Before the u. S. Election. Cyprus scraps its controversial citizenship for Investment Program after an undercover investigation by aljazeera. And the netherlands becomes the latest european country to ramp up its coronavirus restrictions as infections keep rising. Abortion abomb acad guns and gay marriage some of the topics featuring on day 2 of the confirmation hearings of President Trumps u. S. Supreme Court NomineeAmy Kearney Barret republican and Democratic Senators each have 30 minutes to ask her about subjects that a touch points to Many Americans the full senate could vote by the end of the month on whether to appoint her just ahead of the u. S. Poll on the vendor the 3rd that barack declined to say whether she would recuse herself from any cases related to next months president ial election. She also sidestepped questions on abortion by Dianne Feinstein the most senior democrat on the Senate Judiciary committee its a contentious issue which is a no one reason why it would be comforting to you to have an answer but i cant express views on cases or precommit to approaching a case any particular way well that makes it difficult for me and i think for other women also on this committee because this is a very important case and it affects a lot of people millions and millions of women and you could be a very important vote. As well to alan fischer on capitol hill so were starting to get a better picture of the nominee and what she what she thinks. Well certainly for this is really her opportunity to introduce herself to america not everyone to cover. The the the workings of the 7th circuit so it becomes new to many people who she is what she believes and the democrats have been trying to really paint her as a conservative. Totem really for want of a better word that is going to strictly adhere to conservative views on the court and they believe that that will put things like the Affordable Healthcare Act same sex marriage even money in politics all of those rulings that have been made by the Supreme Court over the last few years they believe will be at risk if she has refused to give her position on many of the cases that have been brought up by the democrats shes using the words of Ruth Bader Ginsburg of course shes the justice that she would replace when she said that there can be no hints forecasts or previews of how she would look at the case she will simply judge on the law she says she is an originalist therefore she looks at the the law she looks at the constitution and she applies the to and hard on views dont matter theres also been concern expressed by the democrats of course because donald trump said that he would appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn the Affordable Care act obamacare as its known in the u. S. And could possibly be called in to decide the president ial election if there is a problem with balloting that hes already flagged up that he thinks this could be a close election and it may need 9 justices on the Supreme Court all in equally bad it was asked if she would recuse herself and she came very close to saying that she would but not going quite that far. Would you commit to a q has your shot from a dispute arises out of quietly president ial election. Senator leahy i want to begin by making 2 very important points and they have to do with. And with any election dispute that may or may not arise i have had no conversation with the president or any of his staff on how i might rule in that case it would be a gross violation of Judicial Independence for me to make any such commitment or for me to be asked about that case and how i would rule and i also think it would be a complete violation of the end pendants of the judiciary for anyone to put a justice on the court as a means of obtaining a particular result and though it so emerged that dozens of members of faculty have signed an open letter calling on her to withdraw from the nomination tell us more about that. 88 in fact members of the faculty at notre dame where it is on the law faculty they are calling for her to resign they say that its a divisive time in fact they describe it as a treacherous time in the us and it would be a sign of her Civic Engagement if she were to step aside and wait until the next president was elected before making a decision. On the Supreme Court justice no big knowledge that it would be difficult for her to step away but say she would get and gain the respect of fair minded people across the country the reality is this process is well under way at the committee is in its 2nd day of hearings that are 2 more days to go including a vote on thursday and the committee will almost certainly recommend her nomination to the full senate which will vote sometime around the 22nd of october so although her colleagues may be making this appeal it is unlikely that equally valid at this stage will step aside clearly for any lawyer for any judge being elevated to the Supreme Court is a huge honor and she sees it that way she is determined to make the point and shes done it several times here that she looks at the law and makes the decision on that that shes not driven by politics she says it is up to the branches of congress and the executive branch to make legislation she just interprets the law as its passed so even though this is a strong appeal and an unusual appeal from our colleagues at notre dame its unlikely to have any impact on what were seeing here on capitol hill out thank you very much indeed. Now exactly 3 weeks to go until the u. S. President ial election democratic nominee joe biden is out campaigning in the battleground state of florida odan has been addressing older voters many of whom at donald trump in 26 still. Thats been the story the tire story my presence