s carried many things. nothing more important than family. introducing the most versatile and advanced chevy suburban and tahoe ever. ♪ >> martha: welcome to our 2 of our democracy 2020 special coverage, i martha maccallum. >> bret: and i'm bret baier live in nashville, tennessee, where president donald trump and former vice president joe biden will square off for the final time. >> martha: first, we are going to hear live from a man who is really at the center of the story today regarding the hunter biden emails, chief white house correspondent john roberts is following this for us tonight, a lot of new developments here, good evening. >> we expect in the next few minutes, it was supposed to happen at 6:00 central time which is right about now but things typically don't come off

exactly on time when it comes to the white house -- we are expecting to hear from tony bobulinski who was a business associate of hunter and jim biden, jim biden. there is an email that has been talked about for the last few days in which bobulinski and hunter biden and jim biden are discussing this idea of what the percentage cuts will be of the deal of a chinese energy company and of the cuts listed, 10% is for the big guy. in a statement to fox news earlier today saying the big guys referring to joe biden, he also goes on to say the chinese were not interested in at least any kind of financial return on investment, they were looking for influence. they were looking for political investment as well. we also understand that the bobulinski when he gives this small statement to the press

will say at the end of it, this is the white house press pool, he will say he's turning all of his electronic devices over to the fbi for examination. i said earlier on your program we don't know if the fbi is interested in looking into these devices but bobulinski is going to make them available. interesting to note that while the biden campaign has portrayed this as a smear, as russian disinformation, they have not said that these emails and text messages that we have seen from tony bobulinski are false. we aren't sure exactly what it is that bobulinski will say other that he's turning his devices over to the fbi that we should find out to the next few minutes. this really will be throwing a new argument into the debate just a couple hours before it happens in nashville, president trump has said he wants to bring up hunter biden even if the moderator doesn't, this will give him reason to do this. we should say, again, that

bobulinski's appearance is being facilitated by the trump campaign. this is something that they rarely are trying to play to their advantage in the last moments before the debate begins. >> bret: thanks, we'll head back when that happens, we are looking live at the jw marriott with the press pool is gathered and when he walks out we'll had there. >> martha: we'll take you right to it, in the meantime let's bring in trump campaign senior advisor lara trump. what can we expect in this news conference just minutes away, what do you know? >> i don't know a whole lot, these are rather new developments, things are always changing and developing on this campaign but what i can assure you tonight is that if the moderator does not bring up these emails that implicate joe biden as knowing while he was vice president that his name was being used for profit for his family to the tune of tens of millions of dollars from foreign entities, donald trump is going to bring it up because the american people deserve to

know. this is an outrageous claim as you just heard from john roberts, the biden team has not denied the validity of these emails and these were from hunter biden. the american people deserve answers and they deserve to know why joe biden has lied about this many, many times. >> bret: we heard a little bit of a democratic response from mayor pete buttigieg earlier in the show and it basically went something like this -- if you want to ask questions about making money and families, turn to the trunk family and why don't you ask about a chinese bank account that's still open, what bank is that at? that was the response, how do you respond to that? >> let's be very clear. when donald trump took the office of the presidency come our family got out of international business. in fact, we said we would do no new international business deals. we go so far as to pay the treasury any money that comes into foreign entities to trump properties, that is not something we are required to do, we don't want the faintest hint

of impropriety. donald trump was a businessman before he became president of the united states, it's completely legitimate that he's looking around the world for business deals and places to invest. it's very different from the biden family who got into international business after joe biden became vice president of the united states -- those are two very different things and i think people are starting to pick up on that and very clearly see that joe biden could have possibly been compromised by foreign entities while he was vice president of the united states and should he even be running as president of the united states if these claims are true? >> martha: but clearly the parry to that -- and these are very legitimate questions, we've been discussing it for the past several days and we are waiting for tony bobulinski -- if the answer is that why do you have a chinese bank account which they say is a secret bank account, what's going to be the answer to

