Meet the Press NOW — December 18

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Welcome to Meet the Press. Now I'm Kristen Welker in Washington, where President Trump is doubling down on his economic agenda and facing a rough stretch of souring poll numbers as he urges voters to blame his predecessor. It comes amid a potential bright spot for the administration, with the Labor Department reporting today that inflation fell to 2.7% in November. That's lower than expected. The data comes with a few caveats. It was collected later than normal because of the government shutdown. An economist warned that it may reflect temporary holiday discounting. Still, Wall Street like the news, ending the day in the green after several days in the red. It comes after President Trump delivered a combative and fiery primetime address to the nation last night, repeatedly blaming former President Biden for what he called the, quote, mess he inherited, while defending his economic policies with some over-the-top rhetoric and at times outright falsehoods. Here at home, we're bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin. The last administration and their allies in Congress looted our treasury for trillions of dollars, driving up prices and everything at levels never seen before. I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast. Democrat politicians also sent the cost of grocery soaring, but we are solving that too. The president also vowing that the economy is poised for an historic boom, even as new polling shows most Americans do not share that optimism. 61% nearly two-thirds say the economy is not working well for them. That's according to an NPR PBS News Merris College poll. And a majority of Americans, 59%, say President Trump is responsible for the state of the economy, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. Today, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett acknowledging that this is... is Donald Trump's economy while urging patience on concerns about affordability. We're making progress. The American people are making progress. But in some places, the hole that's been dug is a really deep hole. And it's going to take a while to get out. And so at what point does it become the Trump economy? Well, it's a Trump economy now. Our policies are changing people's lives. But when are we going to be able to point to numbers and say that we fixed the problem? We filled the hole that Biden dug. You know, that'll depend on what things. All of this comes as 22 million Americans are poised to face rising health insurance premiums starting in just days with the House passing a narrow Republican-backed health care bill late yesterday that does not include an extension of subsidies to keep prices from soaring. President Trump last night also playing defense on the issue, again casting the blame on his rivals. I'm also taking on the gigantic health insurance companies that have gotten rich on billions of dollars of money that should go directly to the people. The money should go to the people. The current Unaffordable Care Act was created to make insurance companies rich. It was bad health care at much to higher cost. And you see that now in the steep increase in premiums being demanded by the Democrats, and they are demanding those increases. And it's their fault. It is not the Republicans' fault. It's the Democrats' fault.

NBC News Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez starts us off today along with NBC News Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles, NBC News Senior Business Correspondent, Christine Romans, and NBC News Senior National Political Reporter Jonathan Allen, who is in Phoenix for us covering the Turning Point USA conference. Thanks to all of you for starting us off. Gabe, let me start with you over at the White House. You heard Kevin Hassett there say that this is, in fact, President Trump's economy. Is that what we can expect to hear coming out of the White House? President Trump? of course, is going to be on the trail in North Carolina tomorrow. Well, Kristen, it's a very interesting way to put it, right? The president on the campaign trail said that he would fix prices basically on day one. Well, now nearly a year into his second term, that still hasn't exactly happened, at least on many fronts. So what we're hearing from the White House right now is that, look, Give us time. We were left with such an incredible mess by the previous administration, and we are trying to fix that. Of course, this all comes as the president tries to convince Americans and ease their economic anxieties, again, nearly a year into his second term. The question will be, will Americans think he's doing this quickly enough, and I will pan out over the next year, Chris. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right about that. It was notable last night. President Trump touted his vision for health care amid this feud on Capitol Hill, this ongoing battle about how and whether to extend Obamacare subsidies and... President Trump saying that he supports a plan. He said this before. He reiterated it last night that would give payments directly to Americans. What he has not done, Gabe, is to roll out an actual codified health care plan. Do you have any sense that that's going to happen in the new year? Look, it's squishy at this moment to say the least, Kristen. What we're hearing from the president now is a very populist message, right? That he wants Americans to have this money themselves. He's railing against Obamacare. You heard him in his speech last night refer to the Affordable Care Act as the unaffordable care act. We expect to hear that messaging quite a bit more and more and essentially blaming Democrats for rising health care premiums. But even though Republicans yesterday passed that health care plan in the House, it's likely definitely. on arrival in the Senate. And that plan does aim to have self-employed people in small businesses by health care coverage. through associations, kind of that messaging, that the president wants people to use health care spending accounts and not rely on Obamacare. But critics say that he really and the Republicans have not offered enough of an alternative, especially when there's 22 million people, Americans, see their health care premiums rise at the start of next year, Krista. And Gabe, you know, President Trump, as I mentioned, is going to travel to North Carolina tomorrow.

