Transcripts For KNTV Meet The Press 20240712

For an economy he inherited and zero blame for the pandemic he ignored. The final debate, which included Climate Change. Would you close it down. A transition industry, yes. A big statement. And covid. Were learning too live with it. We have no choice. He said were learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it. Giving both candidates ammunition. How safe is mr. Bidens polling lead . Can mr. Trump repeat his Election Night 2016 shocker . And who will control the decision . My guests, can be can be, Corey Lewandowski, congressman from ohio, and Denver Riggleman from virginia. Plus, several members of Vice President pences staff test positive for covid as cases hit an alltime high. Its very real. Theres probably not a day i dont cry. Joining mr 230e insight and analysis are amy walter, from the cook report, Yamiche Alcindor from nbc thursday house, mark murray and anna palmer, senior washington correspondent for politico. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longestrunning show in television history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. Nine days, nine days before americans finally decide who will take the oath of office january 20th. Nine days before controlling the United States senate can be determined and nine days before we have a sense of whether the country says yes, we want four more years of President Trump, or whether voters say they have enough and they choose joe biden. Thursdays debate probably changed little, which may be a good thing if youre ahead nationally by roughly nine points, as biden is right now. But where does this race stand . Heres an easy way to look at it. Lets start with the 2016 election map President Trump rode to victory. Lets assume right now as the campaigns are assuming that jshz takes two trump states where hes been consistently ahead all year, wisconsin and michigan. Throw in nebraskas second Congressional District as nebraska splits their electoral votes where hes also leading. If that happens, it leaves President Trump with this path, he could not afford to lose any of the following states pennsylvania, North Carolina, florida or arizona. Right now hes trailing in all four. But they are close. But again, if he loses any one of them, its game over. Remember this all assumes mr. Trump hangs on to ohio and iowa and to georgia and to texas, all of which right now are neck in neck. And if mr. Trump was searching for an october surprise, he did get it. It may not be the one he was looking for. Were now well into a frightening record third surge of covid cases, that has just hit Vice President s staff very hard, just as mr. Trump and mr. Biden are making their Closing Arguments. The people of wisconsin must stop these antiamerican radicals by giving joe biden a thundering defeat. Everybody knows who donald trump is. Weve got to show him who we are if with joe biden you got 47 years of all talk, no action. If were turning the corner on this, he just said that this week. The nerve. He cant answer a tough question like, what would you like to do in your second term, then its our job to make sure he doesnt get a second term with nine days to go and 60 million votes already cast, donald trump and joe biden are making their Closing Argument. Trailing in the polls, President Trump still searching for a message that will stick. Joe biden admitted he wanted to abolish the oil industry. Texas, are you watching . Pennsylvania. Hoping to capitalize on this debate exchange. Would you close down the oil rigs . I have a transition from the oil industry, yes. I will transition. Thats a big statement. It it is a big statement. Why would you do that . Because the oil industry pollutes significantly. Im not banning fracking in pennsylvania or anywhere else. Its the latest trump message, after weeks of struggling to land on one. Last night biden refused to rule out court action, in other words they may take 16, 17, 18 people. Skpl you cant let biden be present. Hes not at the top of his game mentally. Remember, we said that, we made the numberone selling tshirt. But the president s attempt to replicate the 2016 victory with an october surprise is falling flat 2349 midst of i crisis where hes losing the publics trust. Thats all i hear about now. All i hear. Turn on television, covid, covid, covid. A plane goes down, 500 dead. By the way, november 4th, you wont hear about it anymore. Friday marked the highest number of cases since the pandemic began with hospitals in the midwest and west overwhelmed and cases rising. In my 34 years as a physician i have never seen so much suffering from a single disease over a short period of time. We reporting 3,874 new cases for a total of 364,043 confirmed since the start of this pandemic. Excuse me, please. Were learning to live with it. I told him, were not learning to live with it, were learning to die with it, because hes doing nothing as the pandemic surges, President Trump appears focused on personal grievances rather than governing. Nobody has ever gone through what i have gone through, nobody. No president has gone through this. Anybody else would have good morning to the corner, sat down in the corner of the room, put their thumb in their mouth and say mommy, mommy, take me home, please. Joining me now is Trump Campaign Senior Adviser Corey Lewandowski. Corey, welcome back to meet the press. Good morning, chuck. Let me start with whats happening with the Vice President. The there are now reports there are a third staffer that has tested positive. We know his chief of staff tested positive. One of his senior political aides. Let me ask you this, corey, is the Vice President going to