good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. the final showdown just hours from now. president trump and former vice president joe biden facing off on the debate stage for the final time, a political prize fight moderated by nbc's kristen welker. the candidates' contrasting styles never more apparent than last night. the president in north carolina, wednesday night, for another rally. his crowds growing larger by the day, mostly without masks, ignoring the reality of the pandemic. >> that pandemic is rounding the corner. they hate it when i say it. all you hear is covid, covid, covid, covid, covid, covid. covid, covid, covid, covid. that's all they put on because they want to scare the hell out of everyone. >> joe biden focusing on debate prep all week, relying on the firepower of former president barack obama, delivering his most blistering denunciation yet of the trump presidency say

socially distanced philadelphia drive-in rally. >> he hasn't shown any interest in doing the work or helping anybody but himself and his friends or treating the presidency like a reality show that he can use to get attention. even then, his tv ratings are down. so you know that upsets him. i get that this president wants full credit for the economy he inherited, and zero blame for the pandemic that he ignored. tweeting at the television doesn't fix things. making stuff up doesn't make people's lives better. donald trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us. he can't even take the basic steps to protect himself. >> and just now, president trump has released his copy of his entire "60 minutes" interview with lesley stahl which the white house recorded, three days

after the interview took place. we'll have more on that later in the show. nbc white house correspondent peter alexander and nbc's mike memoli covering the biden campaign. peter, to you, the president now releasing his copy of "60 minutes," i guess the white house record it through the white house recording agency, their cameras go every the president goes, unless it was a campaign camera that do it. but to release a "60 minutes" interview three days before it's supposed to air, what's he trying to prove? >> andrea, who know exactly who filmed it, whether it was dan scavino from the white house communications office. he said he wanted to show the rudeness of cbs veteran journalist lesley stahl.

we've watched the interview, i think most americans will think it was not a rude interview, it was filled with good questions, tough questions at times, and a normal back and forth between a man in the oval office and a journalist just days before an election. nonetheless it underscores the series of grievances from the president, his closing argument that even his own aides say may play with the base but does not help him with those voters who remain unconvinced. i was speaking with one of the president's allies who say tonight offers a unique opportunity to the president. there are some late breakers out there, perhaps a small number, but folks who could mean the difference in key swing states including seniors, they say, who don't want to hear the angry rhetoric, they don't want to hear the grievances, they want to hear policy prescriptions. nonetheless this is what we're hearing from the president just hours before he takes the stage, andrea. >> and let me just say that i've

known lesley stahl since the 1970s, and there's no one with more experience at doing this. she's a superb journalist in every regard. mike memoli, joe biden has taken of course the polar opposite approach to this debate. he's actually been preparing for the debate, not going to rallies. does he think that they have figured this all out and will the mute button that at least permits them supposedly to make their opening statements in each segment uninterrupted by their opponent, do you think that is going to help? will that reduce the wreckage we saw last time? >> well, the former vice president in a local television interview he did this week said he welcomed the mute button if that's what we're calling it, the opportunity to silence one of the microphones during the opening statements, the answers to each of the six different subject areas. but listen, andrea, as far as biden's preparation, despite what has been a roller coaster of a general election campaign

with a lot of both external events impacting the discussion and attempts by the president to shake up the race constantly, what has been surprisingly consistent is the polling averages, nationally especially, except for one exception which was that first debate in cleveland, the chaotic scene we saw there, biden in our own nbc polling average moving above 50% and staying there since then. that's why the biden team has focused and tried to drill down this week on preparing for all potential scenarios on the debate stage tonight, potentially a repeat of what we saw in cleveland, constant interruptions from the president even if his microphone is silent, or a more reserved president trump, who gives joe biden more time to answer tough questions from our colleague kristen welker. the biden campaign is preparing for all scenarios. i think two issues we've seen tripping him up in the last few weeks potentially, one is of course the president's attempts to raise hunter biden as an issue, will it be an issue that

