but i think he was just trying to cut off some of the leaves and then the whole head of the palm tree fell off, but he just hangs on, because he's a tree surgeon, and then he manages to get down. also the voter panel tonight. i sat down with college students and we will see that on "the story." >> jesse: that's it for us. "special report" up next with bret. >> bret: thanks. good evening, i'm bret baier. from outside kingsbury hall, the campus of the university of utah in salt lake city. we are 27 hours away from the first and only cycle. it pits incumbent vice president mike pence against california democratic senator kamala harris. the monitor will be "usa today" chief washington bureau susan page, frequent panelist on "special report." there will be additional health and safety measures after

president trump's positive diagnosis of covid-19 a short time after his debate with joe biden. president trump is tweeting that he is looking forward to next week's debate in miami, that he is feeling great and that the country is "learning to live with covid." while former vice president biden says the president should take some responsibility for his diagnosis. the president's doctor says the first patient is showing no signs of the virus. the president is also halting stimulus talks with house democrats until after the election. more on that and a second. also tonight, president trump's director of national intelligence releasing documents that seem to implicate former president obama and hillary clinton's alleged plan to smear then candidate trump four years ago. at least briefed on it. we have fox team coverage. peter doocy here in salt lake city has the biden campaign story. chief white house correspondent john roberts starts us off tonight. good evening. >> good evening to you. only nine days until the next presidential debate but

according to cdc guidelines, president trump could end his isolation ten days after the onset of symptoms, which means he could leave the white house as soon as this sunday and make it to miami in time for that debate on the 15th. >> the president's physician sas that president trump continues to improve. home and today he reports no symptoms. overall, he continues to do extrely well, connolly said. as he recovers, president trump is continuing to work. today instructing his treasury secretary and chief of staff to suspend negotiations with house democrats over a coronavirus relief bill until after the election. the president tweeting "nancy pelosi is asking for $2.4 trillion to bail out poorly run, high crime democrats states. money that is in no way related to covid-19. we made a generous offer of $1.6 trillion and as usual, she is not negotiating in good faith.

i am rejecting their request and looking to the future of our country." steven mnuchin and mark meadows have been talking to nancy pelosi for weeks but the two sides are separated by a gap of $206 billion they cannot seem to close. president trump tweeted that if he wins the election, we will pass a major stimulus bill that focuses on hardworking americans and small businesses, adding that he has asked senator mitch mcconnell to focus full-time on improving my outstanding nominee to the united states supreme court, amy coney barrett. the president was also talking tough upon his return to the white house last night. speaking now from personal experience, he urged americans to stand tall against the threat of coronavirus. >> don't let it dominate you. don't be afraid of it. you're going to beat it. we have the best medical equipment, we have the best medicines. all developed recently, and you're going to beat it. >> democrats criticized in the

message, accusing the president of being cavalier about a virus that has killed hundreds of thousands of americans. >> i hope no one walks away from the message thinking that it is not a problem. it's a serious problem. it's an international pandemic and we have 4% of the population and 20% of the deaths. >> white house officials dismissed the criticism, insisting that under president trump's leadership, the nation has made enormous strides in fighting covid. >> one thing i want to communicate to your viewers is that on this date, you are the most likely to survive and get treatment for coronavirus in the u.s. than ever prior because of this president's leadership and how he has prepared us to deal with it. >> white house connections to coronavirus infections and quarantines continued today. the joint chiefs of staff's staying home after the coast guard commodore charles ray tested positive for the coronavirus. they had all been together at the white house for a gold star family event back on

september 27th, and at the pentagon two days before on friday. the joint chiefs so far all testing negative. bret? >> bret: john roberts live on the north line. thanks. stocks dove after the president of positivist weakening of the stimulus negotiations. the dow lost three to 66. the nasdaq dropped 178. joe biden is trying to put as much daylight as he can between himself and the socialist wing of his party. he is making that effort as he continues to make his lead in the polls and the vice president prepares for the moment here in salt lake city. correspondent peter doocy is here as well with that story tonight. >> joe biden said today's speech in gettysburg is one he has worked on and worked on. >> i do not believe we have to choose between law and order and racial justice in america. >> biden leads trump by 12 in pennsylvania, according to a new poll of registered voters there

