nick schifrin reports. >> i think that mail-in voting is a terrible thing. >> schifrin: the video combinessident trump with metallica. it falsely claims to be from the right-wing extremist group the proud boys. pbs newshour isn't playing the whole video. it's desigd to amplify doubts about mail-in voting. experts say the video's claim is false, and mail-in voting is reliable. the video was linked in emails that claim, "we are in possession of all your information. you are currently registered as a democrat, and we know this because we have gained access into the entire voting infrastructure. you will vote for trump on election day, or we will come after you." it concludes, falsely, "we will know which candidate you voted for." last night, director of national intelligence john ratcliffe blamed iran and labeled the claims false. >> this video and any claims about such allegedly fraudulent ballots are not true. these actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries. >> these actors made a lot of claims and threats, but a lot of it is dubious. >> schifrin: john hulquist tracks cyber th

here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: jamal khashoggi's murder snuffed out a critic of today's saudi government.la yearr, his allies are trying to ensure his silenced voice can still be heard. a new film released iday shows a complex man who never completed his final act. lawrence wright is a writer, and the executive producer o "kingdom of silence." >> i see jamal's life in three acts, just like a-- you know, classical dra. >> schifrin: that first act was in afghanistan, covering the u.s.-backed mujahadeen fighting the soviet union. he helped make the leading arab anti-russian fighter famous. m >> osama for the first time at the end of '87. of made my name inield oft kind journalism. >> schifrin: but after 9/11, khashoggi turned against bin laden's manipulated version of islam. khashoggi wrote this, as read by an actor: >> "weust ensure that our children can never be influenced by extremist ideas, like those 15 saudis who were misled into piloting them-- and all of us-- >> schifrin: khashoggi joined the saudi government and championed u.s.-saudi relations, including thwar in iraq. t then, his thi

here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: when president trump argued during tuesday's debate that he was thetim of a clinton conspiracy-- >> you saw what happened today with hillary clinton, where it was a whole big con job. >> schifrin: --he had new evidence, released just hours before. a letter from director of national intelligence john ratcliffe declassified a russian assessment that hillary clinton planned to "stir up a scandal" in 2016 by tying candidate trump to russian hacking, even though ratcliffe admitted he "does not know the accuracy of this allegation." it was also cited yesterday by judiciary committee chairman and trump ally senator lindsey graham. >> you've got a letter now from ratcliffe saying there was a-- they intercepted information about an effort in july where hillary clinton approved an effort to link trump to russia, the mob. >> schifrin: u.s. officials and former intelligence officials tell pbs newshour, the.b.i. in 2016 considereit might be russian disinformation; it was rejected by special counsel robert mueller and the bipartisan senate intelligence committee; a

to talk about all of this, we turn to nick schifrin. back to last year, and concerns expressed about rudy giuliani. >> schifrin: judy, we all remember h impeachment began. the crux of the democrats' accusation was that president trump sought favors from the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelensky, to get dirt on joe biden. at the time, the source of the president's information about biden was rudy giuliani, the president's personal attorney, who was looking into joe and hunter biden. joe biden at the time ran the obama administration's ukraine policy, and hunter was on the board of a ukrainian energy company called burisma, widely considered corrupt. we'll talk about those details in a second. but the intelligence community was monitoring ukrainians it believed to be russian spies, and realized giuliani was talking to at least one of them. in fact, one of giuliani's main sources had been dubbed by the treasury department an "active russian agent for the last decade." a former senior intelligence offial tells me that president trump was

nick schifrin has the story. >> schifrin: for a group that symbolized barbarism and brutality, four british-born were ang isis' most brutal terrorists, and committed the group's most notorious crimes. the u.s. says the so-called" beatles" helped capture, guard,a tortur execute, journalists and aid workers on camera. their ringleader, known as jihadi john,illed in a 2015 u.s. airstrike, and two others were captured in 2018 by u.s.-backed kurdish fighters who liberated northeast syria. today those two-- el shafee elsheikh and alexanda amon kotey, landed in the u.s. and appeared in federal court, charged with four coach of hostage taking resultingn death, cspiracy to murder u.s. citizens outside the u.s., and conspiracy to provide mateal support for terrorists. sentence of life in prison. zach terwilliger is the u.s. district of virginia.ern >> ensuring that truth andst e find their way out of this tragic story, would mean that the islamic state wou never have the last word. >> schifrin: among their allegea victims: amehumanitarian workers peter kassig, and kayla mueller britons david haines and al

here's nick schifrin. khashoggi's murder snuffed oua critic of today's saudi government. two years later his allies are trying to ensure his silenced voice can still be heard. the new film shows a complex mac who nevpleted his final act. lawrence wright is a writer, and the executive producer of kingdom of sence. >> i see jamal's life in three acts, just like a classical drama. nick: the first act was in afghanistan, covering the u.s.-backed mujahadeen fighting the soviet union and he helped dimake the lea arab anti-russian fighter, famous. >> i myself come outrom islam. it was a bigtory, made my name in the field of journalism. nick:ft but 9/11 khashoggi turned against bin laden's manipulated khashoggi wrote version of islam. an actor --rotethis, as read by >> we must ensure that our children can never be influenced by extremist ideas like those 15 saudis who were misled into piloting them and us straight into the jaws of hell. nick: khashoggi joined the saudi governmentnd championed u.s.-saudi relations,

