JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: a dire warning.

The top U.S. health officials, all in self-isolation, testify to Congress that we face a long road ahead.

Then: the balance of power.

The Supreme Court hears two separate arguments over access to President Trump's financial records.

Plus: Who is hit hardest?

As the pandemic persists, a clearer picture emerges of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color.

DR. ANDREW MARSHALL, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: There's a long history of disadvantage in this country.

When you think about access to health care, when you think about access to healthy food, when you think about job security, they make it really hard for certain communities to be healthy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: There are new warnings tonight from the nation's public health leaders the fight against COVID-19 is far from over, and reopening too quickly could bring it roaring back.

The warnings dominated this day, as U.S. coronavirus deaths passed 82,000.

Amna Nawaz begins our coverage.

AMNA NAWAZ: On Capitol Hill, a sobering message on the devastating U.S. death toll: DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID Director: The number is likely higher.

I don't know exactly what percent higher, but almost certainly it's higher.

AMNA NAWAZ: And a blunt assessment of the national response so far.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Do we have the coronavirus contained?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: If you think that we have it completely under control, we don't.

AMNA NAWAZ: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, appeared virtually before a Senate committee today, the first such hearing since the pandemic began.

Amid a national debate over reopening, a stark warning to state leaders: DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you might not be able to control, which, in fact, paradoxically, will set you back, not only leading to some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try to get economic recovery.

AMNA NAWAZ: Fauci was joined on the panel by Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, And Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Fauci, Redfield, and Hahn are all self-quarantining after contact with an infected White House staffer.

The hearing itself was a logistical challenge for senators, many of whom are working remotely.

SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R-TN): In a one-time exception, some senators, including the chairman, are participating by videoconference.

AMNA NAWAZ: In a Senate first, committee Chair Lamar Alexander conducted the hearing from home, in self-quarantine, after a staff member tested positive for the virus.

The hearing room remained mostly empty.

Senators inside the room sat six feet apart, and most wore masks, including makeshift ones, like Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.

The questions at times reflected the nation's political divide.

Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat from Connecticut, slammed the White House response, citing reports they shelved CDC guidance on reopening.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Why didn't this plan get released?

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC Director: We have generated a series of guidances, as you know, and is -- this outbreak response has evolved from a CDC to an all-of-government response.

AMNA NAWAZ: While there was bipartisan concern about a lack of testing so far, as from Utah Senator Mitt Romney... SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): By march 6, the U.S. has completed just 2,000 tests, whereas South Korea had conducted more than 140,000 tests.

I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... some Republicans, like Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, echoed President Trump's concern about information-sharing from China.

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): I'm incredibly concerned about the cover-up and the misinformation coming from China and their efforts to suppress lifesaving information at the outset of this outbreak.

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD: There were discussions with the U.S. personnel that were (AUDIO GAP) with Chinese CDC.

I personally had discussions as early -- I think CDC did as early as January 2, and myself January 3, with my counterpart to discuss this.

So, at a scientific level, we had very good interactions.

AMNA NAWAZ: And Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky called into question the warnings around reopening.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): I think we ought to have a little bit of humility in our belief that we know what's best for the economy.

And as much as I respect you, Dr. Fauci, I don't think you're the end-all.

There are people on the other side saying, there is not going to be a surge and that we can safely reopen the economy.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: I am careful and hopefully humble in knowing that I don't know everything about this disease, and that's why I am very reserved in making broad predictions.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, at the White House, where Vice President Pence was seen arriving earlier today wearing a mask, President Trump held a closed-door meeting with Republican senators and did not comment on the day's proceedings.

As the number of U.S. infections and deaths continue to rise, a new poll from Pew Research suggests where the public is looking for answers.

A majority of Americans, over 60 percent, now say it is primarily the federal government's responsibility to make sure there's sufficient testing before states can safely reopen.

Still, a vocal minority continues to clamor for restrictions to be lifted faster.

Protesters in Raleigh, North Carolina, today demanded the governor accelerate plans to reopen the state's economy.

In Texas, where restrictions are already easing, the state today required all nursing home residents and workers be tested to slow the virus' spread.

In California.

Governor Gavin Newsom today unveiled new state guidelines for reopening, noting local governments could remain more strict if needed.

Los Angeles County said today stay-at-home advisory restriction could continue through July.

Back on Capitol Hill, lawmakers working to mitigate the economic meltdown forged on with plans for another relief package.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed for a massive $3 trillion spending plan.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We must think big for the people now, because, if we don't, know it will cost more in lives and livelihood later.

Not acting is the most expensive course.

AMNA NAWAZ: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed back.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): We can't spend enough money to prop this economy up forever.

People need to be able to begin to be productive again.

AMNA NAWAZ: As the rest of the country awaits much-needed help, here in the nation's capital, the debate over how to help rages on.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Amna Nawaz.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We now turn to two key members from today's hearing.

First up, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

He is one of two medical doctors on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Senator Cassidy, thank you so much for talking with us.

So, did you come away from today's hearing more or less confident in the administration's handling of this pandemic?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): I came away more confident.

