enrollment ends december 7th. take advantage now. call or go online today. ♪ ♪ ♪♪ thanks for staying with us for this special two-hour edition of "andrea mitchell reports" live from pnc park in pittsburgh. coming up this hour, i will speak to a top john fetterman

surrogate, bob casey, about the candidate's debate performance. >> how, mr. fetterman, do you propose doing that, to make it more affordable for families? >> i just believe, making it -- it costs too much. i believe providing the resources to reduce the tuition to allow families to be able to afford it. >> for dr. mehmet oz, new questions about abortion rights. >> i have been in the room when there's difficult conversations happening. i don't want the federal government involved with that at all. i want women, doctors, local political leaders, leading the democracy that's allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves. >> i will be joined by "meet the press" host and nbc political director chuck todd with what pennsylvania voters are telling him today.

reports from michigan and nevada, two other key battlegrounds in the 2022 campaign. here in pittsburgh, all the talk today is about last night's big senate debate matchup. the one and only debate two weeks before the election. pennsylvania democratic senator bob casey attended last night's debate and joins me now. senator, it's great to see you. thanks very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> let's talk about what we saw last night. we saw a very slick performance from a tv doctor, celebrity doctor, dr. mehmet oz, who was not answering a lot of questions and getting a lot of facts wrong but certainly performed. then you saw, of course, john fetterman recovering from a stroke -- a life-threatening stroke five months ago. in this format, having difficulty. difficulty we haven't seen in other interviews and in live

appearances with voters. how are pennsylvania swing voters, the undecided voters, going to react and what are they going to take from this debate? >> andrea, i think what you saw last night was a very clear contrast. i think that's debates often do. they provide a measure of clarity, especially late in a race. when it comes to the big issues that people are voting on. a lot of people are worried about how they are going to make ends meet the next couple of years. they are worried about retirement security and health care. they are worried about what republicans want to do on abortion. they are worried about their families. i think they saw last night in john fetterman a candidate who understands those struggles, who understands what people are up against every day. and voters in our state know him well, not just swing voters but voters across the board know him well. they trust him. i think they saw some clarity last night, especially on somethingfundamental -- do

you want to raise the minimum wage to $15. john fetterman said yes. his to potential never answered that question. something as fundamental to pennsylvanians as the retirement security and health care security of social security and medicare. i think the other side is on the same page as republicans that want to privatize or voucherize or destroy these programs. i think there was a measure of clarity. i think a lot of voters connected with what john fetterman was saying. >> do you think the campaign team made a mistake by letting him debate in this format? because in 15 seconds for rebuttal, for instance, you can't get that close captioning rolling in time for him to read it, absorb it and answer. i'm not sure -- a lot of people are saying, why did they agree

to this. >> look, i have been in a lot of campaigns. there's always second guessing. i know democrats sometimes are -- kind of invent things to worry about at the end of a campaign. that happens in every campaign. i think it was the right decision to have both candidates appear together and to answer questions. i think john did well in that exchange. especially in the context of what he was facing. recovering from a stroke. look, i saw him and talked to him a lot back in the early part of his recovery. in may and june. he has made tremendous progress. voters understand that. because so many of their families have been through health challenges, whether it's a stroke or a heart problem or something else. they come back, as john said, they get back on their feet, they get knocked down and come back and they do a really difficult job. this idea that the speed of your response is somehow indicative of the way you would do the job

is really faulty. i know this job well. john is prepared right now to be an effective senator. with more months of recovery, he is going to be back to where he was. i think he did really well. >> do you think that he should be more transparent about his medical records? that's sort of a touchstone of all of the campaigns. donald trump certainly failed it in the presidential election. should he be releasing his medical records? should he have been more transparent back in may about the seriousness of all of this when it first happened? >> andrea, i think he was. i think he is. i think he was transparent back then talking about his circumstances, that he almost died, and kind of outlining that for people, providing a medical opinion then and then having a recent update from his doctor based upon a recent appointment.

