paula reid for cbs news.rr and p thomas, chee justice correspondent for abc news. a, you join us tonight from the white house. you are at the white house when e president made that decision to walk across lgh fa yet square. what drove that move inside the west wing? wat a response to reports that he was in the white house bunker on friday night? or was it a deliberate flexing of executive power? paula: a little bit of both. there was ang feenside the white house that the presidents was being perceived as weak, and he wanted a demonstration of strength and he wanted to show support for thisto hcally significant church thatad been a part of it -- that had been seten f the night before. but it was so remarkable because just a few yards from where i am here, the president in the rose garden saying heupport peaceful protest talkinging abt law and order. wile a few yards this way they were using flash bangs to car peaceful protestors so the president could walk across and have what is effectively a photo op in froth o church. so the president really stepped on his own mes

cbs' paula reid is at the white house tonight. >> reporter: norah, the president's emphasis on law and order and his threats to deploy the military to handle protests, like the one this weekend, all part of an effort to appeal to his base, at a time when his support is slipping not just among voters but also among current and former defense officials.he whihouse s not stog military officials. secretary of defense mark esper is still on the job today, even after he rejected the president's threat to use active-duty military to police the protests. president trump lashed out at his first defense secretary, general james mattis, calling him "the world's most overrated general," after mattis said wednesday night, "donald trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the american people. instead, he tries to divide us." tonight, general john kelly, the president's former chief of staff, backed mattis, calling him "an honorable man," and the president's twitter attack "nasty." mattis is the fourth former military

cbs's paula reid is at the white house tonight. a, i understand the president has just left the white house heading for st. johns episcopal across lafayette park? >> reporter: that's right, norah. moments ago the president walked behind me across the white house north lawn in the direction of st. st. johns. te was accompanied by cabinet, family members, and press staff. of course, yesterday st. johns was set on fire during the protests. the president's decision to deploy active duty soldiers to deal with the crisis comes as he's been increasingly frustrated by the chaotic scenes unfolding around the country. >> that is why i'm taking ismediate presidential action to stop the violence and restore acurity and safety in america. >> reporter: presi trump a message today for state leaders during these protests and riots: fight back or you'll lose. in audio obtained by cbs news, the president ripped the nation's governors for being weak. >> you have to dominate. if you don't dominate, you're wasting your time. they're going to run over yo

cbs's paula reid is at the white house tonight. paula? >> reporter: norah, this rose garden address comes just hours after the president told state lead centers a call that they needed to clamp down on protesters or risk looking like fools. the president's decision to deploy active duty soldiers to deal with the crisis comes as he's been increasingly frustrated by the chaotic scenes unfolding around the country. president trump had a message today for state leaders dealing with protests and riots -- fight back or you'll lose. in audio obtained by cbs news, the president ripped the nation's governors for being weak. >> you have to dominate. if you don't dominate, you're wasting your time. they're going to run over you, and you're going to look like a bunch of jerks. >> reporter: president trump has called in reinforcements to secure the area around the white house, including the city's entire 1,200-membr national guard force. >> you've got a big national guard out there that's ready to come and fight like hell. >> reporter: friday night's

cbs' paula reid is at the white house for us tonight. evening, paula. >> reporter: good evening, norah. the president has largely ignored the persistent threat posed by coronavirus, but as the number of cases continues to climb, his poll numbers are on the decline. the white house had not hosted a foreign leader since the start of the coronavirus. president trump and his polish counterpart did not wear masks or socially distance, and there was little discussion of the virus' resurgence in the u.s., only a promise from the president that a vaccine would arrive soon. >> a beautiful surprprise, soonr than anybody would think. >> reporter: the president has routinely dismissed the virus as something that will fade away on its own, even without a vaccine, and praises his own response to did so we the crisis. >> it's one of the reasons we did so well, before the plague, and we're doing so well after the plague. it's going away. >> reporter: but the explosion of cases in recent days has taken a toll on the president's poll numbers, where he tra

norah. >> o'donnell: paula reid at the white house, thank you. and there is encouraging news tonight on a new type of vaccine being tested in britain. cbs' roxana saberi has more in our series "racing to a cure." >> reporter: scientists at imperial college london say if their vaccine works, it would require significantly smaller doses than other potential vaccines, and it would be easier to mass produce. >> so if you imagine a liter bottle of lemonade. that would have two million doses in it. >> reporter: unlike traditional vaccines that use a form of the actual virus, this one is created artificially, it uses synthetic strands of the g code found on the surface of the ndvid-19 virus. when injected, the the vaccine instructs muscle cells to make copies of that protein. >> and the immune system sees that as foreign and makes a potent antibody response against it. >> reporter: so are you basically tricking the body to thinking it's encountering the virus but it's not? >> that's exactly what we're doing so when you're exposed to it in real life, you

