It comes on the same day that a new book wring by his former personal attorney hits store shelves. In disloyal he calls him a cult leader, racist and conman. He warned the president would do anything to remain in the white house. Donald trump will do anything and everything within which to win. I believe that includes manipulating the ballots. I believe that he would evening go so far as to start a war in order to prevent himself from being removed from office. Lester holt will join mess live in just a moment with more of what cohen told him, including a warning that President Trump might refuse a peaceful transfer of power. Meanwhile, as the president ial race enters the postlabor day stretch, the president is disputing a report that the campaign could face a financial crunch in the last two months. More on that in a moment, this as the Biden Campaign, which has money to burn, is out with a new slew of new battleground ads, trying to convince voters that he is the candidate who will give america a new start. Lets begin in florida. Where theyre in deadlocked. New york times also writes, no president has entered labor day weekend, the traditional kickoff in the Fall Campaign as such a clear underdog since george bush in 1992. Despite that, the president sha shrugged off any idea that the campaign might be in trouble. Were doing very well. Joining me now from jupiter, florida, where the president has a golf course, Nbc News National Political reporter josh letterman. Also in new york, steve kornacki. So, josh, the president may be shrugging off all this up reporting about problems, but what is the state of the race for the campaign right now . Reporter as this new poll shows, katy, this is a neckandneck race for trump and biden in florida, with trump really needing to make up some ground with older voters while former Vice President joe biden needs to brophy hess number with hispanics in florida. We spoke earl we are with Trump Campaign officials, where they do but now, katy, they are also walking us through multiple scenarios for President Trump to get over that 27 on threshold to win the white house without winning florida and the 29 electoral votes, a sign, katy, they are not taking for granted that President Trump will necessarily win here. What about the financial disadvantage that the New York Times is reporting about with the Trump Campaign . What more can you tell us about that . Reporter thats right, the New York Times analysis showing out of the 1. 1 million that the campaign had raised through the end of july, about 800 million had already been spent, and a lot of it on questionable items like massive legal bills, as well as the 11 million Super Bowl Ad buy, as President Trump was making his way to florida, blaming all the spending on the coronavirus. We needed to spend more money upfront because of the pandemic and the statements being made by democrats, which were again disinformation. Weve done a great job with covid, weve done a great job with the china virus, but the press was fake, and we have to spend a lot of money. Now, if we we have much more money than last time, going into the last two months. I think double and trip ltriple if we needed more, i would put it up personally. The flip side, joe biden not likely to put his own money into the race. He doesnt come to the race with a lot of wealth, but hes proven himself to be a formidable fundraiser, just last month breaking all records with 365 million in a month. Josh, why would he say the coronavirus has been more expensive for him . Its grounded a lot of the campaign. Theyre not traveling as much, not renting on the spaces, not holding these events. Why would the coronavirus mean he was spending more money . Well, thats certainly true, katy. If you just look at the cost of trying to do Something Like pulling off a massive Political Convention in person, as opposed to doing it virtually largely virtually, the costs of much less. What President Trump says is that he has had to contend with a lot of fake news and misreporting by the media related to coronavirus that has hurt his prospects and forced him to play defense on the air waves and other ways he wouldnt have had to do if we werent dealing with this pandemic. The media the news has not been fake regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Ill leave that there. Steve kornacki, lets go to you. Show show us the state of the race. This is florida, you mentioned it. 4848, trump and biden. From the president s standpoint weve been showing you numbers that have perhaps been discouraging. This would certainly qualify as an encouraging poll for donald trump. You look at it and say, were used to florida having very close races. Thats very true the last two decades, but the ingredients that go into what is a tie are different. Let me show you what i mean. Its two keep groups where were seeing significant shifts. First, Senior Citizens, obviously a lot. In 2016, on election day, trump won big. He beat Hillary Clinton by 17 points, among voters in that group. In our poll right now, very different result. Joe biden actually leading among Senior Citizens by one point. Youve been to go back 20 years to find a democrat who won the senior vote in florida. So for democrats, that is a very encouraging trend, but that is balanced out by another difference we see. Break this down here s white voters, black voters, latino voters, this is how it ended in florida. Check out the poll right now. The biggest single shift is right there, among latino voters, an overwhelming margin there for Hillary Clinton in 2016, her campaign might have even won it more, but trump now leading by four points in our poll. Were not the only recent poll to pick up on this movement. I think specifically more specifically youre seeing is movement, think