This Sunday, Trump targets President Trump out to the CDC director and attempts to fire a federal reserve governor as he moves to assert control over agencies once seen as immune from political interference. She was not aligned with the president's mission to make America healthy again. We need people that are 100% above board and it doesn't seem like she was. Donald Trump needs a scapegoat and a diversion and that's what he's doing with the fifth as he escalates his threats to said National Guard troops to more cities led by Democrats.
The President of the United States of I think our country is in danger and it is in danger in the center. I can do it. Plus, tariff trouble. A federal appeals court rules that many of President Trump's tariffs were imposed illegally, dealing a major blow to the foundation of his trade war.
My guest this morning, Republican Senator James Langford of Oklahoma and Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California and beyond today are meet the moment conversation with former today show co-anchor Hoda Copy. They never thought in my fifties that I would be sitting in that chair doing that job. I mean, how could that be possible? Joining me for insight and analysis are NBC News Chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell.
Leanne Caldwell, Chief Washington correspondent for COP. Ashley Etienne, former communications director to Vice President Harris. And Mark Short, former director of legislative affairs for President Trump. Welcome to Sunday.
It's Meet the Press. From NBC News in Washington, the longest running show in television history. This is Meet the Press with Kristen Wilkett. Good Sunday morning.
This week, President Trump is increasingly testing the limits of his presidential authority at the center of it all, his sweeping tariff policy, which faced a legal setback on Friday when an appeals court ruled that Mr. Trump overstepped his authority, saying only Congress can implement such measures. In response, the president called the court highly partisan, insisting tariffs will remain in place with the help of the United States Supreme Court. It comes as the president this week sought to wield power over the federal agencies that are historically insulated from politics, attempting to oust federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, accusing her of mortgage fraud, a claim she denies.
Cook, who is challenging the president of courts as she is being removed for failing to fall in line with the president's call to lower interest rates. Mr. Trump, this week, defiant. We need people that are 100% above board, and it doesn't seem much, and we'll have a majority very shortly.
So that'll be great. Once we have a majority, housing is going to swing and it's going to be great. People are paying too high interest, right? Democrats pushing back.
The whole idea was to make it independent so that the people who were on the Fed would make decisions based on economic data, not on political pressures. And the president firing the CDC director, Susan Minaras, his nominee who was just sworn in weeks ago. Minaras says she was being given unscientific reckless directives from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic.
People are not aligned with the president's vision and the secretary's vision to make our country healthy again, then we will gladly show them the door. Those moves prompting swift backlash. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy saying the high-profile departure from the CDC will require oversight from his committee. A CDC official who resigned in protest, also speaking out.
I think now it's inevitable that science will be contaminated by ideology, unless people take our wake-up call here, our red flag to really try to make a change now. And one of the biggest battles is playing out across the country. The president threatening to send national guard troops into more democratic-run cities after he sent guard troops to Washington, D.C. with the president saying Chicago will be next on his list of targets.
Hopefully the president will reconsider this dangerous and misguided encroachment upon our state and our city's sovereignty. Any action undercutting that and violating the sacred sovereignty of our state, to cater to the ego of a dictator, will be responded to. The line is that I'm a dictator when I stop crime. A lot of people say, you know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator.
But I'm not a dictator. I just had to stop crime. Not that I don't have the right to do anything I want to do. I'm the president of the United States.
And joining me now is Republican Senator James Langford of Oklahoma. Senator Langford, welcome back to Meet the Press. Thank you. Good Sunday morning to you.
Well, good Sunday morning to you. It's always great to have you back. Let's start with that decision over tariffs on Friday. The court saying, quote, tariffs are a tax and only Congress has the power to impose taxes.
Do you agree with the court's ruling that ultimately the ability to impose tariffs lies with Congress? Well, this is actually going to go to the Supreme Court next, because the way the law is actually written is the law gives the authority to the president to be able to make decisions regulating imports and exports. And what the president is saying is tariffs is a way to be able to regulate imports and exports. To be very clear, what he is trying to do is to try to get more manufacturing into the United States, to get other countries to be able to open up their markets to American products, and to be able to cut our deficits.
So those are the three targets he's trying to accomplish. And he is accomplishing all three of those. We have 10 trade deals that have now been done in seven very short months with major countries, like the EU, with the UK, with the Philippines, with Indonesia, South Korea, Japan. These are enormous trade agreements that have happened.
