good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington, where trump aides are scrambling, blindsided by the revelation that president trump had spoken 18 times to bob woodward and agreed to let the celebrated investigative reporter tape those conversations. there is fallout today from the president's acknowledgement that he deliberately misled the american people about how deadly the coronavirus was when he said this to bob woodward on february 7. >> it goes through air, bob. that's always tougher than the touch. you know the touch you don't have to touch things, right. but the air, you just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. and so that's a very tricky one. that's a very delicate one. uh, it's also more deadly than

your -- you know, even your strenuous flus. >> at the time, and for weeks later, president trump was dismissing any concerns at packed rallies across the country. >> the democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. they tried the impeachment hoax. think of it, think of it. and this is their new hoax. >> a month later the president telling woodward he was deliberately downplaying the risks to avoid causing a panic. >> so give me a moment of talking to somebody, going through this with fauci or somebody who kind of, it caused a pivot in your mind. because it's clear just from what's on the public record, that you went through a pivot on this to, oh, my god, the gravity is almost inexplicable and

unexplainable. >> well, i think, bob, really, to be honest with you -- >> sure, i want you to be. >> -- i wanted to -- i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. >> yes. >> because i don't want to create a panic. >> on the campaign trail and in new paid ads on social media, joe biden today and yesterday seizing on the president's deception. >> he knew how deadly it was, that it was much more deadly than the flu. he knew and purposely played it down. worse, he lied to the american people. he knowingly and willingly lied about the threat posed to the country for months. >> joining me now, nbc white house correspondent and "weekend today" co-host peter alexander, and "washington post" bureau chief phil rucker. peter, president trump's initial defense is he didn't want to create panic, he said that, so

he acknowledges downplaying it. but so much of his campaign rhetoric is creating fear about black people coming to the suburbs, including today in tweets. how can you reconcile that? it doesn't add up. >> you're exactly right, andrea. president trump said in one of his tweets today, cam, not panic. he also row, if i don't win, america's suburbs will be overrun with low income projects, anarchists, looters and of course friendly protesters. so the president insists he didn't want to frighten americans by telling them this virus was deadly and airborne, he said he didn't want to frighten them, but his campaign is largely based on this idea of fear and panic. but the one item that really concerned the president, the economy, that's where he didn't want to see a true panic. the president, as we know early on this year, january, february, his primary focus had been on

the economy. and his biggest desire was to avoid anything that would suppress the economy or the stock market from continuing to rise, as dr. fauci even told bob woodward in this book, for the president the number one priority was always his reelection. >> and when he speaks of the economy, of course, he speaks of it very narrowly, he's talking about the stock market, which is not the most accurate overall metric for how the economy is really doing. phil, we're hearing directly from bob woodward in an excerpt of his "60 minutes" interview. let's watch. >> this is the tragedy. a president of the united states has a duty to warn. the public will understand that. but if they get to feeling that they're not getting the truth, then you're going down the path of deceit and coverup. >> peter, you know bob woodward and have worked with him, i've known him for decades. these tapes are more damaging

than the nixon tapes. to phil, sorry, i meant to say phil. >> yeah, andrea, i think that's right. and woodward's longtime collaborator, carl bernstein, said yesterday on television that he thinks these are the worst tapes, worse than watergate, in presidential history. what's so important here is it's president trump in his own words, in his own voice, acknowledging that he was deceiving the public and lying about the breadth and the danger posed by this virus, and it had deadly consequences, obviously. we're at over 190,000 lives lost in the united states, vastly greater death toll than any other country in the world. and, you know, to hear woodward in that excerpt you played there makes me think of the epilogue in his book "rage." at the very end of the book, woodward actually draws a conclusion about president trump, which is not something he has done in past books. he's very much a reporter's

