← Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press NOW — March 6
00:49:53
President Trump calls for Iran’s “unconditional surrender” as oil and gas prices skyrocket. The Justice Department releases more Epstein files related to allegations against President Trump. Thousands gather in Chicago for the funeral of Reverend Jesse Jackson, including former Presidents Obama, Biden and Clinton.
Loading summary
Transcript154 lines
- [00:00]
Commercial Narrator
Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte, paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download today. Close your eyes. Listen to Monday.com feel the sensation of an AI work platform so flexible and intuitive it feels like it was built just for you. Now open your eyes, go to Monday.comstart for free and finally breathe.
- [00:46]
Kristen Welker
Welcome to MEET THE press. Now, I'm Kristen Welker in Washington. The war against Iran now hitting the one week mark as the administration faces mounting questions about its true military objectives, its claims about civilian casualties and its response to soaring energy prices. This morning, President Trump appearing to move the goalposts when it comes to the US Mission. In a post on social media calling for Iran's, quote, unconditional surrender. Today, White House press Secretary Caroline Levitt was asked what the president meant by unconditional surrender. Here's what she said.
- [01:18]
Caroline Levitt
What the president means is that when he, as commander in chief of the
- [01:22]
Christine Romans
US Armed forces, determines that Iran no longer poses a threat to the United States of America and the goals of
- [01:28]
Caroline Levitt
operations Operation Epic Fury has been fully
- [01:30]
Christine Romans
realized, then Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender. Whether they say it themselves or not,
- [01:37]
Kristen Welker
it comes as gas and oil prices are skyrocketing at the pump. The average price per gallon is up 34 cents since the war started last week. And U.S. crude oil settled today at more than $90 per barrel, rising 35% just this week. That is the biggest weekly gain ever recorded by going all the way back to the inception of the crude oil contract back in March of 1983. Today, White House press secretary also addressing concerns of runaway energy prices.
- [02:07]
Caroline Levitt
Let me just walk you through the
- [02:08]
Christine Romans
president's thinking on this.
- [02:09]
Caroline Levitt
We have to focus on the short
- [02:11]
Christine Romans
term and the temporary goals of Operation Epic Fury.
- [02:14]
Caroline Levitt
To obliterate the Iranian regime will be a very good thing for the energy and oil markets and for oil prices across the globe in the long term, when you no longer have a terrorist regime that is restricting the free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz and to the rest of the world.
- [02:31]
Kristen Welker
And we're also learning new details about the strike on an elementary school in southern Iran. On the first day of this war Iranian officials say more than 160 people were killed in that strike. The Pentagon says it is investigating whether it was a U.S. strike that hit that school. But two U.S. officials tell NBC News during closed door briefings, administration officials told lawmakers the U.S. was operating in a section of Iran where the school was struck. Joining me now is NBC News senior business correspondent Christine Romans. NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba and NBC News correspondent Danielle Hamamjan is in Beirut. Christine, I have to start with you and some of these stunning figures that we've been following. Let's talk about gas and oil prices first. Is there a ceiling when it comes to oil prices?
- [03:20]
Christine Romans
Well, look, we had a record high back in 2008, I think of $140 a barrel. And you saw after the war began in Ukraine, when Russia invaded Ukraine, you saw a spike in oil prices then. I guess it depends on how long, quite frankly, this, this conflict lasts in Iran and how wide it spreads, to be honest.
- [03:43]
Kristen Welker
Well, Christine, I guess the question a lot of people have because they seem to spike pretty quickly, does it take longer for them to come down or could they come down just as quickly? President Trump continues to insist, look, yes, they've gone up, but they're going to come back down.
- [03:59]
Christine Romans
Yeah. And really what you're hearing from White House officials is patience, that the aim of this particular mission in Iran is really important, that longer term that would mean lower oil prices. Look, we've seen this many, many times. It's just the nature of the beast. Prices tend to go up much more quickly than they come down. That has happened. It's been studied. You know, it's one of those economic studies. When you go to business school, you learn about and we have seen just this week has been such a dramatic, just such a dramatic, dramatic rise. And you talk to people who are trying to fill up their gas tanks, it's noticeable right away, especially if you run a small business or you drive your car for your job. So this is something that is front of mind. And I'll also say this has been something that the White House for months has been pointing to as a reason why you should trust Trump economic policies. Because inflation was defeated. That's the way the White House put it. And gas was a really good example of that. And now it is reversed.
- [04:55]
Kristen Welker
Well, and I keep going back to that fact, Christine. President Trump continued to talk about gas prices. It would almost be one of the first data points he would mention when you talk to him about the economy. Put this into broader context, if you will. We know that affordability is the number one issue for voters. We're in a midterm election season. How important are gas prices to a presidency? I know that President Biden's chief of staff checked them every single morning.
- [05:22]
Christine Romans
Look, because this is a real feel economic factor for people. You fill up maybe every week. And so it's something you notice even if it maybe doesn't affect your family budget. It does affect the psychology of the household. But I will say bank of America had some fascinating studies or research today where they said that, you know, it had been sticky inflation on food, sticky, meaning it was just not getting any better on food that people were really unhappy about. But falling gas prices allowed them to continue spending as a household.
- [05:50]
Kristen Welker
Right.
- [05:51]
Christine Romans
They would be able to make up the grocery bill by the fall. Falling gas prices and that benefit has just disappeared in a matter of days. And so that will be very closely watched for what it means for consumers. Do they start to pull back on spending and does it hurt the rest of the economy more broadly?
- [06:05]
Kristen Welker
The other real field data point the jobs market. We got that anemic jobs report today and the previous jobs numbers were revised downward. What are the implications of those figures, Christine?
