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Meet the Press
Meet the Press NOW — May 18
00:51:37
Police respond to a shooting incident at the Islamic Center of San Diego. President Trump strengthens his grip over the Republican Party after Trump-backed Rep. Julie Letlow defeats incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy in the Louisiana Senate primary. President Trump calls off strikes on Iran that were scheduled for Tuesday.
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- [00:03]
Ryan Nobles
Hi there. Welcome to Meet the Press. Now I'm Ryan Nobles in Washington. But we're going to begin this hour with breaking news reports of a shooting at a mosque in San Diego. These are live pictures of the scene at the Islamic center of San Diego in the Claremont area of the city. We are still gathering details about what's unfolding, but police describe this as an active scene that is contained. Police believe there is at least one shooter. No confirmed details as to the status of the suspects and no confirmed number of victims at this time. California Governor Gavin Newsom's office tweeting that the governor has been briefed on the situation and that state and local officials are working in coordination. We are going to go back to our continuing coverage from our San Diego
- [00:46]
Monica
station, KNSD in all parts of this neighborhood in Claremont. And we're talking about the area that is just west of the 805 along Balboa Avenue. And you saw San Diego police confirming that there were multiple, multiple people down inside. We don't know specifically exactly what that means, but that is never what we want to hear in situations like this. And so that is why we are waiting for confirmation about what has happened inside and who the perpetrator was in this case and what the status of that suspect or suspects is. Lots of information yet to pass along, but we want to keep this live here on NBC 7 and Telemundo 20. Also going live with this information. As you're just seeing sort of the managed chaos unfold, it did seem that this was very tactical, very swift response. According to all that we know
- [01:58]
Allison Asch
a
- [01:59]
Monica
lot of stationary vehicles there right now because all of these squad cars descended on the mosque in Claremont just about an hour ago now. And I think some of the most concerning scenes, just the children going hand in hand outside, being led outside by staff members or teachers and being escorted by law enforcement. I'm joined by my co anchor and friend Mark Mullen, who is just getting briefed on the situation. He's been watching this unfold along with the rest of us. Mark, we're glad you're here with us here as we continue our coverage.
- [02:40]
Mark Mullen
What a sad day all of this is, right? I mean, as soon as you hear anything about an active shooter, that's the reason it has gotten the attention of all of that law enforcement personnel, which you can see their vehicles parked in the top. But what we can't even see is what is going on inside this mess. But then all the more where you hear, kids may be involved, right?
- [03:00]
Monica
Certainly involved. We saw Them walking out hand in hand with their teachers and just terrifying situation.
- [03:06]
Mark Mullen
Exactly. So imagine if you happen to be one of these parents. So a lot of times what the protocol is for so many police officers and SWAT and tactical situations like this, as much as we can share because we don't know the status of the bad guy or bad guys in all of this. And they easily could be watching us online or streaming. So you don't want to give away critical information. But, but, but essentially what they do is they now have to go in and to completely secure that area, they're going to have to clear every single hallway, every room, every broom closet where somebody could be hiding, any place that there might be a threat. And another thing that they do, the police officers in active shooting situations like this. And the same if there's a hostage situation at a bank or something like this. What they will also do, they have to be mindful of parents. Right? Because imagine how frantic you would be if you are a parent and you're hearing about this which is going on, or you happen to have a spouse who works at that Islamic center and you just want to get there as quickly as possible. And a lot of times like that they will try and rush past the police, but the police who are inside, they don't know if that's part of the threat, they don't know if it's another. So they just have to be super, super careful, which is probably why this information is coming in slowly. What's distressing to hear is that there are people down inside and while nobody likes to see anybody hurt, you at least hope that was the threat involving the people who are down and certainly not any of the innocents who just happen to come to either school or to the center on a pretty day just hoping just to sort of carry on another San Diego gorgeous day and something like this happens.
- [04:49]
Monica
Yeah, it is, it is kind of surreal. Our assistant news director is just confirming. Am I able to report this information just came across. We are hearing now that two suspects, both suspects have been shot dead and there are no more shooters outstanding, according to law enforcement. So both suspects dead, no more shooters outstanding. So we know at least two people dead. There were two shooters involved. We are hearing from law enforcement and no more shooters outstanding. So we can breathe a side of relief there.
- [05:24]
Mark Mullen
And apparently NBC 7 has confirmed that with three high level police sources confirming that two suspects are down just after 4 o'. Clock. You're watching KNSD TV, NBC 7 San Diego, as we continue with this coverage. But certainly that Seems to be really positive news.
- [05:43]
Monica
Yeah, one o' clock today. This all happening at about 12 during the school day. And this was a pre K through third grade that is held there at the Islamic center of San Diego. So all of this going down around lunchtime today and here now, an hour later, we are just trying to get some of this information to piece together what transpired at the Islamic center of San Diego on Ekstrom Avenue. It's been a fixture in San Diego for such a long time. We've watched law enforcement just descend on
- [06:16]
Mark Mullen
this mosque after this report came out on the sidewalk. Look at the tactical officers here on the sidewalk to the right. You see that right in the middle of your screen, folks.
- [06:23]
Monica
But you know what's interesting, Mark, is I feel like just within the last 30 minutes we've seen kind of a shift in their posture because they were positioned behind vehicles and behind armored vehicles and coming in with a degree of caution and authority and this kind of consternation as they surrounded the mosque. And so now it just appears they're walking a little bit more with ease. Now that we know that two suspects, according to multiple high level sources in law enforcement, have been shot dead.
