This is a rush transcript from “Special Report," September 8, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
BAIER: I like to see more pictures of the Fritz. All right. Thanks, Dana. Good evening. Welcome to Washington. I'm Bret Baier. Breaking tonight. The police chief in Rochester New York is retiring just days after video service showing his officers pinning a black man to the pavement shortly before he died. But the chief is not going quietly or alone. Almost all of his command staff is leaving as well.
Across the country. Dallas' police chief. One of only a few black women serving as police chief across the country is also resigning. Meantime, in several big cities, demonstrators, protesters sometimes turning into rioters are not backing down we have Fox team covered. Dan Springer is in Seattle with what's happening in Dallas. As well as the ongoing unrest in the Pacific Northwest. We begin tonight though with correspondent Aishah Hasnie in New York. Good evening, Aishah.
AISHAH HASNIE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Good evening to you. It is a stunning development out of Rochester tonight. The police chief they're announcing that both he and his deputy chief are retiring and three others in their command staff are also retiring or being demoted. In a letter shared by local media chief La'ron Singletary writes this, as a man of integrity I will not sit idly by while outside entities attempt to destroy my character
The events over the past week are an attempt to destroy my character and integrity. Now this comes amid intense criticism and six nights of protests over the death of Daniel Prude, the 41-year-old man lost consciousness in the hands of police while lying naked with a bag over his head. He died later in a hospital and his death was ruled out homicide, but his autopsy found PCP in his system.
Mayor Lovely Warren appeared stunned as she announced her retirement this afternoon but is assuring the community it is in safe hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOVELY WARREN, MAYOR OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK: I want to assure our Rochester community that the Rochester Police Department will continue to serve and protect our residents and our neighborhoods. Chief Singletary will remain in charge of the department through the end of the month. And I know that he and the officers will fulfill their duties. We have spoken about maintaining our restraint regarding the ongoing protests and ask all involved to remain peaceful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HASNIE: Now, this comes on the same day a lawsuit was filed by Daniel Prude's state against the City of Rochester, the police chief and 13 other defendants. That suit alleges that Chief Singletary did not inform the mayor that Prude died as a result of force used by officers instead, he told her he died of an apparent drug overdose. Now, the mayor is not named in this lawsuit, but she is under some pressure from protesters who are also asking her to step down.
The city council is investigating what she knew. And when she knew it. Bret?
BAIER: Aishah, thank you. As we mentioned Dallas' police chief also stepping down just weeks after she came under fire for her handling of protests in Dallas after the death of George Lloyd in Minneapolis. Correspondent Dan Springer is live with those details as unrest continues in the Pacific Northwest. Good evening, Dan.
DAN SPRINGER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hi, Brett. Chief Renee Hall announced that she's leaving for another career opportunity in November, but she's been under intense pressure to resign for months. Ever since the early days of the George Floyd protests in Dallas were in one night her officers arrested more than 600 people for blocking a roadway. Things have been relatively calm in Dallas recently but not so in the Pacific Northwest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SPRINGER: As Seattle Police protected their union headquarters Monday someone threw a Molotov cocktail at officers. It's an escalation of the violence that is apparently being called for by some Black Lives Matter leaders. At a rally demanding the city council override Mayor Jenny Durkan's veto of a measure that would cut 100 police officers. Former city council candidate Shawn Scott told the Seattle Times the rate of legislative change was moving much quicker when there were cop cars on fire in this city.
A short time later body cam video shows a police officer assaulted as he makes an arrest. One of 20 to one a Labor Day where there was no rest.
MIKE SOLAN, PRESIDENT, SEATTLE POLICE GUILD: It's extremely a (INAUDIBLE) that's somebody that almost had a seat at the table at the Council level. They got 16,000 votes in this city. It's pushing that kind of violent rhetoric.
SPRINGER: In Portland, police tactics appear to be shifting, cops arrested 59 protesters on Saturday. A night that saw one man accidentally set himself on fire. It's the most arrest since the protest began more than three months ago. At the state capitol in Salem, a pro President Trump rally turned violent when some battle with counter demonstrators. Police arrested two men on assault charges.