is something that is constantly raised tonight? we'll see. the other he sort of preempted today with another interview on "60 minutes" where biden trying to move beyond these questions of would he expand the supreme court or not, saying he would have a panel studying the issue, reporting back in 180 days, a time-tested washington method to put off a potentially thorny issue for biden especially within his own party. >> they're not just talking -- he's not just talking about whether to adjustsd justices to court but there is the whole subject of term limits or some other kind of non-lifetime tenure, there are other issues they're investigating, but it is kicking the can down the road. peter and maike, we've gone through the "60 minutes" tape and let's show you what was controversial according to the president, which was the end of the interview when he decided not to stay for additional

shooting, which would have been part of the interview, what we call a walk and talk at the end of the interview. let's watch. >> you brought up a lot of subjects that were inappropriately brought up. >> i asked tough questions. >> they were inappropriately brought up from the beginning. your first question was, this is going to be tough questions. >> it is. >> you set up the interview. your first statement was -- >> you're the president. don't you think you should be accountable to the american people? >> listen. your first statement to me, this is going to be tough questions. i don't mind that. when you set up the interview, you didn't say that. you said, oh, let's have a lovely interview. excuse me, lesley, your first statement was, are you ready for tough questions. that's no way to talk. that's no way to talk. >> lesley, one second. we're -- uh, this is the first warning, i think we have five minutes until we have the vice president step in, is that about right? >> well i think so we had enough.

really, we have enough. >> i think we're ready for the vice president now. >> i think we have enough of the interview here, okay? that's enough. let's go. let's go. uh, let's go meet for two seconds, okay? i'll see you in a little bit. thanks. >> and i believe that was the end of the taping. peter, your reaction to that? >> well, just a couple of things. the white house, according to cbs news, said they would be recording this solely for archival purposes, obviously that's not the case, they've shared it ahead of the broadcast of the interview. most americans will be interested to see how the president can answer fair questions. i'm struck, the president said, you started this interview by saying it was going to be tough questions. we watched the beginning of the interview as well. in the beginning lesley stahl says to the president, hey, are you ready for some tough questions? he said, i just want it to be

fair. she says, in the last interview you said bring it on. the questions were in the realm of normalcy, nothing outside what you would expect the president to be asked on. and it's a lot on the topics that the president will be pressed on tonight. the president's allies say they want him to be more calm. i don't think that's what they get out of president trump in that interview they've now released. >> it is a distraction, though, indeed. let's also bring in our panel, "washington post" columnist eugene robinson, jen palmieri, former communications director for hillary clinton's presidential campaign, john salter who has worked with john mccain and endorsed joe biden this time around, and the author of "the luckiest man: life with john mccain," an extraordinary book that we're all looking forward to. >> thank you. >> mark salter, let's talk about

your reaction to "60 minutes." >> i guess he wasn't ready for some tough questions. i don't know, it's impossible to follow whatever the through line is in the president's thinking. it was a bad interview and he comes off poorly in it. i don't know why he's doing everything he can to draw attention to it. but, you know, i don't understand a lot of what donald trump does. >> to you, gene robinson, as we head into this debate, why would this be what he would want the narrative going into his final chance to redress some of the concerns that people have, if there are still undecided voters out there, fix what happened in the first debate, be more presidential. i know that he hasn't taken advice before, but if he could be more restrained, he was in the final debate last time around, even though by all accounts he lost that debate to hillary clinton, he could make up some ground. >> right. last time, in the last week,

week and a half before the election, he was relatively reserved and seemed to do what his handlers advised him to do, which is don't act so crazy and act like you could be a normal president. and that was successful for him. i don't anticipate that tonight. it's certainly not what we saw in the "60 minutes" interview. i'm with mark salter, i have no idea why he would want to highlight this interview and make it part of his closing argument. except that his entire closing argument seems to be grievance. it seems to be how unfairly everyone is treating him about everything. and that includes of course those of us in the media who ask him questions that he finds inconvenient. and there are a lot of questions that he finds inconvenient now, if you ask him about covid,

