Himself and his administration on its response to the pandemic. He theorized there would be millions dead without his brave and decisive action. Much more on that just ahead. But we want to begin tonight with a glimmer of progress toward a possible way out of this, a story you probably saw from earlier this evening. The cambridge, massachusettsbased biotech firm moderna today announced that every participant in its preliminary, early, early Covid Vaccine trial, all 45 patients all developed antibodies, in effect triggering a potential immune response. Now, because this is potentially big and important news, before we begin our leadoff discussion with our journalists tonight, we want to begin just briefly with a frequent guest of ours who we plan on talking to in more depth just a segment from now. But we want to bring in dr. Michael osterholm. Hes a professor and director of the center for Infectious Disease research and policy up at the university of minnesota. Also happens to be coauthor of the book deadliest enemy our war against killer germs. Doc, as you know, tonight the university of washington upped its projected death toll to 240,000 americans by november 1. I contend we are optimistic people by nature, so ill put it that way in asking you what we should know about this vaccine and how high we should let our hopes get. Well, first of all, it is good news that its not bad news. I mean the bottom line is that there was some response. But, remember, were still in the first 100 yards of a marathon. I would actually add a note to what i thought was a very Important Message earlier this week from ken frazier, who is the ceo of merck. As a pharmaceutical company, theyve brought more new vaccines forward than any other company in history. They know how to do and make vaccines. Ask ken, in an interview, with the Harvard Business school actually said that he was very concerned about the hype and the disservice that that hype was playing in terms of where were at with these vaccines. And his concern was that we were promising far too much too quickly. So, yes, its good news that theres no bad news tonight, but weve got a long ways to go. I keep hearing people say that when we have a vaccine, were sooner or later going to need 7 billion doses because we cant have portions of the world in a globally connected Society Walking around without the vaccine. Where do you come down on that . I think thats absolutely the case. I worry very much that much of the world will not have access to the vaccine in a timely way. You know, when you have a pandemic roaring right now, it doesnt help to tell people theyre going to get it in the next four or five years. Just the ability to manufacture those many doses, to administer them around the world means that its likely that the highincome countries will be the primary beneficiaries of this. And so this is a challenge that we have to deal with. Time is everything right now if we do get a successful vaccine. This is exactly why i wanted to sneak you in here early. If you dont mind, hang out for a few minutes, listen to some smart people as part of our coverage. Well be back with you in a few moments. As we mentioned, the president spoke in the rose garden today for 52, 53 minutes without pause or interruption, saying the same things he would normally say to a Campaign Rally audience. It was billed as a statement about china, and while it briefly contained one, he went on to relitigate the 2016 election and the polls. He went hard after obama, especially hard after the bidens, both joe and his son hunter, of course. He talked about the paris climate accord, burisma, bidens failures in the area of road and bridge construction, bernie, aoc, ventilators, hospital ships, violence in chicago, the stock market three times, the usual stuff. Oh, and he said biden would abolish the suburbs and windows not the software but windows, the kind in buildings. He said were feeling good about our country. He said the European Union was formed to take advantage of the United States. He quickly added other president s didnt know that. He said we are coming out of this pandemic on top. On the coronavirus, he said testing is fodder for fake news. Cases are created because of the testing, but nothing new about how to control this virus. Biden was here for 47 years. He didnt do any of the things, but now he says hes going to be president. As president , hes going to do all the things that he didnt do. We would have had thousands of people additionally die if we let people come in from heavily infected china. We saved tens of thousands of lives, but we actually saved millions of lives by closing. By closing up, we saved millions, potentially millions of lives. Could be a number that were actually working on, but it could be 2 million to 3 million lives. Frankly, if we didnt test, you wouldnt have all the headlines because were showing cases. We have just about the lowest mortality rate. But if we did think of this. If we didnt do testing, instead of testing over 40 Million People, if we did half the testing, wed have half the cases. If we did another you cut that in half, wed have yet again half of that. But the headlines are always testing. We have the best testing in the world. Joe biden is pushing a platform that would demolish the u. S. Economy. Theres probably never been a time when candidates are so different. The president travels to atlanta tomorrow where hes supposed to focus on infrastructure. Its worth noting atlanta is also grappling with a surge in coronavirus cases. Mayor bottoms of atlanta said tonight that while she has the coronavirus, her entire family has now tested positive. On another front, the topic that has filled our streets with protesters, heres what the president said in an interview with cbs news on the subject of policing and race. Why are africanamericans still dying at the hands of Law