kid when you just want to go out there and enjoy yourselves. so yeah, it starts at the very beginning. >> well, thank you, kamau. and to all of you, be sure to watch the all new season of "united shades of america" 10:00 p.m. eastern time only on cnn. "cnn newsroom" with poppy harlow begins right now. all right. it is friday morning. good morning, everyone. i'm poppy harlow. glad you're with us. this morning, the states scrambling to get a hold of the virus surging across the nation. for the ninth time in the month, the u.s. has set a new record in new cases. more than 77,000 new cases over the last 24 hours. and more than 940 people dying from this virus yesterday alone. 38 states are seeing a rise in new cases and the debate over masks is getting more political and it's intensifying as some cities and states issue

mandates. georgia's governor kemp is now suing the mayor of atlanta over her mask order. despite the fact that it is proven, undeniably proven by the science that masks help prevent the spread of this virus. this has become a very public battle. it is getting uglier this morning. georgia's governor held a news conference, let's get straight to dianne gallagher with more. good morning. >> good morning, poppy. look, georgia's governor brian kemp doesn't deny that. in fact, multiple times during that press conference he not only encouraged but implored people to wear masks. every member of his task force talked about the performance of wearing masks, but just 12 hours earlier his administration filed a lawsuit against the city of atlanta and mayor bottoms because of the mask mandate and the going back to phase one restrictions. now, the governor maintains that this is about saving lives and livelihoods of businesses.

a lot of focus on businesses and what going back to phase one might mean for them. but the mask mandate is in cities all across georgia and many mayors including keisha lance bottoms said they'll still do it. here's what the governor had to say. >> now, i know that many well intentioned and well informed georgians want a mask mandate. while we all agree that wearing a mask is effective, i'm confident that georgians don't need a mandate to do the right thing. instead of issuing mandates that are confusing and unenforceable, i'm asking all local leaders to enforce the current executive order. enforce the rules that we had put in place to keep employees and customers safe at local businesses. enforce the provisions that ensure folks are staying six feet apart in large gatherings. enforce measures to protect the medically fragile and use your bully pulpit, your social media challenge and your connections

with the local media to help build support for wearing a mask when needed. >> well, i have not heard personally from the white house, but i do know that brian kemp does the bidding of president trump. and it is -- it's unfortunate because meanwhile over 130,000 people in our state have tested positive for covid-19. over 3,100 people have lost their lives and instead of speaking on the same accord about how we can stop the spread of this virus, this governor is taking taxpayer money to sue me personally and the irony is that i am now infected with covid-19 and he's suing the atlanta city council and our city, by and large, supports a mask mandate. >> now, that's something that the governor wouldn't answer,

because he accused the city of atlanta, and mayor keisha lance bottoms of playing politics, all they had to do was follow the executive order. when asked if he was being political here, he didn't answer it and kept going back to the fact that he was trying to protect businesses in georgia as well. again, poppy, deaths, hospitalizations, and new cases in georgia are all at record highs over the past week. 39% increase in hospitalizations over just the past week here ja. they have had to open surge hospitals. >> thank you for the update. let's go to miami now and our colleague rosa flores is there. we just got new data showing florida now leads the nation in per capita coronavirus cases. is that right? >> you know, poppy, it's not getting any better. florida yesterday reporting

nearly 14,000 new coronavirus cases and 156 deaths. that's a record. here in miami dade county, the 14-day average positivity rate, 27%. the goal is not to exceed 10%. when it comes to hospitalizations in the past two weeks, according to county data those are up 46%. ventilators, 86%. now, according to data released by miami-dade county, icus are operating at 107%. here's the data. icu capacity is 440 beds, yesterday they had 4 72 patients. the county does have over 400 beds that they're converting into icu beds and according to the city of miami mayor francis suarez, he said that hospitals in his city are at 95% capacity and that leaders in his city are possibly a few days to a week away to shutting down. poppy? >> rosa flores, we appreciate

the numbers. they're getting worse by the day as you said. now to phoenix, evan mcmorris-santoro is there. what's the situation there this morning? good morning. >> well, good morning, poppy. yesterday, at a press conference the governor sounded a positive note about some numbers here, but continued to talk about how dire the situation saying is there's no end in sight for this pandemic. i'm at a testing site, they set up a testing site here. there will be cars coming in here. this is a big deal to try to get a better picture of the pandemic here. we saw something kind of grim happen yesterday, that shot you up in the seat if you heard about it. the county medical examiner has ordered a bunch of trucks to add

