geoff bennett, stand by. this morning we are starting to see those meat shortages that we've been talking about play out in the real way. first of all, if you go to costco, that store limiting how much meat you can buy each trip. wendy's reportedly taking burgers off the menu at some locations in several states. the move comes as the plants that we rely on to process meat are seeing coronavirus outbreaks across the country. nbc's mara barrett is in pennsylvania, about 40 minutes north of philadelphia. she's at a jbs beef plant that temporarily closed after an outbreak there. there's this new cdc report showing that pennsylvania has the highest number of meat processing plants with workers affected by covid-19. what does it mean for americans looking to buy meat? what does it mean for americans just looking for some sense of norm normalcy? >> reporter: craig, the cdc says there's a low likelihood of the virus being spread on frozen meat or packaging. but americans should think about where the meat is coming fr

. >>> let's get right to geoff bennett at the white house for us. rrett haake is on capitol hill following all of these developments. geoff, i'm going to start with you. what is the level of anxiety inside the white house this morning? >> reporter: good to see you, as always. i think kevin hassett, the economic adviser captures it best, he has a reputation among all of the public-facing white house officials as being among the most candid and yesterday on one of the sunday shows, he said it's scary to go to work. he realizes that he would be safer sitting at home than he is going to the west wing, given that as you point out, there are now two white house aides who have tested positive for coronavirus. you've got the military valet to president trump and also katy miller's, vice president mike pence's press secretary. they're boosting temperature checks and testing. senior staff who interact with the president are being tested daily, i'm told. and the entire west wing is being sanitized on an even more frequent basis. you've got the country's top thr

>> geoff bennett live for us in d.c. speaking of dr.'s legal team, i'm joins by lisa banks, wi one of the attorneys for dr. rick bright. i wanted to start with that complaint because it alleges that hhs officials were unlike secretary azar, dr. bright and other health officials were fully aware of the emerging threat of covid-19 by early january of 2020. what specifically were they aware of and what was dr. bright's response to that at the time? >> well, by late 2019, late december 2019, early january, they certainly were aware of what was happening in china. they were tracking it. they understood that this was potentially a deadly virus, very contagious and that it wasn't going to be easily contained. certainly not in china as it quickly spread to southeast asia. but that it was certain to come to the united states as well, despite what the administration was saying and what hhs leadership seemed to think. >> do you know if whether or not that information was privy to dr. bright based on internal government information or was he relyin

geoff bennett, first to you. the new safety protocols. you saw dr. deborah birx arriving today with a face mask. what about the challenges, especially to the national security staff? these are very small offices, downstairs in the white house basement, over in the executive office building. how are they going to accomplish this safely? >> reporter: it's a great point you make, andrea, because privately, white house officials have expressed this notion that, really, it was only a matter of time before coronavirus showed up here in the west wing, in part because, you know, the white house might look vast and sprawling on television, but in fact, these are fairly close quarters. and it wasn't until late last week for the most part where you saw white house officials wearing masks while indoors. but you do have now the west wing really trying to scramble to contain the virus. testing and temperature checks have been boosted across the board. folks who are in frequent contact, senior staff who are in regular contact with president trump, they are now test

patel and geoff bennett. garrett haake, to all of our contributors, kristen welker and kasie hunt and pete williams as well. chuck todd and katy tur are going to pick up our coverage right now. >> thank you, andrea. good afternoon. i'm chuck todd. breaking news all over the place. senator richard burr is stepping down as the chairman of the senate intelligence committee pending an investigation into potential insider trading as senior law enforcement official confirms to nbc news the fbi executed a search warrant for burr's phone as part of that investigation. we'll have more on that decision in a moment. the ousted top vaccine expert, dr. rick bright is still testifying on capitol hill. he's been telling congress that he believes the worst is yet to come for the united states and without proper planning, quote, gent 2020 could be the darkest winter in modern history. >>> two administration officials say the cdc is expected to release new guidelines today for states to reopen schools and businesses. parts of

