For an economy he inherited and zero blame for the pandemic he ignored. The final debate, which included Climate Change. Would you close it down. A transition industry, yes. A big statement. And covid. Were learning too live with it. We have no choice. He said were learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it. Giving both candidates ammunition. How safe is mr. Bidens polling lead . Can mr. Trump repeat his Election Night 2016 shocker . And who will control the decision . My guests, can be can be, Corey Lewandowski, congressman from ohio, and Denver Riggleman from virginia. Plus, several members of Vice President pences staff test positive for covid as cases hit an alltime high. Its very real. Theres probably not a day i dont cry. Joining mr 230e insight and analysis are amy walter, from the cook report, Yamiche Alcindor from nbc thursday house, mark murray and anna palmer, senior washington correspondent for politico. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longestrunning show in television history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. Nine days, nine days before americans finally decide who will take the oath of office january 20th. Nine days before controlling the United States senate can be determined and nine days before we have a sense of whether the country says yes, we want four more years of President Trump, or whether voters say they have enough and they choose joe biden. Thursdays debate probably changed little, which may be a good thing if youre ahead nationally by roughly nine points, as biden is right now. But where does this race stand . Heres an easy way to look at it. Lets start with the 2016 election map President Trump rode to victory. Lets assume right now as the campaigns are assuming that jshz takes two trump states where hes been consistently ahead all year, wisconsin and michigan. Throw in nebraskas second Congressional District as nebraska splits their electoral votes where hes also leading. If that happens, it leaves President Trump with this path, he could not afford to lose any of the following states pennsylvania, North Carolina, florida or arizona. Right now hes trailing in all four. But they are close. But again, if he loses any one of them, its game over. Remember this all assumes mr. Trump hangs on to ohio and iowa and to georgia and to texas, all of which right now are neck in neck. And if mr. Trump was searching for an october surprise, he did get it. It may not be the one he was looking for. Were now well into a frightening record third surge of covid cases, that has just hit Vice President s staff very hard, just as mr. Trump and mr. Biden are making their Closing Arguments. The people of wisconsin must stop these antiamerican radicals by giving joe biden a thundering defeat. Everybody knows who donald trump is. Weve got to show him who we are if with joe biden you got 47 years of all talk, no action. If were turning the corner on this, he just said that this week. The nerve. He cant answer a tough question like, what would you like to do in your second term, then its our job to make sure he doesnt get a second term with nine days to go and 60 million votes already cast, donald trump and joe biden are making their Closing Argument. Trailing in the polls, President Trump still searching for a message that will stick. Joe biden admitted he wanted to abolish the oil industry. Texas, are you watching . Pennsylvania. Hoping to capitalize on this debate exchange. Would you close down the oil rigs . I have a transition from the oil industry, yes. I will transition. Thats a big statement. It it is a big statement. Why would you do that . Because the oil industry pollutes significantly. Im not banning fracking in pennsylvania or anywhere else. Its the latest trump message, after weeks of struggling to land on one. Last night biden refused to rule out court action, in other words they may take 16, 17, 18 people. Skpl you cant let biden be present. Hes not at the top of his game mentally. Remember, we said that, we made the numberone selling tshirt. But the president s attempt to replicate the 2016 victory with an october surprise is falling flat 2349 midst of i crisis where hes losing the publics trust. Thats all i hear about now. All i hear. Turn on television, covid, covid, covid. A plane goes down, 500 dead. By the way, november 4th, you wont hear about it anymore. Friday marked the highest number of cases since the pandemic began with hospitals in the midwest and west overwhelmed and cases rising. In my 34 years as a physician i have never seen so much suffering from a single disease over a short period of time. We reporting 3,874 new cases for a total of 364,043 confirmed since the start of this pandemic. Excuse me, please. Were learning to live with it. I told him, were not learning to live with it, were learning to die with it, because hes doing nothing as the pandemic surges, President Trump appears focused on personal grievances rather than governing. Nobody has ever gone through what i have gone through, nobody. No president has gone through this. Anybody else would have good morning to the corner, sat down in the corner of the room, put their thumb in their mouth and say mommy, mommy, take me home, please. Joining me now is Trump CampaignSenior AdviserCorey Lewandowski. Corey, welcome back to meet the press. Good morning, chuck. Let me start with whats happening with the Vice President. The