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Meet the Press
Meet the Press NOW — May 4
00:49:57
Tensions in the Middle East escalate as Iran fires missiles and drones at U.S.-flagged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz after President Trump announced “Project Freedom” to guide commercial vessels through the waterway. Spirit Airlines shuts down leaving thousands of passengers stranded. The Supreme Court temporarily blocks a lower court ruling that limited the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone.
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Ryan Nobles
Hi there. Welcome to MEET THE press. Now, I'm Ryan Nobles in Washington. And we begin with breaking news. The US And Iran exchanging fire in the Strait of Hormuz as the conflict again escalates and oil and gas prices climb higher. The head of the US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, telling reporters today that Iran fired cruise missiles, drones and launched small boats to target US Ships in the Strait of Hormuz. And the US Responded by using attack helicopters to blow up the small boats and drones. Now, according to the commander, no US Ship was hit, no personnel were injured, but he would not comment on the status of the ceasefire.
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Admiral Brad Cooper
I wouldn't go into detail of whether the ceasefire is over or not. I think the key thing is for us is we're merely there as a defensive force and in force to give a very thick layer defense to commercial shipping to allow them to proceed out of the Arabian Gulf. That's what we're focused on. What we saw this morning was Iran initiating aggressive behavior. We are simply going to respond to that. Consider what the president directed.
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Ryan Nobles
The United Arab Emirates also reporting that it intercepted three missiles fired from Iran and that at least one of its oil tankers was attacked as it transited the Strait. President Trump confirming this afternoon that a South Korean cargo ship was attacked and damaged by Iran. Now, the attack's coming after President Trump announced a new US Military operation called Project Freedom to, quote, guide ships safely out of these restricted waterways. The president calling it a, quote, humanitarian gesture for vessels in crews that have been stuck there for weeks, Iran's military responded to the president with this map warning it would strike U.S. forces if they crossed into certain territory. Comes after. Over the weekend, the president initially told reporters that he was reviewing Iran's latest peace proposal and doubling down on claims that Iran wants to make a deal. Take a listen.
- [03:14]
Richard Engel
Doing very well with regard to Iran.
- [03:17]
Ryan Nobles
Again, they want to make a deal. They're decimated. They told me about the concept of the deal.
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President Donald Trump
They're going to give me the exact wording now.
- [03:24]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah, but the president later telling Israeli media that Iran's latest proposal just wasn't acceptable to him. Meanwhile, gas prices continue to climb with the national average now reaching $4.46 a gallon for regular gas. And oil prices are hovering at over $100 a barrel. Those prices creating mounting pressure on the president whose approval numbers continue to drop to new lows. That's according to two new polls. He's also underwater on critical issues around the economy, including a negative 53 point approval rating on his handling of the cost of living. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant this morning trying to reassure consumers that the recent price spikes are temporary. Here's what he said.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Besant
Again, we are cognizant that the, that this short term blip up in prices is affecting the American people. But I am also confident on the other side of this, prices are going to come down very quickly. You know, the conflict land, if we look at the stock market, what, what does the stock market see right now the stock market is looking through this. Corporate earnings are good, employment is good. And this gasoline, this temporary aberration will be over in a matter weeks or a month.
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Ryan Nobles
All right. Joining me for more on this now is NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kuby, NBC News White House correspondent Monica Elba, NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and the former commander of the US Fifth Fleet and distinguished military fellow at the Middle East Institute, Admiral Kevin Donegan. All right, Courtney, let's start with you. Obviously, these latest attacks on the Strait of Hormuz against US Ships, what more do we know about this?
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Courtney Kuby
So we know that there were two U.S. flagships that the U.S. navy U.S. military helped transit through the Strait of Hormuz today. During the course of that transit, Iran fired cruise missiles, drones and launched off several of these small bass boats and sometimes they're known as part of the Mosquito fleet because they're often filled with explosives or they have sort of these deck guns that they can be provide are presented an immediate and direct threat to ships in the area. Well, the US Responded, they Shot down all the drones, they shot down the cruise missiles, vessels and they used Apaches and Seahawk helicopters, attack helicopters to take out these boats before they actually presented any kind of a real threat to these commercial ships. They made their way through. So the big question is Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of centcom, said that they've been, he and and his team have been reaching out to dozens of companies saying, hey, if you guys want to bring your ships through, look, we had the successful day today. So if in fact this continues, will Iran continue? And then the bigger question is the U.S. the Iranian military fired at the U.S. the U.S. fired back today. Is this a violation of the ceasefire or not? Admiral Cooper did not want to get into that.
- [06:15]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah, he clearly didn't. Richard, let's go to you now. Iran also launched attacks against the UAE where things had been calm since the US Iran ceasefire, which said, which was said to cover the Gulf countries as well. What do we know about these attacks?
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Richard Engel
So Iran is painting this entire picture very differently. Iran says that it was responding to an American provocation and that this all goes back to the new policy that went into effect today, this new operation, Operation Project Freedom, in which the US is now effectively trying to control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and assert dominance over the Strait of Hormuz. And Iran pushed back today and said, no, Iran is going to determine which ships can and cannot travel through the Strait of Hormuz. And immediately there was an escalation and there was an escalation at sea. And there was an escalation also with cruise missiles fired in the direction of the United Arab Emirates. And the UAE saying that one of its major oil facilities caught fire because of an Iranian drone. So we certainly saw an escalation of the hostilities. And going back to what you were just talking about, does this mean the ceasefire is dead? Iran is presenting a two phase kind of peace deal where in the first phase, the two sides, the US and Iran, immediately cease hostilities, US ships and troops pull back, the Strait of Hormuz opens, and then there is another round of negotiations held between experts on the nuclear issue. So they want to separate these two out. And they say that they didn't mean to start this today. They didn't deny that they fired on the United Arab Emirates, but said it was not a pre planned mission and that the UAE wasn't a target, that had no intention of doing this, but it was responding to the situation.
