Transcripts For MSNBCW Weekends With Alex Witt 20200927

This is the second sunday in a row that the former Vice President has had to address the Supreme Court news. And it really speaks to just how quickly this confirmation process is going to get going and also continue in the next several weeks. As we saw yesterday, the former Vice President did comment on President Trumps pick of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and that is what we should expect him to elaborate on in these remarks, which we expect in the next several minutes to begin. In that statement, biden was very quick to point out the fact that Cohen Barrett has had a very negative view of the Affordable Care act and its, this is very timely, because the Supreme Court is going to be listening and then determining the legality of it at the end of october and in then its possible depending on how quickly the confirmation process goes, that Coney Barrett could be seat ed to the Supreme Court and making her voice and position known in that case. And that is exactly what the Biden Campaign and senator Kamala Harris will be stressing in these weeks to come in an effort to mobilize voters. Now, an interesting take away from that abc Washington Post poll that you mentioned is the fact that half of americans would like to see biden seat whoever he decides should be on the Supreme Court if hes elected president. Hes also leading on numerous issues like who is best to handle the coronavirus pandemic, whos best to unite the country and also health care generally. One issue where hes not leading is the economy and weve seen that trend with President Donald Trump really hol iing holding t lead there, however, biden in this poll, has really closed the gap and margins on that front with him only 3 Percentage Points behind the president on who is best to handle the economy. So that is a message that we will also hear from biden this week as he hits the Campaign Trial likely post debate and the debate of course is when we will be hearing both trump and biden both talk about all of these issues on tuesday night. Thank you for the set up on that. There are several new polls out today that give us a fresh look at the race with now just 37 days to go, new nbc news marist polling shows trump trailing biden in michigan and washington. A new rather, wisconsin, something about washington, maybe its on my mind. Theres a poll from the Washington Post and abc news which shows biden leading trump nationally by ten points then theres the new poll from the New York Times and Siena College which shows a majority of americans think the winner of election should pick Ruth Bader Ginsburgs replacement on the Supreme Court and this comes just one day after the president nominated judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill that vacancy, set iting the stage for what is expected to be fierce and swift confirmation battle. This morning, new reaction from senate democrats. One of the things i want to ask her is will she recuse herself because if she does not in terms of any election issues that come before us because if she does not recuse herself, i fear that the court will be further delegitimized. I think she should step f forward and say shell recuse herself. This is basically just adding more flames, you know, fanning the flames of division in a country thats already divided. Its something that i would think and hope that we would all come to our senses and say, hey, cant we wait until after the election . And this all comes as we are quick two days away from the first president ial debate. Now to monica for the latest on that and more. Thankfully, you are in washington. Its been on my mind, but the new nbc news marist poll, biden leading across several voting blocks. Break down the numbers r for us. Exactly. In those critical battleground states of michigan and wisconsin, we see among these constituents, a broader picture of what the trump and Biden Campaigns are trying to do to appeal to these kinds of voters. When we look at the numbers starting in michigan, the form rer Vice President enjoys an overwhelming support from the Africanamerican Community with black supporters 90 to the president s only 7 . We look at women. Where the former Vice President is also leading by double digits among independents, a similar story. Whites with college degrees, there a similar margin as well then seniors, a key voting block that the president has been trying to appeal to just in recent days with these onetime medicare discount cards that will be going out in the weeks just before the election, but when we also look at where the president is leading in michigan, it tells a similar pattern of what we saw in 2016. He is leading among men, 51 to the former Vice President s 45 then when we break down these white people without college degrees, hes leading there and leading with evangelicals as well. In wisconsin, the margins look similar, but we should point out again, there, actually seniors overwhelmingly support the former Vice President. These are two states along with pennsylvania that the president s campaign in 2016 were shock today see him win and put him over the top. Theyre trying for a repeat of that, but these polls really do not show them making much headway as theyve been trying to campaign there over the summer. Again, this niese key voting group if they can peel off a couple of Percentage Points, for example, in 2016 nationally, then candidate trump won only 8 of the black vote. They can if they can increase that to 10 or 11 , that could make all the difference in some of these states but we dont see that movement yet in this current polling. Were looking ahead to a couple of days from now, tuesdays debate as im sure the president is. What do you know about how hes preparing . Last time around, the president