April 26 — Acting AG Todd Blanche, Sen. Thom Tillis and Rep. Ro Khanna

I just bought a new automobile the same way they did in the 1900s when movies were silent. Well, I just got this Jeep from Flexcar. Maintenance and insurance are included, and I can switch cars anytime. What are you high on Giggle Juice? The first and only month to month carways. Flexcar, you drive everything. This summer, Fandu is the best place to bet on goals. Including equalizers?

Uh-huh. Walls? Yep. Petters. Every goal is worth more on Fandu. So let there be goals. New customers get 350 and bonus bets guaranteed when you bet $5 for seven days. 21 plus and present in Tennessee.

First online real money wager only, minimum $5 wageer required for seven consecutive days. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-witrable bonus spets, which expires seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at fanduil.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem, call T and Redline 1-800-9-9-7-89.

This Sunday, security breach. President Trump is rushed off the stage at the White House Correspondence dinner after shots were fired at a security checkpoint as police take a suspect into custody. A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service. As the investigation unfolds this morning,

new questions about the rise in political violence in America. We're not going to let anybody take over our society. We're not going to cancel things out because we can't do that. I'll talk to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Plus, standoff. President Trump struggles to end the war with Iran as the conflict nears the 60-day mark. I don't want to rush it. I want to take my time.

We have plenty of time. And I want to get a great deal. With concerns growing over the war's impact on the economy, will the White House bend to political pressure? And Fed Fight. The Justice Department drops its criminal probe of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, after Republican Senator Thom Tillis threatened to block the confirmation of his successor, Kevin Warsh. Will it be enough to secure his vote? I'll talk to Thom Tillis.

And Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California. Joining me for insight and analysis are NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melanie Zanona, Leanne Caldwell, Chief Washington correspondent for Puck, Adrian Elrod, former senior advisor to the Harris campaign, And Lonnie Chen, a fellow at the Hoover Institution. Welcome to Sunday. It's Meet the Press. From NBC News in Washington, the longest running show in television history. This is Meet the Press with Kristen Welkett.

Good Sunday morning. We are coming on the air after a terrifying night here in the nation's capital. The president, first lady, vice president, many cabinet members, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had gathered with the press for the annual White House correspondence dinner, a celebration of the First Amendment and freedom of the press. It was Mr. Trump's first appearance at the dinner as president. When moments into the program, a gunman armed with multiple weapons charged at a secret service checkpoint in the hotel lobby of the Washington Hilton where the event was held, law enforcement quickly tackled him to the ground, taking him

into custody. The suspect identified as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen from Torrance, California. Inside the dining room, Secret Service rushed to the stage, evacuating the president, First Lady, and other top officials. As the chaos unfolded many attendees, including myself and many other journalists here at NBC News, tried to take cover at or near our tables. Later, back at the White House, the president, still in black tie. addressed reporters in an impromptu news conference. The man has been captured. They're going to his apartment.

I guess he lives in California. And he's a sick person, a very sick person. And we don't want things like this to happen. My impression is he was a lone wolf, whack job. These are crazy people. These are crazy people. And they have to be dealt with. The president also said a secret service agent

who was struck in his bulletproof vest during the incident is doing, quote, great. The agent was later released from the hospital. The incident comes as the nation continues to grapple with the threat of political violence. Are you concerned about political violence? This could be politically motivated. All violence. I'm concerned about everything. But I can't be so concerned that you can't function.

No, I'm here. It's a dangerous profession. And joining me now is acting. Attorney General, Todd Blanche, Mr. Todd Blanche, welcome back to meet the press. Thank you for being here on what is a somber morning in the nation's capital. It is. Good morning. Thank you. Good morning. You were in the room when this all unfolded. And I want to just start on a personal level, Mr. Deputy, Attorney General, when you realized what was going on, how did you react? I think I reacted like a lot of people in that room. There was obviously initial confusion. But law enforcement, I think what everybody saw in that room,

and I was in the briefing room an hour later and saw a lot of the people that were in that room, along with me, was the great work of law enforcement. I mean, everybody virtually immediately felt safe because the law enforcement presence in that hotel and in that conference room was overwhelming. And so while I didn't know what it happened, nobody did it at first, I felt safe. And then obviously the night unfolded as it did. Okay, let's get to the facts. What is the very latest you can share about the investigation into the suspect in any potential motive?

