joining me white house correspondent and weekend "today" co-host kristen welker, "the washington post" opinion writer jonathan okayport and retired admiral and former supreme nato ally commander. welcome back. kristen, you're beyond the newly installed fence this monday, 10-foot-high fence at lafayette park. nbc is reporting that the president is potentially reversing course officially on the insurrection act now that his defense secretary said it is not warranted. >> that's right, andrea. really a remarkable reversal here. the our sources telling us president trump is now backing away from the threat to invoke the insurrection act, which would allow him, arguably in some cases, to deploy the military to various u.s. cities across the country. as you just pointed out defense secretary mark esper seeing he disagrees with that move. let me just set the scene right here now, very active outside of lafayette park. what's happening, the protesters now, you can see the line of federal law enforcement effectively blocking these protesters from getting any closer to lafayette square, which is

in the meantime, joining me now are kristen welker and joshua johnson and cornell belcher, a pollsterome guy named president obama back when we all had a little less gray hair. nice to see you, sir. joshua, we want to remember that this foundation is about, he started it. this was about bringing a focus on uplifting young men of color. what did you make of the message he sent? joshua, i think we have an audio issue. you may want to check. audio from you? >> how about now? >> any way, as i was trying to say before i interrupted myself, president obama made his presentation very much about young people. the young man who introduced him i was watching this stream before it started, he was doing this very powerful spoken word piece and young people dealing with violence on their streets. go to youtube when you get a second. very moving and soakepoke to th energy president obama praised in terms of how social movements happen. he was giving a lot of veterans of social movements have given in terms of a need to marry protests with policy. with precise policy. during the 21st policing task f

months despite the risks of drawing tens of thousands of people together with more on that here's kristen welker. >> reporter: with just three days until president trump's rally in tulsa, oklahoma, trump supporters already camping out. >> i'm not anymore concerned about the coronavirus in the bok than i am in walmart. >> at the white house the president determined to move forward. >> when you come to personal risk, that is just what you do when you go to a baseball game you assume a risk. >> reporter: but cases in oklahoma are surging. the state experiencing its highest single-day increase tuesday, state health officials had asked the campaign to postpone the event but now that it's moving forward they're urging masks and social distancing. >> we're concerned, people coming together without taking precautions is what causes the virus to transmit. >> reporter: even the nation's top infectious disease expert said he would not attend a big rally right now. dr. anthony fauci telling the daily beast overnight i'm in a high ris category, personally i would not. of course not. on the trail joe biden sh

on twitter, it's co it's cost us lives. >> reporter: a rally that's high risk and high stakes, kristen welker, nbc news, washington >>> beyond oklahoma the number of covid cases is on the rise in many other states raising the question, is this a second wave t? sam brock has more. >> reporter: in arizona hospitalizations hit another high today this banner medical center nurse exhausted from her shift in the icu. >> you try to reassure them that it's going to be okay and then it's not. >> reporter: the governor says the cases are higher because they're testing more people. but public health experts say the more important statistic is the percentage of people testing positive. >> the fact that it's going up is really quite concerning it suggests it's not just a matter of more cases that we're testing but also a lot more people are getting the covid virus. >> reporter: texas reaching another record in hospitalizations as the county judge is enforcing mask wearing inside san antonio businesses. >> the action i'm taking today may be pushing the legal bounds a little bit but our attorneys believe we

with that, here is kristen welker. >> reporter: former president barack obama again stepping into the national conversation about race and inequality in the wake of george floyd's death. tonight, holding an intergenerational town hall. >> you're saying to yourself, i have agency. i can make a difference i can have an impact i might not be able to change all of it, but i can change this corner of it. >> reporter: the former president, joined by young, african-american men, who say they have experienced racial injustice. and by congressman and civil rights icon john lewis, who marched on washington and across the edmund pettus bridge in selma, alabama, where white police officers left lewis bloodied and battered, with a broken skull >> i thought i was going to die i said a little prayer i said lord, let me live. >> reporter: the civil rights leader and the nation's first african-american president say they still inspire each other to keep the fight going. >> i'm tough but he's a capital dude you would not know that, that young man could awaken a nation and that's an example of the power

