good to be with you. i'm katy tur. we've never seen anything like this before in key places across the country, interest in the election is so intense that millions have showed up to vote early. shattering turnout records, especially in the midterm year. who does that help? and is all of that enthusiasm reflected in the polls? we're going to explore that in just a moment. along with the concerning rise in threats at polling places, axios is reporting local mayors and police chiefs are being warned that extremists like the proud boys and the oath keepers are signing up as poll workers and drop box monitors, as part of localized efforts to intimidate voters. again, we will get to all of that in a moment. but first, if you were not already convinced by the campaign ads, or the mailers, or

the emails, or the texts, last night's debates gave voters, you potentially, a lot to chew over. candidates in close races, in pennsylvania, michigan, and new york, faced off, first up in pennsylvania, that much-anticipated matchup between lieutenant governor john fetterman, and dr. mehmet oz. fetterman's biggest goal of the night was to convince voters that he is ready to serve five months after his stroke, while dr. oz, a 2020 election questioner, tried to convince folks that he's extreme enough for the republican base but moderate enough for the vast middle. >> let's also talk about the elephant in the room. i had a stroke. he's never let me forget that. >> i visited vocational schools, obviously i wasn't clear enough for to you understand this. >> roe v. wade for me is, should be the law. he celebrated when roe v. wade went down. >> i want women, doctors, local political leaders, living the

democracy that has always allowed our nation to a thrive so states can decide themselves. >> women, doctors, and political leaders deciding who gets an abortion is now a major talking point for democrats. the question is, does it neutralize fetterman's health concerns. >> in michigan, gubernatorial candidates gretchen whitmer, and tudor dixon faced ore off for the second and final time. the abortion and education at issue but the most heated exchange came over who is the real extremist in the race. >> she is more interested in dividing us. halting our progress. and dragging us backwards. when she's not scripted and on stage, she stokes violence. spreads conspiracy theories. >> gretchen whitmer doesn't want to be defined by her carelessness, her dishonesty, or her hypocrisy during that time. but even if we did not look at that, we would look at her

governship, as a disappointment. her radical policies have crushed the state. >> and who would have thought that we would be glued to the new york governor's debate, incumbent kathy hochul and republican congressman lee zeldin who voted to overturn the 2020 election had such divergent narrative on nearly every topic, at times it seemed like they weren't even on the same stage. >> your name was on the amicus brief in support of a supreme court decision to overturn roe v. wade. i don't trust this. i really don't trust this. >> can i respond to that? >> real briefly, please. >> i mean, listen, i stated that the first day that i'm in office, i will declare a crime emergency and suspend the pro-criminal laws because there is a crime emergency. >> can i respond to abortion? let me talk about crime. there is a lot to discuss and a whole lot at stake. let melee it out. nbc's correspondent ron allen

and jad grungs, colorado, capitol hill correspondent garrett haake and the pennsylvania capital star editor in chief. >> i will begin with you. i want to play a little bit more from lieutenant governor fetterman answering a question about fracking. >> there is a 2018 interview where you said quote, i don't support fracking at all of the how do you square the two? >> i do support fracking. and i don't, i don't, i fracking, and i stand, and i do support fracking. >> the campaign lowered expectations for his performance last night and he did have a harder time than he certainly would have if he had not had a stroke. and he's still recovering from it. and i wonder from the conversations you're having with voters today, whether the health issue is more of a concern for them now than it was before, and

what their thoughts are about lieutenant governor john fetterman? >> that exchange over fracking sure did leap out last night. complicated in one factor, but the lieutenant governor's health concerns, but also by a politician trying to reconcile the dissance between two competing positions and being able to get over the hump. i came to the office this morning, opened my email and we actually rose more than we would expect, and it depended where you sat, if you're a republican, you think john fetterman is unfit and unhealthy to service. as a democrat, you're trouble bid the performance perhaps, and some exchanges on text last night about that, as the debate was going on but there's one that i got this morning that i would like to share that leaped out at me. as a person with disabilities and recoup rating from surgery, i'm glad that gladly a candidate with health issues is present