selfquarantine . I know as head of the task force, the guidelines that are issued like this indicate you need to selfquarantine. Is the Vice President going to selfquarantine because of the amount of interaction hes had, particularly with his chief of staff marc short . I have not spoken to the Vice President or his team in the last 24 hours, chuck, so i couldnt answer that. But i am sure the Vice President will take all of the precautions necessary, very similar. [ no audio ] we have lost Corey Lewandowskis audio, so we are actually going to im going to turn to the biden campaign. Were going to see if we can get that audio back. But i will bring in Deputy Campaign manager and Communications Director kate bedingfield. Kate, my apologies there. Welcome to meet the press. Its quite all right. Live television. What can you do . Live television and technologies were all using these days. Look, let me start with where you guys are headed in this final stretch. I saw a report on tuesday that this week the Vice President s going to go to georgia. Is georgia that critical to 270 that he should spend the last week of the campaign in georgia and not pennsylvania, wisconsin . I ask you because four years ago you remember criticism of the Clinton Campaign for focusing too much on georgia in the final weeks. Look, were focused on maintaining as many pasts to 270 electoral votes that we possibly can. We believe were seeing energy all across the country for joe biden against donald trump. The vp is going to be i should say vp biden will be in georgia on tuesday. Thats right, he will be making a significant message speech there. He will be delivering a Closing Argument set of remarks at warm springs, georgia, which obviously has historical significance in this country. And hes going to be making the case, we can unify this country, we can come together to overcome these crises, that theres no challenge too great for americans to meet. But the first thing they have to do in order to do that is vote. So he will be making that Closing Argument. You heard him make this argument directly to the American People throughout his campaign, you heard him make it at gettysburg a couple weeks ago. It is a Core Foundation belief of his we can overcome this hyper partisan moment were in and we can unify the country. You will hear him make that case in warm springs, georgia, tuesday. Of course, kwarm springs, georgia, made famous by fdr when he would go down there to recuperate. Exactly. I want to put up a little statistic here. This was just in september. Final four stitts, arizona, North Carolina, florida, pennsylvania, four pretty crucial states. In all but pennsylvania, President Trump has personally been to those states, campaigned in those states. Hes been to North Carolina more than joe biden, to arizona more than joe biden, to florida more than joe biden. Only in pennsylvania has joe biden been there more. Are you concerned that your strategy for having a light physical footprint with your two nominees, are you at all concerned that this may you may regret the lack of physical presence on the ground . No, look, we are campaigning incredibly hard. Vice President Biden has visited all of these battleground states mutt multiple times. He was in pennsylvania yesterday doing two events, one in Luzerne County and bucks county, along with dr. Biden. No, weve been aggressively campaigning. But heres the difference between what were doing and what donald trump is doing. Were doing it safely. Were staking into accoutaking safety of the communities were visiting. I saw a usa today report that shows covid spikes are following in the wake of these Trump Campaign events or their going and doing these superspreader rallies putting people in jeopardy. Were never going to do that. First and foremost, we will look out for public safety. Weve done that from the outset of the pandemic. I think we have campaigned aggressively and creatively and safely. Frankly, i think thats what americans are looking for. Theyre doing that in their own lives all across the country, figuring out how to adjust and live safely because donald trump hasnt been able to get this virus under control. In the final nine days of the campaign, wooer going to campaign hard and safely. I want to ask you about the remark late in the debate about the oil industry, where the former Vice President said he wants to transition away from the oil industry. Look, some of these remarks that he said, he has said them before. But let me ask the question to you this way, kate, if you work in the oil industry, if you believe that fracking has been good for the economy, and you heard the statements from joe biden, long term joe biden doesnt sound like a support of those industries, so why shouldnt those folks think, you know what, donald trump will be more supportive, not joe biden, are you comfortable with that . Lets be clear about something, chuck, theres only one person in this country who joe biden thinks should lose his job and its donald trump. Donald trump is trying to distort joe bidens position on this because hes desperate to be running against anybody but joe biden. Thats been true from the start of this primary. Look, at joe biden said on the debate stage, hes not going to end the fossil fuel industry, hes going to end subsidies for the oil industry. He believes your taxpayer dollars should go to education. Donald trump believes they should go to exxon. Thats a contract and conversation were willing to have any day. Look, if you take a step back, joe biden has put forward an aggressive Climate Change plan that has been endorsed by climate groups, but its also been endorsed by labor because it is also a jobs