i'll be back next sunday at 10 am eastern. stay tuned. my friend alex witt has the latest. hi, alex. >> hello to you. thank you for that big incredible interview from which we are going to draw a lot today for our show. a wonderful sign up for me as always. i appreciate that. have a good week. >> sure thing. thank, you alex. you as well. a very good date all of you from nbc news here in los angeles. welcome to alex witt reports.

breaking news on the midterm elections, now just 16 days away. a stunning revelation in the latest nbc news polling. about 80% of democrats at republicans believe the political opposition poses a threat that if not stopped will destroy america as we know it. we're going to get news of that received existential threat in a moment. also new from the polls, abortion remains a top issue for voters with 50% saying they are less likely to vote for a candidate who supports the overturning of roe v. wade. as for the number one issue voters see as the most important challenge facing this country threats to democracy that inches out of jobs and the economy. the sentiment supported by voters in nevada where early voting is now underway, that tight senate race there between catherine cortez masto and out i'm laxalt. >> we know that without democracy, we won't have the ability to work where we want to work, to live where we want

to live, to buy the things we need to buy. as important as those table issues are, without democracy, none of that happens. >> in pennsylvania, another tight senate race. senator amy klobuchar joins democratic candidate john fetterman to energize voters ahead of tuesday's big debate between fetterman and mehmet oz. the latest from the arizona governor's race between democrat katie hobbs and republican kari lake who has campaigned on false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent. late now says if she becomes governor, she will restrict voting in arizona. >> going to back to when i first started voting in the 80s, we had election day. our constitution said election day. it doesn't say election season, election month. the longer you drag that out, the more fraught with problems. >> wow. early voting is also underway in georgia or democrat raphael warnock and republican herschel

walker are squaring off in the senate contest. more than 723,000 votes have already been cast their, both by mail and in person. almost half of the voters are aged 65 and over. 31% are aged 51 to 64. voters around the country worry about the economy and the threat over session. >> why do we have the minimum wage today? republicans don't want to raise it. $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage. why decades leave school deeply and at? >> right. >> we need an aggressive government which says, we are on your side, not on the side of the billionaires. >> do you think a recession is coming? >> hard to say. i think if we do the right things, we can protect the working class. >> let's begin with the breaking news and bring in nbc senior political editor marc murray. mark wrote today's big story, anger on their minds. welcome to you. what strikes you as the bigger

theme here. is it anger on the minds of voters? is it polarization? a majority on each side sees the other's agenda as an existential threat to america or is it both? >> it's all of the above. that really struck us. we had eight in ten voters saying the opposition poses a threat which would destroy america. what message do you want to send with your vote? tell biden to resign. another republican responded and said, save america. that is the donald trump type of rejoinder. democrats ended up saying, save democracy. don't mess with my reproductive rights. we are seeing from both democrats and republicans a high level of polarization and

a high level of anger. >> a high level of interest. voter interest in the midterm is off the charts. it's at 70%. you called this an eye popper. compared to past congressional elections. 37% say this one is more important. 37% say it is equally important. does this mean you are expecting high voter turnout, mark? which side with that favor? >> we are expecting off the charts turnout alex. to put that 70% high interest in perspective, we asked this question back in 2018, october 2018. we ended up seeing unprecedented midterm turnout. it was at 65%. it is now at 70%. it shows you that the trump and post trump era what it has done is energize voters on both sides of the aisle. it has created huge turnout. we saw that in 2018. we saw that in 2020. we are expecting record turnout in the 2022 midterm elections.

when we look at which party is a little bit more energized, alex, in the last couple of surveys, right after the dobbs opinion, we saw democrats catch up to republicans into the enthusiasm. it was about even. our polls show that republicans have a nine-point advantage in high election interest. that to us is striking. it does conform with other polls out there, showing that republicans have the slight enthusiasm as we head into november. >> yeah. that can affect the way in person voting, mail voting happens right now, but day of voting, it could change given the next few days and what we have ahead of us. let me dig into one particular number. this one moves, mark, in tiny increments every week. you have 46% preferring republicans to control congress. compare that to 47% of democrats. really, it comes down to 7%. look at that question mark. they just aren't sure.

