WASHINGTON — National security adviser Robert O'Brien was just a few months into his new job when he asked aides to print him copies of two transcripts.

One was of O'Brien's remarks at a foreign policy forum, where he'd offered a glowing review of what it's like to work for President Donald Trump. The other was of Defense Secretary Mark Esper's comments at the same forum, where he said Trump is "just one of many bosses I've had" who "you learn to work with."

O'Brien wanted to present Trump with a side-by-side comparison of his and Esper's comments so he could tell the president "look at how much more supportive I am," a senior administration official with direct knowledge of O'Brien's request said.

"It was really strange," a second official with direct knowledge of the request said, and O'Brien ultimately took Trump only his own remarks.

The episode encapsulates a theme that more than two dozen current and former senior administration officials, U.S. lawmakers and American and European diplomats told NBC News has run through O'Brien's 13 months as national security adviser: his concern about his future and standing with Trump.

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President Donald Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller has fleshed out plans to rev up Trump's restrictive immigration agenda if he wins re-election next week, offering a stark contrast to the platform of Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

In a 30-minute phone interview Thursday with NBC News, Miller outlined four major priorities: limiting asylum grants, punishing and outlawing so-called sanctuary cities, expanding the so-called travel ban with tougher screening for visa applicants and slapping new limits on work visas.

The objective, he said, is "raising and enhancing the standard for entry" to the United States.

Some of the plans would require legislation. Others could be achieved through executive action, which the Trump administration has relied on heavily in the absence of a major immigration bill.

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The outcome of the presidential contest is looking more and more apparent — unless you believe we’re headed for a bigger polling error than in 2016.

But with four days to go until Election Day, the outcome for control of the U.S. Senate looks less certain.

Yes, Democrats are the favorites to net the three to four seats needed to retake the chamber, as the Cook Political Report’s Jessica Taylor writes.

But the realistic possibilities range from the Dems netting just two seats (Colorado/Arizona) and falling short, to them flipping seven or eight seats (Colorado/Arizona/Maine/North Carolina/Iowa/Montana/both Georgia seats) and having a sizable majority next year, to anywhere in between (which would give Dems a bare majority).

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WASHINGTON — Intelligence and cybersecurity officials say they see no sign that Russian hackers have tried to infiltrate the election infrastructure the way they did in 2016, when all 50 states were probed, and voter rolls in some states were accessed. Officials also say that when it comes to cyber defenses, this is the best protected election in history.

But those same officials acknowledge that there is no way to protect every state, county and precinct network from infiltration by hackers, and that the Russians or another foreign power could still decide to mount a cyber offensive to disrupt the election.

Experts say this is unlikely, because it would mean crossing a red line that could provoke a serious reaction from the U.S. government. And they say it would be extremely difficult for hackers to actually change vote tallies.

But if an adversary decided to attack, here are the ways experts say the Russians (or even less likely, the Iranians or the Chinese) could use cyber techniques to cause an election nightmare:

Continue reading to see the 5 ways — including by turning out the lights and locking computers — on NBCNews.com.

More than 40 arenas, stadiums and ballparks across the NBA, the WNBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer are being used for election-related purposes.

The effort, in many cases spearheaded by the professional athletes who compete in the venues, is designed to increase voting opportunities, with a particular focus on  and  voters who continue to face voter suppression.

While the pandemic has created a need for bigger venues for voting, it has also left such large arenas dormant and available.

Continue reading on NBCNews.com.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday that Minnesota absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day should be separated from other ballots in case they are later invalidated by a court.

The ruling doesn’t block Minnesota’s seven-day extension for counting absentee ballots outright — but it does order a lower court to issue a ruling to segregate the ballots so they can be “removed from vote totals in the event a final order is entered” that finds them unlawful.

The ruling orders Secretary of State Steve Simon to inform local election officials so they can comply, and sends the case back to the lower court for further proceedings. It also sets the stage for post-election litigation.

The decision is likely to create voter confusion, with people who haven’t returned their absentee ballots scrambling to make sure their votes count. People who are worried their absentee ballots may not arrive on time may drop off their ballots at a designated location, vote early at an early voting station, or vote in person on Election Day.

As of last Friday, more than 500,000 of some 2 million requested absentee ballots remained outstanding. The state was due to update totals on Friday.

“The consequences of this order are not lost on us. We acknowledge and understand the concerns over voter confusion, election administration issues, and public confidence in the election,” the majority wrote. But they said those problems were preferable to a post-election scenario where invalidated and valid votes are mixed.

In a conversation centered around fighting for a $15 federal minimum wage, Bernie Sanders was joined by Kamala Harris to discuss how the Biden-Harris administration would tackle issues like paid family leave, student debt, affordable higher education and helping people decimated by the economic crisis.

A gaping hole in the conversation, was, unsurprisingly, health care, which he didn’t ask about. Sanders’ questions were almost in bullet point form, extremely blunt and short. It was less of a conversation and more of a pop quiz interview. Sanders ended their conversation essentially re-hashing the points Harris made, saying what kind of a difference it would make, calling their ideas a “big step” and “no small thing.”

“When we go to vote, I know we will be talking about Trump all the time. That's fine. It is another thing to talk about what we have to do to improve the lives of tens of millions of people today that are hurting,” he said.

Harris’ answers ran through her usual talking points and policy points on these topics, which was not new. But what was pretty interesting was her and Sanders’ compliments of each other at the top of the conversation.

“The thing about you, Bernie,” Harris said, “You decided to do it from inside the system. And to challenge everyone from inside. I do believe on that debate to stage you and I shared for almost a year in the primary, that the majority of those debates would not have been on the topic of health care in America if not for a discussion that you started and the way you challenged the status quo. And our thinking about what is possible and what the American people are prepared for and what they want.”

“I want to thank you for what you have done and continue to do. You really are a treasure,” Harris said.

Sanders’ response: “I don't want to make this a love fest.”

The final debate between Georgia senate candidates Republican Sen. David Perdue and Democratic hopeful John Ossoff is off.

Ossoff tweeted that Perdue cancelled their final debate, adding that at last night’s debate Perdue had, "no answers when I called him out on his record of blatant corruption, widespread disease, and economic devastation."

Perdue's spokesman John Burke confirms that the incumbent senator did cancel the debate, but says it's because President Donald Trump will be in the state campaigning and Perdue intends to be by his side.

The two faced off on Wednesday night in a fiery debate where Ossoff accused Purdue of being a "crook" in a video clip that's gone viral.