Predecessors back to 1792 throughout the nations history. Win, lose, or draw in this election, will you commit here today for a peaceful transferral of power after the election . There has been rioting in louisville, theres been rioting in many cities across the this country, including your socalled red states. Will you commit to a peaceful transferal of power after the election . We have to see what happens. You know that. Ive been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster. I understand that but people are rioting. Do you commit to making sure theres a peaceful transferal of power . Get rid of the ballots and well have a very peaceful there wont be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation. Uh, the ballots are out of control. You know it, and you know is i dont know that. And the democrats know it better than anybody else. Joe biden called the president s comments irrational and a few prominent republicans are pushing back, most notably mitt romney, liz cheney, and an attempt by Mitch Mcconnell to at least try to reassure people, quote, there will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792. Joining me now, New York Times chief White House Correspondent peter baker. Washington post opinion Writer Jonathan capehart. Peter, how unprecedented are these comments . I cant recall anything like this. No, nothing like this, i cant either. Weve seen the president sort of walk up to this line before. Hes been asked will he accept the results and hes hedged in the same way, well see what happens. Yesterday he was asked is, if he loses, if effect, would he turn over the white house. This is an extraordinary and extreme scenario, but its one thats worried a lot of democrats and it has sort of been out there in the ether now for a while, you know, would he actually step down if he could find a way to challenge the results on january 20. Thats when the constitution says power transfers to a new president if the new president wins or if he gets, you know, reinaugurated if he wins. He didnt take that opportunity yesterday to reaffirm the most basic, fundamental tenet of american democracy that does, as you point out, go back to the 1790s when we established the idea of a president , not a king. Does that mean he will actually try to hold on to power . You know, weve got to be careful about overstating what he means. But the fact that he didnt take the opportunity to sort of reassure the country that yes, he will follow the established tradition, yes, he will follow the constitution, you know, is obviously going to cause a great deal of concern and a great deal of outrage, not just among democrats. And concern also, he keeps talking about rigged elections, the ballots. Folded into that was, again, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the ballots and saying if the ballots are counted, then he could lose but the ballots wont be counted. All of this, jonathan capehart, its its really alarming. Yes, andrea, that is the correct description. It is alarming. Because while democrats have been worried about whether trump would leave the white house if he loses the election in november, what we heard in that clip that you showed is that hes threatening, at least in those words, to do away with the ballots. That is the fundamental american right, is the right to vote. People bled, people died for that right. And the president of the United States is calling into question whether those votes are legitimate, whether those votes should be counted, intimating that if those votes are counted and they dont go for him, that we do away with the ballots. That is unacceptable. We need to have a rising up in this country over what the president is saying. Look, weve all been covering donald trump since he came down that escalator officially as a candidate for president , june 16, 2015. From almost the beginning, i have taken him seriously when he has said things. And far too many people listen to what he says and think, oh, he cant be serious, oh, he wouldnt actually do that. Well, we are 40 days out from an election. I and a lot of people, i and a lot of americans, cannot afford not to take him seriously. And we must do everything, everything that we can as citizens to cast our votes and look to our elected officials to safeguard our vote. This is not a democratic issue, this is not a republican issue. This is an american issue, a patriotic issue. The fact that the president of the United States is calling that into question is indeed alarming. And peter, we saw the president at the court this morning. You heard the boos from people who were in line to honor ruth bader ginsburg. But this is one day after he had elaborated on why he wants a new justice before the election. Lets watch. I think its better if you go before the election because i think this this scam that the democrats are pulling, its a scam, this scam will be before the United StatesSupreme Court, and i think having a 44 situation is not a good situation. If you get that. I dont know that you would get that. I think it should be 80 or 90. But just in case it would be, uh, more political than it should be, i think its very important to have a, uh, ninth justice. Peter, that really does explain, i mean, hes telling us why he wants that ninth justices. Hes expecting a Supreme Court battle. Yeah, hes not you know, hes not shying away from the idea that he wants a justice on the court to rule for him, that hes trying to put somebody on the court who will side with him. Youre right, were looking at a possibly disputed election. We all remember, of course, bush v. Gore in 2000. That was one state, and it was pretty messy and pretty damaging in some ways to americas view of its own democracy. Imagine that happening now in five states, ten states, who knows at this point . There are already more than 150 lawsuits being litigated as we speak by both sides trying to set the rules of