So we law enforcement, FBI, Secret Service, police departments in Los Angeles and in D.C., work through the night executing search warrants on a couple of different locations and also on devices to try to continue to investigate. It's been about 12 hours or so since the incident happened. And what we believe happened, at least as of now, is that the suspect traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then Chicago to Washington, D.C., where he checked into the hotel where the correspondent center was at in the last day or two. We believe that the two firearms. he had on him. He had purchased within the past couple of years. And there's also, we're still investigating motive, and that's something that will necessarily take a couple of days,

at least. We believe that he was targeting administration officials in this attack, attempted attack. But that's, again, quite preliminary as long enforcement continues to go through all the evidence. I was on the phone with Director Kash Patel after 1 o'clock in the morning. the FBI agents at both coasts were up all night and we'll continue doing their work. Prosecutors were up all night working. So it's a tragic, horrible event that happened. On the other hand, it really shows the best and brightest are keeping us safe and the work that they did is great. And you are saying that you believe he was targeting administration officials. Was he targeting administration officials or the president himself, Mr. Acting Attorney General?

We're still looking into that. And so we know that there were some writings, and we've already spoken with several witnesses who knew him. And we believe – I kept it a little general because we do believe it was administration officials. Obviously, President Trump is a member of the administration, the head of it. But as far as exacting threats that may have been communicated beforehand, we are still actively investigating that evidence. You're saying there were some writings online. What specifically are you referencing? What's leading you to believe that he was targeting the administration and the president? We have preliminary work into some of his electronic devices and talking to some of individuals who knew him. And based upon that work, I want to be careful not to say something that ends up not being true because, like I said, this is 12 hours old. But it does appear that he did, in fact, fact have set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president,

but I want to wait and not get ahead of us on that. Was it safe to have the president, cabinet officials, members of Congress, the first lady, the vice president, such high-ranking officials all in the same room at the same time? Yes, of course. We're not going to stop living. We're not going to start doing our jobs. We're not going to stop all the work that we're doing every day. And by the way, and you were there last night as well, let's not forget that the suspect didn't get very far. He barely broke the perimeter. And by barely, I mean by a few feet. And so while this was extraordinarily dangerous and put a lot of lives at risk, and there's no doubt that that's something that we're going

to have to learn from over the next couple weeks, the system worked. We were safe. President Trump was safe. His Secret Service agents kept him safe. All of us were safe. And so while, yes, it was a very tragic situation, as President Trump said last night, we are not going to stop living. We're not going to stop being out there with the American people. And if that was his goal, he failed. And he was stopped. He was able, as you say, to breach that security checkpoint by merely a few feet.

How was he able to get even that far? and did he assemble his gun on site at the hotel? We believe he was staying at the hotel. So I know there's been some reports about assembling the gun somewhere outside of his room or somewhere else in the hotel. We're still investigating that. I don't, we don't have all the answers on to how he got far. But the perimeter is the perimeter.

So necessarily, if somebody's outside the perimeter and they try to breach it, assuming they don't get very far, that's what we want. That's what we want law enforcement to stop. And they did. And that's a real testament. I know there's some video out there that shows his efforts to break through. And you saw these Secret Service agents, they were remarkable. And by the way, they're about to, you know, the fact that DHS is not being funded after what we saw those men, those men and women doing last night should be a wake-up call to Congress. And I hope that it is. Do you think the funding fight is making America less safe? Is that what you're saying?

Look, I'm not, no, these men and women are doing their jobs. I'm not saying that at all. To the contrary. I mean, listen, what we saw last night with law enforcement was something that should be a testament to every single American that they have men and women protected them, not only outside these borders with our great military, but also inside these borders with law enforcement. So that made me very proud to lead the Department of Justice last night when I saw the work that everybody was doing, keeping everybody safe and also launching and very quickly conducting

an investigation that will necessarily take time, but we've got a lot done already. President Trump said the shooter was a lone wolf. Can you confirm that the shooter acted completely alone that you are not looking for any other suspects this morning? Well, what President Trump said is that as of now we think that. That's what the police chief said as well. And that's that, but this is an investigation that is 12 hours, 13 hours old. And so those facts can change and they often do change. And if there is anybody else involved, we will leave no stone unturn to find out everything we can about that. But from what we know right now, from what we know, given what happened last night and the evidence we've gathered so far, we don't believe anybody else was involved.

But again, we have a lot of work left to do and a lot of evidence left to go through and to collect. Is the suspect cooperating with investigators? I don't think he's cooperating with investigators. I want to be careful the way I talk around that, but no, it's not. At this point, we do not have somebody who's cooperating. I expect he will be charged formally tomorrow morning in federal court in Washington, D.C., and I expect that we'll go forward from there. Do you know what the charges will be?

