>> alcindor: but despite his concerns about biden, voting for trump is not an option for him. comfort, before trump because trump, the things he say or do, doesn't make me feel safe at all. >> we just don't ve enough law d order. >> alcindor: gary sisler, an 86- year-old republican, disagrees. at east ridge retirement community in south florida. supporter-- back in 2018. >> alcindor: he is part of another important mographic: senior citizens. theyake up 21% of florida'snd populationften vote republican. for gary, the black litter protests against police brutality have caused tension in his family >> i have found, personally, if i said i really like to say "all liv matter" instead of "black lives matter"--pl ion. that stopped communication in my family. that's tough. that's very tough. >> alcindor: top of mind for gary is president trump's response to the protests >> look at portland, oregon, over a hundred nights, still demonstrating and rioting just a couple of nights. they took off on the statu of teddy roosevelt. so that's a problem of law and order. >> alcindor: and what d

our yamiche alcindor looks at how the virus is impacting the race there >> alcindor: oshkosh, wisconsinsof the country's fastest growing coronavirus hotspots. in recent weeks, cases have surged here and across wisconsin, a state that also happens to be key to president trump's reelection.ta >> our hos are becoming overwhelmed. >> alcindor: doug gieryn is the winnebago county hlth director. he hoped the president's own experience with the virus would cause people to take it more but, he says, it didn't. >> don't be afraid of it. you're going to beat it. >> for him to have a posite test was a great opportunity to really express to the public how serious this disease can be for some individuals. and unfortunately, it's been minimized and-- and we're stil on the same path that we were >> alcindor: in 2016, president trump flipped wisconsin red by fewer than 23,000 votes, thanks partly to his sweep of this northeast section of the state, known as the fox river valley.it become one of wisconsin's most politically-divideds, regind that was even before the coronavirus pandemic. >> my vote was ne

>> alcindor: it's 15 days until the election. and for both campaigns, every day left is critical. >> what's up florida! >> alcindor: senator kamala harris, the democratic vice presidential hopeful, went to orlando and jacksonville, florida to encourage turn out as early voting began. harris just came out of quarantine after some of her campaign staffers tested positive for covid-19. >> healthcare justice is on the ballot in 2020. reproductive justice is on the ballot in 2020. criminal justice reform is on the ballot in 2020. climate reform is on the ballot in 2020. everything is on the ballot in 2020. joe bin is on the ballot in 2020. when we vote, we win. when we vote, we change things, we make it better, we know our power. >> alcindor: harris' running mate, former vice president joe biden, stayed off the campaign trail today. he's prepping for his final debate with president trump, on thursday night. today, the president went from rally to rally in the west. he left las vegas and traveled to arizona, appearing in prescott and t

lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor, down to the wire, thank you th. now, to help wk us through the battleground map and each candidate's paways to the 270 electoral votes, i'm joined by npr's senior political editor and corrpondent, domenico montanaro. domenico, thank you h for being with us again. we are less than a week out. we're just, what, three days out. what is the big picture look like right now? >> well, the big picture, our map, so far, we have it at 279 ectoral votes for joe biden for states that are leaning toward him or likely to go his direction, and only 125 for president trump for states leaning in his direction or likely to go in his directio. so, you know, this has been a crazy year because, when yot u lookl of these states in yellow that are the tossu states from arizona, texas, georgia, florida, north carolina, ohio and iowa, all of those states are reason the margin of error, judy, so that gives a lot of democrats a lot of pause when they look at a number thasays, wow, joe biden is up by a lot, but that could all tip vry quickly p

our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: the global pandemic,ting home at the white house. president trump now infected with the very virus he's been fighting to contain, while at the same time downplaying. today in a tweet at 12:54 a.m., the president announced that both he and first lady melania trump tested positive for the coronavirus. he wrote, "we will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately." in the meantime, the white house scrambled to do contact tracing, and officials there expressed optimism. the chief of staff mark meadows. >> the american people can rest assured that we have a president that is not only on the job, he will remn on the job, and i'm optimistic he will have a very quick and speedy recovery. he has mild symptoms. the doctor will continue to provide expertise. >> alcindor: and white house press secretary kaylieig mcenany spoke on fox news this afternoon. >> he's having mild symptoms, but he's feeling good. he's in good spirits. i spoke to him last night, and he absolutely was hard at work. >> alcindor: but

