carol lee is with us and phil rutger. he got his hands on the bob woodward excerpts. i want to start with more, but first, phil and carol, and phil, it's interesting with the president we like to always say there's always a tweet, and it does seem like there's always an interview. there's always audio or there's always a remembered quote that will contradict him all the time. what version of the president was talking to bob wood waward what version talks to the american public? >> clearly there are two different versions of drimp in the early months of this crisis. woodward conducted 18 interviews with the president. he recorded most of them. has audio recordings and sought the president's permission to do so and he's released a snippet of them to back up the reporting in this book, because as you know, the president often will claim that reporters have it wrong, that they're making up quotes. they're making up sources. not so. trump is on tape making clear to woodward in early february that this was a deadly virus, that it was transferred airborne, that it was a big s

we just got those reports from both mike memoli and carol lee. is that an effective counterargument, an effective enough counterargument for the biden campaign to hold on to his lead as the president starts beating this law and order drum and appealing to white suburban voters who he thinks are going to be swayed by, as you said, white fear? >> yeah, i think it does, katy. and for the very simple reason that what we're starting to see happen already. so big push by the president at the beginning -- at the end of spring, beginning of summer to open up the economy. y'all get out there, we're going to be at church on easter together and all this stuff, right? so folks started to go out. what happened? we had to shut it down. we had to close it back, tighten it up, because we got the spike in covid-19. you know, the virus that was going to go away over the summer because it's hot outside didn't. so now what do we have? open up the schools, open up the schools. get kids back in the classroom. we have to have that one-on-one clasroom experience for our

as we wait for those events to happen, i want to bring back in carol lee at the white house and msnbcohn meacham. you see the scene from virginia there. carol, your thoughts on the president. this is a similar speech to one we heard him deliver on 9/11 anniversaries in the past. >> reporter: it is, hallie. this tone was similar to what we have heard from him on 9/11 anniverseries in the past, very somber president, dramatically different from the tone that we heard from the president on other days and in recent days and weeks. but he spent a lot of time really focusing on honoring first responders, the victims of 9/11, their families, members of the military, and there were -- and then generally had a message of unity, which is not something we have heard recently from the president. he talked about the way to honor those who died on 9/11 is by remaining a united nation, and, you know, defending our freedoms, upholding our values, loving our neighbors, these are not always sort of things that we hear the president say, but clearly he's taking a pause and honoring the victims of 9/11 a

>> we have carol lee live in washington.would have a conservative majority on the court. a court that may have to weigh in in the event of a contested election. do we know what pushed the president over the edge for amy coney barrett? >> reporter: you can sum it up that she was a known quantity. a broad support of conservatives and some of the key supporters and among republicans in the senate. some senators, including josh heile of missouri would not support anyone unless they had a clear written record showing that they are in opposition of

. >> joining me now, nbc news white house correspondent carol lee, and "washington post" national political reporter bob costa. carol, let us start with you the white house has said in the past, repeatedly, that the president never downplayed the threat of the coronavirus. obviously, we have all heard his public statements doing so, even at one point calling it a hoax made up by the democrats but here he is on tape saying that he deliberately downplayed it because he didn't want to create a panic he said he deliberately did it how is the white house trying to explain this away today? >> well, katy, you heard from the white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany earlier really defending the president on this, saying he was as a leader trying to urge calm in the country and that he was doing what any president would do she was dismissive about the idea that the president somehow misled the public. she faced a barrage of questions about this listen to some of what she had to say >> the president has never lied to the american public on covid. the president has been very -- the president was ex

carol lee, what's been interesting about the president is it does seem they want to pretend covid isn the rear view mirror. it used to be they'd do an event, there would be a covid event, maybe a health care worker thing, a plant that makes masks. are they going to play lip service to the virus today? >> reporter: well, that remains to be seen, chuck. what we know is the president is coming here to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii. he's going to designate wilmington a world war ii heritage city. what we don't expect to hear from him is about the nearly 2,800 people in north carolina that died from coronavirus. this state, as the president arrives here, is seeing an increase in cases. it had 12,000 cases in the past week alone. to the extent the president does talk about the virus, i think you'll probably hear him talk about it in the context of veterans and health care and things that he's done to poor veterans and health care throughout the pandemic. that's really the way he plans to talk about the virus for the next closing ten weeks of the campaign, whic

