Meet the Press NOW — May 14

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Welcome to meet the press now. I'm Kristen Welker, and we begin with the president. since high-stake summit in China as he looks to forge a more cooperative relationship with Beijing amid major tensions between the two nations tied to Taiwan, trade, and of course the war with Iran. Today, China rolling out a literal red carpet with President Xi Jinping greeting President Trump in a formal welcome ceremony, complete with schoolchildren jumping and cheering while waving flags, a military honor guard, and the performance of both countries' national anthems. The two leaders then sitting down for the start of the summit.

President Xi Jinping saying the U.S. and China should be partners, not rivals, and that the world has come to a new crossroads, President Trump, in turn, praising his relationship with the Chinese leader. We've had a fantastic relationship. We've gotten along when there were difficulties. We worked it out. I would call you and you would call me. And whenever we had a problem, people don't know.

Whenever we had a problem, we worked out very quickly. We're going to have a fantastic future together. Such respect for China, the job you've done. You're a great leader. I say it to everybody. You're a great leader. Sometimes people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it's true. I only say the truth.

That closed-door meeting lasting over two hours, and according to both sides, included discussions about several contentious issues. Beijing saying President Xi Jinping warned the U.S. about, quote, clashes and even conflicts over Taiwan, the democratic self-governing island that China's communist government claims is part of its territory. The U.S. maintains an informal relationship with Taiwan, including the sale of billions of dollars of weapons. Notably, Taiwan was not mentioned in the White House readout of today's meeting. NBC's Tom Yamas sat down with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and asked him about the discussions tied to Taiwan. Here's part of that exchange.

President, she stressed to President Trump that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. Relations. Talk to me about that moment when that was discussed. Well, they certainly feel that way, and they always raise that issue. And we understand they raise that issue. From our perspective, any forced change in the status quo in the situation that's there now would be bad for both countries. One of the things that Chinese emphasize, which we agree, is strategic stability in our relationship, a constructive relationship, but also one that establishes strategic stability so that we don't have misunderstandings that can lead to broader conflict. And so we always reiterate the point. We hear them when they say this. We always respond

by saying anything that would compel or force a change and what we have now would be problematic. And that we would certainly, our policies on that have not changed. The summit in Beijing is also happening against the backdrop of the U.S. war with Iran with questions about what role China, a key economic partner for Tehran, could play in easing tensions, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz. In an interview with Fox News, President Trump says, President Xi Jinping told him he would, quote, love to help and said the Chinese leader wants to see the strait open. But traffic through the Strait of Ramos remains largely stalled, causing oil and gas prices to rise. Tom Yamis also asked Marco Rubio about his message to Americans who are facing the economic consequences.

Every day, Americans are spending more and more and they're saving less and less. How do you explain to them? Why is this taking so long in Iran? Well, first of all, I would say, obviously, it may say. seem like a long time from the perspective of other conflicts that we've seen in the past. It's only been weeks, not months, and certainly not years. But longer than the president has told the American people to be fair. Well, we achieved the missions of Epic Fury. As the president was leaving for China, did he make a mistake when he told a reporter that America's financial situation isn't playing, quote, even a little bit of a role in his motivations to make a deal with Iran? No, I think what the

president is claiming is that Iran's not going to use that as leverage against us. Doesn't that sound out of touch, though? I mean, Americans are spending so much for gas. Because I think what the president is making clear is that we're not going to let Iran use that as leverage. And I think what the president's making clear is if the Iranians think that they are going to use our domestic politics to pressure him into a bad deal, that's not going to happen. We've taken extraordinary measures to keep gas prices lower than they are in some other parts of the world, and they will go down. Joining me now is NBC News, senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez covering the president's trip in Beijing. Bonnie Lynn, director of the China PowerPower.

project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Also with me are NBC News Senior National Security correspondent Courtney Kubi and NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs and Chief Washington correspondent, Andrea Mitchell. Thanks to all of you for starting us off. Gabe, let me start with you traveling with the president a lot on the agenda today. Let's start with Iran. Talk to me about the key takeaways on that topic coming from the president's bilateral discussion with President Xi Jinping.

Well, Kristen, what's very interesting is we haven't really heard from the Chinese when it comes to Iran. You mentioned that the Chinese mentioned Taiwan right off the bat. But so far, President Trump has said that, yes, that President Xi Jinping offered to help when it came to the Iran war and offered to help do what he could to reopen the strait of Formuz. And the President Trump added that she made a commitment not to provide weapons to Iran. So far, though, we have no confirmation about any of that. fact, according to NBC News reporting, our colleague Dan DeLuos, according to two people familiar with the matter, that Chinese state companies have been in talks with Iranian officials about potentially selling weapons to Iran through third countries to conceal their origin. Now, it's

unclear if that's actually happened yet, but it really raises the question about whatever President Xi Jinping is saying to President Trump, will he follow through on that? Still, though, Trump administration officials so far say that Iran, excuse me, that China and the U.S. are on the same page. And Marco Rubio also telling NBC news that Iran has agreed that the Strait of Hormuz should not be militarized and should have no tolls required to go through it, a position that both the U.S. and China share, Chris. Yeah, and Gabe, as you say, Taiwan was the other significant topic of conversation. You heard Marco Rubio tell Tom Yamis there that China raised it. They always raise it. So no surprise there.