And so for the court to step in and say, hey, doesn't have the ability to be able to regulate trade, that is within the statute and it's not going to go to the Supreme Court to be able to determine that. Well, Senator, here's what former Vice President Mike Pence had to say about tariffs recently. Take a listen. I saw Secretary Besson speaking very glowingly about the projection is $300 billion in tariff revenue this year.
Well, tariffs are a tax. And American importers and businesses and ultimately consumers pay almost all of that. Senator, do you acknowledge that Americans ultimately pay the price of tariffs as we just heard the Vice President argue? Yeah, no question that tariffs are a tax.
The question is who actually pays that. Part of it is going to be paid by the importer. Part of it is going to be paid by the exporter on that. It just breaks down products to products.
Some products are more of the actual consumer going to pay. Some products are more of the actual exporter's going to pay. But what we're seeing right now is inflation is still stable at this point. We've not seen a rise in inflation during this time period.
As the White House has said over and over again, hey, they're watching that. They're attentive to that to be able to make sure we don't see that. Now, I'm a free trader. I want to see a trade with every single country, but that also means we've got to have a stable program that they've got to be able to receive our products, which they haven't in the past.
Now many of these countries are opening up their markets to American sales. The ultimate thing, what I'm hearing, Kristen, more than anything else from all the companies that I talked to is they just want it to be set. They just want to know what the rules of the road are. Every time there's a new court hearing, every time there's a new change, it's destabilizing for everyone of our businesses.
So let's get all these things resolved as quickly as we possibly can. Senator, let's turn out to the turmoil at the CDC, the president firing CDC director Susan Menares. She was just sworn into office several weeks ago. Several other top officials actually resigned in protest.
Now you voted to confirm, Dr. Menares, just a month ago. Here's what Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska had to say about this. She says, quote, the removal of the director after such a short tenure appears to be evidence that politics are taking precedence over policy.
Is she right, Senator? No, I don't know that she's right. And I'm not sure anyone really knows all the inside of this at this point. So it's very clear, if you don't align with leadership in this administration, as it is in other administrations, you've got to be able to follow the instructions there.
I think a lot of people are jumping to conclusions to say, hey, she's fighting on vaccine issues and other things. I would say we don't know all the details of that at this point. As you know, the commissioner of the IRS recently just left, he was just confirmed recently and he's not going to take a different position within the administration and go through the nomination process in a different way. I would tell you, at this point, it is very clear.
The president has an agenda. He is trying to accomplish that. Robert F. Guinea Jr.
is also focused on what are we going to do to make America healthy again? How are we going to actually get some of these additives out of foods? What are we going to do to be able to help the nation on this? So let's let this play out as we continue to be able to go.
But I would tell you, as many Americans would say, the CDC is very important. We've got to have them as a clear leader there. Let's get that process done. Let me ask you about Secretary Kennedy because he's canceled nearly half a billion dollars for vaccine development, a six hundred million dollar contract to develop a bird flu vaccine.
He's limiting access to the COVID vaccine. Do you have a hundred percent confidence in Secretary Kennedy, Senator? I could go through several of those things. I don't think he's limiting access to the COVID vaccine.
It's still widely accepted. The challenge is, is it right for children to be able to have the COVID vaccine? That's been a conversation where doctors widely disagree on this. And NIH has started reopening a lot of their testing again.
As the administration looked at it initially and said we want to hold on some of these different studies that are out there. And then now they're reopening those dollars to be able to get it going, which I'm very supportive of. We've got to continue to lead the world in medical research. We have the best researchers in the world.
We've got to continue to do that. And I will tell you just personally, I will be in line in the next couple of weeks to get my flu shot. I'm a big believer in vaccines. I think it's the right thing to be able to do.
I continue to encourage Americans to be able to get their vaccines. Well, given that you support all of that, just going back to my original question, Senator, do you have a hundred percent confidence in Secretary Kennedy? I believe he issued the president in his space. I don't think he's gone a wrong direction in this.
I think he is challenging some of the assumptions that a lot of Americans have asked just to be able to ask questions about. What is it about our food? What is it about autism? What is it about all these things that are different in America than they are in different places?
I think those are appropriate questions. He's pushing the boundaries, but he also seems to be following the science. It's not wrong to be able to ask hard questions. It is wrong to ignore the science.
