Facetoface locked in a dead heat, the president ial nominees look to knock each other off their game. Im speaking with massey was what to expect Tuesday Night right from someone who debated harris, former president ial candidate Pete Buttigieg joins me exclusively next, plus switching sides. It would have been thinkable just a few years ago, Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris. Will that encourage other never trump republicans to follow Trump Supporter Senator Tom Cotton joins me exclusively and unsafe at school. As georgia grieves the victims of a School Shooting, new questions after the family says the alleged Shooters Mother called the school with a warning. How can these shootings be prevented Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is ahead hello im Dana Bash in washington where the state of our union is getting ready for a critical debate in two days, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will take the stage in philadelphia and the new Cnn Poll of polls out this morning shows that there first and perhaps only the president ial debate could not be more consequential the race between Harris And Trump is Neck And Neck with no clear leader. And while a new poll shows harris outpacing trump with women, younger people, and black and latino likely voters. Trump maintains strong support among men. And older, likely voters harris has already in pennsylvania in formal Debate Prep facing off against a standin playing trump. While trumps preparations are as always, more informal, his advisers hope he will stay on message against harris, who may try to needle him but harris also will look to answer voters questions about her policies. Here with me now is someone who has debated Kamala Harris onstage 2020 president ial candidate for the democratic primary back then, Pete Buttigieg. Thank you so much for being here. So there is a new, New York Times poll out this morning and it says 28 of likely voters said they still need to learn more about harris. Only 9 say that about trump. What does she need to do at the debate to fill in those blanks . Well, i think the main task will be to make sure americans understand the difference in visions and are reminded that they already agree with her on the issues that matter. Most to them but thats going to be challenging. Ive competed with her for the democratic nomination and i had the honor of being involved in her Debate Preparations against Mike Pence she is a very focused and disciplined leader, but it will take almost superhuman Focus And Discipline to deal with Donald Trump in a debate, its no ordinary proposition, not because Donald Trump is a master of explaining Policy Ideas and how theyre going to make people better off its because hes a master of taking any Form Or Format that is on television and turning it into a show that is all about him but the less were talking about him and the more were talking about you, the better its going to be for the Vice President because she has laid out an agenda things like making sure that our Tax Code is fair and protecting a womans right to choose that is, of course the opposite of Donald Trumps agenda, which has been around Tax Cuts for the wealthy and his record of destroying the right to choose. Its again an extremely challenging tasks in the face of all of the distraction whatever outrageous things he does and says because they will require a response. And yet you cant allow him to change the subject from the difference between his very unpopular set of policies and record and her vision for americans future. I want to get to a couple of issues that are almost certain to come up, but you just mentioned that you were debating her and that youve learned from that. What did you learn . What should we expect that you experienced as somebody who was jousting with her . Well, i think about intellect and focus. Shes somebody who is extremely smart about getting to the core of an issue thats what made her so effective as a da as a prosecutor than as attorney general. And of course, as Vice President and one of the things i remember from those Debate Preparations when when i was involved supporting her team of four years ago was anytime some Issue Area or topic came up and we were kicking around statistics, ideas, arguments she would always take it back to the question of, okay, how is this going to affect somebody at home . And i think thats especially important right now with some of the issues at stake right now. For example, the trump economic plan economists estimate that that will cost about 3,900 for a typical american family going forward and really supercharge inflation but its not going to be about getting into the niceties of economic modeling. Its going to be bringing that to the Kitchen Table and why people in their everyday lives will be so much better off with her in charge, growing small business, delivering a fair Tax Code. Importantly, getting us a way forward on childcare affordability. She has a plan for expanding the Child Tax Credit making sure that we have paid Family Leave in this country. Two things we would have right now if republicans were in blocking them, as we saw when Donald Trump was asked about childcare. The other day, wasnt clear whether he even understood the question i want to ask about afghanistan, which is almost certain to come up in this debate. And in particular, the chaotic withdrawal under the biden administration from afghanistan that left 13 service members dead in 2021, the Vice President told me that she was the last person in the room on that decision. Decision and she was comfortable with the outcome. I want to make clear that was before the actual withdrawal happened, just after the decision was made tomorrow, we expect the house foreign Affairs Committee to release the findings of its threeyear investigation into what happened how does Kamala Harris defend what we all saw first of all, of course, i havent seen whats in the report coming out tomorrow, but i do have a question about what theyre doing over there. If theyve had three years to assess what happened why are they delivering a report after Labor Day and a president