i think he has been transparent in the record sense. now the mechanics of getting a medical record out, i leave that for others to figure out. but here is the other part about this, andrea. in a campaign like this, as you know, and you know pennsylvania well, he has been on the road talking to voters. he has been not just speaking at rallies but engaging with voters. also in the context of that, telling people that he might miss a word or he might bring two words together. i think that kind of ongoing, daily, even hourly transparency is one of the reasons he is ahead in the race. it's not just that he is on their side, he is fighting for their families, but people get it that he has been up front with them over and over again. i think he did that last night. at the outset of the debate, giving people a forecast for what might happen in the debate. i think people understand it and they understand that people can get knocked down and get back up. and he's doing that. >> i know that in recent

appearances, like with ay klobuchar, he was fluent. pennsylvania voters have seen that also when they are paying attention to these campaign appearances. let me also ask you about dr. oz. the republicans are now pouring millions and millions into pennsylvania in these closing days. can democrats compete with that kind of money? >> andrea, i don't think we have seen the kind of corporate money come into pennsylvania, certainly never in a senate race, maybe not even a governor's race. it's beyond presidential level, negative advertising against john fetterman. $80 million now of 100% negative ads against john. they haven't been able to knock him down. my god, if i spent $80 million, i would expect to be ahead. the other guy is not ahead because people know john fetterman. they know he comes from them. he knows our state. he knows our people. he understands what they are up

against. they trust him. everything they have tried to do with that corporate money to troy break that connection between john and voters has not worked. there's still a lot more work to do. we have to keep working to get the vote out and making sure that we are working up to the last minute. but i think when all the votes are counted, john fetterman is going to win this race. >> senator bob casey, a famous name for two generations or more here in pennsylvania. thanks very much for being with us. >> thanks, andrea. joining me now, former white house press secretary jen psaki, now a host here at msnbc. it's good to see you. >> great to see you. hi in pittsburgh. >> yeah. it's been incredible here in pennsylvania. you have been through debates. do you think the white house has any second thoughts about whether fetterman could have been replaced back in may when he was seriously affected by

that stroke and could have been replaced, even before the primary? >> no, i don't think, andrea, they are thinking about that at all. if you look at this race right now -- even if you look at the debate last night -- i mean, it was always going to be a better format for oz because he was a tv doctor. he is polished. you did see that play out last night. fetterman made it through last night. there were a couple of moments -- i think if you are sitting in the white house, this is what you are looking at -- that really popped out and may energize democrats in these final weeks, specifically dr. oz's answer on abortion where he talked about local politicians being brought in to the decision making. if you are in the white house, you are focused on what is going to get people out, what's going to energize them and less about whether we can look back in the rearview mirror. fetterman matches the state. he was picked through the primary. i think white house is rooting for him at this point, of

course. >> one of the things that i was watching closely in terms of the format, the format for all the debates this cycle has been 15 second rebuttal, 30 second answer, 60 second answer on complicated questions. dr. oz was never forced to answer serious questions raised about the products he pushed, profits he made, his television doctoring, serious questions raised by the faculty at columbia university and others. there was no chance and certainly in that format no chance for fetterman to interrupt whereas oz broke the rules and jumped in. >> fact checkers can look back at oz's record and pushing phony health remedies for people, that people are probably still paying attention to. the format didn't really allow for that or allow for that back and forth. i will say, andrea, there have

been interesting debates this cycle, no question. i still think what matters in debates are whether or not you surpass expectations. people thought that dr. oz was going to go in and wipe the floor with fetterman, that his verbal acuity would be winning the day and that fetterman would really have a hard time navigating. there were bumps along the road, no question. sometimes where he was a little delayed in how he was answering questions. at the end of the day, i don't think that there was such a difference that met the expectations of what it could be. there were moments that i think probably both sides, but certainly democrats will pull out that abortion answer as one that may energize and engage people in the state in this final reach. yes, the format -- i don't think it was ideal, necessarily. but ultimately, at this point, everybody is looking forward and trying to figure out what they can pull out from the moments. >> let me talk to you about the

national picture. the cook political report is showing that there are blue seats -- blue state seats in the house that are now in jeopardy and that democratic senate candidates, incumbents in new hampshire, nevada, georgia, colorado could also be -- arizona could also be weeks away from a republican wave. they are all in jeopardy for maggie hassan to have lost ground against her opponent. what do you think is going on? >> a lot of ways, i think democrats are coming back down to planet earth less than two weeks before the election. you know, it is a midterm at a time where democrats control the white house, the house and the senate. look historically, that's always difficult for the party in power, even though you try to make it a choice between the options, it's hard for it not to be a referendum.

that's what people are looking at, if they are unhappy about the cost of groceries or gas, they often think, who is in charge and how can i hold them accountable? that's normal. i think a lot of these races are coming back to the -- to how close many people, including myself, thought they would be months ago. new hampshire, it was always going to be a close race. wisconsin governor race, always going to be a close race. pennsylvania was always going to be a close race. that's what we are looking at in the final stretch. >> jen psaki, thank you for this first appearance in your new role on amr. >> great to be here. >> first of many, as well as your new show. thank you. we will have more from here in battleground pennsylvania ahead. first, the senate race in nevada where the sitting democratic senator is now being challenged, a tough challenge from an election denier. in michigan, the race for governor bringing out the political heavy hitters.

