballots cast. look at the margins we see in so many of these states, especially when you look to the 2016 election. so i met with the group that was in wisconsin. this is a state that president trump won by just under 23,000 votes. we saw during the primary, there were about 79,000 ballots that only counted because of a court order. they're going door to door trying to get people to vote by mail. they isseiing to do it early and follow the instructions on the maine ballots. >> shaq brewster. thank you so much. still ahead, as the number of infections among children

continues to rise, there t president offers yet another unproven cure for the disease. your first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment. k at "morni" is back in a moment.

welcome back, everybody. number and rate of coronavirus among children has increased. it was recently said, understand scoring the risk for young people and their families as the school year is beginning. according to the cdc, the infection rate of children 17 and under increased steadily from march to july. the agency said while the virus is far more prevalent and severe among adults, the severity of children remains unknown because of a lack of widespread testing. children between the ages of 5 an 17 years old tested positive for the virus more than any other age group.

children are also far -- far less likely to develop symptoms, but when they're hospitalized from the virus, about a third are sent to icus, the same rate as adults, according to the cdc. also federal officials have given emergency approval to a coronavirus saliva test that have birthday given to nba players and staff. it's called saliva direct. it's an alternative to nasal swabbingful they said the accuracy of the results, which have not yet been pieer reviewe is similar to nasal swab tests. they used nba players because they're tested regularly, they're in close contact with one another, and they don't wear face coverings. the test which is funded by the nba and national basketball players association is not mandatory and will be used on

players, coaches, and staff of teams who voluntarily opt into the study. the operation allows them to bypass the regularly approved process. let's check on your weather once again with nbc meteorologist janessa webb. >> hey, good morning, yasmin. we were watching the tropics last weekend for two sims trying to dep but the atmosphere is not con deuce sieve for the systems to form. we have back-to-back storms. the national hurt center talks about a 50% chance toward the leeward islands, and right behind that a 60% chance of formation as another system is trying to come off the west african coast. but things are really going to start to escalate as we get into the heat of hurricane season for the next couple of weeks. we're going to watch storms start to form back to back. we're going to watch that pretty closely. to start off the week, we're

pretty much on the quiet side. but we're going to be watching those storms. now, for the east coast, a different pattern has really started to establish compared to the last few weeks where we were dealing with that summer heat. we're going to see a series of cold fronts that are going to make their way from the ohio valley all the way down to sections of the southeast. today expect some scattered to light storms, nothing on the heavy side. also the winds are going to start to pick up this afternoon, at least for new york city. and behind that, another front that will keep us cool for at least the rest of the week. you're going to notice the humidity levels, they're going to drop dramatically. so, we're under a imagine nall risk for some strong storms this afternoon from richmond all the way to philadelphia. i think the primary threat will be damaging wind gusts of up to 50, 60 miles an hour. the rest of the country, we're still going to watch the heat building for the pacific

northwest. phoenix today, 116. the central plains, they're sitting in the 90s with humidity levels that are just soaring. so compared to the last few weeks, we've seen a complete change in the wlern pattern. enjoy a more fall-like approach on the east coast. >> thanks, janessa. japan suffers its worst decline on record. the stories driving your business day coming up. the stories driving your business day coming up for bathroom odors that linger

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time for a look at business. we're marking the worst economic decline ever. cnbc's julianna tatelbaum is joining us live from london. great to see you this morning. talk about this. >> great to see you as well.

japan, the third largest economy saw a slum, 7.8% versus the previous quarter and on an annual basis, as the lockdown e at home. the contraction was smaller than the 32.9% in the united states but bigger than the 17.8% fall seen in japan in the first quarter of 2009 for comparison for you. in the united states, some social security recipients whose children didn't receive a $500 stimulus check will have another chance to collect it, according to the irs. on friday the tax agency said it's reopening its online registration on august 15th and will keep it open till september 30th. so people will need to visit the irs nonfiler's tool and issue

information about their children. one sector we talked about many times as being hard hit by the virus is the restaurant sector. experts say one in three new york city restaurants will not reopen after the pandemic. it's been a difficult time for new york restaurants as i'm sure you're all aware, sales are slowly recovering but in new york city sales down 58%, versus the national average of 33%. so new york restaurants getting hit hard. >> i believe it. a lot of business owners and families affected by this as you walk the streets of new york you see doors shuttered at restaurants that you once loved and you worry about what it's going to do to the economy as a whole. julianna tatelbaum from london, thank you. good to see you this morning. we'll speak to dnc chair tom

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welcome back, everybody. joining me now with a look at axios a.m., political reporter jonathan swan. great to see you this morning. >> you too. >> give us axios' 1 big thing today. >> trump is eyeing a new unproven covid-19 cure. federal government health officials have raised alarm about the fact that president trump has expressed enthusiasm for the food and drug administration to approve an extract from the oleander plant to cure covid-19 despite a lack of proof that it works. this experimental botanical was promoted during an oval office meeting in july.

the people in the room pushing it were the secretary of housing and urban development, ben carson, and the ceo of "my pillow" who's a big trump backer, a major advertiser on fox news and he has taken a financial stake in the company trying to sell this botanical. notably absent from that meeting was the food and drug administration commissioner steven hawn, he's the person who runs the agency who has to assess and regulate drugs for their medical benefits. >> why would he do this, jonathan? he did it with hydroxychloroquine. and studies after him promoting hydroxychloroquine subsequently pro proved hydroxychloroquine was not a miracle cure as he put it. and now he's doing it with

oleander this extract. it seems irresponsible. why would a president push a drug like this that's unproven? >> it's part of a pattern that outside entrepreneurs or operators, often without rigorous vetting can recruit or get involved with people who have very good access to the president's inner circle. in this case there was a study -- it was a study at the university of texas, which showed some early promise of this extract in a laboratory setting on monkey kidney cells. to stress, it has never been tested in a human clinical trial for its efficacy against covid-19. but dr. ben carson was apparently taken by this and he has lent his voice to this. so the combination of the ceo of "my pillow" and secretary carson

gets you an oval office meeting with president trump and the ability to pitch the president of the united states. different than you would have seen in any other administration. >> completely different. let's switch gears jonathan while i have you. i want to talk about the convention that we're going to be watching all week. history proves and the trump campaign is anticipating joe biden is going to get a significant polling bump out of the democratic national convention. he's already way ahead in polls we've been tracking. what more can we expect to see out of the convention. >> it's going to be heavily virtual. you'll see musical acts. it's going to be highly, highly produced with one obvious note, that there won't be a crowd cheering. trump and the trump campaign are going to do heavy counter programming all week. president trump will be visiting four battleground states,

florid florida, minnesota, pennsylvania, arizona. and they're also doing a digital buy. they're buying out the youtube masthead, which is prime real estate for 96 hours during the convention. doing their best to try to take the attention away. but even without a crowd, without an in-person event i think there'll be intense interest in the democratic convention. >> i feel like buying up the youtube masthead shows how much money they have coming in right about now. jonathan swan thank you as always. i'm going to be reading axios a.m. in just a little bit. you can read it too at signup.axios.com. that does it for me this morning i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts right now. we are not here to curse the

darkness, we are here to light a candle. and we can have faith in the future, only if we have faith in ourselves. >> we stand at this frontier at a turning point of history. all man kind waits upon our decision. a whole world looks to see what we shall do. >> so we have an election this year. i hea