- [06:18]
Christine Romans
Look, it's a dramatic downshift. I mean, you had only 116,000 jobs created last year because now we've had these new revisions for December. And then you had this weak, weak February. That number right there, that 126. I think that was actually even revised down a little bit, too. No, that one was 126. Yeah, it was exactly 126. So you've got all of these sort of revisions and downshifts and frankly, it tells you that there's a no hire, no fire job market, maybe slightly more firing in February. And that is a real change from the prior year when you had almost a million and a half jobs created. A few things here, tariffs, mass deportations, and now a new headwind which is higher energy costs. Will there be some sort of an energy shock from a war in Iran? Tbd.
- [07:09]
Announcer
All right.
- [07:09]
Kristen Welker
Well, I know you're going to watch it very closely. Christine Normans, thank you for starting us off on this Friday. Really appreciate it. Let's head over to Monica Alba at the White House. Take us inside your conversations. Monica, how concerned is the administration about these rising gas prices and are they scrambling to try to come up with a plan to address them?
- [07:28]
Caroline Levitt
They are tracking it very, very closely, Kristen. And they did have a couple of meetings on that exact issue this week. We know, according to Secretary Rubio, that this was one of those things that they said going into making the decision, they knew this was going to be a big factor. And that's why the energy secretary, the treasury secretary and others have been trying to work on some possible plans to mitigate the oil prices. But as you've just been discussing, there really isn't anything they can do to flip the switch or help in the immediate. And it's the president who is making that crystal clear, saying, yeah, you're probably going to see these go up, you're going to see the gas pump prices go up for a little bit and then hopefully they'll come down. He's talking about that in a very matter of fact way that you and I both know could become a huge issue and liability for this White House because it is something that they are constantly touting. So I do think this week, as they turned a little bit more from the obvious overseas implications and the operational updates, there is a way more concentrated focus now on the domestic impact of all of this. And I do think you have the White House actively discussing, discussing additional plans, additional ways in which they could address this, other plans that they could come out and try to tell the American people about that they are still considering but haven't decided to fully act on yet.
- [08:44]
Announcer
Yeah.
- [08:44]
Kristen Welker
And Monica, we know that all of this comes as the president has some key meetings coming up with defense executives as well as his secretary of defense. Walk us through your understanding of the agenda in those meetings, man.
- [08:57]
Caroline Levitt
Yeah. And the president just actually put out a pretty lengthy readout about the meeting saying that it was a successful meeting, that these defense contractors, some of the largest defense contractors in the world, have agreed to quadruple their production of the exquisite class weaponry that he is saying and has argued for days the United States has enough of to potentially carry on conflicts like the one in Iran forever. But at the same time, they say, and the White House is trying to argue that this meeting was scheduled weeks ago, they say they need to ramp up that production for potential future other conflicts or because the stockpile eventually could be depleted enough that there would need to be additional munitions. So the president is announcing that these defense contractors are going to meet again in two months. They will return to the White House to provide an update to the president. And according to the White House, they say that there are going to be additional plants that need to be built. And so now you have different cities, he says, that are bidding on the potential contracts for that. So it does seem like this is a moment where The White House is trying to say, well, don't worry, don't panic. We have enough munitions, we have enough weapons. But at the same time, on the other hand, we want more. We always want to be building that up. And so that is a big focus of the administration today and going into the next couple of weeks as this conflict stretches on.
- [10:13]
Kristen Welker
Kristen and Monica, I wonder how much of a focus the messaging of this is. You have different administration officials and Republicans saying different things. Is this a war? Is this not a war? Is it a conflict? Is there a strategy to explain what is actually happening to the American people in the coming days? MAN yeah.
- [10:33]
Caroline Levitt
And it's a great question because we've kind of seen the president in fits and starts on this. He had those prerecorded videos that he did from Mar A Lago. Then he offered some remarks. It does seem like every event, even if it's not focused specifically on the conflict in Iran, the president opens it by giving some kind of an update. Yesterday he was honoring the Inter Miami soccer team for their MLS championship. And he did decide to talk about Iran for the first six minutes or so. So today he has Sports Roundtable. It's possible he will do the same. But almost every single time that the president talks about it, more questions are raised about the end game, about what could the administration actually mean when they say that this isn't about regime change, but they definitely want to see the regime change and they have ideas about which leaders they would like to see potentially lead Iran. But they haven't necessarily detailed some of those specifics. And so I do think this is a week where just a couple of days ago you had totally contradictory messaging from the secretary of state to the president going back and forth in a matter of hours. I think the White House is aware of that and they are trying to do a little bit more to make the message a bit clearer. But again, every time that the president does take questions on this or talks about this, he is sometimes introducing competing narratives and ideas that then the White House still needs to explain further. And I don't see that changing anytime soon.
- [11:52]
Kristen Welker
All right, Monica Alba at the White House. Thank you so much, Monica, for your great reporting as always. We appreciate it. Danielle, let me turn to you. You're in Beirut where Israel has launched a wave of attacks. Walk us through the past 24 hours, how things developed there.
- [12:09]
Christine Romans
Yeah, well, you know, the it all really is focused on one suburb of Beirut called Dahya Kristen. And that suburb is behind me over the bay over there. And that is where Hezbollah has a, has a stronghold visa Hezbollah stronghold. And there have been strikes all week. But yesterday came an evacuation order that in the past, you know, was directed at one building or two buildings or a block, but this was for entire neighborhoods affecting hundreds of thousands of people. You could really feel the absolute panic in the air because in the past when these evacuation orders have been posted, you know, the strikes have either come within 15 minutes or three hours. So people ended up grabbing whatever they could, the clothes on their back and fled as quickly as they could. There was gridlock, traffic. And here we are today, 24 hours. There was intense strikes over, over the night, throughout the day. It's been relatively quiet here for the past few hours. But I can tell you, throughout the city now there are people in makeshift camps along the promenade, on the beach, in parking lots. And you've got the UN now raising the alarm, saying that the when it comes to international humanitarian law, where the issue of forced transfer is concerned, there are some fears there that those laws could have been violated.