- [06:53]
Mark Mullen
Let's go out to NBC 7's Allison Asch who's been monitoring this force. He joins us now with the latest. Allison?
- [07:01]
Courtney Kuby
Yeah.
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Allison Asch
And exactly what you guys have been saying. You can see a clear difference in how everybody, all the first responders are, you know, they're walking, they're not running, they're not hiding. They're. The sense of urgency has, has cooled down considerably. But I got to tell you about the sense of urgency that I just witnessed. Now, the last time I spoke to you, I was on the other side of the freeway. Since that time I crossed over the freeway. And now you can see, see I'm very close to the mosque, very close to the freeway on ramp, which is closed at this point. And what I saw as I crossed over that bridge were frantic parents. As soon as they got the word that there was a reunification center set up, they were running. I mean, they were breathless as they ran by, say, I got to get to my kid, I got to get to my kid. And they, I mean, they couldn't stop and talk to us. They were just, they were frantic. They said they didn't know what to think. They don't know if their children are okay. They just gotta go. And off they went. So we continued over here. Police again, sort of relaxed their line. They had us way back. Now they have us up closer you can see now you see the SWAT Bearcat is moving away from its position, moving more toward the front of the mosque. And we've seen a number of the police cars leaving, going elsewhere, probably to start their investigation, probably to go to the hospital, if there are any injured at the hospital. So much could be going on right now. But again, no comment from police at this time. We are hoping that we can hear from them sometime in the very near future now that things appear to be under control, at least, sort of under control. At least the danger of the shooter is. Appears to be gone at this point. So things. Everybody's taking a breath right now, and. And we're hoping that when the police come out and talk to us that they have some good news for us.
- [08:56]
Mark Mullen
Okay, Allison, I think you will be pleased, as I think a lot of folks will, because just as you were delivering that report, we did have it confirmed from San Diego police that at least according to them, in their words, the threat inside that center has now been neutralized, which is terrific news indeed.
- [09:14]
Monica
Yeah, we are very grateful. I think the unknown right now is, are there any injured? Was anyone else shot inside that building? Two suspects we know have been shot dead, threat neutralized. There are no other outstanding suspects. And law enforcement trying to get a handle on the active situation that's still underway, although the threat is neutralized. Trying to assess what led up to this, what happened inside, and, you know, proceed to get people back reunited with their loved ones. I think that's probably the next step as well, because they've set up a reunification center, and we saw so many children being escorted out in this super scary situation. Hopefully they're in the arms of their parents here very soon.
- [10:01]
Mark Mullen
So, Monica, if I'm not mistaken, I believe that the center keeps a security guard on staff. Is that your understanding is that some of the initial reporting I. Because. Because it was always my impression that that perhaps was the case, and that certainly would have been prudent on a day like today. But again, it's just way too early in this investigation to know anything like a motive. Not that there will ever be any rational explanation to explain why somebody would even want to do this and threaten people and perhaps children and all the rest of this stuff. But their first order of business is just making sure that people are safely evacuated when possible, and also that the threat has been neutralized. And at least that appears to be the case. And we'll wait for the investigators to come out later with some more information, but at this point, it's just Making sure everyone's safe, everybody's accounted for as well. And we all look forward to hearing information from police later to see that the people who are down these suspects, that that's it. And there are no other innocents that may have been targeted.
- [11:08]
Monica
We're just hearing now that Sharp Memorial Hospital is receiving patients from the shooting. And that is patients, plural. So that is just the unknown. We don't know if these are adults, if there were any children involved.
- [11:22]
Mark Mullen
Stressful at all.
- [11:23]
Monica
It's so stressful. And as I've been sitting here watching this along with our viewers unfold and sort of describing the situation that we've seen on Sky Ranger 7 or from our ground crews, like the image we're getting now and also getting updates from our newsroom. There's the parent part of me that feels sick to my stomach when you see something like this. As soon as we saw those first children come out of the Islamic center holding hands. You just never want to actually have to report on a situation like this, even even though we know that this is a reality in today's day and age. What was that information? Please say now that the threat has been neutralized. Yes. Okay. As we've been reporting the threat neutralized, two suspects have been shot and killed. No more outstanding suspects. So again, we want to reiterate the threat is neutralized so people can breathe a sigh of relief there. But we certainly want to make sure that loved ones get reunified with their family members who may have been at the Islamic center of San Diego today. And we do know that there are patients at Sharp Memorial Hospital. So we don't know yet about who those people might be.
- [12:33]
Mark Mullen
Right. And I just walked in and joined Monica right now. But I presume that we have the information for the Reunification center in case there are some parents, perhaps.
- [12:42]
Monica
That we certainly do. Can we put that back up on the screen again? If people are searching for that information on exactly where the Reunification center is? I'll search in my notes here as I've been following along.
- [12:56]
Mark Mullen
There we go.
- [12:58]
Monica
Let's see. That's the scene. There is The Reunification Center, 4125 Hathaway Street.
