at the rnc. glenn kessler of "the washington post" joins me for a fact check. backlog at the post office is bigger than what comes at christmas. the impact on mail-in voting ahead. we begin with what was a stunning and tragic loss after chadwick boseman who played jackie robnson, james brown and thoroughgood marshall before striving to fame as the black panther dies at just 43 years old. we take a look at his short but illustrious career. >> this morning, hollywood is grieving the loss of chadwick boseman, the star to played i n iconic figures from jackie robinson. >> give me a uniform, give me a number on my back, and i'll give you. >> and james brown. >> one, two, three, four. >> and challah in black panther.

news of his death was announced on social media, detailing his four-year coloncancer. he never spoke of his battle even as it progressed to stage four. >> a true fighter, chadwick persevered through it all and brought you the films you've come to love so much. his passing shocked hollywood and beyond. former castmate writing he had so much amazing work left to create. i'm endlessly grateful for our friendship. mark rufulo adding you gave your all. marvel studios tweeting your legacy will live on forever. boseman brought history to life with his portrayal of thorogood marshall. during a sunday sitdown with willie geist he spoke candidly

about the film's success. >> what do you think people are responding to? >> i think there's a thirst for these images. there's a thirst for a black superhero. as far as my character goes, there's a real search for how do i lead. i think people are searching for leaders who actually care about the people. >> as commencement speaker at howard university, his alma mater, he would deliver a powerful speech. >> everything you fought for was not for yourself. it was for those that come after. >> howard alum and vice presidential candidate kamala harris tweet mied friend and fellow bisom, chadwick boseman was kind, learned and humble. this morning, fans, friends and family are remembering this real-life superhero, who was fighting his own battle behind the scenes. chadwick boseman was 43 years old. kathy park, nbc news.

>> joining me now is alicia quarles with daily mail tv. good to see you. i don't know about you but when my son told me he had died i said no, this isn't possible. the kinds of characters he played, the discipline that he had, the strength. he kept on filming all these starring roles, countless surgeries and chemotherapy these last four years. we did not know. it was just shocking. >> it was shocking. to why your point it's one thing if you know someone is sick, you kind of brace for it in your mind. he played these larger than life roles. it was 2018 last time i saw him. he was going through chemo, go you through cancer but still promoting this film "black panther" while he was sick and he was also giving back to charities. he talked about these two children, ann and taylor, battling cancer, and their dream was to see "black panther." they didn't make, unfortunately, to see it. black lives matter, making most

of his time. >> i saw him talking about those two youngsters who didn't make it to see the film and really tore him apart. when i was talking to my son about this, he said he was in amazing shape. there was nothing about this man when he was playing even "black panther," he was a superhero. the whole thing must have taken everybody by storm in terms of the shock here. >> everyone. and the outpouring from celebrities, including barack obama, angela bassett, who played his mother in the movie. they didn't know he was sick. walking those red carpets, sit down and do the interview with willie. >> it's exhausting. >> right, exhausting. >> absolutely. let's, together, take a look here at this clip from "tonight show" with a look at chad wick boseman surprising some of his fans as they discuss what black panther means to them. >> thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you've done for being a hero we need in

a time like this. thank you so much. >> i think there's something wrong with your microphone. >> oh! my king. my king. oh, my gosh! >> my son's childhood has been defined by barack obama and now "black panther." so, thank you. >> hey, that's way too much praise. barack obama. >> no, no, no, no. >> as a creator, as entrepreneur of color to see this movie made me realize that our stories need to be told. there's so many of us out here who are trying to create great things, and i was just so inspired as someone who wants to make movies one day, wants to inspire people that art can really change the world. >> what type of movies do you want to do? what type of movies? >> i can't say anything. >> got to tell you, it brings

tears to my eyes, just the impact that he had. tell me your thoughts on that, the significance, the groundbreaking nature of his on-screen contributions, especially as black panther. put it in perspective the way he paved the way for diverse super heroes on the screen. >> really about giving blessings with your blessings. he is the first black man to play a super hero in a large budget movie. it wasn't a hit. it smashed records. there's a certain amount of pride of going to the movie theater and see somebody like you being the superhero. also he's paying it forward. he went to university who his teacher helped him get into oxford. he found out later it was denzel washington who paid for his tuition at oxford. he was a superhero not just to black people, to the world. >> that movie was so excellent, such a beautiful film and it did ricochet around the world with its power and its message. give me your thought, alicia, on what you think chadwick