and could be a great senator today. fetterman is the every man that we need now. >> and that jumped out to me, because there may be a whole universe out there of stroke survivors, of disabled voters, who might have seen their own reflection in john fetterman, and who are not necessarily showing up in our conversations, and you know, that was pretty telling as well. >> i find it interesting, chuck todd interviewed a few voters and one of them told him that they work with people who have head injuries, and that they understand that a person can be all there but might have a harder time just doing the basics like talking. in terms of dr. oz, how did he do, according to voters? any minds changed there? i thought his answer on abortion is really interesting. it is up to your doctor and the woman but then also your local politician. >> i guess the wreck creation commissioner will be in the office as well in those conversations, when they're going on, you know, that was kind of a line that launched a

thousand memes. i opened up twitter and instagram immediately after the debate and people were all using the fetterman campaign ad, and they are capitalizing on that, and it angered a lot of women, it angered a lot of women who are concerned about this issue. mehmet oz, he's a tv guy, he was slick, he had his answers at the ready, but whether it really moved the needle, i can't, you know, i'm kind of september cal. he was in suburban harrisburg today, talking to voters, but i kind of think everyone is where they are at this point. >> let's go to new york. ron allen, kathy hochul, lee zeldin, it is like they weren't even on the same debate stage, being asked the same questions, because every time kathy hochul talked about abortion, lee zeldin talked about crime. >> he talked about crime a lot, yes. but hochul didn't just concede that issue to him. she pushed back for example by having his position on guns and

guns are a huge issue in new york, in buffalo, new york, especially where there was a mass shooting last year sometime, so she fought back on that issue. and she also turned it on another local issue here, you know, zeldin is very much in favor of trying to remove the local district attorney here who has said he is not going to prosecute low level offenders, bail reform is a big issue, and hochul tried to turn that on zeldin by saying that is another example of how he was going to subvert the will of the people. as an elected official. as zeldin said he would not certify the 2020 election again, for donald trump. so while crime is a huge issue here, and it is going to be, it is an emotional issue, there was another sensational tragic crime of someone being pushed on the subway tracks here just in the news a couple of days ago, hochul has not conceded that, she's fought back on that issue. who will win on that issue? it's unclear. and it is certainly where it

means more here in new york city than upstate new york and other parts of the state. so zeldin did make up some ground here but he is not really speaking to people in other parts of the state where you would think he is going to get more votes. >> all right, now let's go on to colorado. garrett, i know we didn't play anything from the debate last night, between the candidates for senate there, michael bennet obviously trying to defend his seat, but colorado is a pretty close race. break down for us what's happening there. >> this is a debate on another political planet in the ones my colleagues were just skrabing. you had two candidates engaging substantively on issues ranging from crime and immigration to water rights here in this western state. this state is a test case for whether republicans can run a different kind of candidate than the ones who have been just described and how close they can make it, or can they win a sleeper race. joe oday, the republican in this case believes in climate change and believe women should have a

right to abortion up to a certain extent and doesn't want to see donald trump run for president again and has been castigated by trump for that vote, and this state is trending blue for some time and joe biden won by 20 points in 2020, and it takes someone willing to break away from the trump wing of the republican party to make this race close. now, michael bennet has led in most of the polls here in the high to mid single digits. this campaign and the republicans' campaign, both expect the polls to tighten here. this is certainly bennet's race to lose. but this is going to be a race that is watched closely. even in the aftermath, even if bennet were to retain his seat as expected to see whether there is a path for a republican who says we rather see somebody else, maybe like a tim scott or nikki haley be the next nominee, to drive through, to try to maybe break through trump's stranglehold on statewide races. and that's what we will be watching in the days and weeks to come. >> garrett haake, thank you very

much. and joining me is punch bowl founder and contributor jake sherman. we're talk become these races and it is close, and a lot of money poured in by the republicans right now into a lot of these congressional races. they're dumping another $11 million dollars into house races, the congressional leadership fund, and the biggest chunk of that is going to colorado, a pretty blue state. what's california got to do with it? >> happy birthday, katy. >> thank you. >> so a few things to note here. where the money is going in california among a couple of other states in the state, katie porter has $14 million in the bank, which shows how difficult this political environment is for democrats. now, 1.9 million in california is not that much money. because the l.a. media market as you know is i guess quite expensive. it costs a lot of money to reach a lost voters in california, so

i wouldn't read a ton into that. but what i would make note of is that the house republican super-pac, the congressional leadership fund, is able to spend gobs of money this late in the day because they have raised a lot more than democrats, this is a big problem for the house democrats, kind of in a more global sense, looking forward, is that the republicans have, for example, last quarter, raised $75 million compared to the democrats 50-something million, so they have more money to play with. and they're trying to take advantage of what they consider to be a good environment. so they're pouring money into these seats late in the game in states like pennsylvania and in oregon, and outside of dc, in richmond, and north into the dc area to expand the map and give kevin mccarthy should republicans win the majority a larger majority to work with. so this late in the game, the last two weeks, dumping $11 million across the country, it could have a big impact. it will make for a lot of tv ads in a lot of states. >> so much enthusiasm out there.

