stand up and say, i'm being abused. i'm living in fear. i'm living with secrets and i need to stand up and be bold. that's all for now. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. first up on msnbc, new today, a vote expected on capitol hill in a battle over postal service changes. the latest on what to expect and whether mail-in ballots could be impacted. the new ticket talks. joe biden and kamala harris in their first interview. they tackle the covid-19 issue and insults hurled by donald trump. and new sobering forecasts. the latest projection on the coronavirus. where will the u.s. be by december, and why the new change? new response. former trump insider steve bannon gives his take on why he's facing criminal charges. details and reaction next. and breaking news out of california. the state pleading for help to

battle more than 500 wildfires. the new concerns today -- more lightning. at this early hour, good morning to you. it is saturday, august 22nd. >> we're live here at msnbc world headquarters here in new york. we're keeping an eye on things in the south in ft. myers, florida, as we say good morning to you. you are now out of the cone of possibility for tropical storm america marco, but one you should be keeping an eye on. >> we'll continue to do that and have an update later for weather. let's go to d.c. where developing in a matter of hours house members will begin gathering for a rare saturday vote. democrats on the hill aiming to provide a $25 billion injection into the postal service and to ensure the postmaster general doesn't implement changes before the end of the year. the white house is opposing the bill, threatening to veto it. >> a day after louis dejoy said

mail will get securely and on time. >> reporter: despite hundreds of post offices taken off the streets, mail sorting machines taken off line, overflowing mail bins and reports that worker overtime has been cut, the new postmaster general faced skeptical democrats. >> mr. dejoy, your decisions have cost americans their health, their time, their livelihoo livelihoods, and their peace of mind. >> reporter: louis dejoy insisted he's acting to save the struggling postal service, not undermine the election. >> we are very committed, the board's committed, the postal workers committed, the leadership is committed to having a successful election. and the insinuation is, frankly, outrageous. >> reporter: a former major republican donor, dejoy has been on the job for just 67 days. he insists some of the cost cutting has been under way for years as mail volume dropped

significantly. americans nationwide report their mail slowed dramatically this summer. it comes as president trump, behind in the polls, has floated false claims about mail-in voting, suggesting last weeky had'd oppose additional -- he'd oppose additional funding to help the postal service. >> therefore, they don't have the money to do the universal mail-in voting. so therefore, they can't do it, i guess, right? >> reporter: postmaster dejoy admitted he himself votes by mail and promised to process mail-in ballots as first class mail. while he's stopped dismantling voting machines until after the election, he won't reininstall those removed and said overtime head not been cut. not true say in -- >> it has been cut and has caused a serious problem. >> reporter: many americans say their medicine has been delayed, including air force vet ray carolyn. >> on one action i had to drive 60 miles to go to the va

hospital because i hadn't received some medicine. >> it makes no sense to remove processing equipment or limit or reduce transportation or reduce necessary work hours before the peak mailing -- >> that was nbc's comktom coste. just 74 days to go before the election, president trump issues a new warning of what he thinks a joe biden presidency would mean for this country. >> this comes after the former vice president delivered what some are calling the best speech. his life at the democratic national convention. here's peter alexander. >> reporter: president trump's rebuttal as his party prepares to seize the convention spotlight next week. the president is panning rival joe biden and the democrats' prime time performance. >> the democrats held the darkest and angriest and gloomiest convention in american history. where joe biden sees american darkness, i see american greatness. >> reporter: biden spoke out against fear and anger, offering a largely optimistic vision.

>> if you entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on the best of us, not the worst. i'll be an ally of the light, not the darkness. >> reporter: instead, president trump delivering an ominous warning about violent mobs overtaking u.s. cities if the democrats prevail. >> i'm the only thing standing between the american dream and total anarchy, madness, and chaos. >> reporter: the democratic ticket celebrating their convention with fireworks over a socially distanced drive-in party. biden never mentioned president trump by name and promised to unify a divided country. >> while i'm be a democratic candidate, i will be an american president. >> reporter: he offered words of compassion to those affected by coronavirus, drawing on his own grief in the deaths of his first wife and daughter years ago, and his eldest son beau in 2015. >> i know that deep black hole that opens in the middle of your chest and you feel like you're being sucked into it. your loved one may have left this earth, but they'll never

