. good day. i'm "chris jansing live" at new york city headquarters. the sound and fury d a fired up debate night put the midterms in a different place today than where they were 24 hours ago? with at least eight senate and governor races going down to the wire, the high stakes brought an 11th hour intensity. >> there are criminals out there who need to pay the consequences for their action instead of the catch and release policies kathy hochul champions. >> you can't talk about this. all have you is rhetoric. >> it would be the most radical abortion law in the entire country. the only place that has something similar are china and north korea. >> none of what she just said is true. here's why you can't trust anything she's saying when it comes to reproductive rights. >> i'm running to serve pennsylvania. he's running to use pennsylvania. >> john fetterman takes everything to an extreme and those extreme positions hurt us all. >> how will all that translate?

it's a key question in that pennsylvania race where voters will decide whether to embrace john fetterman or abandon him. our reporters live on the ground are coming up. plus, where does oversight end and intimidation begin? we'll dig into the huge push among republicans to deploy an army of poll watchers on election day and the fear among voters. and what might donald trump's former valet know about documents at mar-a-lago? that's what federal prosecutors want to know and they're going to extraordinary lengths to find out. we'll talk to "the new york times'" michael schmidt with brand-new details on all of that. we start with last night's hugely consequential debate in pennsylvania where one man, john fetterman, may be the decide be factor whether democrats keep control of the senate or not. that unenviable decision, simply whether to debate at all. >> let's also talk about the elephant in the room. i had a stroke. he's never let me forget that.

and i might miss some words during this debate, mush two words together, but it knocked me down and i'm going to keep coming back up. >> i want to bring in chuck todd in pittsburgh. he's the moderator of "meet the press." jonathan lemire, host of msnbc's" way too early" and msnbc political analyst. in "the an lantic" john hendrix called it a rorschach test with levels of uncomfortability. was it a good idea? >> the campaign was damd if they did or it if they didn't. the question is, what is he hiding? why can't we hear or see from john fetterman. if he refused to debate. the debate came late in the election cycle. a lot of people have already made up their minds.

there have been tens of thousands of early votes cast. we don't know yet the difference what this debate will mean for the race going forward. fetterman entered with a lead. it has shrunk considerably from the peak over the summer but aides tell me and public polling suggests it's still four, five, six points for fetterman. some think it will connect with those, as fetterman put it, got knocked down, but got back up. that raises real questions about his ability to do the job. republicans are zeroing in on that idea. and at times, candidly, it was difficult to watch last night. fetterman struggled with answers. again, oz came across as kind of a bully, had his own misstep with a line about abortion. debates usually don't matter much. this one might. we won't know for sure for a few days.

>> it was everywhere, chuck, as you know. when i went to see where i could stream it, it was on tons of tv stations across pennsylvania, but you could get it anywhere. they specifically mentioned places like new york. i mean, look, i think if there was one takeaway from democrats about oz, maybe two, one is that they like to suggest that he was smirking through much of it because he felt like he was winning the debate. and then this oz said. take a listen. >> as a physician, i've been in the room when there's been some 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 always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward to states can decide themselves. >> local political leaders. in the end, you talked to pennsylvania after the debate. what's your big takeaway? >> look, i don't want to make it my takeaway. i want to give you essentially from these voters. it's three people, and you can

over -- you can overlean on anecdotes. i had an interesting array, because one of the three people was somebody who works with ptsd folks that are in the veterans community. so, for her, what fetterman was going through was both familiar and something she's like, i know what that is. that's part of the healing process. so, for her, she saw something that was familiar. if you've never had somebody in your life recover from a stroke ordeal with this, perhaps it was more striking. i think on the health issue, it really is an eye of the beholder issue and my voter panel seemed to put it that way. what really sort of was striking to me, and i think goes at the strategic mistake that the fetterman campaign made, one of the voters that claims to be a split ticket, vote governor in the governor race. oz didn't seem like he was part