Can you give us a sense of that this morning? Yes, not atypically in a case like this. There will be an assault of a federal officer charge. There'll be a charge about him discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer. And then there are potentially charges beyond that that come from reviewing of the evidence. And if we understand his motivations

and as we continue to gather. But initially, I expect those two charges to be filed tomorrow morning. So assault of a federal officer and then using a firearm and discharging a firearm during that assault. Is there any potential nexus to terrorism here, Mr. Todd Blanche, any connection to what's happening in Iran?

No, and President Trump talked about that last night. We just don't know yet, and that's not surprising given, you know, where we are here on Sunday morning after something happens Saturday night. I promise you that we will get to the bottom of that. That's what the FBI does every day. But as of now, we don't have any connection to any particular policy directive of President Trump or Iran or anything else that we're doing in this country. But we are looking into it and we'll know more. And when we know more, we'll share it with the American people. And just to be very clear, do you believe that law enforcement meant all of the standards

for an event of that magnitude was anything missed? Absolutely. 100%. Because listen, you cannot stop living. You cannot stop being in public. like we talked about a minute ago. And so how do you create an environment that keeps people safe, but still allows them to live in this great country

and to walk around and to have a dinner? And so, yes, I am proud of the work that the law enforcement did. It also just, it was a great example of the collective work of law enforcement. You have the Secret Service taking the lead in keeping us safe, supported by the Metropolitan Police Department, and then you had every other federal agency there as well, whether they were there because they were protected, protecting cabinet members or just there to support.

And that's why at the end of the day, although it was a very scary evening for you and a very traumatic evening for a lot of us, we were all safe. That is absolutely correct. I do want to ask you big picture. Mr. Acting Attorney General, the security breach does come amid reporting in the Atlantic that FBI director Kash Patel has alarmed some of his colleagues with episodes of what the Atlantic describes as excessive drinking. unexplained absences, does President Trump still have confidence in Kash Patel to lead the FBI at this critical moment?

That article was full of unnamed sources and should be completely discounted. I was with Director Kash Patel last night. I was with him at the crime scene. I was with him in the Oval Office. I was with him afterwards. I was on the phone with him late into the evening. He was at the command center of leading the investigation along with our great U.S. attorney from D.C., Janine Piro. And that's what he's doing. So there's all these fake articles with unnamed sources claiming things, and there's the reality of what's happening and what we all saw last night. And so I'm not going to speak for President Trump, but I certainly have confidence in Director

Kash Patel and also the men and women working with him that work through the night, we'll work through the day and through the night tonight to investigate this crime. it's something that I'm very proud of and everybody in this country should be proud of that as well. Okay. And you're saying that the Atlantic has stood by its reporting. I do want to ask you, looking forward, what specific steps is the Department of Justice taking to monitor or disrupt more potential acts of violence and potentially political violence? We work every day to protect this country. There's thousands of agents that are working every day to protect this country. And it's regular investigative steps.

It's tips coming in from members of the public. It's us doing the investigative work that we have done for decades, that we continue to do. And you've seen that in the results. You've seen that in the charges that we brought, in the attempts at terrorism that have been stopped by the FBI and by DHS agents as well. And so this is an all-government approach to make sure that our country is safe, not only within our borders, but also outside as well. And that's the work that we have always done, and notwithstanding the noise that comes from some parts of this country about the work that we were not doing, it's not true.

And so I think that the work that happened last night is something that the whole world got to see. But that's what happens every day inside the FBI, the Department of Justice, and DHS. Two more very quickly, Charles III. As you know, set to visit Washington this week. are you confident that Charles III, that world leaders can be safe here? Yes, yes, I'm very confident. I mean, this is not, we have to learn from what happened last night, and we will. But the first takeaway, the takeaway that it should be obvious is that the system worked

and that we stopped this suspect, and we stopped him as soon as he tried to do what he was trying to do, and the president was safe, his cabinet was safe, and every reporter and every member of the press and their guests were safe as well. Okay, and just finally, I want to ask you this question. I'm going to be talking to Senator Thom Tillis coming up. The Justice Department just dropped its criminal probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell after Thom Tillis threatened to block the nomination of the president's pick to lead the Fed, Kevin Warsh.

Does the Justice Department commit to not reopening this investigation if and after Kevin Warsh is confirmed? What we said last week remains true. We are letting Horowitz, the Inspector General, do his job. He necessarily needs to be. He has a lot of tools. He can talk to people. He can look at records. The work that every Inspector General, especially him, can do, we have a lot of faith in.

