Meet the Press NOW — April 24

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Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington. where we're following breaking news, new movement towards possible talks to end the Iran war. Even as the president insists he's in no rush to make a deal despite growing economic and political pressure. The White House announced today special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will travel to Islamabad tomorrow. Iran's foreign minister arrived in Islamabad earlier today. But Iran's state media says he will be speaking to the Pakistanis about ending the war and will not hold any of negotiations with the Americans there.

Here's what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier today. The president has decided to dispatch Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner back to Islamabad. The Iranians want to talk. They want to talk in person. And so the president is, as I've said, many, many times to all of you, always willing to give diplomacy a chance. So Steve and Jared will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow to hear the Iranians out.

We hope progress will be made. And we hope that positive developments will come. come from this meeting. And we will see. And the president, the vice president, the secretary of state will be waiting here in the United States for updates. And the vice president, I understand, is on standby and will be willing to dispatch to Pakistan if we feel it's a necessary use of his time. Now, it comes after both the president and the defense secretary say they are in no rush to negotiate a deal. 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. I want to get a deal where our nation and the world is safe from lunatics with

nuclear weapons. President Trump said it again yesterday. We have all the time in the world. And we're not anxious for a deal. And I hear him say it every day in private as well. Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely, as we said previously, choose wisely at the negotiating table. All they have to do is abandon. a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways, or instead they can watch their regime's fragile economic state collapse under the unrelenting pressure of American power. A blockade as long as it takes. The Trump administration is facing what appears to be in Iranian regime that's willing to wait out the president. Five Western officials telling NBC News the regime in

Iran is more stable now than before the war and slightly more hard line. One of those officials also saying, quote, the Iranians don't seem to be in a rush to negotiate. Meanwhile, the president is touting the three-week extension of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. Here's what he said about that deal yesterday while hosting the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors in the Oval Office. They've agreed to an additional three weeks of, I guess, no firing ceasefire. No more firing. Let's see. We hope that happens. It's not going to happen between them, but they do have Hezbollah to. think about. And we're going to be working with Lebanon to get things straightened out on that country. Despite those comments, Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire today. The Iran-backed

militant group saying it attacked Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon today. While the Israeli military confirms it struck Hezbollah military structures also in southern Lebanon, joining me now to start us off as NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba. And NBC News News chief international correspondent Kyr Simmons, who is in Islamabad for us. Monica, let me start with you at the White House. Let's talk about the fact that special envoy, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are heading to Pakistan, not the vice president. What do we make of this, Monica? Yeah, I think that is very telling, Kristen, about how the U.S. is viewing these negotiations

and also what it could mean for the timeframe. Remember that they were part of those initial talks way back before the war against Iran started. They left empty-handed without a deal. And then they have been a part of the negotiating team since then, but they did accompany Vice President JD Vance when they went the first time to Islamabad. And they came up short. They weren't able to get to an agreement there with Iran after a 21-hour marathon session. And then we have seen a couple of times where it seemed like maybe the team was going to get back together

and head over there with the vice president, only for that to be pulled back. So it does seem like this is a White House that's acknowledging that maybe they can't get a lot of this. accomplished in the near term. And that is why they're going to wait to send the vice president until maybe there's more of an indication that a framework can actually be achieved. I think they're a little bit concerned about him going there again and then walking away without a deal. And then what that means for the president's threats that he has made over and over again. It just seems like this is a really critical moment, but where the White House is sort of watching and waiting before they're determining next steps. Kristen.

It absolutely seems like that. Kyr, let me head to you in Islamabad. Iran saying foreign minister Abbas Araghchi isn't there to negotiate, in fact, with the U.S. delegation. What do you make of that? Do you think that that's posturing? Will that change when Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrive?

Well, I think it's confusing. Christa, there's thunder and lightning here in Islamabad, which I think is a pretty apt backdrop for what's likely to go on through this weekend. Certainly the Iranians are here that much we can say for sure. You heard Monica describing that. The foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is here. He just arrived and was welcomed by the de facto leader of Pakistan, filled Marshall Manir, and by the leader, the leader of Pakistan. And look, the thing is, is that both the Pakistanis and the Iranians, through Iranian state media, is saying that all that's going to happen right now

are talks between Iran and Pakistan. It takes about 15 or 16 hours to get here by plane from the US. So you can't imagine that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner can be here until tomorrow night. And then we are hearing that the Iranian team, you can hear that thunder, the Iranian team are going to be in Oman on Sunday.

and it's a few hours flight to Oman. So there's a small window for a conversation that might not even be a conversation. Well, it couldn't be a more dramatic backdrop, certainly the natural elements, the diplomatic elements at play, Keir Starmer, and as we're engaging in this live shot, please, Keir Starmer, be safe if you need to take cover,

do that if you need to. Kare, do you think, and can you characterize what kind of progress would actually need to be made in order for the vice president to get engaged? in these talks. Yeah, it's a good question.