of that more extreme crowd. he seemed very moderate on some issues. and i think when you look at that debate last night, chris, you know, fetterman was trying to get through the debate. he never was able to successfully corner or, you know, follow up on that unforced error about local political leaders and other things. look, that was obvious why he couldn't do that. i think it ended up giving mehmet oz essentially a free hour to moderate himself and to be a bit ambiguous on some issues without getting fully cornered by his opponent there. in that sense, he got to present himself as something different than a trump republican or a mastriano republican, which in this state, in the end, he's trying to do. >> and tougher, right, for somebody who is recovering, as fetterman is, when you have to give a 30-second response or even a 60-second response and you have to speak fast. having said that, i wonder,

chuck, what you're hearing from democrats. i mean, one of the things i heard last night, as people were texting me, why didn't he just release the medical records? if the point of doing this was to show i'm recovering, why not just release the medical records? now we see kristen welker reporting, we're going to see the combo team of democrats, we're going to see president biden and former president obama at some point going out for him. what's the level of nervousness? what's the level of repair, if that's a fair word, tell me, for this campaign, chuck? >> it's still a jersey colored campaign, it's still red versus blue and the question is, how many swing voters are there? i think i found three of them. but it is a small number. if this is a race decided by 50,000 votes or less, we'll look back and say this debate mattered. here's the way i look at it,

chris. if john fetterman gets the turnout in philadelphia he needs to win state wide and still loses this race, then this debate mattered a lot. mismanagement of his health records means a lot. the only way oz wins this -- there are two ways. one is a depressed turnout, particularly in philadelphia. the other is he overperformed in the philadelphia suburbs in places republicans have struggled since the rise of donald trump. if that happens, i think you point to the debate. you point to how they handled this medical because that medical issues is where, what used to be the swing voters of pennsylvania live. but if that -- if fetterman gets his turnout and he's able to win or he still carries the suburbs, i don't think we'll look back at the debate. i think you look back at the democratic brand in general and whether republicans were able to paint the democrats as far out of touch from the middle than

democrats are painting the republicans with the trump brand. >> chuck todd, thank you so much. jonathan lemire will stick around. then we have the shockingly close, shockingly close race for new york governor. last night's heated debate may have been republican's best shot pulling off an upset against kathy hochul. zeldin has spent months hammering over crime and he did not let up last night. >> people are afraid of being pushed in front of oncoming subway cars, being stabbed, beaten to death on the street with hammers. >> you can work on keeping people scared or work on keeping them safe. i have worked on having real policies that are making a difference. >> we're still waiting for kathy hochul to talk about locking up criminals. people at home are waiting for action to make sure the handcuffs are going on criminals instead of law-abiding new yorkers. >> nowhere to be found, lee. people need to know -- >> nbc's ron allen is in new

york city. susan del percio on set and msnbc political analyst and we love talking new york politics. this race has been consistently tightening in a state where we should say it's become even increasingly blue. it's more than two to one registered democrats here. is crime the main reason zeldin has been able to make it closer? what do you see at play here? >> it should be about a 20-point race right now. in the last couple of years, any other cycle, that's what we would see. we came off 2021 in a mayoral race that was all about crime. eric adams fighting crime, being a former cop, that's what really rallied people all across the political spectrum to him. there's never been a mayor that had that kind of support going into their first year of office. this is a combination, though. i look to the nassau county suburbs of new york to get a better idea, which was economy

and crime. that was the 2021 message that led to a sweep in nassau county. let's not forget the top of the ticket rode in on the coattails of the attorney general. what did she talk about morning, noon and night? bail reform. this is crime all the time. lee zeldin is coming into new york cities. he has to get 30% of the vote and he can really pull this off. kathy hochul is not running for re-election. she's running for election. she has no natural constituent base in new york city and she's feeling the results of it. >> ron, what struck me was both the intensity of the debate, frankly, which -- that also suggests both sides know republicans see an opportunity here, and also how divergent their views are on almost everything. it isn't as if this is a close call. tell me what you saw and hearing from folks you're talking to.

