>> absolutely. republicans who once again rejected the big lie are now falling in line with trump. even the most senior republican says it's smart politics not to push back on trump's un-american attack on our democracy. just another sign that the party is no longer defined by policy, but by loyalty for one man. tonight, growing signs of democracy in peril. nearly a year into the biden administration, top republicans doubling down on the big lie. as they turn to the 2022 midterms. on surrenday, the number two ho republican refused to acknowledge that president biden was legitimately elected. >> if you look at a number of states, they didn't follow their state-passed laws that govern the election for president. that is what the united states constitution says. they don't say that the states determine what the rules are. they say the state legislatetures determine. are we going to follow what the constitution says or not? >> over the weekend, republican senator chuck grassley appeared alongside trump at a rally in iowa. >> so if i didn't accept the endorsement of a person that's got 91% of the republican voters in iowa, i wouldn't be too smart. i'm smart enough to accept that endorsement. >> back in february, grassley rejected the big lie in a statement saying the reality is he lost. he brought over 60 lawsuits and lost all but one of them. but this weekend, grassley looked on ads the former president continued to lie about the 2020 election. >> first of all, he didn't get elected. forget that. >> liz cheney shot back at her fellow republicans, tweeting they have a duty to tell the american people that this is not true. perpetuating the big lie is an attack on the core of our constitutional republic. as trump continues to undermine democracy, the house select committee wants answers. >> this is not a game of cat and mouse or hide and go seek. this is the united states congress demanding their compliance with an investigation that goes right to the heart of american democracy and national security. >> committee leaders say former chief of staff, mark meadows and former pentagon official, cash patel, are engaging with the committee. cnn learned that former trump aide can scavino was only just served with a subpoena on friday after they had trouble finding him. but long time trump adviser, steve bannon, said he intended to defy the subpoena. investigators say they might ask the justice department to pursue criminal charges if bannon does not appear thursday. >> we are prepared to go forward and urge the justice department to criminally prosecute anyone who does not do their lawful duty. >> former president trump can go to court to fight for executive p privilege over some documents, but adam schiff thinks they'll get documents he rejected very soon. >> we should get those documents soon because the sitting president has the primary say on executive privilege. >> bannon has cited executive privilege. for him, that argument is legally absurd, but the committee will wait until friday after the deadline for his deposition is passed to pursue any criminal action if he indeed does not show up. >> this is heating up big time. >> it is. >> thank you very, very much. let's bring in jamie. cnn's senior political analyst, david gergen and former u.s. attorney, preet. immediately after the deadly capitol attack on january 6th, senator grassley said this. i'm quoting. everyone must take responsibility for the destructive actions yesterday including the president. did you ever think, david, you'd see republicans as experienced as senator grassly, for example, standing by trump as he spouts these new election lies? >> no. i never dreamed that we would have a trump, much less a republican party who held the whole country hostage and ran a republican ticket that could bring us keeply into a constitutional crisis. the real crisis that's coming now, wolf, is this nightmare. that donald trump does indeed run as seems likely. he wins the nomination and the general election, he falls three or four points percentage points behind the democratic nominee and 17 red states, they'll be put into place mechanisms to strip those states of those votes and to substitute republican votes. that will bring us into a constitutional crisis and could split the country in two. >> a lot of people are fearing now. and jamie, you heard liz cheney condemn fellow republicans for selling americans what she called the fraud, the big lie. how worried are republicans behind the scenes and i know, jamie, you're doing a lot of reporting about a possible trump 2024 run. >> on a scale of one to ten, a 12 plus. as david just said, they think this is a nightmare scenario. i spoke to one very senior republican strategist who said to me that this is a slow motion tsunami. that democracy as we know it is over. the question obviously is is there a way to stop it. when i talk to my republicans, some think that absolutely trump is running and that you know, he could win. some say the republican party will split. others say that's not realistic. but the big concern that i hear over and over again, wolf, is that this fact that democracy is in peril is real. they consider it a five alarm fire and they are really worried that too many americans are in denial about how close to the edge we are. >> it's a really, really enormous concern. preet, i want you to watch, and our viewers to watch, what bill maher is predicting about the 2024 election. watch this. >> some presidents spend their post presidency building homes for the poor or raising money for charity or painting their toes. trump has spent his figuring