Miami-Dade mayor: While hospitals still have capacity, we don't want to exceed that

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Miami-Dade mayor: While hospitals still have capacity, we don't want to exceed that

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez on concerns over spike in coronavirus cases.

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," July 9, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TRACE GALLAGHER, GUEST HOST: And good evening, everybody. I'm Trace Gallagher, in for Martha MacCallum. And this is The Story. As the nation's top infectious disease expert says, he is cautiously optimistic that a COVID-19 vaccine will be developed by the end of the year. President Trump said this about a potential timeline earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We were on track to produce a vaccine in record time. And very, very soon. It's going to be announced, I believe, very, very soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: This as nine states now report more than 100,000 COVID-19 cases. Florida is among them as it continues to emerge as a global epicenter of the surge, hitting a record high one day death toll today. In moments, we will be joined by Carlos Gimenez, the mayor of Florida's hardest hit county, Miami-Dade, where one in four residents who have been tested have tested positive.

And later tonight, Corey Lewandowski with the Trump campaign's reaction to Joe Biden's lead in the polls. Plus, Economist Stephen Moore on Biden joining forces with Bernie Sanders and KT McFarland on new developments in the investigation into the origins of the Russia probe. But we begin tonight with Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. I want to put these numbers to get everybody up to speed on the board, if I can, to show people where we are today in Miami-Dade, 1987 new cases, 24 new deaths. And now the positivity rate, meaning those who have tested 24.3 percent have tested positive. Mayor, what number concerns you the most? Is it the positivity rate going up so dramatically over the past few weeks?

MAYOR CARLOS GIMENEZ, R-MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: Yes, that's it. We know that there's a heck of a lot more people that with the virus in the past than the official numbers. And so, we've gone from around 8 percent positive to about two weeks, two and a half weeks ago, and risen kind of dramatically to over, really over 25 percent is the last number that I've got. So, that's a pretty sharp increase in about three weeks.

So, that's the number that really concerns me. How many people are going to the hospital? We've got double the number of people in the hospital. Double the number of people in ICUs. We have about 100 additional people in our ventilators. And so, while we still have capacity, we never want to exceed the capacity of our health system here to take care of lives that are safe.

GALLAGHER: Yes. And that is a key metric because the hospitalizations, everybody looks out across the country. And we did some research. And you're right, sir, up 70 percent over the past couple of weeks. The question, though, remains you still do have capacity. So, it doesn't appear as if the hospitals in Florida are being overwhelmed. And that was kind of the goal in the beginning of flattening the curve. So that's a good sign for the state.

GIMENEZ: Yes, it is. It is so far. But look, we keep going like this and we have more and more. We are increasing the number of people going into the hospital, even though they're younger and they're staying. You know, the length of stays is less. It's just the sheer number. And so, the positivity rate is really what we need to start to take down. And so that's why we issued a curfew order last week in order to stop social activity, because I think that's driving a lot.

We closed the interior dining rooms of restaurants in Miami-Dade today. And so, you know, we're taking additional measures here of masks orders in and out, inside and outside, mandatory and additional measures and enforcement measures to see that people will comply with the rules because it actually if they had just follow the rules, we wouldn't be in this situation.

GALLAGHER: I peek in at the Miami Herald today, sir, and I was kind of looking at the restaurants and some of the restaurant tours who were in Miami are pushing back. They're kind of against this closing back up again because they want to know the science and the data. And a lot of them are saying, well, now we would like the mayor to show us the science and the data. And, sir, do you have any information? Do you have statistics, contact tracing that actually points to restaurants or restaurants, kind of like beaches, just low hanging fruit, where they're kind of the first ones that are shut down when things get tight.

GIMENEZ: They have to be and because the restaurants are - it's the only industry that I know of that you have to take your mask off inside to do what a restaurant is, eat and drink. And we all know now, you know, the science is telling us that the virus is hanging around in the air on interior spaces for hours. And so, it's a very risky business. And so, you know, I feel sorry for them--

GALLAGHER: But is there - that restaurants, sir, are actually spreading this disease.

GIMENEZ: We feel that actually what would cause this is the behavior of people. But when you have an industry where you have to take the mask off in an interior space and it's the only one that we do, we're not going to - that's the one place that we have to close because we don't want to spread it anymore. We already have a positivity rate over 25 percent here in Miami-Dade County. That means that when you're in a restaurant, the odds are that many people in that restaurant are positive with COVID-19 spreading the germs in an interior space, that's incredibly dangerous. And that's the only thing - not like that.