and leads trump by 16 points nationally and a new cnn poll of likely voters conducted after the first debate. continuing to reassure voters he's not too far left. >> do i look like a socialist? look, i'm the guy who ran against the socialist. >> kamala harris remained in utah working online for tomorrow's meeting with mike pence, another famous indiana politician, pete buttigieg. >> a lot of viewers will see a dramatic contrast between the vice president defending the indefensible, and senator harris, who has the right message for the right ticket. >> expect her to pay to draw heavily on her background as a prosecutor. >> the case against donald trump and mike pence is open and shut. >> last summer, she made the case against joe biden, arguing his senate voting record affected young black girls. >> and that little girl was me. >> she is also gone viral talking trump too. >> dude got to go!

>> they're campaigning again trump from michelle obama, who accusing president trump on focusing and violence in cities for racist reasons. >> it is racist, but that doesn't mean it won't work. >> does biden who is being scrutinized for a remark about race, though. >> the american public, the blinders have been taken off. it's the reason i've been able to stay sequestered in my home is because some black woman was able to stack the grocery shelf. >> still, biden's pages that only he can save the soul of the nation. >> i will be a president who will appeal to the best in us, not the worst. i will be a president who pushes towards the future, not one who clings to the past. >> biden's event today was not open to the public but they did invite a small group of supporters who were sitting in silence before one woman asked, why can't we all? isn't that what we came here for, to yell? so she did and a few others join

her for a few minutes, but they pipe down ones biden took the microphone. bret? spam peter doocy, thanks. the director of national intelligence has declassified documents today revealing former cia director john brennan brief then president obama on hillary clinton's purported plan to smear then candidate trump in 2016, adding to what the national intelligence director has already declassified on this issue. and raising more questions tonight about how much more of this will come out before election day. senior political correspondent mike emanuel is following the story tonight in washington. good evening. >> these are handwritten notes from former cia director john brennan written from a source familiar after brennan briefed president obama. at one point he writes "approved by hillary clinton, a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify donald trump by stirring up a scandal, claiming interference by the russian security service."

the notes say on 28th of july come in the margin rights "potus" but that is redacted. then any collaboration between the trump campaign and russia. the remainder of the notes are redacted, except in the margins where it says "jay-z, dennis, and su be referring to james comey, former national security advisor susan rice. the cia sent a memo to former fbi director james comey and peter strzok, writing a book with the following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate." one example of the cia includes, "in exchange redacted discussing u.s. presidential campaign candidate hillary clinton's plan concerning yo u.s. candidate donald trump and russian election as a means of distracting her use of a private email server."

a hearing before the senate judiciary committee last week, james comey was pressed with what he did with information provided b by the cia. >> did you open an investigation? >> i don't know what, as i said, that does not ring any bells with me when i read that. >> did you not receive any investigative referral of this nature? >> i don't remember it. i don't remember seeing anything that described in that letter. >> hillary clinton's spokesperson has called the latest revelation "baseless b.s.." bret? >> bret: thank you. harold ford jr., currently the chairman, mollie hemingway, "the federalist," and she correspondent of "the "washington examiner"." i want to start with the story that mike just did, adding to what the director has already set on the story. what do you think this tells us and how it advances the ball ahead of may be a john durham report? >> we already knew that hillary clinton did try to smear

president trump, then candidate trump, with his claim he was colluding with russia. that was already known, we discover that over the course of years that she was the person behind that, that her campaign had purchased this operation from a group called fusion gps, which contracted with an unregistered foreign agent of a freshman russian oligarch. he hired a suspected russian spy to create that dossier. what this is saying is russia believed she had personally authorized this plan on jul july 26th or so of 2016 and that u.s. intelligence officials took it so seriously that russians believed it. they further believed it distracted from her own scandal. early on in 2016, knew that this was part of what she was trying to do. everything we found out about this story in recent years has pointed in one direction, that intelligence agencies didn't really handle this very well and yet nobody seems to be held accountable except for the one

