Weekend of holiday golf, the nation remains on pace to reach 100,000 domestic deaths as a result of the covid19 pandemic. Not to mention, the economic carnage of reopen nation is supposed to fix. This pandemic has certainly been transformative, even if all of the ripple effects are yet to be fully realized, but the impact on our electoral system is intangible. The Washington Post reporting saturday nearly 30 states have opted voting rules in response to this pandemic. Laying the foundation for largescale voting by mail in a way never seen before. This, of course, has wrinkled President Trump who is not only attack mailin voting, but also those democratcontrolled states that have expanded all slated to expand the practice ahead of november. This morning, he even took time away from his golfing weekend to tweet, quote. Adding that proponents will, quote, trying to use covid for this scam. Joining me now on the phone is chairmanwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, representative karen bass of california. Madam chairwoman, how do you respond to the president saying mailin voting is going to be a historic rigged election . Well, i think its fascinating. First of all, he votes by mail. Second of all, voting by mail has always been a republican strategy to win elections. Now we got wise to voting by mail several years ago. Now that its picking up, all of a sudden, its criminal. But, also, basically what he is saying is that people should go ahead and risk their lives. He doesnt really care. That is certainly what happened in wisconsin. But given the death rate and the fact that we are on the verge of 100,000 americans dead, he clearly is not concerned with the life of americans and that is supposed to be his number one job as commander in chief, keeping us all safe. Now the house has passed another stimulus bill in the senate under mcconnell just left and went on the memorial weekend break and has not even taken it up, even though they are continuing to move for a federal judge confirmations that the president nominates. What do you see happening in terms of the new stimulus bill that the house just passed with the black caucus that you chair having input in and wanting more . And what do you see about bringing more equality to what is happening . The figures that we are seeing in terms of blacks and people of color in terms of how the pandemic has impacted them, both in terms of health and in terms of Business Loans and aid has been alarming to say the least. Well, absolutely. And i believe what is needed is equity, because any time you have a situation where you have clusters of extremely disproportionate people dying like you do, i mean, essentially the death rate for africanamericans is three times our population. Any time you have a situation like that, you need to go immediately into that area with an intervention. And so i know that they know that. But the president has said too much testing increases the rates, and now he wants to even fudge the death rate because he wants to say, maybe not all of those people really died from covid19. He has mismanaged this from day one and its resulted in excess deaths. The richest country in the history of the world should never be sitting on the verge of 100,000 dead americans in less than three months. Its shameful. Do you see the president is trying to rush before we are safe back to normal, back to going to procedures such as work in some places . He called on houses of worship to be open today, though most that ive been able to monitor, at least those that i am able to monitor, did not do so. Why this rush by the president to put america back before the Health Experts had said it is safe . Well, i mean, i think they have been pretty clear in saying that they understand that a lot of people are going to die. I mean, he wants us to celebrate the fact that the death rate isnt higher. So while we are on the verge of this, he is out playing golf. Obviously it is not critical to him. I think if there is a strategy at all, it might be the strategy that we need to just go ahead and expose as many people as we can to the virus because we know the vast majority of the people that are infected are asymptomatic. I think they are gambling on that. That is if there is any strategy to this at all. And the idea that you would risk american lives with a strategy like that is horrific and im not sure what is worse, a strategy like that or no strategy at all. Yeah. I note that i at least thought since he was encouraging houses of worship to reopen a day that he was going to attend one. He went golfing. So much for consistency on his part. Well, i mean, i think that is his church. But i also think that the reason why he is doing this specifically with churches is to give something to his base, to the evangelicals that reverend barber would argue are not evangelicals. The polls show biden ahead. Are you comfortable with the polls . What are you hearing from your constituents . What are you hearing from Congressional Black Caucus members from their constituents . After 2016, i will never be comfortable with polls, but i do have my faith in the American People that they are just not going to let him get away with the way he has handled things over the last three and a half years. I have said before that if we dont get this right in november, we are going to be in a mess for two generations, but now i say this is a vote for our survival, this is a vote that is life and death because he