and nick schifrin ins me now. so, nick, what exactly did the president and his national secuty advisor have to say about this? >> reporter: three times judy, in the last 24 hours, the white house indicated i wantede to accelere withdrawal from afghanistan. first time was yesterday afternoon, national security advisor robert o'brien tivi las vegas -- nevada is a swing state -- and for the first time he set a specific timetable to reduce te troops in hal >> the president took office, there were over 10,000 troops in afghanistan. as of today there are under 5,000. that will go to 2,500 by next year. >> reporter: last night the president went further. he tweeted that all troops should be back by christmas and, this ming, he said this during a phone interview with fox business' marie. >> we're down to 4,000 troops in afghanistan and i'll have them home by the end of the year. they're ming home as we speak. 19 years is enough. they're actings policemen, okay, they're not acting as troops. w odruff: -- this ahead of >> r

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-- biden campaign in a few seconds, their goal. >> they want to make this about president trump's record. >> we are cutting you short in o

in a moment, nick schifrin speaks witthe top u.s. counterintelligence official charged with combating foreignon attackmerica's systems. but first, here's nick with some backgroun, on fore disinformation. >> reporter: in 2017 when protestors mocked president trump with french revolutionary fervor... >> when the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drum. >> repr: ...they didn't realize they'd been duped by russian trolls. fake russian facebook accounts called on americans to protest in real life, after the election. in fact, russian efforts in then u.s.er stopp. but by 2020, they evolved. >> i think the difference thatm we're seeing fsinformation in 2016 coming from russia and russia's kind of been forced underground. >> reporter: nina jankowicz cis the wilster's disinformation fellow. she says russian tactics have changed, but the strategy remains the same. >> the goal is to cause chaos and distst in the institutions that govern our democracy and frankly, to cause discordee beamericans themselves. >> reporter: in the last m

see where the candidates stand on dealing with beijing, here is nick schifrin.idate -- pres. trump: we cannot continue to allow china t rape our country -- no administration has been tougher on china. nick: president trump has made confronting china one of his signature policies. >> they are one of the central threats of our time. nick: today's china is more assertive, military modernized and claims both of the south china sea, flaunting international law. beijing sells technology america says helps china spy and builds influence with other countries. in hong kong after more than a year of protest, beijing ended much of the city's british era rule of law and detained more than one million chinese uighurs. chinese diplomats make no apologies and criticize their critics. >> the world criticize us as things unravel in the u.s. they better get their house in order. nick: they exposed china's all disconsolate in the u.s. and charged chese hackers and military officers. the administration charged officials in uighur detention. while the administration confronts china,

nick schifrin reports. >> today is an important milestone for nuclear security and non-proliferation.ick: 10 years ago, the u.s. and russia signed the new strategic arms reducti treaty, or new start, which caps the number of u.s. and russian warheads deployed on long-range systems -- intercontinental ballistic misses, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers. and it includes verification measures such as movement notifications and on-site inspections. today russia released a statement agreeing to a one year extension. and separately, to quote assume a political obligation to cap the total number of nuclear warheads, as the u.s. has requested. t russia has not publicly agreed to u.s. demands for additional verification. joining me now is marshall billingslea, special presidential envoy for arms control, and the lead u.s. negotiator. welcome back to the "newshour." bottom line, do you have an agreement on a one-year new start extension and a one year cap on nuclear warheads? >> we don't have an agreement yet but certainly given the fact at russia has moved in the directi

nick schifrin reports. >> reporter: ten years ago, the u.s. and russia signed new strategic arms reduction treat are or start which caps the number of u.s. and russian warheads deployed on long range systems intercontinental ballistic missile, submarine launched ballistic missiles and heavy bombers. it includes movement notifications and onite inspections. russia agreed to a one-year extension and separately to assume a political obligation to cap the total number of nuear warheads as the u.s. requested. but russia has not publicly agreed to u.s. demands for additional verification. joining me is marshall marshall, special presidential envoy for arms control, and the lead u.s. negotiators. marshall marshall -- marshall do you have an agreement on the one year cap on nuclear warheads and a new start extension? >> we don't have an agreement yet but, certainly, given the fact that russia moved in the direction of the united states' proposal for this cap, it looks like the two sides are getting much, much closer together and i would say we're very

to explore where the candidates stand on dealing with beijing, here's nick schifrin. >> reporter: asdidate: >> we can't continue to allow china to rape our country. >> reporter: and president: >> no administration has been tougher on china than this administration. >> reporter: president trump's made confronting china, one of his administration's signature policies. >> the chinese communist party presents the central threat of our times. >> reporter: today's china is more assertive globally. its military is modernizing, and claims almost all of the south china sea, flouting international law. beijing sells technology the u.s. says helps china spy, and buil billions of dollars of infrastructure around the world, that also builds influence with other countries. in hong kong, after more than a year of protests, beijg ended much of the city's british-era rule of law. and in xinjiang detained more than a million muslim uyghurs. chinese diplomats make no apologies, and criticize their critics. >> ( translated ): the whole world has watched as things unravel in the u.s. american politicians