there are now reports there are a third staffer that has tested positive. We know his chief of staff tested positive. One of his senior political aides. Let me ask you this, corey, is the Vice President going to selfquarantine . I know as head of the task force, the guidelines that are issued like this indicate you need to selfquarantine. Is the Vice President going to selfquarantine because of the amount of interaction hes had, particularly with his chief of staff marc short . I have not spoken to the Vice President or his team in the last 24 hours, chuck, so i couldnt answer that. But i am sure the Vice President will take all of the precautions necessary, very similar. [ no audio ] we have lost Corey Lewandowskis audio, so we are actually going to im going to turn to the biden campaign. Were going to see if we can get that audio back. But i will bring in Deputy Campaign manager and Communications Director kate bedingfield. Kate, my apologies there. Welcome to meet the press. Its quite all right. Live television. What can you do . Live television and technologies were all using these days. Look, let me start with where you guys are headed in this final stretch. I saw a report on tuesday that this week the Vice President s going to go to georgia. Is georgia that critical to 270 that he should spend the last week of the campaign in georgia and not pennsylvania, wisconsin . I ask you because four years ago you remember criticism of the Clinton Campaign for focusing too much on georgia in the final weeks. Look, were focused on maintaining as many pasts to 270 electoral votes that we possibly can. We believe were seeing energy all across the country for joe biden against donald trump. The vp is going to be i should say vp biden will be in georgia on tuesday. Thats right, he will be making a significant message speech there. He will be delivering a Closing Argument set of remarks at warm springs, georgia, which obviously has historical significance in this country. And hes going to be making the case, we can unify this country, we can come together to overcome these crises, that theres no challenge too great for americans to meet. But the first thing they have to do in order to do that is vote. So he will be making that Closing Argument. You heard him make this argument directly to the American People throughout his campaign, you heard him make it at gettysburg a couple weeks ago. It is a Core Foundation belief of his we can overcome this hyper partisan moment were in and we can unify the country. You will hear him make that case in warm springs, georgia, tuesday. Of course, kwarm springs, georgia, made famous by fdr when he would go down there to recuperate. Exactly. I want to put up a little statistic here. This was just in september. Final four stitts, arizona, North Carolina, florida, pennsylvania, four pretty crucial states. In all but pennsylvania, President Trump has personally been to those states, campaigned in those states. Hes been to North Carolina more than joe biden, to arizona more than joe biden, to florida more than joe biden. Only in pennsylvania has joe biden been there more. Are you concerned that your strategy for having a light physical footprint with your two nominees, are you at all concerned that this may you may regret the lack of physical presence on the ground . No, look, we are campaigning incredibly hard. Vice President Biden has visited all of these battleground states mutt multiple times. He was in pennsylvania yesterday doing two events, one in Luzerne County and bucks county, along with dr. Biden. No, weve been aggressively campaigning. But heres the difference between what were doing and what donald trump is doing. Were doing it safely. Were staking into accoutaking safety of the communities were visiting. I saw a usa today report that shows covid spikes are following in the wake of these Trump Campaign events or their going and doing these superspreader rallies putting people in jeopardy. Were never going to do that. First and foremost, we will look out for public safety. Weve done that from the outset of the pandemic. I think we have campaigned aggressively and creatively and safely. Frankly, i think thats what americans are looking for. Theyre doing that in their own lives all across the country, figuring out how to adjust and live safely because donald trump hasnt been able to get this virus under control. In the final nine days of the campaign, wooer going to campaign hard and safely. I want to ask you about the remark late in the debate about the oil industry, where the former Vice President said he wants to transition away from the oil industry. Look, some of these remarks that he said, he has said them before. But let me ask the question to you this way, kate, if you work in the oil industry, if you believe that fracking has been good for the economy, and you heard the statements from joe biden, long term joe biden doesnt sound like a support of those industries, so why shouldnt those folks think, you know what, donald trump will be more supportive, not joe biden, are you comfortable with that . Lets be clear about something, chuck, theres only one person in this country who joe biden thinks should lose his job and its donald trump. Donald trump is trying to distort joe bidens position on this because hes desperate to be running against anybody but joe biden. Thats been true from the start of this primary. Look, at joe biden