that's really inconvenient. you know, you ask him about the economy, that's really inconvenient. and so, you know, i think he may genuinely feel aggrieved. but he certainly wants to project that. and again, he thinks it works with his base and maybe it does. i don't think it really works with anybody else. >> the other major player who was out there of course was barack obama, last night in philadelphia, at a drive-in rally. jen palmieri, having gone through the 2016 campaign, this is a late entry to the campaign trail because of the pandemic. until now, barack obama has been doing virtual events. but take a listen to some of what he had to say about donald trump last night. >> the thing is, this is not a reality show. this is reality. and the rest of us have had to live with the consequences of

him proving himself incapable of taking the job seriously. we've got to turn out like never before. we cannot leave any doubt in this election. because you know, the president's already said, if it's even close, i'm going to just make stuff up. he's already started to do it. so we can't have any doubt. we can't be complacent. >> jen, you know, i well remember election eve last time around with the obamas and the clintons at independence hall, an enormous rally, and you always think that a great president, great -- in terms of the eloquence, his ability to make a speech, can work. can he transfer the affection that people in philadelphia clearly have for him to joe biden? >> well, you know, he was trying to school people. he was trying to convince them that they need to turn out, you

know, and he put it in personal terms, like you need to do this for me, to elect joe biden and kamala harris. so he's pretty convincing when he wants -- when he's telling you what you need to do. and i think there's sort of two powerful parts of his speech yesterday. one is just the power of his own example as a former president of the united states who was pretty successful, two terms, remains -- the american people have a very high opinion of him still. and to swing voters, to remind them, this is what it can be like, this is what a president of the united states normally behaves like. that's good for joe biden. but also there is him pushing -- you know, he speaks pretty tough to voters about, you didn't turn out so much last time and we really need you to do it this time, and understand that your vote matters, it's going to be counted, and we have to do this.

and having that personal push from him i think is impactful. >> and in fact, in north philly yesterday, he met with a group of black men and spoke to young people and explained to them, eugene, let me play this and get you to comment on his appeal to them, that voting isn't perfect but it makes things better, that kind of message. take a look. i think we have that. i thought we had that sound. i am so sorry. we'll play that later in the program. but if we have some of the b-roll of some pictures with those young men, it was very moving what he was saying about he was a community adviser, he said, "i wasn't that woke when i was 20 years old, but don't let your frustrations or disappointments with politics

stop you from voting." i think we've got part of that now. >> it is rare, and i will confess that when i was 20 years old, i wasn't all that woke. cause i had other stuff that i was interested in. we won't go into the details. the most important thing we can do in these closing 12, 13 days, is for us all to model and advertise that it's the cool thing and the right thing to vote. voting worked. it didn't make everything perfect. but we solved a whole lot of problems. >> and eugene, he actually was schooling people throughout his day yesterday, how to do it, make sure you've got the second envelope, make sure your signatures match. it isn't that hard.

really trying to go through it point by point. >> absolutely. and, you know, why was he in philadelphia? because if african-american turnout in philadelphia had been higher last time, hillary clinton would have won pennsylvania and ditto detroit and michigan, milwaukee and wisconsin. african-american turnout was down from the obama years. and it's important for joe biden's chances to get it back up. and it is interesting that obama specifically spoke to black men. i think everyone in the democratic party expects that black women will be a dependable and enthusiastic constituency for joe biden and will come out and vote for him in large numbers. and there has been some polling that suggests maybe a bit more

of a question about black men, as to whether they're as near unanimous in their support of joe biden as black women are. and so i think he wanted to make that point to black men in particular, that it is important for them to vote this time, and here is how you do it and here's why it's important. >> and mark salter, let's talk about how the norms have really been changed this year and for the last four years, with the last debate, and now going into this next one. you were with john mccain every step of the way, every campaign, every trip, every rally, you know, the straight talk express, and debate prep. i remember the debate, oxford, mississippi, because of the economic collapse, it was not even sure that that debate was going to happen. >> right. >> and there are similar concerns now about this.