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Ryan Nobles
But regardless, there's been a lot of shooting back and forth. So let's bring Monica in to talk about this because, Monica, on Friday, the president wrote a letter to Congress. I'm going to read a little bit from it. It says, quote, there's been no exchange of fire between the United States forces and Iran since April 7th. The hostilities that began on February 28th have terminated. So again, there's been no exchange of fire. We now know that there has been an exchange of fire as of today. Does this put their, their, their narrative on this in jeopardy?
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Monica Elba
I think so, Ryan. And we already were in that instance analyzing that because remember that on April 19, well after that date of the extended ceasefire that's laid out in that letter that was determined by the White House counsel, signed by the president and sent over to Capitol Hill, there had been also some shots fired from a US Navy destroyer to an Iranian cargo ship to their engine room. Remember, we even had the video and the audio of that. But the administration seems to be making the argument that that was part of the naval blockade, which is separate than initial Operation Epic Fury that started on February 28th. So they're sort of not counting that when they talk about those hostilities terminating. So again, the blockade seems to be in its own category, but also just in the president's language, Ryan, the way that he's sort of been shifting not just on the timeline and the sort of goals of this military conflict, but also the way that he's talking about whether it is in fact over or not. Because in that letter, as you see, he does say that the hostilities have ended and that is something that he has been trying to talk about sort of in the past tense. But when he talks about gas prices going back down, given how high they are now, the president has been saying things in recent days like, well, when the war is over, that's when you're going to see those gas prices come down or you have to wait for the war to be over. So even the administration and the President himself with his words do seem to be muddling the message here. And it is unclear what they really determine here in terms of what is over or not. But obviously they tried to use to their advantage this idea that it might be over to try to circumvent 60 day deadline that had been set forth by the War powers Resolution of 1973.
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Brian Chung
Right.
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Ryan Nobles
And we, we played Scott Besson from this morning saying in a couple of weeks when this ends, the prices will come down. So you're right. Their messaging is all over the place. So Courtney, let's talk a little bit more. And Richard touched on this as well about this operation to kind of guide boats out of the strait. This seems like it would be a pretty significant military intervention and require a lot of assets. What more do we know about it?
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Courtney Kuby
And I think part of the problem is it's. It's really confusing exactly what's happening here, because when you talk about the US Navy protecting ships to go through a waterway, the assumption is that that's sort of a one on one escort, and that's not what's actually happening. So Admiral Cooper, the command, the commander of centcom, spoke with a couple reporters earlier this afternoon. He explained that they used what he calls low observable technology or military. Military capabilities to clear a passageway of the strait. Basically, that's a fancy way of saying that they use stealth technology. Over the course of days or maybe even weeks, they were able to ensure that they had a passageway that's in the southern part of the strait, in basically Omani territorial water that didn't have any mines or any kind of dangers in it. Sort of the safest way to get through that Strait of Hormuz, once they determine that, then they put several destroyers inside the Gulf. They have them there now. And then they have the ships that are on the other side in the Gulf of Oman. They're watching ships that move through that passageway and then using aircraft overhead like the attack helicopters, like A10s, different kind of aircraft that can shoot down projectiles and also warn against any kind of threats. That's what this is, this Project Freedom that the Trump administration announced over the weekend. At this point, it's only moving ships out through the Strait of Hormuz. It's not moving any in. But once they clear the backlog inside the Gulf, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing some moving in as well, if in fact this continues.
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Ryan Nobles
Is there a sense, though, that ships are willing to move through the strait, that insurance companies are willing to back this plan, that people feel comfortable actually getting their ships out through this passageway?
- [12:18]
Courtney Kuby
You'll be shocked to hear this. But it's another area where there's contradictions on this because we have the administration, including, including Admiral Cooper down, that commander of centcom, saying that there's a lot of optimism about this. The first two going through today that went. That went through without any kind of injury or damage. But we have companies that are saying, well, we're not ready. We're not ready to accept this yet.
- [12:36]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah. All right, Monica. The president has been talking, it seems like, for weeks about reopening the strait. Why today does he announce this operation is being launched. Why couldn't he have done it weeks ago? Why? What has changed the dynamics here?
- [12:50]
Monica Elba
It does seem, Ryan, like at least they had to lay the groundwork for some of this. In the last week or so, there was an announcement by the State Department and the Department of Defense to sort of try to line up some of this maritime cooperation effort that does have to have buy in from companies from different kinds of vessels, from many different kinds of countries, many of those countries that are not even involved in this conflict to begin with. So this is something that clearly the administration was aware of, may need to happen, given how concerning this is, that there seems to be such a chokehold on the amount of ships, vessels that feel like they can get through and get through safely, and just what a massive impact that's having on the economy. So the sort of domino effect from there was something that this administration has been tracking for weeks. But ultimately they thought that perhaps other moves that they were making could ultimately have Iran relent on their position and the strait could reopen through another manner. So this is something where they had to kind of put the pieces together initially to get to this point to announce what the president and the Pentagon are calling this Project Freedom, which does involve these 15,000 service members in order to make it operational. So they had to get that ready to go while also realizing that all of their other attempts at negotiations or some of these other pressure tactics weren't working.
- [14:08]
Ryan Nobles
Brian? Richard, back to you now. I mean, what should we make of Iran's response here and what does it mean for the broader negotiations?
