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Meet the Press
Meet the Press NOW — June 23
00:49:47
President Trump campaigns in battleground Pennsylvania as voters head to the polls in New York, Maryland, South Carolina and Utah for some key primaries. The U.S. and Iran offer conflicting statements about IAEA inspections of Tehran’s nuclear facilities. Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte begins mass firings at the top intelligence agency.
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A
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B
Welcome to Meet the Press now. I'm Melanie Zenona in Washington. And if it's Tuesday, voters are voting and primaries in four states, all as President Trump hits the campaign trail in battleground Pennsylvania, looking to turn the page on the Iran war and focus on what matters most to voters. That's the economy, an issue where he's seen his approval numbers hit new lows in recent weeks. You're looking at live pictures here of the president campaigning in Pennsylvania's 7th district, which Democrats see as one of their best opportunities to oust a sitting Republican congressman in November, in large part by focusing on the issue of affordability. President Trump today touting the recent stock market gains, insisting prices are coming down, and also slamming Democrats for voting against his tax cuts, all as he claimed the economy would only approve improve from here.
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A
Our economy is ready to soar to levels the world has not seen before. I believe that, David. I think it's going to levels that nobody's ever seen before. All these factories are being built and they're going to be occupied and they're hiring people now and it's going to be something very beautiful. I don't know who's going to follow me, but remember that I was the one that did it.
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B
Okay?
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A
I got here my first day. The fake news is screaming at me. What about affordability? I'm only here one day. Remember? Eggs were up about five times higher than they ever were and we have. Prices are coming down right now at levels that you've never seen. And now with oil crashing, you're going to see something really amazing.
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B
The president also hit many of his other favorite talking points, including falsely claiming the 2020 election and the recent California primary were rigged, leading to the ever present question of how focused the president will actually be on the economy ahead of November's election. It all comes as voters are heading to the polls today in Maryland, South Carolina, Utah and New York, where a handful of Democratic primaries could be a bellwether for the direction of the party and also test the strength of Mayor Mamdani's influence within the Democratic Party. Mamdani is putting his political capital on the line in three New York City primaries.
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A
Get out and vote. This is the team. This is our year.
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B
The mayor is backing progressive challengers to two Democratic incumbents, throwing his support behind City Comptroller Brad Lander against Congressman Dan golden and endorsing Democratic Socialist Darieliza Avila Chevalier over the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressman Adriano Espaillat Mamdani, also supporting another Democratic socialist state, Assemblymember Claire Valdez, not the candidate being backed by retiring Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez. Joining me now is our NBC News team. Senior national politics reporter John Allen is at the White House, Capitol Hill correspondent Julie Serkin on the ground in New York City. Senior national political reporter Sahil Kapoor has the view from Maryland. And of course, if it's Tuesday, chief data analyst Steve Kornacki is breaking things down at the big board. Thank you all so much for joining us. I do want to start, though, over at the White House. John, what were your takeaways from the president's remarks today and Republicans on the campaign trail, Are they going to be satisfied with that message?
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A
By and large, Mel, this is what Republicans want to hear. He is on message. He is promising a better economy, a brighter future. Unicorns, perhaps. But the president being on message about things getting better from where they are is exactly what Republican candidates are going to want to hear. Of course, the president is given to some diversions from that basic economic message, and they would like to hear less of that and more about what he sees as a positive talking about oil prices coming down. You know, they were not pleased, by and large with the Iran war and the prices of oil going up and of other goods. But if those start to come down, I think they feel like they're going to be in a better place to try to defend their majority in the midterms.
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B
And, John, what about the voters, because the president, obviously, he really touted the current and future health of the economy. But is that enough, especially if people aren't actually feeling like things are improving for their everyday lives?
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A
Yeah. This is a problem we've seen not only in this presidency, but in the last one, where you had Joe Biden tell people that the economy was in great shape and they didn't feel it. And I think that it hurt Joe Biden's credibility. And if people continue to not feel the economy soaring the way that Donald Trump says it's going to soar, they are also going to feel the difference between those two things, and it'll hurt his credibility. You know, folks weren't born yesterday. Most voters, certainly all voters, were not born yesterday. And remember that the president took the country into the Iran war. Remember that the president imposed tariffs. Remember that he's been in charge for, you know, the last 18 months, as most Americans say that the economy has not gotten better for them. And most Americans seem to be concerned for the future.
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B
Well, speaking of the Iran war, that agreement is pretty fragile right now. So, John, if things fall apart, what do you think that means for the midterms? And is there any chance that Republicans in these especially tough districts end up not even wanting the president to show up for them in the fall?
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A
I think it's unlikely that he will show up in every contested Republican congressional district. You've got one that is there in today in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, that is a true toss up. But I think there will be Republicans who don't want him there or who perhaps try to, you know, blunt the edges between him and them. Look, with some Republican strategists that I've talked to say everyone knows that the Republicans have voted with Trump, and so they might as well get the benefit of a visit if they're going to take heat for, for having voted with him. But I do think that there will be some that will be less eager to, to welcome him into their districts.