I'll tell you what I'll just put up an umbrella to protect myself from the rain, at least, Look, it's a good question. What we know is that the person who has been leading the delegation from Iran, the Speaker of the Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, he's not here. There was some talk through the week reports, particularly in Israeli media, that he had resigned from the delegation. and that's, I guess, that maybe the fact that he's not here

lend some credence to that. But it may also be that the Iranians don't want to make it look as if they are sending a high-powered delegation here. And I think that might be one of the reasons why the Vice President hasn't come because the Iranians aren't sending their head of delegation. It's anyone's guess where it goes from here, whether, I guess, to put a positive spin on it,

can there be a conversation between President Trump's son-in-law and his envoy and the foreign minister of Iran that gets them towards some sort of an agreement, some sort of an understanding that opens up more talks. But really right now, for this weekend, it does look as if it will be talks about talks. And it's impossible.

This bravado, if you like, on both sides, saying we don't need to compromise, the other side will compromise. We will punish you if you don't compromise. It's impossible to tell. from that, how much either side is ready to back down, if you like. I think it's pretty clear President Trump doesn't want to reignite the conflict. I think at the same time, from what he says, he's certainly prepared to.

And the Iranians, I think, feel similarly, but are also prepared for more of a fight, if you like. Yeah, I think that's a good reading of the current state of play. And to that point, Monica, it was extraordinary. This statement by the president, he's in no rush to make a deal. He says publicly, yet we've seen the polling. He's facing some of the lowest approval ratings of his entire administration underwater and his handling of the war in Iran of the economy. Based on your conversations with your sources inside the West Wing, Monica,

how much pressure is the administration actually feeling to end this war? Yeah. Kristen, the president may say that publicly, but privately, according to my conversations, with sources familiar with the discussions, there is certainly an anxiety about trying to figure out a timeline to wrap this up. The president definitely wants to do that. And Iran is proving to be more patient, proving to really not be in any kind of a rush to make a deal in the near term. We know there are a couple of sort of artificial deadlines that are looming for the president as he is thinking about this.

Next week, he does have that very high profile state visit from Charles III. And then a couple of just days after that, the U.S. and the Trump administration will be, preparing for that high-profile trip to Beijing to China that we know, according even to the White House, when they were asked about this a few weeks ago, their goal was to have the war against Iran wrapped up before then. That is what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had said that was the goal. That was the anticipation. Remember, this started out as a four to six week military conflict. We're now in week eight. So I do think there is pressure, certainly, to figure out how this all ends.

Kira, one more to you finally. Obviously, we know there is that ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. It's going to be extended for three weeks. How closely are those countries watching what's happening in Pakistan? It's all interrelated, of course. It is. And I would put the other way around in many ways. Here in Pakistan and in Iran, they're watching very closely what's happening in Lebanon.

I think that three-week ceasefire was crucial to even begin to be. be able to have a conversation about Iran and vice versa. We know, of course, the links between Hezbollah and Iran. And the two are dependent on each other, but they are parallel tracks. They are twin tracks. So, look, in a sense, I guess you could say that that is some progress, albeit extremely complex and fragile progress. But at the same time, the main event is here, weekend in Islamabad. Well, we know you'll be tracking every twist and turn very closely. Kyr Simmons, thank you from Islamabad. Monica Alba from the White House. Thanks to both of you for starting us off. Now to the breaking news here in Washington that could have a major impact for the president's

economic agenda heading into the midterms. U.S. attorney Janine Piro announcing today, she is ending the Justice Department's investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the central bank for now. Piero is saying she will stand down while the feds and or general investigates cost overruns associated with a renovation project of the agency's headquarters. Quote, I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG undertakes this inquiry. Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts weren't doing so. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters today, this isn't case closed by any means. The case is not necessarily dropped.

It's just being moved over to the Inspector General who has critical tools at their disposal to continue to look into the financial mismanagement at the Fed. The investigation still continues. It's just under a different authority. And that's what you'll continue to see. Now, keep in mind, the Fed's IG says it has been reviewing the renovation since July of last year. Piero's announcement comes three days after the Senate Banking Committee held a confirmation hearing for the president's pick to succeed Jerome Powell, Kevin Warsh, with a Republican. on that committee, Senator Thom Tillis, renewing his block on Kevin Warsh's nomination until the Jerome Powell investigation was dropped. We have not yet heard the North Carolina Senator's reaction to today's

news, but we will on Sunday when he joins us exclusively on Meet the Press. For now, NBC News, senior national politics reporter Jonathan Allen joins me, along with NBC News, business and data correspondent Brian Chong. Thanks to both of you for being here. Jonathan, let me start with you. What exactly is the White House saying about this move by the Justice Department? What's the reaction been? Well, hi, Kristen, you got a little bit of that just a moment ago from Karoline Leavitt, our own Monica Alba asking her about it just outside the White House here. But the more full White House statement on this, and I think we've got that to show folks, has a bit of a curious aspect to it, which is they're saying that one of the reasons they're

doing it is that the Federal Reserve's Inspector General has more powerful authorities to position it to get to the bottom of the matter. Of course, the Justice Department has all of the investigative authority in the federal government, but a little bit of a fig leaf there about this decision to back down from where the president's position had been on this. Yeah, well, and just to delve a little bit more deeply into that point, the Fed's Inspector General says it's been reviewing the renovation since last July, in fact. Do we know exactly why the DOJ made its decision on this investigation right now? Was it under pressure to get this confirmation process through?

