Summary
Highest record of single-day coronavirus infection at 83,757 in the United States and Donald Trump is stating that we're rounding the turn while Dr. Anthony Fauci warns of a challenging situation ahead. Record number of early voting 11 days before the election tallied at more than 47 million. Families separated at the border, 545 children separated from their parents on Trump's zero tolerance policy, was one of the questions at the last presidential debate.
Transcript
RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: Former president, Barack Obama, holding on a drive-in rally for Biden in Miami, Florida tomorrow. Biden himself tomorrow is going to hold an afternoon drive-in rally in Pennsylvania with Jon Bon Jovi.
Mike Pence is going to be in Florida tomorrow and then in North Carolina on Sunday. Kamala Harris is going to be in Cleveland tomorrow and Detroit on Sunday. Lots of rallies, not a lot of time left.
If you haven't voted yet, just, please, just do it. That does it for us tonight. I'll see you again on Monday night. Now it's time for "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell. Good evening, Lawrence.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Good evening, Rachel. And in your schedule roundup, campaign schedule roundup, you left out Steve Kornacki. You know where Steve Kornacki is going to be? Sunday, 10:00 p.m., Steve Kornacki right here on MSNBC with Steve Kornacki's election roundup Sunday night, just when we need it.
I know you're just like me, you were thinking what am I going to do Sunday night at 10:00 p.m.? I'm going to want a surge of campaign stuff and we're going to get it from Steve Kornacki.
MADDOW: Well, the good thing about doing that on Sunday night is that for us it's, like, basically cheat sheet for the week, right, because it helps us cram
O'DONNELL: Exactly. Exactly.
MADDOW: -- so that you can actually take some of the rest of the weekend off, cram with Steve on Sunday and then you're ready for the week.
O'DONNELL: Let's -- after Steve does his thing Sunday night, let's Monday morning just decide clearly which one of us steals which part of it for 9:00 p.m. and for 10:00 p.m. And guess what, Rachel --
MADDOW: All right. I got dibs on states that start with "M," yes.
O'DONNELL: America is going to get a big Steve Kornacki preview of Sunday night in a very few minutes right here. He's going to be our first guest tonight right here with a little preview of where we are tonight, what he's going to have to say Sunday night.
MADDOW: I'm going to get out of your way, then. Well done. Hit it.
O'DONNELL: Thank you, Rachel.
MADDOW: Thank you, Lawrence.
O'DONNELL: Well, we have a lot to get to tonight. We have Mike Espy, senate candidate in Mississippi. We have Mary Trump joining us the night after a debate. I always want to get Mary Trump's reaction to what we are seeing of Donald Trump in these debates, and so she will be joining us later in this hour.
And tonight the United States of America is setting two records, the largest number of people who have participated in early voting in history, and the largest number of people who've been infected by the coronavirus in a single day.
Today 83,010 people were reported infected with COVID-19, and on this day when this country recorded the largest number of people ever infected with coronavirus in a single day on this very day, the president of the United States said we're rounding the corner beautifully. Those are his exact words.
And after Donald Trump said that, Erin Burnett showed Dr. Anthony Facui video of the president saying we are rounding the corner on the very day when we reported the most infections in a single day in this tragic history of this pandemic.
And in the video you're about to see, notice the long pause that Dr. Fauci takes after he is asked if he agrees with the president. It is in that pause that Dr. Fauci is composing his answer in such a way that allows him to avoid specifically saying, no, I do not agree with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to quickly end this pandemic, this horrible plague that came in from China. You look at what's going on and we're rounding the turn, we're rounding the corner. We're rounding the corner beautifully.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Dr. Fauci, do you agree?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, if you look at the numbers, Erin, it tells us that we really are facing a very challenging situation, and if we don't do something in the sense of paying stricter attention to the kinds of public health mitigation issues that we were talking about, it's not going to spontaneously turnaround.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: In his first post-debate speech, Joe Biden focused on the coronavirus on this day that saw the largest number of Americans infected by the coronavirus in a single day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Wearing a mask is not a political statement. It was a scientific. It's a point and a patriotic pride so we can pull our country out of this god-awful spiral we're in. And it's a testament to the values we were taught by our families and by our faith, love thy neighbor as thy self.