evidence to spy on the trump team. we're getting a lot of information but it seems like a lot of people are getting away with some seriously bad activity. >> bret: it also seems we are running out of time for any big reporter come out or even a summary of a report before the election. >> it almost seems like these are consolation prizes. >> labor day is coming, it's not here. i think one of the biggest things about this is it does address perhaps the biggest mystery of the whole trump-russia matter which is we knew the obama administration, intelligence and law enforcement agencies were targeting the trump campaign in the last three months of the campaign and after that during the transition. we have never known exactly what barack obama knew about it and to what degree he approved of it. this doesn't tell us that but gives us another example of a brief written from the then cia director to then president oba

president obama. >> bret: i know the clinton campaign is calling this baseless and other words, are you troubled by this drip of information that we are getting out? >> sure, thanks again for having me on. i listened to all of this and i am reminded of a great line, i'm shocked the politics being played in the 2016 campaign. i'm not convinced this is going to be regarded as one of the great consequential actions that dni, mr. brennan takes, but if it gives us more insight into things we will want to relitigate from years ago, we should go ahead. >> bret: let me stay with you, harold. obviously, this is going to be continuing, the trump campaign is going to raise this, but also is what's happening with the economy now. they are saying the economy is bouncing back but the president cutting off stimulus negotiations today, saying that it's ended. nancy pelosi, it seems, comes away with a win, politically, in

this moment. harold? >> this is not a win that either party should covet. consider the kind of pain that 10 million americans who remain unemployed, the thousands if not millions of restaurants that will go out of business, the number of airline attendants, flight attendants and for that matter, across a many service industries, who have lost their jobs and may not find their way back to the workforce. whether this is a small win for a democrat or a for republicans is one of the dissolutions with politics. if we need to push a supreme court nominee and i respect the mandate the president has following through with his constitutional responsibility, it would seem like a moment where so many americans are hurting, that the president would not pull his negotiators. he would press and push and try to find some compromise before the election.

this is bad politics and this is a win for democrats. i'm not one that likes this. >> bret: when i say political when it is because it was heading to the point where the president could save they are not coming down to the number, they are not moving off of $2.2 trillion and now nancy pelosi putting out a statement, if you look at the dow today, when the president tweeted out what he tweeted out, it obviously fell off a cliff and the numbers. your thoughts? >> if it's a win it's in part because of the way the media has portrayed nancy pelosi's refusal to pass legislation during the election season. we saw this when kim and scott put forth criminal justice reform, a package that really should've been able to be passed. for some reason democrats decided they wanted to use the issue politically rather than come to an agreement with republicans. likewise, it is nancy pelosi who has stepped away at every stage of this process and i think what president trump is saying is there is no reason to continue working that way, given that she has shown a reluctance to

actually get this bill passed. if she truly cares about it she can get it done immediately, but people should be honest about who exactly has been posing the problem here. nancy pelosi according to hill sources say that she is refusing to negotiate in good faith here. >> bret: we should point out that senator mitch mcconnell supports the decision. he didn't say he was going anywhere, either. >> listen, i do think it's a little baffling that the president would stop this, even if it wasn't going to work, because first of all, there are people out there who need the money. the unemployment rate has thankfully gone down. some of it is still high and i think mollie hemingway is correct, i think democrats are pretty clearly to blame for stopping this. i don't see why the president can't keep an offer to help these americans on the table and let it be the democrats who are the ones turning it down. >> bret: panel, we will see you in just a bit and preview the vice presidential debate tomorrow night. up next to them of the u.s. supreme court lays down the law

over mail-in voting in one state and as we had to break, i got a chance to explore salt lake city a bit. bring you some highlights throughout the show. >> bret: welcome to the university of utah, this is home to the football team. they're not playing yet but they are playing. pac-12 starts just after election day. usually 47,000 crowd into the stadium. not now. in fact, this stadium today is home to covid testing for the vice presidential debate. you have to get tested, you have to get a wristband, it's very strict and even the candidates themselves will be further apart and there will be a plexiglas separator between them. covid has changed everything this year. our show continues after this. knowing who we are is hard. it's hard. eliminate who you are not first, and you're going to find yourself where you need to be.