carol lee starting us off from the white house, carol, thank you. carol mentioned joe biden, his running mate kamala harris is en route to florida, another key battleground state. one of the state's hardest hit by the pandemic so far. the biden campaign is already out with a new ad that's using the president's words against him. >> i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. >> 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 -- even your strenuous flus. this is deadly stuff. >> and now 190,000 americans are dead, our economy crushed, our kids not safe in school. trump knew it all along. >> nbc's ali vitali is in miami where senator harris is expected to arrive this hour. what is on the senator's and dane today, ali? what do we expect to hear from her? >> reporter: craig, when kamala harris hanlands, he'll head her for a roundtable on the issues facing black voters. you mentioned this is a state ravaged by the coronavirus. we know while this is a

>> we have carol lee live in washington. if confirmed, coney barrett would have a conservative majority on the court. a court that may have to weigh in in the event of a contested election. do we know what pushed the president over the edge for amy coney barrett? >> reporter: you can sum it up that she was a known quantity. a broad support of conservatives and some of the key supporters and among republicans in the senate. some senators, including josh heile of missouri would not support anyone unless they had a clear written record showing that they are in opposition of roe v. wade. amy coney barrett has that record. there were people advocating for barbara lagoa. she was seen as the president's other pick besides coney barrett. a lot of florida officials were pushing for her. ultimately, the president, according to our reporting, decided he will go with amy coney barrett. part of the problem that some of the president's supporters had with somebody like barbara lagoa is she did not have the written record of supporting thi

joining me now is nbc news white house correspondent carol lee. so carol, in this moment in history where we are reflecting and looking forward, how much is the current atmosphere, how much are the current crises factoring into the re-election campaign of the president? >> well, i mean, certainly, katy, this is a day when the president has decided to take a pause from being overtly partisan. we saw that in his remarks in pennsylvania. that's tradition for the past almost two decades now. but the coronavirus pandemic certainly is hanging over all of this, and it's something that the president is still having to deal with, even if he hits the pause button for one day. we saw it just in the images from the event where he was at in terms of social distancing, and you know, now the president is supposed to do a medal of honor ceremony this afternoon. he had an announcement in the oval office about another agreement between one of the gulf states and israel to formalize ties. so he's kind of going about some of his regular business, but in a much more mu

pennsylvania to see if he's going to address these latest allegations joining us now msnbc correspondent carol lee at the white house. and cornell belcher, formerly with the dnc committee and obama campaign carol, let me begin with you if i can. let's get your take on this. what did you find the most interesting about these revelations and how do we anticipate either the president responding on what we heard earlier from the white house >> well, look, to me, the most stark thing in this, is the way the president -- the difference between the way the president was publicly talking about coronavirus early on and what he knew and how he thought about the virus privately, there were americans early on when in february and march were really looking to the president for advice on how to go about their lives and he as you just showed in all of those clips was telling a very different story than what we're learning from bob woodward's book. now, the white house has responded to this, white house press secretary took a number of questions about this earlier this afternoon, she defended the president on thi

and it's part of the broader picture and the broader message that they're trying send here. >> carol lee, jonathan lemire. carol at the white house. jonathan as always, sir, thank you. thank you both. up next we're going to get the public health perspective. still ahead, a devastating mix of wildfires, record-breaking high temperatures, toxic smoke plumes. all of it is ravaging the west coast. climate change is changing the way we live right now. this is not a problem in the future. it's a problem we're facing now. we'll be right back. alright, everyone, we made it. my job is to help new homeowners who have turned into their parents. i'm having a big lunch and then just a snack for dinner. so we're using a speakerphone in the store. is that a good idea? one of the ways i do that is to get them out of the home. you're looking for a grout brush, this is -- garth, did he ask for your help? -no, no. -no. we all see it. we all see it. he has blue hair. -okay. -blue. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. -keep i