that? is there an open chinese bank account and why? >> i don't know all of the president's business dealings but this was opened up long before he ever thought about running for president of the united states and i think his attorney has spoken to that. it was legitimate from the beginning, it continues to be legitimate, this president has stood up against china, very strongly and to thank goodness he has because now we have new trade deals that have been inked and are on the horizon. we note from the onset of coronavirus, this president was always standing up strongly against china, he stopped to travel immediately from china at the onset of coronavirus -- it's very different than i think what we would have seen out of joe biden and it does beg the question if he is put up against china, put up against ukraine, because extend from russia where his family has seen very lucrative business dealings, how would he react? >> bret: what about the tone

and tenor from tonight, is it going to be different from debate one tram? there are concerns from inside and outside of the campaign, supporters who said maybe his style in the first debate turned off some suburban women in particular. >> this president is a fighter and i think it's very hard to sit there and not respond whenever your opponent -- when joe biden is continuing to lie about the things that this president has achieved for the american people, to lie about his policies. he absolutely felt the need to respond to those things. now we know there is a mute button tonight so it will be a little bit different but i can assure you that if there's any question about the things joe biden says about the president and his policies and what he's done for the american people, the president will respond. he is a fighter and that is the reason we have seen such a success under president donald trump. it takes a fighter to do so many of the things that we've seen, to get this economy to the best in the world as we know has happened under this president, the low unemployment numbers,

high stockmarket numbers, renegotiating bad trade deals, rebuilding our military, doing things like inking these historic peace agreements in the middle east. it takes a fighter to get those things done and i think the american people know that about the president. >> martha: will be here specifics about the president's health care plan tonight? how much is he prepared for tonight in a typical debate prep? we know that last time around, there wasn't a lot of that and he said recently -- this is my preparation back and forth with the press every day, was it that kind of preparation again this time or was it different? >> he does prepare, he has a team of people, we have a great campaign team that does prepare with him but he's always been a person that doesn't feel like he needs excessive preparation that joe biden needs because we now know -- joe biden we haven't seen since sunday, he's been at home resting, getting ready i guess for this debate. it's a little concerning when you think about someone running

for the president of the united states who doesn't have the stamina to be out on the campaign trail like we've seen the president doing and have the ability to come to a debate. look, this president has been preparing, it might not be the same way joe biden does but i can assure you he's prepared for this evening. >> bret: up next, senator chris coons on joe biden's preparations for tonight's debate in nashville as we await to hear live from the man who's at the center of the hunter biden email story. you're looking live at a wall -- it's not even really unattractive wall. >> martha: as soon as it gets underway, we will take you the there. we are in music city and it's been great to be here the past couple days. we have an original song by john rich about yours truly -- i haven't seen this whole thing,

let's watch. >> i thought what rhymes with maccallum? before you got here i put pen to the paper i thought really long and hard and i thought maybe it's a new jingle for your show, see what you think. ♪ martha maccallum martha maccallum ♪ ♪ she's going to wow 'em ♪ she's quite the stallion ♪ martha maccallum martha maccallum ♪ ♪ the blonde battalion ♪

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♪ >> bret: we just got a five minute warning to that press

conference from tony bobulinski, again with the hunter biden email story. as you're looking live at the jw marriott again, we now have an on the record statement from the biden campaign in preparation for this -- andrew bates the spokesperson saying this "as chris wallace said on the air about this very smear, vice president biden has actually released his tax returns unlike president trump and there is no indication he ever got any money from anybody in these business deals. joe biden has never even considered being involved in business with his family, nor in any overseas business whatsoever." >> martha: it goes on to say he has never held stock in any business arrangements nor has any family member or any other person ever held stock for him. what is true is that tony bobulinski admitted on the record to breitbart that he is angry he was not able to go into business with hunter and james biden. >> bret: continuing, what is