among those who prefer republicans, 59% are for a gop -controlled congress. 39% are against democrats control in congress. among those who prefer the democrats to control, 48% are for democrats to control. this one, 52%, are against our republican controlled congress. put this whole thing into perspective for us. this particular pro and against mindset. >> when it comes to congressional preference, this is a really competitive race. democrats have a one point advantage among registered voters. we look at a smaller group of likely voters. republicans have the one point edge. it is worth pointing out that this is a national poll. it's not a staple. we have a race for the house which will be fought in congressional districts. race for the senate we fought state by state in key battlegrounds.

it does show you that this is stacking up to be a very competitive election. when you get to the motivation side of things, you end up getting a sense where the anger and a lot of the energy coming from democrats right now is mixed between, and it, we want to support biden versus we want to defeat republicans. sometimes, you have to actually have whatever message works. we are seeing one of the big energies from democrats right now. a, we need to stop republicans from gaining control of the house of representatives in the senate. >> mark, two days ago, steve bannon stood outside of a washington court house and declared that the biden regime was illegitimate. the numbers show that 60% of registered voters disagree with a steal of man in. however, the other 40% side with that troubling assessment by steve bannon. overall, that is troubling, isn't it? >> it really is troubling,

alex. we actually know that joe biden ended up winning the presidential election in 2020 not only by more than 7 million votes, but also getting more than 300 electoral college votes. this is the same number of electoral college votes. these poll numbers have actually been incredibly consistent throughout the last year and a half as well as in other polling that we have seen. the overwhelming majority believe that joe biden won illegitimately in 2020. 70% of independents agree with that. only 22% of republicans agree with that. 65% of republicans and up saying that joe biden did not win it legitimately. one party does stand out here, defying everything that we ended up seeing in the 2020 presidential election. >> you know, when i went to school, matt was irrefutable. you add up the numbers and that's what it is. i'm reminded of kellyanne conway and her rejoinder of the

alternative facts. i still find that as being mind bending. you can apply that to not interpreting the facts of the numbers correctly. it's remarkable, mark, as his this poll. thank you for conducting it and for bringing us your insights. thank you. well, this new nbc poll also shows president biden's approval waiting remains steady. you have 45% approving of his performance, though 52% disapprove. this doesn't match the previous poll from this time last month. let's go to nbc's josh lederman. he's following the president in rehoboth beach, ella where. josh, welcome. are we hearing anything from the white house? >> the white house is usually loathe to comment on individual polls. i suspect it will be no different with this one. more broadly, president biden has been downplaying the significance of some of this polling. his approval rating of 45% has been holding steady in our polling for several months since it was actually much

lower in the summer, several points lower. there has been a little bit of improvement there, but if you look at other recent former presidents who had approval ratings in the mid 40s at this time ahead of the midterms like former president obama, like former president trump, both of them lost significant numbers of seats in the house in the midterms. it really shapes the rest of their presidencies. the white house has been saying, biden in his interview, for example, with jonathan capehart pointed out that no one has an approval rating of 60% these days. politicians generally poll negatively these days. he expressions -- despite what the polls are showing. ticklish in. i'm not sure about the polls. the way people conduct polls -- you get on the telephone and

you have to call seven times. number two, a lot of what we have done and have passed has not kicked in yet. for example, we have all of this money to rebuild highway, bridges, internet, et cetera. it's going to take time. >> the problem is though, alex, after some of those benefits that biden is suggesting should start to change, those benefits, as you point out, are not going to kick in before these elections. it's a very difficult task, as president biden has been traveling around the country in recent days, touting infrastructure and student loans and other investments to bring down costs to be able to tell voters, look what you are about to get but are not yet enjoying. it's hard to sell people on that and that is why white house officials that i spoke to our watching one number even more closely than the president's approval ratings, which is the price of a gallon of gasoline.

alex? >> i have to tell you, it's a perfect catch 22. thank you so much for ironing it out for us. new details today in the showdown between the january 6th committee and donald trump. members are laying out how they will proceed with his testimony as to former president rails against the new subpoena. nbc's allie raffa us on capitol hill for us. raffa us on ca pito hill forhow will the committee e forward? >> yeah, alex. the former president used that rally in -- notably, no response from him about whether he will actually comply with the subpoena by that committee to testify under oath on november 14th, provide a whole list of documents that committee members are actually saying could be more enlightening than that testimony by november 4th. committee members are saying that trump could plead the fifth, pushback all he wants. this simple requirement of the subpoena is to appear before the committee. there are reports that trump would only agree to do that if it is done live and in public.

