if it's thursday, the president of the united states, the keeper of the flame of democracy for the world, is refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses. and this time, americans should be taking him seriously. plus, as the president ramps up his claims of mail-in ballot fraud, the fbi director contradicts him. and millions of mail-in ballots are being sent to voters in america's most important battleground states. and demonstrations flare across the country. demanding racial justice. two louisville police officers were shot overnight amid the aftermath of yesterday's decision not to charge a single police officer involved in the killing of breonna taylor. welcome to thursday.

it's "meet the press daily." i'm chuck taud. with just 40 days until the election, the president of the united states is openly signaling he could take drastic action to attempt to hold on to power. with biden maintaining his durable lead in the polls, the president ramped up his attacks on the integrity of the election. now he's publicly stating that he will not commit to a peaceful transfer of power. >> will you commit to making sure there's a peaceful transferal of power after the election? >> we'll have to wait and see what happens. i've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster. and -- >> i understand that. people are rioting. do you commit to making sure that there's a peaceful transferal of power? >> we want to get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful -- there won't be a transfer, frankly. there will be a continuation. the ballots are out of control. you know it. and you know who knows it better than anybody else? the democrats know it better than anybody else. >> as president trump directly challenges a peaceful transition

of power, the first question many will ask is, should we really take his comments seriously? the short answer is, we have no choice. we have to. because they are not isolated remarks by any means. this president has made it more than clear that he does not want the country to trust the election results. because he thinks he might lose. >> the only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged. remember that. >> what's going on with balloting will prove to be one of the great catastrophes in the history of our country. >> the problem with the ballots is the people sending the ballots and the people counting the ballots. and who are they sending them to? where are they being sent? >> those paper ballots you talk about a bad thing. >> counterfeit them. forge them. do whatever you want. it's a very serious problem. fake ballots. millions and millions of ballots. >> cheating with those ballots, all of those unsolicited ballots. those millions of ballots. >> it's a scam. sending ballots. this is going to be the scam of

all time. they're trying to make our numbers look bad. there's fraud. there's missing ballots. there's going to be fraud. it's a disaster. >> what they are doing is a hoax with the ballots. >> one of the great embarrassments in the history of our country. >> they are setting it up for chaos. >> what they are doing is trying to sow confusion and everything else. >> i think it's going to be a terrible time for this country. >> alarmed yet? nearly all of those clips are from the last seven days. we didn't cherry pick anything. and just this morning, president trump largely defend his refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power casting doubts on the integrity of the election. though he carved out one scenario where he might admit defeat. >> we just spoke to lindsey graham. he said we have to -- we have every reason to contend anything that might be kroefrl. and i'll paraphrase. he said if it gets to the supreme court and they decide joe biden won, joe biden won.

do you agree with that? >> oh, that i would agree with, but i think we have a long way before we get there. these ballots are a horror show. they found six ballots in an office yesterday in a garbage can. they were trump ballots. eight ballots in an office yesterday in a certain state, and they were -- they had trump written on it, and they were thrown in a garbage can. this is what's going to happen. this is what's going to happen. and we're investigating that. it's a terrible thing that's going on with these ballots. who's sending them? where are they sending them? where are they going? what areas are they going to? what areas are they not going to? when they get there, who's going to take care of them? so when we find eight ballots -- that's emblem attic of thousands of locations, perhaps. >> look, we followed up. we tried to see this evidence, what the president claimed there was alarming, wasn't it? we should note when we asked the white house for information to

back up this claim about trump votes being thrown in the trash, they sent us a report that did not back up his claims one bit. he's making his up, folks. he's gaslighting the country. and as the president continues to suggest there will be widespread and coordinated voter fraud in this election, here's testimony from his own fbi director just a few hours ago. >> we have not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election whether it's by mail or otherwise. >> joining me outside the white house, shannon pettypiece, leigh ann caldwell. the president, as usual, not backing off what he said, whether it was intentional, off the cuff, however we want to describe it. doubles down on it now. they seem pretty committed to this strategy of delegitimizing

