WEBVTT NOTE recognizability 0.931 NOTE language en-us 00:00:00.590 --> 00:00:04.230 The only vice presidential debate of the selection of just two days away vice 00:00:04.230 --> 00:00:09.210 president might pens and senator comma harris will take the stage in salt lake city wednesday night 00:00:09.210 --> 00:00:12.150 and the stakes couldn't be higher particularly for...he is 00:00:12.150 --> 00:00:16.860 ...first vice president to debate while the president is known to be sick nbc 00:00:16.860 --> 00:00:21.500 news political reporter mark alfred joining me now monica and there are more than a dozen positive 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:25.670 ...cases in this white house cluster whatever campaigns doing to keep 00:00:25.670 --> 00:00:31.060 ...vp debate as safe as...for as possible well 00:00:31.060 --> 00:00:35.470 ...it is top of mine for both of them developments just in the last couple of 00:00:35.470 --> 00:00:39.740 minutes for learning center comma harris' campaign half that there 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:43.360 be a plexiglass divider between her and vice 00:00:43.360 --> 00:00:48.150 president might depend on the debate stage in salt lake city on wednesday that something 00:00:48.150 --> 00:00:52.950 we understand the commission has approved we saw that and one of this senatorial 00:00:52.950 --> 00:00:56.800 ...the last couple of days that something it seems they took an idea from 00:00:56.800 --> 00:01:01.300 ...applied here on this far bigger national stage and for their part the 00:01:01.300 --> 00:01:05.810 vice president's office spokeswoman katie miller said to us 00:01:05.810 --> 00:01:09.250 ...the senator wants to essentially put in her words 00:01:09.250 --> 00:01:13.470 ...fortress around her quote...so that gives you a preview 00:01:13.470 --> 00:01:18.390 just a little bit of the changes are already making and we understand they're also going to be further 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:23.380 apart but at a typical debate are going to be about twelve feet of distance between the two of them 00:01:23.380 --> 00:01:28.320 and the moderator as well so these safety considerations are really significant heading 00:01:28.320 --> 00:01:33.070 into this debate that you would always pay attention to again as...it's the only one 00:01:33.070 --> 00:01:38.670 of the cycle between the two but of course much higher stakes so many more people watching 00:01:38.670 --> 00:01:44.680 ...given the president's current corona virus diagnosis alison. 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:48.520 ...let's talk strategy and crap senator harris first 00:01:48.520 --> 00:01:52.890 ...about how she's getting ready for this debate what her strategy is for ones 00:01:52.890 --> 00:01:57.760 and I she's been doing a lot of traditional debate of course you participated in a 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:02.440 lot of those debates during the primary season with many more candidates on the stage 00:02:02.440 --> 00:02:07.270 but similar to what he was doing earlier in the year she's in a team of small group of 00:02:07.270 --> 00:02:12.280 ...interestingly enough we understand that somebody who was playing the role vice 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:16.880 president my...has been one of her formal rivals and former mayor of south 00:02:16.880 --> 00:02:21.760 bend people digits you see in those photos there has been actually spotted in salt lake 00:02:21.760 --> 00:02:26.760 city where we know actually that comma harris has been for the last couple of days it seems she's been 00:02:26.760 --> 00:02:30.650 doing even some last-minute practice friends with him and we should point out that the 00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:33.970 vice president just left washington a short time ago for salt lake city 00:02:33.970 --> 00:02:37.560 so both candidates are going to be on the ground more than forty eight hours in 00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:42.200 advance to continue their preparations there but these are two politicians...really 00:02:42.200 --> 00:02:47.200 do the more typical kind of properties compared to donald trump who basically 00:02:47.200 --> 00:02:49.980 ...kind of preparation and instead 00:02:49.980 --> 00:02:54.950 ...different kind of sessions as we know now with several people in close proximity who then I'll turn 00:02:54.950 --> 00:02:57.710 out to be positive for corona virus after those close 00:02:57.710 --> 00:03:02.180 quarters sessions we've learned that the current vice president and that senator 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:06.980 comma harris are really preparing with a lot of briefing books they've been doing actual 00:03:06.980 --> 00:03:10.480 mock sessions and something else we learned actually about vice president 00:03:10.480 --> 00:03:14.370 ...is that he was told...instead of just operating with the team they had 00:03:14.370 --> 00:03:18.850 four years ago like former wisconsin governor scott walker who was critical and played age 00:03:18.850 --> 00:03:23.490 ...ten...four years ago for that age the white house actually suggested 00:03:23.490 --> 00:03:28.020 pam bonding step in and play the role of comma harris because of their backgrounds 00:03:28.020 --> 00:03:32.690 as former attorneys general and of course to have a woman standing in for a woman since this would 00:03:32.690 --> 00:03:37.470 be more unique and new experience for the vice president to be debating bash so we 00:03:37.470 --> 00:03:42.450 don't know exactly how she was utilize that we understand she was involved in some wage 00:03:42.450 --> 00:03:45.460 ...body of course a close ally of the president was involved in 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:50.780 the impeachment defense team as well alison. 