boseman's lasting impact will be. what will his legacy be? >> i think it will be you can do anything. he only lived to be 43 years old, as you said earlier, played jackie robinson, set records on the big screen, gave back to charity. recently got married. he really made his time on this earth count. especially with everything that's going on with the racial tensions in the country, that images that he portrayed are ones we're going to be watching over and over now. he may not be physically here but his legacy lives on. >> he was recently married and, in fact, his wife was with him when he pass add way. alicia quarles, good to see you, my friend. come see me again. >> thank you. the president is en route to louisiana and texas to survey the damage left behind by hurricane lawyera. he was in new hampshire friday, his first campaign stop fresh off the convention. the president also commenting on jacob blake's shooting for the first time after the rally.

let's go to josh lederman at the white house for us. first, let's talk about the president's agenda today. >> as you were mentioning, the president left an hour ago for the stop in louisiana where he's going to be getting a briefing on emergency operations responding to the hurricane damage. he's also going to tour some of the damage as he sees what's happening on the ground both in louisiana, as well as in neighboring texas. he got on to air force one today along with congressman mike johnson from louisiana, as well as acting homeland security secretary chad wolf. and as the president has been heading down there, his aides are focused on showing the president in command, taking a hands-on approach to responding to this hurricane as the president continues to get criticism for his handling of that other big crisis, the coronavirus pandemic. but as you mentioned, alex, we're getting the first comments from the president about the shooting of jacob blake, that so

many across the country have been following. his chief of staff, mark meadow s, confirmed that the president had seen that video that so many of us have been watching. now the president has this to say in an interview with wmur, that television station in new hampshire. attack a listen. >> mr. president, the vice president nominee kamala harris has called for the officer who shot jacob blake to come to justice. >> i'm looking at the reports. it wasn't a good sight. i didn't like the sight of it certainly. most people would agree with that. we'll be getting reports in very soon and report back. >> reporter: alex, as the president heads to louisiana, he has been tweeting this morning about the ratings for the rnc, which were lower on television than the ratings for the dnc but the president saying if you add in digital and streaming views that his ratings were much

higher. he has also been tweeting about those books that have come out critical of him, including that one from his niece mary trump, the president tweeting that mary trump is an unstable niece who is now rightfully shunned, skorned and never even liked by her very own kind and caring grandfather. a taste of what seems to be on the president's mind as he heads down to storm-ravaged louisiana today. >> that tweet was charming. thank you very much. death toll from hurricane laura is certainly climbing. thousands are trying to recover without power or running water. joining us from lake charles, louisiana, where the local paper says the city is in shambles. priscilla, with a welcome to you. does that accurately describe what you're seeing there? >> reporter: alex, good afternoon. very accurate. you mentioned that death toll

has risen in louisiana to now 12. announcement earlier this morning that two additional people have died due to storm-related causes. and that cause has been carbon monoxide poison because of how people are using those generators and using them improperly. at this point, the majority of deaths that louisiana has seen has been a result of that. and so now you hear officials sending out emergency alerts and tweets, learning people without power, half a million people in this state do not have power right now. many of them using those generators. you have officials sort of reminding them that they need to use those generators properly because that's a growing concern as we wait to see when power will be restored. and you asked me a little bit about this devastation, and i actually want to show you a little bit of what we're seeing here. 150-mile-per-hour winds completely knocked down this fence but it also uprooted an entire tree.

