says but you are okay with tough questions and says no, i'm not. you don't ask abide in tough questions. how true it is? during the day i'm sure you'll hear the rest of that tape from president trump. my time is up unfortunately but neil, it's yours. neil: whining, whining, whining, i don't know. i'm sorry. both sides with this, just stop. stop. i'm sorry, stuart. did not mean to veer off course there. very -- thank you very much my friend. a lot more on that both sides playing this game and of course you see that in color tonight. the last and final debate they do have that microphone pause capability so we will see how often that is used if used at all and it could be pretty contentious and mr. varney was indicating some of the issues that could come up including stimulus and looks bumpy right

now as larry kudlow was telling him. larry doubted that something could be imminent and that's not a dramatic surprise but wayne on the markets right now and dovetails pretty well, better and looks, better for stocks, worse for stocks and you know that drill but i don't know, i've been looking at the timeline but it just ain't happening now before election day but i could be wrong. we shall see. in the meantime we are also not only focusing on that debate but what is at stake in the waning days up until the election and the president has managed to narrow some polls in key battleground states. national numbers look the same here different ways to look at this and we will look at some statistics others do not. it could change the equation. we will get into that with among others the labor secretary of the united states and we got bobby bobulinski and what he thinks people are missing as well as his read on what the

average man and woman is thinking that has nothing to do with the x posters are saying. ahead of the big debates tonight hilary vann with a pregame show out of nashville, tennessee. how it is looking. they are gearing up for the big event and it they have power right now to cut their microphones if the moderator wants to but how it will go down there. >> just a few minutes ago the president did follow through on his threat to dump the footage, his own footage from his 60 minutes interview with leslie that he cut short and stormed out of the president posted the 37 minute interview on facebook moments ago saying this is proof that he faces unfair and tougher questions and his opponents, joe biden. tonight will be the final face-off between the two candidates and some of the president's advisers want him to focus on the economy and tonight he previewed in an excerpt from his 60 minutes interview that the economy would be a top

priority of his next term. >> i asked you what is the priority, i mean, -- >> the priority now is to get back to normal. get back to where we were and to have the economy rage and be great with jobs and everybody be happy and that is where we are going. >> biden also did his own interview with 60 minutes where he was asked again about courts packing every time biden has asked about this he's given a different answer but now he says he wants a bipartisan commission to look at the issue for a few months so voters won't know his position before election day like he promised. >> you are telling us you will study this issue about whether to pack the courts? >> no, whether there's a number of alternatives that will go well beyond packing. >> this is a live ball. >> no, it is a live ball. we will have to do that and you will find that there is a lot of conservatives calling that in as well appeared last thing we need to do it turns up in court into

just a political football and whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want. >> neil, there's been talk about this mute button and how it will be used tonight. we are getting new information from the commission and learning that the moderator will not be in charge of the mute button and it will not be used outside of the two minute answer time that each candidate gets following a question and we are also learning that the term campaign has decided to put a reminder in the room with the audio tech, the person in charge of muting the microphones to make sure that he is not using it outside of that two minute timeframe and not using it to try to rein in an unruly candidate on stage. neil. neil: that's a very important distinction for just to be clear, each candidate then it's two minutes until dropped in to respond to the question but they can still disrupt the other or even the moderator herself during the rest of the debate.

that is the prescription for the craziness as well. >> yes, exactly. there is that two minute answer. and then moves to open discussion so you are right, things could get very heated on stage and there could be a lot of interrupting but the commission says they are not going to abuse that mute button to try to rein in candidates during open discussion. >> this is so going to be a drinking game. neil: what would trigger that? all get into that hilary but i got to sort things out for coverage tonight and added extra you get on foxbusiness. we explore that but hilary thank you for that cooperation but that's interesting. the backdrop for all of this is for millions of americans and it could be a moot point but the 40 million have already voted so you can make an argument that for them whatever happens tonight is after-the-fact. khazei steagall has been keeping a close eye on this and joins us out of dallas. casey.

>> neil, the newest numbers in fact out not long ago and more than 42 million americans have already cast their ballots for this election as of today. the largest majority of them right here in the lone star state, texas, some 5.3 million of those votes done right here in the lone star state. remember, a whole extra week was added on to the early voting time here in texas because of the pandemic and some of the largest numbers, the largest returns that we are seen so far in the urban areas in the metropolitan areas but really a concentration done in harris county, texas which is the houston area for the first eight days more than 800,000 ballots have been cast in there. behind california's 4.5 million florida ranks number three, by the way, in total early votes by state more than 3.6 million floridians have already voted.

analysts say at least 21 million voters have also turned out and what are considered the battleground states. listen. >> there is a great deal of energy behind this election cycle about 90% of americans say they know who they will vote for for president and are not likely to change their minds. >> long lines have also been reported across the state of west virginia which started early voting last wednesday. by the way, there's a brand-new poll that was released yesterday that shows, are you ready for this, a virtual dead heat between resident donald trump and former vice president joe biden here in texas at about 4 47%. a dead heat, neil, and a state that is normally ruby red. back to you. >> that is amazing. we will see how it sorts out but casey steagall in dallas, thank you. let's get the reed on where we stand right now in two weeks to

go before the election for charles payne is with us, gary, liz. liz, we are hearing the presidents itching to get into this biden the stuff that he feels there's a lot there and there might very well be but then you have people like mike huckabee who says don't waste your time and the american public really doesn't care right now. it might down the road but a right does not now and you got to sell a bigger more compelling story that is nothing to do with this bird what you think of that? >> i kind of agree with the governor. i think this is a great opportunity for president trump to show the rest of the country, not the people who attend his rallies, but the people who generally watch the network news et cetera what he is really like. they catch him constantly as bullying and belligerent and disruptive and he's looked that way in the first debate. this time i want him to smile and i want him to make people like him. i know that sounds sappy but

what we know is 63% of biden supporters are voting against donald trump, not for biden, not for his policies so this is an opportunity for trump to say hey, i delivered a great economy and i will do it again. in fact, is underway as we speak and we can build this country back to where we were just a few months ago and, along with me and i'm will make your lives better. i think -- i wish larry kudlow was doing the presentation because you know, he lay such a solid economic case and very credible. neil: yeah, the smiling thing. i've been telling charles payne that for years now. just smile. [laughter] people love him the same but, she raises a good point. charles, by the way, that's advice you don't need i might add but what do you make of this idea that the president came off a little too argumentative in the first one and he should have held back on that but let biden

dig his own grave with answers that are not so what did you make of that? >> i think liz made great points. by the way, i think after my first tv my two -year-old son asks me to smile more so i've tried ever since. you know, . neil: that was me, charles. that was me. [laughter] >> i got to tell you i spend time with president trump and the president trump i spent time with, he is just, he is not the person he's described in the media nor the person he allows them to manipulate. trump is a new yorker up and i'm a new yorker. we love everyone but as soon as you punch as we punch you back and we'll punch you back harder. he never moves away from that. i would love to see him move away from that. i would love to see him allow biden to have to answer these questions and to hold himself to account. i do wish people could see more of that side.