we're going to talk a little bit more about it later but there's just tons of voters showing up at polling sites in georgia, and some other key states. so much enthusiasm. is it your sense from talking to folks over there who are spending this money, on these races, that enthusiasm is leaning one way or another? >> no one knows. i mean i can tell you, katy, i traveled a couple of weeks ago with kevin mccarthy, the house republican leader, and he says august was really bad for them, because the abortion decision came out, really not that great for republicans, and now the issues have snapped back to where republicans want them. the economy, the inflation, crime, that's his view. i spoke to nancy pelosi the day after i got back from my trip with mccarthy and nancy pelosi said to me we're winning on the issues, the enthusiasm is because we have the edge on issues like health care, safety and social security and medicare and the women's right to choose. two very divergent views of the

political environment. and i will say, i mean the early voting numbers in states across the country do reflect the polls that we see, which is that 75 or 70% of people are very enthused and very eager to vote in this election. so the question is, what side does it come on? i know i haven't really given -- tipped my hand in what i think or what these people think but republicans and democrats see this race as being completely different. >> and campaigning differently. let's talk about election denying ax lot of these candidates have either questioned or denied or in the case of zeldin, has voted to overturn the 2020 election. not to certify it. what is it going to look like in the house if republicans have that sort of control in 2024? and also in the senate? >> well, it's more acute on the local level, because i mean in the house and senate, they are able to obviously certify an election, there is expected to be some tweaking of the

certification process in the lame duck session of congress, after the election. and i will say, kathy hochul today, we have this ad in punch bowl news, and it will come out as soon as i'm off television, hochul is running an ad on lee zeldin showing how close he is on donald trump and what he did on january 6th and afterward and before. i will say, this the house will be filled with people, the house republican conference is going to be filled with people who don't believe 2020 is legitimate and three years after 2020, they will still be making this argument. the long term question, the longer term question for house republicans, is can they ever move past that? i mean if they win the house of representatives, what do they have to show for it? inflation is still going to be high. we don't know what the unemployment picture is going to look like. but we're going to be in a period potentially of legislative stagnation, and republicans are going to own part of the economy. they're going to own part of inflation. they're not going to be able to run a majority talking about how they don't believe in election

three years ago was fair. it's not something they're going to be able to do. so they will have to reckon with that eat, if they take power -- with that reality, if they take power in the early days of january. >> what about the debt ceiling. you and i have spoken about the obviously, but using the debt ceiling to try to leverage joe biden into cutting spending -- >> good luck. i mean it is going to be, i mean joe biden lived through the last and i did, too, you did, too, the last wrangling over the debt ceiling, in the early days of the house republican majority in 2012, 2013, and 2014 and it never goes well and mccarthy made those comments about holding debt ceiling hostage so to speak when i was traveling with him around the midwest. the larger problem is not mccarthy. the larger problem is he is going to va conference that is now all of a sudden after spending a lot of money under donald trump, he will have a conference full of people who want to cut spending once again. they didn't cut spending during the trump era. in fact the deficit grew.

they're going to want to try to hold joe biden hostage, for the government funding, or for energy policy, this is going to be a two year period of republicans taking the house of a lot of hostage holding on almost every issue and people have to be prepared for that. bought i don't want to begin to imagine what it would look like if the debt ceiling is not lifted. and by the way, if republicans take the house or the senate, democrats could still raise the debt cerealing in the lame duck. a lot of people think that is a really good idea. >> jake sherman, thank you very much. and still ahead, iranians are not backing down. what happened at mahsa's grave today. >> and what the department of justice is doing to challenge donald trump's claims of executive privilege around the january 6th investigation. and there are just 13 days, if you haven't heard it already, until november 8th. but election worker, the people who are staffing the polling