ial Election Year . I think it really feeds in to a sense that this is something theyre using as a political football. Look, this administration made the decision not to allow this war to be inherited by a fifth president and to end that conflict and was on my mind a lot in september, not just because of the anniversary of the withdrawal, but because it was September 10 years ago that i left afghanistan. And when i left again, ten years ago, 2014 they told us we were some of the last troops that they were turning out the lights only to find that it passed on to another presidency and another presidency after that whats of course most at stake right now, as is true in any election, is our future. And what is going to be The Future Of American National Security . Do we have adults and grownups in charge who understand the stakes, or do we have people who are incapable of taking even the most serious issues seriously . And i think its especially revealing and important that among trumps own advisors and appointees who have gone on to denounce him to talk about him in scathing terms, to make clear that he has no Business Being president. So many of them come out of the national Security Side because they saw up close how dangerous it was to have him look in charge of american nationalists. Let me ask military affairs. Let me ask you about something that you mentioned. You said that the timing of this report is political couldnt both things be true that it is political and politically advantageous for advantageous for republicans, because the withdrawal was such a mess with regard to how knocked, not whether the u. S. Should come out, but how it actually happened and it is a political problem for the biden administration, even privately, the people i talked to admit that so how does Kamala Harris address that since she was Vice President was it however, you view the things that are going to emerge in the report, whats clear is that this americas longest war needed to be brought to an end. And the question at stake in every president ial election is whats going to happen next. She is clear about the need to make sure that a place like afghanistan never again becomes a haven for attacks on the homeland. Thats a Counterterrorism Policy and posture that is different from an openended presence over there but also with all of the threats that america faces, whether its making sure that afghanistan is never again base for an attack on the homeland, whether its whats going on in The Middle East whether its whats happening with china, whether its the latest evidence of russian Interests Appearance and our own affairs or any number of other issues we need to make sure that the next President Of The United States is somebody who is equipped to handle that with a view toward what is best for the american people and what is best for americans troops not somebody who is obsessed with what is best for him, which i think is exactly what were going to see on display from Donald Trump in the debate. And a couple of days Pete Buttigieg, thank you so much, really appreciate you coming on this morning. Thanks very, much a former republican Vice President says hes voting for Kamala Harris trumpbacker, Senator Tom Cotton is here respond next. And in urgent warning from the alleged Shooters Mother, could that have prevented a School Shooting . Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock will join me that Kamala Harris got this week particularly from former congresswoman Liz Cheney and her father, the former republican Vice President Dick Cheney we were talking before the break. I covered the bushcheney administration. I traveled a lot with Dick Cheney one of the most conservative republicans alive today its really remarkable that he endorsed a democrat. What does that tell you about Donald Trump . What is remarkable time in politics, you have Dick Cheney endorsing a democrat and you have a kennedy endorsing a republican. I think what it tells us is that theres a lot of ferment and american politics. But in The End, It Endorsements are not going to make the difference in this race. So whats going to make the difference is theyre records. This is a very unusual president ial election we have a former president running for office first time in more than 100 years, people remember that when Donald Trump was in office, prices were low, wages were high. We had Peace And Stability around the world. Kamala harris, as Vice President , has brought a record high inflation. We have a wideopen Southern Border and we have war everywhere. You turn around the world. So i know that endorsement sometimes make news but most americans who making their decisions based on the records of these Two N Voters who werent sure about harris. Well, i mean, some of this is probably Donald Trump beat his daughter in her last election by 39 points. I think most americans are going to look at this race and compare the records they have against the very unusual race. When you have a president who served in office, who brought Good Times to america, and you have Kamala Harris, a San Francisco liberal, who has brought to america exactly what you see in San Francisco as well. I want to turn to a very different topic, and that is something that the Justice Department said this week, they detailed a russian Government Effort to stoke divisions in the u. S. Using front organizations and Social Media prominent right wing influencers like Dave Rubin and benny johnson, who have ties to Tenet Media thats a company that the Justice Department says was being funded by russian operatives. You sit on the intelligence committee. How worried are you that right wing influencers, people who do have an impact on your constituents are being funded either directly or indirectly by the russian government in order to make an impact on this election well, first off, dana, we havent been in session, so i havent seen any intelligence about this matter. All im saying the allegations. Ive read in the newspaper. People should not knowingly take money from the government, russia, or iran, or china, or any other adversarial nation to try to influence the election. But i