extremely poor candidate, joe biden. joe biden struck back in hay tweet saying, quote, the president incites violence, inspires white supremacist shooters, and his failed covid response is costing thousands of lives per day. do you feel safe in trump's america. biden and kamala harris are hosting virtual events this saturday. americans grapple with two major crises, first the coronavirus pandemic which claimed more than 183,000 lives. and the movement for racial equality continues in a heap with protests continuing in kenosha, wisconsin, and other cities across the country. yesterday was the 57th anniversary of the march on washington, thousands gathering at the lincoln memorial to continue the fight began by dr. martin luther king for justice, equality, and the end of police

brutality. more on recovery from hurricane laura where the president was heading today. priscilla is in lake charles, louisiana. you had it tougher. you were in the middle of a storm there. how is the recovery going right now? how is america helping them? >> reporter: well, it's bright and sunny here today, richard, and folks are out of their homes working on their homes, working on their businesses like you see here. at this gas station, there are folks working to clear away some of this rubble and assess what's going on here. but just a few moments ago, we saw helicopters going overhead, likely the president on his way to orange, texas, continuing to survey the damage here. he was actually on the ground just a little while ago, seeing much of the destruction that we have been seeing over the past several days. the homes that have been utterly destroyed, all of those downed power lines that have led to roughly half a million people to

be without power, not to mention the more than 200,000 people who don't have water right now. so, a very devastating situation, but we heard the president earlier saying that help is on the way. he visited fema distribution center and was, you know, looking at the water and the food that they had stock piled ready to go for folks. and he promised that any resources, whatever money the state needs, they will get. and it seems that that is going to go a long way for the folks here who have lost so much. i want you to take a listen to what one resident that i spoke with described as what he's lost in this. >> it's just devastation, it really is. it really is. my dad living here. he lost the majority of his house. my brother lost his house. my sister lost the roof of her apartment she has back there in the back. there's a lot of devastation in our family. >> reporter: and the family did

yesterday approve that disaster declaration for parts of louisiana, so folks are able to apply for that disaster aid. at this moment from fema to begin the process of getting those resources. but, you know, folks aren't waiting on that aid to start working on their homes. we have been traveling through neighborhoods throughout the day today and seeing folks clearing those debris out with their chain saws, cutting those trees, clearing the roadways, aa community coming together to do the work to rebuild. >> priscilla thompson, thank you so much for the latest from louisiana. let's turn to the latest from the biden campaign. everything is virtual nowadays, but it seems to be working for both sides. >> reporter: that's right, richard. we're seeing a little bit of shift like you said a moment ago between the dnc ending the other week, rnc ending last week, moving to the 60 plus day until

november until folks can get to the polls and start voting. what you're seeing today is a look at how the virtual campaign trail really will shape out. joe biden gave remarks to the national guard today, and kamala harris was doing a round table at a q&a type session with latino small business owners in south florida. florida such a swing state and a critical state to be virtually in during this pandemic. but i want to zoom out a little bit because joe biden just a couple of days ago, richard, had mentioned that he would be hitting the trail physically starting after labor day. and it's something that i think we've been talking a lot about. we see mike pence on the trail. we see donald trump on the trail. he was just in new hampshire in those spaces interacting with voters, seeing them in person. and to not have that on the other side has been a big question of whether or not kamala harris and joe biden will be able to physically do this and be safe. and keep in mind that this is a pandemic going on. we saw a little bit of a tease of that during the end of the

dnc. you'll remember there was kind of that drive through celebration, drive through convention with the candidates on stage with their spouses far away wearing masks. somewhat of a celebration and interaction here is possible. and democrats proved they can test that out during the dnc. so, what we're going to be looking for in these next couple of weeks and months is how this ticket tries to make this happen in person and whether that will happen safely. >> all right. thank you so much for the latest from the washington, d.c. breaking news out of washington this afternoon, our colleague reporting that the office of the director of national intelligence would no longer offer in-person briefings about election security and election interference. now, the intelligence committees will still have access to classified written intelligence reports but would not be able to question officials about the nuances and meanings behind those written reports. an odni tells nbc news that the

