essence. beg them to get the vaccine. beg them to do something other than read facebook and get real information on that vaccine. you are begging at this point for their lives. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. hi, there. i'm stephanie ruhle. it's monday, august 2nd and this morning we are covering several major stories. in washington, the bill is in. late yesterday, a group of senators unveiling the details of the nearly $1 trillion infrastructure package that they could vote on as early as this week. we'll be diving into exactly what made it into the more than 2700-page bill and if it's going to make its way to the president's desk. >> and very good news for team usa in tokyo. usa gymnastics announcing that simone biles will participate in an individual event today.

we're going to go to tokyo for the latest. but we must begin this morning with, of course, the coronavirus. the very disturbing trend that keeps heading, unfortunately, in the very wrong direction. overnight, the u.s. hit more than 35 million cases overall, but it is the rate of new cases that have officials on edge. they're up nearly 150% in the last two weeks, according to "the new york times." hospitalizations, they're up too. overwhelming some places that thought they were over the worst of this. now finding themselves flooded with unvaccinated people who have gotten very, very sick. here's what dr. anthony fauci says about where we're headed next. >> we're looking not, i believe, to lockdown, but to some pain and suffering in the future, because we're seeing the cases go up. which is the reason why we keep saying over and over again is, the solution to this is get vaccinated and this would not be happening.

>> but it is happening now. and the question is, what are we doing about it? >> well, the federal government is recommending masks indoors, we've got some cities actually bringing back those mandates. over the weekend, we saw places like washington, d.c. and new orleans now requiring masks indoors, even for people who are vaccinated. in kansas city, a new mandate goes into effect today. we've got reporters covering every angle of the story in every area of the country. vaughn, i have got to start with you. florida, over the winter was patting itself on the back, the state that figured this whole thing out. over the weekend, florida broke its own record for new cases. and then it broke its own record for hospitalizations. it's somewhat surprising. florida has such a high senior citizen proposition, they were among the first to be eligible, so who is it that's getting so

sick? >> i think the number one demographic that we have to look at here and repeat over and over and over and when we're comparing those who are in the hospital. 96 of them here in florida are the unvaccinated. 96% of these folks who are in these florida hospitals are unvaccinated. now, when we're looking at the age demographics, it's not old folks. the average age today, this monday, it's 42 years old. we here in florida have broken the previous record of hospitalizations from last summer. and i think it's important to note that last summer, when we got to in excess of 10,000 cases, it took two months to get from 2,000 to 10,000. here, it just took three weeks. and it's incredible because of the age range in which we're looking at. 50% of hospitalizations are of folks 25 years old to 55 years old. again. these are individuals in the hospital. 25 years old to 55 years old.

they make up 50% of the folks. the average age is 42 years old. and when you look at the number of new cases here around the state of florida, just on saturday, exceeding 20,000 new cases here. 38% of those cases were folks under the age of 29 years old. we are seeing this summer, young folks get sick, young folks now going to the hospital. the hospital association tells us that there's 25-year-olds on ventilators here in these hospitals. it's not just the old folks of florida being hit by this. it's the unvaccinated, younger population here too, stephanie. >> 25-year-olds who can get vaccinated. morgan, i know we're expecting to hear from the governor of louisiana about possibly reinstating that mask mandate. what can you tell us? >> that press conference set for this afternoon, steph. and we do anticipate that

governor john bell edwards will reinstate some sort of statewide mask mandate. that coming in shark contrast to what we've seen in the states of texas and florida, where the governors have made it clear, there will be absolutely no mask mandates going forward. and this comes as louisiana struggles under an onslaught of new cases, where about 90% of people admitted to hospitals are unvaccinated. this is outside the largest hospital in the state, our lady of the lake medical center, where we had the opportunity to walk into an icu, last week, there were only one or two covid patients, today, every single room is full. and one of the best concerns from doctors and nurses here are the age of patients they're seeing. they say about 50% of their patients admitted are under the age of 50 and contained within this group is also a number of teenagers, children, and in some

cases, the youngest patient here, a 4-week-old infant that's having to be treated. some of the children here in intensive care having difficulty breathing. we are seeing vaccination rates start to go up here in louisiana. for three weeks now, the states with the highest covid case count have also had the highest vaccination rates, as well. but one story in particular is striking, and that is, there is a gentlemen here around the age of 50, who is intubated right now, having an incredibly tough time fighting covid-19. we know his wife and daughter are following his progress very closely, but they have yet to choose to get vaccinated. the mother telling us that she is still waiting to find out more information. >> my goodness. shaq, take us to nebraska. the vaccination rate where you are is pretty high, but at the same time, hospitals are getting overwhelmed.