so talk about the stress of going into a debate in this context and then how would you face somebody who just talks over you and interrupts and doesn't let you finish your sentences? >> you know, when senator mccain lost, and graciously conceded defeat, we were prepared to go all our separate ways that night, i remarked to a friend, at least i don't have to do any more damn debate prep. 12 years later i'm still traumatized by debates and debate prep. it's very hard to prepare somebody like president trump, obviously. exercising self restraint when provoked is the best you can do because really all you've got to do is look presidential and serious and concerned, which is pretty natural for joe biden to do. it's totally unnatural for the president to do. and that is really his fundamental problem. gene mentioned how he was able

in the last couple of weeks, you know, in 2016, to exercise some measure of restraint over his id. so people thought, well, maybe he can be a normal president. well, now we've had four years of him and we realize he can't be a normal president, he doesn't have the ability to do it, he doesn't have the self-control to do it. the chaos and craziness gets worse every day. this race is pretty locked in. there aren't that many undecides. the president is going to have to exercise some, for him, heroic self-control tonight. and joe biden just has to be basically be joe biden. and that's a great advantage for him, i think. >> well, our thanks to you, gene robinson, jen palmieri, and mark salter. please, mark, come back soon and talk about "luckiest man" when we're not on a debate day. thank you all so much. meanwhile we do have a statement now from cbs.

this is from cbs news. the white house's unpre preprec decision to disregard their agreement with cbs news and release their footage will not deter "60 minutes" from providing its full, fair, and contextual reporting which presidents have participated in for decades. "60 minutes," the most-watched news program on television, is widely respected for bringing its hallmark fairness, deep reporting, and informative context to viewers each week. view journalists have the experience that lesley stahl has. so there you have it from cbs news. and election interference. up next, u.s. intelligence saying iran is behind threatening emails to democrats as russia is also hacking voter information. what we know about all this, next. and later, the house

intelligence chairman adam schiff joins me. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. "andrea mitchell reports. this is msnbc. iphone 12 and iphone 12 pro are here on verizon 5g with the coverage of 5g nationwide, and, in more and more cities, the performance of 5g ultra wideband. get iphone 12 on us when you switch. only on verizon. a livcustomizeper iquickbooks for me. okay, you're all set up. thanks! that was my business gi, this one's casual. get set up right with a live bookkeeper with intuit quickbooks.

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at walmart, target and other fine stores. the u.s. intelligence community says both iran and russia have now obtained some information about registered democrats in several states. but so far, only iran has used the data, according to the intelligence community. it is being blamed for sending out threatening emails to democrats that say "vote for trump or else."

they were sent from, port purportedly, the proud boys, a right wing group that supports president trump. dni director john ratcliffe last night said this. >> although we have not seen the same actions from russia, we are aware that they have obtained some voter information just as they did in 2016. >> joining me now, our jeremy bash, the former chief of staff at cia and pentagon, and frank figliuzzi, former assistant director of the fbi's counterintelligence division. his upcoming book is "the fbi way: inside the agency's code of excellence," available for preorder. they didn't take questions, it was just a news conference led

by the dni making a statement about political conclusions, saying iran is trying to damage president trump. that's not typical. what strikes you? >> there was nothing typical about last night's press conference. in fact, as press conferences go, andrea, it was essentially a bust. it didn't follow the basic tenets of a good press conference. be transparent, establish trust and credibility through transparency, tell the people everything you can possibly tell them, you know, within reason, and then give them a plan, the next steps and tell them you're going to update them frequently. none of that happened. so we have more questions than answers. and the fact that essentially a politician, a political crony of the president's who lacks trust and credibility led that press conference does not lead us to be more assured. in fact it leads us to have many, many questions about what's happening here. it's essentially the equivalent on the covid side of public relations, of not allowing dr.