>> reporter: i was struck how both hochul and zeldin saw this has a tremendous opportunity because neither has a lot of experience running statewide, both are well known. zeldin is a congressman from long island. hochul is running for election, not re-election. she has only been on the job for some time. zeldin, it was all crime all the time. it was as if he was running for mayor of new york, not governor of the state of new york. and hochul, to her credit, perhaps, was emphasizing competent. she talked about the things she's done over the last couple of months she's been on the job. they tried to remain measured, whereas you could tell zeldin seemed to feel this was a big opportunity. this was a big moment. he was really trying to make the most of it. here's some of what they had to say about their vision for new york. it says something about how they see the world very differently. take a listen. >> lee zeldin once said new york is dying. i don't think people of the

state to want have the grim reaper as their leader. they want someone who sees a path forward, who's lived the struggle. >> thank you. >> and i'm that governor. >> you ask me, why does new york lead the nation in population law? their wallets, kids education are under attack. they've hit their breaking point. >> reporter: early voting starts on saturday. as everyone has pointed out, there hasn't been a republican who's won the governorship since 2002. it's been a long time, two to one voter edge amongst democrats in the state. while the polls seem to have tightened a bit, zeldin is still a big underdog. voters will be deciding this weekend. >> ron allen, susan del percio, thank you. also on the ballot, and it has been a key conversation in most debates, is threats to democracy. to that point, we're expecting a verdict today in the trial of a former capitol hill police officer, michael reilly, charged

with obstruction after exchanging text messages with a rioter. what do we know right now? >> reporter: that's right. michael riley was a former capitol police officer who communicated with a rioter over facebook. they met through a fishing community, the individual who stormed the u.s. kaptd was a chartered boat captain. and michael riley was a fisherman who did that on his free time. they befriended one another before. after this individual started posting information online, the capitol police officer reached out and said, hey, they're going after anyone who went inside the u.s. capitol that day, so take out the part about you entering the capitol. essentially what this case breaks down to is whether or not this individual, michael riley was interfering, and instructing this rioter to delete his messages and own facebook

messages. he was obstructing a grand jury procedure. the defense argues he wasn't aware this was being investigated by a grand jury, only a misdemeanor offense and he misled him about his activities on january 6th. the jury's been deliberating this for about a full day now. they started around noon yesterday. so, we should hear -- expect to hear a verdict. this is one of the longest deliberations we've seen from any jury in a january 6th related case. typically they've gone through these -- the proceedings very quickly. it's to be determined how the jury will come out. >> ryan reilly, i know you'll keep us posted, thank you. breaking news connected to one of the candidate who was on a debate state, michigan governor gretchen whitmer. three men accused of a terror plot to kidnap here in 2020 were convicted on all charges. the men, who belong to a right wing militia group known as the wolverine watchmen, each face

more than 20 years when they're sentenced in december. are we entering a new phase of the trump mar-a-lago document investigation? "the new york times" reports prosecutors are pressuring trump aides to testimony. i'll talk to the reporter who broke that story next. plus, afraid to cast a ballot. the new look we have at just how worried americans are about voter intimidation and threats. and the toll it's taking on election workers. you're watching "chris yan sing january sing reports" only on mction. nuary sing reports" only mction research shows that people remember ads with young people having a good time. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a pool party. look what i brought! liberty mutual! they customize your home insurance... so you only pay for what you need!

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breaking news from the white house. president biden wrapped up a bilateral meeting with israeli president herzog. in addition to discussing areas of mutual interest, herzog was expected to present president biden with evidence showing iranian drones being used by russia in ukraine. herzog had previously said the threat posed by iran would be at the top of his agenda. we'll keep you posted if we hear more out of that. today new evidence of a new phase of the investigation into donald trump's handling of classified materials seized at mar-a-lago. "the new york times" report prosecutors have begun amping up the pressure on key witnesses who were closed to the former president. at the same time, the january 6th committee called in hope hicks, one of trump's earliest advisers a former white house communications director.