. >> carol lee is joining us once again from washington. carol, the first question to you, if confirmed, barrett would certainly cement a conservative majority on this court, a court that might have to step in, in fact, if we have a contested presidential election. do you know what pushed amy coney barrett for the president? >> she has broad support among republicans, senate republicans who were telling the white house that they wanted a nominee who has demonstrated their conservative credentials, who has a record that shows that they're conservative, particularly when it comes to opposition to the way roe versus wade was decided. the president was hearing from evangelical leaders, key supporters of his, who were saying they would only accept a nmny who was in the mold of amy coney barrett, who they felt was somebody who, again, had this paper trail, demonstrated record of a conservative judge. so, there was that piece that was weighing into the president's -- the president was factoring in. democrats obviously have been critical of her, her

carol lee is in washington for us. carol, good day to you. we have the president settling on judge barrett. what all led to his decision? >> well, judge barrett was on the president's short list the last time there was an opening on the supreme court and he had to put forward a nominee. she is seen as someone who is a known quantity. she's seen as someone who can move quickly through the senate process. as you know, this will be a process that the president and senate republicans hope moves very quickly, in a matter of weeks. and she's seen as somebody who the senate republicans can really get behind. this is not a time when they can -- the president can afford to have fractures within his party. he was hearing from a number of senators they wanted somebody who had that long paper trail that showed they were a conservative, that demonstrated that, that demonstrated they were against the way that roe v. wade was decided and the feeling among republicans, and significantly evangelical leaders was a judge like amy coney barrett was somebody who

she and carol lee point out some officials, senior officials familiar with this, say, hey, if anythingis going to happen, it won't likely be until after the election. it's been in the works. what impact would it be if the president, before or after the election, gets rid of his defense secretary? >> i think the key point is that mr. trump has tried to govern the government of the united states without senate-confirmed appointees. it is simply unprecedented. there were laws there that we thought limited, extremely limited, any president's ability to do that. but we've seen time after time, he'll have one acting secretary after another. he disposes of them. when it comes to the pentagon, the department of defense, 2.1 million active guard and reserved members of the armed forces, a lot of people don't understand, 100% of the legal authority to give orders to the armed forces rests in the person of the secretary of defense and the president of the united states. chairman of the jcs, these magnificent four-star officers that run the services. the service secretaries, air force, army, navy,

carol lee is at the white house.is in fairfax, virginia, where senator kamala harris is giving remarks. tom winter is following the story of the impact on our first responders all these years later. mr. memoli, i'll start with you. i read a short time ago that joe biden plans to make no news today. how is he observing 9/11? >> reporter: that's right, craig. as a vice president for eight years, joe biden is no stranger to these annual 9/11 commemorations. we're seeing, though, something different that biden hadn't done as vice president which is participating in different locations in the same day. he began, of course, this morning here in new york visiting part of that official ceremony at ground zero, observing moments of silence when planes hit the north and south towers of the word trade center. biden now on his way to shanksville, pennsylvania, where we'll do a private commemoration of the victims there, when the flight crashed in the field at shanksville. craig, it's also interesting to note in past presidential

correspondent carol lee live at the white house this morning. >> jonathan lemire describe the day, if you could, at the white house yesterday, and i suspect a state of shock has settled in over white house staff members who actually, as we saw, have been warning the president about this since january, the president chose instead to ignore them and continue lying to the american people. >> that's right, joe. those in the white house describe the mood as certainly a state of shock, very somber because they know, and they heard what the president himself said in his own words. there is no real attempt here to suggest this was fake news or anonymous sources who can't be believed. the president last night in an interview described it as a police hit job. these are the president's own words and his staff knows that. >> wait this is a political hit job. it's on tape. how are his words on tape a political hit job. >> and like a journalist would accept that as an answer. >> even cult members of donald trump's cult now hear his voice. how is that a political hit job? >> the journalist who heard