said on the debate stage, hes not going to end the fossil fuel industry, hes going to end subsidies for the oil industry. He believes your taxpayer dollars should go to education. Donald trump believes they should go to exxon. Thats a contract and conversation were willing to have any day. Look, if you take a step back, joe biden has put forward an aggressive Climate Change plan that has been endorsed by climate groups, but its also been endorsed by labor because it is also a jobs plan. It is a plan that will make significant investment in Carbon Capture and ee squestration, in infrastructure. Its a job plan. He believes were not only going to create new jobs, were going to 345i7b taken jobs. People are not going to lose jobs under a biden administration. P beforebefore i let you go, state on Election Night you care about the most on Election Night that is going to tell you where this race is headed . Not going to do that. I think there are a lot of states that will be critically important. What i say to everybody watching if you are somebody whos been hurt by Donald Trumps presidency, if you have been frustrated by it, embarrassed by it, go out and vote. You can vote early, you can vote in person on election day, whatever way makes the most sense for you. Everybody turn out and vote lets make change in this country. All right, kate bedingfield, Deputy Campaign manager with the biden campaign, kate, thank you very much. And we have the audio fixed with Corey Lewandowski so corey is back. Let me stick with that first question there. You started to answer. You said you dont know the details of how many more staffers. Do you think it would be appropriate for him to campaign in the next 24 hours or do you think he should quarantine . If you came into contact with marc short as closely as he did, would you be quarantining . I would make sure the Vice President is taking all of the precautions necessary as hes always done. Im sure hes tested regularly and hes in the best care of the best physicians in the world at the white house. Im sure he will do what is necessary and what is appropriate. Look, weve also seen Kamala Harris team, members of her team come down with covid and she took the necessary precautions. Lets see where this goes. I have not spoken to the team directly on that, chuck. You heard in our introduction piece there the president almost complaining about how much focus theres been on covid, covid, covid as he sort of said it. Do you think thats the right message to be sending right now . We just had the two highest days yet of new cases in this country, back to back friday and saturday. The president seemed tosh lamenting the coverage of that. Is that the right message you want to send with nice days to go . I think the president s message should be and continues to be the promises hes made and promises that hes kept. Whether you care about middle east peace, which hes been able to do, rebuilding our military and strongest km he with lowest unemployment rates for africanamericans, hispanicamericans the world or our country has seen, thats the closing message. The closing message is we have an opportunity to set our country forth in the next four years for a path weve been on for the last four years and that includes Economic Prosperity for everybody, including making sure our immigration system is one that benefits this country, not other countries. Thats what is really important. The safety and security for people at their homes, their businesses, their places of worship and standing with the men and women of Law Enforcement is the message that resonates with everybody across every socioeconomic status in this country. I want to ask you about comments that got leaked out to the Washington Post last week that the president made at a fundraiser where he basically wrote off republican chances apparently in the senate and even added he doesnt even want to help some of these senators. There are a couple of senators i cant get involved in. I just cant do it. You lose your soul if you do. I cant help some of them. I dont want to help some of them. Does the president really think republicans have a better chance at winning the house than they do at holding the senate . I decent thiont think so. This president has been out campaigning aggressively for members of the u. S. Senate. He been asking surrogates like me going out. I was there thursday helping raise money for marriage why mcsally in a battleground state. This president is very forward helping candidates be successful. Hes raised money and has a Great Partnership with Senate LeaderMitch Mcconnell. We feel very, very strongly we will maintain our majority in the u. S. Senate. He said he didnt want to help some of these senators. He took a shot at Susan Collins about ten days ago. Is that the senator hes referring to . I dont know, chuck, but i can tell you this, President Trump will be in maine this afternoon. I will be joining him up there. He will be campaigning at the maine second Congressional District, a district he won four years ago and could be pivotal in this election cycle. Obviously, this president wants to make sure in addition to his reelection were maintaining the majority in the u. S. Senate and taking back the house of representatives. You were careful there, does he want to see Susan Collins reelected . I think the president wants to see every republican reelected regardless who they are and i