official is at least as of late says they are committed to meeting statutory responsibilities and keeping congress fully and currently informed and have not ruled out all in-person briefings. from the weekend politics, peter baker chief white house correspondent for the "new york times" and msnbc analyst joins us as well, and white house reporter for the "washington post" and msnbc contributor. peter, let's start with the latest report. what does this practically mean for oversight? >> well, one thing we've seen throughout four years now almost of the trump administration is a persistent refusal and resistance to the kind of oversight we're used to from congress. they view congress as being meddlesome and interfering. the president when i talked to him the other day complained and said he's gotten 300 subpoenas and they're basically, in his view, harassing him. but there's a long tradition of

congress overseeing the federal government, particularly the intelligence agencies. and the idea that they're now resisting or refusing at least on some level to provide some of these briefings is a rather remarkable moment. there's no way for congress to enforce his will unless there's agreement for the two houses to do something with money. that's one area to have leverage to pass a law. it leaves congress i think in a difficult position and shifts some of the power in effect to the branch. >> we'll see what the democrats do in the coming weeks. let's move to the next phase of the campaign as we were saying at the top of the hour here. what is now next? we're looking at the last, if you will, two months. they're all shifting gears. one's going at least virtual. and the other one is hitting the road, for now. that's going to change. >> yes, i mean, it will change with joe biden hits the road to a degree. but the president's already on the road. i mean, he had a rally

yesterday. it was, for him, a small rally and a fairly short one, but a rally none the less, the first one in months. and he feels good about it. he wants to be out there doing that kind of traditional semiretail politicking. and i expect his travel schedule to heat up. he also really spurs the point with republicans by mocking joe biden yesterday for staying in the basement and announcing he's going to be traveling in ten days. the president got a lot of laughs as he's mocked biden for i'm going to come out, i'm going to come out, i'm going to wait ten days. they think that's an effective strategy to show the president out there actually asking for the job, running hard, and just to in many respects, pretend that the virus doesn't exist or isn't as much of an impediment to political life, if not daily

life, as biden is making it. >> so, when you look at this, peter, strategically, when you're talking to the campaign managers, which is better than the other? you can see advantage of digital. do more events. don't have to get on a plane, right? . you don't have to do the face mask to face mask experience or face to face that we would typically see during the cycle. >> there's no question. the president plays off the crowd. he's energized. he's at his most, you know, confident and most powerful and also sometimes his most unscripted and least factual. those go hand in hand with him. whereas doing things through zoom we've all discovered is somehow less satisfying, less visceral. i think what the biden campaign wants to do is say look, this pandemic is serious. and a lot of it is the president's fault.

so, the contrast between a candidate who's taking it seriously by limiting his exposure, making sure masks are worn, versus a president biden will characterize as being reckless with the health of his own supporter, much less the nation, is a contrast they're looking for. >> how negative are they going to go now that they're in the last 60 days. we saw the president come on strong not only against biden but also against protesters, characterizing them writ large as people who are causing the problems in america. >> yeah, i mean, all campaigns tend to get nastier after labor day as the clock ticks down and things get more intense. and frankly as a lot of the public starts to pay more attention. and certainly this campaign is on that trajectory. the democrats have promised that biden is going to take this fight to the president, certainly on the subject of his handling of the pandemic.

that is one of the things that democrats feel is among their strongest arguments for biden. if you want a reason to vote for him, democrats feel that putting forward the idea that not only would he not have messed this up to this degree were he president now, but he can fix it, he can change things and get the country back working again. and hand in hand with that, democrats are promising that biden will also really attack trump for being essentially a bad guy, not a -- not a leader that the country can feel good uniting around, to contrast with biden the good guy. republicans turn that on its head and say we don't doubt biden's a good guy, but that's not enough. he's weak. he's a trojan horse for forces considerably to his political left. this isn't an election about

good and bad. this is an election about what kind of leader you want. and republicans feel good about uniting behind trump as this person. >> is it working now, peter, because i was looking at a poll steve kornacki pulled out last night, looking at support for black lives matter in swing state wisconsin. when you looked at the numbers, june versus august, that's a pretty good swing within the matter of two months. has the president and his campaign found a thematic here, if they hammer hard, they might be able to get some of those on-the-cusp republicans to come back. >> i think that's exactly right. he has, as that poll shows, changed the nature of the conversation. instead of arguing about how to stop the police from abusing power against african-american men in the streets, the conversation that the president is having and forcing the democrats to respond to on some level is do you support violence

