Meet the Press NOW — May 4

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Taxes and fees extra. Hey, everyone. I'm Dylan Dreyer, co-host of the third hour of today and mom to three wild boys. I've learned a lot in my years as a parent, mostly that I don't have it all figured out yet. And I'm not the only one. This is my new podcast, the parent chat. Each week I sit down with someone new, for honest conversation and real world advice about parenting. I am over here just like winging it. Hey, I'm just trying not to screw my own kids up. I'm not giving you advice on how I'm not to screw yourself. Search the parent chat on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Hi there. Welcome to Meet the Press now. I'm Ryan Nobles in Washington. And we begin with breaking news. The U.S. 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 U.S. Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, telling reporters today that Iran fired cruise missiles, drones, and launched small boats to target U.S. ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. responded by using attack helicopters to blow up the small boats and drones. Now, according to the commander, no U.S. ship was hit, no personnel were injured, but he would

not comment on the status of the ceasefire. I wouldn't go into detail of whether the ceasefire is over or not. I think the key thing is, you know, for us is we're merely there as a defensive force and, uh, and in force to give a very big 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 with the president's correct.

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 attacks coming after President Trump announced a new U.S. 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 and 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. It 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. Doing very well with regard to Iran. Again, they want to make a deal. They're decimated.

They told me about the concept of the deal. They're going to give me the exact wording now, 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 Bessent this morning trying to reassure consumers that the recent price spikes are temporary. Here's what he said. Again, we are cognizant that this short-term blip up in prices is affecting the American people, but I am also competent on the other side of this.

Prices are going to come down very quickly. the conflict will end. If we look at the stock market, 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 of weeks or a month. 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 Engle, and the former commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Distinguished Military Fellow at the Middle East Institute, Admiral Kevin Donagan. Courtney, let's start with you. Obviously, these latest attacks on the Strait of Hormuz against U.S. ships, what more do we know about this? 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. Sometimes they're known as part of the mosquito fleet because they're often filled with explosives or they have sort of these debt guns that they can be presented an immediate and direct threat to ships in the area. Well, the U.S. responded. They shot down all the drones. They shot down

the cruise missiles 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 Sencom, said that he 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 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. Yeah, you clearly didn't. Richard, let's go to you now. Iran also launched attacks against the UA.E where things had been calm since the the U.S. Iran ceasefire, which was said to cover the Gulf countries as well. What do we know about these attacks? 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 U.S. 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 U.S. and Iran immediately cease hostilities. U.S. ships and troops pull back. This trade 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. 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 narrative on this in jeopardy? I think so, Ryan. And we already were in that instance analyzing that because remember that on April

19th, well after that date of the extended ceasefire that's laid out in that letter that was determined by the White House Council, signed by the president, and set over to Capitol Hill, there had been also some shots fired from a U.S. 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 the 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 that 60-day deadline that had been set forth by the War Powers Resolution of 1973. Yeah, and we played Scott Bessent 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? And I think part of the problem is it's really confusing exactly what's happening here.

Because when you talk about the U.S. 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 commander of Sentcom, spoke with a couple of reporters earlier this afternoon. He explained that they used what he calls low observable technology or 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 waters that didn't have any mines or any kind of dangers in it's 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 810s, 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. Is there a sense, though, that

ships are willing to move through the straight, that insurance companies are willing to back this plan, that people feel comfortable actually getting their ships out through this passageway? You'll be shocked to hear this, but it's another area where there's contradictions on this because we have the administration, including Admiral Cooper down at the commander of Sencom, saying that there's a lot of optimism about this, the first two going through today that went through without any kind of injury or damage. But we have companies that are saying, well, we're not ready to accept this yet. Yeah, all right. Monica, the president has been talking, it seems like, for weeks about reopening the straight. 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?

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. 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?

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 prane, 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 the Strait

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. 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?

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 by the 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 the 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. Okay, Richard, Courtney, Monica, thank you all. We appreciate it.