and, luckily, this tree, this particular tree fell on the front yard, but you see that one back there actually landed right on this house. it is essentially caved in. the roof of this garage. and it's also hit the main part of this home. and that is truly devastating for the family that lives here, because it is a family home that's been passed on through generations. they come here toger for holidays and those big events. and that's some of what we're hearing. devastation that goes beyond just one family, but others as well. i spoke to one man who actually his family lives in cameron parish, that area where the storm made landfall and was hit very hard. he spoke to me about the impact it has had on his family. take a listen to what he said. >> devastation. it really is. it really is. we've been in cameron. my dad lives in cameron. he lost the majority of his house. my brother lost his house. my sister lost a whole roof off

her apartment. it's a lot of devastation to our family. >> the governor here did request a major disaster declaration from the president and president trump did grant that yesterday evening, which is going to free up some additional federal funding that folks here can begin applying for. and as my colleague, josh, mentioned, the president is on his way here, expected on the ground in the next couple of hours to survey this damage and also meet with first responders. alex? >> priscilla, i hope that family was not home. that one tree that did smash the back of it, but could you imagine the terror of hearing and watching that tree fall like that in your front yard? i just hope they're safe and okay. priscilla thompson, thank you so much. let's go now to new video of skirmishes between police and protesters. this is in san diego. you see the flash point there? that's when police officers were chasing and then detaining one protester. the shooting of jacob blake

touching off protests in denver. the largest protest was at the lincoln memorial on the 57th anniversary of dr. martin luther king jr.'s march on washington. solidarity demonstrations fanned out across the country after not just the blake shooting, but the killing of two black lives matter protesters. shaquille brewster is joining us from kenosha, wisconsin. shaq, welcome to you. these events unfolded pretty quickly. tell me what's going on there today and what are officials doing to try to get justice for those victims? >> well, alex, things have taken a turn. we saw earlier this week that led to some destruction but now what why your seeing are block from block, people coming out with paint brushes, paint cans and painting murals across the city. you're seeing this not only here but in the downtown area, business by business, as the businesses are still boarded up. people are doing what they can to let their message be known.

there's a sign right there. not only do you have the art work but the signing. you see the letters, black lives matter. you're seeing that all across the city. of course, peaceful protests are still going on. there's a big rally scheduled for later today. we expect to see the lieutenant governor mandela barnes, congresswoman ghen moore coming down here, marching with the family of jacob blake. there are new updates in that case and in that situation as we know it right now, mr. blake is still in the hospital. he is recovering. they say he's still in a lot of pain right now but has a long road ahead of him. we also know more about the investigation in the case with that 17-year-old shooter, the one who is alleged of shooting protesters, kyle wittenhouse. we know he's from illinois. that hearing has been delayed and postponed. we'll wait to see what exactly happens with that. as we're seeing that, you mentioned the march on

washington. his family was in d.c., using him and connecting him to this greater movement that we're seeing. listen to a little bit of what his sister said at that march. >> we will not dress up this genocide and call it police brutality. we will only pledge allegiance to the truth. black america, i hold you accountable. you must stand. you must fight, but not with violence and chaos. with self love. >> here in kenosha, as you go around there, still that strong police presence, still that mobilization of the national guard and still that 7:00 p.m. curfew. once we get through this weekend, officials are hoping that can be lifted as we continue to see more and more nights of these peaceful protests and peaceful scenes throughout kenosha. >> shaq, let me ask you a

question. it was my understanding that jacob blake, while being paralyzed, lying in his hpt bed had been shackled, right? >> right. >> those are gone and they are not coming back. correct? >> that's correct. you know, that detail was something that came from his father, jacob blake sr. when he went to visit him in the hospital. one of the more distressing things he noticed is that as his son was there, we know he's paralyzed from the waist down currently. there was a handcuff on his arms and shackles on his legs. they said there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest for third-degree sexual assault charge. blake family and blake attorney dispute that charge. the bond was paid for that, warrant was lifted. the attorney general saying what you saw with the shackles on his leg despite any other circumstances was still inappropriate for that to happen. others were saying it was standard procedure. yes, as of now, there's no

shackles or handcuffs as he is in the hospital recovering. >> shaquille brewster, thank you for that. 66 days to go. rocky road ahead for the battle of the white house. next, the strategies for the biden and trump campaigns. gies e biden and trump campaigns. than . ah, honey! isn't that the dog's towel? hey, me towel su towel. there's more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze odor remover in every fling. gain. seriously good scent.