although sometimes he puts it out there and when he says the sarcastic and we know it's a joke it's never reported that way in the media so he's got a no-win position there. harpo not only economic success but how it was done and this is what i am going to do. right now i think people want a roadmap and they know you did it because they lived it. explain quickly if you can't tonight how you would do it in the second term but laid out there for us because the other side is not, they can display how they do it other than the world is coming to an end soon and climate change or rich people are getting richer. explain exactly to the american public how you have blue-collar wages rising at the highest phase of her and how you have poverty for blacks and hispanic votes go for the lowest level ever, lay it out there for us with a smile. neil: you know, gary, if the president is losing this thing in the face of an economy that is clearly turning around and we try not to pay politics with these numbers but i take the

data the crimson process it and i've seen existing home sales and unexpected nearly doubled it so seven out of ten of these homes, by the way, sold within a month or less and we never seen anything like that. i see that and other related sales and half the job loss now backs from the worst of the pandemic but the president is in a world of hurt in the polls. we can call them faked or rigged or we can call them wrong but they could prove wrong on election day so how does he make a closing argument tonight? what do you think? >> i just remember a lot of people saying hillary clinton lost because of the likability and i think if the president thinks he will win this by tweeting out that kristin welker is biased and pensive -- if he does that tonight it just will not help him in any way shape or form. i do believe smiles do matter but i also believe numbers do

matter. he's got to put the numbers out tonight. the numbers that are his ammo. we did 3.5 on appointment for hispanics and black that was the lowest ever and we do have a stark contrast in the fact that he let the economy keep trillions of dollars and joe biden wants to take trillions of dollars out of the economy and i would jump over all of that. i know there is no topic tonight and that is not a practice on the debate front about economy and jobs but one of them is american families and bottom line is american families need to have jobs, good jobs, good wages and we had it back before the pandemic. he just needs to jump all over that and again, let me repeat and i don't think it is sappy he needs to smile and show some charm. neil: interesting. let's look at how the market is handling all of this and i'm not savvy enough to say they are telegraphing the results or even

factoring this into their thinking could be charles report looking at the progress of stimulus are not but whatever you think of joe biden this is all that spending that will come along with the democratic administration and the more likely if they run the tables in the senate as well and hold on to the house. he will get stimulus like you've never seen before and that will be very, very good for at least the short-term boost for boosting the economy and my sense in the markets. what to think of that? >> so, that's a casein point of view. i disagree that higher taxes is ever the panacea for a struggling economy but look what is happening right now, i think it's are markable. spending is up year over year and all most every category except those that have been really clobbered by the pandemic like airlines for the truth is the american consumer is alive and well and i think one of the

reasons the republicans are resistant to a 2 trillion-dollar program here is because this economy is coming back. if larry kudlow is right and i think he is that we will see five-10% gains in the fourth quarter and what i am reading is that is likely to spill over into 2021, you know, that's a very solid case. i think the market is transfixed by the idea of giant government spending and i wish someone would tell me a time when that turned out to be the greatest road forward for our country. neil: you know, charles, they were perfectly fine when it was bailing out their little chinese but having said that what you make of that argument? i know your fondness for the president and his policies but the market could narrowly go on as it has and with joe biden in the white house. >> yeah, i think it's sort of

look, i was going to say a cop out but maybe is not the right word. these folks of wall street understand when you start to hike up business taxes but regulations across the board and were in the middle of earnings season ultimately the market will go up or down based on the direction of corporate earnings but corporate earnings will be much lower in hiring will start to go down and there could be a sugar high if we get trillions of dollars on the sidelines now in savings and there could be a sugar high from another $3 trillion but everyone on wall street understands that will make it a lot harder to generate earnings ultimately earnings, profits, hiring and will be tough. if you think it's a stock pickers market it will deftly be a stock pickers market in the future. neil: gary, -- >> make sure these don't head for the hills but i agree with liz in the sense that we've got something going now.

it needs a booster shot but be careful of the idea that is just printing money and all this cash will somehow find its way to the coffers of middle-class, lower middle-class people and it's not going to give them permanent jobs and not help them at all, neil. you might get a short sugar high from the markets but then it will be selective. neil: thank you for that. we thought we lost you for a second because you weren't smiling. gary, interest rates are backing up a little bit with the great ado about it won't be one of the low yields or whatever .8 or whatever they are at. what you make of that? what do you think is writing it? >> i think it is anticipating stimulus and may be getting over the hump with the virus but keep in mind i think ten years at .8 tenths of a percent and keep in mind the bank is about to go

into negative rates so we will be down for the count and lot, we can go up to 1.5% 5% and it's still ridiculously low and that won't affect mortgages that much so i think we are in good stead on the interest front. neil: thank you very much great list, intriguing on the smiling and i think that was a very substantive thing to bring out. we are getting e-mails and this is faster quickly you responded to this. one viewer said neil, i'm not finding for you smile a lot you are a jack ass. was that you? [laughter]

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neil: your concern, you know, the concern is that how this looks for the rest of the world as well. >> the world sees us floundering and off-balance and going through what we are going through now and probably will go through over the next few weeks unfortunately. it makes the world more volatile and it makes us lose confidence

but we need to raise the issue of russian interference in our election because frankly, that interference is what is undermining the american election system and we ought not to accept that. neil: all right, two former defense secretaries leon panet panetta, topper publican both serve on the obama and ministration both worried about the message around confusing on election, especially if delayed with russian interference and how today we find out to security officials that it could extend to iran and other countries and trying to mess with us on the big day. the imprecations of all of this and how we look to the rest of the world right now with john hannah former national security advisor. what do you think, john? we have combined concerns, whatever your politics, be wary that this ends up being, you know, 2,000 bush gore thing on the steroids. been 20 years and nations have stayed around changed a lot and

it's more polarized than it was then and it could get messy. what you think of what they are saying? >> yeah, no, i take it seriously neil. there is no question that america is standing as the world's oldest and most vibrant constitutional democracy and it's a huge asset for that united states and our standing in leadership in the world and our adversaries know that and they are going to seek to do everything they can and they are doing everything they can as our intelligence leaders told us in that press conference last night to pick away at the scabs of dissension and the civil strife and the differences we have here in the united states to exacerbate those into so violence and chaos and to fundamentally weaken the united states and the international system so that they can really take over in ways that will be very detrimental to the interests of the american peop people.