the fact that hes never been focused on what matters hes never been focused on you hes handling of this pandemic has been a red ink just like his presidency. And it has prevented florida seniors and people all across the country from getting the relief that they need. Hasnt just been willing to not do the work i think its that beyond that im not sure he cares about i mean any real help i went through it now they say im im you know i can see i feel so powerful walking. Oh i have the right to several want. A comes a day after President Trump chose florida for his 1st election since he got could be 19 and as you heard there he was keen to emphasize his recovery he arrived as the white house confirmed he tested negative twice 10 days after announcing hed caught the virus has 3 more rallies planned this week and will be heading to pennsylvania later this hour hes setting the example and we need her herd immunity out there and if we dont get out there and we dont get out and do things that itll just keep bringing this taken away all our rights and liberties the right. For it you can tell people that you will fail and it just takes a star that you value i think why risk is better to dream really well later kate it is it is very new. To lock down this country which is what will happen if joe biden is reelected. And they go to joins us live from Miami Florida undeterred bodden is in florida today after trumps return to campaigning in the same state whats he been saying. Well this is the former Vice President s 2nd trip to florida in recent weeks the 1st time he was here he was talking to hispanics and latinos this time hes talking to elderly voters of which make up about 25 percent of the population of this entire state now joe bidens message from the campaign right a Campaign Rally doesnt really change he talks about how he can handle the economy about how much of the deaths here are to blame on President Trump and all of this going on of course when early voting in this country is really reaching unprecedented levels many people have already made up their own minds that have been some problems but lets take a look at the picture of early voting across the entire country. On the 1st day of early voting in Georgia People lined up for hours to cast their ballots in some counties voters reported waiting more than 10 hours but it isnt just in person voting that shattering records across the country as people make their voices heard more than 10 and a half 1000000 ballots have already be mailed in or dropped off a number that could see voter turnout the highest since 1908 despite fears over the coburg 19 pandemic long waits in technical issues in some states early voting is hitting historic numbers for me as a younger person i am relic ready and willing to stand out here and brave their call they had a poll that i had to make head and i thought it was so much at stake and President Trumps unfounded claims that mail in voting could lead to massive fraud there are problems the Republican Party in california installed dozens of their own ballot drop off boxes virtually indistinguishable from boxes sanctioned by the state officials call them unofficial and illegal and have insisted they be removed those official ballot drop boxes go through a number of steps that are required in law and regulations for installation for security for placement so having these unofficial ballot drop boxes that anybody can go to. I mean and and not meeting all those requirements is just not appropriate according to the u. S. Election Assistance Commission the popularity of 1000000 votes has been growing for years but this year it may play into the hands of democratic president ial nominee joe biden here in florida the number of early votes reveals a potentially worrying statistic for President Donald Trump the number of democratic voters who cast their ballots early tops republicans by more than 350000 this is a state the president must win Many Republican voters dont trust mail in voting so those numbers will change is election day draws nearer to the biden campaigns push to get people voting early seems to be working make a plan to vote early and then get involved i know youre busy i know that i know youre stretched so thin but yes our action is still important not to you every single thing we can florida is the 1st state to begin sorting its mail in ballots but like other states the votes wont officially be counted until election day for now only the computers know the results of what will be a historic president ial election. And i think given the number of early votes does it suggest that people have already decided. Well obviously a great deal of people already have an a probably decided for the last few months but think about this both biden and trump are campaigning in battleground states and if you take my state the state of florida you see that joe biden is about 4 Percentage Points ahead of donald trump but there is a 3. 