what are you learning? >> reporter: that surge still happening despite the fact that in this county, you're looking at a place where more than half of the adult population is vaccinated. but, you go and talk to doctors and you're still seeing that surge take place again. you're hearing it from morgan and vaughn among those who are unvaccinated. the icu here at this hospital, the covid wing is completely full, so they've had to add a second and third icu unit specifically dedicated to covid-19 patients. and that's something they simply haven't had to do since the winter, when that's when they saw that initial surge. so what are doctors here doing? they're dealing with short staff, also dealing with patients that are suffering and dealing with tougher symptoms. i want to listen to what an infectious disease physician at this hospital told me here just this morning. >> unfortunately, even without schools in place, i'm worried

this is going to be the worst phase of the pandemic for many parts of the country. when schools go back in, that's just going to make that worse. >> that warning you're hearing, within the next couple of weeks, this is something that will only get worse because that school-aged population will come back. and the governor of this state rejecting that cdc guidance that we heard just last week, saying that he is not going to require masks in this state and you're not going to see masks among the student population once they return. steph? >> all right, gentlemen. thank you for taking us across the country. now let's bring in our expert. dr. francis collins, director of the national institute of health. doctor, i'm really glad you're with us this morning. there's a lot of people confused out there. we're hearing some health experts describing what we are facing today as a category 5 hurricane, but that doesn't seem to make since since half the country is vaccinated, vaccines work. are experts making too much of this surge in cases?

they make it sound like we're going back to where we were last march. is it a category 5 for the country or just for the unvaccinated? >> you've got it right there. this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. but that is still 100 million adults in the united states of america and those numbers you've just been going over are truly distressing. there's a world of hurt happening now that could have been prevented if we had simply been nor successful in convincing everyone to have confidence in the vaccine to help them. it's heartbreaking now. these stories of people in the icu saying, i wish i'd gotten vaccinated, a final text message from a 39-year-old father to his wife saying, i wish i'd gotten the vaccine just before he died. isn't that enough to wake people up? we know vaccines are safe and

effective. they work against the delta variant. this is the moment to step aside from all of the misinformation and frankly disinformation that's been out out there and look at the data and roll up your sleeve and protect yourself and your family. you can't count on the vaccinated people to save you. you've got to become one of them. >> for those of us that are vaccinated, for the millions of americans, is this devastating and distressing, are we safe? >> we are mostly in very good shape, because the vaccine is very effective and that includes against delta. we did learn in the course of the experiences in provincetown, massachusetts, that fully vaccinated people are capable, in fairly rare instances of getting the virus, having mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, and passing it on potentially to others. which is why cdc had to change

their recommendations about masking to include us vaccinated folks in you're indoors in a crowded space, because you might unwittingly be passing this along. that just makes sense. i'm sorry if people think that's a change in the guidance. that's a change because of new data. isn't what you want your public health experts to do? is look at the data and tell you what the best thing is to do? and i find it frustrating that the whole idea of masking has become such an emotional and political situation. we know that masks work. they're not perfect, but they sure help. if we have evidence that we need to put those back on again in certain situations, let's just do that. >> but let's stay on that. because i want to share what the cdc director said on this network three months ago, when the mask mandate was dropped. listen. >> how sure are you? because this feels like really big change? >> we're sure. there's an extraordinary amount

of evidence now that demonstrates that the vaccines are working in the real world. importantly, there's also new data, just even in the last two weeks, that demonstrates that these vaccines are working in -- against the variants that we have circulating here in the united states. >> i absolutely get it. science evolves. that's important. we learn new things. but she didn't say that. she said, we're sure. we're sure is what got so many people to go out and get vaccinated. do you think government officials have struggled in communicating why and how things have changed? and in doing so, combined that with all of the actual misinformation out there. and it ends up undermining credibility. >> it is a struggle. and i think people have tended to say if the government public health officials change their recommendation, that they must have been wrong to begin with. rochelle was not wrong in pay.