- [13:37]
Kristen Welker
Well, how we've been watching what Israel's been doing very closely. Israel's been intensifying as you just laid out its assault on Lebanon. What are the actual goals? Do you have a sense of that?
- [13:50]
Christine Romans
I mean, ultimately for Israel, this is about disarming Hezbollah. And then we get into the weeds of domestic politics here. Earlier this week, the Lebanese government banned Hezbollah military activities. It is still a political group, but it banned its military activities. How that's going to be enforced is the big question I've asked people. It is sort of, it's met with a smile because they think it's absolutely unrealistic. How are you going to enforce that? But meanwhile this week, Israel says that it has struck 500 targets. It's now amassed tanks along the border with Lebanon in the south. Hezbollah has told people in Israel along the border that they have to evacuate and they say they're engaged in direct combat with Israeli troops. There is no sign whatsoever, Kristen, that this is de escalating. And what officials have said today is that they now have 500,000 people, half a million people displaced in a tiny country of 6 million people that is a big chunk of the population. They are now preparing for stadium to take in thousands and thousands of refugees. This is a country that is painfully familiar with war and they fear they've just got dragged into a new one that could last long after, no matter what actually happens in the rest of the Middle east, specifically in Iran. Kristen?
- [15:13]
Kristen Welker
Well, your reporting just underscores all of the concerns about a widening war in the region. Danielle, please stay safe. Danielle Hammamton in Beirut for us. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. And coming up, what is next for the war in Iran? Amid a new wave of strikes across the region and new details indicating the US Was potentially responsible for a deadly strike on an elementary school in Iran, plus extremely disturbing accusations, the Justice Department publishes documents that were missing from the Epstein files, which include allegations from a woman who says she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump in the 1980s when she was just a teenager. He denies those charges.
- [15:52]
Announcer
You're watching at the press now.
- [15:56]
Commercial Narrator
The world of business is constantly evolving. And Comcast business keeps you totally in step with secure AI backed networking in more than 100 countries. They're powering over 90% of the Fortune 500 and millions of small businesses. That's a lot of muscle. And behind it all, thousands of experts answering your call at 2am like it's 2pm One partner powering how business gets done for companies around the globe. When you add it all up, no one does business like Comcast business. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download today. Close your eyes, focus, listen to work getting done with Monday dot com. Relax as AI does the manual work while your teams are aligned on a single source of truth. Feel the sensation of an AI work platform so flexible and intuitive it feels like it was built just for you. Notice, you're limitless. Now open your eyes, go to Monday.com, start for free, and finally breathe.
- [17:18]
Kristen Welker
Welcome back. The war with Iran continues to escalate as more countries in the region get caught in the middle of the military conflict. The Pentagon saying Iran has attacked 12 different countries throughout the Middle east and the Iranian regime is deliberately targeting civilians. It comes as we're also learning that the Middle east midst of this war, Russia is now providing Iran with intelligence about the location of US Forces in the Middle East. That could help Tehran locate American warships, radar or other communication systems. Joining me now is senior national security correspondent Courtney Kuby and the former commander of U.S. senior Central Command, retired four star general Joseph Votel. He's now a distinguished military Fellow at the Middle East Institute. Thanks to both of you for being here. Courtney, let me start with you. So one of the big developments today is President Trump's post on social media. He called for a, quote, unconditional surrender from Iran. Can you walk us through what that would look like from an operational standpoint? Militarily, what does that mean?
- [18:18]
Caroline Levitt
So where they are militarily right now is they have taken out most, if not all of the air defenses, which means they've opened, opened up the space for manned aircraft to move in. And we're already seeing that, we've seen over the last several, three days or so now B1, B2 bombers going in, dropping enormous bombs. They're taking out these big underground bunkers with missile systems, vertical silos, all of that. So they are, if you look at a map of Iran, the US Is sort of taking the west and the south and they're starting to move inward slowly. If in fact there were some kind of an unconditional surrender, the question is, would that mean that the US Would stop those efforts to continue to take out the Navy, the ballistic missile system? And then we keep talking about this, but they have not yet touched the nuclear program as part of these strikes. So would that mean that the US Would not actually take any military action against the, the nuclear program as part of this current conflict?
- [19:10]
Kristen Welker
Interesting. And Courtney, one of the other big headlines today was this idea that Russia is giving Iran intelligence information. Caroline Lovett was asked about that. I'm gonna play a little bit of it and get your reaction on the
- [19:23]
Christine Romans
other side, whether or not this happened,
- [19:26]
Caroline Levitt
frankly it does not really matter because President Trump and the United States military are absolutely decimating the rogue Iranian terrorist regime.
- [19:36]
Kristen Welker
It doesn't matter what a statement. I mean, this is. President Trump's trying to get Russia to end the war in Ukraine and now this.
- [19:46]
Caroline Levitt
Yeah, I mean that's a lot of bravado especially look, Iranians capabilities have been decreased, right? We have note they have taken out a lot of the US has taken a lot of their launchers, they've cut their ability to fire ballistic missiles, but they have not taken them out. We just saw a pretty significant attack against Bahrain where they used drones to attack civilian infrastructure in Bahrain. So they're not down and out right now. So using that kind of language and sort of bravado doesn't really make sense right now. The reality of what officials are telling us is that Russia has provided Iran with some information. Most likely it's safe, satellite information, some of it could even be available in an open source capacity. It's not clear that Iran is using any for actual targeting of US Ships and things. But it's more of this, the symbolism, the fact that Russia is supporting Iran in this endeavor. That's why that matters here. We have no indication that it's actually having a tactical impact on the battlefield yet, but the fact that they're supporting them is important.
- [20:43]
Kristen Welker
The implications are hugely significant. The White House is also touting the fact they say Iran's retaliatory ballistic missile strikes are down 90%. What's the real check there and the implications of that Court Iran has, they've
- [20:56]
Caroline Levitt
lost a lot of their capabilities, but they are still not down and out and they are still attacking areas, other countries in the region.
