President Donald Trump (2:49)

priorities, I'm suggesting strongly to the Republican Party. Don't make any deal on anything. The most important thing we can have is what's called the Save American America Act. Don't make any deal on anything unless you include voter ID and you have to be a citizen to vote. Republicans do not settle with Democrats and let them out of this hole that they've buried themselves in.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (3:17)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune today telling reporters that a visit by Senate Republicans to the White House last night was able to convince the president to get on board. The president rejected a plan similar to

Reporter Aaron Gilchrist (3:29)

this over the weekend.

Commercial Announcer (3:30)

Why did he change his mind now?

Reporter Gabe Gutierrez (3:32)

Well, I think there are, I mean,

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (3:33)

obviously, maybe you can just say that my colleagues were more persuasive than I was. Now, a source familiar with the negotiations says that Democrats are open to the proposal and are eager to fund dhs. But Democratic leaders today publicly voice their frustration with the current state of play. Here's some of what they said.

Commercial Announcer (3:53)

This does not have any reforms in

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (3:55)

ice, but they've sent us, negotiations are

Commercial Announcer (3:58)

ongoing and they've sent us an offer and we'll be sending them an offer back. And I can assure you it'll contain significant reform in it.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (4:08)

We'll evaluate in good faith whatever is presented. But it's got to be consistent if it's going to deal with ice, with the types of changes that are bold, meaningful and dramatic. All of it comes as hours long lines persist at some of the nation's airports. The TSA call out rate again surpassed 10% nationwide, pushing past 30% at some major airports. And as the administration deploys ICE agents to more than a dozen airports to help with those delays. Joining me now is our NBC News team, senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez. Julie Serkin is on Capitol Hill and Aaron Gilchrist is talking to travelers at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. And with me on set, senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainslie. Thank you all for being here. Gabe, let's start with you. Can you first explain the president's apparent change of heart? Is what he was presented with last night actually meaningfully different than what Leader Thune presented him with over the weekend?

Reporter Gabe Gutierrez (5:11)

Well, Monica, it doesn't appear to be you just heard Senator Thune right there, that his colleagues are more persuasive. But look, I think that there are several other factors that are now in play here. Senator Mark Wade Mullen, for example, just confirmed last night as the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, there was another hurdle to cross that happened last night. And also, look, the president watches a lot of television. He has been seeing those lines, those long lines at airports across the country. And so the political pressure is building here. And so it appears that the senators that came and spoke with the president yesterday were able to make a convincing case that it is in their interest to strike some type of deal. And the president doesn't really, really like to get involved in these details, per se. You heard of him allude to that basically earlier today at the White House when he was asked about this, not wanting to get into the nitty gritty of legislating of this particular deal, but seeming to want to blame Democrats for whatever for this process and why it's taking so long. And as long as he can claim a win on some of his priorities and call it that, then he may be willing to go along with this. But the White House basically saying that this is an acceptable solution thus far, but that negotiations are still ongoing. Monica.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (6:24)

And it's minute by minute with the president. Right, Gabe, because he even said, well, he may not be happy with any deal. So is that an indication to you that this could still all totally fall apart?

Reporter Gabe Gutierrez (6:34)

Well, Monica, you know as well as I do, of course, we don't know that this will hold up. And the president, while he at first said he didn't want to comment on this, then he came out and he did comment, saying whatever deal they reach, he would be unhelped happy with. But again, he reverted back to his talking points about blaming Democrats here. If Republicans are able to get to some sort of deal that does have at least, you know, portions of the Save America act, perhaps through reconciliation, then that could be something that the president could latch onto and call it a win, even though Democrats might eventually get some of the ICE reforms that they had wanted.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (7:10)

And Gabe, the president has already kind of pitched that more expansive version you just referred to of the Save America act than what currently exists. So if he does shrink it to get it through reconciliation, will that be enough to satisfy this priority of his, you think?

Reporter Gabe Gutierrez (7:26)

Well, certainly it's all about the messaging at this point. If he can come out and say that he stuck up for what he views as election security and can make the case to his base and to Republicans as a whole that he came out victorious here against the Democrats, then, you know, that that might be enough. But as we just discussed, the president will try to, you know, say that he's not happy with the deal in general, but if he makes case and that striking this deal will bring some relief to airports and not have to cave to the Democrats, then he may end up going along with it. But this point still up in the air, although multiple sources here in the White House and from our team, as we've been hearing from our team in Capitol Hill, they are sounding more optimistic, Monica.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (8:10)

And we will go to Capitol Hill next. Gabe, thank you so much for that, Julie. So I want to ask you, there is a path, it seems, but is there enough buy in here from both sides of the aisle to make it happen?

Reporter Julie Serkin (8:21)

And that's really the key question right now. While it seems like Republicans at least agreed upon something among themselves, although I'm not so convinced about that because after the Senate Republicans met behind closed doors a couple of hours ago, Monica, and had lunch, some of them came out and were frustrated that they aren't fully funding ICE. They're funding about $5 billion of the overall $10 billion package. They're not funding enforcement as you see there on your screen. So there might be some tension points within the Republican Party as well, but within the Democratic side of the aisle. This morning I talked to sources who thought for sure that in this proposed deal from Republicans, they would include some of those reforms that the White House had already agreed to when it comes to immigration enforcement. But turns out, according to Leader Schumer, those reforms are not in there. So for now, they are holding out as well.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (9:05)

Okay, so that's on the Senate side of things. What are the chances if it does go through there, that it can then get through the House?