GALLAGHER: And I get that, sir. But again, they were asking of the science. I want to move on if I can. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says that he believes a lottery--

GIMENEZ: They may not like the science, but that is the science.

GALLAGHER: Well, but he's there talking about actual - their actual tracing. I mean, we found a restaurant in Wuhan, sir, that had actual - they had proof positive that a man contacts in the restaurant spread the virus because of the air conditioning. The restaurant tours are only asking, look, do they have the science, and can we see the data? And we haven't seen that anywhere across the country, except that it seems like it's a bad outfit when you don't have a mask on.

I want to move on if I can. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says that he thinks a lot of this is, you know, media coverage taking this out of context, politicizing this. He says he wouldn't hesitate to put his kids in school. Listen to him and I'll get your response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS, R-FLA.: Fast food and Wal-Mart and Home Depot and I do all that, so I'm not like looking down on it. But if all that is essential, then educating our kids is absolutely essential. I have a newborn. I have a two-year-old, I have a three-year-old. They're not old enough to go to school. So, obviously they won't be in kindergarten or anything coming up. But I would not hesitate to putting them in, in terms of the risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: And sir, the President has also said he would put some pressure on governors to kind of open these schools up. Where do you stand on the opening of school's subject, sir?

GIMENEZ: Well, look, the administration also said there are different areas, different hotspots may get different rules. And so, we're a hotspot. And so, we may get different rules. And so, look, we have a positivity rate here of over 25 percent. So, I had conversations today with the superintendent of schools and we're going to come up with a plan of how we can open up schools, but we have to reach a certain threshold. Again, listening to our doctors and our medical advisers asking what would be that threshold which is safe for our children to go to school. There's nothing more that would please me. Nothing that would please me more than have our kids go to school.

But we are a hot spot here in Miami-Dade County and we're going to make sure that our kids are safe. And so, we're going to do whatever we need to do to make sure that they're safe. That's one of the reasons why we make - taking these measures to kind of drive down these positivity rates, get below the gating threshold that the administration put on less than 10 percent positive rate, which is a gating - that's their threshold.

We want to get below that before we say that the kids, you know, really can go back to school in a classroom setting.

GALLAGHER: Yes. And no doubt, 24 percent positivity rate is alarming anywhere in the country. Mayor Gimenez. thank you, sir, for joining us. We appreciate it.

GIMENEZ: It's my pleasure.

GALLAGHER: Also, here tonight, former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson. He is author of Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns. And I know, Alex, you're all about kind of cooler heads prevailing on this. But you look at the Gallup poll, I want to put this on the screen if you can.

And the Gallup poll says the following, 65 percent think that COVID is getting little or a lot worse. Only 23 percent think it's getting better. What do you say to the 65 percent who are kind of freaked out by the latest statistics and numbers?

ALEX BERENSON, FORMER NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER: Well, I think when you look at these big case numbers, they are - they're going to frighten people, especially if the media doesn't do a good job of reporting on the case mix, reporting on what's happening in hospitals. And by the way. I don't mean to say that there's no reason to pay attention, not reason for concern about what's happening in Miami, what's happening in Houston, what's happening in Arizona, what's happening in California, by the way, which gets much less attention because, you know, California has a Democratic governor and is a blue state. And so, the problems there tend to get less attention. But there are problems there, too.

I would actually push back on you a little bit in terms of what you were talking to the mayor about. I don't think that closing bars and restaurants right now inside is a bad idea necessarily. There is evidence of cluster transmission there. And if things are getting a little bit hot and that's a way to cool them down a little bit, that might be a good idea.

But when we really look at what's happening in hospitals, even in these most affected states, they still have capacity. You know, even in Florida, the ICUs are about 85 percent full, which means they still have beds. And that's a level one. That's really no surge capacity. And I just point out, you know, if you think back to March, March, New York State, people were talking that the governor of New York State, Governor Cuomo, was talking about 140,000 hospitalizations. 140,000 people in beds.

Right now, in Miami or not Miami, in Florida as a whole, we're in the low thousands. OK. Well, under 10,000. In California, 6000. In Texas, under 10,000. So, these numbers are just orders of magnitude lower than what the fears were back in March and April. There's no evidence the hospitals are not able to handle this right now.