fauci to be the spokesperson and having politicians tell us about a virus. so that's what's happening here. so i am very deeply disturbed on the cyber side about the fact that two foreign adversaries have allegedly gotten ahold of american voter registration data and we don't know what that means. is it read only? can they manipulate the data? can they delete the data that they're looking at? what does it mean? where did it happen? how do we fix and patch the holes? where does that money come from? lots of unanswered questions. not a good press conference last night. >> and christopher wray sort of sidelined, giving a statement but not speak to go the substance of the issues. "the washington post" is reporting that win or lose, the president wants to fire chris wray after the election. he's supposed to have a ten-year term, to take him out of politics. first to you, frank, because you come out of the fbi, how is that affecting morale? >> well, look, i think what we saw last night was the fbi

director clearly taking a back seat to a political crony of the president's. and i think that hanging over his head that sword of damocles that i might not allow you to go your ten-year term, just as the president intervened with comey's ten-year term, is political sizing the fbi and the intelligence community writ large. this can't continue to go on or in the world we will lose trust and credibility when we need it the most, when our intelligence agencies need to show that they've got solid proof of something happening, we're losing it. and the american people right now need to trust the outcome of the election. last night's press conference didn't help us do that. >> senator schumer and others were briefed on the hill as well, and last night, senator schumer, jeremy, went on with rachel maddow and said he was taking this seriously, that there is something here, but did not take at all from the briefing what the dni said, that

this was done to hurt donald trump's election. that's not the way he read what the briefers were telling them. it also seemed as though the dni was deliberately downplaying the russian angle and really focusing on iran, who is obviously, you know, a major target for the president. did you read it the same way? >> i do give credit to folks at the department of homeland security and at the fbi because they have been very carefully watching what foreign actors are doing. i think it's clear, as senator schumer pointed out, that all foreign adversaries fundamentally want to sow chaos because a presidential election is the crown jewel of american democracy. so if they can disrupt that, obviously that denigrates the standing of the united states and our ability to export our values and our democracy. i do agree, though, andrea, that the analysis that was put forward by the dni at the press conference was a little thin. basically he said this was done to damage trump. i mean, i didn't read it necessarily that way. the emails actually went to

democrats and threatened them and said don't show up at the polls. i would think that would be more damaging to joe biden. maybe we're ascribing too many motives to the iranians, maybe they're not playing fifth dimensional chess as one official told me. i do think this is a serious issue but let's not overstate it. the voting process has integrity. people should feel good about going to the polls. i'm much more concerned about more capable actors like russia because they have shown that they have a preferred candidate in this race and they will hack and dump and engage in propaganda on a scale that iranians frankly can't do as well. >> is one of the reasons that they came out to try to reassure people of that? there has been certainly a lot of criticism including from democrats that the obama administration, in trying to avoid putting a finger on the scale on behalf of hillary clinton, did not come out strongly enough to say what was going on, what they knew to be going on from the intelligence services. >> if you're asking me, andrea, i would say that all national

security officials are on heightened state of alert after what happened in 2016. look, i think after 2016, frankly, it was open season, because not only did russia pay no price for their interference on behalf of trump. i actually think they were rewarded. they got invited into the g7. nato was undermined. russia paid no price for putting a bounty on the heads of u.s. service members in afghanistan. every decision by this administration has been so pro-putin and pro-russia, russia looked at what happened and said, we got a lot of bang for our buck, let's do it again. >> thank you, jeremy bash and frank figliuzzi. today lindsey graham ramrodding a republican majority vote approving john amy coney barrett's nomination to the supreme court, setting up a final vote next week. >> mr. chairman, the votes are 12 yeas, 10 no votes.