also spurred what is known as traditional debate prep. He doesnt like to do these formal sessions that are 90 minutes in length with somebody stanning in for his opponent the entire time. Instead, he does shorter practice rounds and drills with questions being thrown to him, but it seems this year, hes even doing less than what he did four years ago and that is because of the news of the last few week, the nomination for this Supreme Court seat really took precedence to Everything Else in terms of the focus, but take a listen to how the president described his own preparation in an interview that aired on fox news this morning. The debates coming up. Everyones going to be watching. How are you preparing . I think i prepare every day. When youre president , you sort of see everything that theyre going to be asking and they may disagree with you, but weve done a great job. The president has been doing a little bit more preparation we understand this weekend. He is on the golf course today, but then doesnt have any open events later, so we believe he will be working on that likely today and tomorrow. Again, not in anything as formal as what the form rer Vice President is doing. We know he has debated and taken a lot more, has a lot more experience in his 47 years, but the other thing to point out is some of the people around the president are a little concerned that hes taking this too lightly and being a little too complacent. Thats something we all remember from 2012 when we saw the incumbent former president barack obama take on mitt romney, where he said he wished he had done more preparation and thats what he did for the following ones. Will that pattern also take place in the coming days . Well have to see. Im reminded of jim messina yesterday saying that was somewhat of a nightmare as he called that first debate, but turned things around over the second one. Thank you so much. Joining me now is a democratic member of the house judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees and sir, my friend, im going to ask you to stay with us because we have joe biden now in wilmington, delaware. Lets take a listen to what he has to say about the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. Justice ginsburg has made on our society and her enduring legacy. Equal rights and justice under the law. Shortly before Justice Ginsburg passed, she told her granddaughter, i quote, my most fervent wish is that i wont be replaced until a new president is installed, end of quote. It wasnt a personal request. It wasnt a favor being asked for. The it was the last act of a long, unflinching career of standing up for american democracy. Never before in our nations history has a Supreme Court justice been nominated and installed while a president ial election is already underway. It defies every precedent, every expectation of a nation where the people are sovereign and the rule of law reigns. But yesterday, before Justice Ginsburg could be laid to rest and after hundreds of thousands of americans had already cast their ballots, the president nominated a successor to her seat. Its no mystery about whats happening here. President trump was trying to throw out the Affordable Care act. Hes been trying to do it for the last four years. The Republican Party has been trying to eliminate it for a decade. Twice already the Supreme Court has upheld that law. The Affordable Care act and the congress expressing the popular will of the American People, has rejected President Trumps efforts as well. Now, all of a sudden, this administration believes they found a loophole in the tragedy of Justice Ginsburgs death. It doesnt matter to them. Republicans set the precedent just four years ago when they denied even courtesy of a hear ing to president obamas nominee after Justice Scalia passed, after he had only passed away nine months prior to election day. Didnt matter to them. That millions of americans already voting on a new president in a new congress had begun. All that does matter is that they see an opportunity to overturn the Affordable Care act on their way out the door. And as i speak, we are still in the midst of the worst Global Health crisis in a century and the crisis has taken over 200,000 lives. Between 750 and 1,000 lives a day and counting and yet, the Trump Administration is asking the Supreme Court right now as i speak, to eliminate the entire Affordable Care act. The administration filed a brief in the Supreme Court that concludes and i quote, the entire aca thus must fall. President trump can claim all helps hes going to protect people with preexisting conditions, but hes already fighting to take those away as we speak. If he has his way, more than 100 Million People with preexisting conditions like asthma, diabetes and cancer could once again be denied coverage. Complications from covid19 like lung scarring and heart damage could become the next flood of preexisting conditions used as an excuse to deny coverage to millions of people. Women could be charged higher premiums just because they are women. Pregnancy becoming a preexisting condition again. Seniors who see their Prescription Drug prices go up. And the funding for medicare go down. Doesnt matter what the American People want. President trump sees a chance to steal away the vital protections of the aca from countless families who have come to rely on them for r their health, their Financial Security and lives of those they love. President trump just tweet ed a hour ago on my way here and i quote, obama care will be replaced with a much better and far cheaper alternative. If it is terminated in the Supreme Court, it would be a big win for the usa. Should come as no surprise that on saturday, President Trump would nominate judge Amy Coney Barrett and on sunday, lay out clearly what his objective is to terminate