yamiche alcindor has our report. >> alcindor: in the sunshine state, former vice president joe biden making his case to older voters. >> to donald trump, it's simple, not a joke-- you're expendable. you're forgettable. you're virtually nobody. that's how he sees you. that's how he sees you. >> alcindor: it's a key demographic in the state. in 2016, voterover 65 years old were more than 20% of the electorate in florida, and they overwhelmingly backed president trump-- helping him pull off a narrow win here. but in an emerson college poll released this week, biden leads with those same voters by six points. florida's 29 electoral votes are critical for both mpaigns. >> it's great to be back in my home state, florida, to make my official return to the campaign trail. >> alcindor: just last night, president trump rallied voters in sanford, his first campaign rally since he was hospitalized with the coronavirus. >> one thing with me-- the nice part-- i went through it. now they say i'm immune. i can feel-- i feel so powerful. i'm walking through that audience-- ( cheers and applause ) --i

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins r coverage. >> alcindor: one week to go. r and in the-up to election night, both candidates are criss crossing the swing states. today, democratic candidate former vice president joe biden campaigned in georgia. b it's to flip a state which hasn't voted blue in a presidential race since 1992. >> we will act on e first day my presidency to get covid under control, we will act passo an ec plan that will finally reward work not wealthy, in this co we will act to pass my healthcare plan provide affordable accessible healthcare. >> alcindor: while his running mate, senator kamala harris visited nevada. and, former president barack obama campaigned for his former p. in critical florida. >> his chief of staff on a news program says we're not goil to conte pandemic. he just said this. yes,e did. and yes we noticed, you're not going to control tne pademic. listen, winter is coming. they're waving the white flag of surrender. >> reporte meanwhile, president trump made a sweep around >> alcindor: meanwhile, president trump made a swear

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: covid relief talks are on hold tonight until after the election. today, president trump tweeted that hhas instructed his representatives to stop negotiating, and instead focus on confirming his supreme court nominee. and, he accused house speaker nancy pelosi of not "negotiating in good faith." that comes as the virus is coursing through the white house, and the president is trying to project strength. the goal of showing confidence was on full display monday evening, when president trump returned to the executive mansion. critics called the made-for-tv moment "political theatre." the president's first act? removing his face mask while still contagious, with white house staff nearby. federal health guidelines say he should be in isolation. within an hour, the white house released a campaign ad-style video hailing his return, and as the u.s. death toll topped 210,000, there was this upbeat message: >> don't let it dominate you. don't be afraid of it. you're going to beat it. we have the best medical equipment.

but as yamiche alcindor reports, the candidates kept an eye on the confirmation hearing in washington. >> alcindor: for former vice president joe biden, the supreme urt stakes are clear... >> it's about finally getting his wish to wipe out the affordable health care act. because their nominee said in the past the law should be struck down. >> alcindor: for vice president pence, barrett's nomination and confirmation hearing are about standing up for religious liberty. some democrats have raised questions about whether barrett, a devout catholic, can separate her faith from her judicial rulings. >> to live, to work, to worship according to the dictates of our faith and conscience lives in the constitution of the united states of america. >> alcindor: both biden and pence spent the afternoon in ohio, where early voting started last week. four years ago, president trump won the state by about eight points. but recent polls show biden and trump in a statistical tie. since the pandemic began, the state has lost about 40,000 manufacturing jobs. campaigning with auto workers in a socially dis

>> alcindor: mr. biden has also pledged to create a force to reunite more than 500 migrant children separated from their families. that comes on the heels of a lawsuit by the american civilie libeunion which estimated that 545 immigrant children have ommained separated heir parents since 2017. call yesterday, whusegn phone adviser stephen miller was asked if the government could reunite the families. he answered by claiming that the trump ministration "kept families together." as for the runninmates, vice decratically-controlled house judiciary committee released a fi -00 page report on theump administration's family separation policy. the findings concluded the government initiated separations a year before expanding the policy nationwide,nd it did so knowing there was no plan to reunite them. as for the as for the running matesenvice presidmike pence focused his campaign efforts in iowa before heading to nevada. wher kamala harris spent the day attending virtual events.t cord numbers of americans ha