we had very little delta variant at that point. things were on a very good pathway. there was no reason to actually project that by august it would look like it does. you know, i made this point yesterday with ali velshi. if you're in the stock market and your stock brokers told you last week to buy and this week to sell, you don't say, oh, you're a flip-flopper, make up your mind. you say, okay, what happened, what are the economic conditions that caused that to change? that's what happens with public health. so give them a break. they're trying to look at the circumstances through a cloudy crystal ball and tell you what makes the most sense to save lives. and to have that turned into one more reason for political criticisms just not helping at all. >> no, the concern is that it's making people tune out. because while stocks are important, they're not lives. the delta variant made up just 3% of covid strains in the united states back in may. today it's 80%. to be clear, to the millions of

people who are watching, if we are vaccinated, what is the risk for us, from this delta variant? how sick can we get? >> well, there's the good news in the midst of all of this troubling news. the vaccines that are approved in the u.s. are incredibly effective against severe illness from the delta variant. you have a 25-fold increase in your protection compared to an unvaccinated person. you can still get infected and maybe pass it on to somebody else without any symptoms. that's what we learned from provincetown. but you are protected against the thing that people are really worried about, being in the hospital, getting in the icu, or dying of this disease. these vaccines are working. please, people, don't make a mistake here in mixing up the news of the last week to think that somehow our vaccines are

not successful. they are incredibly effective and safe. >> you just have to take them. one thing that's concerning so many of us that are vaccinated, people in our family, our kids, under teenage of 12. when do you think those kids will start being able to get vaccinated. we want them to, safely. >> well, both pfizer and moderna started their trials on kids under age 12 back in march, but you need to have safety data over several months before you can make a adjustment. so that data is probably going to be in hand by september, but then the fda will need to review it. so some time in the late fall/winter is probably what we're talking about. i know that's not the answer people want. but for kids, everyone else want us to be really sure this is working the way you want it to. because children aren't just small adults, they're a little different. you've got to get the dose right. in the meantime, kids under 12

continue to be vulnerable, which is why the recommendations are going to be very much there that schools will need to be in session. that's critical and kids will need to be masked if they're under 12 in order to avoid further transmission of this delta variant, just at the moment that we want to try to stop that. >> dr. collins, thank you for all that you do. and thanks for joining us energy. you definitely made us safer and smarter. and breaking overnight, the senate has finally released the text of the 2,700-page bipartisan infrastructure bill. and now the race is on to try to finish that bill and start work on the other $3 trillion economic package, all in the mexico week. nbc national political reporter, sahil kapur joins us now. sahil, how are they going to get the gone in seven days. we're starting just on the $1 trillion bill. >> it's quite an ambitious time frame, stephanie. here's what needs happen.

they need to do a series of votes on amendments to this so-called bill, which is now the under lying bill since they have legislative text. senator chuck schumer is happy to give it to them, because this bill has the buy-in of two-thirds of the senate. it moved forward to break a filibuster with 67 votes and that is enough to defeat any poison pill amendments. they could do this very quickly if there is accent. the bottom line is the infrastructure infrastructure bill should not take longer than this. they have to move on to the next one. chuck schumer talked about this yesterday. let's have a listen to what he said. >> given how bipartisan the bill is and how much work has been put in to get the details right, i believe the senate can quickly process relevant amendments and pass this bill in a matter of days. then i will move the senate

along the second track of our infrastructure effort and take up the budget resolution. >> now, he said the words "budget resolution" there. that is the vehicle through which they will instruct committees to write that $3 trillion massive reconciliation bill. that economic package that can bypass the filibuster. but it is nonbinding. the ace in the hole that he has is thes a is pushing up against the august recess. that seems to be the motivator they needs. and at this moment, it looks like the infrastructure bill and budget resolution will pass. >> but if they're finishing work on the hard infrastructure bill and agreeing to just start on the other one, does that mean they're linked? >> not necessarily. the senate will pass the infrastructure bill and send it