- [21:02]
Announcer
Okay.
- [21:02]
Kristen Welker
Courtney Kuby, I know you have been going nonstop. Thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.
- [21:07]
Announcer
Great to see you.
- [21:07]
Kristen Welker
General Votel, thank you for being here. I want to get your take on President Trump posting today that the goal is Iran's unconditional surrender. From a military perspective, do you think that that's a realistic goal?
- [21:19]
General Joseph Votel
Well, thanks. It's good to be with you. I mean, I think certainly it's the president and the administration will probably at some point define exactly what that means. But I think when you look at what the military is doing, what our military is doing in conjunction with the Israelis right now is we're doing just about everything that can, can, that can contribute to that from a military standpoint. As Admiral Cooper is highlighted, our real focus is on dismantling all of the military capabilities that Iran has so they can't project them beyond their, beyond their, their own borders. And as Courtney pointed out, that we, we've had a spectacular success against that from a military standpoint. I think, you know, when we talk about war termination conditions here, you know, the military can do a lot to create the conditions for that. But you know, the other elements of power have to, of national power have to come in and contribute to this as well. That includes our diplomatic element of power, element of power or economic element of power. And that's, I think, what also would ultimately will, you know, hopefully compel Iran to, you know, communicate a change in their policy behavior that, you know, can certainly be interpreted as, as wanting to end the conflict.
- [22:36]
Kristen Welker
General Votel, what do you make of the fact that the president is not taking the possibility of boots on the ground off the table? In other words, he says, look, nothing's imminent, but at the same time he hasn't said that it's an absolute red line for him.
- [22:51]
General Joseph Votel
I think what he's trying to do is he's trying to create the maximum amount of pressure on the remnants of the Iranian regime here. They are certainly taking a significant pounding right now from, from the air and from our maritime resources. And I think, I think the president and the secretary are just signaling that, that nothing's off the table here. We are going to do what we need to do until you communicate a change in your policy and direction.
- [23:19]
Kristen Welker
You know, it's interesting because there has been criticism from the left, from some on the right who say, look, President Trump vowed to get out of this war or endless wars. Defense Secretary Pete Heggs has said this is not Iraq, this is not an endless war. What do you make of that debate? Is it possible to say that given that it's not clear how this war is going to end yet?
- [23:47]
General Joseph Votel
Well, I think what, I think what the secretary, and certainly with the chairman in his talk, you know, his discussions the other day, are really trying to keep us focused on very specific military objectives that were, that we're trying to achieve. And that's a big part of it. Of course, when you enter into conflict like this, into a war like this, the enemy always has a vote. And so, you know, what we have to, what we have to contend with is how Iran is responding to this. And I think what we've seen is they've been really doing two big things. One, they're trying to expand this geographically is, as you pointed out, 12 different countries. But I think they're also focused on trying to expand this in time that is dragged this out over as long a period of time. I think they have an appreciation for what time means for us and protracted conflicts or something we don't want to be engaged in. And so what I think is imperative right now for the US Military in conjunction with the Israelis, is to continue to really push hard on this and to take away those, the ability for Iran to respond, to use some of their, some of their capabilities for retaliation. I think that's, I think that's a lot of what we're seeing right now. And by doing that, I think we can, we can, the military can contribute to trying to keep this up. Conflict that, you know, can be, that can be ended in a, you know, a reasonable amount of time to accomplish our objectives.
- [25:13]
Kristen Welker
General vote how what do you make of the velocity of the US Military strikes in Iran? They come amid concerns that that could diminish the U.S. stockpile that ensures military readiness elsewhere.
- [25:27]
General Joseph Votel
Yeah, I mean, I Think this is always a concern in every military operation I've been involved in. There's certainly been lengthy discussions about our, you know, required supply rates, the controlled supply rates, other things, how we're going to. How we're going to expand and resupply ourselves. So, yeah, I think this is a reasonable concern, and I'm sure that our military professionals are paying very, very close attention to this to make sure we have the means in theater for Admiral Cooper and his forces to do what they need. And as you point out, I mean, the implications may not necessarily be seen in the Middle east right now, but they will be seen in how these, the expenditure of these munitions affects our ability to respond or to maintain our readiness or be prepared for other contingencies down the line. So it's important. I mean, this has always been a challenge for us, you know, making sure we have deep magazines and, and so I suspect it will going forward. I don't necessarily think it will have an impact, at least in the very short term, the next few days and maybe weeks of the, of the campaign, but certainly for a prolonged conflict, it could be a problem.
- [26:36]
Kristen Welker
I do want to get your reaction finally to this strike on a school in Iran. Iranian officials say it killed more than 160 people. The defense Department says it is investigating the incident apparently behind closed doors. Administration officials did tell lawmakers the U.S. was operating in that area. Walk us through how the Pentagon identifies potential targets and the implications of this.
- [27:01]
General Joseph Votel
Well, certainly, I mean, these are the really unfortunate aspects of conflicts like this. But, you know, when, when selecting targets, you know, the military will use the very best intelligence that it has, and they'll go through it weaponary and a targeting process to try to identify. We use corroborating forms of intelligence to help raise our confidence that we're. That the things that we are going after are the, are the targets that we need to. That we need to strike. And the unfortunate aspect is sometimes we do get along, sometimes we do make mistakes. Sometimes, you know, we, we. We make, we make some, you know, misassessments on the, on, you know, in the course of doing these kinds of things. So it does happen. What I would emphasize to you is a mitigation of civilian harm on the battlefield is, Is always a concern for military commanders. It has been in the past, and it will be going forward. And we try to do everything we can to mitigate it. And right now, you know, we'll. We'll do everything we can to investigate this. It's, it's difficult to investigate this we can certainly rely on our targeting information, but we don't have people on the ground. We can't talk to people. We can't gather information right there. So I think that's going to delay our process in terms of trying to reach some kind of conclusion about this particular unfortunate incident.