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: tonight's face-off in salte city is the first and only time that vicepr ident pence and his democratic challenger, california senator kamala harris, will debate before the election. but the stage itself will feature a stark visual reminder of this historic, pandemic year- - plexiglass panels. the dividers are meant to create a protective barrier between the two. the trump campaign, which has often ignored c.d.c. social distancing guidelines, initially pushed back on the plexiglass. b but, ten campaign succeeded in getting them added. in fact, just 27 days until the test results continue to plague the white house, with more than two dozen cases, including at least three journalists who work mark meadows insise administration is responding appropriately. >> we've actually also done somo additional pls in terms of working groups.ifferent >> alcindor: he white house includes more than tent'f the presidfamily and close associates, with white house senior advisor stephen miller teing positive last night. today, the w

our white house correst, yamiche alcindor, recounts the >> alcindor: the president is being discharged from walter reed. s buious questions still remain about the state of his health. today, his physician, navyco ander sean conley, spoke about his progress. >> it's been more than 72 hour since his last fever. oxygen levels including workup reading are all normal. thou he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and i agree all our evaluationsu most importantly, his clinical status, support the >> alcindor: beforing, theme. president tweeted that he wa feeling better than he did 20 years ago. an urged americans not to be afraid of covid-not to let it dominate your life. sunday evening, while still contagious, the president briefly left the hospital. to wave atupporters outside the hospital. but it potentially put at risk for exposure his secret service agents who wore facial coverings and medical gowns. m thisorning, an attending physician at walter reed blasted the president's visit. >> this was a dangerous move. the c.d.c. guideliare cleartine. person, it requires a mandator

yamiche alcindor, what is your obsession the last few days? >> south carolina.the race between jaime harrison and senator lindsey graham. this was a race solidly looked at as the republican seat. it's been moved over by the cook political report as a toss-up. it's fascinating because jaime harrison is able to raise boatloads of money and put lindsey graham on the defense. this is a state president trump won in 2016 by 14 points. they have not sent a democrat to the senate in two decades. if jaime harrison is able to pull this off, it will be a major blow to republicans and lindsey graham has emerged as one of the closest allies to president trump. that's what makes this race an interesting one to watch. >>/yamiche, i want to play a piece of this tv ad jaime harrison is running because he decided to add a third candidate to the race. take a look at this ad. >> bledsoe was pro trump from day one, opposes all abortions and bledsoe's against all gun control. lindsey's changed and bledsoe is too conservative for south carolina. >> yamiche, bill bledsoe technically dr

for insight and analysis are amy walter, national editor for the cook political report, yamiche alcindorith pbs news hour, nbc news senior political editor mark murray and anna palmer, senior washington correspondent for politico. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press with chuck todd." >>> good sunday morning. nine days. nine days before americans finally decide who will take the oath of office on january 20th. nine days before control of the united states senate could be determined. and nine days before we have a sense of whether the country says, yes, we want four more years of president trump, or the voters say they've had enough, and they choose joe biden. thursday's debate probably changed little, which may be a good thing, if you're ahead nationally by roughly nine points, as biden is right now. but where does this race stand? here's an easy way to look at it. let's start with the 2016 election map that president trump rode to victory. now, let's assume right now,

yamiche alcindor, jerry seib. what a group we'll take you as close to the news as we can and check out t "washington week" bookshelf series and chat with jerry o hisew book on the g.o.p. i'm robert costa, good night from washington. >> corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated adviser -- that's fidelity wealth management. for 25 years consumer cellular has been offering plans digned to help people do more of what they like.ur how customer service team can find a plan to fit you. program that offers technology to teach a new language like spanish, french and russian. it is available in the app store or onle at bmp belom. >> additional funding is providing by -- the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [sounds of vehicle doors opening] [siren pulses][v icle doors shut] announcer on commercial: it's how most of us got here

but joining me tonight for our special coverage are pbs newshour white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins who is covering the biden campaign, foreign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrin and senior national correspondent amna nawaz will be watching the debate along with several voters lunked in virtually from around the country. plus amy walter of the cook "politico" report, along with "washington post" contributing columnist gary abernathy in ohio, and sinned yait-- syndicated columnist cynthia tucker in alabama. welcome to all of you, we are so glad to have y where us. in the little bit of time we have before we go to the debate, yamish alcindor what is it that the president hopes to accomplish tonight. >> we can expect another all-out brawl, he will be acusing joe biden many, many times of corruption through his son hunter biden. the president will also be vigorously defending his response to the coronavirus as well as attacking the moderator which he has already started to do >> and alyssa desjardins quickly the bietden campaign-