idmask, even as the top expert standing near him did, and they urged the public to do the same cbs' paula reids at the white house tonight. good evening, paula. >> reporter: good evening, norah. nearly 70,000 americans have died since the last task force briefing. today, while the president tried to put a positive spin on the situation, he left it to the vice president to defend these recent massive rallies that have contributed to the spread and forced dozens of staffers to have to quarantine. president trump spoke only briefly about coronavirus this afternoon, citing success, despite the explosion of cases in recent days. >> we're making a lot of progress with the whole situation that came in from a place called china. >> reporter: the vice president was left to answer questions about the resurgence. at today's coronavirus task force briefing, pence defended mr. trump's crowded, maskless campaign rallies. >> we still want to give people the freedom to participate in the political process. >> reporter: but dr. anthony fauci warned that young people, like those who packed a students for trump

paula reid, an extraordinary day. >> reporter: indeed. attorney general and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff have overseen a ramping up of security at the white house. tonight they extended the barrier around the white house several blocks in every direction after last night saw looting, vandalism and even fires set yards from the white house fence. president trump said tonight he was putting a stop to the violent protests that have gripped the country over the past several days. >> we are ending the riots and lawlessness that has spread throughout our country. we will end it now -- >> reporter: as the president spoke, peaceful protesters outside the white house were being fired on with tear gas, stun grenades, are of their own residents, president trump said tonight eh will send in the military, a stunning move, if protests can't be controlled. >> if the city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then i will deploy the united states military and quickly solve the probl

norah. >> o'donnell: paula reid, thank you. well, tonight, we're hearing an extraordinary allegation from a federal prosecutor who helped convict the president's friend, roger stone. that prosecutor plans to tell a congressional committee tomorrow that he faced pressure from the highest levels of the justice department to go easy on stone. here's cbs' nancy cordes. >> reporter: assistant u.s. attorney aaron zelinsky says the political influence he experienced in the roger stone case was "deeply unsettling," and rtunpredented. in a detailed 13-page statement, zelinsky says the team that prosecuted the president's longtime friend was pressured to water down and in some cases outright distort the events that transpired in his trial in order to secure a lighter sentence. "what i heard repeatedly" he wrote, "was that roger stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the president." stone was convicted on seven counts, including witness tampering and lying to investigators. but when it

cbs's paula reid reports tonight from the white house.rom the w >> reporter: the president under fire tonight for saying he told his staff to slow down coronavirus testing in order to stop the number of rising cases. >> so i said to my people, slow the testing down please. >> reporter: the white house said that remark saturday in did not deny it today., but the >> if it did president did not deny it today. >> if it did slow down, frankly i think we're way ahead of ourselves if you want to know the truth. we've done too good a job. >> reporter: one democratic governor on a conference call with vice president mike pence said the president's comments were not helpful. >> if we could all get on the same page and get a commitment that there is not a federal mandate to slow down testing, i think it would be extremely helpful. >> reporter: for the >> reporter: for the president, the tulsa rally did not live up to its own hype. >> we have never had an empty seat, and we certainly won't in oklahoma. >> reporter: only 6,000 out of 19,000 were fille

>> o'donnell: paula reid at the white house, thank you. and this reminder, you can see our interview with john bolton tomorrow right here on the "cbs the "cbsews." attorney general william barr is denying charges of political interference after he fired a key u.s. attorney to make way for a nominee with no experience as a federal prosecutor. that firing has brought accusations that barr is using the justice department to protect the president and his allies. cre's cbs's nancy cordes. >> i'm not involved. >> reporter: the president and the white house seeking distance from a mysterious power play taking theead on thi attorney general bill barr announced that u.s. attorney geoff berman was piepping down, but berman, who led the powerful southern district of new york, denied resigning and went to work on saturday. >> i'm just here to do my job. >> reporter: barr, with the president's blessing, then fired him outright. >> he wants these investigations stopped in their tracks. >> reporter: harry litman is a former u.s. attorney. what kind of in

cbs' paula reid is at the white house live tonight. paula. >> reporter: norah, those religious leaders are accuseing the president of using houses of worship for photo opportunities while not si socius countrnspireotts as ( booing ) >> reporter: president trump was met with more protests on his only outing of the day-- to a washington shrine honoring pope john paul ii. archbishop wilton gregory issued a rare public rebuke of the visit. citing last night's use of force to clear protesters, he called it "baffling and reprehensible that any catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused." president trump praised last night's overwhelming force and domination, releasing a campaign-style video of his widely criticized walk across lafayette park for a picture in front of st. john's church, while holding a bible. cbs news has learned the president wanted to make the visit as a show of strength, after reports that he was hiding in a bunker during friday's protests. attorney general bill barr, who was seen inspecting the polic