- [13:04]
Mark Mullen
Okay, very well. So if you're just joining us right now, we continue to cover what was an active shooter situation which happened at the Islamic center in San Diego, which has been a source for journalists as well. They have been handy in commenting on matters of faith and certainly in politics and sort of the tensions which have arisen. Just as some of the synagogue and Jewish schools Are they remain sort of on a heightened posture as well because of the politics involved and also of the extremists involved as well? It will be interesting to see how this unfolded, that it seemed like the reaction. Monica was very, very quick from police once the call came out.
- [13:51]
Monica
It certainly was. Those calls came in between 11:30 and 11:45 this morning, and they were multiple 911 calls about this active shooter situation. We were on the air just shortly after noon, so really within the next 30 minutes, all of these law enforcement just descended on this location in Claremont and shut down roads, told neighbors to shelter in place. We were trying to get the word out here, and we could just see all of the armored vehicles, all of the SWAT teams converging on the mosque to make sure that people were kept safe in the face of a threat such as this involving two people here at the Islamic center of San Diego that has now been neutralized. Both suspects are dead. Those are believed to be the only suspects involved with this active shooter situation.
- [14:39]
Mark Mullen
So this really is an entire community. Community. Right. For much of the Muslim faith in Claremont, which has a sizable population. So you have a mosque there. You also have classes which are taken, and also you have young children who attend there. I think it's just what it's like K through elementary, pre. K through third through third grade. So you're talking about, like, little ones, right. Who had to be rushed out.
- [15:03]
Monica
Oh, it's heartbreaking to see poor kids
- [15:05]
Mark Mullen
have no idea what is going on, and you just hope that you can get them out of there without them seeing too much and, and, and, and experiencing too much. And you just wonder how this kind of stuff just continues to happen.
- [15:17]
Monica
And interestingly, today marks the start of a holiday period for the Islamic faith of Dhul Hijah, and the first 10 days of the month that it's recommended to do additional acts of worship. So we don't know if this attack somehow coincided with this observance or what was maybe going on in observance of Dual Hija. But we do know that this is the start of this holiday period today.
- [15:45]
Mark Mullen
Okay. And once again, we're hearing that it's what. It's two. It's two suspects who are down.
- [15:49]
Sahil Kapoor
Two.
- [15:50]
Monica
Yes.
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Mark Mullen
Which. Which means you have at least two people who were involved in something like this, which means all the more plotting, all the more sinister, and, and we've
- [16:00]
Monica
heard multiple people down at the center. So we don't know. We don't know how that has, how that kind of coincides with the suspects being down if there are other people that were injured or who were perhaps killed. But we do know that there are people being treated at Sharp Memorial, so we can at least conclude that there were some additional people who were injured.
- [16:23]
Mark Mullen
Yeah, and, and. And one thing also is that whenever we have situations like this where we're coming on the air with breaking news and stuff like that, we really try really, really hard to filter everything through, because two people down is technically multiple people. And a lot of times there's just so much quick information that's coming off the top. And sometimes it's accurate, sometimes it's not. But we do our best to just pass on vetted information to you. And the information that some of our local.
- [16:52]
Monica
We know, Mayor Todd, Gloria, says he's headed to the area right now. We also got an acknowledgement from the office of Governor Gavin Newsom. So we're trying to just piece together what happened, what led up to this, what transpired inside that mosque, and how many people may have been injured or even killed. And our prayer is that they are going to be okay. Because this is certainly an unnerving and heartbreaking scene for our entire community to have to deal with a situation like this. Something that they train for and hope to never have to use.
- [17:28]
Mark Mullen
Exactly. Let's go out to NBC 7, Shelby Bremer. Shelby, for us, for our viewers and for everyone, kind of do a little scene. Setter, tell us where you are in relation to all of this and what you know, please.
- [17:40]
Shelby Bremer
Yeah, yeah, Mark, we're at Batista, right? At Armstrong. So I'm on Batista right now facing Armstrong Strong. And you can see the police line is right here. We have not been able to get past this, obviously, but what we did just see was a bomb squad truck drive in. And so you can see all of the vehicles down there. We're not really entirely sure what the presence is there, what, you know, what's needed there. But I can tell you that we're also watching so many cars circle this intersection, do u turns and so many parents. We have seen parents, parent after parent driving, honestly, a lot of them crying, trying to get to that reunification center. We were trying to get there, but we were, you know, in a line of people going through the intersections, crying. We also saw somebody. We were over at Lindbergh park earlier and saw somebody who frequents the mosque and said he came because he saw what was happening on the news and he came to. To see what was happening. But obviously, so many people can't get close to the Islamic center. So many people are having trouble finding the reunification site that we're seeing a lot of. Of grief and sadness and confusion. And, Mark, I heard you earlier talking about how we're trying to filter through that information. Of course, but all of the people living in this area are trying to filter through it, too. I just spoke to a woman who lives at this corner, said she's confused. Her kids don't go to the Islamic center, but they're at area schools. She doesn't know if she can go get them. She's not sure about the lockdown situation, and she's. She's scanning her. Her ring cameras to see what she can see as far as maybe a potential suspect or anything that looks out of the ordinary, really. So, honestly, what we're seeing right now is a lot of people circling and just a lot of confusion. We're going to try and get a little bit more information, but that's what's happening right here at Batista and Armstrong.