by protester or moohoards as het it in new hampshire. that suggests that the conversation has shifted at some extent. i don't think he's going for middle of the road voters. he's trying to pump up his own voters. this has been a base campaign from the beginning. get his own people to come out for him. give them reasons to come out. and also to impress the democratic vote by saying he's unexpectable. >> perhaps then the gop was trying to do that during the convention and trying to bring back some of those republicans on the edge. >> yeah, i mean, we had a week of trump being presented as a president many people would not instantly recognize. empathetic, you know, giving, generous, thoughtful, all kinds of warm and fuzzy presentations of the president and less about the things that frankly the president himself emphasizes,

which are strength and power. and we saw him return not only to the strength and power theme in his speech on the last night but in the rally last night and also a return to the nastiness that has been a feature of his political brand from the beginning. you know, he got pretty nasty and insulting during the rally last night, which was a base -- aimed at the base. the convention was aim at people who might want to vote republican but they have misgivings about the president. and the convention was trying to give those people, moderate republicans but independents, certainly, a reason to vote for trump. and trump turns around and he wants to keep those people niz pocket, but he turns around and then says to the base, yeah, but i'm still the same person you like and you support because i am politically incorrect.

>> handsoand some voices at the convention that didn't know when they were being recorded that it was for the convention itself. that was reported within the last 24 hours. peter baker, ann garin, thank you so much. the convention is done. we're in the final dash. up next, live in kenosha, wisconsin, as outrage and protests erupt around the country. protests erupt around the country. i'm a verizon engineer, and i'm part of the team building the most powerful 5g experience for america. it's 5g ultra wideband, and it's already available in parts of select cities. like los angeles and in new york city. and it's rolling out in cities around the country. with massive capacity, it's like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than today's 4g networks. in fact, it's the fastest 5g in the world.

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well right now a rally in kenosha, wisconsin, in honor of jacob blauk is ongoing. blake was shot seven times by police on sunday. this rally is taking place as the 29-year-old who is now paralyzed from the waist down is recovering in the hospital. local community leaders and his family are calling for an end to police violence and systemic racism in kenosha. shaquille brewster is in kenosha and reporting for us. shaq, what's the walk through

look like? what does the protest look like? >> reporter: well, i'll show you the protest in just a moment. i want to give you new information we just learned from the uncle of mr. jacob blake. he says that jake -- jacob is alert right now, that his mother is in the hospital with him, that they're talking right now. so, that's positive news, but he is of course asking for the prayers of not only the people of kenosha but people across the country. the reason we're in wisconsin is because of the protest going on. you see the people in the park across from the courthouse. right now the lieutenant governor of wisconsin is speaking. we have congresswoman gwen moore was just on stage. she's talking about turning the energy you're seeing into legislation, the justice in policing act. one message people have continually reminded me they want to get across is the sense of unity. they know the images that went

out from kenosha from earlier in the week, the destruction, the fires, the shooting that happened on tuesday. but they want the message to be about the unity they have. they want their message to be about love. let me play a little bit of sound that we had from jacob blake's uncle in our conversation just a couple of minutes ago. listen here. >> nephew was attacked viciously and shot in the back seven times. that's uncon schenn able in any country. we're not going to tolerate this anymore. >> reporter: and that's the message that you continue to hear. there's outrage about the shooting. they still want to call for accountability for the officer involved, bupt they wat they wat peacefully. people continually want this to be the vision of kenosha, the unity and the peace you see here.

