NFL to Require Fans to Wear Face Coverings at Games; Trump Attempts Coronavirus Reset As Poll Numbers Drop
TAPPER: We have some breaking news now. The NFL now says that fans who attend games in person this fall will be required to wear face coverings, though it's not clear how many teams will even host fans this season. The season is set to kick off on September 10th, at least as of right now. In our politics lead, President Trump will be back in front of the podium today after acknowledging yesterday the coronavirus will likely get worse before it gets better. And as CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports for us now, this new strategy of taking to the podium and trying to sound concerned comes as yet another poll shows the president is trailing Joe Biden, this time by eight percentage points.</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: After attempts to ignore the pandemic didn't work, President Trump acknowledged the grim reality facing the country in his first COVID-19 briefing in months.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better. Something I don't like saying about things. But that's the way it is.</s>COLLINS: The shift was a political calculus by a president worried about his sinking poll numbers. But it was notable given what he told Fox News just days ago.</s>TRUMP: I said it's going to disappear. I'll say it again, it's going to disappear.</s>COLLINS: Raising questions about mixed messages, Trump urged Americans to wear a mask as he wrongly claimed that he never resisted doing so.</s>TRUMP: I have no problem. I carry it. I wear it. You saw me wearing it a number of times and I'll continue.</s>COLLINS: Days earlier, he made this claim about masks without citing any evidence.</s>TRUMP: All of a sudden, everybody's got to wear a mask, and as you know, masks cause problems too.</s>COLLINS: The president's return to the briefing room came after several polls showed his reaction to COVID-19 had badly damaged his standing with voters ahead of the November election. Though aides denied that was the driving factor.</s>KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: This is a change. The briefing stopped but the work hasn't stopped. He's briefed regularly.</s>COLLINS: Kellyanne Conway said the briefings returned because some states reopened too fast.</s>CONWAY: Some of these states blew through our gating criteria, blew through our phases, and they opened up some of the industries a little too quickly, like bars.</s>COLLINS: With the clock ticking, the White House is still negotiating with its own party over what they want in the next coronavirus relief bill as Senate Republicans remain sharply divided.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): As it's written right now I'm not only a no, I'm a hell no.</s>COLLINS: The GOP is split over the price tag whether to extend enhanced unemployment benefits and if they should scrap Trump's demand for a payroll tax cut.</s>TRUMP: I think it's a very important thing, it's very good.</s>COLLINS: Republicans are now more confident the White House will get behind more funding for testing and contact tracing in states after initially opposing the idea.</s>KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No one is blocking any money from testing.</s>COLLINS: A person in the room for the Republican lunch yesterday said Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy rhetorically asked if he was on acid when he heard that the White House was against more funding for testing in the middle of a pandemic.</s>COLLINS: Now, Jake, there is also growing Republican pushback to this White House idea of tying federal funding to the re-opening of schools, with several Republicans telling CNN today that is just not an idea that they think they are going to get behind. So that makes three pretty big issues where the White House and Republicans are still not on the same page about what they want to see in this next bill.</s>TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins at the White House for us, thank you so much. We have some breaking news for you. Just moments ago, President Trump announced he's sending more federal agents to at least one American city. He has threatened to do the same in Seattle. The mayor of Seattle will join me next to react. That's live and it's next.