plan. It is a plan that will make significant investment in Carbon Capture and ee squestration, in infrastructure. Its a job plan. He believes were not only going to create new jobs, were going to 345i7b taken jobs. People are not going to lose jobs under a biden administration. P beforebefore i let you go, state on Election Night you care about the most on Election Night that is going to tell you where this race is headed . Not going to do that. I think there are a lot of states that will be critically important. What i say to everybody watching if you are somebody whos been hurt by Donald Trumps presidency, if you have been frustrated by it, embarrassed by it, go out and vote. You can vote early, you can vote in person on election day, whatever way makes the most sense for you. Everybody turn out and vote lets make change in this country. All right, kate bedingfield, Deputy Campaign manager with the biden campaign, kate, thank you very much. And we have the audio fixed with Corey Lewandowski so corey is back. Let me stick with that first question there. You started to answer. You said you dont know the details of how many more staffers. Do you think it would be appropriate for him to campaign in the next 24 hours or do you think he should quarantine . If you came into contact with marc short as closely as he did, would you be quarantining . I would make sure the Vice President is taking all of the precautions necessary as hes always done. Im sure hes tested regularly and hes in the best care of the best physicians in the world at the white house. Im sure he will do what is necessary and what is appropriate. Look, weve also seen Kamala Harris team, members of her team come down with covid and she took the necessary precautions. Lets see where this goes. I have not spoken to the team directly on that, chuck. You heard in our introduction piece there the president almost complaining about how much focus theres been on covid, covid, covid as he sort of said it. Do you think thats the right message to be sending right now . We just had the two highest days yet of new cases in this country, back to back friday and saturday. The president seemed tosh lamenting the coverage of that. Is that the right message you want to send with nice days to go . I think the president s message should be and continues to be the promises hes made and promises that hes kept. Whether you care about middle east peace, which hes been able to do, rebuilding our military and strongest km he with lowest unemployment rates for africanamericans, hispanicamericans the world or our country has seen, thats the closing message. The closing message is we have an opportunity to set our country forth in the next four years for a path weve been on for the last four years and that includes Economic Prosperity for everybody, including making sure our immigration system is one that benefits this country, not other countries. Thats what is really important. The safety and security for people at their homes, their businesses, their places of worship and standing with the men and women of Law Enforcement is the message that resonates with everybody across every socioeconomic status in this country. I want to ask you about comments that got leaked out to the Washington Post last week that the president made at a fundraiser where he basically wrote off republican chances apparently in the senate and even added he doesnt even want to help some of these senators. There are a couple of senators i cant get involved in. I just cant do it. You lose your soul if you do. I cant help some of them. I dont want to help some of them. Does the president really think republicans have a better chance at winning the house than they do at holding the senate . I decent thiont think so. This president has been out campaigning aggressively for members of the u. S. Senate. He been asking surrogates like me going out. I was there thursday helping raise money for marriage why mcsally in a battleground state. This president is very forward helping candidates be successful. Hes raised money and has a Great Partnership with Senate Leader Mitch Mcconnell. We feel very, very strongly we will maintain our majority in the u. S. Senate. He said he didnt want to help some of these senators. He took a shot at Susan Collins about ten days ago. Is that the senator hes referring to . I dont know, chuck, but i can tell you this, President Trump will be in maine this afternoon. I will be joining him up there. He will be campaigning at the maine second Congressional District, a district he won four years ago and could be pivotal in this election cycle. Obviously, this president wants to make sure in addition to his reelection were maintaining the majority in the u. S. Senate and taking back the house of representatives. You were careful there, does he want to see Susan Collins reelected . I think the president wants to see every republican reelected regardless who they are and if they break on the president with some issues. The reason is, the alternative is much worse. If Chuck Schumer becomes the Senate Majority leader, were going to have a very different path forward and we would see Less Supreme Court justices nominated, less federal bench members nominated. We want a republican majority, to be crystal clear. Let me ask you a question, whats the one state on Election Night that will tell you more about whats happening in this campaign than any other . Chuck, i know the last person wouldnt answer the question but i know florida is the battleground state. It always has been and will be. We feel strongly where were positioned in florida. Its an east coast state. I no he they have part of the voting in the next