But President Xi Jinping with this warning of possible clashes, if the issue of Taiwan is not handled well, it wasn't mentioned in the White House readout. What are your sources telling you about those discussions, Gabe? Well, look, senior administration officials have been trying to downplay this for quite some time, even several days ago, saying that they expected the Taiwan issue to come up. But Kristen, what you pointed out is right. The fact, it's not that it came up. It's just how it came up. It came right off the bat. Before the two-hour meeting, behind closed doors was even finished. The Chinese foreign ministry was putting out that statement saying that President Xi Jinping brought it up, calling it the most important issue. With all of the other issues that are looming over the summit, China made a distinct choice to raise this first, perhaps laying the groundwork for future conflict,

or ramping up the pressure on Taiwan, Kristen. And Gabe, before I let you go there, we know that the president is there in China with several business executives, some really extraordinary scenes there. He announced that China has agreed to buy 200 Boeing jets, but that deal not necessarily etched in stone. What's the reality check there?

Well, look, officially, that hasn't been announced, although the president did mention that in an interview, and the Treasury Secretary have alluded to it. So we're expecting more firm details, perhaps, in the next couple of hours as this trip wraps up. But, Kristen, we should also mention that we've heard about this before. There's been other previous deals to buy a Boeing aircraft. And the truth is, this takes a long time for these aircraft to be built,

possibly into the next decade. Right now, Boeing has more than 6,000 or so unfilled orders, only so far this year, only 190 or so of these aircraft have been delivered. So even if China, that's a big question, if China follows through on the purchase of these aircraft, it could be many years before we see any economic benefit from this. However, the Trump administration is expected to tout that as a reason or as a way that President Trump is trying to secure American jobs in manufacturing, Christ. All right.

Gabe Gutier is traveling with a. President Trump reporting for us there overnight Beijing time. Gabe, thank you so much. Appreciate all your great reporting. Let me turn to Bonnie Lynn now. Bonnie, tell me what your key takeaways are so far from what we have witnessed. We saw that very warm welcome rolling out the literal red carpet for President Trump, that bilateral meeting between the two, the business executives there. What are your takeaways? Thank you, Kristen. I would start off by saying, Nothing so far has been surprising.

We knew going into this meeting that Taiwan was the top topic for China, in addition to stabilizing U.S.-China relations. I will point out that one thing that Xi Jinping has made clear is in the Chinese readout of what she said, he said that the two sides have agreed to a new vision of constructive and stable, constructive relations for the next three years. So I think the exact term was constructive strategic stability for the two countries. So it would be interesting to see how that is carried out moving forward. On Taiwan, I would just note that the wording that President Xi Jinping said is what we've seen so far the most severe and most blunt.

And I would know that even though he did not explicitly ask the United States to do anything, he did ask the United States to exercise extra caution in handling the Taiwan question. So I think that's implied, delay the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. A lot of things are implied by what President Xi Jinping said. So I agree that, going forward, we need to, China is very carefully watching what the United States is doing there. On Iran, I don't expect China to be putting much pressure on Iran to change its policies or to do much on the nuclear side. It was interesting that according to the U.S. readout that China agreed that Iran should not have nuclear weapons. But I think it's also important to note that right before a meeting with President Trump,

the Chinese foreign minister had met with the Iranian foremanister, and China had also said that it supported Iran's peaceful use of nuclear energy. So again, China's walking a very fine line right there. Is there anything, Bonnie, that you think that President Trump could press President Xi Jinping on in terms of, for example, helping to reopen the strait of four moves? Do you anticipate there will be any forward movement in that area? So China is interested in opening the Strait of her movies because the closure of the strait is impacting China economically.

But the problem is China doesn't want to take any hits, doesn't want to actually exert, doesn't want to have any costs for doing that. And it's not willing to put significant economic pressure on Iran. So I expect China to continue to have diplomacy with Iran, but I don't see China taking any major political or economic action to make that possible. What will you be watching for? Oh, go ahead. Yeah, very good.