neil: john, i was thinking ahead of your coming because i like to do my homework and i knew you were coming and you deserve that but one of the things i wanted to ask you was even if it is clear, even if it is overwhelming from one candidate to the other i don't think the losing candidate will concede that night. a landslide could change everything, i grant you, but it could go on a while because counting state ballots especially states like pennsylvania allow six days of after the election to count them up we've got $42 million right now and we could have doubled that by the time election day rolls around but it would be a record whatever the case and it will be a lot more than in person voting for the first night in history. this could drag on a while. how do you suggest each candidate comport himself in that environment? >> listen, i think it is essential that all our national leadership from the president on down who are both political parties be exuding a message

that even if it does take time, if we are going to be counting ballots, that we do need to count every legitimate cast ballot and then we send a message that we have confidence in the integrity of our system that we are going to give it the time it needs and that we are going to count every legitimate cast ballot and we are not going to allow foreign adversaries to so dissension and chaos and try to instigate violence that weakens the american democratic order. i think we need unity on at least that message, neil. unfortunately, i am not sure we've got it because as everyone knows the country really is on a nice edge and without that kind of leadership of our entire political system across both parties we couldn't be entering a very dangerous time after november 3. neil: i hope it is not the case

but hopefully cooler, calmer and more judicious heads prevail on this for john hannah, great catching up with you. thank you very much. >> thank you, neil. neil: ahead of the big debate tonight some reassuring numbers, jobless came claims in case you are counting, slowest levels we've seen since the earliest days of the pandemic back in march and april. not getting much media attention. by the labor secretary of the united states says the media should end tonight is a good opportunity. that's next. ♪ ♪

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♪ neil: all right, i don't know if

it will come up in the latest today as we take that battleground states where it's getting hotter and hotter with each passing day but in case you did not hear and a lot of you probably did not jobless claims dropped to a filing of about 787,000 americans and that is very high but its lowest we've seen since the earliest days of the pandemic back in april and march of this year. i should also point out that what we talked about a lot of job losses more than half of the 20 million loss at the height of the pandemic had been made back in my next guest wants to expand on that here and secretary of labor for the united states of america secretary, good to have you. this trend surprised even the most bullish of economists, particularly when it came to this claims number. i note this could be volatile data but what did you make of it? >> neal, good to be with you. it is good news. what we saw was the initial claims that is the initial

filings for unappointed benefits last week were reported at a number of 110,000 fewer than the reported number just one week before and that is progress but what we also see is that continuing claims that as people who are on unemployment and that number continues to drop significantly week to week and we now know that basically in the month of september about 3 million people went out and went off unemployment so these are very good trends but let me say i continue to think that the more significant report has been the monthly employment report that our bureau of labor statistics puts out and that has shown the job market coming back so much more quickly then what was being expected back in april. neil, when you and i were having some conversations back in april and may i thought we could get under 10% on employment by december and very few people

thought that. you know, we are well ahead of that now and just one last report that i would mention that i think is interesting we put out a couple of days ago, this is state unemployment and what we learned is that more than half the states actually are below 7% unemployment right now. more than half are at 6.7 or below and what we see is a handful of very large states have much higher unemployment so california 11% on appointment in september brought it down just .2 from august, new york, at 10% on appointment and those are three of our five largest states. if you factor those out nationwide these figures look much better. so, obviously we had a ways to go still and these numbers are higher than we want but they show a very strong trend together with other good economic news that we are seen in existing home sales report.

neil: again, the fact that it's up almost 10% and one out of four of these homes were selling in less than a month which is unprecedented but having said that i know you try to skew politics but i talked to many republicans, mr. secretary, that is the stuff the president should pound tonight. other prominent republicans are saying as strongly as you feel about the biden e-mails and the new york post story, it's not resonating. this kind of stuff, proven on the job front, economizer, existing home sales that is the stuff that is -- do you think that's true that that is what he should be pounding tonight? >> like you said, neil, in my past days as secretary i don't do politics but i will say this that you are right that this is very good news and that it is much better canonic news that was being projected at the start of this pandemic and let me

remind you that during the last downturn in the financial crisis, 2009, 2010 it took nearly three years, 34 months to get unemployment under eight and a half percent. we got on the plummet under 8.5% in four months from may till august. president trump built an extraordinary economy in those first three years and it was productive that we would add around 2 million jobs and he added seven. we built this amazing economy that was the inclusive economy therein important reports. neil: so maybe tout that. i see where you are coming or without saying it all right but i would be remiss hard getting back to your wonderful dad into the former supreme court justice scalia you turned you heard what happened when democrats boycotted the hearing denying republicans the forum coram they would technically need to carry it forward. lindsey graham and the

republicans went ahead with the vote anyway and senate to the full senate for a vote on monday presumably without any democratic members. what you think of all of this? >> it was a unanimous vote. she deserves that. this is more good news today that she has cleared the committee that she will head toward the floor. mia barrett did clerk for my father and he thought very highly of her and would be very pleased did i know my mother is thrilled for her. she think the american people have seen just an admirable, exemplary person but as a judge, jurist she was just so sharp in that hearing but. neil: but as you pointed out, secretary, unanimous with republican vote for the first time in american history the other party has not voted at a all. with your dad be worried about the signal that sends or is it just a sign of our times?

may be a sign of coming attractions on the road. >> my father did speak to this a little bit, neil and what he said was that as judges on more themselves from the words of the statute, dealing the work they're doing from the text and original meaning of the constitution and just aside to enact their personal policy views in their decisions. then the courts will become embroiled more in politics. that is why being adhering to the text of the law and adhering to the original meaning and text of the constitution were so important to him and that is why, i think it's important to judge barrett she understands the role of the judge and i think the politics you see on the court is a reflection on it's one of the arrows results when judges inject themselves into political controversy in the hot policy disputes rather than just sticking to what is in

the constitution and in the statutes among people amend the constitution where they feel they need to. neil: well put. secretary, very good at seeing you again for it be well be safe. be healthy. the labor secretary scalia. the queue. tonight debate you might've heard a thing or two. we talked to liz peek earlier and said it went her tire either candidate to smile more and maybe speak less. who is the guest we could get to talk about the behaving nicely into quorum and with dignity? joe piscopo came to mind that he is next. (vo) i'm a verizon engineer

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♪ neil: all right, the last debate tonight and each candidate has a lot of steak although 4.2 million have approximately

voted already but so is this after-the-fact and fact and i want to go to joe piscopo, widely successful talk show that gathers democrats and republicans and they are very civil to each other and both sides love him and the guy could run for governor now, i think. having said that joe i want to tap the side to view the few people know about and the fact that you offer class and dignity. i know you hide it but i think the one thing we need in this is advice from you for the candidates about how to behave tonight. the reason i mention it is liz peek was here and said it would not hurt either of these guys to smile more, argue less and maybe even talk less but what do you think? >> i agree with you. i always like when the president flashes that beautiful smile that that gal loved, you know during the abc interview. i just saw you with secretary scalia, by the way, honored.

