How a new outlook on Racial Justice might show up on the field. And Climate Change warriors. In eye on innovation, how a tiny deep sea animal could be showing us the way to a cleaner planet. First, heres todays eye opener. Its your world in 90 seconds. I still like playing it down because i dont want to create a panic. Newly released recordings show what the president knew about the coronavirus and when. Its clear the president knows what the stakes are, but hes not sharing that with the public. This is the tragedy. The president of the United States has a duty to warn. Knowingly and willingly lied about the threat to the country. Im not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy. Reporter a whistleblower at the department of Homeland Security says he was demoets forward refusing to change intelligence reports. I dont know who he is, and its hearsay. The whole community is decimated. We need more firefighting resources. An epic wildfire battle up and down the west coast. Orange skies almost look apocalyptic. Something is horribly going wrong. Reporter kevin spacey is being sued by two men who allege he sexually assaulted them when they were just 14 years old. All that a very different nfl season kicks off tonight. The defending super bowl champs take on the Houston Texans. And all that matters. Dimes up lou williams. The clippers just a win away from the conference finals. Raptors celtics. Double classic. Its back to a fourpoint lead. Mama, there goes that man. On cbs this morning. This ball is launched. Bombs away in atlanta, ga. History making night in atlanta. The braves set a National League record for most runs scored in a game. Adam duval ties the atlanta rbi record for single game. And the braves set a franchise record for runs scored. Braves hit seven dingers, 299. Fly ball hammered deep left. Its a grand slam for adam duvall. I cant believe it. Announcer this mornings eye opener presented by toyota. Welcome to cbs this morning. 299. I cant believe it. A lot of good action in sports. I wish thats all we had to talk about this morning. Thats the truth. A lot to talk about including the Deadly Wildfires racing across the west. Weve got to take a second and just give a shoutout to the people in San Francisco. Look what theyre dealing with. They are really going through it. This is the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday. This is not an instagram filter. Lets send good thoughts and good wishes to them. Dark red from all the fire and smoke nearby. In just a few minutes were also going to oregon which is seeing some of its worst fire damage ever. First, well begin with this. The startling news on the coronavirus and the president of the United States. We now all know that President Trump intentionally downplayed the threat of the pandemic for months, potentially worsening the severity of this crisis. On march 19th, its on tape, the president told bob woodward, quote, i wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because i dont want to create panic. Months after that he compared the virus to a flu. While privately noting its more deadly than the most strenuous flus. The death toll has risen from 265 to more than 190,000. Health experts say with stronger restrictions, many of those deaths could have been prevented. Its one of many revelations in woodwards new book rage which is published by simon shuster, a division of viacom cbs. How is the president responding . Good morning. President trump is addressing this controversy headon. Yesterday he took questions from reporters where he defend his actions. But now hes also disparaging bob woodward, even though over the course of seven months he sat down for 18 on the record interviews with the legendary journalist. Woodward says he approached this assignment the same way he approached his work in watergate. He wanted to know what the president knew and when he knew it. On february 7th, bob woodward spoke with the president who had just talked to xi jinping the day before. In audio recordings, mr. Trump admitted the severity of the virus. It goes through air, bob. Thats always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch you dont have to touch things, but the air, you just breathe the air. Thats how its passed. Its also more deadly than your, you know, your even your strenuous flus. This is more deadly. This is five per, you know, this is 5 versus 1 and less than 1 . So this is deadly stuff. Our country is stronger today. Reporter even after acknowledging the virus was airborne, the president held at least seven indoor rallies. And despite knowing the flu was not more deadly, mr. Trump continued to say otherwise. Were finding very little problem. Very little problem. Now you treat this like a flu. Reporter by downplaying the threat, americans lost time to prepare. Were prepared and were doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away. Reporter in march, mr. Trump told woodward the virus was a threat to younger americans. Now its turning out its not just old people, bob. Just today and yesterday some startling facts came out. Its not just older. Yeah, exactly. Older people. Its plenty of young people. Reporter in the following weeks, the president was urging states and schools to reopen saying this. We like to see the schools open early next season and on time. Its incredible how the its very unique how the children arent affected. Reporter in a shock admission, on the same day the death toll in the United States reached 265, the president volunteered to woodward that he was intentionally misleading the country. Well, i think, bob, really, to