joining me is carol lee. peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and msnbc political analyst. so carol, 24 hours later, it appears that inside the white house is a little finger pointing, a little, hey, this wasn't my idea. i don't know why woodward got so much access. where are we today, and what are they going to try to do to, in their minds, to stop this bleeding? >> yeah, chuck. the finger pointing even started weeks ago when the press release for bob woodward's book first came out in the middle of august where aides privately were saying they didn't know what was in it. they were extremely worried about it. but, you know, i wasn't -- you'd hear like, i didn't think it was a good idea. so that's begun to pick up as the president is frustrated with the way this is unfolding. but they -- you hit the nail on the head. they are on defense right now. what we've seen in the last 24 hours is they were caught flat-footed by the initial excerpts of this coming out. they're now having

starting off this hour with nbc's julia ainsley at the justice department, carol lee at the white house, and we're here with barrett berger who served as a federal prosecutor in the southern and eastern districts of new york. julia, let me start with you and that unprecedented move by the doj to take over the defense of the president in his e. jean carol defamation lawsuit. i have a hard time imagining bill barr won't be pressed on this, but tell us why the department is making this decision now. >> so the state was in -- this case was in new york state until recently. this was a defamation lawsuit, where e. jean carol was suing the president for saying he had never met her. he did so to reporters last year and the justice department is saying because he was in front of reporters acting in his case as a federal employee, they can use a federal tort claims act to protect him. so they're essentially taking this out of state court, into the southern district of new york, where they will try to say that the federal government cannot be sued for defamation, and therefore this case has been b

joining me is carol lee. good to have you us on this.e any singular issue or race such as roe v wade that is dividing evangelicals over this? >> roe v wade is a big issue for the president's evangelical supporters. what we are seeing is this disagreement you have some as one person we spoke with described it as the purists who are making the case to the white house that the president should only pick someone in the mold of amy coney barrett who is, obviously, at the top of the president's list for this because she has a long paper trail. they argue her conservative credentials including roe v wade. you have others on the other side saying any people on the president's list are fine including someone like judge barbara lagoa from florida who is also a top candidate. their argument is that any of them would be seen as acceptable even if they are making evangelical a little less enthusiastic. on the other side of that you have critics who barbara lagoa who are basically selling the president, look. she doesn't have a long paper trail and no

i want to bring in steve kornacki, carol lee, mike memoli. steve, let me start with you. has been that the supreme court fight and court fights in general animate the republican base in a big way. i was on the campaign trail in 2015 and 2016 and certainly saw that. now we're starting to get a sense that has changed, right? tell us what you're seeing in the numbers. >> there is a couple of different ways to look at this. i think when you ask maybe the best direct comparison here is pew, pew research, which conducts polling on major national issues and american politics and trends. they basically ask the same question this summer and for four years ago this summer, this was interesting, they said, a list of various topics they asked voters, would you consider this issue very important to casting your vote to your decision in the election? four years ago, when you looked at it, on the question of supreme court appointments, this is the exit poll up on the screen, i'm talking about pew here, but the four years ago when you looked at this, the advantage was with trump by eight

carol lee is a correspondent for nbc news joining from us washington. >>> the u.s. has surpassed 7 million coronavirus cases and 205,000 deaths. meanwhile, americans could lose their health care. it affordable care act is gutted by a conservative supreme court. >>> and on tuesday, donald trump and joe biden face-off on the debate stage for the first time. watch msnbc's coverage of the first 2020 debate with brian williams, rachel maddow, joy reid and nicolle wallace tuesday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. nicolle y at 8:00 p.m. eastern. you defy convention. you turn every ask into an answer. because those who set the standard, reserve the right to raise it. the ram rebel, ram power wagon, and the all-new ram 1500 trx. why more people are switching to ram than ever before. the power has shifted. ♪ now you can trade stocks and etfs 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. it's made for this guy a veteran who honorably served and it's made for her she's serving now we made it for a