They absolutely haven't given us a big why, or at least not one that makes a lot of sense, except for that argument there that the Justice Department doesn't have as much powers, the Federal Reserve's Inspector General. So, you know, I don't think it takes much to deduce that what's going on here is the President would like his new Federal Reserve Chairman to get a vote in the Senate. And Thom Tillis, the senator from North Carolina, wasn't backing down. So this may, and we'll have to hear from Thom Tillis, but this may get around that concern from Thom Tillis. of course, as Karoline Leavitt said, they are kind of reserving the right to kick this back to the Justice Department. So, you know, if you're, if you're Jerome Powell, you're probably not

terribly comfortable with the idea that that's still an open question. All right. Let me head over to Brian. Brian, look, let's say this does clear the path for Kevin Kevin Warsh's confirmation. What did his hearing this week indicate about how the Fed will function under his leadership? There were a lot of tough questions for him. Yeah, Kristen, it was only on Tuesday that Kevin Warsh appeared in front of the Senate Bank Committee trying to make his pitch to try to get the votes needed to advance to a full Senate vote and then hopefully to become the next Fed chair after and succeeding Jerome Powell. I think that the big question was whether or not he was going to be independent.

but the question is how will he deliver on that if he is confirmed? And Brian, has Wall Street seeing this as Wall Street confident that Kevin Warsh will in fact be, independent and we'll defend the Fed's independence. Yeah, well, things are certainly too noisy in the stock market with the war in Iran to figure out if they're pricing in what Kevin Warsh would do as Fed Chair. But nonetheless, it did catch the attention of, for example, Goldman Sachs, which released a note shortly after the Kevin Warsh nomination hearing, where they said that they were particularly interested by what the prospective Fed Chair said regarding inflation.

He seemed to suggest that the Federal Reserve's current framework for assessing inflation wasn't really what he had in mind that he would pursue an alternate version of looking at inflation without getting into the nitty-gritty, essentially would look at more optimistic readings that right now would suggest that inflation isn't as bad as the current Fed readings are. For that reason, that could imply that a Kevin Warsh-led Fed would feel a little bit more comfortable, marginally lowering interest rates from here. But of course, all of this is just speculation, and he's not even confirmed his Fed chair yet. Yeah, it's notable, of course, the DOJ, again, suggesting it could reopen this.

investigation, might Jerome Powell decide to remain on the board when his term as chair ends, given that? Yeah, that is the golden question here, Kristen. And the reason why this matters is because, of course, we talk so much about the Fed chair, who is the top dog at the central bank. But you have to remember, that's just one person on a panel of up to seven people at the Federal Reserve board. And there's also 12 regional Fed presidents around the country that get to decide on what interest

rates actually do. They have to have a vote. And for that reason, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, could stay on as a Fed governor as his term would allow him to do, even if Kevin Warsh is appointed. The question is what he want to do so. I think a lot of that breaks down to the optics of it. If he stays on, would that be seen as political or apolitical? That's something that he's going to have to navigate if it does indeed remain the case,

that the Kevin Warsh nomination has some runway now as the Department of Justice has dropped this investigation for now. All right. John and Brian, great information. Thank you so much for joining us. And you can watch my exclusive interview with Senator Thom Tillis, including his response to the DOJ dropping its investigation into Jerome Powell and much more this Sunday only on Meet the Press. Coming up, a U.S. Special Forces soldier involved in the raid on Venezuela's captured leader Nicolas Maduro is now facing criminal charges for allegedly using prediction markets to profit off the raid. That story's next. Stay with us. You're watching Meet the Press now.

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Shop Wayfair's Fourth of July clearance now through July 6th at Wayfair.com. Welcome back. Prediction Markets, which have exploded in popularity in recent months are now facing intensifying scrutiny after a U.S. Special Forces soldier who was involved in the operation to capture Venezuela and President Nicholas Maduro was charged with betting on Maduro's January capture. Authorities say Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke bet a total of about $33,000 in the Maduro operation on the prediction. market platform, polymarket, and cashed in, making more than $400,000 on bets. This comes after another platform, Kalshi, suspended three political candidates from its site this week after catching them betting on their own races. President Trump had this to say when asked by reporters about bets on events like Maduro's capture and the Iran war. Listen. And the whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino.

But it is what it is. No, I think that I'm not happy with any of that stuff, but they have all these different sites. They have predictive markets. It's a crazy world. It's a much different world than it was. Now, we should note President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr. is an advisor to both polymarket and Kalshi,

and Trump media is currently working on its own prediction market, TruthPredict on the president's truth social platform. Join me now is NBC News National Law Enforcement and intelligence correspondent Tom Winter. So Tom, break this down. Master Sergeant Van Dyke appeared in court in North Carolina. What more did you learn about him and the charges he's facing? Well, that's right, Kristen.