more than 200 beds to their morgue system here. they see that's just a worst case scenario, they don't need the beds yet, but they're ordering them just in case things do get worse, poppy. >> okay, evan, let's hope they don't, but good that they'll be more prepared if they do. thanks for that. let's talk about all of the developments. with me is the senior associate from johns hopkins center. thanks so much for being here. >> thanks. >> when you look at what we're seeing and it's not just the states that reopened quickly or where there's not a lot of mask wearing. look at washington state. look at the u.s., the new cases yesterday, almost a thousand deaths yesterday, it joins brazil and india with more than a million cases, why is the fundamental question? and what would change this the most? >> i think so while the states did reopen at kind of different

rates, one common thing that we have done is we have allowed people to congregate indoors again at bars and restaurants. staying for prolonged periods of time staying within six feet of one another. that's clearly a dangerous thing to do and so i think the only thing that will affect this is to layer a set of measures together including closing those indoor gatherings. and having people wear masks and commit to social distancing. >> let's talk about schools. i mean, there are some school districts that are supposed to open in a matter of weeks and a number of states opened their public schools in august. we heard the white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany saying yesterday, look, science is on our side. it is perfectly safe, her words to open the schools. set the record straight on the science. because everything i have read, actually, the science is not there yet on how much children

are vectors or spreaders of the virus. we know with influenza they spread a lot. is it perfectly clear? >> no, there's a lot of uncertainty about how much the children spread the virus. we haven't had as many get sick but we don't though that will happen when we have an epidemic into the school system. we have seen the outbreaks in schools but we're particularly worried about the teachers and staff members, who may be older or who have underlying conditions who if they get sick may have consequences. >> we have heard some of the biggest labs out there, diagnos diagnosis, quest talk about this. if you have a delay of testing results, covid testing results from five to seven days from when you take the test to when you get your result -- i have a friend who took the test more than a week ago who hasn't

gotten a result, what does that do to the nation's ability to get a handle on this crisis and really bring the numbers down? i don't think almost everyone stays inside and by themselves for a week waiting for results. >> yeah. it really hinders or ability to get control of these epidemics. as you said, it's people who have symptoms, who are waiting for a test, are not indoors and trying to isolate, then they're out spreading it likely to others in the community. and we're certainly not able to trace contacts of cases and get those people quarantined without that information. it makes it really difficult. >> yeah. okay. thank you so much, crystal, for your expertise this morning. >> thank you. well, still to come as millions of parents as we were just talking about wait on news for whether their children will return to school physically in the fall, the cdc says it will not be releasing new documents about reopening safely today.

there's a delay. we'll find out why and how long that delay may be. also, a brand-new abc news/"washington post" poll show that most disapprove of the president's handling of the outbreak. we'll be joined by his senior adviser to the trump 2020 campaign. and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. the shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one pad.

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the course structure the it just suits my life perfectly because i am a mom, i'm a wife. and i was able to complete those short courses- five to six weeks- and then move onto the next until i reached my goal. welcome back. we do have new details this morning, so guidance from the white house that suggested at least 18 states in so-called red zones should roll back their reopenings, but so far this report has not been published. so the public hasn't seen it. let's go to our white house correspondent, john harwood. let's talk about the 18 states and if they were given this report. what's the genesis of this, where does it come from? right? it's from july 14th, have the states themselves seen it? >> poppy, the states involved are living this experience. it's not a matter of information, it's a matter of

political will. you have got a republican president who has moved from a strategy of neglect to denial to aggressive almost pathological denial of what's going on and republican politicians in those states are following his lead. 16 of the 18 states were carried by president trump. he focuses relentlessly on his base. now, we know in the end you can only deny reality so long. citizens will take responsibility in their own hands, protect themselves. eventually the republican politicians will come along, but the question is how many people are going to get sick and die before that happens? >> okay. also when it comes to the cdc, right, they issued those guidelines for schools reopening last week and now there is some updates that's coming to them, but it's not going to be published today. do we know why? >> well, we know that consistently the president has been trying to sit on the facts