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♪ >> bret: looking live inside, first look inside the commissioner of vice presidential debate. vice president pence will be on the left, senator kamala harris on the right, susan page on the table in the middle there. there is plexiglas in between them and now they are setting up how it's all going to come together. seated but not at the same

table. 12 feet away, every precaution being taken. in the meantime, democratic lawmakers calling for congress to rein in big tech. such a blanket possibly force facebook, google, amazon and apple to sever their dominant platforms from their other lines of business and impose new uniformity on the terms on uses. the proposals are following an investigation by house judiciary committee panel into the company's marketing dominance. republicans countered by saying existing law is the best method of holding tech companies accountable for censorship and anti-conservative bias. facebook is tightening its policy against qanon, the group that fosters political conspiracy theories. facebook says it will remove pages and instagram accounts from what it calls representing he went on, even if they do not promote violence. less than two months ago facebook said it would only remove cue in on groups if

violence >> bret: breaking tonight the u.s. supreme court will handle an emergency filing over mail-in voting in montana. they declined to discuss what they decided last month, which is essentially to allow the vote to be mail-in in large part. montana's government argues an emergency declaration into the pandemic allows him to suspend the state law that bars federal election by mail. ballots are supposed to go out friday. on that line officials in florida are investigating a crash of the state's online voter registration system just before the deadline to participate in next month's election appeared also tonight the u.s. supreme court has reinstated a requirement in south carolina that residents voting by mail get a witness to sign the ballots. senior correspondent eric shawn has all of that tonight from new york. >> it's seen as a win for

republicans in south carolina but critics say it's a defeat for democracy. the u.s. supreme court back in the south carolina republican party's demand to reinstate the need for a witness signature when voters mailed in absentee ballots. republican state chair drew mckissick says a second set of eyes can stop voter fraud. >> in south carolina you have to have a photo i.d. when you go vote. why wouldn't we then let people return absentee ballots for anything less than someone else verifying they are who they say they are. >> chad robinson says the ruling is misguided and makes it harder to vote. >> it actually hurts the republican party as much as more as the democrat party because it affects a segment of voters that have always been traditional democrat, i mean republican voters. >> supreme court justice brett kavanaugh says it's too

close to an election to end the requirement and that the state legislator should not be subject to second-guessing by an unelected federal judiciary. the ruling will likely have its greatest impact on the heated senate race, which polls show his neck and neck. meanwhile in florida, echoes of the presidential debacle, the state's online voter registration system crashed last night just before the 7:00 p.m. deadline for floridians to sign up to vote in the november election. officials say the crash of more than 1 million people in our who tried to access the site was too much. now back up and running, the registration deadline was extended by 24 hours. >> you can extend the best side in the world. sometimes there hiccups in california started mail-in ballots to every one of its 21,000 voters but it did not include the presidential rate. the l.a. county registrar's

office blames our printing error and apologizes. bret? >> bret: thank you. up next, optimism over a coronavirus vaccine but worry about recent spikes around the country. first, here's what some of our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. fox 45 in baltimore, the city council votes to rename columbus day indigenous peoples day. democratic mayor bernard young must sign the measure for it to take effect next week. ws yan in miami is talking hurricane delta, on a course to hammer southeastern mexico and then possibly strike the u.s. golf coast later in the week. this is a live look in los angeles from fox 11. one of the big stories tonight, sad news, rock icon eddie van halen has died of throat cancer. the legendary guitarists, one of the best ever, cofounder of the group van halen, had been

battling throat cancer since 2000. eddie van halen was 65. that's tonight live look from outside the beltway from "special report." it will be right back. if you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, now might not be the best time to ask yourself, are my bones strong? life is full of make or break moments. that's why it's so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months. do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. serious allergic reactions like low blood pressure, trouble breathing, throat tightness, face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen.