leave your heart. >> reporter: facing a series of crises over the pandemic, the economy, racial injustice, and climate change, biden said the november election will be life changing. >> this will determine what america's going to look like for a long, long time. charact character's on the ballot. compassion is on the ballotme, decency, science, democracy. they're all on the ballot. >> reporter: because of the pandemic, joe biden head no plans to hit the road for a tour. president trump is expected to travel to north carolina on monday where the official portion of the republican national convention kicks off. >> our thanks to peter alexander there in wilmington. now to et cetera trump associate steve bannon. defiant a day after his indictment on federal fraud charges, the former top white house aide vowing to fight back claiming he's the victim of a political hit job. >> nbc's geoff ben set in washington, d.c., with more on this. what did he have to say?

>> reporter: steve bannon faces federal charges that he siphoned off some hundreds of thousands of dollars from some hundreds of thousands of donors who contributed to this border wall project. but now bannon says he's the subject of a politically motivated attack. steve bannon, president trump's now-indicted former chief strategist, is dismissing his thursday arrest on federal fraught charges as politically motivated. >> the fiasco yesterday was to intimidate anybody that wants to talk about american sovereignty and wants to talk about the wall. >> reporter: out on $5 million bail and back on his podcast. >> i'm not going to back up one inch. all these charges are nonsense. it's a political hit job. i really appreciate the overwhelming support. >> reporter: bannon, arrested aboard a $28 million yacht owned by a chinese billionaire. prosecutors say bannon and three others raised more than $25 million in a campaign they said

would go entirely to build sections of the southern border wall. doern donors were solicited on line and at town halls. >> i saw a note that said we might have an opportunity to sponsor the various pillars that will be used in the fence. i think the sponsorship was $1,000 apiece. i'd personally be interested in about 14 of those for my family. [ cheers ] >> reporter: but the government says the defendants actually defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors and took hundreds of thousands of dollars for their personal benefit. steve bannon is just the latest close trump associate to face criminal charges. there's also paul manafort, the former campaign chairman, rick gates, the former deputy campaign chairman, roger stone, longtime former aide to president trump, michael cohen, his former fixer, and also michael flynn, the former national security adviser, guys. >> wow. the list goes on and on and on.

i will say this, of all of those defendants that you mentioned, steve bannon has the best blowout. that -- it just flowed, the hair. >> it's the summer lovin'. >> the air off of connecticut on a yacht? that's what happens? >> perhaps, perhaps, yeah. good to see you guys. >> appreciate it. nbc's geoff bennett there in washington for us. let's talk about the breaking news in the emergency out west. wildfires scorching tens of thousands of acres in california as crews struggle to get things under control. the unusual way they're fighting the flames. that will be just ahead. plus, a battle over the president's tax returns may be heading to the supreme court sooner than you would have expected. details next. details next kids love me. i'm what they dream of. i'm a horse, but cuter. i'm a horse, but magical. pizza on a bagel-we can all agree with that. you're like a party rental.

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we're back with breaking news from the west coast. in california, wildfires there raging out of control in several

parts of the state. firefighters are facing a tough weekend ahead as they try to bring some of those huge wildfires under control. >> hundreds of homes have been lost so far, and more than 100,000 people have been evacuated. we know six deaths as of this morning. let's go to nbc's steve patterson. >> reporter: as flames devour neighborhoods and incinerate farmlands, bone-tired firefighters turn to the sky for help. >> the attack from above is crucial because the terrain is like a minefield. gas tanks rage out of control like blowtorches, electric poles scorched, crews fighting fire with fire trying to choke off the spread with controlled burns. desperate measures to stop the inferno from reaching more homes. >> we lost. and this is what we came home to today. >> reporter: at least six people have already died in an all-out battle against the blaze. in the last week stires have scorched more than 70,000 acres,