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Richard Engel
So both Iran and the United States are playing traffic cop in the Strait of Hormuz, and each one is trying to assert dominance over the other. Iran, which geographically sits on the Strait of Hormuz, is playing its only power card, disrupting the flow of maritime traffic through that route, sending up prices, trying to make the United States feel economic pain, put pressure on the White House and is saying until there is a resolution, it is going to continue using that military card. And we saw, starting today with this new operation, which Iran immediately challenged, was the United States starting its role as traffic cop, first letting ships out of this trade of Hormuz, as Courtney was saying, perhaps later on, escorting them through the Strait of Hormuz. That is a role that the United States may find itself playing for a very long time, and it is a very expensive and dangerous role.
- [15:17]
Ryan Nobles
And I want to ask you also, Richard, about another front in this conflict, and that's the situation playing out between Israel and Hezbollah. That's another place where there is supposed to be a ceasefire in place, but there are hostilities ongoing. What can you tell us about that?
- [15:34]
Richard Engel
Well, I think you could say the war is resumed again. I mean, the ceasefire is completely broken down in Lebanon. There are Israeli troops inside Lebanon. Hezbollah is firing on Israeli troops in Lebanon, firing occasionally rockets over the border. Hezbollah is now using advanced drones, including wire guided drones like are being used, Russians and Ukrainians on that front. So that war has gone back into full swing. But it goes back to this issue of what is the ceasefire. President Trump has said publicly that he doesn't need congressional approval for the war even though it's past 60 days of prolonged conflict because it's now paused because of the ceasefire. As you say, initially, Lebanon was supposed to be part of the ceasefire. There's no ceasefire there. And most observers would say that the ceasefire is certainly breaking down in the Strait of Hormuz and took a major step toward breaking down today. But President Trump doesn't want to say that because it would complicate him legally by having to get permission to continue the war.
- [16:47]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, Richard, Courtney, Monica, thank you all. We appreciate it. Let's go now to Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan for his take on all of this. Admiral, talk to me about what you see playing out in the Strait of Hormuz right now. Do you see this as a violation of the ceasefire?
- [17:05]
Admiral Kevin Donegan
I think you know this as well as I do because you've seen ceasefires many times. Ceasefires always have issues where there's perturbations in them.
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Brian Chung
Right.
- [17:13]
Admiral Kevin Donegan
Where one side does something that's not aligned with the original intent. So that's the least of my concerns right now. We'll have to see. Time will tell us if the ceasefire holds or not. Not.
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Courtney Kuby
Not.
- [17:24]
Admiral Kevin Donegan
What happened today. It could, this could be the beginning of something. But I look at it more in this simple lens. It was mentioned earlier, Iran has said there's a new maritime regime for the Straits of Hormuz and they control it. And what the US Is doing, in addition to the blockade, which is putting this economic pressure, has said with this Project Freedom that we're going to shift that back to the rule of law and that nations should be able, as a matter of fact, Admiral Cooper said 87 nations should be able to use that strait and we're going to establish this sanctuary. They called it a new enhanced security area, which is separate from where the ships were going. When Iran is playing their version of traffic cop, which is north of the traffic scheme. This New passage is south of that through Omani territorial waters. And the US Is saying we're going to protect the ships as they transit through that passage. So they're not saying the US Controls them, that passage. They're saying it's opened for travel, and that's what we're going to see. And what we saw play out was Iran didn't like that. They made an attack, The US Repulsed that attack, and then in anger, Iran reached out and attacked not the US But United Arab Emirates with their missiles and drones again.
- [18:40]
Ryan Nobles
And it's interesting, I think you already started to answer this question, but maybe put a fine point on it, because the way the administration is defining it is that they're going to guide these ships through the Strait of Hormuz as opposed to escort those ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Is. Is that a very specific distinction? And if so, why?
- [18:59]
Admiral Kevin Donegan
Well, what we're talking about is the. How they do this. And, and what Admiral Cooper was explaining is you don't have to necessarily be with every ship, but you have to ensure that those ships are protected. And the first thing you want to do is make sure there's not mines in the waters that they were going in. And Brad Cooper said, you know, we've made sure that. And the second is you have to be prepared with the assets you have, which are air assets, other assets, ship assets that you can repel any attack that's made on those ships. And you saw today that that was effective. And it doesn't necessarily mean you need a US Ship with every ship that's going through, as long as you can create that sanctuary with the joint forces that you have in the area. And you saw helicopters from both the army and the Navy involved in that today. So I look at that as Admiral Cooper's doing this in a way that makes the risk to his forces as low as possible, yet also ensuring that he has the highest degree of ability to protect the ships that are transiting, in this case, out. But this actual announcement of Project Freedom was as a defensive operation to restore the flow of global commerce. So not to be a traffic cop, quite the contrary. But to restore the flow that won't restart instantly. Right. We're going to see this tested now, I think, over the coming days.
- [20:14]
Ryan Nobles
Okay. And then finally, what do you take, or what does this tell you about Iran's capabilities, the way that they responded to this? Does it make you more or less impressed with their ability, ability to keep control of the strait?
- [20:27]
Admiral Kevin Donegan
Well, part of what you're going to see Admiral Cooper doing is if they are being attacked, he's going to further atrophy any capability they have to reach into the strait. So we already see that they don't have the same capabilities attack before the conflict. As you can imagine, launching six small fast attack craft from all the way on one side of the strait to try to get over to the other side of the straits was not affected and resulted in six of those getting some sunk. But you also see they do have a residual capability to launch drones and missiles. So that's not going to go away instantly and we know that that's still there and has to be dealt, which is why the US Forces are postured the way they are.