geoff bennett you have been digging into this whistle-blower. what began as him saying i've been dmoemoted over politics. i was shoved out of this job over the hydroxychloriquine ente. then he paint a much more damning response. >> reporter: he paint a picture on inaction and negligence on the part of the trump administration. lawyers for him say that case is made plain and simple. from 2016 until a couple of weeks ago was the head of the government agency that is invested in vaccine research and development for infectious disease outbreak. he said he was pushed out of his job. reassign tods a lesser role at a different agency bauds he pushed for a more thorough vetting. 89 pages. it's dense and detailed. we have been dissecting it and distilling it. one of the remarkable things is we have seen part of what rick bright alleges in public from the president's own mouth in those old coronavirus task force briefings. we saw him embracing it as a coronavirus miracle drug. dr. bright says behind the scenes there was this effort by some of the politica

we have it all covered starting with nbc's geoff bennett. >> reporter: tonight a dire warning from dr. anthony fauci. reopening the country too soon during the coronavirus crisis will cost lives. >> there is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you might not be able to control, which in effect hypwill set you back, not only leading some suffering and death that could be avoided but could even set you back on the road to economic recovery >> reporter: a reality check from the nation's top infectious disease expert which stands in stark contrast to president trump's push to reopen the country. tuesday's senate hearing unlike any before with the witnesses and many senator senators appearing remotely by videoconference. four of the nation's top health officials responsible for the federal response, dr. fauci, cdc director robert redfield, fda commissioner stephen han, and admiral brett jarar offering their assistance dr. fauci assessing it's a bridge too far to expect a coronavirus treatment or vaccine by the fall school semester. they could not say when they will release in

let's go to geoff bennett at the white house right now. what's the read?d like to underscore and amplify a point you made in that this is rare testimony. this the first time the country is hearing from the nation's top four health officials who were charged with the federal coronavirus response in an unfiltered manner away from the close and careful gaze of president trump who at times during previous coronavirus task force briefings has either cut off or redirected some of these answers. but a couple of headlines here, because this was this point of bipartisan agreement on the testing front, as you mentioned, lamar alexander, the republican of tennessee who chaired this committee said what our country has done so far on testing is impressive but not nearly enough. we also heard from the top democrat of washington, she said we need dramatically more testing. it's unacceptable we don't have a national stranl plan to make sure testing is fast, free, and everywhere. that stands in stark contrast to what president trump told me yesterday in the rose garden. he

nbc's geoff bennett now with the latest on all of it now. geoff, good morning. >> reporter: peter good morning to you. the april jobs report shows in brutal detail how much the coronavirus crisis has pummeled the u.s. economy. as you mentioned, you've got the unemployment rate soaring, the u.s. economy shedding more than 20 million american jobs. it's the fastest and sharpest downturn in u.s. history. this morning, devastating new jobs numbers as the coronavirus crisis delivers yet another economic gut punch. more than 20 million jobs lost in the month of april according to the department of labor. the biggest decline on record. the unemployment rate tripling to 14.7%. the highest level since the great depression. >> i'm basically at my breaking point. worried, nervous, scared. >> few corners of the economy or country were spared. although some groups felt the impact more than others. with 19% of hispanic workers, 17% of black workers and more than 15% of women now unemplo d unemployed. dawn was laid off from her job as a medical technician a

a colleague geoff bennett has more on that for us. good morning to you, some i friend.e biden been saying on this? >> reporter: good morning, alex. for weeks, as you know, many democrats had urged joe biden to issue a more forceful response to that sexual assault accusation. now he has done just that. he has flatly and emphatically denying the allegation that dates back nearly 30 years. >> branding a new sraovaccine aspiration warp speed, clinical trials will begin on 14 potential vaccines. fast tracking a process that may produce a patient ready vaccine as early as january. no guarantees. >> reporter: that of course was the story done by my colleague kelly o'donnell. i'm told we have the correct package now, and i think we can play it. >> actually, i'm getting from our executive producer that the tape is not quite ready, geoff. i'm sorry about that. but give me the synopsis version of all that joe biden said. look, i, along with a lot of other people in this country, watched joe biden's interview. it went on for 20 minutes with our colleague mika brzezinski yesterday.

