atkinson.ere is. but he's made it clear, you know, he cares about loyalty and he hasn't forgotten about impeachment even though we're in the midst of a global pandemic. and i think looking ahead as anita said his aides have been talking about firing atkinson for months. it did take people by surprise that it happened in the middle of the coronavirus. but trump has made it clear he doesn't want a special i.g. looking into how the money of the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill is being spent. he doesn't like these checks that are making sure government functions approximately. he cares about loyalty to him, and this was one more reminder that he hasn't forgotten about the wrongs he thinks were more done to him. he hasn't forgotten about the impeachment and the question is of course who's next, who's still in the government? the whistle-blower is still there. what else is he going to do, you know, under the cover of night and pandemic? >> katrina, let's talk about what recourse there is for this sort of

atkinson.e is. but he's made it clear, you know, he cares about loyalty and he hasn't forgotten about impeachment even though we're in the midst of a global pandemic. and i think looking ahead as anita said his aides have been talking about firing atkinson for months. it did take people by surprise that it happened in the middle of the coronavirus. but trump has made it clear he doesn't want a special i.g. looking into how the money of the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill is being spent. he doesn't like these checks that are making sure government functions approximately. he cares about loyalty to him, and this was one more reminder that he hasn't forgotten about the wrongs he thinks were more done to him. he hasn't forgotten about the impeachment and the question is of course who's next, who's still in the government? the whistle-blower is still there. what else is he going to do, you know, under the cover of night and pandemic? >> katrina, let's talk about what recourse there is for this sort of t

by removing atkinson and sending a signal to others, mr.mp continues to show his insecurity in terms of trying to stop anybody who's going to expose, again the lawlessness that i think he not only has allowed to continue but also that he abets and so this is where the members of the congress and the congressional oversight committees and i hear some of them are speaking up somewhat, they should be outraged of mr. trump's removal of the individuals that the american people count on who are going to stop the politicians and the crooked individuals from carrying out their deeds. >> you know, director brennan, i know this is so different from september 11th but in terms of the kind of questions that the public will have certainly when this is over about what the president knew and when he knew it and there's very clear echo to 9/11. i was in the white house in terms of binn laden's intention and desire to strike america. susan rice corrected me, what are the questions that hang around what the president knew and when he knew in terms of the dea

he's simply saying he lost confidence in michael atkinson.s not making an allegation of wrongdoing and i don't -- i'm not aware of any evidence of any wrongdoing by michael atkinson. one can say the president was not happy atkinson alerted adam schiff, the chairman of the committee about this classified complaint. he didn't tell him what was in it but said it was an important complaint being with held and by doing that, he set in motion the chain of vents that led the complaint to become public and led at the impeachment of donald trump and it's fairly clear that donald trump is not happy about that but that the the allegation of wrongdoing, there aren't any, ali. >> ken, thank you for your reporting. >> coming up a brooklyn nurse's video diary from one of the hardest hit places of the coronavirus. she shows you what it is really like to be a hero fighting this virus every day on the front lines. we'll show you some of what she shared with us when we come back. e wofhat she shared with us when we come back ll the breaks that i can get. at lib

atkinson and also trying to send a signal to others, mr. trump continues to show his insecurity in terms of trying to stop anybody who is going to expose again the lawlessness that i think you not only has allowed to continue, but also that he abets. >> i think the president of the right thing in removing atkinson. from the vantage point of the department of justice he had interpreted his statute -- which is a fairly narrow statute, gave him jurisdiction over wrongdoing by intelligence people and tried to turn it in to a commission to explore anything in the government and immediately report it to congress without letting the executive branch look at it and determine whether there was any problem. he was told this in a letter from the department of justice and he has obliged to follow the interpretation of the department of justice and he ignored it. i think a president was correct in firing him. >> laura: it's the second inspector general he's fired since the beginning of this pandemic and of course that's used to say the president just do