obama care. The judge has written track record, written track record of disagreeing adamantly with the Supreme Courts decisions on two occasions, upholding the aca. In fact, not as a judge, but prior to going on the bench, she publicly criticized chief Justice Roberts opinion upholding the law eight years ago. American people understand the urgency of this moment. Theyre already voting in droves. Because they know their health care hangs in the balance. They understand that if donald trump gets his way, they could lose their right to vote, their right to clean air and water, their right to equal pay for equal work. Worke workers could lose their collective bargaining rights, dreamers could be thrown out of the only country they have ever known and women could use the bedrock rights of roe v. Wade r for 50 years. People are voting right now because they know the very soul of this country is at stake. And because they know that the decisions of the Supreme Court affect their every day lives. Their voices may not matter to donald trump, to mitch mcconnell, but there are Senate Republicans out there who know in their hearts but if they shut out the voices of those during a voting period, during an election, closing the door on american democracy theyre after. This is where the power of the nation resides, in the people. In the rule of law. In precedence, we abide by. To subvert both. Openly. And needlessly. Even as americans cast their vote, would be an irreversible step toward the brink and a betrayal of a single quality that america has born and built on. The people decide. Senate has to stand strong for a democracy. They must not act on this nomination until the American People finish the process theyve already begun, of selecting their president and their congress. As i said before, if the People Choose donald trump, then the senate should give his nominee a hearing and a vote. If the people do not choose trump and choose me, President Trumps nomination should be withdrawn. I should nominate. Chosen by a president whos just been elected and by the people to get a fair hearing, which would not even occur until early february. A confirmation vote. You know, this constitution provides one chance. One. For the americans to have their voices heard on who serves a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, who makes those Big Decisions about their health care. Their civil rights and much else. That chance is now. That moment is now. And the voters in my view, are not going to stand for this abuse of power. And to call ourselves a democracy, their voices must be heard. I urge the American People to keep voting. To let your current senators know that you want to be heard before a vote on confirmation of a new justice. And i urge every senator to take a step back from the brink, take off the blinders of politics for just one critical moment and stand up for the constitution you swore to uphold. This is a time to deescalate, to put an end to the shattering of precedence thats thrown our nation into chaos under this president. Just because you have the power to do something doesnt ab solve you of your responsibility to do right by the American People. Uphold your constitutional duty. Summon your conscious. Stand up for the people. Stand up for our cherry system of checks and balances. Americans are watching. Americans are voting. We must listen to them now. We must allow them to exercise this sacred power. So please, listen. Thank you and god bless america. May god protect our troops and ill take a few questions. Yes, sir. Sir, weve already having seats to the u. S. Supreme court, but what should be the quons quenss for republicans if they force judge barretts nomination through and confirm her . They should see to it that the American Public will vote on the senate races in this election and vote republicans out of office. Thats the consequence. Thats the focus. Thats why i want to make it clear and stay on message here. The clear focus is this is about your health care. This is about whether or not the aca will exist. This is about whether or not preexisting conditions will be continued to be covered. This is about whether or not a woman can be charged more for the same procedure as a man. This is about Peoples Health care in the middle of a pandemic. Yes. Ask me one question. Fire away. Have you reached out to republicans to urge them not to vote . No, i have not. I concluded that that would put them in a position if they were to vote the right way, that they would be compromised because i called them and so but i know, i have Great Respect for a number of my republican colleagues, my former republican colleagues, and im hoping they will to the right thing. [ inaudible ] hes almost, no, i have no idea. Yes. [ inaudible ] i know youre going to be upset with my answer, but what im not going stood play the trump game, which is a good game he plays. Take your eye off the issue before us. If i were to say yes or no to that, that becomes a big issue. Thats the headline here. I am focused on one thing right now. I really mean it. Im focused on making sure the American People understand that theyre being cut out of this process theyre entitled to be part of and the cut out is designed in order to take away the aca and your health care. In the midst of a pandemic. Thats the focus. Thats what its on. And thats the deal. Thank you all so very, very much. Thank you. The Vice President there speaking in wilmington, delaware, his concerns about President Trumps nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Balets get back with ted right now, california congressman who was there with me just as we were introducing him, the Vice President took to the podium. So sir, as i welcome you, im curious to your response as to what joe biden said there. Thank you, alex. For your