Enforcement in this country . And so are white people. So are white people. What a terrible question to ask. So are white people. More white people by the way. The Washington Post has been looking at Police Shootings since about 2015. They report, quote, since the post began tracking the shootings, black people have been shot and killed by police at disproportionate rates. Whether armed or not, black people are still shot and killed at a disproportionately higher rate than white people. The president was also asked about the confederate flag. You said the confederate battle flag belongs in a museum. Do you still believe that . All i say is freedom of speech. Its very simple. My attitude is freedom of speech. Very strong views on the confederate flag. With me, its freedom of speech, very simple. Like it, dont like it, its freedom of speech. Would you be comfortable with your supporters displaying the confederate battle flag at political events . You know, it depends on what your definition is, but i am comfortable with freedom of speech. Its very simple. You understand why the flag is a painful symbol for many people because its a reminder of slavery . Well, people love it, and i dont view i know people that like the confederate flag, and theyre not thinking about slavery. I look at nascar. You go to nascar, you had those flags all over the place. They stopped it. I just think its freedom of speech whether its confederate flags or black lives matter or anything else you want to talk about. Its freedom of speech. Trump was also asked about the decision by l. A. Public School Officials to start the Academic Year with online classes only. Its a terrible decision because children and parents are dying from that trauma too. Theyre dying because they cant do what theyre doing. Mothers cant go to work because all of a sudden they have to stay home and watch their child, and fathers. Whats happening, you know, theres a tremendous strain on that whole side of the equation. So its about i also say a decision like that is politics because were starting to do very well in the polls because im for law and order. Im for strong business. Our jobs are coming back at a record level. I built it once before, the strongest economy ever. Im doing it again. And they dont want that to happen because they think whos the they . They is the democrats. Earlier today trumps Vice President was backing him up on this rush to reopen schools. Please listen to this. He actually said something quite shocking about ignoring the guidance from our own government about the health and safety of students and teachers. We dont want cdc guidance to be a reason why why people dont reopen their schools. In a speech that clearly got under trumps skin, joe biden again today blasted the president s pandemic response. Mr. President , open everything now isnt a strategy for success. Its barely a slogan. Quit pushing the false choice between protecting our health and protecting our economy. All it does is endanger our recovery on both fronts. And dr. Anthony fauci, who continues to come under attack from this white house more on that in a moment today put out these latest put these latest outbreaks into some sobering perspective for the rest of us. This is a pandemic of historic proportions. I think we we cant deny that fact. Its something that i think when history looks back on it, it will be comparable to what we saw in 1918. There is one other Important Development were keeping a close eye on tonight. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been hospitalized for a possible infection after experiencing fever and chills. A Supreme Court spokeswoman says the 87yearold justice was admitted to Johns Hopkins hospital in baltimore, underwent a procedure to clear a bile duct stent. As they say, she is resting comfortably. She is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days. Lets begin now our leadoff discussion with our journalists on a tuesday night. Two of the very best from the Washington Post, ashley parker, pulitzer prizewinning white house reporter, and robert costa, the National Political reporter for the post and moderator of Washington Week on pbs. Not to be outdone, the New York Times is represented here tonight in the form of mara gay, who is a member of the times editorial board, former New York City Hall bureau chief for the wall street journal. She also happens to be a covid19 survivor, one of two i note on our broadcast tonight. So, gang, welcome and thank you very much for your patience. Ashley parker, i was watching you with Nicole Wallace earlier today kind of take a moment, take a breath, and remind everybody we just saw pence tell local School Districts not to follow the cdc recommendations. You reminded everybody this white house is attacking dr. Fauci. While i urge everyone watching tonight to find 53 minutes and the president s event and watch the video of what transpired at the white house today, ashley, do you think there were white house aides watching from the wings, thinking, well, this is a good outing. This is good for our brand . I think its hard to know in some ways what white house aides think at this point because when you talk to them, they say that they have just become inured, right . They sort of throw up their hands and say, it is what it is. The one thing we cannot control is the president , is the candidate himself. And so its certainly not what they would have necessarily chosen. It very well might not be what they would have advised, but this is where they are. And watching that press conference today, i think it gave you a real glimpse into where the president and the campaign are. As you mentioned earlier, it very much felt like a campaign speech. It could have been the speech he gave or should have given in New Hampshire over the weekend. But there was no joy. You can tell this is a president who feels under