Reporter Julie Serkin (9:12)

Well, that's the other wrinkle in all of this because Speaker Johnson is dealing with a very different collection of Republicans, if you will, than on the Senate side. And there is some heartburn because the Senate does tend to jam the House, especially when it comes to funding matters as crucial as these. So for the House perspective, let's take a listen to Speaker Johnson and we'll talk about it more on the other side.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (9:32)

Are you supportive of a DHS funding bill that doesn't include funding price? That is not my preference. I can tell you the House has funded DHS twice. We're prepared to do it again, completely fund the entire department.

Commercial Announcer (9:44)

That is a responsible way to do this thing.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (9:46)

So we've been very resistant to any idea to break it apart.

Reporter Julie Serkin (9:51)

They might be resistant about it. But if the president does get behind this effort and starts working the phones and calling up Republicans, as we know that he has done many times in the past, I think if this passes the Senate, it would eventually get through the House. But I think the question of the president's support is an interesting one. It was about 30 hours ago where I was at an event with the president in Memphis where he told a room of law enforcement officials right at an airport, I might add, that he is not going to accept a deal from Democrats instructing his allies not to make one. And then today we heard those comments from him. Lukewarm. But privately I'm told that he did agree with Senate Republicans last night for this exact proposal.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (10:27)

Yeah, both sides may be looking for an off ramp there. Julie, can I just also ask you, we saw that in person meeting at the White House last night. So does that tell you that there was a sense that Republicans were going to be willing to buck the president if they felt like they couldn't get the White House on board?

Reporter Julie Serkin (10:43)

That's an interesting question. We know that Leader Thune tried convincing President Trump over the weekend to get behind this deal. But we also know that White House allies wanted this deal, at least some of them. We know that many of them were on Capitol Hill trying to negotiate this and bring a solution to this because Republicans are in charge. The president, by effect of what he said for the last couple of days, would own a shutdown if it were to continue, especially in those airports. I know you'll talk to Aaron about, but I think when it comes to Republicans bucking President Trump, we haven't seen that happen many times, but certainly their patience could run then.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (11:14)

Monica, Julie, thank you so much for that perspective. Aaron, we will go to you next since you are there in Atlanta, which has seen one of the highest TSA callout rates. How are things looking there today?

Reporter Aaron Gilchrist (11:28)

Well, things have actually been looking pretty good here today, Monica, I think we talk about the early morning hours, which are the busier hours at this particular airport. And we did see a crush of people lines snaking outside the airport terminal, even in the pre check line. But the reality since about 8 o' clock this morning has been this is a very normal looking airport. You may see behind me here. This main checkpoint has been virtually empty for the last little while. At different points during the day, we've seen the volume sort of increase a little bit, but nothing like what we saw yesterday over the weekend and into last week where we saw lines snaking through the airport terminal. At the same time, people who've been looking to travel have been coming here with the understanding that conditions could change at any moment. And so people have been getting here earlier than they might otherwise get here to just sort of be prepared for a long line and to have to wait a while. Let me let you hear from a few passengers that we spoke to a bit earlier today about their travels as they were coming into this airport.

Reporter Steven Romo (12:29)

We're a little bit worried about when we leave here next week.

Reporter Aaron Gilchrist (12:33)

Do you have a plan yet for that?

Commercial Announcer (12:34)

Get here early.

Reporter Aaron Gilchrist (12:37)

So you just sort of grin and bear it, huh?

Reporter Steven Romo (12:39)

Grin and bear it. That's all we can do.

Reporter Courtney Kuby (12:40)

I wouldn't recommend traveling right now if

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (12:42)

you don't have to, especially if you have kids. I mean, it's just. It's a lot.

Reporter Courtney Kuby (12:45)

It is very overwhelming right now. So.

Reporter Aaron Gilchrist (12:48)

And what do you make of the fact? I mean, obviously we know a lot of the TSA agents have not been working or calling out because they're not being paid. What do you think about that? That part of this drama?

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (12:57)

I mean, I feel bad for them. I understand. I get it. I mean, gas is high. Everything is high.

Reporter Courtney Kuby (13:02)

I mean, we all want to get paid. I mean, that's just where we're at with it now.

Reporter Aaron Gilchrist (13:08)

A lot of airports that have been telling people to check their websites for wait times have stopped posting wait times because they were just inaccurate. They were so unpredictable for several days. It is worth noting though, that the one of the airports in Houston, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, does still post wait times on their website and they've been showing all day long four hour waits for people who are going into that airport.

Reporter Raf Sanchez (13:30)

So.