i don't know that they all go together but nice three italia italians. [laughter] but he was right, go on the economy. i'm telling you, everyone is doing good despite the pandemic. not everybody but you can see that there is hope. in the economy and i think the president should go on after it also, they are doing the mute button so i was going he should not attack and he should not say anything about but he's just very simply say hold up the sign and keep talking. [laughter] neil: joe, what is neat about the microphone thing, very good, keep going. what is interesting about the mic thing is that the moderator doesn't control it and it's

limited to those opening statements, two-minute answers at the beginning of each of these, you know, segment and every 15 minutes a new segment comes up and that is the point at which the other guy cannot interrupt but, but later on they can interrupt so if we could still have them interrupt less what you think of that? >> you are absolutely right. your point is well taken is that for the president to just don't engage and you got kristin from nbc and joe biden and they will attack president trump on this and if i were him i would smile and just smile and state the facts in those two minutes little excitement they have but you are absolutely right. you know they will do that. i think if you could just say presidential on this then he will just, he will throw them off their game completely because they will beat him and prod him and they will stoke him

and you know what, he should sit back and be the president. neil: well, as you mentioned last time we talked about the first debate that he actually helped joe biden which wasn't necessarily have a 2 trillion response but he gave him a way out of not explaining his position on packing the court and what happened with the obama ministration on the recovery so he gave them the dodge out there. but i'm just wondering, do you think it will make a big difference tonight, one way or the other? it is late in the game and if you think about it the difference this year is so many have already voted. >> it will make a difference if the president just sits back. so many people and i know from the audience they are so tired of this president being attacked. i had somebody close to me say you know what, i wasn't going to vote for donald trump until as they sought the savannah guthrie interview and they said my god, they're piling on this guy and i'm so voting for him now.

it will work to his benefit if he stands back, as you said. i think that is the best way to do it. let them bury themselves. i think that is the best way to do it. don't forget, in the morning on the radio if you don't mind me, i could just plug. [laughter] neil: you are just, so shallow. i admire that. [laughter] i don't know how you feel about this but he whines about the media and i get that and he does get disproportionate share but it's too much. so you didn't like leslie so why did you get the interview in the first place? doesn't like this and everyone at boxes in lockstep with praising him and so stop, stop. why does he do that so much because some of these other bigger issues you get into and i know on your finest show those are all good issues as well. that is his trump card here. this one says this so stop.

>> i understand what you're saying but again, my audience is mostly women. it is a lot of women do listen to the shewbread go figure. i'm so honored to have these great cows listen but every time i say what you say i said being presidential mr. president and they nail me on twitter good when they come back they say how else is the president supposed to answer? you got everyone answer him so he got somebody's got to answer it. he feels like rightly so according to my audience they say the guy has got to defend himself. it's an onslaught like you and i have ever seen in her lifetime. neil: why not just do the ronald reagan fingered there you go again or just left it off. in his one and only debate with jimmy carter they were all coming after him, clueless cowboy, right-wing not, he just the guy was like water off his back. >> yes, well there you go. neil: you owe it to your italian heritage. [laughter]

>> what are you looking at? start with that. italian attitude. neil: you thank you should mix it a little more? get in your face but not too much and let biden answer some of the questions so maybe he can hang himself and leave it at that. >> yes, president trump is a fighter. you know, it's great. i get criticized for not fighting enough on the radio but i think nice will go a long way today. neil: i disagree. i'm not throwing ubs. i thank you balance it out nicely. i wonder who screams or calls because you get doozies that come in that i think are calling from hospitals but i'm not going to, i'm not going to insinuate but i just know that there is something going on but it's working. >> we love everybody. neil: no, no, i know you do. thank you for sharing your time from your bruce wayne a mansion.

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♪ ♪ neil: now we know it's hunter biden's laptop, but we're discovering a whole lot of stuff about that laptop. jacqui heinrich has much more for us. >> reporter: hey, neil. the biden campaign has denied wrongdoing multiple times. they've cited the former vice president's tax returns as proof that he didn't take in any of this money, that he's not the big guy as referenced in some of those documents. now, lying on your taxes is a crime. if that statement turns out to be untrue. but the campaign has also cited senate-led -- or, excuse me, republican-led senate investigations that they say proves that biden didn't bend or manipulate u.s. foreign policy to enrich his family. an 87-page report released by chairman ron johnson and chuck grassley didn't produce damning evidence against joe biden but

acknowledged hunter biden's business dealings kind of made things awkward. senator ron johnson said on hannity hunter biden and other members of the biden family did profit from that name, accusing the media of ignoring this story. this was biden's first response to the allegations in a local news interview earlier this week. >> this is the same garbage rudy giuliani, trump's henchman, it's a last ditch effort in this effort to smear me and my family, and the vast majority of intelligence people is have come out and said there's no basis at all. >> reporter: the biden campaign declined to give me any new statement in light of these new documents that have come out, again referring me back to those tax returns. neil? neil: all right. we'll seal -- see if it comes up tonight. the president certainly itching to make sure it does. more after this. get real-time insights

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♪ neil: all right, ahead of the big debate tonight where we stand on the corner of wall and broad, the dow in and out of positive territory, right now up about 44 points. the back and forth on stimulus and where it stands the has been part of that. nancy pelosi hinting that they're very, very close to a deal here. you might have heard from a number of republican senators not quite convinced that would

happen. even if it does, it would be unwelcome in the senate, so we'll see where that goes. a lot of this comes at a time when we're looking at how battleground states are going to be dealing with this where in some cases polls are tightening, in others they're not tightening at all. jackie deangelis has more. >> good afternoon, neil. nashville, tennessee, that is the site of the second debate tonight where the two candidates are going to face off. this is the 2016 electoral map. i remind you that tennessee is a red state. it went largely for president trump in 2016, and we're expecting it to be the same this year. but as you said, it's really about the messaging tonight and speaking to the voters in those battleground statements. so when we say that, we're talking about states like ohio, for example, and wisconsin as well. we've got a brand new fox news poll. trump has actually closed the gap in ohio and flipped the momentum here. he's leading there 48-45%. now, remember that this state has 18 electoral votes, and it

typically picks who is going to win the election. in fox's september poll, trump was down by 5 points. now, i want to go talk about the advanced voting that we're looking at in ohio, because this is really important especially for this particular election. you can see here 15.3% of registered voters or is have already cast some sort of early ballot, right? so more than 1 million have mailed them in. early in-person voting just about half that number, and that's going to be a very important part of this particular story. now, president trump and his team have not let up on ohio. as a matter of fact, vice president pence is making two stops there this week. he is going to be in lucas county, it's a county that hillary clinton won in 2016. i want to take a look at wisconsin as well and see how we're doing in the polling there. president trump, according to our new fox news poll, he is still down 44% to joe biden's 49%. but trump campaigned real hard here last time, and it helped

him win the state. he's already made visits there as well. when it comes to the advance voting in wisconsin, look what's happening here. very different picture than what we saw in ohio. 13.8% of voters have cast a ballot, but you have a lot more in-person voting than you do the mail-in ballots. what's expected here is that the mail-in ballots will sort of shift the scale for joe biden, the early in-person ballots might shift that scale for president trump, neil. neil: yeah. it's all those mail-in ballots across the region that's making you wonder how do you handicap all of this. we we shall see. jackie deangelis, thank you very much. for joe biden himself trying to protect a lead, the issue isn't what he says tonight, but the few appearances he's had with the media on other subjects where they catch him making a comment that generates controversy. take a look at this. >> america was an idea, an idea. we hold these truths to be self-evident.