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B
Yeah, no doubt. John, stick with us for a little bit. I do want to take this conversation, though, up to New York, where our Julie Cirkin is. Julie, let's start on races that Mayor Mamdani has weighed in on, in some cases against the Democratic leadership in the House. Do you think he's risking any political capital here? Well, Mel, some people think so, especially in the case of District 13, where you have Congressman Espion, who is the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He has a lot of backing not only in Washington, but also from the governor here, Kathy Hochul. And then if you move over to New York 7, where you have Claire Valdez, for example, one voter told me the only thing that separates Valdez from her opponent, Antonio Reynoso, who has more experience in local government, is that Mamdani endorsement. It could play different in a 7 than in a 13 for the reason that there is an incumbent still in 13. And the same reason goes here in New York 10 where there is an incumbent Dan Goldman, backed by Hakeem Jeffries, of course, the Democratic leader. I just actually had an interview with him and we talked about the Madani endorsement factor. And he told me he doesn't think it's playing the same in his race. And I have to agree, Mal, after talking to a couple of voters in this specific district, it seems like maybe they just don't feel represented by Dan Goldman. They said that they feel like Lander knows them well, like he has run the city government, he's been the comptroller, he lives in this area. So I do think it's a little bit different. But certainly Mamdani risking his political capital if it doesn't go his way. And so far, turnout is about half of where it was last year when Mamdani ended up winning. And a lot of those voters, a lot of that support comes from young people. Another debate, Julie, that's been really roiling the Democratic Party. I know we've talked about this a lot, is the issue of Israel, especially since the 2024 election. How big of a role is that playing here in some of these races? Well, it's playing a major role, and not only in terms of defining the direction that Democrats go in moving forward. For example, in my interview with Dan Goldman, the congressman, he really had his rise because he led those impeachment proceedings against President Trump. And he said he's crafted his entire career around the message of taking down Donald Trump, of defeating him. And now he feels like Democrats are fighting amongst themselves over this issue of Israel. It's not even AIPAC that has to do much in this race. None of the candidates are accepting money from that organization. And yet when I was interviewing Congressman Goldman, who is Jewish, who was in Israel on October 7, we got interrupted several times, not by a random protester, but but by a woman who was actively canvassing for his opponent, Red Lander. Take a listen to a little bit of what Goldman had to tell me after that interaction.
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A
I don't think that the results are going to necessarily bear that out. There's no question Israel has been A big issue in this race. It has been especially disappointing to me that he has run a campaign using anti Semitic tropes as the wedge issue.
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B
Now, both Goldman and his opponent, Brad Lander are Jewish Americans. Lander, though, believes that Israel should not have funding for its Iron Dome for defense capabilities. I will tell you though, for Goldman, this has gotten really personal. He seemed a little bit deflated today when he came across that protester. And he just had a situation yesterday when he visited a coffee shop. The interaction went fine and then afterwards the owner of that coffee shop refunded him and made a post on Instagram about the congressman's support for Israel. And Julie, we're also watching a very crowded Democratic primary in New York 12 to replace retiring Congressman Jerry Nadler. That's where outside spending from AI companies has really emerged as a dominating issue. What's the debate there yet? Super interesting. All of these races are so different. I'll also point out that New York 12 is where Mamdani votes and lives, but he did not endorse in that race. It's the second open primary race in New York. His you mentioned Jerry Nadler after three decades, stepping down. It's a really crowded field. You have JFK's only grandson, Jack Schlossberg, running in that race. You also have the two frontrunners who are both assemblymen. And here's where AI comes in. Alex Boris, who's one of those assemblymen, he led the charge in the state legislature against putting guardrails on AI technology so that people don't feel like they're taken advantage of. Some people I spoke to said that it's hugely important to them. It wasn't even going to be an issue that he focused on. But Boris said he kept hearing from people talking about how they don't like data centers popping up and so forth. So big tech pouring in money against him. We'll see how it shakes out today. Mel. Julie Circumflex, thank you. I want to bring the conversation a little bit closer to home in Maryland. Sahil Kapoor is there. All eyes over in Maryland are on a state Senate race that has some pretty big implications for the nationwide redistricting battle that we've been watching unfold. Sahil, tell us more about that.
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A
Yeah, absolutely, Mel. This is a fascinating race and it's emblematic of some of the biggest and most consequential divides within the Democratic Party that we're seeing play out all over the country. The progressive versus moderate divide, insiders versus outsiders, anti incumbency currents that we will soon find out may or may not be strong enough to sweep up. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat who has been dominating in this Baltimore district for the last decade and a half and now faces a serious challenge from the outsider candidate, Bobby Le Pen, who's an army veteran. He's running on a progressive platform of change and a more combative Democratic Party. He told me just moments ago he feels like Bernie Sanders running against Chuck Schumer. And he also compared himself somewhat to New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani. If you watch some of Le Pen's social media videos that have gone viral, you can kind of see what he's talking about. I spoke to both candidates about their vision and their philosophy in the race. Take a listen to what they had to say. Yeah, I mean, I think firefighters don't fight fire with fire. In fact, they fight it with water, and they put the fire out. And I think that's because you have to be strategic and thoughtful. You don't want to burn the house down. You want to actually stop the fire. And I think that's where Democrats really have to make sure that we are making the thoughtful, purposeful decisions. People do not get over losing their democracy. People do not get over what is happening in this country. They want Democrats. They want real Democrats to stand up and fight back. 10 toes in the ground, face to face and push back because our very freedoms are at risk. And then, of course, Mel, there's the big issue that has brought national attention to this race, which is redistricting in Maryland. The Democratic push to draw out the lone Republican congressman in this state. Ferguson, as state Senate president, blocked that effort, became a bit of a villain among many Democrats. He told me today that he has shifted his position on that issue in light of the Supreme Court's Voting Rights act ruling. He's willing to take another look at redrawing Maryland's House map, although he does believe that they need state constitutional amendment first in order to avoid it from backfiring in the courts. Now, Le Pen dismisses all of that. He describes that as cynical politics. From Ferguson, said it's evidence that Ferguson worries he might lose this race. He called it a day late and a dollar short. So, again, a very interesting race. We'll find out in a few hours which of these candidates is going to win.