I don't see him ignoring the science. I see him asking our questions. The science is worth noting. The science has debunked links between autism and vaccines for more than 20 years.
Oh, no, I agree. I don't, I don't connect those two. Yeah, I don't, I don't connect those two at all. But there are reasonable questions to say, why do we have more cases of autism here?
What is it? But I don't think they're connected to vaccines. Okay, Senator, I want to turn to the Fed now. Take a listen to what Vice President JD Vance had to say about the Fed in an interview this week.
Take a look. I don't think that we allow bureaucrats to sit from on high and make decisions about monetary policy and interest rates without any input from the people that were elected to serve the American people. I feel very strongly that the President of the United States is much better able to make these determinations. Senator, do you think the Federal Reserve or the President should set interest rate policies?
I think the Federal Reserve should set that. Obviously, the President and the President's policy and quite frankly members of Congress, we are very involved in this. One of the things that we just passed was a major tax bill to be able to stabilize tax policy, to be able to incentivize business growth and job growth across the country that will help every single American that is Congress engaging to be able to actually help the economy. The President has a role as he's doing with tariffs in multiple different ways to be able to negotiate more deals.
The Federal Reserve also has a role in this. So all of us have a role in it. We just have a different role. The Federal Reserve is at its best when it's independent, but they're not independent of the entire American people.
But just to be very clear, you think it's important for the Federal Reserve to be independent? I do think it's important for them to be independent. So I also think it's important for the President to do that in Congress to do that as well. Let's each do our job on that.
All right. Finally, Senator, Congress will return to Washington DC where President Trump, as you know, has federalized the police force. He's deployed the National Guard to the nation's Capitol. The President says he plans to expand this model to cities like Chicago and New York.
Listen to what your Republican colleague Senator Tom Tillis of North Carolina said recently on this topic. Look, where do we stop? Do we honestly think that DC has the worst crime problem in the United States? No, it's got a crime problem.
But where do we go from here? Do we go to Gary, Indiana, Detroit, pick some red state, go to Memphis, a red state. It's got a crime problem. Where do we go?
Now, just to put a fine point on this, Oklahoma actually has more homicides per capita than California and New York. Would you like to see President Trump deploy the National Guard or to federalize law enforcement in Oklahoma? I don't think he's federalizing law enforcement in any of the states or in areas outside of Washington, DC. Washington, DC is a federal enclave.
He has said specifically about Chicago, for instance, the highest murder rate in the country for the past 13 years, that's got to stop. As you know, and you've studied these history areas extremely well, the National Guard has been called at 30 different times by different presidents to be able to deal with challenges in different areas. But what about Oklahoma Senator? Should he back to the National Guard to Oklahoma with the crime rates higher than New York and California, for example?
I would say if the governor of Oklahoma or the mayors of these different cities were to invite him in, I would say they would cooperate with the president and say, hey, we could use the help to be able to deal with any kind of crime issues on it. I don't know the exact statistic you're calling out there for Oklahoma. I would be very, very surprised on that. I have to get a chance to be able to see where that's coming from.
But I would say the people of Oklahoma would welcome any help that we can get to be able to deal with criminal issues. We do have federal authorities that are here because of our tribal issues that are here in the state. After the McGirt ruling, we have more FBI agents than normal because of that particular issue on that. But I would tell you Chicago is a challenge as we've got, as I mentioned, 13 years at the highest murder rate in the country, they should be asking for help rather than pushing help away.
All right, Senator James Langford, thank you so much for your perspective this morning. We really appreciate it. It's good to see you again. Good to see you.
And when we come back, Democratic Congressman Rokana of California joins me next. It's here. The Ford is a big deal. Not yet.
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Visit your Ontario Ford store or Ford.ca. Welcome back and joining me now is Democratic Congressman Rokana of California. Congressman Kana, welcome back to Meet the Press. Good morning.
Thanks for having me on. Well, it's wonderful to have you back. And I do want to start with the CDC, Congressman. President Trump's decision to fire the CDC director, Susan Menaras, just weeks after she was sworn in and after she clashed with HHS Secretary Kennedy over the issue of vaccines for other top CDC scientists quit in protest.
Now, I had the opportunity to interview one of them and press this person on why resign, why not stay and fight if you have a disagreement with the broader policy at HHS. Take a look at what he said. If I thought that there was a fight that I could fight in there, I would have stayed. And the reality is that there is now an irresistible force that is going to make it impossible for CDC to maintain the validity of its science against ideology.