we've never lived up to it, but we've never walked away from it before. and i just think we have to be more honest and let our kids know as we raise them what actually did happen. neil: all right. we never lived up to it. that's what a lot of republicans, conservatives are seizing on, that he thinks as a country we have failed in that regard. former louisiana governor, bobby jindal, former presidential candidate with us right now. governor, what do you think of what he said, we have never lived up to those ideals? >> well, neil, first of all, thanks for having me back on your show. look, i think you're right, there's a reason they keep joe locked up in the basement. they don't want him saying things like this. the america he describes is not the america that inspired my parents to come halfway across the world nearly 50 years ago. neil, they came here for freedom and opportunity. no, america's not perfect, but we are the best country in the entire world. and the left has gotten so down

on america, they're no longer proud of america. the joe biden you and i know, the joe biden america's known for the past 47 years would never have said this about america. he's truly been captured by the radical left of the democratic party. they're not proud of america. so, look, the modern-day left wants to describe america as irredeemable, as systematically race racist, and that's just not true. we're not perfect, we all need to work to make this country even better than she is, but the reality is this is the greatest country filled with opportunity for all, and my parents found a generous nation when they came here. neil: you know, governor, i seem to remember a very dark, dismal inaugural address on the part of donald trump that cast america in a far more negative light than anything i heard out of joe biden in these recent comments. i'm not, you know, giving excuse to either, but the president's disparaging comments about fellow republicans, about what they'll do, sell america to hell in a hand basket here, their

401(k)s are destroyed if he doesn't get in, it's the end of everything that you love and hold dear in america if he doesn't get reelected. i think it's safe to say two can play at that game, and if it's the debbie downer game, i give the president a big 'em on that. what do you think -- big edge on that? >> well, look, neil, this is the political season. you expect politicians to tell you this is the most important election of our lifetimes, the world's going to end if we tonight elect them. candidates always do that. what's different is the democrats have embraced this idea that america, it was founded on structural racism. that's different from saying that, yes, america was founded by men and women that were imperfect and that we've got work to do and we're always striving to make a more perfect union. i think this is different. i think the critical race theory, systematic racism, and i think trump was right to try to stop taxpayer dollars subsidizing this critical race nonsense at least in our federal government. i would hope more private sector -- neil: but on race issues, governor, and i know what you're

trying to say, he is not exactly bringing the nation together. he has said things that do raise your eyebrows here. i just find -- it'd sort of be like me, governor, giving you dietary advice. [laughter] you're thin, i'm not going to go there, but who is the president to talk about what's right about america versus what divides america? >> i'm, obviously, a republican, i think biden is not strong enough to stand up to bernie sanders9 and the rest in his party. regardless how the election unfolds, i do think it's important we come together as a cup. i want my side to win, i want republicans to keep the senate, continue us to cut taxes and confirm conservative judges and grow the economy. but regardless of what happens november 3rd, we do have to unite as a country. i think that we've got to put aside this apocalyptic talk, this nonsense that what divides us is more important than what

unites us, and we've got to put aside this nonsense that we dislike each other so much. the reality is what unites us is far more important. we're americans first. i believe -- i'm a christian first, american second and republican, democrat, conservative, liberal, all of that comes after that. regardless e of who wins this election, and i do hope it's the republicans, i do think there's going to be a great need for us to be called back together to fight the covid challenge, rebuild our economy and take on a rising china. i think we've got real challenges ahead us. yes, there are important differences, but what unites us is far more. whoever wins this election has got to unify the country. neil: bobby jindal, thank you very much, governor. of we'll see what happens tonight in less than, what, 12 days or whatever it is now. all right, i want to go to austan goolsbee, former obama economic council chair, but before i do and this is an opportunity for you to respond to something your former boss said about the economy and what

donald trump is saying about the economy. let's take a quick look at this. >> donald trump likes to claim he built this economy, but america created 1 is.5 million more -- 1.5 million more jobs in the last three years of the obama/biden administration than in the first year of the trump/pence administration. he did inherit the longest streak of job growth in american history. but just like everything else he inherited, he messed it up. this white house a pandemic playbook. we don't know where that playbook went. cases are rising again across this country. donald trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us. he can't even take the basic steps to protect himself! neil: all right. you probably caught a lot of that, austan.

on the economy, i've always argued both men can take a bow for it, certainly from the worst days of the meltdown wren we were looking at -- when we were looking at a million jobs a month that were just disintegrating when barack obama took office, but things picked up. we know that now. and the president, prior to the pandemic, things picked up from that level. we know that now. i why can't we just tip our hats to both? >> yeah, look, neil, you and i together, we're the only two people in this country who are ready to tip our hats to both of them. you cannot say that it was not impressive, what the obama/biden administration did. they took an unbelievable recession, turned it around and cut the unemployment rate dramatically, had very impressive job market performance, and it's credit to the trump administration that they continued that. it did not come apart. they did not add -- president obama's right, they did not add as many jobs in three years of

trump as they added the last three years of the obama administration, but hats off to both of them. we, until march of this year, we had not i screwed it up. the other line that you did not include that i thought was a fair line, though pretty tough, was president obama said that president trump wants to take all the credit for the economy he inherited and wants to take none of the blame for the pandemic that he ignored. and i do think there is an element of truth to that, and that's the hardest thing that president trump's trying to get from under, which is the american people think he messed up the covid response in a big way. neil: we could pick apart that, we we can also pick apart the last three years of the obama administration versus the first three years of the trump administration, maybe go back to the first three years of the obama administration, it's just mind-numbingly detailed to me, i

don't want to go there. having said that, do you think it's fair when joe biden says this is the first president who could leave office with fewer jobs when he left office when the pandemic was the big elephant in the room here? i'm saying you can say what you will about whether the president made it worse in this country, but this was a worldwide phenomenon. and when it comes to deaths per 100,000, we rank 11th on that, on that list. so is it fair to say what joe biden has said about this economy and about the tumble in jobs when the pandemic was a huge reason for that? not limited to the united states, the world. >> the pandemic is a huge reason. but i do think that it is somewhat fair if we're talking about the job performance that the u.s. economy's job performance has been dramatically worse than any other rich country. on the health side, you can say