reporter, just presents the facts. but in "rage" he says, look, i can arrive at no other conclusion but to say this is the wrong man for the job. >> which is so extraordinary, coming from bob woodward who is always standing off from his subjects. peter, you're the father of two beautiful little girls. i am so struck by what he said about how young people, young people, he acknowledged, are affected by the coronavirus, while he was telling people publicly that children are immune. >> andrea, you're exactly right, that's as striking as anything here. just the bottom line is that, you know, americans want from their politicians, from this president, they want someone who says it to them, gives it to them straight, right? but early on, the president knew, as he discussed privately with bob woodward, the facts of this virus, the fact that it was deadly, the fact that it was airborne, the fact that it was easily transmissible, highly contagious. and he knew it wasn't just old

people that would be impacted, it was young people as well. that's information he said on march 19, information he held off on sharing because he said he wanted to downplay it all along. what's striking is that was march 19. i'm reminded of a conversation, a back and forth i had with the president on march 20 where i asked him if it was possible or he was concerned that his desire to put a positive spin on things would actually give americans a false sense of hope. he got furious at me in that moment and said i was a terrible reporter. but in fact that's exactly what he did. he tried to put the best possible spin on things to the detriment of information that americans were waiting and needing to hear. >> not surprisingly, phil, the biden campaign is pouncing on the contradiction between what the president was saying privately, knowing he was on tape, and publicly. let's watch. >> i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. >> announcer: while donald trump was telling america the virus was nothing to worry about, he knew it was deadly.

>> it's also more deadly than your -- you know, even your strenuous flus. this is deadly stuff. >> announcer: and now 190,000 americans are dead. our economy crushed. our kids not safe in school. and trump knew it all along. >> i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. >> i mean, phil, i mean, briefly, there's no way of escaping the words "dereliction of duty." >> yeah, andrea, we're going to hear that again and again, i think, in these next two months until the election. the biden campaign knows that president trump's greatest vulnerability with voters, in particular with those suburban voters that they're both trying to win over, is the president's handling of the coronavirus, his mismanagement of this pandemic. and i think they're seizing on these woodward tapes and are going to be using it for days and weeks to come. >> phil, thank you so much for being with us. peter, thanks for coming out in

the rain. bad weather in washington today. thank you so much as well. and joining us now, illinois democratic senator tammy duckworth, a member of the armed services committee, an iraq war veteran, a purple heart recipient. your initial reaction when you heard about this, senator. >> just furious, andrea. i cannot believe that any president of the united states would do this. and for him to have been out there telling these lies, because that's what they are, lies, at a time when he knew, he knew, in his own words, that this pandemic was at least five times deadlier than the normal flu. and he was out there telling people not to wear their masks, he's telling people -- you know, i have two little girls myself, that the kids can't catch it. it's more than dereliction of duty. it's -- i just cannot imagine that anyone with good conscience would do that let alone the leader of our nation. >> there's a lot we've inferred from their public actions. but now there's a lot specifically that woodward is

reporting on general mattis, former defense secretary, dan coats, the former dni, reporting from cnn, we learned that they had such concerns that mattis would sleep in his clothes at one point, afraid that he was going to be awakened and have to stop the use of nuclear weapons, that north korea would actually launch, that we could have been close to war, that he would pray at the national cathedral. >> well, this president likes to use the military and the might of america's nuclear arsenal and america's military for his own ego. he's all about stroking his own ego. it's not about keeping americans safe. we know that because of the lies he told about the pandemic, we now have almost 200,000 dead americans. time and again he's taken the words of our adversaries over those of our own intelligence community. he still has not demanded an investigation into whether or not russia put bounties on the heads of american troops. he has denigrated gold star

families. he has denigrated the same generals that he used to call "my generals," now he says terrible things about them. this man has failed in so many ways. he's failed when it comes to the pandemic. and he's failed as the commander in chief of our military. >> to say nothing of using the terms "losers" and "suckers" about those who are wounded. you obviously were grievously wounded in action. >> yes, apparently i too am a loser and sucker in trump's book. but that's good company to be in, with men and women who laid down their lives for this nation, who were willing to serve something greater than themselves, not for the gratefulness of people around them, most of the time they served to protect people who will never know of their service. our men and women in uniform are the greatest, most noble people, who live by codes of conduct and values that this president can't even imagine. he calls people cowards when he himself is the coward.