but last night the president formally notified lawmakers that he plans to fire atkinson. he did not offer much in terms of an explanation other than saying it is vital i have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as inspector general. that is no longer the case with regard to this inspector general. democrats immediately blasted the move with adam schiff calling get another blatant attempt by the president to get to the independence of the intelligence community, and retaliate against those who dared to expose presidential wrongdoing. atkinson's removal comes as a part of a larger shakeup, including the president removing former director joe maguire and replacing him in the short term with u.s. ambassador to germany rick burnout, a staunch ally of the president. another strong ally, congressman john roulac radcliffe as the permanent replacement. michael horwitz praised him, his record, and his handling of the whistleblower complaint. in washington, i am gary kenny, fox news. >>> back to the battle against covid-19 and the men and women on the front lines. drive

atkinson was informed tonight that he is essentially being put, don, on a 30-day administrative leave. so he is essentially out of the job. he's still essentially working for the government for another 30 days, but he is fired. the president has decided that it is time for him to go. >> evan, i want to read part of the president's letter. it reads "the inspectors general have a critical role in the achievement of these goals, as is the case with regard to the other positions where i, as president, have the power of appointment by and with the advice and consent of the senate. it is vital that i have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general. that is no longer the case with regard to this inspector general." so if that is the rationale, it is rather thin. >> right. lock, the president and people of the justice department who reviewed the whistle-blower complaint did not think that it deserved to be notified congress. they didn't believe that the inspector general that the officer, the director of national intelligence needed to tell the intelligence committ

atkinson. the official who told congress about the anonymous whistle-blower complaint that sparked the house impeachment proceedings against trump. i want to get right to cnn white house correspondent john harwood and cnn's senior justice correspondent evan perez. good evening to both of you. evan, this is a big deal. what do you know? >> it is a big deal, don. look. we have been waiting for this exact moment. and it appears that the president took, obviously, the fact that the country is preoccupied with the coronavirus crisis, to finally get rid of michael atkinson, who is the inspector general for the intelligence community. he is the one who sort of kick started all of the controversy over the ukraine -- the president's leaning on the ukrainian president to announce investigation of his political rival, joe bind. if you remember, received the whistle-blower complaint and kicked it over and said he had to notify the lawmakers and congress about it. and, of course, that led to the president's

atkinson will be placed on administrative leave. here is more from evan perez. >> reporter: michael atkinson the inspector general for the intelligence community is out of a job, the president informing the house and senate that he has lost confidence in atkinson. atkinson is the one who forwarded to the intelligence committees the whistleblower complaint that said that the president was trying to pressure the ukranian government into announcing investigations into joe biden and his son. we've been hearing for some time that atkinson might be out of a job and it appears that the president has decided that now is the tirm to get rid of the inspector general for the intelligence community. >> and throughout the next two hour, we'll continue to look at all the areas of the world where this virus is taking place. the number of cases has surged in brazil for example making it the worst hit country in south america so far. next here, how the most vulnerable communities are coming together. it may seem like things all around us are going i

he has to wait 30 days before removing atkinson but atkinson has been placed on administrative leaventil we reach that president. the president saying he lost confidence in atkinson. and sources tell cnn atkinson was informed about his firing late last night. democrats reacted with outrage to the move with adam schiff saying at a time our country is dealing with a national emergency, the president's dead of night decision puts our country's security at risk. this echos a tone by many democrats in congress that said the president took away an important oversight. nancy pelosi saying this latest announcement threatens to have a chilling effect against all willing to speak truth to power. there was criticism of the president's timing firing him at a time when his administration is focussed on the coronavirus response. >> we know the president is supposed to replace him with tom monheim later on. sarah westwood, thank you very much. appreciate it. >>> still ahead, separate cities, but a shared reality. we have two emergency room workers with us next. talking about the challenges they're

atkinson was fired for doing his job.tefully executing the duties of his office, which is totally disgraceful. and, you know, as it has been said the president is very vindictive. he should be focused on the over 300,000 americans who have been stricken with the coronavirus and over 10,000 americans who have died as a result. his response to this crisis has been substandard and for him to fire a man for simply doing his job, a man of integrity just shows the character of this president. >> you laid out starkly do you think the timing of this removal is suspicious? >> it's ex dreamily suspicious. remember, our president is the districter in chief. whenever he -- because, remember, it is all about him every movement, every issue, every tragedy. wherever he is in trouble, which he is in this response, whatever he's been rightly criticized, whenever congress is providing necessary oversight, he tries to change the subject. and so he is playing the victim and trying to say that michael atkinson of all people was out to get him