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B
And Saha, real quickly, tell me what other races you're watching in Maryland tonight.
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A
Yeah, a couple of them. There is 1 in Maryland's 6th congressional district, D.C. suburbs stretching up from Montgomery county to the Western part of the district. April McLean Delaney, the sitting congresswoman of one term, is running against David Trone, who held that seat for several cycles. He ran for Senate last time. He lost. Now he wants his old seat back. It's hard to turn on a TV even in the D.C. area and not see these two running ads. They're both spending a lot of money. Delaney is running with the support of the sitting governor, Wes Moore, and Senator Angela also Brooks, who defeated Trone last time around. And then of course, Maryland's 5th district to replace Steny Hoyer. After more than 40 years serving. There's a very crowded primary featuring, featuring two dozen candidates. The frontrunner there seems to be Adrian Boaffo, a delegate in the state House who is backed by Hoyer, used to be his campaign manager. Also running with the support of the governor and Senator, also Brooks. Two dozen candidates. A very, very competitive primary.
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B
A lot to watch for. Sahil Kapoor. Thank you. Let's turn now to the big board where Steve Kornacki is. Steve, you heard our colleagues on the ground highlighting some of those key races. Tell me, what are you watching for tonight?
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A
I think one of the questions here across these states is how many incumbents are, are going to lose tonight? How many incumbent members of Congress are we going to see that? We've had four so far this year. Incumbent members of the House who've lost in primaries, as I think you just heard there, Dan Goldman, of all the incumbents across any state tonight up in the House, clearly in the most danger. There was a poll about a month ago here, limited polling, but there was a poll about a month ago that had lander more than 2 to 1 ahead of Goldman. You can see the district here expands. This is Brooklyn over here. This is Lower Manhattan over here. Obviously, it's a very Democratic district. It's a super liberal district. It's also a district that Mamdani won handily in the Democratic primary for mayor last year over Andrew Cuomo. So it's sort of Mamdani type Democratic voters here. Mamdani is behind Lander Goldman when he first won the seat four years ago. Super crowded Democratic primary. He won that primary four years ago with only 26% of the vote. And then he sort of coasted in the general election. As a Democrat in this district two years ago, he had some weak opposition and yet still lost a third of the vote in the Democratic primary. So his hold on this district has never been that firm. And certainly Lander has a lot of ingredients here and he's really leaned into that sort of, you know, left wing messaging, particularly on Israel, that I think seems to have resonance in this district. So Goldman, I think clearly the most endangered incumbent tonight. You want to rank him number two? Maybe this one right here, maybe Adriano Espiat, you know, you're talking about here. This is, this is sort of Harlem, East Harlem, northern Manhattan, and then it stretches into the Bronx. But most of the vote is gonna be there in, you know, sort of the northern part of Manhattan. Espailt was elected a decade ago. It's an interesting story because this district, historically, if you went back a generation or so, this was sort of one of the most significant districts, Congressional districts for black America based in Harlem. It was represented by Adam Clayton Powell, it was represented by Charlie Rangel. Demographically, the Hispanic population has really risen dramatically the last few decades. And Sbayat kind of rode that demographic wave. He ran against Charlie Rang a couple times before Rangel retired. Then he got this seat. He's trying to hold on now, kind of rallying the sort of older political establishment in this district against Darieliza Chevalier, you know, endorsed by Zor and Mondami. You do have some new arrivals. There's some gentrification playing out in this district. You know, college graduates who are, you know, I think very progressive politically. There's newer sort of voters there. Are there enough of them? Are they turning out in big numbers? Is there sort of stagnant turnout elsewhere to give Chevalier a chance here? As Sahil mentioned in Maryland, this one, this race right here, just, you know, more than $30 million spent between these candidates. David Schroan had been the congressman, gave this seat up to run for the US Senate two years ago, lost that Senate primary. Now he wants to come back. When he left April McClain, Delaney came in and she won the seat. And she's the wife of a former congressman who held the seat about a decade ago to add another wrinkle there, but, you know, so much volatility just given the money especially. Trone has put in 25 million of his own money into this district trying to unseat Delaney and get his seat back. And then two others later tonight, we're gonna get numbers outta Utah and I think these two are worth keeping an eye on here. Blake Moore is an incumbent. He's a member of the House Congressional leadership. He lost at the state convention, the Utah State Republican Convention. Very conservative, activist oriented convention there. He lost. Now he's lost before and then held on in primaries. You can lose the convention, you know, get Petit, petition your way onto the ballot. But it's worth keeping an eye on Moore because the base of the party, I think, has always had some distrust of him. And the lines have been, you know, scrambled here. This is a new map that's in place in Utah. Court ordered redistricting plan going into effect this year. And there are some Republicans who are pointing the finger at Moore in part for that. It's a complicated story, but he may have some vulnerability. There may be. And then this is interesting. Celeste Malloy, again, she's an incumbent. She's running. A lot of this is new terrain to her because of this, because of this redistricting. Malloy again, she was elected in a special election in 2023. She got less than 40% in the Republican primary. Then she ran for the full term in 24. She won the primary by just 176 votes. There's questions about how firm her grasp is on the base, too. This is also one I think worth keeping an eye on tonight.