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[ screaming ] we finish this tonight. the protests are not dying down in iran. today, mahsa amini's grave, they marked 40 days of mourning and here is the image what is defining it all, a woman standing on her car without her head scarf. in some place, a heavy police presence is also being seen. riot police potentially the crackdown on unrest. joining me now from london is nbc news chief international correspondent keir simmons. so it's been 40 days. it's showing no signs of slowing down. lots of women now are just refusing to wear their head scarf. what can you tell us about what's happening inside that regime? i know it's hard because so few

journalists are allowed in. >> reporter: yes, it is so hard, you know, katy, they closed down the internet according to reports, in that hometown of mahsa amini, so news trickles out of iran. but you're right, listen, if folks are watching, thinking, i seem to be seeing these same kinds of pictures every day, that's the point. it's extraordinary. 40 days is the traditional end of mourning. it is tradition for people to gather, but what we're seeing, once again, the stunning protests. katy, let's just show that picture again that you showed of that woman standing on the car, with the lines of cars standing with her back to the camera, and it is really very little i can say, i can tell you that for example, the official news agency, in iran, says around 10,000 people are there, probably it means it is more than that, but that picture says it all, doesn't it? it tells you everything. there she is, not wearing a

hijab, standing with her hands in the air, quite extraordinary, and then at the same time, we are hearing more news of crackdowns, there are reports that the iranian officials have used live rounds, tear gas is being used, and again, today, while that news is being made, and the news is always being made now on the ground in iran, but while that news is being made, over in washington, the announcement of more sanctions against more than a dozen iranian officials, including officials from the islamic revolutionary guard corps, so washington is trying to show support for these protesters, but frankly, it is these protesters who are leading the way. >> keir simmons, thank you very much. it is getting even more tense in ukraine, as russia stepped up its threats today. moscow said vladimir putin oversaw successful drills to stimulate a quote massive

nuclear strike, the drills are happening as ukraine and the united states worry that russia is planting a false flag, accusing ukraine of building a dirty bomb. joining me from kyiv is nbc's cal perry. that's the latest from there? >> reporter: the situation on a humanitarian level is getting worse. more people without power today than had power yesterday. it is not just this overwhelming threat of possible nuclear war, these drills being carried out, but people are watching but it is also a couple of pressure points that russia continues to squeeze here. one of them is europe's largest nuclear power plant, we heard from the government in the last few hours that russia is trying to force the workers inside that plant to sign some kind of new contract saying they basically work for russia. there is also a dam north of kherson, we understand it has been mined by russian troops so will is great fear in the 30 villages and cities down river that those villages could be flooded. all of this is vladimir putin's larger strategy, which is basically a scorched earth policy of leaving these places

either under water or bombed out, and we'll wait and see what happens in the city of kherson, katy, this is key, this is the city that has access to the crimea, it is obviously currently under russia occupation, a media blackout right now but government officials say the fiercest fighting is not far away. they expect it to happen in the coming days. >> so with this talk about moscow, looking at its nuclear readiness, doing these drills, and these tests, obviously the united states has said that this is a terrible idea, and they've tried to push back in every way that they can, warning people, trying to speak directly to vladimir putin, over the air waves at least, probably some private conversations among top level aides, but there's no scheduled meeting right now, between president biden and vladimir putin, when they have the g-20 summit coming up. the tension, cal, how does it feel to folks on the ground,

when they read these headline, when they see what is going on, and they start to worry about their own lives? >> reporter: so you have i think in the capital feel solidarity for what is happening on the front, i can be here without power, i can be here without power, i will stay even under the threat of nuclear war. separate to, that you have a very real fear of that situation, that it is changing so fast, and the power is out one minute, it is on the next, the heat works and then it doesn't, this is a city under fire and then it's not. the thing that concerns people here and officials here and the people in the city is the lack of information in the southern part of the country. what happened yesterday, i think, was really flight frightening for people here, the threat of the dirty bomb that we think would probably happen in the south and the strikes across the country that took out the television towers so nobody in the southern part of the country had news access, and imagine you live in the south, you are worried about a dirty bomb and a dam could blow and leave your family without water or under

water and the news goes off and there is misinformation, intentional misinformation, and lying to people on either side of the border and creating a confusing system and point the finger at ukraine and bank on the fact that a great many people here just don't know what happened. >> cal perry, thank you very much. there is a new u.n. climate report out today and seven years after the paris climate agreement, the report finds the world is quote nowhere near hitting its targets. 193 countries signed on to that deal, if you will remember, but fewer than 30 even provided the u.n. with an update on their climate goals. emissions are still expected to increase globally in the next decade, and temperatures are set to rise 2.5 degrees celsius by the end of the century and during a summer of unprecedented weather extremes, we're headed toward more heat waves and stronger storms and longer droughts. the next big world meeting to discuss climate change is cop27, in egypt, which is a week