GALLAGHER: No. And I think that's a fair assessment. And just kind of going back to our debate with the mayor there, I wasn't talking about bars because I agree with you. There is evidence of cluster events at bars. Haven't seen it at restaurants that maybe you have. I haven't seen it from inside of restaurants except for Wuhan. That was my question. Haven't seen any science against beaches and restaurants that points to events happening--

BERENSON: Sure.

GALLAGHER: Go ahead, Alex.

BERENSON: I mean, I would say, let's separate beaches and restaurant. Beaches, you know, for three months, I've been screaming that outdoor transmission is not a risk here. We know that. And that's one reason why encouraging people to wear masks outdoors are much less making them is so silly. If we were smart about what we told people, then the few recommendations that really should be made and paid attention to, I think people would pay more attention to. And let's go to schools for a second.

Unlike the governor, I actually do have children of school age and I am so eager to get them back in school come this fall because I think it's so important to them that my family is actually considering to moving to a state where we know the schools are going to be open. There is just no evidence that children are at serious risk from this. And for us to deny them to even consider denying them another year of education is beyond a bad idea.

GALLAGHER: And now that we're on schools, I want to - we want to talk about the Ivy League is now postponed sports in the fall. I want to play the sound bite for you, Alex, and get your response on the flip side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBIN HARRIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE IVY LEAGUE: There's an understanding that these policies that are being put in place to protect the health and well-being of the campus community at large, and our society also should apply to our athletics community. So, while we're all disappointed and disheartened, we know it's the right decision for the Ivy League.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Lot of universities around the country are going forward with sports. The Ivy League saying we're going to shut him down. Your thoughts?

BERENSON: It's nuts. Again, college age students here are at very, very low risk. And, you know, I've been getting a lot of e-mails from people saying, you know, various colleges are doing aggressive contact tracing. They're going to if they're letting people back in at all, they're going to do some randomized tests. And I would ask you, if they were doing this for, let's say, sexually transmitted infections and forcing people to get tested and doing contact tracing against people's will, what the outcry would be?

Well, for Coronavirus, for most people under 25, the risk is comparable to an STI because it's so low. And I just - I think we have lost any semblance of rationality in our public health debate here.

GALLAGHER: Yes, lastly, and I've got to go here. I just want to get this. You tweeted about masks today. You know, it was kind of a negative thing. For him or against him. I mean, Alex, we should we wear them or what do you think?

BERENSON: I think there's very, very little evidence that masks work to slow the community transmission of SARS COV-2 or any respiratory virus. And that's why until this year, if you look at the recommendations that the CDC and other places made about pandemics, they did not encourage the wearing of masks. And I don't know what has changed in the science. I'm talking about outside. I'm talking about community wearing by, well, people. Universal masking. I don't know what's changed.

GALLAGHER: Yes. Alex Berenson, thank you for joining us, sir. We appreciate it.

BERENSON: Trace, thanks for having me.

GALLAGHER: Well, Joe Biden unveiling plans for a new American economy today as he considers a wide range of progressive policies, including a public option health care plan and free tuition to appease the Far Left-wing of his party. Steve Moore and Richard Fowler debate next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Well, Joe Biden out with the direct challenge to President Trump's America first agenda today under the umbrella build back better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRAT PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Wall Street bankers and CEOs didn't build this country, didn't build it. Just look around your neighborhood or your kitchen table and see who built this country. Folks, it's not sufficient to build back. We have to build back better. That's what my plan is, to build back better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: It comes as the former VP considers moving further left to appease progressives as part of a newly unveiled Biden-Sanders unity platform, calling for the study of reparations for black Americans. A $15 federal minimum wage, extending coverage from the Affordable Care Act to illegal immigrants brought to the country as children. A 100-day moratorium on deportations and free community college.

With us now, Steve Moore, former Senior Economic Adviser to President Trump, and Richard Fowler, Nationally Syndicated Radio Talk Show host and Fox News Contributor. Gentlemen, thank you both. I see you know Joe Biden, Stephen Moore, to you first, kind of laying out his economic agenda here. Boy, you know, the third quarter comes around like some economists say, and it goes gangbusters for the administration. That might have to be adjusted a bit. What do you think of Biden's speech today, Stephen?

STEPHEN MOORE, FORMER TRUMP SENIOR ECONOMIC ADVISER: You know, I was quite disappointed because I had actually hoped that Joe Biden would run as a moderate Democrat on economics with some sensible kind of middle ground positions. And there is no middle ground position in any of this. Even Bernie Sanders said that this is the most progressive Left-wing agenda since Franklin Roosevelt.