he doesn't understand honor and duty and loyalty because he himself has never displayed those types of actions himself in his own personal conduct. it is shameful that he is the commander in chief of this military and it is shameful that he continues to not safeguard our military the way he's supposed to. >> there's also a stunning revelation from the president to woodward, saying, "i have built a nuclear -- a weapons system that nobody's ever had in this country before." this is in the context of talking about going up against kim jong up. kim jong up. he seems to be revealing something that's classified, because woodward talked to sources in the military who said they could not discuss that at all but did confirm there is a nuclear system. >> he continues to reveal classified information. everything from information that we receive from our allies, israel, that he revealed to russian leaders when he brought them into the oval office, while keeping the american press out. he has continued to show that he

is not someone who can be safe, who can be trusted to safeguard america's national secrets. and this is the commander in chief of our military. it is dereliction of duty. it is a failed leader. if he were a rank and file officer in the united states military, he would definitely be prosecuted for some things that he's done as commander in chief. and he continues to hold himself up as if he's some sort of hero. in fact he is nothing but a draft-dodging coward, someone who can't even keep the secrets of this nation. >> and senator duckworth, we should point out as well, we haven't heard all of the tapes. so there's a lot more to come, as this book rolls out, it won't even be published until next week. bob woodward will be appearing on the "today" show monday morning for his first live interview. thanks to you, senator duckworth, thanks very much for being with us today, we do appreciate it. >> thanks, andrea. trouble out west, as we proceed with today's show.

right now, wildfires of historic proportions in california, causing the skies over san francisco to glow orange in broad daylight. we'll go to the front lines in a moment. and still later, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff, on a new whistle-blower complaint alleging that the trump administration is trying to suppress information about russian attempts to interfere in the 2020 election. plus former national security adviser susan rice with her reaction to bob woodward's book. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. c. ♪when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion,♪ ♪upset stomach, diarrhea pepto bismol coats and soothes your stomach for fast relief and now, get the same fast relief in a delightful chew with new pepto bismol chews.

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wildfires are raging up and down the west coast. and the death toll is mounting, with at least 11 people dead in california. tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes with entire neighborhoods ravaged by the wildfires. in california alone, more than 2.5 million acres have burned so far. the most there in two years. nbc's miguel almaguer is on the

front lines in california. >> reporter: in california, this fire in butte county is growing by a thousand acres every 30 minutes. closing in on the town of paradise, where 85 were killed just two years ago when a wildfire broke out. >> i thought i was going to die. there was fire 360 degrees around me. >> reporter: here in the sierras north of fresno, the massive creek fire is still out of control. crews have been chasing hotspots all day long. and when they can't get ahead of them, this is what happens. the home behind me is gone. and that's a fire truck ablaze. in riverside county, crews are making progress. but the blaze jumped a freeway, forcing new evacuations. satellite images revealing an ominous plume of smoke spreading hundreds of miles, blocking out the sun in the san francisco bay

area. streetlights coming on at high noon. >> it feels like the end of the world. >> joining me now is colonel david hall. had he is the commander of the california army national guard's 48th combat aviation brigade, headquartered in fresno, california. colonel, i know how busy you are, i can't even imagine. so thank you for taking the time. how are you doing in trying to get ahead of these fires? >> we've been primarily focused on a search and rescue effort recently. and that sxhefearch and rescue effort has included two 47s operating day and night. since the majority of the major lifts have disappeared, we're adding a uh-72 which has reconnaissance and flare impairment to help support some of the potential remote areas to find out whether or not there are stranded hikers, where the sheriff and law enforcement may not be able to get to.