>> the nomination will be reported favorably to the floor with a unanimous vote. >> in a remarkable protest, all of the committee's democrats boycotted the session, leaving instead photos of some of the americans they said would be hurt if the supreme court strikes down the affordable care act once barrett is on the court. graham ignored a committee rule requiring at least two minority members to be present for the vote to count. meanwhile today the democratic members of the committee gathered on the capital steps to slam what they call a biased process. nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt joins us. kasie, do democrats have any shot at stopping mitch mcconnell from confirming amy coney barrett next week? >> they don't, andrea. and that's been true for quite a while. it's part of why we saw what we saw from them today. they also clearly are feeling

some pressure to send a signal to those who want democrats to try and do everything they can to stand up to republicans in this. so that's why you heard senator schumer calling this process illegitimate, senator chris coons pointing out they had to break the rules of the judiciary committee in order for this vote to move forward because democrats weren't in the room. and in fact they had put up pictures of those americans who they had shown at the hearing for amy coney barrett. their seats were filled with those pictures, people who are relying on the affordable care act as we have talked so much about. mitch mcconnell at this point is moving full speed ahead with this. and we expect that she's going to be on the senate floor for a final vote as soon as monday, is the current plan of next week. so it is a very, very quick confirmation process. but, you know, andrea, one thing i want to underscore here, and i know you've covered congress, covered washington for so long. this process is really the latest in a long line or what's

become a long line of incidents that has eroded trust inside the u.s. senate. it historically has been a place where personal relationships could trump partisanship and where they could come up with big compromises, big deals, oftentimes negotiations were done on a bipartisan basis even outside of leadership, it would be gangs of senators coming up with policy solutions to big problems. obviously it has not always been that kind of thing necessarily, but there certainly were moments in the past where that would happen. and today's events are yet another indication that that is really truly broken. and i think the consequences of how this process has played out in the last couple of weeks will continue to be felt. >> an important point, thanks, kasie hunt. congress has now been

briefed on that warning that iran and russia are trying to interfere with the election. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us on msnbc. "andrea ml reports. stay with us on msnbc. of 5g nationwide, and, in more and more cities, the performance of 5g ultra wideband. get iphone 12 on us when you switch. only on verizon.

members of congress, of the house, are being briefed today on intelligence that iran and russia have obtained u.s. voting information. this after the director of national intelligence made an overtly political assessment last night at a news conference. joining me now, house intelligence committee chair congressman adam schiff. thanks very much for being with us. first of all, when did you first hear about all of this? >> i first heard about this cred yesterday. my staff was given a briefing. i was briefed on an unclassified basis. and we set up a call for this morning with the director which we just concluded. so we had certainly general information about what the russians and iranians were doing, but had an opportunity to drill down further on that today.

>> are you satisfied that -- first of all, that iran is the lead actor here on these fake threats to democrats from the proud boys, that that is an iranian op and that iran is the perp? >> i don't have any reason to question that iran is behind these two efforts in terms of this video that the intelligence community have disclosed, iran was pushing out to sow doubt, raise questions about whether there would be fraudulent ballots mailed from overseas. that disturbingly amplifies false information that comes from the president. it also is i think in a very sinister way aligned with the russian propaganda. russia is also pushing out false information about the absentee ballot process and trying to create the same doubts that the president has. so i don't have any reason to

question that iran is involved in the two actions identified by the intelligence community and that russia continues through a variety of platforms to seek to interfere in this election through cutouts, through the laundering of information, through willing members of congress, through overt media and covert media. it's definitely a situation of, voters beware. >> was the director of national intelligence correct to go on camera and issue this warning? this close to an election. and let me add to that that he also said specifically that it was aimed at hurting president trump. and that has raised a lot of questions. >> we have asked for a fuller briefing of the gang of eight on that particular assessment by the director, that commentary by the director. we would like to see the underlying intelligence that supports that conclusion. pushing out information that calls into question absentee

