Theres startling new data out tonight that point to the highlight of the risk of getting this virus. Nbc news has found over the last seven days one person died roughly every 80 seconds from the coronavirus in our country. Thats according to the data from around the country. Weve now lost over 159,000 americans, over 4. 8 million, just under 5 million infected with the virus. University of washington computer model thats been frequently used and cited at the white house now predicts almost 231,000 souls will be gone from this virus by november 1st, two days before the election. Even with all of that, as well as the devastating economic toll from the pandemic, the president has not backed down from his insistence this is all a temporary state of affairs. The countrys in very good shape and were set to rock and roll. This things going away. It will go away like things go away. That was from this morning. If the rock and roll part sounds familiar, its because trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner used the wording in april when he predicted virus would be on the retreat by now and the economy humming. This afternoon, trump stuck to his assertion. Its coming down, and pretty substantially in many locations. It will go away, things go away, absolutely. No question in my mind, it will go away. Go ahead. Hopefully sooner rather than later. His comments simply get tossed on the pile with all the others, his comments in the past designed to diminish the threat of the virus as the death toll just kept climbing. Its going to disappear, one day like a miracle it will disappear. Were prepared, doing a great job. Stay calm, it will go away. This is going to go away. This virus is going to disappear. Its a question of when. Were doing so well after the plague. I said its going to disappear, ill say it again, and ill be right. Earlier this week the president criticized dr. Deborah birx for saying the virus was more widespread then when it first hit the u. S. This spring. Even said his administration had it quote under control. Today dr. Anthony fauci. As long as you have any member of society, any Demographic Group not seriously trying to get to the end game of suppressing this, it will continue to smolder and smolder and smolder. And that will be the reason why in a nonunified way weve plateaued at an unacceptable level. Today we learned florida now has over half a million infected residents, now the second most cases of any state, right behind california. Testing has resumed in the wake of the passing hurricane this past weekend but there remain delays getting results. Nations Third LargestSchool District has announced theyll begin fall 2020 semester online only. Chicago officials scrapped the idea of holding mix of inperson and remote instruction out of safety concerns. City Health Officials said sevenday average of coronavirus cases has been on the rise. Thats what worried them. Also following new developments what may be most serious legal threats against the president. Investigation into trumps business practices. New york times reporting the prosecutors seeking trumps tax records have subpoenaed deutsche bank, his longtime new york lender. Times says the bank complied with the subpoena. Well see. Origins of the Russian Investigation back on the table today, hearing from sally yates, trump and his allies on the hill have tried to imply without evidence that president obama and Vice President biden were behind the fbi investigation into the Incoming Trump administration and there was some sort of plot to keep trump from winning the 2016 election. Yates who blew the whistle on mike flynn pushed back against that narrative. The president , Vice President , and National Security adviser did not in any way attempt to disrespect or influence any kind of investigation. Isnt it true there were a handful of people at the department of justice during the Obama Administration that despised donald trump . And did everything in their power to keep him from being president . Im not aware of anyone at the department of justice doing anything to try to keep donald trump from becoming president. Miss yates, when did you first become aware that the Obama Administration was surveilling the Donald Trump Campaign . The Obama Administration was not surveilling the Donald Trump Campaign. Nbc news reports barrs inquiry into the origins of the Russian Investigation may be nearing its end, running it making plans to interview obama chief john brennan, who greed to talk to him. Barr was asked about that in hearing in the house. Do you commit to not releasing any report by mr. Durham before the november election . No. So you go by policy not to int interfere in any political investigations before the election . Were not going to interfere. There will be party conventions, what passes for them electronically. Joe biden is not traveling to milwaukee for the Democratic National convention but accept the nomination from delaware. Entire convention is going to look like a zoom meeting because of the pandemic. Republicans are also working out their convention logistics. This morning trump gave us an indication how he might accept the nomination. Ill probably do my live from the white house. If for some reason someone had difficulty with it, i could go someplace else. Easiest, least expensive and i think beautiful would be live from the white house. Yep. Here for leadoff discussion on wednesday night, ashley parker, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for washington post. Robert costa, reporter also with the post and moderator on pbs. And former fbi assistant director for counter intelligence. Welcome