of miami date, think of south florida, thats a large voting bloc right there. Trump has made big inroads there. Republicans, trump, doing much better with the latino vote. In terms of the electoral college, if you were to lose florida, like at that. Florida alone would put biden at 261, and he would be within one state of getting to 270. Really interesting, also really interesting about the latino vote. Thank you, steve and josh. Now to our exclusive interview with President Trumps firmer personal attorney Michael Cohen, cohen known as trumps fixer, he now regrets the role he played in winning the white house. I describe him as a cult leader. I was in this cult. While i was in the cult, i was refusing to acknowledge that the actions that i was performing for my boss were morally wrong. The white house has called cohens book fan fiction, Brian Morganstern said he admits to lying routinely, but expects people to believe him now so he can make moan from book sales. Joining me now is up lester holt. Its always great to see you. Congratulations on this exclusive. Let us start there with the white house statement. They say Michael Cohen has admitted to lying. What does he say in response to that . Why should people believe him now . Well, he points to the new york federal prosecutors and presentencing memo, in which they acknowledged he cooperated with Law Enforcement and cooperated with the special counsels office. He did note that he, in some cases, has suggested there might be more to it than there was and some of that testimony was incomplete, but as he notes, they did glean some information from him. Lester, he also accused the president of being a racist. Lets listen to that portion of your interview. You called trumped a racist. Were you a witness to any moments that you thought he was exhibiting racism or used a racial slur . Unfortunately all too many times. We had one where, right after Nelson Mandela had passed away and i talk about this in the book asked me if i had known of any country thats run by a black thats not an shole. I said, how about america . In which he gave me the proverbial eff you. And then to be fired by him on camera, is that where this all begins, his person animosity towards president obama . Now he looks a lot of folks, hes written about that, the 2011 white house Correspondents Dinner in which president obama mocked donald trump, and he says the interesting thing about that was that everyone thought donald trump was upset about it. He didnt want people to think that. Cohen was instructed to tell reporters that he took it in good nature, but it really, really got to him. He says partly because he believes hess resentment of donald trump was because he was black and the first black. Thats according to cohen. What about the 18 investigations into donald trump that hes told prosecutors that have been led to. Has he given you one of the questions i asked was any ongin investigations you were a witness to, and he says hes not allowed to answer that question, but he believes he gave good usable information. What theyre doing with it is. He tells me in the conversation, he writes about it in the book he was part of massages the numbers into Donald Trumps true worth and that he would assign random values to properties and golf clubs for whatever purpose he needed at the moment, whether it was the fortune 500 or to reduce his tax burden. What would be, if true, tax or bank fraud. Lester holt, thank you so much. You can catch all of that interview tonight on nightly news, and again at 9 00 p. M. Eastern, Michael Cohen will be on the Rachel Maddow show. And it a new investigation into the already embattled post master general, that he pressured employees to play political contributions to republican candidates, only later to reimburse those employees with bonuses. An arrangement that, if true, would be illegal. With me now is frank larose, ohios secretary of state. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for joining us. What does this do to your confidence in dejoys ability to oversee a massive mailin voting effort this november . Well, i can tell you that we certainly rely on the postal system for absentee voting in ohio. We know that 25 of our ballots in just in which given election will come in by mail. I can tell you that the Postal Service is full of dedicated hardworking men and women who take their responsibility seriously. I spoke with the post master general in a bipartisan group, and he made it clear for the Postal Service, election mail is the top priority. And of course well hold them accountable to fulfill that commitment. How many ballots doing expect to be sent over the mail . Ive told our boards of election to prepare for that number to go as high as 40 or 50 . Ohioans really, both republican and democrat, know we can trust the process. We can track our ballots here, and you know its been received. Whats your expectation for how long it will take to count these ballots . On Election Night, we will do the tabulation of all the results that have been received so far, but of course we can receive ballots for up to ten days after that. As long as a ballot is cast legally, postmarked by november 2nd, it can be received by one of our cot board of elections up to ten days. What we report on Election Night will be everything we have so far, but theres another number well report on Election Night. Ive told our team to redesign the reporting website so we can make clear how many absentee ballots there are. And certainly week later, it will be a different number, again thats a manifestation of our commitment that every single vote deserving tore counted. The president has really gone after mailin voting. Hes also telling supporters to vote twice, to send a mailin ballot and go to the polling place, ask