PBS News Hour - Politics

As President Trump seeks to highlight his apparent recovery from coronavirus, cases are once again surging in several U.S. states - just weeks before the election. One of them is Wisconsin, a battleground Trump won in 2016 but where he is now trailing former Vice President Joe Biden by 5 percentage points, according to polls. Yamiche Alcindor explores how the virus is affecting the campaign there.

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Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including how the pandemic is influencing voters in battleground Wisconsin, President Trump's response to his own coronavirus diagnosis, the vice presidential debate and Senate races in the spotlight. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Questions of how and when to hold the remaining U.S. presidential debates dominated the campaign Thursday, with President Trump insisting he won't participate in a virtual face-off, and former Vice President Joe Biden declining to postpone the debate schedule. The controversy erupted a day after their vice presidential running mates met in their only debate of the campaign. Amna Nawaz reports. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

A day after Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris faced off in their only debate, the schedule for the remaining presidential debates was thrown into disarray. In light of President Trump's COVID-19 infection, the Commission on Presidential Debates converted the second event to virtual format, which displeased Trump. Judy Woodruff talks to Lisa Desjardins and Yamiche Alcindor.

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The FBI says it has broken up an alleged plot by violent extremists in Michigan to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and overthrow the state government. The shocking revelation included details of a plan to storm the state capitol that started to take shape after this summer's heated political battles regarding the pandemic. John Yang reports and talks to Michigan's attorney general, Dana Nessel.

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One of the Senate seats in play this November is that of Maine's senior senator, Republican Susan Collins, who has long nurtured a reputation as bipartisan. But during the Trump era, her favor has fallen with some of Maine's fiercely independent voters. Now Collins is in the fight of her political career against Democratic challenger Sara Gideon. Lisa Desjardins reports.

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Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris are preparing for the campaign's only vice presidential debate Wednesday. The face-off comes as the Trump White House has evolved into a COVID-19 hot spot -- and as the president has reversed course on negotiations over additional pandemic aid legislation. Yamiche Alcindor reports and joins Lisa Desjardins and Judy Woodruff to discuss. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Election Day is less than four weeks away, and millions of Americans have already cast ballots. But rules in many states are still undecided due to pending court cases -- mostly over the distribution, verification and return of mail-in ballots. John Yang talks to Tammy Patrick of Democracy Fund, a nonpartisan foundation aiming to improve the democratic process, about what voters should know.

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Immigration policies that led to the separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border remain among the Trump administration's most controversial. Now, a New York Times report sheds additional light on who was involved in that effort -- and why they made the decisions they did. Amna Nawaz reports and talks to Katie Benner, one of the New York Times reporters who broke the story, about the fallout. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Two of the most notorious Islamic State militants were charged in a Virginia federal courtroom Wednesday with crimes stemming from the kidnapping and killing of four Americans in Syria. It's the next step in the pursuit of justice for a case that began with unspeakable horrors. Nick Schifrin reports and talks to John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, about its significance. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders