gupta, jonathan lamir, thank you for starting us off. the world needs a little more claire.'s staying put. when we come back, the rule of law in this country dealt another blow over the weekend by its own department of justice. we're now in a state of lawlessness in america where the president is enabled to do whatever he wants in order to protect himself. neal katyal joins us. and joe biden's league grows in of all places texas as people there begin to feel the effects of donald trump's failures in responding to coronavirus. plus, the art of the troll. the never-trump republicans have made a name for themselves with their stinging ads, but this time, they could break through at the polls, too. all of those stories, coming up. all of those stories, coming up. stock slices. for as little as $5, now anyone can own companies in the s&p 500, even if their shares cost more. at $5 a slice, you could own ten companies for $50 instead of paying thousands. all commission free online. schwab stock slices: an easy way to start investing or to give the gift of stock ownership. schwab. o

john heilemann, jonathan lamir, dr. gupta or a truly extraordinary day of headlines, thank you so much for talking us through it after the break, the latest attempt by the president to cast doubt on the results of the next election it comes as his poll numbers against joe biden go from bad to absolutely devastating plus, as the nation mourns the death of an icon, john lewis, a call to action in honor of his legacy stands in direct opposition to donald trump's divisive agenda. our dear friend and colleague, joy reid, who starts a new adventure tonight, joins us ahead. i'm so excited about that. and rising worries that the alarming crackdowns against protestersn iportland, oregon, could be coming to a city near you. yep, all of those stories, coming up. cosentyx works on all of this. cosentyx treats the multiple symptoms of psoriatic arthritis to help you look and feel better. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fig

but i think we also want to come back to how jonathan lamire started. let's not pretend that yesterday's press conference is necessarily going to be how this president is going to act going forward. let's not pretend that that's how he's going to tweet. let's look at the entire body of evidence. and what we didn't get out of that press conference, even if he did follow a script, a script that had some untruths in it, is we didn't get any kind of plan, not a small plan for the economy, not any direction for how congress, or at least the republicans, should try to approach the democrats to try to deal with our economic and unemployment issues in this country. we didn't even get a small plan for how we are going to increase testing, which would then allow us to possibly open our economy and open our schools. and i think there was a question in there about the rapid tests that the white house reporters get when they come to the white house. and the president did say, you know, i like those tests. those tests help us. okay, so, let's even just on a really si

jonathan lamir, i want to start with you. covid breaking news headlines today both intersect your life and interests. the most senior national security adviser to this president, robert o'brien, has tested positive for covid. when i worked in a normal white house, there was no one who had more occasion to be in the oval office more than the president's national security advisers, first condi rice and stephen hadley. i do not know if that's the case in this white house. you can tell me. and second, in an organization that has almost unlimited funds, almost unlimited access to quick tests, a major league baseball team, the florida marlins, having to stop games just four days after the baseball season started. how does the white house suggest we throw open all the country's schools? >> yeah, the events of today, nicole, show that the virus can reach anywhere. it can reach into the inner sanctum of the west wing, into the highest levels of professional sports and endanger that baseball season. we'll start with the white house. th

sorry for jumping on you there, jonathan lamire. my bad. isaacson, though, i was just listening to all of this, and it's a war on science, is it not? and how is that going to end? i mean, even the criticism of fauci talking about death rate was taken out of context and it was incorrect. it wasn't quoting him correctly. they seem to want to defy actual data. >> well, you ny respect for gathering the data. they're working around their own centers for disease control now. they're working around the department of health and human services. they haven't been able to get a coherent plan even for testing, treatments, and viruses. it's been done in such a scattershot way. there was a wonderful "ap" story by marilyn marcioni about how none of this has been coordinated. and let me say about dr. anthony fauci. i go way back in understanding his history. i remember him in the 1990s, when he was fighting the aids epidemic. this man is a deeply committed public servant who has throughout been driven by science and also by empathy. he cared very much when

jonathan lamire, you were in the room.u in that shot right there as the question was being asked. the doctor that the president is praising as, quote, spectacular, saying "i thought she was very impressive." we heard the reporter there saying some of the other claims made by the doctor. i will add to that -- not being glib here, it's just something she believes -- that gynecological problems are caused by having sex with demons and witches in your dreams. this is the doctor that the president is touting when he talks about hydroxychloroquine, talks about not wearing masks, which was also in that video. that's why it was pulled down. he was curious why, because she was spreading false information here. the president of the united states, again, leaning into hydroxychloroquine. and i can't help but think, jonathan, what a colossal waste of time to spend a briefing talking about that, when the problem is so big and there still is no national program, there is no national plan to address it. >> reporter: willie, i'm going to s

. >> let's first bring in white house reporter for the "associated press" jonathan lamire. jonathan, good morning. so, the president yesterday, on the very day that the country crossed the 3 million case threshold of coronavirus, and we saw these record spikes in places like texas and california, says we are in a good place. i guess it shouldn't be surprising anymore. that's been the narrative, to sort of wish it away with rhetor rhetoric. apparently, though, no plan at this moment of bringing that spike down. >> good morning, willie. that's right. the white house for a while now has sort of tried to assert its own reality when it comes to the pandemic, not wanting to fully engage and to play off these disturbing spikes we're seeing throughout the country. the case levels reaching record highs in states like texas and florida and others, and it's part of this new messaging the white house has really tried to debut this week, saying to americans, we all need to get used to living with this virus, that this is going to be here for a while, that therapeutics have improved, that

and msnbc political analyst, claire mccaskill, white house reporter for the "associated press," jonathan lamireand author of "begin again: james bald kin's america and its urgent lessons for our own," eddie glaude jr. we'll have more from the prt'

and we're showing these helsinki pictures, jonathan lamire, very appropriate. you were the one that asked the question, does donald trump believe vladimir putin, in effect, or the intel agencies? and he said he believed vladimir putin. and here we are, we thought that was a low point. now we find out that american lives are at risk because vladimir putin has put a bounty on their heads, and the commander in chief of the united states of america is saying nothing. nothing at all. where do we go from here? will the president continue to cower? and will he continue to refuse to condemn vladimir putin for trying to encourage people to kill young americans fighting in afghanistan? >> president trump has shown an extraordinary deference to president putin, dating back to the 2016 campaign and throughout his time in office, most visibly, yes, in helsinki, but throughout his time. in the oval office. and you know, the reporting now by my colleagues at the ap, that this first came to light in march of 2019, it's truly remarkable. at the time, it should be said that the

with us this morning, white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lamir. weekend anchor, alisa menendez, and david drucker, a contributing writer at "vanity fair." joe and mika have the morning off. jonathan, let me begin with you. we're going to get into this deeply in just a moment. but as you and i went off the air yesterday, the president wrote that tweet about bubba wallace and nascar, saying nascar's ratings are down, although they're not, because of its decision to get rid of the confederate flag on its grounds and calling bubba wallace's claims of a noose in his garage a hoax. what was the reaction in the white house? we know what the press secretary came out hours later and tried to spin. but what was the reaction to those tweets as they've tried to turn the corner to the economy and to joe biden? >> willie, this is the president yet again deciding that he is his own messenger and he's going to set the course, despite the advice he's getting from advisers. over the weekend, we saw in a pair of speeches, one at mt. rushmore, and one at the white hou