Reporter Aaron Gilchrist (13:30)

So, Monica, I think it really does depend on when you're traveling and what airport you're going to, whether all the security checkpoints are open or not. And that's something that has been less and less predictable because the callouts happen as a matter of what shift is coming in. So they may not know that they have fewer TSA officers until it's time for them to be here and they don't show up. And then the lines can get long again.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (13:52)

Four hours. Wow, that is staggering. Erin, I do want to ask you specifically there in Atlanta where you are, have the travelers that you've checked in with told you whether they feel like the presence of ICE agents is maybe making a difference in some of those lines and the changes you're seeing today?

Reporter Aaron Gilchrist (14:10)

Yeah, we have heard from people about that, and I think most people have just sort of noticed that the ICE agents are in the airport. I can tell you for the last hour or so that we've been in this particular area near the main checkpoint. We haven't seen any of those ICE agents walk by, and the ones that we have seen as we've been moving around the airport have just sort of been walking around or standing together in groups. We know that they cannot run the X ray machines at the TSA checkpoint here, but we were told that they could help with crowd control, that they might be able to check IDs. But we haven't seen them engage in any of the TSA operations at this particular checkpoint behind me. I was at LaGuardia yesterday afternoon. We didn't see them engaging in those operations there either. And so at this point, we know they're in the building, and that's about all we can say.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (14:55)

Monica, Erin, thank you so much for bringing us that from Atlanta. We really appreciate it. We're going to turn now to Julia Ainslie, who covers dhs. And I want to just get your expertise, the new DHS secretary who was just sworn in today. Should we expect major changes to the administration's immigration policy, or do you see these recent staffing changes of who's at the top as mostly a rebrand?

Reporter Julia Ainslie (15:20)

I think that the rebrand began on January 24, and that was the day that Alex Preddy was fatally shot in Minneapolis. After that, we saw Greg Bovino, who was the commander of Border Patrol leading those surges in those cities, be pulled off. They put in Tom Homan, and Tom Homan is remaining in that place as borders are. He told me that he thought that if they did not conduct targeted arrest, meaning of criminals who they knew to be criminals rather than people who merely were in the country illegally, they could lose the faith of the American people. And that seems to be the same brand and same mantra that we're seeing carry through now. Mark Wade Mullen was someone who was chosen who could be an easy pick. And you could see how quickly he moved through. Trump gave a March 31 exit date for Secretary Noem. And instead, here we are on March 24th.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (16:05)

He beat it.

Reporter Julia Ainslie (16:06)

He's already there. And so I think what we're seeing now is a pivoting in this administration. And you, of course, would know, well, at the White House covering that as well, of trying to really get away from the immigration and enforcement issue is a top talking point. And to try to have someone at DHS who can command the helm, keep the lights on, try to get this agency back up and running, but who isn't going to cause a lot of drama. He even said in his nomination hearing, I don't want this agency to be the top headline every day, which it

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (16:33)

was, it was many of those headlines from your own reporting that's right now, exclusives that you broke. Let's talk about the funding deal that is on the table right now that would potentially fund just part of ice. How would that work and how complicated would that make the current operations?

Reporter Julia Ainslie (16:49)

Yeah, it's not something I'm familiar with with exactly procedurally how they could do that. You typically fund an agency as a whole, like a department like dhs. But just to put in perspective of how much money ICE has right now, they previously walked into this administration with a $9 billion operating budget. The one big beautiful bill increased that to 75 billion. Of course, that's over two years. That doesn't mean it's going to be what they get on a recurrent basis. But they are the most well funded law enforcement agen the country. So it stands to reason they could get by without having an infusion through more money coming through a dedicated annual funding bill. And so obviously that seems like a palatable choice for a lot of people right now hoping they could come back around to ICE later. And maybe if they give it some time and let Markway Mullen stay there for a little while, Democrats could come around to this period, to this, to the table as well on this.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (17:42)

Julia Ainslie, thank you so much for being here today. We appreciate it. And now we will turn to the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the union which represents TSA workers, Everett Kelly. Everett, if you can hear me, if you have him, there you are. Yes, thank you so much, sir. Yes, I can. Hopefully you can hear us. Thank you, sir. Can you help us?

Everett Kelly, President of AFGE (18:05)

Very faint.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (18:06)

Oh, okay. We'll try to see if we can get that worked out technically. Can you hear me a little bit better now?

Everett Kelly, President of AFGE (18:13)

I think I can.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (18:14)

Okay, well, let's start with this and the potential deal that is on the table right now to fund most of dhs, which of course is impacting many of the workers that your union represents. What do you make of the current deal?

Everett Kelly, President of AFGE (18:32)

Okay, you're very faint on me, but I think I understand you. You know, this is very disturbing for the people that I represent. You know, we are now in day 39 of this shutdown. And what does 39 days look like for the people that protect this country? More than 400 TSOs has quit, thousand more calling out because they cannot afford to get gas, get to work. You know, and so what I want to say is this. If there was a deal on the table, you know, then bring it forth, sign the Legislation and let's get these employees paid so they can continue to protect Americans as they travel safely.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (19:14)

Well, the president was asked if he had a specific message for those TSA workers who are staying home right now amid this shutdown. Take a listen to his answer. We'll talk about it.