also true is in contrast to vice president biden, donald trump has a secret chinese bank account and pays more in taxes to china than he pays in federal income taxes in the united states and this is a desperate, pathetic farce executed by a fairly campaign with no rationale for putting our country through another four years of. >> martha: that is a biden camp response. as we wait for tony bobulinski over the next couple of minutes to make an appearance at the jw marriott. in the meantime, judge amy coney barrett is a step closer to becoming the next supreme court justice despite a boycott from every democrat on the senate judiciary committee -- minority leader chuck schumer calls the process illegitimate, kamala harris also calls it illegitimate, joining us now, democratic senator chris coons of delaware who sits on that committee, always good to have you with us. >> great to be on with you, i'm sorry i'm not in nashville but i'm here in d.c. because we are in the middle of this process on

the judiciary committee, i wish we were working together to get another relief package done. that's something i think the average american would love to hear tonight and instead we are here for the judiciary committ committee. >> martha: we are following that too, there's work towards trying to get something resolved on that front as well. you're someone who was always very respectful of the senate and the way things are done, did it pain you at all to not show up for that vote today given her testimony? hold that thought -- we will come right back to you, we promised we would go live when this -- tony bobulinski has shown up at the jw marriott, let's listen in. >> very successful businesses both in this country and abroad. i am making this statement to set the record straight about the involvement of the biden family, vice president biden, his brother jim biden, and his son hunter biden. in dealings with the chinese.

i have heard joe biden say he's never discussed the business with hunter -- that is false. i have firsthand knowledge about this because i directly dealt with the biden family including joe biden. i have also heard that vice president biden said on tuesday that senator ron johnson, the chair of the senate homeland security committee should be ashamed for suggesting that biden family sought to profit from their name. well here are the facts i know and everything i'm saying is corroborated by emails, whatsapp chats, agreements, documents, and other evidence. the american people can judge for themselves. i brought three phones that span the years 2015 to max 2018. these phones have never been held by anyone else besides

myself. i was told this past sunday by somebody who was also involved in this matter that if i went public with this information, it would bury all of us, the bidens included. i have no wish to bury anyone. i have never been political, the few contributions i have made have been to democrats. what i am is a patriot and a veteran. to protect my family name and my business reputation, i need to ensure the true facts are out there. in late 2015, i was approached by james gill who i had known for many years about joining him in a deal which he said would involve the chinese state-owned enterprise and what he called one of the most prominent families of the united states. i was informed first by him and then by hunter biden and rob walker who was working with the bidens that the bidens wanted to

form a new entity which was to invest in infrastructure, real estate and technology in the u.s. and around the world and the entity would initially be capitalized with $10 million and grow to billions of dollars in investment capital. after months of discussion, i agreed to it gillier and hundred bidens request to become ceo of an entity called sino hawk -- sino representing the chinese side, hawk representing hunter bidens brother bo's favorite animal. on may 2nd 2017, the night before joe biden was to appear at the conference, i was introduced to joe biden by jim biden and hunter biden.

at my approximately hour long meeting with joe that night we discussed the bidens history, the bidens family business plans with the chinese with which he was plainly familiar at least at a high level. after that meeting, i had numerous communications with hunter, walker, gillier, and jim biden regarding the allocation of equity ownership of the sino hawk. on may 13th 2017, i received an email concerning allocation of equity which says 10% held for the big guy -- in that email, there's no question that each stands for hunter, big guy for his father, joe biden. and jim for jim biden. in fact, hunter often referred to his father as the big guy or "my chairman." on numerous occasions it would made clear to me that joe biden's involvement was not to be mentioned in writing but only face-to-face. i was advised by gillier and

walker that hunter and jim biden were paranoid about keeping joe biden's involvement secret. i also had a disagreement with hunter about the fund cfc was contributing to sino hawk. hunter wanted five millions of those funds to go to himself and his family so he wanted it wired directly to an entity affiliated with him. i objected to because that was contrary to our written agreements concerning sino hawk. he said referring to the chairman, his father that cfc was investing in the biden family, that he held a trump card and that he was the one putting his family legacy on the line. he also said to me on may 17th 2017 that cfc wanted to be my partner, to be partnered with the bidens. during these negotiations, i repeated the hunter and others that sino hawk could not be hunter's personal bank and i demanded the proper corporate