My specific questions, for example, were that we have a whole group of folks called children who are being impacted far more than anybody else relative to their risk of having symptoms from coronavirus infection.

Dr. Fauci acknowledged that was an issue.

He mentioned, though, he had not worked out the tension.

I accept there's uncertainty.

I just want people thinking about the problem, how do we get kids back to school, mothers and dads able to go to work with their children safely cared for?

As long as they're working toward a solution, I don't demand a solution right now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, we did hear Dr. Fauci say he is concerned about the dynamic that they are seeing among some children right now.

It's clear that's something he and other scientists are focused on.

Does that give you pause, though, about when schools should be open?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: It does give me pause.

But my question I asked him, what is the risk-benefit ratio for how children are being treated?

At that critical point when someone is 5, their brain is exploding.

That's when they need to be in school.

It's not like their brain continues to learn like that every year of their life.

No, that's when they particularly learn.

There is a huge opportunity cost.

The concerns about Kawasaki disease, it is real, but the bigger concern in terms of just sheer numbers, millions, there are the children who are missing out, both economically, educationally, and potentially other means, from everything that school offers.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, let me also ask you about testing.

President Trump said yesterday, anybody who wants a test should get one, is able to get one right now.

You said earlier today you had questions about testing availability.

What do you believe right now?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: I think that what's most important is not the sheer number of tests, but that we're using the test wisely.

I just got off the phone with the chancellor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

And so when they have 200 people working, they will pool the samples.

They will check, OK, all 200 of them are checked at once.

If it comes out positive, then they go to 100/100, and then 50/50/50, until they get to one person who has it.

It may only take five tests to find the one person, but you have found one out of 200.

So the overall number isn't important.

It's the strategy by which we implement the people for whom we make it available.

Checking a hermit who lives by himself in the middle of the desert is not important.

Checking a child going to school who might infect others, very important.

That's where we should focus our efforts.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But, bottom line, is it accurate to say anybody who wants a test now can get one?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: Well, I'm not sure what we mean by a test.

I think there's a shortage currently of antigen tests and of antibody tests.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well... SEN. BILL CASSIDY: I suspect most people what want a swab up their nose can get it, but if you want to see if you have been previously infected, there is a shortage of those.

And there's also a shortage of antigen tests.

But they showed numbers that are credible that they're increasing in their -- in their volume.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I think we heard that there's still a long way to go in testing.

But, Senator, I want to ask you about Louisiana, your home state preparing to reopen on Friday, even though, statewide, you have not reached this -- this -- what was a CDC goal of having 14 straight days of declining cases.

Are you concerned that it's too early?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: No.

I think, if you look at a state, you may have a concern, but what you really need the look at is regions of the state.

So, it's easier to explain with Texas.

I looked a couple weeks ago at where the infection was in Texas, a lot in Harris County, Houston.

There was none south of San Antonio, some county along the Rio Grande.

Now, granted, very few people live there, but the point being a state is actually a set of regions, a set of smaller regions, and then a set of communities and micro-communities.

I'm more concerned of what's happening in a micro-community, which could spill out, than I am at the state as a whole.

If we have adequate testing which is able to zero in on those places with more infection, that's more important than a statewide lockdown in which this region is doing well and folks rightly wonder why they can't go see their barber.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But if the governor of a state says, we are opening up, what's to stop even those communities where cases are increasing from going ahead and opening up and letting businesses go back to something closer to what they -- where they were?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: I go back to you have to have strategy on testing.

If you just open up and say, fare thee well, that's not good.

If you open up and you have a strategy, by which you are following where your cases are coming up, and you can go to those areas in which you either have a lot of people at risk if they get infected, or a lot of people at risk to get infected, and that's where you focus your testing, that's how you can simultaneously open up your economy, but do it safely.

It has to be about a strategy for testing.

I keep saying that, not the total number of tests, necessarily, but a strategy.

That's what we need.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally, Senator, a question about Senator Rand Paul's comment to Dr. Fauci that he is not the end-all and other criticisms we're hearing.

I heard one today from a former adviser to President Trump, Jason Miller.

He said, Anthony Fauci is good at moving the goalposts, that he's the undisputed king of moving accountability away from himself.

Is that your view?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: I have nothing but the highest respect for Anthony Fauci, period, end of story.

Do sometimes facts on the ground change and perceptions change?

Absolutely.

Fauci said today that he was not the end-all.

So, he's bringing a certain humility to it.

I have had my differences with Fauci.

But what I'm after here is not a definite answer, because facts change.

I'm after people pursuing the truth.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, we thank you very much.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And for a Democrat's take, we turn to the committee's ranking member.

She is Senator Patty Murray.

She joins us from Washington state, one of the first areas hard-hit by the coronavirus.

Senator, thank you very much for talking with us.

We just heard Senator Cassidy say that he is more confident after today's hearing of the administration's handling of this pandemic.

Are you?

SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): No, I'm not, and here's why.

