swing stieates. democrats are trying to boost support in states hillary clinton lost narrowly in 2016. president trump is staying local holding a news conference in next hour before getting back on the campaign trail tomorrow with a trip to battleground florida. joining me now is ali vitali and kelly o'donnell is at the white house. mike, i want to start with you. we're seeing an evolution of the biden camcampaign. more trips outside of delaware. what you expecting to see today? >> reporter: you know labor day has an out sides political significance on the calendar. it's the time rest of the country joins those of us who have been obsessing over this race for almost two years for the last couple of months before election day really begins to tune in. it's mark of the urgency the

biden campaign is putting on the campaign at this point. we're seeing joe biden touch down at an airport not far from here from what is a short trip from delaware. the kind of trip he will be doing behind me. it's something he could be doing from home. it's largely virtual conversation that he's going to be holding with union workers but at this stage of the game, you've got to win by showing up. that's what the bhiiden came pp is doing by having him come here. there's really no electoral map that has joe biden winning the presidency that doesn't have him winning pennsylvania. part of his message will be focused on the economy. that's one of the issues that shows polling shows president trump continuing to hold an advantage over joe biden on. he laid out his economic plan in the month of july. it's called build back better. what we'll start seeing today is a shift towards talking about his on plan versus contrasting it with what he says is the lack of plan for president trump. in terms of bringing this economy back from this recession

that led from the pandemic, biden, everything coming back to the pandemic. as he says just on friday, workers are facing an even more severe toll because of the president's mall practice in handling this. as you say, biden is picking up the pace of his campaigning. we saw him holding an event, multiple events on the road last week. we'll see both candidates, president trump and joe biden both at a 9/11 memory at the end of the week in western pennsylvania. sort of mark of just how much the race is engaged at this point. >> kamala harris just touched down in milwaukee. she will be hitting the campaign trail hard. this probably not the last time we'll see her in wisconsin. what does the campaign see as the significance of that state? >> reporter: wisconsin democrats hope this isn't the last time they are going to see her in this state. frankly, this is state democrats have paid a lot of attention to since 2016.

you talk the people here who are organizing in state. they start doing it earlier than ever trying to recruit volunteers and to excite the grass roots starting from an early point because they know how tight the margins were here in 2016. they are hoping they can get the state that saw statewide turn out down by 3% in 2016 from 2012. they are hoping they can ramp that up basic seexcessively and into a blue state come november. i'm interested in how many hats she will be wearing as she campaigns starting in the building behind me with electrical workers and meeting with black business owners for a round table. the vice presidential candidate has a few jobs as they're out here. are they going to be an attack dog. contrasting themselves against donald trump and mike pence who is campaigning in the great state of wisconsin today. are they going to be focused more on the candidate's own message. kamala harris has shown on the campaign trail, the virtual campaign trail that she is

someone who regularly weaves in joe bind's core messaging along with her own pitch for the ticket. because we haven't seen her out on the kpanl trail before, these are things that i'm looking for. she's also a politician too who has her own personal brand. she spent a year campaigning for president herself. she's comfortable in these kinds of rooms that are going to be because of the pandemic a little bit more like retail politics. you've got sparser crowds on purpose attending in these rooms only to people who are talking with kamala harris for these round tables or these meetings in the case of today's vents. seeing her interact in those space, we know exactly the kind of politician she is with retail. she thrives in that space. we know that from 2019. seeing how she road tests herself as now joe biden's running mate is going to be so fascinating as they seek to gin up support here in wisconsin and across the country. labor day is that unofficial

kick off to the general election in politics. we expect to see as joe biden ramps up his actual travel schedule, kamala harris will likely do the same. >> we're all used to seeing the president at the podium for these spontaneous news conferences. what are you hearing the focus today? >> reporter: the setting will be different. i don't ever recall a time when it's been used for a news conference. the briefing room that we're so familiar with is made for tv with all the wiring and lighting and easy plug and play. the president can walk in. today he will do a new take on work from home. he has announced on his tweter feed and followed up with an official release he will use in area behind us to talk about what will be focus on jobs and the economy given that it's labor day. we have seen he's talking about the return of millions of jobs to the rules and the dip in the