be honest with you. Sure, i want you to be. I wanted to i wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. Yes, sir. Because i dont want to create a panic. Reporter one study from may estimates that shutdown delays in the early days of the pandemic could have cost up to 54,000 lives. We could have had a stayathome mandate put in place, all of which we did and did it about as early as any american state, but we would have done it earlier and undoubtedly would have saved lives. Reporter on wednesday, the president doubled down on his decision to lie about the severity of the virus. The fact is im a cheerleader for this country. I love our country, and i dont want people to be frightened. I dont want to create panic, as you say. Reporter mr. Trumps democratic rival, former Vice President joe biden blasted the president. He knew how dangerous it was. And while this deadly disease ripped through our nation, he failed to do his job on purpose. It was a life and death betrayal of the American People. Reporter the president says he did not want to invoke fear but throughout his campaigns and this administration, the president has repeatedly leaned into peoples fears about immigration, crime, even lowincome housing. Now woodward who is still associated with the washington post, also is face something criticism and questions about whether he should have published this evidence that the president was trying to downplay a deadly pandemic sooner. Woodward responded to questions about that yesterday saying that he wanted time to be able to vet the president s statements more thoroughly before publishing them. Paula, thank you. Bob woodward also spoke to President Trump in june following George Floyds death and amid nationwide protests against police brutality. The president admitted that systemic racism exists. Thats something he has repeatedly denied in public. Woodward spoke with scott pelley about his interviews with the president in his first broadcast interview for this sunday for 60 minutes. Here is part of scotts report. Reporter woodwards interviews took a sharp turn may 25th after george floyd was killed by Minneapolis Police officers. Black lives matter reporter the black lives Matter Movement reignited. You think there is systematic or institutional racism in this country . Well, i think there is everywhere. I think probably less here than most places or less here than many places. Okay, but is it here in a way that it has an impact on peoples lives . I think it is, and its unfortunate, but i think it is. Reporter woodward asked mr. Trump if a privileged life left him out of touch. And do you have any sense that that privilege has isolated and put you in a cave to a certain extent as it put me and i think lots of white privileged people in a cave and that we have to work our way out of it to understand the anger and the pain, particularly black people feel in this country . Do you see no. You really drank the koolaid, didnt you. Listen to you. No, i dont feel that at all. He was ridiculing me for reflecting what the whole movement after george floyd is. Scott pelleys interview with bob dwoodward will air this sunday on 60 minutes. Woodward will learn more from what he learned from his nine hours of interviews with President Trump. And we will speak with bob woodward next tuesday live here on cbs this morning. Cbs news chief washington correspondent Major Garrett joins us now. He is also the host of the takeout and debrief podcast. Major, good morning. Weve heard now the president admitting that he downplayed the virus because he did not want to cause panic. What can you tell us about the conversations inside the white house early on . Well, white huse was struggling with how serious to talk to the American People about the threat of coronavirus. And the president essentially said it is serious, but im going to convey the thing i always convey. Confidence and optimism in america. Go back to march 7th when the president went down to atlanta to tour the centers for Disease Control and prevention. He said there, the doctors here keep telling me, how do you know so much about this. Maybe i have a natural ability. Projecting to the country a month after it already disclosed to bob woodward how serious this was and it wasnt a big deal. What did that cost the country . The ability to mobilize. And that doesnt mean lockdowns everywhere. What that would have meant was a serious conversation about the fundamentals of containing the virus. Mask wearing, social distancing, and prioritizing which places should open and which ones should not. We did not have that conversation. Why . Because it was lost in the president s perpetual optimism about where the virus was and where it was going. That he misread that is an absolute fact and will be on the ballot in november. He continues frequently not to wear masks. But one of the president s in polling, one of the president s weakest issues is in his response to the coronavirus. How is this likely now to affect the campaign and his standing on that, do you think . In the campaign, it resurrects the pandemic as an issue. For about 2 1 2 weeks now, the president has tilted the conversation, redirected it to law and order and what is a sense of safety in america. Now these revelations bring the pandemic and all of its complications, all of its disruptions right back front and center. And that is a place of vulnerability for this president because lots of his supporters know that hes optimistic and strong. True. But if that optimism and that strength costs the country things that it wishes it hadnt