Transcripts For MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show 20201022

But this email, which again went to at least 16 of our viewers thought to send it to us, its a straight up threat. Vote for trump or else. Then it says, we are in possession of all your information. Whats redacted there is the name of the voter to which this was sent. It uses the full name of the voter and then says, we are in possession of all your information. You are currently registered as a democrat. We know this because we have gained access to the entire voting infrastructure. You will vote for trump on election day or we will come after you. Change your Party Affiliation to republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. We will know which candidate you voted for. I would take this seriously if i were you. And then at that point, if the threat isnt loud enough, it gets very much louder when at that point in the email, whats inserted there in that last black box there that weve redacted is the voters actual physical street address printed at the end. So its sent to a persons direct email address, starts off with their full name in that first redacted text box, and then at the end, after saying we will come for you, we will come after you unless you vote for donald trump, it then includes the voters street address. Good luck. Now, the reason i think people forwarded these emails to us, www. Sendittorachel. Com, i think the reason people sent these to us and not because theyre janky, spammy threats, but because this kind of a threat does get much sharper, does get much more of your attention when its directed to you at your email address, includes your real full name and includes your physical address, along with this threat that theyre coming to get you. Most of the viewers who contacted us and sent us their versions these threatening emails are from florida, although we got these from voters in more than one state. The most of them being from florida seems to jibe with public reporting that its mostly florida voters who have been targeted with these vote trump or else emails. According to reports, theyve also turned up in arizona, alaska, and pennsylvania. At least one of the people who sent us their version of this email sent it to us from alaska, so we can corroborate that as well. Im not sure we know yet how many of these threatening emails went out, how many voters got these vote trump or else threats. But out of the blue its kind of remarkable to me that at least 16 people who view this show got those emails and decided to send them to me basically because they wanted to report it to the media. But most of the folks who sent us their version of the email did also tell us they had reported it to the fbi. Now, tonight, the fbi announced this very short notice press conference. They said, to alert the American People about some serious Election Security matter, and we think these vote trump or else emails were what they were talking about. But its hard to know. They never actually said what they were talking about. Two of the four officials who stood up there at the podium didnt talk at all. None of them took any questions whatsoever which means it wasnt a press conference, it was just a press release they read out loud. The fbi director was one of only two officials who spoke at this event this evening. And he said substantively nothing. He just spoke in vague generalities about how hard the fbi is working to make sure everything is cool in the election and you should call them if you see a crime. He said nothing specifically about whats happened here at all. What we got at this odd notpressconference was a written Statement Read aloud by director of National Intelligence John Ratliffe who was recently appointed by President Trump. What he delivered in the statement was definitely drama, less than two weeks from the election, short notice press conference on Election Security, there is drama in that. But when it comes to what he actually communicated, frankly nobody actually knows what he was talking about. We would like to alert the public that we have identified that two foreign actors, iran and russia, have taken specific actions to influence Public Opinion relating to our elections. First, we have confirmed that some Voter Registration information has been obtained by iran, and separately by russia. This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos, and undermine your confidence in american democracy. To that end, we have already seen iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage President Trump. You may have seen some reporting on this in the last 24 hours or you may have even been one of the recipients of those emails. What are you talking about . Spit it out. I mean, this is the newlyappointed director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, who until now has had trouble remembering that the office of National Intelligence is not supposed to be an arm of the Trump Campaign. We assume what hes talking about here is these intimidating vote trump or else emails that were sent to democratic registered voters in florida and in numerous other states, but maybe thats not what hes talking about. Why would you look at those vote trump or else emails and describe them as an effort to damage President