nbc's carol lee joins the conversation straight ahead. the conversation straight ahead. the united states postal service is here to deliver your packages. and the peace of mind of knowing that important things like your prescriptions, and ballots, are on their way. every day, all across america, we'll keep delivering for you. no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. >>> carol lee, let's talk about this response from the white house. yesterday, they went to churchill, president trump was being like churchill urging people to keep calm and carry on. the day before that, we heard some defenders saying it was lindsey graham's fault, he set up the president. he arranged for this. and then we had this orwellan response from the press secretary who said the thing you just heard president trump say on tape, on tape in his own voice, is not the thing you think you heard. in other words, he never tried to down play it. he said on tape that he liked to down play it. it appears from the outside like the

jake sherman and nbc's carol lee. >>> let's dig into one particular issue relating to coronavirus a little deeper, right now there are more than 186,000 known deaths from coronavirus. known, of course is the caveat. this is not a perfect number. but president trump claims the number isn't reliable. most people who died from coronavirus also had other health issues. those multiple factors are calling comorbidities. the president is saying those are artificially inflating the death total. >> by the way, i saw a statistic come out the other day, 6% of the people only died from covid. >> they had comorbidities, which you've gotten criticized for there are comorbidities, for every covid death, 70-something percent had two or three comorbidities. but the covid might have been the comorbidity to hit them. >> this weekend president trump retweeted a claim that updated cdc numbers showed that only 6% of people listed as coronavirus deaths actually died from covid, unquote. 6%. that's false. qanon tweeted on sunday it was removed. in other words, 6 .had no comorbidities. joining us now is peter bake

let me go to the white house with carol lee. the president woke up this morning in miami, and while he did not supposedly have an interview scheduled, the question is is amy comey barrett a deal? or did he start thinking there is an alternative way to go? >> the president said he is close to making a decision and everyone that we speak with sees judge barrett. they have 90% of a chance on jud judge, and they are pushing for judge logoa. there is competing advice about how he should proceed, who he picks, and the timing of any senate confirmation. there are some leaders that have been telling the white house they will only accept a white house, someone like judge barrett. someone that demonstrated they're opposed to roe v wade, and saying judge lagoa does not. others say that anyone on the slis fine, maybe some of the supporters will be less energized. the president really needs the voters to turn out for them. they are key supporters, chuck. >> i have to say, do they really think that if the judge -- the one ridge i think with j

he's unfit carol lee has had a chance to read bob woodward's new book for all of us and elizabeth neumann, former senior staffer in donald trump's homeland security standing by. carol, you know these players, have covered all of these national security officials. in some ways a lot of them are veterans of the administration in which i worked. their feelings were known but we've never really been able to see them aired publicly. mattis was so despondent he went to the national cathedral to pray and coats wondered if he was really compromised by russia this is his senior most official talk about the portrait that woodward paints about the officials working for trump. >> it's more detail on things that we already kind of new, going back to even our own reporting in 2017, where the president started to really sour on his national security team, ask questions and challenge them in ways that they found really starting, tried to push policies that they felt were not in the united states' best interest and what we see here is someone like mattis, for instance. he has spoken out. he wrote an op-ed

i'm hallie jackson in washington, carol lee outside the white house, ali vitali in miami and garrett haake. and robert woods also an msnbc political analyst and moderator of "washington week" on pbs. thanks everybody for being here. carol, about ever we get into what you're hearing from your sources today i want to play what we know president trump privately on the record admitted to bob woodward in february and march versus what he was saying publicly at the time. >> it's also more deadly than your, you know, even your strenuous flus. this is a flu. this is like a flu. this is more deadly. this is five per -- you know, this is 5% versus 1% and less than 1%. sometimes they just get the snivels. you know, so this is deadly stuff. this is the new hoax. you just breathe the air, that's how it's passed, and so that's a very tricky one, and that's a very delicate one. it's going to disappear one day it's like a miracle, it will disappear. now it's turning out it's not just old people, bob, but just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. young people are almost immune to this d

our own carol lee and courtney kube ee report the president has long been unhappy with esper, adding this quote. two senior administration officials said trump discussed the position directly with wilkie last month. two other senior administration officials said wilkie had senior level discussions with the white house about becoming trump's next defense secretary. this as the president continues to deny reports that he insulted fallen u.s. soldiers. not long ago during a virtual campaign event, joe biden had some tough words for the president over those alleged remarks. >> when it comes to veterans, he's downright unamerican. i've never said that about a president ever, ever, ever. but calling those who have served, risked their lives, even gave their lives to our nation losers and suckers, these are heroes. >> and with us to talk more about this, general barry mccafree, former battle commander in the persian gulf and now a msnbc military analyst. thank you for joining us on labor day. i want to ask a question i asked in the last block, but i think you might have an interesting persp