- [19:16]
Monica
Okay. Yes. Certainly an unnerving situation for all of those neighbors. Shelby, we appreciate you keeping tabs on that. If you are one of those neighbors and trying to seek information. Right now, I think the best and most important thing to know is that the threat has been new, the situation is contained now. The extent of injuries or deaths, we do not know yet. We're awaiting that. We have heard that there has been. There have been patients transported to Sharp Memorial Hospital.
- [19:42]
Ryan Nobles
And we want to thank our affiliate in San Diego for their updates on this breaking news situation. We want to update you now on the latest reports of a shooting at a mosque in San Diego. Police now say that the threat has been neutralized. And our NBC station, they're reporting that the two suspects are dead. You've been looking at live pictures of the scene at the Islamic center of San Diego in the Claremont area of the city. Now, we're still gathering details about what's unfolding, but police do say that the scene is contained. California's Governor Gavin Newsom's office tweeting that the governor's been briefed on the situation and that state and local officials are working on coordination. NBC News law enforcement analyst Jim Cavanaugh joins me now on the phone. So, Jim, we certainly don't have much information about what's going on there. It's obviously an enormous law enforcement presence. We know that the threat appears to be contained, but we have not heard too much about the victims. What, what exactly are you looking for here as the situation unfolds?
- [20:43]
Jim Cavanaugh
Well, we do see that SWAT's on the scene, San Diego PD SWAT and their on scene commander would be the one in charge. Earlier, when we're watching the feed, we could see the SWAT officers behind the armored Bearcat and not moving around because earlier, you know, 30 minutes ago, they just didn't have it totally contained or finished. Now they're telling us, as NBC has reported, that two shooters are down and you can see now the posture of the command beside the Bearcat, the armored SWAT vehicle. There is not one of, you know, worrying about getting shot. They're, they're not, they're having, they've got it contained enough. They know there's only two shooters and those two shooters are down. So they have that part of it. We don't know about anybody inside the center that might have resisted the shooters. And I would just say this, we just don't know either the exact motive. You know, we can say active shooter, but it can also be a takeover when you have two or more people acting like this. They might want to take over the mosque and make certain demands. We don't know what they were doing. Were they going in as an active shooter and just trying to shoot children or people in the mosque or were they gonna, was their plan to make some certain, you know, grandiose demands about something? So we don't quite know. Maybe, maybe their, the massacre or their plan for a massacre was not fulfilled. Maybe they didn't get to do it. Maybe it was something else. So I think we need to wait and see. We have not seen a, you know, phalanx of ambulances there at the center. Like there's many, many victims of mass shooting. We don't see that. So we have to at least deal with the possibility that maybe somehow when they went in, they were interrupted, rebuffed. You know, we saw recently a high school principal tackle a shooter at a high school. We've seen security guards at the Jewish school in Michigan who, you know, stopped the killer coming in themselves. So we could have all kinds of scenarios like that. And then if San Diego SWAT gets there pretty quick and these guys are, you know, running around trying to either actively kill or, you know, create a giant standoff, the San Diego SWAT might have eliminated them fairly quickly because, you know, they're long riflemen, they're snipers, their tactical operators, their commanders are very efficient. They're a top tier SWAT team and they could handle that very quickly. So possibly, you know, they might have been able to get these guys before. There's a lot of people killed. But we don't know that? Yeah, we don't know that yet, but we don't see a lot of ambulances. There are some reports of people going to hospital, hospitals, so. So the reporting from NBC San Diego has been so good, so accurate, and it's. It's just like it is now. We know there's two attackers down, some people injured, and the scene is static now, and that's all we really have.
- [24:01]
Ryan Nobles
But you raised such an important point about the lack of emergency vehicles in terms of ambulances that would be attending to folks. We see an ambulance right there, but there's not an overwhelming number of ambulances coming in and out. There's two leaving right there. Is it difficult to read into? Well, now we're seeing quite a few ambulances after that overhead shot. Didn't appear to be that many. But if it were a mass. Yeah, if. If it were a mass casualty event, though, where there was a possibility of many lives lost, do you expect that you would see more of a. Of an emergency medical presence there? Or is that impossible to deduce based on just the pictures that we're seeing?
- [24:50]
Jim Cavanaugh
Yeah, it can cut both ways, unfortunately. It can come both ways, you know, because. But these mass shooters, you know, sometimes they don't kill every person. So they wound a lot of people. They kill some, and they wound some. And then what happens SWAT has to do is go in, locate, isolate.
- [25:10]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah.
- [25:10]
Jim Cavanaugh
And evacuate so they can locate. Yeah.
- [25:14]
Ryan Nobles
I don't mean to cut you off, but we just got a very, very important development. We are told that the imam of this mosque just posted on their official Facebook page that none of the staff or children inside of the mosque were injured in this apparent attempted shooting. So that is extremely good news. No one injured or killed.
- [25:39]
Jim Cavanaugh
Yes, that's extremely good news.
- [25:40]
Ryan Nobles
Yes. And that's. So that's. The first. That's the first full confirmation that we have that everyone inside, outside of the shooters are safe. But that also leads to. Some of the questions that you were talking about there before, Jim, is like, what would the motive have been? What possibly could have happened that led to such an enormous police presence in such a quick period of time? And these potential shooters being subdued fatally, that would mean that the law enforcement on the scene must have thought that there was a serious threat here.
- [26:18]
Mark Mullen
Right.