- [28:22]
Announcer
All right.
- [28:22]
Kristen Welker
General Votel thank you so much for joining us for your expertise today. We really appreciate it.
- [28:27]
General Joseph Votel
Good to be with you. Thank you.
- [28:30]
Kristen Welker
Good to have you here. Coming up next, Democrats say Kristi Noems firing from DHS is not enough to end the partial government shut shutdown as embattled Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez officially drops his bid for reelection. Keep it right here on MEET THE press. Now,
- [28:51]
Caroline Levitt
Why have we asked our contractor we found on Angie.com to be our kids legal guardian? Because he took such good care when redoing our basement that we knew we could trust him to care for our
- [28:59]
Announcer
kids, all eight of them, should something happen to us.
- [29:03]
Caroline Levitt
Are you my dad now?
- [29:06]
Commercial Narrator
No, sorry. I do basements. Connecting homeowners with skilled Pros for over 30 years, Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home projects@angie.com Close your eyes. Listen to Monday.com Feel the sensation of an AI work platform so flexible and intuitive it feels like it was built just for you. Now open your eyes. Go to Monday.com, start for free, and finally, breathe.
- [29:36]
Kristen Welker
Welcome back. Turning now to a major development in the Epstein files, the Justice Department has now published previously unreleased documents that contain disturbing allegations from a woman who says she was sexually assaulted by President Trump in the early 1980s when she was between the ages of 13 and 15. I do want to warn viewers that what we're about to talk about might be difficult for content for some people. The documents include summaries of four FBI interviews from 2019 with a woman who at the time told the FBI Jeffrey Epstein, quote, drove her and or flew her to either New York or New Jersey to a, quote, very tall building with huge rooms where she said Mr. Trump asked her, a teenager at the time, to perform a sex act. And when she fought back, he hit her. The woman says she met Jeffrey Epstein in Hilton Head, South Carolina, when she was about 13 years old after her mother had posted ads offering up babysitting services. She alleges she was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein on a number of occasions as a young teenager. Now, it is important to note that these documents, known as FBI 302s, are unverified summaries of her allegations and contain no assessment of the credibility of the allegations, but it is notable that the FBI did speak to her four times. The FBI documents say the woman initially contacted federal law enforcement shortly after Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors on July 6 of 2019, with the woman's interviews taking place between July and October of that year. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in August. President Trump has not been accused by authorities of any crimes, and he has denied all wrongdoing tied to Epstein. In the last published summary In October of 2019, the woman is described as having hesitations about having further conversations with the FBI, and it's unclear if the FBI had any more contact with her. Now, in the interviews, the woman says she and her mother endured years of blackmail, threats, and legal entanglements. She did not name individuals, but said they stemmed from her association with Jeffrey Epstein. The White House has responded with a statement saying, in part, quote, these are completely baseless accusations backed by zero credible evidence from a sadly disturbed woman who has an extensive criminal history. Because the woman's name is redacted in the files, we are unable to verify her identity, and there's no evidence included in the FBI interviews to suggest the White House's characterization of the woman. NBC News senior justice reporter Ryan Reilly joins me now. So, Ryan, first of all, thank you for being here. I want to take a step back, talk about why these documents were released now and not as a part of the original release of the FBI.
- [32:20]
Ryan Reilly
They were originally labeled as duplicative documents, but it turns out that they were never released. So that was a label that shouldn't have been affixed to them. But I think, you know, generally what we should note about these is there was a lot of allegations that flooded into the FBI through their tip line, and a lot of them you could sort of read off the bat as just not credible or not really. You could just sort of dismiss them out of hand just based on the content of those tips alone. Some people didn't even want to, you know, give their name or that sort of of thing. But, you know, these allegations, I think one important thing, in addition to all that great context you just gave, is that there also is not really an allegation of Epstein ever being connected to Hilton Head, South Carolina. That's not somewhere he was known to have stayed in the 1980s. And, you know, the White House points to that information about that criminal record that is also, you know, relevant to this discussion. So it's a really, you know, delicate and tricky issue to get into. But that's sort of the White House response we've gotten right now.
- [33:12]
Kristen Welker
It certainly is. Look, this comes as the Republican led House Oversight Committee has actually voted to subpoena US Attorney General Pam Bondi for testimony about her role in the release of the Epstein files. Talk about where you see this going.
- [33:26]
Ryan Reilly
Yeah, they really want to know about what this process was like, why this was missed. They want to get into some of those details about the handling of those documents themselves and really, you know, get in on that on that matter. I think on the Justice Department side, what you're going to hear is pushback about just the extensive. You're talking about millions of documents.
- [33:42]
Announcer
Yeah.
- [33:42]
Ryan Reilly
So many documents that they had to deal with here. They had hundreds of lawyers dedicated to this effort. And so they really did say, you know, this took a lot longer than they were expecting or that they, in their view could have reasonably been reasonably been expected to complete this matter in. But, you know, I think that that's, that's the pushback that you're going to see from the Justice Department on a lot of this.
- [34:01]
Kristen Welker
And just looking forward in terms of this latest release, Ryan, could there be more unexpected releases?
- [34:08]
Ryan Reilly
There could be these documents that were released. We were able to identify and knew they were missing because we looked at some of those references points. Right. And so you could tell that, oh, there's these missing numbers here, there's missing pages here. And so that's sort of how this ended up getting pushed out and finding that. But, you know, there's been a lot of instances where they've had to go back and redact information that was improperly released. And I think that's sort of the threat of this very unusual circumstance where they're releasing raw investigative files is normally information that would have been deemed uncredible to begin with or wouldn't have been out there. And it just creates a lot of possibility for speculation. And so it's really important to go to trusted and verified news organizations that are really vetting through this information rather than, you know, social media speculation on any of this sort of stuff.