out how to pull off the coup he couldn't pull off last time. here's the easiest three predictions in the world. trump will run in 2024. he will get the republican nomination. and whatever happens on election night, the next day he will announce that he won. 2024 comes. and democrats treat it as a normal election year. they are living in a dream world. where their choice of candidate matters, their policies matter, the number of votes they get matters. none of it does. i won't even predict who the democratic nominee will be because it doesn't matter. it could be biden. it could be harris. it could be amy klobuchar. timothy chalamagne. as long as they have a d by their name, they will be portrayed as the army of satan. the ding dongs who -- the capitol -- the next time they came back with planes. i hope i scared the [ bleep ] out of you. >> what about that. did he? >> yeah. it's not that he's saying it. it's that i think every reasonable thinking person has to i think agree that those predictions are easy. the only question is does donald trump want to run for president again? nothing constitutionally or legally precludes it. it could have been legally precluded had he been convicted in the senate. that did not happen. in part as the other panelists have suggested, you have republican after republican who has sat by and abided by it. so if donald trump chooses to run, i don't see any circumstance in which he doesn't get the nomination and makes a declaration of victory and is engaged in what fiona hill is saying, was a dress rehearsal. understanding now the weaknesses in their coup attempt and changing the laws in the states where laws were not in their favor. i'll throw out another example. not as likely as donald trump running for president in 2024, but there's nothing that legally precludes him from becoming the speaker of the house. in 2022. if republicans take back the house. it sounds farfetched. sounds outlandish. does it really sound more outlandish than donald trump becoming president if you were talking about it in 2014 or 2015? the then think about what kind of circus you'd have then and what would be in place for the return of donald trump in 2014. so yes, everybody should be concerned. not to curse on television, but i think bill maher is correct. >> david? s >> i'm afraid that i don't think it's outlandish. i think the only thing that may be prevents that is that he wants to run in 2024. my republican sources are scared. they are furious at mitch mcconnell. they feel he could have stopped this, but what they say every day is that every day that donald trump is out there doing these rallies, perpetuating the big lie, he is perpetuating a clear and present danger. and they are very worried about more violence. >> what do you think? >> i think the next few, two or three years, are very important, wolf. we were counting on joe biden to make this a much more competitive and he would bring the democrats along and could win an election and avoid this nonsense. biden is down in his approval rating if you go back last july and bring it up to september. that's a big drop. it's hard to get out of that. they're right on the edge. the other point and i'll try to be brief. the country's opinions are changing. the university of virginia survey that came out, a real blockbuster. over 80% of biden voters would like a strong man in the white house. that's a big deal. 41% of 3wbiden voters and 52% o democratic voters would approve of a split of a country into red state country and blue state country. unheard of. >> all right, guys. thank you very, very much. we'll stay on top of that. just ahead, we're breaking down new data on covid-19. is the u.s. turning a corner in the pandemic? 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(kids playing) pnc bank believes that if your phone can help you track your pizza come on, cody. where are you, buddy? then your bank should help you track your spending. virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking account. its low cash mode feature gives you at least 24 hours of extra time to help you avoid an overdraft fee. okay, he's gotta be close. he's six blocks in the other direction. make a left, make a left, make a left! he made a right again. virtual wallet® with low cash mode from pnc bank. one way we're making a difference. we're following promising new docuevelopments in the coronavirus pandemic including that a new pill may get emergency use authorization in the u.s. joining us now, the president's chief medical adviser, dr. fauci. also the director of the national inls constitute of all and infectious diseases. hospitalization, deaths and cases are all declining in the u.s. now. is this finally the end of the delta surge in the u.s.? what do you think? >> well, i hope so, wolf. it's certainly going in the right direction as you mentioned correctly that all of the parameters, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are down. the critical challenge we have now, we want to keep that slope of decline continuing to go down. now, we now as you know, we have about 68 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not yet vaccinated. the best way to assure that decline in cases, hospitalizations and deaths to continue is to continue to get a lot more people vaccinated. we need the overwhelming proportion of those unvaccinated people to get vaccinated then we can be quite confident that if we can do that, you will not see a resurgence. this really depends upon us and our ability to rise to the occasion and get people vaccinated. >> how do we do that? >> well, first of all, we've