In terms of what President Trump could make, ask for that I'm watching for the next day or so, and what more can come from the economic truth, extending the economic truths, and what more could we see in terms of either more Chinese agreement in terms of opening its markets to U.S. businesses? obviously there's 14 CEOs accompanying President Trump, what more we might see on soybeans and agriculture, which we haven't heard of yet. And will there be more promises in general in terms of Chinese investment in the United States? All right, Bonnie Lynn, thank you so much for your insights. We really appreciate it. Good to have you here. Andrea and Courtney, let me turn to you. Andrea, let's start with Taiwan. You heard Bonnie say no surprise, of course,

that China raised it, but certainly use some of its most blunt language that has been used in a bilateral meeting with the president. What do you make of that? And the fact of the White House didn't mention Taiwan in its readout. I thought it was tougher than I expected, having watched these summits before, and that in particular in the Chinese readout, not only was the word conflict used, but that the Chinese readout said that she also said, you know, raised the question about whether the two powers can avoid the Thucydides Trap. Well, a book by Graham Allison, the Harvard professor entitled The Thucydides Trap during Trump One, which came out during Trump One, points out that in over 500 years,

when a major power, a new power, challenges a superpower, there is conflict. They go to war 12 out of 16 times that that's happened in the past 500 years. five centuries, and this would be the 17th. So the odds are very much favoring conflict when a new rising power, China, tries to challenge the United States, the predominant superpower. And that's an ominous, very, you know, historic illusion by Xi Jinping. The kind of illusion, you know, Courtney and Kristen, you know, is not typically raised by Donald Trump. Trump in these kinds of meetings. So he, you know, doesn't, in the American readouts, they're very simple in plain vanilla. And in the Chinese go into great details, which seems to reflect what may

actually have happened in the meeting. Well, and what's so, you've covered so many of these trips, you know that those readouts contain so much information that's not necessarily written on the page. Andrea, you're absolutely right to point that out. Courtney, let me turn to you because As I was just discussing with Bonnie Lynn, one of the big questions is about arms sales to Taiwan. Will there be another one? The implication of what President Xi Jinping was saying to President Trump was, do not send more weapons to Taiwan. How do you see that unfolding? And it comes on the heels of just a couple of months ago when the U.S. approved the biggest arms package to Taiwan in history of our $11 billion.

And it included some things that were very clearly for Taiwan's defense in the case of an attack. attacked by China. There is supposed to be another arms package that is even bigger that's under consideration right now. It's not been approved. It's not really clear where that stands. And that one includes some very, some advanced air defense systems. Look, based off of the readouts and what we've heard so far, there's no indication that arms sales are going to stop to Taiwan. But there is also the possibility that if, in fact, there's enough pressure from the Chinese government, that it's possible that the U.S. could slow roll them. And frankly, right now, when the U.S. is already having their own problems

with munitions and providing them to NATO for Ukraine, you could see that being one of the ways that they would go forward. And there is some suggestion that they're already slow rolling. Deliveries have not come as quickly as the Taiwanese had wanted. They're years. They already take years, you know? I know you'll both track that very closely. Andrea, I want to play one more exchange between our Tom Yamis and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. Get your reaction on the other side take a look. Can you help me understand what exactly did President Trump ask President Xi Jinping for when it comes to Iran? He didn't ask him for anything. I mean, we're not asking for China's help or we don't need their help. But he raises the issue. We raise the issue to make clear

what our position is. Was that notable that he said we didn't, we don't need their help? What do you make of that? That's also what the president suggested in part of his comments just before leaving on the South Lawn when at one point he said, yes, it's going to be a long talk. and then about 30 seconds later, he said, we're not going to really talk about that because we don't need their help. I think they're low-balling it, lowering expectations,

and I think from other things that have been said subsequently in other interviews, it's indicated that they did ask or at least raise the issue of the straight. And actually, as Bonnie was pointed out, China does not want a pressure Iran right now and has a lot of strong. stockpiles, they've got enough oil and natural gas that they're providing some of their Asian

neighbors who are really straight, you know, in a stranglehold because of the strait. And they also want to, they do want to reopen it, though partly because of their Gulf partners. They're very close to the Saudis and the other, you know, Gulf countries that need the straight to be opened. So they want it open, but they don't want to pressure Iran. And they'd kind of like to see the president and the U.S. twisting in the wind on this. Well, it's certainly when he returns home going to be one of the biggest issues that he is still going to have to try to deal with. Courtney, let me ask you about some new reporting that you have Chinese state-controlled companies have discussed with Iranian officials a possible plan to sell weapons. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, so we don't know if any have actually made their way and we actually don't know what kind of weapons specifically they'd be looking at. But the idea would be that it would be these state-controlled companies that would provide them through an intermediary, through another country, so that it would be difficult for them to trace. they would ultimately make their way to Iran. Now, we've seen China, and I'm just going to use the word metal, in conflicts recently, including in Ukraine. But the real difference here is China, as far as we know,