We're going to let that process play out. There's a lot, by statute, if he identifies any criminal conduct, he's required to make a referral to the U.S. Attorney's Office. I don't know what his investigation will uncover, and nobody does because it's an investigation. But if he uncovers evidence of criminal conduct, there is no doubt that we will investigate. And what we wanted to make sure is that this conduct is investigated. That's been the goal from the start, is to understand what is going on with that situation and with the building and the cost overruns and why it's costing so much money. And the president has faith and trust in the inspector general to do his work.

and we'll be watching it and we'll go from there depending on what he finds. So very quickly, you don't rule out the possibility that there could be criminal investigation reopened into Jerome Powell over those alleged crossed overruns. This is an investigation. And so I'm not going to prejudge what the investigation will find and say there's absolutely going to be charges or absolutely not going to be charges that wouldn't be fair to the process. We are going to let the investigation unfold, let him do his work at the conclusion. He will issue a report of some sort, and that may include a referral.

It may not. So we'll see what happens. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, thank you for being here. We are grateful that you are safe, that members of the cabinet are safe, that the president and the First Lady are safe. And we are thankful to the Secret Service, as you say, for keeping us all safe last night. Thank you for being here. Thank you. When we come back, Republican Senator Thom Tillis joins me next.

Modern enterprise is made up of a lot of moving parts, and Comcast business helps you orchestrate it all, with SD-WAN working at scale to keep 150 hospital locations connected and working as one, plus sassy and zero-trust security protecting financial data across a bank's 2,000 branches and AI-powered networking that optimizes traffic across five continents. No one does business, like Comcast business. There's only one OZMPIC. Hello, I'm OZMPIC.

Because this ad is 30 seconds, I can't get into everything I'm FDA-approved to do, so I'm just going to play my jingle again. But first, ask your doctor about which FDA-approved uses of me, the OZempic, may be right for you. Call 1833-OZempic, or visit OZempic.com to view the medication guide and learn more about OZempic, semaglite injection, two milligrams. Only Novo Nordisk makes FDA-approved OZempic. Now, here's that jingle.

again. There's only one note's and pick. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. From roof repair to emergency plumbing and more. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie.com.

And joining me now is Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Thom Tillis, welcome back to meet the press. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Good morning. Thank you so much for being here. We are grateful. I do want to start off by getting your reaction to the events that unfolded here at the White House Correspondence dinner last night. What are the key questions that you have this morning, Senator? Well, I think the first observation is what an extraordinary job, the Secret Service, local law enforcement and other agencies that were there to protect. not only the president and cabinet officials, but the people in attendance. I think it was a textbook execution. We owe all of those people who stood in harm's way a debt of gratitude. And hopefully I can convince some of my Democrat colleagues to get on my protect and serve bill,

which would have increased the penalties for the perpetrator in this particular event. Hope to get that done before I get out of the Senate. But I think that, thank God, no one was hurt, thank God the president is safe and everybody else who was there, including you. Yeah, thank goodness for that. And thank you for that, Senator. I appreciate that very much. I do want to ask you big question picture. I was just discussing this with the acting attorney general about FBI director Kash Patel. His agency obviously will play a prominent role in this investigation. Again, the Atlantic reporting earlier this month that his tenure has been marked by what it calls, quote, conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absenteenth. Now, Mr. Kash Patel denies those allegations. Do you have confidence in Kash Patel to lead the FBI in this moment? As you know, I was one of the people that led his confirmation and judiciary committee.

This is one article. I work purely on facts and cooperation. When I see a cooperation, then I'm willing to have a discussion about these allegations. But at this point, look, I get hit with articles. everybody gets hit with articles in D.C. and in politics. They've got facts out there. They've got witnesses. They want to lay them out. I'll take a look at it. But at this point, I'm not changing my position on the FBI director. I support them. Okay. I want to ask you about political violence broadly. You are no stranger to it. Unfortunately, you've said you've been threatened so many times that it's like, quote, going to 7-Eleven and getting a gallon of milk. You are, of course, there when violence broke out on January 6th. 2016, 2021, something that you have continued to speak out about. The president said last night that political violence is the cost of doing business now. Do you agree with that sentiment and what can the country do about that, Senator? Well, sad, I agree with the president. I think he's right. I think the amplifier and the instigator of social media is able to really target vulnerable people in many cases, we're seeing people who are committing these horrible acts have behavioral

health and other challenges, stability issues in their lives. And now we have platforms that can focus on them at state actors, terrorist organizations, fermenting hate in this country. What the American people need to do is take a breath, confirm their facts, talk to their elected officials, think of a bit before they judge people. They all have a role to play. And we, and elected officers do as well. Our words matter, the weight of our words matter, and we need to be very measured in the way that we use them. All right. I do want to turn to another big topic, a big headline this week, the Fed chair. Of course, the Department of Justice on Friday announced it was going to close its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. You had pledged

to block the confirmation of Jerome Powell's successor, Kevin Warsh, until the investigation was dropped. U.S. Attorney Janine Piro did not close the announcement or added this caveat with her announcement saying, quote, I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so. You just heard the acting attorney general effectively leave the door open to the investigation potentially being reopened. So let me ask you, will you now vote yes to confirm Kevin Warsh? Well, let me back up. The announcement on Friday was well received by me.