to the house. the reconciliation bill, that $3, trillion blil not be done until september. once it's done in the house, the house can vote and send it directly to joe biden's desk. if it starts to ping ton pong between the house and the senate, then it likes they're connected. the way the house can avoid that is prevent it from coming back to the senate and let the kboerks with on the separate $3 trillion bill but get that infrastructure bill out of the way and send it straight to president biden. >> republicans will bolt as soon as that happens. and we know not all democrats are onboard yet. sahil, thank you very much. we'll leave it there. coming up, the white house and the cdc are saying two different things when it comes to the coronavirus delta variant. so who's right and why aren't they on the same page? but first, exciting news for team usa. not just them, but us.

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we're following breaking news to the olympics after usa gymnastics confirmed simone biles will compete in tuesday's balance beam final. it is the latest event she can compete in, after she withdrew from several last week.

all-around gold medallist suni lee will compete with biles on the team. very exciting. tom llamas is in tokyo with the latest. what can we expect from simone biles tomorrow? i know i'll be watching. >> reporter: huge news in the world of gymnastics. simone biles is coming back. regardless of how she does, she's taken a big step in a brave way, this as we witness greatness once again. jade carey winning the gold in the floor exercise. celebrating with her coach, who is her father as well. a great story for team usa gymnastics, as we get ready for the balance beam finals, which will include simone biles and suni lee, who won the all-around, a silver in the team finals and a bronze medal from the uneven bars. she has every single medal you can get here in tokyo. all eyes will be on simone

biles, what has struggled with stress and anxiety and mental health issues here in tokyo. posting on social media, telling her fans what she's been going through, she calls it the twisties, where she sort of loses her place in the air when she's doing these flips and she's turns. incredibly dangerous, but she is there now and she says she'll be there for the balance beam. team usa say that we'll be rooting on both biles and suni lee. and we'll all be watching tomorrow night. stephanie, back to you. >> it's going to be a great moment around the world. tom llamas, thank you. also this morning, a huge shocker. the u.s. women's soccer team will not be competing to the for the gold after losing to canada 1-0. they will instead compete for the bronze medal on thursday. and by the way, medal count, team usa still leads the overall medal count, but china is really close to catching up. as of right now, they've got the most gold medals at the tokyo games and we are watching every

single medal. luckily, steve kornacki there to count them. coming up next, changing messaging from the white house and the cdc when it comes to masks, vaccine boosters, and the delta variant. but first, we'll talk to the former head of the fda about how much this could derail our fight against covid. about how much this could derail our fight against covid. it's up there. hey joshie... wrinkles send the wrong message. help prevent them with downy wrinkleguard. feel the difference with downy. (vo) unconventional thinking means we see things differently, so you can focus on what matters most. that's how we've become the leader in 5g. #1 in customer satisfaction. and a partner who includes 5g in every plan, so you get it all. ♪ give me, give me ♪ ♪ everywhere i go ♪ ♪ they bite my style ♪ ♪ when i put on a show ♪ ♪ they bite my style ♪ ♪ see me on the screen ♪ ♪ they bite my style ♪ ♪ they wanna be like me ♪ ♪ give me some of that fire ♪ ♪♪

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more now on the coronavirus and growing concerns this morning that mixed messages from both the white house and the cdc

could worsen the crisis. forbes saying this, the apparent failure or initial reluctance by the white house to provide current, straightforward, and consistent information about the coronavirus crisis could give new ammunition to those who are opposed to vaccines and further hamper efforts to get the entire u.s. population vaccinated as soon as possible. this all stems from the cdc document obtained last week, showing that the delta variant appears to causing more serious illness than earlier variants and can be spread by vaccinated people. joining us now, former fda commissioner, he's on the board of pfizer and author of "uncontrolled spread." shannon, what is the white house saying about all of this? >> part of the struggling around messaging lately has been how to talk to the people about these breakthrough infections. and we saw in documents, internal documents from the cdc that we obtained last week this discussion about concern that

breakthrough infections could make the public less confident in the vaccines, could make them think that the vaccines have stopped working or a booster shot is needed as we see an increasing number of breakthrough infections. and people know of people who are vaccinated. the cdc says the best messaging strategy on that is to talk about these infections being rare, and that's what we heard from the white house on friday. again, saying breakthrough infections, infections in vaccinated people, remain to be rare. but one of the problems they are running into, as well, is that they don't have great data on the number of breakthrough infections, because back in may, the cdc stopped tracking that on a national level. they only were tracking breakthrough infections that resulted in hospitalization or death. so there's not great data out there. there's a lot of anecdotal reports. and the white house is trying to keep that confidence up in the vaccines amid all of this.