00:03:50.780 --> 00:03:54.930 ...talk about vice president pansies no stranger to this process debating senator ten 00:03:54.930 --> 00:03:59.040 ...and twenty sixteen what...about how he's preparing differently in twenty, 00:03:59.040 --> 00:04:01.700 twenty and how we might handle questions about 00:04:01.700 --> 00:04:06.350 ...pandemonium even the president's positive diagnosis last week absolutely I think that 00:04:06.350 --> 00:04:10.750 can be a major topic of discussion and really will have to see how the vice 00:04:10.750 --> 00:04:15.710 president defends the president who was consistently downplaying the virus 00:04:15.710 --> 00:04:20.710 ...months as we've seen as even donald trump admitted to bob woodward during those 00:04:20.710 --> 00:04:25.570 taped interviews that he did on purpose down-play the virus he conceded to 00:04:25.570 --> 00:04:29.750 him so how the vice president defend in light of now the fact that the 00:04:29.750 --> 00:04:33.950 president has himself contracted the virus the first lady of course also 00:04:33.950 --> 00:04:38.140 sick with corona virus and...we understand they both are doing well that's 00:04:38.140 --> 00:04:42.350 ...both of their teams that said so well in fact the president is being released from 00:04:42.350 --> 00:04:46.890 walter reed hospital today a lot of questions outstanding here about that 00:04:46.890 --> 00:04:51.860 timeline so while the vice president who is the head of the corona virus taskforce we all know 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:54.700 ...absolutely expecting questions on health 00:04:54.700 --> 00:04:57.750 crisis they take on a whole new meaning now with this 00:04:57.750 --> 00:05:02.200 diagnosis and he will have to answer for some of the mix messaging also not just 00:05:02.200 --> 00:05:06.480 from the president but from his own doctors I imagine...for senator harris 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:11.420 she and joe biden have really made the corona virus crisis a centerpiece of 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:16.220 their campaign again before we knew the president had come down with this we knew that this is going 00:05:16.220 --> 00:05:20.600 to be huge focus of heard they were that she was going to be basically criticizing the administration 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:25.050 again pointing out that the vice president as the head of the task for bears a lot of the responsibility 00:05:25.050 --> 00:05:29.990 democrats would argue for where we are in the pan damage but again it takes on a whole 00:05:29.990 --> 00:05:34.570 new realm of importance given just what's happening in the last couple of days and there were a 00:05:34.570 --> 00:05:38.370 lot of questions about whether the vice president was really going to go to utah for this 00:05:38.370 --> 00:05:43.360 wall the president was still hospitalized now obviously we know since he's...walter read that was a decision 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:47.930 was made and...she should be landing there later tonight but there is an open-ended 00:05:47.930 --> 00:05:54.460 question of what happens in the next few...with the president condition alison? 00:05:54.460 --> 00:05:58.860 My...also spoken with some of the president's allies what would they like to see from the vice 00:05:58.860 --> 00:06:03.720 president on wednesday night other things there hoping he'll avoid or handle a certain way 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:08.670 and I think the vice president said it best just now on the tarmac when he was leaving he said the 00:06:08.670 --> 00:06:12.750 president gave him the green light to go to utah so the number one thing if 00:06:12.750 --> 00:06:16.250 they want to project this sense of normalcy despite 00:06:16.250 --> 00:06:21.240 all the chaos that's going on in the last couple of days they want to also say 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:25.330 the american people that the president in his own words she doesn't want 00:06:25.330 --> 00:06:29.940 those suffering to be afraid of corona virus even though he's just been in the hospital for 00:06:29.940 --> 00:06:34.340 ...and they also want to really get back on the campaign trail I spoke to some 00:06:34.340 --> 00:06:37.370 of the allies of the president's re-election campaign said 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:41.020 ...most eager to see the vice president should get back out 00:06:41.020 --> 00:06:45.730 there with crowds and continue to make a pitch that the president can't do right now because he can't be 00:06:45.730 --> 00:06:50.120 traveling so the vice president is actually going to be having to arizona on thursday 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:54.650 ...indiana on friday and continue from there again because the main candidate 00:06:54.650 --> 00:06:59.570 himself is sidelined with corona virus the vice president's going to be stepping in and doing a 00:06:59.570 --> 00:07:04.010 lot more travel and we should point out here he's going to continue to do and some of which I've been to 00:07:04.010 --> 00:07:06.830 an been reported on which don't always 00:07:06.830 --> 00:07:10.760 have social distancing which are inconsistent mask usage 00:07:10.760 --> 00:07:15.220 best so continuing to sort of flout some of these health and safety guidelines 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:17.790 ...the cdc itself has put out the term administration 00:07:17.790 --> 00:07:22.550 endorses the campaign has contradicted at times they're going to keep doing that and they're going to have 00:07:22.550 --> 00:07:27.550 members of the first family also hitting the trail in the next couple of days...to really 00:07:27.550 --> 00:07:33.230 do a show of force again while the president himself is sidelined with this virus.