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one of the tightest races in this election is in nevada where democratic senator catherine cortez-masto is fighting to hold on her seat against adam laxal. it could flip control of the senate. joining us is nevada independent ceo john raulston, it's great to see you. let's talk about nevada, the economy, gas, rental prices,

among the highest in the country, tourism dependent in the state is still recovering from the pandemic. it's a tough environment for any incumbent. how is this shaping up? >> you laid it out pretty well. add to that that we're a purple state anyway, as you know. registration is pretty close. you have an incumbent who is not as well-known as other senators. you have the president's numbers in nevada pretty bad for a purple state. they are under 40%. some democratic internal polling shows that. that's a prescription for a close race no matter what the republican opponent is. she has run what both sides agree is a good campaign. maybe one of the better ones in the state. she's a very disciplined person. she's more of a workhorse than a showhorse, as i have said many times. adam has benefits from a ton of

outside money that has come in. he has been able to offset her huge fund-raising advantage over him. >> she is the first latina elected to the senate. there was a poll that showed her 30 points ahead with that block. turnout is an issue. there's got to be frustration also with the failure to pass the dream act in that community. >> think about it. you just said it. she's the first and only latina ever elected to the u.s. senate. if she can't dominate among the hispanic cohort, which as you know has been huge for democrats here running statewide and for presidential candidates here starting with barack obama in 2008. he won the state a couple of times with a huge hispanic turnout, as did hillary clinton and to a slightly lesser extent joe biden in the last cycle.

her internal polling doesn't show her as being robust among hispanics as that poll showed. she needs to get at least, i think, 60% of the hispanic vote, maybe higher, to feel comfortable. if she gets under 60%, she's probably going to lose the race. >> you have an election denier running to be nevada's secretary of state who would be the top official to run future elections. that's another big factor, right? >> yeah, especially because the guy at the top of the ticket was the chief election denier in 2020 and beyond. they have embraced each other. he is one of the more dangerous candidates ever to be on a nevada ballot and running for an office that is going to be increasingly important, as you know, in the 2024 election with all of the election denialism,

with such a huge percentage of the republican party believing that the 2020 election was stolen. he believes in all kinds of crazy stuff like qanon. he has been competitive for one reason, and that's that people don't pay attention to down ballot races. there's a lot of tribalism going on in voting. he could win that race. >> it's great to see you. thanks for the real skinny coming from nevada. let's go to michigan where the governor was facing off last night against trump-backed republican challenger tudor dixon, a conservative commentator. the two clashing over crime and inflation. most notably, abortion rights. >> when governor whitmer tells

you that this is going to be roe, it's not even close to roe. it's not codifying roe in our constitution. it would be the most radical abortion law in the entire country. the only place that has something similar are china and north korea. >> here is why you can't trust anything she's saying. she's the one that said a 14-year-old child raped by her uncle is a perfect example of someone who should not have reproductive rights and the ability to choose. she went further to say, it is healing for a person who is raped to carry that child to term. i couldn't disagree more. >> joining us now, nbc washington correspondent yamiche alcindor, the anchor and moderator of washington week on pbs. yamiche, how big of an issue is abortion in the michigan race? >> talking to voters as well as

interviews with them, i gather that abortion will be a clear and important issue in this governor's race. you have this referendum that's going to be put in voters in michigan. it's asking voters whether they want to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution like kansas and what the voters did there. there are a lot of people looking at michigan, voters looking at michigan not only for the governor race but for the future of abortion rights across the country and especially in this area. the other thing to note is that abortion was the very, very first question as part of the debate. it tells you even in the local media who were moderating this, that was top of mind. i expect inflation, another issue where they faced off and got into contentious back and forth, inflation will be top of mind. people across michigan are feeling it at the gas pumps and the grocery stores as well. >> it was a nasty debate overall, both candidates calling each other liars last night. how did they differentiate themselves?

