and a very good day to you. welcome to msnbc news headquarters in new york i'm richard lui. making news this hour for you, president trump under fire. the white house doing damage control after the atlantic reported that the president called american soldiers killed in combat suckers and losers. the president denies those allegations he said he fought hard for military families but parts of the story continues to be confirmed by media outlet, including fox news. joe biden calls his comments sick, deplorable and

un-american. let's go to kelly o'donnell live at the white house. and mary is in washington d.c. covering the biden campaign. kelly let's start with you on this. any other white house, the white house would be on its heels. how is the trump white house doing today? >> reporter: it's been a forceful pushback from the white house. they've gathered a dozen or so current or former officials to say that it did not happen based on their own experiences with the president. we're referring to a 2018 trip to france that included commemorations of world war i and there was a planned trip to an american cemetery that did not happen for the president. weather was blamed at the time and now this new reporting says that in behind the scenes conversations the president expressed a desire not to go by motorcade which would have taken several hours there and back and in the atlantic, included in

their reporting, the president used the words suckers and losers when referring to america's fallen service members. that's created an uproar, members of the democratic party, joe biden, and the military community reacting. president trump has taken the approach we often see, which is to attack the media. at a press conference friday he went after the atlantic, calling it a fake and a hoax. >> i know very little about this magazine. but when a second rate magazine can write things about that, about somebody that's done so much for the military, can write things like that and get away with it where you actually ask questions on it, it's a disgrace. you ought to be ashamed of yourself. >> reporter: the atlantic was first to report this, then we've seen other outlets like "the washington post," associated press, fox news also able to confirm parts of the story and

different examples where sources claim that the president used disparaging language. the president's defense has included his public posture where he says he's been devoted to the military. done more to replenish needed supplies and equipment and to bring about pay raises. the president taking credit for a long of things related to support for those in uniform. this comes with two months to go until the election and at a time when according to polling within the military, the president's standing in the november election has fallen. that's been a traditional base of support for him. so there are a lot of concerns associated with this particular controversy for the white house. the president spent part of his day golfing and has been refuting this using his twitter feed and chance to come before the cameras. >> another way to take the temperature that you know so well is find out what are republicans saying in the senate and the house, as well as former

staffers of his, john kelly, john bolton. >> john bolton who has been a fierce critic of the president of late says he was on the trip and does not recall hearing the president use any of that language when he was with the president. he also backed up the account of the weather being an issue related to that trip. there are two tracks here. the canceling of the visit is one set of facts which has been known for a long time. the new part of this that has become controversial is did the president discuss this in unflattering and disparaging terms privately. we've seen things like republican congressman adam kissinger saying he would like more on the record from those unnamed sources, they should come forward in order for people to evaluate whether it happened or not. and when you consider a number of former officials who are supportive of the president have come forward, that's part of what people have to evaluate here. they have to look at the

president's public comments where on record the president has criticized gold star families and former senator, the late john mccain who he said was not a war hero. that's in the public domain, is it a leap for the president to say something like this in private. that's for people to assess on their own. so far john kelly, retired four star marine general and former chief of staff has not commented. we don't know if he's a source at all or related in any way. >> let's head to mariana. what's the biden campaign saying about this? this is, politically, a gift to this campaign. >> reporter: they're definitely seeing it, richard, as an example that they can point to to be able to say that this is the reason why president donald trump should not be re-elected to a second term because as joe biden even put it yesterday,

it's un-american for him to say that. it's not something that a president should be saying if he wants to protect his fellow americans. now, yesterday, biden visibly angry and expressive in his tone when talking about these remarks. as you mentioned, calling them deplorable and a disgrace. and that is for two reasons. the first one being he's a military father himself. his son, beau biden did serve a year in iraq as part of the delaware national guard. and another reason why is because biden himself as said repeatedly on the campaign trail that the president's most sacred duty, as he says, is to protect americans who decide to risk their lives over seas. and one thing that he does on and off the campaign trail is tell voters that he carries with him in his jacket pocket, on his schedule he'll whip it out and say, i don't just have my