President Donald Trump (19:26)

Well, some of them are needing money, you know, because the Democrats cut off their money. I blame the Democrats more than anything else.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (19:35)

The president blaming Democrats there. And we have heard stories from some TSA workers who have had to get their cars repossessed, sell plasma, who are concerned with tax day around the corner, how they're going to make those payments. What's your response to the president's comments there?

Everett Kelly, President of AFGE (19:53)

Well, I don't think that we at a point where we should be pointing fingers at anyone. I think that this is a time for the nation to come together. This is time for legislators to come together and think about, you know, the fact that these are human beings, these are their lives. These are people that are losing their home, losing their automobile, losing the opportunity to come to work and do the work that they want to do for the American people. So I don't think this is a time to be pointing fingers. This is time for us to come together. And if there is some legislation that we can pass to make sure that America continues to operate the way it should, then that's what we should be doing.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (20:27)

Well, let me ask you specifically, do you blame one party then over the other for this shutdown, which has been dragging on for almost 40 days now?

Everett Kelly, President of AFGE (20:37)

You know, I don't think that I should be blaming any party over the other because like I said, you know, it's the United States Congress that needs to do their job. You know, I employ all of them to do their job. If they do that job, then we wouldn't have these crises. So it's not one party or the other, you know, it's collectively, you know, what we do as the legislative branch. Let's get the job done. You know, and to think about, you know, the possibility of Easter coming and some of them leaving and going home. You know, I submit to them that they need to make sure that they make sure that these employees are paid prior to leaving, going home for Easter.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (21:15)

Well, DHS has reported that more than 450 TSA officers have quit since the start of this partial shutdown. And those callout rates we've been talking about topping 10% nationwide. Are you worried that more workers could quit and how difficult will it be to replace them?

Everett Kelly, President of AFGE (21:34)

I mean, you know, I mean, you have to understand what these employees are facing. You know, this is the third time in six months that they have been without pay and certainly they have to provide for their families. So I am afraid that if we don't put a stop to this shenanigan, that we will see more and more people quitting a job. We'll see and it'll be hard to recoup those people once they are out of the system. You know, and I don't want to see a system failure, but I do think that that's what some people are planning on. But, you know, if we can get these people paid, get people back to work, you know, I don't think we'll have these issues to worry about.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (22:14)

And you have been critical of President Trump's decision to send those ICE agents to assist TSA at the airports. We've been talking about saying that they don't have the proper training. DHS says that the agents are actually being tasked with non specialized security functions, just like guarding exit doors or crowd control, and that they're making announcements. But considering the shortages, is that help needed? Is it welcome?

Everett Kelly, President of AFGE (22:36)

Well, you know, if, if, if that was real help, from what I'm seeing and understanding, you know, they're just walking through, maybe helping people, you know, get in and out of cars, passing water out. You know, there's nothing really that they're doing to assist the TSA agent that have this specialized training. They go through at least six months of specialized training and they need that in order to be effective and efficient on the job. And these agents, while not meant to be disrespectful, they just don't possess the skills needed to perform these duties.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (23:08)

Everett Kelly, thank you so much for bringing us that and the perspective of those TSA workers. We really appreciate it.

Everett Kelly, President of AFGE (23:16)

Thank you.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (23:18)

And coming up, a new wave of attacks across the Middle east after the White House says Tehran wants to make a deal and Pakistan moves to be the key mediator in negotiations. Plus, the search for answers. Authorities ramp up their investigation into the deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck. You're watching Meet the Press now,

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Reporter Courtney Kuby (24:36)

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Reporter Julie Serkin (25:12)

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Moderator/Host Monica Alba (25:14)

to try stamps.com risk free for 60 days. Welcome back. Speculation continues to grow about the back channel talks between the US And Iran to end the war as several countries are now stepping up to act as mediators. Today, President Trump was asked if he would spend send special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son in law Jared Kushner to engage in direct negotiations with the Iranians. Here's what he said.

President Donald Trump (25:41)

We're in negotiations right now. They're doing it along with Marco. J.D. we have a number of people doing it. And the other side, I can tell you they'd like to make a deal. And who wouldn't if you were there? I don't want to say in advance, but they've agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that. They're going to make a deal. They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They, they gave us a present and the President arrived today and it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. And I'm not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize and they gave it to us and they said they were going to give it. So that meant one thing to me. We're dealing with the right people.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (26:27)

Exactly what that present is remains completely unclear. But the President did say that it was related somehow to the Strait of Hormuz. And President Trump also discussed the leadership in Iran right now, saying there has been regime change there.

President Donald Trump (26:42)

You have really regime change. You know, this is a change in the regime because the leaders are all very different than the ones that we started off with that created all those problems. So this was, I think we can say, Jason, this is regime change. Right?

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (26:59)

It comes as Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan are all acting as intermediaries between the US And Iran, according to a source familiar with the diplomatic efforts in a post on X, Pakistan's prime minister said his country stands ready and honored to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks between the US And Iran. And he tagged President Trump Special Envoy Wyckoff and Iran's foreign minister in that post. Two sources tell NBC News that an in person meeting could be held in Islamabad in the coming days. Joining me now to discuss all of that is NBC News international correspondent Raf Sanchez in Doha and NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kuby. Raf, I'll start with you. So what more do we know about these talks? Who's involved in them? And could they actually lead to the beginning of the end of this war?