question. I think joe bidens absolutely right. This is about your health care. I was in congress when the republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care act. They failed. Now theyre trying to do it through the courts and are currently suing to eliminate the only law in the nation that guarantees americans have coverage for preexisting conditions. Amy Coney Barrett disagrees with what john roberts did in upholding the aca, so this is a r very real threat to your health care. Yeah, this is something that will be presented by the Supreme Court one short week after an election which were not even sure well even have the result of the election after this. November 10th. How is this playing with voters as to what could happen to their hello care . If you look at the polling, it show that is the pandemic and health care are the two top issues on voters minds and this certainly has an effect on the voters because we see that joe biden is not only Holding Stable in the polls, hes increasing his lead somewhat, so i think this is not going well for donald trump or the republicans and again, i urge the republicans do not vote on this confirmation until after the election. You can urge it, but is there anything you can do, you and your colleagues in the senate, to slow down the confirmation process until after the election. Im looking at details here, this is unprecedented. There never before has been a Supreme Court nominee in an Election Year after the date of july 1st. Its extraordinary. It takes on average, 67 days, for a Supreme Court nominee to be up for a vote and make their way through the confirmation process. What can you do to slow this thing down, anything . I think lincoln had a with it, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed. So if we have a movement of public sentiment across america, then i think we have a chance at stopping this confirmation, the same way we were able to stop the repeal of the aca and what we see now is a lot of republican senators who are at risk of losing their seats in a general reelection continue to put pressure on those republican senators and then well see what happens if a vote were to come. But the question stop or stall because even if joe biden wins the election on november 3rd, at what point it gets certified, we dont know 100 yet, we still have those elected officials in place until the beginning of the year so all this clambering for having the Supreme Court confirmation process wait until after the election, it could still get barrelled through in november and into december. If joe biden wins, which i think he will, and we flip the senate and hold the house, then it seems very difficult from a political standpoint the republicans will continue to jam through this nominee when the American People have just rejected it. What about your colleagues there in Senate Judiciary who are saying that they want to know if judge barrett would recuse herself, if any kind of election issues come up before the court. Say she gets confirmed, becomes an associate justice. What do you think about this notion . Do you agree and is there any precedent for that . I agree, she should recuse herself. If she is confirmed, she would probably have a very long career ahead of her. Theres no reason for her to be delegitimized herself for immediately voting if that were to happen by a person who just nominated her barely a few weeks ago so i hope so if she is in fact confirmed. Lets move on to the president s last week refusal, twice, by the way, to commit to a peaceful transition of power. Heres what joe biden said about a that yesterday on msnbc. This is a typical trump distraction. Trying to make everybody wonder whether or not the election will be legit and whether or not absentee ballots matter while hes voting from the oval office to run in florida. I mean, to vote in florida. So, but i just think people in this country are going to be heard november 3rd. What is this . Is this a trump distraction or do you have legitimate concerns the president would not actually accept a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election . And i recall the time that joe biden said you know, the United States military knows how to remove an intruder or a trespasser when he was referring to removing the president from actually the white house grounds. I appreciate the active duty military. Before i did that, i had to take one oath. Not to a president or a specific person, it was to the constitution of the United States. So if joe biden win, which again, i think he will, then i do believe regardless of what donald trump thinks or says, the secret service and the u. S. Military will kindly escort him out of the white house on january 20th. Okay. Do you have concerns that have been echoed by the Biden Campaign, bob bauer was one who was saying all his concern about talking about the Supreme Court nominee and all the disconcert ing issues with voting by mail, that that will considerably serve to depress peoples enthusiasm, that they may decide to become somewhat apathetic and not vote or do you think people are stirred up enough to get out there and vote however they manage to do it . I believe people are fired up and we know from early voting that in fact, people are fired up and the best way to make sure that this election goes smoothly is for joe biden to win by a comfortable margin. So that means if wrou havent voted yet by mail, request your absentee ballot early, vote early and if youre in pennsylvania, make sure you put your ballot in that stupid secrecy envelop. Thank you for waiting with us through the Vice President s remarks. Good to see you. Joining me now, robert costa and ana marie cox, podcast host of friends like these. Heys guy, good to see you. I know you were listening to the Vice President. What are your