to you all. Ashley, the president is back to telling us it will simply go away. Seemingly more he says it, more its dismissed less attention it gets. Similarly he remains only industrialized leader continuing to float out the theory it may have been a bomb attack in beirut to very little attention given what hes putting out there. What does it say about not the presidency but this president s role in American Life right now, if anything . Thats exactly right, this president on a range of issues, you just laid out some is increasingly becoming a nonentity. Says stuff, tweets stuff, does stuff and world in some cases responds with a collective shrug. Compare that to three years ago, every tweet was parsed by diploma diplomats scrambling to figure out what it meant. Thats the president saying with no evidence that beirut was a bomb or attack. Then what hes saying on coronavirus, the governors are largely ignoring him, doing whats best for their states. He wants schools to open, schools mostly ignoring that. Chicago just going virtual. And republicans largely ignored his wishes for payroll tax cut in negotiations. While his side is represented by his emissaries, hes absent from these. I talked to joe bidens campaign today, because the president dont trust the president and are fed up with his noise, some of his attacks against joe biden are not landing as well. As the president recedes into where he can make a difference or matter, its not a great position for a sitting president to be in. Frank, while the world would love to know why the hell that much Ammonium Nitrate was in a warehouse in the central port, focal point of beirut, it is roundly being called a tragic accident, but im looking at notes from the president s briefing today, quote, nobody knows yet, perhaps it was an attack, he says, were looking into it. Of course the only way they look into things these days is quote very strongly. He says in either event the net effect was it ended up being a bomb. What are the National Security implications from your world, talking that way from behind the lectern the at White House Briefing room . Yeah, there are serious National Security implications. Our standing in the world and credibility in the world is i x inex inexerab inexerably tied to the president. Could literally put nations troops on alert, cause terrorism organizations to consider a counterattack against something that never happened, and longterm damage to standing in the world thats going to take a lot of time to recover. We used to be the goto nation for latest intel. This is a country that has a president that doesnt listen to his intelligence briefers. All of this intel is available. Cia, nsa, all the organizations know whats happening on the ground in beirut, lebanon, could have told him quickly. Instead he made up a story about his great generals who actually say to reporters they have no idea what hes talking about. Most of our president s have seen red, white and blue. This president is the exception, seems to see red and blue. Topic of reopening schools came up, injected politics in the following way. Well talk about it on the other side. I can say that republican areas want to see them open, and democrats probably want to keep them closed until after november 3rd because they think its good for them politically. I actually dont think its good for them politically. So robert, families facing this intensely personal, singed by economic decision, do you think theyre making that decision based on red, blue, politics at all . The president s statement is not accurate. Ive seen it up close with reporting, recent trip to texas talking to voters and officials in democratic and Republican Party in red states. Democrats may not like president trump, republicans in red states are telling me theyre having the same anxieties and challenges with reopening schools as their counterparts on the other side of the aisle. This is a challenge for the white house politically, this is not a blue state or blue city issue anymore. If they saw it that way at one point, that is no longer the case. It was never the case. And you see florida, arizona, texas struggling to contain this virus, just days in many places before school begins. To ashleys point, governors are often taking the lead as task force in washington recedes into the background. Ashley, one for you. President promoting dr. Birxs upcoming road tour. Next week dr. Birx will be visiting iowa, nebraska, kansas, missouri, oklahoma and arkansas. And also i believe trying to get in West Virginia, a great state, im sure that will happen. Wed like it to happen. Theyd like to see her. Going to try to get the doctor to West Virginia and other states to deliver aggressive, tailored and targeted guidance. Bears repeating, this is not a live nation tour of outdoor concert venues with birx merch for sale as you enter. If your state is on the list of this road trip by dr. Birx, its probably not a great thing, shes been going to regions its been spiking. What do you think is going on other than the social media drop line that hes happily sending her out on the road . I was talking to the white house about this today, its part of what theyre calling their embers tour. Which is exactly right. Shes sent out not just to places where its spiking but also where theyre expecting the next wave. Youre absolutely right, if you are getting a visit from her, portends something negative. But it is part of the administrations overall, broader effort to have medical doctors, including dr. Birx, perhaps most high profile, but i believe already they have sent about a dozen doctors, done 100 interviews