so that's one aspect. the other aspect that is evolving right now is a transition to fire bucket operations. we're actually in the stages of moving some of our helicopters from a san diego incident up to the fresno area to support the creek fire. that's just one aspect of what we also do as a part of our interagency cooperating agreement with cal fire and the forest service. >> it seems at that point you would be supporting them with repellent, presumably using some of the choppers for fire repellent as well? >> absolutely. what we do, we drop water, similar to how aircraft fly, they'll come into a dip site, a local pond, that sort of thing, pick up water using a bucket, and go to a drop site as directed by cal fire. it's something we do every year. and it's a great opportunity for us to help the community and

help put these fires out. >> i had seen so many operations, night operations to combat and bring people out, hikers and campers, residents, from the creek fire. how dangerous are these night operations? >> well, they're definitely extremely dangerous. and for a lot of different reasons. obviously the first one, because there was a lot of fire surrounding the entire area. with the limited visibility already, because it's night, compound that with the flames and the smoke, it makes it very difficult to see at times. because it's such rugged and mountainous terrain with potentially wires crossing and other hazards, it's very, very difficult for the crews. one of the benefits we have found in operating at night, it has been a little bit easier to conduct the rescues. the first night we ended up pulling everybody out of mammoth

pools. we weren't able to get in the following day or night because of the smoke conditions. and then the third night, we were able to actually launch and rescue more personnel into the night and also the early morning hours. and so we're paying attention to all of the weather conditions, trying to posture our crews and set them up for success. whatever is going to help make the rescue most feasible. >> the work of your teams, it's just incredible. what about the air quality for them as well as for the residents of the area? >> the air quality is definitely getting worse. i can tell you that much. i live just outside of the actual danger area. when i woke up this morning, i could smell smoke in my house. so you can imagine, with me living 13 miles away from the fire's edge, it's much, much worse as you get in and around the actual fire traffic area. and so, you know, it's

definitely something we take into consideration as we are flying. and our crews reported being a lot of nauseous. but each time they land, we assess them, check them out, make sure they're ready to go do the next mission so that we can accomplish the mission safely. >> our thanks to you. the whole nation is grateful to you, your teams, your crews, wishing they continue to be safe, and success to you as you complete this very dangerous mission. thank you, colonel hall. >> thank you very much, and thank you to all the firefighters on the ground. >> no, absolutely. they are true heroes. and meanwhile, a department of homeland security official is sounding a different kind of alarm after he says he was told the white house wanted him to stop reporting on russian threats to america. house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff joining us next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ing "andrea ml reports" on msnbc. when the world gets complicated,

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a stunning whistle-blower complaint from a top homeland security intelligence official telling congress he was ordered by acting homeland security

secretary chad wolf to downplay warnings of russian meddling in the 2020 election and the threat of white supremacy groups. the formal complaint says the department's top intelligence officer was told to focus instead on threats from china and iran and left wing domestic groups to satisfy the white house and national security adviser robert o'brien. in brian murphy's whistle-blower complaint, he says the acting homeland security secretary told him to, quote, cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of russian interference in the united states and instead start reporting on interference activities by china and iran. and in july, wolf told murphy that intelligence notification should be held because it made the president look bad. joining me now, house intelligence committee chairman congressman adam schiff. thanks for being with us, congressman. what is your reaction to this? what can congress do? >> andrea, it's just shocking. now, of course, we have been investigating this for months. but to have a senior intelligence official at dhs confirm everything we feared,

that is, that they're censoring intelligence, withholding intelligence, because it would make the president look bad because the intelligence shows russia is pushing out the same false narratives as the president, once again helping the president in his campaign. but they're also minimizing the threat from white supremacy. they're exaggerating the threat at our southern border. it's just plain dishonest and dangerous, because it doesn't let us protect the country the way that we should if we're getting good and honest intelligence work product. >> and he points out that he was demoted, he says it's retaliation under the whistle-blower act, obviously an actionable issue. but so was alexander vindman, and there was no price to be paid by the white house for what they did to him and his brother. >> andrea, you're right. and this is one of the sad

realizations. the gop leadership in the congress and all too much of its membership has become a cult of personality around the president. they are amazingly silent in the face of this whistle-blower complaint, in the face of these allegations in the woodward book, that the president knew that this pandemic was deadly, could be as deadly as the one of 100 years ago and yet these republican enablers in congress refused to speak out. and because that have, it is very hard to hold these people accountable. but we're going to do our very best to do so. we're going to expose all of this wrongdoing so the public is informed and the public will have the opportunity in less than two months now to take their own action against this administration. >> we've reached out to dhs and gotten no response. there's a lot of questions now about chad wolf, ken cuccinelli, also acting deputy cash patel who has basically been running