The only thing that he got wrong about that is it's to the Left of what Franklin Roosevelt ran on 50, 60 years ago. Look, I think if you look at the taxes, if you look at the fact that he wants to destroy the American oil and gas industry, by the way, that's 4 to 5 million blue collar jobs that are lost right out of the gate.

How do you - here's the question I would pose to the Vice President. Mr. Vice President, how do you create jobs by taxing the very employers that create the jobs. You're doubling the capital gains tax. You're increasing the tax on American corporations. You're increasing the tax on our 30 million small businesses. I don't see how in the world that adds up to more jobs.

GALLAGHER: You know, it's interesting, Richard, because Stephen, he just teased it for us what Bernie Sanders said about Joe Biden. I want to play the sound bite and I will get your reaction on the other side. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT.: I was glad to work with the Vice President informing six separate task forces. I think the compromise that they came up with, if implemented, will make Biden the most progressive president since FDR.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: He's talking about the unity platform, Richard. What do you think about that?

RICHARD FOWLER, SENIOR FELLOW, NEW LEADERS COUNCIL: Look, if we're basing it on FDR, let's remember FDR's legacy. FDR got America out of the Great Depression. FDR won World War II. FDR created one of the most - the most - the greatest period of economic growth in American history. And if that is what Joe Biden is going to do, then I'll take it. I've got to tell you that, Trace.

And let's talk about what's in that plan that Joe Biden talked about. In that plan is fund. Desperate need of funds for state and local governments. And we know this in your last segment, you talked about reopening schools. Here's what's happening all across the country. A lot of these cities and states are cash strapped because a lot of this money is going to COVID relief. They don't know how to pay their teachers. They're laying off teachers, they're laying off firefighters.

They desperately need money. And that's what's in Joe Biden's plan. What's also in Joe Biden's plan is how he's going to fix many; help extend unemployment benefits to many folks who are currently unemployed. Right now, last week alone, 1.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits. At the end of this month, they're going to lose the extra $600 that the federal government chipped in. Joe Biden is going to extend that. That's all things that all Americans could benefit from. We've heard from the Donald Trump is none of that.

GALLAGHER: It is.

FOWLER: Go ahead. Trace.

GALLAGHER: Yes, it's interesting because what he says again and again, Steve, is that what's in the plan? What's in the plan? I find it interesting what was not in the plan. And I'm going to put this on the screen. Medicare for All. There was no mention of Medicare for All. No mention of defunding the police. No mention of the Green New Deal or abolishing ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Did that surprise you at all, Steve, that none of that was in?

I mean, Bernie Sanders says the most progressive President ever. And yet some of these things that were being pushed by the Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez's of the party were saying, hey, these need to be in there. Didn't quite make the cut.

MOORE: Well, he's already endorsed the Green New Deal. He's already told in the debates with the Democrats. He's already said, look, if I'm president, I'm going to destroy America's oil and gas industry. And I don't care if it destroys tens of thousands of jobs. I care more about the green movement than I do about blue-collar workers.

But look, I've got to get this off my chest, Franklin Roosevelt was not an economic success story. We had 10 years of 10 percent unemployment or higher. Richard, if you think that's an economic success and that's what Joe Biden is going to do for the country. Give us 10 years of 10 percent unemployment. That's the last thing I would think the American people want to see.

FOWLER: Look, Steve, you can't have your cake and eat it, too. You can't say that you want a moderate candidate, which Joe Biden is giving you. And then you can't say that he's the most progressive. He's the most progressive candidate you've ever seen. If Green New Deal is in the plan and Medicare for All is in the plan, it's because Joe Biden is a moderate candidate. Right.

And you can't also defy the chronicles of history. And what we know from history is this. When Roosevelt took the keys to this economy in the late in the late 1930s, the economy is doing terrible. And when he left and when he died, the economy is doing way better. And these are the facts and that's the truth. And the American people know it. And that's why all the polls show that Joe Biden is doing far better than Donald Trump.

GALLAGHER: I've got to go, Steve. The history lesson was fascinating, gentlemen. I've got to tell you; it was a great debate. Steve Moore, Richard Fowler, thank you both.

MOORE: Thank you.

FOWLER: Good to see you.