the game in both states. Do the ballots have to have witnesses on them or not . Were already fighting to see which ballots will count and which wont. Imagine that could play after the supposed elections if its over november 3, on steroids, in effect. And in fact, pennsylvania, one of those states, perhaps the most important state, where there are multiple lawsuits right now. Thank you, peter baker, thank you, jonathan capehart, for starting us off. Wisconsin democratic senator Tammy Baldwin joins me now. I want to get your reaction to the president s comments about a peaceful transition of power. I was just horrified to hear his comments last night. And just another instance of this president undermining our very democracy. It was shocking. It was shocking further that we didnt hear an immediate pushback from congressional republicans. Certainly a few of them did speak out. But our democracy is supposedly of the people, by the people, and for the people. And the idea that anyone would not accept that will of the people come november 3 or the days after, whatever it takes to count all the ballots, is just outrageous. Republicans in your state are appealing a federal judges ruling that your state miscellaneous accept mailin ballots past the original deadline of october 29, all the way to november 9. The president is fueling these actions nationwide in these critical swing states. Where is this going, what are your concerns about that . We have the same scenario back in april, our april 7 president ial primaries and nonpartisan general elections in the state. The early days of the pandemic, very few states had been able to figure out best practices for voting during a pandemic. But it ended up that the ballots were able to be postmarked by election day, received a few days later, and still counted. And we learned a lot from that election that will inform this one. I think that the ruling was wise under the circumstances of conducting a president ial election during a pandemic. And i will note, by the way, in wisconsin, we are seeing record numbers of positive cases. We are seek the worst week since the pandemic began this past week in wisconsin. So we are far from being able to say were holding this election after the Public Health crisis. Were holding it during the Public Health crisis, which is why im so pleased that over a million wisconsinites have ordered their absentee ballots. Many of them are already being returned. And we are doing the best Public Education process that we can to make sure people know exactly how to register, exactly how to get their ballots, when early voting starts, where they can turn in ballots, the Clerks Office or elsewhere if they dont want to mail them in. Its an allhandsondeck effort. Veteran reporter bart gelman is reporting in the atlantic also that the Trump Campaign is discussing contingency plans to bypass Election Results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where republicans hold the legislative majority to get around the popular vote forhe eelectors, the electoral college. Again, outrageous undermining of the democratic process. We cant let that stand. I hope that we have bipartisan pushback fr pushback. What is clear from the president s words when you played the clip in your last segment is he is trying to cast fear and doubt and anxiety about the validity of mailin ballots when theres virtually no fraud involved. Weve seen that for years in the states that do primarily voting by mail. Now that more states are doing it because of a Public Health pandemic, there is no reason to worry. We just have to act quickly and cast our votes as soon as we possibly can. And frankly, i would like to see the results so overwhelming that theres no reason to cast doubt on the outcome. For joe biden, of course. Tammy baldwin, thank you very much. And with 40 days to go until election day, make sure your vote counts by knowing the rules in your state. To do that, use our interactive state by state plan your vote guide. Go to nbcnews. Com planyourvote. Meanwhile, protesters are pouring into the streets around the country after no charges are brought against the four officers charged with killing Breonna Taylor. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. Re watching l reports on msnbc. From prom dresses. To soccer practices. And new adventures. You hope the more you give the less theyll miss. But even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past. They may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. Lets help protect them together. Because missing menb vaccination could mean missing out on a whole lot more. Ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. Ask your doctor if your teen skip to cold relief fast. Alkaseltzer plus power max gels. With 25 more concentrated power. Oh, what a relief it is so fast i try so hard, i cant rise above it dont know what it is get a dozen double crunch shrimp for one dollar with any steak entree. Only at applebees. Smells more amazing than ever. Flings now so their laundry with any steak entree. Isnt that the dogs towel . Hey, me towel su towel. More gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze in every gain fling. Here . Nah. Here . Nope. Here. When the middle of nowhere. Is somewhere. The allnew chevy trailblazer. Two Police Officers are recovering in louisville, kentucky after being shot last night, after a grand jury announced that the three Police Officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor would not face charges for her death. More than 120 people were arrested overnight in louisville as protests erupted nationwide. The can i attorney general said the two officers involved were justified in their use of force. Only one officer will face charges but not for taylors death. Former officer Brett Hankison is charged with wanton endangerment for firing bullets that endangered a neighbor. The charges prompted this reaction