Transcripts For MSNBCW First Look 20200728

Portland, amid concerns of another violent escalation in the federal crackdown there. The Washington Post is saying it has reviewed an internal memo that shows the Trump Administration decided last week to send at least 100 additional federal agents to portland. Senior officials also telling the post that the administration is considering a plan to send an additional 50 i. C. E. Agents to the city as well. The federal presence has only intensified the anger among protesters in portland, sparking brutal clashes. Portlands mayor is calling for a Department Meeting with the department of Homeland Security to discuss a ceasefire. The president tweeted about it yesterday including threats of prison time for what he called anarchists and age taters. People particular with the discussions telling the post federal officials have discussed developing a stronger fence around the courthouse that would be more resistant to nightly efforts to dismantle it and secure an area where protesters could not bring gas masks, shields, and weapons. A National Guard army major is contradicts what the president said last month. The attorney general and the Trump Administration insist they did not speed up the clearing to make way for the president s photo op at a Church Minutes later, but the officer, adam demarco, an iraq war veteran, backs up Law Enforcement officials who tell the Washington Post they believed the clearing operation would happen after the 7 00 p. M. Curfew that night. Instead, it was dramatically sped up after attorney general bill barr and others appeared in the park an hour earlier. Demarco also claims that contrary to the comments by the acting park chief, the protesters were acting peacefully and it was an excessive use of force. He also reveals for the first time general mark milley warned troops 30 minutes earlier to keep officers from, quote, going overboard. Demarco is set to apologize later today before the House Natural Resources Committee which is investigating the governments actions in clearing protesters away from Lafayette Square with gas, projectiles, and mounted police. Thank you so much for joining us early. I first want to address the chaos weve been seeing in portland so far. So we know the white house is facing a lot of scrutiny over whether the president has the Legal Authority to deploy federal Law Enforcement officers in this situation specifically. What reaction are you you hearing on the president s plans to send in even more forces . What were seeing, yasmin, largely is a broad pushback from efforts here. Thats not going to be any different with this new push to send more troops. Its a real escalation for trump to try do Something Like this. It will be very interesting to see whether or not the administration tries to deescalate and take the mayor up on this attempt to take down the tensions because as you mentioned, its been only made more intense and escalated, some of the violence weve seen there. What weve heard from democrats and lets be clear. Theyre attabing democratled city. This is not republicanled cities. This is chicago, portland. Hes made threats toward philadelphia and detroit, and the pushback has been this is an Election Year ploy, that hes overstepping his legal bound choices and something were increasingly hearing is this is an authoritarian move, that its something not done by president s of the United States, that this is stuff we see in other countries, and i think that youre going to see broad pushback against the white house to try to do more of this, which in part because its clearly not working, yasmin. Yeah, clearly. So this is all in the same vain of the president wanting to push forward with this lawandorder approach to thinks, wanting to define himself now just a couple of months ahead of the lawandorder president as he heads into trying to get himself reelected. How do you think this is going to affect, carol, november. Well, the president and his team hopes it affects november in the sense that hes able to frighten people into siding with him over joe biden. Anyone whos maybe on the fence would look at the violence hes cast as anarchists, violence. Hes tweeting overnight these are sick people, and the idea is an us versus them. Its a reimagine nation of what we saw from the president in 2016 casting himself as the lawandorder president , and hes really trying to tie what weve seen in cities like portland to joe biden, saying this is the radical left, weve seen his Campaign Running ads about this is the radical left and basically joe bide listen be led around by them. You know, its not clear that thats going to work with someone like joe biden whos much more well known and has a history, in fact, of being aligned with the police and not necessarily being hes not something people would naturally see as a radical left. But the president is trying, and, frankly, it looks a lot like a distraction from the coronavirus in the sense that hes saying, you know, dont be afraid of coronavirus. You should be afraid of this big monster over here thats trying to take over your cities. And thats where