atkinson is now on administrative leave. atkinson joins a list of government officials purged by the trump administration for their role in launching the impeachment investigation. back in february, trump fired ambassador to the eu gordon sondland and national security council officer lieutenant colonel alexander vindman along with his brother who apparently has nothing else going against him except that he was vindman's twin brother. trump wanted to fire atkinson claiming he was disloyal and working with democrats to sabotage his presidency. as the news broke late last night congressman adam schiff told me that trump is continuing to settle scores. >> he's decapitating the leadership of the intelligence community in the muiddle of a national crisis, it's unconscionable, and of course it sends a message throughout the federal government and in particular to other inspector generals that if they do their job as this professional did and michael atkinson was a complete professional, they too may be fired by a vindictive presid

president trump abruptly fired michael atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, late lasnight. atkinson was the first to tell congress about an anonymouseb whislower complaint lt year that aid the president had pressured ukraine to investigate former vice president joe biden d his son. that complaint prompted a house investd igation and mr. trump's impeachment. in a letter to the senate and house i,ntelligence committe the president said he "no longer" had confidence in atkinson. ng to the associat press, atkinson is at least the seventh intelligence official to be fired, ousted or moved aside since last summer. former ve esident and democratic presidential candidate joe biden says he is gearing up to start his selection procs for potential cabinet members and a vice president. biden made the announcement during a virtual fundraiser yesterdaye and said a commit will oversee the selection process. biden, who holds a significant lead in degates over vermont senator bernie sanders, says he spoke to sanders to let him know he'd been working on the vice presidential

you may remember it was atkinson who sparked the impeachment of the president when he circumvented a decision by his boss and told congress what he thought was an urgent complaint about the president's communications with ukraine. that complaint was leveled by a cia operative working inside the white house. the letter the president said he no longer has the full list of confidence in atkinson and would remove him from his duties effective 30 days from today. as you can well imagine democratic reaction to the decision has been swift. this from adam schiff tonight, congressman from california, but another blatant attempt by the president to get the independence of the intelligence community and retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing. interesting timing. mark meadows is the new white house chief of staff. you might wonder how that might have played in this decision for the president to remove michael atkinson who made a number of serious decisions on the job including complaints about backdating forms etc.. michael atkinson, intel community inspector general

and atkinson got a lot of criticism from republicans and for refusing to identify the whistleblower.nd the ig was investigated by g.o.p. members of the intel committee over it. president trump nominated atkinson, a 16-year veteran of the justice department to be the chief watchdog of the nation's spy agencies in 2017. last night the president formally notified lawmakers he planned to fire atkinson and didn't offer much in terms of explanation, except to say it's vital i have the fullest confidence in those in the inspector general. that's no longer the case with regard to this inspector general. democrats immediately blasted him and house chairman adam schiff called it another blatant attempt for the president to gut the independence of the community. atkinson's removal is part of a larger movement, and joe mcguire and replacing him in the short-term with u.s. ambassador to germany, rick grenell, a staunch ally of the president and then naming another strong ally, congressman john ratcliffe as the permanent replacement. last night the head of all inspectors general weighed in on atki

finor the lligence community, atkinson, about the fact that atkinson was the one who passed on the whistlebloweromplaints regarding the ukraine call to verengthhaatco l to ttet his impeachment. he bitterly complained about th, evenhe notion of an inspector general. when he realizes, learned that these are largely people that have done this fromti administ to administration, these are again career public servants, he sees this as an extension of what is allies call the deep state and a particularly nefarious one because they're out to get hem at least in h nd. so yes, i thinkouse'l ymol re of this. robert: what's the cost for this kind of executive action? think about inspector general atkinson, very protective of whistleblowers. one of the people who protected the whistleblower about the ukrainian call between president trump and president zelensky. does this mean whistleblowers may be more hesitant to come forward? with the pressure from the highest in the land there was a chilling effect from people who felt ty had something to share. i heard this from people, different government agencies alo