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♪ >> bret: welcome back to salt lake city, the debate hall inside. tonight, the trump administration is agreeing to stricter standards for a coronavirus vaccine, making the chances of a vaccine before election day nearly impossible. by the world health organization says the coronavirus vaccine may be ready by the end of the year. correspondent jonathan serrie has the update from atlanta. to. >> this afternoon the fda published guidelines for approving potential covid-19 vaccines. a senior administration official tells fox news the white house approved for the changes. one requirement, that vaccine developers monitor trial participants for two months will likely push the first vaccine rollout until after the electi election. but federal health officials say the review process is necessary. speak of the leaders of the fda realized that authorizing or licensing a vaccine for covid is perhaps the most consequential

action the agency will ever take. we will stand by her scientists no matter what. >> today though world health organization says there is hope that by the end of this year we may have a vaccine. public health officials say the limited supply of initial doses will be prioritized to high-risk groups such as medical workers and people with underlying conditions. but over the months that followed, enough shots will become available for the general public. today, the national institutes of health announced six new contracts to developers of rapid tests. the agency predicts this will add up to half a million new tests per day by the end of the year. physicians continue to learn more about the virus' effect beyond the lungs. according to a study published in institutional neurology, more than 80% of hospitalized covid patients experienced neurological problems from headaches to movement disorders. >> it's difficult to do the normal routines, normal health care. it's difficult to walk,

difficult to go up the flights of steps and other things that could be impaired is your ability to think, your mental health. >> today, the world's largest cruise announced that its members have agreed to conduct covid-19 tests on 100% of passengers and crew aboard vessels large enough to hold at least 25 250 people. meanwhile, a cdc no sale order extends through the end of this month. bret? >> bret: jonathan serrie in atlanta, thank you. mainstream media has had a field day. several field days with president trump's coronavirus diagnosis and covering that, let's take a look at that tonight. fox news media analyst howard kurtz. >> and ealing president being released from the hospital might be treated as good news in a normal political environment but for most of the media it's been negative coverage on steroids. >> don't even put it on the screen, please take it off, because that's going to kill

people. >> i wake up some days feeling that we are in the grips of a mad man. >> what kind of people seemed visibly disappointed when a president of the united states admitted to an army medical hospital seems to be turning a corner? >> cnn's jim acosta called trump the coronavirus in chief. the president also gave his critics ammunition by urging people not to fear the virus. >> don't let it dominate, don't let her take over your lives. >> there are children who don't have parents now because of this virus. don't let it dominate your life? >> don't be afraid. tell that to the 211,424 families that are morning from it. >> when trump climbed the white house steps for a follow-up, belabored breathing drawing headlines come he also received lack for removing his mask before going inside. >> here it is come official reentry. >> quiz, takes his own reemergence from basement

quarantine after battling the virus slams the scene. >> i tell you to ignore masks, i rip mine off as i vanquished the virus because i'm a leader! what a bunch of [bleep]. >> this is a mussolini moment. he's standing there and if he is a member of the old russian czar family. >> there are legitimate journalistic questions. how sick is the president? why tell others not to fear covid when they don't have the same world-class medical care? the press is entitled to be skeptical given the conflicting accounts of the president's health but lost in the hand-wringing is any sense of relief that his condition seems to be improving. bret? >> bret: how we, thank you. more on this with the panel peered up next, victims give first-hand accounts of suspected poisonings by russia, and as we had to break another very well-known spot here in salt lake city. this is the place, the words inscribed on this memorial behind me. this is the place, heritage pa

park. mormons say july 24th, 1847, brickmalooked at this canyon sas is the place of the mormon pioneers would call home. in fact, july 24th is now a state holiday here in utah. this is the spot where kamala harris visited first as she arrived in utah before the debate because this is the place for the vice presidential debate wednesday night. our show continues after this.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> bret: two islamic state terrorist known as the beatles are set to be transferred to the u.s. in coming days. multiple officials tell fox news the two british men are being held by u.s. forces in iraq. they are suspected in the kidnapping and murder of u.s.