clearly is not concerned with black lives. All right. Thank you, congresswoman karen bass. Sorry for the technical problems but thank you for coming on by phone. Let me say the trump 2020 campaign kicked off a 1 Million Dollar digital ad blitz this weekend following former Vice President s quote, you aint black comment. The Trump Campaign are selling tshirts with that quote emblazoned on front of that tshirt. Simone is joining us now. Thank you for being with us. Always happy to be here, rev. Your response to the Trump Campaign trying to splot, if i can use that term, the statement made by Vice President biden that he has subsequently said he shouldnt have made that statement or said it in the way he said it. You know, reverend sharpton, frankly, its despicable, its disgusting and its a distraction. The reality is that while the Trump Campaign is trying to drum up all of these conspiracy theories, Vice President biden on the other hand, has not only talked about and engaged with the Africanamerican Community about the issues that are most important to them, he has put forth a comprehensive plan, a plan that will serve as a foundation for policies on what he would do when he becomes president and how he would govern. Donald trump, meanwhile, he has he championed the racers bir Birther Movement against president obama and dont forget charlotte, North Carolina. He called african countries ahole countries. He disparaged chicago and baltimore, on down the list. Not only has donald trump hurt the Africanamerican Community with his words, he has failed to provide for the Africanamerican Community with his policy. Just today on twitter i know everybody is not on twitter, rev, but while donald trump was trying to take credit for an hbcu policy that was recently passed in congress, congresswoman adams from North Carolina had to come in and correct him saying that was my bill you did nothing for. Right. This election, reverend, is really a choice between who has a plan for our folks in this country, who has a record on delivering, on a recovery act, on truly delivering for peoples lives. We are upon 100,000 deaths in this country from the coronavirus. The majority of those deaths are africanamerican folks. Africanamerican unemployment is 14 now in this country given the economic crisis we are in. Latino unemployment is even higher. What has President Trump, his campaign, his administration, done specifically to address that . Nothing. He is blocking testing and health care p. M. I. Im a little revved up. This is a distraction. Vice president spoke to his comments on the Breakfast Club and apologized and said he shouldnt have been so cavalier but we need to move on and taupe about the issues that are at stake here as congresswoman karen bass was talking about earlier. I said on the record that i felt it was inappropriate and i did see that he did come and say it was cavalier and apologized. I think the substance of what saying is a substance many of us had raised in the campaign about what is the agenda . You have this 22page lift every voice agenda and you said its a living document. So the campaign, are you still saying its a living document and youre welcoming people to come on and add to what or at least absolutely, reverend. Look. I think we have come up with some very good solid policy as it relates to Small Business and ensuring that Small Businesses, specific the Small Businesses with less than 50 employees, are moved to the front of the line when it comes to the ppe program. Majority of africanamerican Small Businesses have less than 50 employees. We have a plan for Wealth Creation in the Africanamerican Community. I was informed by a number of different conversations that we have had. Criminal justice reform, health care. Absolutely, we welcome folks for feedback. Vice President Biden is not just interested in platitudes and putting together plans for the sake of plans, but he is interested in ensuring that when he is elected president , we have a comprehensive road map how we are going to govern. You do understand i want to note we do talk specifically in the plan, though, about things that he would do as president and i hear folks saying, we need an agenda. Our response is we have given you an agenda. Please now give us feedback. Now, you do understand, though, how some of us, it is our duty to push and get a lot done, particularly when you get the history of the Democratic Party that many of us felt rejoyed more support and we got in the Africanamerican Community. This is historic. It goes back to the 80s when reverend jackson ran for president. In 04, i said that democrats were acting like elephants with donkey coats on. So this is not new and not personal to joe biden. When i met you, you were a young activist. Now youre still a young activist, but a little slightly older. All of us have this feeling that we want to see some tangible. We want something concrete because of the investment as every Constituency Group does. The investment of votes mean youre investing because you want your interests addressed and you want something solid for your participation. I agree with you, reverend, which is why i believe we are the first democratic nominee to put forth a competitive plan for specific the Africanamerican Community in a general election. Our plan did not come out the primary. A lot of plans in the primary and people put forth plans in the primary and make the operatives call a general election pivot. To be clear, black voters