last night the head of all of the inspectors general, michael horwitz waiting on atkinson's firing by raising whistleblowers complaint. >>> a member the kennedy family and her son are presumed dead this evening. it comes after their canoe was found miles from where the two were last seen on thursday. there were struggling the choppy waters the chesapeake bay. ms. kennedy is the granddaughter of robert f kennedy and the grandniece of former president john f. kennedy. her able son gideon was on the canoe with her when they went missing. the u.s. coast guard suspended the search late last night. >>> minds of students across the united states no longer allowed to be at school. we all know this. coming up, how parents are coping with this new normal. >>> i am still tracking rain out there across a few neighborhoods for tonight. a stronger storm is set to move in tomorrow. i will update the sunday forecast coming up. >>> in these unprecedented times, we have seen countless stories of people helping their communities. later tonight, how and east bay drycleaner is offering its services to hea

that's how you know atkinson was right.when the president says that michael atkinson was doing a terrible job, what he is actually saying is, i got caught. he didn't bury the allegation and i want somebody in that job who will. >> well, and john, just before you go, on top of it, over the weekend we heard defense secretary mark esper try to defend relieving navy captain brent crozier who relieved the sailors of duty. he led getting these sailors off this ship. we learned over 50 of them had acquired coronavirus. before even an investigation had been concluded, he was out of a job. >> that's right. this to me is a somewhat more ambiguous situation in the sense that somebody who has not served in the military, myself, i don't know where the culture of the military, how it assesses a situation where a commander sends an email widely circulated to call attention. as a layman, i think, and i think a lot of the reaction has been, oh, my god, he was trying to protect his sailors, and, therefore, he was justified in doing what he d

michael atkinson is a nonpartisan career official. last year, he was the one that informed congress about the anonymous whistle-blower complaint that led to impeachment. u.s. law requires 30 days' notice for the dismissal of an inspector general. the source says atkinson will be placed on administrative leave for the duration. for more about it here's evan perez from washington. >> michael atkinson, the inspector general from the intelligence community out of a job. the president informing the house intelligence committee in the house and senate that he's lost confidence in atkinson. atkinson is the one that forwarded a whistle-blower complaint saying that the president was trying to pressure the ukrainian government into announcing investigations into joe biden and his son. we've been waiting for some time that atkinson might be out of a job. and it appear information the middle of the coronavirus emergency, the president has decided that now is the time to get rid of the inspector general for the intelligence community. evan perez,

atkinson needs to be investigated in addition to fired had. over how he handled it. these igs they sometimes put out good information, in high experience there is a political, next appointee, they are often involved in cover-ups as the folks they are pretending to investigate. lou: that has been the experience of this president. his administration. and the rest of america to see the investigators after 3 over 3 years, fbi investigation, special counsel, congressional impeachment farce investigation, and only ones, only ones discovered to be politically corrupt, and at very least, illegal and unethical, were the investigators. the president, stands exonerated, vindicated and we learn that democratic house leaders' to pursue him again. it is -- is there nothing we can do to stop this outrage. >> president can redirect any cooperation with another impeachment effort again him. this commission they are proposing schiff is leading it, he is implicated in the coop attack with atkinsons to be reject -- >> let me -- i am sorry. why isn't the senate judiciary committee invest

that was michael atkinson. he is out of a job. >> reporter: fred, this is just the latest in a string of actions the president has taken against people involved in his impeachment inquiry. recall that he removed alexander vindman the national security council official who testified against him and also vindman's twin brother also on the nsc who had nothing to do with the impeachment inquiry other than his relation to vindman. both were re-assigned off the nsc. the president also fired gordon sondland the former u.s. ambassador to the european union who delivered some of the most damaging testimony in the impeachment inquiry so this removal of the intelligence community watch dog is a continuation of that pattern. the president late last night sent a letter to the house and senate intelligence communities informing him of his decision to remove atkinson from that position. according to the statute the president can't actually remove atkinson for another 30 days so atkinson will be placed on administrative leave