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turning now to decision 2020, it's all hands on deck. president trump back on the campaign trail friday, holding a rally in new hampshire. today he is in louisiana and texas surveying the damage from hurricane laura. joe biden planning a return to the trail likely after labor day. he had halted all campaign travel since the pandemic struck in march. kimberly atkin and jonathan lemier, associated press, and nbc political analyst. hi, guys. good to see you both. jonathan, i'm going to ask you first, what do we know about the trump campaign's focus over the next few weeks especially as

states begin to mail absentee ballots to voters? >> we heard the president rail against mail-in voting for weeks now, alex. their case was laid out pretty well, closing arguments at the convention, they feel. they're trying to present joe biden as elements of the radical democratic party. the president presented himself as the barrier between these radical forces and the american way of life. that's his case. and they're aiming it at, in particular right now, their messaging is that voters -- soon after taking office and certainly accelerated around the 2018 mid-terms, real hits with suburban voters, particularly women, and with criticism of how he has handled the coronavirus, a lot of senior s abon doned hi

as well. creating a structure to allow those republicans to come home, those independents who voted for him, took a chance on him in 2016 maybe they liked him or just didn't like secretary clinton but grew disenchanted, trying to get them back. even if you don't like his rhetoric or frankly don't like his personality, you do like his policy. that's what we've seen here. their theory of the case has always been this. they know that their share of the electorate is smaller than joe biden's but believe it's more enthusiastic. it's about ginning up their turnout, getting nonvoters who sat out in 2016 to come out this time for him and, of course, to drive up joe biden's negatives so perhaps some of his voters might stay home. >> to your point, it is always about turnout. timb kimberly, same question, pretty much. what did you think about the biden/harris strategy sna what

did the conventions tell you about in this stretch? >> it's clear that the last thing that president trump wants to talk about or focus on is the pan dem he can, the coronavirus. the problem with that is polls are consistently showing that among voters, that is right now the top issue of concern, both the pandemic as well as the economic downturn that has resulted from it. tens of millions of people who have lost their jobs. that is exactly what the biden campaign plans to focus on. when joe biden and kamala harris begin traveling again in about a week, they're going to be going to key battleground states like wisconsin and pennsylvania, and they're going to be talking about the pandemic, the lack of leadership that they say that donald trump has had, and how they would have a completely different strategy and really try to connect with voters on

that issue, and also be more visible, one of the things that donald trump has kept hitting joe biden on is the fact that he hasn't been visible, that he hasn't been traveling. frankly, it seems that that has helped him, joe biden staying out of the spotlight, and letting donald trump, you know, letting the election turn out to be the referendum on the pandemic that it has been has helped joe biden but clearly now the campaign is ready to step out and have a more affirmative message against it rather than just letting donald trump, his leadership or lack thereof on it, do the talking. >> yeah. i want to drill down further on what you touched on. you have written about this today with regard to trump still facing skepticism in the convention. how problematic is this going to be with him? let's get specific here. is he going to use scare tactics to try to suggest that neighborhoods are going to be in ruin if he doesn't remain the president? what is it that he's going to

say to these suburban voters that make him say we've got to stick with you? >> he already is using those scare tactics. off the top, let's acknowledge the incoherence in the strategy. pointing to scenes of violence in kenosha and say this is going to spread throughout the nation, blaming it on the democrats. forgetting, of course, that he is the president. >> he's the president. >> they're trying to walk that -- there's really even no need to fact check that, alex. he is the president. they're trying to say it's the fault of democratic mayors and governors. they're trying to put the blame on the local level and say that's what democratic leadership gets you in these municipalities and that's what democratic leadership will get you across the country if joe biden were elected president. kellyanne conway leaving the white house said the other day cha chaos, in her words, in kenosha made this a clearer choice between the joe biden version of

america and the president who is leaning hard on law and order. trump advisers hprivately beliee scenes of violence are good for the president, especially when he can then stamp them out by sending the national guard. it seems like it has had a stabilizing effect in kenosha. the other half of this argument is this. as much as republicans have leaned hard on law and order, there's been very little words for the black men who have suffered at the hands of police violence. very little acknowledgement of the reason for these protests and most of these protests, of course, have been peaceful. the president risks, frankly, looking like he's out of step. polling suggests these voters disapprove of his handling of the pandemic and largely approve of the black lives matter movement and call for social justice. right now, at the very least, the president's arguments don't seem to be sticking. >> kimberly, you mentioned that joe biden will be going out much more so, doing in-person events