also think its fair to say that a few memes or videos was in the vast sea of political commentary is not going to make much of a difference in this election nor has it in past election as well. What didnt make a difference in the last election is the lies about hunter bidens laptop that more than four dozen former intelligence officials lied about in the middle of that campaign. And most networks to include this one bought that Lie Hook Line and sinker that didnt make a difference in the election. But i think a few videos are commentaries which again, you shouldnt do if youre out there in The Business Of Commentating On Elections is not going to make a difference in the vast sea of commentary we see it sounds to me like youre downplaying the fact that Vladimir Putin is using people like Dave Rubin, whos show, you went on in february as a tool for his propaganda so im not downplaying vladmir putins designs or xijinpings designs. When i told us designed to try to influence our election. But using money using money to try to promote memes or videos on the internet is not exactly going to make a huge difference. Again, you shouldnt knowingly do that. I dont know if any of these people didnt know young people who they helped look, some people only get their information from those memes and videos but dana, what were really would be catastrophic is if a foreign government say hacked into the Voter Registration System during voting, or hacked into election machines and erase votes are turned off the electricity in a big city on election day. Those are things that are serious yes. Threats. A few videos and those active threats, are you is that im worried about those kind of threat. Sure. Is that based on what youre being briefed on, its based on the vulnerabilities that all of our infrastructure around the country has tha that worries me a lot more than a few videos are memes again this is the kind of thing that foreign governments like russia does. And no one should knowingly and willingly partaken it, but its really not all that consequential in The Grand Scheme of things. I want to ask you about another topic that is very much in the news this week. And that is the shooting in georgia, weve all been seeing the texts, the heartbreaking text, especially as parents of students saying, i love you too, their parents students using the shirts off their backs to try to save their teacher republican Vice President ial nominee j. D. Vance said after the shooting, quote, i dont like that. This is a fact of life adding, we dont have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in do you accept that School Shootings like this are just a way of life now, no absolute Night And J. D Vance Hasnt either he said but he doesnt want them to be a fact of life. And this week, the Associated Press got caught distorting that quote from him so bad that they had to retract it. But heres what we also know about that shooting, even as were still gathering all the facts it wasnt as bad as it might have been because there was a Police Officer on the School Premises that was able to neutralize the shooter Kamala Harris wants to take Police Officers out of school. She said it in the past. Thats your position . Its not surprising because shes consistently taken positioned against Law Enforcement throughout her career as a San Francisco liberal that Police Officer hadnt been there. Kamala harris have gotten her way many more students and teachers might have been killed. She was attacked when she ran for president in the democratic primary. They were calling her kamala caught because she was the opposite of what you were saying, but i just want to stay on this topic of School Shootings because youre right. It couldve been so much worse and they do have measures in place in this school but the fact that there are Mental Health Problems and we dont know exactly what was going on with this 14yearold. We 14. But there are Mental Health Problems all across the world right now. Its bad the difference between other countries in this country is that it is being expressed with Gun Violence is it not time to figure out a way to mitigate that part of the equation when it is affecting our childrens. So often well, i think one way to mitigate that esta enforce the laws we have on the books, Donald Trump did that. We had a severe crackdown on criminals using guns since Joe Biden, Kamala Harris taken office, they have deprioritize that. They havent focused on enforcing the laws that we have on the book. They focused on trying to take guns away from law, abiding citizens thats not going to solve our Crime Problem. What will solve a Crime Problem is actually cracking down on gun crimes. Theyve directed us attorneys many cases not pursue Gun Charges because Theres Gun charges come with stiff mandatory minimums which Kamala Harris are these . Some i mean, do you see any action in the in the offing at all in the wake of this, once again or is it just going to be enforced the laws on the books . Well, again, enforcing laws on the books is one that one way to stop gun crime. Another way is to keep Police Officers at schools many schools across the country. How Police Officers, but Kamala Harris and her friends on the Radical Left are successful in getting Police Officers on in many schools during the Blm Riots in 2020 in what followed. So Congress Wont do anything well, look, most most Law Enforcement happens at the local level at these Police Officers are not federal agents, they are local Police Department officers but again, Kamala Harris and her friends on the Radical Left, who are opposed Law Enforcement. They wanted to get them out of schools thats one way. Its not the only way and its not a silver bullet, but thats one way to help protect these schools, among many others so far i let you go. If Donald Trump wins, do you want to be Defense Secretary . Im focused on Donald Trump winning just as hes focused on winning, theres plenty of time for him to put together a great team after the election, which i know we will somehow i had a feeling that was going to be your answer but i thought i would try anyway, senator. Thank you so much for being