the president and campaign feels like hes on some comfortable footing, but it all comes as hes really struggling in the polls, trying to find a message and a footing and something hes trying out for now. Well see how long it lasts. It seems like distracting and not addressing has been par for the course for this president over the last three years. Nbcs carol lee, thank you. Stay close. Im going to talk with you in just a little bit. Lets talk about the stimulus, Senate Republicans releasing their version, which includes slashing the 600aweek unemployment bonus to 200 a week. They want to provide a 70 wage replacement. The gop plan known as the heels act has been set up within their own party as well as the democrats who are wanting to keep the 600 asover talks are beginning. Other aspects includes money for schools, another round of 1,200 stimulus checks, Liability Protections for businesses, and a payment protection program. It also includes the white houses request for 1. 7 billion set aside for a new fbi building in washington, d. C. In a stunning moment yesterday, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell who unveiled the bill himself appeared unaware of the provision when asked by our own nbcs leanne caldwell. Watch this. Why is funding for a new fbi building in this bill . Im not sure it is. Well, we obviously had to have an agreement with the administration in order to get started, and theyll have to answer the question of why they insisted on that provision. [ indiscernible ] youll have to ask why that was included. The white house faces an uphill deal to get that passed as it will need the support of seven democrats as likely more g gop senators are likely to vote down the bill. Joining me now t reporter who we just heard, leanne caldwell. That was quite a moment that you caught mcconnell off guard. Their 600 payments are essentially up and it seems like Mitch Mcconnell didnt know what was in the bill when you asked him about the fbi building. Good morning. Its just emblematic of the problems that republicans have had trying to get this bill out of the starting gate. Mcconnell has been negotiating with the administration for the past couple of weeks, and it has not gone well. Mcconnell was shocked that the money for the fbi building, which is a pet project of the president. It has come under scrutiny and its being investigated within this bill. You know, it was pretty stunning, and it also is clear that mcconnell does not want that money in this legislation as well is, but its a big black mark for mcconnell and the republicans. As well as another round of the direct sim ligs,stimulus and th other money and the 600 to 200 a week, this is really where the negotiations begin with democrats. Moments after republicans unveiled this legislation, treasure secretary mnuchin and mark meadows met in schumers office. They left the meeting saying theyre disappointed. The main points of contention are going to be about rental assistance. Democrats want money for that in the legislation. They want a full 600 benefit for unemployment insurance, and also this issue of food assistan assistance, which is also not in the republican bill. Those are going to be the main points of contention, and those negotiations start now, yasmin. Lets be clear. A lot of folks are relying on that extra 600 a week. Yeah. Thats down 1,600 a month if its reduced to 200 a week. Nbcs leigh ann caldwell. Thank you. Still ahead, attorney general william bar, it could be confrontational. Also the legal fight on the president s tax returns. The president s attorneys are once again asked for a subpoena to check on his records. Those stories when we come back. Those stories when we come back. 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Just say summer camp into your xfinity voice remote to join. Welcome back. Attorney general bill barr is expected to have a confrontational appearance this morning when he testifies this morning. According to a release yesterday, he plans to use militarized federal police to quell protesters saying, what unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called a protest. It is by any objective measure an assault on the United States. Hell also tell the committee the department has not intervened even though its benefitted the president s allies in their criminal cases. Hes expected to criticize once again the foundation of the Mueller Investigation and accuse democrats of bias against him, claiming, quote, ever since i made it clear that i was going to do everything i could to get to the bottom of the grave abuses involved in the bogus ru russiagate scandal, many have attempted to discredit me. And theyre once again asking for a s p. The latest filing accuses manhattan d. A. Cyrus vance of lacking a goodfaith basis for the tax documents. The attorneys argue the subpoena is so broad that its, quote, not remotely confined to the grand jury investigation that began back in 2018. Vance is seeking the president s financial records as part of an investigation into alleged husband money payments that his campaign made to women who claim to have had affairs with