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B
Steve Kornacki breaking it all down for us at the Big Board. Thank you. And make sure you tune in tonight for the latest edition of the Kornacki Cam. Steve will be breaking down the results as they come in, starting at 8pm Eastern on NBC news.com and on YouTube. I want to turn now to the ongoing issues at the reflecting pool and President Trump's claims that vandals are responsible for the algae and the peeling paint. The White House claiming without evidence that there have been multiple arrests and police reports filed for alleged vandalism. President Trump doubling down on those claims today and telling reporters the government will provide photo and video evidence to back them up.
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A
They've arrested, I think six people on the reflecting pool. So the reflecting pool looks fantastic. I just got pictures of it.
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B
It's beautiful.
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A
But somebody went in with a knife and cut it. They cut it up good. And then they cut a 200, 350 foot slip in the form of lots of little slips.
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B
A real horrible stuff on Capitol Hill. At least one Republican sharply criticizing President Trump's threat to arrest and potentially imprison anyone for vandalizing the reflecting pool.
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A
You're telling me, even if it proves to be true, that damaging a lining and the reflecting pool is something that Pirro wants to prosecute to the full extent of the law if it's proven true. And yet they're releasing people who pled guilty to assaulting a police officer. What freaking parallel universe did I just wake up in? He said there's this 300 foot gash that it's been that someone put a knife in, they're gonna drain the pool. Look at that, man. I'm telling you what I'd like to think. A 15 million dollar membrane could withstand a pocket knife. I don't know anything about the reflection pool issue. I don't know how to build a reflection pool. I don't have, I don't, I don't even have a swimming pool. So I'm not qualified to talk about what went wrong. You know, there's a rule around here that, that a lot of people don't follow. And that rule is if you don't know, shut up.
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B
So I don't know some shutting up. The ever quotable John Kennedy, John Allen is still with us at the White House. John, I want to ask you. The President said yesterday that there's evidence of vandalism in. Has the White House provided any proof of that?
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A
The White House has not put out any proof of that. The National Park Service has not put out any proof of that. In fact, no law enforcement agency at the federal level or any other level has put out proof of that. You heard the President say that someone cut a 350 foot long gash with a knife. Would be an amazing feat to do that. 350ft, just so folks understand, is more than a football field bomb.
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B
That's a great point, John. The drama over the pool also comes as we have new photos of the Kennedy center with President Trump's name removed. Has there been any reaction from the White House yet?
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A
Not heard any reaction from the White House on the removal of the name, except for there is a lawsuit that is still pending. That is still, at least they're still fighting over that. So we'll see what happens there. But I am told, Mel, that the, the tarp is still in place. The tarp that you just saw there in the, in the images on our screen.
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B
Yeah. John Allen, thank you. Coming up, talks tensions and conflicting accounts. News discrepancies today on where negotiations between the US and Iran really stand on the critical issue of nuclear inspection. You're watching Meet the Press now.
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B
welcome back. Major disputes are already emerging in the high stakes talks between the US And Iran, with both sides making conflicting statements about one of the thorniest and most complex issues Iran's nuclear program. Despite Vice President Vance saying yesterday that Iran had agreed to allow more nuclear inspectors into the country, Iran's Foreign ministry is saying today that there are no plans for the IAEA, that's the UN's nuclear watchdog, to inspect the nuclear facilities that were bombed by the US Last summer. President Trump this afternoon pushing back and saying it's a requirement for negotiations to continue the riot are saying there's no scheduled visit for the IAE inspectors. Is that part of your agreement?
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A
They're all they're wrong, they're wrong, they're wrong. They know they're wrong. They told us inside, and we have it down 100% inspections. And if they were right, I'd cancel the meetings right now.
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B
But President Trump also said there was, quote, no rush to get inspectors on the ground. Joining me now is NBC News chief White House correspondent Garrett Hake and Ken Pollack, vice president for policy at the Middle East Institute. Thank you both so much for joining us. Garrett, I want to start with you over at the White House. How seriously do you think we should take the president's threat?
- [26:03]
A
I think reasonably seriously. I mean, the prospect of walking out of any negotiation or giving up on any deal is central to Trump going back to the art of the deal. But I also think it's important and he understands this. We've heard this from a lot of Senate Republicans that he maintains some kind of credible threat when it comes to the Iranians. And the idea that he could still walk out and resume bombing is kind of the only tool in his kit right now. So whether it's real or not, I do expect him to continue saying it over and over again when these issues come up.
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B
And Garrett also want to ask about the Senate just passing a war powers resolution that was passed by the House. It comes after we've heard some Republican criticisms about the preliminary agreement with Iran. How is the president responding to those skeptics and skeptics and also break down for us just how symbolic or meaningful this resolution is?
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A
Well, it is purely symbolic, really. I mean, this is not something that will even have to go to the president's desk to be vetoed. It is essentially just the sense of the Senate, the sense of the Congress, and it is the first time they have spoken in one voice to condemn this war. But the war is, if you believe, where we are in the negotiations, already over. So it doesn't really force the president to do much of anything. And I think the White House would say there's, you know, issues with absences and what have you here that sort of passed on a technicality. That said, the president did talk about the pushback that he's gotten from Republican lawmakers before this vote when he landed in Pennsylvania. Here's what he told reporters, or. Excuse me. Yeah, what he told reporters that I think anybody that's been critical of it has to be educated, even if they're friends of mine, because we have Iran in a position that nobody's ever had. This should have been done for 47 years by other presidents. And we have Iran in a position where their military has been totally wiped out, their leadership has been wiped out, their radar has been wiped out, everything has been wiped out.
