tonight the final face-off, donald trump and joe biden share the stage for one last debate with early voting well under way and millions of ballots already cast. >> there's no administration that's accomplished what we've acmplished. >> we choose unity over division, science over fiction. >> the candidates make their closing arguments to a nation struggling with a pandemic, economic uncertainty, and deep division just 12 days before election day. >> stand up and take back our democracy. >> we are going to keep on

winning, winning, winning. >> from nbc news, decision 2020 presidential debate. lester holt and savannah guthrie. good evening and welcome to our coverage of the second and final 2020 presidential debate, republican incumbent president donald trump and his democratic challenger, former vice president joe biden, are about to face off for the last time with the election now just 12 days away. the stakes are higher than ever, and tonight is the best last chance for the candidates to make their case to a national audience before election day on november 3rd. >> so the candidates are going to take the stage in just over an hour, belmont university in tennessee. the first debate was chaotic, lots of interruptions. the commission on presidential debates has changed the rules a bit. it decided to mute the microphone of the candidate not speaking for the first two minutes of each separate debate topic. >> and, of course, the

coronavirus pandemic is sure to be front and center. last week's scheduled debate canceled after president trump contracted the virus and refused to debate virtually. >> kristen welker is moderating tonight's debate. the debate commission says she will not be responsible for fact checking the candidates in real time. our team of correspondents and analysts are standing by to do just that. if you want fact checking as we go you can go to nbcnews.com. >> why don't we start with nbc's chief white house correspondent hallie jackson inside the event center on the campus of belmont university in nashville. hallie? >> reporter: lester, let's talk strategy for these two candidates heading into what is the final face-off and perhaps the final best chance to move voters their direction for each of these candidates. that's particularly important for president trump because he is trailing in many polls, so tonight's an opportunity to get in front of potentially tens of millions of voters. the strategy there our reporting indicates aides and allies have

been counseling the president to interrupt less this time than he did previously. you and savannah referenced the chaotic debate the first go-around. there is a sense among those close to the president that by letting joe biden speak uninterrupted he may potentially stumble or create a gaffe that president trump could capitalize on. you have the president focusing, it soemeems, on hunter biden an his dealings overseas, these unverified emails. many intelligence experts have said the emails carry all the hallmarks of a disinformation, foreign disinformation campaign essentially. the president's guest list indicates that is the direction he is probably going to head tonight to try to attack biden. one guest a former business partner of joe biden's son. he appears ready for those attac attacks. he wants to flip the script, if you will, and make the case that president trump is focused more on biden's family than american families. biden will likely, joe biden of

course the former vice president, focus intently on the coronavirus pandemic, continuing to litigate the case that the president and his administration's response has not been sufficient. on the covid situation, i should tell you, both candidates, according to their aides, have tested negative for coronavirus today. and let me point out something that we're seeing in the debate hall. earlier today there was plexiglas between the podiums as a precaution. the commission on presidential debates says the plexiglas has now been removed because of both candidates' negative tests. so that is something new that has developed in the last little bit here. as we talk about the way that the debate will go tonight, there will be, of course, six segments, six different topics 15 minutes each. at the beginning of each of those segments each candidate will get two minutes of uninruptuninrupt ed talk time. there will be open debate. it's not the moderator who is controlling the microphones. that is up to the commission on presidential debates.

six topics will be discussed tonight starting with coronavirus and the response to that, american families, race in america, climate change, national security, and leadership. it's going to be a very busy 90 minutes all set to kick off here in nashville in just a bit. >> hallie, you have good seats, too. thank you. >> let's get to moderator of "meet the press," chuck todd. to put it mildly, a lot has happened since the first debate. the president got covid and recovered from covid. there are few moments in a campaign, big, big moments. a debate is one of them. this is the final debate. we have 12 days to go. what are the stakes? >> well, the stakes, we can use every metaphor, couldn't be higher because of the precarious position the incumbent president is sitting in. he is trailing, he is behind. he needs to change the trajectory of the race. it does explain the president's behavior of the last 48 hours. but, by the way, in case you're wondering how nasty this debate