>> it was, as i said, very feisty, very contentious. the overall theme was honesty. whitmer said her opponent was an election denier. she said that dixon was sending out conspiracy theories and spreading misinformation. you had dixon saying that the governor was being dishonest about her record and was misleading people about her views when it comes to covid restrictions and guns and other things. it was really a face-off with both candidates trying to paint themselves -- paint their opponent as liars. we see that throughout the midterms when we think about what happened in pennsylvania between fetterman and oz. you saw them calling each other dishonest. that is important when you think about the overall theme of the midterms.

>> you have the battle of surrogates. you have president obama coming in this saturday for whitmer. trump has backed dixon. there's also a really ugly background here. three men were accused of supporting a plot to kidnap governor whitmer were just convicted today on all of those charges. is this going to impact the election? >> what's important to note the men were convicted, because it really does show that at least based on the justice system in michigan, they were plotting to kidnap and do real harm to the governor of michigan. when she's talking about getting death threats, this really does underscore how much danger she was in just for doing her job, which was she says trying to keep people safe during covid. it's interesting you are seeing the heavy hitters coming into michigan. you see the virginia governor, former president donald trump. now, we will see another former president in president obama. this is a microcosm of what we

see across the country. trumpism versus democratic might. whitmer and her campaign are hoping that obama, who is still wildly popular among democrats, more popular than the president, president biden, that he will come in and motivate voters to turn out for whitmer. >> yamiche alcindor who has been all over the country this cycle, thank you. good to see you in washington. chuck todd joins us with a new focus group that he just spoke to, a group he gathered here this morning in pennsylvania with reaction to the debate and a lot more. hear what they have to say next on the special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." we are live from pittsburgh only on msnbc. >> i think economics is the driving -- is what drives my vote first. that being said, 2024 is looming large in all of our minds. full plate. wait, are you my blind date?

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welcome back. with voters sounding off about their top issues here in pennsylvania, especially after last night's debate, chuck todd sat down with three of the voters earlier today right here in pittsburgh. he asked for reaction to the debate and also their picks in other key races. let's watch. joining me now is chuck todd "meet the press" moderator and nbc news political director. chuck, let's play one of the exchanges. this man told you he is voting split ticket. >> generally leaning towards oz on the senate race and shapiro on the gubernatorial race. oz has done a good job at not taking too drastic of a stance on a lot of social issues. >> was that a concern that they were going -- he was going to get closer to -- sounds like

mastriano is too much for you. >> too much for me. like i said, i think economics is the driving -- is what drives my vote first. that being said, 2024 is looming large in all of our minds. the recent supreme court decision is looming large in all of our minds. i don't think that some of those social issues coming from mastriano -- i think they are out of touch with people my age generally. >> what else did they have to tell you? >> you know, this is the -- if you are at the oz campaign, you love this guy. it was exactly the performance they hoped that they could convey to an undecided voter like him, which was, i'm not mastriano. i'm not this -- i'm not the portrait of what's been painted of me. it was interesting how he made that distinction. by the way, he made another distinction about why he wants divided. he wants divided government, particularly here in pennsylvania, going into 2024. he feels like that will keep the

voting prop issue from being -- he likes the idea of both parties having skin in the game of being able to figure out who counts the votes. i thought that was an interesting rationale for him taking in this incoming election denialism and his solution is, well, democratic governor, republican legislature, maybe that will work out. >> the governor will control the vote count and all of those other issues, which -- >> is significant. >> mastriano, the candidate for governor, the republican was leading the vote count challenge here as well as marching on january 6th with the protesters as well as hiring anti-semitic consultants to propagate really toxic information. he has been so extreme and so controversial. >> i will tell you this. all three of these voters, they are not voting for anybody. they are voting against. they are voting -- meaning, they -- they feel like -- they are independents.

here in this state, close primaries, that was a big complaint of theirs, they don't get to vote in these primaries. this is one of the systems that they keep independents out of it. so they really feel as if these two parties are putting nominees that are farther than where i am in the middle type of thing. i thought that was very telling that these candidates were not seeing -- they were trying to decide the lesser -- they said this phrase multiple times, the lesser of two evils. >> how concerned were they about the health issue with fetterman? in talking to some local elected officials here, democrats were saying, look, you know, oz was slick and certainly could perform and the format was terrible for fetterman. he never should have agreed to it. but at the same time, fetterman on minimum wage, abortion and other key sound bites and issues, already on the air with the abortion commercial. >> let me just tell you two things that came from the panel