8 percent variability rate within that so there is a margin of error for both candidates who both must win this state so i think theres a really good reason that donald trump was in Central Florida last night joe biden is here in the miami area today and thats because there are a lot of independent and swing voters in those particular areas and they often and its historically happened before decide the election because youve got so many people on the democratic side so many people on the republican side its often those swing voters and independent voters that can decide unlike something that florida knows a great deal about so despite the fact that millions of already voted and already made up their minds both candidates will be scrambling right up to the president ial election day on november the 3rd and again i thank you very much for joining us now from the United States is seth mascot director of the center on american politics at the university of denver thanks very much for being with us so were talking about some of these critical swing states what do the polls tell us at this stage about how its going to play out well the polling margins in many of these swing states are a little more narrow than they are nationally. Nationally joe biden has had roughly a 10 point or so advantage over donald trump in recent days that margin is a little more narrow in states like florida pennsylvania where its maybe been 5 or 6 or its still a healthy lead for biden but its more competitive and other methods of the posters any different this time than they were from last time although theyre still be an underestimate of support for trying. Its difficult to know one of the areas that polling seem to miss in 2016 when was just in a handful of states in the upper midwest basically michigan and sylvania wisconsin where pollsters really underestimated the support for donald trump among what we call working class white voters. They believe many pollsters believe that theyve made the appropriate adjustments to their polling style for this year to account for that into account for educational and income differences among white voters. But in many real ways we just wont know until election day just how accurate they are and how different is it this time in terms of the voting absentee ballots how much difference to think that will make to attack. It could make a great deal of difference and the amount of early voting and mail in voting is just as your grant of ramped up substantially this year many many cases just simply due to concerns about the pandemic if it. Is to think though that because a real partisan breakdown in the use of those early mailing and mail in balloting that is democrats are more likely to want to vote early or to want to send in their ballot republicans are more likely to want to vote on election day in person due to different attitudes toward the coronavirus and on that matter the court of our spectrum thats been making much of his recovery from having 1000 do we have any of it evidence of how his past Life Experiences is likely to affect peoples. Willingness to vote for him. Well so far is it its difficult to say but his his support in polling has actually dropped somewhat since he was 1st diagnosed and now maybe that has something to do with his diagnosis that is he had been largely dismissing the coronavirus or for a long time as something that wasnt that serious and that most people wouldnt get when he got it in self that suggested you know maybe there was there is considerably more concern about this we may see some one of you know as he seems to have or recovered. A reasonable amount of time its possible well d see you know some you know some new support for him but so far thats just not registering in the polls this seems to have actually hurt him somewhat and what about joe biden what would you say is the strengths and weaknesses of his campaign at this stage. Hes so far has played a pretty smart campaign. You know hes played the role of a leading candidate that is trying not to make too many mistakes. You know for the most part he doesnt put himself out there on very controversial matters you know particularly in a few controversial matters he said ill decide that after the election and for the most part has simply tried to remind voters of the main issues that seem to many voters seem to care about which is the conditions of the economy and the conditions of the virus as long as people stay focused on those things its generally seen as an advantage for biden and hes been very successful in doing that so far so good thank you very much indeed for talking to scientists there thank you. Unless it is in the usa a Paramilitary Group that was plotting to kidnap the governor of michigan also considered abducting virginias governor the man spoke about targeting Ralph Northam over coronavirus lockdowns revelation came as a federal court reviewed evidence presented by the f. B. I. And ordered the group to be held until trial investigators say their months long investigation involving secret recordings uncovered a more detailed prompt to kidnap michigans governor christian witness coming up on this news hour from london why many iranians are respecting new coronavirus rules despite another 254 people dying. And china and russia are elected to the Uns Human Rights Council but saudi arabia fails in its bid. And aljazeera expose has forced the government of cyprus to scrap its nutritive passports for Investment Scheme the president of the parliament is also stepping down our Investigative Unit found senior politicians willing to help a foreign criminal by a cypriot passport and access to e. U. Citizenship are Investigative ReporterDavid Harrison reports from nicosia. An emergency meeting of the cypriot cabinet was held at the president ial palace following the release of the al jazeera investigation. Because. Of the some. Who are on bush in the program. But if you go to the bar room the google. As a flurry of developments follows the cyprus attorney general said he was launching a full investigation into the evidence gathered by aljazeera. What has been published in the last few hours by the Aljazeera News Network is causing outrage anger and concern among the people i have given clear instructions to the Police Leadership from the outset to conduct a full fora and indepth investigation into the possibility of anyone committing criminal offenses undercover reporters from aljazeera as Investigative Unit posed as representatives of a fictional client a wealthy businessman who was sentenced in abs