time zone but when donald trump wins florida big on Election Night, its going to set the path on the rest of the night. Florida will be a state we will follow on Election Night. Corey lewandowski, Senior Adviser for the Trump Campaign, thank you for coming on with us, sir. When we come back, jobs and mocrats are stru were all finding ways to keep moving. But how do we make sure the direction were headed is forward . At fidelity, youll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrificing the things that are important to you today. Well help you plan for healthcare costs, taxes and any other uncertainties along the way. Because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction youre moving is forward. Anyone making less than 400,000 a year wont pay a penny more, and im going to ask the very big corporations to pay their fair share. Were going to invest in creating millions of goodpaying jobs. Were going to ease the burden of the major cost in your life health care. Were going to protect Social Security and increase the benefits for millions of seniors. When i announced i was running, i said thats the reason, to rebuild the backbone of this country hardworking folks of the middle class. Im joe biden and i approve this message. Welcome back. The changing Political Landscape is posing challenges for members of both parties. Member Sherrod Brown won a state that took a sharp right turn in 2016. Denver riggleman overtook a blue district and won a seat in congress in 2018 but he lost his primary to a bob good, who described himself as a biblical v cantive, in part for ringlemans support for samesex marriage. And congressman brown and congressman riggleman are joining us this morning. We did a deep dive in our nbc poll for the last nine months, everybody undecided on the president ial race, so we were able to find out who are these folks . And a third of them are members of Union Households and it was just one of those that confirmed the anecdote that says hey, a union member may be culturally feels the pull of the republicans, maybe on policy feels the pull of the democrats. How do you talk to that voter thats undecided still . Joe biden is the most pro worker candidate nominated by either party in the last 30 years. And for joe, its all about the dignity of work. You contrast joe biden, who is running his campaign through the eyes of workers, will govern through the eyes of workers. The reason hes leading from scranton to cleveland to toledo and to detroit to milwaukee is because hes the worker candidate who is in betrayal of trumps dignity of workers. And that contrast is clear. As you know, chuck, trump is whos side are you on and biden is on the working class side of america. Are you concerned at all about the fracking comments, perception on the oil and gas industry . The reason i ask you about it, its not on the specifics here, i think bidens position is clear hes against the subsidies for the oil industry but its more of the perception that he is somehow antiwoulder. Theres a lot of good jobs that come to the fractioniking indus. Are you concerned that person looks at it maybe biden is okay with my job for now but hes going to eliminate these jobs as soon as he can . It look at the other side of the ledger. Donald trump has refused to raise minimum wage. Hes taken away overtime, which joe biden and i worked on and others from 100,000 ohio workers and similar number in pennsylvania. Trump put on the Supreme Court and federal judgeships and in the secretary of labor antiunion, a corporate lawyer. Lets put it this way, when theres a fork in the road and you side with corporate interests or workers, every single time donald trump is siding with corporate interests. Contrast that with joe biden as the dignity of work candidate that will always put workers first. But i think about your old Congressional District you used to represent, that youre telling me those voters, theyre going to be okay with what joe biden has said about fracking and the oil industry . Theyre not going to get cold feet and think, hes going to get rid of those jobs . No, joe biden trump won ohio by eight points. Its an uphill fight. But were going to win it and we are winning it because biden is the big worker candidate. I won it by seven and i won it because of the same formula joe biden has followed. You talk to workers directly. You have good africanamerican turnout and the suburban voters just off the charts in places like columbus, in dayton and toledo and akron and cincinnati are overwhelmingly breaking to biden. Thats why he will win. Hes overwhelming the working candidate. People in the suburbs understand that too and that contrast is so increasingly very, very clear. Just look at this one thing, 600,000 workers in ohio were getting 600 week of unemployment. Trump and mcconnell just took it away and said sorry, youre way on your own. Thats more important than any one comment donald trump and joe biden make. See what i do, not just what i say. If joe biden wins, there are going to be a lot of people who want to say your mandate is to do x. No, your mandate is to do y. So im going to ask you, what do you believe the american electorate would be sending as a message, as a mandate if joe biden is elected president . Address the covid crisis pandemic, the Public Health disaster. Translator made worse and worse. First thing out of the box first thing out of the box may be the john lewis Voting Rights act, to restore Voting Rights the Supreme Court has taken away. But the first big ruling is a covid package with structure and putting millions of people back to work, help open our schools safely, providing emergency rental assistance so people will