that i thought were interesting. i think at the end of the day, when it comes to fetterman's health, it's eye of the beholder. if you had somebody in your family that had a stroke or head trauma, you may view what he is going through differently than if you have never known somebody to do this. for instance, one of my three panelists works with ptsd military veterans. this was very familiar to her. she goes, a lot of these folks, they come back, they have brain injuries. it's all there. they struggle. but he came across that he is healing. it was familiar to her. if it was not familiar, the other two gentlemen was like, i don't know what he had -- i couldn't understand what he was saying. one gentleman was saying, i think i have an idea what he is for. i didn't always follow everything he said. it gets to this whole of was doing this debate a tactical mistake? here is the other thing it gave oz. oz essentially got a one hour free pass. if you were to look at this analytically, i think he

underperformed for the opportunity that he had. >> he was wrong on a lot of facts. >> he created his own problems. fetterman never could put him in a corner, never could make him sort of corner him on language for obvious reasons. but it was oz that brought up local political leaders with abortion rights that essentially handed to fetterman an opportunity to at least neutralize or at least attempt to neutralize some of the bad debate narrative. let's all take a step back here. if a race is decided by 50,000 votes or less, then it all mattered. other than that, debates usually only matter in presidential races. i do think that let's not overrate this. it doesn't mean it's not a zero impact. let's also probably take a step back and realize -- >> it will depend on turnout, on party structure as well as the millions and millions of dollars now that republicans are pouring in here. >> this is -- either they see an opportunity or there's nowhere else to go. i think it's a little bit of

both. new hampshire looks like it's done. pennsylvania looks possible. look, if they can't -- georgia or pennsylvania. republicans have to win one of those two if they're going to win the senate. they have two flawed nominees. it looks like now they feel like oz has done a better job correcting his problems than walker. we will see. >> chuck todd, we will look for you and for more from this -- these voters at 4:00 on nbc news now streaming and, of course, sunday on "meet the press," which is always appointment viewing. thank you. see more, as i say, from chuck in pittsburgh at 4:00 eastern on news now. president biden pressing ahead with efforts to get relieve for middle class families and return to economic issues. you are watching a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." >> i have to pay more to fill my tank and i don't have enough to

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♪ yes, this is how, this is how we work now. ♪ how much are your monthly bills, how much do you pay for necessities and is there enough left over to have breathing rooms? these steps will immediately start saving americans collectively billions of dollars in unfair fees. >> president biden sharpening his final midterm pitch on the economy. democrats, he says, are giving struggling americans financial breathing room against rising inflation. let's get to senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell as well as malcolm kenyatta, a democratic state lawmaker representing north philly. he is out here in pittsburgh campaigning for john fetterman after unsuccessfully challenging him in the primary and charlie sykes. kelly, first to you. we heard from the president this

morning cracking down on so-call so-called junk fees. >> reporter: that's the buzzword the president uses. he attributes it to his father. if you have breathing room, you feel better about things. he can't change the price of groceries and he can't change the cost of rent. so he is trying to look at ways that his administration can try to give consumers some money back. he has done that with attempting to do the student debt relief. he worked on ways to reduce gas prices. today, he is coining this term of junk fees. you see it in a lot of different things that we spend money on. it might be a la cart costs in an airline. there might be a cost for your bags or for a different seat. it might be for your bank account or your credit cards. all those things that are often not spelled out clearly to

consumers. he has asked his team to look at ways to negotiate with different kinds of companies and industry sectors to reduce some of the fees and to make them more transparent. it's the things that can really add up if you peel those away from the bills people pay. he is talking about ways to have internet be more affordable, which is a utility of modern life, and how to make that available at a lower cost. the president is trying to emphasize ways that if you get even a little bit back in your monthly budget, that will make american families feel better about things, when he can't tackle on his own the big inflation issues. they have had legislation trying to deal with that. but clearly in these final days before the midterms, he is trying to be responsive to that and give people some specifics about how his administration is trying to look at the ways that americans spend their money and how this administration will try to give them some of that back.