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dong wants to hear from donald trump's white house lawyers, "the new york times," has forced pat cipollone to provide adrishl grand jury testimony on the events leading up to the insurrection on january 6th. joining me now is former u.s. attorney and former senior fbi official chuck rosenberg, an msnbc contributor, so these lawyers chuck, will argue and have been arguing executive privilege. we heard them raise it, when the january 6th hearings happened, and they were being interviewed by the january 6th committee. how does d.o.j. believe it can get over that hurdle? >> sure, so mr. trump's lawyers don't want these two gentlemen to testify. i get that. because they likely have some information damaging to mr. trump and perhaps to others.

how do justice department lawyers surmount that? in this way, katy. privileges whether executive privilege or attorney-client privilege are not in vialable, they are not invincible, and we know from the 1974 supreme court court case, u.s. v nix physician you have an ongoing federal criminal grand jury investigation, or some other compelling reason to sort of puncture the privilege, then the privilege gives way. now, you have to litigate it. sometimes you have to litigate it on a question by question basis, but does the grand jury tend to get the information it need, privilege notwithstanding? the answer is yes. and that's what justice department attorneys are trying to do. sort of puncture the privilege and force these two gentlemen to testify. >> so when they are trying to puncture attorney-client privilege, what is the argument they're using in this specific

case? >> well, the attorney-client privilege likely that there is a crime fraud exception. if you're my lawyer and you're giving me advice to help me run my business, those conversations between us are privileged. you the lawyer, me the client, and nobody could force you to testify about what you told me. i hold the privilege. but you're bound by it. if you're helping me committee a crime, then there is no privilege. and if the justice department could establish your bad motives and your advice to help me break the law, you could be forced to testify against me, because again, there would be no privilege under that circumstance. if you're talking about executive privilege, it is a slightly different test. but here, we look at the 1974 supreme court case of nixon, and in that case, the supreme court said where there is a compelling need, and a criminal investigation is a compelling need, then the privilege gives way to the grand jury's desire, need, to learn the information. so depending on which privilege you're talking about, my guess

is that the grand jury ends up getting the information. >> so when they go and they question these two gentlemen, what exactly are they going to ask, and are they going to say, did you tell donald trump that it was a crime to do what you were doing? are they going to ask limb what donald trump was saying to them, whether he knew the election was not stolen, that he legitimately lost it, or i would i guess be key to motive. what other questions would they be asking these two lawyers? >> yes, yes, and yes, katy. these lawyers are important because they spoke directly to mr. trump. perhaps they told him, as others have, we have learned this through the work of the january 6th committee, that he lost the election, that there was no path to victory, that his claims of election fraud were all false, and being turned down each and every time in court. that helps to establish mr. trump's knowledge, and therefore, his intent. or perhaps trump told them things that would be important to the grand jury.

similarly to demonstrate his intent. his knowledge, of what was actually going on. his claims about election fraud notwithstanding. so people who are around trump, who have told him things, who things directly, who heard him say things directly are always important witnesses in a criminal investigation. by the way pat cipollone, i know by reputation, a former colleague of mine, i may not share their politics but they're men of intellect and integrity and i imagine in front of the grand jury they would be ordered to tell the truth and tell the truth. >> and what about fulton county georgia, lindsey graham just got a stay from the supreme court on this. what do you expect to happen with mark meadows. does he enjoy the same sort of privileges or the same questions, at least, about his testimony, that lindsey graham might? >> well, key very well raise the same -- he could very well raise the same issues as lindsey graham, and that may also result in the delay in his testimony. i don't know that necessarily he's going to be able to

forestall testifying entirely, katy, but these gentlemen are raising issues so they don't have to show up. and i imagine that ultimately fails. for much the same reason. grand juries have the right to people's information. they have the right to truthful information when they're investigating crimes. and so you can try these things, you can try the speech or debate clause, which is what senator graham is doing and what mr. meadows is lakely going to do but in the end, i think the grand jury will get most of what it needs whether they like it or not. >> chuck rosenberg, thank you very much. breaking news about a sitting senator. we will go there. and we also have this story. just as samuel alito wrote the decision to overturn roe v. wade, a new book reveals what he told senators in private about abortion during his confirmation hearings. also, will there be enough workers to staff polling sites? blayne alexander is talking to

