good day, everybody, from msnbc world headquarters here in new york, welcome to weekends with alex witt. so much going on. we will get you up to date. first to the breaking news. we are three hours away from the president announcing his supreme court pick todays. it will happen at 5:00 p.m. eastern from the white house rose garden. nbc news learned the president picked amy coney barrett. there you see her leaving her home in indianapolis an hour and a half ago. the president teased the announcement throughout the day on friday. including last night in philadelphia. >> we have the right -- we won the election, right? 5:00 tomorrow at the white house we are going to be naming the nominee hopefully who will be on that court for 50 years.

the only thing i can tell you for sure is it will be a woman. is that okay. >> joe biden is hitting the virtual campaign trail this weekend including in this exclusive interview with stephanie ruhle where he talked about a variety of topics including his response to president trump calling him a socialist. >> look, the other week i was two tough. now the american people -- i think they know who i am, they know my heart, know my story, my family story. and trump is using socialism to scare and distract floridians from the pandemic. he. braced dictators around the world. it is ridiculous. >> this all comes just three days ahead of the first presidential debate where biden and trump will go face to face for the first time. back now to the white house. kelly o'donnell is standing by for us. welcome to you, my friend. the president is set to formally

announce his scott us pick three hours from now. he is also meeting with faith leaders before he does that. bring us up to speed on everything that's happening. >> good to be with you alec. the president will meet with evangelical faith leaders in the oval office. it is not currently open for media coverage. if you look at the pattern of the president, those are often the kinds of sessions where they will invite the pool in to get pictures and observe what's going on there. but evangelical lead remembers an important part of the president's base. certainly when it comes to an issue like the supreme court and a selection anticipated to be amy coney barrett, that is a key factor, having their backing is certainly something that the president has tried to court. also, we can tell that you the week for the new nominee will be very busy. beginning tuesday there will be meetings on capitol hill on what's known in the parlance of washington is sherpa.

that in this case will be the white house counsel and the chief of staff who act as a facilitator a guide, a person who helps work the nominee through the process, which is setting up meetings with the senators who will ultimately make decisions on the committee and full senate level about the confirmation as well as preparing for the public hearings and all of the paperwork that is submitted. so that we've learned today will again be mark meadows, the chief of staff, pat sip lenny, the white house counsel. it will be a rigorous change for someone like amy coney barrett what is married, mother of seven children, has been living in indianapolis, in transit now to washington. and the whole family will have a very different life if she's in fact confirmed. the president is leaning heavily on trying to get this confirmation done prior to the election. ultimate ho it is decided by mitch mcconnell in terms of the pace of the process that will be to come. if we pause and sort of live in

today this will be a chance for coney barrett to speak to the nation directly after she is introduced by the president who will also make remarks. these are high-profile event in any white house. for president trump, this is his third nominee to the court. that is a large number, especially when you consider it has been just one term. of course critics would argue the first nominee, neil gorsuch, who is now an associate justice was in place of merrick garland was selected by barack obama and was never given consideration by the senate for all of those political reasons. so donald trump ends up with three selections to the court and a very compressed time line. not an impossible time line historically but a compressed time line for confirmation. certainly, democrats have limited tools to try to slow it down. but there will be an enormous pressure brought on this nomination and especially on

senators up for re-election themselves. >> extraordinary history for the supreme court. joe biden and kamala harris are shifting their folk fous to upcoming presidential debate. the biden campaign says there are no personal appearances scheduled today but he will appear virtually at two events this afternoon. deepa ship ram is following the developments from washington. good afternoon to you. how are biden and harris harris getting ready for the first debate. >> it has been a busy past couple of days. he has been holding less events and doing more debate prep. if thirst debate coming up on tuesday will be the first time and he donald trump are face to face and talking about some of these issues. what we heard from joe biden on how he is preparing is to basically study up on donald