Any idea of what his message will be. A lot of people were surprised last night. He didn't mention Venezuela. It was really an economic focused message. Do you anticipate we'll see that same focus in North Carolina tomorrow night? Well, look, his speech last night, Kristen, he watched it along with me. It did seem like a campaign speech in many ways, but on fast forward. He was really trying to tick through his greatest hits. And it did seem to be a very focused message on the economy with when the president travels, he may be trying to focus on the economy, but the president, once he gets in front of the crowd, not in the White House reading from a tellen prompt of the whole time, he tends to get off script. But we do expect him to focus on the economy. A big question will be in the coming weeks and months is how he tries to sell his economic agenda. He seems to not have an affinity for the word affordability, something that he views as Democrats trying to appropriate. But we do plan or do expect to see him try to sell his economic agenda in the coming months. That speech he will give tomorrow in North Carolina. He was asked about that today as well, Chris. All right, Gabe Gutier's for us at the White House. Gabe, thank you so much. Ryan Nobles, let me head over to you on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue. So there has been a lot of activity there, Ryan, but now lawmakers poised to get out of town after failing to extend health care subsidies. Is there basically no hope left that there can be a deal? No, it's over, Kristen. We saw the jail break here in the House of Representatives about an hour ago where they headed down the Capitol steps and it's rushed as quickly as they could to the Washington, D.C. area airports to rush back to their districts to celebrate the Christmas holiday. There's just no scenario in which those premium subsidies are going to be extended beyond December 31st. So this is going to be a reality for 22 million Americans. They're going to have to deal with the consequences of this inaction by Congress. I think the question now, Kristen, is, will there be some action quickly when they return after the new year? And I think that remains an open question. Absolutely. And I guess the other big question is, how is this going to play in the midterms? Democrats are already poised to put this issue front and center. Now, of course, their messaging around it will depend on whether or not they can actually get a deal in the new year. How do you see this playing out, Ryan? You know, I do think it's interesting, Kristen. As this all played out yesterday, there was a degree of optimism from the moderates in both the House and Senate that perhaps they've created a vehicle to come up with some sort of deal in the early part of 2026. And that vehicle was the discharge petition, which was signed by 218 members for Republicans breaking ranks with Speaker Johnson to force a vote on the floor for a three-year extension of those Affordable Care Act subsidies. Now, no one believes that the Senate

will just pass that bill and the subsidies will be extended for three years. But I was there as a group of moderate... Republicans and Democrats from both the House and Senate huddled after that just discharge petition ripened. And they were having a substantive conversation about using that vehicle to then come up with a more broad-based plan, one that would create reforms to those subsidies, perhaps put income caps attached to those subsidies, and then also have a broader conversation about health care in general. I think there is a feeling that perhaps something in that vein could get the votes necessary in both the House and Senate to have sub- substantive health care reform. But as we've seen time and time again, since the Affordable Care Act was passed way back in 2017, there are always hiccups when it comes to health care reform. It is a complicated and complex topic with a wide range of opinions on how to make it better. So while there's optimism, I would say there's no guarantee that something's actually going to come together, Kristen. So, Ryan, let me just ask you a quick follow-up because there's been a lot of focus on House Speaker Mike Johnson, how he navigated this health care battle. And of course, it's ending, as you say, at the end of the year with four moderate Republicans breaking to sign on to this discharge petition. Coming on the heels of that discharge petition over the Jeffrey Epstein files, is this a major setback for the House Speaker? How's it playing? I don't see how you could interpret it as anything but. There was a reason that Mike Johnson was very much opposed to using the discharge petition as a way to get the Epstein files to be released. It wasn't necessarily about the Epstein files specifically, even though he was very much opposed to that path. But it was about the discharge petition itself because it opens up the floodgates now. It is now a green light for any erstwhile Republicans who are upset with something that leadership is doing. If they can come up with something that can get every single. Democrat on board, they don't need leadership anymore to get something passed. And we've seen it now with the ACA subsidies extension. We're going to see it with a Russia sanctions. So there's a discharge petition that just got its 218 signature today for a Russia sanctions bill. It could happen with stock trading, preventing members of Congress from trading stocks. And so this is something where in many ways, Speaker Johnson's going to lose control of the narrative here. He's not going to be able to pick and choose. which pieces of legislation get to the floor. He is insistent, Kristen, that he hasn't lost control. But I think the facts right now are telling a much different story. All right, Ryan Nobles, you're going to have a busy start to your new year. Ryan, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Christine Romans, let me head over to you. We did get a new inflation report today. Walk us through what the top takeaways are and the fact that it was lower than expected, right? Yeah, it was lower than expected. 2.7% the inflation rate. And that's really notable because we didn't get a reading for October. We've been flying blind here because of the government shutdown. So this number really surprising a lot of economists. In fact, at Wells Fargo, the team of economists there said,