ballots i think as a practical matter, that helps donald trump, that amplifies his false narrative about absentee ballots. the emails that were purportedly from the proud boys, the ra iranians using the proud boys as a false flag operation, that could cut both ways, either intimidating democratic voters or enraging democratic voters. so i would like to see the intelligence behind the conclusion that the director expressed. but i will say this, what has unfortunately cast so many questions about the disclosures we're getting right now is what's led up to them, and that is the director has been willing to, on a political and selective basis, declassify and make information available publicly in order to suit the president's interests. and when he establishes a pattern of doing that, it's very difficult to tell, okay, is this particular announcement credible or is this part of an effort

once again to carry water for the president. so i think it requires us to vet each and every statement that comes out of the office of the director of national intelligence. i would much prefer, frankly, if these briefings were conducted by director wray who i think has credibility on both sides of the aisle and i think is willing to speak candidly and keep the fbi out of politics. >> and speaking of that, there is a report in "the washington post," and certainly we've seen every indication, the president is really eager to get rid of chris wray at the fbi. he's got a ten-year term appointed by this president. but a ten-year term, to keep him out of politics. but do you think chris wray's job is in jeopardy during the lame duck period? >> i think anyone who does their job faithfully in this administration puts their job at risk. anyone who is not willing to overtly carry the president's

water, he has successively chewed up and spit out until he can find someone more malleable, more willing to do his will. that has sadly been the trajectory of the office of the director of national intelligence. and i have no doubt that the president would like to see people in every position including at the fbi who will merely do what he says regardless of whether it damages the institution, is inconsistent with the facts, is temporais co the public interest. so anyone who is willing to stand up to him and do their job is at risk in this administration. >> you have certainly stood up to him and he can't fire you but he certainly has gone after you, again in north carolina last night. do you have any understanding of why he has targeted you? i could play this tape and just ask you to respond to it. >> i saw adam schiff, this guy, the watermelon head, no, he's like a watermelon head, no dummy, no dummy.

>> i mean, i know you led the impeachment committee, but he's the president of the united states. you're the chairman of the intelligence committee. you would think that he wouldn't be -- and i'm not sure what he meant. >> andrea, you know, the childhood kind of insults are one thing, it's just demeaning to the office of the presidency. what was more concerning at that rally and at others is the president saying that the chairman of the intelligence committee should be locked up, leading a chant of "lock him up." at one point this week he said "something should happen to adam schiff." there is no disguising the threatening nature of those words. and we have seen the president's words incite violence and we've seen terrorist plots, for example the kidnapping plot against the governor of michigan, a result of the climate he is creating. and so we have to take these things seriously until there is a tragedy, we don't want to wait for that to happen.

and it has to be condemned by people on either side of the aisle as being danger and you say destabilizing and unpresidential in any way. >> and ordering his attorney general to indict his opponent and his opponent's family. >> this is the stuff of tin pot dictators, andrea, not a president of the united states. >> thank you very much, adam schiff, thanks for being with us today, congressman. coming up, is there a blue tide? new signs democrats could strengthen their control of the house. and what does that mean for flipping the senate? dave wasserman of the cook political report joins us next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. g, what's new? -well, audrey's expecting... -twins! grandparents! we want to put money aside for them, so...change in plans. alright, let's see what we can adjust. ♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. okay. mom, are you painting again? you could sell these.

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the election is under way in arizona. local officials have already started counting the ballots there. the latest poll shows joe biden with an nej the battleground state where young voters could be what turns the state blue for the first time in 24 years. as part of our county to county series, political reporter vaughn hillyard joins us from arizona state university in maricopa county where the first on-campus early voting center opens today. vaughn, they are really getting

into it. >> andrea, when you're talking about maricopa county, you can't ignore arizona state university because across their campuses here in the county, there are more than 70,000 students presently here this fall taking campus classes. when you're talking about this electorate, just in the last hour, the first early voting location on campus here in tempe opened up. i talked to one of the first voters here, luis. i asked him what brought him out today. he said a lot of us are now of voting age. when i asked him to describe who us is, he said young latinos from the west valley of phoenix. and he said four years worth of us are going to be voting in this election that weren't able to vote in 2016. and when you are looking at maricopa county with this young population, it's an ever-more diverse growing part of this electorate. when you look at the polling here, joe biden has a 40-point edge among 18 to 29-year-olds. that's double the margin that hillary clinton had just four years ago, andrea.