governance procedures be impotenimplemented for capital distribution. hunter became very upset with me and was assuring me the funds will be transferred to sino hawk, but they were never sent to our company. instead, i found out from senator johnson's september report that the $5 million was sent in august 2017 to entities affiliated with hunter. tomorrow, i will be meeting with the senate committee members concerning this matter and i will be providing the fbi the devices which contain evidence corroborating what i have said, so i will not be taking any questions at this time. i will not be taking questions. the evidence sits on these three phones come i don't want to go into anything any further, this

will all be discussed with senator johnson and his committee and the american people can decide what's fact. >> bret: tony bobulinski in the jw marriott is talking to press pool there about business dealings he had with hunter biden in which he says that joe biden is not telling the truth when he says he never talked to his son about business. in fact he has proof and he's handing over these three phones to the fbi. >> martha: he said something very interesting towards the end which had the do with the $5 million, an initial seed investment from the chinese as he tells it and he says it was supposed to go into sino hawk into their shared entity but it went into a fund that was controlled by hunter biden. he says he was concerned that fund was going to become a piggy bank for hunter biden and he was not happy with that. he found out about that in september from ron johnson as part of their investigation

which may be the answer to the question "why are we just hearing from tony bobulinski and what forced him to come out with more of this story?" >> bret: i think we still have senator coons. you heard all of that, obviously you heard the former vice president say what he said in a statement that the biden campaign put out today, what's your reaction? >> for your viewers who didn't hear that statement, the former vice president joe biden said that we all know his finances and his taxes. joe biden has been completely transparent with the american people. donald trump has not, we don't know the full extent of president trump's holdings, his tax liability, the idea that perhaps he has a secret account in china and paid more in income taxes to the united states was one of the things pointed out by the biden campaign. this is a matter that has been investigated over and over and i seriously wonder if 12 days before a presidential election,

where more than half the states are already voting and we got rudy giuliani with one hand coming up with a hard drive and a computer and this gentleman in the other hand coming up with last-minute cell phones, most of which aren't being sourced, aren't being verified, even fox news hasn't verified the giuliani allegations -- i frankly have to ask is this seriously what we are going to do? to me it seems like distraction and spectacle in the average american who was tuning into night to hear these gentlemen on the stage want to know, not about their families but about the middle american families who have been impacted by this pandemic and recession. we got 8 million americans infected, more than 220,000 american families have lost a loved one and on that stage tonight, joe biden is going to lay out a clear and positive plan for how to get us out of this mess. this pandemic and recession that donald trump has led us into it, that's what i think it's going

to matter to your viewers in the american people about tonight's debate. >> martha: just one more round on this, i know these other issues are obviously very important to the american people, but one of the things that joe biden has been clear about on the campaign trail is that he said he had never discussed any of these business arrangements or propositions with hunter ever. and you hear this man, this former navy lieutenant that says that is not true, he said he spoke about these business deals personally with joe biden. are you saying you don't believe this man, you think he's lying? >> i'm saying i'm literally just heard of him now for the first time and ron johnson senator from wisconsin spent millions of dollars in months of senate time investigating these matters, it seems awfully late to me for this flimsy evidence to be brought forward and will next see what comes of it but i frankly think what matters is that joe biden is a man of compassion and character who i've known for 30 years and he's capable of leading our country

forward with a positive vision of how to bring us together and get us out of this pandemic and recession. that's what i think is going to decide the election and i frankly think this last-minute press conference smacks of desperation. >> bret: were going to end where we began, you're on the senate judiciary committee, you did not go to that hearing. you did question judge barrett several rounds but yet you didn't cast a vote about moving that nomination on or not, you didn't vote no -- as martha was saying, you're somebody who respects the process, respects the senate, where you embarrassed by that today? >> i wasn't embarrassed by that today. frankly chairman lindsey graham i think should be embarrassed that he broke the rules of the committee in order to force this nomination to the senate. as you well know, there's no precedent in american history for the senate voting on a supreme court nominee 12 days before a presidential election

where a majority of states are already voting. this is something we did, just a show we don't accept the legitimacy of the timing and this process, i did participate in questioning judge barrett because i thought it was important for the american people to hear based on her writings as a judge and as a law professor about her views and how she is to the right of justice scalia and what the consequences may be of her being put on the court. >> bret: we appreciate your time, we would love you to put in a good word for us with joe biden, le harris. >> martha: coming up next we hear from republican senator ted cruz of texas as our special two our ramp up for the big debate tonight continuous. >> bret: first a look at belmont university, gorgeous place, hosted tonight's debate.