and the experts delivering the facts. the cdc issued some guidance, then we were told that the guidance would be changed. then we were told the guidance wouldn't be changed but it would be supplemented. now the supplementing material has been delayed. and states are in the process of trying to make decisions and the administration plainly wants them to open and is going to take steps to try to get them to open. >> i hope we get that soon. i think every parent, teacher, child deserves it. have a nice weekend. so let talk about schools. let's go to miami-dade county where the schools resumes in week, so parents are awaiting to see if it's a physical reopening. we are joined by the superintendent and it's very nice to have you. you have set out some numbers. your position has been we can't physically reopen schools unless

we have a 10% or less than 10% positivity rate. yesterday, it was a 25% positivity rate. at this point, are we getting toward it being inevitable that you begin like some other districts have chosen to just fully reopen online, at least in the near term this fall? >> number one, thank you very much, poppy. it certainly is becoming very difficult to argue for a regular reopening of schools considering the data right here in miami-dade. by the way, it's comparable to the data and the circumstances that wuhan, china, faced about six months ago. we are at the center of america's epicenter for covid-19 so we are monitoring a number of data points not only the positivity rate which is around 24.4%, but also icu bed occupancy capacity which is at 107% at increased level of hospitalizations. those are elements that cannot be ignored. i'm one who wants children to return to school because of the

deleterious effects that children face out of school. you know, social and emotional impacts. the learning loss. but we need to take that within the context of, you know, environmental conditions that vary from region to region in a country, from county to county right here in the state of florida. >> i hear you 100%. not to mention the economic toll, what it means for dual families, most families, where both parents work. what about the federal funding -- the threat from the president withholding the federal funding if the schools don't reopen. do you know if you'll get the money if you're not physically opened by august 24th? >> we hope that's not the case. we are a poor community. regardless of what people see on tv, miami-dade is not south beach. 73.4% of the children in our community are poor. 11% of them have disabilities. about 50,000 of them are english language learners. you know, imposing an additional

crisis, a financial crisis upon children who are fragile to begin with just does not make any sense whatsoever. i'm asking for a degree of flexibility. look, different parts of america are experiencing different levels of proportionality regarding covid-19. we are in crisis mode right here in our community. so we ought to be given some degree of flexibility to restart the school year but in a way for students and teachers. >> i'd like to talk about the students. you have 70% -- over 70% of the students in your schools rely on free lunch, you know, and you talk about not just food insecurity, but all of the other challenges they face. we know many face an increased burden of not having complete broadband access, wi-fi access, their own laptop to get the work done at home and we know what the numbers have shown in terms of the impact on many of those children from schools being

closed in march. what is the plan? can you assure every family, every parent in your district that they will have the broadband access they need, they will have a computer to really have an equal shot at an online education? >> you want to protect and the well-being of the children and teachers, but at the same time, you want to sort of put a stop to the learning loss, the academic regression they're facing. we actually reached 100% connectivity with every single student in miami-dade with a portable device to connect to at home. >> let me say, good for you. but since they closed in march they were logged on consistently and taking the class? >> so they were logged on. what we did observe were some challenges with quite frankly students not only being logged on, but actually learning consistently in a continuous manner.

that's why right now we're doing massive professional development for our employees. but also as a priority, training for parents to be better supporters of the home learning environment for children. so our problem is not a technology problem. our problem quite frankly is there's no guarantee that depending on the personal circumstances of parents, that they get the necessary support at home. >> it's impossible for many quote/unquote essential workers who will go to serve people and to do their job and then how can they be their for their kids? it's an impossible situation. we wish you a lot of luck. thank you, superintendent. governor greg abbott doubling down on not shutting down the economy again, but could a dire warning about the facts on the ground change his mind? you can't predict the future.

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welcome back. a top health official in texas is sounding the alarm now warning that coronavirus is beginning to overwhelm his community. this as the state reports a record number of new covid infections again. ed lavandera is joining me again from dallas. good morning. so i think the real question is these dire warnings from medical experts within the state are those going to cause the governor to reverse course because he keeps saying masks will solve it. we are not, you know, closing down again. we are not shutting down the economy again. >> right. i don't see based on what the governor has said over the last few days any imminent shutdown of the texas economy based on