unemployment rate below double digits which given pandemic is something he will talk about as a positive. again, it's the opportunity for the president to try to compete with the democrats by having an event that has a staging aspect to it using the white house as a backdrop. it's unsurprising that for a president who had nothing on his official schedule today that he added an event. there's a hurry up quality to this. federal workers at the white house who thought they had a legal, federal holiday off coming in to get set for this. the president will be on the campaign trail in the more traditional sense this week with florida, north carolina, michigan on his travel schedule. this allows him to tee that up and to try to control the message from the white house knowing that his democratic

rivals in their own ways will be getting a message out today. >> all right. let's bring in our panel. form republican congressman david jolly who is no longer affiliated with the party. joel, let's look at the latest numbers. there's a poll showing joe biden up ten points nationally among likely voters. up six points in wisconsin. we see a dallas morning news poll showing the race in texas in a dead heat. good news for joe biden but still a long way to go. >> very long way to go. poms are thi polls are things that can be distractions. it shows after the rnc and dnc that the race is unchanged. joe biden still is very much favored and the electoral map works in his favor. you're looki ining at fall where president where have the defend

a lot of territory. that's a state he won comfortably four years ago. that's how i think about the polls. they dictate what the shape of race will be in. right now the race is very much favorable to joe biden. >> david, we know that president trump is going to keep road testing different strategies to fire up his base and depres democratic voter turn out. how aggressive do you expect the president and his campaign team to get against joe biden. >> exceedingly. he's in the rare situation of desperately needing momentum. nothing seems to boricing. you're seeing the candidates kind of break out into this regional strategy. we know that national polls are not indicative of electoral college polls. you're seeing them pay attention to regional strategies.

what each candidate is doing is trying to control the narrative upon which the election will be decided. joe biden wants to be talking about the president's handling of the covid pandemic, the contrast of health care policy, immigration, taxes. donald trump, you see him reaching for anything that might work. maybe it's law and order. maybe it's trying to convince the american people that the economy is roaring back under him. perhaps it's the attack. the negative on joe biden to try to define joe biden in way that biden has to spend more time defending himself than talking about policy issues than the pandemic and health care that he and senator harris would prefer to be talking about. >> when the president isn't ata attacking joe biden, he's attacking kamala harris. how important will the former prosecutor be in combatting the string of attacks from the

president? >> nasenator harris has said is she is uniquely qualified to prosecute the case against president trump. i think that's what you'll see today as she makes her return to the campaign trail as a member of this ticket. she will be talking about labor and union rights on this holiday. also will be there to contrast the biden harris ticket with the trump pence ticket. really trying to underscore the vice president's message but also addressing systemic racism especially around policing.

really kind of drawing the distinction between the two camps is senator harris main role. >> joel, i want to play some of what nancy pelosi said on msnbc yesterday morning. take a listen. >> we have to make sure the public knows how we can solve this. they started calling it a hoax, denial, distortion, delay and here we are. >> as david said, that's the key for the biden team. keep the focus on the white house response to the virus as much as they can. how do they do that as the president tries to pivot to a law and order message and today

what we anticipate will be a victory lap on the economy? >> sure. i think that's right. the speaker is right there to lay out the race in those terms. the coronavirus is drag donald trump's favorables down in places where he's always been strongest over the summer. it's strong leader, how he deals with the economy, how he works in crisis. those things have been cratered by donald trump's handling of coronavirus. it's favorable for joe biden to talk about that. for kamala harris to talk about that. something else that's interesting to me, erin was talking about kamala harris being in wisconsin. there's so many african-american voters in milwaukee who didn't show up in 2016 n. that will be an essential role to make sure she activates that base of african-american voters. >> at the same time we're anticipating this election, there are protest movements across the country. how is the biden team working

with those movements to turn that energy towards voting that's already under way in some of these states? >> i think they are continuing the lean into the message that joe biden launched his campaign on back in april which will is this is a battle for the soul of america and really just addressing the reality shared by many americans in this country that systemic racism is real. it is persistent and something they are wanting to address as a nation. it's something they expect their president to address. i think you will continue to hear that. you'll hear senator harris talking about systemic racism in milwaukee. they can do so many of the voters who we know felt left behind, felt forgotten in 2016 even as president trump and his surrogates were in battleground states like pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan over and over again so many folks i heard