dni, from all the reporting i have. you knew him when he was up on the hill working for devin nunes. >> i did, when he worked for our committee for devin nunes, he was essentially nunes' hatchet man. when he went to the white house and later to the office of the director, working with the likes of rick grenell, you had two people who were just political hacks essentially running our intelligence agency from the very top. it was probably the most destructive period in the history of our intelligence agencies, at least the modern history. and that continues right now, withholding intelligence about what foreign powers, what the russians are doing in particular, to try to tip this election to donald trump. and this is what happens when you have a president who, as mattis is quoted as saying, has no moral compass. he surrounds himself with other people with no moral compass,

willing to do his bidding, willing to suppress intelligence, willing to coerce analysts to write conclusions at odds with the facts, willing to lie to congress as this whistle-blower has also alleged, all to somehow protect and advance the interests of the person of donald trump. it's just unconscionable. >> there is a pressing issue, which is the election. and we're talking about the role the dhs plays in guarding against election interference, foreign interference. this is what the former homeland secretary jeh johnson said to rachel maddow last night. >> even more disturbing, rachel, is a report from late july from odni. this is one that got through, that says, in addition to the information op, our adversaries also seek to compromise our election infrastructure and we continue to monitor malicious cyber actors trying to gain access to u.s., state, and

federal networks including those responsible for managing elections. and so all the lights on the dashboard should be blinking red right now, at the same time this administration wants to seem to put a lid on getting this valuable information out to the american people. >> and that has to be a big concern, that's the only way the states will get their heads up, it's what jeh johnson called vertical intelligence. >> that's exactly right, andrea. and jeh really puts his finger on it. when this intelligence is withheld from state and local law enforcement, those responsible for election security, those who are responsible for making sure the technologies work and aren't hacked into, when that is withheld because it would, what, be embarrassing to the president, that puts our democracy at risk. that puts everyone's votes at risk. so this is just how destructive it is. now, interestingly, andrea, the treasury department today acknowledged that andriy

derkach, the ukrainian parliamentarian, as a russian agent. this is the same person the president's lawyer has been meeting with, has been pushing out false narratives with. in fact treasury acknowledges that these are false narratives about joe biden that this russian agent is pushing out. and the president is amplifying those same false narratives. and here we see the fish rots from the head. when the president of the united states is willing to public out kremlin narratives and get people who work for him to withhold intelligence about what russia is doing to help his campaign, it really puts our elections at risk. >> and that same false narrative also pushed out by prominent chairman of the homeland security committee on the republican side of congress as well. thank you very much for sounding the alarm, adam schiff, thanks for being with us today. in less than an hour, the senate will take up the first in

a series of votes on a new round of coronavirus relief measures. don't get your hopes up, though. kasie hunt will give us the reality check. she's next. stay with us on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. hell reports" on msnbc.

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chances for a bipartisan deal on the stimulus bill look more bleak than ever, with the senate set to have a procedural vote in the next hour on the gop's so-called skinny bill, which does not include relief for states or local governments and other top democratic priorities and is not expected to pass. it might be the last time congress has a chance to act on coronavirus relief until the election. joining us now for the inside scoop on all of this, nbc news capitol hill correspondent, host of "kasie d.c.," and this just in, kasie will be the new host of "way too early" five days a

week right here on msnbc, congratulations, kasie, i don't know how you're going to do it all, you're the super woman. >> thank you, andrea, i'm very excited. send coffee, please. >> yes. but one thing you have not been able to fix is getting some action from congress on a relief bill. the pandemic not going away. what do you expect to happen on these procedural votes today? >> well, andrea, you said it just a moment ago, the outlook here is bleak for americans who are still waiting for additional help from the federal government, whether that be in the form of unemployment insurance benefits or more help for businesses or money for schools to retrofit to try and make sure their students are safe. the reality is it's starting to look increasingly like congress is going to do nothing before the november presidential election. now, how did we get here? mitch mcconnell has spent the last couple of weeks trying to rally his republican conference behind what's become known up here as a skinny coronavirus