thoughts, first, robert, about what he said and the interpretation on behalf of republicans to it . The big picture from the Vice President s speech on this sunday is his focus on health care. Just days before the debate, whether it was during his written remarks or during the question and answer period after. He kept turning the topic back to health care. Both the threats against president obamas Health Care Law and President Trumps handling of the pandemic. At this critical moment in the campaign, hes trying to avoid distractions and remind voters that health care is on the line even as all these other issues and debates crop up. Thats the money line. Right . That its all about health care and thats what we are going to hear repeatedly uttered by democrats. Thats whats on the line. Yeah. I think so. It is on the line and also i think a focus on policy and not the soap opera at the white house, not the plot twists and cliff hangers that trump is so fond of giving us. I think thats whats going to be, thats what will motivate people to go to the polls. I think if you make it about the palace intree treeg, it doesnt seem as real to people and it can depress the vote. I think reminding people that their health care is at stake, you know, can motivate people and also create an environment in which it will be hard for trump to do this thing where he, he may or may not just say he wants to stay in power. If the whole sentiment of the country is on the side of moving on, i think its hard for people at the top to do anything bar ing a military cue, which i know is sort of in a doom scrolling kind of a way, fun to think about, not going to happen. Okay. And you agree with that, robert . You think that in general, this president were to be a decisive victory by joe biden, he would leave . I dont predict anything. Im a reporter. And i would say, i think tst a serious issue, alex. This is a very serious time in the sense that the president has tested institutions and norms for three and a half years in office while ive covered him for a long time and know hes very protective of his brand and he always wants to be cast and especially casting himself as winner, this now involves power. And this is about more than a marketing attempt by President Trump and institutions in american democracy are being tested at this time. You know, speaking of brands, which is the president S Health Care brand, robert . This is a man who has repeatingly over the last four years and the better part of his campaign in 2015 and 2016, you know, talk ed about overturninga o bam care and then he gives this usually twoweek increments saying were going to put forward what our plan is and that happens periodically and says its a couple of weeks away. Do you know what his plan is . His actions speak. He gave me an interview in january of 2017, right before he had his inauguration where he promised this Major Health Care plan and a Major Health Care plan has not yet come for President Trump or the republicans. Theyve done piece mill proposals but the agenda is trying to overturn president obamas Health Care Law in federal court and at the Supreme Court level and thats the story at this time. Theyve had other projects onishes like opioid abuse, but when it comes to preexisting conditions, hes claiming something that was part of president obamas Health Care Law as his own. Ana, what is it that republicans do not get about health care and that the citizens of this country wanted . I mean we saw what happened in 2018 with the election. And we had a lot of swing shall we say, within the house and democrats won decisively and it was largely based on this issue. What is it republicans dont get here . I think theyre out of touch. I really do. I think theyre out of touch and they some of them must lack an empathy gene. The majority of people in america want to have some kind of you know, Health Care Plan covers everybody and people want preexisting conditions covered. I dont know if theres a person in this country who cant think of a thing that might become a preexisting condition for themselves. I have preexisting conditions. My husband does. Its important to me. Its hard for me to comprehend what it is that the republicans dont get, but i assume it has to do with men maoney. Rather they do get money rather than not getting whats happening. And i just want to add something to what i was saying earlier. It is a serious time. Its a very serious time. But when were talk iing about e machinery of power using violence to sustain itself, that is happening. That is happening in our streets right now. I think people need to get out and vote to keep it from happening further but lets not get carried away about a fantasy of a military coup when really we can still use the machinery of democracy for now and i happen to believe it will probably work out if we push forward. Yeah. And lets also point out that those people who have been stricken with covid, that will also become a preexisting condition so theres that to add to this. Lets talk about peaceful transition of power, both sound bites from the president well hear and joe biden. Take a listen, everyone. All im asking is people go out to vote, go out to vote and stop with this nonsense because were going to be counting ballots for the next two years an i dont want to end up in the Supreme Court or go back to congress either. This is a typical trump distraction. The people in this country are going to be heard november 3rd. Every vote will be heard. They will not be stopped and im confident all the outrageous attacks on vote iing, well havn election in this country. And hell leave. We touched on this, but you both have made the point this is a very serious time. The real issue here is whether president obama, excuse me, President Trump will leave the west wing in january of 2021 should he