take a listen to what committee vice chair congresswoman liz cheney had to say about the reports. >> so, the committee treated this matter with great seriousness. we are going to proceed in terms of the questioning of the former president under oath. it might take multiple days. it will be done with a level of rigor and discipline and seriousness that it deserves. we are not going to allow the former president -- he's not going to turn this into a circus. this isn't going to be his first debate against joe biden and the circus and the food by that became. this is far too serious. >> some clarity on that testimony if it does happen. that is something that choctaw asked training about. she simply say that the committee has many alternatives that they will consider if and when they get to that point.

you and i have spoken about on your show every weekend that the clock is running out for this committee. they are only in power until a new congress is sworn in in january. that is when they will likely pass the torch over to the justice department. >> what will taken. thank you so much, allie raffa. next, disaster in paradise -- want to tell you about the hurricane hitting mexico. nt to tell you about the hurricane hitting mexico (vo the new iphone 14 pro is here. and right now business owners can get it on us at t-mobile. apple business essentials with apple care+ is included so you can easily manage your team's devices, here, and here. all on the network with more 5g coverage. it's the ultimate business trifecta, with the new iphone 14 pro on us. only from t-mobile for business. ♪ what will you do? ♪ what will you change?

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a look now into the mexican resort town of puerto vallarta which missed a major hit from a major hurricane. roslyn is moving through the area with damaging winds and heavy rain which could cause flooding and landslides. this morning, that storm made landfall as a category three hurricane along mexico's pacific coast. roslyn has weakened quickly as it moves overland. warnings of a cold winter in ukraine as the front line fight

intensifies. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy has said that power has been restored in multiple locations after a wave of russian attacks on energy and infrastructure. 1 million and a half households were left without electricity as of yesterday. my next guest just returned to the u.s. after leading a bipartisan delegation to ukraine where they met with the president. you can see it right there. democrat connecticut congressman jim himes joins me right now. good to welcome you back to the show. thank you for joining me. you know what happened hours after you left. missiles rained down on kyiv. what did you say to president's alexei as a country is bombarded by new strikes in the people face devastating power shortages? >> thank you for having me, alex. the message was simple. you can see mike turner in that photograph sitting next to me. mike is the ranking member, the lead republican on the intelligence committee. we said it probably 30 times over the course of the day that we were in kyiv. the american people are behind this effort.

we understand that this is not just a european issue. this is a fight against a totalitarian vision from the 19th century. this is the fight for democracy. frankly, i've never put global affairs in these terms, but when we look at the attacks on the electric plants, you look at the kidnapping of ukrainian children, you look at the atrocities which have been committed in the towns that they have recaptured, and you realize that this is sort of a fight of good indecency versus some really evil, dark stuff. >> in an interview with my colleague, president biden responded to the comments from kevin mccarthy this week about ukraine and the funding and not necessarily being a blank check going forward. here's what he said. >> look, i can understand someone having that view who is an informed. it cost so much money to help them. we spent a lot of money helping

ukrainians. it's so much more than the ukrainians. it's about nato. it's about western europe. it's about making sure that putin is not able to succeed in a way that he is using the brutality of his activities. >> let me give you some figure. since january of last year, the u.s. has provided more than 18 billion dollars of additional military aid to ukraine. the question remains, can the u.s. afford to keep supporting ukraine at this level? >> yeah, alex. that's not the question. the answer to that question is so obvious. the overall federal budget is in the neighborhood of four trillion dollars. that is what we have spent. what we have sent to ukraine right now -- make no mistake, it's around an error on what the united states government to spend. it's a rounding error. it is a rounding error which is being spent in the service of not just defending our democracy against the

totalitarian dictator, a brutal totalitarian dictator, it's an investment in our own future. if vladimir putin succeeds in ukraine, what did you think they think in beijing with respect to taiwan? if it looks like it's no problem for a powerful country to just run over the borders of a wee country, i promise you we will be having a conversation a year or two from now about whether we should spend the trillions of dollars and thousands of american lives to defend taiwan. anyone who thinks this is a huge expense for the united states and that the investment is not worth it, i'm sorry, they're not paying attention to what is happening globally right now. they don't understand what is at stake. >> god forbid if you and i ever do have to have that conversation. is there a way to impart confidence in ukraine, within ukraine, that the u.s. will continue to provide support well and knowledge and that there is political uncertainty here at home, particularly if kevin mccarthy takes over a speaker of the house? he's made it clear that we're going to have to look at