When you lay it out that way, it seems like everything is going to be up for gambling at this point. As far as what happened in court today, Van Dyke had his first appearance. That's not an opportunity to enter a plea. He was released on Bonn. He's going to have to surrender any weapons unless he needs them for his prescribed by the military. On top of that, he's going to surrender his passports as well. He'll be in New York next week, as expected to anyway, to have his first appearance before the judge who will ultimately handle his case as this case was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. And that's important because that's an office that has a lot of experience in charging insider-type trading cases. And you might say, well, what does an insider trading case have to do with something involving a polymarket? But that's really been a focus for the U.S. Attorney's Office here. They've been looking into the

this, and they've charged this with the type of thing that you would be charged with if you had insider-type knowledge on the stock market. It's being charged in this particular instance of somebody who was part of the Joint Special Operations Command, had absolute knowledge of the U.S.'s plans involving Maduro. And then, according to the grand jury, made bets based on that information, a pretty serious charge. So he is facing those commodity charges, several counts, each of them, up to 10 years in prison, Kristen. Yeah, raises all sorts of questions about national security as well. Tom, this is not an isolated incident. Prediction markets have been sparking ethical concerns for bets on everything from the Iran war,

whether the U.S. would take over Greenland and the companies are responding. What are they saying, Tom? Well, the companies are responding. And one of the things that they're doing in the U.S. Attorney's Office acknowledged that Polly Market had been cooperating here is that they are trying to pick up on these suspicious patterns. Look, these type of gamblers, which is effectively what it is, that they're placing these bets on these actions, they typically tend to bet big and bet outside of kind of the normal activity. So all of a sudden you might have, you know,

you and I have a wager between the Patriots and the Eagles. It's a $15 wager. Okay, no big deal. But then all of a sudden somebody comes in and bets $10,000 against the Eagles, Kristen, you'd be like, well, wait a minute. This is somebody have some outside knowledge here of what's going to happen.

So they've been looking at those types of anomalies, if you will. They've even got an investigation that's open into somebody that was using a hair dryer in an airport to try to influence the recorded temperature. People bet on the temperature that it's going to be in a particular city or a particular place on a given day. And somebody they're looking into whether or not they're using a hair dryer to try to influence and raise the temperature. So they're acutely aware that people will lose faith in these markets if they think that people are able to rig them. Just extraordinary. And of course, I always bet on the Eagles, Tom. You know that.

I want to turn to these political candidates. They've been suspended for betting on their own campaigns. Tom, what can you tell us about that? Yeah, so this is something that we've seen. You've noticed the fines there on the screen going into the thousands of dollars, people betting whether or not somebody was going to run, then they announced that they're running and putting their own money on that. That's something that, again, speaks to kind of the challenges

that these prediction sites have because it would be difficult. There are certainly examples. You look at Enron, WorldCom, some of the major companies that have cooked their books over the years, or alleged have cooked their books over the years, that have led to massive amounts of fraud and people that were buying or selling inside those companies. There's been a lot of work to try to regulate that out or at least make it difficult for companies to do it. It would be tough to manipulate Apple's books in their sales to the level that would really move markets, by somebody. But as we see with these candidate announcements and in politics, think about all the

permutations. Who could be a vice presidential candidate, who could be a vice presidential pick, rather, who could be a presidential candidate, go on and on and on. And there's big money here. And again, it speaks to these markets trying to have integrity going forward. All right. Tom Winter, thank you so very much. Really appreciate it. We've been following a lot of legal developments today and all week long from prediction markets to the DOJ dropping its probe into the Fed chair, Jerome Powell. And to discuss it all, I'm joined now by former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb. Ty, thanks so much for being here. Really appreciate it. Always great to see you. Always nice to see you, dear. Thank you so much.

Well, thanks for being here. I do have to start with this news. You just heard me discussing with Tom, these charges against the soldier accused of making a whopping $400,000 by betting on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Polly Market says, look, this is a sign. The guardrails on the site. are working. Do you agree with that from a legal standpoint? No, absolutely not. These things should be abandoned, particularly during the Trump administration. I think the worst fact that came out today beyond the absurdity of having a service member bet on a classified raid that he was about to undergo is the fact that Trump's true social is going to

start a prediction market as well. So, you know, you can be assured that since most of these outrageous, weird betting patterns with millions of dollars in returns have been around Trump's foreign policy and other events like that, that, you know, the corruption at the top, well, it should be a major, major, major concern for all Americans. Do you see that idea that Trump media company is potentially pursuing starting its own prediction site? Is that a potential conflict of interest, Ty? Sure, but so is the fact that he's stolen $4 billion from the American taxpayers since he went into office 14 months ago, 15 months ago. You know, the fact that he took a $500 million bribe from the UAE in exchange for our AI chips.

I mean, the level of corruption is staggering, and this just gives him another avenue to rake the taxpayers. Well, let me ask you, broadly speaking, about the president's policies. legality of that. Obviously, we are tracking the war with Iran, Ty. We are approaching the 60-day mark of the war in Iran. That's significant because that's, of course, the deadline for the War Powers Act for the president to go to Congress to seek congressional approval. Now, the president has said a number of times he doesn't think he needs Congress's approval. One, do you think he does once it reaches the 60-day deadline? And number two, do you think he will seek it? So certainly he does under the law.