- [34:53]
Kristen Welker
All right, Ryan Reilly, thank you so much. We really appreciate your bringing us your reporting on all of that. Appreciate it. We do want to turn to Capitol Hill now after the ouster of Kristi Noem is the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats say they will continue to demand reforms to the department and they're preparing to launch investigations into some of the secretary's actions. Take a listen.
- [35:15]
Commercial Narrator
I think taking her out is the first step. But you know, we need to keep reorganizing and overhauling the whole thing. At this point, she should be held
- [35:22]
Ryan Reilly
to account for the corruption that she has shown with the contracting and the
- [35:26]
Commercial Narrator
way they do business. She should be held to account for the violation of court orders. She should be held accountable, frankly, for
- [35:32]
Ryan Reilly
the violating the constitutional rights of Americans.
- [35:35]
Kristen Welker
Joining me now is senior national political reporter Sahil Kapoor. Sahil, thanks so much for being here. So Democrats, it seems like initially are saying Kristi Noem's ouster is not enough for them to drop their demands that there be changes to ICE and the President's deportation policies.
- [35:52]
Ryan Reilly
Yeah, absolutely. And they believe that Kristi Noem's transgressions here rise to the level of something more than just her being fired. Democrats have suggested things like investigating her for perjury on allegations of lying to Congress. One Democratic congresswoman says she should still be impeached if only to be barred from running Congress for office in the future. There are others who want to investigate her for allegations of corruption regarding DHS contracts on her watch and for defying court orders. My word of caution on all of this is Democrats are saying this now while anger at her is at an all time high. You know, within their ranks, the soonest they could actually do a serious investigation would be 10 months from now. If they win, are they still gonna feel this way in 10 months because they have a lot of administration targets to investigate or is Christine going to be a distant memory? I think time will tell the answer to that. Now, to the other point, this doesn't change any for Democrats on the DHS funding matter. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat who's been enforcing the filibuster on this, says it's entirely different. It's apples and oranges. Schumer said the problem here is policy, not personnel, that firing one official isn't gonna be enough. And as far as Schumer is concerned, they wanna, quote, end the violence and rein in ice. That means paper is gonna be continue to, you know, continually traded back and forth between the White House and Senate Democrats until they can find a legislative solution to the DHS demands that Democrats have.
- [37:11]
Kristen Welker
All right, let me ask you about another big headline on Congressman Tony Gonzalez announcing he's not going to run for reelection. After acknowledging that, yes, he did in fact have an affair with a staffer who tragically went on to die by suicide. He said that the affair was a mistake. He has agreed now to drop out of his bid for reelection, but he's gonna stay in the House. So this speaks to A, not everyone is immune from political scandal in this environment and B, the fact that the margins in the House are incredibly narrow.
- [37:45]
Ryan Reilly
Absolutely, Kristen. So this is the crucial point that you just mentioned. He's dropping his reelection bid. He was forced into a runoff with another congressman, Brandon Herrera, who is now gonna be the de facto Republican nominee since Tony Gonzalez is dropping out. But he's going to remain a congressman, he says, for the next 10 months. And House Republican leadership had pressured him to drop his reelection bid. They did not pressure him to resign. They want that vote. The House majority is a wafer thin 218 to 214. Right now they believe he's not fit to run for reelection, but they are not taking issue with him being a voting member of Congress for another 10 months. And of course, the Ethics Committee is investigating him as well. He's got a lot on his plate.
- [38:24]
Caroline Levitt
All right.
- [38:25]
Kristen Welker
Well, we'll watch it all unfold. Sahil, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Still to come, former presidents, business executives, religious leaders and many more all descended on Chicago for the funeral of Jesse Jackson. A look at today's tributes, remembering the civil rights icon. That's coming up after the break. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. In Chicago today, family, friends, former presidents and thousands more gathered for the people's celebration to say goodbye to the late Reverend Jesse Jackson. The civil rights leader died earlier this month at the age of 80. Among those paying tribute, three former presidents, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, along with former Vice President Kamala Harris, civil rights leader Al Sharpton and NBA legend Isaiah Thomas and many more. Former President Barack Obama, just one of many who delivered rousing speeches.
- [39:22]
Commercial Narrator
Listen, Jesse didn't just speak to black folks. He spoke to white folks and Latinos and Asian Americans and the first American. He spoke to family farmers and environmentalists. He spoke to gay rights activists when nobody was talking to gay rights activists and blue collar workers. And he gave them the same message that they mattered, that their voices and their votes counted. Because of Jesse, the Democratic Party changed its rules, ending the winner take all distribution of delegates during presidential primaries, which meant underdogs and outsiders like Bill Clinton or Bernie Sanders could stay competitive and build momentum instead of getting knocked out early. And it was because of that path that he had laid, because of his courage, his audacity, that two decades later, a young black senator from Chicago's south side would even be taken seriously as a candidate for the presidential nomination.
- [40:43]
Kristen Welker
Today's funeral caps two weeks of memorials for Reverend Jesse Jackson,
- [40:50]
Caroline Levitt
I wouldn't last follow.
- [40:57]
Kristen Welker
Right now.
- [41:07]
Announcer
Welcome back.
- [41:08]
Kristen Welker
As we noted earlier, US crude oil prices just settled at more than $90 a barrel, a 35% increase for the week. That's the single largest weekly gain ever recorded, a spike that threatens to undermine the White House's messaging on energy and affordability. Joining me now is today's big panel, Nicholas Wu, congressional reporter for Semaphore Elise labet, author of Cosmopolitics on Substack Megan Hayes, Democratic strategist and former special assistant to President Biden and Stephen Hayes, editor and CEO of the Dispatch and an NBC News contributor. No relation here.
- [41:44]
Commercial Narrator
No relation.