joining me now, pbs news hour white house correspondent yamiche alcindor, nbc's jacob soboroff, author of "separated: inside an american tragedy," jim messina, manager of president obama's 2012 presidential campaign, and nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. welcome, all. yamiche, you've been on the firing line at white house news conferences. it's unimaginable, the pressure on kristen last night. president trump trying to attack biden through his son hunter, but to my eye, he never really explained to a general audience what those unsubstantiated charges were all about. unless you were in the fox bubble, as he is every day, he wasn't really explaining the substance behind it, that he alleges. and biden was just ready to pounce. let's listen. >> you were getting a lot of money from russia. they were paying you a lot of money. and they probably still are. but now, with what came out today, it's even worse. all of the emails, the emails, the horrible emails of the kind of money you were raking in, you and your family. >> i have not taken a single penny from any country whats

joining us now is jamiche alcindor, nbc political contributor. good evening. >> thank you so much for having me. >> what more have we heard about the outbreak and the rationale for keeping mike pence on the campaign trail, particularly the tricks of h attribution of him as an essential worker? >> the white house is insisting he is an essential worker and all the travel he's doing has been cleared by white house doctors. they're essentially saying he has to work. critics of vice president pence says he could be sheltering in place, quarantining in his home and working from there instead of going out on the campaign trail. now, of course, not only do you have all the people who could be exposed by traveling with him, you also have the people who have to work, including the secret service agents. there are people who are very, very critical of mike pence doing this. this is sort of another october surprise in a month full of october surprises, because the white house has been saying over and over again, we're rounding a corner, even though we're see

yamiche alcindor with the latest, thank you.thanks so much. ♪ judy: there are many other questions about the president's personal health, the duration of qurantine and whom else might have been exposed in recent days. dr. ashish jha is the dean of the brown university school of public health and joins me now. given what we have seen now, the president is about to leave white house to go to walter reed for several days you have heard i think what we have about the president's symptoms. what does that all add up for you? dr. jha: thank you for having me on. this is very concerning for the president and the country. in terms of the president and his health, we do not have a lot of information. do know -- we do know cute deceived an experimental therapy, but it seems like it is moving pretty quickly. he was diagnosed last night. he is heading to the hospital tonight. it concerns me. i do not want to overstate it. i do not have a lot of details, none of us do. but this is a concerning and i think worrying development. it feels like h

yamiche alcindor reports. >> the waning days of a presidential campaign. candidates, no end to the work to be done. today, the focus for both sides, north carolina, where more than two million voters have already cast their ballots, nearly three times more than at the same point in 2016. in asheville, democratic vice presidential nominee kamala harris urged voters to keep that going. >> 13 days to go and we cannot spare a minute, sisters and brothers. we cannot spare a minute. we're talking about an election that's taking place right now, where over 20 million americans have voted. yamiche: this eving, president trump also headed to the state for a large-scale rally at an airport just outside of charlotte. his opponent, however, stayed off the campaign trail. for a third straight day, former vice president joe biden has been holed up, preparing for his final debate with president trump. it's planned for tomorrow night in nashville. instead, this evening, in philadphia, his former boss, president barack obama, stumped for him at a community roundtable, and

our yamiche alcindor looks at how the virus is affecting the race there.osh, wisconsin is one of the countastest growing coronavirus hotspots. in recent weeks, cases have surged here and across wisconsin, a state that also happens to be key to presidents trumelecon. >> our hospitals are becoming overwhelmed. yamiche: doug is the county health director p he hoped the president's own experience with the virus woulcause people to take it more seriously, but it did not. pres. trump: don't be afraid of it, you will beat it. he had an opportunity to express to the blic have serious this disease can be for some individuals. unfortunately, it has beend minimized an are still on the same path we were before. yamiche: in 2016, president trump flipped wisconsin red by fewer than 23,000 votes -- thanks partly his sweep of this northea section of the state, known as the fox river valley. it's become one wisconsin's most politically divided regions, and that was even before the coronavirus pandemic. >> i don't think my vote was yamiche: republican nate. gustavson suppor