the election. is there anybody inside that white house uncomfortable with what the president is doing? >> you know, sources i've talked to have reiterated this point the president is making about fraudulent mail-in ballots. the possibility for this. the white house put out a statement saying that it highlighted the huge potential for fraud and democratic schemes to mail all unrequested ballots to democratic voters. those close to the president and his allies continue putting this claim out there that you just rolled through a number of cases through about the potential for fraud and mail-in ballots and using that as a possibility where the president wouldn't accept the results of the election and will contest them. i will, no doubt, you played those clips from the fbi director wray. the president tweeted moments ago encouraging people in florida to mail in their ballots because many republicans have also been telling the president, i am told by sources, that mail-in voting is crucial to get

senior citizens to vote in a lot of these key states. and the issue that the campaign is trying to focus on are these ballots that are mailed to people who haven't requested them. that is only done in nine states and the district of columbia. and only one of those states, nevada, is at all considered a battleground state or where there might be a close contest. it's unclear where the campaign, though, after the election sees challenging this issue of massively mailed out voter ballots, where there could be fraud, that would change the results of the election. >> but shannon, i want to confirm one more time with you. have they ever provided any evidence to back up any of their -- any of their fearmongering? >> you know, i -- this comment that wray made a moment ago, i sn sent that to a source and they said, well, this is historical. there's nothing that's happened in the past, but there are cases that we're in an unprecedented times when we've never seen anything like what's happening before like with california

mailing ballots to every voter. that's why they are trying to split hairs there. that's what i'm being told. >> it's splitting hairs, another way of describing it is, it's trying to actually delegitimize the election. it's striking that it's now the campaign strategy at this point. leigh ann caldwell, capitol hill, it seemed this was one of those moments where i want to call it the beetlejuice caucus where the republicans come back and push back against the president will do it without mentioning his name. liz cheney among them. don't say trump's name but push back on what he said. what did you see today on capitol hill? >> well, chuck, we saw some relatively strong tweets from liz cheney and then the majority leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell, saying there will be a peaceful and orderly transition. but as you also mentioned, they

don't name the president and i have heard no republican senator on capitol hill today say that the president should tone down his language. they are now saying that hillary clinton should also be -- democrats should be asked about comments that hillary clinton made when she said in august that joe biden should not concede the election, and what she was talking about is they should exhaust all avenues -- legal avenues, et cetera, if it's a close race. so they are comparing those two. of course, hillary clinton is not in office. the president is. and so it's really stunning that these lawmakers are still on this issue, perhaps the most important issue in our democracy, still afraid to buck the president on this. and what democrats are so worried about is the president has a huge following, and he's

very good at nudging his followers on twitter toward inflammatory statements and perhaps some say even violence. and so also one thing -- last thing i want to mention when they talk about a contested election, that's a lot different from a peaceful transition of power. it's not even in the same discussion, chuck. >> of course. well, i want to play an example of some of the odd pushback that came. here's senator kevin cramer, a republican from north dakota with a little bit of what you might call what aboutism. >> democrats have already, obviously, made it very clear they don't intend to do that. first of all, they dont it four years ago, obviously. use the power of the presidency during the transition to spy on the incoming president. of course there will be a peaceful transition. but in the meantime, what he's making the case for is, for a peaceful election. and that's not guaranteed anymore because we see what's going on in the streets of america. we see the chaos that's being,

you know, promoted and engineered by the left to try and disrupt the actual election itself. i think he's appropriate to be concerned and to be skeptical of a peaceful election. but i have no doubt there will be a peaceful transition. >> i have to say, you know, leigh ann, that's something i've noticed the last 48 hours. people seem to forget hillary clinton did concede and concede rather quickly in 2016. >> yeah, and representative jim jordan, a close ally to the president, tweeted democrats still have not accepted the election results from 2016. while people might not be happy with the election results, but as far as i can tell, it's donald trump over in the white house. so they are really trying to, you know, put a peg in some big square or whatever the saying is at this point. >> robert costa, before i let you get in on this conversation, i want to play a quote that