schedule here, but i have the most up-to-date, number, the death toll of americans who have died abroad since the beginning of the iraq and afghanistan war, saying i want to know the exact number not an approximate. this is something near and dear to his heart. i want you to take a listen knowing why he sounded exasperated yesterday in wilmington when discussing the president's remarks. >> i've just never been as disappointed in my whole career with a leader that i've worked with, president or otherwise, than if the article is true, and it appears to be based on the things he said, it's absolutely damn-able. it is a disgrace. >> now one thing to note, too, is that the biden campaign, just

in the last hour, posted a digital video to biden's twitter page where veterans themselves are speaking about why they decided to enlist and risk their lives overseas. and it's a very powerful video, simply because they explain all of that after reading president trump's reported remarks against them. richard? >> mariana sotomayor. thank you for that. let's bring in our panel, elena beverly, lan hi chen. the military vote is important in so many different layers, there are those who have served, those who are serving, there are the spouses, children, uncles, aunts, grandfathers and grandmothers. what's at risk for president trump if there are any persuadables right now?

>> that's a great way to end that question. are there persuadables right now? what we're seeing is that people's minds are made up, there aren't that many persuadables out that anymore. to this incident what i would say is it reinforces people's impressions of president trump, for those not supporting him, they view this as yet another thing the president has said that is offensive, problematic, et cetera. and for those who are supporting him, they see this as the main stream media out to get donald trump. so what this incident really does is to reinforce people's impressions of the president and to go to your point about are there people who are persuadable who are left, i'm not sure that's a huge population anymore, certainly not one with a meaningful impact on the election. >> i guess the question might be the biden campaign, does this further invigorate the base as

you log those items and issues does that get your base out there to vote and bring somebody with them? >> absolutely. i think this does invigorate the biden base. if you think about who's serving in the military, the 1.4 million active duty military officers right now, 43% of them are people of color. i think that we've seen time and again how we now have voters who have favorability ratings for biden on issues of race, on issues of justice. and now you have donald trump show that he basically does not care for, has no respect for, the men and women who are serving our country. so i think that this is going to motivate biden's base and also potentially be persuadable for those who are on the fence. remember, the swing states that we're talking about, where biden is leading, 9 points in arizona,

4 points in north carolina. these are states that donald trump won by very narrow margins and this type of offensive rhetoric that he would use -- and he knows is a problem for him -- this type of offensive rhetoric is going to be to biden's benefit. >> for the republican nominee, lots of stuff has not stuck to him. a lot of things that would stick to other candidates lanhee if this doesn't stick again, even if you get the sound bite some might say, the question is what does this mean for those on the ballot with him, for those senators, those congress members that it will stick. what do you think it means to them? >> i think that's why you heard relatively few republicans who are up for election this year, whether house or senate candidates, say much by way of trying to either defend the president or evaluate whether the remarks were made or not. i think you're seeing them try to avoid this.

look, this is ultimately the challenge that comes with any candidate being on the ballot this fall, which is in some states and places. if you're a martha mcsally in arizona, corey gardner in colorado, you may want to draw distance with the president when this happens, but the challenge is when do you that you risk losing the president's base which you need to get over the finish line in arizona, in colorado if you are a republican. so there is a delicate balancing act here, but there has to be the ability for these candidates to draw some of that distance. otherwise, being too closely associated with these remarks, whether they actually happened or not, being associated with them cannot be a good thing. >> the issue of national security, so important certainly in a normal election and a new military times poll, listed out various issues that are important to our military service members. and if you are a foreign power

and you're not a friendly here, and you see a president of the united states with the relationship with his own military that seems to be showing more and more divisions, how does a biden campaign gracefully and correctly move forward with that very concern we would normally have? >> i think that you start off by ensuring that we have great turn out for this election and that we win by enormous margins. margins that make it impossible for a potential foreign power to try to exploit or suppress the vote. to try to cheat the election in w any way. and then you go forward by trying to repair our relationship and reputation in the world. and joe biden has been very clear about his interest in doing that. and that's part of the reason, i believe, he was so of fended and that he spoke to those issues in

his most recent speech on trump's commentary about our service members. it's the sacred duty of the president to protect and care for those who put themselves in harm's way on behalf of our country. but also it's important for the president to protect our democracy. and i think that you heard joe biden and kamala harris speak to that very clearly. >> and to see a president come after a retired general, john kelly, who served in his own white house. that is not something that you see very often. alaina, lanhee check around. we'll speak with you more in a bit. continued protests demanding justice for breonna taylor collide with the kentucky derby in lieuville. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity.

