geoff bennett, i will start with you. we should say that the without is the people's house, it's where the president lives and works and it is a workplace for many people, yourself included. there are white house staff, there are people that work in the kitchen. that -- give us what you have learned about what efforts are being made to run down the tracing chains here so that they can ensure people are tested and safe. >> well, the white house, chris, says that they are in the process of what has to be a herculean effort to contact trace the great many people with whom president donald trump has been in contact this past week starting on saturday in the rose garden when he announced amy coney barrett as his choice to replace ruth bader ginsburg on the supreme court. you see row upon row of trump supporter and elected republican on the south lawn shaking hands, hugging each other, no social distancing, no mask wearing. and that continued straight up until thursday night when the president had that private fund-raiser in be

lester >> geoff bennett in florida tonight, thank you. >>> thousands went to the polls in georgia today casting their ballots in the first day of early voting. in the key battleground state behind the scenes, officials are working to prevent a repeat of the election chaos in the primary. blayne alexander is there. >> reporter: in some parts of georgia, it already looks like election day. >> how long have you been out here so far >> four hours. >> reporter: thousands waiting to cast the ballots. >> it could have rained or snowed, i would not care >> reporter: you're not going anywhere >> i'm not going anywhere. >> reporter: one metro atlanta polling site reporting waits of up to seven hours an isolated issue bu reminiscent of widespread problems in the state's june primary. >> i'm not leaving. >> reporter: you're not leaving? some of the biggest problems in areas with higher black populations. since then, fulton county rolled out a laundry list of fixes. more money, more pol workers and more voting locations including mobile precincts and mega sites like this nba stadium turned voting lo

the full severity of president trump's illness and how long it might take to recover lester >> geoff bennett, thanks, next, our reality check on the spread of covid-19 as the virus rages on, in so much of america. >>> we're back with more of our coverage with president trump hospitalized with the coronavirus, infectious disease experts saying his diagnosis underscores how quickly covid can spread more on that from tom costello. >> reporter: from the small offices in the west wing, to the plane, to the indoor debate hall. the environments were not unlike americans workplaces, schools, sporting events and restaurants. controlling covid is all about limiting the amount of virus in the air. droplets from a sneeze linger in any room with poor ventilation. the particles slowly spread in a thick but invisible cloud. enough virus to make others sick even five minutes after a sneeze but with a ventilation system those droplets thin out quickly within a minute they get sucked up by the air invents. the fewer droplets, the less virus in the air to make people sick open windows increase the clean air fl

lester >> all right, geoff bennett at the white house. thanks >>> also breaking, the justice department suing google in a massive antitrust suit, arguing it's far too big, abusing its dominant position, and squeezing out competitors. tom costello on what it might mean for you. >> reporter: few companies get so big their very name becomes a verb but ask any american which search engine they prefer, the answer is almost unanimous. >> google. >> google. >> google. >> i always go to google >> reporter: 90% of online searches are run by google. companies pay to place those ads that pop up at the top of your every search now the justice department says google is so dominant because of deals it struck to be the default search app on phones and computers, elbowing out wannabe competitors like yelp. >> i think what yelp is hoping for is just really the chance for a level playing field where we can compete on the merits. >> reporter: in a statement google says the lawsuit is deeply flawed "people use google because they choose to, not because they'

lester >> all right geoff bennett tonight, thank you. >>> there's late word this evening the two covid vaccine trials are safe to resume after being put on hold for safety concerns and the country has set a new daily record more than 77,000 new cases. here's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: as our country sets a new record for daily covid cases tonight a grim prediction from researchers, by the end of february our national death toll could hit 500,000. today 34 states where mandates and restrictions vary widely have already surpassed more than 1,000 deaths >> what i would have loved to have seen was a little bit mor uniformity in what the states are doing so that you have a consistency. >> reporter: today amid the race for a vaccine, johnson & johnson and astra zeneca working with university of oxford announced they'll resume stage three clinical trials after a safety pause while we wait for a vaccine, a new forecast also says universal mask wearing would save 130,000 lives. cities like fargo are now implementing new mandates but the dakotas which had among the lowest infection rates in t

