nbc's garrett haake is in florida. political reporter robert costa, and "the washington post's" phil rucker with us as well. the biden campaign thinks there's a chance georgia will go blue for the first time since 1992, kristen. >> it would be remarkable, andrea, you're absolutely right. the biden campaign showing confidence heading into this final week and really going on offense. the fact that they are campaigning here in georgia which as you point out is a reliably red state. in terms of what we expect to hear from former vice president joe biden, he will be laying out his closing argument today, andrea. he's going to do it in warm spri springs, a place where former president roosevelt, fdr, went to heal from polio. i'm told biden will use that as a backdrop to the argument that he will help the economy heal from the pandemic, from the economic crisis, and will also cast himself as a unifying candidate. he'll use that to contrast himself against president trump. and then his second stop is going to be here in atlant

our garrett haake is in tucson at that second event garrett, he's hittin the trail awfully hard this week. >> reporter: hey, lester donald trump's campaign manager told reporters today he agrees with the biden campaign that this race is much closer than the polling shows, saying that his candidate will outwork biden in the last two weeks as he is outspending him in the air waves and that means in the weeks leading up to the election eight total rallies for president trump and in seven different states and in the same time period, biden held three similar events public health officials worry about events like this, that they could be superspreaders the trump campaign said they require temperature checks at the doors, they make people wear masks when they come inside. but as you can see, there's no socia distancing and most folks simply take their masks off once they're in the event lester >> all right garrett haake, thank you. >>> as the u.s. races towards election day, the coronavirus is surging to levels we haven't seen since july with many hospitals under siege now. gabe gutierrez

jose >> garrett haake in janesville, wisconsin. thank you. >>> and it's not just the midwest. across the country tonight a growing number of hospitals are being overwhelmed with coronavirus patients in utah, where cases are rising fast, the situation is especially dire. erin mclaughlin has more from salt lake city >> reporter: tonight in utah, a health care system on the brink. >> that's where we are right now, in a boat taking on water. and what's ahead of us not sunshine it's a potential storm and a flood. >> reporter: with coronavirus hospitalizations at a record high late friday one of the largest hospitals in the state ran out of icu beds the crisis impacting patients who don't have covid-19. >> this is hard. >> reporter: stephanie deere's 47-year-old sister laurie's heart suddenly stopped last tuesday. she was rushed to a nearby hospital but they didn't have the equipment to save her. it took 2 1/2 hours to find her a specialized bed. >> i don't know who was more scared, the doctor or me he looked desperate. >> reporter: so even though your sister has taken every precaut

lester >> all right garrett haake, thank you. >>> in the caribbean hurricane delta strengthened into an extremely dangerous category 4 storm today with the u.s. gulf coast in its sights. let's bring in al roker with the latest. al >> lester, it is now a strong category 4, taking aim right now on mexico. 145-mile-per-hour winds moving west-northwest at 17 makes landfall sometime tomorrow as a devastating category 4. out into the gulf, reintensifies as a category 4 storm making landfall along the louisiana coast sometime late friday night, early saturday. the european model a little to the west but as you can see, lester, from galveston to new orleans we have the risk of this storm making landfall. we do know anywhere from five to ten inches of rain and that may increase as time moves on. an update coming up tomorrow morning on the "today" show lester >> yeah, what a storm season this has been, al, thank you. >>> in the small texas town of wolfe city northeast of dallas calls for justice heard as a white police officer is charged with murder after shooting a black man during an inciden

garrett haake with more. >> reporter: with nine days to go, president trump on offense in maine and new hampshire, states he narrowly lost in 2016. >> thank you. nine days from now we're going to win this thing. can you believe nine days? >> reporter: joe biden attending church this morning and holding a virtual event tonight. >> good to be almost home. >> reporter: with a visit to georgia on tuesday, a state no democrat has won since 1992. and dispatching his most high-powered supporter, former president obama for a second full day of campaigning in florida, where a biden win could make trump's path to 270 electoral votes much more difficult. >> it is born out of love of country that we march, that we fight, that we vote. >> reporter: the vice presidential candidates each in battlegrounds, urging supporters to vote early, as did obama in this biden campaign video. >> this call begins in 25 minutes. >> reporter: voters may not need much of a push. more than 58 million americans have already cast their ballots, far exceeding all votes in 2016, with nine days still to go. in texas, 7.1 mi