- [41:45]
Kristen Welker
I was just wondering. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. Elise, let me start with you. Lay out the stakes of this moment. Here we are more than a week into this war with Iran and oil prices are spiking. The president says, okay, they're up, but they're going to come back down. What are the stakes of this moment?
- [42:03]
Announcer
Well, I mean, the stakes are enormous, not just for the US but really for the region and for the global economy. I mean, when we see these oil prices, originally when the war started, you know, they were kind of lukewarm about the oil markets. But now you see, and people are saying that this could drag on for several weeks. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. And you know, this is, you know, this whole issue of affordability is really not going to be good for the president in terms of the oil prices. I mean, oil is right now, I think at $85 a barrel, they're talking that it could go to over $100 a barrel. And when you look at what Iran's retaliation is across the entire region, these are oil producing states. They haven't gone after the oil refineries yet. But the longer this drags on, unless you really destroy Iran's missile capability and the missile launchers, it could really do a lot of damage. And oil prices could be, you know, I saw one analyst say, like, crazy bad.
- [43:08]
Kristen Welker
Well, I'm glad you bring up the issue of affordability because that, quite frankly, is the number in a midterm election season. Nicholas, let me play you what Caroline Lovett had to say. I'm going to get your reaction on the other side. Take a look.
- [43:20]
Caroline Levitt
We have to focus on the short
- [43:22]
Christine Romans
term and the temporary goals of Operation
- [43:24]
Caroline Levitt
Epic Fury to obliterate the Iranian regime will be a very good thing for
- [43:29]
Christine Romans
the energy and oil markets and for
- [43:31]
Caroline Levitt
oil prices across the globe in the long term, when you no longer have a terrorist regime that is restricting the free flow of energy through the strait of hormone booze and to the rest of the world.
- [43:42]
Kristen Welker
We should note we did play that a little bit earlier on in the show, Nicholas, but talk about the messaging that is coming out of the White House on this.
- [43:48]
Ryan Reilly
The White House is trying to say that, you know, this is, you know, a limited operation, they'll wrap it up soon. We've gotten kind of a conflicting timetable from the president on what he expects for this and even what the goals of the overall military operation are. And congressional Republicans I've talked to have expressed some concerns that the longer this goes on, the more this could overtake their domestic messaging. And we're in a midterm year, Republican leaders already talking about trying to do another mega bill. But this is something that could very much distract from that.
- [44:16]
Kristen Welker
Stephen, what about that argument that this could potentially distract from the messaging of affordability, distract from the economic message that the White House and quite frankly, Republicans want the White House to be focused on?
- [44:28]
Commercial Narrator
Yeah, I mean, one of the strongest, as least pointed out, one of the strongest arguments the president had on the affordability question, one of the places he could point was gas prices.
- [44:35]
Kristen Welker
Right.
- [44:35]
Commercial Narrator
Gas prices have, I mean, first of all, we see it every time we fill up and they have a disproportionate sort of downstream effect on other parts of the economy. So the president was in a position for a while where he was able to say, look, gas prices are lower. Yes, beef might be up there might be, groceries might be a little bit higher or the same. I have not brought down prices the way that I thought, but gas is low.
- [44:55]
Kristen Welker
He always pointed to gas, always pointed
- [44:57]
Commercial Narrator
to gas economy every time he did that. And then I think if you, if you look at every war game that's ever been done on Iran expected a short term price spike. So we shouldn't be surprised at what we're seeing now. I think the real question is what can the president, what can the White House do to leverage reducing prices from other suppliers? We've seen them take a step, I think a controversial one given the news that Russia is helping Iran targeting, which you talked about with Courtney earlier, to lift sanctions on India so that they can buy more oil from Russia. That's a boon to Russia. I mean, that is helpful to Russia in a way that I think is problematic for the United States.
- [45:34]
Kristen Welker
Megan, how do you see Democrats messaging on this again in this midterm election year? You do have the Supreme Leader that was taken out the argument that without the Supreme Leader in charge. Yes, there is a leadership vacuum right now, but does that make the world safer? Should Democrats be focused on this war or should they stay laser focused on the affordability?
- [45:53]
Caroline Levitt
They should say laser focus on domestic issues. People in America do not care what's going on abroad. If they cannot afford groceries, they cannot afford gas. You are heading into spring break, you're heading into summer where people want to
- [46:02]
Christine Romans
take road trips with their families.
- [46:04]
Caroline Levitt
They're not going to be able to do that. So the cost of gas is going to spike. As you just noticed, it's going up 35%. I think the intro said they'll feel that immediately when the gas starts to come down. They won't feel that immediately. It doesn't work that way. And like you said, other things are
- [46:17]
Christine Romans
going to be impacted. So goods coming across now are going
- [46:20]
Caroline Levitt
to be on top of tariffs, are going to cost more because fuel is going to cost more.
- [46:23]
Christine Romans
Jet fuel is going to cost more.
- [46:24]
Caroline Levitt
So this is going to show an immediate impact.
- [46:26]
Christine Romans
Democrats would be smart to say laser
- [46:28]
Caroline Levitt
focused on the economy and affordability all through the midterms.
- [46:30]
Kristen Welker
Elise, this comes as the president posted today about an unconditional surrender that those are the only terms under which he would accept a deal with Iran. Is that even realistic? And what does it suggest about what the length of this conflict could be?
- [46:46]
Announcer
Well, it just shows a fundamental lack of understanding about Iran. The whole raison d' etre of this revolutionary system is defiance against the United States. They will shoot themselves and they will kill their own regime before they will surrender to the United States. Now you might find that there is some face saving agreement at the end of this that allows Iran to, you know, still stand, but they would never consider a total surrender. And so, you know, for the president to say I want a total surrender, I'm going to pick the next supreme leader. It just shows not only a fundamental lack of understanding but also kind of self defeating to what he wants to accomplish, I think.