Congressman, do you worry about experts leaving in protest instead of staying? This is not about politics. I'm just saddened by what is happening. You have a situation where the Secretary of Health and Human Services has said anything related to mRNA is not going to be supported by our government.
I mean, that is absurd. It's anti-science. It's anti-technology. There are vaccines being used to cure cancer.
They use mRNA. mRNA is used for things that are being done to create a universal vaccine for flu. And they have just been anti-technology and anti-vaccine. And this is contrary to what the secretary said he was going to do, which was follow basic science.
So I have called for him to step down. I have also called for Republicans and Democrats to speak up for basic science and technology. Well, and another issue we're tracking closely are the developments at the Fed, the administration trying to oust Fed governor Lisa Cook accusing Cook of mortgage fraud. She denies that and she's now suing the administration, alleging this is purely politics.
But, Congressman, let me ask you, do you think Lisa Cook should just release her mortgage documents to dispute these allegations against her? She could be transparent, but this has nothing to do with the specifics of Lisa Cook. This has to do with Donald Trump following Richard Nixon's playbook to interfere with the Fed and bully the Fed. The irony is that it's his own policies that have created the situation.
If he just repealed the blanket tariffs, he wouldn't be putting the inflationary pressure that exists, and the Fed would be able to cut rates. But instead of listening to every economic advisor who has said, don't just have these blanket tariffs, he's insisting on blanket tariffs, that's putting inflationary pressure and leaving the Fed in a no-win situation. Well, given that argument, do you think Lisa Cook should just release her mortgage documents to put these allegations to rest? Would you advise her to do that?
Well, sure. She should release them. She should be transparent so that we see that this is just a political football and really it's hiding an economic record. Well, Chris, the reality here is the economic record of this administration.
When President Trump took office, consumer confidence was strong. It has tanked for seven straight months. Farm closures have doubled. Manufacturing was expanding when he took office.
It has gone down every single month. Unemployment for young people, almost 11 percent for recent college graduates. This is a record of economic failure. And the reason it is failing is because of blanket tariffs, because of mass deportation, including immigrants or paying taxes, and because of interference with the Fed and expertise.
It's time for a new economic direction. Well, Congress has been saying on this issue of transparency, let's talk about the dispute related to the files of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Congress left town early without voting on your bipartisan bill, which would basically call for the release of all of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Do you think when Congress is back, the bill will go to the floor and it will pass?
I'm very confident. Well, I spoke to Congressman Massey. You had us both on a few weeks ago. We will have the petition live on September 2nd.
We have all 212 Democrats committed to signing it. He has 12 Republicans. Only six of them have to sign it. What will be explosive is the September 3rd press conference that both of us are having with 10 Epstein victims.
Many who have never spoken out before, they're going to be on the steps of the Capitol. They will be telling their story, and they will be saying clearly to the American public that they won the release of the Epstein files for full closure on this matter. All right. Well, we will track that very closely.
A couple more topics to get through here. Congressman President Trump announced this week the government will purchase a 10% stake in Intel. That's of course one of the world's largest chip makers. It's headquartered right in your district.
You actually co-chaired Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign. Now, as you know, Senator Sanders has pushed legislation that would require companies taking taxpayer subsidies to give some of that profit back to the people. Here is what Senator Sanders said back in 2022, and then what President Trump said just this week. If private companies are going to benefit from generous tax payer subsidies, the financial gains made by these companies must be shared with the American people, not just wealthy shareholders.
I'd like you to give 10% of Intel to the United States of America, not to be to the United States of America. So, Congressman, do you support President Trump's push for the government to have a stake in Intel? I have no problem with the American taxpayers being reluctant shareholders in Intel. We did this when I was in the Obama administration, with the auto bailout.
FDR did that when he industrialized the nation. So, I agree with Bernie Sanders. Here's my problem with the Intel deal, and I helped co-write the chips act, which gave the funding. Right now, we're talking about $8 billion.
If you talk to anyone in my district, they will tell you that the real need is $40 billion of investment. So, how are we getting other investment into Intel? Second, they need Apple, they need AMD, and they need NVIDIA to actually buy the chips. What is the plan to do that?