in local media markets. It is something happening a level below the president. President may say its going to disappear, its going to go away, then coming into the local media market is a doctor saying its not going away, its not disappear, heres what you can responsibly do to try to protect yourself and your community. Frank, lets talk about the durham investigation. Durham was put in place by barr under trump, hes been looking into the socalled origins of the russia investigation. When you and i last spoke, 3 00 eastern time today, we heard joyce vance say that democrats would be smart to inoculate the public to the idea that indictments may be coming, really big names, late in the game before the election. Its supposed to be a hands off go silent period at doj, but why would anything else be normal in the year 2020. Do you concur . I think we need to understand that the october surprise is coming, and it might actually be in august or september. Surprise, and component will be great revelation or reveal of whatever it is attorney general barr thinks that john durham has found. I know theyre hunting for anything that could be indicted. I would expect at least a midlevel manager to be under consideration for indictment within the fbi or department of justice. Im not saying thats something that should be happening but we should prepare ourselves for that and understand something, the attorney general has told the rest of the department of justice, hands off as we approach election, no one should do anything or indict anybody that messes with election or perceptions of the election but its essentially do as i say, not as i do, hes already told congress he intends to release this. I would challenge the attorney general, if he thinks wouldnt impact the election, let john durham testify before congress, issue his own report that you havent edited. Let him and his team do it. Hes a respected prosecutor, let him do his job. I dont think thats going to happen. Robert costa, we move to sheer politics. Ask you about the status of the latest Coronavirus Relief measure. Heres the politics part. Roughly a third of the senate up for reelection, do more of them not want their name on a piece of legislation that goes out in a timely manner, i guess that horse has left the barn, to help people during a pandemic . Just a couple of hours ago i spoke to senator cruz from texas half an hour on the record. Hes one of the outliers in the conference, group doesnt want to vote for any extension of the 600 unemployment supplement but many republicans are privately telling me they want to support it because theyre up for reelection and see Speaker Pelosi just waiting. Thats her strategy, sees the republicans coming to her as they get nervous and election nears. Its not question of whether the unemployment will be extended but how much. 600, 500, 400 . For now Speaker Pelosi believes she can get republicans to go along. Leader mcconnell wants to keep his majority, hes the voice to watch at the end, does he lean in and say lets have the deal done. Three of our best to start off on a consequential wednesday night. Much obliged. Thank you gang. There is no easy way to say this, we are losetion the battle against coronavirus in the places unable to put up a decent fight. Well talk to a doctor from a hospital with no icu and as many deadly cases as big city teaching hospital. With 90 days to go, why it actually matters who joe biden picks as his running mate, and who the leading candidates are days before the virtual democratic convention. As the the 11th hour is just getting under way on this wednesday night. R way on this wednesday night. Biktarvy is a complete, onepill, onceaday treatment used for hiv in certain adults. Its not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights hiv to help you get to and stay undetectable. Thats when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. Research shows people who take hiv treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit hiv through sex. Serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. Rare, lifethreatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. Do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. Tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. If you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. Common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. If youre living with hiv, keep loving who you are. 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You said children are virtually immune from covid19 but children have contracted this virus, some died from it. Im talking about from getting very sick, children handle it very well. They may get it but it doesnt have much of an impact on them. To be clear, children of course are contracting, transmitting and dying from the virus. Theyre not immune. Statements from the president went even too far for facebook, they removed the clip saying it violated their policies around harmful covid misinformation. First for facebook, first time removed content from the president. As trump continues to falsely claim this virus will just go away, New York Times is out with this report. Quote, like a horror movie, a small border hospital battles the coronavirus. Hospital in star county texas has been transferring patients that doctors are unable to help. As doctor jose vasquez told us, only one transported made it out of a ventilator and was discharged alive. Welcome to the broadcast, dr. Jose vazquez, president of the board and Health Director for star county. And back from new york city, clinical professor with school of Public Health at Columbia University and dire