Trump . These are threatening emails literally telling democratic registered voters that if they dont vote for President Trump, a violent far right group of supporters will come after them and hurt them and by the way they know where you live. How is that an effort to damage President Trump . The director of National Intelligence is calling this an attack by iran. At least i think this is what hes describing as a attack by iran. But he says this is an effort to hurt President Trump when clearly this is the effort to do something opposite. Maybe hes talking about Something Else altogether. We dont know, he never explained. Substantively in terms of what else was said at this dramatic press conference, this was the whole rest of it. Additionally, iran is distributing other content to include a video that implies that individuals could cast fraudulent ballots even from overseas. This video and any claims about such allegedly fraudulent ballots are not true. Although we have not seen the same actions from russia, we are aware that they have obtained some voter information just as they did in 2016. Rest assured that we are prepared for the possibility of actions by those hostile to democracy. We are standing before you now to give you the confidence that we are on top of this. We are on top of this. But we are not going to say what this is. Were not going to say what russia did at all. Were going to characterize it as something thats just like they did in 2016. Were going to say that this attack that we are attributing to iran which were not going to describe was designed to hurt President Trump but we think from public reporting that what theyre describing is an attack that was designed to hurt people who might vote against President Trump. What the heck is this . To be honest, i sort of expect this kind of mishegas from director ratcliffe given his track record as dni. But why did the fbi director stand there for this. As well as justice and Homeland Security official who stood there as well. A, why didnt they speak, b, why did none of them take questions . Whats going on . Moments before the fbi convened this weird raisesmore questionsthanitanswers press conference, the Washington Post had a scoop on at least part of the story here. The Washington Post scoop at least makes some sense, at least its coherent, unlike what we heard from director ratcliffe. Scoop just moments before the press conference tonight, quote. The post reporting that Homeland Security officials briefed Homeland Security administrators that those emails that 16 viewers sent to us, after having received them themselves, Homeland Security officials apparently warned state and local officials per the Washington Post that a Foreign Government was responsible for those emails, and, quote, Homeland Security officials also said they had detected holes in state and local election websites and instructed those participating to patch their online services. It is from that Washington Post reporting this evening that we can surmise that maybe what trumps intelligence director was talking about tonight was these vote trump or else emails. It still makes no sense that he would describe these emails as an effort to damage President Trump. They were an effort to intimidate people into voting for President Trump. We still dont know what anybody means about russias involvement here or about russia and iran both accessing Voter Registration data. It seems like something very serious has happened. What it is, no idea. Joining us now, though, is Washington Post National Political reporter amy gardner who shared a byline on this scoop tonight from the Washington Post with her colleagues. Ms. Gardner, thank you so much for joining us tonight, i know its been a busy night. Thank you for having me. As you can tell, im a little bit bewildered by whats just happened, i feel like i got more clarity from you and your colleagues than i do from that odd statement from dni ratcliffe. Is there any bit about that that i seem confused about that you can clarify . Are there parts of this that you and your colleagues have figured out, that the Public Statement from the odni tonight might have occluded . I can certainly try. I cover voting issues for the post. I learned about this by talking to local state and Election Officials who were on a call with the department of Homeland Security and fbi officials who briefed them that there was a Foreign Government that was behind the proud boys emails that you described. And i think whats really important is what they told state and local Election Officials is that in addition to the foreign involvement, they said that there are many state and local election websites, government websites, that have holes in them that need to be patched. What theyre trying to tell these government officials and the public is that the foreign interference is not necessarily going to, you know, mess with the vote count or actually undermine the integrity of our Election Results, but that they believe that the potential hacking and the actual hacking into these email systems of the proud boys has this potential to undermine public confidence, and they want the public to have the understanding that that cant happen, its incredibly difficult. Our Voter Registration you know databases are not