talking about what didn't happen in 2016 is they didn't see hillary clinton in places like that nearly enough. now you see vice president biden and kamala harris running in those places and signaling they will be back repeatedly over the next 57 days to let these folks know they are important. the campaign is touting they raised $264 million which we're already starting to see that paying off. they are on the air waves far earlier than they normally would have been not just four weeks out or six weeks out. they are already messaging to keep constituencies, particularly african-americans on things like black radio and black media. >> david we just learned that senator harris will be meeting with the family of jacob blake and his legal team, their legal team. i wonder how much of this comes down to issues of the economy, like the handling of the coronavirus and how much it comes down to a contrast in

style of leadership. >> leadership style matters. the constituency matters. having your finger on the pulgs of this national conversation on race, recognizing the injustices, embracing a speaking of those who which to protest peacefully while denouncing any type of violence. that's very important to show that constituency biden/harris provides a contrast in leadership. you want to mobilize them to turn out. that's not a group of persuadable voters. they're not moving to donald trump. you have to turn them out. the persuadable voters like wisconsin, pennsylvania and michigan are your white rural voters who went to donald trump last election. that's where you see biden/harris having to balance that. they can do this. they can speak to both con stitch swi -- constituencies. it's important that that doi. the next leader needs to represent everybody and not this small minority of americans that

donald trump was elected from. >> thank you all for spending some time with us. the labor day holiday is packing beaches and crowding tourists areas raising concerns of another spike in covid cases. major university suspends students after they were caught breaking school covid policies. you're watching msnbc. you're watching msnbc. another bundle in the books. got to hand it to you, jamie. your knowledge of victorian architecture really paid off this time. nah, just got lucky. so did the thompsons. that faulty wiring could've cost them a lot more than the mudroom. thankfully they bundled their motorcycle with their home and auto. they're protected 24/7. mm. what do you say? one more game of backgammon? [ chuckles ] not on your life. [ laughs ] ♪ when the lights go down little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently.

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experts say the labor day weekend will set the course for this fall as coronavirus case loads surge in midwestern states and plateau at a dangerous level nationwide. here are the facts as we know them fp number of covid-19 infections in the u.s. has surpassed 6.3 million. more than 190,000 americans have died. colleges across the country are facing new realities of the back to school season over the weekend. new york university suspended more than 20 students for breaking coronavirus safety protocols just days after in person classes began. a north eastern university

dismissed 11 first year students but kept their tuition after students violated social distancing rules in a boston hotel room. today, after loud warnings from health officials against large holiday gatherings, we're still seeing new images of crowded beaches across the country. nbc news correspondent joins me now from miami beach, florida. the county is enforcie inine ii mask mandates. where does miami dade county stand and how are locals responding to these strict measures in response? >> reporter: it's been tough for miami dade county. of those 12,000 deaths you mentioned, there's been more than 2600 of those. those people that have died right here in miami-dade county. in order to combat that and try to limit that number. initials have put these measures in place for this holiday weekend that caps off the summer

and it's for good reason. after the fourth of july weekend they saw koe covid cases spike. people were packing these beaches. now you have to have a mask on. you have to social distance. if you don't, you'll face a $50 fine. for the beach goers i spoke with, at this point in time, it's basically just becoming part of life. take a listen. >> are you used to new rules by now? >> sure. i'm a retired teacher. i'm very used to the rules. living my best life. going to the beach. doing whatever i need to do. wear my mask when needed nor the sake of others. >> i think it's becoming a norm. you see every one coming with their mask. no one is complaining. you sit down. you're with your people. every one is really adapting to it. it's nothing -- they're not asking for too much. >> reporter: miami beach police saying over the past two weeks they have written 800 citations

for people not wearing a mask. important to note, the majority of those were handed out prior to this holiday weekend. a hopeful note as we won't really know the true impact of the beach goers here and whether or not this limited the spread for next couple of weeks. back to you. >> thank you. i want to bring in university of washington medical center pulmonologist. good to see you. health officials say this weekend will largely determine the course for this fall. lots of people wearing their masks on the beach. at the same time we're seeing images from the weekend of crowded beaches. what does it mean for us as a country? >> good to see you. it begs the question that the model that mayor put into place in miami should be replicated nationwide. this notion of modifying human behavior with penalties or the