and we've got kristen welker at the white house. let's start in tulsa. and, cal perry, i want to start with you in the greenwood district there. give us a sense of the scene. i know you have talked to some folks who are not very excited about the president's arrival in the next 24 hours. >> i think a lot of people are here, and they are angry about the president's arrival tomorrow. you have, as you put it, this culmination of stories. these protests about keeping black lives matter in the forefront of people's minds as we deal with police violence across the country. you have the anniversary of the massacre that took place 99 years ago. this was an economic center of activity, even through segregation, people who live here have a life expectancy that is less than their white counterparts on the other side of town. unemployment is twice as high here as it is on the other side of town, in those white neighborhoods. so it's a matter of focus. we just talked to one. she said it's a matter of keeping the focus on what matters here, that is juneteenth, that is

kristen welker has details. >> he didn't deserve to die over $20. i'm asking you is that what a black man is worth, $20 >> reporter: on capitol hill, an emotional and raw appeal from philonise floyd, demanding justice for his brother george. >> he pleaded for his life he said he couldn't breathe. nobody cared nobody people pleaded for him. they still didn't care justice has to be served you don't even do that to an animal his life mattered. all our lives matter black lives matter >> reporter: floyd describing the despair he felt watching an officer kneel on his brother's neck, 8 minu that video over and over again felt like 8 hours and 46 minutes hurt seeing my brother plead for his life, watching that officer just put his knee on his neck. >> reporter: now demanding that lawmakers take action to prevent others from dying like his brother. >> honor george and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution and not the problem. hold them accountable when they do something wrong. teach them what it means to treat people with empathy

and kristen welker tells us about it from washington now. >> reporter: aiming to capitalize, president trump is again calling himself the law and order president and trying to cast democrats who support the movement to defund the police as anti-law enforcement and radicals the president meeting with law enforcement officials today at the white house. >> we won't be defunding our police we won't be dismantling our police we won't be disbanding our police. >> reporter: a spokesperson for the president's democratic rival joe biden said biden is also opposed to defunding the police, but does support significant reforms to police departments nationwide on capitol hill today, democrats unveiling their own proposal nbc's kasie hunt >> the sweeping democratic proposal would make significant reforms to police departments, banning choke holds, making it easier to prosecute an officer and creating a national database of police misconduct. but it faces an uphill battle in the republican senate. >> reporter: house democrats also taking time to kneel for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in memory of george

lester >> kristen welker tonight at the white house.hank you. >>> a country absorbed in the fallout from the george floyd murder got a sharp reminder today of the other crises rocking the nation a huge sell-off in wall street amid concerns about the continuing spread of covid-19 the dow plunging more than 1,800 points, its biggest drop in three months we got good news today that the number of unemployment claims continues to fall, still 1.5 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, almost 43 million since the pandemic began there is growing concern tonight that relaxing restrictions is causing major increases of covid-19 cases. take a look at this. 15 states have seen cases rise by more than 25% in just the last week. erin mclaughlin is in arizona for us tonight. >> reporter: tonight growing concerns in arizona where in the last week covid-19 cases jumped a shocking 93% >> we're seeing increasing numbers, and we're starting to see some strain on our hospitals and our health care system. >> reporter: officials warn this a

. >>> good evening, i'm kristen welker in tonight for lester, we begin with the troubling surge to haveid-19 cases, more than half of states now seeing increases. governors in texas and florida making moves they had hoped to avoid, rolling back reopenings, restricting bars as cases among young people skyrocket and under pressure to do more the coronavirus task force held a briefing for the first time in two months with vice president pence saying there's encouraging news despite the dire picture painted by the numbers. we have it all covered starting with sam brock in houston >> reporter: after reopening restaurants and bars just last month tonight a full scale about-face in texas and florida. the sunshine state suspending alcohol consumption inside bars after setting a record for daily cases, nearly 9,000. and a bigger pullback in texas, the governor closing down all bars and bringing restaurant capacity back to 50%. officials from houston to austin, raising the alarms. >> we find ourselves careening toward a catastrophic and unsustainable situation. >> this is crunch time for us we ne