even excuse me, our vote counts are not even online, our voting systems are not even online, and its very difficult if not impossible to be hacked into without actually being in this country and physically affecting the equipment. But this kind of thing, hacking into the proud boys emails and sending out these blasts to democratic voters has the potential to make everyone think that a hack is possible and has the potential to undermine our confidence even though thats not necessarily the case. And i think that that is what the federal officials were trying to convey. And so the warning from federal officials to the state and local Election Officials who you spoke to was specifically, just to make sure i get this right, that iran was behind the hacking of the server which led to these emails going out, these vote trump or else emails. Were they also advised that both iran and russia were taking advantage of what you described as holes in state and local election websites, that they might be targeting local elections infrastructure in order to get ahold of things like Voter Registration data . Was that also described to them and was that described as the work of both russia and iran . No. And in fact the federal officials did not tell local and state officials which foreign actors were involved, my colleague confirmed it was iran from other sources. They confirmed it was foreign actor. Thats all they were told. We dont really know what russia as we understand to do with the Voter Registration information its received. What the fbi and the department of Homeland Security want the public and officials at the state and local level to understand is that they need to shore up these websites at the state and local level. And there are small cities and towns that run elections that might not have the most secure websites. And if foreign actors can get into those websites and hack and maybe put messages out there that make the public think theyre not secure, thats problematic. But mostly as an optics issue, mostly as a perception issue. And they want those state and local officials to patch those holes now to prevent those kind of hacks. But at the same time theyre trying to make the point, which local and state officials agree with, that actually affecting our Election Results is incredibly difficult and unlikely. Amy, just one last question for you. Do you have any insight into why dni ratcliffe described this as an effort to hurt President Trump . I wonder that myself. The one thing i can think of is that this made the proud boys look bad. And the head of the chairman of proud boys, enrico tario, is the Florida State chairman or director of latinos for trump. So it associates the proud boys with trump and associates this hack with the proud boys. But honestly, im a little bit flummoxed myself. Yeah. Flummoxed is actually the word of the day today on a lot of different levels. Washington post National Political reporter amy gardner, thank you for being here, thanks to you and your colleagues for your reporting. Look forward to seeing the story develop. Thank you. I want to bring into the conversation former fbi assistant director and Nbc National Security director frank figliuzzi. Frank, thank you for joining us for this as well. As i was confessing to amy gardner at tthe post there, i feel flummoxed by what we heard from dni director ratcliffe tonight. Whats your reaction this evening . Flummoxed is a kindler, gentler word we can use. I am deeply concerned that this is just a glimpse of what im calling the coming chaos. Where to begin, rachel. Look, we had a press conference controlled by the dni. Number one, that struck me as unusual and really almost unprecedented in terms of announcing an operational, investigativetype finding. Thats not supposed to happen. Number two, we saw the dni downplay the russian angle here and play up iran and play up that this was all intended to somehow damage the president. Thats a political spin on what should be a Law Enforcement and Intelligence Press conference. We saw the director of the fbi, as you mentioned, play a minor, secondary role probably because he was ordered to do so and he wants to stay in the fight and do the best for his agency and stay at his helm. We saw the absence of the attorney general tonight, which is very unusual, hes not made a whole lot of public appearances recently. Heres whats concerns me operationally for the future. If a foreign power can get our Registration Data and then target our address with it and get messages to us, they can take that data and they can change potentially your voting location. So weve talked about this kind of thing for months, that you dont have to mess with the actual outcome of the vote but rather you can have chaos on election day when people show up, show their i. D. Where they usually vote, and be told their voting place is across the city or they are not even registered anymore. This is a signal, its called a signal in the Cyber Security world, that im inside, i can do this, im here, and theres more to come. So this is just the tip of the iceberg. The fact that were already politicizing this kind of intelligence work is deeply harmful. And dont be surprised if you see this theme replicated in the next days and weeks by the president who will say, this was