nbc's garrett haake has more on the battleground blitz. >> reporter: tonight, with just 18 days to go, president trump on a battleground blitz, rallying thousands of supporters in florida. >> this election is a choice between a trump recovery and a biden depression. biden's plan will crush america. my plan will crush the virus, and america will be in a position very soon, like it was never in before. >> reporter: earlier at a senior focused event, announcing a partnership with cvs and walgreen's to distribute a vaccine to nursing homes at no cost. >> once you have that vaccine, you can open those doors and say here i am. >> reporter: here in michigan, joe biden also focusing on health care. >> when i'm president, i'll take care of your health coverage the same way i would my family. how many times has he made fun of biden wearing a mask? he refuses to practice social distancing and puts his porters in such jeopardy. >> reporter: biden has a nine-point national lead, but for supporters in michigan, which president trump narrowly won in 2016, those memories are still fresh. >> everybody

every voter, every person in these cars makes a difference here, craig. >> garrett haake, clearly the crowd loves your reporting in florida, honking for the last few minutes just for you. they're getting the stage set for president obama. monica alba, thanks to you as well. >>> this final week on the campaign trail coincides with what is the highest rate of coronavirus infections since this pandemic started. here are the latest facts at this hour. another 72,000 cases were added monday alone. factor that in with what they've seen over the last week and the seven-day average is now 75,000, the highest it has ever been. texas has now tied california for the most cases in the country at more than 900,000. cases are increasing at a faster rate in the lone star state. nearly 20% over the past two weeks. this morning, a new cdc study is shedding light on the toll for health care workers. of the 190,000 who have contracted the virus, 67% had close contact with covid patients, and more than one-third of those workers were nurses. joining me now, dr. shoshana ungerleider from california pacifi

jose >> garrett haake in washington, d.c., thank you. >>> when we come back the experimental treatment the president received what is it and how does it work >>> and the outbreak in the nfl the most prominent player yet reportedly testing positive er yet reportedly testing positive. all otc pain relievers including voltaren have one thing in common none are proven stronger or more effective against pain than salonpas patch large there's surprising power in this patch salonpas dependable, powerful relief. hisamitsu. for our families and for our communities. when we spend taxpayers' money, we should use it to buy american products and support american jobs. it's time to help small businesses who will purchase clean energy technologies to fight climate change and enhance national security. we have to invest in what the jobs and industries of tomorrow are going to be. we have a great opportunity, build back and build back better. i'm joe biden and i approve this message. you can take advantage of $0 preventive dental care. ♪ wow ♪ uh-huh $0 copays on preventive dental care and the nation's

joining me now from capitol hill is nbc news correspondent garrett haake. rrett, you have a little bit of breaking news about vice president pence not coming tonight. what happened behind the scenes? >> reporter: that's right, the vice president is now not expected to attend. that's the language i was given by the vice president's office. remember, he's the president of the senate. he can come to the senate and sit in the big chair, if ever he so chooses, but the only vote he can cast is to break a tie. given everything you just laid out, there's no tie-breaking vote expected, so he's not needed, and i think, frankly, to the relief of particularly democrats in the chamber who were very concerned about pence's potential coronavirus exposure, based on so many people in his inner circle being diagnosed with the virus, there was also that covid concern here. now i'm told he's going to stay away so long as his vote is not needed which it's not expected to be. >> so, garrett, this vote's going to happen tonight. the democrats don't have any recourse with it. what

garrett haake is in the room for this news conference. we're going to check in with garrett in just a bit, once speaker nancy pelosi wraps up. we're also following that big shakeup in the debate plan. we just learned that the next match-up between president trump and vice president biden will be virtual. it would seem as if, though, president trump is not going to take part. >> i'm not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. that's not what debating is all about a. you sit behind a computer and do a debate is ridiculous. they cut you off whenever they want. >> at what point -- you just learned this this morning? >> we learned it the same way you learned it. >> let's get right to our reporters. nbc's carol lee is covering the white house. nbc's mike memoli is in salt lake city covering the biden campaign. carol, strong words from the president. again, we should note that was the president's position roughly an hour and some change ago. has he changed his mind yet? >> so far not, craig. there still is obviously some time for the presiden

and i want to begin actually with the value judgment issue when we get to t let me check in with garrett haake on capitol hill. eventually, garrett, your last name will be hill if you're on capitol hill long enough. the mood of both sides behind the scenes, democrats and republicans, i sense a little bit of frustration on the right. with the democrats. i don't sense the same frustration on the left with the republicans, though. >> reporter: well, things got chippy here after the break, chuck. you saw several democrats, notably senator kamala harris criticizing the fact we're holding this hearing at all given the state of the pandemic, the fact that several senators had tested positive for the virus in the last couple of weeks and a number of republicans took exception to that. you had the response from lindsey graham, the chairman, mike crapo who is generally one of the more understated guys really in the entire senate got a little bit upset about the characterization of that, but then beyond that, again, i think we're seeing a very clear lines develop here. democrats are going to turn this he