kristen welker has late details. >> reporter: tonight president trump revealing one aspect of police reform he might support. signaling he's open to a ban on officers using choke holds, but also voicing reservations in a fox nterview >> i think the concept of choke holds sounds so innocent, so perfect and then you realize if it's a one on one, now if it's two-on-one, that's a little bit of different story, depending. but if a police officer is in a bad scuffle and he's got somebody in a choke hold -- >> one on one fight for the life. >> that does happen. >> but it's -- >> you have to be careful. with that being said it would be, i think, a very good thing that generally speaking it should be ended. >> reporter: the president saying he's close to finalizing an executive order that would improve police training but has yet to offer specifics and he was asked what he would say to protesters about george floyd's death. >> i think it's a shame. i think it's a disgrace and it's got to stop at the same time you also know that we have incredible people in law enforcement, and we have to cher

nbc's kristen welker is at the white house with that. >> reporter: while the nation mourned george floydpresident trump sparked outrage, tweeting out a baseless conspiracy theory about this viral video, showing the moment buffalo police knocked down and critically injured a protester, 75-year-old martin gugino the president cited a report by a far right news outlet writing, buffalo protester shoved by police could be an anti antifa provocateur i watched. he fell harder than pushed was aiming scanner could be a set up? antifa stands for antifascist and there is no evidence to back up the report the president cited, which is from a man who has also done stories for a russian propaganda outlet that u.s. intelligence said tried to meddle in the 2016 elections in fact, there is a lot of evidence to contradict the president's tweet. gugino is known as a long time peace protester and said in a statement today, quote, no comment other than black lives matter just out of the icu. should recover eventually thanks his friends have described him publicly as a gentle person and his lawyer tells nbc n

and kristen welker has a bit more on the president's security. what can you tell us? >> reporter: lester, this was first reported by "the new york times." and nbc news confirmed that on friday night, as protestors gathered outside the white house, the secret service at one point was so concerned that they rushed him into the underground bunker within the white house. this is significant. look, this is a bunker that was used for example during 9/11. that is where the secret service had former vice president dick cheney shelter in place, as those events were unfolding. administration officials tell me that the president was only in the bunker for a short period of time, and it was done out of an abundance of caution. the white house not responding to these reports, lester. according to the president himself he felt safe. he tweeted out saturday morning, great job last night by the u.s. secret service who were professional and very cool. i was inside, watched every move and couldn't have felt more safe. they let the protestors scream and rant as much as they wanted, sayi

louis this follows a racist video he retweeted the day before kristen welker has more now from the white house. >> reporter: tonight as protests for racial justice persist the president is again stoking tensions on twitter. sharing a video today of a white couple in an upscale st. louis neighborhood pointing firearms and shouting at people protesting the white house has not commented on that video but it comes a day after the president retweeted another video showing an apparent trump supporter at a florida retirement community shouting white power at anti-trump protesters. >> white power, white power. >> reporter: the president took the tweet down amid bipartisan backlash and after his ally senator tim scott called the tweet indefensible on sunday. >> there's no question he should not have retweeted it and it should be taken down. >> reporter: joe biden saying white supremacy should be rooted out, and relegated to the pages of history not promoted by the president of the united states. the white house on defense. >> we did not hear that particular phrase when he tweeted out the video. h

joining me are washington post columnist eugene, and nbc correspondent kristen welker, and senior editor"the dispatch," david french. welcome to sunday. "it's meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >>> good sunday morning. we have reached at least one inflexion point in america, perhaps two. the killing of george floyd has set up nearly two weeks of mostly peaceful protests in scores of cities across the country and around the world, most of them yesterday. awakening white america to the police brutality and a coalition to say "enough." at the same time the clearing of protesters near the white house to make way for a presidential photo opportunity had succeeded in uniting current and former military leaders to denounce the use of force against peaceful assembly and to say "enough." from the brutal police killing to the marches, to the 110,000 americans dead from the coronavirus, to the tens of millions now unemployed, there is a growing sense that things are spinning beyond our grasp in t