bernie sanders is going to utter later this afternoon. it's a quote from ronald reagan in his first inaugural address. i want to play it. >> the orderly transfer of authority as called for in the constitution, routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. in the eyes of many in the world, this every four years ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle. >> robert costa, i guess there are not many reagan republicans left in the trump coalition, are there? >> a peaceful transition of power happens during civil war. it happens during world war when franklin delano roosevelt dies. it happens when a president resigns amid scandal. nixon putting his fingers in the air, getting into marine one in 1974. peaceful transfer to gerald ford. this is a hallmark of american

democracy. republicans know this. democrats know this. but what we're watching in realtime is a republican party that needs the political capital of this president to carry them forward in senate races and house races, resistant to speaking out in any significant way, but privately knowing that this president is testing the bounds of his power. history will remember this moment, about how people handled it and what they said publicly versus what they said privately. >> look, i want to play -- the reason i say this is part of the campaign strategy, this clip from donald trump jr., i think, sort of lays it out here, robert. take a listen. >> their plan is to add millions of fraudulent ballots that can cancel your vote and overturn the election. we cannot let that happen. we need every able bodied man and woman to join army for trump's election security operation. president trump is going to win. don't let them steal it.

>> they are recruiting poll watchers that looks like, by another name i would call it, voter intimidation. this apparently is a tactic at this point, robert. it doesn't seem like a very smart one, but they seem to think this is a good campaign message? >> "the washington post," we scooped that months ago. 50,000 poll watchers, led by the republican national committee, ready to watch this campaign. ready to watch the vote. but as someone who has covered the president for nearly a decade it all comes down to a president who wants to protect his brand now and whether he's inside or outside of the white house. and so much of what is happening, even as it goes against american democratic norms is about giving president trump the opportunity to cast himself as the winner, regardless of what happens with the popular vote or the electoral college. and the republican party right now is positioned to enable him on that front and in that

initiative. >> it's a great way of laying it out. it is amazing. all of the ways we'll create a constitutional crisis all to soothe somebody's ego. it's a real -- it's a real head scratcher that so many elected officials who spent years wanting to work in government, what you would think for good reasons, end up deciding to enable something like that. anyway, shannon pettypiece, leigh ann caldwell and robert cost athank you. nate persly was a member during the obama administration. nate, i want to get into a little bit deeper here into where this is headed post election. you know, there's this piece in "the atlantic" written by bart gelman that talked about this as a potential strategy. i want to note one thing here about bypassing the results.

let me put the excerpt up here. according to sources in the republican party, at the state and national levels, the trump campaign is discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where republicans hold the legislative majority. then he goes on to say, nate, that this is already something being discussed. that this is now part of their legal strategy. how would this work? >> well, let's be clear that in all these respects we're sort of walking in unprecedented constitutional territory and so when we opine on this, we're reading the constitution and imagining how the president and his lawyers might take advantage of it. so as i understand the strategy right now, the idea is that despite whatever happens at the ballot box, the president would be urging friendly legislatures to appoint electors that are trump electors in order to win a majority of the electoral college. now this has never happened

before, and generally speaking, we think that the voters should decide. but you may remember in bush versus gore the supreme court said you don't have a constitutional right to vote for president. the constitution said the state legislature shall determine the manner of appointing electors. so the president is suggesting we take advantage of that clause in the constitution and actually bypass the voters and go straight to the legislature. >> all right. so play this out. there's a democratic governor but a republican legislature. so the republican legislature, even if the elections are certified by the state, the republican legislature could say, you know what? the trump campaign thinks there was fraud. yes, they were certified. you know, we think we should offer up an alternative electoral slate. can they do that? >> well, under the constitution, it says that the legislature does have the power of reporting electors.