one bit of good news though, from the white house, i will say, they are about to hit that 70% goal of getting 70% of adults at least partially vaccinated. that july 4th goal. they're on track to hit that very soon today or maybe tomorrow, as they have been seeing an increase number of people getting vaccinated, particularly in the areas getting hardest hit by this delta variant. >> scott, that's really good news as far as the amount of people getting vaccinated. and the fact that vaccines work, great news. but how dangerous is this mixed messaging? i know it's hard, because we're getting new information all the time. what is the real-world impact with information changing so much >> well, look, i don't think that the white house messaging has been challenging. i think jeff zions, the people from the white house who are working this process have been pretty candid and pretty straightforward. they're challenged by the cdc. the cdc would much rather put out conclusions rather than data.

but you need actionable information, realtime data, partial conclusions. and that's not typically what the cdc is accustomed to putting out. they're a high-science organization, that likes to take their time, put out research. they'll tell you four months from now how bad this delta variant was, but they're not putting out realtime information. that's the challenge. and the white house has been very deferential to cdc and let them really lead this process. and i think you're seeing the consequences of that. you really need to push the organization to put out more realtime information. >> four months from now, too little, too late. before that internal cdc document was obtained, we told our colleagues that we could probably get through the worst of the delta variant surge in the next few weeks. do you feel the same way now? we've got more info? >> i still think that's the case. and that cdc document that was obtained by "the washington post", all of that information should have been put out. that's the bottom line information that the cdc should

be putting out in a realtime fashion, to inform decisions that local officials need to make. prefer, the cdc tries to hold on to the information and form its own conclusions. you look at the south and see the rt, rate of transfer starting to go down. you still have an expanding epidemic in the south. but it's slowing and starting to go on a downward trajectory. the rate of expansion is slowing in the south. i think they're starting to roll over. i think we're probably recording at least a million infections a day, maybe more. we're not actually recording or reporting that. but there's a lot of infection around the country right now. and at some point, you're going to start to see is this peak. i think maybe certain states have already peaked. the rt has fallen below one. >> those people in the hospital are getting younger every day. the cdc director has clarified her recent comments, saying there will be no nationwide

vaccine mandate. do you think there should be one? >> i don't think the federal government can mandate the vaccines. these are issues of medical practice, left up to states and local authorities. traditionally, issues of medical practice have been left up to the states. the cdc makes recommendations and are certainly recommending vaccine. you'll see more and more businesses start to mandate vaccinations. i think businesses and people generally are tired of these waves of infection and see the vaccine as a way out, as a way to make sure this doesn't happen again. hopefully, this is our last your wave of infection. people now have a choice of how they acquire their immunity. hopefully we don't see a variant that comes through and pierces prior immunity. >> one of the motivators with us, get vaccinated, we'll put this thing behind us. we watched the rose garden ceremony. you mentioned a moment ago, jeff

zients and others. did andy slavitt leave the white house too early. many people thought, if he's out, we're out. we're good to go. let's get back to normal. >> andy was on a six-month tour. i know him well. jeff is really running the show from the standpoint of coordinating across all the different components. so the key players are still there. this was always going to be one final wave of infection. we would always have a wave of infection. we thought it would be in the fall, we thought it would be on 1-7. we thought it would be against the backdrop of more vaccination. it's happening earlier with more contagious variant. but the end game would be one final wave of infection and the country was going to be somewhat exhausted and sweep over the country with minimal existence. we weren't going to go back to lockdowns and intrusive form of mitigation. it's happening against the backdrop of a more vulnerable population. but the end game will always be

one final wave. right now, there's 90 million americans who are eligible to be vaccinated. probably about 40 million of them have had covid previously from prior waves of infection. at least 50 million americans that are vulnerable. i would say we've probably about 15 million of them and probably another 15 million to go before we start to see this thing really peter out. before there's no one left really to in effect. and the velocity of the spread starts to fall. >> well, the best way to make sure this is the final wave is to get vaccinated. dr. scott gottlieb, shannon pettypiece, thank you both so much. coming up next, the federal eviction freeze expiring over the weekend. what does that mean for the millions that could lose their homes and what about the landlords? we'll dig into what might happen next and what the long-term solution might be. and what the solution might be. makes us wonder why we booked fifteen second ad slots.