could get back and forth tonight, hallie referred to the president's obsession on hunter biden. the biden campaign responded tonight, and i just want to read you that last line because i think it sets the tone of what we could be hearing tonight. on the hunter biden attack this is what the biden campaign stays, this is a pathetic farce by a flailing campaign with no rationale for putting our country through another four years of hell. i am quoting them. the h-e-double hockey sticks. >> that's what we call it in my house. >> that's an easy unknown, the wild card factor tonight. i don't think people watching want to see a back and forth about hunter biden. that may end up being what we see tonight and that, to me, is an extraordinarily risky strategy by the president. i do think the president needs to remember he's the incumbent and a lot of people want to know

what are you going to do for the next four years and, by the way, what are you going to do now about covid? what are you going to do now about health care? i do think this is a risky strategy by the president to basically ignore the issue and try to go at hunter biden. >> chuck, thank you. >> we also have senior washington correspondent andrea mitchell with us tonight. andrea, what are you going to be watching for this evening? >> reporter: i'm going to be watching whether the president has come prepared to discuss policy, whether he's going to try to blow this debate up as he did the first debate or whether he's going to actually talk about the substantive issues chuck just referred to, important issues. covid obviously the most important. you see the american family, which includes the national, national security, the environment, race relations. is he going to have a different answer on white supremacy. and is bringing tony bobulinski, the former partner, supposedly, with hunter biden to the debate

who had a news conference with the traveling white house press corps right beforehand. by bringing him right there as a special guest it reminds you of what he did during the last debate against hillary clinton, bringing the women who had accused bill clinton of past affairs and wanting them to be seated in the front row right there in las vegas when we were right there. this is a stunt and it's obviously set off that angry reaction from the biden camp that chuck just read. that's setting off a bad tone coming in. if he comes ready to discuss policy and how will joe biden respond when the personal issue comes up? will he keep his cool? is he prepared to get past it and talk about the substance that he is bringing to this? and just watching the last couple days, though, it does not bode well because the president spent the last couple of days on the attack against everyone, against tony fauci, against cbs and lesley stahl and "60 minutes," against all sorts of enemies, perceived or real and adversaries, accusing biden of

criminality and saying that the attorney general perhaps shouldn't keep his job because he's refusing to indict joe biden for some sort of totally false allegation. so that's the problem going into this. he's set a bad stage. people want to mahear what he would do in a second term. a very effective surrogate, barack obama, yesterday with his strongest to date. we've seen them both very angry but preparing for this debate in a very different way. now let's see whether it's going to be a real debate. >> all right, andrea mitchell, thank you. >> and now perspective from hugh hewitt, president of the richard nixon foundation, also a trump supporter. hugh, this is your big chance just in case the president is watching, if you were advising

him tonight, what would your message be? what should he focus on? hunter biden? the issues? joe biden? what would you say? >> i would talk about pennsylvania and wisconsin. i believe the president is doing well in other swing states, north carolina maybe, but talk to the keystone state and wisconsin about the upcoming gdp report, about the job in jobless claims this week and focus on the economy, the economy, the economy and how it's back. we're not going to get out of it without tony bobulinski talk. i'm running a radio show at the same time i'm talking to you and hatch the country is talking about tony and hatch tlf the co is talking other than tony even as they lean in to figure what it is about. the president would be best served if he stayed focused on western pennsylvania and southern wisconsin and talked about those two key states to his re-election bid. >> hugh, let me talk about style. the president lost some style points last time by interrupting.