surpassing the loss for an entire year. firefighter rage on with minimal containment. >> what we can say is we can't save everything. >> reporter: more than 500 structures reduced to ash, more than 100,000 evacuated. >> you could hear this swirling or swishing of air and just going crazy and explosions going off. >> reporter: blankets of thick smoke now smother the region. >> the fire ain't going to kill you. it's the smoke that's in the valley. >> reporter: as the sea of fire continues its unpredictable spread, the only certainty is more destruction. >> that was nbc's steve patterson reporting for us. he will join us in the next hour with a live update on what the situation is out there. in the meantime, we're continuing to follow several developing stories. not fire but this time a lot of rain. >> yeah. more breaking news. the gulf coast on alert for two tropical systems at the same time. tropical storm marco on the left, strengthening a little bit overnight to forecast -- that is forecast, i should say, to make landfall around texas.

tropical storm laura is on the right. it's over the virgin islands and puerto rico today. both storms are forecast to strengthen in the gulf to become hurricanes which would be a historic first. the national weather service gave an update, they plan to do so again in the next couple of hours. the storms haven't necessarily strengthened overnight. one of them, marco, has gained a little bit of speed and some strength. so the gulf coast, all of the gulf coast, needing to pay attention to the storms. >> especially the timing of both of them. after nearly four years, the battle over president trump's taxes will come down to action, possibly next week. and a september 1st court hearing. after damaging loss in federal court, trump's team was denied a stay that would have prevented the financial documents from going to a grand jury. trump's legal team say they plan to take it to the supreme court. joining us now to unravel this is legal contributor katy

fang and legal analyst danny savals on. both of you, good morning. katy, to you first. how long could this process go on for? >> well, i think the answer that everybody wants to hear is, oh, we would get these returns before the november election dates. but no, listen, even if the returns were turned over to the grand jury, it's a grand jury subpoena. so unfortunately, grand juries, these are secretive, confidential proceedings. and so even if the office was to be successful, no one in the public is going to be seeing these tax returns. but the longer answer also involves the real chit is donald trump can -- cheapity which is donald trump can try to block it again, but i doubt the supreme court would rule in his favor if it makes it there. >> let's talk about the timing there, danny. i mentioned there are two critical dates coming up.

this week and september 1st. how are those critical? whats happening then? >> normally these -- well, in terms of the timing of the appeal, as soon as the trump team appeals this to the court of appeals, they can decide almost immediately whether or not this is a case that warrants expedited review. and it does warrant expedited review because we're coming up on an election very, very quickly. so for that reason, the court can choose to summarily affirm what the district court said which is the president doesn't have an argument here. at this point, the president has lost up and down the chain of appeals at every single level. and he's not likely to succeed again. that's why you might see the appeals court which is normally a very long, drawn-out process, take this case much faster than they normally do. >> katie, what could possibly be in these documents that are so damaging to the trump administration that he has continued to block this over and over again throughout his

presidency? >> it's a great question. remember, deutsche bank complied with the subpoena from cyrus vance's office. we don't know what doieutsche bk turned over. tax returns are filed under oath, as we know. really it points to the underlying source documents meaning the bank statements themselves, showing wire transfers, showing deposits, showing recipients of money and showing the actual payors, are their russians paying money? i mean, there's a lot of unanswered questions. we know that the grand jury's not sitting just for purposes of trump, that it's going to go beyond that. it's a very compelling subpoena, we don't know exactly the breadth of it. of course, trump doesn't want this out even though he made several promises that he was going to have transparency when he ran for office. >> while i have you here, there are a lot of legal stories i want to get into and get your thoughts on, including this headline that i saw from the "los angeles times" earlier, that one of the layers of the minneapolis police officers

charged in george floyd's death says that he will argue that floyd killed himself, saying he had died of a fentanyl overdose and underlying conditions and had nothing to do with the knee that was to his neck for nine minutes. danny? >> this is a critical avenue of defense, not justice for all the officers involved but for officer chauvin, it may be his only avenue of defense. and the defense's causation, the argument is as bad as what you saw on that video was, if it had nothing to do with the death, if it didn't cause or contribute to the death, then you can't hold these officers liable for that death. it's going to be a highly medical argument, and since jurors are lay folks and people like me and most of us don't have medical training, this is an argument that may actually work. among other arguments these officers may use are that chauvin was the training