take this number with the entire shaker of salt, not just a grain of salt, because we don't really know that the government was able to get all the pieces together that they need to give us a clear picture, especially since we had nothing in October. So I think that's the important takeaway. It shows prices are still rising, but not rising as briskly as they had been in the past couple of months. And you can see the gap there on that chart. Really rare, Kristen, to have a gap in official economic situation. from the government just shows you how deep and damaging that government shutdown was. No doubt. It was notable in the president's speech last night. He said that he has brought down prices. Certainly some prices have come down, but others have gone up. What is the fact check here on this idea about prices coming down? So the president conflates often the inflation rate and prices. The inflation rate is still rising, right? The inflation rate is 2.7%. That means prices are rising. They're just not rising as quickly. He talked about egg prices. And he said he's bringing down egg prices. Well, egg prices hit a record high on his watch in March of this year. And now they have been coming off. those worst levels. Gas prices are declining year over year, and the president takes credit for that as well. That is one place where I have seen prices falling, but prices are still rising. That's what happens in an economy. In a healthy economy, inflation is about 2%. You can see 2.7% was a relief today. You can see how much higher this inflation rate still is than that 2% healthy economy kind of rate. And just one, I guess, you know, armchair quarterback day after fact checking. He said he inherited this disaster from the Biden administration. At the end of the Biden administration, the inflation rate was 3%, which is exactly what it was before the government shut down here. So essentially, There have been a lot of progress made on inflation, and now we've sort of seen a stall there. The president really trying to manifest that prices are coming down to tell people to feel better about things. The White House keeps saying wages are rising faster than inflation. That is true. But I tell you, when I talk to people, I wasn't in an Aldi supermarket parking lot yesterday talking to people. When I say, but your wages are rising faster than inflation, the eye rolls are pretty ubiquitous. People don't feel like they have more money. Yeah, it's all abys. about what people feel. All right, Christine Romans, thank you so much, as always, for breaking down these complicated figures for us. Jonathan, let me turn to you. You are there at the Turning Point USA conference. What are you hearing? What did Trump supporters say about what they heard last night and how they feel about the economy? Hi, Kristen. I'm at America Fest, which is the first annual conference of Charlie Krupp's Turning Point USA since his assassination. We have been talking to people about the economy, about what President Trump said last night. Here's the thing. This is a group of important MAGA influencers and activists, and they are not abandoning the president. There are different views on the state of the economy right now, according to the people that we talk to, but none of them are blaming President Trump.

Let's listen to a little bit of sound from the folks we talked to today. Are there things where you're looking at where you say the price of this is too high or that it's getting harder to stay ahead, keep ahead, get ahead? I'm not having too much problem with that. I mean, obviously, you know, during previous four or five years, prices escalated a lot on food and housing and everything else. But here lately, it seems like to me prices are coming down. I feel like things are too costly these days. The cost of living is too much. I mean, you always have inflation. You always have that. Just go to work every day and provide for my family the best I can. Is that getting harder or easier? I think it's been easier as in the last year, but it's always just a struggle just like anything else. I think the Biden administration for. really didn't set us up very well for those four years. And Trump is doing the best that he can coming back. I think that this year is going to be a turning point. I think it's going to take about a year for us to see some of the prices.

Chris and I also talked to two young women in a conversation who are professionals, meaning they are in professional industries. And they said that the best indication they had of the economy right now is that they had both moved back in with their parents. After getting jobs, after school, did not feel like they could afford to live on their own either with rent or mortgages. So definitely some concerns about where the economy is. But again, These folks here are not blaming President Trump. They are going to hear from a whole number of people, luminaries. We're going to talk to them about how great they think President Trump is, including Erika Kirk, Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump Jr., Vice President JD Vance. And so this is a conference with there. It's going to be a lot of energy and a lot of pushing to get folks activated for those midterm elections that you and Ryan were talking about earlier. And John, really quickly, what exactly are you going to be listening for in all of those speeches? I'm going to be listening for where the MAGA movement is headed without President Trump, where it's going to be headed after President Trump. And, of course, there are a lot of controversial policies he has, whether it's H-1B visas, what's going on in Venezuela right now. Where is this movement headed? I think we'll get some indication of that from some of the speakers. All right, John, great interviews. Thanks for bringing all of that to us. Really great coverage. We appreciate it. Coming up, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. announces a major crackdown on transition-related care for young transgender people as the administration also pulls funding for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Plus, U.S. military strikes again without congressional authorization carrying out a 26th attack on an alleged drug boat as the president ratchets up his military pressure campaign against Venezuela. Stay with us. There's a lot ahead. You're watching Eat the Press Now.

Monday.com AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. I stay in the loop only when it matters. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday.com. July means you're halfway through the year, but there's still time to reach your 2026 wellness goals with half off an annual subscription to the Start Today app. Hi everyone, I'm Joy Bauer, the Today Show's nutrition expert. And as part of the Start Today family, we offer easy to follow meal and fitness plans, and we support you with simple, realistic tools that keep you inspired to reach your goals. Go to today.com slash start and download now because it's never too late to start today. Subscription automatically renews each year at 6599 plus taxes and peas until canceled. Offer ends July 31st, 2026. Price is subject to change. Visit today.com slash start for full offer terms and details. Welcome back. Today, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would begin taking steps aimed at ending transition-related care for transgender minors nationwide. One of those steps, prohibiting hospitals who participate in Medicare or Medicaid from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries to minors. Today's moves come as the Trump administration has aggressively pursued restrictions against transgender care and after the House passed a bill to criminalized gender affirming care for minors last night. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court upheld state laws banning transgender care for minors. And today, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. waived off concerns about any potential lawsuits. Take a listen. A number of lawsuits with my name on it right now is almost beyond counting. So we have, you know, we got everything that we do here. We have excellent general counsel. We know what we do. What we're doing is legal. And if people sue us, they're welcome to, but we're going to win the lawsuits. Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services announced yesterday it was terminating grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which sued Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy. Joining me now is NBC News medical reporter Erica Edwards. Erica, thanks so much for being here. So the HHS announcement is focused on regulation around Medicaid and Medicare funding. Talk about why this is an effective mechanism from the department's perspective they believe to address this issue. Hi, Kristen. So the folks I've talked with said that this is really the only way the administration can make such changes without going through Congress and having to pass a law to cut funding. What's also really notable here is the change to who should be included under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, right? That was the first major law banning a discrimination against people with disabilities instead of including a group this time. This proposal is actually excluding transgender people from that Civil Rights Act. Kristen. So how else is the administration targeting transgender-related care for minors in today's announcement, Erica? Yeah.