at the same time that's part of really who he is, the disrupter, a brawler sometimes. so if he is constrained and not able to do that, will he be out of his game to some extent? >> you know, i don't think so. i think the two-minute warning thing they're giving them, two minutes to talk, is going to force him actually to make sure he has his message points lined up for those two minutes. clearly in the first debate he intended to throw vice president biden off his game by disrupting whatever plan the former vice president had. i think he will look more directly in the camera. i was talking to mark meadows on my radio show and defending our colleague kristen welker about her being very, very fair and the chief of staff said he would take that back to the president. the one thing he could do that would be terrible is attack kristen. that would be a huge mistake for the american people to see. i hope he talks in the camera. i don't think he's as far behind as people believe, by the mainstream media doing the polling. i think he has a very good shot of winning this, but he does have to focus and deliver on the

key bread and butter issues that got him elected the first time while showing some of the stuff that brings out the massive crowds we see in erie and nevada, in fact. those crowds are energy. he's not going to get the energy tonight because it's so small. he has to channel it from himself. >> barack obama's campaign manager in 2008 and served as a senior adviser to the president, a biden supporter and an nbc news analyst, david, if you were advising joe biden, what would you tell him he needs to do tonight? >> well, they'll play it safe. he has the lead and it's a meaningful lead. like in sports you don't want to be overly cautious. two issues in particular, one, we have covid cases on the rise, hospitalizations on the rise. the president seems completely uninterr uninterested and wants it to go aw away.

the president in the "60 minutes" interview, a disaster, rooting to get rid of the affordable care act, to kick tens of millions of people off health care in a pandemic. those are home bases for biden. i would stay there and fill in the blanks on what you're going to do as president, taxes and jobs and health care. there's still some work to be done there. >> let me pick up, david, on something hugh hewitt said, suggested, i think, perhaps the commission on presidential debates had essentially done a favor to president trump having the microphones muted while the other candidate speaks giving trump an opportunity to speak unfettered but also giving biden the chance to speak unfettered. as a democrat, be honest, does that give you any nerves? >> it doesn't give me nerves but i guess there will be 12 minutes of a debate where trump can't interrupt. the last debate was a disaster for him because he did interrupt. i wouldn't mind having the mics be like last time because that didn't serve himself. on the hunter biden thing, listen, that is not what the

american people care about. they care about their family, the american family is hurting. and it'll be interesting because i don't think the trump brain trust will be in the political hall of fame. but they're telling him not to spend the whole debate on hunter biden, don't attack kristen welker. make your case, which he's yet to do, why people should rehire him. the question is he's running the campaign. and will he listen or not? that's the most important thing to me is do we get a slightly more muted version of donald trump from the first debate, or is he really going to try and make a case? i don't think he can do it successfully to the american people. if you don't wake up tomorrow -- if he doesn't wake up tomorrow and can't say definitively the race has not changed for the better, this is not his best, this is his only hope to change the direction of the race because this is the last time he will have this kind of audience. >> david plouffe, thank you. we'll take a quick break. back with a look at the mood inside the trump and biden campaigns toght. ni

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our special coverage of the final presidential debate is now less than an hour away. jeff, we know the president has an uphill battle. if the polls are to be believed, what is the campaign saying about that right now? >> reporter: well, privately, savannah, campaign aides are projecting confidence, as you might expect. there does have this disconnect between what campaign aides would have their candidate do and what the candidate himself, president trump, is inclined to do. so even as campaign advisers

suggest that it would be beneficial for president trump to be more affirmative tonight, to offer some policy prescriptions, less combative, to be calmer, to interrupt less, it's not clear that president trump is inclined to follow that advice. as we know by now, he views himself as his best campaign adviser, and he has not appeared to be constrained by any outside advice or guidance. judging by his public statements and tweets he is fueling his campaign so far, to the most part, based on grievance. we should also note the president, we're told, has done less traditional debate prep for this debate tonight than he did for that first one. in part because those aides who helped him, namely kellyanne conway and chris christie have been recovering from covid. the president on the tarmac a couple days ago was asked by reporters how he is preparing, and he said by doing this. and what he meant was by taking questions from reporters and by sparring with them. i have to tell you, a person close to the president told me

that the bar has been set so low for him based on his own performance in the first debate that even if he shows a modicum of restraint it should reflect well on him. savannah, lesser? >> geoff, thank you. >> peter alexander is outside the debate hall in nashville. peter, let's talk about the biden campaign. the vice president has been off the stump for many days now, ostensibly preparing for this night. that certainly raised some conversation. how are they feeling tonight? >> reporter: lester, i think the biden campaign is feeling confidence. they know the challenges for the president to try to change the trajectory of this race. they want biden to present himself as stable, steady and competent tonight. one biden adviser this evening circled a key figure for me, the number 12. that is the number of uninterrupted minutes joe biden, and donald trump, will get to use to speak tonight. they describe this as a gift where you have a direct line to tens of millions of americans to speak. trump has said they want biden to have that opportunity.