michael atkinson who was playing a large role in turning over to congress that initial whistle-blower complaint about the ukraine phone call that led to impeachment. the president notified the committees on capitol hill responsible for the intelligence community where he said he lost confidence in atkinson and the swift and damning. speaker pelosi calling it brazen and saying that atkinson was following his job and his oath under the law. >>> kelly o'donnell with that breaking news from overnight. thank you. >>> we want to bring in dr. kvitova patel. she was a top official in the obama white house and worked on the administration's response to the kwien fswine flu. dr. patel, thank you for joining us. we want to begin with the big news announced from the white house yesterday that the cdc is now recommending that americans who leave their homes wear nonmedical masks but president trump says it's voluntary and he's not going to do it. what's the bottom line here, dr. patel? should people be wearing masks? >> the bottom line is that we should be, first of all, staying at home and practi

for joining us on very short notice tonight on this news that the president has relieved michael atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community of his responsibilities effective 30 days from today. that's "the last word" for tonight. i'll see you back here tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. for "velshi." "the 11th hour" with brian williams begins right now. >>> and good evening once again. day 1,170 of the trump administration. 214 days to go now until our presidential election. our country set a new record for deaths today, and tonight we have learned the president has settled another score dating back to impeachment with another firing. we'll have more on that in a moment. >>> in case you missed today's white house briefing, again mostly good news from the president unless, that is, you live in one of the states. the president said just today we have states, a lot of states, territories too. the problem is he's not happy with the states. he took a swing at governors for not being thankful enough. he thinks the states should have been prepared for this pandemic even though he s

first off, i want to get your thoughts with regard to atkinson's statement. can you talk a bit about what an ig's job is and the legal obligation that atkinson wrote about? >> congress passed the whistle-blowerer protection act back in 1989. but it originally didn't apply to the intelligent community. in 2010, congress created the position of intelligent community inspector general. and the law does now apply to the intelligent community. a whistle-blower can report what they think is an urgent concern to the icig, the inspector general, and that the that's atkinson. but under the statute, his job is really very limited. he investigates. if there is a credible report of this urgent concern, his job is basically to forward it to the director of national intelligence within 14 days. that is it. that is exactly what he did. in fact, on the 14th day, he forwarded it to joseph mcguire, the director of national intelligence. in a sense, the icig's job in this situation is triage. and the standard or the burden is very low. it's just credible of a report of urgent c

atkinson fue el primero en hacer sonar las alarmas sobre las acciones que llevaron al presidente trumpas en el paÍs insisten en mantener servicios religiosos en persona. varios sacerdotes pastores considera que la misa es una actividad esencial. algunos gobernadores han dado su bendiciÓn para que continÚen estas tipo de reuniones que ponen en riesgo a las comunidades, incumpliendo el distanciamiento que recomiendan las autoridades sanitarias. pedro: es prudente realizar servicios religiosos en tiempos de la pandemia del coronavirus? al menos en texas y florida, por ahora es posible. el gobernador de texas greg abbott y el gobernador de la florida ron de santis han autorizado que las iglesias sigan operando. >> pienso que el gobierno que la autorÍa de cerrar las iglesias, yo ciertamente no lo voy a hacer, dijo el gobernador de florida. en texas, el gobernador dijo esta semana sobre las iglesias que es un sector considerado servicio esencial, mediante la orden ejecutiva de texas. si los servicios religiosos no pueden llevarse a cabo desde el hogar o en servicios remotos, deben llevarse a

what we saw was the president lash out at michael atkinson for effectively doing his job.and he should not have elevated this whistle-blower complaint. but the president did say in particular what the i.g. did wrong in terms of his actual duties. what the president did say is that he didn't agree with the fact that he should have been impeached, and he again repeated the claim that he thought it was a perfect call between ukraine when of course we all know that the president was at least attempting to get ukraine to look into joe biden, a political opponent, and look into whether or not there were any allegations of wrongdoing there. >> frank, what's your take on this? >> yeah. so first let's call this what it is. during a press conference today, during a national crisis, the president of the united states just lied to us. this whistle-blower complaint was not a fake whistle-blower complaint. the facts were borne out in the impeachment hearings, and the president was impeached in part as a result of this very valid whistle-blower complaint. but i'm going to go a step furth