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protesters. for more than 100 days they've been outraged over the death of breonna taylor. militia members, some heavily armed, have been holding counter protests as well. joining us is gabe gutierrez. set the scene for us, how are things looking? >> reporter: a couple hours ago a different scene in downtown louisville. that is the heated discussion between protesters and counter protesters that we saw near jefferson square park where police are to come separate the two. right now we're seeing a peaceful gathering, black lives matter, as well as some other groups. they're gathering here before they go and protest in front of churchill downs in the next couple hours or so. if we can come over here, speaking with a woman a couple minutes ago. ma'am, what's your name? >> nasira.

>> why are you here today? >> i'm here for justice. it's time to get justice not for just the unknown but justice for breonna taylor. she was murdered and there's no -- everyone is still walking around freely and it's time for justice for us as african-americans period. >> reporter: we have reported on the 100 days or so of protest here. a lot of frustration, people demanding charges for the officers involved. what do you hope to accomplish with the kentucky derby, how frustrated are you the rates is going on still? >> i think if it takes another 1,000 days something has to be proven and justice has to be proved if we have to protest from sun up to sun down every day that's what it will take to listen to what we are telling them as the african-american race. >> earlier in the day downtown there were armed militia members

that came here and started to have a heated discussion with protesters down there. there has been some criticism of those people, some on the far right that have come here heavily armed. what do you make of that? do you think there's potential for tension here? i know you all want peaceful protests here, but what do you make of the tensions that might be expected later today? >> i felt the militias here are not here for no trouble, they're wanting answers like everyone else. i feel if social media or anyone else portrays a picture that people go down and look for that response but i feel they're here for justice and to help stand for the purpose and the reason for us being here getting justice for breonna taylor. >> ma'am, thank you so much for talking. appreciate it. thank you so much. >> reporter: richard, this is -- you know, it's getting loud in here, but people are gathering here, and they plan to head to churchill downs the next hour or

two for what they say is a peaceful protest. the concern for law enforcement, kentucky national guard, state police as well as local police, they want to make sure the protests stay peaceful and the militias on either side, far right or left, don't have these clashes that turn violent. right now, thankfully everything seems to be peaceful. >> i know it's going to be tough for you to hear me. i know police have just released pictures of the number of bullet shells on the scene, in addition to that, talk about what the protesters want here. do they want the derby not to happen? what's the derby's response been? >> right. so richard this is something that's been going on if for a while. we've been talking about 100 days of protest here in louisville. the first couple days were especially violent. the last couple of weeks have not been violent per se but tensions have been building here over the last 100 days. and the protesters here see the

kentucky derby as, frankly, an insult to what's been going on here since the death of breonna taylor. they view this as yes, it's an iconic american event it was supposed to happen a couple months ago, earlier in the year but was postponed because of the covid-19 pandemic. the way these protesters feel they think the event should not be held until the officers in the breonna taylor case have been charged. only one officer has been fired so far, none of them are facing criminal charges. they feel authorities, the kentucky attorney general has been dragging his feet with regard to the case. there's been several developments in the last couple of weeks including what critics have been slamming as an investigative memo that was leaked that seemed to portray breonna taylor as potentially being part of some sort of drug ring. the taylor family, the attorney

said that a plea deal was allegedly offered to her ex-boyfriend trying to paint her as being part of some sort of drug ring. these protesters see that as a slap in the face as trying to get away from the investigation and trying to tarnish her reputation. they're furious about that. what they want to do today is they want to send a message on what is the biggest day of the year for louisville, of course the iconic kentucky derby they want their message to be held. the kentucky derby would have been different regardless with the pandemic. there will be no spectators but obviously draws a lot of attention from around the world and so that's why the protesters are here trying to make their voices heard. again, the concern is some of the extreme elements on either side. there are the black militia here, as well as the far right militias that have come from out of town. if there is a clash between the two, again earlier in the

afternoon there was a minor confrontation really but no violence, just yelling on either side. police were able to go in and break that up. and right now as you can see behind me this is a peaceful protest under way right now. again, the hope is that this somehow does not turn violent later on in the evening when some of those armed protesters could potentially come into contact with each other. richard? >> gabe thank you for that. gabe gutierrez live for us in louisville, kentucky at the derby. the campaign issue front and center today, law and order. the candidates and who might have the upper hand. are you one of the millions of americans