lester >> geoff bennett at the white house, thanks. >>> what about the voters themselves, did the debate change anyone's mind. we asked nbc's kate snow to check back with the ohio voters she introduced us to before the debate. >> reporter: can you raise your hands if you're going to support trump this time we met these farmers last week in ohio when we checked in today they're still strongly backing the president. >> i think he looked presidential but he was pent up and argumentative because of the 47 months he's had. >> when it's something as serious a as the president -- i feel like you're going to want to fight and scratch and claw a little bit. >> reporter: on the president not condemn ing hate groups. >> i'm not familiar with the proud boys or whatever we have the freedom to be whatever we want. if those people want to do that, they're not hurting anybody, they may believe it. but as long as they're not burning and rioting and threatening people's lives and businesses, what are you going to do >> reporter: you're supportive of the president not calling them out. >> i think he could

his doctor just issuing a new update of the president's covid test results nbc's geoff bennett has late details for us. >> reporter: tonight, a return to the campaign trail for a president still recovering from coronavirus. seen boarding air force one without wearing a mask president trump holding a rally in florida tonight kicking off a week of campaign stops after hosting a campaign style event at the white house saturday >> first of all, i'm feeling great. i don't know about you. how's everyone feeling? >> reporter: the president's physician dr. sean conley issuing a memo late tonight saying the president has tested negative for days the white house sidestepped questions as to whether president trump had tested negative conley over the weekend simply said the president was no longer considered a transmission risk. the president now claiming covid immunity although the science isn't clear. >> once you do recover you are immune so now you have a president who doesn't have to hide in a basement like his opponent. >> reporter: president trump attempting to spin his bout with covid-19 to

geoff bennett has more. >> reporter: tonight joe biden and kamala harris campaigning together in arizona after last night's debate showdown. >> we'll be ready on day one. >> reporter: vice president mike pence holding duelling campaign events in arizona and nevada >> had a little debate with kamala harris last night some people think we did all right. >> reporter: last night the candidates clashing on the pandemic response. >> the american people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country. >> when i look at their plan that talks about advancing testing, creating new ppe, developing a vaccine, it looks a little bit like plagiarism which is something joe biden knows a little bit about. >> reporter: the senator blasting the president's attempts to dismantle the affordable care act. >> if you have a preexisting condition, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, they're coming for you. if you love someone who has a preexisting condition they're coming for you. >> reporter: while pence pressing why neither harris nor biden will

geoff bennett has details. >> reporter: two town halls as different as the candidates themselves president trump pressed by moderator savannah guthrie declining to denounce the qanon conspiracy theory >> i know nothing about qanon. >> i just told you. >> i know very little. you told me but what you tell me doesn't necessarily make it fact i hate to say that i know nothing about it. >> reporter: the fbi has dubbed qanon a domestic terrorism threat on coronavirus, the president refusing to directly answer whether he supports a disputed herd immunity approach >> do you support herd immunity as a strategy, essentiall just let people get sick >> the cure cannot be worse than the problem itself. >> reporter: medical experts say it would result in far more deaths when pushed on his finances, th president didn't deny owing more than $400 million in loans. >> are you confirming that you do owe some $400 million? >> what i'm saying i it's a tiny percentage of my net worth. >> that sounds like yes. >> who he owes the money is why this matters so much. if, for example, it was a foreign entity who want

in north carolina, republican senator mitt romney making a statement by voting for someone else geoff bennett joins me now from the white house with more. geoff? >> reporter: that's right, lester. senator romney said he already cast his ballot in the 2020 election he says he did not vote for president trump but wouldn't say if he voted for joe biden. with election day fast approaching the president's closing argument is clouded by controversy, including his attacks on dr. anthony fauci an his repeated downplaying of the pandemic, add to that, new reporting by "the new york times" revealing the president has extensive business interests in china and is linked to a bank account there. the disclosure dealing a blow to president trump's attempt to paint joe biden as the one who's soft on china. lester >> all right geoff bennett tonight, thank you. >>> join us for the final presidential debate moderated by nbc's kristen welker tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern here on nbc. >>> barack obama making a fiery return to the campaign trail tonight appealing to pennsylvania voters on behalf of his former num

geoff bennett has late details. >> reporter: tonight former new jersey governor chris christie hospitalized after announcing today he tested positive for coronavirus. in a statement, christie says he checked himself into a new jersey hospital as a precautionary measure. while the source of transmission is unclear, christie attended a rose garden event a week ago that's coming under new scrutiny that saturday, more than 100 people gathered to celebrate president trump's latest supreme court nominee, amy coney barrett. >> thank you >> reporter: guests mingled, hugged, and kissed on the cheek, most without wearing masks. new photos of an indoor reception following the outdoor ceremony show the president in close contact with guests. no one wearing a mask. >> the optics of the event last saturday at the white house were terrible we just had people next to each other, handshaking, every possible opportunity to spread the coronavirus was visible in that one short scene. >> reporter: now seven days later at least eight people who attended the ceremony have tested positive for coronavirus including