nbc reports she was questioned by the committee yesterday, citing a source familiar with the matter. nbc's ryan nobles is on capitol hill, tali farhadian, and one of the authors one of "the new york times" report, michael schmidt, washington correspondent for the paper and nbc national security contributor. ryan, hope hicks at the white house during the key period between the 2020 election and the january 6th riot. what specifically did the committee want to hear from her? do we have any sense of whether she was more forthcoming this time than, say, back in 2019 when she lefd to answer questions by the house judiciary committee? >> not yet, chris. members of the committee, representatives for hope hicks being tight-lipped on what appears to be a lengthy deposition that took place virtually between hicks and the january 6th select committee. to answer your question about what they, perhaps, might want to ask hope hicks about, it

would be what she knew about that time frame between the november 2020 election and the runup to january 6th, during that period of time where president trump was really pushing this false claim that the election was stolen from him. hicks, of course, one of donald trump's closest and long-time advisers, someone that has been fiercely loyal to him since before his presidential run in 2016, and someone that enjoys a close relationship with the former president. so, she may have insight into thinks thinking during that period of time. of course, there have been numerous reports that hicks herself told donald trump that specifically she thought that he did not win the election. so, getting into the mindset of trump during that period of time, one of the things the committee has tried to establish over the course of their many hearings is trump was told repeatedly he lost the election and he just rejected all of that perspective from people he trusted and continued to plow on with this claim that the election was actually incorrectly called for biden squob. those are all the questions that

could potentially be asked of hope hicks. the timing is a question as well, it comes in what appears to be the end of the january 6th select committee's run. >> they're taking it down to the wire. you write federal prosecutors have, quote, ratcheted up their pressure in key weeks on key witnesses in hopes of gaining their testimony. the effort by the justice department shows how the investigation is entering a new phase as prosecutors seek to push rekals trant witnesses to cooperate with them. do we know who they're targeting specific? what kind of pressure, what they hope to learn? >> two witnesses they're looking at is walt nada, a junior trump aide, someone that worked in the white house for trump, someone who got him diet cokes there. >> nobody would have heard of him. >> right. there is a lower level person. who went in, met with the authorities about the question of whether he moved the boxes,

provided an initial count to them that authorities didn't think was truthful, came back in, provided them with another account, a differing account. what happened in between those periods of time is that the government had obtained security footage from mar-a-lago that showed a different story than what he had said. so, the government having some leverage on him because these shifting counts, wants to talk to him again, but his lawyer is concerned about that because, obviously, he has some potential criminal exposure here. the justice department really wants to know more about what was going on behind the scenes at mar-a-lago in terms of the movement of these boxes, where were the documents, what was trump saying and doing about that. >> second person. >> is kash patel, this is a controversial figure in the trump administration, someone who bill barr did not trust and

did not want running, you know, sort of important parts of the justice department or the intelligence community. kash patel was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury. went before a grand jury. took the fifth amendment in response to many questions about this. the government is trying to compel him to answer these questions. his lawyers in this instance saying that he should be able to invoke his fifth amendment, privileges, rights, against self-incrimination. sort of a standoff there between the justice department and patel. >> tali, what does a pressure campaign look like in a situation like this? >> chris, when the government is faced with recalcitrant witnesses who have exposure, as michael described, there are really three things you can do. one is that you can charge them with a crime and start a plea bargain process and hope that

they will agree to plead guilty to a cooperation agreement. getting the promise of maybe a reduction in charges or leniency and in that way getting them to work with the government on the case. the other is to immunize them. of course, that means you don't have leverage over them anymore. the witness won't be able to say, i want to invoke my fifth amendment right because they'll be immune to criminal exposure, but that puts the government in a tricky position. it loses some of its power. and then the third, of course, is to just move on. you know, sometimes that does happen. when there are reasons not to take the first or the second course. and there are other witnesses that you can work with you know, this is sort of typical where it seems the government is at now in this investigation to try to bring people in, the guy who brings you diet cokes was probably witness to a lot of interesting things and they'll