belmont university's campus in downtown nashville is stunning. the trees, they even have a rose garden with more than 200 varieties of roses. it's a gorgeous place, 8200 students here. it has played host to a debate before, 2008 between john mccain and barack obama. now, this week, it's our home, our set is here and obviously the big debate tonight. our show continues after this. i wanted more from my copd medicine, that's why i've got the power of 1,2,3 medicines with trelegy.

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>> martha: as the senate judiciary committee advances the supreme court nomination of judge amy coney barrett with democrats boycotting that proceeding, the senate is preparing for a full floor vote on monday. >> bret: joining us now this evening texas republican senator ted cruz sits on that committee, he's the author of a new book as well "one vote away: how a single supreme court seat can change history." thanks for being here, we want to talk about the judge and moving that nomination along but i also want to talk to you about this tony bobulinski press conference we just watched and what do you think that means for this race? you heard the biden response was senator coons and others, what do you say? >> i thought that press conference was remarkable and it obviously raises serious questions about whether joe biden has personally enriched himself, whether he's been paid millions from communist china. the allegation is that he had a

secret share potentially in this business deal that hunter biden held for him, i think those questions need to be answered and they need to be answered seriously. two things strike me, number one it's worth underscoring what makes this story significant is not hunter biden. hunter by all accounts has led a troubled life. but it is joe biden and the potential of joe biden's personal corruption that is being alleged here. secondly and i just checked a minute to go, as i understand it, fox news is the only network that covered that press conference. cnn didn't cover it, msnbc, abc, cbs, nbc, none of them covered. it's part of a pattern we saw last week when "the new york post" broke this story and big tech, twitter and facebook censored it and essentially determined that the american people could not even hear the facts.

i think the degree to which the media and big tech are shilling for joe biden are protecting him, covering him up, not even asking these questions i think is really shameful. >> martha: when you look at the statement that came out from the biden campaign and essentially alludes to the fact he was never involved in these business deals and he never owned any stock in any of these ventures. does that language sound careful to you as an attorney? >> it clearly is drafted carefully saying he didn't own stock -- the allegation i just heard which was news to me tonight was that hunter biden was holding the percentage for his dad. you're essentially using a straw man the question is -- is joe biden, was he personally enriching himself from communist china? as far as i can tell, joe biden hasn't answered that question, i

haven't seen anyone ask him that question. what was stunning, the day the story broke in "the new york post," abc hosted a town hall with joe biden, the media is not even pretending to do their job and i think that's really dangerous, particularly when you combine it with big tech censorship where what is at stake in the selection is really fundamental about whether we are going to preserve our freedoms and constitutional liberties. >> bret: i think "the new york post" twitter account is still locked out, as far as how much the president should talk about it on this debate stage tonight, there are some republicans worried that he needs to talk more about families economy, jobs, stuff that he's winning on and some of these key polls like our recent poll in the battleground states. >> i hope tonight with the

president does is lay out competing visions for america and makes clear that what president trump and republicans are looking to do is reopen the economy, let small businesses reopen, let people go back to work and provide for their families and what joe biden and the democrats are proposing and what the democratic governors are implementing is shutdowns that are destroying millions of small businesses. i listened to your interview with chris coons, i like chris, i served with him on judiciary and he talked t about how he wished congress was doing something for covert relief, i felt nervous lightning was going to strike him because he and every other senate democrat yesterday filibustered a $500 billion covert relief plan and they don't get to filibuster emergent covert relief to help parents get their kids back to school and then to go on tv and complained that nothing is passing. they are the ones blocking it.