Yeah, HHS has also said it's issuing warning letters to 12 manufacturers and places that sell breast binders. These are devices used for people who have undergone surgery for breast cancer. HHS must make sure that these devices are not used for people going through gender dysorphyia. Kristen. Well, we also heard officials talk about transgender identity as an ideology. What are the implications of that? Right. So, you know, transgender adults have actually been targeted from day one of this Trump administration's second term, borrowing transgender people from updating their passports, removing all mentions of transgender people from government websites, as well as barring transgender people from athletic events. Kristen? And could this have an impact on transgender health care across the country? It could. It could. You know, nearly two dozen hospitals have already stopped providing this kind of care, and now the remaining ones are likely to stop as well. So if you look at sort of the trans care landscape across the country, we're left with doctors in private practice. So that needs only families who can afford to access that kind of care or to travel to those doctors are really going to be the only ones able to access that care moving forward. Kristen. All right, Erica, thank you so much for your reporting. We appreciate it. Join me now is Dr. Peter Hotez co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Dean of Baylor University's School of Tropical Medicine. Thank you so much for joining us, Dr. Hottes. We really appreciate it. So let's start by just getting your reaction. to a different issue, which is the grant cuts to the American Academy of Pediatrics or the AAP. What kind of impact do you think that might have? Yeah, I mean, when you look at the grants that are actually being cut, I mean, tell me what you're against. I mean, it's supporting addressing birth defects, fetal alcohol syndrome, newborn hearing screening. I mean, this is about as mom and apple pie as you get. So why they're doing this certainly is not grounded in. biomedicine or evidence-based science, there's clearly another agenda there. And this is part of a greater erosion that we're seeing in maternal and child health. I mean, the foot in the door was around vaccines. And every week, they come out with a new zinger that, again, is not based in science that is seeking to tear down our national vaccine ecosystem. And now measles has come back. whooping cough protasuses come back and the others will follow. And so, you know, when you look at what's being done here, it's not any individual one thing. It's this, it's this steady drumbeat of, of actions that are clearly detrimental to the health of America's children.

When you talk about why this may have been done, we do know that the American Academy of Pediatrics sued Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over just that, his vaccine policy. Do you think that this may be retaliation? Well, it certainly could be, you know, and the timing would suggest that that's a real possibility, although when you look at the grants that are being cut, I haven't seen any specifically related to vaccines. As I say, it's something that I think any American would agree upon, you know, meaning birth defects. and newborn hearing screening and fetal alcohol syndrome and who doesn't want to do something about this. So if it is out of spite or is in retribution, it's doing it at the cost of the health and welfare of America's children. We've talked to a number of doctors, former CDC officials, who say that people should look to their pediatricians, their professional medical organizations for advice about vaccines and public health. Is that how you see this moment? And what does that mean about the public's faith in institutions like the CDC? Well, you know, unfortunately, and it's, you know, if you ask me, tell me a year ago, I'd be saying this that we can no longer depend on the Centers for Disease Control or, for that matter, I think FDA and maybe other agencies to do what's best for the American people. It's all about ideology. And so, you know, we've never been in this situation before. where we can't count on the federal government for reliable information. So I think everyone is scrambling to figure out what makes up the gaps. And the American Academy of Pediatrics clearly has taken a lead to try to help fill some of those gaps. My colleagues, Mike Osterholm and Bruce Gellon, have created this vaccine integrity project out of Sidrapp, a policy center based at the University of Minnesota. coalitions of states band together to compare notes to create this need for a parallel entity. So there's now a coalition of northeastern states, including Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey. You're seeing Western states band together. And it's all to try to figure out what you do. given the collapse in the intellectual and scientific integrity of the Centers for Disease Control and other agencies soon to follow. And Dr. Hotes, let me just switch gears here and ask to get your reaction to the administration's announcement today is aiming to crack down on transition-related care for minors. What do you think the implications of this are? Yeah, you know, this is...