>> geoff bennett, thank you. with the president and several of his closest advisers down with covid, the dynamic of the campaign has certainly changed. the president's campaign is scrambling to develop a new strategy while vice president joe biden hits the road and the vp candidates gear up for their debate later this week. ali vitali has the latest. >> joe biden jumps ahead while president trump recovers at walter reed. new nbc polling showing biden nearly doubling his lead with a 14-point advantage over trump. first look at what voters saw of that chaotic first debate ever use the word smart with me. >> a 32-point advantage of biden's temperature rmt over trump. the president's support slipping significantly with men over 50. >> health care. much lower price. >> taken before the president's covid-19 diagnosis is a snapshot of a race thrown into deeper turmoil. trump now sidelined by the virus and unable to campaign, with some of his top advisers also stricken. his team send iing out top surrogates virtually and

me now, nbc's mike memoli covering the white house campaign and nbc white house correspondent geoff bennett. mike memoli, you were in nashville and went through the whole process. joe biden had by all accounts his best debate performance yet, you've been to all of them. did he give the president an opening by shorthanding a transition out of fossil fuels which could cost him texas? >> yeah, andrea, given how quickly the biden campaign and ultimately biden himself sought to clarify his position there, biden speaking to reporters on the tarmac before he flew home, making clear it's his position on winding down fossil fuel subsidies, subsidies to the oil companies, not ending the oil industry completely. there was a recognition there that that was one misstep in what you say and what the biden campaign certainly feels was the best, when you consider 13 debates over the course of this 2020 campaign, we've seen all of them, ranging from the good, the bad, and the ugly, but biden bringing it when he needed to the most, in the final stretch. the issue they thought might have tripped them up last n

geoff bennett, one more back to you, sir. have you heard from this white house about whether we might hear something from president trump? it is notable here that the president who by this time on any given day, has tweeted at least a half dozen times, no tweets this morning from president trump. any word on when we might hear something from him? >> well, the latest reporting is that the white house was considering potentially having president trump address the american public in some fashion but that no final decision on that had been made. imagine, if that were to happen -- let's say president trump was going to make an address, they'd have to bring in a television crew, a teleprompter, a crew to light the room. any number of people would have to be involved in that process. as we know, this is someone who tested positive for coronavirus. there are a number of issues that, if the white house did want to have the president speak many sort of a public venue that they'd have to consider, craig. >> geoff bennett, jake sherman,

at the president's rally in central florida geoff bennett at the president's rally in central florida now geoff. >> reporter: hey, shep, good evening. president trump began his remarks here on the rally stage behind me saying these heartened and humbled by the prayers he's received during his recovery from covid-19. he then quickly pivoted to the usual attack lines that we've heard from the president on campaign stages just like this one. president trump is keeping up a fairly aggressive campaign schedule just this week in fact. a rally tonight in florida he then heads to pennsylvania, . his trip then iowa, then north carolina, then back here to florida. his trip here coincided with a new memo from the white house physician, sean conley, saying that president trump has now tested negative. the white house has, as you y know, for days refused to say precisely what president trump's status was was he testing positive or negative we still don't know when the president last tested negative before he was infected but the president back on the campaign trail, hoping to jump start his campai