Once we have a safe and effective vaccine, it has to be free to everyone, whether or not you're insured. Let me say that again, the vaccine must be free and freely available to everyone.
This is just not one more reason why it's so despicable that Donald Trump is fighting in the middle of a pandemic to get the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act which I worked so damn hard to get the votes for.
Under the ACA, insurers are required to cover recommended vaccines for free. So, overturning the ACA would mean people have to pay to get COVID-19 vaccine. That's wrong, very, very wrong.
(END VIDE CLIP)
O'DONNELL: I've seen some despicable things in political campaigns before, but in most, in most political campaigns that I've witnessed before Donald Trump ran for president, the use of the word despicable had no place.
In most of the political campaigns that I've reported on before the candidacy of Donald Trump, there was nothing despicable about either candidate.
But fighting to take health care away from people in the middle of a pandemic as Donald Trump is doing is something I have never seen before. American politics has never seen that before.
The Trump campaign and Republicans know that it is despicable, and that's why they will not get in a fight with Joe Biden over the use of that word the way they got in a fight with Hillary Clinton four years ago over the use of the word deplorable.
The Trump campaign and Republicans know that they will lose a fight over whether it is despicable for Donald Trump and the Republican members of Congress and 18 Republican state attorneys general to be asking the Supreme Court right now to take health care away from 20 million people in the middle of a pandemic.
If that's not despicable, then the word has no meaning. Donald Trump knows it's despicable to separate children from their parents at the Mexican border and put them in cages, and that is why he lied last night and tried to blame the children who he put in cages on President Obama. Donald Trump did that because Donald Trump knows that what he did is despicable.
Losing track of those children's parents was and is despicable and Donald Trump knows it. Being unable to reunite those children with their parents is despicable, and Donald Trump did that, and he did it deliberately as recently revealed, Justice Department e-mails show.
Last night's presidential debate came too late to change the minds of about 50 million people who have already voted. NBC News official count as of tonight shows 47 million votes already cast. But there could easily be 1 million votes already in the mail right now in California alone as we speak, and millions more already in the mail in other states all around the country.
And so as of tonight, more than a third of the number of people who voted for the president four years ago have already voted. And there are 11 more days to go before Election Day.
Today, Senator Kamala Harris, candidate for vice president of the United States, went to Atlanta, Georgia, to speak to and about people who Donald Trump and Republican senators and Republican policymakers ignore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The people of Georgia deserve to have a president who sees them, who cares about them. Georgia has been so hard hit by the pandemic. You're looking at, you know, almost -- nationally almost half of black businesses will be permanently closed because the failure of this administration to address the pandemic.
We're looking at Atlanta, which has a very significant black community and 1 in 1,000 black people in America have died because of this pandemic. It is predicted that as many as 1 in 500 by the end of the year. So we're here to talk about what Joe and I are prepared to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: And with 11 days to go on this Friday night, we go straight to the big board and MSNBC's Steve Kornacki with what he sees and we'll be getting an hour of this from Steve on Sunday night at 10:00 p.m. Steve, what should we be focusing on tonight?
STEVE KORNACKI, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Lawrence. Thank you for the plug, by the way, Lawrence. My producer also says a big thanks for that. But let's take you through, you mentioned this, nearly 50 million votes already recorded in this election.
That number just continues to rise each day. And again, more than a third, as you say, of all the votes in 2016. How about the pace at this point in 2016, how many early votes were cast? 179 percent more votes have been cast at this point in the calendar.
What this is also suggesting too, record energy, record interest. The total turnout for this election could be 150 million, 155 million when all is said and done. That'd be about 20 million more than 2016. That would be incredible.
Take a look, though, let's look at the Electoral College here because this is what it's all about. Can Donald Trump get to 270 again or will he be stopped? This is where things landed in 2016 for him, 306 electoral votes.