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subaru is the national park foundation's largest corporate donor. breaking news, senator robert menendez of new jersey is under federal criminal investigation by the u.s. attorney's office for the southern district of new york, according to two people familiar with the matter. nbc's tom winter has the details. tom, the spokesperson for the senator is also confirming this. >> that's correct. confirming the investigation right now, the spokesperson says we're not sure what the scope of the investigation is, but should somebody approach the senator about it and wanting to ask any sort of questions that he will offer his assistance, we don't know the scope of the investigation either, katy, so we're trying to get a little bit of a better handle on this, as first reported earlier today by a website, that an individual had received a grand jury subpoena but we don't know when that subpoena was sent out. we do know that the prosecutorial office is handling

that, the u.s. attorney's office for the southern district of new york, they're declining to comment on this news today, menendez is not a stranger to federal investigations as you know, katy, he was indicted back in 2019, along with a doctor from south florida, as part of a bribery and conspiracy case, convicted of a massive, according to federal authorities, a massive medicare scheme. sentenced to 17 years in prison. his sentence was commuted by former president trump prior to leaving office. according to trump at the time, as well as the senator, that was something that was pushed for by senator menendez. now, this, as far as senator menendez's trial back then, it was found to be a mistrial. so he was not convicted of any charges, he was subsequently re-elected but again, we don't know the scope of this investigation -- >> would it be the same indictment and investigation because, i guess double jeopardy, can't be tried twice? >> the justice department

already declined to re-try menendez on those specific charges, so that would be a moot point. every indication that again, we're still reporting this out, it does appear to be a new investigation and a new matter at the point, no indication of the doctors involved but a lot involved but we don't know all of it yet. >> tom, thank you. appreciate it. and it was dangerous for election workers in 2020, as you know. as donald trump claimed cheating and fraud with the gop continuing to push those lies, in the past few years. it has only gotten a lot more dangerous at the polls. now with 13 days to go before the midterms, and already voting under way, early voting under way, some of those workers are telling us that working at these sites is just too much. joining me now from atlanta is nbc's blayne alexander. it's tough, it's tough, and we saw exactly how tough it can be during again the january 6th hearings when we heard from the mother and daughter about how their lives were ruined because

donald trump and rudy giuliani were saying that they were passing a little usb port to each other when it was a mint. >> those two workers were here in fulton county georgia and when you talk about the threats, no more, more acute than here in georgia because there were so many conspiracy theories around the 2020 election. what we found is talking to county officials, former county officials, poll workers themselves, is that they work in one of two ways, one, there was a group of people that said i'm walking away from this, the threats, i'm fearful, the headaches are too much and i'm leaving this behind but then there was another group of election workers who essentially doubled down and said this is a sense of duty and because of what happened it strengthened their resolve to go forward and do what they feel is their responsibility. the poll worker that we're going to introduce you to angie jones is in the latter category and she describes having voters coming in and yelling at her,

screaming at her over voting machines and not being properly counted for a ballot and despite the headache, she is telling me she is not walking away. >> angie jones never thought she would become a poll worker. >> i voted, as most americans do. i had never been involved in the political process. >> the 2016 election changed all of that. >> after that election happened, that i needed to be part of the solution. >> her solution? training to become a poll manager in fulton county, georgia. people who come to your polls and say i don't trust this process, what do you want them to know about the work that you do? >> well, first of all, come join us. take the training. if people would understand the process more, i feel like they would be less fearful that their votes are not secure. >> reporter: angie has worked every election since 2018, but none like georgia's 2021 runoff that gave democrats control of the senate. >> 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 election workers were increasingly targeted by conspiracy theories. like shay moss and her mother ruby freeman, who also worked in fulton county. >> it turned my life upside down. >> reporter: according to the brennan center for justice, one in five election workers say they are unlikely to serve through 2024. one in six have personally experienced threats. angie says she will never forget asking a friend to sign up. >> she said no. she was afraid. and i remember she said to me, people will say things to me that they would never say to you. >> because she's a woman of color. >> because she's a woman of color. >> georgia was at the center of efforts to overturn the 2020 election, something election official gabriel sterling called dangerous. >> it has all gone too far. all of it. >> i'm concerned there could be