>> support for black lives matter is swing state, wisconsin, i know that's something you know quite well. looking at a poll that shows in august, a dip, significant dip by numbers from june. is that what you're finding when you speak to wisconsinites? >> reporter: you know, it's really hard to say especially because tensions are so high right now about the shooting. some people don't want to talk about polling or the politics. they say this is an issue of life or death, and that's what they want their focus to be on. you see that poll that support that you had right after the death of george floyd. this is something you saw nationally. you saw support for black lives matter and the movement to jump. now it has fallen a little bit to 48%. what that means on the ground for a crucial state like that, that remains to be seen, especially ahead of the november election. >> wearing a lot of hats for us as always. shaq brewster in wisconsin. next, different themes, different speakers, how the democratic and republican conventions, how they matched up in the ends. we'll have top political

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here and now i give you my word. if you entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on the best of us, not the worst. i'll be an ally of the light, not the darkness. it's time for us, for we the people, to come together. >> joe biden may claim he is an ally of the light, but when it comes to his agenda, biden wants to keep us completely in the dark. he doesn't have a clue. >> well, two conventions, two starkly different views, as you saw there, of what the country looks like right now and where it should go. and with the ratings out, we do know one thing. millions more viewers saw the dnc than the rnc on television when you put all the days together. we're still waiting to see if

either side made a bigger impression on their message. who took it in. joining us democratic strategist and republican strategist and author of "branding america." great to have you both here. we've got two major things happening in america, at least. but first of all, start with what we were talking about with shaq brewster. this is the issue of civil rights. this is the remembrance of martin luther king on friday, just yesterday, and what his message was for america. aisha that is front and center. talk about that issue and which candidate right now seems to be making headway on this. >> i mean, i hate to continually state the obvious, but yes, that is front and center in america. front and center in america has long been the issue that we're having with the worst of policing with hyperpolicing, with just assassination, attempts against black people. we're literally seeing black people being gunned down and

murdered in the street by vigilantes. that is top of mind. and certainly we can't ignore the fact that we are still in the wake of a covid-19 epidemic and crisis of which 200,000 people in this country are expected soon to have sadly perished from. there are major things that are happening. and what was in stark relief at the republican convention was that there was absolutely zero conversation about the well-being of people who are affected by these crises at all. so, how could you have an entire convention that is around re-electing someone to serve the people, which is what the president should be doing, to run our nation to keep us out of harm's way when there's no acknowledgment of the fact that harms are literally persisting and happening today. and by the way, what was so shocking about it is that republicans are perishing from the coronavirus. we are seeing that, you know, they are going to their own

rallies for donald trump which are becoming super spreader events and being impacted. so, surely this is coming close to home. and the idea that they're ignoring civil rights, which we're not surprised about. donald trump has always been a racist. he was a racist before he was president of the united states and just continues to be who he is. but the fact that his own people are suffering from the worst health pandemic that we have experienced in certainly generations and nothing said about it no, acknowledgment that when and if, would be his rhetoric, he is re-elected that he would do something to protect american lives. that is what people need to be paying attention to, especially his people, because it's just this idea that we're going to ignore reality and pretend it doesn't exist and live on our own planet. doesn't work that way. >> the republican base as well as the democratic base are going to face another big wave, another big issue, the economy.

we're about to see a huge wave of layoffs coming -- at least "the wall street journal" reporting from coca-cola, mgm and others. that's a bipartisan issue. everybody wants jobs. you add that to the other issues. did the republican convention get the swing voters that trump does need? >> richard, that's a good question, and we don't know. we're not going to know that, richard, and that's part of the problem. but it's also part of why i think that trump wanted to focus on policies and, you know, his slogan is promises made, promises kept. and i think that that's why you saw the republican convention focus more on trump's policy. i did notice that the president seemed to stay on the teleprompter a little bit more than he used to, when you would

see him just fly off the handle, saying anything that came to his head. i noticed that you could tell he wasor scripted, which meant he was looking at the teleprompter, which i'm sure a lot of people said to him, you know, this is not a time to have a speech that you just say anything you want and get off point. i did hear from a lot of republicans that it energized them, but he already had those votes. to your point, with the swing voter action that's the million dollar question. and i think that's why these campaigns are going to have to raise as much money as they can to get their message out because there's not going to be a lot of campaigning face to face or mask to mask. there is just going to have to be a lot of relying on money to get that message out any way they can with advertising. >> aisha, how did the democrats

do during the republican convention? the biden campaign waited to respond to any of the issues that were brought up regarding civil rights, regarding what we're seeing with black lives matter, specifically, something that clearly the democrats have a strength in, in terms of dealing with those very issues. >> well, let's be clear, the democrats don't need to waste any time rebutting donald trump and the republicans. first of all, their record speaks for itself. and secondly, there's a whole lot out there and we have long stood for with regards to bringing all americans together, being connected to people of color, being connected to women, certainly supporting the rights of differently abled people to participate in our society fully and equally. there's a whole track record of equality and justice that the democratic party can stand on that certainly does need to be brought up in some kind of rebuttal to the republicans who have got zero.