they think he'll struggle with it. the biden people think he can build a relationship with the audience. they believe there are some unconvinced voters that want to hear from joe biden on issues like his plan for coronavirus, his plan to help rebuild the economy going forward. as for some of biden's vulnerabilities as it relates to hunter biden, this adviser tells me that sometimes your perceived vulnerability is actually a potential strength. that he should use that as an empathetic moment that he did in the first debate, that he's proud of his son. on the issue of court packing that's become so contentious with biden struggling to come up with a real answer about how he would resolve that if he were to become president, biden earlier today in a clip released by "60 minutes" trying to neutralize that controversial issue by saying as president he would put together a bipartisan commission to study issues relating to the court including the topic court packing, perhaps term limits as well. 180 days they would focus on that and bring him the recommendation, a way to buy

some time on the issue and, in fact, try to neutralize it if it becomes an issue in tonight's debate. >> the future makeup of the supreme court could be a major topic at tonight's debate. the senate judiciary committee approved amy coney barrett's nomination with a full senate vote scheduled for monday. i want to bring in justice correspondent pete williams who covers the court. pete, the president will want to highlight the fact he is days away from confirming a supreme court justice that will move the court decisively to the right. and as peter mentioned joe biden has to answer that question about whether or not he would support adding justices to the court in that event. >> reporter: and if amy coney barrett is confirmed, which seems a certainty now, she would jump right into the battles over the election because at this moment the court is considering whether to allow extra time for receiving mail ballots in two battleground states, north carolina and wisconsin. she could help decide those. and then if a case challenging the outcome of the presidential

election reaches the supreme court, she'll probably face calls to recuse because she was put on the court so close to the election, and because of those statements by president trump about the court's role in deciding election fights. and she'll also be, of course, on the court by the time it hears that big showdown over obamacare, which is the week after election day. but the republican rush to get her confirmed and the senate's refusal to even consider president obama's election year nomination to fill justice scalia's vacancy has led to calls from many democrats to increase the size of the supreme court if biden is elected which, of course, the idea is to dilute the strength of the conservative justices. so biden saying he would have a commission to study it. the constitution does not specify how many justices the court should have. that is set by congress. that number has changed half a dozen times. it's been nine for about 150 years. but making the court bigger remains a highly controversial idea, even among democrats. and justice ruth bader ginsburg

opposed it. she said last year that nine seemed to be a good number, savannah. >> pete, thank you. >> and of course it's not just the presidency at stake, it's the makeup of congress as well with democrats obviously hoping a strong performance from joe biden would help them retake control of the senate. i want to bring in nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt. kasie, a lot of anxious members of congress watching tonight's debate right now trying to figure out which way the winds are blowing. >> reporter: that's an understatement for sure, lester. the anxiety, frankly, is incredibly high among republicans. when we look at the polling numbers for a president trump, the reality is they are very, very tough for republicans who are also going to be on the ballot with him particularly in the senate where control is really on the line. and one thing i'm going to be watching for if we see a performance from the president tonight like we saw in the last debate, it was widely panned. republicans were very frustrated

with how he interrupted and derailed the event. i think you may see more republicans break from the president if he turns in a similar performance tonight. and this is something we have been watching for the entirety of the trump administration and there's only been some crack that is have started to emerge really in the last couple of weeks. senator ben sass from nebraska, a conservative, yes, but after winning his primary he told constituents in nebraska that he really didn't approve of the president. he used really harsh language that shows he's trying to put some distance there. the senator from texas, john cornyn, the senate race in texas is unexpectedly close because president trump is so unpopular. that's normally not a race we would be talking about if we were considering what was going to flip from democratic to republican in something like this. so the senate is really on the line, control of the senate, in a way we did not necessarily expect. and of course the house of representatives at this point strongly in democratic hands