andrea? >> malcolm kenyatta, you have been all over the state campaigning. >> 32. >> really? you have a couple to go. but that's a lot. back home in north philly. what do you see as the turnout there? getting that turnout is going to be critical to any democratic success statewide is getting a big number coming out of philly, just as it's here in allegheny county in pittsburgh. >> look at what the president is doing today. he is being responsive to the american people. one of the takeaways from the debate, is you heard oz say inflation. if i had a nickel for every time he said inflation, i would have as much money as he has. when asked on that, he had no response for what he would actually do to lower costs for people. democrats are the only folks who are actually talking about the price gouging we see from big corporations. you see the president out every day looking at ways he can,

without the legislature, move swiftly to address some of the rising costs. i think having a president and having democratic candidates who are saying to people, not only do we feel your pain, but we are passing legislation, like the inflation reduction act, and talking about ways we can be creative, all of those things i think lead to higher turnout in places like north philadelphia. that on top of oz's big, big flub yesterday. i think it's what he means. he wants to put doug mastriano in charge of deciding whether or not women can have an abortion in pennsylvania. doug has one of the most extreme positions of anybody running for governor, maybe in the country, where he wants to ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest. oz says leave it to a woman, her doctor and doug mastriano. most pennsylvanians disagree. >> he said local politicians. you are saying the republican nominee for governor. >> i can't believe dr. oz has a vote for governor of pennsylvania because he is not from here.

he will get a vote. his vote will be for doug mastriano who wants to ban all abortion. i hope when voters are looking at this, this is a package deal. you have doug mastriano and dr. oz, they are singing from the same hymn book. >> you ran in the primary against john fetterman but is campaigning actively for him. in wisconsin now, charlie, senator ron johnson, democratic challenger mandela barnes, neck and neck in the senate race. like pennsylvania, wisconsin is one of the possible pickup states for democrats. barnes has had challenges taking on the incumbent as controversial as he has been. >> yeah. i think ron johnson was probably the single most vulnerable incumbent republican. he is a serial conspiracy theorist who has trafficking in anti-vaccine craziness. perhaps too embarrassing for many voters. but the reality is that this is a knife-edge electorate in wisconsin. all of the elections are very close.

mandela barnes is being hammered by a massive media campaign on crime, on the border, on inflation. republicans here are campaigning against the student debt relief. he has had some struggles doing this. it will come down -- i'm sorry to use the cliche. but it will come down to whether the democrats can turn out a big vote in places like milwaukee. i think that's one of the reasons why it's perhaps significant that barack obama is coming in and campaigning for barnes. at this point, i have to say that i think it's going to be an uphill fight for barnes who is perhaps a little bit more progressive than many of the swing voters would be comfortable with, say in the milwaukee suburbs. again, just like the governor's race, it's going to be very, very close here in wisconsin. >> thanks so very much to kelly o'donnell, malcolm kenyatta,

state representative, and charlie sykes. coming up next, protecting the vote. the impact that election deniers and the big lie could have on the midterms as well as 2024. you are watching a special edition. this is "andrea mitchell reports." we are live from pnc park in pittsburgh, and this is msnbc. what will you do? ♪ what will you change? ♪ will you make something better? ♪ will you create something entirely new? ♪ our dell technologies advisors provide you with the tools and expertise you need to do incredible things. because we believe there's an innovator in all of us.

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ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today. [sfx: stomach gurgling] it's nothing... sounds like something. ♪ when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, ♪ ♪ upset stomach, diarrhea. ♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes for fast relief... when you need it most. now to breaking news. a south carolina judge ruled that former trump white house chief of staff mark meadows is going to have to testify before that georgia grand jury. nbc's blayne alexander joins us from atlanta. that doesn't mean he has to answer questions, but he lasse to show up, right? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. we do not know when that date is going to take place. we do know he's not going to appear until some time after november 8th. the investigation, the da said is in a so-called quiet period

until after the election to influence the election. i spoke to a spokesperson from her office and he reiterated that timing. he had been ordered already by a fulton county judge to appear several weeks ago but mark meadows has been fighting that subpoena back home in south carolina before a judge there. today what happened, andrea, the judge essentially in south carolina sided with the fulton county judge, saying he does, in fact, have to honor that subpoena. now, as for what fulton county da wants to question him about, in her initial filing say she wanted to compel his testimony, she said he really is a central person for her to hear from during this investigation. she pointed to a couple of things. one, of course, that infamous phone call between former president trump and secretary of state brad raffensperger. a couple of other things as well. one of them being an unannounced visit that mark meadows made to cobb county in the weeks after the 2020 election. essentially wanting to come in

