So thats a very tricky one, a delicate one. Its also more deadly than your you know, even your strenuous flus. People dont realize, we lose 25, 30,000 people here. Bill the battle for swing states front and center. The campaigns focused on voters in michigan and pennsylvania. Two states the president won narrowly in 2016. Mike pence speaks north of pittsburgh p. A. And joe biden is in michigan sounding off on trump saying that he knowingly lied about the virus for months. We have team fox coverage with Martha Maccallum and Jacqui Heinrich in delaware, Kristin Fisher kicks off the news from the north lawn at the white house. Kristin. Hey, bill. Were talking and 18 ontherecord interviews that President Trump did with bob woodward and theres tapes. Theres a ton of headlines to sift through. Heres the two big ones when it comes to the pandemic. The first was the sound bite that you just played in which President Trump told bob woodward in february that he believes that covid19 is much worse than the flu, even though around the same time he was telling the American Public the opposite essentially. The second one is this. Well, i think, bob, really, to be honest with you i want you to be. I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. Because i dont want to create a panic. President trump saying he wants to play it down because he doesnt want to incite a panic. During the briefing, that the White House Press secretary held, she was asked do you think that President Trump intentionally misled the American People about the threat of covid19. Listen to how she responded. Absolutely not. This president at a time when youre facing insurmountable challenges, its important to express confidence, its important to express calm is playing it down is that expressing calm . Now, dr. Fauci in a way also came to President Trumps defense. About an hour ago, he told our john roberts that he did not think that President Trump was down playing the severity of the virus. The exact words he used, he did not get a sense that President Trump was distorting the virus severity and well see how President Trump defends himself. Potentially in about 30 minutes. Members of the White House Press pool will get a chance to at least shout some questions. Well see if President Trump takes the opportunity to address this book. The whole purpose of this event in about 30 minutes is going to be the president unveiling his future Supreme Court picks. In 2016, President Trump did this. Its a big deal. Its a big deal again today. Tough to overshadow the tapes coming from this new book. Bill thanks, kristin. Leading our coverage there. Now to Jacqui Heinrich about what were hearing from the Vice President s campaign today. Jacqui . Afternoon, bill. Former Vice President joe biden hit President Trump hard on the economy accusing him of breaking promises to American Workers. But first, he ripped the president over revelations in Bob Woodwards book that he knew about how deadly coronavirus was back in february and wanted to down play it. Woodward released excerpts of his interview. President said he knew it was more dangerous than the flu. President trump also said he wanted to play it down so as not to create a panic. The president of the United States has admitted on tape in february he knew about covid19 and it passed through the air. He knew it was more deadly than the flu. He knew and purposely played it down. Worse, he lied to the American People. He knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months. Biden wendt on to deride the president , what do you expect from a president that calls war veterans losers and suckers. The rest of the speak focused on the economy accusing the president of failing to live up to his promises of American Workers by outsourcing american contracts to outside countries. Biden said jobs would be protected. He cited auto manufacturing losses under the Trump Administration and touted job gains during the Obamabiden Administration and outlined his plans including and imposing a tax penalties on offshoring jobs. Head said theres a better way. Make it in america. He said donald trump and i have different philosophies when it comes to giving words. Mine means something. He appeared firely. He ended out without taking any questions. Bill . Bill Jacqui Heinrich. And now Martha Maccallum, anchor of the story for analysis. Couple things going on the last couple hours. Your impressions about the woodward comments and move from there. It is extraordinary. The president gave bob woodward 18 hours of phone conversations. Karl rove said every president gets convinced that bob woodward will be more sort of open with them and write a book that maybe wont be as unfavorable if they cooperate. The president did cooperate. Theres indications from some of the white house that he cooperated more than they knew. That being said, when you look at the two revelations that Kristin Fisher just pointed out in this book, the two sound bites, one in february and one in march, with regard to understanding how deadly this disease was, covid19, but just keep in mind that january 20th is when the world became aware according to china that this disease was transmitted human to human. So that was wellknown in the world by february 7. That it was transmitted by air. So this was not a revelation that the president was sharing with bob woodward on inside information. We knew it. We knew it was a deadly disease. People had already