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B
They have.
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A
They have not a good negotiating position, but despite that, and money that will be taken out of Iran is going to go to our farmers to give corn, soybeans, wheat to Iran. Now, the president will have an opportunity to do some of that educating himself when he speaks to Senate Republicans at their policy lunch tomorrow. But you know as well as anybody, it's not as though Senate Republicans haven't heard the talking points before. They're just not sure they believe them.
- [28:27]
B
Going to be a very interesting meeting on Capitol Hill tomorrow, Garrett. The administration is also touting the shipments of oil that are making their way through the Strait of Hormuz. What is the status of that vital waterway?
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A
Yeah, look, that progress is real, although it's not quite at the level that the president claims. There are various tracking firms that keep an eye on the number of ships going through the strait. Yesterday was something like 3, 15 tankers that pass through. We're seeing a steady uptick in the number of these kind of large vessels moving oil and other goods in and out of the straits. Some of them are Iranian vessels, some are otherwise. But the net effect here is that oil prices are falling worldwide and gas prices are falling domestically. They're both still above their pre war levels, but they're down into much more manageable numbers across the board. That's real progress for the White House to point to. Politically. I think it's still an open question whether the damage there has already been done, though.
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B
Garrett Hake at the White House. Thank you, Ken. Turning to you now, the President, as you heard, is threatening to pull the talks if Iran does not agree to new nuclear inspections. How do you see all of this playing out and could the talks fall apart just based on this alone?
- [29:37]
A
Well, first of all, I mean, obviously they could. But let's recognize the president has invested a great deal in these talks. And I'll put it this way, the Iranians don't seem to think that he has any interest in going back to open warfare with them, which I think does unfortunately reduce our ability to negotiate with them because we have less leverage. At least they think that we have less leverage. We should also remember these are the Iranians. The Iranians like to negotiate. They think that they are great negotiators. They have a bad habit of over negotiating. They drag on negotiations forever thinking that they can always squeeze one last drop of juice from the lemon. None of that suggests that this is likely to be solved quickly.
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B
Another big sticking point has been the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. How concerned are you that that conflict could derail these negotiations? And do you think Prime Minister Netanyahu can really rein in the far elements of his coalition?
- [30:37]
A
So I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu has a, has a very strong position when it comes to Israeli operations in Lebanon in terms of affairs in the west bank, that's much harder for him to control with regard to his coalition. As far as Lebanon is concerned, that's really under the control of the Israel Defense Forces. He is their commander in chief. They'll do what he tells them to do. But you know, here we get into another point that you've already raised, Mel, which is a very important one, which is Lebanon is one of the areas where Israeli interests are different from American interests. And in particular, Israel's ideas Israel's strategy for securing its interests, very different. So, you know, in Iran, for instance, the US Tends to be much more concerned about opening the Strait of Hormuz. The Israelis much more concerned about Iran's ballistic missile program, its proxies in Lebanon. The US Just wants the fighting to end. The Israelis want to see Hezbollah disarmed. And while that's an American interest, too, so far, President Trump seems to be signaling that simply ending the fighting, which is what the Iranians are demanding to make a deal, is more important, important to him than what the Israelis want, which is Hezbollah's full disarmament.
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B
And meanwhile, Secretary Rubio, he's in the region trying to sell this agreement to Gulf leaders. Here's some of what he said.
- [32:01]
A
I think good groundwork was laid over the last 72 hours, but a lot of work remains to be done. And we want to hear from our partners. We want to make sure that their views are taken into account, and we understand their security concerns, their regional economic concern concerns as well. On the issue of the reconstruction fund for Iran, the vice president and the president both insisted the US Will not pay any money into that fund. Are you going to be asking Gulf allies here to consider helping with that? No, that's far down the road. It's a part of what's discussed that could happen. If Iran makes a decision, if its leadership makes a decision that they want to be a country instead of a revolutionary movement that exports terror, they're going to have an opportunity to do incredible things in Iran.
- [32:42]
B
Ken, what will Gulf leaders want to see as part of any final deal?
- [32:48]
A
This gets hard, Mel, because the truth of the matter is what the, what our Gulf allies really wanted was to see the end of the Iranian regime. Right? Important to remember they didn't really want this war. Most of them opposed it when they got dragged into it. They wanted to see the US Finish the job. Now that, too, is being taken away from them. They're really caught between Iraq and a hard place. And so what they're trying to do is to minimize the damage, make sure that the Strait of Hormuz is open and make sure that this Iranian regime, and we need to remember this is a much harder line version of the Iranian regime than the one that we had at the beginning of this war. That's a big concern for them. And the Gulf states want to make sure that this Iranian regime has as little leverage, has as little money, and has as little military capability as is possible.
- [33:39]
B
Ken Pollack, thank you. Up next, Trump's controversial new acting Director of national intelligence reportedly begins mass firings and one Republican has some choice words about it. You'll hear that next on MEET THE press. Now. Welcome back. The president's controversial pick to be acting director of National Intelligence appears to be wasting no time following through on the president's directive to downsize the agency, according to a source familiar with the matter. Bill Pulte, who was seen here in the Oval Office yesterday, has begun mass firings at the office of the Director of National Intelligence. That move already getting backlash from some lawmakers, including from Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who has already been an outspoken critic of the president, putting Pulte, a Trump ally with no national security experience, at the helm of the Intel Agency.