be defeated. The real issue is whether the Electoral College in the wake of the election will continue and what i mean by that that is legislatures across the country will have a role to play in some of these battlegrounds in electing electors to go have the constitution process play out on capitol hill in congress to certify the Election Results and weve already seen with the piece in the atlantic over the past week, a lot of movement in the gop about those electors. Yeah, that was a big piece. In fact, another piece, youre the one who writes this one in one of your latest piece. First of all, what is is public sentiment on all this . How is it being received . I cant speak for the entire public, but i live here in minnesota and i do think that this particular argument about the peaceful transfer of power is something of a distraction. I think that robert is right that what we need to focus on is the process of voting in the Electoral College. I think bill barr is a much bigger threat to democracy than trump himself. I think that it is the Justice Department and the electors and this army of lawyers that will interrupt the transfer of power. I am less, so what i guess i think is i dont want to focus on this idea of a threat to a peaceful transfer of power. I want to focus on its still going to be peaceful if they have their way, but the power will not be transferred. I want to focus on the ways that peoples will can be expressed and i am, i am hopeful again, that if we do our part, it will be expressed. And i am hopeful that if that happens, the machinery that we have in place, which has served us pretty well for this long, will create a situation where should he lose, trump will leave. But yes, we have reason to be concerned and i just have to encourage everyone who can to vote, vote early if you can and again as ted said, if you live in pennsylvania, make sure you clothe your naked ballot. Right. Let me ask you before i let you guy us go, robert, the new polls, the latest ones, we have the new nbc news marist poll showing biden lead ng a couple of key battleground states. Your poll has biden leading nationally by ten points. Whats your read on the number sns. Wisconsin remains such a key state. Can President Trump win over those suburban voters like he did in 2016 outside of milwaukee and rack up big numbers in the rural areas. Hes now going to face a challenge because the Biden Campaign is hustling in the city of milwaukee and in the suburbs and in the western part of wisconsin. So me, thats the key state to watch. Last question. Minnesota to trump is there a chance of that . I will, i will agree with robert. I dont think i should be in a prediction business here, but i see a lot of activity from progressive groups and i think people were very activated in 2018. We flipped a couple of seats around them. So i dont, i dont think its going to be a layup for the democrats. But i think they have a strong chance of keeping minnesota in the blue column where it has stayed for so long. Okay. It was a great chat, you guys. Thank you so much. Come see me again. Now to the president ial debate just two days away. Preparations for the big debate are currently underway, but theyre taking very different approaches ahead of tuesday. The debates coming up. Everyones going to be watching. How are you preparing specifically . I think i prepare every day. You know, when youre president , you sort of see everything that theyre going to be asking. Im prepared to go out and make my case as to why i think hes failed and why i think the answers i have to proceed will help the American People and the American Economy and make us safer internationally. Joining me now is a partner from williams and conley law fi firm. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. Robert, well go with you first here. What are your early impressions about what this debate is going to look like . I think that the two candidates will be debating on completely different playing fields. President trump will be talking about socialism, threats to your neighborhood, about the scourge of immigration as he sees it and i think joe biden, if he stays on message, and i think he will, will be talking about the things that matter to the American People. What are we going to do about the pandemic. How are we going to bring back a devastated economy and what are we going to do about robert i asked you this question, were getting a little choppy here, but its because id like to show our viewers the number of people you have helped prep for debates. From Geraldine Ferrero in 198 1984 what do you think is the key the a sesful preparation . Is it all about knowing everything all of the details, the facts and figures . Is it about one liners . What do you think it is . The key is designing a process where by your candidate is well served. So for instance, if youre talk ing about someone like Geraldine Ferrero in 1984 who was a threeterm congresswoman from queens, you start at a certain place. Bill clinton in 1992 who knew the issues intimately at debating in the primaries, thats another thing. You want to set up process that will help your candidate do the very best you can. And importantly, the test. The test is when he or she walks off the stage, did they not hear anything at all that they have heard from you during the practices. So thorough is part of it as well. Brett, we have joe biden whos clearly preparing while President Trump implies that being president is practice enough for the debate. Whats your reaction to their different strategies . Well, i totally agree with bob. The process works differently for each candidate. When i prepared senator mccain for the president ial debates, he didnt like doing mock debates so we did more what i would call playing pepper. Sitting around a table and asking questions and