everything. >> i don't want to get too into something i don't know a lot about, which is internal republican politics. but i can report to you is that mike turner who is both my friend and my counterpart on the intelligence committee took four days out of his schedule to go to ukraine. it's not the safest place on the planet to be two weeks before an election. he went there and we stood side by side. there is bipartisan support. i don't want to get into the republican politics of this thing. there are a lot of people on that side of the aisle who for whatever reason don't support the effort in ukraine. i think that's a fairly small group. i also think, by the way, that a pretty good rule of thumb for people watching at home is that political things which are said in the month of october before an election might not be as true after the election as they were before the election. >> point well taken. your colleague, republican representative turner. moving on to the january 6th subpoena donald trump, the

panel is asking the former president to produce documents by november 4th and appear for testimony on or about november 14th. do you see that happening? is it in the interest of the american people to get donald trump's side of the story? could it be viewed as all for show? >> my own view is that it is unlikely that he will turn up. donald trump is economical with the truth in pretty much everything that he utters. i imagine that his lawyers are saying, sir, if you do this, you're going to need to make sure every single word you under is true. i am gratified that the committee did this. one of the things that was so concerning last few years was to complete contempt shown to congress by -- let me frame this in a bipartisan way, right? an awful lot of my republican friends now are saying, if we take control of the house, we're going to do tons of oversight hearings on

afghanistan, hearings on this, hearings on that. i watched for two years as they justified the trump administration saying, sorry, we're not sending you material. we're not going to testify. the congress of the united states. if they do take control of the chamber, we're going to be running those videos of them saying, the president doesn't need to show up. these documents are important. that's going to be a problem. the point i'm making is that the congress needs to stand up for its institutional prerogatives. that's what the committee is doing. >> it could be up to the full house to vote to hold him in contempt. they could refer that matter to the doj for prosecution. do you see it coming to that? is it worth the legal and possibly political turmoil to fight for his testimony at this stage? hasn't he done a pretty irrefutable job of showing

americans trump's ties to the assault on the capitol? >> it has done a very good job. i will tell you two things as an answer to your question. it's always worth reminding the american people that we have coequal branches of government, that the congress of the united states wants to hear from the president and we have the right to ask that. i would love to hear donald trump speak when his lawyers are telling him to not lie. we almost never, perhaps never have gotten to hear from trump when he could not specialize. if we hear from him in public, his lawyers would be leaning over every five seconds saying, sir, sir, and i think that would be instructive to the american people to see just how often this president in every communication he gave lied after lied after light. i think it would be pretty interesting to see that, for people to see that. >> listen, perhaps more interesting than the hundreds and hundreds of times he has

pleaded the fifth in any given deposition. representative jim himes, it's good to see, my friend. thank you so much. it might all come down to time it. we're going to break down a new article. the journalist who wrote that joins me next. we're keeping a very close track of the mass shootings in this country. it's hard to believe. there have now been 550 of them this year alone. that's according to the gun violence archive. ccording to the gu violence archive violence archive trelegy for copd. [coughing] ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze driftin' on by... ♪ if you've been playing down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day,... ♪ ...it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. ♪...and i'm feelin' good. ♪ no once-daily copd medicine... has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler

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issuing a subpoena for donald trump. joining me right now is charlie savage, washington correspondent for the new york times and an msnbc contributor, and paul butler, former president and -- paul, you heard congressman himes. if donald trump should agree to testify, will his lawyers convince him to tell the truth? >> no. if donald trump says he will testify live, i think the house will call his bluff. when trump opens his mouth, he tends to further expose himself to criminal charges. remember when trump first heard about the subpoena? he wrote this bizarre 15 pages where he was bragging about the size of the crowd on january 6th. that is an admission by trump that he knew the insurrectionists were a large armed force which could do real damage. that admission would be used

against him if he were prosecuted for january 6th. if there is live testimony, those risks would be far greater for donald trump. >> charlie, you write in the most basic sense any legal argument seeking to get mr. trump off the hook would merely need to be waking it up enough to produce two and a half months of litigation. that sounds like it's all about timing over proving that he's innocent under the law. can you explain? >> not innocent, but the question is, does congress have the authority under the constitution to compel a former president to show up and testify against his will about things he did while he was in office? there is no supreme court precedent which tells us that an answer is that. >> hang on a second. yes, to the point you're just going to make, i'm sorry to interrupt you, but when you first started, seven presidents