The law is not really that much of a guardrail for him, as we've seen from the hundreds of judicial opinions, highlighting his unconstitutional illegal acts in the past few months. You know, he has defied many of those orders. You know, will he defy Congress? I think, you know, that could be an event where actually some congressional Republicans find a spine and do vote to impose the War Powers Act. I hope that will be the case. the votes have been so close so far. But I think once he goes over the 60-day requirement of the statute that, you know, other

congressmen, even Republicans may express their concerns about this and do it with their votes. Ty, this is significant what you're saying. I just want to stop there for a second because you're effectively saying you anticipate some Republican members of Congress to change their stance after that 60-day market. met. Is that how you see it? You would think they would since the law requires them to. But, you know, there's been, there hasn't been a lot of indication of courage or character in among the Republicans in the last 15 months. But I think some of the, some of the, even the staunchest conservative people,

you know, do believe that when the country's at war, that all the bells and whistles need to be attended to. And this is one of the most serious ones we have in our, in our legal framework. Let me ask you about the Justice Department dropping its investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, but Janine Piro, very clear that she is prepared to reopen it if she thinks that's necessary. What was your reaction to those developments today? What are the implications? I think it was imminently foreseeable. It's more important to Trump to get Jerome Powell out than it is, you know,

Unfortunately, we think that we have lost our connection with Ty Cobb. We have a number of other topics to discuss with him, though, so we will try to reestablish that connection and get him back on the other side of a very – we have him back. Here he is. Ty, keep going. Your reaction. That's okay. So the reaction is that this was – this was pretty –

predictable because, you know, Trump is desperate to find somebody who will do his bidding at the Fed. I hope Wash is a little bit more of a stand-up guy than other people in the government like Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. would be. Ideally, he can come in and, you know, sustain monetary policy in an independent way. But Trump's desperate to get rid of Jerome Powell. I'm not sure if I'm Thom Tillis, this is actually enough to get me to back. off because what they're saying is, okay, we're not going to prosecute him now. We'll wait until after Warwick is confirmed and Jerome Powell is no longer chairman. It's not much of a abandonment of this, even though there was no case. A prosecutor was removed from this case because there was no case.

And the Justice Department, you know, with Piro involved, it's clear that they will do whatever Trump demands. So if Trump wants to pick this up again, after Kevin Warsh is confirmed, they likely will do so. She also lied about the significance of what they were doing. I mean, she pretended that they had referred it to the Inspector General. They didn't refer to the Inspector General. Jerome Powell himself referred this to the Inspector General over a year ago. The Inspector General doesn't report to the Justice Department.

The Inspector General doesn't report to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Congress. Inspector General reports to Congress. And the Inspector General issued a statement today, making it plain, they were working on their report, hope to finalize it soon, and would report it to Congress, not to Piro. Well, Ty, I think you're right. There will be a lot of focus on Piro's statement. I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so. Let me ask you before I let you go. Which is a concession. So that's a concession that the facts currently don't warrant a criminal investigation, even though one was underway.

All right. Well, before I let you go, I do have to ask you about Pam Bondi, President Trump fired her as attorney general. Ty, what do you make of Todd Blanche serving as acting attorney general? Do you think he should be put in that role permanently? Oh, absolutely not. I mean, you know, he was Trump's personal lawyer, had to leave his law firm in New York to undertake that. Subsequently moved his family down to the, you know, Mar-a-Lago bubble, you know,

which is probably the only place they can go to the supermarket without receiving the, you know, enmity that they deserve. You know, he is there to do one thing at this stage of the game, which is Trump's bidding. And he will do Trump's bidding no matter how horrible these acts are and no matter how facetious his defense of those acts are. For example, he's insisted that Trump had a duty and a right to dictate government, Justice Department prosecutions. that turns on its head 50 years of independence subsequent to Watergate.

He's insisted that the Southern Property Law Center indictment was somehow legitimate. When, you know, the Southern Property Law Center, every informant that they paid, they shared that information with the Justice Department. So it's silly. I mean, it was just merely because the Southern Property Law Center is critical of Trump, critical of Kash Patel directly. You know, this is just another among many revenge prosecutions that we see ongoing, you know, as they embrace the proud boys, but push back on the Southern Poverty

Law Center that's called out, you know, government corruption and discrimination over time. All right. Ty Cobb. Thank you for being here. Thank you for battling through those technical glitches to stick around. We always appreciate your perspective. Thanks, Ty. Coming up after the break, funding fights in Florida, Florida, Florida, Republican Congresswoman

weighs in on the Trump administration's redistricting war. as it takes center stage in her state, plus her efforts on bipartisan immigration reform, and much more. Stay with us. This is Meet the Press now.

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Welcome back, turning out of Capitol Hill, where yesterday Senate Republicans narrowly passed a budget measure that would pave the way to fund ICE and Border Patrol without Democratic support. The resolution now goes to the House as the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security reaches day 70. joining me now to discuss all of this on set as Florida Republican Congresswoman Maria Alvirus Salazar. Thank you so much for being.

Pleasure always. Great to be. Appreciate having you here on set. Let's start right there. So Republicans in the Senate did pass this budget resolution that would effectively fund ice and border patrol. Will you vote yes on this measure? Well, I'm going to review the first step, which is where we're going to be receiving probably on Monday. We start working.