yamiche alcindor, lisa des jardins, thank you.t has happened before with president trump, stopping short of clearly denouncing far-right extremists and racist groups and sentiments when prompted. william brangham has our deeper dive into that exchange from last nights debate. >> this is the moment when the president was unwilling to criticize racist groups in america. mr. wallace: are you willing to condemn white suemacist and militia groups and say ty need to stand down and not add to the violence in cities as we saw in kenosha and portland? pres. trump: i am willing to do that, but i would say almost everything i see is from the left wing, not the right. mr. wallace: what are you saying? pres. trump: i want to see peace. mr. wallace: so do it, sir. mr. biden: say it. pres. trump: what do you want me to do? who do you want me to condemn? proud boys? stand back and stand by. somebody has to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right wing problem. mr. wallace: the proud boys are part of a loose network of fa

. >> leading off our discussion tonight, yamiche alcindor, white house correspondent for pbs news hour, and jonathan alter, columnivity fcolumn ivity columnist for the daily beast and the author of "jimmy carter: a life." both are msnbc analysts. yamiche, what is going to happen at the white house tomorrow? >> well, what's going to happen at the white house is the president is going to be speaking on a balcony before we think possibly hundreds if not dozens of people. and the people that are coming to the white house tomorrow, they'll be given a mask or be instructed to have masks with them. they're going to be instructed to wear those masks. but they're not going to be tested before they go onto the white house grounds. instead they're going to face a series of questions. they'll have their temperatures checked. what's remarkable about all this, of course, is that the white house is still dealing with a coronavirus outbreak within its own walls. so the most protected place in the united states is not going to be able to protect itself before and it wasn't able to protect itself now to

. >> woodruff: for analysis of the debate, i'm joined by our own lisa desjains and yamiche alcindor. so hello to both of yu, and lisa, first, as we can tell from what we just listened to, this was a more policy-oriented debate than what we saw last week between the president and joe bid so what are some of the main policy contrasts that emerged last night? >> let's look at two, judy. c first, omate change. you had senator harris saying its an existential threat and significant action is needed now. on the other hand, you had vice president pence just offering a question whh is what is the cause and what do we do about it, not definitively giving his opinion on it. the other issue, judy, is the economy. vice president pence put out there that democrats, in his opinion, are willing to shut overuse the muscles ofoo eas government. senator harris posed a different problem. yoe said that,he look at the trump administration, it favors the rich too much. >> woodruff: so, yamiche, we did see vice president pencee defending president, the tministration's response coatnavirus. o wh of all he s

joining us now, nbc news capitol hill correspondent garrett haake along with yamiche alcindor with pbs news hour. i mentioned at the top we have not seen the president for days. what are white house advisers saying about the current state of things inside the oval office in the west wing? >> well, white house officials on the surface and on the record are saying that the president is feeling fine, that he's hard at work, that he really is getting ready to be able to go back on the campaign trail. we heard from the president's doctor saying that he could be cleared as early as saturday to be back on the road. there's some talk now of having some sort of rally this weekend, possibly in florida. that's what's being said on the surface. also the president held this two-hour plus call with rush limbaugh, the conservative radio host, where he made the point over and over again that he felt fine, that he felt perfect. he claimed that he had been cured. he claimed that he didn't have any issues with the virus. but here's the key thing. when you talk to people off the record or on background at

yamiche alcindor, pbs "newshour" host and msnbc contributor. joining me again, dr. irwin redlener, an msnbc public health analyst. dr. redlener, we're just looking, my colleague ayman mohideen has put out a list of people who may have been in contact with hope hicks during the 48 hours during which she may have been active with this illness and not been in quarantine. we're looking at mark meadows, the chief of staff, first lady melania trump, we know she's got coronavirus, representative jim jordan, alice marie johnson, robert o'brien, national security, rudy giuliani, ivanka trump, donald trump jr. kimberly guilfoyle. a lot of these people are family members and close associates of trump. a lot of these people are members of government. if this has spread around that group of people, there are a lot of issues of disaster and the kind of ways in which you deal with this kind of thing. this seems careless, but it could be very dangerous. >> could be really dangerous, ali, and all these people have families and other connections and they have staff. >> that's right.