obviously been trying very hard. we're trying to get trusted messengers out there and get this away from being a political or ideological statement and try to convince people, but also mandates. we don't like to be telling people what they need to do with regard to vaccines, but we know that mandates work. we've seen that they are working. they're working in schools. universities and colleges. they're working in corporations like airlines. with regard to their employees getting vaccinated. so although you like people to do it on their own accord, sometimes mandates can help. as sensitive an issue as that is, it is really getting people more vaccinated. >> as you know, merck has just asked the fda to authorize its new covid treatment pill. this could be potentially very good news, but are you concerned that americans are going to rely on this treatment as a substitute for vaccination? >> well, we've heard talk about that, wolf, i hope we don't come to that because that would really, i think, be a misunderstanding about how important it is not to get infected. the data on that drug is promising. you know, it's a 50% diminution compared to placebo in hospitalizations and deaths. that's good news. but the best way to get 100% chance of not getting hospitalized and dying is to not get infected in the first place. that's better than any drug. so although we're pleased and optimistic about this drug, which is now applying for emergency use authorization, it should not be a substitute for preventing infection in the first place. which is why we get vaccines. >> so simple. we got the shot and it's really easy. even if approved, it's going to be a while to see if it really, really works. given the trial that's been going on so far. let's talk about what else is going on because there's a lot of critical issues that we're discussing. fda advisers are meeting this week to consider mixing and matching booster doses from a different vaccines. should americans be allowed, dr. fauci, to mix and match their booster? >> well, that's exactly what you said. the advisory committee to the fda is going to look at that data this week. the next few days. the 14th and the 15th of october. and then the following week, that kind of regulatory decision will be handed over to the advisory committee on immunization practices for the cdc and sometime in the first couple of days of november, we very likely will get a recommendation from the cdc. so you're asking me is it going to be approved? well, let's wait and see after the data are examined. but you're quite right. in the next few day to a week, we're going to be hearing more about it because the companies are going to be presenting both moderna and jnj are going to be presenting the data to the fda to look at. >> should be getting that information later this week. dr. fauci, we're nearly nine months into the biden administration and the fda is still being led by an acting director. how does it make any sense that in all of this, in the middle of this pandemic, the fda doesn't have a permanent director in place? no one has even been nominated for that critically important position. >> well, i mean, obviously whenever you have an agency of this importance, you want a permanent director. the acting director is doing a very good job right now of leading the agency and the agency's strong. they have professionals in there that have been there for a long period of time. so it isn't as if it's in trouble. the fact is we would like obviously as soon as we possibly can, to get a full time, permanent director, but people should not look upon the fda as in trouble. they're a very strong organization. >> dr. fauci as usual, thank you so much for joining us. >> good to be with you. >> thank you, dr. fauci. coming up, president biden's agenda is weighing down his poll numbers. can they make a deal to get things moving? with 0% parabens... sulfates... ...and dyes. tresemmé's pro pure collection lets you style without compromise. tresemmé pro pure 0% compromise, 100% you. i've always focused on my career. but when we found out our son had autism, his future became my focus. lavender baths always calmed him. so we turned bath time into a business. and building it with my son has been my dream job. at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com regina approaches the all-electric cadillac lyriq. it's a sunny day. nah, a stormy day. classical music plays. um uh, brass band, new orleans. ♪ ♪ she drives hands free... along the coast. make it palm springs. ♪ cadillac is going electric. if you want to be bold, you have to go off-script. experience the all-electric cadillac lyriq. i'm gonna earn 3% on dining including takeout with chase freedom unlimited. that's a lot of cash back. are you gonna stop me? 