Tuesday is the first full day. so we're going to be a reviewer, but I'm sure that we have to reach an agreement, and we have to fund ICE and DHS, ICE and, and, and, uh, border patrol. Do you have any issues with going around Democrats, basically doing this through reconciliation, this term here in Washington, which allows you to do it with only Republicans? No, not only on this topic, not only on this topic. We should be working together. We should be, we should be working closer on immigration, which you know, it's my space, is my lane.

I think we should be doing, but it's sometimes they're reticent and sometimes they don't like working with us. So we've got to change the whole environment. And I am really trying to see if I could do that by myself and on my own within the GOP, trying to work with my colleagues and with attempts and solve immigration problem. Because this is just a little patch that was a little band-aid that we're putting on a very big wound that started 40 years ago. Well, to that point, you are promoting your bill called the D. Dignity Act. It's the only bill that there is that covers immigration reform in the House of Representatives

and in the Senate. No one wants to talk about this topic, but it's the economy and immigration of the two most important topics for the American people. And you know something? The division on immigration is only in Washington. Americans have settled the issue. 83% of Americans believe that we have to give some type of permanent legal permit so those people can continue working.

No path to citizenship. Just let them stay, work, pay taxes. And yet some conservatives in your conference, Texas Congressman Brandon Gill, for example, says that this bill is, quote, a betrayal of the values we ran on less election cycle. We ran on mass deportations. We said we're going to do that. So we should. I met with him.

I met with him for an hour. I went to his office because I think this. How do you convince him? How do you get him on? Well, I mean, let's start talking. And he was very nice. I was in his office for one hour a couple of days ago, and I explained to him what I'm explaining to you and to the American people and to my Republican Party. Wake up. Okay. The dignity bill, which is the one that I wrote years ago, covers everything that President Trump promised in his campaign.

Three things. Secure a border. The border is secured. Let's do a biggest mass deportation. You can deport everyone who came in through Biden in those caravans that were terror. because remember the dams have made a lot of mistakes too. So do no more caravans. Deport them or remove them from the country. Tell them they're not welcomed anymore. And number three, kick out the bad embrace. So that's what I think guys should be doing. The illegals with criminal records out.

What do you do with arrest? The people who are in construction, hospitality, agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing. I just had, I mean, I can speak until tomorrow. I just had a big press conference with the National Association of manufacturers, 10% of the economy. Jay Timmons, he was next to me saying, hey, we need hands. Do you think, though, that you won him over, first of all,

and do you think you're going to get enough support to actually pass this? Is he now a yes, or is he still in this? If my colleagues on the right within the GOP, whom I respect, and I believe that they have the right to speak, do not understand that President Trump, within the next three years, could be for immigration, what Lincoln was for slavery.

He's the only guy, Republicans, Democrats in the last 40 years, who's dared to do things like Iran and Venezuela and now Cuba. If he doesn't say, okay, it's time to fix immigration, then we will lose, the GOP will lose that coalition of Hispanics who put President Trump in the White House, and then we will lose them forever, and then the Dems will then make everyone citizen. Well, you take me to my next question,

because we've got some new polling that shows the president has lost major ground with key parts of his 2024 coalition, including Hispanic voters, his approval rating there, has dropped 24 points. Look at this. Young adults. Men, you see that drop. That's embarrassing. So is that, how concerned are you about those? Very.

I'm very concerned because one out of two Hispanics in 2024 voted for President Trump. And I am happy with that because he promised that he was going to. going to kick out. He was going to do the biggest mass deportation and he was going to remove the illegals who have criminal records. Criminal record. And that did not, that did not happen for whatever reason. Now is time for him to send the message, all right, we want to keep the Hispanics as part of the GOP family. Why don't we then do something that is dignifying, which is the dignity legislation. It does not have path to citizenship. Never, never path. If you have a criminal record, no way. If you've been here for more than five years, so it does not cover those who came in under Biden.

Hey, it's Solomon. You know, in Solomon, like in the Bible, that you cut the baby into two, that's exactly what I'm doing. I got the baby and I cut it into two. So let me, that's a very powerful metaphor. Oh, think about it. You know, I'm trying, please both sides. And I think we were able to accomplish it. Let me ask you about another big fight that's playing out across the country, redistricting. It now heads to Florida. Your state, as you know, Governor Ron DeSantis, poised to hold. a special session next week to try to get this past. Do you think that politically that's the best move here?

Because even if he's successful, you only met a couple of seats. Look, I may be at a disadvantage because my lines in district number 27 in the state of Florida may be moved. But there's nothing I can do about it. And I always look at the right side. This is American democracy. This is the American electoral system. It's not perfect.

But, I mean, we know the one in Venezuela and Cuba and Iran. I like what we see. It's not perfect. And there's nothing I can do about it. I cannot call the Sanchez and say, hey, don't move my lines. But can you? I mean, does your districting make the democracy stronger or weaker, do you think? You know, at the end, people will vote regardless of what district they live in.

They're going to vote for the candidate that they like. and that's what I love about the American system. Because people can vote to their conscience. I have to ask you very quickly about Cuba. A State Department official does confirm to NBC News that a delegation met with Cuban government officials last week to advance diplomatic talks. Do you think it's possible to get a deal with Cuba at this point?