him. This latest legal battle is following a Supreme Court ruling this month that rejected the president s claim to absolute immunity from criminal investigation while in office. Joining me now, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. Danny, good to talk to you this morning. Good morning. Why are we back here . You had the Supreme Court decision saying essentially the records can be released to the grand jury. Because the Supreme Court gave permission to the trump team to continue to argue this subpoena down in the lower courts. When they issued their opinion, you cant say that trump exactly won at the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court did permit trump to take the case back down and not argue that as a president he has an invisible force field around him thats special and different from everyone else, but instead trump can now attack the subpoenas just like any other regular joe shmoe would in court, that theyre overbroad, issued in bad faith, or some other reason to challenge subpoenas. But be warned, for most regular civilians who try to challenge subpoenas, they find theyre very, very hard to challenge based on the fact theyre overbroad or any of these reasons. Well, didnt we already address the bad faith argument . Wasnt that already rejected in the first goaround . It wasnt so much rejected. The Supreme Court did consider it, but it was one of the explicit reasons trump could go back down to the lower courts and argue it because federal courts, as strange as this may sound do, have the power to declare a state subpoena as unconstitutional or skreegd its boundaries or overbroad. So the Federal District court does have the power, and the answer to the question how does trump continue to argue this, in the legal world, if at first you dont succeed, you sue, sue again. Thats exactly what trump has done. Theyve amended their complaint and are challenging it again. Essentially the Supreme Court, they probably think gave them a blueprint for arguing this case. Real quick here, with attorney general bill barr testifying today, do you feel like were going to have any transparency here, or is there going to be a lot of refusal to answer questions from the committee . Expect some refusals to answer questions. There is no default executive privilege. The president is supposed to specifically expert executive privilege in a concrete way. You saw this with jeff sessions. You cant just generally as attorney general claim executive privilege, but what weve all learned over the last couple of years is this privilege if Congress Wants to fight it and go to court, its going to take a lot of time, so much time, there may be a new congress around, and the entire issue may dissipate. So time is of the essence, and negotiation becomes more important than winning in court. All right. Danny cevallos, thank you as always. Coming up, volunteers have started rolling up their sleeves to take part in the biggest test yet of an experimental coronavirus vaccine. That story and more coming up. Coronavirus vaccine. That story and more coming up. Even if youre on a statin . Statins may lower some risks, but may not be enough. Thats why science delivered vascepa. For people who have persistent Cardiovascular Risk Factors and take a statin only vascepa is clinically proven to provide 25 lower risk from heart attack and stroke. Dont take vascepa if youre allergic to icosapent ethyl or any inactive ingredient in vascepa. Tell your doctor about any medicines you take, and if you are allergic to fish or shellfish. Stop taking vascepa and seek medical help if you have symptoms of an allergic reaction. Serious side effects may occur like heart rhythm problems and bleeding. Heart rhythm problems may occur in more people with persistent cardiovascular risk or who have had heart rhythm problems. Tell your doctor if you have symptoms such as irregular beat, lightheadedness, dizziness, shortness of breath, chest discomfort or fainting. Possible side effects include muscle and joint pain. Proven by science, fda approved. Vascepa can reduce your risk and add cardio protection. Call your doctor about vascepa today. Chief welcome back. The september 11th kmoen in new york city will not have Family Reading victims name this year due to the coronavirus. The solemn ceremony thats been a yearly event would not hold the readings it out. Instead, a reading will be played. Relatives are still being invited to gather in Lower Manhattan while adhering to social distancing in place. Lets switch gears and get a check of the weather with meteorologist janessa webb. Good morning, janessa. Good morning. Hope floi youre finding a way to beat the heat across the east coast. The surge of warm air will continue to lift north unfortunately. We have a cold front thats going to slice humidity in place for the great lakes. But if youre waking up this morning, its pretty unbearable for the south and southeast. Its sillitting in the 70s and were back on the incline for the 90s today. The heat advisories in the last three hours continue to expand from boston now all the way into southern georgia. I do expect them