- [21:06]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, Vice Admiral Kevin Donning, thank you for your expertise. We appreciate it. Coming up, we're going to dive deeper into the fallout from soaring energy prices due to the war and the enormous stress it's put on consumers and businesses including including Spirit Airlines, which officially shut down over the weekend in part it says due to sky high fuel prices. Plus the latest legal and political fight over the abortion pill mifepristone as the Supreme Court steps in to restore access to the drug. For now, you're watching Meet the Press. Now.
- [21:47]
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- [23:15]
Ryan Nobles
Welcome back. We have new details today about Spirit Airlines collapse. The discount carrier's CFO writing in a bankruptcy court filing today that the airline had fought, quote, valiantly for months to reorganize, but had all but succeeded, but had no choice to shut down and ground all remaining flights this week, weekend. Part of the reason, it says, were because recent geopolitical events have resulted in a massive and sustained increase in fuel prices. The airline had contended with financial problems for years, highlighted by two failed merger attempts, which was compounded this year with soaring jet fuel prices which have gone up more than 60% since the start of the war, according to some analysts. NBC News senior correspondent Tom Casello covers the aviation industry and joins me now along with NBC News business and data correspondent Brian Chung. So, Tom, what's been the impact nationwide on Spirit's collapse? Are we seeing a ripple effect of any kind?
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Tom Costello
Yeah.
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Brian Chung
Let's just put into context how big Spirit is. Right. They're not a huge player, about 1% of domestic of domestic share, but they are the low cost airline. And so if you take them out of the equation, then the idea is it kind of puts pressure or allows the other airlines to hike fees. We are talking about several hundred thousand employer or rather passengers who were displaced or couldn't find their way back from point A to point B. And 17,000 employees who have been let go with no idea when, if how they might get their last paychecks. But they're cut off, their insurance also cut off. So you got 17,000 people who right now are looking for a job. Some of them will find a job, likely, especially the pilots, the mechanics, flight attendants, baggage handlers. That may be more difficult.
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Ryan Nobles
And have any of the other airlines tried to step in and try to help out some of these customers who've been impacted?
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Brian Chung
Yeah. So most airlines are offering temporary discount affairs to Spirit Airlines passengers who were affected recently. In other words, if you're booking in August, good luck.
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Ryan Nobles
Right.
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Brian Chung
You're probably not going to get a better fare. But you're also seeing that the airlines are saying they are in the market for pilot mechanic, especially United and American, suggesting that they're going to open up some sort of of a recruitment office.
- [25:28]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah. And then finally, jet fuel prices are high. They're going to stay high for the foreseeable future. Could there be other airlines that could be at risk for these high prices?
- [25:36]
Brian Chung
Every airline is complaining about the fact that they are having a Significant impact on the bottom line. United, very well run airline is saying that. American is saying that. I think the airlines that could be potentially vulnerable are the discount, deep discount carriers that are really impacted by higher fuel prices. And whether they can or cannot pass that on to their customers is really going to be the issue.
- [25:59]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah. All right, Brian, let's turn to you. What do you think in your mind ultimately led to Spirit Airlines demise and did fuel prices play a big role?
- [26:08]
Brian Chung
Yeah.
- [26:09]
And look, certainly I think that the recent headlines have suggested that that was kind of the nail in the coffin. But you also have to remember this is an airline that had been struggling financially for years. They filed for bankruptcy twice in the last two years. They had actually most recently filed for bankruptcy in August of last year. They were hoping to emerge from this summer. But of course those higher jet fuel costs did lead to them ultimately going belly up. Now, I should point out that when we talk about Spirit's business model, again, they were the low discount carrier. But I think one thing I've been hearing from analysts over the weekend was that something that they didn't see coming was all the mainline carriers like Delta, United and American going with Basic Economy and competing right there with them on those prices. It's going to be the same situation where you have to pay for a carry on bag, pay to pick your seat, pay for all the extras. But that was a way that they were able to take some of that business away from Spirit. And the jet fuel was certainly probably the death knell for that discount carrier.
- [27:03]
Ryan Nobles
So. So now that Spirit is no longer a player, what could it mean for those discounted fares that some of these bigger airlines are offering? Could those potentially go away?
- [27:13]
Brian Chung
Yeah, well, I mean, people that have searched for a flight may have noticed at times that, oh wait, I could get a cheap Spirit flight, but actually I'm seeing the same price with Basic Economy over at Delta, United or American. Now certainly Spirit not being there might increase the ability for those other carriers to raise their prices if they don't have a low discount carrier to compete against. But you have to remember Spirit was not the only discount carrier in the space. There's Frontier and then in some regions, like in the Northeast, for example, there's Breeze Airways. So it's not like they were the only low discount model. And again, it could be in the business interest of those large carriers to keep those discount prices to keep market share.
- [27:51]
Ryan Nobles
And it's not the first time we've seen an airline file for bankruptcy. But they've in the past been able to continue to operate. What made Spirits this situation different?
- [27:59]
Brian Chung
Well, I mean, they were in bankruptcy prior to all of this, again since August of last year. But I think the big story in the past was that a bankrupt carrier might just get eaten up by another carrier. You do have to remember that there were merger talks during the Biden administration to try to save Spirit. Obviously, the operating environment today is very different, but this is a carrier that just was not able to get a lifeline. They asked the government for one in the form of $500 million, but that was just not anything that the creditors of Spirit were willing to take on. Because guess what? If the took on that particular stake, well, that would make the government the first to get paid. If there were to be further financial troubles, that meant that those creditors would get bumped back in line. That was something they certainly didn't want to do and might have explained why Spirit ultimately failed over the weekend.