died from covid by february in asia. So those two things were not a secret from the American People. I think youll hear more of that today. Bill i dont know what he says here, but did you hear the fauci . He didnt say i john was trying to figure out what you said in private and talked about private and before the Coronavirus Task force came out before the press, i didnt really see discrepancies or distorting anything. Where does that leave the argument . Clearly dr. Fauci sort of checked one off for President Trump in his conversations. You go back to the public statements that were made. Also around that time you had leaders from nancy pelosi to Governor Cuomo in new york encouraging people to go out to dinner. There wasnt a lot of momentum around mask wearing at that point nationwide. So we were in a very different point with our understanding ofco in february and march. Thats just a fact. Thats something that was across the board. This audio tape comes at a time when this is an issue that the president continues to be very vulnerable on in this campaign. Time and time again, we see polls that show that the American People in different states across the country think that joe biden would do a better job of handling this issue than President Trump. So clearly is a Campaign Issue that the president remains vulnerable on, bill. Bill yeah. I guess its likely that were going to see this is the first of 20 news cycles over the next 50 days. Absolutely. Bill were barrelling toward it right now. You know, i couldnt agree more. You know, we watch the news cycles come and go in a faster, torrent than we have ever seen covering this. So when you think you have your arms around the issue on peoples minds when they go to start voting and that voting will begin very soon, the ends of the month, brace yourself. Theres always more to come. Its Pretty Amazing cycle. Bill so were going to get into voting by american and absentee and all that. Take you to the board. Reaction for what youre seeing here on the board. This is what we found from a recent poll that just came about how republicans, democrats are so different in how theyre approaching this vote. Inperson, republicans two to one do it in personal. Asked whether or not absentee by mail, 2 to 1 democrats over republicans. 33 million in 2016, upwards of 140 million. They think this number could be 80 middle or higher what are you gauging right now as you dissect in whether or not you trust a mailin ballot or do it in person . Its fascinating to note those numbers. Tells you something about the people that constitute both parties. The republicans want to get out, vote, drop the envelope in the box or pull the lever behind the closed curtain. Democrats are more comfortable with voting by mail no doubt about it. The other thing that is here, all of these districts are going to be dealing with numbers of mailin ballots like they have never seen. So you and i will be covering election night, election week, is it election month. The wall street journal, this could be a decision that is even made by the courts as we saw in 2000. So its beginning. Bill my other certain as america begins to open up more and more, you can see this in various states, that the tendency may grow to doing it more in person. See you at 7 00. A fox news alert. Adam schiff says he has seen a whistleblower complaints on suppressed intelligence reports on russian interference. Well dig into that more and have more from the chief Congressional Correspondent mike emanuel here on that. President trump taking steps to fulfill another Campaign Promise announcing plans to bring home hungs of american troops from iraq. When that draw down there happen. Operation legend in action. The feds say they cut the number of homicides in chicago in half. Chris stirewalt has analysis and a few other places hes watching today. Stay tuned. I have a long history of not just talking about what im going to do but delivering results for michiganders. Now we need to do it again. Todays all time low Mortgage Rates just dropped even lower. Veterans who refi now can save three thousand dollars a year. With newdays va streamline refi, theres no income verification, no appraisal and no out of pocket costs. One call can save you 3000 a year. 3000 thats a big deal. On day one well implement the National Strategy ive been laying out since march. Well develop and deploy rapid tests with results available immediately. Well make the medical supplies and protective equipment that our country needs. Well make them here in america. Well have a National Mandate to wear a mask, not as a burden, but as a patriotic duty to protect one another. In short, well do what we should have done from the very beginning. Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to the nation. Hes failed to protect america. And my fellow americans, that is unforgivable. As president , ill make you a promise. Ill protect america. I will defend us from every attack seen and unseen, always without exception, every time. Im joe biden and i approve this message. Come on in, were open. All we do is hand you the bag. Simple. Done. We adapt and we change. You know, you just figure it out. Weve just been finding a way to keep on pushing. Former Vice President joe biden in michigan. He had a 5point lead in march in the polls. Now its 3. 