- [34:37]
A
What about Bill Pulte starting mass firings? Well, you know, if Pulte does a reduction in force, the way that I've been engaged to do it before, where you do the analysis, you make sure you retain the most capable people and you only eliminate the people whose jobs can be either automated or never should have been there. Good. My guess is based on his past experience, it's just going to be another hot steam, you pile of Doge.
- [35:04]
B
Joining me now is NBC News intelligence reporter Dan Deluce. Dan, you've been on top of this story, done some great reporting. Tell us what we know about these firings.
- [35:13]
A
So we don't know how many have been fired. We know it started yesterday and we know late on Thursday, before Pulte took over on Friday, officially, he put out a request to ODNI staff saying identify 400 employees to be fired at the National Counterterrorism Center. So that has raised all these alarms on the Hill, as you just heard.
- [35:34]
B
And how much do you think these firings could potentially impact the intel community's ability to do its job?
- [35:39]
A
This is the question, right? So if you fire a lot of people quickly, maybe without a careful review, at what point does that lack of expertise actually create a real risk? And so you have a lot of former intelligence officials, CIA officials, saying they're worried that this is pushing the envelope too far, too fast. Like, yes, you could make an argument there's some room for downsizing, but they're saying Pulte has no national security or intelligence experience whatsoever, and he's proposing some pretty drastic cuts. So there's a lot of concern. And keep in mind one last thing. This office was created after the 911 attacks to make sure that there were no gaps, no stove piping, that all information would be shared and a terrorist attack would be uncovered. And there has not been a major terrorist attack since 9 11.
- [36:26]
B
So what is at the center of these worries? I mean, what are the stakes here? Is it a potential another terrorist attack, something slipping through the cracks?
- [36:33]
A
I think that's the main concern. And then there's this additional concern that you hear mainly from Democrats, which is how Pulte operated in his former job at the Federal Housing Regulatory Authority, Right. Where he used information to go after the president's political, perceived political enemies. So you now you have concern that he may have access to all sorts of sensitive information and may try to misuse it. So they're warning him not to do that.
- [36:58]
B
And you heard those colorful remarks from Senator Thom Tillis criticizing this move. How do you expect the rest of the Capitol Hill lawmakers to respond though to this, especially if Pulte is in the job for a long period of time?
- [37:10]
A
That's right. So I mean, they're saying by law he's supposed to have national security experience. He doesn't. And so you have the head of the, the top breaking Democrats on the House and the Senate Intel Committee saying, warning him basically in a letter this week saying do not misuse or abuse your authority to seek retribution against political opponents. Intelligence is supposed to be unbiased. It's supposed to help the president make decisions and not be used as a political weapon. And they also question what about these cuts, you know, how could you possibly know how many people to cut at this point without a more careful review?
- [37:45]
B
Dan Delouse, thank you so much for your reporting and insights. After the break, primary day showdown. The panel will be here to break down what we're watching tonight. This is MEET THE press. Now,
- [38:01]
A
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welcome back. As we mentioned, it's a big day for Democratic primaries with key races playing out in several states. That includes in New York, where Mayor Zoramdani is testing his kingmaker abilities. Mayor Mamdani trying to bolster progressive candidates like himself who are critical of Israel and of campaign spending by the pro Israel lobbying group aipac. The mayor standing by his stance against AIPAC after facing criticism from Jewish leaders following his comparison of AIPAC to quote, monsters for what he says is, quote, dark money spending in campaigns. Here's what he said about the organization yesterday.
- [40:11]
A
It is a status quo for immorality. It is one that I will not accept. And when it comes to the way in which they defend the status quo, oftentimes they defend it through direct contributions, as we are seeing right now in New York. 13. Oftentimes they also support the status quo through dark money.
- [40:29]
B
Joining me now is our panel, Reese Gorman, politics reporter at Notice, Democratic strategist Ashanti Golar and Rob Bluey, president and executive editor of the Daily Signal. Thank you all so much for joining us. A lot to break down, especially with this primary coming up tonight. That's where I want to start. Reece Miramdani made these endorsements. How much is on the line from him personally?
- [40:51]
A
Quite a bit, especially for his political kind of strength and show of strength. I mean, he's going against his own New Yorker, his the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, who has been vocally supporting these incumbents. And Mamdani, I mean, if you lose, it's never a good sign. You know, Trump loves to win as well. And Trump's, I mean, he loses, he gets upset. And Mamdani, I mean, just if you want to run this city and run kind of Democratic politics in the state like he wants to do, winning these races is going to be a big deal for him.
- [41:20]
B
Yeah, Ashanti, I want to get your take on that. What do you think? It says if some of these candidates actually prevail, what does it say about the direction of the Democratic Party? What is going to teach us is what are Democrats feeling right now? And that is what we have to pay attention to. I don't think that there just has to be this binary of oh, we have to mobilize the base or oh, we have to expand, you know, our coalition. We can do both. So what we need to be doing with the primary today, frankly, all of the primaries, what are the voters telling us? What do they care about? Because we know affordability is the number one issue. But the second thing is they want candidates that are going to fight for them to offer solutions. And I think that's why we're seeing so many of these shock wins, because the voters are like that person's at least going to try. And that's what we want right now. Yeah, so much of it about style as much as substance. Yeah. Rob, are Republicans secretly, or maybe not so secretly rooting for some of these mamdani like candidates to win so that Republicans have more foils in the November election?