if the mailin ballot has been tabulated. If they say it hasnt or if they dont answer, i guess, to try to vote again . Can you do that in ohio . Can you walk into a polling place and ask if your mailin vote has been tabulated, get an answer and then vote again if it had not . Every registered voter gets to vote, but only once. We keep close tabulation with the electronic poll books we used and the databases that the boards of election use. If you show up up after you cast an absentee ballot, you will not be giving a live ballot, but a provisional. If they received your absentee ballot, of course the provisional ballot will not count. The best thing to do if you have any question is to go to our website, voteohio. Gov and track your ballot. And of course you can sign up to be a poll worker there as well. We had need people to take on that responsibility as well. Will it be rigged . No, ohio has had absentee ballots for over 20 years. Ohioans trust it because of the safeguards we have in place. You have to authenticate your identity before you even request a ballot, your signature and identity is checked again when you mail it back in. We dont allow ballot harvesting in ohio. When you vote, your vote will be counted and you can be confident of that and know that your voice was heard. Ohios secretary of state frank larose, thank for you coming on, and thank you for that muchneeded clarity especially in these times with so many allegations flying about the mailin vote. We appreciate it. Thank you. And still ahead, the president says the only way he can lose the election is if it is rigged. If he does lose and his supporters believe democracy was stolen from them, how exactly are they going to react . What some told me and what terror analysts are calling the radicalizing effects of Donald Trumps words. Also ahead, the campaigns take that i debait over law and order to the air weaves, one with a message of lawlessness and an aroundy, the other trying to convince voters it is time for a fresh start. Breaking news in california, rescue efforts are under way as dozens of wildfires, massive abla blazes, burn across that state. Blazes, burn across that state f you can get a pair of goggles that helps you master your backhand. Then you should be able to get a bank account that helps you master your budget. Virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking account. Clearly see the big picture of your finances. And easily manage and grow your savings. Did you see that . Virtual wallet® for Digital Banking from pnc. Its time to get more from your bank. Virtual wallet® for Digital Banking from pnc. The big events are back. Xfinity is your home for the return of live sports. The National Guard has been working to remove hikers and camp hers currently trapped by the creek fire in fresno county. That fire one of dozens burning in the state, is not contained. Crews have made three passes over the campgrounds, so far managed to lift out more than 50 to safety. Such a relief, yeah, service such a relief when the helicopter came down and took is away. Climate change has fueled intense height and dry conditions, high winds in the state. More than 2. 2 million acres have already burned this year alone, and that is a state record. Officials are word with several weeks still leave to go in the fire season, the worst may be yet to come. Now to try to head off new hot spots, californias largest utility is cutting power to more than 170,000 customers joins me now from ukipa, california, is steve patterson. Steve, where do things stand right now . Reporter recently firefights have gotten about this is the one that was started by the gender reveal gone wrong, but firefighters have had a break in the weather. Its kuhl down a bit, but everybody is looking for more winds that are expected as the day moves on and into the night. We could start to see some of the santa ana winds that really kick up these fires and start fueling it across the state. There are close to 30 major fires now. The other one is the creek fire, 65 structures burned, the active rescue, active evacuation by air and by ground still going on at this time. I just spoke to somebody that is very close to that area that said another black hawk just took out from the area, so there may be more people transported, but that is an active situate, back into whats going to come in the future, were starting to move into when the fires really start to kick up, the true part of the season where things get readily bad because of the santa ana winds that carry these fires across the state. Thats what people are worried about, especially fire officials who are already dealing with one of the worst fire seasons on record. Its a blot to think about. Back to you. Looking at those images, its hard to imagine it getting any worse. Steve patterson, thank you very much. Lets bring in calfires director. Thank you for joining us, daniel. Our correspondent steve was talking about the transport. How many more people are in need of transport right now . You snow, there are still dozens of individuals, if not over 50, that the Sheriffs Department, along with the california National Guard continue to monitor. Just the fact that it burned in a remote area that quickly cut off routes out of those areas, we determined with the Sheriffs Department it was safer to have they will. But i will tell you we are working very closely with the Sheriffs Department, with the california National Guard to get those individuals out of the harms way as soon as possible. More than 30 fires, or around 30 fires across the state. Were looking at images of one of the blazes. Its intense heat. Can firefighters i know theyre working as hard as they can, about you can they keep up with this . Well, as you mentioned, we are battles over two doz