Reporter Raf Sanchez (27:51)

So, Monica, I can tell you here in the Middle east and frankly, across the world, people are desperately trying to figure out, are these talks for real? Could they seriously end the war, or was this President Trump just trying to bring down the price of oil, which he did manage to do with that initial announcement. No one is following it more closely than the countries here in the Gulf, which have been on the front line in terms of getting hammered with Iranian drone and missile attacks. I had a chance a little bit earlier to ask the Foreign Ministry spokesman here in Qatar whether they shared the president's optimism that a deal could be in the making. Take a look. Listen, based on what you know about the negotiations, do you share his optimism that there could be a negotiated cease fire sometime in the near future?

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (28:39)

Now, let me reiterate, Qatar is not

Reporter Aaron Gilchrist (28:41)

involved in these talks.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (28:42)

Our views about any talks, if they exist, are consistent with our very principled position that all conflicts will end on the negotiation table. And we support all of these efforts.

Reporter Raf Sanchez (28:52)

And just to follow up, when President Trump threatens escalation against Iraq, the Iranians respond by threatening to retaliate against Gulf states like Qatar. Do you feel like the president is adequately taking the danger that the Gulf allies face into account when he makes these threats of escalation?

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (29:09)

We are in constant communication with the

Commercial Announcer (29:11)

administration conveying to them exactly what the

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (29:14)

Iranian attacks are doing to our countries. We are grateful for the partnership that is allowing us to help protect our region against these attacks on our Leave it to that.

Reporter Raf Sanchez (29:25)

And when he says that they are informing the White House about the damage being suffered as a result of these Iranian attacks. One of the world's largest liquefied natural gas facilities is here in Qatar. It was hit last week by an Iranian missile, and that is going to last that damage for years. It is going to have an impact on the supply of gas for years to come. So even if the shooting were to stop tomorrow, there would be extended direction disruption. As you said, Monica, Pakistan is emerging as a potential key mediator here. That makes sense in some ways. Pakistan is a country that has open lines of communication with both Iran and with the United States. And unlike Qatar, unlike Oman, who have acted as mediators in the past, Pakistan, of course, is not under fire from Iran right now, so is potentially in a position to act as a go

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (30:14)

between Monica and Raf as you talk about some of that reaction in the region, how desperate they are for an understanding of what the president might be hinting at. Tell me more about how Israel is reacting. Specifically, we know Prime Minister Netanyahu has been in touch with the president and with Vice President Vance as well. How important will it be for Israel to also abide by any potential agreement that's reached here?

Reporter Raf Sanchez (30:39)

Well, for the Iranians, it's going to be absolutely crucial. They are not looking to negotiate a deal where the United States stops bombing, but the Israelis continue. And it is going to be difficult to design some kind of agreements that gives the Iranians the guarantees that they're going to be looking for, that this war is not going to flare up again six months, nine months from now. Of course, both the US And Israel bombed Iran back in June of last year. As you said, President Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday. The prime minister acknowledged that President Trump is looking to make a deal. He didn't in any way endorse that idea, but we will see whether Israel can be bound by any agreement that comes out.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (31:22)

Monica, we will see. Raf, thank you so much for that reporting and your question there. We appreciate it. Courtney, let me turn to you now because you have some new reporting about the possibility of additional troop deployments. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, so despite the fact that there

Reporter Courtney Kuby (31:38)

do appear, according to the Trump administration, to be some sort of an ongoing mediation or talks or passing of information, whatever this actually is, we are still seeing the Trump administration approve the deployment of additional forces. So Just in the last week or 10 days, we've now learned of more than 11,000 U.S. troops who are headed to the region who were not expected. The first was this Amphibious Ready Group, Marine Expeditionary Unit, heading from the Asia

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (32:03)

Pacific area from Japan.

Reporter Courtney Kuby (32:05)

They are close to being in the region. That's the 31st Mew. Now there's another Meu, the 11th heading from San Diego. It's making its way to the Middle East. Now that one will take a bit longer just because it's further to go. And then now we've just learned, according to two sources familiar, that in fact there are elements of the 82nd Airborne that the President has approved the deployment of. Now, the 82nd Airborne itself is more than 3,000 soldiers. Some parts of them are part of this quick reaction force, a worldwide reaction force. It's not clear if that's who's going to go. We do know that the headquarters, an element of sort of the more administrative side and then some ground troops will go. It's somewhere between about 12 and 1500 total forces. Again, they don't have their deployment orders yet, but the President has approved it. So we just have to look at what's happening. Even though all these talks or whatever are ongoing, they're still sending people forward to the region.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (32:55)

Yeah, two different kind of competing narratives here of whether this really is winding down or ramping up in another sense. Now, the President did sort of initiate things this five day pause, allowing Iran potentially to respond as we see what happens here before threatening potential additional strikes on Iranian power plants. So let's say if these talks totally fall apart, if that devolves, does the US still have the capability and capacity to strike Iran's energy infrastructure at the end of this week?