It followed an editorial in the Oregonian, calling for an end to the nightly BLM protests. The paper writing that has taken weeks for state and city leaders to issue unified statements condemning violence at these protests betrays an appalling lack of courage. And in Los Angeles police use flashbang grenades and rubber bullets to disperse a group protesting the shooting death of Dijon Lizzee by sheriff's deputy. Police made 17 arrests over the weekend.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SPRINGER: President Trump has continued to both tweet and talk about the protest violence in cities run by Democrats. A clear campaign strategy that like the turmoil in the streets shows no sign of letting up. Bret?
BAIER: Dan, thank you. Also breaking tonight, you're looking live at Winston Salem, North Carolina where President Trump in just a short time will speak to supporters after making a brief stop in Florida today. This happens as polling now indicates the race is tightening in key battleground states. Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts has details live the North lawn. Good evening, John.
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Bret, good evening to you. The raises are just tightening. It is now neck and neck in Florida and North Carolina with a combined 44 electoral votes. Both of those states now considered tossups.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're authorizing $100 million to fight the red tide and toxic algae.
ROBERTS: President Trump in Jupiter, Florida today talking conservation and the environment with an important announcement for the sunshine state that he'll extend the band on drilling for oil in Florida waters.
TRUMP: I will sign a presidential order extending the moratorium on offshore drilling on Florida's Gulf Coast and expanding it to Florida's Atlantic coast as well as the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina.
ROBERTS: The president insisting his policies have allowed an extension by increasing energy production in other states. The approach of Joe Biden and the radical left is exactly the opposite. Their policies will destroy jobs, cause energy prices to double and to skyrocket beyond belief.
ROBERTS: A new NBC News Marist poll shows Florida now a dead heat among registered voters that Trump ticket leads the Biden ticket 48 to 47 percent. Among likely voters, it's tied at 48. While the numbers are slightly different, both President Trump and Joe Biden are underwater by the same margin when it comes to favorability ratings. Down five among registered voters, down three among likely voters.
The President also heading to battleground North Carolina today with a RealClearPolitics average now shows Joe Biden up less than two points. President Trump telling suburban moms Biden is too weak to deal with rioters terrorists up the streets of big cities, warning the writers have their eye on the suburbs.
TRUMP: The suburbs and coming big to us because the suburbs are next. If you elected this guy, the suburbs would be overwhelmed with violence and crime.
ROBERTS: But President Trump getting some pushback today from his own military leaders after he charged yesterday some members of top Pentagon brass aren't in love with him.
TRUMP: They want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.
ROBERTS: Today, the Army Chief of Staff General James McConville had this response.
JAMES MCCONVILLE, U.S. ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF: I can assure the American people that the senior leaders would only recommend sending our troops to combat when it's required for national security in the last resort.
ROBERTS: And as the -- fully kicks in President Trump today confirming he would be willing to dip into his own wallet if money begins to run short.
TRUMP: In the 2016 primaries, I put up a lot of money. If I have to. I'll do it here. Whatever it takes we have to win.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: In North Carolina tonight President Trump has got a full slate of attacks against Joe Biden, jobs, the economy, law and order trade and more. Joe Biden has not yet campaigned in North Carolina, but the way the numbers have been going there. You'll probably get there very soon, Bret?
BAIER: Many times, maybe. John, thanks. In what some consider unusual heading into the final weeks of the campaign. The Democratic ticket is taking the day after Labor Day off. But the former vice presidents event in Pennsylvania is getting new attention from Monday. Here's correspondent Peter Doocy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: The unofficial starting gun for the sprint to Election Day was Labor Day. And today Joe Biden had no public events neither to Kamala Harris, even though her pitch in Wisconsin wants to be on the lookout for ballots.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (INAUDIBLE) voting starts. That's my birthday.