I think it's the first time that the Department of Justice in D.C., or I should say the D.C. prosecutors have acknowledged that they're not going to carry this case forward. The case is on appeal. But after that statement, I've had a number of discussions with the Department of Justice. they have made it very clear that the current investigation is completely and fully end it. There may be some confusion because they're moving forward with the appeal, but I have been assured by the Department of Justice that that appeal is simply to challenge the basis for judging on the motion to quash the subpoenas. It would not in any way constitute a basis for reopening the investigation.

And we heard from acting attorney general Todd Blanche just a few minutes ago that The only thing that would trigger an investigation is criminal potential criminal misconduct identified by the Inspector General Horowitz, who's one of the most respected Inspector General's in Washington or in the whole of government. I believe I have studied this, and I believe that there will not be any wrongdoing. Maybe we find a little stupid here in terms of somebody responsible for the project making a decision they shouldn't? Maybe. But it doesn't rise to a criminal prosecution. That was my problem to begin with because I feel like there were prosecutors in D.C. that thought this was going to be a lever to have Mr. Jerome Powell leave early. But now with this, I am prepared and with the assurances from the Department of Justice that the case is completely and fully settled, that the appeal would only be used to potentially abrogate or change the ruling for administrative purposes, not as a basis for reopening the investigation. And that the only way an investigation would be open would be a criminal referral from one of the most respected inspector generals there. I am prepared to move on with the confirmation of Mr. Kevin Warsh. I think he's

going to be a great Fed chair. I just want to put a fine point on it because what you're saying is significant center. You are now a yes to vote on the confirmation of Kevin Warsh. That's right. We'll be putting out a statement. We worked a lot over the week. weekend to make sure that we were very clear that we had the assurances from the DOJ that I need it to feel like they were not using the DOJ as a weapon to threaten the independence of the Fed. So this will allow Mr. Kevin Warsh to move on with his confirmation on time. And that's the absurdity of this whole thing. If this investigation, which is now closed, that never occurred, we wouldn't be having this

discussion. He would have been confirmed on May the 15th. Fortunately, I think about May 15th, I think we'll get there. And then Mr. Jerome Powell will have to make his own decisions at some point in the future about when and if he leaves the board before the end of his 28 term expiration. You know, I suspect Mr. Jerome Powell wants to see what happens with the appeal and to make sure that it is fully settled after the appeal. It could be a lengthy process, hopefully not. And then we can move on and let the Fed be independent because if we had allowed this to occur, I think it would have had devastating consequences for our. financial systems and the markets worldwide. Thank God we avoid it that.

So, and just to be clear, are you confident that Kevin Warsh will act independently of the president if he is in fact confirmed? Yeah, as a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the president doesn't get annoyed with them once or twice. Look, the Fed body that determines rate hikes that works on their dual mandate for unemployment and for employment and for inflation, it's a consensus-building body. You have 12 voting members. No one person can actually control it. You have to get a majority of it. And ideally, you get a super majority. So Kevin's going to go in there with a great reputation, with past experience, with relationships with, I think, as many as five prior Fed chairboards. He's going to understand he's got to work on gaining consensus.

You know, the president's right to just press and press and press. I don't begrudge him for demanding that inflation goes down. We've got to deal with the affordability problem, and this president's trying to do it better than Biden and Obama ever did. But you've got to do it by the rules, and you've got to do it within the bounds of the institution so that we maintain this precious, exceptional gift that we have as a nation and the gold standard for a financial system. Senator, let me turn now to the war in Iran, which approaches its 60-day mark this week. As you know, by law, the president needs congressional approval to continue the use of force beyond 60 days. Senate leadership doesn't have plans right now to put a measure on the floor

authorizing the use of military force in Iran. At the end of these 60 days, do you think there needs to be a vote authorizing the use of military force in Iran, Senator? Well, I think the only thing that's going to avoid pressure to do that is clarity from the White House, from the Department of Defense on what the strategic objectives are. If you go back to the war. powers resolution. 60 days is roughly the amount of time we give the administration leeway to take action. And this is clearly to get to a lasting peace and to achieve the objectives of the president, which I support. It may take longer. So we need clarity on what that looks like. In fact, I think that if it's going to be a longer term engagement, the authorization for the use of military force