what he has said. there's some wiggle room and he is really pushing people here in this state to use the masks. the governor has said he believes if people were to strictly wear masks when they're out in public, that that would do enough to curtail the surge of cases in hospitalizations that we're seeing in this state. but he did say that people need to do that to prevent another shutdown. there's some wiggle room there, but i think it's some time away as they continue to see how these cases continue to unfold. the number of coronavirus cases over 10,000 for most of this week, per day. hospitalizations up as well. record high in the number of deaths reported on thursday, poppy, 129. and the governor who was speaking to the state republicans at their state convention and he's been under a great deal of attack from the

right wing of the republican party here in texas. some called the mask mandate unconstitutional and the governor is saying he has science on his side and he has a legal authority to do so. so he's taking it from both sides here in this state as he's pushing people here in texas to continue wearing their masks. poppy? >> ed, thank you for that reporting. we'll watch the state very closely. let's go to california know where the governor is set to reopen his guidance for reopening the schools today. it's a big deal, stephanie. everybody is waiting for this news. >> right, because people are trying to figure out how if cases are rising as they are especially here in l.a. county which is the center of the outbreak as far as the number of cases per county, how are they going to have kids back in school in the long term? we already know that lausd and the san diego school district are going to remote learning in the fall. he did get is come questions about that in the last press conference, governor newsom did. so he'll have guidance. we are expecting to hear that at 3:00 p.m. eastern today about

how this is going to work and what the guidelines are going to look like for the state of california. now, just to put it in perspective, california's numbers for the day above 8,500 new cases and we saw a slight decline in the icu admissions but when you look at the positivity rate, 7.2%, it is trending upward. i want to point out something to you just about these numbers here of deaths for the totals in california. more than half of them are here in los angeles county. and that is important because at this point, we saw another new record here in los angeles county at almost 4,600 cases in one day. and when you look at that number there, the l.a. county director of public health is saying that 4,600 cases can be become 18,000 cases. this is why they want us to work on social distancing and masks, poppy. >> stephanie, thank you for that. we'll wait for his announcement in a little bit. let's go to greenville,

south carolina, now where natasha chen is on the ground there. good morning. state health officials are recording the highest single day of covid deaths sense the beginning of the pandemic, is that right? >> that's right, poppy. and they reported 69 new confirmed deaths yesterday related to covid-19. they did say though that sometimes it takes a while to confirm that a death is related to covid especially if someone had multiple medical issues. so these deaths that they reported did happen over the course of the last few weeks. it does put the state over 1,000 deaths since the pandemic began. when you look at the seven-day moving average of new deaths, you see that a trend upward in the last couple of weeks. same thing with the seven day new average of new cases. it's trending upwards. these are disturbing trends while the governor, henry mcmaster, is asking the school districts to submit an in-person

learning option. that's not an executive order. today is the deadline for districts to submit those plans to the state's superintendent for approval. we're hearing from the department of education that about a quarter of the districts have asked for extensions. their school boards haven't voted on them yet. but as an example, greenville here where we are this is the largest school district in the state. they told me that they would like to submit next tuesday and their plans range from all virtual to all in class to everything in between. so far the department of education tells me that no district has submitted any plan that is only virtual. i want to read you a statement from the state's superintendent, molly spearman. school leaders in consultation with public health experts are best positioned to determine how in-person operations should be carried out to fit the needs of their local communities. i remain committed to supporting them in their endeavor and will

only approve the plans that offer high quality options and keep safety as the top priority. and poppy, i was told just before we came on air here that they don't have an exact time line for when to get those approved. >> okay. natasha, we appreciate the reporting there very, very sad day and the situation on the ground there. ahead for us, well, the same week that the nfl's team dropped the team name, more than a dozen women are accusing two former staffers of sexual harassment and verbal abuse.

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with spray mopping to lock away debris and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. the shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one pad. well, more than a dozen women are accusing staff members of washington's nfl team of

sexual harassment and verbal abuses. this follows the controversy over the name and the now coming name change. andy scholes has more. really serious accusations from 15 former employees? >> yeah, they certainly are, poppy. 15 former female employees and then two journalists who also covered the team speaking with "the washington post," detailing allegations of sexual harassment and verbal abuse and it took place over a span of 13 years. now, some of the allegations are against team executives and among those accused of misconduct are former director of pro personnel alex santos and former assistant richard mann ii. both were fired last week, according to "the post." cnn was unable to reach mann for comment and senior vice president of content larry michael, he was caught on a hot mic talking about the attractiveness of a college intern. he retired from his job on