GALLAGHER: President Trump not pleased with Supreme Court rulings on his tax returns. Shannon Bream on where the case goes from here. She's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A political witch hunt that just continues. It's been before I got here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Well, two major Supreme Court rulings today on separate cases involving President Trump's financial records. House Democrats have been denied access for now, passing the case back to the lower courts. But Manhattan prosecutor Cy Vance now has the legal right to pursue those records. Chief Justice John Roberts writing, quote, the President is neither absolutely immune from state criminal subpoenas seeking his private papers nor entitled to a heightened standard of need. Here's the President's reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: From a certain point to satisfied from another point, I'm not satisfied. Exactly. This is a political witch hunt for the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. It's a pure witch hunt. It's a hoax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: With us now is Shannon Bream. She is our Chief Legal Correspondent as well as the host of Fox News at Night, usually our roles are reversed, Shannon, and they will be again tonight at 11 o'clock, but for now you're in the hot seat. So, what Chief Justice Roberts is saying, look, even the President has to produce evidence when called upon in legal proceeding, fair?

SHANNON BREAM, CHIEF LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: He did, but what the court also decided is that this particular case, the one involving the New York prosecutor Cyrus Vance that that case actually has to go back to the lower court, to the district court for this to be essentially in some ways relitigated not on the issue of whether President has immunity or not. The court is unanimous, and the President does not have absolute immunity when it comes to a state criminal subpoena.

But they said, this has to go back down for other arguments that the President and his legal team may make. So, it's going to be a while before Cyrus Vance may say, hand over the records and the two financial companies that have those records have said. Listen, we are going to comply with whatever the courts order us to do.

But the president's legal team has made very clear, that opening is there for them to go reargue this case maybe argue additional grounds. They are going to take their time doing that. So, I wouldn't expect those documents to be handed over anytime soon.

GALLAGHER: Yes. I want to play the sound bite from Attorney General Bill Barr concerning presidential immunity. Watch this and I'll get your response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are disappointed in the decision to the extent it did not accept our argument, the government's argument about the extent of the president's immunity. But as a practical matter, the decision made very clear that the president just is not at the mercy of litigants and investigators. And that there are protections and defenses that can be raised.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Yes, defenses that can be raised. But in the second case we want to get to as well, Shannon, what the chief justice is saying is there is a separation of power issue there. Explain that for us.

BREAM: Yes, because when Congress comes to the president with the subpoena, the chief justice writing for the majority talk to a number of factors that you have to look at is a legitimate legislative purpose. What they are trying to get at can't be a fishing expedition. Is there anywhere else they can those documents without going to the president?

And acknowledging that this is very disruptive to a president in his or her role as commander in chief. And also noting that, listen, these are two competing branches and especially if they are going to be from opposing parties no matter if it's a Republican or Democrat in the White House, an independent, or whatever. There can be other motivations for congressional committees to come after a president.

So, in that case, they said you're definitely not getting these records yet, they are all of these considerations to take into account. We don't think the lower courts did that properly, so we are sending them back.

So, the Democratically controlled committees these three House committees won't get any of those documents any time either. So, the bottom line with both cases, I don't think anybody gets these documents before Election Day which is what everybody -- well, some of them, at least the House committees we could say they were probably aimed at.

GALLAGHER: So politically, this was a good day for the president because those documents are not going to come out before Election Day, legally, Shannon, down the road is there -- is there peril possibly to be had?

BREAM: Yes, because just on the merits, these things are still they are going to be continued to be litigated. Now if he is reelected, those House committees are really going to fight for those documents.

Justice Thomas in his dissent said listen, I don't think they should get the documents, if they want them, they should go through impeachment, which there have been whisperers of that if he is reelected that they would try that again.

But listen, that New York investigator or the district attorney there is not going to give up on that case either. So you can see that that's going to go through fruition. It could take months maybe years -

GALLAGHER: Yes.

BREAM: -- before we have real answers in these cases. But they are going to continue.

GALLAGHER: Shannon Bream, we'll see you tonight on Fox News at night. Thank you so much.

BREAM: I'll see you at 11.

GALLAGHER: Well, Trump campaign senior advisor Corey Lewandowski response to this prediction, quote, "the race between President Trump and Joe Biden is verging on a landslide." Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: Less than four months to go until election day, new analysis paints a less than rosy picture for President Trump's reelection. FiveThirtyEight pointing to stretch of positive polling averages for Joe Biden in both battleground states and nationwide with a more than nine- point advantage.