after labor day. a lot of reasons he has been behind the scenes is he was following cdc guidelines. that's a point that can't go without being mentioned. is there any concern about what he will do in the wake of that extraordinary, powerful, remarkable acceptance speech when you accept that the nomination a week ago thursday night, that was widely seen as a very successful speech and laid out a wonderful sort of template for his performance on the campaign trail. is anybody worried about what might come out of joe biden's mouth going forward or do they think he has this under control? >> joe biden, for most of his political career, has had a reputation for being gaf-prone and saying things that don't exactly come out the way that it was intended. i think a couple of things are different now than in the past. one is he's up against donald

trump, someone who says absolutely extraordinary things, verbally as well as on his twitter account. and i think that really plays down whatever gaf or mistake that joe biden makes. aside from the fact that the president, according to "the washington post" has told lies or falsehoods more than 20,000 times. so, that's a difference, too. and joe biden, look, he has talked about the fact that words don't always come easily for him. he talked about overcoming a stutter. he's more than ever, as you said, really focused on this vision of the leadership that he wants to have. what he wants to do when it comes to leading in the face of this pandemic. when he goes out, you'll see social distancing. you'll see him wearing a mask. you'll see him talking about the fact that he would push for more of that until the virus is under cell. you will see him talking about his faith. donald trump is knocking him, claiming that joe biden is

against god. clearly because he understands that joe biden is a faithful person and he can perhaps peel off at least some of the evangelical or religious support that has previously gone before donald trump. joe biden is going to be talking, really setting -- just setting a difference between him and the current administration and how they will lead. sure, he may have a gaf as he does it, but i think there's less worry about that and more excitement, frankly, among democrats for him to finally go out and campaign fully. >> i should note that you have a great piece called after years of seating closing the god gap. jonathan, kimberly, see you soon. house speaker nancy pelosi wants joe biden to skip debating donald trump. is that really a good idea? is that really a good idea

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more now on decision 2020. house speaker nancy pelosi has not asked her but if they asked she would advise them against traditional presidential debate. >> i don't think there should be any debates. i do not think that the president of the united states has imported himself in a way that anybody should -- has any association with truth, evidence, data and facts. i wouldn't -- i wouldn't legitimize a conversation with him. >> joining me now is zerlina maxwell, progressive programming for sirius xm and nbc political analyst and from texas tribune.org. >> zerlina, i'm going to go to you first. you actually spent two hours on air so i'm sure you want to be done with your day soon. we know how important it is to

fact check, particularly this president in real time. glenn kessler will be on soon and he described it as whack-a-mol whack-a-mole. >> look, i think that there's a lot of games being played on both sides about, you know, raising the stakes and standard and expectations for joe biden and donald trump, frankly, because joe biden has been talking about the president's lying and the president's insistence that everything is going great even though 180,000 americans are dead due to covid-19, and on the other hand you have donald trump who, as we saw this week, does not have a close relationship with the truth. in 2016, the hillary clinton campaign had a lot of trouble trying to keep up with the sheer amount of volume and lies coming

out of the trump campaign. and it's been really clear to me that we haven't learned a lot from 2016 in terms of how to cover this president, so maybe pelosi is correct, because it's going to be too difficult, given precedent, for the media to really fact check him in real time. and we're in a pandemic. so, there are life and death circumstances and consequences potentially for relaying and broadcasting that false informatio information. >> yeah. stacey marie, your thoughts on this? >> i tend to agree with zerlina in the fact that debates are about spectacle and showmanship and very rarely about substance and policy. and one of the things we've seen is it's challenging in a format that is optimized for conflict and drama to also be injecting a sense of here is what is real, here are the actual facts on the ground. and so as a format, independent

of whether it's biden who would debate the president or someone else it's a challenging way if the goal is to convey accurate information about what's happening in the united states. >> yeah, okay. let's move on to this. democrats in the biden campaign got involved in the jacob blake shooting. here is what blake's father told us. >> was on the phone with me yesterday. i was on the phone with joe biden and kamala harris. they didn't just -- they care about my family and stayed on the phone for all hours, like i was talking to one of my uvengluvengle unc uncles or something. is he i call him uncle joe. >> calls him uncle joe. do you think voters want a consoler in chief or do you think there are those who see this as pandering?