Call your attention here to two states, and you and Rachel were just talking about this, going through the list of travel for the candidates. You kept hearing Pennsylvania and you kept hearing Florida come up. And that's no mistake because -- no accident there because those two states, especially from the president's standpoint of trying to hang on, let me show you how critical they are.
First of all, look at Pennsylvania in the context of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Why? Because those are three states that have been Democratic for three decades that Trump flipped in 2016. And each one of those states, these were his three narrowest wins in 2016, less than one point.
That was Trump's margin in all three states. These are also the three battleground states, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania where Trump is doing the worst in the polling right now.
And why that's so critical from an Electoral College perspective, watch what happens if Trump does not get Wisconsin, does not get Michigan. Look at the numbers there, and then does not get Pennsylvania. He's under 270. And he is not positioned to be flipping any Clinton states right now.
This would be enough to cost him the presidency if he does not win one of these three states. And Pennsylvania, of these three states, is the one where Trump has been polling the best, where his campaign thinks they have the best chance of holding on.
It's why he was in the state this week. It's why you're hearing so much about Pennsylvania. The Trump folks think they have the best shot at these three to hang onto Pennsylvania. If they could do that, he would be back in the game in the Electoral College.
But then we mentioned Florida. Florida with 29 electoral votes. You look at the polling in Florida, one of the groups that Trump is struggling with in Florida and elsewhere, senior citizens. That's where there's been -- the polls say at least some slippage.
If Trump didn't get Florida, again, falls well under 270. He must win. For all intents and purposes, he has got to find a way to win Florida and he's got to find a way to win Pennsylvania.
O'DONNELL: And Steve, we're going to be watching Florida on election night because we might have a result in Florida on election night.
KORNACKI: There it is. Florida polls close in just about all the state except the panhandle. Florida's polls closed at 7:00 p.m. And the key thing to know about Florida is even before there was a COVID, they were running their elections like there was a COVID.
And what I mean by that is, extensive mail-in voting, heavy early voting, election officials who know how to process those ballots and get them reported out. They were doing that before there was a COVID. So, Florida actually, after the debacle of 2000 since then, Florida has a very good track record of getting its results out quickly on election night.
And yes, you could be in a situation 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 election night, we might have a strong sense where Florida is going and might have a strong sense where things could be going from there based on that.
O'DONNELL: MSNBC's Mr. Excitement, Steve Kornacki. And Steve, I say Mr. Excitement because we only cut to you when it is this exciting and we are this much on the edge of our seats. We're going to be relying on you more and more. And Rachel and I are going to decide which parts of your Sunday night report we steal for Monday night. Thank you, Steve. Really appreciate it.
STEVE KORNACKI: I will Lawrence. Thank you.
O'DONNELL: Thank you.
Joining our discussion now, Karine Jean-Pierre. She is the chief of staff to the campaign of vice presidential candidate, Senator Kamala Harris. Karine, thank you very much for joining us tonight. The debate last night was generally considered something where no one was able to see exactly where Donald Trump would have converted voters because he's the one who has to do the converting.
He's running behind, as Steve Kornacki just reported. And when you're running behind, if you're not converting voters, you stay behind. What is your strategy now in these remaining 11 days to try to prevent conversion to Donald Trump?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, CHIEF OF STAFF TO VP NOMINEE KAMALA HARRIS: I think our strategy right now -- and hello, Lawrence. Thank for having me tonight. Our strategy right now is to make sure people go out and vote and vote early, and that is the key.
That is how we're going to win. That's how Democrats are going to win. As you mentioned at the top of your show, 47 million people have already voted, early voted across the country. And that is astounding and we know why, because of COVID-19, the virtual reality that we're in, people are voting early.
Look, you talked about as well, Kamala Harris was in Georgia today. She was in Georgia. The last time a Democrat has won Georgia in a presidential election was Bill Clinton in 1992, and here we are as a campaign, we are on the offense because it is getting so -- it is really close. It is Trump's to lose in Georgia.