and we ask that, we still ask the question all the time. As far as we know, China's only provided non-lethal support to Russia for use in Ukraine. If in fact they were to move to lethal support, weapons for Iran to use, that would be significant here. That would be a red line. Yes. They've done dual use in the past. That's been raised. at various conferences. You and I were in Munich when that was raised. But in fact, if it's actually weapons, that would, I think, be an American red line. Yeah. Let me ask, because there's another piece of reporting I want to ask about concerns about the Pentagon's munition stockpile. Courtney, let me get you to weigh in, and then Andrew will get your thoughts. I mean, this has been a problem

that has been raised, and the administration just continues to deny it. So we now know that the Pentagon, And despite their claims that they are building up their stockpiles and there's two and three and four times as many that are being built, we know, according to two U.S. officials and two sources familiar, that in fact there have not been any new contracts penned or inked to actually move forward with building these munitions. And why that's so important is because the time that it takes. So think about something like a tomahawk. It's been extremely important in the both in the conflicts with Iran last year, the 12-day war, and then during this war this year, the U.S. has burned through about somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000, potentially more of their 3,000 tomahawks, it takes years to create those. And they only make several hundred a year. If, in fact, they are so much in the hole and they are not already building new ones, that means we're years out from actually rebuilding the stockpile. Andrea, we have some sound with Secretary Higgs at responding to questions about the munitions of the Pentagon has earlier this week. Take a look and I'll get your reaction on the other side. I think, first of all, the munitions issue has been

foolishly and unhelpfully overstated. We know exactly what we have. We have plenty of what we need. And the reason we're accelerating a lot of this is because the department's been static and how it does this kind of business. Andrea? That is gobbledygook. I mean, he's not answering the question. And as Courtney points out, and who tracks this so closely, there's a real issue of the spend the spend rate on these weapons. Well, and it's obviously yet another issue that's going to loom so large over this war with Iran that was supposed to be over in four to five weeks, and now it is still ongoing. Thank you so much, Andrea Mitchell, Courtney Cueby.

Great to have you both here. Really appreciate it. Thanks for starting us off. And tune in tonight for more of Tommy Amos' one-on-one interview with Secretary of State Marco Marco Rubio on a special edition of Nightly News live from Beijing. Coming up, the view from Congress. on today's high-stakes presidential summit and the future of Washington's relationship with Beijing.

My one-on-one interview with the Republican chair of the House Committee tasked with shaping U.S. policy on China is next. Stay with us. You're watching with the press now.

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Welcome back. As we mentioned, President Trump is spending the night in China after the first day of his summit with President Xi Jinping. The leaders met for more than two hours. discussing a number of topics, including trade, the war with Iran and Taiwan. Joining me now is the chair of the House Select Committee on China, Republican Congressman John Molinar of Michigan. Congressman Molinar, thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I want to start off by getting your impression so far of the president's trip to China. We have seen the two leaders meet.

President Trump has had a lot of public praise for the visit. far, do you think the U.S. President should see President Xi Jinping as an adversary or an ally? Well, I think the President has taken the right tone where he's being very respectful, gracious. He's receiving a warm welcome. And it's important to set that context because there are some very difficult issues that need to be resolved. And so I think it's been a very important meeting. and they're going to have future meetings as well. But my goal here would be to say that, you know, it's friendly, but at the same time, we have challenging issues that need to be resolved.

Let's talk about one of them, Taiwan. You're, of course, a very strong advocate for strengthening Taiwan's ability to defend itself against China. I want to read you a part of this statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. This was after the meeting between President Trump and President. in which President Xi Jinping apparently warned President Trump that mishandling Taiwan would cause, quote, clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy. What was your reaction to reading that, Congressman? Well, it's very clear we have different views on Taiwan. We have the Taiwan Relations Act that governs our actions towards Taiwan, which basically says we will defend, support the defense of Taiwan. We want to see peace across the Taiwan Strait and the status quo. And we recognize the value of having a free democratic island of Taiwan that has contributed so much to the world's prosperity.

And we are committed to its defense. President Trump, more than any other president, has supplied military capabilities to Taiwan, $11 billion in munitions just in. in the past since December. And so Xi Jinping views it very differently. He has told his military to be prepared to take Taiwan by force if necessary. But he's moving to goalpost because the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, has never governed Taiwan

and is simply aspirational on his part to try and somehow take Taiwan by force if necessary. What do you make of the fact that the United States did not include a mention of Taiwan in its official readout. Should the president have drawn a very firm line with President Xi Jinping? And of course, we weren't in that conversation. But would that have been your expectation? No, I, President Trump focused on what the American people are thinking about, making sure that China fulfills its responsibilities of buying American farm crudeose and products, making sure that the critical minerals supply chain is there, making sure that

American workers are treated fairly. And one of the other things that President Trump has been very strong on is the area of fentanyl and China's role in the fentanyl poisoning of American citizens. And he has pushed back on that and is going to continue to build on those successes of previous meetings. Congressman, do you worry, though, without publicly pushing back against that warning from President Xi Jinping, which has now been all over the headlines that the United States is allowing China to take a position of strength and to project strength on this issue of Taiwan. Well, we have to note that it was China's, the readout that they put out there.