>> really could be a big shift. thanks, vaughn hillyard. now to congressional races and dangerous signs for president trump and the republican party. the cook political report predicting democrats will likely expand their grip on the house. joining me, cook political report house editor and msnbc contributor david wasserman. let's talk about the house seats and what it could mean going forward for the president, for the top of the ticket. >> yeah, andrea, look, we're looking at a potential expansion of democrats' majority for nancy pelosi of about 5 to 15 seats which is the opposite of what we thought might happen last year. and i talked to a senior house republican who said he'd be pleasantly surprised by a republican loss of only ten seats. we are seeing multiple polls out of districts that romney carried by 15-plus and trump carried by 10-plus in 2016 where joe biden is now ahead. these are suburbs of places like indianapolis, st. louis, cincinnati, phoenix, san

antonio. and this suggests real, real problems for republicans up and down the ballot because in 2016, this is the time when we began seeing flashing red warning signs and district level polls for hillary clinton in places with large numbers of noncollege whites. now we're seeing flashing red warning signs for the president in these suburbs. >> and then in the senate, let's talk about those races. we've got seven republicans now that you say are in toss-up races according to your latest report and that races in four states are, you know, critical for republicans, even, you know, fighting to keep their majority. >> yeah, so right now it does look like democrats will get to 48 by picking up arizona and colorado and losing alabama. but the key races beyond that, maine looks good for democrats. north carolina and iowa are right at the tipping point of senate control and those both look pretty good for democrats at the moment. and then take your pick of

montana. both senate races in georgia. and potentially south carolina. and there's a plausible democratic path to 52, 53 seats or more. texas is a real sleeper potentially. we're looking at massive turnout in texas that could have unpredictable results at the presidential and senate levels. >> in fact, senator cornyn is beginning to show some signals, private signals of kind of being a little nervous or walking away from president trump on a couple of issues. what about the big race, of course, the showdown between donald trump and joe biden? several battleground polls showing biden ahead by double-digit leads. there's skeptics. i'm skeptical of the latest numbers coming out of pennsylvania. it's not what even party people are telling me there. what are you thinking? >> yeah, andrea, you know, if we go back and look at polling from '16 and '18, there's a clear pattern where polls underestimated republicans in the upper midwest. they underestimated democrats in

the southwest. and so i wouldn't be surprised if joe biden ends up winning states like michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin by less than the polls show, maybe 4 or 5 points instead of 7 on average. i wouldn't be surprised if we see a biden breakthrough larger than expected in arizona, potentially texas and georgia. >> that would be quite an election. thank you, dave wasserman. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." we're wishing kristen welker all the best as she prepares to moderate tonight's big presidential debate. i'll be joining lester holt, savannah guthrie and chuck todd as part of the coverage at 8:00 eastern. coverage here on msnbc will be with rachel maddow, joy reid and nicolle wallace and brian williams also at 8:00. after a quick break, chuck todd is up with "mtp daily" only on msnbc. get...get mom. power e*trade gives you an award-winning app

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if it's thursday, it's the final countdown to the final showdown. tonight's debate could be the president's last best chance to change this race. and it's a tall order for mr. trump whose credibility is clearly in question. plus, a warning from the president's top national security officials that iran and russia have targeted our election infrastructure. as the president is reportedly looking to fire his fbi director. and a new warning from the cdc widening the number of people considered at risk