. >> joining me now, nbc white house correspondent and "weekend today" co-host kristen welker. nbc capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt, host of "kasie d.c.," and a doctor from the bloomberg school of health. welcome, all. we heard repeated questioning today about a vaccine. dr. hahn from the fda and dr. fauci are saying it's very hard to predict. they're going into stage iii trials but they have to have enough people to test, enough virus out there. they're testing in south africa, for instance, and in brazil, in order to have enough data to prove that it is effective. kasie hunt, the most important thing i think that dr. fauci said, aside from doienying that there is political pressure and that he's been told to slow down any of the testing, is that they want to be sure that the vaccine is effective, that the worst thing they could do is come out with a vaccine without testing and knowing it is effective against covid-19. >> that's right, andrea, and rushing a vaccine to the point where it caused problems or wasn't effective would be such a tremendous setback for so many rea

. >> joining me, vaughn hillyard, ashley parker and kristen welker. kristen, let's talk about the president lashing out about the protest and his campaign, including the pandemic. >> reporter: that's right. the president is digging in, andrea, not on on his law and order messaging, but essentially the desire to turn the page, to restart campaigning. he is going to be in tulsa next friday. he was pressed there by fox news about the decision to hold it on juneteenth, this day that means so much not only the african-american community but within the united states history. you heard the president there say think of it as a celebration. now, it's our understanding he is going to address the significance of juneteenth, of course marking the day that slaves were freed in this country. it will be interesting to see what specifically he has to say. typically trump rallies are predominantly not minority communities and so what will his message there be? we'll have to see. but this is a president who is not afraid to engage in the culture wars, andrea, and he's n

joining me now is nbc correspondent kristen welker and an adviser to the biden campaign. kristen, first to you, a lot of this we sort of knew. this is confirming information from the highest-ranking insider, from the national security adviser, a former fox contributor and a well-known conservative. but the president is just fuming about this in reaction. >> the president is fuming about this, andrea, and he is trying to essentially dismiss john bolton to tarnish his name and so are his allies, rudy giuliani for example tecxting me overnight, calling bolton a backstabber for writing these revelations. the problem for president trump, something you just pointed to, the fact that this is a well-known conservative, someone widely respected in conservative circles. and he's now effectively painting this pattern of behavior by president trump, suggesting that he would ask president xi for help with his reelection, that's the entire reason the president was impeached in the first place, andrea, the fact that he asked ukraine for help with his election. and of course now he disput

joining me now, nbc white house correspondent and weekend "today" co-host, kristen welker. figliuzzi, the former assistant of the fbi counterintelligence division and staffer to leon panetta from the cia. kristen, let's talk about the president, the decision first of all to say he's mobilizing the military, which is controversial and ambiguous legally, and his decision to do that walkabout. you were right there. as announced he went out from the gates at lafayette the park and that had been cleared of protesters about a half hour earlier with some controversial moves as far as the mayor is concerned today. >> andrea, rur right. it was a remarkable split screen and series of events. first we were in the rose garden as president trump declared himself the law and order president and threatened to dispatch the military to citizens across the country if governors didn't crackdown and get tougher and deploy the national guard to prevent protesters from becoming violent. as he was uttering those words, you could hear authorities clearing out protesters in lafayette park, which is

. >> joining me now, nbc white house correspondent and "weekend today" host kristen welker and from lafayette park amongst protester for days, and "washington post" opinion writer jonathan lockhart. kristen, concerns about the president's re-election with polling seeing as well as the rest of us is seeing, but he was inside. they canceled a possible trip to his bedminster, new jersey, golf resort this weekend. i guess because of the optics of him being away while these protests continue around washington and the rest of country? >> reporter: that's right, andrea. concerned about the optics and we are see ag president who is increasingly defiant and increasingly on defense in the wake of colin powell coming out and saying that he's going to endorse joe biden. president trump taking aim at colin powell on twitter. calling him overrated, blaming him for embroiling the united states in wars in the middle east, and essentially white house officials trying to downplay the endorsement saying, look, this is someone who voted for hrc hillary clinton, voted barack obama. the reality, start fog seep in,