threat of a penalty actually, we know, from prior experiments in public health, whether it's you can't drink and drive, otherwise you'll get penalized. you'll need to wear a seat belt. the same paradigm, smoke free zones in restaurants, we need that. we need that for masks. it's going to save lives. we're at that point where enforcement is needed. in places like ohio you're only seeing 40 to 45% mask usage in public. that's not enough to save lives. that's going to be key. >> former president biden is in lancaster, pennsylvania talking with some labor leaders. let's take a listen. >> he's a pipe fitter and plumber. he got back from being deployed in afghanistan. >> also staff sergeant. my son the major said that's who

runs the military. >> i used to be a comm engineer. i served eight years in the army. i'm a veteran. one thing i had -- as i was getting out was being concerned about raising my family. how will i provide for my family. i was able to get into a five-year apprenticeship program. it's awesome. i graduate egraduated. now i'm a full-time journeyman as well. i've been to a lot of power plants. did a lot of work for various contractors involving plumbing to crane operations. it's been so far good. we got to keep the job market, be able to get on those jobs for us to work so we can provide for more our family and spend more time with our family as well too. >> patty here with afg local

1156. again, she works for you too. she works for the people of the united states and -- >> you were in the gulf war? >> yes. i was. i especially listed in 1985 at the aim of 18. did nine year service. i went over 35 years total service with the federal government last month. i'm disabled as a result of the gulf war. i couldn't give up my service hat. i've continued in service to the u.s. navy where i work in logistics to support their needs. we need you to be our next commander in chief. i have quite a few friends and colleague who is are like minded. some of the things that have happened under the current regime are devastating to the

bargaining employees. namely the three executive orders that 45 signed back in -- he sucked them in on friday afternoon on memorial day in 2018. there's three of them. 138, 138, 39. they gut our ability to collectively bargain. as our commander in chief, i would hope you would rescind those. >> well, i will. first of all, thank you for your service. i don't mean just your service for labor but your service for the country. what made you decide you wanted to join the service? >> it's pretty much, growing up, i was born and raised in new york. it was very hard the find jobs. that was -- that was like one of my reasons too.

at the same time, i saw myself being a soldier. i had the plan to do that. i wanted to serve. i wanted to do three years. i liked the military service and i wanted to continue my service. that's one of the reasons i also stayed in. >> you're in afghanistan as well as iraq, correct? >> i went to iraq and afghanistan? >> how long? >> 365 days. iraq also. >> what are your fellow soldiers talk about out there? >> talk about back at home. talk about families. one of the things that they talk about is how they are going to get out and start a fresh career doing something else. run their own business, go to school, have a degree plan. sometimes when they do that, when they go to college, some of those jobs are out dated.

they can't get those jobs. now, they are sitting on fence somewhere trying to find a different job or go back to school and have to depend on government loans to cover those costs. >> that's former vice president biden campaigning in lancaster, pennsylvania talking with labor leaders. a number of them veteran themselves. let's bring back in dr. gupta. campaigning happening this fall. also a return to college campuses. san diego state university is issuing stay at home order for students living on campus amid a surge in student cases. dr. ffauci said college student who is get sick should not go home. what do you advise? >> all of us in public health are concerned about the notion of students being in a super spreading environment and going back to their hometowns

potentially exposing vulnerable parents or grandparents. that's concerning. just in the last week, we have become, studies out of china showing one infected person on bus in china basically was exposed about 40% of the bus riders. in an environment that recirculating indoor air. what does that mean for colleges and school districts? it means that ventilation is key. regardless of whether you're masking and distancing, you need still need adequate ventilation. out door classes when possible. it's really key. i seen on testing, let's follow the duke model. every student must get tested and surveillance type program. otherwise, let's deactivate their cards. we haven't talked about enough about this. young people that vape five

times more likely to come down with a diagnosis if exposed to covid-19 than those that don't. that's a big issue for college students and adolescents. >> thank you for spending some time with us. the president and his supporters continue to push back on accusations that he privately disparaged members of the military but are any of those denials breaking through? protests in rochester continue for a fifth night after the death of daniel prude. h night a death of daniel prude. except wo. why is that? is it because people love filling out forms? maybe they like checking with their supervisor to see how much vacation time they have. or sending corporate their expense reports. i'll let you in on a little secret. they don't. by empowering employees to manage their own tasks, paycom frees you to focus on the business of business. to learn more, visit paycom.com every time you touch a surface, bacteria is left behind.