- [28:44]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, Brian Chung, Tom Costello, thanks to both of you. We appreciate it. Up next, a federal judge apologizes to the suspected gunman in last week's White House Correspondent's Dinner attack while criticizing the government's handling of his confinement as excessive. We'll explain. You're watching Meet THE press. Now. Let's kickstart your wellness journey with the Start Today app.
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Richard Engel
Breaking news just coming in moments ago.
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Laura Jarrett
Let's just take a step back.
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Ryan Nobles
Welcome back. Turning now to the issue of abortion as the Supreme Court temporarily restored full access nationwide to the abortion pill mifepristone, granting the pills manufacturers a week long stay after the fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday blocked a Biden era rule that allowed the drug to be dispensed through the mail, effectively allowing it to be sent to states with strict abortion bans. Medication abortions using misifepristone account for more than half of all abortions in the U.S. in 2024, the Supreme Court rejected an attempt to overturn the FDA approval of mifepristone, saying those who challenged the drug's approval did not have standing to sue. Joining me now is senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett and our health reporter Aria Bendix. Laura, so the Supreme Court has paused the appeals court ruling. What does that allow for and could that stay be extended if the court ultimately hears arguments and rules on this issue issue?
- [31:09]
President Donald Trump
Yeah.
- [31:10]
Laura Jarrett
Hey Ryan, the best way to think about this is this is a pause essentially to allow the status quo. Everything operates like normal. The pill stays on the market. You can still receive it through the mail, you can still do telehealth. And this allows Louisiana, which was the one that challenged the rule in the first place, a chance to now respond to the drug makers who are saying, please, justices, do not allow this to happen. Now Louisiana is going to get their shot to tell the justices why they think the lower court actually got it right. Now we don't know know yet whether the justices will ultimately take this case up, but the fact that they've done this stay to allow a cooling off period does suggest that they are willing to at least entertain some back and forth on this.
- [31:47]
Ryan Nobles
Ryan, and this request to the court is coming from the drug makers themselves as opposed to patients or providers. How does that impact the case or the arguments around it?
- [31:56]
Laura Jarrett
Yeah, the drug makers here have been a big player even in that case two years ago, as you mentioned, in all the litigation around mifepristone. Danko is one of the main players here, GenBioPro, another one. And they're the ones ones who are saying, look, we have the vested interest in here. We're the ones that essentially are the keys to the market here and are most affected when you start making wholesale changes to whether it can be on the market or it can be sent through the mail. Obviously doctors, patients, we've heard a lot from over the weekend about this as well. They have a vested interest too. But the drug makers themselves are the ones who obviously are bringing this to scotus. And so they're the one who sort of teed it up for the justices, if you you will.
- [32:37]
Ryan Nobles
And Laura, the court has been somewhat reluctant to get into specifics on the issue of abortion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. They did, however, block a challenge to the FDA approval of mifepristone back in 2024, should we read into that? Could that be a precedent for this case?
- [32:52]
Laura Jarrett
Yeah. If folks at home are wondering like didn't we already do this all over again? That was a different case because it was brought by anti abortion advocates and doctors who never had any intention of using mifeprostone or describe or prescribing it at all. They just wanted it completely wholesale off the market. And in that, the Supreme Court said you don't have any standing, you don't have any vested interest in here because you don't actually want to use mifepristone. This one is narrower.
- [33:15]
Brian Chung
Right.
- [33:16]
Laura Jarrett
Because it's just about being able to prescribe it via telehealth and being able to send it through the mail. And so the justices may treat it a little bit differently and they may look at that standing issue differently, but we won't know until in fact they decide to take it up, Ryan, which I imagine they will do.
- [33:31]
Ryan Nobles
And what's the timeline? How soon will we know if they're going to take it up and then if they do take it up, how long will it be before they have some sort of clarification on it on this?
- [33:39]
Laura Jarrett
Right. So we have this one week pause to allow Louisiana to make its case. So we will know by this time next week, next Monday, probably within the next half an hour zone by this time next Monday what in fact they want to do. But they don't have to decide to hear it this spring. Right. We're already well into this term. They usually decide the biggest cases by the end of June or early July. So they may say, look, we're going to just keep this day, keep the status quo and decide to hear it next fall.
- [34:04]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, that's great. Thank you Laura, for that. We appreciate it. Ariel, let's turn to you now and let's talk about the push from abortion opponents and how that differs from the case we saw in 2024. Why are they so focused on the drug mifepristone?
- [34:18]
Tom Costello
Right. So as Laura outlined, it was a much bigger swing that anti abortion groups were taking in 2024, essentially seeking a full ban on mifepristone. This case is a little different because it is seeking to challenge just one FDA regulation that allows mifepristone to be prescribed via telehealth and then sent to patients in the mail. Now as for the question of why mifepristone, it's in many ways an target than the other drug involved in a medication abortion known as misoprostol.
- [34:47]
Ryan Nobles
For one thing.
- [34:48]
Tom Costello
Mifepristone is part of a drug safety program through the FDA called rems, which can place additional restrictions on how it's used. And then mifepristone is used primarily for abortions and miscarriage management, whereas misoprostol has a range of other medical uses that would make it much trickier to ban or restrict access.
- [35:08]
Ryan Nobles
Right, but is there any evidence to suggest that mifepristone use at home could be dangerous? I mean, what are the potential ramifications for telehealth and people who may not live near a doctor's office or even in a state where abortion remains legal?