so we can stop this wave of evictions that is building. All of those kinds of things. But its ending this empa and getting the economy back on track, which donald trump failed. Donald trump, as president obama just said on your preview, donald trump doesnt even have a plan for a second erm iterm, ha no idea what to do about this pandemic. And joe biden with a big infrastructure has a package to buttress it. Democrat Sherrod Brown, thank you very much for coming on our program. I always appreciate your reviews. Appreciate it. Let me turn to jim riggleman, the district he represents is a little bit of rural virginia, little bit of northern virginia, little bit of college town, virginia. Congressman, im curious, youre in one of these areas that while in virginia, i think we have an idea where the state is going to go but its districts like yours, where is it headed . Because where its headed probably tells us where the country is going. What kind of insight can you provide . Does our district is 10,000 square miles so its bigger than new jersey, chuck. As you know we talked about that. If you go from the suburbs of d. C. All the way down to say the North Carolina border, republicans r different from north to south and so are democrats. Right now when you look at my district, donald trump is polling plus three but the republican candidate is minus three. So you have a sixpoint split. Thats what matches with the Fifth District of virginia. Its so diverse. If you are ebb in 2018, i beat the is that the candidate by six points in the district. This is a swing district at our plus six but you see the explosion of growth and southern part of the suburbs of d. C. But charlottesville, we have a swing district in awe blue state. Looks like right now we better Start Talking to everybody, rather than just a narrow portion of the public. What have you learned since coming here . You have not been a political guy in your whole life. P obviously. You got into politics late. You got ousted in a republican primary and so youre aware of these divides in the party. Much talking about the divides at the party, would this be the reason if donald trump loses and republicans lose control of the senate, would you say its these divides in the party thats the reason . Yes, i think its that simple. If were looking athe just a colder personality in the Republican Party where ideas and policies sort of go away, you have a real problem. Dont get me wrong, i think some of joe bidens policies are pretty i bad on a policy perspective, when you talk about court packing, is is almost a judicial arms race. Many selflooking Ice Cream Cone talking about Energy Policy or economic policy. But what you have with the president now is when theyre talking about people, theyre not worried about policy but whatever trump says goes. And in this district its not work, well or in the state its not working well. But what i learned now, chuck, i felt the battlefield of ideas is where its at but it gets very personal and we have to worry about that. You were aggressive on the other side of the aisle to get a bipartisan resolution to condemn this wacky qanon conspiracy that led to some violent actions by some of these believers. Ment of course, theres Marjorie Taylor green, the republican candidate for congress in georgia, thats likely to become a member of congress. Here youve got a large majority of the house to condemn qanon and very quietly this week we saw the Republican Party has officially endorsed Marjorie Taylor green and donated the maximum amount of money the nrcc can do. What message does that send to the party as a whole that they did that . So i might as well just piss everybody off, chuck. If were doing this, if were looking at the spread of misinformation about to something that panders to a certain subset of voters, i think we lost our way. Thats what i have been talking about, i agree with a lot of the policies from the president on growth and a lot of what did is wonderful. But when we represent to the party the antisemitic Conspiracy Theory who believes theres an affiliate democratic cabal 079 democratic side of the house, were in for a rough ride. If we stick to policy, its impossible to vote for joe biden, but were not. I scratch my head as an intelligence foreign officer, chuck, what are we doing here . These are people who believe lord of the rings is a documentary and the fact were trying to appeal to them is ridiculous to me. Are you still a republican . Im republican what i thought a constitutional republican was but with the gop going the way it is in virginia, i believe believe the duopoly is failing the American People. From congressman from virginia, charlottesville, thank you for coming out. I appreciate your perspective. Up next will the democrats take t stock slices. For as little as 5, now anyone can own companies in the s p 500, even if their shares cost more. At 5 a slice, you could own Ten Companies for 50 instead of paying thousands. 