. >> we want tonoto white house correspondent paula reid.lpaula, why was there this confusion and why hasn't the attorney general explained why he did this? >> well, as you heard there the president is saying he does not get involved in matters related to the justice department but hisown attorney general said his prolific tweets related to the justice department make it nearly impossible for him to do his job, the special counsel laid out 11 poss instas where the president has tried to obstruct justice by interfering at the justice department, which is why many people are seeing what happened friday through a lens of skepticism and raising questions about whether the president is trying to protect himself or his allies like rudy giuliani, but justice department official said there was no conntion between this fiinstn explinetgaret, statent friday saying burman was stepping down when burman said, wait not so fast. >> and it is also unusual because the southern district handles so many sensitive cases, including the one you just mentioned wit

today, bolton's lawyer cited our own paula reid, holdig up the book at the white house, as evidence that horse is out of the barn. the administration claims it contains classified information. bolton says that's not the president's actual concern. >> the president isn't worried about foreign governments reading this book. he's worried about the american people reading this book. >> reporter: the book, published by simon & schuster, a division of viacomcbs, depicts president trump as highly uninformed and motivated purely by self- interest. secretary of state mike pompeo is calling bolton a traitor. former chief of staff mick mulvaney takes issue with the book, but admits president trump did not hire the best people. >> he didn't hire very well. he did not have experience at running government and didn't know how to put together a team that could work well with him. >> reporter: today, the unsurpassed abity triumph over darkness." but an hour later, on a day celebrating the end of slavery, president trump retweeted this sarcastic message about george washington owning slaves. president tr

fauci, are these massive rallies okay in your opinion. >> paula reid drove mike pence off that stage in fear, and he pulled all of the task force members with him in abject fear they would say something in response to the question as dr. fauci was willing led out of that room by mike pence. you just heard reporters yelling, dr. fauci, are the rallies okay? but he was not allowed to answer that question. mike pence allowed only six questions before running off the stage. that's not a press briefing, six questions. the story of the coronavirus pandemic in the united states never had to become political. if all of the political players approached the problem responsibly and honestly. but too many republican politicians refused to do that. too many republican governors let donald trump's lies about the coronavirus go uncontradicted in their states. and so we are now suffering a surge of coronavirus cases in republican governed states. florida is setting new records every day with the number of new cases. today it was almost 9,000. 8,942 cases in florida today. that's almost double the re

cbs' paula reid is at the white house tonight. an extraordinary number of developments, paula. >> reporter: norah, secretary esper's decision to publicly contradict the president over the use of active-duty military did not go over well inside the white house. president trump and his defense secretary are at odds tonight over the decision to call up active military to police protests. >> the option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. we are not in one of those situations now. >> reporter: the president disagrees. he called up nearly 1,600 active-duty soldiers now staging at four bases outside washington. a decision to send them home today was called off, according to a u.s. official, because of the potential for more violence. >> reporter: the show of force in cities like washington has been called "excessive" by critics. some of those heavily-armed personnel wear no uniforms signifying who they work for. a surprisin

cbs' paula reid reports tonight from the white house. >> reporter: with 11 straight weeks of bad economic news, president trump celebrated today's still-startling unemployment number because it was better than economists expected. >> today is probably, if you think of it, the greatest comeback in american history. but it's not going to stop here. >> reporter: that may be an exaggeration given the 13.3% unemployment rate is still near the worst since the great depression, and almost 43 million americans have filed jobless claims since the start of the pandemic. the president also seemed to link today's economic numbers to george floyd and racial equality. >> hopefully, george is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that's happening for our country. it's a great day for him. >> reporter: the white house insists the president was not tying floyd to the unemployment news. but former vice president joe biden said putting the deceased minneapolis man and the economy in the same thought was "despicable." >> and the fact that he did so on the day when black unemployment rose, h