work through. if not him, it might be another. >> we talked about. some people who have no, quote, unquote, power within an administration are the people that get ignored and hear a lot of stuff. having said that, do we have any idea how far along the doj investigation is? >> we know they've progressed significantly from where they started in august when we first learned about this. when we learned the justice department executed the search warrant, taken this extraordinary move to get a court approval to go through donald trump's, literally, his office. when you get to this stage in the investigation, you've identified witnesses who you believe have key evidence to understanding what went on. these are people that have not cooperated yet. we know they have already talked to a bunch of other witnesses so you're getting to a smaller pool of people. you're whittling things down. that certainly is significant progression since august but at the same time, the justice

department often takes a lot longer than the public would like or anyone would like, including -- >> that was six months ago. >> correct. it was just back in august. so this could on for much longer. usually when the media catches an sxrefgs starts writing about it, people anticipate something will happen, but the department always takes longer than people would like. >> they never work on our schedule. michael schmidt, thank you for coming in. ryan nobles, tali, thank you as well. could the war in ukraine force russians to consider using nuclear weapons? a key nato official calling out the kremlin directly today. why he says russians are failing on the battlefield. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. ports" oc i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here...

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pushing the idea that ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb. now, the u.s. and other western allies do not buy that. but it is raising fears that russia will use it as a pretext to unleash a tactical nuclear weapon. as "the new york times" puts it, the more successful the

ukrainians r the greater risk that russia will break the unwritten taboo risk of deploying tactical nuclear weapons. >> president putin's nuclear rhetoric is dangerous, reckless and irresponsible. any use of a nuclear weapon in ukraine will change the nature of the conflict. >> i want to bring in nbc's cal perry, in kyiv for us today, and marc polymeropoulos, former cia operative and former chief of operations in europe and eurasia. cal, you've seen this firsthand and i wonder what they i think about the escalation. >> reporter: people in kyiv and surrounding areas are faced with another decision of whether they stay or flee to other countries in europe. we had this stark warning overnight from the deputy prime minister asking any ukrainians

abroad outside the country to remain outside the country for the winter. it gives an indication of how bad the situation is getting. it not just the fear of nuclear weapons, though. that is something that scares people here a lot. it is the constant bombardment from rockets and drones destroying buildings. there are so many people without power and water. i spoke to nadia who lives in kyiv in one of the buildings that was destroyed. >> i wanted to cry because five of my neighbors died here, including 6 months pregnant woman. that was first emotion. i just want to start crying because it's terrible. and it's happening every day across my country. >> reporter: nadia is so emblematic of so many across the country. she's currently sleeping on the floor of her husband's office. she doesn't know if she's going to stay or go to poland.

she's worried her husband's office building could be bombed. >> thank you for that report and that interview. marc, are the u.s. and other western allies right to be worried about a nuclear escalation here? that really where we are in this war? >> look, you never discount the idea of nuclear confrontation. i think the biden administration has been really good in this. there's an old phrase we used to use at cia, dancing through the raindrops. that's what biden has done here. this is nuclear bluffing by putin. they're losing. this is an act of desperation. the notion that somehow ukraine would detonate a dirty bomb on its own soil is preposterous. the secretary-general has called them out on that. putin wants to do this to seek western support for ukraine. it's not going to work. >> what is in putin's playbook right now? what pressure points does he still have left to push while he's taking on the west? >> sure. you know, this is going -- you'll see classic russian hybrid warfare.

one would be to plan on their own this false flag operation. i think you might see cyberattacks as well. the biggest geopolitical earthquake of the last week came from the united states where not only did kevin mccarthy talk about, perhaps, withholding aid in the future if the republicans take the house and progressive caucus put out the letter that was roundly condemned. we also have issues in the united states on this. i don't seed administration getting wild. $17 billion of assistance has been flowing and i think we'll continue to do so. >> i wonder when you look at this in total, we've talked a lot, mark, about the onset of winter. you hear that woman is sleeping on the floor in her husband's office. it can get to 15 below. i asked someone, how cold does it get in ukraine? they said 15 below. how does that change the equation? it obviously changes it if you live there, but if you're part of the military fighting there,

how does it change the equation? >> winter warfare is a bit different. ukraine has experience in this. and the fact the united states military and intelligence community has been involved with ukrainians in the east since 2014. there's eight years of experience in winter warfare. they'll continue to press forward. none of this will mask the fact that the russian military is broken, incompetent, broken. i don't see it halting from the yooub side. in particular, if the u.s. and west keeps pumping in advanced weapon systems. i think you'll see more gains. >> marc polymeropoulos, love having you on the program, thank you. wisconsin jury's how found darrell brooks guilty on six counts of first degree intentional homicide in last year's christmas parade that killed six people, including an 8-year-old boy and left more than 40 injured. he was also convicted on 61 counts of reckless endangerment.