trump's stances on a lot of these issues and the history of donald trump tackling some of these issues. what joe biden is gol to be trying to do is not only show his stance and take on a lot of issues like health care and handling the pandemic but kind of in a way fact check donald trump live as he is talking. there has been of course concern that the president doesn't always speak the truth f. that language kind of comes out on the debate stage, the biden campaign is basically trying to figure out almost how to fact check that in real time one of those claims that trump seems to keep bringing up is talking about how joe biden -- he calls him a socialist, has a leftward agenda. he responded to that to steph knew ruhl in an interview that was exclusive to us. >> trump is using socialism to care and distract floridians from a failed pandemic. look, here's the guy -- he refused to grant temporary protective stat to us

venezuelans. he embraced dictators around the world. it is ridiculous. i think people see clearly the difference between me and donald trump. trump is -- trump is clearing protest this is the front of the white house that are peaceful, you know w the military. this guy is more castro than churchill. >> so you hear there a lot of strong language from joe biden talking about trump, talking about his history, you know, talking with the latino commune. and of course biden himself not doing super strong with florida latinos specifically. we know that that's something that the campaign is trying to invest a lot of time and resources in. so what you are seeing is biden trying to set the stage there making sure he is talking about issues that affect latino voters specifically n. that interview we heard him talk a lot about the economy and the impact covid had on the economy specifically for latino businesses. joining me now a political

reporter at axios, and harry will itman. big welcome to all of you. we start with president's supreme court nomination. you are reporting senate democrats promise major focus on obamacare this the supreme court fight. what's the strategy? >> this will be the singular focus of democrats through that confirm battle. dianne feinstein telling me that would be a major focus. it is the perfect storm for democrats politically. it is beneficial to them at the polls and the ballot boxes. they won in the 2018 elections running on obamacare and the affordable care act act and the prospect of 20 million americans losing their health insurance and you have president trump

criticizing chief justice roberts for upholding obamacare. one of those judges was ruth bader ginsburg. democrats are going to be hammering consistently throughout this confirmation battle that amy coney barrett who expressed sympathy for the challenge -- essentially, democrats will be arguing she could be the decisive vote to strip away health coverage for 20 million people in the middle of a pandemic. it is their tool to scuttle this nomination. >> potentially gearing up for a fight on that one. what about the polling data that serves as a warning sign for the president because he is rushing this nomination? what is that about?

>> we have seen republicans have an advantage when it comes to supreme court voters . polls are showing that democratic voters and supporters of joe biden are more energized around the supreme court. they rate it as a more important issue. and voters in swing states like pennsylvania and even ohio say they trust joe biden to pick the supreme court nomination. the polling numbers here are good news to democrats that we are waking up to the importance the supreme court. the bad news for them is that it comes right as they are about to slip away, down to a 6-3 conservative majority. all it took was the leader of the liberal wing dying and being replaced by someone who could unravel so much of her legacy. >> does the white house think

amy cuomo coney barrett is politically a big win? >> yeah, they think she is a politically big win. we have seen the ways in which president trump has continued to take stances on a number of different issues in the last six months alone thash against where the american public stands. that's not surprising. the courts have been a winning political issue for republicans in the past. that's something they hope will remain true. i talked to democratic officials and operative who is feel good about the polling they are seeing how this is energizing their voters. i think the other thing that's going to energize democrats in this moment is that democrats' hands are tied in congress with respect to being able to block this nomination from moving forward by election day. they will use the chaotic nature

of pushing it through in their favor. >> the headline harry in our l.a. times op ed reads this f amy coney barrett is nominated and confirmed it will be a shame for the supreme court and the country. what do you mean by that? what concerns you most? >> let's disagree in on the point about the aca. as he says, if it were overturned, 20 million people would lose coverage. everyone with preexisting conditions would lose coverage. is it lickly in oh, yeah. they are hearing it in november. and amy coney barrett has already said that chief justice roberts went beyond the plausible meaning of the statute to reach that decision. she looks like a safe vote to overturn. alex, the much bigger point is it is just a proxy is the aca for dozens and dozens of decisions over the next 20, 30 years that are going to be decided by people -- look, amy