to damage me, im on top of this. Theyre not on top of this. We have holes in our county, local, and state registration systems. Weve been saying this. Senator Mitch Mcconnell has turned down extra money for security. And now we are realizing just now that we have ancient windows operating systems that are trying to you know, with scotch tape, trying to hold together Computer Systems that hold Registration Data and voter information. Were in for a bumpy ride, rachel. I think part of what was concerning to me about what director ratcliffe said tonight is the distance between what he said and the kind of concerns that were expressed, i mean, literally to me and to this show from a number of people who received these emails, were weirded out by them, sent them to us. Most people who sent them to us told us they were also sending them to fbi and local Law Enforcement, which is great. But the reason people were sending them to the host of a cable news show they look at is because its very concerning to see your real name, your real email address, and your real physical address on this type of a targeted threat email thats saying were going to come get you unless you do what we say. It has to be pointed out and it cant be said enough, that whoever people vote for in the election is secret, nobody knows who you voted for unless you tell them, and nobodys going to know whether you vote for President Trump or for Vice President biden. But people feel like i mean, when you get an email like this which points out your street address, that freaks people out. Now, that information, i dont know if that information is the thing that director ratcliffe was describing when he said that iran and russia have access to voter information. But i think its worth pointing out to people that that kind of information from the voter file is the sort of thing that campaigns have, that lots of different entities have access to. You dont have to have carried out some sort of Major International hacking operation in order to get peoples names and real addresses. He didnt clarify that at all. And i think that hes left a lot of people with the impression that the only reason their address is out there is because of some Foreign Military Intelligence Service hacking it. Well, youre right. Conspicuous by its absence tonight was any kind of detailed information about which country did what. Theyre not even sharing country attribution with the local and state authorities. Its look like from reporting that perhaps iran owns this proud boys thing and yes, maybe in their view of our culture, if you associate violent threats with the proud boys, youre dragging in the president into it who seems to have aligned himself with proud boys. Maybe thats where theyre coming from. But i have to tell you theres a larger agenda here with both iran and russia which is simply to sow disorder and chaos. On the trust issue, and the fact that you raised, all of us, you, me, were getting friends and strangers sending this, what do i do with this, i had that today, and i referred them to their local fbi field office. This is all about the lack of trust thats being engendered in us about the eventual outcome of this election. Again, im not only concerned about the external threat thats doing this to us, its deeply concerning, but im also concerned about the internal threat thats going to keep amplifying this lack of trust, we cant trust the outcome. And youre going to see this amplified, an echo chamber, between foreign powers and the oval office and the dni to cause further and further doubt. Former fbi assistant director frank figliuzzi, thank you for your time tonight, i know you joined us tonight on short notice, i really appreciate it. Sure. I want to bring into the conversation now a very special guest, senator Chuck Schumer is the top democrat in the United States senate. I had tried to arrange to speak with senator schumer today on a whole host of different topics, but senator schumer, im so glad youre still able to be here tonight because i want to ask you about this too. I want to just get your reaction to what youve heard tonight from the director of National Intelligence and director wray at the fbi and ask if you know anything further about anything more than what theyve told the public. Well, i didnt hear their briefing, rachel, but i did receive a classified briefing this afternoon on this. And so i cant discuss the details, but i can tell you one thing. It was clear to me that the intent of iran in this case and russia in many more cases is to sow to basically undermine confidence in our elections. This action i do not believe was aimed, from my surmise, was aimed at discrediting President Trump. I heard that the dni said that. It was, rather, done to undermine confidence in our election, aimed at democrats, republicans, independents, that people what iran and russia, and by the way russia is far worse of a culprit than iran on these things and should be focused on, but what they try to do, what theyre trying to do here is, and as your previous guest said, similar in a different way of course than what President Trump is doing, undermine confidence in our elections. And, you know, this is the basis of our democracy. To be clear, senator if people dont believe our elections are fair, thats the beginning of the end of this democracy. So i told the dni and told all of the intelligence officials that i talked to that they should do everything they can to prevent this from happening. There are tools that they can use and they should use them forthwith. To be clear, senator, i know that you cant speak about that classified briefing at all, but just i want to make sure i understand what you just said. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe tonight did say to the public that this attack, which he attributed to iran, although he didnt describe the attack, was designed to damage President Trump. That sounds like what you just said that that is not what he told you in the briefing. Well, im not saying what he told me in the briefing. I can tell you that from the briefing, i had the strong impression it was much rather to undermine confidence in elections and not aimed at any particular figure but rather to undermine the very wellspring of our democracy, elections. That was my strong impression at the meeting. I did not get the impression it was aimed at any political figure. And im surprised that dni ratcliffe said that at this press conference if he did. Wow. Senator schumer, if you would stick with us for just a moment, i have a lot more to ask you about including the big news that you broke today about the confirmation process for judge Amy Coney Barrett and whats expected in that process tomorrow. If youll stick around with us, well be right back with the democratic leader of the United States senate, Chuck Schumer. Stay with us. Cell phone repair. Did you know Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need . Just get a quote at libertymutual. Com. Really . Ill check that out. Oh yeah. I think i might get a quote. Not again aah, come on rice. Do your thing. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Our bargain detergent couldnt keep up. With us. Turns out its mostly water. So, we switched back to tide. One wash, stains are gone. Daughter slurping dont pay for water. Pay for clean. Its got to be tide. With acetaminophenction fights pain in two ways. Advil targets pain at the source. While acetaminophen blocks pain signals. The future of pain relief is here. New advil dual action. Heres part of the problem for ramming through a Supreme Court nomination as fast as possible. At the 11th hour today we find out through public reporting that judge Amy Coney Barrett, quote, served for nearly three years on the board of a private school that effectively barred admission to children of same sex parents and made it plain that openly gay and lesbian teachers werent welcome in the classroom. Shes on the board of a school who doesnt let kids in their parents are gay and wont allow gay people to teach there either. That might have been good to know at some point in this process. Shes against kids if they have a gay parent. That kid must be punished and wont be allowed into her school. Seriously. That bombshell reporting by the Associated Press came too late for Senate Democrats to get to ask judge barrett about that. Nevertheless, her confirmation is hurtling ahead. Today Senate Democrats, though, signaled theyre not done fighting. Senator Chuck Schumer, the top democrat in the senate, announced today, quote, democrats will boycott the illegitimate markup tomorrow of judge barretts nomination in the Judiciary Committee and will not provide the quorum required. Health care is at stake. Rights are at stake. But the Republican Party is showing their concerned only with raw political power. We will not stop fighting. Back with us now is senator schumer, the top democrat in the senate. Senator, tell us what this means. Boycotting that proceeding will mean that there are no democrats participating in the Committee Vote on whether or not to advance her nomination . That is correct. Actually the rules of the committee require two democrats to be there to move a nominee out. And we do not want to provide the quorum. We do not want to participate. This process is the most rushed, the most illegitimate, the most hypocritical process of any Supreme Court nominee that we have ever seen. The republicans at will try to break the rules. They are so hell bent on rushing this nominee through and the reason is the reason you just pointed out. The longer it takes, the more things are going to come out that show that Amy Coney Barrett is so far away from the american mainstream in terms of what she believes in terms of womens right to choose, health care, labor rights, civil rights, gun safety, lgbtq rights, that they dont want it out there very long, but theyre rushing it through. And its despicable. Its despicable. Leader mcconnell, Lindsey Graham, have defiled the senate so that it may never return to what it was and it wasnt starting off in such a good place. The bottom line is simple. We do not want to participate in a illegitimate, illicit hearing. One final point. Abe lincoln, the great republican, when he had a chance to put someone on the Supreme Court before an election, that he said that would be wrong. And Mitch Mcconnell, of course, said that with Merrick Garland eight months before an election. Now its eight days before an election, people are voting already, and they are rushing it through. They dont want the American