Let's go now to Vice Admiral Kevin Donagin 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? I think you know this as well as I do because you've seen ceasefires many times. Seasfires always have issues where there. there's perturbations in them, right, 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 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 Ormuz, and they control it. And what the U.S. 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 straits, 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 U.S. is saying we're going to protect the ships as they transit through that passage. So they're not saying the U.S. controls that passage. They're saying it's open 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 U.S. repulsed that attack. And then in anger, Iran reached out and attacked not the U.S., but United Arab Emirates with their missiles and drones again. 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 that a very specific distinction? And if so, why? Well, what we're talking about is how they do this. 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 of 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 U.S. 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 is 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. 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? Is it make you more or less impressed with their ability to keep control of the strait? 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 that to hang before conflict. As you can imagine, launching six small, fast attack craft from all the way on one side of the strait that tried to get over to the other side of the straits was not affected and resulted in six of those getting 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 U.S. forces are fostered the way they are. Okay, Vice Admiral Kevin Donning, and 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 is put on consumers and businesses, 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 Mitha Prestone as the Supreme Court steps in to restore access to the drug for now. You're watching Meet the Press now.

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Offer ends July 31st, 2026. Price is subject to change. Visit today.com slash start for full offer terms and details. Welcome back. We have new details today about Spirit Airlines collapse, the discount carriers 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 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 percent since the start of the war, according to some analysts. NBC News senior correspondent Tom Cassello 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 spirits collapse. Are we seeing a ripple effect of any kind? Yeah, let's just put into context how big spirit is, right? They're not a huge player, about 1% 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 employers 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've 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. And have any of the other airlines tried to step in? in and try to help out some of these customers who've been impacted? 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, right? You're probably not going to get a better fare. But you're also seeing that the airlines are saying they're in the market for pilot, mechanic, especially United and American, suggested that they're going to open up some sort of a recruitment office. 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? Every airline is complaining about the fact that they are having a significant impact on the bottom line.

United, very well-run an 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. Yeah, Brian, let's turn to you. What do you think in your mind ultimately led to Spirit airline's demise. And did fuel prices play a big role? Yeah. 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 that this summer. But of course, you know, his higher jet fuel cause 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 will certainly probably the death knell for that discount carrier. 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? Yeah, well, I mean, people that have searched for a flight may have noticed at times that, oh, wait, I could get a Chief 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, Spiro 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. 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 Spirit's situation different? 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 government 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. Okay, Brian Chung, Tom Costello, thanks to both of you. We appreciate it. Up next, the 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.

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Restrictions apply not available in all areas. Learn more at Xfinity.com slash same-day Wi-Fi. This is Telemundo de Portes' lead play-by-play voice, Luis Omar Tapia, wondering who you should root for at FIFA World Cup 2026. I'm hosting my new favorite footballista, where I will introduce you to soccer's brightest starts and the causes they are championing.

Rose Doe made me the player that I am today because that's where home is, that's where family is. Get ready for the FIFA World Cup 2026 by checking my new favorite footballista wherever you listen to podcast. Welcome back. Turning now to the issue of abortion as the Supreme Court temporarily restored full access nationwide to the abortion pill Miffa Pristone.

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 Mifipristone 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 Mipipristone, saying those who challenged the drug's approval did not have. have standing to sue. Joining me now is senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett and our health reporter Ari Abendix. 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? Yeah, 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 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 fourth on this, 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?

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 Miffrapristone, Danco is one of the main players here, Gen Biopro, another one. And they're the 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's sort of teed up for

the justices, if you will. 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 Miffra Stone back in 2024. Should we read into that? Could that be a precedent for this case? 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 Miffra Stone or prescribing it at all.

They just wanted it completely wholesale off the market. And in that case, 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 Miffa Pristone. This one is narrower, right? 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, Brian, which I imagine they will do. 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 be before they have some sort of clarification on this? 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 month. Monday, probably within the next half an hour 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 stay, keep the status quo, and decide to hear it next fall. 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 Mitha pristone? 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 Mitha-Pristone. This case is a little different because it is seeking to challenge just one FDA regulation

that allows Mitha-Pristone to be prescribed via telehealth and then sent to patients in the mail. Now, as for the question of why Mithopristone, it's in many ways an easier target than the other drug, involved in a medication abortion known as misoprostol. For one thing, Mifififristone is part of a drug safety program through the FDA called REMs, which can place additional restrictions on how it's used. And the Miffa Pristone is used primarily for abortions and miscarriage management, whereas Misa Prostel has a range of other medical uses that would make it much trickier to ban or restrict access, Ryan. But is there any evidence to suggest that Mitha Pristone 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? 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 Dobbs decision. But we do have data. In addition to expanding access, we know it's safe and effective. As safe and effective, as safe and effective, in fact, as taking Mithopristone 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.