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welcome back. with president trump trailing in most national and swing state polls he's retreating to what he considers a winning message the idea he would be better positioned than joe biden to

recall so called law and order to america's streets. the president travelled to wisconsin to take photos. biden visited the city on thursday and spoke about the scourge of systemic racism at a church. the panel is back. alaina when you look at the issue of law and order, and i want to bring up a poll quickly here, the question was who makes you feel less safe. it was 40% for joe biden. 50% for donald trump. why are we seeing this in the quinnipiac poll? because theoretically, the president in the white house at the moment should be responsible for what we're seeing, which is a lot of issues related to law and order today. >> that's right, richard. let me start off by saying we need justice for breonna taylor

and i stand with those anti-police brutality, anti-racism demonstrators who are standing up for her in this moment. but you're right. that donald trump would like to say, you won't be safe in joe biden's america. but we're living in donald trump's america right now. and in this instance we are seeing, waking up every day to another black life snuffed out, frankly by the hands of armed police. we have over 187,000 members of the american community who have passed away because of covid. we are afraid to send our children to school. we have our seniors who are shut in. so donald trump is asking or predicting that you won't be safe in joe biden's america. and joe biden is returning and saying, look, we're living in donald trump's america. when we have armed militias and

17-year-olds taking up arms and killing others in the streets, do you feel safe? do you feel safer? so you would think as the president of the united states donald trump would feel some responsibility and feel that he shouldn't simply predict a future that he -- when he hasn't been able to handle or address the reality of today. >> and over to lanhee, as she described here, the view of two americas. if there are two americas, those two americas definitely see and define law and order in different ways it appears looking at the poll numbers. >> they do define it in different ways. this goes to this question of folks who might not take one of those sides more prominently or aggressively, where do they come out on this. my sense is that this issue is not going to drive vote choice in this election. that it is an important issue for some people, for some

americans but for most americans this will not be the issue that will dictate the vote. now president trump may want it to be in some ways. he may feel like it motivates voters on his behalf. i think the polling suggests that may not be the case. the president's best bet is to talk about the economy, notwithstanding some covid related issues. i think the economy is his best pitch and the one that voters will see him being the better choice than joe biden. >> i was reading one of the headlines, trump's law and order message is not resonating with most of america. if it's not resonating for this republican nominee, what might be the strategy? >> well, he's going to his regular playbook, which is to escalate tensions and soak hate and division and fear. i also think that he is trying to prepare for the potential outcome of the election, where

he would not be the victor, and try to have, frankly, armed vigilantes try to encourage us to turn our democracy around and challenge the outcome of the election. so i don't think that he is acting strategically to actually win voters. i think that he is acting strategically to undermine our democracy. >> let's add another thing into the fire here. that's that the white house is now telling federal agencies, according to reporting, to stop and cancel those particular programs and sessions that might help erase sensitivity and the understanding of difference and finding similarity. lanhee, what is your reaction to that? >> again, i think this comes back to what the trump campaign and the entire trump effort are a part of, which is to move

toward this issue of cultural conflict. for the trump team and trump campaign, they view this as another way, i think, to mobilize a base of support they feel like they're going to need to win in november. and it comes back again, donald trump has been running essentially a base election for many months now. and that strategy informs a lot of the things that you're seeing, whether from the campaign or from the administration. >> it's not working, according to the polls at least because he is still behind as i started our segments and discussions today in swing states. alaina, react to that. >> i want to add i think it's a level of distraction. i think he knows he has damage control to do after his comments about our service officers. our military. and so, his way of distracting that narrative is by doing something else outlandish with our federal government to try to turn attention to him as being