carol lee, thank you so much. >>> and joining me now is michigan lieutenant governor garlin gilchrist, former obama white house health policy adviser, zeke emanuel, and barry mccaffrey. we want to have a conversation under the umbrella of leadership during a time of crisis, and starting first on the coronavirus and the president's words, zeke, that he didn't want to incite panic. that's why he wasn't honest with the american public, that's why he lied to the american public about it. what's your reaction? >> horrible. you need leadership. and you need the president to exert leadership and part of that leadership is coming clean with the public about what to expect and what the country needs them to do to respond. instead, the president has mocked people who have responded by social distancing, wearing masks, it's just the wrong response. think of any great leader in our country. they acknowledge the problem, and they tell you what they need you to do and what they are going to do for you to resolve the problem. that's what franklin roosevelt would have done, that's what abraham lincol

mike memoli in michigan and carol lee at the white house. joe biden heading to michigan. he's talking buy american, manufacture american. that is a message president trump likes to deliver, but is joe biden planning to say who's actually going to do it? because president trump hasn't. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, steph. when the president is out on the campaign trail, what are some of the banners we usually see around him, behind him? it's promises made, promises kept. so what the biden campaign is doing is kicking off a new offensive where they're going to take issue with that saying the president has not lived up to his promises, especially on the economy. biden of course in july released elements of his own economic plan. they call it build back better. today he's going to be adding to that with a focus on manufacturing and specifically offshoring. here's some of what he's going to be proposing this afternoon. one is a 10% surtax, extra tax on companies on the profits from goods made overseas that are sold in the united states. there's also a 10% tax credit for com

. >> carol lee, eddie glaude with us as some of the news seems to be shaking loose.> when we come back, new predictions about end of the coronavirus pandemic and how long it will be before life starts to look anything like normal again. we'll tell you what health experts are saying. it is a far cry from what we're hearing from donald trump. deadline white house back after a quick break. d trump. deadline white house back after a quick break. and you're going to find yourself where you need to be. ♪ the race is never over. the journey has no port. the adventure never ends, because we are always on the way. ♪ ♪ i do motivational speakingld. in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremend

my colleague, steph rhul actually and carol lee reported on it and he was warning about what a second donald trump term could bring. and this idea that picki ining right-wing person from mitch mcconnell's list and all of these conservatives that made the list, and i'm going to go out on a limb and say donald trump doesn't know when any of these people are, is so politically fraught, not just for the senate majority, but for donald trump. what do you think about the possibility that it's not anyone that we're talking about? because if he's still sewing up his base, he's in deeper trouble than he ever lets on, politically. >> yeah, expect i think the only play that donald trump has ever had is to try to mobilize his base. he's never had to reach out to the motors play, at least since he got elected president. there were things he ran on in 2016, protecting medicare and others, but really not since he got elected. and the reason -- i sort of don't agree with that john bolton theory. the reason he'll never pick someone from the political mainstream, the reason he'll always pick someone fr

during this year's festival, congresswoman barbara lee of california discussed voter suppression with emory university professor, carol anderson. here is a portion. >> what rained down on obama, the obstruction, the hatred was intense. you see this, as these republican legislatures and governors and them going after those folks in this community, so just like the mississippi plan, if this one doesn't get them, this one will. >> that's right we got this book, the way gerrymandering works, the way as you described, in black and brown, they will have fewer operational voting machines and fewer poll workers with lines that will stretch for hours. basically in white communities, you get in and get out. what we know from working class communities, which again, demographically, black voters most often are, brown voters most often are, is that what you don't have his time and money. when you have to stand in line five to seven hours to vote, you've lost a day of pay. >> to watch the rest of this program, visit our website, booktv.org. ... >>