. >> garrett haake i had somebody, a republican strategist and i were texting and while acknowledging some of the messaging stuff, he says, hey, you guys are missing the big picture. amy coney barrett is going to be a conservative rock star for a decade and that is what has so many republican operatives, republican activists so excited about her and that, yes, everybody is arguing about the politics but they're in this other orbit of what they think she is going to be. they are already trying to make her an icon ala scalia. >> only a decade chuck? when i hear from republicans they are excited that she could be on the court for several decades. that's what is interesting here. the problem that democrats have here is reel u the most they can do here and several have acknowledged this, is they can put it on the ballot. you can use her to run against donald trump but that is a short term play in the sense it is only about the next four years or the next justices. you can amplify that out. the presence of justice barrett is a win for conservatives for a decade. that is why you are seeing h

from florida, nbc news correspondent garrett haake. with me, "new york times" chief white house correspondent and nbc political analyst, peter baker. shannon, you're where the president is going next. it is a strange case to make that the virus is no big deal when the majority of americans say, yes, it is a big deal when hospitalizations are on the rise, cases are on the rise. when there are sincere worries about a very dark winter. and the president is still holding all of these rallies. is that what you're hearing as well, is that anybody who takes the threat of this virus seriously is a lost cause for this campaign? >> reporter: well, holding these rallies in states that are seeing a surge in infection, with wisconsin setting up field hospitals. he was there this weekend talking about how the death numbers might not actually be what they are. in michigan, there are hospitals around here nearing capacity. the state is seeing hospitalizations almost double over the past month or so. so, these big rallies, places seeing hot spots. i th

garrett haake on capitol hill, thank you. you, garrett. >>> when we come back, i mentioned texas earlier. we have a new poll showing joe biden leading in texas. and a race for president in iowa is getting tighter also. we talk to voters as they line up at the polls with just -- can you believe it -- nine days left. >> there are a lot of people that are a silent voter. i haven't told anybody who i'm voting for. voting for only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tear

no, i think -- i think michigan he'll take michigan. >> well, that was garrett haake reporting.coronavirus. take a look at this graphic. at this point back in 2016 only 150,000 ballots had been mailed back to election offices but so far this year, 1.5 million ballots have been returned. it comes as more californians are expected to vote by mail this year due to the pandemic. ballots returned by the mail, by the way, must be postmarked by november 3rd. >>> now to the scolding for the republican party just yesterday over the illegal dropboxes placed outside of some churches. in an online news conference becerra said that the boxes have been removed but the gop has not fully responded. >> there's also additional requests for information that has not been met and so we continue to exercise legal options to obtain the ballots -- the demands from the cease and desist letter. >> the state republican party has said they'll continue to accept ballots given to the party, but attorney general becerra said they must properly sign the ballots. >>> be sure to watch our special show, "decision

garrett haake is on capitol hill. ett, not much room for error for republicans at this point if there's any other positive tests in the coming days. talk about what that means for the schedule. >> that's right. republicans have essentially used up the slack they had here. all the room for error is gone. they're missing two members of the judiciary committee. both of them are expected to be back by the time the hearings start october 12th. if members miss the hearings, if they miss the vote, it complicates the process of moving judge barrett to the floor. the real big question, the floor vote, there are a lot of work arounds in committee hearings. you can remote in. people can vote by proxy. on the floor, you've got to show up for your vote to count. and how many historical moments have we had on the senate floor of senators missing three votes or showing up like mccain battling brain cancer to cast a vote. for right now republicans have the votes they need. they have the timing they need. but they're walking on a high

garrett haake, start with you. seeing a lot more mask-wearing than we've seen on capitol hill in quite some time, i've noticed. >> reporter: well, yeah, chuck. the last couple of weeks put the fear of god in people here a little bit. three republican senators in the last three weeks test positive for covid-19 including mike lee back in the chamber today. >> all right. well -- >> reporter: basically everybody wearing masks except when speaking as lindsey graham is now. >> just going to say. thank you, garrett and we turn it over to the hearing. >> -- i appreciate everyone's cooperation, and we will have a hearing hopefully that the country will be learn more about judge barrett, learn more about the law. learn about the differences in judging and maybe the differences in the party. if that happens, it will be a successful hearing. as to the hearing room, i doubt if there's any room in the country that's been given more attention and detail to make sure it is cdc compliant. the architect of the capitol working with t