And we were there. She was there mobilizing voters, getting people out to vote early. And if you look at Georgia, just kind of as an example since we're there, 2.3 million people voted already in the state of Georgia. That is more than we saw in 2016 in the entire election cycle in Georgia 49 percent.
If you look at the voter registration, 49 percent of new voter registrants were people of color, 46 percent were young people under the age of 30. That is very good for Democrats in Georgia. Excellent numbers that we see. So we're just going to continue leaning in, make sure people vote early.
And also, when you think about the contrast, there is no better contrast than today when you see Joe Biden, who addresses the American public, talking about COVID, talking about vaccine, talking about how Joe Biden and a Kamala Harris administration is going to fight COVID.
And then you have a contrast of Donald Trump who's holding superspreader events and giving Russian disinformation, spreading Russian disinformation at his rallies, that's the contrast. That is what we're talking about.
We're talking about leadership that is so needed for the American people. We are in multiple crises right now, and Donald Trump has no plan. He has no plan at all. As you said, Lawrence, he's trying to take away health care for millions of people.
O'DONNELL: Karine, I want to get your reaction to something that Donald Trump said last night. He said this kind of thing before almost word for word, but last night to the biggest audience probably he's ever had for this kind of thing. He said I am the least racist person in this room.
Now, in my experience, the only person who ever says that is the most racist person in any room where you ever hear that said. What was your reaction? What do you think voters' reaction was to Donald Trump saying that?
EAN-PIERRE: I think voters are not stupid. They know exactly what's going on. They have seen Donald Trump over the last 3 1/2 years, almost 4 years, and his behavior -- his behavior towards the black community, his behavior towards the brown community, immigrants.
You talked about the more than 500 kids right now who have no parents, who are orphaned, that that was because of a zero tolerance policy, a pilot policy that Donald Trump had in 2017 because he thought that was the best way to deter immigrants from coming, migrants who are coming into this country.
And now on our names, he did it on behalf of us. We have these young kids who are parentless. This is what Donald Trump is. This is what he does. And you have to remember when one of the most powerful things about Joe Biden's announcement in April of 2012, was that image in Charlottesville where you saw, you know, neo-Nazis with tiki torches storming down the street.
And what does the president say? He says there are very fine people on both sides. And one of the things Joe Biden spoke to really clearly (inaudible) was systemic racism and how that has affected our country and how we have to change and bring people together.
O'DONNELL: Karine Jean-Pierre, the chief of staff for the Democratic vice presidential candidate's campaign, Kamala Harris, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.
And when we come back, it's the moment from the debate that Rachel just said in her hour made her actually gasp out loud. It was when Donald Trump was talking about the children that he willfully separated from their parents because of his border policy.
That policy was one of the reasons that Donald Trump's niece, Mary Trump, decided she had to speak out against her uncle. Mary Trump join us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'DONNELL: Last night Kristen Welker focused on the 545 lost children who Donald Trump separated from their parents at our southern border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEN WALKER, NBC NEWS: Do you have a plan to reunite the kids?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- they built cages. Yes. We're working on it very -- we're trying very hard. But a lot of these kids come out without their parents. They come over through cartels and through coyotes and through gangs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: Everything about that answer was a lie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: These 500 plus kids came with parents. They separated them at the border to make it a disincentive to come to begin with. Begged -- real tough. We're really tough strong. And guess what, they cannot -- it's not coyotes, didn't bring them brought them over. Their parents were with them. They got separated from their parents.
TRUMP: They are so well taken care of. They're in facilities that were so clean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: Joining our discussion now, Mary Trump, the niece of Donald Trump. She's a clinical psychologist and the author of "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man." And Mary, I was thinking of you last night because I always think of you during these debates wondering what your view is of what he's saying. But especially in that section because I know how important that was to you in making your decision about speaking out about your uncle.
MARY TRUMP, AUTHOR, TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH: Yes. You know, it's hard to watch. As you said, partially because everything he says is a lie. But let's put that aside for a minute because of course he's going to lie. He always does, and it becomes so normalized that I think it doesn't make sense anymore to focus on it.