commander in chief and being in a position of strength. again, i think it's a distraction. but one way we can ensure that this type of effort is turned around is if we all vote in november. >> so many things coming together. i want to finish this idea of law and order. as we see an increase in the number of folks involved in militias, a president coming out against the military, and we have polling from the military times that shows that those in uniform, a good almost majority believe that white initinationa are a national security threat. put all of that together, if you can. >> it's a lot of different threads there. i think clearly the challenge is going to be the military vote is disb d dispersed in critical places around the country, not the least of which is florida, you have a significant military population in florida. this is a voter base, part of the electorate that both biden

and trump would love to have because of where they're located. but also positioning one self as being a friend of the troops, the military is an important element of winning american elections. i think you see both candidates try to come back to this. you hear trump repeatedly say he's been a supporter of the military, talk about the things he's done and biden is going to refer back to the trump comments and try to drive them if not for the next several days all the way through the election. >> you might be seeing the segmentati segmentation, not to say this wasn't before, a segmentation of what the military vote might be and therefore an opening if you actually are thinking about that as a campaign manager. >> that's absolutely -- that's certain, richard. they are thinking about the military vote as an important segment. and -- but i think what you're seeing in the biden campaign is they were already taking no

voting group for granted. i think there's some clear sense that they can peel off some important elements of the military vote, given the comments that donald trump just recently made. >> alaina beverly lanhee chen, always a pleasure to chat with you. go out and enjoy the rest of your saturday. >> thanks, richard. up next, officials in florida remind residents that the pandemic is far from over, even if the beaches are open for labor day weekend. e beaches arer labor day weekend. aunt me the m. [ squawks ] 'cause you're not like everybody else. that's why liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. what? oh, i said... uh, this is my floor. nooo! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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labor day weekend is known as the unofficial end of summer and the extended weekend will have people flocking to beaches around the country where it's warm. in florida, for instance, officials fear the weekend could lead to a new surge in coronavirus cases. so far there are more than 643,000 confirmed cases in that state and with thousands expected to crowd beaches officials are giving the warning if you're caught without a mask you could be fined. morgan chesky is in miami beach for us. the herald read cases up, deaths down. >> reporter: richard, that is the case here. and that case number is something that officials are keeping a close eye on. if you do back to the last major holiday weekend here, july 4th, they saw a case number go up by 78% in the weeks following that big holiday weekend.

this being kind of the next big holiday weekend, the final cap to summer here. and that's why they have police, they have code enforcement officers out in mass, especially along the famed ocean drive which goes alongside the beach here. they're really hoping that people pay attention and listen. i will say for the most part everyone seems to be wearing the mask, socially distancing and following the rules, at least as we've seen. this was given to me by the mayor of miami beach and he's telling me they're trying to not just make it through this holiday, per se, but change essentially the culture of this beach community, at least until we're out of this pandemic. take a listen. >> example we set here is wear the mask if you care about your community, if you want to open up your economy, if you want to stay safe, keep your loved ones, safe, a stranger safe, wear the mask. we hope there's no surge

following this. we hope the learning curve of this virus has been received by everybody so they know if we don't follow these measures that's going to happen. >> reporter: a $50 fine if you do not have one of these on. if a business is violating the rules, richard, that means they're exceeding 50% capacity they could face a fine up to $500 and also be shut down. we have yet to hear any reports of that happening yet but this weekend is still young. another number to keep in mind here, back in mid july we had a positivity rate here about 25%. incredibly high here in miami dade that number sitting around 7%. officials hoping it stays that way. however, we're not going to know if this is causing a boost at least for the next several weeks. we'll be crossing our fingers. >> morgan, thanks for that. coming up for you, president trump continues to say a vaccine