maybe our death rates are equaled but some others, but in virtually every country of the world where they better controlled the public health aspect of the disease, their unemployment rate did not soar like it did here. if you go to korea, the unemployment rate actually went down from what it was before covid. so i don't think that's unfair to say -- neil: what about the argument that half those jobs lost, and there were quite a few, you're quite right, but half of those have been made back. it's volatile from the days i used to talk to you in your position with the obama administration, very volatile. but the trend has been more of a friend to the economy. >> that's true. neil: where we were at our worst stage. >> look, we have had a rapid snapback of about half of the whole that covid -- hole that

covid dug. and that's great. i'm glad that we've had that. i think the question that you see in all the polling when people express that 27% of america thinks we're on the right track and big majorities think that the white house has mishandled the pandemic, i think it's because you still have have got 20 million people on unemployment. and you've still got millions of people out of work. and the snapback, while rapid, is not 100%. we need to get back to where we were before. neil: fair enough. let me step back from all of this. i mean, you probably have been reading all these investment bank reports on what happens if joe biden is elected. they go on to say what happens if he takes the senate with him. goldman sachs is among those saying a blue wave will create a green wave. of i'm not talking a climate green wave, i'm talking money. all of that spending that typically comes when democrats run the table.

by the way, republicans should hardly judge deficits and concerns about overspending. i'm not here to take sides, but that it will offset the impact of higher taxes either on the corporate side or on the well-to-do. do you buy that premise? because even goldman says it might be short-lived, but it had been real. what do you think? >> look, that's kind of -- we've had the discussion many times about this where do you think growth comes from in the country, and i think we've had some serious deficits in our investments, in our public investments, in our infrastructure, in our skill base and education of the work force, in the care economy and things like that. there's no doubt that joe biden's program is we're going to restore taxes on high income people, big corporations back to something like historic levels and use the money to make those investments that we haven't been making.

i think's good for growth. i think a lot of these reports, you saw moody's say that they thought the biden plan would add 7 million more jobs than the trump plan. i don't know if those numbers are exactly right, and i know that there are republicans who claim different. i will just tell you my own view is those investments, there's a lot of bipartisan agreement by americans not in an election year. there's a bipartisan agreement that we ought to be making those informments and that -- investments and that they would be food for growth in the country. neil: yeah, i'm not meaning to put aspersions on moody's, but it has a vested interest in a democratic administration that tends to spend a lot. they grade bonds and the rest, so there might be an interest there. leaving that aside, do you think right now that the administration in this environment, whatever you think of tax increases, whatever you think of how the rich could absorb those better than anyone else, that this would be the environment to do it?

that, as you said, things are still dicey now, even joe biden said this is a lousy recovery. so would you be raising taxes right away in an environment like this? >> i mean, i think that we've had this weird what people are calling the k-shaped economy that there are significant chunks of the economy that they don't have a recession at all. their incomes have risen quite significantly over the course of this recession. and if those people pay taxes that are more correlated with what their historic rates are, i don't view that as a problem at all. i think if you take that money and you apply it to investments to help the middle class which we know helps the growth rates in the country, that's not a net negative, that is a net positive. neil: all right. austan, very good catching up with you, thank you for joining us. austan goolsbee, former numbers

cruncher under barack obama. charlie gasparino, there's a growing debate here that even if the president were to be reelected, he might have to be looking at tax hikes himself. the story you're not hearing that maybe you should, right after this. ♪ muck. ♪ ♪ stay restless with the icon that does the same, the rx crafted by lexus. lease the 2020 rx350 for $409 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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neil: what if i told you no matter who wins in 12 days from now, the fact of the matter is tax hikes are coming? the they're just not the obvious ones you would expect. gerri willis has been doing some digging around and has some the eye-popping details. >> reporter: hey, neil, that's right. you know, you would have thought at tonight's debate taxes would be a big topic, but the irony is that americans are already talking more about taxes than the candidates, and that's because on november 3rd voters in 17 states will weigh in on changes to tax codes dealing with everything from pot to property. let's dig in. california voters or are set to decide whether to end a decades-long policy that caps local tax rates at 1% and preventive taxing properties based on full market value. now prop 15 would hike taxes on businesses' properties valued at

$3 million or more and could end up raising $7-12 billion for state revenue. now, property owners say such a tax comes at a bad time for small business owners who are already struggling to stay afloat. but there's more, wait. voters in illinois will decide whether to get rid of the state's flat income tax and impose a graduated income tax instead for earners of $250,000 or more, that's the high tax rate in that state. rates would go to 7.75% from 4%95%. and, i don't think --4.95 %. and chicago voters will decide whether to raise gas taxes by three cents a gallon and hike property taxes by 97 million, a level that people say is the biggest tax for property ever. of course, they're also after vices, vice taxes a hot topic e. five states -- arizona, mississippi, minnesota new jersey and south dakota -- all

deciding whether to legalize sales taxes on marijuana. colorado and oregon will decide whether to increase taxes on tobacco and e-cigs to pay for state-run health care programs. and, of course, that's not all. there's more, more, more, neil. alaska voters will decide for the first time whether to impose a tax on oil producers in the north slope. bad timing for a market that's been suffering mightily. neil. neil: all right, gerri, thank you very, very much. the impact of all of this with charlie gasparino right now among some of the issues that might come up in the debate tonight, who gets taxed and what. certainly what's happening on states, you know, i live in new jersey, i know you're out in connecticut here, but the fact of the matter is on local levels, that's a whole other story. doesn't get much coverage. what do you think? >> yeah. i mean, there are democrats that are running a lot of these states -- [laughter] these high-tax statements, you know, they're a facing massive budget deficits. but here if you're worried about

tax policy, neil, and federal taxes going up, here's a little bit of good news for you. and i've been looking at various parts of the markets, what they're trying to price in, in recent days in particular as the hunter biden news has gone out, as more people are sort of digesting the joe biden economic policies that would be a radical change from what president trump has proposed. and as the polls seem to be tightening, as that's happening, there are market bets right now pricing in a trump victory. and i will say this, that it's not, like, totally apparent in the stock market which has been up and down. it's not totally apparent in the bond markets where yields have been going up because of federal deficits are going to go up either way, right? because we're in a pandemic recession, and if joe biden gets in this, they're really going to go up. but you have to look at specific parts of the markets. my trading sources are directing me to two parts of the market, somewhat i soar thetic, that is

pricing in a trump victory. number one, if you look at the recent trading in recent days, you've got to go after the trump tax return story came out after the debate, look more recently, solar energy stocks have been tanking. now, why are they tanking? well, there's a bet going on that the green new deal or whatever joe biden is going to propose, whatever iteration of that, is not going to happen because he might not win. and that's clearly being priced into those stocks. all you have to do is look them up. i threw a couple of them at the producers. they're not doing well in recent days. the second trade going on, neil, and this is fascinating -- again, you've got to go into some esoteric markets, look at the move index, an index that tracks volatility on treasury bonds. now, again, if you are -- either way we're going to have a higher deficit, so that's why yields are going up right now. so if trump gets in there, higher deficits because we're still going to have a recession.