- [42:21]
A
Absolutely. And if you look at some of the recent elections, whether it be Washington D.C. or the Maine Senate primary, I think Republicans do salivate at those opportunities to try to paint Democrats as a left wing party that's embracing some more radical ideas in their perspective. And that is one of the things that I think that they'll try to position themselves against. Obviously, we know that Republicans, while the incumbent party, the President's incumbent party, doesn't often fare well in midterm elections. I think 37 out of the last 41 have gone against the incumbent party. So they need everything they can as a foil to make a case against Democrats.
- [42:54]
B
And Rhys, we talked about earlier in the show how much AIPAC is getting involved in some of these racists. How much do you think that their clout is on the line here?
- [43:03]
A
I think that aipac, obviously they have a lot of money and they're going to be spending in the races that they do. I think a lot of the criticisms that we're seeing of AIPAC sometimes are warranted, sometimes are rooted in anti Semitism, for example, Thomas Massie and when he was criticizing some of them. And I think that a lot of times, I mean, you're going to lose races, you're going to win races, but I think, I think any time you're heavily invested in a race and you lose, it's. It does hurt your clout quite a bit.
- [43:26]
B
Well, the tides have shifted so much in the Democratic Party towards Israel, towards aipac. I mean, how do you see AIPAC right now? Are they becoming a boogeyman in the Democratic Party? I think dark money overall is the issue, and I think that's what we should be talking about. We always default to aipac, but they're not the only ones who are putting so much money. I mean, we know we're talking millions and millions of dollars into these races. So I think that's the conversation that we need to have is we need to know who is doing what, why. And basically we need to get better with some campaign finance laws so we can assure that the voters voices are the ones that we're hearing. And Rob, this is not just something that's playing out between Democrats. We're also seeing it play out. For example, in the main Senate race, I want to play for you what Susan Collins said about her Democratic opponent, Grant Platner.
- [44:16]
A
He accuses Israel of committing genocide. He praises Hamas for its tactics in killing Israeli soldiers. This is appalling. And it's important to recognize that AIPAC is made up of Americans who care deeply about our relationship with Israel. Platinum makes it sound like this is some sort of of evil foreign influence, and that is absolutely wrong.
- [44:53]
B
Rob, do you think that is an effective strategy for Republicans?
- [44:56]
A
It's not a surprising strategy by Susan Collins. I think she recognizes that she needs to thread the needle carefully in Maine. She can't be overly supportive of President Trump given the electorate in Maine. But she also wants, going back to our earlier conversation about Democrats nominating some of the more extreme candidates, she needs to paint Graham Platner in that position. And whether that be to target him as an anti Israel candidate on the part of the left or just somebody whose voting record potentially would be out of step with Maine, that's what she needs to do. She has an independent streak and that has been successful for her now in what, five elections so far as the senator from Maine.
- [45:35]
B
And besides Israel, we're also seeing how AI is becoming such a big factor in so many cases and particularly data centers. But how much are you seeing this play out, particularly in New York tonight? In New York, 12.
- [45:46]
A
Reese, I think a lot of kind of candidates are. I mean, data centers are kind of becoming one of the big boogeymen right now because it's something that a lot of people don't want. I mean, they're paying higher energy costs, higher water bills, and they believe that that is kind of on behalf of data centers. So we're seeing that a lot of candidates now are running opposed to data centers.
- [46:06]
B
Yeah. And we're also seeing a lot of AI groups, both for and against AI, starting to spend in these races, which is an interesting storyline. Another storyline I want to turn to, Rob, is Trump is going to be on the Hill tomorrow meeting with Senate Republicans. It comes amid the showdown between GOP Leader John Thune and Trump over the SAVE Act. How much of a reality check do you think Republicans are actually going to give the president when it comes to the SAVE Act? Or do you think Trump is just going to be digging in his feet over this?
- [46:32]
A
Well, based on the fact that they seemed to target Mike Lee last week and give him an earful about the Save America Act, I do think that there will be some senators, maybe a John Cornyn type, who decides to speak out on this. I hope that they don't. I hope that instead they have the resolve to get behind what the president's agenda is. After all, he knows and he is in touch with the conservative voters who I think ultimately are going to probably be a decisive factor in whether or not they turn out for the midterm elections. And so we know from not only the polling, but President Trump's own election that election integrity and immigration are big issues. The Save America act combines those two and it's why you see Senator Mike Lee pushing it so aggressively. So I hope that the president not only sends them a strong message on that, but also gets them to consolidate some support around a reconciliation bill, which Riese knows is going to be a high hurdle to overcome with the narrow barges in the House and the Senate. But it's an important deliverable that the president needs to get behind.
- [47:29]
B
Reece, I want to stick on this topic and I also want to play some sound from Republicans talking about all of this. Let's take a listen.
- [47:35]
A
There are not the votes to nuke the filibuster and there aren't going to be 10 Democrat votes to all of a sudden support the Save America Act. It's just those are just hard realities. And I think people at some point have to come to grips with that.
- [47:51]
B
When Trump Thune says he doesn't have
- [47:53]
A
the votes on the SAFE act, he doesn't have the votes on his dayback. I've been around here long enough and been through enough battles and counted enough votes to know that it doesn't just magically occur, no matter how much you wish it would happen. I think this is contributing to too much infighting and which is not helpful to us in terms of our chances of winning the midterms.