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 states. Right. This is arguably the biggest attack on abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. weighed 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, 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? Yeah, there's the same fear here that we had in the 2024 legal case, that it could have some downstream effects. That this case restricts access to Mipha Pristone.

Then people who want to use Mififififistone 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. Okay, Ariabendix, 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, a former FBI director, James Comey Sunday on Meet the Press. Comi denies the charges. Todd Blanche telling Kristen that prosecutors have collected a, quote, body of evidence to support their claim that James Comey threatened the life of President Trump

and saying that the evidence goes beyond this photo that James Comey posted on social media of seashells forming the numbers 8647. 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 Blanche that returned an indebted.

indictment against James Comey, it's a grand jury, part of the judicial process. 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 and said he was, quote, very troubled about the conditions he'd been facing since his arrest. Over the weekend, Alan's attorney said their client was on suicide watch, leading, him to be held a 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 Alan told FBI agents he didn't think he'd survive the planned attack. 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. 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, driven in part by a 17-point drop in support from his 2024 voters, raising questions of whether a fraying Trump coalition could spelled 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 T.W. Arrigi, the Republican strategist and vice president of the push digital group and not the only T.W.

in the world. We've come to determine that today. No, but I talked the list. The best one. The best one. Thank you very much. I like to think. All right. Thank you. All right, Danielle, 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? 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 show. But as we know, that's not something that the president likes 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 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 we could come back around. But as of now, if I were a House Republican in a tough race, I'd be really worried. Yeah. You know, TWA says that I hear the same thing.

It's going 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? Yeah, it's definitely a concern.

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's stupid. Obviously, Iran is casting a huge shadow over everything right now, especially when it comes to prices, gas prices, et cetera. 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 Donald Trump's falling popularity with democratic popularity. I'm going to get there. Okay, okay. There is a huge divide there, and it's showing up in generic polling.

Yeah, so I gave T.W. 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. 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? 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. Now, the challenge for Democrats is to show that they will take on the power. And that'd 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 the Donaldson promise to be. Let me show that favorability 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? 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 their 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. Let's let's let's say TWE respond to that. Are you concerned that the president isn't concerned enough about down-balled Republicans in the midterms? 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 at for 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 around. Okay. I got to move to Daniel here and talk about the. other big wildcard 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 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 be the Republicans' last hope of holding on to the majority in the fall. Let me 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. T.W. 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. One state moves and other state moves. You didn't mention

a 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 ahead of 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. 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? I'm not so certain. And look, as we saw in Indiana and other places, state legislature,

Slater's have a huge say in this, and they don't always like to be pushed around or told what to do. Look, I always sort of laugh at this question of redistricting and gerrymandering because it's an O.G. American problem. We've been dealing with this since the early 1800s, and it still isn't going away. It's named after a vice president from that era. Governor of Massachusetts, Eldridge, 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 It's an abomination. And I think when we keep doing this tit for tat, it's going to get worse before it gets better. And that's not good for democracy, is it, Josh? 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 have operated with one hand tied behind their back for so 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. 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 Eric 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? 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's Wallwall at notice, is 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. Right. 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 victimized? Look, 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. 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 are talking about it too.

We appreciate your bearing. Thanks so much. Still to come, how immigration and 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 U.S.-Mexico border. While the president gets his best ratings on those two issues, more people still disapproval. 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 Ainsley. She's also the author of the new book, Undue Process, 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 that. But tell me, what most surprised you during your research for this book? 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 really surprised me, especially after I started doing the reporting and started, at least started cataloging it and started interviewing people, as 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. 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 read about how you 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? 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. They needed to identify students who have 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 Sikot prison in El Salvador. And they simply did not do that. So a number of ways they asserted executive power and ways that are just never been

done before. 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. Such an ordinary thing to walk home from high school. Her name was Mickey Costanzo, just 16. She didn't have far to go. Seemed perfectly safe until. It wasn't. What happened to Mickey? I'm Keith Morrison, and this is Five Miles from Home, an all-new podcast from Dateline.

Listen to all episodes of Five Miles from Home Now, wherever you get your podcasts.