coney barrett is qualified. but if you took everyone that was qualified and put them in a stadium we are talking about five members of the supreme court over in this section. we have taken everybody from a extreme point of view and making them decisive on the supreme court. all the pure power of the five that's wrong for the court and wrong for the country. >> it is up for the third time for review, the affordable care act coming up this fall. >> that's right. >> alex i know you are reporting democrats are complying lists of black women they want joe biden to consider for the bench if elected with an eye toward getting them from outside the traditional establish men. what are you hearing? >> i will make very clear according to the reporting that i have the lists being compiled

by democrats are outside folks not within the campaign. they are folks compiling the informal lists because while joe biden said he doesn't feel it is of political interest to release a least he has pledged to elect a black women. all the numbers on the screen are folks that we have in an article that we have been hearing. when you lock at taylor or other academics, those are non-traditional picks that we are hearing from progressive democrats especially who are saying look the one big thing that the supreme court is really lacking is a justice or justices that have this kind of real world working class experience who understands the pains and the struggle of the economic situation that many kind of middle class and regular americans around this country face. of course the court is stacked with a lot of these folks who went to ivy league institutions. we are hearing from folks who want people from the academic world and also people whov an

eye to the racial justice civil rights movement the black lives matter movement to meet this moment. they wanted by tony look outside the traditional legal establishment. whether or not he will do that remains to be seen. but we are hearing folks are excited about these different women. >> you have given me the first question i am going to ask melissa mory when she's on the show tomorrow. hey, what do you think about that? let me ask you, harry, whether or not you think it is important that joe biden releases this list before the election. whether the seven we saw on our screen or a different compilation? i don't think so. in fact i think it is kind of a losing game that trump is trying to trap him into. he has said he is going to pick an african-american woman. because of how this country works that by definition means people with non-traditional criteria. andrea kruger, melissa terry, others have all the normal chops. but to get into this would be to invite the criticism, well, she

hasn't gone to this school or hasn't been this kind of clerk. sort the point but invoiting the criticism custom is exactly what he should be avoiding in this kind of battle? let's take a quick listen to the president who is pushing back against the criticism of his non-committal, twice n fact, to a voluntary transfer of power should he lose the election. take a listen, everyone. >> we have got to watch this ballot scam. they are scamming us, okay? they are scamming us. whenner losing ballots all over the place, when they are losing ballots that just happen to be trump ballots. this is a birthday waiting to happen. and the only hope we have, really, other than going through a long unbelievable litigation at the enafter it's over -- because we are not going to lose this, except if they cheat. that's way i look at it. be careful. and we do want a very friendly transition. but we don't want to be cheated and be stupid. >> alexi, what's the strategy

hooint behind this? he is laying the ground work for rejecting the results of the election? >> it has been clear for the last few months that president trump and his re-election team are facing dire political prospects heading into the general election. you see that fact reflected in his rhetoric. he has been wattrashing mail-in voting for weeks while he and his wife and those close to him vote by mail in this very election. it is critical, the mail-in ballots turn out in the numbe numbenumbers democrats are expecting, he has no chance. so, the facts are there that things are not going well for president trump. he is sort of trying to inoculate himself from an anticipated loss and give himself a kind of early excuse by trashing mail-in voting. now we see his real interests

and why he wants to rush through the supreme court justice to sort of he says save himself from what he claims will be a rigged election. >> rarry, what are the expectations whether or not we are going to be mired in litigation after this election? what do you think? >> first talk about more castro than churchill, it is i am sorry despicable to say you won't hit to the verdict of the voters. already armys already massing on both sides. this canard that he is talking about with the ballots, totally bogus, but that was in in pennsylvania. 45 states already have lig. it is going to be i think full employment time for lawyers on both sides. will it actually go to the heart of the election and wiped up disastrously in the supreme court? i think that's still less likely than not. but could you see it. it's plausible. >> last word, can you see it as well? is this plausible?