could demonstrate to Iran. This isn't just about the president in Iran. This is about the whole of the United States and the U.S. Congress supporting the president through an authorization for the use of military force for the long term, for as long as it takes to get to a lasting peace in a non-nuclear Iran. And so would you vote in favor of authorizing military force in Iran if it were brought to the floor? We would have to work with the administration. Clearly, this is not, we're not going to play the game that the Democrats have tried over the past couple of weeks doing these discharge resolutions on war powers. We want to be productive. We want to be supportive of the president. And to do that, we just have to be briefed on what the objectives are

so that we can support that, either support a formal extension, which is allowed under the war powers resolution, or build the support for the authorization, the use of military force. Democrats should come on board. We are fixing a mess that started with President Obama and continued with President Biden. it and abet it the ability of the Mullahs in Iran to kill their people and to build their nuclear capabilities. This president, I've told him, is the first president who had the guts to act with the kind of power that's necessary to bring these hateful, deadly leaders of Iran to heal, and we've got to do everything we can to support them. But most people know I'm a by-the-book kind of guy, and we need to do it by getting clarity from the administration on what they need

to do, short-term, intermediate term, and long-term, and to what extent. Congress can help and get Democrats on board fixing problems that their predecessors create it. All right. Well, we've covered a lot of ground today. Senator Thom Tillis, thank you so very much for being here. Thank you. And when we come back, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna joins me next. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. One thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home. For decades, Angie's helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. Angie, the one you trust, to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie.com. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen

different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu, the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier, from CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, Odo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-for-free at O-D-O-O-O-com. How does America stay so beautiful at 250 years old? By getting its beauty rest.

This year, enjoy huge savings at the Beauty Rest July 4th sales event. Save up to $1,000 on beauty rest, black mattresses, and adjustable base sets featuring pocketed coil technology for our most advanced motion separation. limited time offer. Visit a beauty rest retailer today. People at their best get their beauty rest.

Welcome back and joining me now as Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California. Congressman Ro Khanna, welcome back to meet the press. Thank you for having me. I'm glad you're safe and back to work this morning. Thank you so much, Congressman. That really means a lot. I appreciate it. I do want to start off by getting your action to the events that unfolded here overnight in Washington and everyone's so grateful to the Secret Service for keeping us safe. It was absolutely horrific. I'm so relieved that the president, the first lady, every administration official and all the guests are safe. I appreciate law enforcement and particularly

the Secret Service agent was shot and hope he makes a full recovery. But as you know, Christian, this is an event that is actually the symbol of an open, free society. And to see journalists like you and others ducking under tables was just horrifying. We need a bipartisan national commission for political violence in this country. I heard Senator Thom Tillis speak. We should look at social media. We should look at mental health issues. We should look at language. But we need to do something to bring the temperature down. Well, let me ask you about what happens next in terms of this investigation. Do you have confidence in the Secret Service and the FBI as they carry out this investigation congressman?

On this issue, I do. I heard acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. As you know, we've had disagreements on the Epstein files, but I do believe that he's going to do everything to have a thorough investigation. I appreciate what law enforcement did to make sure that the breach was not more than a few feet. We can look at whether there needs to be even more security in the future. I mean, I've gone to those events. It's always struck me as a bit odd that the metal detectors are before the ballroom as opposed to before the hotel. So maybe there will be some things that need to be fixed. But I do believe he will do a thorough job on this.

Speaking of the acting attorney general, you heard him just tell me that this should be a wake-up call for Congress to fund DHS. Does Congress need to act in the wake of this incident to fully fund DHS? Absolutely. We've been funding the Democrats have been saying we want to fund DHS. We just don't want to fund ICE agents with the ICE raids against American citizens and against immigrants in ways that broke the law. But the Democrats have said that we will fund DHS as long as you separate that from the ICE funding. And we have done that many, many times. Let me turn to Iran now, this 60-day deadlock. that is coming up, of course, the key deadline to legally authorize any continued military action

in Iran. You have authored. You've supported several unsuccessful resolutions to limit President Trump's war powers in Iran. Do you think President Trump will be able to secure congressional authorization for this war? No, Christian, let me be clear. We need to end this war. Americans are struggling. Gas prices are up, food prices are up, housing costs are up. The reason those prices are up is because the Strait of Hormuzes closed and because of this war. It's caused devastation for working families. The president ran saying that he would bring prices down. Prices are up in his administration. And the way most Americans want this war to end, even 54% of Republicans believe we need negotiation to end the war. The Postal,

is saying end the war, Americans agree with the Pope, we need a negotiated settlement and this war needs to end this week. But Congressman, let me ask you, if Congress does, in fact, side with President Trump in that key vote, should that be an end to any legislation trying to block him? Would that effectively tie the commander in chief's hands?