And the Chinese Communist Party is very public relations, always trying to manipulate the message. Of course, their people don't get to hear the truth. They don't have a free press. And the CCP is always trying to influence Taiwan, scare the Taiwanese people, threaten do gray zone activities. And so this is simply one more case. Marco Rubio was very clear that the policy of the United States toward Taiwan has not changed. We are governed by the Taiwan Relations Act and the seven principles that come through that. And so I think it was very clear without provoking some kind of a major confrontation.

Let me ask you about some of this new reporting we have here at NBC News, which has learned from two sources familiar with the matter that Chinese state-controlled companies have, in fact, discussed a plan to sell weapons to Iran. Now, President Trump says President Xi Jinping told him that he would not give military equipment to Iran. But what do you make of that reporting? Does it concern you? It does concern me. And we've seen how China has enabled Russia's war against Ukraine. We know that China supplies parts, dual-use capability parts that can be used for military applications to Russia as well as to Iran.

We know that China was enabled Iran to access satellite imagery that helped target different U.S. facilities and interests. So we know that China, while they maintain publicly that they're very neutral in these areas and trying to be a peacemaker, they are actually fulmeting this kind of discord. They're also buying 90 percent of Iran's oil and much of the energy from Russia. So they're financially enabling these bad actors as well. Let me ask you on Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran's blocking of the Strait of Herbio said Iran's blocking of the Strait of Moose was raised with China, but that the U.S. did not ask specifically for China's help.

Marco Rubio said it's not needed. Of course, as you know, Congressman, gas prices continue to go up here in the U.S. Do you believe that there is a role for China to play in reopening the strait? Do you want President Trump to press China on that point? Well, I clearly, it was discussed. We are in a position of asking China to do something. on this because ultimately it's in their best interest to do something. They receive close to half of their energy through the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf region. That's something that is in their interest. They're currently using their stored resources, but eventually there's going to be pressure and pain on their economy. And so it's in their interest.

they should be responsible partners in this effort to keep the rule of law and the freedom of navigation through the straight-of-war moves. And Congressman, finally, I do want to get your reaction to something that President Trump said before he departed for China. This was earlier this week when he was asked about negotiations and how the U.S. economy factored into his thinking. Take a listen to what he had to say. So we're negotiating with Iran, Mr. President. For what extent are American financial statements motivating you to make a deal? Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon.

I don't think about American's financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all. Do you think it was a mistake for President Trump to say that, to send that message? I think the message he was sending is how committed he is to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. I think President Trump every day wakes up thinking what can he do to help the American people.

That's why we did the working family's tax cut that put more money in Americans' pockets. And we're going to continue to see gas prices come down as this conflict is resolved. But at the end of the day, a nuclear Iran or in Iran that's able to reach our shores, with ballistic missiles that carry nuclear warheads, fomenting terrorism around the world, is not in our best interest, and it threatens our current generations as well as future generations. So when he says the economy wasn't the factor in his negotiations on a given day, he's committed long term to help strengthening the American economy, and has done that and demonstrated that throughout his presidency.

All right, Congressman John Mollinard, thank you so much for being here today. We really appreciate it. And still to come, another day, another redistricting battle. This time it's South Carolina's Republican governor making moves to try to eliminate the state's only Democratic district. Will it work? You're watching. Eat the press now.

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Welcome back. South Carolina could become the next state to redraw its kids. congressional map. Republican Governor Henry McMaster is expected to announce a special session to address redistricting just days after several Republicans, state senators crossed party lines to reject a redistricting plan that would have likely cost longtime Democrat Jim Clyburn his congressional seat. Governor Henry McMaster's decision is a reversal from his insistence earlier this month that he would not hold a special session to redraw South Carolina's map. Meanwhile, here in Washington, House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries held a caucus-wide briefing today to discuss Democrats' efforts to combat redistricting efforts

triggered by the Supreme Court's decision that struck down part of the Voting Rights Act. Democrats warning that as many as a third of the congressional black caucus could be wiped out by GOP redistricting. NBC News, senior national political reporter Sahel Kippur joins me now from the Capitol. Sahil, thanks so much for being here. So what have you learned about the Democrats' strategy to try to counteract Republicans' potential? redistricting gains. Well, Kristen, the strategic options that Democrats have to directly counteract what Republicans are doing are very limited for several reasons, partly because of this late stage in the calendar. Many primaries have already taken place. In other cases, early voting is just about