relief program. it's a fraction, one-third, maybe approaching a half, of what they had proposed over the summer, which was a $1 trillion package. but it's been very hard for him to get all of the members of his conference on board. now, why is he going to do that? because remember, even if he gets 51 votes, there's still no way this becomes law because it's not going to overcome a democratic filibuster. he wants to at least be able to say that they tried to do something and they would have been able to do something if democrats had gotten on board. that will help the vulnerable incumbent republicans who are up for reelection. but while this may give them some political capital or something to work with, it doesn't actually do anything for americans that are hurting, andrea. >> well, that's why we're glad we have you there, kasie hunt, thank you so much and congratulations again. >> thank you. meanwhile, the president's national security adviser told donald trump in january, according to the woodward book, that the coronavirus will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency.

former national security adviser susan rice joins us with her perspective. you want to watch that, that's coming up next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. when it's hot outside your car is like a sauna steaming up lingering odors. febreze car vent clips stop hot car stench with up to 30 days of freshness. get relief with febreze.

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my father was a lawyer and a judge in illinois. and we know what your dad did. and do you have any sense that that privilege has isolated and put you in a careful, to a certain extent, as it put me and i think lots of white, privileged people in a carefuved that we have to work our way out of it to understand the anger and the pain, particularly black people feel in this country? do you -- >> no. you really drank the kool-aid, didn't you? listen to you, wow. no, i don't feel that at all. >> susan rice served as united states ambassador to the united nations, national security adviser of course to president obama in the white house, and is the author of best-selling book "tough love," and joins me now.

ambassador rice, thank you very much for being with us. let's start with that. woodward kept, in these conversations, especially after june 1, in the lafayette square conflict, returning to this issue of racism, systemic racism. and trying to get the president to talk about it. but you heard what he said, "drinking the kool-aid." >> andrea, this is one of the few pieces of the woodward book and revelations that i don't consider to be news. it is not news that the president of the united states could give a damn about african-americans and people of color in this country. he is a racist. that is not news. what is a bit shocking is how glib he is in his private comments about how he dismisses any concerns about systemic racism, police brutality, you name it. but it's not a surprise. and i think frankly, of the many

things in the woodward book, this is the least informative. >> let's shift to of course the focus on national security. the man in your former job, national security adviser robert o'brien, along with his deputy matt pottinger, warned the president back on january 28 about the virus, how deadly it was, that it's a national security threat. in fact the biggest national security threat of his presidency. and he dismissed it, claiming that he didn't want to panic people. it sounds, as you know him, as you know him from the public record, because he's been panicking people every day about the so-called invasion of the suburbs by black people. so he's trying to protect the stock market, his view of the economy. what else is he trying to protect? >> well, i think back in january he was trying to protect his empty trade deal with china and his, you know, loving relationship with xi jinping whom he praised repeatedly

through much of the end of march. but what he was really trying to do was protect himself, andrea. and the reality is, and it's tragic, and it's been driven home, you know, emphatically by the president's own words on tape, is that we own words on t. we have a commander in chief who does not give a damn about the health and safety and the national security and the economic well-being of the american people. he is in it for himself. all he wants to do is be re-elected at all costs, and, you know, make whatever money he can in the process through, you know, whatever means necessary. and this is an extraordinary, you know, reality that we're living with. never in our history that i can think of have we had a president who really just doesn't care. and who is willing to do extraordinary damage to this country that we all love and