>> only if it is a close election. i think it is possible that president trump will use every legal avenue to drag it out, challenge the vote if it is a close election. but if it is a decisive victory by joe biden as polls suggest it looks like now there is nothing president trump can do about it. he can complain about it. the military said it is not going to get involved. the military is a personal toy or tool of the president and there is nothing he can do and the states clearly certify that joe biden has won the election. i think it is extraordinary to see an american president talking like this. naj what the u.s. government would be saying if this happened in another country, asking the u.n. the weigh in, asking for sanctions. this is not normal rhetoric coming from an american president to challenge the legitimacy of the election in this matter. >> have you seen the comments from people around the world? it is extraordinary as others are watching what ear doing here. good to see all of you.

thanks for the chat. we will see you all again. casting doubts, the danger involved in the president's failure to commit to a peaceful transition of power, as we were talking about right there. about.

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fine jewellery for yourself. (snap) we're mejuri, the new luxury. more now on the growing fallout over the president not once but twice this week declining to commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the november election, using baseless assertions to cast doubt on the legitimacy of mail-in ballots. >> we are going to have to see what happens. you know that. i have been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. >> we want to make sure the election is honest, and i'm not sure that it can be. i don't know that it can be, with this whole situation,

unsolicited balloted, they are unsolicited. millions being sent to everybody. >> joining me now, kathleen rice democrat from new york. welcome back to the broadcast. i am curious your reaction to the president of the united states not committing to accept results of this election or to the peaceful transfer of power for which this country is respected throughout the world? certainly in my lifetime, alex i have never heard a president talk this way. it is so clear to me that president trump did not learn a lesson that all of us learn as children. we are taught by your parents and our coaches and our teachers to be gracious losers. not everyone can win all the time. but the dynamic is that the president is setting up is if i lose, the election is rigged. that's ridiculous, to question legitimacy of mail-in ballots when there is no evidence. and you haven't heard any republican other than president trump showing any evidence that

there is any fraud realitied to mail-in ballots. the president does it himself. the trump campaign is encouraging their own voters in states that do mail-in ballots to vote by mail ballot. putting all of that aside, alec, i hope as many people who feel thicke they can do it safely vote in person. every state has early voting. other in new york it starts on october 24th. they spread it out so there aren't just a flood of people showing up. all the polling places are going to follow cdc guidelines in terms of social distancing and mask wearing. if you feel that you can do it safely, go out and do it safely try to vote in person. there is no question question -- trump is not talking about that. he doesn't like seeing the lines in states like virginia literally lining through the streets of people trying to vote early. i just don't think that this kind of fraudulent rhetoric

coming out of trump's mouth is going to be anything other than people saying this is just the wi our president talks and it has no legitimacy. >> as a new york resident, i have gotten lots of emails and actually flyers in the mail. and you have week day and weekend days when you can begin voting as correctly you said, october 24th. something folks should take advantage of in this state. your homeland security member here. s that national security issue. is there any honest reason for the president to be casting doubt on the legitimacy of the ballots? >> no. we had a hearing with christopher wray, the head of the fbi, the other day. i have to tell you, alex, he is such a professional. he is the only administration official who does not kowtow to trump e. speaks the truth. he took an oath in front of our committee and he said, look, there is no evidence of

widespread fraud when it comes to mail-in balloting. what does he get? trump, mark meadows, wray he's a hack, he doesn't know what he is doing. he doesn't know how to one the rbi. the president chose him to run the fbi. he is more than qualified. what they don't like is he speaks the truth to the american people. he is krigting what the president is trying debt american citizens to believe, which is, if you have to vote by mail it is doing to be fraudulent, when there is no evidence of that. i think it is more of the same that we get from this president and his lackeys like mark meadows cast aspersions on someone like chris wray who has done nothing but serve his country with honor and distinction. >> two and a half hours or so until the president announces his supreme court pick. we have made the confirmation that it is judge amy coney barrett.