but that assumes there hasn't been an election. if you go back 200 years, we didn't have the popular vote for president in every state, and so you have the state legislatures that might exercise that power. now that we have the actual presidential elections, if the legislature were to take it away, then there's likelihood that people would go to court saying, look, their fundamental right to vote has been abridged and that would bring in the federal courts and the supreme court. so ultimately what could happen is you'd have competing slates of electors. one from the governor, one from the state legislature. that would go to the electoral college and then you'd have that sort of dispute resolved either by the courts or on the floor of the house of representatives in january. >> one of the points that bart gelman makes in his piece is at the end. and it said, one of the big problems we have, we have no precedent or procedure to end this election. if biden carries the electoral college but trump refuses to concede, basically says we're going to have to invent one.

i mean, that's the situation we find ourselves in if, for some reason, people that belong to, you know, in this case, the republican party, decide to put party over -- party over the rule of law. >> well, again, we don't know what would happen if the president refuses to leave the oval office. in theory, you could have the vice president -- vice president biden assuming the power but not actually being in the office and ultimately, what this whole controversy suggests is we've been relying on norms. we've been relying on the accepted practices, not so much the constitutional machinery when it comes to peaceful transitions of power. so as vice president biden said, the secret service would escort president trump out of the office if it turned out he had lost. but we don't know that. we don't know exactly what would happen in a crisis situation like that. there would certainly be a lot that would lead up to that. >> so let me ask you this. i feel like, and this is a

question i've asked in the trump era to a lot of folks on a lot of different ways that the president has blown through norms, where norms were how we sort of kept guardrails up. are we going to have to codify some norms or put some of this in law now to avoid a repeat of this in the future? >> well, i think that we've learned a lot in this election cycle about how we need to protect the right to vote. we knew that before this election cycle. but on these questions of a peaceful transfer of power, look, ultimately it does depend on the good will of leaders to concede that they have lost an election. that's true in our system and in many other systems. and we don't have some kind of independent election authority in the united states that declares who the winner is. we have a very complicated constitutional machinery largely based on federalism, on states making these decisions. ultimately, unless we're radically going to change our system, we rely on the goodwill

of the leaders to leave office when they've lost an election. >> nate, before i let you go, is that a palm beach ballot box behind you? >> it is. this is, you know, i wouldn't say it's for good luck, but, you know, this is the palm beach butterfly ballot machine. >> i will confess, i have one in my garage, but that's where my wife has made me move it. it's in my garage right now. i'm very impressed that you have it as your backdrop there, and i'm jealous. nate persily, welcome to the nbc news legal team here, and we look forward to your perspective and expertise going forward. >> thanks so much. as we continue to dive into all the important issues surrounding the 2020 election, we're excited to bring you something new. somewhere new. watch the new episode of "meet the press reports." our new weekly series that goes in depth on stories beyond the headlines. this week, we look at the presidential debates.

obviously, we know why they matter. but also, what it takes to win one. a lot of folks behind the scenes over the years. you'll see them on this episode. catch our first episode of "meet the press reports" at 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on nbc news now and on our streaming service peacock. download that app right now. up next, protests around the country after the grand jury's decision in kentucky not to charge the officers who shot and killed breonna taylor. tonight, i'll be eating a veggie cheeseburger on ciabatta, no tomatoes.. [hard a] tonight... i'll be eating four cheese tortellini with extra tomatoes. [full emphasis on the soft a] so its come to this? [doorbell chimes] thank you. [doorbell chimes] bravo. careful, hamill. daddy's not here to save you. oh i am my daddy. wait, what? what are you talking about?