. >> ben jealous and congressman sheila jackson lee, i just want to share with you that kristen welker, carol lee, are reporting from our white house team that the president will address police reform and will meet with law enforcement officials and with members of the faith community tomorrow when he's in dallas, texas. >> we hope good news, andrea, i hope he acknowledges that black lives matter and that we're working for all the people of the united states. >> we will of course be covering that, thank you very much for being with us. and thanks to ben jealous as well. >>> coming up, remember the pandemic? why are the number of new cases of the coronavirus spiking in more than a dozen states across the country? stay with us for answers. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. msnbc. businesses are starting to bounce back. but what if you could do better than that? like adapt. discover. deliver, in new ways, to new customers. what if you could come back stronger? faster. better. at comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back, but bounce forward. and now, with

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker, and dr. peggy hamburg, former fda commissioner and former health commissioner for new york city. welcome all. joe, first to you. talk about the hospitalizations, the use rising in texas. governor abbott now changingening course. testing lines, awaiting in galveston as well as the deadline in two days ending the testing subsidy? >> reporter: so the governor clearly has been alarmed. you've seen them in the decisions he's made over the last few days. case numbers are up. hospitalizations kept going on 16 days in a row. record for hospitalizations broken, inial finally yesterday just a slight tick downward. still about 5,500 patients in hospitals here in texas which is an alarming number. the fear that is going to continue to go up. dr. birx was here yesterday and mentioned seeing an alarming increase in people between the ages of 20 and 40. young adults with underlying conditions who are also ending up in hospitals and in icus. it's so alarming we saw last week the governor first pausing the re

kristen welker was part of the team that broke the story. that tweet just another, you know, one of a number of tweets, controversial tweets that have aroused concerns, even among the president's own staff. >> that's right. and this is from my colleague carol lee and i who were told by multiple officials here that tweet did set off a five-alarm fire. officials here immediately trying to contact the president as well as one of the officials who has control of the president's twitter feed. they had a tough time trying to get in touch with him, but the urgency was added when the president's ally, senator tim scott, went on national tv and condemned the tweet and called on the president to take it down. so ultimately, they were able to take it down. but you're right, andrea, this does come against the backdrop of other incendiary tweets the president has sent out. they said the president didn't hear that apparent supporter yelling white power but president trump was asked about a controversial tweet several months ago when he retweeted something

joining me nbc white house correspondent kristen welker and chief white house correspondent peter baker. kristen, what are the latest white house pushbacks? what are you seeing in lafayette park here today? >> andrea, first of what we're seeing in lafayette park, i will start with the last part of your question, let me step out of the way so you can see the protesters here. they have expanded the fence around the white house, around lafayette park to these protesters but the protesters are here nonetheless. you can see them. they are peaceful. a number of them holding up signs demanding change, justice for george floyd reads one. wake up, stand up says another one. black lives matter. another man holding a sign that says "stop killing us." andrea, you can see the emotions are still running high here outside of the white house where a number of people during the day are demanding change. of course, there were peaceful protests largely overnight in washington, d.c. to the remarkable break we're seeing between the president and the military. the fact you have general james mattis coming ou

joining me now on all of this, nbc news white house correspondent and "weekend today" co-host kristen welker, nbc's more can chesky in atlanta, nbc's garrett haake on capitol hill, and "washington post" bureau chief phillip rucker. kristen, first, to you, the president is taking a step, certainly a signal that after much reluctance and refusal to talk about systemic racism, for instance, he is feeling the pressure or they are feeling the political pressure even from their own republicans on capitol hill. >> that's right, andrea. president trump has been under pressure for weeks to put forward some type of plan as to how he is going to address the key concerns that have been expressed by protesters all across the country. so today is that day, he's going to be signing that executive order that is going to order the doj to look into training and best practices by the police, should chokeholds still be used, that will set up some type of national database to try to track police officers who have been accused the misconduct repeatedly, and to try to put more funds into things like mental health