- [35:22]
Tom Costello
Right. So telehealth was a game changer for people in rural areas or who didn't have the money or time to travel to an in person abortion clinic. It was also largely responsible for maintaining abortion access in the wake of the DOG decision. But we do have data. In addition to expanding access, we know it's safe and effective. As safe and effective, in fact, as taking mifepristone in person in a clinic. The important point in both cases is to see a doctor and have a consultation first, whether that's via telehealth or in person.
- [35:54]
Ryan Nobles
And just talk to us broadly about how significant this is in the fight over abortion access, especially considering that the President has repeatedly said he's not in favor of a national ban, but that the issue should be left to stand states.
- [36:06]
Tom Costello
Right. This is arguably the biggest attack on abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade four years ago. We had a brief period over the weekend where abortion providers were scrambling to consult their legal teams to see whether they could actually send out abortion pills that they had already earmarked to ship. So lots of chaos and confusion. But I should note that abortion providers weren't completely surprised by this decision. Many had already been making contingency plans, and several told me today they still plan to offer telehealth abortion in all 50 states, regardless of how this Louisiana lawsuit plays out.
- [36:41]
Ryan Nobles
Ryan, and just one more for you before you go. Aria. You mentioned that this is also used to treat miscarriages. Would miscarriage treatment also be covered under this ruling? Could there be a danger for women dealing with that if this ruling went in favor of the anti abortion lobby?
- [36:57]
Tom Costello
Yeah, there's the same fear here that we had in the 2024 legal case that it could have some downstre effects. If this case restricts access to mifepristone, then people who want to use mifepristone for reasons other than an abortion might not be able to get their hands on it. But that's a hypothetical concern right now. And right now, abortion providers are interested in making sure that this drug is available to anyone who wants it.
- [37:20]
Ryan Nobles
Okay. Aria Bendix, thank you so much for your reporting. We appreciate it. We're going to turn now to some other legal news. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defending the Justice Department's indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. Sunday on Meet THE Press. Comey denies the charges. Blanche telling Kristen that prosecutors have collected a, quote, body of evidence to support their claim that Comey threatened the life of President Trump. And saying that the evidence goes beyond this photo that Comey posted on social media of seashells forming the numbers 8647.
- [37:52]
Todd Blanche
So again, this is not just about a single Instagram post. This is about a body of evidence that the grand jury collected over the series of about 11 months. That evidence was presented to the grand jury. And it's not the government, it's not the Department of Justice, it's not Todd Blanch that returned an indictment against James Comey. It's a grand jury part of the judicial process.
- [38:14]
Ryan Nobles
Meanwhile, a federal magistrate judge here in Washington has ordered the D.C. department of Corrections to explain by tomorrow where the alleged White House correspondent's dinner gunman will be housed inside the D.C. jail. The judge issuing an apology to Cole Allen. Allen and said he was, quote, very troubled about the conditions he'd been facing since his arrest over the weekend. Allen's attorney said their client was on suicide watch, leading him to be held on 24 hour lockdown alone in a padded cell. That status has since been lifted, but we learned today that he's also being held without a shirt or pants and without access to a Bible. We also learned today that Allen told FBI agents he didn't think he'd survive the planned attempt. Pack after the break. With six months to go until the midterms, President Trump's approval ratings slide to new lows as affordability issues drive voters anxieties to new highs. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. As we mentioned earlier, new polling shows the president's approval rating has fallen to some politically perilous territory for him and his party, party driven in part by a 17 point drop in support from his 2024 voters, raising questions of whether a fraying Trump coalition could spell trouble for Republicans in November. Joining me now is our panel, Daniela Diaz, congressional reporter for notice, Josh Orton, Democratic strategist and president of Demand justice and TW Origi The Republican strategist and vice president of the Push Digital Group. And not the only TW in the world we've come to know.
- [39:56]
TW Origi
But, but I topped the list.
- [39:57]
Ryan Nobles
Thank you.
- [39:58]
TW Origi
The best, very much, I like to think.
- [40:00]
Ryan Nobles
All right, thank you. All right, Daniela, let's start with you. Obviously, I can't imagine you can find too many Republicans that would tell you they like these poll numbers. But the question I have is, are they really worried about them or are they hoping that something's going to change between now and November?
- [40:14]
Brian Chung
When I talk to House Republicans privately, especially those in battleground districts, they are very concerned. This is why they feel it's really important to break from Trump on the campaign trail. But as we know, that's not something that the president like to see in public when House Republicans break from him in terms of anything that he's trying to do in the White House. But look, it's, it's going to come down to what happens before November. A lot of things can change between now and then that as we know, voters have, you know, what we've seen really vote on what they're feeling at that moment. So it could come back around. But as of now, if I were a House Republican in a tough race, I'd be really worried.
- [40:49]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah. You know, Danielle says it, I hear the same thing. It's going to, to be, you know, talk to me in August, talk to me in October. But look at these numbers. Net approval Rating, Cost of living, 53 points under. Inflation, 45 points under. Iran, 33 points under. The list goes on and on. Obviously, Donald Trump is the ultimate comeback kid. He's come back from worse numbers than this. But a lot of times his political capital doesn't transfer to these folks that are further down ballot. And these are pretty big deficits to make up between now and November. What are Republicans thinking?
- [41:21]
TW Origi
Yeah, it's definitely a concern. I, I think a lot of Republicans are saying we want a more consistent message coming out of this White House touting the wins that we do have. Obviously, it's always the economy, stupid. Obviously, Iran is casting a huge shadow over everything right now, especially when it comes to prices, gas prices, etc. But if we had a consistent message going from the White House to sort of inform the candidates down ballot to sort of get us all on the same page, that would be really helpful. But I want to make one other point here. Let's not confuse Don Trump's falling popularity with Democratic popularity.