>> i think what people want to know is whether the person, any person in a position of power, is someone that they can see themselves in and ideally an aspirational version of themselves. and for some people, it is very important to have someone who is or appears to be deeply empathetic, who they can identify with at a personal and emotional level in terms of that empathy and that sympathy and that understanding of why things might be hard for them. and for other people, equally, they want someone who conveys power, prestige and privilege because that's also an aspirational version of themselves and that's also someone that they find it important to look up to. and so that is a really personal question for individual folks. i'm not sure that it's necessarily across the electorate one personality type is the most effective in an individual moment.

it is certainly something that people respond to in very different ways. >> excellent breakdown, in fact. zerlina, look, we've all seen the video in the suspect in the black lives matter killing in kenosha having that ar-15 strapped to his body. he says he acted in self-defense. tamir rice had a toy gun and was playing in a park with nobody around when he was shot and killed. can a black teenager ever get away with this? >> absolutely not. i think we know that, based on precedence, but also there's a different response when white men show up to public places with these large guns. normally it's in states where it's legal to carry. although in this case, the shooter was carrying an illegal weapon and he took it across state lines to commit acts of violence. so, i think there's a distinction to be made in terms of whether or not folks are showing up in open carry to

intimidate the governor of michigan and whether or not it would be a different response if they were black men. but i think in this case, you saw somebody walk directly past the police as people are telling the police, that person just shot someone. so, frankly, it's a little hard to believe that the police would have treated this person, who everyone is pointing at and saying he just shot someone, you know, they wouldn't let a black teenager with that circumstance just walk by them and go home and go to sleep. >> yeah, absolutely. zerlina maxwell, thank you as always. stacey-marie ishmael, good to see you. thank you very much. >> fact checking the national publ republican convention. publ republican convention. (neighbor) whatcha working on...

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president trump and his allies made the case for election, focusing on topics like the economy, law and order and joe biden's record. a number of claims made throughout those four nights, however, were flat-out false. fact checkers at "the washington post" found a barrage of false claims, including more than two dozen from the president himself. engining me now to set the record straight is one of those fact checkers, glenn kessler. very busy guy. also the author of "donald trump

and his assault on truth." i'm lifting the line, the description there from apparently you've written fact checking, this column is akin to running a marathon while playing whack-a-mole. it's a great picture you paint there. your column quoted 25 false claims in a day or so. i want to play a couple of claims we heard and would like you to fact check them. first here is what the president said, this was thursday night. he talked about the african-american community. here it is. >> i have done more for the african-american community than any president since abraham l k lincoln, our first republican president. >> so couple this with the fact that he made no mention of jacob blake, george floyd, breonna taylor, anyone else. fact check that claim. >> well, this is something that he has said on a number of occasions. i had consulted with a number of leading presidential historians who just said his statement is

ludicrous. he has done very -- he has had very few specific proposals that have been aimed at african-americans or black americans. he seems to base this on the fact that unemployment rate went down for blacks, but it had been going down significantly under barack obama and trump just inherited that trend. and most historians would point to lyndon johnson, who signed the civil rights act of 1964, the voting rights act of 1965 as, by far, the most significant president of our lifetime in terms of helping african-americans, that harry truman desegregated the army. there are many other examples. when you ask an historian about it, they burst out laughing. >> let's get to what the president said about the coronavirus pandemic, that the united states has the lowest case fatality rates.

today the country surpassed 183,000 deaths. is the president telling the truth? >> no, he's not, actually. fatality cases talks about the percentage of people who die after getting covid-19. and the united states is kind of in the middle of the pack maybe among major nations. it's unclear what major nations means. certainly it's somewhat higher for some european nations. it's significantly lower for nations such as japan, south korea, who i would consider major nations. overall, the death rate for the united states is among the highest of, quote, unquote, major nations in terms of the percentage of people that are dying as per 100,000 population. >> on the subject of health care overall, the president said we will always and very strongly protect patients with pre-existing conditions and that is a pledge from the entire republican party. is that true?