happening and ballots are already getting out there. And secondly, because a number of Democrats in blue states essentially slapped handcuffs on themselves in terms of what they could do in terms of partisan redistricting that red states don't have. States like, Texas and Florida did not have any such restrictions. And those self-imposed restraints are not coming back to bite Democrats now that they want to escalate this war on redistricting. Then there is the fact that ahead of the 2026 elections, the centerpiece of the Democratic strategy is simply to use this anger to win big and to gain enough seats in the House to,

regardless of the Republican gains that they're going to make to redistricting, win enough seats to get to 218 at minimum. Take a listen to what Hakeem Jeffries said about, what they can do. do after that, looking to 2028? Over the next year or so, what you're going to see in state after state are Democrats making clear that we are not going to unilaterally disarm. And as a result of that, in places like New York, New Jersey, Oregon, as well as Washington, in Colorado, and of course, in Illinois and Maryland, we're going to take the steps necessary

to ensure that in advance of the 2028 election, we have a decisive and overwhelming response. So that's two years from now where they see the opportunities. Kristen, the one state that Democrats are watching again between now and the 2026 midterms is Maryland. There's one seat there held by the Republican Andy Harris, that Democrats suddenly feel a little bit more optimistic that they can work on their main legislator in the Maryland State House

who's been standing in the way of that in the wake of what Republicans have been doing. keep a number of Democrats here are keeping an eye on that. Well, it's just fascinating and fascinating to hear from Leader Hakeem Jeffries on all of this. Big picture, Sahel, before the Supreme Court ruling, as you well know, you and I've been covering this. You've been covering every twist in turn. Democrats were feeling quite emboldened and confident that they had a good chance of taking back the House. What is the sense now?

Do Democrats think they still have a path? Oh, they still have a path. and Democrats are so optimistic that they can win back control of the House of Representatives overall. What they know is that they lost the redistricting battle. It looked like it was going to be a wash between the two parties as recently as two weeks ago. Then Virginia happened. They lost the gerrymander. They did there up to four seats.

Then the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act came down essentially nuking Section 2 that has led to these red states moving. So look, what we're looking at is a mid-to-high single-digit gain on net by Republicans just on redistricting. but they're 18 Republican held seats, according to the Cook Political Report, in the toss-up map that Democrats can realistically win if they have a good year, Kristen. All right. Sahakpur, thank you so much, as always, for your reporting from Capitol Hill. Really appreciate it. Coming up after the break, main character, we're covering Vice President JD Vance's trip to the Pine Tree State today and what it could mean for one of November's most competitive Senate races. The panel is next right here on Meet the Press now.

Welcome back from Beijing to Bangor with President Trump in China. Vice President JD Vance hit the road today as well, traveling to Maine to stump for Republican congressional candidate and former governor Paul LePage, while also touting the White House's efforts to crack down on fraud. JD Vance's trip comes as both parties are gearing up for a major Senate fight in Maine, with Democrats trying to un-eastern. seat Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who got a shout out today from the VP. Take a look. My friend and former Senate colleague, Susan Collins, was not able to be here. Susan is back in D.C. She doesn't like to miss votes. And here's the thing I'll say about Susan Collins is sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins. I almost wish that she was more partisan. But the thing I love about Susan is she is independent because Maine is an independent state. And frankly, if she was as partisan,

as I sometimes wish that she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine. So let's give a shout out to Susan Collins, who's doing a great job. Joining me now is today's panel, Tulu Aloranipa, staff writer for the Atlantic, Taryn Rosencrantz, former managing director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,

and now the founder and CEO of New Blue Interactive. And Michael Dubke, who served as White House Communications Director in the first Trump administration, Thank you all for being here today a lot to unpack. Let's start with the Vice President in Maine to Lou. What do you make of his travels and this split screen that we're seeing? The VP in Maine, President Trump in Beijing with the Secretary of State. I think the VP is happy to be in Maine and not dealing with a lot of the foreign policy that we've got going on.

Iran, a lot of drama there. So he's happy to focus on domestic policy. It seems less complicated. And I thought what he did in sort of giving him. becoming sort of an endorsement, but sort of an anti-endorsement to Susan Collins. It's very interesting. There are politicians that say, if it'll help you, if I endorse against you, I will endorse against you, if it'll help you for me to speak out in favor of you. I'll do that. Obviously, JD Vance realizes that the Trump brand is not doing too well in Maine, and Susan Collins has been

able to be successful by sometimes bucking the president and the administration. And so he talked about how, you know, he gets frustrated with her. That may actually win her some votes. The fact that the VP and someone from the Trump administration is not necessarily always happy with her because she needs to win independence. She needs to win over people that are not happy about the gas prices or not happy about all the drama coming out of the Trump White House. And so that's part of what he's doing is being a deaf politician there, but also hoping that they hold on to that seat because they're going to need her to win in order to make sure that they're doing well in the Senate. So, Mike Doug, pick up on that point. I mean, what do you make of the vice president?