- [41:55]
Ryan Nobles
I'm going to get there.
- [41:56]
TW Origi
Okay.
- [41:57]
Julia Ainslie
Okay.
- [41:57]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah.
- [41:57]
Courtney Kuby
Yeah.
- [41:58]
TW Origi
There is a Huge divide there and it's showing up in generic polling.
- [42:02]
Ryan Nobles
Yeah. So I gave TW a rough poll. I'm going to give you a rough poll now, Josh, because TW is exactly right. Donald Trump's not popular, but neither are Democrats. Take a look at these numbers. Who would you vote for on a generic ballot? It's only a five point difference right now. And that's a generic candidate. Candidate. Your party has a lower net favorability than Republicans. Can you ignore the fact that Democrats right now aren't very popular? Don't they have to provide a different alternative to Donald Trump and the folks in his party?
- [42:32]
President Donald Trump
Look, I think one of the reasons that Donald Trump is in so much trouble is that he pledged when he was running again to take on the powerful, to take on big tech corporations, to take on the military industrial complex, to fight for workers. And he hasn't done that. And so that coalition is leaving him.
- [42:49]
Brian Chung
Now.
- [42:49]
President Donald Trump
The challenge for Democrats is to show that they will take on the powerful and that be when 60% of people are living paycheck to paycheck, that means actually standing up to AI corporations. It means standing up to the military industrial complex. It means actually fighting for workers and their salaries and their benefits. If they can do that, if they can show that they're the people that are actually fighting for people, they can steal those because those people are looking for fighters for them. It's who Donald Trump promised to be.
- [43:19]
Ryan Nobles
Let me show that favorability now. Number Again, Republican Party's net 18 negative favorable. Democrats are net 20 negative. That would tell me, Josh, at this point, Democrats have yet to make that case. Is that fair?
- [43:30]
President Donald Trump
I think they need to do a better job of making that case. I think there are some Democratic candidates who are making that case. I think there are others who are, you know, essentially just falling back on attacking Trump. I think there's one other issue here for Republicans that gets to why I think they're in pretty bad shape. It's because they're pressing. President kind of doesn't care how they do in the midterms. He cares about his own elections with the exception of a Supreme Court vacancy, which I actually think is going to happen and which I think he needs congressional Senator Republicans to do. I don't really think he cares that much whether Republicans win or lose. He went to war with a country that has a direct lever to hurt the pocketbook of middle class Americans. That is not someone who's leading a party.
- [44:13]
Ryan Nobles
Let's let TW respond to that. Are you concerned that the President, President isn't concerned enough about down ballot Republicans in the midterms.
- [44:19]
TW Origi
He cares. He doesn't want the last two years of his presidency to be bogged down in investigations that he thinks are fruitless to Iran. Unfortunately, the president doesn't have the luxury of making every foreign policy decision based on what the price of oil might be after the fact. Clearly, he thought there was a massive threat. He acted on it. We saw some news today about ships going through. Hopefully we get peace. But to the broader point there, I do think he cares a lot and I think you'll see him.
- [44:47]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, well, listen, I got to move to Danielle here and talk about the other big wild card here for the midterms, which is of course, redistricting. Florida signing a new map into law. Louisiana pausing their primaries as they appear to redraw their districts. We still don't really know what could happen in Virginia. The Supreme Court could overturn the maps that the the state passed into law a couple weeks ago. You know, if the president seems pretty focused on redistricting, what overall impact do you think this is going to have on this election? And it could it be the Republicans last hope of holding on to the majority in the fall?
- [45:22]
Brian Chung
Let me ask your answer your second question for us. And I think yes, this could be their last hope for trying to hold on for the fall. But look, it's not over. TW and I were just talking behind the scenes and it seems like it's really becoming a tit for tat issue. One state moves, another state moves. One state moves, another state moves. You didn't mention Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries just released a statement that he's going to work with Joe Morelli to try to have redistricting in New York 2028. I mean, this couldn't go past 2026. And that's because of the ruling we saw last week in the Supreme Court because of what happened in Louisiana. So when this ends, who knows? And it's unclear right now as of this moment that we're talking what kind of net seats we're going to see either party have ahead of November because it's not over.
- [46:04]
Ryan Nobles
And what the president said today is that he's hoping for 20 additional House seats in the upcoming midterms. TW is that realistic given where we are in the calendar?
- [46:13]
TW Origi
I'm not so certain. And look, as we saw in Indiana and other places, state legislators have a huge say in this and they don't always like to be pushed around or told what to do. Look, I, I always sort of laugh at this question of redistricting and gerrymandering because it's an OG American problem. We've been dealing with this since the early 1800s, and it still isn't going away.
- [46:34]
Ryan Nobles
After the vice president from that area,
- [46:36]
TW Origi
the governor of Massachusetts, it was Gary Mandarin. But anyway, so we're still dealing with it. What is the solution? I don't know. The way we're headed is quite bad. I think Virginia was an abomination. And I think when we keep doing this tit for tat, it's going to get worse before it gets better.
- [46:53]
Ryan Nobles
And that's not good for democracy, is it, Josh?
- [46:55]
President Donald Trump
It's not good for democracy. But I think what Republicans found is that Democrats are actually willing to fight on this. I think Democrats operate with one, have operated with one hand tied behind their back for so long, long Republicans just sort of assumed that would continue. And what you're seeing is they're actually willing to step up to this fight. And I just don't think it's going to wind up being a net positive for them over the long run.