to possibly make their way into the mississippi valley, into memphis as well, even maybe northeast ohio this afternoon. Due to the high humidity, the carolinas, north and south carolina, even parts of virginia, were not going to see the cold front enter your area this afternoon. Look at the feellike temperatures on your skin. 109 for charleston. A lot of records that are possibly going to be broken for this afternoon. For new york, one more day where the feellike temperature near 1 near 100 degrees. Thats going to spark up air quality issues. If you dont have to be out for a long period of time, please dont. The front will make its way through, that will spark up storms, and well load humidity by tomorrow. New york city to boston, this evening well watch the storm threat increase. Well lose the sunshine. Hopefully it will cool us off a bit. A little bit of a break from d. C. To charlotte as well. Yasmin, today, the primary threat is going to be wind gusts and maybe a little bit of hail. Hopefully tomorrow its more breathable air across portions of the northeast. Fingers crossed, a little bit of a cooldown. Thank you, janessa. Still ahead, new signs that the coronavirus may be slowing down in a few states. Also National Security adviser Robert Obrien tests positive for the virus, but the president appears to downplay the news. Were back in a moment. Downpla the news were back in a moment for bathroom odors that linger try febreze small spaces. Just press firmly and it continuously eliminates odors in the air and on soft surfaces. For 45 days. And then what happened . Wheres our family from . Was he my age . So nana and pops eloped . And then what happened, daddy . Well, before us, there were your great, great, great grandparents. Turn questions youve always had into stories you cant wait to share; with ancestry. So why not do what youve been dreaming of . Youve got the power, weve got the tools. Make a website with godaddy and put what you want out there. Welcome back, everybody. Im yasmin vossoughian. Were going to begin this half hour with some important new developments amidst this pandemic as coronavirus outbreaks appear to be slowing down in some of the hardest hit areas in this country. Yesterday, florida, now the epicenter of this pandemic, added nearly 9,000 cases. Thats the lowest singleday total in weeks. Also since jeune, the average daily new coronavirus cases fell on sunday across the country, and nationally, the sevenday moving average of cases dropped by 1. 6 based on numbers from sunday. It is worth noting that while the number of new coronavirus cases across the country has been on the decline for the last couple of days, it might not paint a full picture of the state of infection. Reports from states may be delayed as some counties release their numbers only on weekdays. Lets talk about the vaccine. In the race to get a vaccine, an experiment is now under way. The first of 30,000 planned volunteers were given shots through moderna. Pfizer also announced plans to give the vaccine to patients. Also earlier storeds from china and oxford showed test results from other countries. The United States requires its own tests that might be used specifically in this country. Also, trumps National Security adviser Robert Obrien has tested positive for the coronavirus as the country announce 26d,000 new cases. Obrien is the highest ranking trump official known to have gotten this illness. The white house did not respond to the timing e to the timing m to the timing e to the timing ing of his infect or if others may have been exposed. The white house said President Trump and Vice President pence were at no risk for exposure. Speaking to reporters yesterday, trump appeared to brush off obriens diagnosis. Watch this. I havent seen him lately. I heard he tested yeah, i have not see him. When did he first test positive. I dont know. Is support for trump, he traveled to visit a biotech facility where one potential vaccine is being developed. Hes seen wearing a mask during that tour. Its the second time the president has worn one in public. The first was a trip to Walter Reed Medical Center earlier this month. Speaking to reporters during his trip. The president boasted operation warp speed, his initiative to quickly development and manufacture a vaccine has greatly reduced the wait time. Under operation warp speed, weve saved years off the time it takes to develop a vaccine, in some cases many years, and weve done it while maintaining the fda Gold Standard for safety. America will develop a vaccine very soon and well defeat the virus. Well have it delivered in record time. In his remarks amid the ongoing surge, the president called for more states to reopen. I really do believe the governors should be opening up states theyre not opening, and well see what happens with them. Joining me once again, nbc news correspondent carol lee. Give us the over the president s call for more states to reopen after praising vaccine progress when were still seeing a surge in this country. Yes, we might see a lower number, but, nonetheless, florida having 9,000 new cases does not necessarily mean states