Declaring, quote, "the race between President Trump and Joe Biden is verging on a landslide. That's not a word we use lightly." They go on to say that things can always change, but recent numbers show President Trump, quote, "treading on thin electoral ice."

Trump 2020 campaign senior adviser Corey Lewandowski is here to respond to that. Corey, verging on a landslide. Thank you for joining us, sir. First of all. Verging on a landslide, thin electoral ice sounds kind of like fighting words if you are in the Trump campaign.

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: Well, it sounds so familiar. Look, I had to go back and pick up my book "Let Trump be Trump" and I had to open up to page one to remember what they said about Donald Trump as they approached election day.

let me just read you a couple of these. This is the Washington Post, October 24th, Donald Trump's chances of winning are approaching zero. The Los Angeles Times, November 6, 2016, our final map has Hillary Clinton winning 352 electoral votes. Here is the Huffington Post October 27, 2016. Donald Trump stands a real chance to being the biggest loser in modern election politics.

Look, prognosticators were wrong. This particular group was also wrong in 2016 when they predicted Donald Trump would lose by six points to Hillary Clinton. So why do we give them any credence?

The truth is looking all the way back in the way back machine of the New York Times of 1988, when they predicted that then Governor Michael Dukakis was going to defeat then Vice President George H.W. Bush by a massive total of 55 to 38 percent. They're wrong every time, but they're only wrong when it counts for the left.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

LEWANDOWSKI: They never give this president credit.

GALLAGHER: Clearly, it's not an exact science, FiveThirtyEight says more specifically, I want to put this on the screen. Over the past month, Biden's lead over Trump has been both incredibly stable and unusually large. Amidst Trump's unpopular handling of the protest that followed the police killing of George Floyd. Biden's lead has hovered within a tight band of 8.9 to 9.6 percentage points since mid-June, that's according to FiveThirtyEight's national polling average.

But look, it shows, also shows the polls, he is tied with Joe Biden in Florida which is significant because he was down and he's also narrowing the ground in Pennsylvania. Your thoughts.

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, the truth is national polls don't matter in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida. Look, Donald Trump won all of those states in the last election when they said he was not going to.

Florida is always a battleground. Donald Trump only won by 113,000 votes in 2016. He won Michigan by 10,704 votes. We are going to campaign extremely hard for every single vote, but this election, here's where the president wants to do. He wants to open our schools and close our borders.

That's exactly the opposite of what the Democrats want to do. They want to keep our schools closed and they want to open our borders. This is about the opportunity to maintain your lifestyle if you like it. If you do, you have to vote for Donald Trump, if you want somebody to change your lifestyle, then you are going to vote for Joe Biden. That's what this election is about. We'll take our case to the American people and Donald Trump is going to win.

GALLAGHER: Yes. I got to go, Corey, but The Hill had an op-ed saying the president is down, but not out. Would you say that that's a fair assessment? Or your last thoughts?

LEWANDOWSKI: Hey, I think he is the heavyweight champion of the world and he is going to win again, and he is going to be in New Hampshire on Saturday to prove it.

GALLAGHER: Corey Lewandowski, always great to see you. Thank you, sir.

LEWANDOWSKI: Thank you.

GALLAGHER: Well, a live look there at the newly painted black lives matter mural outside of Trump tower. Burgess Owens says if nothing to do with black lives matter, it has nothing to do with that, and we'll get his take next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, D-NYC: We are acknowledging the truth of ourselves as Americans by saying black lives matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GALLAGHER: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio saying he is liberating Fifth Avenue helping to paint black lives matter across the stretch of the iconic thoroughfare today right in front of Trump tower. After President Trump called it a symbol of hate and urge the city to spend money on police instead.

Correspondent Alex Hogan live for us on Fifth Avenue. Alex?

ALEX HOGAN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Trace, with massive rollers in hands, dozens of city workers came here today to paint what you see here. These bright yellow letters 12 feet tall reading black lives matter just outside of the Trump tower.

Again, coming here blocking off the section of the road just in front of the 58-story skyscraper. The president is calling this installation a symbol of hate, tweeting last night in part, New York City is cutting police money by $1 billion, yet the New York City mayor is going to paint a big expensive yellow black lives matter sign on Fifth Avenue denigrating a luxury avenue. This will further antagonize the finest.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio defending his decision today while even helping paint it himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DE BLASIO: We are making a statement today of what we value in New York City. We are making a statement on what matters.