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Earlier we identified six republican senators in jeopardy, steve daines, martha mcsally, tom tillis in North Carolina and Susan Collins in maine plus democratic incumbent doug jones in alabama. This is the senate map we assumed we would be dealing with the last nine days. But look how this expanded. It added quite a few competitive races. As of right now, Lindsey Graham in south carolina, both senators are vulnerable. Dan sullivan in alaska is in a tight race and open republican seat in kansas, yes, kansas, all of them are in some measure of peril. Then id add democrat incumbent gary peters of michigan, he finds himself in a tougherthanexpected race despite joe bidens strength in michigan. Finally on the outside, yes, there are more Competitive Senate races. John cornyn in texas, Mitch Mcconnell in kentucky. Look, theyre both favored but they didnt put their poemts away. Same is true for democrat tina smith in minnesota. To be sure, democrats will not win all of these races but its worse keeping in mind that in a wave year, which could be for democrats, courses tend to go all in the same direction. Boy, do we have a panel of directors to chew over this. Yamiche alcindor from pbs news hour, nbc senior Political Editor mark murray and anna palmer, the senior washington correspondent for politico. Were diving deep into the senate. Amy walter, this is what you do all the time. You worry about this six years in advance. Here we are nine days to go. Whats your senate race obsession . Im obsessed with North Carolina because to me no senate race kind of sums out where we are in 2020 than this one. A latebreaking sex scandal v r involving the democratic candidate, normally that would put a race that democrats were ahead in behind. This would impact this race negatively for the democratic candidate. Instead hes still running ahead and thats democrat cal cunningham. The reason hes still running ahead is because donald trump is running behind in North Carolina. Look, the race for the senate is like the race for the white house. It is an exstistential questio about donald trump and nobody else. Thats a big problem for republicans in a state like North Carolina. Finally, chuck, the other reason im obsessed with it, polls close at 7 30 in North Carolina. The ap called the race at 11 00 p. M. In 2016. Well, no, we are excited about North Carolina here at nbc for those very reasons as well. Mark murray, get in on this. What is your senate race obsession you think will help tell the story . Chuck, im obsessed with iowa. If democrats ended up falling short in North Carolina, iowa is probably their nextbest opportunity to get that majority. We are seeing iowa in play because democrats are performing on average about six to ten points better in Congressional Districts in states across the country than four years ago. Iowa epitomizes that. Donald trump ended up winning iowa by nine Percentage Points in 2016. Its now an evensteven race and between joni ernst the republican competent and teresa field, the challenger. And democrats are overperforming with seniors. We know iowa has one of the oldest populations in the country. And were seeing republicans fighting back on issues like immigration, on policing as well as saying, hey, heres what a democratic Senate Majority would end up doing. So those are the forces at play at the hawkeye state. Both North Carolina and georgia feel like as the Vice President goes, so does senators and representatives. Yamiche alcindor, what is your obsession the last few days . South carolina. Im looking at the race between Jaime Harrison and senator Lindsey Graham. This was a race solidly looked at as the republican seat. Its been moved over by the Cook Political Report as a tossup. Its fascinating because Jaime Harrison is able to raise boatloads of money and put Lindsey Graham on the defense. This is a state President Trump won in 2016 by 14 points. They have not sent a democrat to the senate in two decades. If Jaime Harrison is able to pull this off, it will be a major blow to republicans and Lindsey Graham has emerged as one of the closest allies to President Trump. Thats what makes this race an interesting one to watch. yamiche, i want to play a piece of this tv ad Jaime Harrison is running because he decided to add a third candidate to the race. Take a look at this ad. Bledsoe was pro trump from day one, opposes all abortions and bledsoes against all gun control. Lindseys changed and bledsoe is too conservative for south carolina. Yamiche, bill bledsoe technically dropped out and ens doersed Lindsey Graham but his name is on the ballot. Does that tell you Jaime Harrison doesnt think he can get 50 , if he wins, will he need help . Thats what it seems like. He was answering questions about this. The Third Party Candidate will be at the top of the ballot, which is interesting because of the way they do it in that state. He said hey, i want to explain to people about all of these people on the ballot. The interesting thing happened here, watchers of the election say maybe Jaime Harrison cant pull out 51 but if he pulls out 47 , he can still take that seat. Maybe it shows Jaime Harrison is thinking about this race and saying i need to look at other candidates and think about that. Whats interesting the democrats in North Carolina and alaska are counting and democrats making 47, 48 of winning number. Anna palmer, last but not least. What is your obsession . I think Susan Collins is the only republican in the new england area but the question for me is why it poses a bigger issue for republicans is shes running as a bipartisan moderate, who if she wins would be chairman of the senate preparations km committee. And is that a message that can win in 2020 . Or have republicans completely become the party of trump where its tribalism that wins the day, less about bipartisanship and trying to get deals done to the 24year veteran of the senate and widely outraised by sarah gideon. These next nine days will be critical. What do you make of what is Lisa Murkowskis decision to confirm Amy Coney Barrett . She had been with Susan Collins in that she wouldnt vote for anybody before the election. Does this add pressure to Susan Collins, anna . I think it was a good decision by murkowski to stay on the procedural vote, she will not conform, but the eventual vote, confirm the support for Amy