If they authorize the vote of force, you're saying? I mean, we need to be having a war power resolution that says that this is an illegal war, and I believe we will have the votes to do that. That would tie the president's hands in terms of not being able to get funding to continue this war. That's how we ended the Vietnam War. It's how we ended the Iraq War, not funding this. But this idea that we're going to put $400 billion more into a war in Iran and that we're going to watch prices go up is just hurting working-class Americans. It's not what the president ran on. All right. Few other quick topics. I want to turn to the big news out of

of Virginia, that redistricting referendum that passed this week in that state, potentially giving Democrats a chance to flip up to four Republican seats. Some of the same Democratic leaders who backed it, like former President Barack Obama, Governor Abigail Spanberger, had previously spoken out against gerrymandering. Let me give you an example. President Obama saying in 2020, it has warped our representative government. Governor Abigail Spanberger saying in 2019, it is detrimental to our democracy. Do you think this political win for Democrats ultimately comes at the expense of a healthier democracy? No, the Democrats, including President Obama, supported the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. That would have ended gerrymandering across the country. The republicans,

not a single Republican, supported that bill. Then Donald Trump says, I want to have partisan gerrymandering because I know we're going to lose the midterms otherwise. Well, the Democrats are not going to unilaterally disarm. In a game that the Republicans started, they're actually losing. They're down a seat. And so the Democrats still would welcome an effort to ban gerrymandering, to go and pass the Voting Rights Act and have independent commissions. But what we're not going to do is watch unilateral disarmament and just Republicans get to gerrymander and we don't. Congressman, finally, let me ask you about the Epstein files. You mentioned that earlier. You told me last time we spoke that you actually wanted Charles III, who's poised to visit the United States, to meet with the Epstein survivors during his upcoming visit. He has said that he will not. What was your reaction to hearing that? What are the implications do you think? I was disappointed. I had a constructive meeting with the British ambassador. I am hopeful that Charles III, when he speaks to the Congress, will acknowledge the Epstein survivors, will call for justice, will call for investigations and prosecutions. It would be an enormous gesture if when he's speaking at the Congress, he does that, and I'm hopeful that he will.

Okay. Well, we'll watch and see what he has to say. Congressman Ro Khanna, thank you so very much for. being here. We appreciate it. Thank you, Kristen. And when we come back, the very latest on the investigation into Saturday night shooting suspect, much more after a quick break.

When we come back, how is America grappling with the rise in political violence? The panel is next.

Welcome back. panel is here. NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melanie Zanona. Leanne Caldwell, Chief Washington correspondent for Puck. Lonnie Chen, a fellow at the Hoover Institution and Democratic strategist, Adrian Elrod. Welcome to all of you. It is wonderful to see all of you doing okay after last night. Mel and Leanne, obviously, you were in the room as well. Mel, I want to start with you. What was your reaction as the events unfolded at the Washington Hilton last night? Well, you know, Kristen, I was there in the Capitol on January 6th. and I was in the chamber, and it was a similar duck-and-cover situation.

I think what was so chilling to me about yesterday was how normalized this has almost become. And that's not to say we weren't terrified in the moment, but it has almost become acceptable. And for me, something kicked in where it was like, okay, I've been through this before. I need to protect myself, listen to the police officers, but was really telling to me yesterday

was when our colleague, Garrett Haig, asked the president, is this the cost of doing business in politics? And he said yes. And he is not the only one who feels that way. I've talked a number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill who also have come to almost accept this and are resigned to the fact that they're going to face threats or worse or actual attempts on their lives.

And there has been a rise in threats to members of Congress. It is at an all-time high. It is not only changing how lawmakers conduct business and are on the campaign trail. I'm worried it's also impacting whether people even want to get into politics in general. Which is just a terrifying and tragic thought. Leanne, you were there.

picking up on what Mel is saying, we all watched the lawmakers get evacuated, the cabinet secretaries. How are they responding today? Because as Mel says, the backdrop to this is an increase in political violence. Yeah, absolutely. As you said, Mel, this is something that has been increasing year by year by year. I was also at the Capitol Complex on January 6th. I was actually also in the Capitol on 9-11. And the through line is the law enforcement response has always been amazing to watch, but also really intense as well. And there are going to be questions. Todd Blanche told you, acting AG, Todd Blanche told you that it proved that the system worked. But there's going to be a lot of questions about how there was a security breach. And remember,