what do you make of that choice. >> i think she was on short list the last time when brett kavanaugh was chosen. what the american people should be worried about, amy coney barrett has made it very clear how she is feels about the affordable care act. it is very clear why she's being chosen. president trump, even with a house of representatives and a senate that was run by republicans w president trump in the white house, for two years they could not repeal obamacare, the affordable care act and replace it with anything. the president has been talking almost four years about this beautiful health care plan that he is going to come up with. >> usually in a two week period. he says we will net you know for a couple of weeks. >> he has been saying that over a year and has come up with nothing. what he is going to do now is make sure he stacks the supreme court 6-3 because they are going to hear the affordable care act

case on november 10th. what he couldn't do legislatively, he is going to get the supreme court to do. coney barrett said roberts was outside the bounds when they may that last decision about the affordable care act. what is important to understand -- we are still in the middle of a pam. what they have to understand is by overturning the affordable care act, 20 million americans are going to overnight have no health care. no health care. people with preexisting conditions. by the way, the hundreds of thousands of people who have covid and survived, that's a preexisting condition now. bag woman is a preexisting condition now. that's gone. if you have your children who are under the age of 26, you are providing them health care -- they are off. they have no health care, if they throw away obamacare. so he made all of these promises about yeah, we are going to get rid of obamacare. the worst health care plan in the world. he couldn't do it now he is going to stack the supreme court

with justices he knows will do it for him. people have to understand that. i talk alex so often to especially young constituents and voters of mine. i say to them this is exactly why voting is so critically important because the age of these judgments that are being appointed is getting younger and younger. these are lifetime decisions. their decisions are going to affect the next three generations of citizens. lgbtq citizens, americans, immigrants, women, union people, the environment. all of these issues are going to come before this court and we are not going to have good results. >> yeah. got to tell you congresswoman, the thing that irks me is you talk about -- not you, but the president talks about overturning obamacare. for what? we still don't have any idea what he would put in its place. i don't know how one talks about overturning something without talking about what you are going

to replace with it. >> he talks all the time, we are going to do this, build a wall, do this, do that. he has done nothing, passed a tax cut that blew the deficit sky high. he has done nothing even when he had all the power from a legislative standpoint. he neds to be held accountable. not hold him to a higher standard but if he says he is going do something and he doesn't, hold him accountable. >> congresswoman thank you so much. as we await the president's nomination, a quick look at the front runner and how she could change the dynamic of the court. change the dynamic of the court. (grandmother) make it three. (young woman) three? (grandmother) did you get his number? (young woman) no, grandma! grandma!! (grandmother) excuse me! (young woman vo) some relationships get better with time. that's why i got a crosstrek. (avo) ninety-seven percent of subaru vehicles sold in the last

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because the size of your wallet shouldn't determine whether or not you're in jail. vote yes on prop 25 to end money bail. breaking news a little more than two hours when the president is expected to announce his supreme court nomination. nbc news has learned that president has chosen amy coney barrett to fill the vacancy left by justice ruth bader ginsburg.

choosing to nominate a justice during an election year has become traefl. this is what amy coney barrett said in 2018. >> we live in a different time. as we know confirmation hearings have gotten more contention. i don't think we live in the same kind of time. i think in some, the president has the power to nominate, and the senator has to power to act or not. i don't think either up with of them can claim there is a rule governing one way or the other. >> joining us now, jamal green, trevor morrison, a former clerk for the late ruth bader ginsburg, and jill philipo vich, lawyer and author of okay boomer, let's talk, how my generation got left behind wrl to all three of you. i have been handed something.