but, frankly, democrats are expecting to likely pick up a handful of house seats so they could solidify that majority as well. so i think a lot on the line, as you say, for these republicans in particular who really have been struggling to deal with the way that this president conducts politics even as he has put many of the policies they support and many of the judges that they support on to the bench and signed into law, lester. >> kasie, thanks. one thing we can't lose sight of is millions of people have already voted in this election so keep that in mind. the final presidential debate just about 40 minutes away now. we'll take a break and be back with more of our special coverage. i'd like to tell you about my great-grandmother. -my grandma. -my cousin. my great-great grandmother. she was all of 4'11" but very tenacious. a very independent woman. driven, passionate. embodied grit, perseverance. she marched. -she wrote. -she demanded.

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from nbc news, decision 2020: the presidential debate continues. here again are lester holt and savannah guthrie. >> hi, everybody, good to have you with us and welcome back to nbc news special coverage of the final presidential debate between republican incumbent donald trump and challenger former vice president joe biden. this will be the final debate between the two. it's taking place tonight right there, belmont university, in nashville, tennessee. >> of course this is only the second debate for the candidates

there were supposed to be three. president trump refused to participate in what would have been the second following when the commission on presidential debates asked for it to be done virtually after the president contracted coronavirus. so it's a long way of saying this is their second debate. >> the second debate and the last debate. you'll notice one big change from the last one. there were a lot of interrupt n interruptions. tonight for the first two minutes of each segment the candidate who is speaking will get to do so uninterrupted. the microphone of the other will be muted by the debate commission. >> the debate moderated by white house correspondent and "weekend today" anchor kristen welker. the debate commission says she will not be responsible for fact checking the candidates, but our team of correspondents and analysts is standing by to do just that. and for real-time fact checking you can go to nbcnews.com. >> the start of the debate just about 30 minutes away. the hall is filling up already.

that is where we find hallie jackson. she's in the house tonight. hallie, what's going on? >> reporter: the former vice president joe biden has arrived at the debate hall. he will be followed shortly, within minutes, of course, by president trump. the motorcade traveling through nashville to get here to belmont university. you can see behind me things are starting to fill up. i think you're probably able to see it from your vantage point, everybody we've seen is wearing masks. this is a mandate, something that is a requirement from the commission on presidential debates. you can see everybody there following it for now, the surgical masks specifically on a lot of folks, people who were entering the hall had to show proof of a negative covid test. we know both candidates, according to their aides, have tested negative today for the coronavirus. that is something that president trump did on air force one on the way here according to his chief of staff. you get a sense as we look at the guests in the hall, the people in attendance here of the

debate strategies for each candidate. we talked a lot who president trump is bringing as his surprise guest. but look at who joe biden is bringing as well. his campaign says he will have in the audience two small business owners who are struggling in the pandemic. another example of the way the former vice president is looking to keep the focus on the administration's coronavirus response. i'll tell you that because of the masks it can be tricky to do some spotting from our vantage point up high but we have seen ambassador nikki haley. there is a seat marked out for her on the floor. and musician kid rock is in attendance as well. i'm told he has a restaurant here in nashville. he has been somebody vocal about his support for president trump. i suspect we'll see more people come in in the next couple minutes including members of the trump family once they do arrive. the first lady is traveling with president trump. this is the first time we're seeing her publicly since having the coronavirus. she did not attend a rally because of a spokesperson, her chief of staff, said was a

lingering cough. this will be an opportunity to see first lady melania trump and members of the trump family including eric and ivanka trump as well. >> nbc's moderator of "meet the press," chuck todd, is here. joe biden is leading in the polls. democrats obviously not going to spike the football quite yet because of four years ago. what is the trump path to victory? what line could he follow? >> it's gotten narrow since the last debate. one thing i want to point out is that since the last debate that they had, joe biden started to solidify leads in michigan. his lead in wisconsin is just barely outside the margin of error in most polls i've seen. it's still competitive and the president, hugh hewitt brought this up, the president needs to bring these two states back into play because right now they're not. right now there are four states total that you can look at and say the president is within the margin of error and and can