Well, you went and you interview them. The problem with them is that for 65 years they have been in the business of power. And they have always enabled to finagle and move around and convince 10. administrations, Republicans and Democrats, up until they got Donald Trump. That's what I'm saying. Trump is the man for many different instances. And I am sure that they have not read the memo, but they will because they are hanging by

a threat. They don't have Russia. They don't have Venezuela. They don't have resources. Is there a diplomatic route with this government or do you think there needs to be a military? It depends. It depends on the Cubans. And reality is that they are talking to people who have the castra blood in their veins, the grandson and the son. They're not talking to Diaz Canal. Diazcanal is just a puppet and he knows it and he told, oh, I'm not going anywhere. Yeah, look on Maduro. Look where Maduro is at now. And he said the same thing. So Cuba, what a great story. I represent the Cuban, the largest Cuban exile community in the country. So I, we thank him. It will be a glorious day for the Western Hemisphere and for the United States. We will be Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and we'll

we've been number one friends of the United States and the Caribbean. Well, we'll continue to track it so closely. Thank you. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Still to come in the red, the Republican Party's political standing is on shaky ground, according to new polling from inside the districts that will decide which party controls Congress. The panel's here to break it all down, so don't go anywhere. You're watching Meet the Press Now.

Welcome back of the 400, 135 seats in the House of Representatives control the chamber may very well come down to just a few dozen districts. Our friends at the Cook Political Report have released their latest poll of the 36 House districts. They're classifying as battlegrounds in 2026. And the results come with some potential warning signs for the GOP. Voters give Democrats a six-point edge on who they're more likely to vote for. As President Trump's approval rating remains underwater in these key districts. Joining me now is the panel, Carrie Dan, managing editor of the Cook Political Report, Deepa Chavaram, White House correspondent for NPR, Megan Hayes, former special assistant to President Biden and T.W. Riehi, Republican strategist and Vice President of Push Digital Group.

Thanks to all of you for being here on this Friday. Carrie, Dan, it's so great to have you here. I have to start with you. Your polling fines that Democrats have an edge on the generic ballot in those battleground districts, and they also have an edge on the trust issue. What do you think winds up being the more compelling issue for voters heading into election? Well, I think what's so important about this polling, these are 36 districts that are rated by the Cook Political Report as a toss-up or a lean race. And these taken as a whole are places that Donald Trump won by two points. So the generic ballot being six points in Democrats' direction is a very dramatic swing. And it's being fueled by independent voters.

Democrats are winning independent voters in this polling by 25 points. And that's really when it comes down issue to issue. When you ask these voters, if you're talking about an issue like Iran or taxation, or you're talking about cost of living, foreign policy generally, independence and voters overall are picking Democrats by a significant margin, at least single digits. The only issue that Republicans have an advantage on is border security. That's a place that I think you're going to see Republicans leaning in on. But Democrats are winning on things like cost of living by a margin of five points, nine points.

And that's really what's fueling this swing towards Democrats. Now, independents also don't like Democrats. They don't like either party. But because you're breaking it down issue by issue, that's why independents are swinging the way they are. Deepa, what are you hearing based on your conversations about the level of concern about polling? I mean, this is stark polling that carries laying out a lot of warning signs for the GOPNs and some warning signs for Democrats, too. Definitely. I mean, I think from Republicans I've talked to, it's like we got to turn, we got to turn the ship around, right?

And there's not a lot of time left to do it. But the problem is you're working with the leader of the party who doesn't want to turn the ship around. I was just with the president last week in Las Vegas, in Phoenix, places in the country where costs are very high, including the cost of gas, which has been a really big header issue for so many voters. And the president standing in front of a crowd in Las Vegas and saying the economy is booming. And meanwhile, polling is showing that that is the one thing he's getting hammered on, which is, you know, not exactly how he got voted into office again. This was something that he had a lot of faith in on. People were bought in on his economic message. and he's not delivering. And so for these Republicans in these really tight races, how much, I think I'm watching for how much they associate themselves with Donald Trump, even want to talk about Donald Trump on the trail, how they're going to navigate this for the next five, six months is just a really tough spot for them to be in.

And TW, Cook also found the president's approval is underwater in key districts. Do Republicans have enough time to, as DEPA is saying, turn this ship around? And how do you do it at this point? Yeah, I think they do have enough time. If you look at President Trump's approval rating, it sits pretty much right in between where Barack Obama and George Obama and George Bush were at this time in their second term. And to your point about those numbers, those are very bad numbers for Republicans. But it made me look back and see where we were just a few months ago in late January when the Wall Street Journal gave Republicans a five-point edge on the economy. So what changed in that time frame? Well, I think the biggest thing, right now is what's going on in Iran and the driving up of oil prices. I think if we get a resolution to that and we can find a way forward on the energy issue, I think a lot of other things will take care of themselves. And I think the president, for what he can do right now while Iran is still going on, is message about the winds. We have them. Talk about them. Do you think that Democrats run the risk because as Kerry's laying out, Democrats are underwater when it comes to their favorability. Independence are not exactly energized about.