Coney Barrett. I think that puts pressure on Susan Collins but i will say shes the only republican whos not endorsed trump this cycle and shes going to need those more suburban, moderate republicans to stay with her and not vote for sarah gideon. She she has a fine balancing act the closing days of the election. It if the Senate Runoffs decide the Senate Majority, does that mean its a bad night for democrats on Election Night . Yeah, it would be thats probably a did way to think about that, chuck. I think democrats have at least five seats right now where theyre currently ahead. And so if we go nine days from now, it meant they only won three of those. And it would probably be the North Carolina and iowa and, yes, determining control of the senate in georgia in january. Wow. Yeah, like i said, i talked to democrats who said if Senate Control is on the line in january, thats not a campaign they necessarily look forward to running. Let me pause it here. When we come back, well look at two counties that may go a long way towards deciding who will take the oath of office in january. Stick with us. Im still discovering whats next. And still going for my best. Even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib. Not caused by a heart valve problem. 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Working within amazon transportation services, i really saw the challenge of Climate Change. We want to be sustainable, but when you have a truck covering over 300 miles, or you have flights going hundreds of miles, its a bit more challenging. We are letting the data guide us to the best solution. Its inspiring to try to solve a problem that no one else has solved. Thats super exciting. Itswe knew that this wassolve really, really bad. We had ample forewarning. But we did almost no testing, almost no contact tracing. Completely ignored the science, completely ignored the warning signs. There were things that could have been done. A lot of people have died needlessly, and theres nothing more frustrating than feeling like youre fighting against someone who should have your back. We are not going to stamp this out unless we have a change of leadership. Ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad. Welcome back. Data download time and a look at the five counties in five swing states that weve been tracking all Campaign Season long. This time were checking on two makeorbreak states for President Trump, pennsylvania and florida. Mr. Trump won Beaver County by 19 points thanks largely to white folks without college degrees. He won that group nationally by 44 points but in our latest nbc news the wall street journal poll President Trumps advantage is down to just 21 points. Beaver is where we find my colleague Maura Barrett. Is beaver still Trump Country . Chuck, beaver used to be a democrat i believe stronghold but the noncollege educated white voters are also Blue Collar Union working voters who used to work in the Steel Industry and now theyre hoping trump will boost their local economy. When we hear President Trump talk about fracking, hes speaking to the voters right here in Beaver County. When we look at the Campaign Schedule in the final days leading up to the election, President Trump is focusing on areas like western and central pennsylvania where he has strongholds. Meanwhile we see biden going to counties where the race is tighter because hes hoping to strengthen the margins trump has in the state. Remember pennsylvania went the for trump by just 44,000 votes in 2016. Chuck . It laura, thank you. Now lets go south to miamidade in florida where were looking at hispanic voters specifically, including cuban and venezuelan americans who are leading republican. Hillary clinton won miamidade in 2016 by 29 points and she won hispanic voters nationally by an even bigger margin. Biden is still polling ahead nationally but by a smaller margin than how Hillary Clinton did. My colleague ellison barber has been talking to voters in miamidade. Ellison, is biden going to do better than Hillary Clinton did . If hey, chuck, yeah, the Trump Campaign has spent a lot of time trying to tie former Vice President joe biden to far left socialist policies, even suggesting if he were to win, the u. S. Could become the next of venezuela. Biden is not a socialist but that message resonated with many in miamidade, venezuelan and cuban communities. The next week joe biden pushed back forcefully on that narrative but latinos here in miami told us theyre worried he waited too long to aggressively push back. Which uk . Ellison barber in miami, Maura Barrett in beaver, pennsylvania, we i thank you both. When we come back, russia is at it again. Iran is fisherman vo ce how do i register to vote . Ential election. Hmm . Hmm . Hmm . woman on porch vo can we vote by mail here . grandma vo youll be safe, right . daughter vo yes four girls vo the polls voted grandma vo go out and vote its so important man at poll vo woo grandma vo its the most important thing you can do . I didnt choose this job because it was easy. But i cant say i expected this. To fight these fires, we need funding plain and simple. For this crisis, and for the next one. Prop 15 closes tax loopholes so rich corporations pay their fair share of taxes. So firefighters like me, have what we need to do the job, and to do it right. The big corporations want to keep their tax loopholes. Its what they do. Well, i do what i do. If yould like to help, join me and vote yes on prop 15. Foreign interference in our elections or any criminal activity that threatens the sanctity of your vote or undermines Public Confidence in the outcome of the election. That was chris fer wray, the fbi director. He, of