have done this, starting with john quincy adams. it went through to gerald ford. a whole litany -- seven dated after they got out of office. two of them did it while in office, including abraham lincoln. he was a republican. it doesn't seem like a claim of executive privilege would at all stand up for this reason. presidents have been set. >> the question is not if presidents or former presidents can testify before congress in general. can they be forced to do it against their will? anyone can always do something voluntarily. in the 19th century, john tyler testified in response to a subpoena. he didn't fight it in court. in the early 1950s, harry truman, now out of office, was subpoenaed by the house on american activities committee. this was during the era of mccarthyism. he refused to show up, saying presidents are immune from

force testimony. later on, while he voluntarily testified. the house did not buy that in the 1950s. we just don't know. the issue is that there is a similar case from 1982. nixon was sued civilly for damages after he was out of office. the supreme court said that ex presidents are absolutely immune from being sued for damages. the problem is that that would make current presidents hesitate to do their jobs out of fear that they might be held liable for civil damages went out of office. the question is whether a fear of being called before congress when you are out of office would be something congress can do. there is not a lot of precedent. there is a lot of on eliminated issues. all trump needs to do is run out the clock until january. if the polls are right, republicans will take the house and the subpoena will dissolve.

a delaying action is sufficient to win should he decide he can't live up to the task of talking to congress here. i'm going to take issue with two words and ask you again about this. you said the word official actions. it might have been official duties. it is everything that a president does from inauguration to departure from office -- is that official? when you think about what the president may or may not have done with regard to the buildup before january 6th, would that be deemed official action? >> that's a great question. that is one of the things they would use to chew up the clock for too long. where do you draw the line between official actions and by that life actions? during bill clinton's presidency, he was allowed to face a lawsuit over something he did when he was not president even though he was in office and it would be a big distraction.

he was trying to sue trump over supposedly sexually assaulting her. the question was whether the justice department would defend him. when he smeared her -- >> defamation. >> yes. he was president at the time. there were a lot of great areas there. the issue is, is this black and white? you go right to judgment. you have briefs and motions an oral arguments. weeks and months passed. suddenly this committee doesn't exist anymore. >> with the subpoena, it is coming in terms of timing at the tail end of our investigation. is it too late for the committee to even expect trump will be held liable for his actions? >> not liable before congress in terms of the way that trump might incriminate himself if he actually testified, but that is not the last --

the doj is conducting a criminal investigation. there are different rules. the supreme court said that prosecutors could subpoena the watergate case because executive privilege doesn't carry the same weight in the criminal investigation. this might not be the last subpoena trump gets. it's from the d.c. grand jury investigating january 6th. trump would have to comply. >> okay. we shall see. charlie savage, paul butler. thank you guys so much. thank you for the chat. president biden seems to be addressing the major concerns among voters, yet struggling in the polls. up next, the inside word on the administration's outlook with the midterms referendum fast approaching. the political power outage in the uk looks increasingly like a trip back to the future, or does it? this one tabloid that says that boris is back but not so fast. the wheeling and dealing is not known. the wheeling and dealing is no known. known. this is the sound of better breathing.

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to employees at dallas methodist hospital are dead after a gunman opened fire in the facility. witnesses say they endured 45 minutes of terror before police arrived and shot the 30-year-old suspect who is expected to survive. authorities say the suspect is currently on parole for aggravated robbery and did have an ankle monitor their. she jinping has been confirmed as china's leader for a president breaking third term, tilt in the country back toward one man rule. his communist party was named a standing committee. it's inner circle about rest dominated biden loyalists over the last five years. in the uk contenders for prime minister boris johnson and rishi sunak have held talks as the deadline approaches for nominations to replace liz truss. neither man has officially declared iran. potential candidates have until monday evening to secure the

backing of 100 conservative party legislators and then enter the race. sunak's board of 120 mps at this time. johnson has 53 backers. president biden's approval numbers are holding steady with midterms a couple of weeks away. 52% disapprove. 45% approve. peter baker joins me now, msnbc political analyst and chief white house correspondent for the new york times. always a pleasure to have you, my friend. as we look at our approval ratings -- look, they've been a struggle for the administration from the get-go. is there any sense of urgency at the white house about improving them before november 8th? >> i think they think that they are what they are. they are not going to change substantially between now in november 8th. it's hard to see what could happen that would change it. it's better than it was a few months ago, obviously. it's better than it was in the summer. there is at least in theory