We have been hearing from this administration forever: We're going to have this many -- 100 tests by Friday, a million tests by -- and most of the time, in fact, all the time, they don't reach it.

And, today, when we're saying, how many do we need to reopen, not just two weeks from now, but next September, a year from now, they are not giving us that number.

We need to know how many tests we need, what the capacity is, what the supply chain is, so we can build up to that and make sure we have it.

They're not transparent about that.

And they're not real about it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, when Admiral Giroir, who is assistant secretary at HHS, was saying in the hearing that there would be, I think he said 40 to 50 million tests being done in the month of September, are you saying that doesn't sound like enough?

SEN. PATTY MURRAY: Well, I don't know what their goal is, but I will also tell you that I have heard them throw those numbers out time and time and time again now, since the middle of February, and never having reached them.

So the answer that you really need is, how many will we need in September, and how are you going to produce them?

And that's what we don't see, no transparency into that.

So I find it hard to believe.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We heard from Senator Cassidy just now.

He said: I'm more concerned about testing protocols than I am about the sheer number of tests.

What about you?

SEN. PATTY MURRAY: Well, I think it's both.

I think we need the knowledge.

What testing is, is really gives you the knowledge to make the decision you need, if you're just simply a family and you want to know if it's safe for you to go visit your elderly mother, or whether you are a business, and you need to - - it's OK to open your doors, your employees are safe.

If you're a school, are your employees, are your kids free of the virus, so that they don't give it to anybody else?

That's why testing is important.

It's knowledge.

And that is why it's so critical in a pandemic, where we do not have a vaccine and we do not have a cure for this very aggressive virus.

It's the tool we have.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, also -- excuse me.

I didn't want to interrupt.

But I want to ask you about K-12 schools.

A lot of people concerned about whether schools are going to be open in September.

We just heard Senator Cassidy say he's more concerned about getting especially children from low-income families back to school in the fall.

He's more concerned about that than he is at this point about this new inflammatory disease that's been identified among a small number of children.

SEN. PATTY MURRAY: Well, I don't think that that's the right way the look at it.

I think we obviously all want kids back in school.

Every single parent does.

And the answer to that really is, we don't know yet, because this is a new virus, and it has been different, and we're learning every single day.

I think the question we should all be asking is, how do we make sure our kids get an education next year if this pandemic is raging at any time or the whole year, and make sure they get an equitable education?

What are we doing?

What are the decisions we're making?

How do we plan for that?

And there is no plan for that.

There is no help from CDC, who should be issuing guidelines, or the Department of Education.

Knowing that we are in this, what are their best recommendations, and how do we get people ready for what we don't know in the fall, either to have kids back at school safely or to be able to educate them if we can't have them back?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, what's your best understanding of when a vaccine may realistically be available?

SEN. PATTY MURRAY: Well, I'm not an expert, but I listen to the experts.

And I have watched this for a long time.

And I think everybody's hope is that we will have a vaccine in the next year.

But there's a lot of wish to that, that it's effective, that it's safe, that there aren't any byproducts of that that are more dangerous.

And how do we ramp it up?

What is it going the take?

Do we have the vials?

Do we have the shots?

Do we have the manufacturing capability?

And that clearly is not going to happen in a year, even in the best-case scenario.

So, we have to know what we need to do between now and then.

And that is the knowledge.

That's why I talk about testing, so we know, if you have it, you stay home.

If you know your employees are sick, they are not at work.

What's the precautions we need to take?

What's the protocol at work, so that it's not passed around?

And how do we make those tough decisions that, inevitably, we're going to be faced with in the coming year and maybe longer?

JUDY WOODRUFF: You mentioned going back to work.

The governor of your state, Governor Inslee of Washington state, has extended the stay-at-home order at least until the end of this month of May.

And yet you have something like, what, 800,000 folks in Washington state who have filed unemployment claims.

What do you say to people who are worried about their livelihood, who are saying, yes, I know, we all have to be careful, but I don't know what kind of life I'm going to have if this goes on much longer?

SEN. PATTY MURRAY: What I say to those people is that is exactly why the federal government needs to step in right now and provide the support for people, so they don't have to make that horrific choice of being able to put food on their table or be able to pay their rent or be able to survive.

That's what our role has to be right now, because the other choice is to send people out in a dangerous situation and impact their health and perhaps their life.

It's an impossible question, economy vs. health.

But there's things we can do so that it is not so impossible.

That's what the federal government needs to be doing.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Patty Murray, ranking member, Democrat, on the Senate Health Committee, thank you so much.

SEN. PATTY MURRAY: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: The U.S. Supreme Court heard two cases on whether President Trump can keep his tax returns and financial records private.

Congressional committees and a district attorney in New York have subpoenaed the documents.

The day's arguments were made over the phone.

And we will have excerpts and a closer look after the news summary.

In the presidential campaign, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, denounced President Trump's claims that anyone can get tested for COVID-19.

In an interview, he charged that Mr. Trump has shown what he called needless complacency.

JOSEPH BIDEN (D), Presidential Candidate: He knew about this crisis all the way back in January and February.