officer, i was basically relying on the training officer and what he did. but this new causation defense may be the strongest defense for all the officers. as i said before for chauvin, it really is probably his only defense. >> katie, how does that work with the medical examiner already ruling the death a homicide and not just one medical examiner? there were multiple medical examiners that all concluded homicide. how does this new defense work in with that? >> well, it weaves into what danny talked about which is causation. we've twoe -- we have two autopsy conclusions, saying it was asphyxiation and then it was said to be cardiac failure due to the law enforcement action. underlying all thereof is you win and you lose on jury selection. and i know danny would agree with me. you pick the right jury, you're going to get a conviction. you pick the wrong jury, you're

going to get jury nullification, look, we're going to let the officers walk. i find it to be a very extreme defense argument. and i'm not sure if it's going to be successful alternately. >> want to get both of you to weigh on becky and her husband, lori loughlin and her husband, the fashion designer, going to jail. going from "full house" to the big house as they say. but she got two months. how is justice? >> it's justice because federal courts look to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities. and even the prosecutors acti s acknowledged that loughlin's co-defendants who pleaded guilty all got sentences within the same range as lori loughlin. and based on the sentencing guidelines and based on the prosecutor's estimation of what a fair sentence would be, this is what they agreed to. and ultimately, irrespective of the recommendations, the judge had to sign off, and the judge did sign off on it.

the judge is not bound by whatever agreements the prosecution and defense enter into. and you know, katie, it's amazing to see all these federal cases in the last few months that have sentences in ranges of two months, five months. >> is their is not the way -- this is not the way it usually works. normally you're looking at triple-digit months or, you know, 100 months, 90 months, things like this. this is somewhere that i'm not usually in when i'm in federal court. >> katie, real quick, what about the disparity between what they got verse us what felicity huffman got, just two weeks? >> yeah. it's shocking. i think it was a little bit lower than what people expected to see, especially because they fought it. they didn't immediately plead guilty. there is a sliding scale in terms of what the sentencing's going to be. let's be frank, one day in prison for any person is not an incredibly wonderful experience. for people like it that have been living a life of luxury,

one day in prison is probably an extreme situation for them, as well. i agree with danny, i think covid-19 is a very big deal. it's very difficult to see people going to prison and being incarcerated during this time. that might be why we're having such a low sentence. >> yeah, there's people who have been incarcerated over time and haven't really gotten charged with anything, much longer than these guys have. all right. we'll leave it there. katie, danny, our duo or wonder duo of legal matters. thank you. this morning we turn to police in gwinnett county, georgia. over this video here. they are investigating use of force concerns behind this video that was taken on tuesday and posted on line. of course, as you can imagine, it has gone viral. you can see the officer there with the taser and knocked a woman to the ground. police say it started when the officer was responding to a dispute with a neighbor. the woman resisted arrest and scuffled with the officer, he said. he's not yet been identified.

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less than $16; and a schultz 4k television for less than $2. i won these bluetooth headphones for $20. i got these three suitcases for less than $40. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. we're back with the race for the white house. with 74 days to go, some anxious folks are watching the election closely. no, not talking about you and me. the europeans. yeah, european leaders are nervously watching what will happen. some want a biden presidency to restore the obama-era relationship between the u.s. and the eu. others are hoping for another four years of the trump administration. >> let's break this down and what it means. we have more live from brussels. tessa, what's behind the divide? >> reporter: good morning, guys.