i want to go over this with you. nbc news having learned of the tentative confirmation hearing schedule for the scotus nominee whom as we have been reporting all day we believe to be amy coney barrett. it is currently expected to begin on october 12th the confirmation hearing. the imtime line is subject to change. that would be opening statements, questioning, questions outside witnesses over about a four day period. trevor you first. what do you think about october 12 through 15th as being the dates in terms of how long it gives everyone to get their ducks in a row and get ready for this confirmation hearing. >> i think october 12th is about as soon as it could possibly be scheduled. we know that chairman graham has some lower court judicial nominations to take up in front of the judiciary committee this coming week. so that that time between nomination if it happens later today as we expect and october 12th is pretty short but i am

sure that the republicans on the judiciary committee and their staff will work very hard to make that date. it is obviously an extremely accelerated schedule relative to the typical length of time that would be taken both for nomination and first hearing and then for the overall process. but judge barrett is right that the senate has the power to decide whether to confirm a nominee and also to set the schedule for that. its wisdom i will leave to others to judge. but i think october 12 is about as soon as it could possibly be done. i think that reflect the determination of the senate majority to move this as quickly as it could be moved. >> given your thoughts on how ruth bader ginsburg's absence is going to change the current dynamics of the supreme court, be they from a political reason, legal reason or actually just a personal reason.

she was very tight with the man who was her polar opposite, scalia, on that court. she had a personal regard for everybody, regardless of their legal approach they seemed to evaluate him. >> the justice served on the supreme court for 27 years having served on the dc circuit previously for 23 years. she served with scalia there, he was elevated he before her. i think she was one the kind of pillars of the collegiality of that body. of course it is a court that hears hugely consequential cases that can often closely divided and bitterly fought. but the health of the court really fends in a forward-going way on the justices figuring out how to work together after a

trefrl case is decided to move on to the next. the justice was deeply committed to that. she took her work as a justice incredibly seriously and for me, really set a model of setting the absolute highest standards of professionalism and hard work in her job. also of collegiality. it was important to her that the justices found ways to work effectively together. after all in the next case the votes that one might need in order to form a majority might come from unexpected places. so there was an importance in the long run of working together. i think that's part of her legacy. i think whoever replaces her would bring that quality with them. i think it is important for the health of the court. >> i think you said a supreme court appointment would be an insult to ruth bader ginsburg saying judge barrett is happy to

take advantage of the opportunities the predecessors created but reactionary enough to burn ruth bader ginsburg's decisions to the grounds. what do you mean by that. >> amy coney barrett is a woman, part of the reason she is being nominated to fill the seat of the greatest female jurorists the court has ever seen. when you lock at amy coney barrett's record and when you look at her many public statements she is somebody who seeks to dismantle that quality. there have been a lot of publicity on her view about abortion and abortion rights. it is not just abortion. it is questions of basic fair skpps basic equality, particularly between men and

women. the question is going to face many questions for example, religious liberty. does somebody's religious views justify them violating generally typical -- [ indiscernible ] from what we've seen from this judge it seems that her answer would be yes, [ indiscernible ] >> jamal, look, this nomination could certainly cement the conservative hold on the highest court. what would be the process to shift a major legal precedent like abortion? and how long could that take? >> well, it could be quite quick. there are a number of abortion rights-related cases circulating in the lower courts now. there are a number of states that have passed very aggressive regulations of abortion that could come to the court easily within the next year or two. so it could be quite quick when we -- if there is a confirmation here when we learn exactly what

kind of effect justice -- future justice bafrt would have on the court. it is not just her and her own particular views but you know, there is good reason to think that having potentially five justices to his right might affect the way chief justice roberts votes in cases as well. because in order to maintain his ability to be part of the majority and assign an opinion to that majority, he had have to join them. so it could be quite a substantial effect on court. we could learn that very fast. >> jamal, my last question to you, do you share the concerns that have been expressed on this broadcast of the aca, the overturning potential of obamacare? do you think it is something in peril? >> it is certainly in peril. a week after the election the court will hear a case in which the administration has asked the court throw out the law in its entirety. and we don't know what the court will decide there.