He's been incompetent, the way in which he has responded to it.

We have 80,000 deaths.

We have more deaths, we have more of the virus than any nation in the world.

What's the story here?

I mean, come on.

This is just fantasyland, what he's talking about.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, the Trump reelection effort reported raising nearly $62 million in April.

The Biden campaign raised more than $60 million.

In Moscow, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, was hospitalized with the coronavirus.

He is the latest senior Kremlin figure to be infected.

Meanwhile, France began reopening schools today, with physical distancing and limits on class size.

And, in India, trains resumed limited service, as the government continued easing a lockdown.

It has been a day of unspeakable violence in Afghanistan.

Gunmen stormed a maternity hospital in Kabul, and killed 16 people, including new mothers and their babies.

Afghan security forces and nurses alike carried newborns out of the hospital.

Inside, blood stained the floor under baby beds, and a doctor told of hiding out from the attackers.

DR. GHULAM HUSSAIN, Attack Survivor (through translator): When the firing started, we went to the safe room.

There were nine of us inside the safe room for four hours.

The attacker came at the back of the safe room door and fired, but he couldn't enter the room.

All our colleagues were unhurt there, but there were casualties amongst the patients inside the wards.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In Eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber killed at least 24 people in Nangarhar province at a police commander's funeral.

Back in this country, the Georgia state attorney general asked for an investigation of how prosecutors handled the Ahmaud Arbery case.

He was killed by a white father and son in February.

They were charged with murder last week, when video of the incident emerged.

And on Wall Street, stocks slumped on warnings about lifting the pandemic lockdowns too soon.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 457 points to close at 23764.

The Nasdaq fell 189 points, and the S&P 500 slipped 60.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the Supreme Court hears two arguments over access to President Trump's financial records; inside the arrest of two American veterans in an attempted coup in Venezuela; a clearer picture emerges of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color; and much more.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments today in President Trump's legal battle to keep his personal financial records secret.

As John Yang reports, the justices' decision could have profound implications for the constitutional separation of government powers.

JOHN YANG: Arguing before the nation's highest court to try to keep President Trump's financial records private, Mr. Trump's personal attorney made a broad claim: A sitting president is immune from any criminal process, even a grand jury subpoena.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that would put a president above the law.

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court: Is the grand jury right to every man's evidence exclusive of the president?

JAY SEKULOW, Attorney for President Donald Trump: This court has long recognized that the president is not to be treated as an ordinary citizen.

He has responsibilities.

He is, himself, a branch of government.

He is the only individual that is a branch of government in our federal system.

JOHN YANG: Today's conference call oral arguments, which ran longer than scheduled, centered on subpoenas from Congress and a New York City grand jury to Mr. Trump's accounting firm and banks that finance Trump Organization businesses for tax returns and other financial records.

While the Supreme Court allowed a federal sexual harassment civil suit against President Bill Clinton to go forward while he was in office, the justices have never ruled on a criminal investigation.

Today, justices pressed the president's attorney why this was different.

NEIL GORSUCH, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court: How is this more burdensome, though, than what took place in Clinton vs. Jones?

JOHN YANG: The House says its subpoenas are for a legislative purpose.

But several justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito, asked whether that justification was too sweeping.

SAMUEL ALITO, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court: You were not able to give the chief justice even one example of a subpoena that would be -- that would not be pertinent to some conceivable legislative purpose, were you?

DOUGLAS LETTER, House General Counsel: As I said, Your Honor, the -- that's correct, because this court itself has said Congress' power to legislate is extremely broad.

JOHN YANG: Justice Stephen Breyer worried about the effect on future presidents.

STEPHEN BREYER, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court: What I hold today will also apply to a future Senator McCarthy asking a future Franklin Roosevelt or Harry Truman exactly the same questions.

That bothers me.

JOHN YANG: The immediate effect of the court's decision will be on whether financial records that Democrats have long wanted, and Mr. Trump has long fought disclosing, will be turned over.

The House Oversight Committee made its demand after hearing last year from former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

MICHAEL COHEN, Former Attorney/Fixer For Donald Trump: It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.

JOHN YANG: The House Financial Services and Intelligence committees want Trump records to examine possible money laundering in property deals and whether loans from overseas have made the president vulnerable to foreign influence.

Of particular interest to investigators is Deutsche Bank, the only major financial institution consistently lending to Trump businesses.

New York Times editor David Enrich is author of "Dark Towers," which focuses on Mr. Trump's ties with the bank.

®MD-BDAVID ENRICH, The New York Times: Deutsche Bank is holding a dizzying array of financial information on the president.

It has information on money coming in and out of his bank accounts, all the information that Trump used when he was applying for loans or opening bank accounts.

And on top of that, it has a lot of its own records about its employees' concerns as they were working on the Trump relationship.

JOHN YANG: Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance wants the president's tax records as part of a probe into hush money payments made to two women with whom he allegedly had sexual relationships.

But the court's ruling could have a longer-term effect on the constitutional balance of power between Congress and the president.