DOOCY: -- been on the ticket for almost a month and she's still looking for information about what Biden's like as a running mate from the only other person who would know.
HARRIS: What's the thing about the ice cream? He loves ice cream. Tell me about that.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ice cream is big.
DOOCY: This campaign edited Q&A with Harris and Obama also provide a new insight into what Kamala Harris was doing during COVID-19 lockdowns.
HARRIS: For months, I couldn't find ways to order weights, they were sold out. So, I had these liter water bottles that I filled of course with water and use them as hand weight.
OBAMA: That's resourceful.
DOOCY: 2020 looks a lot different than 2016 in battleground Florida. For example, last cycle, Hillary Clinton led with Latinos there but now Trump does. Last cycle Donald Trump lead with seniors there but now Biden does according to a new NBC News Marist poll. Now the Biden campaign has a new ad pledging that many big problems will end he just has to win.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our chance to put the darkness of the past four years behind us to end the anger, the insults, division, violence.
DOOCY: Biden is disputing President Trump's charges that he's physically or mentally declining. Telling a local station in Pennsylvania "Look at how he steps and look how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps. Okay? Come on. "But the Trump campaign is zeroing in on this clip from a virtual Q and A with union members, where Biden appears to be looking for answers in a teleprompter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I would like to know, what will your administration do to help them give them that chance? Thank you
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: To get up here. You know, there used to be a basic bargain in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOOCY: We reached out to the Biden campaign and asked if his answer to that question was in a teleprompter or if there was something else happening off camera that we couldn't see. And we haven't heard back yet. His first debate with President Trump in Cleveland is three weeks from tonight. Bret?
BAIER: Peter Doocy in Michigan. Peter, thanks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate will vote on a trimmed down Republican coronavirus relief package. They call it targeted. The Senate has an abbreviated pre-election session. McConnell says he realizes the $300 billion measure does not fulfill the hopes and dreams of some of his colleagues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): We vote on whether to make laws, whether to forge or compromise, whether to do a lot of good for the country and keep arguing all the remaining differences later.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): It's only a check the box so that some of his endangered Republican senators can go home and say, well, I see I tried, but it isn't trying. It's not even an attempt to do the right thing. And Mitch McConnell knows that.
BAIER: Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say the bill is headed nowhere. Another tough day for tech stocks on Wall Street, the Dow lost 632, the S&P 500 dropped 95 the NASDAQ plunged 465 heading into correction territory. Another bloody holiday weekend in Chicago, an eight- year-old girl was killed and two adults severely wounded as more than 50 people were shot in Chicago. Senior Correspondent Mike Tobin as our report.
MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: The shooting was somewhat typical for an area all too familiar with gang violence. A Subaru SUV was at a stoplight on Chicago's South Side, a Dodge Charger came up from behind an open fire. This time an eight-year-old girl, Dajore Wilson one of four passengers was killed. The adults in the car were wounded.
BRENDAN DEENIHAN, CHICAGO POLICE CHIEF OF DETECTIVES: It appears that the people from this vehicle were definitely targeting someone in that car or someone they thought should have been in that car. So, it's an ongoing gang on gang or group on group violence.
TOBIN: A day earlier. Just a bit east of that location, an SUV open fire on a crowd shooting for people in the legs. Chicago police report 38 shooting incidents over the holiday weekend, 51 people were shot, 10 of them fatally. David Brown the relatively new police superintendent has spearheaded new community safety teams, critical incident response teams and boasts of tenuous progress.
Still, nearly every night brings bloodshed. For that, Brown blames familiar subjects, the availability of illegal guns and local courts that he says are too easy on gun offenders.
DAVID BROWN, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: Illegal gun possession cycles in and out of our courts. Catch him.
TOBIN: From federal law enforcement. U.S. Attorney General William Barr is set to speak in Chicago on Wednesday about the surge in Federal law enforcement called Operation Legend. Bret?