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welcome back. protesters in louisville and across the country voice their anger and grief last night after only one officer was charged for any actions that took place on the night of breonna taylor's death. and no officer was charged in her death. the majority of protests were peaceful across the country but there were incidents of violence including in louisville where two police officers were shot during the protests and 127 people arrested. a molotov cocktail was thrown at

police in portland. and a crowd swelled to thousands as they marched into manhattan. in chicago, protesters held up traffic to march down main streets and mayor lightfoot called for a moment of silence. in d.c., protesters made sure breonna taylor's name was heard. >> breonna taylor! breonna taylor! >> in grand rapids, two of breonna taylor's cousins spoke and led a march there. hundreds gathered in philadelphia, atlanta, los angeles, seattle, portland. you get the picture. more protests are expected today. joining me now, though, from ground zero, louisville, kentucky, is cal perry. cal, what more do we know about last night and what happened with these police officers and then, more importantly, what's

going to happen today? >> first the police officers. we know they're both in stable condition. one shot in the leg and abdomen. one of those officers needed surgery. that's all we know about the incident. if it was a random insdins they've not provided those details. we saw a smaller crowd than what we're used to in louisville. even though things got violent, it was a smaller crowd. jefferson square park. i've never really seen it this quiet during the day. this is also where people have been protesting on behalf of breonna taylor. i interviewed somebody yesterday who said they were afraid to come downtown. they were worried it would get violent. i think that's true. that's reflected in what police have done. you see these dump trucks that remain in place. there will be a curfew from 9:00 p.m. to 6:30 in the morning. all of this has been an effective deterrent in keeping people out of this downtown area. the question about tonight, i have no idea. we didn't know what to expect

last night. it was a smaller crowd. i think you'll see protesters. if the police can keep this -- the national guard is here. they are staying out of sight. it just feels today like people don't want to clash again with the police. we've seen that so many nights here in louisville. >> cal perry on the ground in louisville for us. thank you. still ahead -- we want to get into the legal situation there with breonna taylor. breonna taylor's case is bringing renewed attention to the calls for racial justice in this country and to laws that protect police from prosecution. how much was this an issue of laws that were on the books? we're going to dig into that next. 20 years ago, i was an hourly

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it's official: national coffee day is now national dunkin' day! celebrate with a free medium hot or iced coffee with any purchase on september 29th. we seem to have two justice systems in america. one for black america and one for white america. and i have to say this, if you have wanton endangerment for somebody shooting blindly or officers shooting recklessly, wouldn't that rise to the occasion of wanton murder in breonna's case? because she died. >> welcome back. that was ben crump, the lawyer for the family of breonna taylor. on the "today" show this morning. as we heard from protesters last night and mr. crump this morning. many see not just the endangerment of her neighbors as another incident of systemic racism in our legal system.

his announcement of charges yesterday, the kentucky attorney general daniel cameron pushed back on those. he knew he claimed would criticize his decision. >> the facts have been examined and a grand jury comprised of our peers and fellow citizens has made a decision. justice is not often easy. it does not fit the mold of public opinion and it does not conform to shifting standards. it answers only to the facts and to the law. >> i'm joined by my msnbc colleague ari melber and kristen clark. thank you both. ari, i think the basic question i have is this. is this a problem with the law, or is this a problem with the perception of the law? and meaning sort of how -- of the benefit of the doubt that

police officers get. so i want to go back. is this a situation of that, or is this a situation where the law is too ambiguous in the state of kentucky? ari, first to you. >> in kentucky, there were certainly several statutes or laws related to the taking of a life of a homicide that could have applied here. so i don't think this is a situation where you say there is qualified immunity at a federal level or something that so protects officers that the legal process couldn't have move forward. and the way the attorney general who we just heard from spoke yesterday, he made it clear he thought the killing was, quote, justified. which gives insight into how this was likely presented to the grand jury. they were told by someone in authority the only lawyer in the room in that process, that this was justified. so that presentation matters probably far more than what the laws were on the books. >> kristen, same question to you. how much of this is a problem of interpretation versus what's on the books? >> well, first let me say 24