very windy brussels. first of all, let's make clear that that divide is not down the middle. it is understood that the majority of eu leaders would like to see a biden presidency because they are looking forward to being able to speak to someone that is seen to be more open to alliances and chance atlantic discussions. but indeed, there is a divide. first of all, a lot of them would like to see a return of support from the united states into big institutions which the eu loves like, you know, the world trade organization, a handful of countries like poland -- poland's relationship with the u.s. greatly improved under the trump administration. remember ft. trump, the list of people in government would like to see american troops and military presence in poland because they like the trump presidency's hard line on russia. another country that would probably be a bit more nuanced when it comes to a biden presidency is the uk. he's been openly against brexit

saying this was a disadvantage for the uk. the uk thinking what would trade with the u.s. look like? they're no longer part of eu. would biden be more open to having direct trade with the uk? we asked analysts, is a biden presidency the answer to what europeans saw as four years of trump, wait and see, wait until that's okay? you know, it's not black and white. let's take a listen. >> it's the antidote to the acute phase of donald trump. i think from a european perspective there's no comparison between the benefits of a trump administration and benefits of a biden administration. they're clear on that and think that the atmosphere will improve. as one european official put it, at least we will have somebody reasonable to talk to. it won't immediately erase all the issues in the transatlantic relationship. and that many of the issues will persist, many will look quite similar. but in a different atmosphere, perhaps they'll have a better

opportunity to reach compromises. >> reporter: he said things could look similar. for example, russia, china -- they think that the u.s. will maintain a rather -- a strict line against those countries. this is something the europeans are a little bit on a different perspective on. if there's one thing that the eu has learned with the trump presidency is they need to find a way to move ahead with or without the united states' full support. >> that's a good point. just 74 days to go. almost unbelievable. tessa, live in brussels, thanks. to the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. overnight, a new projection that estimates the u.s. will reach nearly 310,000 deaths by december 1st. that forecast also predicts a daily death rate will drop in september, aal be is slow -- albeit slowly by december.

if people wear masks in public, more than 69,000 lives could be saved. but 95% of americans aren't wearing masks. and more than 1,000 new yorkers gathered last night to march in remembrance of those who died from coronavirus. the candlelit procession was led by families of voiced victims who marched over the brooklyn bridge to the trump building in lower manhattan, calling on the president to take action against the pandemic. and a new timeline from the head of the world health organization on when he opens the pandemic will be over. listen -- >> we hope to finish this pandemic before -- less than two years. especially if we can pool our efforts together and raise national unity, global solidarity, that's really key with utilizing the available tools to the maximum and hoping that we can have things like vaccine. i think we can finish it shorter -- in a shorter time than the

1918 flu. >> okay. the hope was two years there. and in california, los angeles mayor eric garcetti announcing last night coronavirus hospitalizations are on the decline. according to the mayor, hospitalizations in l.a. are down to the lowest level since april 7th. >> he was hoping for national unity and global solidarity to help. good luck. joining us now is dr. katy pazareti, epidemiologist. it wasn't a very hopeful thought right there, doctor. she's also the medical director of infection prevention at atrium health in charlotte, north carolina. doctor, thank you for being here. there's something that is being called right now the twin-demic. what is it? i know it has to do with the flu this year. >> yeah. so every year during the time frame of november to april we had many people presenting to hospitals with influenza and other respiratory viruses. the twin-demic is the concern

that we will have the usual influenza and other respiratory viruses and top of that have covid. concerns about higher hospitalizations, higher degree of illness that we've seen in the past. >> some potential big news regarding a vaccine, johnson & johnson says it will start a late-stage coronavirus vaccine trial next month. up to 60,000 people involved. how big a step is this? >> it's huge. you know, we're moving very quickly to get a safe and effective vaccine out to people. there's tons of work going on. you know, it will take a while even once that vaccine gets through all the trials to make sure it's safe and effective to really get that out to the people that need it most. >> all of that said and so many of these trials are going on right now, one of them has been ongoing for about a month in the third phase. they're having a tough time getting minorities and older folks to take part. any sense on whether the trials

are finding more and more minorities, which is much needed, to take part? >> yeah. definitely a ton of work as everyone knows. you know, minorities have been hit extremely hard by in pandemic. so want to make sure that the vaccine that's are put out are effect -- vaccines that are put out are effective for individuals. there have been struggles. the importance of messaging and importance of these vaccines and other vaccines and making inroads into communities that need them the most with messaging that's appropriate for that setting, it's going to be even more important in the coming days. >> and doctor, we know children can get the virus. in fact, they can be prolific spreaders. a new study called children excellent spreaders because they found kids who seem healthy may be more contagious than sick adults. why is that? >> so that study showed that children can have a lot of virus us in their nose and mouth kind of area. you know, the issue of how much