depend on for his own personal, political benefit. >> one of the revelations is that he, in the context of kim jong-un, talked to woodward about a secret nuclear weapon that had never been disclosed. when woodward checked with military forces they acknowledged there was such a weapon but wouldn't disclose it because it was secret. >> i'm sure not going to talk about classified information, but the idea that the president of the united states, if, in fact, there were such a program, would reveal it to a journalist knowing that the journalist would reveal it to the world, including to our adversaries, is the height of dereliction of duty. it's extraordinarily reckless and dangerous. and we don't know what the consequences may be. and how our adversaries may react. so this is one more way in which the president of the united states has put the national security of the united states in

much greater harm to serve his own ego and his own benefit. >> he also talks about his praise for erdogan and says at one point to woodward, i don't know what that's all about when speaking about liking strong men, putin, erdogan, putin, kim jong-un. the love letters between the two. how do you read any of that? >> the only way i can read it, andrea, is to conclude that the president of the united states, donald trump, has a very overt desire to be an autocrat, to be able to govern like an autokrat. he admeyers these dictatorial leaders more than anybody else, whether we're talking about putin or xi of china or kim jong-un or erdogan. these are all people who govern with an iron fist without regard for the well-being of their people. in that, he has a lot in common with them. but to put the interests of the

united states at risk for his personal adulation of these demagogic leaders is incredibly anti-american and does us great harm. >> what is the obligation of a national security adviser when he or she tells the boss something so alarming and then hears it repeatedly denied and downplayed in public? >> well, the job of a national security adviser is to tell the president of the united states what he needs to know to keep the american people safe. by the way, i don't believe that was the first time that donald trump heard about the severity of the coronavirus. the u.s. government had known about it since at least early january. i think what may have happened on the 28th of january was that the national security adviser tried to make it clear to the president just what a grave threat this would be to his presidency. but the job of the national security adviser is to tell the

hard truths. and if the president is not prepared to act on the basis of dramatic threats to our national security, which the coronavirus is and to simply lie about it, to downplay it and to ignore it for his own personal benefit, then in my judgment, any national security adviser would his or herself resign and be clear about why they're resigning. >> susan rice, ambassador, former national security adviser, thank you so much for being with us. now we want to share a story about a father and a son who both have broken barriers and are now joining forces in the fight for racial justice. bob edgar and eddie are at this busy intersection most days since george floyd was killed. what passersby don't know is they are father and son. edgar a retired professor of african history, adopted litiani

as a teenager. >> he was 13 years old. he weighed 20 pounds. he came to live with me at the university, and that, of course, was it. he became part of my family. >> reporter: their disabilities make joining demonstrations in nearby d.c. dangerous. >> we couldn't be with big crowds in d.c. if we got involved in a police action. we couldn't move. so we just said let's go to our local street corner and do a pop-up protest. >> and people react to you. are some of them hostile? >> yeah, people will come by and shoot the finger. but the vast majority of people, i would say the overwhelming number have been positive. >> they keep coming back, sometimes joined by friends. and you hope the ripple effect will accomplish a broader understanding? >> yes. but it's not just a broader

understanding. it's moving to action. >> a father and son in their own way driving home the urgency of the racial reckoning. and i also want to thank "the washington post" who brought their great reporting, brought the story of bob and litiani to my attention and we bring it to you. thanks so much for being with us. remember, follow the show online, on facebook and on twitter @mitchellreports. up next, chuck todd speaks with the former head of the u.s. central command, retired general anthony zinni. mtp daily right after a break here on msnbc. here on msnbc. for any amount you choose instead of buying by the share. all with no commissions. stocks by the slice from fidelity. get your slice today. stocks by the slice from fidelity. and whether we connect pnc kover the phone, online,ing. or face to face, we're here to help- utilizing our resources as one of the nation's largest banks and a local approach with a focus on customized insights.

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that's a-e-r-o-trainer.com. ♪ if it's thursday, a series of damaging revelation s has th president on defense. he's running out of time to change the trajectory of this presidential campaign. it's not just the woodward revelations. a former homeland top security official accuses them of manipulating intelligence to back the president's political agenda. the republicans' slimmed down version of coronavirus relief is expected to fail in the senate any minute now. ♪ welcome to thursday. it's "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd. 54 days until the election. hard to see how this kickoff week of a general election could be going any worse