wednesday. team owner daniel snyder and bruce allen were not directly implicated in the allegations, though snyder is criticized for fostering a culture where the behavior was permitted. one of the accusers, emily applegate, who worked as a marketing coordinator for the team explained why she came forward on the "today" show this morning. >> nobody deserves to be degraded and treated like that. nobody deserves to be disrespected and for any of us women that want to get into the career that is a male dominated force, we shouldn't be afraid that these are the things that are going to happen. >> now, the team referred cnn to the comments to the "the post" saying they hired beth wilkerson and her law firm to look into the entire matter and help set new employee standards for the future. the nfl released a statement saying in part these matters as reported are serious, disturbing and contrary to the nfl's

values. everyone in the nfl has the right to work in an environment free from any and all forms of harassment. the league added they will meet with the attorneys upon the conclusion of the investigation and take any action based on their findings. ron rivera is there in his first season in washington. he told espn these kind of things are not going to happen on his watch, especially because his daughter now works for the organization. >> certainly hope not. they never should have happened in the first place. andy, we appreciate the reporting. we'll follow it closely. all right, so you're going to want to watch this over the weekend. from the farms of oklahoma to the beaches of miami, w. kamau bell is taking on injustice across america in the all new season of "united shades of america." it starts this sunday night, 10:00 eastern only right here on cnn. as the number of cases goes up, the president's poll numbers are going down. this as the nation prepares to vote in just months. we'll be joined next by a member of the president's campaign

team.

welcome back. well, this morning the tragic facts across the united states, more than 77,000 new coronavirus cases reported just yesterday. that accounts for 31% of new cases around the world. it's also more than tripled the daily total from a month ago. joining me now is the senior adviser to the trump campaign, mercedes schlapp. >> thank you for having me. >> let's begin on this and the news that brian kemp is suing the mayor of atlanta, keisha

lance bottoms, who issued a mask mandate. does the president support that move? >> you have to ask the white house on that. i have to say that i think it's obviously when it comes to these mask mandates, you know, there's been so many mixed reviews. i mean, just alone we have seen way back in the beginning when dr. fauci and several outlets, media outlets out there saying we don't have to wear masks and now we need to wear masks. so there's been a lot of confusion in the area. i think at the end of the day, the state and the local governments need to make the best decision for their residents. >> dr. fauci said that because there was a shortage of masks and ppe and he didn't want them taken away from the first responders and the medical professionals. >> yeah, but -- >> i let you finish. the data now -- let's talk about the now. the data now is indisputable that masks save lives and lower transmission and even the numbers out of the university of

washington that you guys use, if everyone uses masks, then 40,000 fewer americans would die. that that's just a fact. by november. >> well, let's just say this. do we have to ask the farmer in iowa on his tractor whether he needs to wear a mask or not? i think you've got to take this from a local jurisdiction -- >> that's not what i'm talking about. i'm from minnesota, my family's from iowa. i know -- you know, i understand what you're saying. my point is, it's -- they are, i love my home state and i love iowa. >> yes. >> i'm talk about people when they're in public. let me ask you, you know, pose this to you about why because the chief medical officer in san antonio, her name is dr. jane applebee. she said in the last few days a patient of theirs died and that the nurse that treated him for covid said that when he was dying among his final words were this. i think i made a mistake. i thought this was a hoax. but it's not.

for months and months, why did the president continue to downplay the severity of this? >> that is such -- so false what you're saying, poppy. >> what's false? >> he never downplayed it. that you're saying that he downplayed the severity of this, this president has taken decisive and bold actions from the begin. when his medical experts said, look, we need to put the travel restrictions on china, the president acted immediately. you know what joe biden said? >> let's stick to the president. i promise we can get back to joe biden in a moment. >> i want to talk about joe biden because -- questions to joe biden. >> oh, that's not true. mercedes -- >> -- fear what joe biden stands for? >> we should know what the president leading in this pandemic -- >> well, he let you guys ask questions. >> it's the single most relevant issue for americans at this moment in time. >> and we all agree. >> mercedes -- mercedes, i think