similar threats this time around. how concerned are you? >> you can't overprepare for it. >> do you think about ever just walking away? >> no, never. never. my responsibility is to do everything that i can do within my power at that precinct to protect the vote. >> reporter: and katy, just another reminder of how crucial these election workers are to this entire process. right here in georgia, we're in the second week of early voting, already we have seen record-breaking early voting turnout, every single day, since the period began last week. >> blayne alexander, thank you very much. and we have more breaking news. this time out of michigan. three men involved in the attempted kidnapping of michigan governor gretchen whitmer of convicted of all charges today, including providing material support to terrorist, gang membership and possession of a weapon while committing a

felony, the men are known members of the wolverine watchmen, a right wing para-military group. they face up to 20 years in prison when they are sentenced in december. coming up next, what justice alito said in private about abortion in 2005, and why even then the late senator ted kennedy did not believe him. 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. showtime. whoo! i'm on fire tonight. (limu squawks) yes! limu, you're a natural. we're not counting that. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪ covid-19. some people get it, and some people can get it bad. and for those who do get it bad, it may be because they have a high-risk factor. such as heart disease,

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from happening by killing one of us. >> that draft, which became final just a few months later was a remarkable reverses for a court made up of justices who swore under oath to respect precedent, including justice alito. and in private conversations, alito repeatedly told kennedy and other democrats that he would not threaten roe. joining me is author and historian john a. barrel, his new book "ted kennedy a life," a contender for the national book award for nonfiction. congratulations on that. thanks for joining us, john. >> so you got a hold of ted kennedy's diaries. what did he say about those conversations with alito and what did alito tell him? >> alito told him that he would respect precedent when asked about roe v. wade. now this is something that came out of the, i think the bork hearings when roberts work was cross-examined but chose to

answer honestly and at links with explanations about what his views were and from that point on we a had a weird little dance where the justices come before the justice and i can't comment on that but i will tell you this, wink, wink, nod, nod, i respect precedent. and that's what alito was doing with ted kennedy in his office, and kennedy was properly skeptical. >> he was skeptical because alito had written a memo when he worked in the reagan administration, saying that abortion was wrong. >> right, and kennedy asked him, well, if you're disavowing this memo now, then how do i know that you're telling me the truth about how you feel now? and what alito told him, i was younger then, i've matured since then, and i will be guided by the constitutional obligations of my office. he used every buzz word that he could to sort of convey the

notion that he would not be a radical judge, and that he would respect 50 years of precedent. and of course, he did not. >> i mean it is such a reversal that not only did he say he was going to respect precedent but in his opinion overturning roe, you talked about how precedent was not good enough for this, that this was a wrong that should overrule any sympathies toward precedent? >> egregiously long. if he knew that, and he has felt that all along, if you go back to that memo from 1985, then you have to ask yourself, what is it that tells him to do so. >> take a drink of water. i'll ask another question. the justices, you talked about how they're saying one thing in their confirmation hearings, or not saying much in their

confirmation hearings, but using all of these buzz words, there was a lot of questions with the last three judges including kavanaugh and the like, and a lot of them said the same thing about precedent, and there were some republican senators who said that they didn't agree with the idea of overturning roe v. wade, they didn't want to be a part of that, but they trust that the justices will remain true to their word, senator collins was one of them, and she said she felt betrayed when the decision came out, that she felt misled, why was senator kennedy not swayed by alito, when he promised, and why was that enough for him -- >> i think first of all, he was a die-hard liberal and he was going to be very skeptical of anybody who came before him and did these sort of nods and winks. >> but that said, it was also just not very usual for this to be a party line vote, i mean the

clear majorities would vote for supreme court justices, no matter if they were introduced or nominated by an opposing president. >> yes, and but i don't think there was anything, at least there is no notation in the diary by ted kennedy that i really don't like this guy, but he was, he was wary, he had been around politics for a long time, and he knew that the republicans, he knew george w. bush, he worked with w. on education and other things, and he did sense the landscape. key see where things were going. i don't know whether senator colins could not, or whether she was also playing a little dance to relieve herself of the responsibility in a purple state like maine. >> people have been asking that question. congratulations for being nominated for a national book award. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. and that's going to do it for me today. hallie jackson picks up our

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crunch time for the major midterm races as we