in the letter tonight the president said he no longer has the fullest of confidence in atkinson, and will remove him from his duty effective 30 days from today. as you can imagine, democratic reaction to the decision has been swept, this from adam schiff tonight, the cat the congressman from california. yet another blatant attempt by the president to cut the independence of the intelligence community and to retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrong doing. >> very interesting timing to, i should point this out, mark meadows is now than new white house chief of staff. you might wonder how that would play out in this decision for the president to remove michael atkinson who made a number of very curious decisions on the job including some complaints about backdating forms, et cetera, again michael and stomach atkinson has been relieved of duty by president trump quite a way to begin our friday night. >> yeah, it feels like a friday night in washington. this often happens, we kind of forgot that amidst the covedic craze. thank you. mission of mercy and comfort being r

in the letter tonight the president said he no longer has the fullest of confidence in atkinson, and will remove him from his duty effective 30 days from today. as you can imagine, democratic reaction to the decision has been swept, this from adam schiff tonight, the cat the congressman from california. yet another blatant attempt by the president to cut the independence of the intelligence community and to retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrong doing. >> very interesting timing to, i should point this out, mark meadows is now than new white house chief of staff. you might wonder how that would play out in this decision for the president to remove michael atkinson who made a number of very curious decisions on the job including some complaints about backdating forms, et cetera, again michael and stomach atkinson has been relieved of duty by president trump quite a way to begin our friday night. >> yeah, it feels like a friday night in washington. this often happens, we kind of forgot that amidst the covedic craze. thank you. mission of mercy and comfort being r

intelligence community is inspector general michael atkinson had informed congress in september about whistleblowers complained led to trump's impeachment atkinson is the latest person involved in the impeachment procedure to be removed the president said he had lost all confidence in him. those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after talk to others their station that's watching. as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic we'll bring you the latest developments from around the wilds. with updates about travel restrictions and how to protect yourself. kuranda virus pandemic special coverage on al-jazeera. see. u.n. headquarters in new york this is a building i work in most days and i have to tell you it is very early now normally there's about 10000 people come into this compound every single week day now at the moment there's only about 300 people accessing this building every day they all the skeleton staff most of them working trying to get the video conference and systems working to allow the rest of the u.n. to continue its vital functions those peace keep

what we saw was the president lash out at michael atkinson for effectively doing his job.e said he was a terrible person and he should not have elevated this whistle-blower complaint. but the president didn't say what the i.g. did wrong in terms of his actual duties. the president said he didn't great with the fact that he should have been impeached and he said he thought it was a perfect call from ukraine when we all know that the president was at least attempting to get ukraine to look into joe biden, a political opponent and look into whether or not there were any allegations of wrong doing there. >> frank, what's your take on this? >> yeah. so first let's call this what it is. during a press conference today, a national crisis, the president of the united states just lied to us. this whistle-blower complaint was not a fake whistle-blower complaint. the facts were borne out in the impeachment hearings and the president was impeached in part as a result of this very valid whistle-blower complaint. but i'm going to go a step further here, ali. based on what i've talked ab

. >> the president got rid of michael atkinson last night.tkin "sopranos" told congress about the whistle-blower complaint that led to the president's impeachment. now this is just the latest case of the trump administration removing officials who played some role in the impeachment. joining us now cnn national security analyst. let me first talk to you about the reaction from democrats on capitol hill. congressman adam schiff, at a time when our country is dealing with a national emergency, the president's dead of night decision puts our country and national security at even greater risk. >> we have a statement from nancy pelosi saying the president must immediately cease his attacks on people who keep america safe. what is your reaction to this firing? >> well, trump has decimated his own intelligence to date and now he's cosmopolitaning that pet project in a moment when arguably we need more not fewer competent professionals on board. this is an all hand on deck moment. in the face of the novel coronavirus resources are strained. we have l

the firing of michael atkinson, the intelligence community's i.g. is to take effect 30 days from friday. however, sources tell nbc news that atkinson has already been placed on administrative leave. as the "new york times" reports, all of this comes as the president, quote, announced his intent to name a white house aide as the independent watchdog for $500 billion in corporate pandemic aid and notified congress of other nominees to inspector general positions. joining us to discuss all of this, our friend jonathan lemire, associated press white house reporter and an msnbc political analyst, dr. ka vee tapa tell, former policy director under the obama administration and an msnbc medical contributor, kimberly atkins, senior correspondent for boston's public news station wbur and an msnbc contributor, and my friend steve schmidt, a former republican and an msnbc political analyst. jonathan lemire, i want to hear all of the latest reporting on this white house. there is a precedent. i believe it was the first major hurricane that hit this country of hi