of course, kristen welker and yamiche alcindor, and morgan radford.e're privileged to be joined on juneteenth by levar burton, grammy and daytime emmy award-winning actor who was also a producer. he was introduced to the nation at kunta kinte in the transformative television series "roots" in 1997. >> kunta never forget you. kunta be free. >> levar burton has also helped educate millions and millions of american schoolchildren across the country as the producer and star of "reading rainbow" through decades. thank you so much for joining us, and especially on juneteenth. i want to begin by asking your reaction to everything that we've seen in the past three weeks, the renewed calls for social justice, for police reform, the marches, the protests, the american awakening across diverse groups with white america taking notice in a different way of the suffering of black americans at the hands of law enforcement and of juneteenth. >> andrea, it's been an incredibly potent three weeks with the pandemic and with the renewal of the intensity of the struggle f

>> kristen welker, thank you. joining us from the white house. >>> joining us to dig deeper into what all of this means, dr. ashish jha. secretary azar says the window is closing. what does that mean? >> so thank you for having me on. what secretary azar is referring to is that in many, many states across the country, the outbreaks are getting so severe that if states don't act aggressively and don't act now, they are essentially going to be looking at shelter in place orders across the state. and they're going to be seeing overwhelmed hospitals. overwhelmed icus. and i think rightly pointing out the time to act is now. >> we talked about california closing bars, florida closing beaches. is that what secretary azar means? is that the right way to deal with this? >> i think some of those are good steps. i do think closing bars -- any indoor gathering right now in hot spots is risky. so i think all of those places with big outbreaks happening have to -- closing indoor restaurants, bars, nightclubs. anything that bri

i'm kristen welker in washington. the air, anticipation is mounting with a new record for confirmed coronavirus cases in oklahoma, just one day before president trump holds a campaign rally there, his first in three months. supporters lining up for days as the campaign faces last minute challenges in court and from the events center. the oklahoma supreme court expected to rule today in a lawsui

eyes on kentucky to see which democrat will take on the senate's top republican here is nbc's kristen welkerporter: tonight is the protest movement sweeping the country about to shake up the democratic race to take on the senate's most powerful republican, mitch mcconnell? one candidate predicting a major surprise >> fighting for a better future has allowed us to build this coalition and is going to shock the world. >> reporter: democratic state representative charles booker has been a major player in kentucky's protests for racial justice booker supports defunding police, the green new deal, and medicare for all and he's backed by progressive stars bernie sanders and alexandria ocasio cortez >> need to uproot structural inequity and racism. >> reporter: booker has been an underdog against retired marine fighter pilot and early front-runner amy mcgrath who is supported by establishment democrats. >> we didn't care about politics we just wanted to serve our country. >> reporter: earlier this month mcgrath was asked if she had taken part in protests >> i have not. >> and why >> well, i've been

. >> our thanks to kristen welker for that people will be getting to return to the aquarium soon, it u.s. surges past 2.5 million cases of coronavirus, causing an about face on beach openings in florida. in california, bars are ordered closed immediately and in texas, the governor says the state has taken a swift and dangerous turn >>> calls for justice. can new rallies against the police following the death of elijah mcclain in colorado >> black lives matter. say it can't you say it black lives matter we should be saying it every day.

john's church after law enforcement attacked protestors to clear the way nbc's kristen welker has more. >> yet another divide between the president and his top generals after chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mark milley issued a stunning apology for appearing alongside president trump, in combat uniform, during a walk to st. john's church last monday, that ended in this infamous photo op. >> as many of you saw the result of the photograph of me at lafayette square last week, that sparked a national debate. my presence, in that moment and in that environment, created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. as a commissioned, uniformed officer, it was a mistake that i have learned from. and i sincerely hope we all can learn from it. >> milley was so upset, he considered resigning over the issue. three defense officials tell nbc news meanwhile, last week, defense secretary mark esper tried to distance himself and former defense secretary james mattis said he was appalled president trump, not answering questions about the matter >> your reaction to milley >> it com