- [26:18]
Jim Cavanaugh
Well, let's first of all say that most centers, Jewish centers, Islamic centers, big religious centers, they have a plan like a school. So they have a lockdown plan. So if two attackers come in, maybe they have security, maybe they have one of their elders who confronts Them or locks them in a room, or locks the door to an auditorium or something and sometimes somehow slows them down. That slowdown can be enough for San Diego SWAT to get there. Remember, patrol gets there first. The local patrol officers, they have tactical rifles. But when SWAT gets there, you know, they have everything, long scoped rifles, they can kill from a distance. They're very proficient operators. They have gas, they have armored vehicles they can get very close to. So if they locate the attackers quickly, within a few minutes, while the attackers possibly have been discombobulated by the resistance from personnel inside the mosque, then it gives SWAT the advantage to, you know, shoot them, kill them, neutralize them. So we may be looking at a scenario here where someone inside, like the school principal we saw recently or the security guards at the Jewish center in Michigan, thwarted them, interrupted them, locked the door, somehow slowed them down for their intent purpose, which could have been mass slaughter of the children, or it could have been a takeover of the mosque. We have two people here, two people, maybe they want to take over the mosque, you know, hold everyone hostage and make demands. And, you know, it could be something like that. We don't really have the answer. But if they do that and they're trying to do that, that may give SWAT a few extra minutes to get there. And they don't need a lot because they're right there in San Diego and they're very good and they get there. And once they get there, you know they're going to take care of these guys fast. And they apparently did that. So that's some good news from the imam. And no children. It's going to be a miracle, really. Two more men going into mosque or school like that. It's a miracle and it's great, great police work and I'll bet we have some heroes inside.
- [28:43]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, Jim Kavanaugh, if you can do me a favor and stand by, we're going to continue to monitor this situation. If we get additional information, Jim, we'll bring you back. But just to update our viewers that may have just tuned in, this was an active shooter situation in San Diego, the Claremont neighborhood. We're told that two the alleged gunmen were subdued. We know NBC News has confirmed that at least one of those gunmen is dead. But the imam of this mosque posting on Facebook that none of the staff at the mosque or any of the children that were at the school there, and these were young children, pre K through third grade, none of the children were injured. They are all safe. So despite what is an enormous police presence and what Looked to be a very hectic scene, perhaps the best possible outcome. We'll continue to keep a close eye on that. We'll update you as soon as we get more information. But we do want to turn now to our top political story of the day, and it's something that we've never seen in modern politics. A lame duck president with an approval rating in the 30s with his party bracing for a bruising midterms, have such an iron grip over his party. But over the weekend, President Trump got his revenge against another Republican who crossed him. And it was a big one. Incumbent senator in Louisiana, Senator Bill Cassidy, who was defeated, defeated in the Republican primary with State Treasurer John Fleming. And Trump endorsed Congresswoman Julia Letlow, both advancing to a June runoff without him. On social media, the president cheering Cassidy's loss, accusing him of disloyalty, and referencing the senator's vote to convict him in his 2021 impeachment trial. Now, Cassidy did not mention the president by name in his concession speech, but he seemed to reference the president throughout his remarks. Our country is not about one individual.
- [30:35]
Mark Mullen
It is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution.
- [30:43]
Ryan Nobles
And it is the welfare of my
- [30:45]
Mark Mullen
people and my state and my country and our Constitution to which I am loyal.
- [30:55]
Ryan Nobles
And if someone doesn't understand that and attempts to control others through using the
- [31:00]
Jim Cavanaugh
levers of power, they are about serving
- [31:03]
Ryan Nobles
themselves, they are not about serving us. And that person does not qualify to be a leader. Cassidy's loss is just the latest example of the president devoting his time and resources to oust Republicans he's deemed unsupportive of his agenda. Last month, he helped unseat five Indiana state senators who opposed his redistricting push. And tomorrow, Trump backed challenger Ed Gallerin will look to defeat Congressman Tom Massie of Kentucky, whose vote against Trump's big, beautiful bill and his efforts to force the release of the Epstein files made him a top Trump target. The president blasting Massie at a flurry of social media posts in recent days, is weak and obstructionist. But the congressman largely brushing off his criticism every time he tweets about me. It's good for, you know, some money coming in because people don't like that. But you can tell that I'm ahead in the polls and they're desperate. That's why they're sending the secretary of war to my district tomorrow. That's why the president's losing sleep and tweeting about this now. At the same time, the president's allies defending his efforts to oust Republicans he deems insufficiently loyal. Take a listen. This is the president's party.
- [32:21]
Mark Mullen
When he endorses, he wins. Bill Cassie's lost because he tried to destroy Trump. Massey's going to lose because he's trying to destroy the agenda. You can disagree with President Trump, but if you try to destroy him, you're going to lose because this is the party of Donald Trump.
- [32:38]
Ryan Nobles
But while the president's grip on his party remains strong, he is losing his grip on the broader electorate. Two recent polls show his approval rating significantly underwater, largely driven by disapproval over his handling of the cost of living in the war in Iran. And when it comes to who voters say they plan to vote for in November, a majority choose the Democratic candidate by an 11 point margin. Joining me now to talk more about this, senior national political reporter Sahil Kapoor. He's on Capitol Hill. And our Capitol Hill correspondent Julie Serkin is on the ground in Kentucky ahead of tomorrow's election. Asaha, let's start with you, Senator Cassidy. Could he become a wild card here? He now has seven months left of his term. Could we see an unrestrained Cassidy on Capitol Hill? And could that be a problem for the president's agenda?