Marcia Coyle of "The National Law Journal": MARCIA COYLE, "The National Law Journal": This is a true separation-of-powers dispute, which generally had been worked out between the branches over the decades.

But this one, in the face of both parties really hewing to their own positions, is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

JOHN YANG: And there could be consequences for the court itself.

MARCIA COYLE: There's very -- a real possibility that the general public might view the Supreme Court's decision as political if it is 5-4 in favor of President Trump.

That's why I also think John Roberts very much is a critical player here in how he can try to find a resolution to this case that will be hopefully bipartisan of sorts.

JOHN YANG: A decision will likely come by June, just in time for the presidential campaign.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The Trump administration has made no secret of its desire to depose Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, as his country spirals further into economic and humanitarian catastrophe.

But, earlier this month, an operation to invade and kidnap Maduro shocked everyone, it seemed, but Maduro himself.

Nick Schifrin reports on a bizarre botched invasion attempt and the implications for a country in collapse.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The first sign the secret mission wasn't so secret, the Venezuelan military helicopter.

As soon as Operation Gideon came ashore, it ran aground, more than a dozen captured, eight killed.

And among the detained?

LUKE DENMAN, Arrested American: Secure Caracas.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Two Americans paraded on Venezuela TV.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro showed off their U.S. passports, blamed President Trump, and said the authorities knew about the plot all along.

NICOLAS MADURO, Venezuelan President (through translator): They came to Venezuela.

We named them.

Their little game was revealed.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The mastermind of this misadventure?

Jordan Goudreau, whose promotional video shows him as a former Army Green Beret, CEO of a private security firm, and provider of security at a Trump rally.

During the raid, as his men were being captured, he posted a video with his Venezuelan co-conspirator.

JORDAN GOUDREAU, Founder and CEO, Silvercorp: At 1700 hours, a daring amphibious raid was launched from the border of Colombia deep into the heart of Caracas.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And in a Skype interview with a Venezuelan news organization, Goudreau bragged about how he'd been training for a year.

JORDAN GOUDREAU: Are you familiar with Alexander the Great?

The Battle of Gaugamela, completely outnumbered, he struck deep into the heart of the enemy, and that's how he won.

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. Secretary of State: There was no U.S. government direct involvement in this operation.

If we'd have been involved, it would have gone differently.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied the administration knew, as did Venezuelans interviewed by "PBS NewsHour."

But the Trump administration has waged a diplomatic campaign to oust Maduro, announcing criminal charges and a $15 million reward for his capture in March.

WILLIAM BARR, U.S. Attorney General: Maduro and his other defendants have betrayed the Venezuelan people and corrupted Venezuela's institutions.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And in February 2019 in Miami, President Trump urged Venezuelans to rise up.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Let your people go.

Set your country free.

Now is the time for all Venezuelan patriots to act together as one united people.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The centerpiece of the administration's campaign is Juan Guaido, whom dozens of countries call Venezuela's rightful president.

As part of Guaido's effort to overthrow Maduro, he turned to Miami-based Venezuelan consultant J.J. Rendon, who's usually focused on politics.

And when you talk about how Juan Guaido wanted you to use all options or explore all options, what does that mean?

J.J. RENDON, Political Consultant: He specifically say, all options are all under and over the table.

We're exploring -- and he's used the word exploring, that is accurate -- every option.

We have, according to our Constitution, the mandate, not the right.

Every Venezuelan, invested or not in power, have the duty to do whatever in his power to recover a state of freedom and democracy.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Last year, Rendon hired Goudreau and agreed to this 42-page $200 million agreement designed to be paid with Maduro's money.

The plan was to capture, detain, remove Nicolas Maduro with a quick reaction force of Venezuelans.

Their operations had to minimize incidental injury to civilians and use force that was necessary and proportional.

It said, "Use of all types of conventional weapons is permitted."

But Rendon said he quickly grew skeptical and cut ties to Goudreau last October, after paying Goudreau's expenses.

J.J. RENDON: We back off.

And we didn't like the guy to keep talking to us anymore.

There were some red flags, too.

I told him, look, if you have some expenses, I will pay myself.

And I did.

So, we said, OK, you have that; $50,000 is good for you?

Fine.

Bye.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Guaido denied any personal knowledge of the operation and shifted the blame to Maduro.

JUAN GUAIDO, Opposition Leader, Venezuela (through translator): We have nothing to do with any company, for obvious and evident reasons.

But we have to make it very clear right now, nothing the usurper can say will change the reality and the situation that our country is going through.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Venezuela is suffering from debilitating inflation, a humanitarian disaster, and worries about a COVID-19 outbreak.

Maduro used arrested American Luke Denman... LUKE DENMAN, Arrested American: I was helping Venezuelans take back control.

NICK SCHIFRIN: ... and Airan Berry... MAN: What were the objectives of the mission?

AIRAN BERRY, Arrested American: I believe it was to get Maduro.

NICK SCHIFRIN: ... to shift the focus to condemning the Trump administration.

NICOLAS MADURO (through translator): Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo were directly behind this.