This one, Kristen, is not in my expertise. I, you know, try to stay. I create a big lane around vaccines and autism and research on infectious diseases. I'm a pediatrician scientist developing new vaccines. So it's hard to know. But, you know, I think, you know, what we have seen is this broader assault against the health of America's children. And, you know, ideology is put. in front of all of that. And we've never done that as a country. You know, we are a nation built on the greatness of our research universities and medical schools and academic health centers. And we've always deferred to those entities with great success. So why, why now, you know. put on this whole new MAHA agenda, which is first and foremost decides what the agenda is and then and then tries to manipulate the science or gaslight the American people into thinking that that things are not science based. And it's it's so self-defeating for the country. All right. Dr. Peter Hottes, thank you. We always appreciate your perspective and expertise. Appreciate your joining us. Thank you. Turning now to some other health and medical news today, President Trump signed an executive order easing some restrictions on marijuana. The executive order stopped short of fully legalizing marijuana. Instead, it reschedules it from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 3 controlled substance for medical uses. Here's some of what the president said during that signing event today. For decades, this action has been requested by American patients suffering from extreme pain, incurable diseases, aggressive cancers, seizure disorders, neurological problems, and more, including numerous veterans with service-related injuries and older Americans who live with chronic medical problems that severely degrade their quality of life, hopefully this reclassification, which, by the way, polls at 82%. We'll help many of those patients live a far better life. A senior administration official says the goal is to remove barriers to research and improve medical marijuana and CBD research to better inform patients and doctors. We want to take a turn now. We are following breaking news in the investigation until last weekend's deadly shooting at Brown University, three senior law enforcement officials now confirming to NBC news that a person of interest has been identified. This significant development comes as four senior law enforcement officials also confirmed to NBC news that police are looking into whether the deadly shooting of an MIT professor in the Boston area is connected to the attack at Brown in Providence. That professor was shot and killed in his home in Brookline. Monday night. Two days after a shooter opened fire in an academic building at Brown, killing two students and injuring nine others. Joining me now, NBC News, National Law Enforcement and Intelligence correspondent Tom Winter, as well as Jim Brett Kavanaugh. Thanks to both of you for being here. Tom, let me start with you. What is the latest on this breaking news that you can share? What are you learning from your sources?

Yeah, sure, Kristen, incorporating the reporting of my colleague, Jonathan Deintz, law enforcement in New England, is right now looking at a possible person of interest in connection with the Brown University shooting. As NBC News reported earlier today, there's a possible connection that they're exploring and trying to determine whether or not the MIT shooting and the Brown shooting are, in fact, connected. So that's something that they're definitely trying to determine at this hour. This has been a fast-moving investigation. that is only accelerated in the last 18 hours. And so right now law enforcement is in the process of doing the things they need to do to investigate a crime. And look, I want to be clear, there's been a number of individuals whose names have come up that law enforcement has felt were promising leads over the past couple of days. And then they turned out not to be true, including the taking a custody. of a person of interest on Sunday. But this person of interest that they now believe could be responsible for that Brown University shooting is somebody that they're currently actively investigating, as you can imagine, running all the evidence to ground. And so this is definitely a fast-moving investigation here tonight. Tom, do you think we'll hear from authorities by the end of the day? Yeah, so the indication from authorities in Providence and local police in Providence is that they still do hope to have a press conference later today. But right now, the timing of that is really up in the air. And we just don't have a lot of details as far as how that might all kind of come to fruition. And Tom, quickly, before I get to Jim Brett Kavanaugh. Talk a little bit. We've focused a lot this week on the mass shooting at Brown University. But give us a few more details, what you're learning about that shooting at MIT. Who was this professor? And what's the latest that you've heard about his killing? Yeah, so we really have very limited details. We know this morning that some information was transmitted by law enforcement about a piece of evidence and connection with this particular death. This individual is a person who is a professor of nuclear fusion technology that's not fission, what's typically used in a reactor or in a weapon, as well as plasma research. We're talking about some of the most brilliant research that occurs in the... arena of nuclear physics, a member of MIT. So, you know, this is really something, Kristen, that is that is kind of befuddled authorities and something where I think, you know, in the course of this investigation, initially they said. This is something where, you know, they didn't see any evidence that tied to the two together. I think over the last 24 hours, there's been a couple of things that they've looked at to see whether or not the killing of Nuno Lariro is something that they should be looking into further in connection with Brown.