still plausibly get a path to 270. the problem he has, guys, he only now has one path if right now everything else holds. joe biden needs one of these four, assuming everything holds where he needs, he needs one of the remaining four of arizona, florida, north carolina and pennsylvania. so literally arizona would put him over the top. but if he loses arizona, pennsylvania would put him over the top. but he could lose pennsylvania, north carolina could put him over the top. he could lose north carolina and then florida could put him over the top. now what does president trump have to do? he has to sweep all those four. north carolina, florida, okay, i think there is a coin flip. it is a coin flip type of race. he's behind in pennsylvania. and the real issue here is right now he's very behind in arizona. maricopa county, savannah, you know the state very well, maricopa county, only one instance in the last decade where a statewide candidate lost

maricopa county, the enormous county in arizona, and somehow still won statewide. and right now most polls show donald trump losing maricopa county. if you lose it by more than a point or two, you're not making it up in the rest of the state. >> you can't nerd out here about arizona, but when you talk about suburban women, suburban moms, the suburbs of phoenix really important. might be decisive in deciding whether arizona goes blue, which it is often talked about but rarely does. >> honestly, to me, arizona is the checkmate state for joe biden. when you start to mess around these patterns here especially if donald trump is underperforming in michigan and wisconsin here, it is interesting. he has a plausible way to win florida. there's a plausible path to north carolina. arizona with what you just brought up with maricopa, this is america's largest suburb. that's what i call maricopa county. the biggest suburb in america in some ways, and what have we seen the last four years?

donald trump's political support in the suburbs has been just collapsing. >> all right. we'll keep an eye on that, of course. the coronavirus pandemic is certain to be a big topic at tonight's debate. dr. john torres is nbc's senior medical correspondent. time to look at it before we hear the back and forth, john, for you to give us a state of the union, a state of the pandemic, where we are tonight. >> reporter: and, savannah, the numbers speak for themselves. we're talking over 8 million cases since the pandemic started, over 220,000 deaths. deaths per 100,000 we are one of the top five deaths in the world as far as countries are concerned. but even looking since the last debate what we're seeing are surges across the country, states that have more cases than they've ever had, states that are setting up surge tents because capacity is getting overwhelmed in the hospitals and even looking at the debate itself, what we're noticing is they've made a few last-minute changes. both president trump and vice

president biden tested negative, and so they talked to dr. fauci and said do we need barriers? those barriers give you a false sense of security. as long as they social distance, as long as they're negative, we don't need those. even affecting the debate. this is probably the top-most thing on americans' minds, where are we going with the coronavirus? are we going to be safe? what are they going to do to keep us safe? that's the important question. >> the obvious question, what about the economy and the effect the pandemic has had on the economy. >> the two are certainly related. we're going to take a quick brooand come back withk i am robert strickler. i've been involved in communications in the media for 45 years. i've been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. for me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. and i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. it has helped me an awful lot. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

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all right. we're back with our coverage of tonight's final presidential debate. the candidates will take the stage in about 20 minutes. we want to bring in nbc news

political analyst former senator claire mccaskill along with rich lowry, editor of "the national review." claire, we will start with you. rich, you can way in on expectations. will president trump interrupt again, where the bar is for him. claire, where is the bar for joe biden tonight? >> i think joe biden has to be his authentic self. his campaign themes have been consistent. he wants to unite the country. he has specific plans that i hope he gets a chance to lay out tonight courtesy of the mute button. if he does that, he's in a commanding position in this race. he really just needs to stick to his plan, stick to his policy and show off his kind personality. >> rich, how about you weigh in, what's the bar for the president, what does he need to do tonight? >> clearly he needs to be on offense without being offensive, and he doesn't have to be as gentle as a kitten but he can't