And third, we should make sure that if we are going to be a shareholder, we have labor neutrality and help workers. So, those would be the three actual concrete items I'd like to see from the administration. All right. Well, let's talk about the Democratic Party now.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is warning this week that President Trump might not leave office when his term is up in 2028. Look, you think he's joking about 2028? You think when he brings foreign leaders to the Oval Office and he goes to the White House store? Have you seen this?
Anyone? Is it just me? And he shows him the 2028 hats? He's not being serious.
Wake up. You will lose your country. Congressman, is that overstated? Or do you agree with Governor Newsom that you predict President Trump will try to stay in office?
I fully expect we will have 2028 elections. This country has overcome the Civil War. We defeated tyranny. We defeated communism.
We overcame Jim Crow. It is a resilient country. I am confident that we will have elections. I'm confident that Democrats will win.
I'm confident we will have a better economic vision after this failed economic administration. And so, Democrats need to express a confidence of what we're going to do in 2026 and 2028 to take back our country. Congressman, very quickly, Governor Newsom also saying it's time to fight fire with fire when it comes to redistricting, obviously, Texas. Adding five Republican seats in that state governor Newsom aiming to add five Democratic seats in California.
This is what Emmanuel Cleaver said, though. Your Democratic colleague in the house, he said, if we continue to fight fire with fire and keep starting fires and creating new fires, the only thing we're going to have left are actions and a little piece of a nation. Are Democrats in danger of weakening the democracy with this tit-for-tat over redistricting, Congressman? Representative Cleaver is a moral voice in the country.
And I agree with him. But they're trying to eliminate his seat. Well, the Republicans are going, they're going after Jim Clyburn's seat. They're going after seats that the voting rights act created.
And it took decades after redistricting to do. And so, all California is saying is stopped because if you're going to go to a pre-1965 market, if you're going to target Jim Clyburn, if you're going to target Representative Cleaver, we're not going to sit by. And my hope and the governor's hope was that they would stop. But California was not the first mover here.
We're simply responding to make sure that the voting rights act is not gutted. All right. Congressman Ro Khanna, thank you so much for joining us. We always appreciate having you.
Thank you, Kristen. When we come back, President Trump is testing the limits of presidential powers. The panel is next. Actually, Etienne, former communications director for Vice President Harris and Mark Short, former director of Legislative Affairs for President Trump.
Thank you all for being here on this Labor Day weekend. Andrea, let me start with you, because there's been so much focus on President Trump, his administration's attempts to have control over these agencies that are typically immune from politics. What's the fallout that your sources are telling you about? There is huge fallout officials, business executives, medical experts, doctors who are trusted and experienced in science.
It's intelligence experts. They're all angry. They're frustrated. And it's having a big impact, because we hear about the CDC.
People worried about COVID flu vaccines, mRNA being canceled. The Fed, the independence of the Fed goes back to 1951. This can affect not only our economy, but the global economy. I talked to central bankers elsewhere around the world.
We're really concerned. But now there's also a fundamental change, our intelligence community. We are now lacking cybersecurity, counterterrorism security. Experts have been fired, decimated State Department.
We're talking about the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of course. But there's also the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. So nuclear safety are nuclear plants. You talk about the EPA.
Whistleblowers are being silenced in FEMA, in the EPA. And now, this challenge, the pocket recisions, where they are doing it for a loophole that has been declared illegal by the GAO and by the Supreme Court back in the 70s. And now you've got pocket recisions with very little time and Congress is basically not standing up. So it is an executive that is undeterred because Congress has been feckless.
Well, okay, you take me to my next point. I mean, it's a sweeping picture that Andrea paints, Leanne. And I think the question for Congress, particularly, on the heels of them coming back from their summer recess, will there be any red lines for Republicans? I know you've been working your sources on that.
Yeah, it's a great question, Kristen. So for the past eight months, Republicans, except for a few outliers, have been in lockstep with this administration, not standing up to anything. For the first time, my sources are starting to express a little bit of trepidation about what the president is doing by Republican sources. How is that going to manifest on the Hill when they come back next week?
That's still to be uncertain. One thing is the federal reserve. They could block a nominee moving through the federal reserve. But when it comes to issues like pocket recisions, it's going to be up to the leadership on if they want to block this, and it doesn't sound like they're willing to do it despite this is a move by the administration to move around Congress and almost make Congress obsolete.