All right, let me head over to Jim Brett Kavanaugh, NBC News, law enforcement analyst. Jim, thank you for being here. Let's talk about first this new development. The fact that, according to Tom, authorities have now identified a person of interest. How significant is that given that we are six days into this investigation? Well, what happens on these cases, Kristen, is you get a whole lot of suspects that arise or people of interest that arise, just like Tom described, just like the man that was in the hotel that had two handguns and maybe a 30-round magazine. And he was in the area of Brown University, and they received a tip about him, so they had to check them out. So you get a lot of people like that. And a couple of things match, two or three things match, and you've got to look at it. And what they did there was... most likely compared the firearms identification evidence. In other words, they looked at the lands and grooves, marks on the bullet from the victims, and compared that to the gun of the man in the hotel. And also, you know, ask him where he was when the murder happened. If he said he was at the motel, they can pull that video. And also they can look at his cell phone and see he was at the motel. So you can eliminate him. He wasn't there. It's not his gun. And he wasn't at the university at the time of the killing. That's how you eliminate him. So other people come up. Now we're talking about a person of interest maybe in the MIT case. As soon as the MIT case happened, there's no doubt that the detectives in Massachusetts... were in touch with and maybe physically drove down to the Providence Command Post to discuss any possible connection. That would be normal police procedure. Now, could the caliber of the bullet been the same that was used on the MIT professor? We don't know, but if it was, the first thing they would do is compare that ballistically and see if there was a match. So that would be a very early thing they'd want to do. And secondly, is there video in the MIT case? We don't know that yet, Kristen. So they'd want to look at the video. And if the video looks like the guy in Brown, that's something they want to follow. So they could not be connected at all. But the connections we can all see is proximity geographically, 50 miles apart, university connections. We can see that. And death by gunshot, we can see that. But one's a mass shooting and one's a murder of an individual in his home, not in the university. So there's some differences too. So top investigators, they'll understand all that. Don't go down to rabbit hole. Don't get tunnel vision. Always operate from a foundation of facts to get to the next step.

If they're linked, though, it gives you a whole lot more leads to follow and a whole lot more things to pursue. And we've caught many people over the years, bombers and killers and snipers, Kristen, because they wouldn't stop. They're killing or bombing or whatever. And we get more leads, more evidence, and eventually get them. So whether or not these two are linked, we'll have to wait and see what the authorities said. But I think they have the Joint Operation Center in Providence now up and spinning right, which they didn't have in the first few hours. which it's really hard to get that right. You know, you're dealing with so many things, so many victims and people injured so. But they have it now. So they're on their game now in Providence. Well, but Jim, let me follow up with you on that point because big picture. Does it set them back or how much does it set them back that they had a person of interest in custody over the weekend? We were covering it on Meet the Press. Then that person was released hours later. Does that not waste precious time? Well, if your joint operation center set up and you have commanders who are experienced at major events, major cases, they would not have been so excited to have a person like that spin up. I can tell you in lots of those big cases, I've had 10 or a dozen people on the board in front of me. And if I described any one of them to you, why they were possibly the suspect, you'd say, well, that's got to be the guy. And it turns out none of them were the guy. So if you've been around a lot, if you've investigated a lot of major cases, you understand that happens. The connections to the guy in the hotel were probably, you know, a 30-round magazine and the same caliber pistol. Okay, okay. And he's near Brown University. Okay, okay, well, it's not that much, really. So you've got to check it out forensically and physically. I used to say to agents and detectives, Kristen, when they would bang my command desk there and say, this is the guy, I'd say, prove it's not the guy. Put him somewhere else. Find out where he really was. when the bombiner or the murder happened, and then we'll know it's not him. So we'll have to see what they do. But I think they're steadier now. They're in a better position now to solve the case, both cases. Tom, let me head over to you for one final question. To that point, Jim's saying they are steadier now. They are in a better position. What are you going to be watching for in these next several, what will undoubtedly be urgent hours to find this person? of a way of answering this question that's not going to get me in trouble. And I'm chuckling about it because, as you can imagine, Kristen, as you know all too well, there's a lot going on behind the scenes.

I'm actually not going to answer that question any further. This is such a sensitive investigation at this point. There's some pretty potentially interesting details of this case. And I just don't want to be in a position. This individual, if it turns out that it's the person that's responsible for the Brown University shooting and they're convicted. And also if they happen to be responsible for the MIT professor shooting, this is somebody that has already killed three individuals. And so this person, I think, can be considered. can be considered dangerous at worst. And so I think that we really need to be a little bit cautious here in my reporting from here on out. All right. Tom and Jim, thank you so much. Please come back if you get any more information. We really appreciate it. We will continue to keep a close eye on the developments in the Providence Manhunt and we'll bring you any developments as we get them. Coming up next, sign of the times as the president tries to tackle rising prices. He's facing criticism for taking some cheap shots at his predecessors after installing highly partisan plaques about past presidents on the White House grounds. We'll delve into it with our panel. You're watching Meet the Press now.