2 today. President trump won michigan but viewer than 11,000 votes in 2016. Chris stirewalt here. Nice to see you. Go back to the board. You miss this, dont you . Its very interesting where joe biden chose to go this is Macomb County, michigan. North of detroit. A lot of reagan democrats. You saw what obama did in 2012. 5248. This flipped in 2016. Same county, warren, michigan, 5644 for President Trump. What kind of a way do these type of voter goes now in 2020 . Well, they go with the candidate that they think will take their issues to heart. Theyre going to bring back the Auto Industry or help america recover ordeal with china. The thing that candidates that win there, you go up the ruther express way into this formerly haven of Blue Collar Union voters that still keep a lot of that attitude. Donald trump did so well there as he did with other places like that. You mentioned the reagan democrats. This is where Ronald Reagan did well, bill clinton did well and george w. Bush and barack obama had success. These are swing voters but of a certain attitude and style that donald trump connected with. What you heard from joe biden today, hes taking back the message from trump to buy american and build american. Its an issue that democrats used to win on and talk about in places like, this tariffs, protectionism, punishing companies that outsource. Democrats got away from it in 2016. Joe biden is bringing it back. Bill usa today, heres the quote. Among the president s supporters, 83 said theyre voting for him. 11 say theyre voting against his opponent. Among biden backers, 59 said near voting for him. 33 said theyre voting against his opponent. Thats the measure of enthusiasm. How do you gauge that . I dont know if its a measure of enthusiasm. Bill 83 to 59. No, they so in 2016, clintons voters liked her more exciting about voting for her than trumps voters. Its versed. The partisan flip is reversed. Trumps base is enthused about him. As he proved, the votes count the same. Republicans were voting against clinton more than voting for trump. This time democrats are voting for trump more than biden. They count the same. Republicans should not kid themselves into thinking that somehow this is a perfect measure of intensity. Democrats hate donald trump like god hates sin and they will turn out to vote against him. Republicans should be aware of that. Bill you wrote in the Halftime Report about five critical counties. You talked about lucerne, pennsylvania. This is lucerne county. You can see what barack obama did. 5247. Give or take a little bit. Heres what happened four years ago. Same county, 60 . Are nose the same voters that youre talking about among reagan democrats in Macomb County . Are those the same type of voters or not . Same type of voters. When democrats Hillary Clinton, a lot to be desired about Hillary Clinton in 2016. Her inability to reach out to the White Working Class voters that had been ironically her own husbands core group of support. They talked about the bubbas. She neglected them. Joe biden is like bubba on bubby layered with bubba with a cherry on top. The fact that hes the democratic nominee is how much that democrats understand how their performance with these folks, this is the county neighboring joe bidens home. They picked biden because they know that they got shellacked with voters before and betting a lot that joe biden can take enough of them back from donald trump with whom they love the guy. These voters have loved donald trump. Well see what biden can do. Bill about 3,000 more counties to get there. Thanks, chris. You and me, brother. Thanks now. More fallout over the bomb shell from bob woodward and the president s response to covid and details in a moment why a major vaccine trial has now been put on hold. Tada did you know Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need . Given my unique lifestyle, thatd be perfect let me grab a pen and some paper. Know what . Im gonna switch now. Just need my desk. My chair. And my phone. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Whether we see them or not, we need to know that theyre always there. For the past 25 years, masimo has been monitoring patients in hospitals around the world so that doctors and nurses can make sure you feel safe. As new challenges have arisen, weve grown to bring that same safety and support to the place that you want to be most. If weve learned nothing else, its that when challenges arise, theres only one way to rise above. Together. Masimo. Together in hospital, together at home. My husband was kidnapped. This is terrorism were not afraid to die. Thats why were gonna win. Im not afraid either. Infidel. Rated r. Or order subway we ate footlong subs all the time growing up. They ate it so much, dad opened one up in the shed. Whats in the italian b. M. T. . You come here everyday now get a free footlong when you buy two, because its footlong season bill we expect to see the president at 3 30. Speaking at the white house, and will announce his future potential Supreme Court justices if he were to win a second term. A big issue in 2016 for him. Well see what he has to say. 3 30 is the announced time. When it begins, well take you there. Obviously when we would speak to the president , we talked about the cold facts. He would get them. Often he would want to make sure that the country doesnt get down and out about things. I dont recall anything that was any gross distortion in things that i spoke to him about. Bill that is Anthony Fauci there. The doctor commenting here on fox about President Trumps statements to bob