but amy coney barrett has given some critical statements approximate prior decisions involving the affordable care act. it is hard to say what she thinks about the consider lawsuit. but it is i think fair to say in quite a bit of jeopardy. >> jill, trevor, jamal -- all three of you thank you so much for weighing in on this really important day. it is a devastating account of how the president handled the covid-19 crisis. a former assistant secretary at the department of homeland security is going the talk to me about that next. o me about that next. 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. with any purchase ♪water? why?! ahhhh! incoming! ahhhahh! i'm saved! water tastes like, water. so we fixed it. mio

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with tums smoothies. you can't always stop for a fingerstick.betes with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you don't have to. with a painless, one-second scan you can check your glucose with a smart phone or reader so you can stay in the moment. no matter where you are or what you're doing. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. you can do it without fingersticks. learn more at freestylelibre.us. we're back with an nbc exclusive interview. olivia troy, a one-time senior approximately see adviser for the trump coronavirus task force is giving a devastating account of how this president handled the virus. >> he was really focused on public image, messaging, and it was really more about, you know, his personal agenda than,

really, the agenda that the task force had at hand, which was how are we going to save and protect americans. we certainly had a task force meeting and discussion where we had this conversation, that this was going to be big. >> that early, january 28th. >> late january, we knew. >> yet, the president was saying al week later it is going disappear? >> it was frightening. you know, when you are the president, words matter. >> joining me now is elizabeth neumann a former assistant secretary at the department of homeland security under president trump and cofounder of repair, the republican political alliance for integrity and reform. elizabeth welcome back to the broad was. what is your reaction to olivia troy's story? >> i was grateful she was willing to speak out that took a lot of courage. i think it is important for the american people to continue to hear the first-hand accounts but

part of owe live why's story is not unique. we now have at least 600 national security professionals that have spoken out. the number is probably liar but just my open quick count. you had a group in august of over now 100 republican national security officials -- these are national security officials that either consider themselves republicans or worked in an republican administration that have spoken out to lay out ten points where they believe that the president has made our country more dangerous. this week you had nearly 500 national security officials speak out in support of biden. what is unique about this group that spoke up this week they are made up of military diplomatic and intelligence community core, these are public serve kants that dedicated their lives to national security. as a unspoken rule they tend not to be political. then a of them choose not to

vote in order to main tape their non-partisanship. and what they are seeing is so disturbing that they feel like they are compelled to speak out, because this president is making our country less safe. we do not think four more years of donald trump will allow our -- it will cause our country to collapse within itself. and we have increasing concerns about what we see russia doing inside our country. and for many, many reasons, you have these national security officials speaking out and saying, it is time for the american public to hear directly from these professionals that this president is not safe safe for our country. >> belizabeth, how stunning is this number to you, over 600 national security professionals, some of them hoping for perceived as apolitical, making these kinds of statements? and do you think this message is getting through to voters. >> you know, it's really -- it's

really hard to know that. there are increasingly echo chambers of the two tribes, if you will. and we all tend to graph date to certain media outlets. and you hear repeated refrains of both sides talking points. i think what you see from these national security professionals is an attempt to try to break through and genuinely communicate sheer what i saw. you mike up your own mind. we are telling you how we are voting. we are not telling you how to vote. but please listen. this is our country that is at stake here. this is not an election about policy associated with health care or tacks. even the supreme court discussions that you know are very relevant for the moment -- i am not dismissing that. but what's at stake is the way that our country will be able to

function moving forward. and he is increasingly a you a authoritarian leader. we are founded on the rule of law, on the constitution and we have a leader that is not upholing his oath to protect and defend the constitution. >> can i ask you about this week's confirmation hearings for chad wolfe. in it he denied charges that he buried a department of homeland security security threat assessment that singled out racist extremists and russian interference because it would have reflected poorly upon president trump. when you left your position in counter-terrorism and threat -- what were you think as you were watching chad wolfe defend the handling of that issue. >> there are good people at the