Reporter Courtney Kuby (33:22)

Yeah, absolutely. They have everything that they need to do that. I mean, I think the challenges are going to be. The first one is striking a facility that wouldn't be an international, a violation of international law. You cannot, the law says you're not supposed to strike facility that would cause massive harm to civilians. Now, there are facilities that primarily are servicing the military or the Basij or some of the elements of the Iranian regime. But that's the first challenge that they would have. The second would be how Iran responds. Iran is already threatened that if in fact that happens, they will go after energy infrastructure in the region. They'll go after desalinization plants potentially. So it could unleash a retaliation that would only continue to escalate. We've already seen that happen in other sort of areas in this war.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (34:06)

Courtney Kuby, thank you so much as always. We really appreciate it. Up next, what we learned this afternoon from federal officials about a communication breakdown in the moments before that fatal collision at LaGuardia and where the investigation goes next. You're watching Meet THE Press. Now.

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Reporter Steven Romo (37:45)

Yeah, Monica, including that information we learned from the ASDX system, which will most definitely be talked about in the days to come. There have also been a lot of questions about the air traffic control staffing itself at LaGuardia at that time. Now, you mentioned there were only two air traffic controllers working in the tower cab for that midnight shift, which is standard operating procedure. They were in the early parts of their shift. And for those two controllers in a situation like that, they have combined duties. We heard from the NTSB today that is a typical situation. They have combined duties during that overnight shift, which is usually not as busy. But we're also hearing from the NTSB that that practice is something air traffic controllers have sounded alarms on and raised concerns about for years. Now. Of course, it's not clear yet what role, if any, that staffing itself played into this tragedy. But that, of course, is something that's being looked into.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (38:40)

Yeah. Much more to discover there. So, Stephen, what is the focus of the investigation right now? Where does this go from here? Here?

Reporter Steven Romo (38:47)

Yeah. So right now the ntsb, we know, did walkthroughs of the crash site yesterday. And something that's hard to appreciate unless you're there in person is the debris field around it. Our focus goes directly to this very surreal site of this plane with a tail on the ground, the nose missing, but there's a large debris field around it, a large amount of wreckage thrown around that they've had to go through and catalog and photograph that very time consuming of course. And as it relates to air traffic control, the NTSB also saying there are inconsistencies in the written logs for LaGuardia's Air Traffic Control tower. So they're actually set to be right now conducting interviews with employees that they plan that can release more information, of course, after they do these interviews to try to figure out where those discrepancies are and figure out maybe there was another air traffic controller standing by to help if needed. That is sometimes the case, but it's something they're not able to answer right now.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (39:39)

And what about that information that they were able to obtain from the cockpit voice recorder? Was that able to provide investigators just with more information, more clues, again, about what happened with the collision?

Reporter Steven Romo (39:51)

Yeah, I was actually surprised how much they were able to give us from the flight recorder the last three minutes. They were able to sort of break down what went on and create a bit of a timeline for what happened here. And they said just to give you some small snippets of it, the last 20 seconds before the crash, the fire truck was cleared across the Runway. Nine seconds before the crash, the truck was told to stop. Eight seconds before the crash, the landing gear can be heard touching down. And then just four seconds before the crash, the truck was again told to stop, but it was too late. We did not actually hear that recording that could eventually come out. It sounds disturbing to hear, but there are a lot of questions people want to know to prevent something like this from happening again. Monica?

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (40:35)

Yeah. Many more questions. Steve, thank you so much for being on top of it all. After the break, the march to the midterms that kicks into high gear in April with a major redistricting vote in Virginia that could help Democrats flip four seats in the fight for control of Congress. Steve Kornacki is at the big board to break down what to watch for. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. Turning now to the battle for who controls Congress, which could be determined by a battle over redistricting. The state in the spotlight right now, Virginia, where voters will be voting one month from today on a new map that could give Democrats an additional four House seats this November. But some Democrats warning that the state's redistricting referendum is, quote, not a done deal. Congressman Don Byer telling NBC News we have to effectively make the case that even though this seems uneven, unfair in Virginia, it's totally fair for America. For those of us who believe that taking back the House is the most significant thing we can do to stop Donald Trump, Democrats also worry that the Timing of the special election on the referendum in April makes voter turnout unpredictable. That Virginia election is one of several April races that we will be watching along with NBC News chief data analyst Steve Kornacki, who joins me from the big board with more. Steve, what races will you be following most closely coming up?

Commercial Announcer (42:06)

Yeah, Monica, it's interesting. We've reached a lull in the primaries for the midterms, but we do have four elections coming up in April, different types of elections here. Special election for the House in Georgia on April 7th. Also a Wisconsin state Supreme Court race, a special election for Congress from New Jersey. That's the seat that Mikey Sherrill, now the governor held her seat in the House will be filled in the middle of April. And then as you mentioned, that Virginia redistricting amendment that's going to be up April 21st. So not one of these is a primary, but four very interesting elections the next few weeks.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (42:37)

And walk us through those April 7th elections that are going to take place in Georgia and Wisconsin. What are we watching for there?