correspondent and "weekend today" co-host peter alexander, nbc's mike memoli, and pbs news hour's yamiche alcindor. let's sort through what the biden campaign is now saying, they want to change the format of the october 22 debate. >> yeah, andrea, i think what we've had happen in the last few minutes here is a debate on debates has broken out with all of the participants here. let's rewind and start with this morning. that was the debate commission announcing to the surprise, frankly, of both campaigns, that they were going to move forward with a virtual debate in the town hall format for next week. this was done without consultation of either of the campaigns. the biden campaign said they were just getting ready to begin their conversations about how this debate were to move forward, if it moved forward at all, given the president's diagnosis. very quickly the biden campaign said they would gladly participate in such a debate but the president ruled it out. kate benefiting field, the deputy campaign manager of the biden campaign, says given the president's unwillingness to participate in a virtua

for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: in the day's other news: pharmaceutical giantdue pharma is pleading guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and paying kickbacks to doctors in the national opioid epidemic. it involves the painkiller oxycontin, and is part of an $8-billion settlement. federal prosecutor christina nolan said today the case sends a clear message. >> people were suffering from addictions that sometimes ended in death, and so many of those addiction stories began with oxycotin. we hope purdue's guilty plea will send a messe that d.o.j. will not allow big pharma and big tech to conduct illegal conduct that corrupt the doctor patient relationship. >> woodruff: some states and congressional democrats have argued the settlement is not sufficient punishment, but the justice department says purdue pharma's executives and owners-- the billionaire sackler family-- could still face criminal liability. pope francis has become the first pope to endorse same-sex civil unions. in an interview for a documentary film, he says mosexual couples have a right to be a f

gentleman meach alcindor from the pbs news hour, susan page ear u.s.a h a today and et journal" and author of we should have seen it coming from reagan, we should have seen it coming. yamiche, i congratulatef winning the international women's again i've he'll award and her commitment tthe truth. congratulations. let's turn to the latest news, you have been following itor the past hour. the president will speak from the white house balcony on saturday and hold a rally on monday int florida, w do you know about his health tonight and is there any dissent inside the west wing aboese events? yamiche: i want to say congratulations to susan for moderating that debate and i'm happy to be on tv with youto ght. i think that the i presidents clearly very, very eager to get on then campa trail and wanting to look in charge. he is tired of being in the white house and con find to that building. weon't know critical things, when was the last time he tested gative. the white house has refused to swer and we don't know if he if anything has happened to him has compromised his heah. his doctor hasn't answ

. >>> we're joined now by yamiche alcindor. also with us christina greer. and, yamiche, you are part of the people who take the risk of being around these white house staffers, being around the president. we have the breaking news at this hour that the president should be quarantined. that is the breaking news that america should be concentrating on right now. all public health officials, the cdc, the doctor just indicated, the president should be quarantined based on what's happened to hope hicks. >> that's right. and the other breaking news is the president says just a few minutes ago that he has been tested for the coronavirus and is now awaiting his results. he says he might be getting it tonight or friday. he said, quote, whether we quarantine or not i don't know. so essentially the president, as you said, that he should be quarantining. he's openly saying he doesn't know if he's going to quarantine. the president and his staffers, while they are tested daily, as someone who is in the white house multiple times a week, a lot don't wearmasks. they are t

yamiche alcindor, pbs "newshour" host and msnbc contributor. joining me again, dr. irwin redlener, an msnbc public health analyst. dr. redlener, we're just looking, my colleague ayman mohideen has put out a list of people who may have been in contact with hope hicks during the 48 hours during which she may have been active with this illness and not been in quarantine. we're looking at mark meadows, the chief of staff, first lady melania trump, we know she's got coronavirus, representative jim jordan, alice marie johnson, robert o'brien, national security, rudy giuliani, ivanka trump, donald trump jr. kimberly guilfoyle. a lot of these people are family members and close associates of trump. a lot of these people are members of government. if this has spread around that group of people, there are a lot of issues of disaster and the kind of ways in which you deal with this kind of thing. this seems careless, but it could be very dangerous. >> could be really dangerous, ali, and all these people have families and other connections and they have staff. >> that's right.

yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, we thank you both. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, information surfaced about supreme court nominee amy coney barrett having signed a 2006 newspaper ad that called for overturning roe v. wade, the landmark supreme court abortion rights decision, saying it was an "exercise of raw judicial power" with a "barbaric legacy." president trump had said that her view on roe is not known. the ad was not included in the documents barrett submitted to the senate judiciary committee ahead of her confirmation hearing. the trump administration is further slashing refugee admissions to the u.s. in a late-night memo, the state department announced that it intends to admit only 15,000 refugees into the country in the 2021 fiscal year that started today. that is down from 18,000 during the previous fiscal year. it is another record low in the dern refugee program. texas republican governor greg abbott issued a proclamation today limiting each of the state's counties to just one drop-off location for mail-in ballots. abbott said that the move was meant to strengthen

yamiche alcindor, pbs "newshour" host and msnbc contributor. joining me again, dr. irwin redlener, an msnbc public health analyst. dr. redlener, we're just looking, my colleague ayman mohideen has put out a list of people who may have been in contact with hope hicks during the 48 hours during which she may have been active with this illness and not been in quarantine. we're looking at mark meadows, the chief of staff, first lady melania trump, we know she's got coronavirus, representative jim jordan, alice marie johnson, robert o'brien, national security, rudy giuliani, ivanka trump, donald trump jr. kimberly guilfoyle. a lot of these people are family members and close associates of trump. a lot of these people are members of government. if this has spread around that group of people, there are a lot of issues of disaster and the kind of ways in which you deal with this kind of thing. this seems careless, but it could be very dangerous. >> could be really dangerous, ali, and all these people have families and other connections and they have staff. >> that's right.

many thanks to our reporters, kr welker, yamiche alcindor, and dan walz. after a quick break, we ctinue our special tonight on many pbs stations and go deep into theba leground of pennsylvania. i'mst robert a, see you soon. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and acicracy. visit .org] >> corpote funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> when the wld gets compcated, a lot goes through your mind. an a can tailor alth managements recommendations to your life. that's management. >> babbel. consumer cellur. boeing.al additi funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams and coo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural difference -our communities. the corporation for public oadcasting. and contrutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. robert: inside, battle ground pennsylvania. with the voters who could decide it all. will president trump stun the political world once again, or will vice president biden win the state and the w

in ourwshour studio, our report search, and analysts will join us remotely so we can stay samiche alcindor, and congressional correspondent lisa desjardins who is covering the biden campaign. senior national correspondent a na nawaz who will be watching the debate with lf a dozen voters linked in virtually from around the country. plus amy walter of the cook political report along with "washington post" coumnist jonathan capehart, and eliana johnson, editor in chief of the washington freebie con and i welcome all of you to our coverage tckight. a quord first from yamiche and lisa, yamiche, what is the trump campaign hoping comes from this debate with the vice president? >> well, the vice president is going to be delivering not a more brash defense of the trump administration but she going to be divering a verydefense, a very point, poignant defense of that he is the head of the coronavirus task force so talk a lot about what they think they did right and alsgoing to be maki the point the black livestt protesters is out of hand, african-american business owners whose business was picture an

i am yamiche alcindor. ♪ judy:s you are hearing, the country is seeing record turnout in early votingwhen and if those votes get counted more on what this means on election night and beyond. >>lmost 70 million people have already cast their ballots in this election. this massive turnout includes a combination of mail-in ballots and person.ing to vote in with election day less than a week away, we dive into what these numbers say about the electorate with michael donald, a professor of political science at the university of florida. esyou have been tracking this unprecedented turnout of early voting. what can you tell usthe tr areh? >>bo t we've seen more people vote in thision than in any prior election we've had in any election iour history. in some states, we are pushing near 100% of the turnout that occurred in the 2016 election in itsrl entirety, not just vote. >> a combination of all people who voted who have now been surpassed by the people who voted early. >> we are getting very close to those numbers in states like texas and hawaii, and others are following on their heels. wha

joining me yamiche alcindor and jake sherman, co-author of "politico playbook." yamiche, i'll start with you. north carolina, we just crossed 250,000 cases, 4,000 deaths alone in that state, the president saying he wouldn't do anything different, he wouldn't have changed much. what are you hearing out on the campaign trail? >> what i'm hearing on the campaign trail is from voters supporting president trump. they echo what the president says. it's a pandemic that people are going to die of this virus. they believe the president when he says he saved millions of lives. the president has to double down on his response to the coronavirus, he has to own that he's -- he would be handing over a victory to the biden campaign. their thesis is the president couldn't protect himself, the white house or his family or the country at large. i've heard from people who have had family members in a coma for days or weeks, they say the pandemic is top of mind for them. i was in florida talking to voters of all different genders and race and religion. the number one thing on their