should be reopening across this country. Yeah. That was a real head scratcher, and i think thats what the reaction has been. Its hard to square the president saying that. I think he told you, he really believes that states should reopen, so thats where the president is at. The white house has tried to get him on the page of really kind of, you know, being more in a leadership sort of role and taking command of the pandemic and acknowledging that its a real threat. I dont its hard to see how that statement the president made yesterday squares with what he was saying last week, which is that the virus is going to get worse before it gets better. He canceled his convention in jacksonville because of the virus. How does that square with states needing to reopen . And hes just generally sending, again, multiple mixed messages. Theres him saying yesterday that people should socially distance, avoid large gatherings, wear a mask. Hes wearing a mask himself, and hes saying states should reopen when were seeing this spike in cases. You know, the white house last week tried to reset for the president his handling of coronavirus, which poll after poll Shows Americans languagely think is terrible, and they put him out there. He read from a script. He said the virus is a real threat. He did some acknowledging what they wanted him to do. If youre working for President Trump and trying to get him to pivot and to handle this virus in a different way, this has got to be pretty frustrating to then see him come out and completely undermine that, yasmin. So then we have this news breaking yesterday, carol, about his top Foreign Policy aid testing positive for covid, and yet the president seemingly downplaying that news. Any idea why . Yeah. I think partly because the white house generally, the president s in that mode of trying to thats where his natural kind of goto is, to try to downplay this virus. You know, the fact that he said i havent seen him lately, this is the president s National Security adviser. This is somebody who you cant understate how close this adviser is to the president , seeing him multiple times a day. The president saying i havent seen him raises the question, when is the last time youve seen him and why havent you seen him . Hes the National Security adviser. But Robert Obrien, theres a lot of questions around when he tested positive, who he was around. Certainly he was back at work last week. And, you know, what sort of Contact Tracing they need do. They know he traveled to france last week with the best deal day and squaring shoulder to shoulder with officials, not wearing a mask. Theres a lot more questions here than the white house is answering, and i think theyre going to in coming days be forced to respond to because this is actually a far bigger deal than the president is acting like it is. You make such a good point because on the one hand you have the president trying to downplay this thing saying, look, i havent been near him. Things look good. I havent been near him. The question is, wait a minute. Why havent you been in contact with your National Security adviser. Thats a really important relationship to have and to boo speaking to with someone on a regular bay sichls nbcs carol lee. Great to see you as always. Thank you. You too. The university of notre dame has announced yesterday it has withdrawn its host site of the 2020 president ial election. The president of the school said after meeting, they made the difficult decision to withdraw saying in part this, the inevitable reduction in student attendance in the debate hall, volunteer opportunities, and ancillary educational events undermined the primary benefit of hosting, to provide our students with a meaningful opportunity to engage in the american political process. In the end, the constraints the coronavirus pandemic put on in the event as understandable and necessary as they have have lead us to withdraw. Lets talk about baseball. They have postponed two games after members of the Miami Marlins have tested positive for the coronavirus. The move will affect the home opener against the Baltimore Orioles and the matchup against the phillies in philadelphia. The change was announced after eight players and two coaches on the marlins tested positive for the coronavirus inaddition to players over the weekend when the marlins faced off against the phillies. Stil still ahead, remembering congressman john lewis on his last trip to the state capitol. Your first look at morning joe. Were back in a moment. Joe. Were back in a moment facing leaks takes strength. So heres to the strong, who trust in our performance and comfortable, longlasting protection. Because your strength is supported by ours. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Welcome back. The late congressman john lewis who died july 17th at the age of 80 made his final trip to the u. S. Capitol yesterday where he represented the state of georgia for more than three decades. The motorcade stopped at the black lives matter plaza in washington, d. C. , briefly pausing before slowly driving across the mural emblazoned on the road, and making its way to capitol hill. After arriving, a military honor guard carried lewiss flagdraped casket up the capitol stairs to the row ton ton rotunda where he became the first black congressman to lie instate. We have bid farewell to some of the greatest americans in our history. It is fitting that john lewis joins this pantheon of patriots, resting upon the same catafalque of president abraham lincoln. John louis became a titan of the Civil Rights Movement and then the conscience of the congress. Here he was reveernd beloved on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the capitol. We knew he always worked on the side of the angels, and now we know that he is with them. Leaving the world around him gave him every cause for bitterness, he stubbornly treated everyone with respect and love, all so that as his friend dr. King once put it, we could build a community at peace with its own. Today we pray and trust that this peacemaker himself now rests in peace. So the most emotional moment came from lewis himself as pelosi played a fiveminute audio clip of a 2014 address the congressman delivered at Emory University in atlanta. 1957, i met rosa park. In 1958 i met har tin luther king jr. And these two individuals inspired me to get in the way, to get in trouble. So i come here to say to you this morning on this beautiful campus with your great education, you must find a way to get in the way. You must find a way to get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble as he says. So at the conclusion, the attendees gave lewiss casket a standing ovation. Former Vice President joe biden gave his last respects along with his wife jill. Biden and lewis were longtime friends and lewis endorsed him back in april. Vice president pence who served with lewis in the house paid his last respected alongside his wife karen. At that point lewis had been removed to the top of the steps for a viewing amid the virus as a precaution. Lets switch gears and get a check once again with nbc meteorologist janessa webb. Reporter hey, good morning, yasmin. Its hard to believe were already beating records for the atlanta hurricane season. Were only 58 days and weve already beat an ton of records. Weve already seen eight named storms, one hurricane that hit south texas over the weekend, but these records beat 179 years, previous records, and were going to continue to watch storms really building up, but where we saw closely was in 2005 we saw a recordbreaking year, and it looks like well come close to that for 2020. In 2005, we had 14 major seven major hurricanes, 14 minor hurricanes. So were going to be watching as records continue to be broken. Now, were watching our next invest thats coming off of west africa and its headed toward the Windward Islands right now, about 1890 miles east of it. We expect in the next few days theres a 90 chance of development. Now, theres really closely monitored this system because if it lifts toward the north, it could miss the Leeward Islands into puerto rico. So a lot of uncertainty here with the formation right now for two days and 80 chance. Were also watching the Severe Weather threat with the heat building across the northeast this afternoon from w all the way to maine. Youre under a marginal risk of storms due to the heat and humidity thats going to continue to build. Minor gusts picking up to about 40 to 50 miles an hour, up to 60 miles an hour for new york city. Also for the pacific northwest, watching the heat building in that area as well. Yasmin . All right. Thank you, janessa. Great to see you this morning. Still ahead were going to go ahead to cnbc for whats in the proposal for the next stimulus package. Also, one Major Company is extending its workfromhome policy through next summer. Will other businesses follow . Were back in a moment. Businesw were back in a moment only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol®. For fast pain relief. burke eighbor oh, just puttering, tinkering. Commemorating bizarre mishaps that farmers has seen and covered. Had a little extra time on my hands lately. neighbor and that . burke oh, this . Just an app ive been working on. Its called signal from farmers, and it could save you up to fifteen percent on your auto insurance. Simply sign up, drive and save. But im sure whatever youve been working on is equally impressive. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum all strength we aint stoppin believe me go straight till the morning look like we wont wait were taking everything we wanted we can do it all strength, no sweat welcome back. Gop senators released their 1 trillion corona release proposal yesterday ahead of unemployment running out later this week. Julianna tatelbaum is joining us live from london on this. Good morning, great to see you this morning. We touched a bit on this and what is in this bill earlier on in the show. But talk us through what it is youre hearing. What im hearing is theres still a huge gap between what the republicans are pushing for and the democrats want. A few of the main sticking points with, the unemployment benefit, the republicans want to reduce it from the current 