- [33:26]
Sahil Kapoor
Well, Ryan, there are a lot of people up here asking that exact question. There are certain kinds of retiring Republicans who would just kind of go quietly, you know, who may have their issues with Trump but hit the mute button on them. I think Senator Joni Ernst comes to mind there. Then there are others who are very much unrestrained who do exactly what they want and say what they please. Senator Thom Tillis comes to mind. There are a couple of things that Bill Cassidy said in his concession speech that make me think he might be the latter. More on the Unleashed page. Apart from what you said, he had a line about how sometimes democracy doesn't turn out the way you want. You don't pout, whine. You don't claim the election was stolen. His crowd knew exactly what he was talking about there. He also said he's not bothered by insults online because people of character and intention, integrity. Don't do that again. Read into that what you will. Pretty clear to me what he was talking about. Cassidy, unlike Tillis, is the chair of the HELP Committee which oversees hhs. We've seen the palpable discomfort he's had with RFK over vaccines, even though he did vote for rfk. There is no permanent surgeon general right now. There's no permanent FDA commissioner. All of these kind of nominees would go through Cassidy. So he would have a very Real amount of influence, significant influence over Trump's agenda if. If he chooses to use it.
- [34:35]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah. And you know, it's interesting, Sahil, because the Republican base in these primaries is clearly more happy with Trump. But I wonder how Republican leadership views all of this. Are they concerned that tilting the president tore or tilting the party, I should say, toward the president, especially a president who's so significantly underwater in his approval rating, could hurt the broader Republican Party in the upcoming midterms?
- [34:59]
Sahil Kapoor
It's kind of a moot point, Ryan, as far as my conversations with Republicans go. They know that there's no real distinguishing yourself from Trump in this party. He's going to define the vast majority of candidates. There are very few of them who have a brand of their own. You can probably count them on fingers on one hand. Senator Susan Collins and Maine is one example. But the vast majority of Republicans are going to rise and fall with Trump, and that's where the nervousness comes from. What Republicans do want is for Trump to get his approval rating up. They want the economy to improve. They want his numbers on the economy to improve. They want gas prices to come down. And some of them I've talked to, they think the war in Iran needs to end by August. This strait of Hormuz needs to open, return to status quo ante by August in order for this to happen ahead of the midterm. So that's the attitude. They saw what happened in the first term, where Trump's fortunes basically determined the rest of the party's fortunes. And very little can happen, I think, between now and the midterms to save Republicans from significant defeats up and down the ballot unless Trump's ratings improve.
- [35:59]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah, I wonder if August may even be too late for some of these Republicans. Let's Turn now to NBC's Kelly O', Donnell, who joins us now. She is outside the White House. Kelly, I have to imagine the president feels pretty good about the results over the weekend. What's his mood heading into tomorrow? Does he feel bolstered by these results in Louisiana, and does he feel confident Tom Massie is going down?
- [36:19]
Kelly O'Donnell
Well, certainly the president likes to exert his influence, his power over the party, to remind Republicans running for office that the president has a deep connection with at least his base and the MAGA voters who are the most likely to turn out in these midterm primaries, which is really a small subset of the overall available electorate. That's the nature of primaries. So the president has that leverage and he wields it. Certainly, he will be counting all of the outcomes, as he often does, usually uses his social media to boast about when he has that kind of victory. And we've already seen him hinting about other members of the Republican conference in the House who might be subject to his sort of electoral fury. Lauren Boebert comes to mind. So with Thomas Massie, the president has long been very clear that he is at odds with Massie over substantive issues. And Massie has held tough. And as you have noted, Ryan, he may be able to weather this simply by virtue of his long standing in his own community. But at the same time, the president's finger on the scale here is a considerable one. It's actually kind of a big thumb on the scale. And the President, we will likely hear from him later this afternoon. He has one planned event unrelated to these matters, but we have seen him like to opine about these things when he has something that he thinks is working in his favor.
- [37:43]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah, you mentioned that big thumb to the tune of $30 million that's going to be the most expensive House primary in American history to replace a Republican with another Republican that votes with the President 90% of the time. And with that in mind, Kelly, I have to wonder, is there anybody inside the White House that's a little nervous that the president is focusing on these Republican primaries, especially when he is dealing with a war, he's dealing with this negative polling that we've talked about and he's dealing with inflation on the rise.
- [38:11]
Kelly O'Donnell
We've certainly seen how the president, based on that polling, is in a problematic place with the American people overall and certainly in the White House, they are sensitive to what happens if Democrats win control of one or both of the chambers in November. That is going to, if it were to happen, is going to have enormous impact on the traffic Trump agenda and how the White House functions. So there is a lot on the line. We've also seen how the president is not always working in his own self interest or the party's self interest when there are these personal issues, a vendetta, if you will, a political score to settle with a given Republican in the playing field. The president sometimes acts on that more than the long term needs of his party and of governance for the months to come. So as you've talked about with Senator Cassidy, he could now be a real thorn for the President, the margin in the House so limited that could be problematic. And as you talked about, the drain of resources that could be used in other races where they need to defend a Senate seat or try to expand the map somewhere all of those kinds of considerations come into play. Those don't tend to be the things that the President thinks about first and foremost.