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Joining me now is our channel, Sabrina Rodriguez, National Political Reporter at the Washington Post, John McCarthy, former senior advisor to President Biden, and Rob Lewy, president and executive editor of The Daily Signal. Thanks to all of you for being here, Sabrina. Let me start with you. What do you make of President Trump's focus on renaming the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Center and that walk of... president's past where he's, you know, put his own mark on what he thinks their legacy should be. I think one of the things is this is very Trump. This is very typical of Trump. I think this is an opportunity for him to troll Democrats, to kind of troll his biggest critics online, folks in Washington who disapprove of his presidency. We've seen since the beginning of his second term, him trying to find these opportunities to really taunt Democrats, find moments that people are going to get fired up and upset about. And we see the president really trying to, again, solidify his legacy as. as a type of cultural icon. It's by doing things like that at the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Center. But when you look at something like that presidential walk of fame, him having those very editorialized plaques, it's really, again, an opportunity for him to fire up his base. That's something that people love to talk about on social media and kind of draw criticism from Democrats and prompt, again, conservative saying that Democrats are too sensitive. Well, and John, pick up on that point. I mean, part of it. undoubtedly an attempt to troll Democrats, as you say, Sabrina. Do you think part of it is the president seeking some cultural acceptance as well? Perhaps. I mean, I would agree with the premise. I mean, Democrats should, you know, get a little bit tougher here and there. But the point really here is, like, why is Donald Trump doing this, right? And I agree with the premise that he does want to be a cultural icon. But let's not forget about the politics here, right? Donald Trump's approval number, numbers are down. You know, and those numbers are being driven down by Republicans who are actually saying that he's weak on the economy. And if you're looking at what's happening on Capitol Hill this week, which is what I'm paying attention to, you're seeing members who are defecting to, you know, go over with the Democrats on the issues of affordability. We're expecting to see some pretty strong numbers of Republicans who aren't going to be running again because they know that the districts are too tough. You know, this is a hard thing. So Donald Trump needs to rev up his base, you know, and he's going to sit and play the greatest hits because he knows that they work with them. Rob, I thought that Senator Lindsey Graham's point was an interesting one, which is what we're hearing from Republicans, not just about this issue, but on a range of issues, which let's stay focused on voters number one concern, which is the economy. What are Republicans saying about that idea? Yes, I agree with. but what they have both said in terms of why Trump is doing this, but I also think that you're right. Not only do they have to talk about those issues of economic concern to the American people, they have to pay particular attention to what those independent voters who broke for President Trump in 2024 will do in the midterm elections. That could make or break what he does in the latter two years of his term. And today, of all days, when we're all talking about the plaques and the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Center, we've got great economic news. Inflation, you know, dropped.

2.7 percent. Those are the types of things that I think Republicans should be talking about right now. Sabrina, to that point, Republicans are going to need independent voters if they want to hold on to Congress in the midterms. Does something like putting up those plaques risk alienating voters who may have voted for some of those presidents? Absolutely. I mean, one of the things that we've seen Republican strategists say, you know, privately and publicly since the November election and since sort of seeing the string of losses that Republicans have faced in some of the elections this year is saying, okay, heading into the midterms, the president needs to be talking about what he's doing to help people's bottom line. What is he doing? The economic promises that he made on the campaign trail. What are the things that he's doing that are going to help elect Republicans, help preserve the Republican majorities? in Congress. So things like this again to the point of... kind of revving up the base, revving up the MAGA base. Yes, that succeeds in doing that. But for those folks who are saying, wait a minute, I don't see the things that he promised actually coming to fruition in terms of inflation, in terms to how they feel about the outlook of the economy, this doesn't address that. And I think a lot of Republicans, again, privately and publicly are saying, we want to hear more of that in the new year and a little less of the cultural conversation. Well, speaking of what we might hear in the new year, we got a glimpse of that, Rob, last night when the president addressed the nation. his prime time address. What did you make of what we heard, his message on the economy? Some thought it was overly combative or overly rushed. Did you think he struck the right tone? And do you want to hear more of it? I do want to hear more from President Trump on the economy. I think, Kristen, we know from the one big beautiful bill, which he's now redubbed the working families tax cut. You know, there are a lot of things that we can look forward to in the first couple of quarters of 2026. Just this week, J.P. Morgan said that Americans will see much bigger tax returns this year as a result of the policies that Republicans pass through Congress. President Trump needs to be reminding them that he was the one that insisted that that bill get done by July 4th so that they would start to see some of the economic benefits in 2026. Tom, what did you make of the speech, the warrior dividend that he's going to give to troops over the holidays? Yeah. I mean, if you want to talk about playing the hits, I mean, that speech was surely it. I mean, we were a locker up and build a wall away from... basically his 2016 stump speech. And, you know, I just don't think voters are buying it. You know, Donald Trump, if he's going to have a successful rest of his administration, he needs to convince voters that he cares about the economy. Putting up plaques, renaming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. centers, renaming bodies of water, doesn't do any of that. So I don't think it moved the dial with the audience that he needs to convince. Sabrina, pick up on that point because the economy messaging that we're hearing from the president is extraordinary because in some ways it does echo what we heard from former President Biden when he was running for reelection, which was basically, trust me, the economy is better than you think it is? Is that going to work? And did you hear any tweak to that messaging overnight? I mean, I think the fact that we're hearing him talk about.