. >>> yamiche alcindor and david are with us.he beginning of the show to the numbers coming out of harris county, texas. that's where houston is. it is a democratic area. massive early voting numbers like they have never seen before. what do you make of that? >> well, it's highly encouraging, lawrence. both of you want to see biden win, but also for our country. you know, looking at this early vote turn-out and suggesting it could mean we're going north of 150, maybe 160 million turn-out. we need some more days to happen here. we know people are excited to vote early. if this continues, obviously we had a big turn-out on day one and day two. and then of course you really can't relax until election day because do you get what you need on election day even if the early vote is shattering records. so you have got to run through the tape here. and trump is going to get his turn-out. so his high watermark is going to be quite high. joe biden, i think, has more than enough swing voters to win, but he's got to make sure the turn-out is

alexander at the white house and ali vitali in d.c., peter baker for "the new york times" and yamiche alcindor. mr. alexander, to you first. let's cut through all the noise. what is the president's closing message, and how is he delivering it? >> we heard it again over the last 45 minutes on f fox & friends. the president against the backdrop of 57,000 cases a day from covid, the highest it's been since july. hospitalizations at roughly 38,000 right now is basically saying that americans don't care about the pandemic. that they want to be left alone. in his words, that they are over it. again this morning, he suggested we are turning the corner. we know that's not the case right now given those numbers we've seen. he said we were turning the corner with or without vaccines at this point which he insisted would be coming soon. he's also attacking the nation's top infectious disease expert anthony fauci saying that he's a disaster. saying he's a bomb that goes off every time he's on tv. and among other things, his attack on joe biden is if he becomes president he'd listen to dr. anthony fauci. n

yamiche alcindor of the pbs "news hour," good to see you. >> thanks so mump. >>> it could happen as soon as tomorrow fight. republican senators have the votes they need to confirm amy coney barrett to the supreme court. she would become president trump's third supreme court appointment. the senate voted to advance the nomination this afternoon. moments later senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said this to his colleagues. >> this is something to really be proud of and to feel good about. we made an important contribution to the future of this country. a lot of what we've done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election. won't be able to do much about this for a long time to come. >> joining us now is democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island. he serves on the judiciary, finance, budget, and environment and public works committees. senator, good evening. >> good evening. >> what reaction do you have to what we just heard from leader mcconnell? >> well, he left out the most important part, which is who they're doing it for. and when you look

and for the latest on where things stand, we turn to our own lisa desjardins and yamiche alcindor.isa, to you first. where do things stand and what are the regrets asking for? lisa: hope is not gone, but it seems late today that there has been more look at the disagreement between the white house and democrats and the agreement. -- than the agreement. let's look at where democrats are and what they have on the table at this point. democrats' latest plan is $2.2 trillion. there you can see, there is a $2.2 trillion plan for democrats. of that, or hundred $36 billion would be for state and local governments. $600 per week in additional benefits for the unemployed. got has run out technically now. 75 billion for testing. that is rental and mortgage assistance. this speaks to what americans are facing right now and the fears by many of these lawmakers trying to push for a deal that coming months, if cases rise, that things are going to get worse. judy: yamiche, what is the white house saying about what they expect from this bill? yamiche: again, hope is not gone, but it looks like it w

also yamiche alcindor. and it was just announced yamiche will be honored with the eiffel award. and robert gibbs who was press secretary under president obama. now that the president is home, what is the plan? how are they keeping other people in the white house safe? it was just a week ago the president looked at somebody with a mask and said, take that thing off. >> yeah, steph. well, the plan is multifold in terms of the president's medical care. he's expected to continue to be monitored 24/7. we know from his doctor he's supposed to receive the fifth dose of remdesivir some time today. his doctor also said yesterday, we're really in unchartered territory given the number of treatments that the president has had and that he wouldn't breathe a sigh of relief until next monday. in the meantime, the president and the white house are saying that he's set up to work in the residence so he can have a space he can continue to conduct the country's business. but there are concerns among people who are in the white house who say they, one, are not getting a lot of information about wh