But two things really stuck out for me. First of all, he blamed the Biden administration for having the cages. Obviously that's not exactly what happened. Families were not separated under the Biden administration -- sorry -- the Obama administration.
But let's say for the sake of argument that were the case. Does that exonerate Donald's decision to continue this cruel policies? Like, he can't even answer that question. It's almost as if, well, you know, somebody else did it so, why can't I? Why can't I not continue to kidnap, torture, and incarcerate children?
So, you know, that was an obvious faulty logic that he presented. And, you know, the other thing too is the casual cruelty of saying, well, yes, you know, we kidnapped them, and yes, we can't reunite them with their parents because we just don't really care.
But they're in a nice place, you know, it's really clean. First of all, that is also a lie. But secondly, does that really make up for the fact that we have taken children as young as four months old away from their parents.
And think about this. We don't understand just how -- cruel is not a good enough word. It's torture. If those parents do finally get reunited with their parents, some of them won't even remember that they are their parents.
Imagine what that would be like if you were that child's parent. It's beyond the pale, and honestly, if this administration is allowed to continue for another four years, this is exactly who we are as a country.
O'DONNELL: You know, when you talk about it as torture, I think we can all, even without professional training, recognize. We've seen lost kids at a big shopping mall somewhere and we see the 4-year-old just crying in a way that is agonizing and we're all hoping that this is going to get solved and in this country it usually does, the kid lost in the giant store.
But just those minutes, a few minutes of a kid lost in a giant store is just a painful thing to watch. If your uncle were ever in a giant store where his voters shop, where he's never been, if he ever witnessed something like that, would he feel anything?
M. TRUMP: Oh, yes. He'd probably be annoyed that the child was being loud and bothering him. He doesn't care. I know I keep repeating myself and I'm sorry, but the idea that people think that he cares about other people, particularly vulnerable people, kind of needs to stop.
You know, I'm telling this story not because it's the most important thing, but Donald Trump is somebody who 20 years ago revoked our health insurance when my nephew, who was a baby, was in the neonatal intensive care unit.
He revoked our family health insurance that everybody in my family, including him and all of my cousins had had forever through my grandfather's company, to punish us for doing something he didn't like by putting my nephew, who was suffering from life-threatening seizures, in danger. That's who he is. We cannot cut him any slack. We cannot make excuses for him. He doesn't care.
O'DONNELL: And so here he is 20 years later trying to take health care away from 20 million people in the Supreme Court, trying to rush his justice onto the Supreme Court, his ninth, in order to rule very soon to remove health care from 20 million people. I guess for you there's no surprise in that.
M. TRUMP: Not at all. You know, they've been on this mission for years now. You know, I think for Donald, part of it is just because if President Obama did it, then it needs to be dismantled. You know, that seems to be something that's very important to him to erase President Obama's legacy at every opportunity.
But when you consider that it's in the middle of a pandemic, that every day worsens because of his willful incompetence and disregard for human life, it just makes it a little worse.
O'DONNELL: Can you stay with us over this commercial break because there's so much more I want to ask you about especially that moment because you've spoken -- were growing up, and that line last night about I'm the least racist person in this room.
And also your op-ed piece in "The Washington Post" about why psychologists and psychiatrists should be able to speak publicly about this president.
We can do that right after this commercial break. We'll be back with Mary Trump after that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm the least racist person in this room.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He pours fuel on every single racist fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: Mary Trump is back with us. And Mary, what was your reaction last night when you heard your uncle say "I'm the least racist person in this room"?
M. TRUMP: You nailed it. The only person who say things like that are always the most racist person in the room. So it's absurd on its face, but it's not just ridiculous, it's dangerous. I have -- I think last time we spoke we talked about the casual racism in my family and, you know, that's true in so far as, you know, they weren't virulently racist I think -- they're as racist as many other people in their position and at that time in the 40s and 50s in Queens, New York.
But this is a person with power now and I don't think it's casual anymore. It's virulent and unrepentant, and every day this man who is the leader of this country through his rhetoric, through his belligerent unwillingness to call out white supremacists, and to grapple with the fact that the greatest threat to our country domestically are white domestic terrorists.