It was a contract ordered by the State Department as a covert operation against Venezuela.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Goudreau launched the operation even after Colombia intercepted some of his weapons.

He didn't reply to "PBS NewsHour" requests for comment.

The opposition and Trump administration officials believe Maduro might co-opted the operation.

J.J. RENDON: There was a push for some patriots to get slaughtered and killed to stage a theater and victimize himself in the middle of the worst moment of my country.

Sorry about that.

NICK SCHIFRIN: On Monday, after 20 years in the Venezuelan opposition, Rendon resigned as an unpaid adviser to Guaido.

J.J. RENDON: Spiritually, let's say, in myself, yes, I will love to go back in time, not talk to him, and not be related to this craziness, and the sacrifice of people like slaughter.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Trump administration and Guaido are trying to ensure the botched operation doesn't derail their campaign.

And Maduro, whether puppet master of the operation or its target, remains firmly in power.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We now return to COVID-19 and the enormous toll it's taking, particularly on people of color.

Nearly 30 percent of COVID patients in the U.S., where race was identified, are black, according to CDC data.

Yet African-Americans make up only about 13 percent of the population.

The percentage of cases among Latinos also remains disproportionately high.

Yamiche Alcindor has this report on how these disparities are affecting communities on the ground.

CIERA BATES CHAMBERLAIN, Family Member of Coronavirus Patients: There's just this huge weight that lays on my shoulders.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Ciera Bates Chamberlain is seeing up close the devastating impact of COVID-19.

The virus has torn through her family.

CIERA BATES CHAMBERLAIN: My grandmother, my father, my cousin, and my aunt, they're all hospitalized.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: At hospitals across Chicago, they have all been on ventilators.

CIERA BATES CHAMBERLAIN: I have never told my dad I love him so much.

And I don't think we have ever told each other that we love each other this much.

GLENN HARSTON II, Nephew of Coronavirus Victim: She loved God, loved her family, and she loved to smile.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Glenn Harston II is mourning his aunt, Margaret Jones (ph).

After two weeks in the hospital, her kidneys and liver shut down.

Her family wasn't able to visit her.

GLENN HARSTON II: We don't know what the final moments were like.

We -- from the time that she entered the hospital, we never saw her again, never had a conversation with her again.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: He now fears 15 of his family members may have the virus.

GLENN HARSTON II: I still don't know the exact number.

You know, we -- a lot of relatives weren't able to get tests.

It's one thing to sit and watch things on TV, and you say, that's sad.

It's different when you're living it.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: As the number of cases and deaths continues to mount, a clearer picture is forming of the disproportionate toll COVID-19 is having on black people and communities of color.

In New York City, the U.S. epicenter, blacks and Hispanics are dying at roughly twice the rate of whites.

In Chicago, blacks are dying at nearly three times the rate of whites.

And in New Mexico, Native Americans account for more than half of all confirmed cases, despite being only 11 percent of the population.

DR. ANDREW MARSHALL, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: The disparities that existed that are being unearthed during COVID, they existed before COVID.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Dr. Andrew Marshall is an emergency physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center In Boston.

DR. ANDREW MARSHALL: There's a long history of disadvantage in this country.

When you think about access to health care, when you think about access to healthy food, when you think about job security, the things that many of us enjoy and we take for granted, they make it really hard for certain communities to be healthy.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Experts point to longstanding social and racial inequities.

Bates Chamberlain's loved ones who ended up hospitalized suffer from the diseases that run in her family, diabetes or high blood pressure.

African-Americans as a whole suffer disproportionately from those same chronic illnesses, which make COVID-19 more deadly.

Blacks and Hispanics are also less likely to have health insurance.

And people of color in general are more likely to live in dense cities than whites.

They also have less access to high-quality food.

At the same time, working from home isn't an option for many.

RUBY QUINTANILLA, Amazon Employee: A lot of people get to stay home and quarantine themselves.

That's great.

I'm happy for them, you know?

But I'm not lucky enough to do that.

A lot of us are not.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Ruby Quintanilla works at an Amazon warehouse in Chicago.

A number of her co-workers have tested positive for the virus.

For her, social distancing is a privilege she doesn't have.

RUBY QUINTANILLA: It's next to impossible sometimes, to be honest with you.

It really is.

It's really hard to.

The aisles inside the cells in the clusters are really small and tight-knit.

You can't just go get a glass of water.

You overthink absolutely everything.

You go wash your hands, come back out, you go look at the water station, and you're like, do I really need a glass of water right now?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Quintanilla works from 8:15 p.m. to 4:45 a.m., so she can spend time taking care of her parents.

Her mother has osteoporosis.

Her dad is anemic and has diabetes.

RUBY QUINTANILLA: If he could work all day to give us the world, he would.

That's my father.

It's our turn to return that, our turn to take care of them, our turn to give them the world, our turn to make sure that they're safe, just like they did for us.

But it's really hard right now, really hard to do that for them.