the thing that was really brilliant was when kamala harris did her pre-buttal and came out and really set the record straight and began a very deep prosecution of donald trump and this administration that's going to persist over the next 60-something days until the election and hopefully beyond as we finds ways to legally prosecute him when he is a civilian again. that is, to me, what struck me as an opportunity to lay out facts and the democrats are going to continue to do this. one last point i want to add and remind everybody, the democratic party has not won the presidency with a majority of white american votes since lyndon b. johnson in the '60s. i'm going to say that again. no democratic president has had the majority of the white vote. in fact, bill clinton, barack obama, they've only gotten in the low 40% of the white vote. this is significant because barack obama was re-elected with only 39% of white americans

voting for him. i think that's why we need to really acknowledge which party is leaning into issues of race and justice and who support what is party because it's clear in the data around voting. >> next up, the debates, if they happen. and for both sides, certainly to see what the issues and how the issues are being articulated by the nominees. aisha, noel, thank you for taking the time on a saturday. president trump signed executive orders three weeks ago, but where's the aid? weeks ago, but where's the aid proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira. proof of less joint pain... ...and clearer skin in psa. humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections,

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we think it's going to be very rapid. we want it to be very rapid. it's going to be distributed in a way that -- whichever the fastest way. there are various methods. it will be rapidly distributed. >> president trump three weeks ago today signing four executive orders aimed at extending some coronavirus relief aid to americans after congress failed to reach a deal, despite what the president saying on august 8th, relief aid has not been handed out. efforts to work with congress to pass a new coronavirus aid bill stalled again this week during a call between the president's chief of staff mark meadows and house speaker nancy pelosi who says democrats are not budging on their demands. join news national reporter sa heel ka pore. getting right down to the ground, we've got tens of millions of americans that we are now a month and a half, if

i've got it right, almost a month, excuse me, of not getting the federal aid they were used to get before. >> that's right, richard, the $600 a week federal unemployment bonus that millions americans were relying on dried up at the end of last month and beginning this month, the procespects for new deal do not look good. speaker pelosi had a 25 minute phone conversation with mark meadows and the signal from her made all but clear that the talks are going nowhere. she said the sides are at a tragic impasse. the conversation made clear that the white house continues to disregard the needs of the american people as the coronavirus devastates lives and livelihoods. democrats passed a $3.4 trillion bill in the house. senate republicans have floated

a 1 trillion figure in terms of price tag and don't seem to be willing to go above that. that's the impasse. >> will they get past the impasse. there's stay day that ranged from 300 to $600. that only goes so far for many of these americans. >> right. the election is 66 days away. i think as democrats see it, they don't feel the need to put their fingerprints on the proposal that doesn't get the job does. they say pass something that fully mitigates the suffering or we'll see you on election day and the voters can decide who would they would rather handle the crisis. the president did issue executive actions this month after the previous round of talks broke down. two key proponents of that, let's talk a quick check of how they're going. one is unemployment benefits extension of half of what it used to be. it was a cut from 300 to 600. only five states are paying

these unemployment benefits right now and the recipients have seen substantial decrease from before. many others have applied, some approved. but it's a complicated process. some are worried about the legalities. so, the implementation of this is anything but smooth. the other thing is the payroll tax defrl. the president has said businesses can simply not pay the payroll tax for the rest of this year but many businesses are confused about this. they don't know if this ends up being a deferal they'll have to pay double taxes next year. the chamber of commerce says it will be work rs to have that uncertainty. that one doesn't seem to be working out as the president inted. >> does not look good for now. 66 days , that's when the clock runs out. from a number of different perspectives, testing has been