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rochester community leaders are announcing police reforms after days of protest over the death of daniel pruded. he died in march days after police put a spit hood on the 41-year-old with mental health issues. they say he claimed to have covid. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: after several days

of tense and sometimes violent protests, last night things actually were pretty calm. the evening ended up pretty calm because the police chief believes that the elders, they were able to deescalate the situation here on the ground. these church leaders served as buffers between police as well as protesters. the police chief said there were no arrests last night. there's definitely palpable tension and frustration here in the community and it's directed a lot of it toward the mayor as well as the police chief for their handling of the daniel prude investigation. yesterday the city leaders had a press conference doubling down on their response. they say they followed the protocols but there are growing calls for them to step down. they say they're not going anywhere. they are committed to improving the community and doing better. as far as the investigation goes, all the seven officers involved in the arrests have

been suspended with pay and the attorney general's office taking the lead on this case. they also asked the grand jury to also review the information as well as the evidence goes. demonstrators say they will continue to be out here until all the the officers are prosecuted. on this labor day things have been relatively calm. earlier in the morning we saw some demonstrations in front of police headquarters but so far it's been peaceful. >> all right. thank you. president's former attorney and personal fixer michael cohen is going after his former boss in a new book. the washington post obtained a copy and reports that cohen claims trump admires putin's ability to take over an entire nation and run it like it was his personal company. cohen also claims that trump hated former president obama so much he hired a fobama or body double so trump could belittle him and then fire him.

lester holt said down with michael cohen. take a listen to what he told him. >> you think he'll win another term as president? >> he will do anything and everything within which to win. i believe that includes manipulating the billiallots. i believe he could go so far as to start war in order to prevent himself from being removed from office. my biggest fear is there will not be a peaceful transition of power in 2020. >> the white house calls cohen a disgraced felon and disbarred lawyer who lied to congress. he's lost all credibility and unsurprising doe ining to see h attempt to profit off of lies. a lot to unpack there. let's talk about the white house attempt to discredit michael cohen. how worried is the white house about these allegations? >> reporter: there's so many things the white house is confronted with right now it has

to worry about. this is probably just one more on the list. they have reason to say his credibility is in question because he is a convicted felon. it's no surprise to me that's the line they are using. that said, he does have credibility from having worked with president trump before he was in office for so many years. that is the credibility that he has used to write that book. that's why the stories that he tells in that book, some of which are familiar, some of which are new, have resonance. it's because he worked for him so long. >> i want to get your reaction to cohen telling lester holt that trump will start a war and disru disrupt. what do you make of that? >> reporter: it's hard to react to that. this is something disgruntled from his relationship with trump. that said, michael cohen isn't the only one in this country is concerned there won't be

peaceful transition. that's been a top concern of democrats and one that vice president biden has articulated in terms of his concerns about the election and president trump has made to secret of trying to sort of raise questions about the integrity of the election with regard to mail in ballots. that issue is not one that is just tied to michael cohen or a concern of his. as far as starting a war, i haven't heard any democrats raise that concern. certainly there's is a broad concern about whether or not, depending on the results of november 3rd or the weeks after how president trump will react. >> among the disturbing allegations, the allegation that president trump hired an actor to portray obama as a fantasy to belittle and then fire him. if true, what does that say about the character of the president? what does it say about the character of michael cohen about going along for it? rp i thi