be as obnoxious as last time which ended up hurting him. one really strange dynamic in the race is the number one issue in the campaign is the economy, pretty much the one issue where trump leads most polls is the economy, yet he hasn't hammered that issue home the way you would expect. can he make some progress on that tonight? >> rich, let me ask you. all signs point to the president really wanting to make a meal out of hunter biden tonight, even invited a special guest related to all of those allegations. is that a wise strategy to raise that issue? >> he's clearly going to bring it up. i think it's a totally legitimate issue. in recent days it's become clearer and clearer the emails that came to light in this repair shop seem to be authentic and speak to at least sleazy business practices. i'm not sure how much it will get the president even in the best of circumstances because the way joe biden deflects is to say this isn't proven and leave

my family out of it. >> claire, if it comes up, what's his best strategy, biden's best strategy? >> everyone in america has watched the trump family. they have watched the foreign deals. we now know he has a secret chinese bank account. i think that if he thinks he's going to get women in the suburbs back, it's probably not a good strategy for trump to go after a son. and i think biden will probably easily deflect it. there is not one scintilla of proof the vice president has done anything wrong, and everyone has looked at it. >> all right. democrat claire mccaskill, republican rich lowry, our very own odd couple. we'll see you on the other side. let's turn to the security of this election. tens of millions of americans already having cast their ballots, as mentioned, but what an extraordinary moment last night. the director of national intelligence and the head of the fbi coming before cameras to say they have evidence that iran and russia are right now trying to interfear fe

interfere including a fake email sent to voters in florida and other places. cynthia mcfadden is our legal correspondent. cynthia, what is the significance of this? >> reporter: well, you know, this is just part, savannah, of an ongoing campaign that russia, iran, and other foreign actors are engaged in to try to undermine the confidence that americans have in their own democratic process and put us in a bad light in the rest of the world. they're doing a pretty good job at that. also to aid one candidate or another. in addition to those kind of misinformation campaigns we heard about last night intelligence officials tell us that they are on the lookout for rans ransomware attacks to throw things off balance as well as actual attacks on the election system. they are well aware of the habit that could ensue, if, let's say,

a system goes down on election day. meanwhile, talking about security, meanwhile, 60% of americans are going to vote using mail-in ballots this year. that's compared to 20% in 2016. so it creates a massive challenge both for election officials as well as voters. all of the studies show the more you vote by mail, the better you get at it. and if you haven't had experience which most americans have not, there are mistakes that can be made that will get your ballot thrown out. now in general 1% of absentee or mail-in ballots have been thrown out. experts tell us that number could spike by 300% this year. that would be concerning because those are the kind of margins in some of the swing states in which elections can be decided. you know, bottom line, covid has exposed many cracks in american society. none more so than our election system.

30% of americans still vote on machines that are at least ten years or older which means security patches for cyber security problems can't be made, repairs can't be made. parts aren't even made for these machines anymore. the experts tell us that while the voting system is fundamentally safe, one expert group says an american is more likely to be struck by lightning than to engage in election fraud. there are problems in our system, and those will be on full display both in the week leading up to the election and on november 3rd. states asked for about $4 billion to try to fix things up from congress, and congress declined to assist. savannah? >> it bears repeating the stakes are very high. we'll be right back. ten minutes until the debate starts. more of our coverage right after this. (customer) hi? (burke) happy anniversary. (customer) for what?

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welcome back. the stage is literally set in nashville. we're less than ten minutes away now from the start of the final presidential debate of 2020. let's get to nbc's peter alexander who is in nashville

this morning. what's the mood right now? >> reporter: well, they feel good. they feel like they're prepared. they want joe biden to show himself to be steady, stable and competent. they also, his aides have, suggesting he may go on offense tonight. i think barack obama's critique of donald trump on the trail may have been a preview to keep the pressure on president trump's handling of the pandemic saying that he has failed on that issue. on the affordable care act, the new interview with "60 minutes" where he said that he hopes the supreme court would get rid of it, but has struggled to articulate what, if any, plan he has to replace it now four years into his presidency. and while there's a lot of talk likely about hunter biden, donald trump expected to go on offense to that. the campaign is blowing that off, dismissing it as russian s disinformation. new reporting president trump's