garrett haake for us on the hill, going to be a long day and night for you, sir.. >>> two rallies, one location, and members of both groups were armed. the extreme polarization that just played out in michigan with days left for people to vote there. >>> first though, i want to take a moment to hear from a missouri doctor. she and her husband both treating coronavirus patients. it's caused them to make one decision that may feel impossible for most parents. she talks about what it's been like starting at the very beginning of the pandemic. >> we had our first child a few months before. he was only three months old at that time. one of our primary plans for childcare at that time was for our parents to each help us with care until he was old enough for day care. but the risk to our parents, to his grandparents, was pretty high, given their age, given some of their health conditions, so we had to make the really challenging decision to separate from him, to have the grandparents exclusively care for him at their home. still fresh unstopables in-wash scent booster do

. >>> one of the people who have covered our candidates is garrett haake., by the way. you have seen donald trump, you have seen joe biden's massive rallies. what is your take on that? >> reporter: it's very interesting, when you cover them both, especially when you do them back to back like i did last week, it's like looking in a fun house mirror. these trump rallies look pretty much like they did in 2016. lots of people, very few masks, little mention of the pandemic at all. it plays on the tendency the reporters have to want to fight the last war. you're always covering the campaign through the last campaign's lens, and you have to fight that feeling. in 2016, i also covered mitt romney. in 2016, mitt romney had big rallies, too. we didn't really think of the president trump rallies as indicative of enthusiasm as they were. in 2020, i think there's a tendency to look at these rallies and think, oh, my god, there's all this enthusiasm and joe biden doesn't have that, and then you start to see the early voting start around the country. for me, when i'm try

nbc's garrett haake is on capitol hill. this thing is happening no matter what, basically, but i've got a feeling democrats are going to do whatever they can to throw some sort of monkey wrench or at least some drama into this mix. >> democrats are pretty much out of monkey wrenches after the last month but there's a little drama remaining. it's going to come from someone not even casting a vote. let me catch you up. over the weekend, lisa murkowski, who is one of two republican senators, who said she opposed moving forward in this confirmation process reversed herself. she doesn't like the process but she will vote for amy coney barrett. that takes essentially all of the drama out of the vote total. the only republican we expect to see vote against this nomination is maine senator susan collins. she confirmed it again last night. that means republicans have the votes and democrats are essentially out of procedural tools to slow this down. but, the vice president of the united states is also the president of the senate and,

. >>> joining us now over the phone is msnbc correspondent garrett haake who i, of course, do a lot of work with at capitol hill. garrett, thanks for being with us this morning. let's start by -- from a broad per spebive iiv ivive -- persps has been a major shock. president trump is not the first world leader to be diagnosed with covid-19, but certainly it suggests a level of vulnerability inside the oval office that most americans think of as a bastian of security and safety. what has been the reaction of members of congress so far that you've seen, and what are the questions you think we're going to need to be answering here in the coming hours. >> let's start there, kasie. the idea that this can infect the most powerful person in the world with the most access to testing and the most access to health care of any human being on the planet, i think, should be a wakeup call to everyone about how seriously we have to continue to take this virus. this didn't go away. this didn't stop becoming a threat because people stopped paying attention to it. if it can get behind the resolute desk,

with me now is our own garrett haake who covers capitol hill and has covered barrett's confirmation hearinger this month for us. garrett, big welcome to you. so what happened here? what can you tell us about lisa murkowski's reversal and how surprising is this? >> reporter: well, murkowski has said all along she didn't think this process was appropriate. she was against the way the merrick kbarlagarland non-heari went down in 2016, and she felt that fair was fair not confirming a judge this close to the election. that said, she did ultimately pay attention to the hearings, as they went forward, despite her objections. she's not on the judiciary committee, so her role in the early part of this process was pretty small and she had her own private meeting with judge barrett. afterwards, she came out and announced her totally qualified and essentially said in her floor speech yesterday announcing this move that while she doesn't agree with this process, since we're here anyway, she's going to go ahead and vote in favor of judge barrett's confirmation. she'll still vote against this last procedu