Commercial Announcer (42:44)

Yeah, so the Georgia special election for the House here. Look, the Republicans should win this. This is a catastrophe for the Republicans. If this thing were even close. It's a runoff. And you can see the two candidates, candidates who will be in the runoff. March 10th was the preliminary, the Democrat Sean Harris, the Republican Clay Fuller. Now the Democrat Harris got more votes in the preliminary, but candidates from all parties ran on the same ballot. There were a lot more Republican candidates than Democratic candidates. Harris kind of consolidated the Democratic vote here. Fuller, there were more spread out Republican votes here. This is a district that Donald Trump won by 37 points in 2024. So this is the kind of district that Fuller certainly should win. Just me looking at what the margin is here, I think here, did the Democrats have some an over performance to brag about or can Fuller win by a Trump like margin in this district? Also on the same day will be that race for Supreme Court in Wisconsin. These types of races have gotten a lot of attention and a lot of money the last two years. This one a little bit more low wattage. Why? Because the balance of the court is not up for grabs here. The liberals, ideologically the liberals in Wisconsin have the majority. No matter what happens here, they'll keep that majority. But the question is how big will it be? These elections, these court elections in Wisconsin, the Democratic aligned candidates, the liberal candidates have been doing very well in these recently. Why? Because turnout tends to be very low in these elections and in Wisconsin, certainly the Democrats in these elections have had a pronounced turnout advantage over the Republicans the last few years. They had one of these court races last year. Tens of millions of dollars were spent and the Democratic aligned candidate ended up winning, winning by 11 points.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (44:14)

Steve, let's jump back up to New Jersey. What should we expect from that special election coming up on the 16th?

Commercial Announcer (44:20)

This is an interesting one because I told you Georgia was such a pro Trump district that Georgia House election. This is a Democratic district, but the Kamala Harris margin here was nine points here. So this is the kind of district in the right environment Republicans can make competitive. Now it's very difficult for Republicans in New Jersey with Donald Trump in the White House and with his approval rating low. We just saw that in the governor's race in New Jersey last November. It ended up being a landslide for Sheryl. This was, of course, Sheryl's old congressional district. But this is still a little interesting because the Democrats had a very crowded primary and the candidate who won, Ana Leah Mejia, got less than 30% of the vote. She's ideologically pretty far left. AOC Sanders backed. It'd be interesting to see if the Republican here, a suburban mayor who has distanced himself from Trump, can make this a little more interesting than on paper it would be.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (45:13)

And the short time we have left. Steve, can we go back to that redistricting discussion, that referendum on the ballot in Virginia? What do the recent polls say about how voters there feel about it?

Commercial Announcer (45:22)

Interesting. You remember you had one in California last fall. Democrats put a referendum there, had to on the ballot. It passed easily. Virginia Democrats said, hey, let's do the same thing right here, try to gerrymander this. Here's what the first poll shows. This is a couple weeks old right now, but look at this opposition to changing it, keeping the current map making process the way it is started out ahead in this race. So it is a blue state. Democrats were able to do this in California. They're trying to take that model and make it work. In Virginia, they may have some work to do.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (45:53)

Steve Kornacki, thank you so much for all that data. And still to come, the political gamble facing both parties in the fight over deal DHS funding as party leaders try to dig themselves out of a jam after having dug in on their demands. You're watching MEET THE Press now. Welcome back. I am joined now by our panel. Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent for USA Today, Herbie Ziskind, who served at the White House as the principal deputy communications director during the Biden administration and former Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Charlie Dent. Thank you all so much for being here today. Francesca, I do want to start with you on the possibility of this DHS funding deal. Should we be cautiously optimistic that something is coming together, or is this all going to collapse?

Reporter Courtney Kuby (46:44)

Well, nothing's more motivating for members of Congress.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (46:47)

I'm sorry.

Reporter Courtney Kuby (46:48)

Nothing's more motivating for members of Congress than a recess that's coming up because they have to go back and they have to face their constituents, many of whom are probably pretty upset about what they're see right now at airports as they're trying to get on their spring break. And also Congress just wants to get out of town. So in one sense, there's a reason to be hopeful. On the other hand, Monica, President Trump kind of throwing cold water on it in the Oval Office earlier, saying he'd take a look at it, like these are things that are going to be discussed, but also saying, you know, he wants to see the details.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (47:19)

Yes. Saying he wants to be able to support Republicans, but he's not sure that he can support anything that involves Democrats, which I'm not really sure how you get to a solution from that. But I do want to ask you, Congressman, is that is there a risk for the president here as seen as caving if he ultimately does get on board with this possible agreement?

Steve Kornacki (47:36)

No, I think he has to get on board. I mean, yesterday he almost blew things up when he conditioned support for funding on the SAVE act, which has zero chance of becoming law, which basically meant he would own this mayhem. So I think right now he's in a position where he's going to have to eat whatever Congress sends him. I hope they get there. And by the way, Congress, they don't want to stand in lines either. You know, their constituents are. But the lines, the fact that the public is being so inconvenienced is being noticed. And that's why this thing is going to have to end. So I'm reasonably optimistic they're going to get there.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (48:11)

Yeah, it does seem like those pressure points are all kind of converging. But what do you think was the ultimate pressure on the president that did start to work here? Was it the idea that Republicans did threaten to revolt, that they were going to have to come out and say the president is wrong about all this publicly and not even if that's what they're saying privately?