BAIER: Mike Tobin in Chicago. Mike, thanks. A few minutes ago, the U.S. Forest Service said 14 firefighters and bulldozer operators have been injured battling a blaze in Northern California. Three of the workers are hospitalized tonight. Wildfires are churning through a bone-dry California rescue helicopters airlifting hundreds of people to safety today. The state has already set a record with two million acres burned this year
Correspondent Jeff Paul takes a look at the situation on the West Coast from L.A. tonight.
JEFF PAUL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: The West is burning. Dozens of wildfires sparking throughout Washington, Oregon and California have firefighters working around the clock and some folks running for their lives
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole time I was calm. And then I just broke down because I saw the flames how big they were and how close to the road that they were getting to all of us.
PAUL: Others didn't have the option of leaving and we're stranded by the flames. The Creek fire burning just outside of Fresno, California and the Sierra Nevada is trapped hundreds of people who were surrounded by a wall of fire in every direction. Today the California National Guard forced to airlift more than 100 people and even some dogs to safety. At least 25 major wildfires are burning in the Golden State, many with little to no containment.
And while scorching triple digit temperatures are set to drop. The winds are now on course to strengthen. It's really a two pronged, one, two punch for us because it really just reduces our ability to stop these fires.
PAUL: The fires have caused tens of thousands to lose power in their homes up and down the western United States. But some are now facing the devastating reality they don't even have a house to return to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything gone close beds, everything.
PAUL: While heat and fires plague California and the Pacific Northwest in Colorado, just the opposite is happening. A scorching Labor Day temperatures dropped 50 to 70 degrees, causing snow to fall in parts of the state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Firefighters are now bracing for the incoming Santa Ana winds which could cause some of those fires to grow. Even more troubling, the already record-breaking fire season still has four more months to go. Bret?
BAIER: Jeff Paul, in LA. Jeff, thanks. Up next, a nightmare story of a Chinese Muslim who came to the U.S. in search of the American dream. First years with some of our Fox affiliates around the country covering tonight. Fox Five in Atlanta as early voting begins to fill the seat of the late civil rights leader, Congressman John Lewis. Seven candidates qualified for the special election. The winner of this special election will serve less than 100 days in Congress.
If none of the seven actually wins a majority of the votes, the top two will proceed to a runoff December 1st, meaning that winner and that winner's tenure will only be 33 days. Fox Five in New York as a teenager from Newark is charged with attempted murder and weapons offense and connection with the stabbing of two people at Point Pleasant Beach Monday. The victims are in serious but stable condition.
And this is a live look at San Francisco from Fox too, one of the big stories there tonight. Apple schedules a special event for a week from today but the company is not saying why. Fans and investors are expecting a refresh in the lineup of some of Apple's core products. The event will be streamed on the company's Web site from its campus in California. That's tonight's live look outside the Beltway from special report. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Bb House Democrats will investigate whether Postmaster General DeJoy encouraged employees at his business to contribute to Republican candidates, and then reimburse them in the guys' bonuses. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee made that announcement today. Yesterday President Trump said he would support an investigation and that DeJoy should be replaced if found to have broken the law.
The U.S. Navy says it has ended its search for a sailor missing since Sunday from the aircraft carrier Nimitz in the Northern Arabian Sea, North Arabian Sea. Information Systems technician second class and Ian McKnight is believed to have gone overboard the incident remains under investigation. As the Trump administration sanctions those responsible for what officials called the massive concentration camp system in northwest China.
We look at the case of one man who's detained there and his sister here fighting for his release. State Department Correspondent Rich Edson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICH EDSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: After a three weeks State Department business program in the United States (INAUDIBLE) returned home to Shenyang, China to build his own media business. Instead, his family says Chinese authorities arrested him and moved him into a concentration camp.
RAYHAN ASAT, SISTER: I am achieving my American dream. Whereas my brother like he's detained. And, you know, his life is simply unimaginable.