President's message broadly speaking, which was on fraud. But how he chose his words very carefully, particularly against the backdrop of this race with Susan Collins and Graham Platner. I am just happy that we've got one administration official talking about the economy out there. So I think this is fantastic with the Vice President being in Maine. I think waste, fraud, and abuse, that is part of the overall message. Problem is that we have right now is we've got to get gas prices down, We've got to text some of these other affordability problems. But I just want to say I thought the way he handled the Susan Collins question was definitely handled. I thought his presentation today was well received.

And he was finally on message for Republicans and this administration to start talking about the economy again and what we can do to make changes and fix it. It is going to be front and center affordability in the midterms. Taryn, let's talk about this Senate race in Maine because it is. It is a fascinating one. Graham Platner are now facing off against Susan Collins after Janet Mills dropped out of the primary race. How are Democrats viewing this right now? Republicans are obviously all hands on deck trying to save that Republican seat. Yeah. No, it's a very fascinating race. And I think one of unexpected turns a lot of the way here. But I think I said this before. Like she's kind of the great white whale for Democrats. That is a state they have been unable to beat her over and over and over again. So it's actually kind of expected that we would have the unexpected as being the way that maybe they finally do beat her. I do think, though, that if you had to make a move in this race, the best thing to do was to do exactly what JD Vance did, which was to say, you know, oh, she's not like us because they know that's why Mills was going to have a hard time against her if she had been the nominee, because she just, they were going to appear too much of the same. My Moby Dick is a little rusty, but the whale wins in the end, right?

that's what we're all hoping. That's a good point. That's a good point. That's a good point. That's why it's there, great. Pick up on Graham Platner. He is a candidate who has some baggage, and obviously you had Janet Mills trying to exploit that in the primary before she dropped out, really honing in on some of his controversial comments about women in the past. He's got some controversial tattoos.

He's apologized for a lot. lot of this, but how do you see this playing in a general election in Maine? He does seem to have some momentum right now, and he's picked up some big endorsements from progressives largely. He has momentum, and he has to be very grateful that he doesn't have to go through a long, expensive primary where he's going to be getting attacked over all of the things in his record. Now, that doesn't mean that those things are not going to come back up, especially as a general, is basically underway now, and he's got to prepare himself for a long summer of those negative attacks now that the general is basically underway. And so he, he's a general, you know,

He has tried to fight through a lot of that by pushing a message that's all about the affordability, all about the working class. He's very much on message. You know, he gets knocked off a message every time he has to respond to one of these controversies. But he seems to respond to them and then get right back on to message, whereas it's been difficult for Republicans writ large to be on message because they don't have that coming from the top. Mike, pick up on that point because he has so far survived a series of controversy swirling around his campaign. From the tattoos to the former tweets to the fact. if I've got my facts correct, he's on 100% disability, though he seems to be getting around the state very well. I mean, this is a candidate that I think has the teflon of the angst

that the citizens of Maine feel towards the federal government right now and probably towards the Trump administration. And that is the battle that Susan Collins has to get through. So back to the whale analogy and all of that, that she seems to win every time and somehow escapes and is reelected. This time, though, we can't seem as a party to be able to hang anything on this guy, and he's giving us glorious opportunities. Well, Taryn, I mean, Susan Collins is someone

who knows how to close. That's why she's held onto the seat for so long. So you're looking at this race, and Graham Platner might have momentum right now, but are Democrats concerned that they might fall short in Maine for that reason? Because she knows what she's doing as her career has proven.

Yeah, no one's taking anything for granted in Maine. I think they also still have to bring some Democrats to the table who are Mill's supporters. I mean, there's a lot here. And so I think everybody is like all hands on deck from the Democratic side to make sure that we can get this seat because this is one of the ones that we really are counting on to take the Senate. Let's talk about the president's comments before he left for China this week. I think we've talked about them every day, but they continue to have staying power. Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to get asked about the fact that the president was pressed on due. do you take the economy in consideration as you're having these discussions about Iran?

He said, no, I don't think about the economy in this context. I'm solely focused on trying to deprive Iran of a nuclear weapons program. How do you think that is going to play? Do you see that as having a staying power over the midterms? It's a pre-packaged ad for Democrats to use in these general election races that they're going to be running. Now, it may have just been a moment of candor from the president saying I focus on, you know, the real threat and trying to say that, yes, we are going to have high gas prices, but in comparison to having a nuclear arm in Iran is a much better sort of deal to get. But the way the president put

across the message showcases why Republicans have struggled so much to stay on message in an election that's about affordability because the president is going off message and giving across messages that do not align with their political instincts. And so it is clear that Republicans are going to face that clip over and over and over again, and they're going to have to answer for me. Mike, how do you... It's going to be a number. What do you think, Mike? What do you think of how Republicans have responded so far?