kind of a floor beneath the democrats. it's not as bad as it was. it's not the kind that he can bring over the top. you're seeing a campaign in which the president is not doing a lot for swing states. he's doing safe district, safe states, a lot of fund-raisers or policy speakers. he's not the rally goers as we have seen him be in the past. this is not where he is the most useful at this point. they understand that they are focusing on the possibility of holding on to the senate, maybe even adding a seat or two. the reality is that it's coming down to a lot of very tight races. our poll revealed a startling statistic. the country is heading in the wrong direction, according to 71% of voters. 20% say it's on the right track. how concerning is this? >> well, it's obviously very concerning.

that number has historically been a driving factor in midterm elections like this. truth is that americans have been sour on the direction of the country for about 15 years. if you go back and look at history. it has been a majority of americans feeling like we are not going in the right direction since the mid 2000s. it has been a relatively sour period in which the end of bush's presidency and all of obama and all of trump and into biden that voters have not been happy about where things are going. that's a volatile political environment for any political party trying to hold on to power, particularly in historic moment when they face inflation and the kind of factors which would normally be detrimental to a party which wants to keep control of houses of congress. >> yeah. it's apparently promptly 9:45 or 12:45 in your home. let me get to what happened this week. the application first to loan forgiveness wildlife. it marks a major accomplishment

for the white house. they're facing a number of legal challenges on a right now. is there any sense in how long this process could be stalled? could it be weeks? >> it could be weeks, it could be months. originally, i judge said that there was no basis for a challenge brought by a six the state. republican attorney general say they had no standing, no basis on which they could challenge this. by the way, a supreme court justice, amy coney barrett, she morales agreed with this in rejecting an immediate appeal to the supreme court. they put a halt on the -- they consider about whether they should have a more lasting injunction. it's going to have three things and so forth. go ahead and apply anyway. we can't process the applications, but you can go ahead and put your name on the list and get things started. they are hopeful they could still proceed. there is very likely a possibility that litigation could halt this for weeks, if not months. >> on to the economy, peter,

polls show that 20% of american say it's going to get better over the next few years. many say it's going to stay about the same. 50% think it's going to get worse. this week, biden took a stand and defended his economic policies. let's listen to how he responded to the criticism from the other side of the aisle. >> the federal debt has gone up every single year under the trump administration, every single year. it went up before the pandemic. it went up during the pandemic. it went up every single year on his watch, the republican watch. the republicans criticize my economic record. look at what i have inherited and what i have done. >> how do you interpret that strategy they are considering how polarized the country's? >> well, look. every president heading into a midterm is going to blame it on with the predecessor. president biden did inherit a lot of trouble when he came in. we were in the thick of the pandemic at that point.

millions of people were out of work. a lot of people have returned to their jobs. unemployment is at a record low 3.5. job growth has been rather remarkable. that doesn't mean people are satisfied. the cost of food is going up. the cost of right and clothes and other household goods is going up. that's what people are feeling. obviously that seems to have had, according to our poll, the new york times poll, a real impact on independent voters right now. it hasn't helped democrats. >> okay. thank you, peter. let's make a day for next sunday. i appreciate your time. what is at stake if republicans win control of congress? i will ask senator sheldon next. ongress? i will ask senator sheldon next next y is back! for two days only, october 26th and 27th. get low prices on thousands of items for your home. shop area rugs up to 80% off. tv stands & storage up to 40%. and kitchen must-haves up to 50% off. plus, get bonus savings with a wayfair credit card and free shipping on everything!

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election. >> i got a subpoena the other day. these crooked people, these crooked people. the only thing they'd out want to investigate, the only thing they don't want to do -- they want to investigate the corruption that took place in that election which was massive. the facts are all there. >> joining me now is democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island, author of the new book the scheme, how the wire ring use dark money to capture the supreme court. i'm glad to have you here sir. the election was stolen from him. what do you make of the former president still storming down that road? >> well, you know, he has all sorts of issues related to telling the truth and related to losing.