>> reporter: i think it is true having seen that video now with the former new york businessman now president trump in it. what does it say? michael cohen describes in his book several different experiences and ways that president trump then businessman trump described racial issues and was particularly critical of president obama. everybody knows that president trump or then businessman trump essentially led the birther movement that was false. claiming that president obama was not born in the united states. that particular allegation doesn't seem surprising and if video bears it out. >> in addition to all the things that cohen is writing and saying about trump, you have him trying to right some wrongs. claimed he was bullied to plead guilty. will this impact his legal troubles at all? >> reporter: that's a good question. it was interesting that initially when he would not agree not to publish a boom he have put back into prison an

that was over turned as the government basically retaliating. there's no love lost there, obviously between michael cohen and his prosecutors. we'll have to see what happens next. >> thank you. up next, record infection levels reported in europe over the weekend as nations fear the second wave has arrived. you're watching msnbc. d. you're wchating msnbc. ght, i brn ensure max protein to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. [grunting noise] i'll take that. woohoo! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. with nutrients to support immune health. and at fidelity, you'll get planning and advice to help you prepare for the future, without sacrificing what's most important to you today. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward.

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we're following a potential shake up in the defense department. three senior administeministrat officials that the president may fire mark esper replacing him with robert wilke for the top pentagon job. he's long been unhappy with esper and tensions between the two persist as the president faces criticism over reports that the president called veterans suckers and losers first reported by the atlantic magazine. president trump continues to deny the allegations. joining me now retired navy admiral who served as nato supreme allied commander and congressman jason you who served three tours of duty in iraq and afghanistan. on sunday robert wilke told dana

bash he never heard the president disparage service members or veterans. i want to play you both a bit of sound. >> i see the proof in the puddi pudding. the proof is our military is stronger and our veterans affairs department is in place it's never been. this is the renaissance and it's all because of one man. >> admiral, i want to get your reaction to that sound. i also want to get your reaction to this potential shake up. >> well, i know robert wilke well. we served together in the pentagon when he was an assistant to secretary defense don rumsfeld. he's a straight shooter. he cares about his commission over there and veterans affairs. i don't think hesitait's signif for him to say he's never heard the president utter a negative comment. what is significant is the potential shake up, as you say. here you see where secretary esper has crossed wires with the president.

for example, on correctly deciding to rename bases named after confederate generals, on taking confederate flags out. i think he's crossed wired with the president. i think his job is at risk and a pretty logical move in a cabinet would be to pull someone with dod experience over to dod. >> congressman, the president attacked the billionaire who owned a majority stake in the atlantic. he said steve jobs would not be happy his wife is lefting money he left her on a failing radical left magazine and is run by a con man. call her, write her, let her know how you feel. congressman, aside from cruel and crass that is, anything more than an effort to distract there? >> well, that's just donald trump. when terrible things come out about the way he acts, the way he behaves, the way he treats our honored fallen solders, he

attacks the messenger. that's what he always does. he has long history of doing this. this is not surprise. i don't know what's worse to me, the fact he would feel this way about our service members and fallen comrades and friends that didn't come home for it's surprising he would say this. this goes back to him avoiding military service himself, attacking john mccain, disparaging a gold star family and on and on and on. it's a long history of this type of disparagement and regardless of robert wilke says, there's a lot of forces that corroborate this in the media and individual sources. it's concerning they are looking at reprlacing secretary esper wo is willing to be a loyalist to donald trump. it's the united states congress, the armed service committee that gave the pay raise to our active

duty soldiers. it's congress that's working to try to fix the va. the 70,000 veterans i represent would be interest to hear i represent would be interested to hear him say he wants to hire wilke for these issues. >> joe biden understands the awesome power, responsibility and sacred duty of being commander in chief. he's been in the situation room. his son beau served a year in iraq. >> i served in the marine corps. >> i'm a fourth generation veteran. >> i am a navy veteran. >> i served for 20 years. it's filled with losers. it's filled with heroes. >> we've seen the support among service members. i wonder how effective you think this line of attack is and what the proactive members want to hear from the biden campaign. >> i think it is a highly effective line of attack because

it is, to my eye, highly accurate. and just as a personal example, my father fought in world war ii, korea, vietnam as a proud colonel of the marines. he's not a sucker, he's not a loser. my daughter is a va nurse. she's not a sucker or a loser. it goes right to the heart of what president trump feels about the forces, and i think there is sufficient corroboration of this point. i think this is a very effective line of attack for the biden campaign and an active attack. >> i've got about 25 seconds, jason. i'll give you the final word. >> this actually goes to the heart of our national security in the agreement that our nation and commander of chief makes with our soldiers. both me and the admiral raised our right hand and took an oath