Steve Kornacki (48:27)

Well, of course. I mean, every Republican knows that this, this SAVE act cannot become law. And even those who are voting for it, some of them are private, will tell you there are all kinds of problems with the bill on the. Well, I can't get into the SAVE act, but there's a lot of problems with the SAVE act, to put it mildly. So conditioning funding of the government on a proposal that has no chance of becoming law just makes absolutely no sense. And it would put the Republicans in a position of being blamed even more than they already are.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (48:56)

Herbie, let's talk about the Democrat strategy here. Did they get anything out of this shutdown so far? Is this sort of a repeat of what we saw with health care at the end of last year?

Herbie Ziskind (49:07)

They have gotten something out of it. The president's the proverbial boxer in the corner, punching himself in the face. He's holding TSA funding hostage over legislation that the Congressman correctly says is crazy and not going to pass. And the public is looking and seeing lines that are long. Families are canceling trips. Business travelers aren't going on trips, trips. There's three hour lines. It's havoc. And voters ultimately blame the party in power. The party in power is the Republican Party. And for Democrats, it's continuing to let this president, you know, hit himself because right now it's accruing politically to the benefit of Democrats.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (49:39)

So even if this does pass the Senate, then it will have to go back to the House. I do want to play what Minority Leader Jeffries had to say over the course of this shutdown. Let's listen to that. Republicans have consistently refused at this point in time to enact the type of bold, meaningful and dramatic changes to ICE that are necessary to get ICE under control. Our position remains the same. We need dramatic, bold, meaningful and transformational changes to get ICE under control. That's what the American people want to see. We've drawn a hard line in the sand on behalf of the American people and we're not going to allow the Congress to cross it. ICE needs to be dramatically reformed. He has spelled it out pretty clearly there. So if he, if it does pass the Senate, Herbie, could this potentially be a wedge within the Democratic Party? How are they going to navigate that?

Herbie Ziskind (50:33)

Well, we still need to see exactly what's in this bill. But there shouldn't be a challenge of doing two things at once, which is dramatically reforming ice, which everybody agrees is necessary right now, including the president and, and funding tsa, getting our airport security up and running so travelers can go out for the holidays and see one another. Both are possible. We have to learn more about what's actually going to be in this proposal.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (50:54)

The president keeps linking all of this to the Save America act and he has been talking about overhauling voting entirely. We were able to confirm what the Washington Post first reported, which is that the president voted by mail in this special election that is happening today in Florida, which he has even referred to as mail in cheating as recently as yesterday. So is that hypocritical?

Steve Kornacki (51:19)

Well, of course it's hypocritical, but that's this problem with the SAVE Act. I mean, they're talking about getting rid of mail in voting, proof of citizenship. These are big deals. And getting rid of mail in voting, by the way, would be very problematic for many red states, like Florida, like Utah and others, where they have very sophisticated systems. Nobody's really cheating down there, as far as I can tell. And so I think this is terrible, the fact that everybody, Democrats are conditioning support for TSA on ICE reforms, Trump's conditioning on SAVE Act. We have set up a situation in this country now where shutdowns have become normalized, and it's leading to this paralysis and instability in government. And I really dread the future if this continues at this rate.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (52:04)

Yeah, multiple just in the last six months. So, Francesca, if we are seeing more Republicans vote by mail, the president, just as recently as the last couple of days, is there potential for that to backfire on the gop? How will they handle that?

Reporter Courtney Kuby (52:16)

Well, Lisa Murkowski has been one of the outspoken Republicans saying that this isn't really something that would work for her state, at least not the way that the president has outlined it and described it. But going back to, to what we were talking about for a moment about this deal that's potentially underway, I mean, one of the questions that's always faced Democrats is whether or not they were going to be able to get these reforms even after this partial shutdown had occurred. And they have been struggling over the past days. Past couple days, Monica, to really say, okay, if you just put only ice, you do a carve out for just ice, given that ICE has already been funded mostly through the earlier bill. You know, unless you get these reforms that you've been seeking, what did Democrats end up getting out of this?

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (53:01)

And is there a concern from Democrats, Herbie, or do they see this more as bluster when the president says he really does want to do something about overhauling the elections and specifically trying to go after mail in voting?

Herbie Ziskind (53:13)

Well, we should just call a spade a spade. He's still litigating and relitigating the 2020 election, which he lost by over 7 million votes. And it's not just safe. Every single One of President Trump's judicial nominees in his second term, about 37 of them, every single one. Everyone has refused to say who won the 2020 election and what happened on January 6th. They have to take loyalty tests just to be judges. Save is the latest incarnation of this effort to go back in time. And if you're a voter worried about prices, worrying about pain at the pump, and all you're hearing about is an obsession with the 2020 election by the person who lost the election, it's unhelpful politically for President Trump.

Moderator/Host Monica Alba (53:47)

All of these issues seeming to converge and come together that we're talking about here today. Thank you guys so much for your time. Herbie, Congressman Charlie Dent, Francesca Chambers, we really, really appreciate it and we will be back tomorrow with more Meet the Press now. And there is much more ahead on NBC News now.

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