again, the media doesn't report on a word of it and it's not doing the job journalists are supposed to be doing. >> bret: we appreciate your time tonight. >> martha: a former business partner of hunter biden's said the whole family benefited from the deal, robert o'brien on the implications of that and what he hears from nashville. if your dry eye symptoms keep coming back,

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so i'm voting 'yes'. nineteen allows seniors and all homeowners 55 and older to transfer their home's low tax base to another home. it also protects the right to pass my family home to my son.

we've all worked hard for our house and we should be allowed to give it to our kids without a tax penalty. it's time to limit taxes. vote 'yes' on 19. ♪ >> martha: we are in belmont university getting ready for the big debate this evening between president trump and the former vice president joe biden. joining us now from nashville is the u.s. national security advisor to the president robert o'brien, very good to have you with us tonight -- thank you for being here. >> great to be with you. >> martha: i'd like to ask you first of all, we got this news conference from tony bobulinski, former naval lieutenant -- from your perspective one of the question, does this put the

biden family in a position if he were to become president with regard to relations with china? >> i don't know all the facts, they seem to be bubbling up fast involving hunter biden and the former vice president while he was in office but what is consistent is this sort of behavior and what the chinese have done for many, many years with american politicians and elites is offering them financial incentives, offering them business incentives, trying to influence mayors or congressmen or elected officials by providing chinese businesses to their districts and using that to gain influence over the united states, a long pattern of chinese activity and affirm what these allegations are it sounds consistent. i assume the news media will investigate and get to the bottom of it, i also understand there is an npi investigation, i understand this from the open

source press, there is an fbi money laundering investigation into these allegations, so i think we'll get to the bottom of it. it's entirely consistent with how china has used its influence whether money or blackmail or a fawning press or that sort of thing to influence american politicians, it's something we have to be very concerned about. >> bret: we will continue to follow it here. i want to ask about the interference in the election and we had the director of national intelligence, the fbi director talk about russia and iran. are there other countries well doing that? which one is posing the biggest problem tonight? >> there are. i think the iranians are the most recent to have engaged in this activity that was exposed by director wray and director ratcliffe and i commend our intelligence services for uncovering it quickly. we think transparency is the best deterrent for this sort of

activity in the future. the iranians understand that we are very unhappy with this and there will be consequences as a result of it. it's also russia, it's china, attorney general bill barr said recently china attempts to influence american politicians, the american political system and our elections, it's an order of magnitude higher than what the russians or the iranians have done and i can also tell you -- i can't tell you the names of the countries but there are two or three other countries that we are keeping close tabs on and concerned about their efforts to try to influence elections. one point i do want to make, if you cast a vote in the votes get counted, we spent hundreds of millions of dollars doing so, lieutenant governors handle the election state wide across all 50 states -- i was just in iowa and met with the iowa national guard and their cyber unit is set up and these men and women are working with the iowa secretary of state for example to make sure that the elections are free and fair and can't be

compromised by adversaries. we are confident in what we can do to protect the american people and protect our elections but it's concerning when we see foreign actors trying to get involved to either influence americans or interfere with the actual election day activities of our citizens. >> martha: before we let you go, national security is one of the buckets of questions this evening, what is the question that you think is most important to address with regard to our nation's national security at this point? >> i think the president should be asked to address the accomplishments, he's done more in the past three and a half years that most presidents have done in two terms, we brought peace to the middle east, we defeated isis -- we brought peace to the middle east through the abraham accordance period of bahrain and uae and diplomatic relations and an alliance with israel. we're going to have more news on

the abraham accords in the not-too-distant future, as other countries, the momentum builds to have peace in the middle east. we ended the jcpoa which the obama-biden administration supported and gave $150 billion to the iranians which they used on proxy wars in the middle east. we put tariffs on china and stood up to china for the first time in 40 years. we've rebuilt the military, we've gotten our allies to pay $400 billion more in nato defense spending over the next ten years and to contribute troops to afghanistan and iraq and the president is ending our forever wars. you look at that record, it's unbelievable and you put the trade agreements on top of it, usmca, the agreements i was just in brazil to witness the signings of this past week. it's a tremendous record and i hope the president gets a chance to talk about it and compare it to what the obama-biden administration did, it's a pretty devastating comparison when you look at what the president has done for this

country. >> bret: he controls those 2 minutes, will next see if he takes your advice. robert o'brien, national security advisor we appreciate your time. >> martha: karl rove, katie pavlich, donna brazile live from music city after a quick break, stay with us. ♪

♪ >> bret: little over an hour away until vice president joe biden and the president face off with a final debate, disillusioned day 11 days from now. if an article titled unc and election like this again, in less than two weeks the voting will end and where all guessing as to what will happen. with so many of the normal markers broken or unavailable, so much new and unknown, largely uncharted territory.