- [48:16]
B
And as Cornyn said, there, there is some concern among Republicans that this could all be a distraction, especially as they just passed a housing affordability bill. Reece, talk to me about the conversations on Capitol Hill right now. What is the mood among Republicans, especially ahead of this meeting tomorrow?
- [48:30]
A
Republicans are Senate Republicans are just kind of banging their head against the wall because to this point, there aren't the votes. We've seen it put up before. There are not the votes to pass it with 60 votes. There aren't the votes to nuke the filibuster. It just isn't there. I mean, and you're not going to convince Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Chuck, Chuck Grassley, John Cornyn Tillis to suddenly nuke the filibuster. I mean, you don't even have 50 votes to do that. And so they're Senate Republicans are very, very upset. And it's even aggravating House leadership. We saw Anna Polina Luna today along with some of her colleagues say that they're not going to vote for anything. They're going to try to lock down the floor until the Senate passes the Save America Act. First of all, they made this threat countless times, made it back in March. They did not hold true on it, but as one's does. But I mean, it just is aggravating a lot of people because people like Mike Lee, they view are giving false hope to conservative activists, to Trump. And when in reality there just aren't the votes, especially in election year to do this.
- [49:31]
B
Thank you. We're gonna have to leave the conversation there. Reese, Rob and Ashanti. But still to come, crime and Punishment. A federal judge rebukes the Trump administration and delivers the Justice Department a major setback in its criminal investigation of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. We'll explain. Stay with us on MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. The Justice Department is dealing with several setbacks today. First, a federal judge quashing what he calls unlawful subpoenas targeting Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other top Minnesota officials, accusing the DOJ of issuing those subpoenas to harass President Trump's political opponents. And NBC News also has new reporting that the DOJ has struggled to show evidence of widespread voter fraud despite the president's claims that the elections are rigged. NBC News senior justice reporter Ryan Reilly broke that story, joins me now. A very busy day on your beat. I do want to start with those subpoenas targeting the Minnesota officials. Just remind us why those subpoenas were issued in the first place. And what was the federal Judge's reasoning for quashing those subpoenas?
- [50:45]
A
Yeah, I mean, I think the explanation for why they came about sort of helps explain why they were eventually quashed, because originally when these came out, it was pretty clearly based on the speech that the governor and the mayor there had engaged in talking about immigration. And it was kind of a shaky legal grounds. And that's sort of what the judge found here. He said, George W. Bush appointee, I should also point out, and just found that this was really baseless for them.
- [51:06]
B
It was.
- [51:06]
A
Was an intent to sort of harass. So I think the justification for those original subpoenas he found was not, you know, justified. Based on the law. There was nothing to really investigate here and issued a pretty strong opinion sort of smacking those down. So those subpoenas are no longer valid.
- [51:21]
B
And did the Justice Department respond yet?
- [51:23]
A
They sort of said that, you know, they would comply with the law and go along, but that investigation kind of had been held up in part because of that issue with the subpoenas. They had been sort of on hold. So there wasn't a lot to go on. That would have been a very strange case, sort of of unique front for them to have really tried to actually go after political appointees for what is, you know, within their realm, certainly speaking on political issues.
- [51:43]
B
Does this mean then the Minnesota investigation is dead?
- [51:46]
A
I think it's certainly on ice for now. They'd have to find a new sort of in or a new way of approaching it. But for now, yeah, I think that that's going to definitely be on hold.
- [51:55]
B
Another topic I want to talk to you about. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporters were subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury. But the DOJ then withdrew those subpoenas that would have compelled testify. Just talk to me about how unusual it is for reporters to be subpoenaed in the first place. And do we know why the Justice Department withdrew those subpoenas?
- [52:15]
A
Yeah. So there was sort of a back. There is a legal fight happening behind the scenes on a lot of. This is something we sort of heard rumblings of. But the Washington Post went public with it today. There were three journalists from the Wall Street Journal and one from the Washington Post who were subpoenaed. And I think what's unique here and people should recognize is that, you know, there had been subpoenas in recent memory that that went after documents. What this would have required is testimony from journalists about their sources under threat of being held in contempt of court, which could mean jail time. And so they were going to be forced to testify to their sources. But that was something that there was a pushback on and ultimately the Justice Department backed away from.
- [52:53]
B
And then also you had some great reporting on how the DOJ is struggling to find evidence of widespread voter fraud. Real quickly, can you break down some of that reporting?
- [53:00]
A
I think a lot, you know, to sum it up, there's not a lot of evidence of widespread voter fraud. That's something that voting rights experts would tell you sort of from the beginning. I don't think that they would be shocked that this was something the Justice Department really struggled to do. But all of the cases that they've sort of gotten so far are sort of these one offs and don't show any sort of more systemic fraud that would, you know, have a material impact on the 2020 election or any election thereof. So this is something I think they're going to continue to struggle with as Donald Trump pushes them and as Justice Department officials pushes the rest of the Justice Department to show examples of this fraud that Donald Trump has been speaking.
- [53:32]
B
Excellent reporting as always, Ryan. Thank you so much. We're back tomorrow with more MEET THE PRESS now. And there's more ahead on NBC News now. Hey, whatcha doing? Are you doomscrolling other people's vacations? Miami, San Diego. With Expedia, your trip can earn rewards which you can use towards your next lg. Soon people will doomscroll you. Expedia, the one place you go to go places, terms apply.