to serve both republican and democratic presidents and we did that because we knew both presidents would have the accuracy of our system in mind. that is breaking down because we can't say that about donald trump. our soldiers can't do their job and can't focus unless they know their commander in chief has their best interests in mind, and now they can't say that. thank y . >> thank you both. while the united states remains it the country in the wd with the large st numbers of coronavirus, the rising numbers in spain india and france could be a result of lax restrictions.

how does the resurgence in cases compare to what france saw in mid-march? >> reporter: if you look at those numbers, the ones you just mentioned, it looks like it's worse. on friday we saw here in france a record high, and it's not even the height of the crisis. what's going on? it looks like these numbers are actually doubling down on this crisis we saw back in april and march. but in reality, there are other numbers at play here. we have to remember, icu admit ta tance. at the height of the admission in france, there are about 5,000 patients here in covid. now there's about 500. the reason why, the cases are spiking, but the death rate is all stable and decreasing. that's because more young people, more healthy people that don't have preexisting conditions, they're not old, are getting the virus. a lot of these cases are

asymptomatic or only have mild symptoms. if you look at the whole swath of statistics, actually things are kind of improving. >> what moves are health officials making to the country compared to what europe saw back then? >> here in france in most major cities you have to wear a mask. not just inside, at restaurants and bars, outdoors, everywhere. it's a major initiative. it kind of reminds everyone we're still in the middle of a crisis even though science says you probably wouldn't get the disease walking around outside. still, the thing going on here in france is the leaders basically said they won't be going back to confinement. there will be no renewed lockdown. in a way it looks like they're to t tying their own hands by saying we're not taking these drastic measures that nearly destroyed the economy a couple months ago.

even if the cases are increasing, the health system here in france has been spared the worst. >> matt bradley in paris, thank you so much. coming up, at the top of the hour, president trump tweeting this morning he will hold a labor day news conference on jobs and the economy. we'll bring that to you live. with 57 days to go before the election, vice president biden is hitting the trail in battleground pennsylvania later this afternoon, speaking virtually to labor unions. stay with us. stay with us try boost® high pro. -with 20 grams of protein for muscle health- -versus only 16 grams in ensure® high protein. and now enjoy boost® high protein in new café mocha flavor. try eucerin advanced repair and switch. it doubles your skin's moisture and repairs dry skin over time. so tomorrow can be a different story. eucerin - recommended and used by dermatologists. with safe, convenient service. we're here for you >> tech: we'll come right to you. ♪ upbeat music

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welcome back. i'm alicia mendez at nbc headquarters in new york with an action-packed hour ahead for you. we are moments away from the president's labor day press conference announced via the president's twitter feed just a few hours ago, and joe biden is back on the campaign trail visiting battleground pennsylvania where he's already met with workers ahead of a talk with labor leaders. our team is in place. nbc's senior digital white house reporter shannon pettypiece, jolene kent with a reality check on the economy. i'm also joined by former democratic congresswoman donna edwards and msnbc economist rick tyler, author of the new book "still right." shannon, i want to start with you. the president clearly wants to control this message on this holiday. what do we expect to hear from him today? >> we're told he's going to talk about jobs and the economy.

we're not sure if he's going to take questions. sometimes he holds a news conference which is essentially him speaking and no opportunity for questions. on the jobs and economy front, a person close to the campaign was just telling me to expect there to be more focus on this, a little less on the crime and safety message, because when you look at the big dump of poll numbers we've gotten the last week, the president hasn't really picked up much ground on the area of crime and safety, where the economy, while he still has a little bit of edge, if any, at least he's running neck and neck with biden on that front. the other thing that is unusual, i will note, about this press conference, it's being held on the white house north portico. that is the steps in the north entrance where you see the president greet dignitaries, or you see it during the inauguration, or the transition of power. the last time we saw the president there is when he walked out of the north portico of his brother's funeral where the casket was coming down the stairs. this is an unusual place to be holding a press conference