the president didn't say what michael atkinson had done wrong. good morning. the one who appointed atkinson and now he is the one who fired him. he was the inspector general that handled the whistle-blower report during that whole controversy about the ukrainian phone call, the one that got president trump impeached. michael atkinson handled the case the way he was supposed to forwarding the complaint to congress as required by law. in a statement atkinson says the loss in confidence charged by legal obligations as an independent and impartial inspector general. the surgeon general compared it to 9/11. the president and his coronavirus team had been meeting every day and they're holding press conferences including on saturday and sunday. these go on for quite some time. sunday's was an hour and a half. the president suggesting patients try hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment saying, quote, what have you got to lose? he also recommends another drug commonly given to patients in hospitals as a way of fighting bacterial infections they pick up in the hospi

atkinson released a statement saying -- >> part of what struck me here is the president, on a fridayight after the end of the news day, amidst thousands of deaths and a national pandemic, took the time to do this. what does that say to you? >> well, there's never a bad time to be vindictive and retaliatory in the president's view. this is something that he probably has wanted to do for some time, but looked for the dead of night, as you point out, friday, late after the news cycle, to bring down the hatchet here on this dedicated public servant. look, all of these inspector generals are a threat to a president who does not want to hear the truth. and that's the world this president inhabits. oversight, exposure, wrongdoing, whether it's criminal wrongdoing, whether it's malfeasance, negligence, incompetence, he views that as essentially treachery, as disloyalty, as disgraceful. you can only take that view, chris, if you believe that you are the state. and anything that doesn't reflect well on you, therefore doesn't reflect well on the state. and is a fundamental act of disloyalty tha

atkinson says when important to stay calm asma patients are fearful or anxio. emt is also worry for their own health and their biggest fears taken e virus home and giving it to someone they care about. >>here the unknownnong whether or not are not is a is a special thing for patients experiencing mptoms as a sompeople don't really know 100% what's going on, but he knows that this job is little stressf, everybody knows the hazards of going into this sort of feel. but it really kind of that it really strikes differently when you see shunt struggling. as for any call. >>atkinson says are expectin to s more patients in the coming weeks, shortages of personal protective equipment have also been a struggle for a lot of the front line workers atkinson's hoping that people willcontinue to stay home to reducespreading the virus. >>and of course our coverage of the corovirus continues on our website kron 4 dot com. so much helpful information for you there. the latest on the outbreaks inhe bay area and interactive maps and more information on how you can stay safe once a

michael atkinson was doing his job. he was defined by director mcgwire as a valued and trusted employee. but michael atkinson has run into the same problem as many other decent, honest people of integrity who are trusted and valued employees run into this administration, this administration does not want them. while the president -- we're in the middle of a pandemic, while he wants to continue to be the distracter in chief on matters that are not anywhere near as critical as this pandemic that we're facing, others will have to step up as we all have seen and lead the way to make sure that we do what the president's primary responsibility is, and that is to protect the american people. >> all right. florida congresswoman val demings. thank you for being with us again. let's bring in michael steele, the former chair of the republican national committee and an msnbc political analyst and christina grier is an associate professor of political science at fordham university and the host of the podcast faqnyc. let me go to you

push-back, the president abruptly fired the intelligence community's inspector general, michael atkinsonwho handled a whistleblower complaint that led to the president's impeachment. the move sparked outrage among some lawmakers. >> but in this administration, when you speak truth to power, all too often, you get fired. >> reporter: cbs news has learned atkinson was immediately placed on administrative leave. his interim replacement will be thomas monheim, a career intelligence official. jim. >> benemann: nikole, thank you. be sure to tune in tomorrow for "face the nation." now to the economic fallout. the i.r.s. says it plans to start sending out t coronavirus payments to need a paper check, it might not get there until september. help is needed fast. the u.s. economy lost more than 700,000 jobs in march. more than 6.6 million americans filed for unemployment just last week. danya bacchus reports. >> reporter: the economic toll the pandemic is taking on the country is stung. >> it all happened really fast, and she said, "tomorrow, you're not going to be working." >> reporter: amanda sch