garrett haake has been covering the hearing all week for us at his perch above the hearing room. move the needle today that made you think that, well, boy, they -- maybe they scored this political point or that? we know there's nothing standing in the way of her confirmation. >> i don't think anything changed in terms of the confirmation itself, but it was interesting before the witnesses came into the room, good old-fashioned debate between the senators. they spent about two hours going back and forth on just the fact that we're even dealing with this nomination so close to election day. and the comment that stuck with me that i think we are going to archive this tape for months and months from now should democrats take control back of the senate was sheldon whitehouse, democrat from rhode island saying there aren't going to be two sets of rules here. if the senate's new rule is we're going to do this because we can, that's going to be the same rule for democrats should democrats take control of the u.s. senate. it was just kind of laying a gauntlet down saying if this is the wa

nbc's garrett haake is on capitol hill. the chances of that, the chance we expect any sort of agreement this week? >> reporter: craig, still slim, but i think there is a sliver of hope at this point. remember, toward the end of last week, we'd see the ongoing negotiations between speaker pelosi and secretary mnuchin, which seemed to be gaining the smallest bit of moe moan itment. talking about specific language of what might go into a deal. then the tweet over the weekend from the president read, to me, like instructions to republican senators, saying, let's move this thing forward. republican senators have not been willing to go even as far as perhaps some of the white house positions on coronavirus relief have been. there has been tension there between the republican-controlled senate and the republican-controlled white house about what exactly they would like to see in the bill. that makes it harder for democrats, frankly, to negotiate, when they're not sure what the other side is saying. i'm pretty sure i'm about to get

garrett haake is with us now, also live on the hill. ett, walk us through the events of the last 60 minutes or so, what we're going to hear from democrats over the next couple of minutes as well. >> reporter: after a very traditional set of confirmation hearings in which democrats registered their disapproval of amy coney barrett and tried to highlight the risks her confirmation would project. what you saw today was an untraditional potentially asymmetric warfare kind of way of democrats responding to a nomination process that many of them believe has never been fair, has never been on the up and up and couldn't be fought with traditional means, the walkout, the boycott held instead of democrats taking part in a committee vote. they knew they were sure to lose. you are seeing more of this now as democrats are speaking on the steps outside, there are a number of protesters, there's been some arrests here today. this is the kind of perhaps more like an all-out fight that democratic activists and base democratic voters wanted to see their s

garrett haake. we know that the nominee has taken her seat. pretty close. anything to get us started this morning? >> republicans are thrilled with her performance so far. that moment of her holding up an empty note pad yesterday has already become a meme thinking she's turned in a great performance and pointing to polls showing approval of barrett has been rising. expect to see democrats continue a variation of the same strategy been using. turning the race into a proxy fight over health care. this nomination fight a proxy fight over health care and again i think we'll continue to see today using antonin scalia, her mentor against judge barrett. >> thank you, garrett. and we've been gavelled in. >> -- before her, senator harris, i respect, suggested you are not candid, just barrett, i couldn't disagree more. i think i've been here for a few of these, voted for every nominee that has come before the committee. i think you have one thing in common, all of you, highly qualified, capable people. i saw that in justice sotomayor and justice kagan, submitted by p

garrett haake has been following all of it very closely. he joins me now from the hill. take us through the agenda if you can, good sir, for today and the expected timeline for the ultimate floor vote on her confirmation. >> reporter: craig, we're in a little break after this morning turned into a two-hour debate on why we're even here. the providence of this nomination, how appropriate it is or isn't to move forward with it, ended with a warning from democratic senator sheldon whitehouse that i think will be worth putting a pin in saying if republicans move forward on the basis of a "because we can rsh rule, don't be surprised if democrats do the same thing should they regain the majority next year. so set that thought aside for now. we will see later today testimony from lawyers from the american bar association kind of getting into technical details around amy coney barrett's juris prudence we'll also hear testimony from witnesses later in the afternoon talking about her personal character, talking about the effects some rulings she could make might have on regular pe

i think we'll hear about that tonight too. >> garrett haake, live in pennsylvania, thank you. >>> i'mned by the host of the newly launched, the maggie hassan show on peacock, also an msnbc political analyst. good to have you with us. there will be plexiglass separating harris and pence tomorrow night given the recent coronavirus outbreaks in the west wing. pence's own spokeswoman who had coronavirus herself in may tells nbc news, if senator harris wants to use a fortress around herself, have at it. let's talk a little about this. how is the white house still downplaying the severity of this virus when the president, even the vice president's spokesperson, had coronavirus? >> a couple of things, ayman. one, katie miller was also involved in the child separation scandal at the border, so when she talks about fortresses, he's part of putting up a real fortress around the united states and separating kids from their families. in terms of a fortress on stage, a plexiglass barrier is common sense and actually part of cdc guidelines. in the workplace, think about putting up physical barriers