hours into this, and it's still incredibly painful. and i feel tremendous sorrow for the family of breonna taylor who has been denied justice here. but, you know, i think this is a lack of political will. a lack of courage on behalf of the state attorney general to do the right thing. i think that ari is right. the attorney general's presentation gives us some deep insight into how he likely presented the information to the grand jury. it does not seem that any of the several charges that would pertain to homicide were part of that presentation. it seems he cherry-picked some low-level offenses for hankison, an officer who was fired, and brings a terribly long and protracted record of misconduct. should have never been employed by the louisville police department in the first place. but lack of political will to pursue justice when there have

been unlawful and unjustified shootings of black people in our country is a problem in the state of kentucky and a problem all across our nation. >> kristen, i believe you spent time as a prosecutor. how would you have presented this case and if you had been in the same position as the kentucky attorney general, using kentucky's code, what do you think you could have -- not just brought in charges but won in the courtroom? >> well, this was not the opportunity to try the case. this is the opportunity to get the grand jury enough information to allow them to decide whether or not criminal charges should be pursued. and then you let that case go forward. and then you let that case be handled by a jury of peers who can make the decisions about whether the use of deadly force by the two officers was appropriate or not. and here it feels like the state

attorney general decided to be judge and jury and made those very incredibly important decisions rather than letting the grand jury sort through it and letting the jury system, a jury trial hear the case and determine what should be the appropriate outcome. i would have presented the full range of evidence. apparently the state attorney general says that there was witness -- there was at least a witness who claimed that the officers announced themselves. let's bring it all into a court of law where the public can hear and follow the case and follow the evidence and see where it leads. that didn't happen here, which is what i think leaves the public feeling a grave sense of injustice at this moment. >> and ari, in some ways, this is actually the pattern we've seen in a lot of these investigations of officer-involved shootings is that whatever it is, whether

it's prosecutor discretion, whatever it is, you hear this excuse, which is, well, i don't know if i could have -- you bring the charges you think you can win. i think you heard kristen make the case that, no, no, that is not what the standard should have been here. but is that what happens too often in these cases? is that prosecutors go all the way, well, i've only got to charge what i think i can win? >> yes, you see that a lot. you see prosecutors bending over backwards to make the claims in cases for officers, but, of course, if you are a prosecutor in most cases, you are just looking assertively at whether you can meet that low standard of probable cause moving forward. as for the rules and the reason you heard mr. crump and others say it's two tiers of justice. you don't need to be a lawyer to know this six-month late grand jury process seems different than other arrests. it is an option to be sure. but viewers can think of times they've seen police pull people

over and arrest them or seen on tv someone just get arrested day of an inincident, right? you don't need by law to use the grand jury system. so whether or not this was decided rightly is something that people can assess and criticize from the outside. we honor the rule of law, which means this decision stands in the state of kentucky, but it didn't even need to be done in this way. it could have been done where a prosecutor says they see enough evidence, probable cause, very low bar, for a killing. perhaps negligent homicide, which means -- doesn't mean people got up in the morning planning to kill ms. taylor but that they acted wantonly and in a manner that led to her death and just charge it. so there were a lot of signs, whether you agree with the outcome or not, that this did not need to be done this way. >> kristen, what's left for justice for breonna taylor? it's pretty obvious, if you've been killed, your civil rights have been violated, and there

was no reason for that killing. could the feds bring charges? >> well, we've got a department of injustice currently in place that has abandoned the important work of tackling the problem of systemic, unconstitutional policing conduct. we've not seen any work from this department to tackle broken police departments. we've not seen aggressive prosecution of law enforcement under the watch of attorney general barr. in fact, we know that this is an administration that stands by law enforcement 100%. not very hopeful that we'll see this doj do the right thing, but there certainly is. the full possibility of federal civil rights charges being brought against all three officers if we had an attorney general with the political will and courage to do the right thing. the other thing that i want to