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welcome back. the centers for disease control and prevention told states this week to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine as early as october and to have vaccination sites up and ready by the first week of november. and that time line has some questioning whether the white house is putting its thumb on the scale trying to ramp up the process for president trump's political benefit ahead of election day. let's go to dr. natalie azar, medical contributor for nbc news. doctor, always great to talk with you. there are a couple dozen vaccines that have had positive progress shall we say within the last several months. can we get something by october or november? >> we have in this country right now three different vaccine platforms that are entered into phase 3 clinical trial and as

we've said now numerous times that is the last and final phase before a vaccine would be approved and go to market. could we get a read out as early as mid october as to whether or not the vaccine is happening he is that half of the group in the trial is getting placebo, half of the group is getting vaccine and then we're waiting for natural infection to happen. what we're waiting to see, which is a little bit of a paradox here, we want to see there's been protection in the vaccine group obviously. maybe we'll start to get a readout in mid october. but that is very, very far from having over 300 doses available for americans by the first week of november. and, by the way, in phase one of administration, we're talking about health care workers and those with underlying medical conditions. it's not meant for the entire population at all. >> every day brings us new

developments. my head starts to spin. doctor, what did you learn in the last week that you thought was promising that stood out in what you learned? >> in terms of vaccines? >> in terms of in general covid-19. that's correct. >> i am very optimistic that we are going to have a vaccine that will likely be safe and effective for use for the american public. you know, i'm going to be on the front lines as a health care worker, being one of the first to receive it, and i think, you know, what i think is happening, what's happened in this country, is there's been a little bit of a crisis of credibility that was really the government's own making, the revoked eua for hydroxychloroquine, so i understand when multiple or

masses of people are concerned and wary about taking this vaccine given where we are, where we came from and where we're going. i will say we have to rely on the scientists to do their job. even the researchers conducting the trials are not monitoring this. this is going to be done by the data safety monitoring board with an independent panel. if they get to the end of stage three and they say this appears to be safe and we have demonstrated the vaccine is at least 50% effective, which is the benchmark they've chosen, i will get the vaccine. but i think i speak for a lot of my colleagues when i say we're not necessarily willing to cut corne corners. i don't think the scientists are either. the messaging from the white house is very different from the messaging from what should be the independent scientific bodies. there have been some slips and blunders and they really have to

right the ship. otherwise it going 's going to challenging to convince people that the vaccine is something they should give themselves and loved ones. >> what to we say did you see that new estimate from imhe, over 400,000 potential deaths by the end of the year? >> as someone pointed out to me quite nicely on twitter today, these are statistics but represent real human beings. the 400,000 is what the ihme said is the most likely number. the worst case scenario would be over 600,000 deaths of human beings and the best case scenario more in the 200,000 ballpark. that's still 20,000 to 30,000 more people dieing ying in the few months from this disease. this is all predicated on behaviors and mask wearing and observing social distancing

until we have a therapeutic widely available, until we have a vaccine and we've reached that herd immunity, all we have is the behavior that we do and that our fellow citizens do. it's our civic duty to do it. >> another week means there's another week of parents making decisions about their children going to school, deciding whether to fly or drive them to the school that they may have to go to and another week means that we have probably learned more. what do you tell parents right now, doctor, your patients or otherwise? >> well, i do, i have patients who are going back to college, who are there right now. i have one at arizona who i'm thinking about a lot. you know, i think that everything -- i think it's really important that every family and every educator has options and that is that if the teacher wants to teach remotely, he or she should be able to do that without penalty. if a student or family chooses

to do pleat leado remote learni they can do that. new york city just announced their plan to delay opening this past week and they will be randomly testing 20% of their student and adults at random every month. that's, you know, i said basically any testing is better than no testing. is that going to be enough? i don't really know. we're sort of doing this as a live experiment, which is a really, really horrible thing to say. but if we look at what professional sports have done, they've been successful in a bubble. our students are not in a bubble. college students are not in a bubble. dormitory live in particular is a breeding ground for transmissable diseases. what i give guidance to families, friends and patients,

look at your options, think about what's right for your family. be patient. we will get through this. it may take another year or so. >> they're lucky to have a doctor like you, dr. azhaar. we can ask you anything and that's a benefit because you have on-the-ground experience and all of your academic background. thank you for all of your help in what's happening this woeek with covid. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton is coming up after a short break. coming up after a short break. up at 2:00am again?

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good evening and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lead, losers and suckers. that is how donald trump views those who paid the ultimate sacrifice under the commander in chief's commands. of course he continues to deny the reporting from the "atlantic" and now mutt maltipl sources that he has repeatedly disparaged the nation's war dead and wounded. but it's a tough sell when we've heard so much like it before

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