siege, who as weve written, feels like he is the victim of all these things that are happening to him. Even taking on biden, there was no delight in that. As i said to nicolle, what was so striking is he seemed to barely enjoy taking on biden today, but his team is taking glee in trashing one of their own, and not just one of their own, but a leading Infectious Disease expert in the middle of this pandemic, anthony fauci. And we talk and report on a number of stunning things in this administration, but i do think you have to step back to realize the president is criticizing one of the key men tasked with getting us out of this crisis. His trade adviser wrote an oped trashing fauci. One of his top aides retweeted and posts on social media a nasty meme about fauci, and our reporting is theres likely more to come in the coming days. Robert costa, same basic question. Talk about your newspapers reporting on not just i cant believe were saying this the attacks on the worlds preeminent Infectious Disease specialist but efforts to go around and supersede the cdc up to and including members of the National Guard apparently compiling stats on this illness. What is going on . Talking to my republican sources tonight, its clear that this is an administration that across the board is pushing for the entire nation to reopen, but theyre grappling privately and publicly with this phenomenon, this crisis of a pandemic thats not just in blue cities and blue states but now in red states. Its affecting the president s core voters in places like georgia, florida, arizona, places that had governors that were with President Trump earlier in the spring trying to reopen. And they look at the economic numbers and they see the stock market inside the white house hovering in a pretty steady place, but they worry if this economy turns and the schools dont reopen and businesses dont reopen fully and theres more of this wave of infections and death, then the president s entire reelection could be jeopardized. And that is a high, high concern inside the republican party. But there are real tensions because some of these governors are saying to the federal government privately that were going to go our own way when it comes to the schools. The federal guidance threats are really empty threats because they cant do that much to control schools, which are often funded by states and local municipalities. Mara, i was going to ask you a question about these politics, but if youll forgive a personal question, id rather do that. Here you are a young person, an avid runner. You still have this illness. Can you believe, based on what you had, that there is any kind of a debate about moving, shifting stats, ignoring recommendations by the cdc, people who would do anything but everything in their power to avoid getting what you got . No. Brian, its extremely tragic, but, you know, the reality is that what were seeing is an entirely political response to something that should not be political. Its a national crisis, and theres a constant tension in politics in a democracy where politicians, you know, they exist to be elected, but they are also public servants. And this is a white house that is uninterested in serving the public. They only seem to work and exist to serve the president and the politics of the moment and whatever works for them. Weve got over 130,000 deaths in this country because of that, and i think my frustration is that not only that people dont understand how dangerous this virus can be and how even if you do survive it, as i thank god did, you can deal with months of illness from it and really not feel like yourself. But i just my frustration is that americans need to realize the reason we cannot open the economy and schools in a straightforward fashion is because we dont have a National Testing and tracing program, and that is because of the president of the United States. He has failed on this, and americans are on their own. And each state has been left to its own devices. And really its going to take us years to recover from it. Its heartbreaking. Its hard to see the country like this. And the rest of the world is looking on us with pity. Ashley parker, back to barebones politics. What is the status of the Gop Convention . There is talk of having it outdoors. It could still be, along with all the other ancillary cocktail parties and gatherings that go along with conventions, it could still be a superspreader event. Think about a guy like mitch mcconnell, a polio survivor. Its not ageism to point out he is a 78yearold man, also happens to be running for another six years in the u. S. Senate. What do similarly aged Senior Republicans do about this gathering . Well, youre seeing some of them opt out. Theres already more elected officials than in previous history who have sort of said for various reasons that theyre not going to attend. Its not just that the event itself could be a super spreader event the way the president s tulsa rally, the Health Official said increased some of the cases in tulsa. But then its also all of those people think about getting on planes and flying down. One thing to report also is theres a bit of frustration in the rnc that the president basically had them upend their previous convention locale in North Carolina, move it to florida, and now cases are skyrocketing there. And the president at least on the one hand, they are relieved that hes showing some willingness to bow here and there to Public Health guidance and measures such as discussing holding all three nights theyre talking about outside. But some of that flexibility they would have liked to have seen previously and found him had him found a way to work with the governor of North Carolina and not sort of do this costly scramble to move the convention. But this is a president who wants a big crowd and who has so politicized the virus that he seems to view