from the attorney for Breonna Taylors family, benjamin crump. They had wanton endangerment for the white neighbors apartment, the bullets going there, but not for the bullets going into Breonna Taylors body. We seem to have two justice systems in america, one for black america and one for white america. Breonnas family would love to see the grand jury transcript to see if there was any evidence presented for Breonna Taylors perspective. Joining me now, nbc news correspondent blayne alexander in louisville, kentucky. State representative charles booker. And genet nelson and Naacp Legal Defense Fund council. Blayne, there was outrage after this grand jury decision. Tell me how the community is reacting now after everything that happened overnight. Reporter absolutely, andrea. So i want to kind of juxtapose what were seeing on the ground right now in louisville versus what we saw last night and what by all accounts is anticipated for tonight. So this right here is one of the many streets in louisville that is blocked off, still blocked by police barricades. Police have set up a checkpoint here trying to control the traffic flow, trying to kind of clear the streets in downtown, which is where so much of the protesting has taken place over the past few months. But there really is this stillness in the air right now. Certainly not a lot necessarily going on, not a lot of tension or uprising. But the curfew is going to be in place for a second straight night tonight. Its also in place tomorrow night. Andrea, i want to kind of give a voice to the many things weve heard from the protesters, not just here in louisville but from people reacting all over the country about this. I have to say there has been this constant call when it comes to justice for Breonna Taylor, all along, the very specific call has been for the officers involved to be charged. Now, of course, thats not what happened with the grand jury decision. When ive spoken with people, specifically a number of black women who say there is a particular kind of pain that comes with this decision handed down, theyve used words like insulting or traumatizing to discuss the findings of this. Thats why so many people say, yes, theyre going to come out, they were out last night, theyre going to continue to come back. Its worth pointing out too, andrea, there is this twopronged approach here. Last we can we saw this historic settlement when it came to the case of Breonna Taylor with her family and the city of louisville, a number of police reforms, 12 millions for the city. But so many people out marching say what they wanted was accountability for the officers when are truly hurt that that didnt happen, andrea. And following up on that, kentuckys Governor Beshear told Hallie Jackson earlier its time to make all the information that went to the grand jury public because theres a real sense that the prosecutor did not present the other side of the case, and that there was an effort to minimize any involvement by these officers in her death. Lets watch. Its time to post all the information, all the facts, all the interviews, all the evidence, all the ballistics. Its time for people to be able to see the basic information, facts, and evidence and to be able to come to their own conclusions about justice. Representative booker, can that happen . Because you say that justice failed in this case. Whats to ensure that there ever will be justice in this case . Well, justice is possible. And im here today with a lot of hope that we will win it. We are seeing a lot of resolve all across kentucky, certainly here in louisville, my hometown. And the governor is exactly right. An important part of justice is transparency, to make sure people understand the accountability. What we saw from our attorney general was essentially an expose of hiding behind the facts, obscuring the law, and shirking away from responsibility to be accountable for the life of a woman, a black woman who was killed in her home. Justice has been denied for her family. We want to make sure we have systemic change and address the illustrate in our Law Enforcement and Public Safety in a real way. Were fighting together to realize that now. The Kentucky Attorney general, daniel cameron, said the two officers were justified in using force. Genet, lets play this for all of you. Detective cosgrove and Sergeant Mattingly were justified in returning fire because they were fired upon. I understand that, as a black man, how painful this is. Criminal law is not meant to respond to every sorrow and grief. And that is true here. Genet, youre the legal expert here. That seems like twisting what the prosecutors presented or could have presented, i should say. Yeah, its impossible for us to take those statements with any degree of credibility without knowing exactly what information and evidence was provided to the grand jury. We know for sure that Breonna Taylors death has been disregarded and underplayed from the very beginning. This stems from the conditions under which the warrant was originally issued, to the treatment of her family, the mistreatment of her family, giving them the wrong information when she was lying dead in her apartment for hours, the arrest of her wouldbe fiance who was accused of attempted murder of an officer at the scene. And we now know that all of those facts were wrong. So we have every reason to doubt how this process played out before the grand jury. And the only way that we will get transparency as to what happened is to get the transcripts from those proceedings, to understand what evidence the attorney general laid out for those jurors to consider. And it is imperative that we know what the facts were and that the public has an opportunity to judge whether the proper charges were presented to the grand jury. And the fact is that the governor did call for that. Hes the former attorney general. Representative booker, is that something