. >> from nbc news this is "today" with peter alexander, kristen welker and dylan dreyer. >> welcome to today"today", sat. >> from nbc news this is ""today"" with peter alexander, kristen welker and dylan dreyer. >> welcome to "today". >> only in 2020 are now we now dealing with the dust cloud. all we need is the locusts. first the major headline, our top story, the latest on the coronavirus crisis. here are the newest numbers. the u.s. now seeing the highest single day increase ever in the number of infections. that happened friday. more than 45,000 cases in just 24 hours. bringing t 2.4 million. more than 125,000 americans have now died. >> and in florida the mayor of miami dade is closing all beaches for the busy fourth of july weekend and the u.s. judge ordered migrate children held in the u.s. detention facilities must be released pause of the threat of the pandemic. in certain cases their parents may be released as well. >> fanned out across the country covering the pandemic. sam brock is in miami. sam, good morning. >> reporter: peter, kristen. good morning. even a week ago it

kristen welker from the white house. isten, thank you >>> also this morning, the fbi has now joined the investigation into that noose found in the talladega speedway garage of nascar's only black driver bubba wallace. and before yesterday's race, there was this this powerful display of support from dozens of wallace's fellow drivers. it was something nbc's sam brock joins us now from talladega with the very latest hey, sam good morning >> reporter: yeah, hoda. good morning bubba wallace didn't win monday's race, but this was a victory for everyone what happened to talladega was boost for fans and drivers it was historic and an incredible moment for a nation at a cross roads >> racing is the great equalizer. >> reporter: in a 500-lap race at talladega superspeedway, it was this unforgettable stretch before the green flag dropped -- >> the entire garage area has rallied around bubba wallace >> reporter: that will likely ns >> all in all, we won the day.io witness in my life >> reporter: an emotional bubba wallace, the sport

death a disgrace but he also had some pointed words for some of the protests that it sparked kristen welker has that story. hey, kristen, good morning >> reporter: good morning to you. president trump struggles with how to address the crisis in the wake of george floyd's death he said he's working on an executive order to make sure police officers are better trained while also taking an increasingly tough stance on many of the protesters president trump on fox news thursday night condemning -- >> it's eight minutes really of horror it's a disgrace. >> reporter: but he insisted floyd's death was a few bad actors not systemic racism in police departments nationwide >> police aren't like that i've seen so many great police officers >> reporter: protesters he used out of control singling out seattle where demonstrators have taken over a six block area of the city including a police precinct >> if there were more toughness, you wouldn't have the kind of devastation that you had in minneapolis and in seattle >> reporter: local officials are at odds about how to deal with the protesters but the se

nbc's kristen welker joins us from the white house. good morning. >> reporter: hi, willie.ood morning to you. the president is facing growing questions about what he knew about reports that russia put a price on the lives of american soldiers in afghanistan. now, the president is down playing the reports and insists he was never briefed on the matter. but now congress is demanding answers. overnight "the washington post" reporting that according to u.s. intelligence assessments, russian bounties on u.s. troops in afghanistan offered to taliban militants may have resulted in the deaths of several u.s. service members. a spokesman for the national security council tells nbc news the veracity of the underlying alle evaluated. a defense official tells nbc news there was no evidence that any bounty was actually paid. "the new york times" was first to report the existence of those bounties. "the times" said it was included in the presidential briefing book and was discussed at a meeting in march. overnight president trump denied he was ever briefed on the matter and tweeted, inte

nbc's kristen welker joins us from the white house. good morning. >> reporter: hi.ood morning to you. president trump is back at the white house this morning after trying to energize young voters with his trip to arizona on tuesday. it's a sign of how competitive the race for the white house is. arizona has been a republican stronghold but recent polls show the president trailing joe biden there. for his part, biden held a mega fundraiser with barack obama. their first together of the 2020 campaign. president trump in arizona trying to reset his campaign after recent missteps rallying young republicans at a phoenix megachurch lashing out at protests going on nationwide. >> left wing extremists have looted businesses, violently assaulted innocent civilians and brutally injured hundreds and hundreds of police officers. >> reporter: billed as an official white house trip, the event had all the hallmarks of a campaign stop. the president repeating his racist name for the coronavirus. >> it's got all different names. wuhan. got wuhan which is catching on. coronavirus, ri

