robert: what about inside the white house, seung min? seung: well, they clearly see this as a critical moment as well. but you have seen for some time the president kind of lowering the expectations, not directly in reference to the debates, but just all the references that he and his team make to -- make toward the former vice president's work ethic, his demeanor, the president's nicknames toward him, sleepy joe, so i think in that sense they m have unintentionally or not lowered expectations for the vice president at this debate. so whether that was a smart strategy move or not, yet to be seen. but the president is clearly not someone who does debate prep in the traditional sense. so on the issues that we know are going to be discussed. so the pandemic, the supreme court, all these critical issues. we'll see how trump kind of shows up. and it will be just a fascinating contrast to watch. robert: nina, in the final 30 seconds here, your friend justice ginsburg, what a week watching all of the remembrances of her, when you stand back and

if it's not gardner i don't know who the fourth is beyond -- beyond the institutionalist that seung min mentioned. if lamar alexander is an sxample he's behind mcconnell. >> you're right, gardner may feel i need to say no because i need moderate independent voters but the second he says know he loses the tea party and trump base in colorado and then his math becomes impossible. a choice for democrats, too, and joe biden, because he is a traditionalist and was in the senate for nearly 40 years, he's been reluctant to say let's throw out the filibuster, we'll keep it on the table as an option depending on what happens. he's reluctant to do that and doesn't want to expand and pack the supreme court and then you have progress i was like alexandria ocasio-cortez who say that democrats have to keep every option on the table and be very aggressive in this fight. listen. >> with an early appointment all of our rights, the rights that so many people died for, voting rights, reproductive rights, health care rights, all of those rights go right -- go -- are at ridge of we need to tell him that he

seung kim and laura lopez, the doj now asking that it be allowed to defend president trump in a lawsuitayer dollars will cover the cost of defending the president in court. columnist jean carroll who accused president trump of raping her in the '90s and defaming her in his response when she filed that claim. president trump calls these accusations totally false. he says he has never met her. let's get to cara skinnel. the criticism of bill barr the attorney general that he's supposed to be america's lawyer and not the president's lawyer and this is the justice department saying we want to be the president's lawyer. >> reporter: exactly, john, this is an extraordinary move, you have the president with the justice department stepping in and it's taxpayer funded. the department of justice say the president was acting within the scope of his official duties because he was asked about the allegations by e. jean carroll when he was president and they're arguing that is within the scope of this. carroll's lawyer called this a shocking move by the justice department and the timing here is key.

. >> cnn's jeff zeleny and seung min kim of the "columbus post." trump paid little in taxes and debating the impact. if you look at polling, if you look at the state of the race, the president is the underdog. he was the disrupter. he was the slasher, the aggressor back in 2016. do they have a different approach this time understanding ohio is in play which tells you everything that you need to know. new pennsylvania numbers today saying joe biden has a health he lead, really hard to get the president re-elected without pennsylvania. what is the strategy going in? >> exactly. i mean, right now, republicans have told us for so much of this year that once this becomes a contrast choice between president trump and the eventual democratic nominee that it will be more equal footing ground, that's not been the case and it's 35 days out from the election and there's a referendum on him, his handling of the pandemic, the economy and everything else that's happened this year but the strategy really hasn't changed all too. president trump is not someone who