So he can say all he wants that he's not racist, but a lot of incredibly racist people in the country understand that Donald has their backs.
O'DONNELL: So "The New York Times" last Sunday produced an editorial that is historic. In its entire history it has never been done a ten-page editorial about a presidential campaign endorsement.
And of course, It was an endorsement of Joe Biden, but it was nothing but from end to end a condemnation of Donald Trump, a condemnation of the person Joe Biden's running against.
"The Times" took extraordinary measures. It did something it's never done before. It saw a special case in our history.
You have made the case that the psychology profession should be doing the same thing and should be relaxing the rule that says psychiatrists and psychologists should not publicly diagnose public figures because you suggest that the case of Donald Trump presents a new challenge to the profession. You wrote an op-ed piece about this in "The Washington Post".
And yet your profession, the official organization of it, does not want to take any extraordinary measure in the face of this.
M. TRUMP: Yes. I just want to clarify that I was talking about the American Psychiatric Association, which I'm not part of. I'm a psychologist. But either way, the American Psychological Association hasn't really been doing anything either.
I think the American Psychiatric Association has more clout, actually, and they're the ones who put in place the Goldwater rule which in the late 60s said that it was improper for psychiatrists to diagnose public figures, which, by the way, is technically impossible.
They expand that rule in 2017 after Donald Trump's inauguration to suggest that psychiatrists can't even discuss observable behavior of public figures, which is absurd, because it means that medical, psychological and psychiatric professionals cannot render a verdict, cannot help the American people understand why we should perhaps be concerned with certain observable behaviors.
And you know, it's one thing for individuals to speak out -- psychiatrists, psychologists, but unless there's a coherent, coordinated attempt to clarify what's going on, backed up by a powerful organization like the APA, it's not going to gain any traction.
Luckily I have a bit of a platform now and I can hopefully start that conversation or at least, you know, move it down the field a little bit. But we need the organizations to speak up, otherwise, you know, it's literally individuals screaming into a void because we are not helping the American people make sense of why this is so dangerous. Why Donald's behavior is so dangerous.
O'DONNELL: Mary Trump, the title of your book is "Too Much and Never Enough", and the title of our segments with you is "Too Little and Never Enough". I could go on and on with you. We desperately need you to come back whenever you can. I could listen for hours on end. Thank you very much for joining us again tonight.
M. TRUMP: Thank you so much, Lawrence. It was such a pleasure to be here.
O'DONNELL: Thank you.
And up next, every election expert, Steve Kornacki is telling you watch Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the tipping point. He told you that earlier tonight. That's the tipping point on the way to 270 electoral votes.
Today the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued rulings that means more votes will be counted there. And there are new concerns of voter intimidation in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania attorney general joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'DONNELL: Today the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court unanimously ruled that mail-in ballots cannot be disqualified simply because of an alleged mismatch of signatures.
Also in Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign is now being warned about voter intimidation there. "The New York Times" reports, quote, the campaign made a formal complaint to city officials on October 16th saying a campaign representative had surveilled voters depositing two or three ballots at drop boxes instead of only their own.
Joining our discussion is Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's attorney general. Attorney General Shapiro, thank you very much for joining us tonight. I want to start with what we just referred to in that "New York Times" report, the possibility of voters -- there's two things in there. First of all there's voter surveillance going on in that statement. And then there's also this allegation about a voter possibly depositing more than one ballot. Take that apart for us. What do you see in that?
JOSH SHAPIRO, PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, let's unpack that, Lawrence. So look, the idea of just videotaping something is not necessarily illegal. It really hinges on the person doing the video, what their intent is.
If their intent is to intimate that voter when they come to drop off their ballot or when they show up on election day, whatever the case may be, that's voter intimidation. That's illegal. We won't stand for that here in Pennsylvania.
present case that was cited in that New York Times article that you referred to is being investigated by local law enforcement, and I want to assure you and everyone watching that local, state, and federal law enforcement officials here in Pennsylvania on the ground, we're working together to root out any type of voter intimidation.