last seat and potentially two seats now have been stolen, as they say, from democrats, chuck. >> geoff bennett, as i said on sunday, the fact that joe biden was using the words "court packing" has sort of given away the decision. geoff, thank you. let's check in with senate judiciary chairman lindsey graham, in the fight of his life, in a dead heat with democratic challenger jaime harrison who has shattered all senate fundraising records ever, bringing in $57 million in the final quarter before the election. cal perry is in mt. pleasant, south carolina, where he's been talking to voters. cal, lindsey graham has made it pretty clear how much the election is on his mind during his remarks. >> reporter: yeah, you talked about two hearings taking place. if you watch this hearing from south carolina, you're seeing a third, and that's the reelection campaign by lindsey graham as he addresses really the state. he's gone out of his way to do so. he won his last election by 16 points six years ago. donald trump carried this state by 14 points. so it is surprising that both donald trump and lindsey grah

our thanks to geoff bennett. >>> joining us now, federal prosecutor glenn kirschner.pick it up from there. if a transfer of power became necessary, what would that process even look like, and how long could that take place and play out. >> well, kendis, i think you hit the nail on the head a minute ago by saying it may take time for is to figure out what's really going on behind the scenes, and transparency couldn't be more important at this time when you have a president who is struggling with a serious virus. don't know how seriously ill he is or whether he might be moving toward inca passation because the 25th amendment has a delicate balance between article 3 and 4. the president has the ability to hand off power. has to notify congress he'll be temporarily handling power to the vice president. ronald reagan did that when he had surgery. jourj bush did that when he was undergoing anesthesia to have a colonoscopy procedure, but that requires the president himself to exercise sound judgment before he moves to a point where he might be incapacitated or put on a venti

. >>> let's start with nbc news white house correspondent geoff bennett at the white house. a person familiar with the matter telling nbc news that everybody is in a, quote, panic inside the white house about their own health, what is the latest from the white house? >> reporter: well the latest as it relates to president trump's health, ayman, according to white house chief of staff mark meadows, the president is experiencing mild symptoms, although meadows says that trump is in good spirits. although, we have to say that information, none of it is independently verified, this is all coming from the white house chief of staff and the white house press secretary and this white house, of course, has a credibility deficit on a number of issues especially those issues having to deal with president trump's health. now overnight, the white house physician put out a statement where he said the president can continue to work without disruption but so far, the campaign has put on hold all of the scheduled events. they say they're going to be moved to virtual events. the rally for fl

joining us now, nbc white correspondent geoff bennett and msnbc national political correspondent steve kornacki at the big board. geoff, the president told his rally crowd in duluth last night that he won big at the debate. but his close advisers and top republicans in washington are very concerned, according to all of our reporting. >> reporter: you're right about that, andrea, president trump trying to rewrite recent history, giving himself high marks for his combative debate performance on the debate stage and on the rally stage last night in duluth and on twitter last night, the president tweeting, i won the debate big based on a compilation of polls et cetera. it's not clear what polls he's citing. the takeaway from the president's allies and aides, some of them who we talked to privately, is that he made the campaign climate even worse, both with his comportment on the debate stage and his refusal to directly denounce white supremacists, that if the debate was a chance to reset the playing field politically, it was a squander opportunied oppo. a few of the ways we know that publi

lester >> geoff bennett, thank you. >>> now across america. tonight, as the country adds an astounding 71,000 new covid cases a day, wisconsin already in the glare of the national political spotlight suffering some of the worst of the pandemic breaking a single day record of new covid cases, 5,262, and deaths, 64 what seemed so distant for people here early in the pandemic now weighing heavily as they go to the polls these are the critical milwaukee suburbs that could determine if president trump wins wisconsin again or if joe biden flips it back to blue our journey brings us to wisconsin not only because it is a swing state, and an importan part of a path to victory for both men but also it is a state that's been rocked by two of the major issues of the campaign the protests for social justice and the violence, plus a frightening surge in covid cases and hospitalizations >> my symptoms were cough, fever, body ache >> reporter: melissa armer had covid last spring, but breathing problems lingered for weeks. so she went back to the hospital wher

geoff bennett is inside the debate hall. chris jansing is in arizona. geoff, behind you is the thing everybody is talking about. the precautionary plexi glass. it's a visual reminder of the backdrop this debate is happening against which is the pandemic. >> the pandemic has transformed this starting with president trump's co-vid diagnose sis. and the setup of the stage, right now there's workers taking pictures of themselves on the stage, but behind them, more plexi glass barriers where the president and senator harris will sit. you see it right there. now, those barriers were requested by senator harris's team. vice president mike pence, his team initially objected to it saying it wasn't medically necessary, but overnight as there was yet another positive co-vid case at the white house with miller, the vice president's team relented and agreed. it's not just the barriers. the desks are also spaced 12 feet apart as a posed to the originally planned 7 feet apart. and then there's also the co-vid testing. when i landed last night, i got a rapid test. i got