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the federal eviction freeze expired over the weekend after the supreme court said the cdc everstepped its authority in issuing the ban, saying it required an act of congress. the house left d.c. for seven weeks and now speaker nancy pelosi is pointing the finger at the white house urging them to extend it. all of this comes with a tsunami of debt set to hit homeowners that are no longer protected by the foreclosure freeze. and now a group of landlords is suing the government for lost rent. joining me now to discuss one of the people behind that suit, national apartment association president and ceo, robert penninger. also with us, bookings institution fellow, andre perry, who has been tracking evictions nationwide. we have had housing inequality in this country since the birth of our country. but the impact of covid is something i haven't. the economy is bouncing back.

there are lots of jobs available and real estate prices are through the roof. realistically, how -- what argument can be made to continue these freezes and kick the can down the road. we are in an economic recovery. >> it must be clear that mass evictions would only worsen the situation. first and foremost, this is a health crisis and the more toirm actually. and so this is first and foremost a health issue. and an economic standpoint, let's be clear what causes people to get evicted. the estimate wage is $20.40 per

hour. but the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. those numbers just don't add up so we need to look at what's causing the threat of evictios and it's health and wages. >> but do we have to separate the two? because the wage issue is a real one, but it has nothing to do with covid. >> yes, it does! remember, a disproportionate amount of social workers are low pay. so we want people to participate in the economy, but we also need to pay they can so they can actually live. it is essentially, it should be a right for you to work and live in the same area and it's almost impossible to do so. so we need the profit to step up and make both renters and landlords hole, because this is

just not terrible. we could worsen the health crisis and the economy if we don't find a solution. >> let's talk about the landlord side of this. because when people close their eyes and they think landlord, they think it's some big business that has all sorts of money, but that's not necessarily the case. you are suing the government for $26 billion in rent debt. you work with landlords day in and day out. what has the pandemic been like for them? >> the pandemic has been stressful, regardless of if you have a lot of units or just a few units. but the group that's been hit the hardest is our independent rental owners. 22.1 million units are owned by individuals who have decided this is where they're going to put their retirement as opposed to the stock market. and this is the group that's been especially hard hit during this point in time. >> andre, you have been focused

on housing disparities long before covid hit. you have a new report out about how majority black neighborhoods saw more evictions during the pandemic, but also got the most help from the freezes. now that they are over -- let's say congress doesn't do something. what can immediately be done? how do we make sure the housing disparities that have all existed don't get worse. this needs to be an opportunity to get better? >> the research we put out today shows that evictions are higher. and this continues this long-standing discrimination against black communities. and so i really want states to follow suit with what california is doing. they're going to find a way to use their stimulus dollars to pay back rent. and so, we should be doing this in the form of making sure that we get money in the hands of

actually renters, as well as landlords. and that's the ultimate solution. and let's clear. congress has allocated money, but they have not found a way to get it in those renters' pockets. so we've got to stop delaying this, because, again, we're still in a pandemic. we still have workers who are not earning a wage. and landlords need to pay their bills, as well. so we really do need a solution. >> who is the plan for those small landlords? if you don't win this lawsuit, what are they going to do? many haven't been paid rent for over a year. and the income they would normally get for rent, that is their sole income. >> it is. and over 30% of the nation's independent rental owners are making low-to-moderate income wages. they're about $50,000 a year or less, which comes from rental. there's also a study out there

that sites that 23% of the nation's independent rental owner have said forced to sell one or all of their rental units through this crisis. my concern is we'll get to the other side of this crisis and our critical housing infrastructure will be gone. especially that naturally occurring affordable housing, that is so important for everybody to be able to be successful. and i do think, also, that we need to have a conversation about housing over the long-term and sustainability. because intervention programs that can prevent us getting to a point where we can even talk about an eviction are the things that will really stabilize this country. >> stabilization is absolutely what we need. thank you both for joining us this morning. we have a lot more to talk about. >> coming up, new details about just how far former president trump went to push his own justice department, that means our justice department, to overturn the 2020 election results. plus, how soon we might see