paula reid at the white house tonight, thank you. two people were killed today a third person wounded in a workplace shooting in sprngfield, illinois. the suspect left the scene after opening fire at the bunn-o-matic warehouse but was later found dead in his car. police say he was a 48-year-old employee who knew his victims. there is no known motive for the shootings. tonight in washington, there is another standoff between authorities and protesters over a statue many see as an insult to african americans, but unlike the confederate symbols that have recently come down, this monument was intended to honor the man who emancipated slaves. cbs' chip reid reports from washington's lincoln park. >> reporter: 12 blocks from the u.s. capitol stands a statue of abraham link on, the emancipation proclamation in his hand. dedicated in 1876, it was paid for by african americans, but designed by an all-white committee and has long been controversial, not because of lincoln but because of the subservient position of the enslaved african american

paula reid is at the white house.hat do the president's allies say about the risk of the coronavirus? >> good morning, anthony. president trump sees these massive campaign events as his path to re-election. and fellow republicans are downplaying concerns that this massive event may help spread covid as tulsa reports its highest daily increase in the number of virus cases and links that spike to large indoor gatherings. the director of the city's health department expressed concern saturday about the city's ability to protect attendees and even to protect the president. but the trump campaign appears to acknowledge the threat. it is requiring attendees to submit a waiver agreeing not to sue if they get covid. a cbs news has learned the rally is now expected to expand across two different venues after the campaign received more rsvps than the original location could even handle. as for what the president may talk about during this event, senior campaign official tells cbs news they believe that the defund the police mov

vice president mike pence there pressed during a coronavirus task force briefing on friday when paula reides to the pandemic. >>> joining me now with a look at axios a.m. political reporter for axios, alexi mchammond. great to see you on this monday morning. give us axios' one big thing. >> great to see you. today's one big thing is about trump's reelect campaign. aides close to him are looking privately to rebrand joe biden, aides to the president are admitting privately that the sleepy joe nickname is getting the visceral reaction they found with hillary clinton when they labeled her crooked hillary clinton in 2016. that matters because obviously trump likes to brand people with different nicknames, we've seen that from him before. the difference is, there are a number of polls showing trump is trailing biden in key states. so it's the president and his team looking at the polls and realizing they're running out of time to turn joe biden, who people view in a familiar way, to someone painted as bad for the country, bad for america and unable to lead the country forward because of his men

paula reid is at the white house for us. good morning.hat is the president saying about all of this? >> good morning, tony. in an interview last night, the president dismissed bolton as a liar. but his last-minute efforts by the administration to block the release of this book have not prevented it from landing in the hands of over half a dozen reporters. now bolton refused to voluntarily participate in impeachment proceedings, but in this book, he says the president should have been investigated for matters far beyond ukraine. and he details multiple instances where he believes the president put his own interests ahead of the country's. in the nearly 600-page book obtained by cbs news, former national security adviser john bolton provides a detailed criticism of the trump administration from inside high-level meetings. he describes the president as erratic and stunningly uninformed. including one instance where mr. trump asked if finland was part of russia. in an interview with fox news wednesday night, the president had his own accusati

as paula reid reports, the rally will celebrate recovery from a pandemic that is actually hitting harderhan ever in that state. >> we're going to be in oklahoma, and it's a crowd like, i guess, nobody has seen before. >> reporter: sitting alongside oklahoma's governor at the white house thursday, president trump promoted his upcoming rally. >> one of the reasons we chose your state, as you know, kevin, you've done so well with the covid. you've handled it incredibly well. >> reporter: but the city's health department executive director has recommended postponing the event. >> let me be clear. anyone planning to attend a large-scale gathering will face an increased risk of becoming infected with covid-19. >> reporter: the trump campaign will be handing out masks but they will be optional. temperatures will be checked upon arrival and hand sanitizing stations will be offered around the building. but the event does not include any social distancing measures. senior trump campaign official mark lauder advised those at high risk not to come. the trump campaign says it is requiring anyone who

>> vice president mike pence pressed at friday's coronavirus task force meeting by cbs reporter paula reid the rampant spread of coronavirus in two facilities a federal judge in california ordered that immigrant children must be released from detention centers due to covid-19. the order applies to 124 children who've been held with their parents for more than 20 days in centers run by immigration and customs enforcement, or i.c.e. there are two such centers in texas and one in pennsylvania. let's bring in nbc news correspondent julia ainsley. tell us exactly what will happen, julia, as these people are released, and does it apply to more that are potentially coming through? how does this change the entire process? >> well, mika, i wish it was necessarily good news for these children but right now it's up in the air as to how the government will respond. the judge in this case can only rule on children. that's been her jurisdiction because of a settlement she first started in the '90s. now these children will be ordered to be released by july 17th but the government has to decide if they're