he's going to be who is going to be. what's much more distressing to me is grown up adorable cans who have been elected to office refusing to push back on it and yielding to the lies and going along with them. i think that's a pretty bleak place for that party to be right now. >> for one brief, shining moment, a few of them in high positions did so immediately after the january 6th insurrection. they went back to their prior positions of constant support of him. let me move on to his subpoena from the select committee. do you think they will get meaningful testimony from trump? will they even participate? >> i would expect not. he is all sort of perilous being under oath. i think they will insist on his testimony be an under oath. i would think he would avoid this at all costs and use rallies and his public megaphone to try to get his

message out not under oath. >> all right, then. let's turn to the midterms. as you know, they're 16 days away now. are you confident, sir, the democrats will keep control of the senate after the election? what is your message to americans on what our democrat -controlled senate would do if given that opportunity? >> well, the message that i see right now is that we are just about at one billion dollars in dark money. it was spent by, who knows? it's dark money. it's supported republican senators and senate candidates. what you are looking at is a republican senate, if it is given control, that will in turn beacon trolled by whoever doled out that billion dollars. that is a huge, huge danger. no wonder, as you and peter were discussing, americans are

fed up with the direction of our country. 86% of the money that is on at the -- that is reported comes to secretive billionaires. you know they're the people on the winning end of the money are not going to be listening to regular americans. i think regular americans are fed up. . >> i'm going to pivot later in the conversation to your book and how that relates to the dark money and the supreme court. let me ask you about what biden did last week, which was pretty much to put gas prices front and center. he announced his plans to tackle the high prices, including the release of 15 million more barrels of oil from the nation's strategic stockpile. the president also ramped up pressure on american companies to increase domestic oil production. as a strong environmentalist, do you support that? what is your response to your republican colleagues who say it is being done now to help the democrats in the midterms? >> i think the important message which the president has pushed out is the gas prices in

america, just like other braces, are controlled by the companies which celebrant out. it's big oil which controls gas prices in america. we know they jack them up and made a fortune. the one place they tell the truth is in their financial reporting. they have shown unprecedented billions in profits. i think the president is very well positioned to point out to americans that it is the oil industry that is driving their high gas prices. the republican party is in the pocket of the oil industry. >> okay. as promised, let's get to your new book. for the past few years, you've been talking about what you call a scheme by right wing groups to use it dark money to capture america's courts. we spoke briefly about congress. let's talk about the courts, including the u.s. supreme court. you've spoken about it on the senate floor. you also did so during the confirmation hearings for

justices amy coney barrett and ketanji brown jackson. sir, your new book is talking about the incredible detail on what exactly is going on. what is the scheme? what is it trying to accomplish? >> well, this played of dark money goes everywhere. it's behind climate denial. it's behind the mockery of real science about climate change. it's behind, as we just pointed out, the republican party. it is behind its political funding. it is behind the capture of the supreme court, this election of judges with the view of catching ones who will decide cases a certain way as of the big donors behind the plan wish. the model for this is what a lot of people are familiar with. go back to american history. you find a regulatory agencies like 19th century railroad commissions that were taken over by the railroad. they controlled a selection. they got the outcomes they

wanted. the american people about cheated. they pocketed a bundle. that is the model we need to have in mind when we are looking at what is happening at the supreme court. i do my best to lay out the whole messy plan in this book. >> is there any way congress can put an end to the use of dark money? >> absolutely. we should. we should get rid of it. we could have, if we had gotten a few republican votes in the senate. we actually brought up a bill which would put the transparency into who is behind these big political donations, which is something every citizen is entitled to know. they are not giving that knowledge to be good and effective citizens. the big donors don't want people to know who they are. they don't want people to know what their motive is behind the big money and the dirty ads and all the what run what are called a tsunami of slime which has hit our politics. you put a good honest spotlight on that and bring back transparency and things will

get a lot better in this country. >> yikes. a tsunami of slime. that's not good. this conversation has been great. thank you so much for all of you. the book is called a scheme, how the right-wing used dark money to capture the supreme court. good luck with this, or. thank you for your time. there could be a really key finding from the new and we see news poll that we have not examined yet it could protect turnout of the polls and perhaps even which party wins control of congress. my political panel will sort that out next. political panel will sort that out next. that out next. do? will you make something better? create something new? our dell technologies advisors can provide you with the tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you. (vo) with their verizon private 5g network, associated british ports can now you need precisely orchestrate nearly 600,000 vehicles passing through their uk port every year. don't just connect your business. right on time. make it even smarter. we call this enterprise intelligence. don't mind me. i'm just the flu.

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