Let me tell you, we are not denigrating anything. We are liberating Fifth Avenue.

(APPLAUSE)

DE BLASIO: We are lifting Fifth Avenue. Who built this city? Who built this nation and never got the acknowledgment or the recognition, the conversation?

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOGAN: Just a month ago, a similar site outside the president's home in the nation's capital, the two-block mural leading up to the White House comprise of letters 50 feet each. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser renaming the area black lives matter plaza.

Now again, back here as you see this mural, many people are lined up today to take photos, but it's not all these happy murals that we are seeing around the country. Some of these black lives matters organizations and chapters say that this isn't enough. That there needs to be more legislative change, real change in the future. Trace?

GALLAGHER: Alex Hogan live for us in midtown Manhattan. Alex, thank you.

Here now Burgess Owens. He is the Republican candidate for Congress in Utah and a former NFL pro football player, one of the most talented defensive backs you will ever see. Burgess, thank you so much for joining us, sir. We appreciate it.

I want to put this tweet up from Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary. He says, quote, "this is among the reasons our politics is so poisoned. If Joe Biden lived in a town with the GOP mayor, should that mayor paint MAGA on the streets outside Biden's home? This is nasty, vindictive politics De Blasio practicing. It lowers all of us."

Your thoughts on that and the black lives matter sign on Fifth Avenue?

BURGESS OWENS, GOP CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS, UTAH: Thank you very much, Trace. I appreciate it. What -- there's a reason why I'm running, by the way, Burgess for Utah.

What we are seeing here is what Marxists do. You have to understand, it's very easy to find out the source and the genesis of black lives matter. All you do is Google. It's Marxism. And Marxist has never brought anything together.

This is about the election of 2020 and this is what the Democratic Party does every four years, they use black people, they use the misery, they use our pain to get elected, to get power. What you have here is again -- and one thing I want to point out, one out of six of these protesters in these marches are black. One out of six.

You have -- every time you have -- hold on, you're going to have black people in the front of these lines doing the things that they are doing now.

So if we want to really understand what the issues are, let's go back to the beginning of the year where real black lives were impacted. We have the lowest unemployment in the history of our country for blacks, Asians, Hispanics, women, veterans, teens.

You have 40 percent growth in black business ownership which is remarkable because that's how we get to the middle class. You can see these people celebrating and being happy about that, they were actually upset --

GALLAGHER: Yes.

OWENS: -- and angry, because their power was being lost when we start entering the middle class and getting help.

GALLAGHER: And I find --

(CROSSTALK)

OWENS: So, Americans need to keep in mind, we are hopeful people, don't let this people take us in a different direction.

GALLAGHER: I find it interesting, Burgess, that you know, even black lives matter D.C., and I want to put this on the screen, too, said, you know, really this is just a distraction. There are more important things. In other words, we get bigger fish to fry.

Saying, quote, "this is a performance distraction from real policy changes. This is to appease white liberals while ignoring our demands, black lives matter means defund the police." What do you think about that statement?

OWENS: Well, go to the black community is you find out what they think about that. They know -- they want protection. They want safety. What we are seeing, and you have to understand. I grew up in the deep south, days of segregation, KKK, Jim Crow.

Racism is an evil, angry, ugly attitude. I don't care if it's black or white, these people are very unhappy. Look at how mad and angry they are. They want to destroy everything. America is not that way. That's why I feel so hopeful for this coming -- this coming 2020.

Believe me, guys, don't worry about the polls. Be more -- be more hopeful about the American people. We are all about hope. We are all about freedom. We are about our culture and our families. These guys want to tear down every single part of that.

And those that are keeping quiet, the silent majority that I grew up understanding the silent majority, we are going to stand up and speak out big time. Win the House and get some backbone in the Senate. Allow the president to go out and envision our country the way that he has in the past, and watch out. It's going to be a great America heading to us.

So, don't let the angry people drive us crazy. They are going to get the blues at the end of the day. Don't bet against American people.

GALLAGHER: I just have a few seconds left, Burgess. What would you say to people out there painting the black lives matter mural out there or the sign on Fifth Avenue? I mean, what would you say that is more important? The one thing that is more important than the actual painting on the street?