been cost, and posed difficulties, people sore tired of, theres only one person to blame for that. The president of the United States. And that gives the Biden Campaign something it hasnt had in 2 1 2 weeks. A clear shot to reengage the conversation about what this president did, what he knew and most importantly what he didnt say about the pandemic. So quickly, major, how does the white house deal with the fallout of this . Move on. Thats all you can do. As the president said yesterday, i didnt want to create a panic. I knew what i was doing. Im the president of the United States. I made a decision, and im going to live with it. Everyone in this white house knows with donald trump, theres a story the next day. And theres going to be one today and one tomorrow and theyll just push through. Major garrett, thank you very much. Tony . Turning to the wildfires this morning. Nearly 100 major wildfires are burning out of control in a dozen western states. In San Francisco, smoke from the fires made the sky turn red in the middle of the day. No filter. And that is daytime. The disaster destroyed hundreds or maybe thousands of homes in the region and killed at least seven people. They include a woman and her young grandson in oregon where the damage has been immense. Lilia luciano is there. Reporter violent winddruchb lames cut a path of destruction across southern oregon. This could be the greatest loss of human lives and property due to wildfire in our states history. Reporter the wildfires nearly wiped out five towns, including the city of phoenix. This is what one of its Senior Living centers looked like before. And this is after. 89yearold beth hill was evacuated just in time. The center is burned with all of our things. Everything i own is there. Not only me, but everybody else. Reporter 12yearold wyatte tofte and his grandmother peggy died trying to escape the fire. The familys car wouldnt start. Police tell us that up until moments before this entire rv park was overpowered by the flames. Its residents kept trying to put them out with buckets and hoses, but their valiant efforts were just not enough. We spotted this man carrying out home, including his fathers s headstone. One of the only items you have left . That, my son, my wife and a few tools. Reporter for days, firefighters have been battling a relentless siege of wildfires from washington to california. Just north of sacramento, the socalled bear fire destroyed the community of barry creek and killed at least three people. A dozen others are missing. Brenda hampton evacuated but hadnt heard from her sons. She lost her home in paradise to the campfire just two years ago. Now this new fire is threatening that town once again. I just want to know where the rest of my family is. Reporter its been two days since the fire, and this area is still smoldering. Its home to many latino families. I talked to some of them yesterday who came with their children to look at what was left and wonder what do they do next . Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of these fires, in california, the smoke that is leaving the state is reaching all the way to the islands of hawaii. Gayle . Its heartbreaking to see the pictures. Thank you lilia. Were thinking about the people there. The department of Homeland Security rejects new claims from a whistleblower who says that he faced retaliation for refusing to change intelligence reports that did not fit President Trumps political objectives. He says he was told to leave out details about Russian Election interference and the threat from White Supremacists. Jeff pegues has that story. Reporter in the complaint, brian murphy who oversaw the Intelligence Division until last month alleges that acting dhs secretary chad wolf and his second in command, ken cuccinelli, ordered intelligence assessments on russian interference efforts in the president ial election be changed because they made the president look bad. Murphy says instead he was told to focus on the interference activities by china and iran. And, he says that wolf told him these instructions came from White House National security adviser robert obrien. Totally false. And i dont think theres anyone who has been tough or russia and this administration than i have been. Reporter and as violence intensified in cities across the country this summer, murphy was told to modify intelligence on White Supremacists in a manner that made the threat appear less severe, as well as include information on the prominence of violent left wing groups and antifa in line with the president s public comments. Antifa is a criminal organization. Reporter mark zaid is his attorney. In pertaining to russia and the intelligence reports was downplayed in order to ensure additional favorable information to President Trump. Which was something mr. Murphy said, no, he would not do. Reporter the white house denies that obrien ever dictated such changes. Meanwhile, on capitol hill, house intelligence chairman adam schiff wants murphy to testify before his Committee Later on this month. Murphys Attorney Says that his client will cooperate with any congressional investigations. Tony . Jeff, thank you very much. Ahead, the latest on the timeline for a Coronavirus Vaccine after trials for one promising option were announcer this National Weather report sponsored by toyota. Ahead how the coronavirus and protests for Racial Justice are forcing the nfl to make changes. Youre watching cbs this morning. Much more news ahead. How the coronavirus is changing. Come on in, were open. 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