center taking this threat seriously. they are working very hard around the clock to try to keep your country safe. my criticism is not with what they are doing. my criticism is that the nature this threat requires that the leaders at the top clearly articulate fact, a threat. that we have a growing rise of white nationalists in our country, they like to carry out their ideology through violent means and they are increasingly recruiting people that align with conservative causes and grievances and if you educate, if you educate the american public that that is what's happening, that they're trying to recruit you into something much darker and much more nefarious than just standing up for your gun rights, you inoculate people from that recruitment. if we could clearly articulate this is the threat and it is ongoing, it is growing, it is metastasizing in this country,

we would be able to better go after that threat. instead, we have a president who's doing the opposite. he is sewing seeds of dis dissension. he is creating fear and all of the studies show us that when you have that mix, it ends up increasing the amount of people recruited to extremist violence causes. >> elizabeth neumann, your candor and your time on the show, i appreciate it. >> thank you for having me, alex. my next guest writes washington politics could be about to enter a post apocalyptic faphase. he'll describe why next.

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it's true, i will rescue you oh, i will rescue you 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. nbc news is learning that a tentative confirmation hearing is going to start on october 12th and run through the 15th of the month. joining us is domenica. do those dates and numbers seem

realistic to you? >> well, the republicans have the numbers so they can move this as quickly as they want to. they were mentioning that they want to have confirmation hearings. we've been hearing sometime in mid october as possible dates and times, and certainly you have lindsey graham who's the chairman of the judiciary committee who can move this as quickly as he wants to. we expect that amy coney barrett will make some calls to senators to meet with various key players, democrats and republicans, and you'll see hearings after that. >> that's 16 days. for the last three nominations, kagan, gorsuch, kavanaugh, it took an average of two months. do you think everything can get done without a bunch of hiccups during the confirmation hearings? >> look. she's somebody who's been vetted, that's why she has already -- that's why she was the front-runner almost as soon as the vacancy happened. she was a finalist last time

when the last opening was on the court. so, you know, it's not that surprising that she would be the person. they've gone through some of the processes with her. you would expect that there's a lot of what could have happened last time for her already in place, the infrastructure in place for her. they feel like, look, they have the votes. they've whipped it. they feel like they can get her through and they're going to give it a shot. given the fact that she's vetted, they don't expect there are any major issues that are going to come up about her past or background that are going to disqualify her. >> what about the recent article that you wrote, domineco, we're about to enter a post-apocalyptic phase. what does that mean? how does the supreme court fight play into that? >> the reason i used that phrase is everyone talked about eliminating the filibuster for federal judges as going nuclear. that happened. mitch mcconnell turned around and eliminated the filibuster

for the -- for the supreme court so now we're at a point where majority rules. power is power and that's all that matters. the senate people used to say was the saucer to the house's hot tea and now they're just adding more fuel to the fire, it seems, where, you know, we could be headed for a point where if democrats make the big threats and they can get some of their wavering members on board with it, a lot of people talking about using some of these more extreme measures to say, look, add a couple more people to the supreme court to water down the conservative bent that it's going to take. even make washington, d.c., a state. another thing people have talked about to add to more potentially democratic senators. who knows what's going to happen now that we've gone nuclear and could be heading post apocalyptic. >> good to see you. thank you for joining me. >> same. that's going to do it for

me, everybody. i'm alex witt. i'll see you at noon tomorrow. i'll tell you that my colleague jasmine has made it here. she'll pick up with democratic senator bob kasey, a pro life democrat who's going to give his life on whether he could vote to confirm judge amy coney barrett. , 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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good afternoon, i'm yasmine vossumian. a confirmation fight brewing over the woman who could have a seismic impact over health care abortion and the president's own efforts to derail it. we're hours away of what could be the first presidential debate. i'm going to talk to the man who played donald trump for hillary clinton in 2016. his advice for joe biden.