one of the biggest channels of the coronavirus pandemic. let's go to nbc vicky wynn with an update on testing being used at college campuses across the country. >> reporter: across the country, schools reversing their decision to hold in-person classes after covid-19 outbreaks. at unc chapel hill, classes abruptly halted just days after moving there. students not tested before coming back. at purdue, an unprecedented undertaking, before all 40,000 students take classes, they'll have to be tested for covid. unlike most covid testing which involves a large uncomfortable swab to get a sample from the back of the nose, purdue students will just spit into this tiny tube, something they can do at home with this kit. >> the convenience of that -- so i think particularly for this generation of students, there's

a good one that allowed us to reach them where they were. >> purdue is one of 65 schools working with vault health, formerly a mens' health company, now offering this at-home covid saliva test. >> is the saliva test is a game changer? >> it is. it's a much easier test to administer. you're spitting into a tube which everybody can do and you're giving us enough spit to tell if there's virus in there. >> i ordered a kit. it arrived in two days. i have my materials here. what do i do? i set up way video chat with a clinician who made sure i did the test correctly. >> all you need to do is go ahead and spit. >> this is going to take a while. >> i think the record was 30 seconds. >> i was not speedy. >> how many times a day do you have to watch people do this? >> enough. >> two minutes later -- >> any tricks to this? >> smelling pickles in a jar, thinking about food, smelling

citrus. >> i have nothing. i have nothing. let me think about mouthwatering foods. it's working. it took time to work up about a spoonful of saliva. >> you're there. >> a quick mix with preservative to keep my sample fresh. then i put it in a preaddressed bag to be overnighted to the rutgers lab in new jersey. vault says results are available in two to three days, a big advantage over swab tests that have seen delays up to 14 days. vault's test is one of two strict i will saliva tests given emergency authorization by the fda. yale university created the other one but uts not at home. >> the false negative rate is what we're concerned about. telling somebody they're negative when they are sick is very dangerous. so, the saliva test has a 1% or even less than 1% false negative rate. >> scientists caution there's not enough data yet to know how much virus is in saliva.

>> they're generally very accurate. they're probably a little bit less sensitive than the nasal swab which is the term to mean if people have very, very small amounts of virus, it's possible that the nasal swab would detect that whereas the saliva wouldn't. >> the test is pricey. $150 if you order it directly from the company. right now vault is running about 80,000 tests a day. they say as that number goes up, the cost will come down. for students like 18-year-old clara terry, who will be a freshman at purdue, spitting in the tube was easy. >> i've heard with the nose one, it hurts. this was not painful at all. >> that was nbc's vicky wynn with that report for us. thank you so much vicky. we'll have more on that very test she was talking about right after the break. but before we do that, i believe we're going to go to texas where the president is visiting and speaking right now. let's dip in real fast.

okay. well, we're just getting in that video. couple of technical difficulties. we'll show it to you right after the break. stick around because after the break, even as the testing technology improves, the cdc is flip flopping on who should get these tests and many doctors are worried the trump administration is playing politics with public health. one more bite! ♪ kraft. for the win win. and the clock could be ticking towards bad breath, receding gums and possibly tooth loss. help turn back the clock on gingivitis with parodontax. leave bleeding gums behind. parodontax.

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♪ and they're always glad you came ♪ applebee's. now that's eating good in the neighborhood. now that the rent's due but they've cut your pay. now that the virus has cost lives but your healthcare costs too much. now that our president has had months but he still doesn't have a plan. what happens now? joe biden knows how to lead through a crisis because he's done it before. when our economy was on the verge of collapse, joe biden led the largest economic stimulus in a generation and saved millions of jobs. now joe biden is ready to lead us through this crisis. he knows rebuilding our economy starts with fighting the virus, increasing testing, getting more protective gear for healthcare workers and calling for mask mandates nationwide. as president, he'll get working families back on their feet by lowering healthcare costs and helping small businesses recover. so what happens now?