OWENS: Ignorant and free can never be, Thomas Jefferson. Let's get smart, guys. Google, find out what Marxism has done. It brought nothing but misery, pain, and death wherever this is going no matter where around the world. So, let's get smart. OK? Let's educate ourselves and let's man up, stand up, and fight for our culture and our country. And we'll all win at the end of that -- at the end of the day.

GALLAGHER: Burgess Owens, always great to see you. Thank you, sir. We appreciate it.

OWENS: Thank you, Trace. I appreciate it, Trace. Big time.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

Well, tonight, Fox News has obtained new details on where the Durham probe stands, and whether the investigation into the investigators will wrap up before or after election day.

Plus, a new twist in General Michael Flynn's legal battle. K.T McFarland is here when The Story continues, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Can you update us on that in terms of how that's going, or what the time frame as when we can expect to see that report?

BARR: Well, you know, he's moving very diligently. I'm not involved in the day-to-day work of that, and I haven't given him any timelines. And we haven't discussed the timeline as to when he thought it would be complete. Based on my general knowledge, the things he is looking at has to look at in the future, I wouldn't think that he'd be in the position and, you know, for quite a few months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Seven months after that from Attorney General Bill Barr's John Durham's investigation into the origin of the Russia probe is still ongoing. Fox News learning exclusively that the special prosecutor is under pressure to wrap up his investigation by the end of summer.

But sources close to Durham say several lines of investigation are not complete and he may be forced to punt until after the election.

With us now is K.T. McFarland, former deputy national security adviser and author of the new book "Revolution Trump, Washington, and We, the People." K.T., I guess the point is here -- good to see you so far. I mean, it's been a long time. Good to see you, K.T.

I guess the point here is this thing it's not even being covered now by those on the left, it goes past the election, could be forgotten altogether.

K.T. MCFARLAND, AUTHOR, REVOLUTION: It all die, you'll never see it again, it will die a natural death. I mean, here's why they're doing this, is because they think Joe Biden might win. And if Joe Biden wins you are never going to see this report see the light of day. I mean, this is what the bureaucracy does. This is how the swamp acts.

There something that's gone wrong, so what do they do? The department circles the wagon. They may fire a couple of low-level guys, they get a retirement plan, they have early retirement, the head of the agency says, well, we got rid of the bad guys, you know, we've changed a few rules, we'll never going to have these problems again and it never -- and justice is never served.

That's what the FBI director has done throughout. And now when we thought maybe the attorney general would finally investigate the investigators, finally bring some judgment -- justice and closure to this, now we are hearing delay, obfuscation.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

MCFARLAND: Blue smoking mirrors, this excuse, that excuse. Look, bottom line, justice delayed is justice denied.

GALLAGHER: Well, it's interesting, K.T., because you know, you have John Durham saying that he doesn't want this to be political and the closer it gets to November the more political it gets.

MCFARLAND: Yes.

GALLAGHER: It's already political, he could release this tomorrow and it's going to be politicized by both sides. So, do you buy that argument of not wanting this to be political?

MCFARLAND: No. No, it's already political. I mean, is it going to get a little more political, a little less political? Come on, it's political enough as it already is, it's explosive stuff.

You know, the attorney general himself has come out on a number of occasions and said he's very upset by this, he is troubled by what he is seeing and even suggesting that, you know, that maybe there was an action against the President of the United States to prevent them from governing.

We have now seen documents that have come out, handwritten notes. This is not anonymous sources deep from the bureaucracy, Trace.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

MCFARLAND: This is actual documents, handwritten notes, transcripts, there was a lot of bad stuff that went on and if this just lingers and dribbles on forever it will never see the light of day and it will show that the swamp has won and won probably permanently.

GALLAGHER: Yes. I've got about 35 seconds left for this, K.T. Last month the D.C. circuit of court of appeals ruled two to one that Judge Emmet Sullivan should drop the Michael Flynn prosecution, well today, Judge Sullivan says now he wants the whole court, he wants en banc court, that means all 11 justices to rule on this. Your thoughts on that?

MCFARLAND: You know, again, this is one of the longest running soap operas in political history. Mike Flynn is not guilty of anything. The phone call he made was fine. This is yet another attempt and this was the -- and the Justice Department knew from the get-go there was nothing to do this. So, what do they do? They prosecuted Flynn for years.

GALLAGHER: Yes. K.T. McFarland, it's always good to see you. Thank you for joining us.

MCFARLAND: Thanks, Trace.

GALLAGHER: Well, that is The Story of Thursday, July 9th, 2020. But as always, the story continues.

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