- [39:24]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah, great stuff, Kelly. Let's go to the ground now in Kentucky and get a vibe for what's happening there. Julie, you're standing by. You've talked to Congressman Massie quite a bit over the past week or two. He seems pretty optimistic about his chances. He is giving an air of confidence that he could win tomorrow's primary. Does that say something about the limits of the President's power or are Massey and his district unique?
- [39:48]
Julie Serkin
I mean, look, Massie is characteristically unbothered when it comes to President Trump or anyone else who attacks him for that matter. But this district, Kentucky's 4th congressional district, is really unique. The President has had a winning streak in Indiana, again, as you mentioned with Cassidy, but this area is different. Rand Paul, the Libertarian, hails from the state as well. I've talked to a number of voters both today and back in March when the President came here to hold an event and essentially parade at Gal Ryan, his hand picked candidate that is pretty much a political unknown in this area around Massie feels pretty confident even heading into tomorrow because people here don't want to be told what to do. I just talked to somebody in the bar behind me, Massey, who said he voted for Trump, he supports Trump. This district is as Republican and as Trump supporting as you can get, especially in this state. And yet he said he does not like the fact that the President is putting so much pressure on people to vote for Massie's opponent or pretty much anywhere in this country. He doesn't like what he's seeing because of that. So I do wonder if it could backfire on the President down the line in the midterms in the next few years as well. But certainly Massie still feeling kind of confident, although I do think that him slipping in the polls certainly has his attention as well. And you just can't get past that exorbitant number of money that has been spent in this race mostly on negative odds against Massie.
- [41:04]
Ryan Nobles
And you know, it's interesting, Julie, because one of the things Tom Massie prides himself on is being his own man, regardless of what party affiliation he has, which is I think a stark contrast with Ed Gowering, who is the President's hand picked candidate here. How closely is he sticking to the President in this race
- [41:24]
Julie Serkin
like glue. I remember at that March event that I was at, it was in Hebron, Kentucky as well. It was supposed to be this economic focused event touting the one big beautiful bill, the tax provisions in that that Massie voted against. He brought Ed Gallerin on the stage, Trump did. And he essentially said, I said I want someone with a warm body. That's how he introduced Gallerian to the crowd. That's exactly what he looked for, a yes man. Take a listen to what Gallerin had to say today.
- [41:48]
Ryan Nobles
He has blocked the president's attempt to unleash our economy, reduce taxes, build the border wall, restore national security. He even joined ranks with the radical Democrats to restrict the president's responsibilities as a commander in chief of what's going on in the Mid East. Now at every turn, he has betrayed us.
- [42:11]
Julie Serkin
Now, Gallerian had an event today with Secretary Hegseth. He has a telerally later tonight with the president. And someone I talked to in the bar behind me told me that's all they really see him doing. He's not holding many community events. He has not participated any debates. He has not granted us an interview either. Ryan.
- [42:26]
Ryan Nobles
Okay. Julie Cirkin on the ground in Kentucky. We'll have to see what happens. Sahil Kapoor on Capitol Hill. Kelly o' Donnell at the White House. Thank you all. Kentucky, of course, just one of a half dozen states holding primary elections tomorrow, including Georgia, where three Republicans are facing off for the chance to challenge Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in November. President Trump has not weighed in on this race, but Governor Brian Kemp, who's popular there, has thrown his support behind former football coach Derek Dooley. He's joining him on the campaign trail at Marietta earlier today. Joining me now from Atlanta is NBC News national correspondent Aaron Gilchrist. So, Aaron, let's start there. As we mentioned, Dooley has the governor's support, but what's the case that he's making to voters?
- [43:09]
Aaron Gilchrist
You know, if you are big into college football, Ryan, you know the number name Derek Dooley. You know the name Dooley for sure. But if you're not, you may not know him. And he really is trying to play that up, saying that he is a political outsider when it comes to particularly the Senate race and when it comes to this Republican primary that we're seeing here in Georgia that will play out tomorrow and then also likely into a runoff election. But he's tried to present himself as the political outsider who can go to Washington and lead differently without any sort of baggage that may come with folks who've been in Washington for a while. He says that he's the one who can stay on offense against Jon Ossoff, the sitting senator from Georgia, who's up for reelection in November. I want you to hear a little bit of what we heard from Dooley earlier today as he's been sort of crisscrossing the state in this last day of campaigning, as the other candidates have been doing. But we talked to him earlier today about sort of how he's different and what he would do differently in Washington.
- [44:06]
Ryan Nobles
Listen, if you want change, it always
- [44:10]
Mark Mullen
starts at the top with leadership. And it's time we start sending a
- [44:14]
Ryan Nobles
different kind of leader up to D.C.
- [44:15]
Mark Mullen
people with common sense, people that share
- [44:18]
Ryan Nobles
our values here in Georgia. But most importantly, they're going up there for the right reasons, and that's to
- [44:23]
Mark Mullen
work with others to deliver results for you.
- [44:25]
Ryan Nobles
I'm really not trying to win an
- [44:27]
Mark Mullen
election just because Governor Kemp says vote
- [44:30]
Ryan Nobles
for Dooley or President Trump says vote for duly. I told you my number one goal was to earn it, earn it the right way.