know is that the george floyd justice in policing act is sitting and collecting dust on the desk of senator mitch mcconnell of the state of kentucky. a justice system that's failed breonna taylor at every level and every turn. >> by the way, louisville is also his hometown. should throw that in there as well. ari melber, kristen clark, thank you both for something on and providing your perspectives and expertise. a live look at the supreme court where thousands have been paying tribute to justice ruth bader ginsburg. ginsburg's casket is sitting by the portico of the building instead of inside to allow the public to pay their respects. president trump and the first lady visited the supreme court to pay their respects. justice ginsburg will lie in state at statuary hall as the u.s. capitol. she's the first woman to be given that honor. hallie jackson and i will bring you special coverage of this tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern

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welcome back. we're closing in on 7 million covid-19 cases nationwide in this country. as you can see, the national seven-day moving average of new cases is showing the curve moving in the wrong direction, folks. as you can see, the last two times our curve went up, it took awhile for it to come back down. the midwest average has been at a record high for three days in a row. more than 11,000 new cases there a day right now. 18 states and territories have seen an increase of more than 25% in covid cases in the last two weeks. although some of that data is being impacted by texas reporting thousands of backlogged cases this week. thank you, texas. when we think about where this country is heading overall, let's look at the national curve again. our latest climb in cases is starting from a higher plateau than in our two previous climbs. and you know what that led to. and the head of the cdc reminded us all yesterday that the vast

majority of americans remain vulnerable. dr. robert redfield said more than 90% of americans are susceptible to the coronavirus because they have yet to be exposed. again, we are starting our third peak here at a plateau of 25,000 cases a day. not at zero, where our friends in europe got to start from. a real problem. coronavirus response is one of the topics that will be part of the first presidential debate when it happens on tuesday. i'll see you on nbc news now for a special predebate show at 8:00 p.m. msnbc will have special coverage with rachel maddow, joy reid, brian williams at 8:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. up ahead, early voting now officially under way in two battleground states. michigan and florida. they join a whole bunch of others that started last week. we'll take you there next. i don't have silent. everyone does -- right up here. it happens to all of us. we buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. what i do is help new homeowners overcome this.

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with extra tomatoes. [full emphasis on the soft a] so its come to this? [doorbell chimes] thank you. [doorbell chimes] bravo. careful, hamill. daddy's not here to save you. oh i am my daddy. wait, what? what are you talking about? the president will accept the results of a free and fair election. but i think that your question is more fitting to be asked of democrats who have already been on the record saying they won't accept the results of an election. >> are the results legitimate only if the president wins? >> the president will accept the results of a free and fair election. he will accept the will of the american people. >> i think the word fair is doing a lot of work there. i don't know if the president thinks anything is ever fair with him. he never thinks anything is fair. so that is a word that will make

her feel better and make people say the white house said this, but as always, you need to wait to actually hear from him. that was white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany moments ago responding to and not answering the specific questions about the president's comments yesterday where he did not commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses. all this comes as the election is kicking into high gear in two battleground states. florida is allowing voting today. nearly 5 million vote by mail ballots are being sent out today, and in michigan, it also begins today. this is the state's first presidential election in which voters can vote absentee without providing an excuse. kerry sanders is live for us in lauder hill, florida. where officials are testing equipment and preparing to send out ballots. we have dasha burns in kent county, michigan, which is one of our county-to-county that we keep track of. kerry, let me start with you. tell us how today's going. i mean, i'll say this. we always talk about florida as if, oh, it's such a nightmare.