>>atkinson says they're expecting to see more patients in the coming weekshortages personal protective equipment have become a struggle for many frontli workersatkinson is hoping at least for the public people will continue to ay home to reduce spreading the virus. reporting in walnut eek dan thorn kron 4 news. >>tice the tranmerica pyramid that was a lit up last night, the owners of the building y they want to shine hope all across th bay area. amid the coronavirus pandemic the 6,000 watt beacon can be seen throughout the city as well as the east and it's now recommended that amicans were face coverings to slow the spread of the virus sent to ma cells mask effective. they ed to put em on the right day way and th's been a mar issue mandy gaither has more in today's health nute. >>if you have to go out and cover your face at's the recommendation from the centers for disease control and preventionnd ce covering won't wo if it's not properly put on world health organization says before touching amassed clean, your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or water. then use that mask to cover

the president did not name a permanent successor for atkinson and said that would come at a later date but did name a career intel official to hold the position in the interim. >> all right. sarah westwood, thank you so much. >>> all right. from social distancing to stimulus checks, don't forget to send your questions about coronavirus on cnn.com. our panel of experts will answer some of them next. >>> but first surgeon general jerome adams shows us how to make a facemask with items from around the house. >> fold it to the middle from the bottom. fold it to the middle from the top. fold it again to the middle from the bottom and again from the top. and then two rubber bands. one-on-one side and one on the other side. then you fold either side to the middle and you have yourself a cloth face covering. it's that easy. hi, i'm bob harper, and i recently had a heart attack. it changed my life. but i'm a survivor. after my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. it's for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. brilinta is taken with a low-dose aspirin. no more than 100 mi

whistleblowers complaint that led to trump's impeachment atkinson is the latest person involved in the impeachment procedure to be removed the president said he had lost all confidence in him. those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after talk to us is there a statement that's watching. as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic we'll bring you the latest developments from around the wilds. with updates about travel restrictions and how to protect yourself. kuranda virus pandemic special coverage on how to save. c. hello there. at u.n. headquarters in new york now this is a building i work in most days and i have to tell you it is very early quat now normally there's about 10000 people come into this compound every single week day now at the moment there's only about 300 people accessing this building every day they are the skeleton staff most of them working trying to get the video conference and systems working to allow the rest of the u.n. to continue its vital functions those peacekeeping missions mainly in africa and the humanitarian agencies of the u.n. t

"political" has reported that trump has fired the intel community watchdog michael atkinson.e do not know a lot more. thoughts, congressman, o on thi? >> as you know, we've seen tremendous violations of civil rights by abuse of the fisa courts, and i think somebody has to be held accountable. this may be the first of many more people who are on the chopping block. the recent interim report by inspector general horwitz indicates that in every one of the cases that they've sampled, there has been abused by the fbi and the intel community. that has got to stop as well for that's an abuse of our civil rights and i just -- i can't tell you, that's one of the things we should be doing. congress is getting back there and cleaning that mess up as well because that's going to have ramifications and probably has had ramifications on people. this is very, very important. >> laura: congressman, we all have to remember, a crisis has to be dealt with. we want to protect people and save lives. we have our civil liberties, constitution to also preserve. after 9/11, we did a heck of a lot of

and in that letter he said he lost confidence in atkinson. speaker pelosi saying this is a brazen attempt to fuel the intelligence community and atkinson was following the oath of his office. alex? >> can i ask you real quick. any chance that there are kings, queens, prime ministers and presidents meeting with this president any time soon, his reason for not meeting at the white house? >> reporter: they have pushed back any international visitors. he is seeing ceos and different people from the task force on a daily basis. they are getting tested now with the quick test that can get a result within 15 minutes for exposure to the coronavirus. but, yes, the idea that the president would be holding formal parts of his job when masks are recommended just doesn't bear out. the white house has been pretty buttoned up. >>> the relief that came for stranded cruise ship passengers. their story next. but first what might be a coping mechanism for you during these difficult times. a new article on how you can live vicariously during live streams around