going out and voting for Democrats? How do Democrats win over those voters who may feel like they don't have a home right now? They don't know who they're going to vote. Well, I think that's the important thing that we get these voters to turn out. Like, these independents need to turn out for Democrats. They just can't stay at home. So I think that Democrats need to come up with actual solutions. They need to be having solutions of how to make their life and their cost of living go down. And I think that's where Democrats are struggling. The base is starting to see them push back and fight. You saw a lot of that with Leader Hakeem Jeffries this week in Virginia, which is really positive for the base, but people aren't going to be moved to come out and vote if their

cost of living is not lower. They're not going to vote for Donald Trump and they're not going to vote for a Democrat. So Democrats need to have solutions here. Well, Carrie, you know, the Democratic Party is having this internal debate. Should they be running after President Trump? Should they make him their focus or should they be focused on affordability, which Megan is consistently talking about what are voters saying about that? What do they want to hear? Well, I think there's evidence in this poll for where Democrats are falling short. among those who approve of the president, 94% of them are voting for Republicans. Among those who disapprove of the president, that number is 74%.

So that's a much more muted number. And that's voters who are saying, I don't really like either party. I do think that cost of living is the key here. That's the thing that everything comes back to when we're talking about gas prices in Iran, when we're talking about health care, people are seeing that through the lens of what is happening in my wallet. And compared to Trump's first term where he was above water on the economy, even if he was underwater on a lot of personality traits, a lot of atmospherics. He was above water in the economy in his first presidency. Now he is not, and that's the thing every time, to your point, every time that the president is

talking about something that's not cost of living, I think it's a lost opportunity for Republicans to message that way. Every time Democrats are talking about that's something that's not cost of living, these people, these voters at home are saying, why am I going to come up, turn out and vote for you? How do the aides around President Trump convince him to get and stay on message, can they? Show him the polls. We know Donald Trump reads the polling. Show him the polling. Look, I think, I saw a great story the other day talking about the effects that no tax on tips had on tax returns for wage earners. And when they were asked, when these reporters were going up and asking these bartenders, do you know why that is? They didn't know was because Donald Trump passed it in the big,

beautiful bill. They have no idea. Seniors don't know. And the fact of the matter is the Republicans have an opportunity here. If you compare the numbers of today on a generic ballot to what they were at this time in 2018, Democrats are lagging behind where they were. And the fact of the matter is Democrats have a brand problem. And so we ought to capitalize that by using our strengths in getting out there and pushing the message of the wins we've had. And Deepa, when you talk to Republicans, they say we thought that's what we would be talking about right now. Tax cuts, refunds that people are getting. And yet they're talking about the war in Iran. And of course, what's so extraordinary about that is President Trump campaigned on this promise not to get the

war, to put America first, to lower costs. And it's like you're looking back at the laundry list. And it's like, oh, what happened here? And such a short period of time, the thing that I keep coming back to you is that not even what, two months ago, three months ago, the biggest talking point for this administration was the low price of gas. Gas was under $3 a gallon. And look how far, you know, this is common just a span of a couple weeks. I think it comes down to this thing that we're watching of the president picking a lot of fights, right? You talked about redistricting in Virginia. You talk about the war in Iran, for example, these fights that somehow are blowing back against him. And Republicans who are in these tight races are the ones who are having

to sort of muddle around it and figure out how to message next. Megan, if the war in Iran were to end, we know that negotiators are going over on Saturday. Let's say it ends in the next several days, the next week or a few weeks. And gas prices do start to come down at some point in the next couple of months or so. Do you think that changes the messaging for Democrats? I think it does change the messaging. That it won't be such an obvious pivot for Democrats to be like, your gas is high because of this direct action. There is a direct, you know, cause and effect here with the war. So I think that that will change things. And Democrats will have to figure out how to message affordability on different topics. But they, you know, people are going to

make up their mind in June and July. So everything needs to start coming down before then because it's not going to matter after that. The damage is already going to be done. They're not going to have enough money to go into the summer for vacations and for other things that they're looking forward to that normal families do. And so I just think Republicans better get moving if they're going to make changes. Is that your timeline? June or July is this race over in June or July? I think so. Look, the president doesn't have the luxury to make every decision globally based on the price of gas. He needs to do things in the best interest of this country, the best interest of global safety. And I do think he is on the path to reaching a deal. I'm glad we're talking about

peace rather than further bobbing. All right, well, we will track it closely. Guys, great conversation. Thank you so much. Thanks for all of the great polling, Carrie. We really appreciate it. Deepa, Megan T.W. Thank you for being here.

We will be back Monday with more Meet the Press now. And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press. On your local NBC News station, I'll have exclusive interviews with Senator Thom Tillis and Congressman Ro Khanna. Don't miss it. There's more ahead on NBC News Now. Struggling with bloat or indigestion, you're not alone. two out of three Americans suffer from poor gut health.

I'm Tina Anderson, co-founder of Just Thrive Probiotic. As a mom of three, when no probiotics solve my family's tummy troubles, I created my own. Just Thrive Probiotic is the only probiotic that arrives 100% alive in your gut, supporting five-star digestion, immunity, and better sleep. We even have a formula for pets. Use code Serious for 20% off at Justthrivehealth.com slash serious.