- [47:14]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, Danielle, quickly, before we go, your colleagues at notice have done some terrific work on this issue of sexual harassment on Capitol Hill in the wake of the resignations of Congressman Swalwell and Tony Gonzalez. And now additional reporting from your team about the number of people that have been investigated by the House Ethics Committee. Talk to us a little bit about this reporting, and what does it tell us about the culture on Capitol Hill right now?
- [47:36]
Brian Chung
It's clear that there is a culture on Capitol Hill right now that hurts women. I mean, we've been seeing time and time again a lot of comfortableness between members of Congress and women on Capitol Hill. Of course, it can go either way. But what I'm hearing from members who I'm talking to and staffers as well, because I helped break the news about Eric Swalwell at notice is this, that the investigation process on the Hill is so slow, it needs to really be ramped up, be done better, more transparency. And so far, notice has broken the news that Congressman Chuck Edwards has been investigated and that Jim Costa has been investigated by the House Ethics Committee. But if they had not reported that, my amazing colleagues at notice, we wouldn't have known.
- [48:19]
Admiral Brad Cooper
Right.
- [48:20]
Ryan Nobles
And one of the things that your colleagues found out was that the folks that are making these complaints felt as though their voices weren't heard. They went through the process of the investigation, and basically the Ethics Committee decided there's nothing to see here. What does that tell you if you're a young person who feels very victimized,
- [48:33]
Brian Chung
look at as the woman at the table? It's clear that this is an ongoing problem we've seen on Capitol Hill. This is not the last time we're probably going to see something like this. It's certainly not the first time. I know that there's members on both sides of the aisle trying to figure out ways to make this a better process. But so far, a lot of question marks on certainly how to do that while still protecting people in these very sensitive situations.
- [48:56]
Ryan Nobles
Okay, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you guys all for being here. Tw the best. TW Josh and Danielle, you guys talking about, too. We appreciate you being here. Thanks so much. Still to come, how immigrants, an issue that started as President Trump's biggest asset, is now turning into a political liability heading into the midterms. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. As we noted earlier, with six months to go until the midterms, President Trump's approval rating is underwater on every single key issue in the new Washington Post ABC News poll, and that includes immigration and the situation at the US Mexico border. While the president gets his best ratings on those two issues, more people still disapprove than approve of his handling of those issues, which helped him win the White House in 2024. Joining me now is NBC News senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainslie. She's also the author of the new book Undue the Inside Story of Trump's Mass Deportation Program. Julia, first off, congrats on the book. We're so excited for you and we appreciate your success on. But tell me what most surprised you during your research for this book.
- [50:11]
Julia Ainslie
You know, I think, Ryan, at first it was just the relentless pace. I've covered immigration since 2014. And in 2025, I realized there was something really different that we were witnessing. There were just countless executive orders coming out telling people that they would have their social media looked at if they wanted to come for legal applications for immigration into the country, new ways of banning asylum at the border. It seemed like everywhere we turned there was something different. But what surprised me, especially after I started doing the reporting and started at least started cataloging it and started interviewing people, is I realized there were actually quite a few people inside DHS who were really upset about what was happening and they felt that they didn't have the pathway to be able to voice those concerns. In fact, there was a six hour meeting in the very beginning of the Trump administration where there were employees who were worried about how they could handle Corey Lewandowski, who was calling a lot of the shots at dhs. And rumor or not, they were worried that if he was in a relationship with the secretary, Kristi Noem, they wouldn't be able to voice those concerns because of that relationship. And I also have details in the book about many employees who lost their jobs or were reassigned to lesser jobs because they spoke out about policies that they thought were either ethically questionable or perhaps illegal.
- [51:32]
Ryan Nobles
You also write about how the expansion of executive power in the Trump administration's mass deportation program, you get into detail on that. Can you give me some examples of that and how important has it been in the Department of Homeland Security's implementation of this program?
- [51:47]
Julia Ainslie
Yeah, Ryan. Well, you just laid it out perfectly with those polling numbers that this has consistently been one of Donald Trump's top issues and it helped him get elected coming in to 2025. And so he used this issue to expand executive power. And so I tell people, even if immigration isn't something you feel particularly passionate about, it's important you understand it and what happened because it was a way that Trump used that issue to expand executive power, I can tell you a number of ways. One, ICE officers no longer even needed to fill out worksheets on who they were going to arrest anymore because they could start arresting people based on their characteristics. That came from a directive from Stephen Miller. Also, we saw the vast expansion of social media monitoring of foreign students. There's a revelation in the book where Stephen Miller, through a messenger, sent word to ICE that they needed to identify students who had posted anything on social media that was anti the Trump administration and then find underlying crimes that they could be arrested for that was ultimately pushed back on. And then, of course, there's the Alien Enemies Act. And as we also reveal in the book, there were countless opportunities for the Trump administration to comply with a federal court order to turn around immigrants that were bound for that seekot prison in El Salvador. And they simply did not do that. So a number of ways they asserted executive power in ways that are just never been done.
- [53:09]
Ryan Nobles
Well, Julia, congrats on this new book, Undue Process is what it's called. It's inside the story of Trump's Mass deportation Program. We so appreciate you being on and we thank you for watching. We'll be back tomorrow with more MEET the Press now. There's more news ahead on NBC News now.
- [53:26]
Kate Snow
Hi, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor, host of the podcast the Drink. This month I'm grabbing a Matcha latte with comedian Ted Taylor Tomlinson. The Drink is always about someone's journey to the top, and Taylor's story is remarkable. She tells us all about her unlikely path from performing in churches all the way to headlining her own Netflix specials like her latest Prodigal Daughter. And she opens up about her religious upbringing, what drew her to stand up, and how she feels when she gets on that stage. Hope you'll listen and follow the Drink wherever you get your podcasts.