children can spread covid has been a discussion point from the very beginning. early on, there was very little testing in children. they had mild symptoms, thought to be less of a player in spreading in our communities. and now that that has really come into question. especially, you know, important question as we reopen schools, as we reopen day cares to really figure out what that impact is and recognize that the preventive measures that were recommended in the communities are going to be important in those settings, as well as far as masking, you know, that physical distancing, and making sure kids are staying home when sick, as well. >> all right, doctor, thank you so much for being here. appreciate your time. >> thank you. steve bannon is talking tough and vowing to fight the fraud charges against him. in a moment, he'll tell us why the indictment is nothing but a political hit job. political hit.

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developing good morning, wow, dizzying -- the ever-growing list of trump associates who have been charged, indicted, or pled guilty and have been in prison. we now have a new name -- steven bannon. >> there you go. if you're counting, there are seven on the screen. president trump's former chief adviser vows to fight federal prosecutors after pleading not guilty thursday to charges that he ripped off donors trying to build the fund wall -- trying to fund the wall. >> i am not going to back down. this is a political hit job.

everybody knows i love a fight. i was called honey badger for many years. honey badger doesn't give -- so i'm in this for the long haul, i'm in this for the fight. i'm going to continue to fight. this was to stop and intimidate people that want to talk about the wall. >> joining us now is kadei tubman, editor with "insider news." good morning. steve bannon says he continues to plan to -- plans to continue to fight out. we learn about what the build-a-wall campaign was. prosecutors are saying in essence it was a rip-off. what was it? >> right. so it's originally started off as a gofundme sourcing campaign. it had under question when funds were being pretty much poked at to see whether they were being used or intended for the use that they claimed to be, building this wall that president trump had said that was going to get paid for by mexico. but these were -- these were private citizens, private people

donating money. a lot of questions came back up where the money was going. and repeatedly the folks spreading it including bannon tomorrow assuring those donors that the money was going to be spent on the wall. and it turnedte bannon plans to fight this, we're going to have more questions coming up on not just what they did, what bannon and his associates did in taking money from americans who, according to the indictment, really wanted to know where their money was going because they trusted that it was going to be spent on this wall. but outside of that, how much of the president and his associates and those close to him know about this. we're going to see during this fight that he claims to have coming up, to beat back these charges. how much did the president really know? >> yeah. i think one of the big questions here is, you know, this has been called a fund-raising scheme by prosecutors. it seems like steve bannon, yeah, he's the big-ticket item, the big name, but there could be several other people involved with any idea about the scope of

this. >> we don't have a real idea of the scope just yet. just from the indictment alone, we know that we -- just reporting alone, we know that associates of trump have already come out either mentioning this campaign, they've supported it or approved of it, including donald trump's son who recently distanced himself, as well, from this crowdsourcing scam really. and then there are probably more folks that are coming out who will be in the coming days speaking against separating themselves from this campaign. one thing that needs to be pointed out clearly is when we look at the charges and the indictment that will be getting more and more clear for a lot of folks, the president has said that he had no idea. and he contradicted himself as a followup saying he thought it was a showboating -- just showboating. again, it's going to be more a question of how much did folks close to the president, in his

administration, know about this and were willing to stop it or just let it go. >> yeah. i'm curious about that. whether this was done by the southern districts here in new york where they tried to just -- they did fire the top prosecutor in that office not too long ago. and replaced him with one of his deputies. but was this one of those cases that perhaps barr was trying to prevent from going forward? >> so that's -- that remains unclear. what we know is that barr was briefed on the investigation several months ago. we don't know exactly the precise date that this year-long investigation began. we know according to a justice department official that he was briefed. and federal prosecutors in manhattan gave him notice about the indictment prior to bannon's arrest. however, we don't know the scope of his involvement. it willing come up as a -- it will come up as a question of whether he tried to, like you

said, bury it or move past it, especially considering that he's been involved in a lot of the pieces, including trump associates who have now gone under federal -- have been charged with federal crimes. >> i think the big questions moving forward is whether or not the taxpayers who ewere defrauded, if they will get money back or be part of it going forward. >> i loved roger stone's reaction. roger stone is also working with the president closely and worked with steve bannon closely. he goes, karma is a "b." then he went on to say, "i'm praying for him." >> i'm praying for him. interesting. >> all the president's men. it's the state that could swing the presidential election. we caught up with a key group of voters in florida to see how much the democratic national convention may determine their vote. may determine their vote needles. essential for sewing, but maybe not for people with certain inflammatory conditions. because there are options.