i'm joined by nbc news white house correspondent geoff bennett. give me the scene.from the infected mike pence? >> reporter: i would say four or five feet off the ground. we've been hearing from people all day how they expect kamala harris, senator harris, to prosecute the case against mike pence. from candidate officials, that's not her goal. her goal is not to do battle with mike pence, her goal is to attack donald trump, to prosecute the case against him. you could make the argument, and a lot of people have, that the white house, the way in which they've handled this coronavirus crisis, gives senator harris a mile-wide opening. here's why. mike pence, as you well know, leads the white house coronavirus task force. he's also a loyal and dutiful vice president. how will he respond? how will he explain away the 7 million covid infections in this country, the 211,000 deaths, the fact we're now seven months into this pandemic and there's no national mask mandate, no national testing strategy, no national school reopening strategy. that is something that the biden cam

geoff bennett has the latest. >> reporter: president trump tonight trashing dr. anthony fauci come complaining to his campaign staff about the country's top infection disease expert >> people are tired of hearing fauci and all these idiots every time he goes on television there's always a bomb. but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. >> reporter: that's after fauci spoke out about the president contracting coronavirus. >> were you surprised that president trump got sick >> absolutely not. i was worried when i saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people and almost nobody wearing a mask. >> reporter: fauci who has served under six presidents now needing personal security because of death threats. >> i don't want to hurt him he's been there for about 350 years. i don't want to hurt him. >> reporter: all of it unfolding with president trump barnstorming battleground arizona today. >> hello, prescott hello, prescott. i better speak fast. the sun is hot. >> reporter: seeking to shore up support in a state he carried four yea

presidential debate the candidates are preparing for separate but opposing televised town halls geoff bennett has late details. >> reporter: first lady melania trump tonight detailing what she calls her personal experience with covid-19 revealing in a statement that 14-year-old barron trump tested positive for coronavirus. naturally my mind went immediately to our son, the first lad writes, after learning she and the president contracted covid-19. she says barron initially tested negative but the teenager was tested again. the result positive. she says her son had no symptoms and has now tested negative. as for her own symptoms, the firs lady says they were minimal, though they hit me all at once and it seemed to be a roller coaster of symptoms in the days after, she said she had a cough, body aches, headaches and was extremely tired. unlike her husband whose symptoms were more severe, she did not go to the hospital and did not receive the same course of treatment. choosing instead what she calls a more natural route, relying on vitamins and healthy food the president late today speaking to r

last night fanning the flames of xenophobia, doing little to quell doubts about his views on race geoff bennett reports. >> reporter: president trump touting his combative and chaotic debate performance during a rally in minnesota wednesday. >> they say that we, we, all of us, won big last night. >> reporter: but tonight there are big worries among some trump aides that he squandered a chance to regain momentum in the race trump advisers telling nbc news the president failed to make inroads with undecided voters, coming off as mean and angry rather than confident and in command. the president, they say, neglected to deliver many of his planne remarks, instead sparking controversy for refusing to denounce white supremacy. >> give me a name, give me name, who would you like me to condemn? >> proud boys. >> who proud boys, stand back and stand by -- >> reporter: president trump on wednesday attempting to distance himself. >> i don't know who the proud boys are, i can only say they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work. >> reporter: but hours later on that rally stage in minnesota t

our geoff bennett has a preview. >> reporter: tonight, we are just hours away vice president mike pence and senator kamala harris facing off in an historic debate with suddenly higher stakes. coming as president trump recovers from coronavirus, all eyes on the vice president's performance trying to make up ground in national polls and on senator harris who will be facing the biggest test of her political career and the debate even more critical with both serving as understudies to the oldest candidates to ever lead the republican and democratic tickets both pence and harris have spent hours preparing with traditional mock sessions according to sources familiar. >> when the president told me he was headed back to the white house he told me to head to utah we're looking very much forward to the vice presidential debate. >> reporter: former florida attorney general pam bondi playing harris in the pence practice sessions the harris campaign subbing one indiana native for another. with former mayor pete buttigieg playing pence. >> i want to thank the people of utah for being so welcoming in