hostages in syria. ♪ >> bret: into nights whatever happened to segment, the enemies of the state in russia who are suspected of having been poisoned by the government. kremlin critic says he thinks moscow had him poisoned because he is considered a political threat. gillian turner has tonight's report. >> for the first time since surviving a nerve agent attack, alexi tebaldi is speaking out about his recovery. >> my hands shake. if i drink water out of the bottle, it will be a bit of a site, how i do it like that. >> they complain russian intelligence agents poisoned him in an attempt to silence him ahead of the upcoming election. >> several people have asked me what it's like to die.

it's difficult to explain because it's something they don't experience in everyday life. >> he is one of dozens believed to be poisoned by russia in years. in an interview -- he talks about his experience in the cross hairs. >> i was lying in, and was told my wife had a 5% chance to survive. >> it is believed president putin directed two attacks against him in 2016 and 2017. >> this is a signature of the russian security service. these sophisticated toxins, it's not something you combine a pharmacy or in the market. >> are russian military officer and double agent was poisoned in march of 2018 in the u.k. along with his daughter. they both remain in hiding. another suffered radiation poisoning in 2,006 and former ukrainian president victor you

shingle poisoned in 2004. >> vladimir putin is a man who likes to kill his enemies, but he also likes to not take responsibility for the killing because poison is hard to trace, hard to even figure out what it was, and hard to pin on him. >> he did not survive poisoning of these victims all remain alive and well today and are outspoken critics of both putin and the russian regime. bret? >> bret: thanks. up next, the panel comes back to discuss the president's return to the white house and the vp debate tomorrow night. beyond our borders, turkey top diplomat travels in a show of solidarity with the decades-old conflict with armenia. the two countries are battling over separatist territory. heavy fighting in the region has killed scores of servicemen and civilians since late last month. we will have a detailed story on the fighting tomorrow.

secretary of state mike pompeo says china's increasingly assertive actions across the region make it more credible, critical than ever for into specific regions to cooperate. he is urging foreign ministers from japan, india and australia to protect each other and their people from what he calls china's exploitation, corruption, and coercion. just some of the other stories beyond our borders tonight as we had to break. what's being cooked up here in salt lake city. >> bret: great spot for breakfast. really a great spot for any meal. one of the oldest restaurants in utah. started in 1930. they are fired up about the vice presidential debate being here. >> salt lake is already such a cool place and it's nice to be able to have such a cool thing so close to us. >> bret: what's it been like in these times? >> you know, we adjusted as fast as we could but customers are so great and they are loyal to us and really stood with us through these hard times.

>> bret: business is finding a way around covid-1 covid-19 to e working. a big part of this election. our show continues after this. i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424. to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal...

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♪ >> in the middle of a global

pandemic, joe biden and kamala harris want to raise taxes by $4 trillion. they want to stifle american energy and the american energy renaissance that has created thousands of jobs in places like here in pennsylvania. they want to have an activist court once again, legislating from the bench. i'm going to lay on that case, lay on that choice. >> we've seen a trump-fence administration that have been completely unburdened by fact. >> bret: getting ready for the vp debate here in salt lake city tomorrow night. meanwhile, the national average of polls, recent polls, likely voters has biden up. there are some polls recently have him picking up more points since the last debate. battleground still tight beard back with our battle, former tennessee congressman harold ford jr., chairman mollie hemingway, senior editor of ""the federalist"" and correspondent for the "washington examiner." set the table, if you would come up for the vp debate tomorrow night.

what do you think needs to happen, what do you think will happen? >> first of all, it's an extremely important debate at this moment because of the two top people on the ticket. one, the 74-year-old president who just got out of the hospital. and the other who will be 78 on inauguration day, by far the oldest president to ever begin a term in office. it will be much more conventional debate than we have seen because donald trump is not there. it will be much more conventional and you will hear kamala harris staffers and supporters say they're going to tie mike pence to his record but i believe for republicans, a lot of republicans would be okay with that, to talk about the court, to talk about deregulation, to talk about strength in the military and an economy they believe was coming along before coronavirus and is now improving rapidly. >> bret: obviously, for senator harris, the focus would be covid-19. if she can keep it there. here's virus response from the