600 a week in addition to payments to 200. Republicans worry this is encouraging americans to stay home rather thaen go back to work. It also includes another round of 1,200 stimulus checks. The real gap being the democrats dont think the bill does enough and some republicans think the bill is too expensive. A long way to go in bridging that gap. Google has planned to allow employees to work from home until july 2021. The ceo of alphabet sent an email to employees yesterday saying they can stay home until july 2021. Previously it was to stay home until the end of the year. This was to allow more flexibility, especially for people with children, given School Districts arent returning to school in the fall. So this allows them to plan ahead. But may not help with their sanity and having to be home with their kids for another year on this. Lets talk about how congress is planning to question big tech ceos following this antitrust investigation. What more do you have on this . This is a huge event for the tech community. We are going to hear from four of the biggest tech ceos, alphabet, amazon, tim cook, and Mark Zuckerberg of facebook. Theyre going to be testifying in front of the house. Lawmakers have a huge arsenal of material to work with. 1. 3 million documents collected from companies and Third Party Sources and the whole testimony is designed to get more information around competition and whether current law can keep the power of these Major Tech Companies in check. Thats going to be the goal of this testimony. Its set to be a serious grilling since last june the house has been investigating the dominance of a small number of digital players, the ones i mentioned, and the adequacy of antitrust laws and enforcement. This is a huge event and you want to keep an eye on it. Thank you, julianna tatelbaum. Up next a lot plans to reop schools across the country. And a look at portland as the federal government plans to crack down on protests there. And republican governor larry hogan, well speak to him about where his state stands and it still needs from the federal government. Morning joe is moments away. Morning joe is moments away. Im greg, im 68 years old. I do motivational speaking in addition to the substitute teaching. I honestly feel that thats my calling to give back to younger people. I think most adults will start realizing that they dont recall things as quickly as they used to or they dont remember things as vividly as they once did. Ive been taking prevagen for about three years now. People say to me periodically, man, youve got a memory like an elephant. Its really, really helped me tremendously. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Welcome back, everybody. Schools are already reopening in parts of the country. This year some classes will be virtual, some in person and some a combination of the two. Katie beck has a look at how parents, teachers and students are navigating the effort to keep everybody safe. Reporter excitement for the first day of school couldnt be masked in mississippi. Everybody was ready to return to school. I had a parent describe it last night it was like Christmas Eve and they were ready to go. Reporter back to school with masks, plastic partitions on the bus, temperature checks on the front door and classroom seats spaced apart. Lower grade students grouped with students from last year. And no cafeterias. You get to each lunch in your classroom this year. Reporter the list of new safeguards against covid19 reassuring Tara Williams whose four children returned to school monday. I feel like requiring the mask was my number one thing that made me feel safer. Reporter but those changes were not enough for about 13 of parent who is the district said opted for Remote Learning this year. In memphis, tennessee, schools saying the year begins virtually only after a spike in coronavirus cases raising the threat to students and staff. One study shows more than half of teachers dont support inperson instruction at the start of the school year with one in five saying they wont return if schools reopen. Its important that our community and other communities take this virus seriously. Its here. We have to change our ways. Reporter changes well worth making for seniors here. It takes a little of the social life out but its not a big deal. Its an easy thing to do. If everyone can do it we can stop the virus. Reporter for now a modified new normal as the school year begins. Thank you, katie for that report. That does it for me this tuesday morning, im yasmin vossoughian. Morning joe starts right now. Under the dome of the u. S. Capitol we have bid farewell to some of the greatest americans in our history. It is fitting that john lewis joins this pantheon of patriots resting upon the same catapult of president abraham lincoln. John lewis became a titan of the Civil Rights Movement and then the conscience of the congress. Here in Congress John was revered and beloved on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the capitol. We knew that he always worked on the side of the angels and now we know he is with them. Even though the world around