that was 2000. on early voting and absentee, they usually do a pretty good job. >> and they have got it under way today. likely to break a record with the mail-in voting numbers going out today. let's take a look here. you can see them getting the mail-in ballots into the mail trucks. we're talking about 18-wheelers here in broward county, going on a little bit north in palm beach county, hillsborough county, across the state, getting, as you noted, close to 5 million mail-in ballots requested into the mail. that is 34.8% of the registered voters in the state. and when you look at the breakdown, we're looking at 31.5% of those requested mail-in ballots going to republicans. 46.2% going to democrats. and then this really key figure of 22.1%, those who have no party affiliation or belong to one of those more obscure

parties, because in many ways, it may be those voters who make the ultimate decision on which way florida goes here. this is likely to not only be a record number of mail-in ballots, but it also raises the question as we just start here, how many more mail-in ballots are going to go out. the reason i say that is voters can still request mail-in ballots. today wasn't the only day they would be sent out. so we may see people get these ballots tomorrow in the mail, or as early as tomorrow, and they may fill them and already be making their way back to places like this where they run them through the machines when they arrive, probably by the end of the week. just remember this, that when they run them through the machines, chuck, the machine counts it but nobody knows until election night. >> right. >> what the tally is. >> well, and kerry, this is why election night is going to be a florida show, because florida will likely count most of its votes on election night.

now, i'm going to go to dasha burns, who is in the state of michigan, and what we have learned is, dasha, the state of michigan does not get to handle absentee ballots the way florida does, which is start processing them once they get them. the state of michigan can't do this until election day. and this is the first time they have dealt with this influx of mail-in balloting in a general election. what are you seeing? >> yeah, chuck, that's right. between no reason absentee voting being at play for the first time and the pandemic, there's an unprecedented volume of mail-in ballots and clerks across the state are trying to get these out to voters, get out the first big batch. i have about 4,000 here next to me in the clerk's office, and about 3,000 more are going to pile up here as this beautiful henry ford style assembly line of election workers gets these things prepared. you can see, this is still an incredibly manual process. there are no machines involved here. it's all done by hand. chuck, we visited four clerks'

offices yesterday, all across the county, and we got a neek peek into all of their different operations. there were a few things we heard from each and every one of the folks we talked to. take a listen. >> how many calls are you getting with questions from voters? >> oh, they're constant. they're all day long. like, i literally -- the last few days, don't even leave my office because i'm constantly taking all the calls. >> there are so many aspects, whether it's voter registration, availability of absentee ballots, some of the misconceptions and just a lack of understanding about the absentee process. >> where's my ballot? they want their ballots. so i think that's -- i think talking to our customer service department, our 311 department, we're number two on the call list. >> and chuck, this time around, michigan does have a lot of inexperienced absentee voters so these clerks are fielding calls not just about the process, but also folks concerned about safety and security, some people

who have heard misinformation and frankly have gotten some misconceptions about absentee voting because of what the president has said, was just tough on these folks because they're working incredibly diligently, and just about every person here has a part of their process where they check and verify the compare numbers. this is organized and streamlined and clerks really just want to assure voters that their vote will count. and they may need to be a little more patient because it's time consuming, but they will not sacrifice security and safety for speed. chuck. >> and this is what everybody needs to understand. the president does not understand how election counting works. it's going to take days and maybe weeks. and that's a good thing. why would we want to rush this? dasha burns, kerry sanders, thank you both. and thank you all for being with us this hour. we'll be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily," and be sure to join us again tonight for the first episode of "meet the press reports." debuts on peacock. download that app. wherever you watch news now, but it's actually available any time

you want on peacock. we're streaming, baby. >> msnbc coverage continues with katy tur right after this break. . ...to soccer practices... ...and new adventures. you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past... they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. let's help protect them together. because missing menb vaccination could mean missing out on a whole lot more. ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. askfind a stock basedtech.en on your interests or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity.

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on america for good. good afternoon. i'm katy tur. it is 11:00 a.m. out west and 2:00 p.m. in washington, where the president could send this country into a constitutional crisis. >> will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transferral of power after the election? >> we're going to have to see what happens. you know i have been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. >> people are rioting. do you commit to making sure that there's a peaceful transferal of power? >> we want to get rid of the ballots and we'll have a very peaceful -- there won't be a transfer, frankly. there will be a continuation. the ballots are out of control. >> no longer just a candidate, now the president of the united states, donald trump, will not