are a key part of our general election plan. Young voters are a key part of our general election plan. I think we putting money where our mouth is here. The Vice President hears you. We hear the concerns of voters across the country when it comes to where are the policies that speak directly to our community . We have put forth a competiti comprehensive document. We thought what needed to be addressed given the historic devastation has gripped countries across the country but the africanamerican and latino communities especially. So, yes, we welcome your feedback. I challenge anyone to say Vice President biden doesnt have a plan when we have a person in the white house who has failed to deliver for the Africanamerican Community, who, in his campaign, said i ask the Africanamerican Community what do you have to lose . The answer is our lives. Our livelihood is the question. The question is for many is not trump but the question is turnout and making sure people vote. This is a discussion ive had with former Vice President biden both privately and on this show and you and i have remembered it. Youve heard it from me. And that is that some of us are wanting to see a black woman on the ticket as Vice President. Yes. He said on this show that there are more than one black and women of color that is being considered. We are hearing this week that val demings and Stacey Abrams and other names have been touted. I dont know whether they have been vetted or not. You want to make shus and tell me who has an inside track . Are we going to have a black Vice President ial candidate . I had no news to make for you today, reverend. I do want to echo and underscore something im smiling but im serious. You know i want to see that, but go ahead. I know you want to see it. I want to be clear that we have heard the concerns of voters across the country and we have heard the concerns of black women, many of whom have written numerous letters to the campaign. We hear your concern. As Vice President biden noted on your program, there are a number of africanamerican women that he is considering. I dont have any news to break for you today. I will not be acknowledging who is or who is not on that list but i can tell you we hear you. Vice President Biden, he did an interview earlier this week, saying i know people think they know who im picking but i do not know. We have to let the process play out. You can make sure whoever he pick picks can marry the relationship and president obama had and can jump in and be president on day one. We will have to wait and see. The other concern i have im not saying whether they have to be black or latino or white is the attorney general and the Justice Department. When we are Ahmaud Arbery with the case in louisville. I worked and others in the Civil Rights Community worked with obama and all the way through. We needed a Justice Department we can depend on that will look fairly and squarely, not putting a hand on the thumb on the scale either way investigating civil rights cases. We need the president ial candidates to say what kind of Justice Department will they have. Well, we have said what kind of Justice Department we will have. I encourage people to go to our website www. Joebiden. Com and read our criminal justice plan. You can also find a section in our plan, the joe biden plan for black america. Vice President Biden has committed to making sure that we are underscoring not just Civil Rights Division and the department of justice, the Civil Rights Division across his administration. He is committed to putting judges on the bench that reflect the community, taking a hard look and making sure that they are africanamerican judges on the bench, qualified judges on the bench. He has committed to putting a black woman on the supreme court. But let me tell you something very specific because you mentioned ferguson. We talked about baltimore. It was the obama biden Justice Department that went in and had the ability to investigate and hold Police Departments accountable across this country from ferguson to baltimore and many places in between. Eric holder did a lot of that work. And that was because of something called pattern and practice. Something frankly that was written into the crime bill all of those years ago. Vice President Biden criminal justice plan calls for prosecutors to the office. Yis that important . The prosecutors office, they had the videotape. It was not until that we saw the tape that america saw the tape that black people, the internet got a hold of the tape that something happened. There is currently not a mechanism to hold these prosecutors offices accountable. A joe biden Justice Department will. In addition to that, he will create a passport on prosecutorial that will be pulled out from under that will give a hard look across the country to make some comprehensive changes. I have to go. I do know about baltimore and others, the consent decrees. I was in those meetings leading to that and i can say that joe biden was a part of making that happen. That is true. I will not, though, say that i favored the crime bill. That was the in the crime bill and a lot wrong angle we already debated on that but i did march on that crime bill for the record. Thank you for being with me. Great to have Simone Sanders of the Biden Campaign on. Thank you. President trump is continuing to attack mailin voting and especially democratcontrolled states that are expanding the practice. Joining me now are two politic