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now to county to county series and battleground florida where signs of cuban-americans known for siding with republicans are showing support for joe biden. >> nbc's ellison barlber spoke with supporters after the democratic national convention. as cori mentioned, this s this strong hold for republicans. >> reporter: we put together three voters who never met each other before and had them all sit in a socially distanced setting and watched joe biden's speech. we found all of the different voters in varying different ways, if you will. they never met each other before thursday night. they had a lot that set them apart, but a lot of things in common. they all live here in miami dade county.

they are all american voters with cuban heritage. they all support joe biden and kamala harris and plan to vote for them in november. they support them with varying degrees of enthusiasm. one of the voters we spoke to, janet, she is about to start her freshman year of college at harvard university next week. she is a democrat and self describ described progressive. peter is is a life long republican and voted democrat for the first time in 2016. says donald trump is not a true republican. for now, says many in the republican party are what he calls trump-licans. in the past, he leaned right on issues related to foreign policy and fiscal issues. if biden is going to win florida, he needs voters like these three. young voters and independent voters and disaffected republicans. the question is how many more are like them within the cuban-american community and are there enough to move the needle

toward joe biden with a voting group that typically leaned right. here is some of the conversation. >> you think the three of you are anomalies or could cuban-americans like you make a difference in florida? >> with my generation, i don't believe we're anomalies. i think the younger cuban generation is definitely -- i think there is a generational shift. trump doesn't represent the republican party that our parents and grandparents grew up with. >> i hope i'm not an anomaly. i vote for whoever is the most qualified. >> do you worry some of the democratic policies could turn off older generation cuban-americans? >> i think the word progressive and progressive ideals might scare cuban-americans. i don't think that will be a problem with biden.

>> he has a history of a moderate and centrist on certain issues. he is left of center. from time to time he is right of center. which is why the far left members of the democratic party rejected biden. luckily, they lost. and biden won. >> reporter: 2016 exit polls found that in florida cubans were about twice as likely to vote for donald trump than non-cuban latinos. they feel confident there is a shift happening within the cuban-american community and they think things could start to look a little bit different. kendis and cori. >> there is a shift with the polls tight. ellison barber, thank you. it is a flight for life amid a mystery. coming up, the very latest on the suspected poisoning of the russian dissident and known

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the coast guard is searching for the missing crew members after the explosion in corpus christi, texas. a barge stuck an under water gas pipeline and ignited the fire. four people on board the barge are unaccounted for. six people were rushed to the hospital. several others survived. officials are investigating what started it. we are following breaking

news this morning. comatose russian opposition leader alexei navalny arriving in the hospital in berlin overnight. the long-time opponent of vladimir putin was flown via air ambulance. >> the pictures show navalny was taken to the hospital. he was suspected of being poisoned. nbc's matt boldener joins us with details. matt, i know they were holding those medical officials from germany at bay and would not let navalny leave that hospital. what was going on? >> reporter: kendis, a lot of back and forth over the flight. we heard a lot of stories from authorities and the doctors at the siberian hospital saying he wasn't fit to fly and at one

point, local police say whatever he was poisoned with, suspected, was dangerous to people treating him. at one point, navalny's team in russia said they thought was going on was they were actually, the authorities trying to stall for time in the hopes by the time he actually was evacuated to germany, whatever was used to put him in the serious condition would have dissipated from his system. making it very difficult down the line to do a toxicology report and understand. we are not expecting too many statements today. the ngo that flew him in said he will be undergoing through a comprehensive medical exam. the doctors at clinic asked us to be patient. we will probably hear a statement from the family in a few days giving us a