it does a disservice. we have time so we don't have to talk over one another. i think it does a disservice to our viewers to do that. let's not fight, let's talk about the facts. here are the facts. you said the president didn't downplay this. exactly one month ago today, the president said it's fading away. january 22nd in davos, switzerland, it's totally under control. february 22nd, we shut it down. february 10th it goes away in april with the heat a lot of people think. february 26th the risk to the american people remains low. february 28th, quote, this is their new hoax. may 8th, this is going to go away without a vaccine that what's i'm talking about. >> what the president has been able to accomplish with the working -- working with our both democrat and republican governors is ensuring that they have the resources they need to combat the coronavirus. this president -- >> they don't have the resources they need. that republican governor larry

hogan -- >> you can -- >> larry hogan yesterday -- >> he praised the president. he praised the president before hand. >> yes, he did. and he also -- >> wait. >> he had to fly in $9 million worth of masks from south korea because he could not get enough he said the president was clear that he was waiting around for the president to run the nation's response was hopeless, and this is what he said last night to my colleague erin burnett, a republican governor. >> he has a personal -- >> let's play the tape. >> i think he ought to focus on the crisis, listen to the experts and communicate as directly and honestly as he can and stop worrying so much about the campaign and, you know, what he says on twitter because i think it's not helpful to the entire effort to fight this virus. >> do you think he's wrong? >> i mean, governor hogan has always been a critic of this president. this president and the vice president, coronavirus team, has been actively working on getting a vaccine, have been actively

working on ensuring that we're getting these dosages of remdesivir to ensure that that helps across the board. we are deploying hhs teams in these hot spots. we are also ensuring that we're deploying thousands of doctors and nurses to these states. >> then why, mercedes -- >> i have to tell you. >> the teams continue to work luis donaldo colosioly with the governor. and we wish them so much luck. there is no one -- everyone wants the administration to succeed, everyone -- >> see, you all say that a lot of times just wanting to criticize the president about the response but the reality is -- >> you have more than 130,000 americans who died. this is a wartime president self-proclaimed who has now seen more deaths from the coronavirus than the korean war, the vietnam war and september 11th and the obama administration left you a 69-page playbook on this about what to do with the pandemic. >> president barack obama? >> they are the ones -- >> mercedes, i'm going to finish

the question. >> they depleted our stockpile. no, no, no. this is not a question that you're asking. >> it is. it's actually about your economic team. >> it is, your economic -- can i please show you one thing from your white house. look -- i know we can see each other, this study, have you seen it it's from your council of economic advisers last year. the headline mitigating the impact of a pandemic influenza through a vaccine innovation. have you read it? >> i have not read it. >> let me read from the first page. the council of economic advisers finds that in a pandemic year, this was last year they wrote this. in a pandemic year the economic damage would range from $413 billion to $3.7 trillion, fatalities in it the most serious scenario would exceed half a million people in the united states. why was this warning from the white house itself last year not heeded by the president? >> well, first of all, i think the president has will be listening to both his health experts, to his economic

advisers. >> we know his economic advisers. >> he has taken bold and decisive steps in working with these governors, in working with these health experts to ensure that we deal with this problem. you know, i can take this back and i know you don't want to talk about joe biden, but i can talk about joe biden. >> of course we do. but you're working for the president. >> they basically set -- yes, but we kind of need to know what joe biden's vision is. we have no idea except that he decided to attack the president in calling the decisive decisions that he's made in terms of coronavirus, calling the travel restrictions xenophobic, where you all also criticized the president for making these travel restrictions that we know saved lives. >> i never -- i never criticize, never, the president's decision on the travel restrictions. >> plenty of your guests did. >> from china. but i will tell you that the cdc, the white house, the cdc came out this week and said the travel restrictions placed on

china and europe came too late to stop the spread especially here in new york city. >> well, the president argumented immediately when he heard from his health care, immediately acted. actually, governor cuomo waited six or seven days after the travel restrictions were in place to -- to close down the city, so, i mean, you know, i think we all have to -- >> let me -- we all have a questions to answer. no one did it perfectly but because you're working for the president and trying to get him re-elected i think these are really important questions especially for every single american who has lost a loved one to covid. >> absolutely. >> goldman sachs, let's talk -- >> we all agree. >> if we could talk about the economy because it's very important to everyone and the president and he's opinion pushing for these reopenings, goldman sachs came out and said that a federal mask mandate could prevent the need for lockdowns that would wipe out 5% of gdp. that's goldman sachs says you guys should do that to help the economy. do you think they are right, federal mask mandate? >> you know, again, i think the states are the ones that can