You have the VP saying, well, that's not what the president said. And you have similar reaction from Secretary of State of Murillo and on down. I mean, and I think Marco Rubio had a good line on this. You have to take it in the context of where it was given, number one. But I think they need to be forceful about this. What the president was saying is that he is highly focused on making sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, and nothing else matters to him. Now, if he had said that or some form of that, I think he would have been fine. The fact that this White House isn't also talking about

the economy, that's where my concern is. So I'm going to cut the president a little slack here. I think what he was saying is, look, I've got to focus on this issue. This is bigger than all of us, but they've got to also walk and chew gum at the same time and focus on the economy. All right, guys, we're out of time. Thank you so much for a great conversation. Really appreciate it to Lou Taryn and Michael. Coming up next, a key Supreme Court order on abortion access is just minutes away from expiring. We have the very latest in the legal case and where it goes from here with Laura Jarrett. So stay with us. You're watching. Meet the press now.

Welcome back. We are keeping a close eye on the Supreme Court as it considers its next step in a case that will determine how accessible the abortion pill, Mif Pristone is. The court issued a temporary order earlier this month blocking a lower court decision that would have prevented Miffipristone from being sent through the mail or ordered online. On Monday, the court extended that order until 5 p.m. Eastern today. Tony Me Now is NBC News, senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett, her new limited podcast series. Here's the scoop. Premier's Saturday. It focuses on the inside strategies behind some of the landmark Supreme Court cases of our lifetime. and how those decisions are shaping the cases before the court this term.

Laura, congratulations. We're excited to have you here. Thank you, Kristen. We're going to talk about your podcast in just a moment, but let's start off with the Supreme Court. What if the Supreme Court does nothing by 5 p.m. Eastern? I know you keep checking your phone. Nothing yet, right? I have been frantically checking to make sure the court loves to kick the can down the road, and that's what they did on Monday, Kristen, essentially giving themselves some more breathing room to mull this over.

We don't know what's happening behind the scenes. But if they do nothing by 5 p.m. in just a few minutes from now, 5 p.m. Eastern, that means that lower court federal appeals court ruling is in effect, which means you cannot get Mitha Pristone by the mail, which means even in blue states, you could not get it through the mail. You could not use telehealth. It would be a huge decision, which makes me think they're going to get their act together in a few minutes, and they're going to do a couple different things. They can buy themselves more time and just kick the can down the road further. They can say, hey, we're going to take this case up, but it's a big issue. We're going to. We're going to. to punt it till next term. Or they could say this is so major, Kristen, we are going to take it up this term, even though we only have a few weeks left in the term, because they usually do their big decisions by June. They could say, we're going to take it up and we're going to decide it by June. That would be hugely significant if we got a final ruling on this in just a few weeks. Let me ask you, just to put a fine point on this, the order that's been in place is temporary. But how has it impacted how telehealth providers have prescribed Mifraprisone, given

all of the uncertainty, Laura? Well, the makers would tell you this on again, off again is really quite detrimental to their rights. And it's part of why they've appealed to the Supreme Court to say, please give us a final ruling on this. Remember, the pill was sort of under threat years ago. And in that case, the Supreme Court said the people who are suing don't even want to use it. They don't have standing. Here, it's the state of Louisiana that's suing. And so the claim to standing and the state's interest is a little bit different. And it's not just taking it off the market entirely. It's just stripping it down to not being able to get it by mail. And so you could see a different outcome than we saw just a few years ago. All right, let's talk about your podcast,

which is going to focus on the Supreme Court. What can you tell us about it? We're excited to hear it. Yeah, there's so many big cases this term. And so I said, what can we do to look at this in a new way? And so I'm interviewing the lawyers who actually won the cases the last time this came up, right? So the last time trans rights came up, I'm interviewing the lawyer who won that. case. In some circumstances, the cases are so old that people aren't around anymore. And so I'm talking to legal historians. But the whole idea is to make these cases understandable, make them digestible, and prepare everyone for what is about to come and be a monumental term in just a few weeks as the justices wrap up this term, Kristen. Well, what a fascinating way to look at the

court. Laura, we're so excited and we are looking forward. Here's the scoop. Supreme Court Edition with Laura Jarrett. Laura, congrats again on the new podcast. You can just just scan the QR code on your screen now to listen to the latest episodes. Laura, congrats. Thank you. We are back tomorrow with more Meet the Press now. There's much more ahead on NBC News Now. Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect hire. Skills first hiring helps you see talent others miss, like more than 70 million stars, skilled through alternative routes. Let their story unfold and gain a new. a competitive advantage because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a

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