DR. ANDREW MARSHALL: I think we were grossly unprepared.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Back in Boston, Dr. Marshall says the messaging for the underserved, especially in a time of crisis, often falls short.

DR. ANDREW MARSHALL: We forget that there are pockets in the city that don't have as much means.

We also forget that, when we tell somebody to go home and self-isolate, we take for granted that you can do that, that you have a room in your house where other people don't live where you can self-isolate.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Back in Chicago, Glenn Harston sees his aunt's death squarely as a failure on the part of the government.

Do you think your aunt's death was preventable?

GLENN HARSTON II: I absolutely think it was preventable.

There were some missed opportunities that -- for leadership to really impress upon that this is a serious disease and that we needed to be mindful.

He didn't take it very seriously.

Therefore, why should anybody else?

I know that, absolutely, if I turn on the TV and I see the president of the United States wearing a mask, I'm absolutely going to tune in and think that something is pretty serious.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Meanwhile, President Trump has appointed Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development, to lead a council focused on looking at how the virus is impacting communities of color.

But lawmakers, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have been pushing the administration to do more.

They say officials need to take immediate steps to address disparities and improve the way racial data is collected.

CIERA BATES CHAMBERLAIN: We're angry, and we're hurting.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: For Ciera Bates Chamberlain, life is still a daily struggle.

All four of her family members were released from the hospital.

But just this morning, her father had to be rushed back.

She believes her experience and countless others like it must serve as a wakeup call for the country.

CIERA BATES CHAMBERLAIN: We can't continue to just blame black people for their own deaths.

This does fuel the fire for us to really fight hard for an equitable response.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Yamiche Alcindor.

JUDY WOODRUFF: One of the best ways to prevent spreading coronavirus is handwashing.

But, in some places, like Flint, Michigan, that is not a simple task.

Flint, which is majority African-American and largely poor, is still reeling from the 2014 water contamination crisis, and now it's grappling with a new public health emergency.

John Yang is back, speaking with the doctor who helped to expose the water crisis about how this pandemic is hitting the city.

JOHN YANG: Judy, in Flint, Michigan, the coronavirus pandemic isn't the only health problem the folks there are dealing with right now.

It comes on top of the ongoing issue of elevated lead levels in the drinking water, a problem that marked its sixth anniversary recently.

Flint pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha was one of the earliest to sound the alarm about the water problem.

She joins us by Skype from her home.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, thank you so much for joining us.

And I should note, one reason why you are at home and not seeing patients right now is that you have -- you have recovered from coronavirus.

How are you feeling now?

DR. MONA HANNA-ATTISHA, Michigan State University: Yes.

Knock on wood, I am feeling so much better.

I still can't taste or smell, but the scary respiratory cough, shortness of breath things are all gone.

JOHN YANG: I was just looking at these statistics at the Genesee Health Department's Web site.

They say that 40 percent of the cases in Genesee County, which is where Flint is, are in the city of Flint, even though Flint accounts for only about 25 percent of the population.

Why do you think that is?

And do you think it could have something to do with the water crisis?

DR. MONA HANNA-ATTISHA: That's really being seen throughout the country in terms of the disparities of who is getting most impacted by this crisis.

We are also seeing very much in Detroit.

Michigan's the kind of -- one of the hardest-hit states in this pandemic.

Outside of the Detroit are, it's Genesee County that has seen a significant number of cases and deaths, including our hospital security guard and many of our loved ones that we work with on a daily basis.

So, why is this happening?

Why are we seeing these disparities?

And, absolutely, we cannot rule out the water crisis in Flint and also in Detroit.

Many families, and up to 5,000 families in Flint could not even wash their hands.

They did not have running water to wash their hands.

And, I mean, what is the most important thing to do to kill the virus right now?

Look, we can actually kill the virus with soap and water.

But we can't do that in many places, including in Flint.

JOHN YANG: When we were in Flint, we met a young boy who had had -- developed rashes and blisters from being bathed in the water when he was a very young at the beginning of this water crisis.

He's afraid of the water.

He doesn't want to deal with the water.

How do you deal with that in a place where you don't trust what's coming out of the tap, and yet people are being told to wash their hands?

DR. MONA HANNA-ATTISHA: Yes.

It's very difficult.

We are just beginning to recover from our last public health crisis.

And then this is an added public health crisis that is straining very limited resources and exacerbating preexisting chronic disparities.

We have, fortunately, over the last few years, in our recovery from the water crisis, have been able to build some of the public health infrastructure to support families.

For example, the Flint Registry, supported by the CDC, funded by Congress, is exactly what we need right now.

And it helps families get connected to nutrition, education, water, all these different -- all these important things that we need right now.

For example, just this week, the Flint Registry connected a family who did not have running water to the services in the city that now can get them back connected.

So, in some respects, the hard work that we have been doing in our recovery the last few years, the building of that disinvested public health infrastructure, has enabled us to more quickly respond to this crisis and further support families.

However, that infrastructure, just like that public health infrastructure throughout our nation, needs more support and needs more funding.

And, for example, that Flint Registry, the funding without congressional action, is set to expire in a year.