the economy is a pivot from in recent months. I think that was one of the chief criticisms that the president faced right after the election was the fact about him, how he was not talking about affordability. Now we see him talking a little bit about the economy, but. It's going to be interesting to see him going out to the campaign trail. For example, seeing him tomorrow, he'll be in North Carolina focused on a message of the economy. We've seen in some of his recent stops. He'll start with a message of the economy, but then it turns into a conversation about Venezuela. It turns into a conversation about him criticizing Democrats or him really focusing on the old hits and kind of going back to Biden. The reality is the heading to the midterms. Him talking about Biden or blaming Biden is going to become weaker and weaker the more time that he is president. Rob, a big thing. Part of the discussion about the economy is the discussion and the battle over health care on Capitol Hill lawmakers leaving town without reaching an agreement to extend Obamacare subsidies. So 22 million Americans are going to have their premium spike, even if there is an agreement reached in the new year. Could this hurt Republicans politically heading into the midterms? Because you know what Democrats are going to do. They're going to use it as a messaging. Sure. And November's a long time in politics. So I think maybe it will. It might not, though. I think one of the things that Republicans on Capitol Hill need to do, they have an opportunity to use budget reconciliation, which importantly will require just a simple majority in the Senate to do something on health care. I'd like to see something big on health care. Republicans have been talking about it for a long time. Let's see them actually get something done and put more money in the hands of it. the American people. John, how do you see the health care battle playing out, given that Congress recessed for their holiday without reaching an agreement? I mean, could that backfire on Democrats as well? Well, you've seen Democratic leaders like Pete Aguilar. You've seen the largest ideological coalition in the Congress, the new Dems, for Democrats, come out and say that they're open to negotiating in good faith on health care with Republicans. I think you'd be hard pressed to find an American who feels that the quality of care. equals what they pay. So this is an issue that both sides really do need to worry about. But I mean, the Republicans that are starting to open up the dialogue on this are the vulnerable swing district members. So this is a canary in the coal mine. This is going to be a much larger issue for Republicans than it is for Democrats. All right, guys, great conversation. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Sabrina, John, and Rob. Really appreciate it. Turning now to another piece of the president's prime time address. Last night, he announced U.S. service members will receive a bonus. I just referenced that. It's being branded as a warrior dividend. The president saying U.S. troops will receive a check for $1,776 in honor of our nation's founding and saying those checks are already on the way. That one-time payment to an estimated 1.5 million troops is expected to cost about $2.6 billion. Joining me now is NBC News, your national correspondent, Courtney, QB. Court, what else do we know about these warrior dividends that are going out? Where's this money coming from?

Yeah, that's the big question. So we know it came in part from the quote, big beautiful bill. As we saw, remember, during the government shutdown, the government was able to keep paying active duty service members by also taking money from there. It appears in this case, this is actually money that was already planned to be used for base housing allowance. So to supplement the cost of living in various areas that active duty troops get all over the world. This was money that they were already supposed to get. get for that, it's now just being given to them in this lump sum tax freeway, Kristen. So, you know, it's interesting, court, you and I spent a lot of the day trying to report out what exactly was the president going to say on Venezuela. Would he address the topic? Would he not? He wound up not raising it, despite the fact that there's been this escalation with Venezuela. And in response to the U.S. blockade, Venezuela and President Maduro ordered his Navy to escort ships carrying oil. So. Talk about where we are in this, court. And we're already seeing that happen in real time. Venezuela Navy is already starting to escort tankers as they're leaving Venezuela. And, of course, at some point, they could encounter what is this huge U.S. military buildup in the region that includes a dozen U.S. Navy ships, aircraft personnel, who have spread throughout the region not far from Venezuela, not far from Venezuelan waters. We're seeing U.S. aircraft fly. right up to the border of Venezuelan airspace on a near daily basis right now. So the question is, what could happen here if, in fact, there is some sort of an encounter? And that's what everyone is waiting to see. But you're right, we were expecting to hear something about Venezuela last night, perhaps about President Trump's talk on social media about a naval blockade, but instead we didn't get a single, a real mention of it or any additional information about this naval blockade or the way forward for the U.S. military in the region. around this has been somewhat complicated because President Trump yesterday, prior to his prime time address, talked about the fact that this naval blockade was about seizing oil from Venezuela when initially this entire escalation, he said, was about stopping drugs from entering the United States. So talk a little bit about the mixed messaging we're hearing coming both from the president and the Pentagon. And it's not just the drugs and now the oil. We've also been hearing from officials all along that there is a goal here to get the Nicholas Maduro, the leader in Venezuela, to step down. And officials telling us they're hoping that they can do it without actually putting any U.S. boots on the ground inside Venezuela. But at this point, obviously, that still has not happened. So we now have these three different, very different reasons that we get from U.S. officials in the Trump administration for why they are continuing the strikes on votes. We saw another one yesterday. why they've maintained this massive military presence in the region. And now we have another reason for why, according to President Trump, they are now going to stop tankers that are sanctioned or any kind of an OFAC list here. The real question, though, Chris, and we've only seen one tanker so far. Will they continue to pull them aside? Will they continue to stop and seize them? And then who will do it? Will be the Coast Guard again? or will the U.S. military get pulled into this? Those are all the things that we're all just waiting to see what happens at this point because we didn't get any guidance from the president last night. All right. Well, we know that you're going to track it very closely. Courtney Kuby, thank you so much, really appreciate it. And that does it for us today. We are back tomorrow with more Meet the Press now. There is much more ahead on NBC News Now.

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