EDSON: in 2016 Rayhan became the first ethnic Uyghur to graduate with a master's degree from Harvard Law School (INAUDIBLE) was planning on coming back to the US for his sister's Harvard graduation. He never made it. I worried that he thinks he's forgotten. I'll not relent to answer his friend.
EDSON: A recent State Department report says the Chinese government is subjecting minority groups in Xinjiang john to "Forced disappearance, political indoctrination, torture, physical and psychological abuse, including forced sterilization and sexual abuse, forced labor and prolonged detention." Economic ties between the U.S. and China remains strong despite sanctions. In the credits of Disney's move on the film's creators shot scenes in Xinjiang and even thank government agencies there, including one, the Commerce Department sanctioned in October. The Turpan municipality Public Security Bureau.
ASAT: It's simply unacceptable, because it's a way of complicity. It's a way of enabling the Chinese government for its repression.
EDSON: Her parents still live in China and are at risk of retribution by the Chinese government.
ASAT: All of our communication is heavily monitored. So, they cannot talk to me anything about my brother. It's so painful. It's like -- I feel like I'm in my home and my thoughts are monitored.
EDSON: Rayhan said she recently found out from the U.S. Congress that her brother had been sentenced to 15 years. It's already been four years since she's heard anything from him. Bret?
BAIER: Rich, thank you. Up next, back to school, both here in the U.S. and overseas. First beyond our borders tonight, a leading opposition activist in Belarus is actually is being held on the border with Ukraine. After resisting an attempt by authorities to deport her as part of government efforts to end a month of protest against President Alexander Lukashenko. Maria Kolesnikova was detained in Minsk Monday and driven to the border today. She refused orders to cross into Ukraine.
A British judge tells WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, his extradition hearing will proceed without him if he continues to speak from the dock and interrupt witnesses. Assange is fighting an attempt by American prosecutors to extradite him to the U.S. to stand trial on spying charges. Just some of the other stories beyond our borders tonight. We'll be right back.
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BAIER: School is resuming this week for millions of American students. Some are returning to classrooms amid the coronavirus pandemic, others learning from home. Correspondent Jonathan Serrie has our update tonight from Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Today was back to school for students in many parts of the country, including Chicago which is skipping classes online.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't agree with it. I feel like every kid deserves to socialize.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I prefer them to be at home. It's more safe.
SERRIE: Th intergovernmental organization OECD warns the pandemic's interruption of childhood education could cost the U.S. economy more than $15 trillion over the next 80 years. Determined to resume in-person classes on September 21st, New York school officials are trying to repair ventilation programs found in four percent of the city's 64,000 classrooms.
RICHARD CARRANZA, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION CHANCELLOR: Any repairs that aren't complete before the first day of full-time teaching and learning will not be used. It's as simple as that.
SERRIE: Increasing cases and reports of Labor Day weekend parties prompted West Virginia University to move undergraduate classes online for the next two weeks. The University of New Hampshire has suspended a fraternity for hosting a large party now linked to at least 11 COVID-19 cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just hearing 100 people, it's absurd.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously they weren't using their common sense.
SERRIE: With China and Russia claiming effective vaccines and talk in the U.S. of an election day surprise, CEOs of nine pharmaceutical companies signed a joint pledge to properly test their vaccines before seeking FDA approval and to "always make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals our top priority." Those sentiments echoed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We will not compromise on the safety and efficacy of a vaccine even as we move under President Trump's leadership to get one as quickly as possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERRIE: The NFL announced one player and seven staff tested positive over the past week. The league kicks off its season Thursday night. The Kansas City Chiefs hosts the Houston Texans with fans limited to 22 percent capacity in Arrowhead Stadium. Bret?
BAIER: We'll be watching. Jonathan, thank you.
Other countries also struggling with how to reopen schools amid the coronavirus, reopen them safely. Correspondent Benjamin Hall has that part of the story from London tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome back everybody.
BENJAMIN HALL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Schools in the U.K. are now open, pupils are back and they're read to learn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm feeling quite happy about going back to school.