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this morning, former president trump is dealing with two new major legal challenges. first, he has to decide whether to challenge the justice department's ruling that the treasury department must turn over his taxes to a congressional committee and second, new documents reveal the former president pressed top justice department officials late last year to declare the 2020 election was corrupt, in a bid to overturn the results despite absolutely no evidence of widespread fraud. pete williams is following the latest developments. also katie benner, "new york times" justice department reporter and barbara mcquaid former u.s. attorney in michigan. pete, what happens? >> both sides will file papers before a federal judge in washington on wednesday. this is a longstanding court case, ever since the house first asked for these documents back

in 2019, and then submitted a new request this past year in the last couple of months. so the justice department is now concluded the treasury department must turn these over. this is a reversal from what the justice department said two years ago, but last week they said on second thought, we don't think this is a case where congress has to say they need a legislative reason. the statute is clear if any of the three tax writing committees ask for the documents, the treasury shall turn them over. we wait to see whether the trump administration folks, trump's lawyers now will resist this. i can't believe they won't. >> trump will fight tooth and nail to make sure that doesn't happen. what are the chances he'll prevail? >> slim to none. as pete said, the statute is

very clear. it was to me outrageous they sought to resist turning the documents over in the first place. when any committee requests the records of any taxpayer, the treasury department shall furnish those documents. there is one argument based on the supreme court's ruling last summer, when it involves a president's tax records because it involves the separation of powers congress has to show a higher showing of the need and it can't obtain the information over any other means. they want to look at his audits and foreign entanglements. president trump may have the effect of dragging out the fight a little longer. >> katie, your newest article is a jaw-dropper, how trump tried to get the 2020 election declared corrupt.

is this the most blatant example of trump using to government to hold onto power? >> i think it's a clearest example because it comes from his own words. we know between donald trump and acting and deputy attorney general. richard donohue took thorough notes of the entire conversation and some sentences he put in quotation marks including the idea that trump said to them, "listen, you don't actually have to prove corruption. you don't have to yourselves overturn the election. all you have do is say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me" is the sentence in quotes. it was clear, startling and one of the first times we've seen that declaration in trump's own words so blatantly. >> "leave the rest to me." everybody who is outraged and disgusted were already outraged and disgusted. is anything going to happen to him, now that this has been

exposed. >> i don't know, the justice department has grounds for investigation based on indicate east's reporting. saying the election was corrupt is on its face appears to violate a federal statute that makes it a crime to command a federal employee to engage in political activity. that's a three-year felony and low-hanging fruit. president trump said he knew it was false "say it was rupt." we all know this isn't true. i'm just asking you say this. this opens him to allegations of election fraud, perhaps inclined conspiracy, the charge robert mueller against the russian entity that tried to influence the 2016 election. further probing all of the things president trump said and did is on the table as a result of katie's reportin

>> barbara just said based on katie's reporting it could potentially open up a criminal investigation against trump. how does that make you feel? >> makes me really glad i'm not a lawyer and out there trying to figure out what happened and other people can decide what to do with the information and i'm going to just refrain. >> all right then. pete, barbara, we're going to end the show with a wow right there. that wraps up this hour. i'm stephanie ruehl. hallie jackson picks up breaking news coverage on the other side of the break, speaking with senator tim kaine about that $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, that conversation and more, coming right after the break. ove men dt to the test with nelson, a volunteer that puts care into everything he does. it really protects my skin. it's comfortable and lasts a long time. dove men, 48h freshness with triple action moisturizers. from prom dresses to workouts dove men, 48h freshness and new adventures you hope the more you give

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we're learning more people were in the hospital yesterday with the virus than during the peak of the pandemic last summer. that is astounding and in new york the may