savannah, back to you. >> kristen welker at the white house. isten, thank you >>> a top russian official is now responding to those bounty allegations in a new interview with "today" correspondent keir simmons. keir, good morning to you. what's moscow saying >> reporter: hey, craig. good morning to you. president putin's spokesman denying to me that a secretive russian intelligence unit was involved in these allegations saying the kremlin has received no complaint from the white house and not for the first time russia using president trump's own tweets to underscore its case president putin's spokesperson telling nbc news that president trump's tweets claiming u.s. intelligence didn't find credible information absolves russia of blame. >> and those statements indicate indicate that those reports actually aren't -- were not so valuable and not so trustful so that's why speak to the president of the united states >> reporter: dmitry peskov using forceful language. if russia was paying money to reward members of the taliban for the killing of ameri

joining me is nbc white house correspondent kristen welker and robert costa, national reporter for "thengton post." kristen, first, to you, this is such a tale of a relationship that went bad, but bolton has already clearly done interviews, he's talked about the book. there have been leaks from the book during impeachment, showing key things that the president said about ukraine that contradicted the president's claim. so why go to the mat legally with a suit that frankly, with the famous "new york times" pentagon papers precedent against prior restraint, has very little chance of holding up in court on the prior restraint front? >> well, andrea, it's an important question. we know that president trump has been enraged about this book for months. he is concerned that it will reveal damaging information about his presidency. and so this is the one action that the justice department at least feels as though it can take. you're right, not necessarily to block the book's publication but to potentially limit some of the royalties that john bolton would get. it's sort of this escalating war.

kristen welker at the white house. thank you. >>> now to the latest on the coronavirus pandemic dr.ny fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, now describing the virus as his worst nightmare. and he's warning the outbreak is far from over with the number of active cases still not dropping. tom costello has the details tom, the experts are concerned we've seen a rise in cases in many places around the country >> reporter: yeah. very concerned because the cases are not plateauing some states are now reopening like new jersey just as medical professionals are trying to clear up something that came out that was utterly confusing and it came from of all places thei. four months into the coronavirus pandemic, the numbers are still staggering world health organization. four months into the coronavirus pandemic, the numbers are still staggering nearly 2 million confirmed cases in the u.s 112,000 fatalities and roughly a thousand people dying every single day dr. anthony fauci calls it his worst nightmare. >> like, oh, my goodness when is it going to end? it really is very complica

nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker has that part of the story. good morning to you. >> reporter: craig, good morning to you. president trump will meet with law enforcement officials and african-american leaders when he travels to dallas, texas, later on today. we has grappled with how to respond to the crisis in the wake of george floyd's death. on wednesday, an emotional and powerful message from floyd's brother, stop the pain. george floyd's younger brother, philonise, joined leaders for a march for black lives matter, capping off a day of emotional testimony about his brother's death, delivering an impassioned plea to members of congress. >> he pleaded for his life. he said he couldn't breathe. nobody cared. justice has to be served. >> reporter: floyd describing the agony he felt as he watched the video of an officer kneeling on his older brother's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. >> felt like eight hours and 46 minutes. hurt, seeing my brother plead for his life. watching that officer just put his knee on his neck. >> reporter: now, ch

i'm kristen welker in for craig melvin. a lot of headlines today.want to start this busy hour off by getting you caught up on the latest facts with this pandemic. right now there are more than 2.4 million known cases in our country and so far we have lost more than 125,000 americans. this pandemic is only escalating in our country, and we're seeing that spotlight intensify on the white house. in just over an hour, the white house coronavirus task force is set to have its first briefing in two months. >>> in texas, just moments ago, governor greg abbott is now scaling back reopening closing bars and reducing restaurant capacity. it's a pivot after previously announcing a pause. we're going to talk to texas congressman castro about that shift in just a bit. texas isn't the only state dealing with a surge in new cases. we have reporters covering the work to contain this outbreak count countrywide and we swant to stat in one of the states seeing record high cases. gadi schwartz, you are in pasadena. i know you have been talking to hospital staff there.