HALL: Over the last few months there has been a growing consensus that keeping children out of school is more dangerous than sending them back.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It's not right that kids should spend more time out of school. It's much, much better for their health and mental well-being, obviously their educational prospects, if everybody comes back to school fulltime.
HALL: There are changes. Start times are staggered, bubbles have been set up to limit year groups overlapping, while in coronavirus hotspots pupils will have to wear facemasks in communal areas.
JOHNSON: But not in classroom, because that's clearly nonsense. You can't teach with face coverings.
HALL: It's also believed the reopening of schools will be a boost to the economy, freeing up parents to return to the workforce.
ANGEL GURRIA, ORGANIZATION OR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (through translator): For all of the sectors important for our economy, for its restarting and for the future of nations, schools fulfill a complex equation.
HALL: Other countries have their own regulations. In Spain, teachers must all have a test before returning, and all students over five must wear masks. In Russia if one student tests positives, the whole class learns remotely for two weeks.
But the overriding consensus is the same -- children must go back to school.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HALL: Here in the U.K., 99.7 percent of schools are open again, and nine out of 10 parents say they feel safe sending their children back. Those who have been most vocally against it, though, are the teaching unions who say it is teachers who face the biggest risk. Bret?
BAIER: Benjamin Hall in London. Benjamin, thanks.
Up next, new polling shows the presidential race getting tighter. We'll get reaction from the panel when we return. And as you look live at Winston- Salem, North Carolina, they've got the phones out because Air Force One is coming this way. We'll take you there live when it does.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the race for a vaccine, the finish line is approaching, safety protocols in place, and the greatest economy the world has ever seen coming back to life. But Joe Biden wants to change that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our chance to put the darkness of the past four years behind us, to end the anger, the insults, the division, the violence, and start fresh in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: A Trump campaign ad, a Biden campaign ad, and they're all over the place, especially in the key battlegrounds, as you take a look at one of the battleground states, North Carolina. They are trying to get Air Force One to miss our shot again, but it's there. They are on the ground and he's getting really, the president is, to disembark and talk to the folks there in Winston-Salem.
This comes as some battleground states are showing tightening, one of them being Florida, the biggest battleground of all. A new poll from NBC and Marist has very tight, essentially tied, likely voters, 48-48. If you look at internals of that poll, the Latino vote, you compare the 2016 exit polls with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, 62-35, Clinton getting the Latino vote in Florida. But in this poll Joe Biden at 46, Donald Trump at 50 percent, and that is tracking some Latino numbers in North Carolina as well, one element. Obviously, we always look at those polls as snapshots in time, but it's interesting to look at them.
Let's bring in our panel, Bill Bennett, former Education Secretary, host of "The Bill Bennett Show" podcast, A.B. Stoddard, associate editor at Real Clear Politics, and Matthew Continetti, founding editor of the "Washington Free Beacon." A.B., let me start with you. Looking at that NBC/Marist poll, it is interesting to see that shift in just a few weeks.
A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: I did always think that the polls were going to tighten and voters were going to kind of come home. I think Joe Biden has seen these really good polling numbers for months, but his campaign expected that interest and engagement on the other side was going to be heightened around this time and that they would have to be prepared for a tightening race.
I think if you are the Trump campaign you just have to contest everywhere you can with all the force and ability that you can because you're behind. I think if you are the Biden campaign, you have to do what they've been saying for months they're going to do, which is defend Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Nevada, not be seduced by Texas and Georgia, and then look to pick up places like North Carolina and Florida. So they are more cautious than people give them credit for, but it's still going to be a very volatile time between now and Election Day.
BAIER: Yes, we have those what if scenarios on the map that will play out over the next few weeks. Bill, if this is true, and the Trump campaign is picking up Latino voters in places like Florida and North Carolina, if they are moving the needle in the black vote by one, two, three points, in some of those states that really could turn the tide.