course, was joined by the dni, director john ratcliffe, when they announced what was a confirmation of both iran and russia doing this. Yamiche alcindor, you know, the decision the decision to make this announcement public, it was a bit of a scramble. What more do we know as to what motivated them to go public with this, the need they felt they had to go public warning again about these outsite agitators . Thats a great question. What fra om what we understand their main motivation continues to be they want to warn the American People theres election interference and foreign adversaries trying to attack and meddle in the 2020 election. But there are critics ever this saying this is dm some way a political move. You heard director ratcliffe saying this was an attempt to harm President Trump but there are Election Officials who say this is about sowing discord and russia continues to be a much bigger player and threat than iran. Theres an idea this is somehow tainted by the politics at play with President Trump often saying hes a victim of this and foreign adversaries wanting to hurt his campaign when in fact really its about the entire idea of perception hacking, perception hacking being you give the idea theres foreign interference in the election and scares people and no the want to trust the system. Perception hacking is something. Anna palmer, i know you deal with this quietly and more concerned maybe than appears the president. Peter strzok, the fbi agent who the president decided to make a symbol of the investigation, in his book he rattled me and others when he talked about all of the things russia could have done in 16 and didnt. Heres what he told me on my podcast. Take a listen. There were things they could have done that they didnt, and fire thats its coming. They improved those and will use them this time around. Anna palmer, do we get the sense theyre ready for russia thought about four years ago and didnt . I think both said it, republicans and democrats, anything in terms of the election digging in ermz terms security, i think theyre aware countries like russia are working against american interests here but theres also concern about what the president is doing to sow discord and american confidence in the voting system. Thats Something Else you see privately. A lot of members ever congress are concerned the president is doing actually just as much to dissuade people from feeling like their vote is actually going to be counted. It this brings us to the other part of this i dont know what to call it, election shenanigans, right . One is the outside influence. The other is lawsuits. It does look like, marq mark mu the state of pennsylvania will be the center of a legal fight perhaps. The philadelphia inquirer, one in five request for a mailin ballot are being rejected in pennsylvania. What happened to those socalled naked ballots sep the without that inner envelope . Naked ballots wont count. One open official said that could swing the election. Spotlight pennsylvania, if legit myy of the ballot is called into attention, they could invoke article 2 of the constitution. It seems pennsylvania will be ground zero in disputes over election if this is close. Yes, and pennsylvania is the Tipping Point state, 270 the electoral vote for more than joe biden or President Trump. Weve seen this race over the last year. Its been incredibly stable. But you mentioned all of the uncertainties with how the vote is counted on election day about signature manning, about these naked ballots, on whether people put the ballot in an actual envelope or dont. If joe biden wins pennsylvania by several Percentage Points as indicated now, i dont think this will be a problem. But fs this a one or twopoint race, all of those things come into play, which there have been so many legal challenges. Again, election day and maybe election week, all of the uncertainties about how the vote is counted will be the biggest story we will be following. Amy, is this the unknown . The numbers are the numbers, but one of the things i have been saying is the unknown is how were going to administer this election. Is this ultimately the thing that we dont know until we see it done . Well, one of the good things about the cycle and the fact this pandemic did hit in april instead of, say, october, is that Election Officials are actually prepared for this. Usually the unknowns, chuck, are when something happens in an election nobody was prepared for. While i think most Election Officials would have liked to have had a bigger window, like two years to prepare rather than just six months, i think they know what to look out for and theyre preparing for this. But i agree the bigger challenge right now is where the president is in terms of his rhetoric both on election day and after. And that to me is more than anything. Finally, the fact so many people are voting right now suggest the dissituation campaign isnt working. No, i think thats for sure. Guys, i have to leave it there. As we go, i want to let you know about nightly news across america, my pal lester holt hits nevada, wisconsin and pennsylvania. He will be talking to voters about their top concerns as america votes. Thats all for today. We will be back next week from election headquarters in new york city. Two days before the biggest day of this year, because if its sunday, its meet the press. This week on press here, are we going to need more christmas tree. Computers struggle to get face recognition right, especially people among colors. Well get some good news from the ceo and david lowry, what hes looking for to fund next. Thats this week on press here. Good morning, i am scott mcgrew. One of the things that