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now we've got it for you here. orange, texas, where the president was just arriving to tour the ravaged area that hurricane laura left behind, he is visiting an emergency operation center. let's listen to a little bit of what he said. all righty. looks like we don't have anything at the moment of what the president said, but when we do, we'll have that for you right here. let's get back to what i was talking about earlier before the break and that's the

coronavirus. the cdc and the centers for disease control and prevention, stunning the public health community earlier this week when it reversed its position on when you should get tested for covid-19. now, the cdc monday posted guidance "testing might not be necessary" just one month after telling the public that americans concerned about exposure and infection should get tested regardless of symptoms. the guidance, that was walked back by the cdc director wednesday with the organization and the white house insisting the changes had nothing to do with pressure from president donald trump, that those recommendations remain on the cc web sit -- cdc web site, a point of contention. doctor, you don't like this, one day one way, one day the other. you have all of these who are coming to you for advice.

the cdc is saying one thing one day and another the next. why is this happening? >> it's a disturbing trend that we're seeing not just in the cdc but in other agencies within the tru trump administration. instead of evidence and science leading the way, we are seeing true political interference. this is just the surface, richard, which is what i'm afraid of, that the fda, the cdc, every agency that you can name has had some issue in the covid outbreak and it will continue. >> okay. you and i were on the air one week ago and we were getting the announcement coming from the white house about plasma. where are we one week later? >> yeah. so, boy, what a difference a week makes, huh, richard? >> yeah. >> here's what i can say having

now not only looked at the data but talking to honestly hundreds of physicians in the field who are using convalescent plasma. this is an important, you know, breakthrough in the sense that it's not some game changer the way the trump administration rolled out on sunday but it is important in that it could be helpful, especially when we have very little to offer hospitalized patients. but what we know now is that the fda commissioner, a renowned oncologist, who knows the difference misstated the statistics to make them look better sunday night than they actually were and since that time there has been increasing voices from within the agency itself that has stated they've had interference with the fda process. i think that's what's concerning as we are heading into the most important pucfunction of the fdo date, which is approving a safe and effective vaccine for covid-19 for all americans so

not the 35% improvement that they were quoting sunday. >> that's right. >> i knew you'd know better then as you did as we do now. what a difference a week can make. the reporting of a man in nevada who has now contracted it again, covid-19. what do we know? >> yeah. and so what -- here's what we do know, that this is likely a true reinfection and on tom p of tha this is fitting with other reports we've had from around the world, but i think there's something to realize. we're learning that if you've had the infection once, that there is some level of immunity that you develop and that that immunity may not last very long but even in the case of a reinfection, richard, that immunity can help to decrease how powerful a reinfection can be. think about your common cold. i get a cold almost every year. at some point my body is able to tolerate the cold because it's similar to a cold i had before.

we are seeing hope, richard, that there is infinity that be in effect here. >> iowa. concerning numbers coming from iowa. what does that tell us about where we're trending? >> the concern is we're getting a little bit lax certainly with people returning to colleges and this is a stark reminder that this is a very powerful virus and when we think we can let our foot off the gas pedal with precautions, we are boldly reminded from the virus itself that we can't do that. >> spit test thumbs up, spit test thumbs down? >> thumbs up with an asterisk. we need a lot more testing with quality all around. >> that wraps it up for me this hour. i'm richard lui. be back tomorrow at 4 p.m.

easte eastern. now i turn it over to reverend al sharpton and "politicsnation." "politicsnation. real progress?

when you're affected by schizophrenia, you see it differently. it's in the small, everyday moments. and in the places, you'd never expect. a little sign of hope. the feeling of freedom. and once these little moments start adding up, that's when it feels like so much more. it feels like real progress. caplyta effectively treats adults with schizophrenia. and it's just one pill, once a day, with no titration. caplyta can cause serious side effects. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles or confusion, which can mean a life-threatening reaction or uncontrollable muscle movements which may be permanent. dizziness upon standing, falls, and impaired judgment may occur.

most common side effects include sleepiness and dry mouth. high cholesterol and weight gain may occur, as can high blood sugar which may be fatal. in clinical trials, weight, cholesterol and blood sugar changes were similar to placebo. so if you're affected by schizophrenia, have a conversation with your doctor about caplyta today.

good evening and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lead, color contrast. the republican national convention closed thursday night