nbc's garrett haake is on capitol hill along with msnbc contributor melissa murray, law prover at newersity and former clerk to now justice sonia sotomayor. garrett, bring us up to speed. >> reporter: the witnesses haven't entered the room yet. we've got a good old-fashioned debate actually broken out in the senate judiciary committee this morning about how we even got here, the appropriateness of taking a vote now or next week or on the floor at all, and about sort of what i would call the negative space around justice barrett or judge barrett's answers to the questions over the last couple of days and non-answers on health care, roe, the various decisions like that. we haven't gotten to the witness portion. this is senators debating amongst themselves, the appropriateness of where we are in this moment but you mention the major headline here, the committee moving forward with its vote a week from today on the 22nd. i can also add that down in kentucky, where he's campaigning, the majority leader mitch mcconnell made a little bit of news. he said he wants to start the process of brin

and that is where we start nbc's garrett haake to start us off. set the scene for us particularly in light of that chant of "lock her up" about governor whitmer. the crowd seemed to lean into that very quickly and the president fed right off of it. >> reporter: yeah, as they often do, joshua. good evening. the president just took the stage here in janesville. on the covid front the best news i can give you is that it's a very windy day here. and so the air is moving around. we've got a couple thousand people here on the tarmac. the vast majority of whom aren't wearing masks. they wear them when they come in, they're required for entry. most folks simply take them off. i've been interviewing trump supporters about it. they say they're not worried. many of them tell me they think the virus concerns are overblown. this despite the fact that wisconsin has been setting and breaking its new cases and hospitalization rates all week long. as for the comments about the michigan governor, it's par for the course for this president. we have seen him in recen

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

garrett haake, thank you.think anybody is voting on the deficit this year. >>> with me is olivia troye, the former top aide to mike pence, former member of the white house coronavirus task force. you may know her since she left the administration. she -- it was kind of a big deal to a lot of people in the administration, and she has since endorsed joe biden. olivia troye, thank you for coming on. i want to ask you about what we learned today from this cornell university study. this idea that it is the president himself that is essentially responsible for 38% of the overall misinformation conversation. first, does that surprise you? >> it doesn't at all. it's what i have been saying from day one when i decided to speak out so bluntly. it's exactly what i saw every single day. we would meet as a task force, and the president would go out and say something very contradictory to what the experts and the doctors were telling him. and quite frankly, it was dangerous. and it was complete misinformation from the numbe

here's nbc's garrett haake. >> reporter: joe biden using this historic gettysburg battlefield for the 28-day fight still to come. >> today we're engaged once again for the battle of the souls of the nation, the forces of darkness, the forces of division, the forces of yesterday are pulling us apart, holding us down and holding us back we must free ourselves of all of that. >> reporter: biden never mentioned prs name and got help from michelle obama in a rare campaign appearance. >> right now our country is in chaos because of a president who isn't up to the job. >> reporter: biden opening up a nearly ten-point lead according to a national poll average with the president recovering from covid, biden blames him for contracting it. >> look, anyone who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don't matter, social distancing doesn't matter, i think is responsible for what happens to them. >> reporter: and also telling lester he regretted his tone at the first debate. >> would you shut up, man. it's hard to get anyd in with this clown. >> it seems to go against some of the language y

garrett haake, thank you. >>> next, the u.s.the highest seven-day average in covid cases ever. we're going to talk to a doctor on the front lines of a growing hospital. right after this. >>> welcome back. as the white house battling a second coronavirus outbreak in administrati administration officials signal there may be more to control the virus the u.s. is sounding a new alarm. 42 states seeing an increase in the last two weeks. the national average is at a had you record high with nearly 70,000 cases. here are the facts you need to know, months of mixed measuring and political tests have taken a toll on staffers. six current and former cdc staffers tell nbc news that morale at the agency is, quote, toxics. astrazeneca says the vaccine with oxford also reports adverse effects appear to be lower in older adults. el paso, texas, has imposed a curfew, as it recorded more than 300% increase in hospitalizations in less than a month. local officials are urging residents to stay home for at least two weeks and turning a convention c