BILL BENNETT, FORMER EDUCATION SECRETARY: Yes, I understand if you go from eight points from the black community, which was last time, so 11 or 12, then Trump wins. The movement among Hispanic voters, the Latino community is dramatic. I agree with A.B., the thing is tightening, but it's also heating up. And it's got kind of intensity now that sometimes is just reserved for October.
The other thing is, again, from sports, I learned in Washington, you're on offense or you're on defense. Trump is on offense and Joe Biden is on defense. Trump, the schedule, let's remember, this guy is what, 72? This is a herculean schedule that Donald Trump keeps with no sign of slowing down. Biden, on the other hand, seems to be laboring, not to belabor a point others have made. But you're on offense or you're on defense, and he's very much on offense, and I think that is a very good thing.
The other thing is we are so roiled as a country in terms of violence, splits, divisions, I think that the firmness of Trump, his strength, whatever people may think of his occasional solecisms, may bring moderates, people in the middle, back to Donald Trump. They want some certain captain here, even if he curses from time to time -- I don't mean Trump does, but a captain does -- in stormy seas.
BAIER: Matthew, what about that schedule. You see the president stopping at two states today. And you see the former vice president Joe Biden taking the day off the campaign trail, no events for Biden or Harris today. We were kind of surprised when we saw that, that the lid for the press was on by midday.
MATTHEW CONTINETTI, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "WASHINGTON FREE BEACON": They are two very different candidates, Bret, modeling two different types of campaigns, the president trying to demonstrate that America is back, that we are putting the pandemic behind us, Biden still very much believing that we need to take steps to contain and then suppress the virus.
A few things about the tightening, though. I think it's very important when we consider that this election in 2016 was decided by fewer than 100,000 votes in three states. It can be a very narrow margin can have decisive results in the Electoral College. And I think we're looking right now in these polls as something very similar happening, not in three states but maybe in six. And that could lead to a very prolonged postelection.
The other thing I'd note is that with the Hispanic vote, I think if Trump should win this election, the Democratic National Convention will be seen as a missed opportunity by the Biden-Harris ticket. It had very little to say to Latino voters. And there's this misconception that Latino voters vote solely on immigration. That is not the case. What's more important to them is economy, and Trump's economic mission I think is more powerful than Joe Biden's.
BAIER: We should also point out in Florida they are playing the don't vote socialist and the socialist ad to Cuban-American and Puerto Rican American communities.
A.B. the money game, Joe Biden raising a lot of money in recent weeks. Total raised, $328 million, total spent $229 million, and you take a look at the cash on hand there, roughly about $100 million. The president, a big raise, $414 million, but a huge spend, and the big story about the spending on that, $301 million, but cash on hand a little bit more. The president even going so far as saying he would put his own money in this race up to whatever he needs to spend.
STODDARD: Let's have this discussion after the election, Bret, and see if he actually ever came up with his own money. I doubt that he intends to do that.
But this is a troubling story for them because you and everyone on this panel and I have talk to Republican donors who have expressed concerns in the summer months about the spending, the disorganization, the grifting that has gone on, and just spent almost $1 million dollars to not even still really have a message, has been a source of a lot of tension on the Republican side, and a lot of concern about the Senate majority and whether donors should just support the senators and not the president's presidential campaign. So he is on TV in a lot of battlegrounds right now.
BAIER: Do you know how much Mitch McConnell has raised?
STODDARD: No, I don't.
BAIER: I think it's a staggering number, too, but we're going to get that.
STODDARD: But Mitch McConnell's aligned super PAC doesn't want to spend $5 million in Kansas right now. They have a lot of money to spend, they have a lot of expense on the Senate Republican side. They have many, many races where the Republican might win but they have to play defense and do a lot of spending, so they need a lot of money. And they've been very frustrating at the fact that the presidential campaign and Trump aligned super PACs have been hoovering all this money for years, and their majorities now in question.