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>> wolf, i certainly think they realize it's a critical period for them because you're right. the house is coming back tomorrow to vote on this, but what they're voting on when it comes to the nation's borrowing limit is just a temporary fix and lawmakers are having the same disagreement. only now they have until december to continue having those arguments before they face them again and before they face those deadlines they were facing last week. but the difference, woclf, is that in december, they are going to be up against a deadline to fund the government. that's going to be another issue all while trying to get the president's priorities passed through congress. those big parts of his domestic agenda which are that $1 trillion hard infrastructure plan, the typical roads, bridges, tunnels and what not, but also the bigger package. the social spending package and climate change that deals with things like paid family leave, free community college. that's the package still dividing democrats and they can't come to an agreement over that that should look like and that is going to be congress' focus and the white house's focus over the next few weeks as they have a deadline at this end of this month to get the other infrastructure passed. this all comes at a time when the president could use a political boost because you were just looking at those poll numbers where if you look at the combination of the major polls, the president's approval rating is at 45%. that is lower than when he entered office and had that initial burst of positivity. some polls, it's at 38%. so this is an issue facing the white house. one they are hoping to solve and one they are hoping could be fixed by getting the president's domestic agenda passed through congress. >> they want to see that approval number go up, they've got to do something. pass some serious domestic legislation. not going to be easy. but they think it's doable. thank you very, very much. let's discus how doable it is with ro khanna of california. with the crisis over the debt ceiling delays at least a few weeks, until early december, where do talks stand on the mas mas massive reconciliation package? the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. to that matter, the infrastructure package. >> wolf, the talks are ongoing. all democrats want to deliver on the working family's agenda. they want to give folks childcare. they want to make sure americans can have preschool education. that seniors can get dental care and hearing aids, but right now, there's a disagreement with two senator and there's an effort to persuade them and there has to be a compromise between senator sanders and manchin. >> i don't knknow you're ready compromise. you told me you'd be open to shortening the number of years the programs are funded to keep more in the bill. more of those proposals in the bill. say instead of ten-year funding, go down to five-year or even three-year. that would reduce the cost dramatically. it sounds like a house progressives are in lock step on this strategy, but where does the white house stand? >> i first floated that on your show and turns out a lot of colleagues agree. we can deliver for the american people, make sure that they're getting the benefits and childcare, making sure they're getting the benefits of dental and vision, but not do it for as many years and you dramatically lower the cost. that is one avenue that the white house is open to. the important thing here is that the vast majority of the democrats, progressives, liberals, moderates agree it's really two senators that have to be convinced. i know the president is trying to convince them. >> if you can't convince those two is that rights about the big reconciliation package, you think it's still doable to get the infrastructure, the $1.2 trillion infrastructure passed? >> no, because there are important climate provisions that aren't in the infrastructure. that package was always designed to include climate. but i believe we'll get there with someone like senator manchin. he's already at 1.5 trillion. he need to make sure that it helps west virginia. we ought to say we'll do everything possible to make sure west virginia's the biggest winner of the entire country out of this package. that the green jobs are going to be there. i know that senator manchin and sanders both respect president biden. if anyone can do this, it's president biden. >> voters are getting clearly frustrated, as you know, congressman. it's showing in president biden's approval rating. what's at stake if democrats fail to deliver on infrastructure and reconciliation wind up with nothing? >> wolf, it's a big deal. we have to deliver. this is what we ran on. this is what we promised. we now have to deliver. but the covid pandemic has been a big part of this. many people thought by now we'd be out of it. it's been a tough year and a half. so as we see vaccinations increase, as we hopefully see the end of the year, the numbers come down, i think that also will be a big part of the president's numbers turning around. >> let's see what happens. thanks as usual for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. just ahead, a whistleblower is sharing new insight into the security failures on january 6th. i'll ask andrew mccabe for his take on the explosive allegations. when i needed to create a better visitor experience. improve our workflow. attract new customers. that's when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics. yeah, and now business is rolling in. get started at fastsigns.com. 