best decide for the residents. it's very clear when the president says, you know, if you need to wear a mask, wear a mask, but i'm going to say, and you know this coming from iowa and coming -- having your family in minnesota as well. it depends -- it's kind of a community county-by-county basis on what works. you're seeing certain areas where you've seen spikes in the cases. other areas where you don't and so i think that it's really up to the states to determine. >> the issue is people are traveling between the states. let me ask you about dr. fauci. help me understand why the president, his chief of staff, his top trade advisers, social media director, why are they attacking dr. fauci, undermining him at the least? >> they are not. i mean, the president has a very good relationship -- >> mercedes, they wrote essentially oppo research on him. they issued like 12 bullet points about all the things he got wrong, they say. >> i think dr. fauci, as we sao with dr. birx. there's many of these health experts that the president is

talking to, listening to, and, you know, i think at the end of the day we're all trying to figure out the best path forward, and what we've decided is we need to ensure that we're continuing to flatten the curve, keep mortality rates down, ensure that we fast track the vaccines development, the therapeutics development, you know. we've been able to increase our testing capabilities. we're seeing results. this is in contrast to the joe biden answer is to keep the economies close and keep the schools closed. >> i don't know what progress we're making is seeing 77,000 cases -- >> the president has a serious credibility crisis here. all of the polling, every single one, including brand-new "washington post"/abc polling out today shows how much more dr. fauci is trusted on this than the president. you have 38% only approve of the president's handling of the outbreak, according to "the

washington post" today. if you look at other reporting out of quinnipiac university, 67% of people do not trust the president on handling this crisis. 67% do not trust him on this. 65% trust dr. fauci, that's an issue, no? >> hits dessecretary the quinnipiac poll so that's a perfect example. it skews towards democrats and independents. >> no, it doesn't. >> 52% of rural voters -- >> yes, it does, because they have 24% -- >> just in general -- let me -- let me tell you. when you look at exiting polling when it comes to 2016 and 2018, they usually have the 33% of republicans. overall quinnipiac has been polling only about 24% of republicans. it skews. >> the president has applauded quinnipiac polls, many, many times he applauds the quinnipiac polling. ma maybe you guys don't look if. >> look, there are a number of

polls that havy have skewed methodologies. i can tell you with the president what we've seen you time and time again. ive in michigan when they did 61 polls in 2016, the president was never up in any of them. he ended up winning that state. you know, i think at the end of the day you see a lot of these people who don't pick up the phone to listen to these pollsters who are going to obviously want to make a headline. >> pollsters have done a lot of work in the last years to correct for things that were missed, and i agree that we missed polling back then. >> right. >> final question, 138,360, that's the number of americans who have died from covid as of this morning. so in this moment why did this self-proclaimed wartime president take a photo hawking goya beans behind the res lure the desk and it was posted on instagram, here it is for everyone to see it. why did he do that in this moment? >> as a latina, as the daughter of a cuban immigrant who fled communism, who understands the

importance of the american dream, to watch these democrats, these leftists be so intolerant -- >> could we -- i'm sorry, mercedes. i'd love to you have back. >> let me finish. >> can we show it so people can see. i want to know why he did it. >> poppy, let me finish because this is about telling the craziness of the left, the intolerance of the left that they would want to boycott goya. goya, that this man who has fed millions of latinos, not only here in the united states but in latin america, that they go after him because he said one nice thing about this president. this president who has worked with both the obama administration and the trump administration yet the left are so intolerant. that is anti-american. so, yes, i think that mr. goya, absolutely. >> i hope -- >> your spanish is so much better than mine. i hope every employee at goya thrives. i sen seriously do mean that.

>> it's fed all of our families and you need a recipe. >> i don't understand why the president in this crisis moment in the country -- >> are you kidding me? you're talking about whether he took a picture with goya products from the resolute desk but i don't think you're going to answer the question. >> it's about cherishing, yes, it is. it's about cherishing -- we lost the signal there, mercedes schlapp, apologize that we lost that. thanks to her for her time. it is the top of the hour. good morning, everyone. i'm poppy a harlow, as the u.s. shalt, the record for new cases, state and local lawmakers are at odds over how to stop this virus as we just talked about. in the u.s. more than 77,000 new cases yesterday. that's more than 13 times higher than the number of cases in the european union, three states, florida, texas and south carolina all reported