before we get to florida, i want to turn to garrett haake. garrett, tell us what's going on where you are in this final stretch. >> stephanie, wisconsin is the one that got away for democrats four years ago. they lost this state to donald trump by only 23,000 votes. four times that many people can go to a packers game at lambeau field on any given sunday. that's how narrow the margin was. democrats think this is a state they can flip. the issue is the one more favorable for joe biden. that's the coronavirus. the president getting hammered on his response here. he's under water in the recent polling for his response to the virus. and it is surging here. the positivity rate in wisconsin is about 4 1/2 times the national average. it is the story on the local news. it is the story in the communities here. and every day that the president talks about how there's light at the end of the tunnel, public health officials like one i interviewed for a story i did overnight last night say this is the nightmare scenario. there is no light at the end of th

. >> joining me now is msnbc news capitol hill correspondent garrett haakes. we have news on a stimulus deal coming up to the white house and this. >> so on the twenty-fifth amendment part of it, this is designed to complete work of the writers of the twenty-fifth amendment which includes a provision about some body created by congress that could, in consultation with the vice president, allow for the vice president to temporarily assume the duties of the president if he or she were to suddenly become incapacitated. like, for example, if they had to be put on a ventilator or they suffered a stroke and they weren't able to hand power over to the vice president. that they're essentially finishing the job that this twenty-fifth amendment lays out to provide for in the age of covid, in the age where we've got 70 plus-year-old men running for president right now that, this is something that needs to exist, that it is not inherently political. on the stimulus relief bill side of things, this continues to be a whiplash-inducing week here on capitol hill. the presiden

nbc's garrett haake is in rochester for the president, not the kind of rally he envisioned. >> reporter: lester, tonight the candidates are skirmishing in a state no republican has won since 1972 donald trump came within 44,000 votes of flipping minnesota 4 years ago. he's had his eye on the state ever since joe biden is also here tonight playing a little bit of defense. he leads by an average of about 4 1/2 points in the polls here. as in many other places, covi hangs over everything here the state broke its record for new cases yesterday. it's also forced the president to abandon his typical large scale rallies in favor of the smaller event tapped at 250 people to comply with local regulations. lester >> all right garrett, thank you >>> despite the president's almost constant claim that we're rounding the turn in this pandemic, the numbers speak for themselves wit another 90,456 cases reported just yesterday. miguel almaguer today on the deepening crisis. >> reporter: tonight as coronavirus cases surge across the country, hospitals are on the brink filled with patients like carmen lur

garrett haake, al franken, rich lowry, claire mccaskill. senator franken, you're part of the team today. >> why not? >> you've got to talk to people above my pay grade. no offense, al franken, i'm going to start with garrett haake. we missed the last bit of instruction from lindsey graham there at the end. anything we should know before that? and give me your general observations from where you sit. >> i think he was just clarifying that the next senator to speak will be senator klobuchar, not senator coons who was sitting next on the dias because senator klobuchar was not in the room. obviously significant focus on the democratic side of the aisle on the affordable care act. we heard a lot of discussion about severability which i'll leave it to our legal experts to get into in more detail. but you heard the judge talk about the idea of severability as jenga, whether you could remove one piece and whether the whole law topples down. she was pressed as hard as we've seen her pressed on any topic by senator dick durbin on the questions of vot

is garrett haake in the room still? if we can find out that information. well, it looks like they're going to continue to figure out this audio problem now. and give us a pause in this hearing. as we go, let me bring in andrea mitchell there. hey, tech problems in the age of covid is something we're all used to. we're all dealinging with audio issues. i know, i'm shocked, shocked, that we're having a technical difficulty in this environment that we've all been experiencing here. andrea mitchell, i think what was -- i have to say, i thought that chris coons back and forth was an exchange that i think, certainly was, you heard a little bit more. he did it with a velvet glove. but he seemed to make a case that looked i thought putting up all of the cases up there, the 5-4s was an interesting way to showcase whatever they wanted to showcase that, hey, whatever you think, the court may be looking at a dramatic change look at all of these 5-4s that went one way, would likely go another. >> and he did it going back to the griswold case in 1965 which was the conne