- [44:36]
Mark Mullen
That's what my focus has been.
- [44:41]
Aaron Gilchrist
Now, the last part of the answer you heard there was after I asked Dooley about not getting an endorsement from President Trump. I asked him whether he was courting that endorsement and if he understood the reality that we've seen here in Georgia as we've been moving around the state for different elections, and that is that Republican voters in this state are listening to or watching for what President Trump wants to do. And so we know that we've heard from people who say that they either are you think Georgia 14, the special election that was held for Marjorie Taylor Greene's old seat, where we heard voters say that they were following President Trump's lead in supporting Clay Fuller. We asked people who didn't know Clay Fuller why they were going to vote for him. And he said, oh, well, I don't know anything about him, but President Trump supports him. And so that's who I'm going to support. And that's something that we've heard over over and over again as we've talked to Republican voters here in Georgia. Ryan. So it's something that Dooley is aware of and it's something that he seems to suggest is not going to be a big deal for him because he's carrying a message of work with President Trump. But for the people of Georgia, that's a refrain we've heard over and over again from him.
- [45:42]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, we'll have to see how these results look tomorrow night. Aaron Gilchrist, thank you for being there on the ground. And we're going to see you tomorrow for a special primary night election coverage. I'll be with My colleagues Kristen Welker, Hallie Jackson and Steve Kornacki and our team of political reporters all night long as the results come in. It kicks off at 6:30 Eastern right here on NBC News now. It is actually really great television and I highly recommend you watch. Coming up, it's the economy and the war. President Trump says he's holding off on attacking Iran for now as negotiations appear to hit an impasse, fueling new economic turmoil at home and abroad. Plus, the DOJ says it's creating a so called anti weaponization fund worth nearly $2 billion that will compensate President Trump's allies who were targeted or investigated during prior administrations. That reporting and the legal and political fallout is straight ahead. You're watching Meet the Press now.
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- [49:16]
Courtney Kuby
That's been the pattern. Right. And we've also had times, of course now, too, at least, where the president has been involved in these negotiations. And we even hear from administration officials, things are going well. And then, as we know, the US Then decides to strike. So what's very possible here is the president had made this decision in his head to likely move forward with military operations, but there were no actual orders to go. So, so oftentimes, as we saw in the beginning of this war in February 28, the President will give what's known in the military as a go, no go, right? Say, ok, I want you guys to move forward with this, and it's a matter of hours later before it happens. So that final go, no go likely hadn't happened if, in fact, this was going to be for tomorrow. But again, we don't have anyone confirming to us that in fact there were orders or the expectation was this was
- [50:01]
Monica
going to restart tomorrow.
- [50:02]
Ryan Nobles
And I know it's impossible to get into the minds of the Iranians in part because we don't even know who it is that we're negotiating with here that the administration's negotiating with. But at each stage of this, every time it looks like there's a deal or a potential strike and then it doesn't materialize. I mean, Senator Graham described it to Kristen over the weekend as a stalemate. Is there any other way to describe it at this point? And how do you break through a stalemate like this?
- [50:24]
Courtney Kuby
Not at this point. And what's really complicated about this is it's not just this sort of military stalemate, but but we have the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz as well, where each side has their blockade that is having, as we know, ripple effects across the entire the globe economically. So, yeah, absolutely, this is at a stalemate right now. What's interesting is as we watch the two sides come back and forth with their various options for a potential peace deal is they have had minuscule movement towards one another in the last 48 hours or so. So I think the big question right now is where is President Trump's head over on this most recent agreement? In that truth social posting, he said that one of the reasons that he called off this so called restarting of combat operations was because Iran was now willing to somehow say that they would never have a nuclear weapon. We'll see how Iran responds to that. Before I walked on here, they still hadn't responded yet. We'll see if they actually confirm that that was in case part of their
- [51:19]
Ryan Nobles
side of the deal and then maybe get inside this for me. You're describing this potential of a full scale military strike. In other words, all of these men and women on the front lines have got to be ready to go. I imagine that's going to be anxious. It probably requires a lot of money and effort. What's it like to have to be up at that moment, potentially have to strike, then be talked down and then say get ready again? What is that like for these folks in the on the front lines?
- [51:41]
Courtney Kuby
I mean, look, it's got to be nerve wracking. But keep in mind some of these, the people who are on the ships are actually actively engaged in the blockade. And then they would be used for potential combat operations as well. Flying missions, supporting missions, surveillance and everything as part of some large scale combat. I think one of the big questions still remains is what if in fact President Trump were to decide to restart bombing and military operations in Iran? What would that look like? Is there going to be a goal where he lay or a situation where he lays out military objectives like he did on February 28, talking about eliminating their conventional military, or is this going to be moving to the next step? One thing that did not get a whole lot of attention during the 40 days or so of the war was, was Iran's nuclear program. And that continues to be something that President Trump says when he talks about justifying this war. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Is it possible that was what he was planning to go over? We just don't know at this point.
- [52:36]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, we'll continue to wait and watch and see. Courtney, thanks for being on top of it. Up next, settling up. President Trump drops a lawsuit against his own IRS in exchange for a massive $1.8 billion taxpayer backed forever fund to pay victims of, quote, government weaponization as determined by the President's allies. The details and why some Democrats are taking legal action in response that stories next on Meet the Press. Now,
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