working out answers. So its a matter of what best serves the candidate. The key though is the same for every participant and that is that you stay on offense. That you drive a message. And that you create moments which capture the press imagination so that you can show competitive advantage over your opponent. Those are the keys to actually performing well in the debates. Whatever gets your candidate to that place first is important. I think the problem for incumbent president s has been that they fall sort of into the trap of the presidency. You saw this with reagan, with george w. Bush and barack obama, where their every day being president and they think that that prepares them to go out and do the debates. These arent so much exercises in policy detail as they are in message and so that takes a different level of preparation. So, do you get the sense that donald trump is preparing the way you would suggest he prepare . I mean what kind of advice would you give him . The advice id give to him is being the candidate that you were in 2016. He was relentlessly on offense in the debates and because of that, it created a problem. He was, hes the most unconventional candidate ever in president ial debates and it really created a problem for his competitors because when they tried to take him on like a conventional candidate, they failed or when they tried to take him on in the way that he debate d like marco rubio or Hillary Clinton did, they also came up emempty and so if he de like he did in 2016, it will serve him well. If he gets defensive and debates like incumbent president s have in their first debates, i think that creates a problem because it makes him on defense instead of on offense. Im going to ask you about that, robert, because a president now has four year of a record on which to be challenged, right, by the other guy. By the opposition. So does that put donald trump at a deficit then as he goes up against joe biden . Absolutely. And people ask me all the time, isnt this the same as 2016 . Why is this different from 2016 . Its very different because in 2016, donald trump was a reality show host and real estate developer. This time, hes a fouryear president of the United States of t with a record to defend. Big difference. And a little caveat on what brett said. Donald trump, President Trump, tends to go back to the things that work for him. What worked for him was his style in the primary debates many 2016. He lost all three general election debates 2016 by every fair call other than the call in polls, so i would guess hes going to go back to the style of the primary, which is deminnish, debate and denigrate and i think that if he does that, the American People will be very disappointed. Im curious, brett, since we know that donald trump won the coin toss, if you will, he will be offered the first question. How does he come out of the starting gate . What will be, will he be as robert just described . Well, i think hes got to come out of the starting gate on offense and go after joe biden and try to make this a choice election, not just a referendum on himself. And theres lot of opportunities for it and i think that well have to see how biden handle a real test like this. Hes not done an inbly tough interview up to this point in the campaign. The debates present a challenge because hes going to be interviewed by Chris Wallace and attacked by donald trump and well see how he handles that. Brett, just curious. Would you suggest that donald trump stay behind the podium, which he did not do . We all remember he was circling Hillary Clinton and i mean, it made a lot of people uncomfortable. It was as if he was stalking her. Should he just stay behind the podium . Well, in the first debates, there will be a podium, but in the town hall debate, theyre sort of free to roam the floor. If that happens, you know, physical presence is important in debates. You saw this in the gore bush debates where al gore walks up, invades george w. Bushs personal space, kind of gives him a look. That created a big moment in the debate. So how you handle physical presence will be very important. He cant appear to be trying to intimidate biden, but toupt maintain your presence on the stage. Robert and brett, i want to thank you guys both for weighing in on this. Let me ask my director quickly. Just throw up that graphic that will show everyone the topics that will be discussed and these four will be discussing them as well as we look at our debate coverage here from msnbc. It will be again the first president ial debate this tuesday night with brian williams, Rachel Maddow and joy reid. Well cover those topics later today, but more americans are voting early than ever. The numbers are stag aer ieringo what is motivating them . Aer ero what is motivating them . Its official National Coffee day is now National Dunkin day celebrate with a free medium hot or iced coffee with any purchase on september 29th. Their laundry smells moremily amazing than ever. In flings, uh, honey . Isnt that the dogs towel . Hey, me towel su towel. Theres more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze odor remover in every fling. Gain. Seriously good scent the states Republican Party is suing over a judges ruling that absentee ballots can be counted up to two weeks after election day so long as they are postmarked by november 2nd. Meanwhile, almost a third of the states voters have put in a request for an absentee ballot. Julia, this is an interesting ruling. Talk about how this could impact the election there. Yeah, alex, so voters here are very concerned about their vote counting and counting in time. Thats why we have this long line offor cars behind me here at Troy City Hall where theres drive through set up. The city clerk helped about 4000 voters yesterday and today. Voters coming in to get absentee ballots handed to them, they could fill them out, put them in a drop box. Now voters tell me theyre concerned about mail delays and the clerk here is really trying to accommodate a record 2. 