The second part of this, Lawrence, that you talk about is dropping off those ballots at the drop box. The law says here in Pennsylvania that you can only drop off your own ballot unless, of course, you are aiding someone who qualifies for that aid in assisting them with their ballot, both filling it out and possibly dropping it off as well.
We obviously don't know what the circumstances were in this case, but I just want to break down the state law for you per your question.
O'DONNELL: And to this Supreme Court decision today about signatures, take us through that.
SHAPIRO: Look, Lawrence, it's another win for the voters in Pennsylvania. I would point out we're 5-0 against the attacks from Donald Trump and his enablers on our voting here in Pennsylvania, on our election system here in Pennsylvania.
Lawrence, we just want to have an election. In fact, one is already under way. 1.4 million Pennsylvanians have already cast their vote. Donald Trump and his enablers have been trying to chip away at our ballots and trying to exclude them.
In this case what they're do is say that if your signature on the back of your envelope that you use to mail back your ballot doesn't precisely match the signature that's on file, well, they would have hoped your ballot would have been tossed.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court erred on the side of inclusion, erred on the side of making sure these ballots are counted. That's a good thing for democracy. That's a good thing for this election. It's a good thing for Pennsylvania.
Here's the deal, Lawrence. We are 5-0 against these attacks from Donald Trump. If we have to go 6-0 or 7-0, whatever it takes, we will secure, protect, defend the votes of all eligible Pennsylvanians and make sure they're counted.
O'DONNELL: I know in my own normal use of signatures, my signature never matches. It never matches the one I did an hour ago, but I have to say when I was signing in my mail-in ballot, I rehearsed my signature a couple of times trying to get it as clear as I think it is in the voting records.
But, I mean, how would you determine a mismatch anyway? Don't you need handwriting experts to do that?
SHAPIRO: Right. What the Trump campaign and their enablers were asking for really was ridiculous. What the goal was, of course, was to try to throw away as many of these mail-in ballots as possible.
About 70 percent of the mail-in ballots are being requested by Democrats. No wonder Donald Trump wants to try and exclude as many of these ballots as possible. I think he realizes that if he has a straight-up fair election in Pennsylvania, he's going to lose. And so he's trying to bend the rules to help him and we're not going to allow it.
O'DONNELL: Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
SHAPIRO: Good to be with you. Thanks.
O'DONNELL: And when we come back, Democrats need to flip four senate seats to take back control of the United States Senate, which is the second most important thing that's at stake in this election.
We will be joined by Mississippi senate candidate Mike Espy next.
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is Barack Obama. You know Mike Espy has a great chance to win this election for the senate and keep Mississippi moving forward. You are finally able to change the flag. Now you can change your senator, too.
Vote on November 3rd. Mike Espy for Senate and Joe Biden for president. It's your time to be heard.
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O'DONNELL: Mike Espy is running against a Republican senator who has said the history of the confederacy is, quote, "Mississippi history at its best". And she said that after visiting a museum honoring Jefferson Davis, the slave owning president of the confederate states during the civil war.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you posted this picture in a statement on your Facebook page and said I enjoyed my tour of the war the Jefferson Davis home and presidential library located in Biloxi and this is a must see. Currently on display are artifacts connected to the daily life of a confederate soldier including weapons. Mississippi history at its best.
Question for you, is this really Mississippi's history at its best?
SEN. CINDY HYDE-SMITH (R-MS): That's Mississippi history and it's displayed in a very good manner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the confederacy in Mississippi's history at its best?
HYDE SMITH: It's displayed very well at its best in that museum.
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O'DONNELL: Joining us now Mississippi's Democratic candidate for senate, Mike Espy. Thank you very much for joining us once again tonight.
I have to say it's still shocking to see somebody celebrating the confederacy that way, celebrating treason against this country. But I guess it's not so surprising in Mississippi for some people.