People to know what Amy Coney Barrett stands for in terms of peoples rights, in terms of what america needs, wants. Getting rid of health care, getting rid of the aca, and having 130 million americans lose their protections, if they have a preexisting condition, so the Insurance Company can rip something out right from under them, thats what they dont want people to know. Thats what they dont want people to know. And we have brought that out over and over again. And i think people know this is illegitimate, the majority of americans say they should wait til the next election. Senator, as you just described its infuriating. Its just infuriating what theyre doing. Im sorry. It just is infuriating. There have been to be two members of the minority party, two members of the Democratic Party there in order for them to proceed with that vote tomorrow. Youre saying that will not happen. I expect that chairman Lindsey Graham will nevertheless try to dispense with the rule and just move on and take the vote anyway. Do you have any means of trying to enforce that rule . Is it within his discretion . Well, heres how backward the senate is for mcconnell. We can go to the parliamentarian and say this nomination should not before he be brought to the floor of the senate because it broke the Judiciary Committee rules. She may well move in our favor. But then the majority leader has the power to overrule the chair and all he needs is 51 votes. And tonight i ask that we should adjourn for these reasons, that we should adjourn until november 3, after the election. And he had the parliamentarian rule that we i asked the parliamentarian, is this the first time a nominee has been moved forward so late, close to an election. Parliamentarian agreed. I said, then we should adjourn, and mcconnell, of course, used the 51 votes and the iron fist to just move forward. So they run ramshackle over any rules. They are so hell bent on putting this nominee in. And the reason, lets look at it a little historically. The hard, hard right, which now mcconnell is part of, which so many of the republicans are part of, knows they can never get move the clock back 100 years, which is what they want, taking away rights, just giving power to the special interests and the bosses, in a legislative body, even when they control it. So they want to go to the one unelected branch of government, the judiciary, and stack it with people whose views are so far away from where the American People are. But they can get it done because theyre not elected. They tried to get rid of the aca, as you know, in the senate, but we blocked it, we had three brave republicans come forward and block it as well, john mccain being the brave one, and theyre going to the courts to try and undo it. Senator Chuck Schumer, the top democrat in the senate, making a lot of news here with us tonight, it should be dramatic tomorrow when we see that come together. Thanks for helping us understand. Thank you, rachel, good to talk to you. Again, senator schumer making news here tonight, he says that when the way the Supreme Court nominees get voted on, or any judicial nominee, they get voted for on in the Judiciary Committee and then it goes to the full floor. That Committee Vote is tomorrow and he is saying that the democrats, every democrat on that committee will boycott that vote, and under the Judiciary Committees rules, that means they wont have a quorum and they shouldnt even be able to proceed with the vote. They will presumably proceed with it regardless. That will then, though, set up another showdown if senator mcconnell tries to put this Supreme Court nomination vote to the floor of the senate early next week, which we believe is his plan, raises the question as to whether or not democrats may refuse to participate in that vote as well. I know theyll get through this Judiciary Committee decision tomorrow and then decide on next steps. But that would be absolutely unprecedented and would be probably the loudest way the democrats could register their dissent against what the republicans are doing here with this absolutely, totally unprecedented rush to cram this nominee onto the Supreme Court just basically moments before a National Election in which theyre likely to lose control of both the senate and the white house. Just a remarkable time in this country. Much more to get to tonight. Stay with us. Brush, the answer is yes. The clock may be ticking towards worse. 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Prop 22 doesnt help their drivers it denies them benefits. 