president and joe biden. >> i stood out front, i lead. nobody that a leader would not do what i did. and i know there is a risk, there is a danger, but that's okay. and now i'm better and maybe i'm immune, i don't know. but don't let it dominate your life. >> what is this macho thing, i'm not going to wear a mask? what is the deal here? big deal! does it hurt you? be patriotic, for god sake. take care of yourself, take care of your neighbors! >> bret: how do you think this will fall? >> i do think they will focus on coronavirus and mike pence led the task force for the white house so he's eager to talk about what the administration dead and kamala harris is probably eager to talk about president trump having gotten coronavirus. it is definitely true that both sides say they want to show how they are different from each other. that's good for the american people, to see what the choices are between voting for a trump,

and biden-harris. on the issue of whether you should be optimistic and take coronavirus seriously but not let it control your entire life versus this idea that we have to live in fear about it, i think that is a referendum that americans do want to have been clearly many people in the media and the democratic party very much want to keep children banned from schools, keep businesses shut down, everything locked down and a lot of americans are saying they are more than done with that and they are ready to kind of move forward now that we have a better handle and better treatment and better understanding of what the coronavirus is. >> bret: joe biden gave a speech today in gettysburg, pennsylvania, about coming together as a nation. about fighting the extremes, coming back and figuring out how to get things done. that does not sound like somebody who would pack the supreme court or kill the filibuster, but he won't answer that question. do you think kamala harris will kind of set that tone of coming together? or will she say something different? >> i hope she does a little bit

of both. the polling numbers you touched on from the outset, one thing we have to remember is much as the polling numbers in '60 might've been similar with the gap between the president, then candidate trump and secretary clinton, president trump was not president then so in many ways this is a referendum on him. i do think it behooves senator harris to be calm, to be prosecutorial, to press mike pence, who is a good debater. he was very steady. a fermentable performance in 2016. can she get him to talk about how and why this white house doesn't talk about lost lives, can she get him to talk about why the president talked in private about a deadly virus and in public downplayed it. these are things the american public deserves to hear as much as they deserve to hear mike pence question her as well. i look forward to a good debate and i agree, this will take more importance than others. >> bret: all right, thank you very much. when we come back, some good news.

first, little utah jazz. >> bret: welcome to the vivid smart home arena, 18,000 plus seats in here, home to the utah jazz. to some great teams have played here. karl malone, a good team, made it to the playoffs, just got knocked out by the nuggets in the first round. this is our home this week. i will give you a tour, come on. this is our area where we will have lunch and catering and these tables here we are all set up around the concourse. pretty wild, we are the only ones in this facility. hair and makeup, this is where we get all pretty. look, behind-the-scenes, hair and makeup, getting ready. very important executives right here. jay wallace, and then this is our big set. this is what we do in the big show and then we will be over in the debate hall as well. but this is our home.

utah jazz and "special report." "the story" will be back after this. hi, i'm dorothy hamill. as i look toward 65, i'm thinking about medicare.

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♪ >> bret: see the plexiglass, getting ready in there. finally tonight, some silver linings. georgia pastor gave waitress hannah hailed the surprise of a lifetime. touched by her kindness and learning that her unborn child will of the same name as's latest on, the pastor shared her story on facebook and within a day, supporters raised $12,000 to her and he gave it to her in a tip. the day after christmas last year, isabel kirby could no longer move her legs. the 13-year-old from ohio was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease and in akron hospital, the motivated

teenager is starting to walk again just this week. there are great things happening in our country. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report." fair, balanced and still unafraid. "the story" hosted by martha maccallum on the other side of town starts right now. good evening, everybody. i martha maccallum. welcome, this is "the story" lime tonight in salt lake city ahead of tonight's big vice presidential debate. for two weeks now until election day and it's the president's first full day back at work at the white house. he is making some major waves. pulling the plug on the covid-19 relief bill, telling his team to stop negotiating until after the election while instructing mitch mcconnell to focus full-time on confirming amy coney barrett to the supreme court. that starts on monday. majority leader mcconnell is here tonight exclusively with