company has a bank account in china, he's pursued business dealings in that country for years. as barack obama put it, if i had a bank account like that they would call me beijing barry. look at that as another possible point to go on offense tonight. >> geoff bennett is at the white house. what's the thinking inside the trump campaign right now? >> reporter: lester, the trump campaign says they have the resources and the time to turn this race around even though joe biden is edging out donald trump both nationally and in the battleground states according to polls and even though as team biden is really crushing team trump in the fund-raising race. the biden campaign and affiliated committees outraise the trump campaign by $130 million last month. a word about the polls, though, president trump in an interview this week says he doesn't believe the polls. all the polls are fake. and based on what happened in 2016, you could understand why he would think that. but the big difference between then and now, because at this point four years ago hillary

clinton was leading donald trump and now it's joe biden leading president trump. biden's lead is bigger than hillary clinton's was four years ago. right now president trump is the incumbent. he's not some sort of outside insurgent. right now president trump faces the worst polling position for any sitting president seeking re-election since george h.w. bush in 1982. how does he turn that around? the campaign believes by being laser focused on the economy tonight and making a direct pitch, a direct appeal to women voters, older voters, and those white working class voters without college education, those key voting blocs that helped m him. polls are peeling off bit by bit to joe biden. >> there's the first lady there. we saw dr. biden as well. you see members of the trump family are there now, wearing their masks. that was one of the questions many people were wondering tonight. >> the debate commission made

clear, if you don't wear your mask you don't stay in the hall. on more perspective, how past debates have affected the race for the white house. i think we need a historian. michael, there really are those kind of few set pieces, make-or-break moments, and there have been debates in the past where folks like you will look at it now and say, yep, that was the moment, that was the watershed, that's when it either turned for a candidate or it was locked in, never to be repaired. is that how you see tonight potentially? >> absolutely right, savannah. five minutes from now a debate is going to start, the stakes could not be higher. this is the last time donald trump and joe biden together will reach an audience of the kind we see tonight, could even be as high as 100 million people. nothing they can do in the next 12 days will have this kind of effect. so what we hear tonight could have a lot to do with who is going to become president next.

1980, one debate, ronald reagan debated jimmy carter. 10% undecided. the two candidates were just about tied. and ronald reagan managed in that debate to convince that 10% that he was presidential, he would not get them involved in a war, many were worried about. he became not only president that night, but he won by a landslide. >> is it a feeling or is it a moment that generally drives these things? in other words, after 90 minutes you begin to feel a closeness to the candidate or that line, that memorable line that sometimes puts them over the top? >> it oftentimes, lester, can be a moment where a candidate disqualifies himself. the second debate between george h.w. bush and michael bu dukaki if his wife were raped and murdered, would he support an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?

the object was to show dukakis humanity. he threw it away. gave a bureaucratic, robotic answer. a lot of people we now know from polls said that is not someone i want as president frmt th. from that moment on george h.w. bush was ahead. >> you are lookingality our friend kristen welker addressing the hall. >> lester, that's a job you had four years ago. >> i'll tell you something i shared with her, it's a very lonely moment when you turn your back and you sit there and look at these two very powerful people and realize you've done your homework, but you've also watched weeks of people talking about you on cable tv, what you're going to do, what your political leanings are. it's a lonely place. >> the stakes are high but it's a different world and our politics, unfortunately, have turned where the moderator is often fair game. kristen welker has had to withstand some of that in the last few days. we can say and be a little editorial here, this is our colleague and our friend and we

know that she will do a wonderful job and be fair to both sides. here she sits down. we'll be back in a few moments and the debate will be under way in earnest. you're watching nbc news. our coverage of the final presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle.

from nbc news, the presidential debate. here are lester holt and savannah guthrie. >> good evening, everyone. welcome to the final coverage of the 2020 debate. republican president donald trump and his former challenger joe biden are about to take the stage with the election now just 12 days away. keep in mind, people have been voting for weeks in some places. the stakes are higher than ever. tonight is the last best chance for the candidates to make their case to a national audience