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i heard about prevagen and then i started taking it about two years now. started noticing things a little sharper, a little clearer. i feel like it's kept me on my game. i'm able to remember things. i'd say give it a try. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. democrats are locked in close races with election deniers across the country and increasingly it's poll workers caught in the middle, facing increasing pressure, and in some cases calling it quits. one in five election workers say they are unlikely to make it until 2024. one in six have personally experienced threats, according to the brennan center for justice. there's also new reporting in "the washington post" that pro-trump republicans are trying to court elections volunteers to, quote, challenge any vote. and voters across the country are scared. two in five say they're worried about some type of threats of

violence or voter intimidation at polling stations this midterm season. in arizona the maricopa county sheriff's department stepped up increase after people watching the boxes. >> it's creating an environment of intensity. it's creating an environment of conflict. and it's creating an environment that ties up my resources where we just want to make sure people can vote safely and democracy in the republic can carry on as should. it's a different landscape. i'm not sure how we got here. >> i want to bring in blayne alexander and jonathan lemire is back with us. we see this come up from the highest parts of the republican party. president trump critiquing republican senate candidate blake masters for not going far enough in pushing election denial claims from 2020. listen to this. >> look at kari. kari is winning.

if they say, how is your family? she says, the election was rigged and stolen. you lose if you go soft. you're going to lose that base. >> he told him, flat out, you'll lose if you're not strong enough on this. is this strategy, here to say, is this permanently added to the playbook? >> reporter: whether it's permanent is not clear but very much with us in 2022 and will be with us in 2024. i wrote the book titled "the big lie" came out in the summer how trump is the false claims of voter fraud. shaping our politics of today and we're seeing that. the book details in 2020 how poll workers were harassed and threatened, how local election officials were harassed and threatened by trump supporters who believed his big lie and we're seeing that again now with election security at the forefront on a lot of law enforcement minds right now.

we're seeing people be intimidated and worried about what will happen in two weeks' time when voters go to the polls. there are big-lie candidates on the ballot up and down, across the country. races like governor, like kari lake in arizona, we've had some senate candidates doing the same as well as some state officials like governors and secretaries of state, those who are overseeing, potentially, the counting and certification of vote tallies in the future. this is a true threat to the heart of our democracy and it's only going to get worse before it gets better, i have a feeling. >> blayne, people working now in georgia, tell me what you've heard. >> reporter: it's so interesting to hear jonathan talk about the fact that we saw all of these threats come out afterwards, but if you think about, georgia is one of the first places that come to mind. you heard of the testimony on

capitol hill, ruby and shaye moss who had to go into hiding. after 2020 things did change a lot. we saw from talking to different people in georgia that it went one of two ways. either people said, i'm not putting up with this, i'm walking away, i'm fearful, other others said, i'm going to double down, feeling a sense of duty to do their role and play their role to protect democracy. the person we spoke to, angie jones, fits in that latter category. she's been a poll manager since 2018. she said she absolutely saw things change immediately after 2020. she describes people walking in to vote and really not doubting -- or not believing the process was even valid. doubting everything from the machines to the scanners to every single part of it. she says she tries to engage them, walk them through and ensure them their ballot is secure. here's a little bit of what she told me during our conversation. take a look. >> after the 2020 election, did you notice a change? >> immediately i noticed a

change. i had a lot of voters that came in angry, distrustful. >> reporter: and she also said a couple of very interesting perspectives. she's also here in fulton county but she said she had a very different experience from what others have experienced. she says she realizes she comes from a position of privilege because of her race, because she is a white woman. she asked a friend, a woman of color, to volunteer. she said, absolutely not. i'm scared. i'm scared they would say things to me and not to you. a lot of the threats were racist in nature when it came to some of those calls and some of the threats that were made after 2020. i think one other thing to point out, though, is just the crucial role that these workers play. you know, and we're seeing that right now when it comes to early voting here in georgia. we're talking about record-breaking numbers every day of this early voting period, chris. in fact, already it's broken the