joining me is nbc news white house correspondent geoff bennett, "washington post" white house reporter ashley parker, and former aide to vice president mike pence on the coronavirus task force, olivia troye. welcome, everybody. geoff, i want to start with you. we saw mark meadows come out today, and he wasn't wearing a mask. that's leaving a lot of people to wonder how seriously the white house is taking this. what can you tell us? >> and the fact that the white house chief of staff wasn't wearing a mask, katy, that is typical for this white house. and one of the reasons why you saw him there on the lawn, that is where typically white house officials will talk to us reporters after they do hits on fox news, on the north lawn. they stop at the microphone and talk to us. they're never masked. we in the press always are. and the thing that mark meadows said that you played in the open to the show where he said the president carried on, continued to his fund-raiser, his million dollar fund-raiser in bedminster even though the white house at that point knew hope hicks tested positive, that

geoff bennett, i know you'll be standing at your post and bring us updates as well.ant to bring in our next guest, olivia troye, recently an aide to vice president mike pence as well as to the white house coronavirus task force. that is up until august, citing what she described as a flat-out response for human life in the president's response to the pandemic. olivia, thank you for joining us on what is an incredibly busy morning. >> thank you for having me. obviously i was shocked when i heard the news about hope hicks last night. i was thinking about her and hoping she would have mild symptoms and a speedy recovery. even more shocked when i woke up to the news today. quite frankly, it's a sombering moment. as a patriot, you don't want to see your commander-in-chief sick. i worry about the vice president and the people around him. quite frankly, watching mark meadows conference right now, i am a little bit surprised at what i see as somewhat of a breach in protocol about the fact that they let the president take off on marine one with that immediate staff knowing th

nbc's geoff bennett has the story. >> reporter: president trump sowing doubt about the legitimacy of the election during tuesday night's debate. >> this is going to be a fraud like you've never seen >> reporter: with more false attacks on voting by mail. >> as far as the ballots are concerned, it's a disaster >> reporter: that's despite study, after study, showing voter fraud is exceedingly rare. and recent testimony from fbi director, christopher wray. >> we have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated, national voter fraud effort, in a major election >> reporter: still, the president unleashed a flood of misinformation and mistruths about mail-in voting >> a solicited ballot. okay solicited is okay. you're soliciting. you're asking. they send it back. you send it back i did that if you have an unsolicited -- they're sending millions of ballots, all over the country. >> reporter: a handful of states with a mix of democratic and republican governors routinely send ballots to all registered voters election officials say by registering to vote, people are effectively requesting

nbc's geoff bennett is on the ground there. geoff, what can we expect today? >> hey, lindsay, good morning. in a preview provided by the biden campaign, the campaign says both joe biden and barack obama will talk about the crises facing the country and joe biden's plan to address it. they've got two drive-in campaign rallies, one in flint, one in detroit. here in detroit they'll be joined by motown legend stevie wonder. michigan is a state where joe biden is up by five or six points according to the polling averages. this event with obama shows how the biden campaign is taking nothing for chance. barack obama still hugely popular with the democratic base, with black voters, hispanic voters, young voters. these are all groups who are key to the so-called obama coalition in 2058 and 2012 but who lagged in turnout in 2016. this is a state donald trump won by fewer than 11,000 votes. that win was key to his surprise victory. this is all part of a midwestern barnstorming by joe biden as he tries to win back that blue wall. yesterday he was in iowa and wisconsin. ta

that's happened over the last week, additional coronavirus safety measures are being put into place geoff bennettas made his way to salt lake city, utah. he's inside the debate hall this morning. geoff, good morning to you. >> reporter: craig, good morning. this vice presidential debate has been transformed top to bottom by the coronavirus pandemic, starting with president trump's own positive diagnosis and stretching to a last-minute dust-up last night over the debate stage setup. mainly these plexiglass barriers you see that will separate the candidates senator kamala harris' team requested that plexiglass. the vice presidential's team initially objected to it but relented, in part given the uptick of positive cases within the white house and the campaign >> reporter: if the vice president debate is extra precautions. plexiglass barriers will separate mike pence and kamala harris when they face off in salt lake city the candidates will be seated at least 12 feet apart rather than the originally planned seven feet of separation despite the increasing number of positive cases between white house