Mark, you know, it's interesting you have some of the president's critics calling these moves dictatorial. You heard him make that reference. And on the other hand, they're calling him a socialist for wanting to buy stake in Intel. How is this playing?
Well, I think it is where the populist and the progressive movements come together, frankly, because in many cases, I think voters elected Donald Trump because they did want him to fire people. They wanted to felt like the federal government was too big and it's time to shrink the size of the scope of government. And I'm one who supports many of those decisions. Having said that on the train agenda and on seizing control of Intel, it's like the Democrats nominated mayor in New York who says I'm going to take control of the grocery stores.
And this is like, hold my beer. Watch me. I'm going to seize means of production with Intel and I'm going to take golden shares of your steel and even worse on Nvidia. You know, it's it's a national security concern.
They say, we're not allowed sales to say, okay, we can have sales as long as you give us 15%. And it's not surprising that the only two centers who spoke on favor of this are Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Republicans other than Rand Paul have been silent on this issue. And it's rather shocking to see them seize means of production in this way, particularly when less than 20 years ago, the whole Tea Party movement was largely launched because Washington DC, after the Wall Street bailout, was taking dollars from Main Street and subsidizing Wall Street. That's what energized our base initially less than 20 years ago.
And now we're basically seizing these production from private companies. Actually, you know, all of this is taking place against the backdrop of the midterm elections. And I know that you are outlining actually a strategy for Democrats heading into the midterms. They are trying to refine their footing against this political backdrop in the second Trump administration.
What is it you are suggesting? So I'm suggesting that the Democratic Party lean into the message framework of culture of corruption to highlight Donald Trump's corruption at the heart of Trump's administration is this issue of corruption. We've seen the cover up of the Epstein files, the stripping more than 15 million Americans of their health care to give tax cuts to the rich, the stealing of personal private data, more than 500 million Americans in handing that over to his biggest donor. And many of the issues we're talking about today, the house will take over the federal reserve to American cities.
All of that needs to be packaged up and put in a prism in which the American people can understand how Trump's authoritarianism, his lawlessness, and his failed economy is impacting them. And I think this issue of corruption is a winning one. We've seen it win in 2006 in the midterms in 2018 when I was running Communications for Pelosi. And I think it can win again.
So Democrats see an opening around that message and around some of the seats that are opening up. Mark Joni Ernst, expected to announce she's not running for reelection. When you hear what Ashley says, do you think that can play in a state like Iowa or nowhere? Ashley's going to know her baseline about an idea.
To me, it's not compelling because I don't think anything that Trump is doing is secretly American people. I think it's particularly rich after the 100 Biden Joe Biden presidency to say we're going to focus on corruption. I do think that Republicans have a bigger challenge that comes to economy because Donald Trump was elected on the economy in the border. And as if this trade agenda continues to weaken labor market, I think that creates a bigger risk for Republicans heading into the midterm.
Just to push back on what Mark just said, 60% of the country already believes the president corrupt is corrupt. And that's across the political spectrum, not just Democrats. And Andrea, that is going to be a big issue. We're seeing Democratic governors so far take the lead right now.
I mean, they're not necessarily the ones up in the midterms, but they're, to some extent, really taking the lead on a lot of these. Well, that's because they're looking at 2028. They're the likely, most likely candidate in 2020. When you look at Governor Newsom, who's taking the lead, he has been trolling the president, going online.
And what he does, he certainly is the most prominent opponent right now for the Democrats. But he risks being seen as unserious. And right now, I think the White House is looking at Governor Pritzker. That's why they're talking about going to Chicago in part.
Yes, they have the homicide rate. But they see Pritzker as a possibly serious opponent. One thing I would caution though, getting back to what Ashley's talking about, the economy is all important. But I think that crime and immigration are such big issues for Republicans.
The president spoke of it as a potential trap for Democrats, and they have to be very cautious about how strongly they oppose the National Guard. All right. Well, we will have to leave it there. Thank you all for being here.
When we come back, concerns about the independence of the Federal Reserve are growing as we were just discussing. Army of the Press Minute is next. Welcome back. President Trump's move to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook has raised fears about the independence of America's central bank.
In 2009, Congress considered a bill aimed at increasing transparency at the Federal Reserve, requiring monthly public disclosures and calling for a comprehensive audit of the system. Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan joined me, the press, to weigh in on the proposal. Are you worried about the Fed's independence? Very much so.