- [47:34]
Kristen Welker
Let's talk about Kristi Noem. That was the other big news this week. Nicholas, what do you make of her ouster? And the Democrats are saying that they're not dropping their funding battle over her ouster. They still want to see changes to ice. This partial government shutdown is going to
- [47:54]
Commercial Narrator
drag out political pressure had already been
- [47:56]
Ryan Reilly
building on the Hill for some time against Noem. And we saw this in that kind of contentious hearing the other day where it was Republican senators who were asking some very hard questions of her about contracts that DHS was doling out and so I think there are a lot of Republicans on the Hill who breathed a sigh of relief when that Truth Social post came out. And Mark Wayne Mullen will probably have a pretty easy path to confirmation among his Senate colleagues. But among Democrats I've talked to, they say even an ex Secretary Noem and the conduct of DHS under her wash is going to be fair game for them for investigations.
- [48:29]
Announcer
Yeah, just super quickly. I mean, first of all, I talked to a lawmaker last night that said it's hard to be a downgrade with Markway Mullen, but at the same time, you know, Meghan talks about keeping it on domestic issues. A possible war, terrorism, Iran, possible cyber attacks. I mean, I really think right now Democrats want to be careful about not funding dhs because securing the homeland is really one of the most important things right now.
- [48:56]
Kristen Welker
Meghan, that's where this debate is going to go. Republicans are saying, okay, we've given you Kristi Noem, now fund DHS for the exact reasons Elise is laying out. What do you make of that? And couldn't that backfire against Democrats if they don't?
- [49:09]
Christine Romans
Yeah, I think Democrats need to be really careful here, and I think they need to take the off ramp here
- [49:12]
Caroline Levitt
and they need to fund dhs.
- [49:13]
Christine Romans
I think they got Kristi Noemi. I don't actually think that's a big policy change.
- [49:17]
Caroline Levitt
We all know Stephen Miller is running
- [49:18]
Christine Romans
the policy, so I don't actually think that's a policy change. It's more of a show, a sideshow. But I do think they'll probably get one or two other things, probably face masks or warrants or body cameras that they'll get. They'll open it back up. We cannot be in a position, Democrats cannot be in a position if something
- [49:31]
Caroline Levitt
does, God forbid, happen here on the
- [49:33]
Christine Romans
homeland to be the ones that did not fund dhs. I think that's a. Democrats have to
- [49:37]
Caroline Levitt
play that very smart.
- [49:38]
Kristen Welker
Stephen, how do you see all of this playing out and the confirmation process of Mark Wayne Mullen? What do you think he may bring to DHS that Kristi Noem did not?
- [49:48]
Commercial Narrator
Well, you know, one hopes that he's not a walking scandal the way that she was. I mean, I think she was ineffective from the beginning. As Nicholas pointed out, Republicans were frustrated with her, not just over the past couple, but really almost since the beginning. They don't like to answer for. They don't want to answer those questions. They know Mark Wade Mullen. I think they'll be reasonably happy with him. He's not, I would say the best public face, necessarily. He doesn't, he's not glib. He doesn't often do a good job of explaining policy positions that he himself takes, much less explaining positions that the president takes. But I think it'll be sort of a relief that Republicans don't have to apologize for. CHRISTINE O.
- [50:23]
Kristen Welker
And you see him getting confirmed.
- [50:24]
Commercial Narrator
I do.
- [50:25]
Kristen Welker
Without much of a fight. You know, zooming out. Elise, what's notable about this, compare this moment to the first Trump administration. This is the first ouster of a Cabinet official during the first.
- [50:37]
Announcer
It was really a revolving door before.
- [50:39]
Kristen Welker
Talk a little bit about that. And particularly as you have a president who's now a wartime president.
- [50:46]
Announcer
Right.
- [50:46]
Kristen Welker
What are the implications, do you think?
- [50:49]
Announcer
I think, you know, as Steve said, I think it'll just be a relief for everybody to kind of get on with the job at dhs. I think this president, it's really not about competence, it's about fealty. And you could probably get anything you want through this president if you just kind of give him what he wants, which is that fealty. I mean, look, this is a wartime. I don't think Pete Hegseth is the most he doesn't have. I would say Marco Rubio is a serious person. Pete Hegseth, not so much in this moment. When you see what's happening with these videos and the way he's talking about the war and the kind of lack of seriousness, I mean, I mean, what we've said is there's nothing more serious than sending your troops and a country at war. And I think a little bit more leveling with the US People and a little bit more seriousness of this moment, I think is called for, not just on the economics, but on the risks and the consequences and how long it could go on.
- [51:46]
Kristen Welker
Nicholas, we only have about 10 or 20 seconds left. Does the president need to be communicating even more with the American people right now, both on the war and the economy?
- [51:55]
Ryan Reilly
One thing that I'll be watching for is his remarks over the weekend. He'll be there for the dignified transfer, and then on Monday, he'll be addressing House Republicans. And this will be an opportunity for him to address his. His aims both to the American people and to his congressional allies.
- [52:09]
Kristen Welker
All right, thanks, guys. Great conversation. Elise, Nicholas, Megan and Stephen. Thank you all. We'll be back Monday with more Meet the Press Now. And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press on your local NBC news stations. I'll have interviews with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Un Ambassador Mike Walz. Plus Steve Kornack. He's at the big board, breaking down a brand new NBC News poll after the first major primaries of the 2026 midterms. There's more ahead on NBC News.
- [52:32]
Announcer
Now,
- [52:35]
Kristen Welker
day or night, VRBoCare is here
- [52:38]
Caroline Levitt
247 to help make every part of your stay seamless.
- [52:42]
Kristen Welker
If anything comes up or you simply need a little guidance, support is ready
- [52:47]
Caroline Levitt
whenever you reach out. From the moment you book to the moment you head home. We're here to help things run smoothly
- [52:55]
Kristen Welker
because a great trip starts with the right support.
- [52:59]
Caroline Levitt
And hey, a good playlist doesn't hurt either.