JOHN YANG: Are there other ways that the water crisis is sort of making the pandemic more complicated in Flint?

DR. MONA HANNA-ATTISHA: That's actually what keeps me up at night.

So, our previous public health crisis, the flood crisis, was an exposure of a neurotoxin on top of a population that had a lot of risk factors for health and development.

So, we potentially have a population of children who will have long-term health and education deficits.

And now we have this pandemic, which creates significant gaps in education and nutrition and health care.

Our kids can't go to high-quality child care anymore.

They can't participate in literacy services.

The home visiting programs, all these things that we have put into place to buffer, to mitigate the impact of the water crisis with the lead exposure are gone right now.

Another thing that we have to recognize with this pandemic is the mental health issues that are -- that are happening.

People, especially in low-income areas, they're stressed, just like we're all stressed.

They're anxious.

They don't have the luxury of, for example, staying at home in big, spacious homes and doing remote work and getting paid.

They're on the front lines.

They are delivering our mail.

They are working in our grocery stores.

They are driving our buses.

They are keeping America running.

JOHN YANG: When we were in Flint last year, we found a lot of people who continued distrust of the government.

And now there's concerns about the way the leadership is handling the coronavirus pandemic.

How is that affecting people?

DR. MONA HANNA-ATTISHA: There's been significant loss and trust of every level of government because of the betrayal from this water crisis.

They were essentially, you know, lied to by people whose job was to keep them safe and make sure that their water was safe to drink.

That wasn't new lost trust.

You know, it was - - it had really been built on decades of lost trust, because Flint, as a city, just like many of our urban centers, many of our post-manufacturing communities, had suffered from disinvestment and neglect and racism for quite some time.

And then our water crisis happened, and now we are in the midst of this other pandemic where our leaders also failed us.

JOHN YANG: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha from outside Flint, Michigan, thank you very much.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Today is International Nurses Day.

And there probably has never been a more important time to stop and recognize this profession.

Betty Ferrell of City of Hope National Medical Center in Southern California has worked in nursing for more than 40 years.

In tonight's Brief But Spectacular, she reminds us how nurses show up for us and how we can show up for them.

BETTY FERRELL, Oncology Nurse, City of Hope National Medical Center: Across America and around the world, nurses are delivering excellent care.

It is a nurse who is holding the phone as a family member is saying goodbye to a patient that they can't even see.

It's the nurse who will be in that room when the ventilator is withdrawn.

And it is a nurse who will be bathing the body of that patient and calling that family to comfort them after the death.

Nurses are really the predominant work force across all settings of care for every population impacted by this disease.

So, palliative care in this country has evolved over the last 20 years to be serious illness care that's focused on quality of life.

I have been an oncology nurse my entire career.

Our project ELNEC is the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium, an international effort to try to provide this training for nurses to help them acquire these skills.

It's nurses at the bedside at 3:00 in the morning, when the patient asks the question, am I going to die?

It's so important for nurses as the front lines in every setting of care to have this knowledge and skills and support, because the end of life, even in the midst of crisis, should be a sacred time.

Right now, nurses don't have time to stop and go through training.

Fortunately, our ELNEC project has trained about 24,000 nurses across the country who are now supporting their colleagues.

Another key principle of our ELNEC training is, how do we take care of the nurses?

These nurses are so busy.

They have just cared for a wonderful, loving, kind, amazing grandfather who just died.

But you know what?

Five minutes from now, they're going to fill that bed with another patient.

So there's no time to grieve.

There's no time to care for themselves.

My daughter is a pulmonary critical care physician.

She is on the front lines and she is working in a COVID ICU.

And so I'm afraid.

I'm fearful for my daughter's safety.

But I'm also very proud of my daughter.

I'm proud that my daughter has made a commitment to care for really sick people.

I think everyone in the country is very well aware of the fact that one of the greatest tragedies of this current pandemic is that mothers like me have had to see our children go into their daily work without protective gear.

I hope that we take the time to think of, how can we support every first responder?

Whether I'm putting on my hat as mother, as grandmother, as a nurse, we first need to say, let's all celebrate what we have done.

Let's celebrate the good care, because, at the end of the day, what we all have to say is, we showed up.

You know, nurses, doctors, everyone has showed up for this pandemic.

And it's our obligation now to see how we can better support them for the future, because they have done amazing work.

I'm Betty Ferrell, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on showing up.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And thank you, Betty Ferrell.

And thank you on this and every day to all the nurses out there.

Thank you.

And you can find all of our Brief But Spectacular segments online at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

And tune in to PBS tonight.

The documentary series "Asian Americans" continues to track from the first new immigrants to the U.S. to trailblazers of the present, those prominent and those forgotten, defining what it means to be Asian American today.

On the "NewsHour" online right now: Thousands of photographic images documenting dance maestro Alvin Ailey and his groundbreaking company, they are now available to view online through the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

You can read more about his legacy and the photographer who captured his vision, all on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Join us online and again here tomorrow evening.

For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank you, stay safe, and we will see you soon.