But I just want to quickly say about TV ads. So Trump is down in battleground states, and for TV ads for September are going to get back in October. We'll see later on how effective TV ads are. Remember that Trump has been up on YouTube and Facebook for many, many years now, running a general election campaign on those social media platforms all along, long before there was a Democratic nominee. So we're going to look back and have to assess how powerful TV ads are in 2020.
BAIER: As we always do. Panel, thank you.
Up next, stand by because we are going back to school, at least some kids are. Others aren't. We are going to talk about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We're opening up America's schools, and I'm proud to report to you that schoolteacher I've been married to for 35 years is already back in the classroom teaching art at her elementary school.
(APPLAUSE)
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The way he's reopening is causing us to shut down. Look what's happening with schools right now, if you have kids, trying to get them back in school right now. It's pretty tough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: The current vice president and the former vice president talking about going back to school, both of them, we should point out, married with teachers. We're back with a panel, Bill Bennett, former Education Secretary. This seems to be just a massive issue. I probably get more emails about this every time we do a story or just talk about it than any other issue.
BENNETT: I get more emails, too. I haven't been Secretary of Education for more than 25 years, and I'm getting more than I got then. And it's a mess of shame. It's a massive shame, and it's a shame mainly on the liberals and the Democrats because of the powers of the teacher unions and the education establishment.
Look, you can find a way to work at Amazon, people can find a way to work at Walmart, apparently you can even find a way to work at a gym if it's a government building in San Francisco, but we can't open the schools? Your earlier segment pointed out all the schools in the civilized world are opening, but our schools aren't.
And here's the point -- these kids are safer and better off in school and out of school. Obviously academically, we hope obviously, mentally, and in terms of physical safety. This is a power play by the unions. And here is a particular shame -- the Democrats, the liberals who say they speak for the poor and the minority, it is disproportionately the poor and minority parent who will now have to choose between whether to go back to work or to stay home with the kids. And it is school which is a fortress, the place of refuge for more minority kids per capita than any other group, it's the place where they can get a meal, two decent meals, and where they can have the wisdom and guidance of adults. But this power play to keep it shut down, American people, a lot of them are furious about this, and they're right.
BAIER: A.B., how does this play politically? I've talked to teachers who are concerned about going back, but I've also talked to other people like Bill mentions that say if the grocery clerk and the stocker at the grocery store is an essential worker, why aren't the teachers with my child in this school?
STODDARD: You know, Bret, my hat is off to all the parents struggling through this and the administrators and the teachers who are trying to be as innovative as they can. But this is an experiment. We have no idea what's going to happen. We went into it with too much community spread and not enough testing, and I hope it works out well. I will be fascinated to see the polling about this in late October.
BAIER: Yes. Matthew, quickly.
CONTINETTI: Th experiment has been going on for some time in the in-person day cares which had been open prior to schools opening. And I think the results are pretty positive considering that the children are less susceptible to the worst outcomes of this disease than most. Bret, I've said it before and I will say it again -- close the bars, open the schools. That's the way to progress.
BAIER: Panel, thank you. We're going to talk about this many more times. The president of the United States, by the way, walking up to that scene up there in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And we're going to take some of that in just a bit after this quick break. When we come back, the not-so- terrible twos.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: Usually we have a kicker here at the end of the show, but since the president is talking in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, I figured we could take you there and listen in. Thank you for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for the SPECIAL REPORT, fair, balanced, and unafraid. "THE STORY" hosted by Martha starts after we take you to North Carolina.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they win, the mobs win. You see these guys, they go around saying I want your meal, give me that food, give me that. A woman sitting there, she wants to eat, and they come, they grab her food, they grab her drink. Nobody has ever seen stuff like this. This is all that ideology. We're not going to let it happen. We're not going to let it happen.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And you know in Portland, you see what happened last night, they arrested over 50 people the first time. We said either do it, or we're going in. We're to have to go in, do it. Let us go in. I spoke to the governor of Oregon the other day. Let us go in, I said, let us go in. We'll straighten it out in less than a half-an-hour.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: The U.S. Marshals did go in to take care of that one guy who killed somebody. You saw that.
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