1 million mark for early votes cast. when you compare that to the same time period back in 2018, there were only about 700,000 or so ballots cast. it's important to point out there are many more registered voters now than back in 2017. when you look at the early voting period, a lot of people are coming out and it shows habits are changing here. >> jonathan, i heard you interviewing senator maggie hassan on "morning joe" and when we talk about the real world impact and what you just said, there are real worries about what happen, is there a huge range here? one possibility, if you think it's not safe to go to a polling place, maybe you stay home all the way up to potential acts of violence. what are you hearing specifically about concerns and what security is being put in place around the country? >> well, for months now, law enforcement agencies have really worried about the threat of political violence. the violent rhetoric injected in

our political bloodstream post january 6th. we know from lawmakers on the rise, we know threats from law enforcement on the rise, particularly after the search at mar-a-lago and we know about the threats against election workers in 2020 and heard about some now in the primary season and it's anticipated to be even more so in a couple of weeks when voters go to the poll. there is genuine concern here. we heard the clip, the law enforcement officer in arizona saying they have to divert resources in order to get to polling places to keep them safe. this is deeply concerning republicans, some democrats and yet another, yet another aftershock of the big lie. >> blayne alexander, always good to see you. jonathan lemire, whose "way too early" is one year old today. congratulations on that, my friend. >> thank you. >> thanks for coming on the show. and still to come, an alarming new look inside a children's hospital that just broke its record on how many kids it

treats in an entire year. and of course it's only october. >> it's very troubling. because everyone is feeling sick. she just had covid this summer for the first time. ♪ what will you 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.

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here's some new and frankly stark numbers on a crisis we've been reporting on right now. around three quarters of pediatric hospital beds are full in this country, largely due to rsv, a respiratory virus. it's so bad, hospitals are sending kids to other states and teaching parents how to treat them at home. we're also hearing new stories of just how scary this virus is. nbc's tom costello has more. >> in northern virginia, the respiratory virus known as rsv has made its way into 4-year-old no v a lewis' lungs. struggling to breathe with an existing heart condition, her mom rushed her to the e.r. this morning. >> it is very troubling because everyone is getting sick and she just had covid this summer for the first time. >> the medical director at the

inova children's e.r. says they're in crisis mode. >> three days of fever, cough, suggestion. >> overwhelmed at hospitals with a triple-epidemic, the start of the flu season, the ongoing covid threat and rsv which has affected many children who have spent much of the pandemic at home in virus-free bubbles. >> we will have 71 patients with 21 beds. >> it is not unique to this hospital. nationwide 73% of pediatric inpatient beds are full right now. here in virginia, 76%. >> many hospitals are now out of pediatric e.r. beds. >> not only are there a lot of sick kids right now, there is no place for them to go. >> meanwhile the country is still averaging 367 covid deaths per day, but only 8.5% of americans have received updated covid boosters to cover the latest variants. >> our thanks to tom costello for that report.

and by the way if you're scheduling your next covid boosters in the coming weeks or months you might want to start hitting the gym a new study by the british journal of sports medicine finds regular exercise can actually improve the effectiveness of that shot. making those who exercise 25% less likely to be hospitalized than those who do not exercise. and that's going to do it for us for this hour. join us four "chris jansing reports" every weekday at 1:00 eastern time right here on msnbc. katy tur, who i see out there and to whom i wish a very happy birthday will be in here next. >> thank you. y happy birthday will be in here next. >> thank you 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. it's nice to unwind after a long week of telling people how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need! (limu squawks) he's a natural. only pay for what you need.

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