geoff bennett has the story. >> reporter: the push for a coronavirus vaccine put on the fast track. >> we'd love to see if we could do it prior to the end of the year. >> reporter: president trump unveiling a new white house effort he says is aimed at developing and districting a vaccine for the deadly virus. >> it's called operation warp speed. that means big and it means fast. >> reporter: mr. trump tapping a four-star army general and pharmaceutical expert to lead the effort. >> i have very recently seen early data from a clinical trial with a coronavirus vaccine. and these data made me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020. >> reporter: the trump administration's end-of-year goal outpaces what most experts believe is possible, that it will take 12 to 18 months to develop test and produce a vaccine and that anything less would be a medical miracle. >> i just want to make something clear. it's very important. vaccine or no vaccine, we're back. >> reporter: experts say the u.s. will not fully be able to reco

geoff bennett is there. this community is one of the wealthiest african-american communities in the country. does this show that higher income levels are not the kind of buffer we thought they were? >> that's precisely what it shows, steph. we've reported extensively about the ways in which this coronavirus has had a disproportionate toll on communities of color. african-americans make up 13% of the u.s. population but they make up 30%, roughly one-third of all coronavirus related deaths in this country. that slow rolling tragedy is the same in new york, philadelphia, chicago, milwaukee, louisiana, oakland, and here in prince george's county, maryland, which is among the wealthiest black enclaves in the country. it's been that way since the late '70s, early '80s. public health experts point out systemic inequities show up in health inequities no matter how much you make. they also have doctors, police officers, other professionals who have not been able to socially distance or quarantine themselves because t

my colleague geoff bennett saw dr. birx here wearing a mask. so she is still present. but i think there's a big emphasis in the white house to try and carry on the perception of business as usual because the official message is still, we're reopening the economy, we're preparing for a second wave. the worst is behind us. >> what more are they doing to keep people safe? they were already doing an enormous amount of testing. >> well, they -- >> unlike the rest of us. >> they were, but they're going to ramp that up. mask wearing. people who are in close proximity to the president throughout the day are now supposed to be wearing masks, though i will tell you, i've seen a number of people on the white house grounds and campus not wearing masks. so people who aren't in contact with the president don't need to wear them. but still choosing not to do that. and increased cleaning. and then, of course, temperature monitoring. they are asking people additional questions about if they've experienced any symptoms before going into the gate. as we've seen, only so much you can do.

let's go to nbc's geoff bennett in pg county with the latest. what's going on there? >> katy, to put context around this, we reported extensively about how this coronavirus pandemic is disproportionately hitting communities of color. that's the case in new york, in philadelphia, in new orleans, in chicago, milwaukee, detroit, oakland. navajo nation which we don't often talk about has the third highest infected rate in the country. new york, new jersey and navajo nation. to talk about what's happening here, prince george's county is a case study in how this pandemic is hitting marginalized, historically marginalized groups across socio economic lines. prince george's is -- has the highest number of wealthy african-americans. it's among the richest black enclaves in the country. about a ten-minute drive from washington, d.c., and yet pg county has the highest infected rate in this region and has among the highest death toll. earlier today i spoke with the county executive. i asked her that question, why? why is that the case? here's some of what she told me. >> so we ha

savannah >> our team in place and spread out around the world to bring you the latest on this geoff bennett on duty. hi, geoff, good morning. >> reporter: hi, savannah, good morning to you the coronavirus is hitting closer to home in washington, on capitol hill and here at the white house where staffers say they are taking extra precautions to ensure the safety of the president after two aides tested positive for coronavirus. that's with three health officials self-quarantining, all of it undercutting the message that the outbreak is fading. this morning the coronavirus crisis affecting both ends of pennsylvania avenue. white house sources shooting down reports that vice president mike pence, who chairs the coronavirus task force, will self-quarantine after his top spokesperson katie miller tested positive she's also married to one of president trump's top policy advisers stephen miller. white house official telling nbc news the vice president continues to test negative and has no restrictions to his schedule. on capitol hill lamar alexander will remotely chair a hearing on safely returning