39 million absentee vote ballots requested in this state of michigan and could get all of the help she could get in processing these in time. Take a listen. There is a bill right now that has passed through the legislature that would allow us an extra day to do preprocessing, the monday before the election and that is going to help immensely. And we are confident that were going to be able to get our work done in a timely manner and still have our results in on election night. Reporter it is critical for every vote to count in a state like michigan. A new nbc marist poll shows that biden is up 52 to 44 in the state but that is still within the margin of error so every vote counts. Back to you. It always does. Good point, appreciate this is that. A startling report is next. T smooth driving pays off with allstate the safer you drive the more you save youve never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today im a delivery Operations Manager in san diego, california. Weve had a ton of obstacles in finding ways to be more sustainable for a big company. We were one of the first stations to pilot a fleet of zero emissions electric vehicles. The amazon vans have a decal that says, shipment zero. Were striving to deliver a package with zero emissions in to the air. I feel really proud of the impact that has on the environment. But were always striving to be better. I love being outdoors, running in nature. We have two daughters. I want to do everything i can to protect the environment to make sure they see the same beauty ive seen in nature. My goal is to lead projects that affect the world. I know that to be great requires hard work. A new and startling report this past week about the cia making it harder for intelligence about russia to reach the white house. Politico interviewed nine and current and former officials claiming that gina haspel has been cautious about which if any russian related intelligence products make their way to Donald Trumps desk. Joining me now is one of the authors is Natasha Bertrand from politico and also an nbc news contributor. Lets get into this thing. The report is stunning. You could walk us through what the officials told you and the logic by keeping intelligence on russia from the president. Reporter yeah, so what we were told is that starting around late last year, around the time of impeachment, the cia began to become more cautious about what kind of russiarelated intelligence they were sending over to the white house downtown from the agency. And the reason for that is two different explanations is what we were told. The first is a little bit more concerning, which is that potentially cia director gina haspel doesnt want to get on the president s bad side and doesnt want him to be seeing intelligence about russia because he is known to explode in anger any time hes presented with negative information about russia. And the second possible explanation is that she is trying to protect the agency from any kind of blowback. So shes just being extra careful about what is actually going to the white house so that the agency could be seen as completely beyond her approach. And as part of that shes begun to involve the General Council of the cia Courtney Elwood in reviewing the cia that the russia house puts forward before they go downtown to the white house. So there are two possible explanations for this. The bottom line, though, is that less intelligence has been getting to the nsc about russia specifically and the National Security adviser is known to be very reluctant to bring up anything russia related around the president because hes just so sensitive about anything. So what is the risk here and how concerned should we be, if at all, about the fact that the president is kind of being kept in the dark about whatever intelligence is gained about russia . Reporter its a bit concerning in many ways. Obviously it would prevent the president from making fully informed decisions about russia policy, obviously. But on the other side of the coin though, people say well maybe this is actually better because the president advisers around him and people further down might actually be protecting that intelligence from the president who is known to kind of blurt out classified information, for example in meetings with russian officials. So some people say that is a way to protect that but the Bigger Picture is that if the president is not leading on this issue with the most up to date information about russia, then that could be a big problem. We saw that the president was insisting for example that he was never briefly orally on the russia bounties issue and therefore not going to respond appropriately. Now that might be unconvincing because he has yet to respond now that he knows about it but this is things like that could stop him from responding. It is a stunning starry. Thank you so much for bring it to us. And the speeding through of Amy Coney Barrett but why arent they doing the same for a Coronavirus Relief bill. E for a Coronavirus Relief bill. Its smarter Trading Technology for smarter trading decisions. Fidelity. ready to juvederm it . 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Lets get to the latest for you. And we begin the hour with breaking news from wilmington, delaware, where joe biden just outlined what he said are the high stakes of the election. The existence of obamacare. The former Vice President said appointing a Supreme Court nominee during the election defies every precedent and expectation. Trumps nomination should be withdrawn, i should nominate chosen by a president who has just been elected and by the pe