and see an audit, supervise an audit. he was denied access. it wasn't open to the public. she noted she wanted to talk to him about that as well as speaking to the justice department saying there was election fraud here in georgia. certainly a wide scope of things she's going to want to question him on. the whole umbrella reasoning of it all is she said numerous times, she wants to talk to anybody who was close to the former president in those days following the election. somebody who was in his inner circle. certainly as the former chief of staff, mark meadows fits that bill. we're waiting to see when his testimony will take place but some time after november 8th. andrea? >> of course, he could always appeal to the supreme court, as so far lindsey graham did in the same issue. >> reporter: yeah. >> got a stay, at least a temporary stay. we'll have to wait and see how this actually finally turns out. thanks, blayne alexander. good to have you back. as we approach the midterms, there are still people who

believe fraud was committed somehow in the 2020 election, the election deniers. listen to jon stewart interviewing republican arizona attorney general about this. >> donald trump lost arizona, period. i've said that from the very beginning. there have been isolated incidences thus far that we have identified and we are prosecuting. >> yes. >> we still have active investigations going on, but people can draw their own conclusion -- >> there is -- no, people cannot draw their own conclusions. that's the point of the law. >> yeah, it is. >> the law is that you have facts. >> right. >> and you have fiction. >> right. >> the fact is the election in arizona was well run, not fraudulent, and not stolen from donald trump. >> so, that's the way you do it. joining us now is deputy national editor for "the washington post," phil rucker. good to see you. author of the book "a very stable generous and i alone can

fix it." phil, it's amazing that the arizona attorney general can't just come out and clearly say, there was no election fraud. the election wasn't stolen. >> that's right, andree can yeah. the fact of the matter is, there was no widespread election fraud in 2020 in arizona or in any of these states. joe biden won the state of arizona. that's been certified. it's settled fact. but what we've seen on the ground in arizona, in michigan, in pennsylvania and a number of other states around the country is an effort by trump's allies on the ground to try to mobilize partisans, pro-trump partisans to become engaged in the election this time as election poll watchers to do, as they put it, to basically blow the whistle on fraud. but there is no evidence at this point that that sort of fraud is going to exist. so, what we have the potential of in election day in two weeks' time is a lot of chaos on the

ground at some of these polling places and vote-counting centers around the country because of the mobilization of partisans on the right. >> and "the washington post" has been reporting on this. i saw rachel maddow, pictures of so-called poll watchers are armed with automatic weapons and wearing camouflage gear. that's hardly, you know, neutral poll watchers. and it's intimidating, obviously intimidating. there are lawsuits, i think they are in court trying to battle this. in terms of the potential fraud, what is the republican national committee and their allies in these states actually doing? >> well, what the republicans, andrea, are doing right now and my colleagues at the post have a great story on this this week, is to train -- to train partisans out in the country to learn how to be poll watchers.

to sign up for shifts and to go to polling places where ordinary, you know, nonpartisan election workers are doing the people's business of counting the votes and to observe it. and to claim fraud when they think they might suspect that there could be fraud. this has the potential of creating not only a lot of sort of chaos and friction during the vote-counting process on the ground, but it could also become, you know, scenes of anxiety, even fear. you know, you mentioned weapons there a moment ago. this is not the usual kind of scene at a polling place in an american elections, but or electoral process since 2020 has become so sort of hyperpartisan. there's been such a deliberate, intentional effort by trump and his allies to sort of galvanize and mobilize trump supporters who believe the election was stolen, even though there's no evidence that it was. to act differently in 2022.

that's what county and state election officials are on guard for in two weeks' time, to see what the scenes are going to be like at these polling places and to make sure that they're doing what they can to protect election workers and to protect the integrity of the vote-counting process. >> in fact, according to brookings, there are 345 election deniers on the ballot nationwide. it's likely some of these candidates are going to win, and they're going to have an impact on the election security. some of them are running for secretary of state and governors. >> a huge impact, andrea, including there in pennsylvania where if the republican candidate for governor were to win, could have, you know -- mastriano could have a huge impact on the functioning in the state of pennsylvania going forward. it's a number of states as well with election deniers at the top of the ballot. >> joe rucker as olz, from "the

washington post," thank you. that does it for this special two-hour edition of "andrea mitchell reports" live from pnc park in pittsburgh. follow us online and on twitter @mitchellreports. remember to vote. your votes count. and we'll be back with more reporting tomorrow. chris jansing is here after these messages. ing is here afte these messages edicine. powerful relief so you can restore and recover. theraflu hot beats cold. think he's posting about all that ancient roman coinage? no, he's seizing the moment with merrill. moving his money into his investment account in real time and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company.