. >> and doctor, there's a report over the weekend by laura strickler and geoff bennett on our team aboutoral tumbling at cdc. depending how the election goes, there could be a exodus of doctors there. >> this is one of the worst aspects of the pandemic. the cdc is premier health agency in the world. i remember the first time i walked in there and the awe i felt in that building around those people that are heroes and icons of the field. to see them be demoralized, to see them put in the back seat, to see them attacked not for anything they did wrong but for their expertise is mind boggling. if we lose that caliber of people at the cdc, we will suffer for years to come. that's one of the biggest priorities we need to fix, get cdc back to its prominent role, let those individuals who know the virus again back in the forefront speaking to the men public on a daily basis. >> doctor, great to hear from you and olivia, troye, indeed. thank you so much. >>> talking turnout, republicans and democrats stepping up the ground game in texas to get voters to the polls. we're live in houston where one

nbc's geoff bennett has our "sunday focus." >> this time four years ago, hillary clinton held a five-pointl lead over donald trump. we know how that turned out. doomsday for democrats. this time around, it's joe biden who is ahead in the polls. a creeping sense of deja vu for democrats. this time, there's a difference. for starters, biden's lead is bigger than clinton's was, edging out president trump nationally and in nearly every battleground state. >> i never take anything for granted, so the polls show this a close race, but with having a steady lead. >> add to that mr. trump is an incumbent, no longer an outsider, now facing the worst polling position for a president seeking re-election since george h.w. bushen 1992. >> well, i watch polls, but the polls are fake just like the reporting. i think we're winning. i think we're winning big. >> polling expert dave wassermann says polls aren't meant to provide perfect predictions. >> polls are like a gps that can get you into the right neighborhood but not necessarily to the exact address. polls did a good job of telling us that democrats w

geoff bennett at the white house and ali vitali in nashville, tennessee. geoff, the president's team wanted him to be more controlled. they wanted him to be more reserved. i'm guessing they think he got the job done. >> yeah, look, steph, as one person close to the president put it to me before the debate, this person said even if he shows a monicum of self restraint that will reflect well on him. so, yes, the trump campaign generally believes the president put some points on the board last night when he tried to resurrect parts of his 2016 outsider persona that they feel won him a lot of support. when the president suggested to joe biden why he hadn't done in 40-plus years the things he now proposes to do. biden says, of course, because i hadn't been president. but here's the thing. there are few indications that that debate last night will change the underlying dynamics of the race in large part because 48.5 million people have already voted according to the u.s. election project. that's more people than voted in all of 2016 early. and so the other way we

good morning, i'm hallie jackson along with geoff bennett, ali vitali, steve kornacki, and i want to t with you at the white house, geoff, new concern about the comments the president made, his attempted clean up after extreme right wing groups and the reaction from republicans on capitol hill is certainly note worthy. listen to what we have heard so far. >> i want to associate myself with the remarks of senator tim scott, he said it was unacceptable not to condemn white supremacists and so i do so in the strongest possible way. >> he should unequivocally condemn white supremacy. >> he has been clear there is no place for racism in this country. >> geoff, tell me what you're hearing from the white house, campaign sources as joe biden frankly gets a new attack line here. >> reporter: the collective reporting of our white house team is that the mood in and around the campaign, and here at the white house can be described as worried, quiet, people in shock. although critics point out that it's really the unvarnished racism that creates a political messaging problem that accounts for the

nbc's geoff bennett at the white house, dr. tom frieden, former cdc director, dr. anne rimone, zeke emmanuel, bob costa with "the washington post" and nbc's mike memoli. he joins us from grand rapids where vice president biden was scheduled to campaign today. geoff, good news about vice president pence, but tell us about that and who else might be at risk and what we know about the president. does he have symptoms? >> i'll start with what you said about vice president mike pence. it's a positive sign that he and the second lady karen pence have tested negative. this is according to the vice president's press sngt. that's a positive sign from a continuity of government perspective. but as we've come to learn over the last seven or eight months of this pandemic, one negative test is a good sign but it's not a final one. the pences will continue to be tested. but to your other question, the contact tracing that the white house is doing, according to a white house official, you would imagine is just a herculean effort in large part because of the great many people pres