>> no. that's completely false. the president right now is promoting a lawsuit, backing a lawsuit that would nullify the affordable care act. the affordable care act has very distinct provisions in there to help people with pre-existing conditi conditions, to make sure they don't pay more for their insurance or that they're denied insurance, which is what happens before the aca was signed into law. and when the republicans did try to appeal obamacare, they had provisions that would have significantly weakened those protections and would have made health insurance much more costly for people with pre-existing conditions. the president has never offered a replacement plan. it's just one of these things he says over and over again, but it's completely false. >> time for one more question. the trump family was certainly on display the last four days of that convention, let's talk about the president's son, eric, who said this quote. joe biden has pledged to defund the police. this claim, as you know, glenn,

was repeated multiple times throughout the week. can you fact check for us? >> yes. in fact, the president also said it in his speech. this is a pinocchio claim, our worst rating. joe biden does not support defunding the police. in fact, he's under fire from left-wing elements in the democratic party because his proposals would increase funding for police to -- for more community policing. there's a $300 million provision in his plans. he has emphatically said he does not want to defund the police. he would like to increase spend ing on social services that might make it less likely to involve police in certain domestic disturbances, but that's not the same as defunding police. trump is simply making this up. >> glenn kessler, i did no not the job that you do but i also appreciate it. we need to take a look at the

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tweeting several times this week, forecasting fraud and abuse as ballots are being mailed to voters. that starts next month. katie hill, thank you so much for joining me. let's get to some of the headlines today and go over those about mail-in voting. as we look at iowa, a judge orders thousands of absentee ballot requests to be voided. in some battleground states a robo c workers say there's still serious problems within the postal service. congresswoman, this.

how much of this has to do with the president's attacks on mail-in voting. >> all of this is about voter suppression. even the -- i think the postal service is going to be able to fulfill its duties but this is about making people not trust absentee voting or vote by mail. this is about making people not show up to vote or to invalidate the votes that are coming in and cast doubt on the validity of the election result. he's afraid he's going to lose. at this point, it's up to us as democratic activists, as people who are campaigning or who are focusing on making sure that the elections are done fairly, to make sure people know how to vote, how to vote early, in person or by mail. the question of these battleground states is really going to determine our election. >> yeah, absolutely. if we look at postal workers, they are complaining about some pretty huge stacks of backlogged

mail in chicago. first-class mail running several days behind in albuquerque, new mexico. mail trucks being sent out empty in tacoma, washington, and a lot more in terms of complaints for the postal service workers. congresswoman, these complaints are coming days after the postmaster general promised to halt all changes until after the election. what's going on? >> i think it has to do with the fact that we've already seen that the postal service and the letter carriers have been understaffed and been impacted by a lack of hiring and by lack of -- for a long time. this isn't a short -- this is a problem that's come to our attention more recently, but it's not something that been trying to sabotage the post office for a long time. i think we're going to rely on members of the postal service, actual community members to report ongoing issues and hold

the postmaster accountable. >> let me ask you about your new book coming out. "she will rise: becoming a warrior in the battle for true equality." i know it reflects on your time in office and all the events surrounding your departure from congress. tell me about what it was like to write it and reflect about your time in congress. >> the message is one simple thing, that we have a real battle in front of us if we want to get to true equality. break down barriers within the workplace, equal pay, sexual violence. but the bottom line is that we have to, if we're going to solve these problems, we have to elect more women. that's the answer for us to get to equal representation and ultimately ensure equality. in terms of writing it, it was an important way for me to be able to process everything that's happened over the last year. >> i'm sure it was. we look forward to seeing it on book shelves.

katie hill, thank you. look forward to seeing you again. effects of covid that is threatening the cdc. i'll talk to a member of congress who is also a doctor next. member of congress who is also a doctor next i'm a verizon engineer, and i'm part of the team building the most powerful 5g experience for america. it's 5g ultra wideband, and it's already available in parts of select cities. like los angeles and in new york city. and it's rolling out in cities around the country. with massive capacity, it's like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than today's 4g networks. in fact, it's the fastest 5g in the world.

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xfinity x1 just got even better, with peacock premium included at no additional cost. no strings attached. welcome, everyone, to weekends with alex witt. we begin in lake charles, louisiana, where any moment now the president will arrive in that town before still reeling in the