he's not calling for massive cutbacks in spending. joe biden gets in there, you're going to have spending. here's why the move is going down recent9ly. they're pricing in that biden's spending plan, which is going to be much more expensive than trump's, will not get in there. so you don't have the volatility on the index the that tracks treasury bonds. as you know, treasury bond prices will go down if there's a wide deficit, the bigger deficit with biden. esoteric, but clearly these two markets are pricing in the possibility that is growing that trump could win. we should also point out that these markets aren't always right. [laughter] i'm giving you a snapshot about what's going on right here and right now. neil, back to you. neil: all right. very interesting, my friend. charlie gasparino on all of that. we've got the dow up about 100 points, this as the effort to find stimulus seems to be sliding away. a senate republican effort to get stimulus is not going to happen.

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♪ neil: will there be any relief at all, even a senate effort to provide a half trillion in relief that a lot of republicans knew intrinsically wasn't going anywhere officially didn't go anywhere. blake burman now on where things stand. >> reporter: hi there, neil. it is very clear as the negotiations are continuing right now between the speaker of the house nancy pelosi for the democrats, steve mnuchin representing the trump administration, that both sides are sort of narrowing their differences but that there are still differences that remain, at least potentially even a handful of them. at a press conference earlier this morning, nancy pelosi outlined the following, saying

at this point there is still a gap as it relates to state and local funding. democrats want that number as high as possible. she said liability protection is also an outstanding issue, that is something that is very important for republicans. pelosi also said there is a difference right now as to how both sides see how education money should be spent. while the president's top economic adviser larry kudlow said the white house has an issue with health care funds that would go toward or undocumented immigrants. it is all but a guarantee at this point that any potential legislation that comes about would not hit the president's desk before election day. that has led to questions, rather, about whether both sides right now are simply just talking to talk, trying to get past the election at this point. nancy pelosi, when asked about that earlier today, i followed up with larry kudlow asking him the very same question. and this was both of their responses this morning. watch here. >> did not have a purpose and if

we were not making progress, i wouldn't spend five seconds in these conversations. >> i don't know what that means. i mean, we've been talking for, since mid july. we've come a long way regarding compromises. a long way. >> reporter: so they say they are talking for a purpose, trying to get a deal done. but both sides are also acknowledging that even if a deal could be reached, this is still a lengthy process after that. you've got to write the thing, it would be hundreds of pages long, it would have to get the congressional budget office to determine its cost and then have both chambers vote on it. so the process still continuing to play out, neil, narrowing differences but differences remain. by the way, before we go, i think it should be noted, neil, something that happened over here at the white house about a half hour ago. we've got the video. president trump left the white house, as you know, he is on his way for the debate tonight in tennessee. but you could also see there in the middle of the screen the first lady, melania trump. the very first time that we have

seen the first lady in public since her covid-19 diagnosis. she was supposed to travel with the president earlier this week but had that appearance scrapped due to ongoing symptoms. but today we see the first lady out in public, certainly good to see that image right there. neil? neil: that is nice to see. thank you very much with that, blake burman, following fast-moving developments from the white house. we're back to talking about covid cases in this country, 37 statements right now that reported at least before i came up here to do this show. it e seems like the case among some of the big ones, wisconsin right now, they got so severe that they reimposed some limitations on capacity at restaurants, bars, that sort of thing. and the tavern league of wisconsin, president directly impacted by this crackdown. chris, very good to have you. what do these new rules mean? what does it force you to do? >> thank you for having me on,

neil. i appreciate the chance to speak to you. neil: no, thank you. >> this is a devastating effect on our industry and our members. i represent about 5,000 small mom and pop businesses here in the state of wisconsin, and we to not have the wherewithal to withstand 25% capacity in our bars and restaurants. i challenge any of the politicians out there to take a 75% pay cut and still be able to put a roof over their heads and feed their children. we do take the covid very seriously in our industry, and we want to keep our employees safe, our customers safe, and we want to give our customers an experience that they feel comfortable in. but with that being said, we also need to keep our employees employed, and they rely on us to feed their families and keep a

roof over their heads as well as we need to stay in business. so we are very hurting. at this point there is no guarantee that any of us will survive throughout the next year the way things are going. neil: you know, one of the reasons for this sort of crackdown, i think, chris, if i'm observing it correctly -- you know the state and the area far better than i -- was that they were having these spikes, and they did originate with restaurants and bars. but i've been looking for statistics on that, and i don't see anything that verifies that. so why did they do this? i understand the general spike in cases, but fingering you guys -- not you specifically, i don't mean to insult you -- for that seems a bit of a stretch to me. could you clarify? >> yeah, sure. i believe our industry, the hospital i think industry -- hospitality industry, restaurant and bar industry, has been unfairly targeted as the transmitter of this disease. other places are still open. you know, the big box storeses,

the grocery stores, all these other places are open. i mean, if you want to stop the spread of covid here in wisconsin, then shut us all down, shut everybody down and compensate us for our, you know, so that we can still remain ace live and a viable business. just in madison today, you know, our state capital, over -- [audio difficulty] bars decided they're going to close their bars and try to make it through the winter. some will never reopen, but it's just had a devastating effect. the statement my members made is that they are in the hospitality industry and not the airline industry because they got their bailout, and we're still waiting for ours. neil: yeah. we'll see what happens. chris, thank you very, very much. i wish you well. you're doing everything you should be doing and not really getting rewarded for it. tavern league of wisconsin president. we'll have a lot more on this. by the way, the airlines might be getting a bailout, but they don't have it yet.

they want an additional one, but that's sort of hung up with the whole stimulus delay. we'll have a lot more including where this race stands right now, but we like to look beneath the that -- the surface, especially new battleground districts, especially in pennsylvania. we'll explain and explore after this. ♪