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>> well, wolf, i think that understanding the intelligence from every angle, right, what intelligence did the agencies collect? how did they share it with each other and what decisions did they make? what assessments did they make as a result of that, that is the key to not only understanding january 6th, but making sure this sort of failure doesn't happen again. if the agencies like dhs and the fbi and the capitol police hope to get better at what they do, and that should be the goal here, right, to be better at protecting capitol and pregn protecting the country, they will not be able to do that until they peel through how the intelligence was handled. >> this whistleblower's account help you make sense of some of the law enforcement failures on january 6th. >> well, whistleblower's account is very serious. as you mentioned in the opening, he or sorry, he or she, the whistleblower, claims that intelligence was received by the capitol police at the highest levels of leadership but not shared with the folks who could actually -- the whistleblower then complains that there's been cover ups by leadership, covering up the good work of others in congress. actually allegations congress is c comply sit. whistleblower reports need to be taking seriously, but also vetted. whistleblower's don't always have a perfectly complete accurate view of the situation. oftentimes they don't have access to all the information that's already been considered by the folks that are investigating this. but to really work through it and see. >> the letter also underscores the ways the capitol police department continues to grapple with the fallout from the insurrection. it says rank and file officers now get daily intelligence alerts on their cell phones. is that a step in the right direction? >> hey, look, anything that they can do to make sure that important information that leadership has is getting shared with folks on the ground who need to action is a an improvement. that apparently didn't happen at all on january 6th. i think that's probably one of the reasons why they were so caught off guard by that riot. so any steps they can take to better handle intelligence, to better d better disseminate is going to be an improvement. >> thank you very much. coming up, the feds say two want to be spies tried to sell u.s. nuclear secrets by hiding them in a peanut butter sandwich. we have details. thanks for coming. now when it comes to a financial plan this broker is your man. let's open your binders to page 188... uh carl, are there different planning options in here? options? plans we can build on our own, or with help from a financial consultant? like schwab does. uhhh... could we adjust our plan... ...yeah, like if we buy a new house? mmmm... and our son just started working. oh! do you offer a complimentary retirement plan for him? 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the fbi refers to it as country one in the records and that country alerted the fbi, which began its undercover investigation. toby and his wife will appear in federal court tomorrow, but prosecutors are asking they remain locked up. they're calling them a flight risk and say they could destroy evidence. >> thank you very much. let's get more on this. cnn counterterrorism, phil mud is joining us right now. used to work at the cia, the fbi. how does this unfold? how does this happen, a story like this? >> the first part of it is when the, as jessica said, we don't know who it is. seems like a friendly country if they've notified us. you're sitting around the table with the fbi director, somebody walks in, your first reaction is we've got a problem. notice one of the facts in this case is these individuals appear to have been employed for almost a decade. so your first question is not only do you own this operation, in other words, these people are reporting to you. they think they're selling stuff to you. you're going back through those records saying did they do this another time? can we track their online behavior five years ago and determine if this is the first time? that's pretty tough. that's a lot of data. >> what do you think of this spy craft? hiding sensitive information in a peanut butter sandwich for that matter or some bubble gum wrap. >> we need to do better than sandwich spies here. the spy craft, to get serious, there's a couple of things that jumped out. they appeared to be sending a letter to a friendly kocountry. why would they assume they're not going to notify us? why would they approach that person not knowing who it is? and some of the encryption stuff. but the initial approach, you got to be kidding me. i disagree. this is -- if this is a spy novel, this is not a very good spy novel. >> how sensitive, potentially, was the intelligence that potentially could have been compromised involving nuclear submarines? >> i would say hugely significant. you are talking about stuff that costs a lot of money, obviously, for u.s. taxpayers. when you are look at the data, you are looking at things like vulnerabilities. can the country that -- that acquired this find vulnerabilities in the u.s. system? can they track that submarine better? and then, a question that i can't answer, can they reverse engineer what we have spent a lot of money developing with their own if they have their own nuclear submarines. >> he had been trained on warning signs to spot as an insider. somebody who had top-secret clearances. was he using some of that inside information that he had? >> yes, if you look at -- i -- i made -- cast light on some of what i saw, you know, the sandwich, et cetera. but if you look at some of the communications measures and the fact that he says or she -- i think it's the male communicating -- the husband -- says, look, i ever been to those briefing sessions. i was very careful about acquiring the information over time. when you learn is digital people in a place like the fbi are looking to see what you download to see if there are aberrations. so yeah, i think what they learned over time helped these people to try to pretend to operate. but in the end, fbi got 'em. >> they get caught. all right. thanks very much for that, phil mudd. helping us appreciate the enormity of this. coming up next. disturbing body camera video showing police dragging a black man from his car by his hair during a traffic stop. ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ feel stuck with student loan debt? move to sofi-and feel what it's like to get your money right. ♪ move your student loan debt to sofi—you could save with low rates and no fees. earn a $500 bonus when you refi-and get your money right. in 2016, i was working at the amazon warehouse when my brother passed away. and a couple of years later, my mother passed away. after taking care of them, i knew that i really wanted to become a nurse. amazon helped me with training and tuition. today, i'm a medical assistant and i'm studying to become a registered nurse. in filipino: you'll always be in my heart. with voltaren arthritis pain gel my husband's got his moves back. an alternative to pain pills voltaren is the first full prescription strength gel for powerful arthritis pain relief... voltaren the joy of movement you could be working with someone outside your company and wait for back and forth e-mail, or a call to be rescheduled for the third time. orrr... you could use slack. and work faster with everyone you work with, together in one place. slack. where the future works. an investigation is underway in dayton, ohio, into a very disturbing incident involving local police. body-camera video shows officers dragging a black paraplegic man from his car by his hair during a traffic stop. cnn's amara walker picks up the story, and we want to warn our viewers, the images are disturbing. >> reporter: the nearly-12-minute police body cam video of the september 30th police encounter begins with a traffic stop. >> i cannot step out. i'm a paraplegic. >> reporter: and ends with 39-year-old clifford owensby screaming, showing officers dragging him out of the car by his arm and hair before putting him in their cruiser. >> i'm a paraplegic! i'm a paraplegic. >> reporter: in the body cam video released by the dayton police department on friday, police say owensby was leaving a suspected drug house when they pulled him over. after running a background check and learning of past felony drug and weapon possession charges, the responding officers requested a narcotics detection k-9 to sniff the vehicle according to dayton police major, brian johns. that's when owensby is asked to step out of the car. he explains he is paralyzed from the waist down and repeatedly refused to allow the officer to help him get out of the car. >> i can't step out of the car, sir. >> i'm going to help you get out. >> excuse me? >> i'm going to help you get out. >> well, i don't think that's going to happen, sir. >> reporter: the exchange continues as the officer insistence on helping him, and explains to owensby he needs to get out of the car, per the department's policy. >> i can't get out of the vehicle, sir. >> sir, i am going to assist you. >> no, you're not. no, you're not. >> then, things begin to escalate as owensby appears to make a phone call. >> come down the street. come bring cameras and just bring somebody so they can witness what's going on. i'm not getting out. i just told you. i'm a paraplegic. i cannot get out. >> i do not want to have to -- >> reporter: as owensby insist that police call a supervisor, you can hear the officer getting more assertive. >> get out of the car. so you can cooperate and get out of the car or i will drag you out of the car. do you see your two options here? which would you like to do, sir? >> i'm trying to tell you. they can hurt me. damn, bro. ow! ow! ow! somebody, help! somebody, help! somebody, help! >> stop. >> reporter: owensby spoke at an naacp news conference sunday about the encounter. >> they dragged me to the vehicle like a dog, like trash. >> reporter: owensby also says the $22,000 in cash found in his car was his savings. he says no weapons or drugs were found in the search. the dayton daily news has reported the dayton fraternal order of police is defending the officer's actions saying in a statement that reads in part, the officers followed the law, their training, and departmental policies and procedure. sometimes, the arrest of noncompliant individuals is not pretty but is a necessary part of law enforcement to maintain public safety which is one of the fundamental ideologies of our society. owensby's attorney tells cnn the arrest was illegal and unnecessarily brutal given the fact they were aware fully that he can't get out of the car on his own. and wolf, as a result of this accidental, owensby received two traffic citations for which he pleaded not guilty to. we also reached out to the dayton police department to get clarification on its policy in dealing with people with disabilities and they referred us back to a statement which made no mention of it. wolf. >> all right. amara, thank you very much. amara walker reporting for us. and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. you can always follow me on twitter and instagram @wolf blitzer. tweet the show at cnn sit room. the situation room is also available as a podcast. look for us on cnn.com/audio or wherever you get your podcasts. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. outfront next. cowering to trump. the senate's most senior republican,s man who once said trump has little chance of leading the republican party, now going back on his word. plus, a high-stakes race that democrats should have in the bag but it is now anyone's to win in the final days of the virginia governor race. and now, the democrat is under fire for saying he doesn't believe parents should tell schools what to teach. and is war between china and taiwan inevitable? and will president biden let china win? let's go outfront. and good evening, i'm erin burnett.