22 doesnt help women. It actually weakens Sexual Harassment laws, which are meant to protect them. Uber and lyft arent even required to investigate Sexual Harassment claims. I agree with the la times no on 22. Uber and lyft want all the power. So, show them the real power is you. Vote no on prop 22. Today, this is idaho. Quote, grim updates from st. Lukes, magic valley, cassia, and minidoka hospitals, very high positivity rates, 30 to 40 . St. Lukes magic valley has no more room. All hospitals are reporting critical staffing shortages. Idaho reported more than 800 new covid cases yesterday, 800 cases in a day, thats the most the state has ever confirmed in a single day. Covid cases of course are on the rise in almost all 50 states now. Today the city of boston in massachusetts announced that it was snapping back to some previous restrictions as the epidemic starts to take off there again as well. Boston Public Schools announced today they are suspending all inperson learning for all Boston Public School students effective tomorrow. That means families got oneday notice. Today a Field Hospital in wisconsin started admitting its first patients. Thats a new relief valve there for overtopped, overtapped hospitals in that hardhit state. Same story of overrun hospitals in north dakota, right now there are just 17 intensive care beds available in the whole state of north dakota. The vast majority of hospitals in the state reporting zero staffed icu beds available. Cases are growing so fast in north dakota that contact tracers cant keep up. The state is now telling people who test positive that they need to do their own Contact Tracing because north dakota state tracing operations are completely overloaded. The republican governor of north dakota still refuses to issue a mask mandate for the state. He says, quote, its not a magic bullet. But the mayor of fargo, north dakota, decided to enact his own mask mandate for the People Living under his jurisdiction in fargo. The mayor saying, quote, this is about science, not politics. This is our communitys health. Joining us now is the mayor of the great city of fargo, north dakota, dr. Tim mahoney. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being here, i really appreciate you taking the time. Youre very welcome. This is a really serious problem for our community and our state so im very pleased to help out, helping people get better. We hate to be number one in the country for covid spread. So we really want to help knock this thing down. It must have been a hard decision to make to institute this mask mandate. Obviously weve seen the science, weve seen the data. I know youre a practicing surgeon yourself. You know how to understand medical information. The mask mandate makes a lot of sense in scientific terms but i imagine that politically and in terms of the logistics of dealing with that in a state where there havent been any other mask mandates, it must have been a hard call. It was difficult. But we took about ten Different Reasons we thought were really important to look at. You cued them up earlier. Hospitalizations are very important, death rates are very important. How much spread youre seeing in your community. All summer we bottombounced, i call it in walleye fishing, we were at 2 and now were heading to 19 , thats huge. So you have a higher risk of people catching it. So whatever tools we can use to help decrease the spread, its extremely important to us because, as you know, north dakota is a small state and you dont want to overwhelm your hospitals. Mayor mahoney, your act of leadership on this cleared the way for at least one other city, the city of minah, to follow in your footsteps hours after you issued this mandate. Have other communities in the state reached out or do you expect that other hard hit communities in the state might continue following in your lead and might institute these kind of mandates just to try to slow down that dramatic spread that youre describing . We talked to the mayors from the ten largest cities in the state. There was a lot of interest in the mask mandate. Theyre nervous because we keep seeing the numbers going up. I set out what our mask mandate was, shared it with all the mayors. And you may see other mayors coming on board in the next couple of weeks. I went through the data today produced by the state as theyre tracking bed space in the states hospitals. They post information on dozens of hospitals. I was just struck, going through it, by the number of zeroes i was seeing on those tables for hospital after hospital after hospital and community after Community Reporting zero staffed icu beds available. I know fargo has had at least a couple of beds available in recent days even as other parts of the state havent. Are you worried that you will not only have trouble with your own population in fargo being able to make sure youve got facilities to treat people who become ill in your city, but that you also effectively serve as a catchment facility for the whole state for lots of communities that are going to be looking for intensive care beds and Critical Care capacity . Very much so. The city of fargo has two Major Hospital systems. And they do very well to keep up. But my concern is, were going to overwhelm them because of referrals from other parts of the state. We do have people right now working on surge techniques, adding staff, increasing the hospital beds in our community. But its truly a concern, if you only have four or five beds ready now, because we have no Trauma One Center here in fargo. We take a lot of different referrals into the community. You dont want to overwhelm it for regular care and then have covid on top of it. So were working very closely with those systems. And theyre having surge plans with us, for what we do if it gets even worse. Dr. Tim mahoney, the mayor of fargo, north dakota, just instituted a mask mandate in that state where there is no statewide mask mandate. Sir, i know that you are in the heart of it and please keep us apprised, were all worried about what were seeing in north dakota with these worst case numbers in the country. Youre in a hard spot. Help us keep the country apprised as to how youre doing and what you need. Very much so, were going to bend the curve, you watch what our people do, i think theyll respond positively to this and i think well make some changes. Youll see what we do in the next two weeks. Mayor mahoney, i like to hear the optimism. Thank you for being with us. Its been an incredibly busy day. More ahead. Stay with us. Priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60 . These are all great. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. New polling out the tonight from fox news. I know, i know, its fox news but the polling unit is totally normal. I swear. In ohio, poll has trump over biden in ohio by 3 points. In wisconsin and in pennsylvania, tonights fox news poll has biden over trump by 5 points. And in michigan biden over trump by 12 points. But heres the thing. These polls are all plus or minus 3 points in terms of of a margin of error which means these new polls show that biden is ahead in michigan, because thats outside the margin of error. But given that margin of error it is probably best to say that they are close in ohio and pennsylvania and wisconsin. The nbc News National polling average for what its worth has biden over trump nationally by between 8 and 9 points. Okay. All of this practically means nothing, of course. It just means if you want your favorite candidate to win the election, you must absolutely positively vote. Now is the time. And anything else youre planning to do, volunteering, door knocking, phone banking, now is the time. Two weeks from now youll want to wake up the morning after election day knowing you did everything you possibly could, right . Tomorrow will be the final debate, i guess, maybe, it seems like, it is due to start at 9 00 p. M. Eastern. Nbcs Kristen Welker moderating. The Trump Campaign and President Trump himself already vociferously complaining with how unfair it is, this debate, even though it hasnt happened yet. Tonight former president barack obama brought the house down at his first inperson Campaign Event for biden and harris. The former president s appearance obviously intended to stoke voter enthusiasm and democratic turnout in pennsylvania where he spoke. I think it is also probably safe to say that it was intended to stoke President Trump into some kind of a crazy reaction. President obama drives President Trump so nuts anyway even on a normal day, this stuff from president obama tonight is likely going to send President Trump round the bend. We know that he continues to do business with china because hes got a secret chinese bank account. How is that possible . How is that possible . A secret chinese bank account. Listen. Can you imagine if i had had a secret chinese bank account . When i was running for reelection . You think, you think fox news might have been a little concerned about that . They would have called me beijing barry. The honking you hear is because there is a drivein rally, people are honking as a way of applauding. He is campaigning for joe biden and Kamala Harris in the great state of pennsylvania. There are 13 days to go. Everybody has their foot on the gas. Stay with us. Got the power of 1,2,3 medicines with trelegy. The only fdaapproved, oncedaily 3 in 1 copd treatment. Trelegy the power of 1 2 3 trelegy 1 2 3 trelegy with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, im breathing better. Trelegy works 3 ways to open airways, keep them open, and reduce inflammation for 24 hours of better breathing. Trelegy wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Do not take trelegy more than prescribed. Trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. Call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. Think your copd medicine is doing enough . Maybe you should think again. Ask your doctor about oncedaily trelegy. We know times are hard and were here for you. Find support at trelegy. Com. And we e here for you. clapping hey, you alright . Find the nonpartisan facts behind the real stories at usafacts. Org i will see you again tomorrow night. An hour earlier than usual. 8 00. You can tune in to start our special coverage of tomorrow night third, i guess, second and final president ial debate. I will be cohosting that along with Nicole Wallace and joy reid. And our friend brian williams. Anchoring it starting 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Now its time for the last word. Were all eager to find out how effective a mute button can be tomorrow night. Im thinking about trying one on in my personal life between now and then just to get used to it. Yeah. It could come in handy. It might become very popular after tomorrow night. Thanks, lawrence. Thank you, rachel. 13 days. 13 days left in the president ial campaign. That might not seem like a lot of time but its enough time change the world. 13 days. Anything can happen in 13 days. The entire cuban missile crisis from start to finish in 1963 was 13 days. And in those 13 days, the United States of america went from the brink of nuclear war with the soviet union and cuba to a triumphant negotiation with the soviet union that banished soviet Nuclear Weapons from the island of cu jt