♪ ♪ neil: all right, we talk about battleground states, but sometimes we don't really pay enough attention inside the states. pennsylvania is a very good example right now. a congressional district there that's getting a good deal of attention not because it has in the past, because it's brand new. edward lawrence has a lot more from carnegie. >> reporter: yeah, i'm in carnegie, pennsylvania, here in the swing district, district 17. this is a very close

congressional race of the president, president donald trump has thrown thrown his support behind republican sean parnell. he's trying to unseat the incumbent, connor lamb in this race. he won in a redistricted district, a special election in 2018. he won that running as a moderate. but since that time last year he voted mainly with the administration. this year he's voting mainly with house speaker nancy pelosi, and that is a problem for a number of the voters. listen. >> i appreciate him as a human being, seemingly kind and caring about other people. i really appreciated him as vice president to barack obama who i absolutely loved, he didn't. but, you know, this year i'm probably part of the anyone but trump camp. >> reporter: that is, obviously, one of the voters who is for the biden camp on this. the voters saying they didn't appreciate the way connor lamb voted more with nancy pelosi.

on the biden front, what i'm seeing is voters mainly on the men are voting for president trump, and the women voting for the biden camp. will this be a split district. in 2016 this district 17 voted before president donald trump, but this 2018 in that special election voted democrat conor lamb into the seat. he has shifted a little bit to the left in this election, so we're going to see how this all plays out and who shows up to the polls. already 58% of the voters have early voted in this district, those who have requested ballots, so we'll have to see how much of that leftover vote either side can sway. back to you. neil: thank you, my friend, very much on that. edward lawrence in the carnegie, pennsylvania. a former bernie sanders campaign staffer, very good to have you.

you know, i was looking at some of these numbers, you know, forget just all the early voting, 42 million, for all i know, it could be many million more than that. they're expecting 80-100 million such ballots. but i notice when you look at general polls, very few are undecided. so taking that number where people have already voted and how few are undecided right now who are going to vote, if we believe this, who's left to stir here? >> neil, do you really believe that people are undecided at this point? [laughter] i really don't. neil: i think the same thing. i know, go ahead. >> somebody's lying at the polls or whoever's taking these polls. i really just believe that most americans know where they stand. they've had plenty of time to make a decision. there's always a chance that somebody could change their mind, but there's also a chance that denzel washington will leave his wife of over 20 years

and come marry me. [laughter] the bottom line is that's unlikely to happen, but i guess i can still hope. i really think that people are have made their minds up. debates always make a difference, but this is such a stark contrast between president trump and vice president joe biden that people are really deciding already what they want to do. we're on track now to have the highest turnouts in the last century. so that says a lot when you have 30% of those who have already voted in 2016 have already went to the polls at this time. neil: you know, a lot of people hearken back to joe biden and his debating skills and all, and i can remember, you know, during the primary process bernie sanders quite often getting the better of him. and i'm wondering, you know, obviously the progressives within the party reconciled the differences and were told it was better to elect joe biden than to reelect trump. i get that. but is there some concern that joe biden seems to be dialing

back some of the positions he took that he has since reclarified that has some progressives wincing? what do you think? >> i think this really just comes down to anybody but trump vote. there are a lot of folks who are holding their nose, you know, to vote for joe biden, and it really doesn't come down to policy for them. they're upset about, obviously, not being able to push forward things like medicare for all. but to be honest with you, they didn't expect joe biden to be a progressive, you know, overnight. this man has over a 40-year record in government, so anybody who believed otherwise, that he is a true moderate, you know, just was really just kind of silly. so, you know, i don't -- let me backtrack and say it does come back to policy because i want to make sure they don't start tweeting me. they are concerned about policy, but they know with this particular election that they're really looking at what type of leaders that could possibly just move the country forward, and progressives are certainly ready, you know, to start all

the way over again with the the day after the election. there will certainly be some things that need to be discussed within the party, but with right now i think people are just exhausted and want to get this election over with as soon as they can. neil: all right. always enjoy having you on. i believe, check your phone, i believe that's denzel washington online one -- >> yeah. [laughter] neil: great having you. you have a great sense of humor too. believe me, boy, do we need that on both sides. >> we do. neil: man, oh, man. thank you very, very much. we've got a lot more coming up including fears once again that the russians are getting knee deep in this election, but they're not alone. what our own security experts are saying that might have you worrying,, after this. ♪ ♪ don't worry, julie...

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♪ ♪ finish. neil: well, here they go again. intelligence experts say the russians are ready and already interfering in our upcoming election, a little more than 12 days away, but this time they are not alone, they have plenty of company. let's go to david spunt in washington. hey, david. >> reporter: hi, neil, good afternoon. it falls like 2016 all over again. director of national intelligence john ratcliffe has been on the job just a few months, he called a last minute

press conference last night at 7:30, made the announcement to the american people that russia and iran are actively trying to influence the election. now, we've heard about this from russia before, but he is now saying that iran also specifically not only looking at voter information, but more specifically, voter registration information, doing work to damage the free elections that we enjoy in this country. now, while the director mentioned russia as being involved, he didn't give specific examples about that country. he focused more on iran. listen here. >> we have already seen iran sending spoofed e-mails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage president trump. you may have seen some reporting on this in the last 24 hours, or you may have even been one of the recipients of those e-mails. >> reporter: neil, you heard him, he mentioned damaging president trump, but he did not say the name joe biden once in that statement.

now, immediately following the announcement house homeland security committee put out a tweet, i want to read part of it. says: to clarify, these election interference e-mails are not meant to harm president trump. ratcliffe has too often politicized the intelligence community to carry water for the president. the tweet i just read said to listen to director wray. well, here he is last night at that news conference. >> you should be confident that your vote counts. early unverified claims to the contrary should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism. >> reporter: nancy pelosi, the house speaker, just a little while ago said she is skeptical about this this close to the election, but a law enforcement source told me this is simply to put russia and iran on notice even if it is 12 days away from the election, to put them on notice that the united states intelligence community is aware of what's going on. neil? neil: then the obvious question

is what do they do about it. so we'll see. david spunt, thank you very much, my friend david spubt following those developments out of washington, d.c.. take a quick break here, the dow is up about 147 points. we'll get into the mechanics of that right after this. why don't you call td ameritrade for a strategy gut check? what's that? you run it by an expert, you talk about the risk and potential profit and loss. could've used that before i hired my interior decorator. . . help. get a strategy gut check from our trade desk. ♪ but when i started seeing things, i didn't know what was happening... so i kept it in. he started believing things that weren't true. i knew something was wrong... but i didn't say a word. during the course of their disease

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♪. neil: big debate tonight. want to let you know we'll cover on fox business one of few places, perhaps only place on the planet you get the debate

itself, expert commentary from our stars here on fox business then real time market reaction. foreign market reaction in asia is a. our own futures market reaction. the one-two punch only fox business delivers. look forward to my friend charles payne taking you forward into the next hour. charles: hey, neil. see you tonight as well. this is making money. earnings results are providing a great guide for your money and your portfolio. my market pros share the thoughts how to use them. investors trying to parse any information from washington on a deal that may help the american people. we'll try to get an update from peter navarro at the white house. also the senate squishry committee advancing the nomination of amy coney barrett to the full senate despite not a single democrat bothering to show up. we'll get reaction from senator