garrett haake is on the hill with more. garrett, what's going on? >> stephanie, what you're seeing now is what a lot of activists in the democratic party want you to see from the begin chicaning. they do not have the votes but they can try to exact a maximum political cost. if you see a wide shot of the room you may be able to see the democratic senators are replaced by pictures. big, blown up poster-size photos of the same people they talked about during the hearings who they say would be hurt by the repeal of the aca. so democrats are not there. this is a committee vote that will pass, 12-0, with every republican senator present. but the goal for democrats is to highlight the political cost of this decision moving forward. all of this allows senate republicans to continue this fast track operation. they plan to start the voting process on the floor tomorrow moving through sunday with the idea being to get judge barrett confirmed to the bench by monday. it is extraordinarily fast. again, democrats cannot stop it but by boycotting, holding a press c

michigan today, calling the president's illness a bracing reminder of the seriousness of the pandemic garrett haake tonight on a presidential contest reshaped once again. >> reporter: tonight joe biden back on the campaign trail in battleground michigan, after a negative covid test this morning. >> we need to take the science of fighting this disease seriously. if we're going to save lives. >> reporter: meanwhile president trump's campaign announcing today that all previously scheduled campaign events would be moved to virtual events or are being temporarily postponed. the president's diagnosis may increase the spotlight on vice president mike pence whose campaign events will continue, and is set to debate senator kamala harris next week she's on the trail in las vegas today. there have been stark differences in the campaign styles of president trump and biden while trump has held large rallies with thousands of mostly maskless supporters, biden has kept his campaign stops small, and largely online the biden campaign announced thursday it would expand its get out the vote effort. volunteer jenna pe

. >>> i'm garrett haake. tonight with just 18 days to go president trump on a battleground blitz rallying thousands of supporters in florida. >> this election is a choice between a trump recovery and a biden depression biden's plan will crush america. my plan will crush the virus and america will be in a position very soon like it was never in before. >> reporter: earlier at a senior focused event announcing a partnership with cvs and walgreens to distribute an eventual coronavirus vaccine to nursing homes at no cost >> once you have that vaccine, these are very effective once you have that vaccine you can open those doors and say here i am. >> reporter: meanwhile here in michigan joe biden also focusing on health care. >> when i'm president i'll take care of the health coverage the same way i would my own family. >> reporter: and taking aim at the president for his handling of the pandemic. >> how many times on television have you seen him making fu of biden wearing a mask because he refuses to practice soci

. >> joining us now, nbc's garrett haake on capitol hill and nbc shannon petty piece outside the white house. garrett, let me begin with you with the very latest. the democrats' heroes act is worth $2.2 trillion, includes $600 for weekly federal unemployment supplements. trump is now tweeting about a piecemeal approach. just how far apart are pelosi and the white house on this one? >> pretty much light years apart. it's my understanding that the talks ultimately broke down over the same issues that have bedevilled them for months now, mainly money to state and local aid which continues to be something the republicans didn't want to pay for and something the democrats and pelosi felt like needed to be in this bill to protect jobs. we've heard the white house talking about the idea of passing various elements of this piecemeal, maybe an airline relief package. that's something that i think democrats could be potentially amenable to. we heard the president talk about stimulus payments, trying to get one more round of $1200 checks out to people. i asked speaker pelosi about that and she sa

and let me check back in with garrett haake. garrett, i know you've been watching as people flow in and out, what kind of after this round of spin are you hearing right now? >> well, we're -- there is not a lot of it here to be honest with you. i think we're gearing up to get further down the dais here. you're not seeing the more junior democrats today, cory booker hasn't set foot in the room. kamala harris, of course, will be speaking again remotely today. and as we get down the panel here, we'll hear from some of the newer members on the judiciary committee. on the republican side, who i expect to see follow a similar tactic which you saw from josh hawley, trying to provide biographical cover for judge barrett here. i expect to see that from joni ernst, marsha blackburn, republican women added to the committee only in this session of the u.s. senate after the circumstances around the kavanaugh nomination made it clear that this committee would be better served on the republican side to have some women on it. and so i think we'

joining me now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. this relief is well past due. where are the negotiations? >> reporter: i just spoke to the speaker in the hallway here, she was finishing up another interview. she says she's planning to talk to secretary mnuchin again this afternoon. unclear if he's coming up here or if they're speaking by phone. the reality is, despite the democrats coming up with a new offer, the white house appearing to move a little bit on their offer, there's still maybe $600 billion apart. this is not small change. these are big ideological differences in how and how important it is to address the needs of the american people who have been affected by this virus. at her news conference earlier today, speaker pelosi elaborated on that idea about the values being different. i think this is important. take a listen. >> we're looking at it from the standpoint of a family making $20,000 a year, a family of four. they're looking at it from the standpoint of $150 billion to the wealthiest people in our country. that's