MIKE ESPY (D), MISSISSIPPI SENATE CANDIDATE: Well Lawrence, first of all, thank you so much for having me again on your show. I saw Senator Hyde Smith say this last week and I almost felt sorry for her.
Actually I almost sent her to a chiropractor, the way she tried to contort her statement, you know, bending herself all out of shape. But it's really who she is in word, in thought, in deed. She's wrong for Mississippi. She's the throwback.
Mississippi is changing and she doesn't want to go with us. So I'm just going to say leave her there and let me lead the change.
O'DONNELL: What is the number one issue that you're running on now in Mississippi?
ESPY: Well, Mississippi is the last in everything and leading the lists of lasts would be health care. So I want to be the health care senator. I want to bring Medicaid expansion to Mississippi, reducing the cost of prescription drugs, making sure our rural hospitals remain open, and I want to be a lock (ph) solid vote for the Affordable Care Act.
Number one issue in our state, number one issue in the campaign.
O'DONNELL: Let's listen to something Joe Biden said today.
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BIDEN: When Trump was asked this week what he'd do differently to get the pandemic response right from the start, his answer was and I quote, "not much". Not much.
As many as 210,000 avoidable deaths, there's not much you would do differently? We're more than eight months into this crisis and the president still doesn't have a plan. He's given up. He's quit on you. He's quit on your family. He's quit on America.
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O'DONNELL: What do you say to Mississippi voters about how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic?
ESPY: Listen to the doctors. Listen to dr. Fauci. Listen to dr. Birx. Here in Mississippi we have an excellent medical advisor named Dr. Dobbs. So I know the doctor, Dr. Dobbs would be by my side every second. I would observe everything he said -- wear the mask, socially distance, adhere to CDC guidelines, everything they said.
Lawrence, we're a very small state, three million people and yet we now have about 3,200 deaths. Most of them are African-American, 65 percent. So it's time now to wear the mask, socially distance and make sure this thing doesn't re-spike like it is, like it's beginning to.
O'DONNELL: You are on my list of possible senate seats that can flip to Democrats in this campaign. But you're not on every list. I've seen some lists come up and they just kind of leave Mississippi aside.
Is it being that southern most state where you just think the people in Washington, the Democrats in Washington just think it's impossible because it's Mississippi and they aren't really looking at the numbers and the internals in your race?
ESPY: They just believe it's red and it's irreconcilably red, but it's not. Mississippi is 60-40 white to black. We've got more black voters here than any state in the nation on a per capita basis.
So now we've done really . We've gone from 9 points down to 5 points down to 1 point down, and now this race is neck and neck. It's a turn out battle. So we need more resources here to go into the black neighborhoods, particularly those that are infrequent voters.
Get them out -- if we get 3 more percent of black voters out, Lawrence, in three weeks we will win. We're building something very, very special here in Mississippi. It's going to show itself November 3rd. It's going to last for the next 50 years.
We'll try to change Mississippi. Get rid of Cindy Hyde-Smith, put me in there. Her blood is in the water. We know the Republicans aren't coming. We need to have enough force now to repel them, and we will win.
O'DONNELL: How important is Barack Obama's endorsement in helping you reach those voters you're trying to turn out?
ESPY: Extremely. Barack Obama is remembered with fondness here in Mississippi. We remember his governance as something of integrity, prestigious capacity, and style. Can I say style? And he's just such a great president. And these black infrequent voters they came out at record numbers in 2008, and they didn't come again in '12, Hillary '16, Espy '18.
But of course now we have his support and Kamala Harris, frankly, and the fact now they know that we're doing well. We've got 47 percent of the vote last -- his endorsement is monumental. It's going to be a good day November 3rd. I believe so. Keep your eyes on Mississippi.
O'DONNELL: I am going to keep my eyes on Mississippi because on election night in our assignments here at MSNBC I've been given the jurisdiction to cover the senate races, so I'm going to be watching very closely what's happening for you on election night.
Mike Espy, thank you once again for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.
ESPY: Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
O'DONNELL: Mike Espy get tonight's LAST WORD.
"THE 11TH HOUR WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS" starts now.
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