this Hilton actually has history. This is where Ronald Reagan, the Hilton where Ronald Reagan was shot in an attempted assassination in 1981. And so there was, they, fortified the space so that the president could have events there, but they're still with some sort of security breach. And the political violence is, as you said, Mel, becoming more and more common. What an important backdrop to keep in mind as we continue to report this out. Lani, let me turn to you because President Trump, as he held that impromptu, extraordinary news conference, still dressed in black tie last night, said this is why he believes he needs to build a ballroom, course, it has been under scrutiny, legal challenges. He also posted about it this morning. I

want to play a little bit of what he had to say last night. Take a look. I didn't want to say this, but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we're planning at the White House. It's actually a larger room, and it's much more secure. It's got drone proof. It's bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom. That's why Secret Service. That's why the military are demanding it. Lonnie, what did you make of the president's message last night? unquestionably, the safety and security of the president administration officials and guests, that is paramount, obviously. So we have to see how this investigation plays out, how facilities can be fortified, but we should be able to have events without fear of there

being some kind of incident like we saw last night. But if we step back, it is true. Political violence does seem to have become a part of doing business, but it should not be normal. It should not be normalized. And that is something we should not lose sight of. And ultimately, it is incumbent upon public leaders to set the right tone. I thought the president did that in his press conference last night. I think it's important for others to follow suit. But ultimately, we should not say that, hey, we're used to this. It's America. It's happened before. Somebody has to draw the line. And we've seen this too many times now, just many, too many times. Adrian, how do lawmakers, how do we as a country draw the line? Well, I mean, look, Lonnie raises a really

important point. I've been working in Washington for about 30 years, and I have seen the political violence really uptick in the last few years in particular. It's terrifying. Members of Congress should not have to spend money out of their campaign accounts to fund their security measures. I mean, I think there's a lot of reforms that need to take place. But ultimately, the rhetoric has got, we want to take it down a couple notches. I thought President Trump was incredible last night. I thought he really struck a conciliatory tone. And we just need to have more rhetoric where we're all coming together and protecting each other first. Well, undoubtedly, that will be part of this conversation moving forward.

I do want to shift gears a little bit. Talk about some of the news that was made here this morning, Mel. Senator Thom Tillis now saying he is going to vote yes to confirm Kevin Warsh. That's President Trump's pick to lead the Fed because he said he wanted the investigation dropped into Jerome Powell. He says he's gotten assurances from the Justice Department that it's not going to necessarily reopen the investigation willy-nilly into him. Yeah, this was some big news that you made with a senator here because he had been silent all weekend. Now we know why. He was working behind the scenes to get those assurances. He seemed pretty confident that this pro would not be reopened. That means essentially Kevin Warsh is on the glide path now. But of course, the question is, what if they go back on their word? So what if something happens? Todd Blanche seemed to leave the door open a little bit with you in your earlier interview. So that certainly something will be watching. Yeah. It's important to note that this investigation in Jerome Powell was never popular. Republican senators have increasingly been speaking out saying that this was not a good move by the president. The president, they were talking. They were talking. talking to him privately as well, telling him so. So there was pressure for him behind the scenes

to drop this, and he finally did. Lonnie, is he effectively, is Kevin Warsh effectively on a glide path now to confirmation? How do you see this? I certainly do think that Kevin will be confirmed. Hopefully by May 15th, when Chairman Jerome Powell's term expires, I've had the opportunity to work alongside Kevin Warsh for many years. I consider him a good friend and colleague. I think he's Ultimately, this is an important job determining how monetary policy looks for the next couple of years will be critical to jumpstart U.S. economic growth to make sure that we continue to have high employment as well as low inflation. So they're going to have a lot of challenges. The Fed's going to have a lot of challenges in this economy going forward. And Adrian, I asked Thom Tillis, if he was confident in Kevin Warsh's independence.

He said, yes, absolutely. How do you see this? Yeah, I mean, I hope he's right. I mean, what we've seen play out in the last few years with Trump going head to head with Jerome Powell has not been effective for the economy, we've seen Republicans join Democrats and saying there's got to be a separation. So maybe this will be a chance to have a new clean start. All right. Wonderful conversation.

Thank you to all of you. I'm so glad you're all here and that everyone is safe. Thank you. That is all for today. Thank you for watching. We will be back next week because if it's Sunday, it's meet the press.

I'm shakil Snoring, gasping for air during sleep, daytime sleepiness. I'm Shaquille O'Neal, and this shouldn't be anybody's experience. As your doctor about Zepbound Terseptide, the first and only FDA approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection.

Zepound contains Trezepotide and should not be used with other terseptitide. containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepbound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic

reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vivant. vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills, taking Zepbound with a sulfonal urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-97579 or visit zepbound.lily.com.