>> martha: former deputy chief of staff karl rove, katie pavlich news editor of townhall.com, donna brazile former interim chair of the democratic national committee. if karl since we started off with a piece from your piece, obviously we are in difficult uncharted water all throughout 2020. how does it stack up for you tonight? >> i'm going to be very interested in how it plays out because this is a chance for both candidates to lay out their narrative, they are seeing if you will for the last dozen days of the campaign. we will see if they lay something out tonight and then follow it through between now and election day. these debates -- if you have a surprise it tends to have a bigger impact. if there's a surprise in the debate maybe we will see something tonight and the way of tone or response, or an attack that will be unusual. i'll be watching for those surprises. finally, we've had the precursor, we've had the predebate appearance of somebody who accuses hunter b by the

backbiting of a demand referring as his father as the big men. we will see if it emerges in the debate tonight and whether or not the broader issue pops up of job i didn't really think his son never did anything wrong. in his dealing with burisma. whether it's a good idea, or a bad idea, it will be there tonight. >> bret: there is no if, whether it's coming out. donna, can the debate for eith either, over 47 million people in america have voted already. >> most americans have made up their mind and there's only a small slice of the universe that still undecided. yes, perhaps they can persuade 3-5% of the people that say it's time to get out there and vote. i hope tonight we hear the final poles and arguments, the president has recovered from covid. we know most americans have not. in terms of the economy, in terms of their own conditions,

to nine is a great opportunity for both candidates to lay out to their vision and how we move forward. >> martha: katie, the last round was chaotic. what do you think the president needs to do tonight? >> i think president trump and the campaign made it clear that he may allow joe biden to speak more without so much interruption. i've no doubt present in trouble come in tonight and be very tough on joe biden and tried to pin him against the wall on the number if issues that he finds to be imported including again painting him as a corrupt politician. i think we saw the october surprise from the trump campaign tonight when you have tony bobulinski, former biden business associate coming out and not taking issue with hunter biden, but with joe biden saying that he never spoke about his business dealings with hunter biden, he was not involved with these things. his issues not with hunter by them but with joe biden saying the opposite of what he portrays on all the information, data, phones,

the email and text messages that he presented. i'm sure president trump will bring that up and i'm sure he will bring up a number of things when it comes to vice president joe biden's record during the obama administration and whether the country wants to go back to four or eight years of those kinds of policies or if they want to look at why they elected him in 2016. a very tight margin. putting the country in a different path. >> bret: karl, 15 seconds here. it is the president hitting for a specific demographic and trying to reach voters tonight? >> he should be thinking about suburban undecided, he should be thinking about the people who are more likely to vote unless he gives a concrete reason to do so. aren't really politically connected, taking with the issue will be important and i think that's more to do with the economy than it does with anything else. >> bret: 16, good job. we will see you guys later, that's it for the special two hour presidential debate preview

coming out. tucker carlson continues the predebate programming. >> martha: and stay with us 9:00 p.m. eastern for the final debate between president trump and former vice president joe biden. i martha maccallum. >> i'm bret baier, good evening from nashville. ♪ >> tucker: we want to bring you and anna fox news alert, good evening and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." of course the second of 2 presidential debates begins in less than an hour from now. we thought we knew what to expect and we were wrong. it was surprising, shocking maybe history altering development just a few moments ago. we received a statement from a former naval officer called tony bobulinski. a business partner of hunter biden. i name you never heard before today, you will hear a lot about this man in the coming days. let's ge