What do you think the consequences of some of the legislation in Capitol Hill are now? If in fact, specifically, they take away the amendment that was passed in 1978, which prohibited the GAO of the General County Office from auditing monetary policy. If that is removed, I think that will very significantly compromise Federal Reserve independence and what you will be getting is a monetary policy more dedicated to political short-term considerations, not to the longer-term considerations, which the Federal Reserve Act was specifically constructed to do. When we come back, I meet the moment conversation with Hoda Kotbih.
Welcome back. For decades, Hoda Kotbih has been a force on your television screen, reporting from war zones with Dateline, to to toasting life's lighter moments with Kathy Lee on today. At 53 years old, Hoda shattered barriers, making history alongside Savannah Guthrie as the first all-female anchor duo in the show's history. But earlier this year, after 26 years at NBC News, Hoda shocked the world with her decision to step away from the anchor desk.
I caught up with Hoda for a meet-the-moment conversation about why she left and what she's discovered about embracing change in every season of life. I just want to get caught up with you. You made this monumental decision to step away from the Today Show, one of the most coveted roles in all of broadcast news. You've been at NBC for 26 years.
How are you doing? What is life like right now? First of all, my time at NBC like lives in me. You know, certain things you carry for the rest of your life, and I get to carry that.
So for 26 years, I did similar things every single day. And one day, Kristen, in January, I woke up and my alarm didn't go off at 3.30. And I went downstairs to my office and Haley ran down. And she looked at me and she said, at 5 a.m.
She said, you really are here. And I think in that tiny moment, I was like, this decision was right on so many levels. And post Today Show, look, I've lived my life on one track and I realize that when you switch chapters, you can be a beginner all over again. I'm learning how to sleep again.
I haven't done that in decades. I'm learning new skills. I'm learning how to be a mom who's there almost all of the time. I'm learning all these things in my 60s.
And I feel like it's my whole kind of be a beginner again era, like start all over. Well, I want to talk about the next thing. But before we get there, I have to talk about the extraordinary career that you've had in the way that you got started. You've talked about you've written about the fact that when you were just beginning, you got you had this big dream to be a broadcast journalist and you got rejected 27 different times.
But you didn't give up load as so many people would have given up. It would have rattled so many people when that first news director gave you a shot in Mississippi. What was that moment? I just I wept, man.
You did. I cried because he looked me in the eye and he said something. I'll never forget after watching my tape. He looked at the tape and he said, I like what I see.
I was like, oh my god. Oh my god. Nobody likes this. You liked it?
Like I couldn't believe it. I mean, imagine having 27 guys tell you know when you're asking them to dance. And the last guy says yes. And you're like, wait, what?
So this guy said yes to me. And I knew in that moment, like I was going to work my tail off. I was going to prove he was right. I was going to prove those others were wrong.
Like, I was going to work it, work it, work it. And I wasn't the best. I wasn't. I was green.
I didn't know what I was doing, but nobody was going to outwork me. Well, and you put in years of work in local news, and then you finally got a big shot at NBC, 1998, a correspondent from Dayton. Yeah, shocking, right? Which is extraordinary.
Did you feel like I made it? I felt like I got the job and I wasn't ready. Like, I got the job and everybody was better. I got the job and everyone was a better writer.
I got the job and everyone was a better interviewer. And I wasn't wrong. I was new. So I had made it, but I was terrified.
And I wondered if I was going to float or if I was going to sink. But you floated and you soared. Yeah. And then you you faced really what was the biggest challenge of your life in 2007 diagnosed with breast cancer.
How did you push through that? And what did you learn about your own strength in that moment? I think in the beginning, if I was terrified, I thought that was it. I thought, I don't know what's going to happen after this.
And then something happened. After I'd gone through the surgery and did all the stuff, I was in my house and I literally had this like four word epiphany. I popped up and I got, you can't scare me. I got this weird, crazy courage that came after it.
I was like this. I was like, I felt like more confident than I had ever felt before. Why? Because my life now had a beginning and an end.
And I got to decide in this time, like, what am I going to do? How am I going to live this life? What am I going to do going forward? And so in that moment, I made a big decision to change the course of my life here at NBC.
You asked for the Today Show, the fourth hour. Girl, I asked for, I never asked for anything here. I was always like, working hard. They'll see me.
I'm still here. They're going to give me a raise. It doesn't work like that. And you made history in 2018, along with Savannah Guthrie.
We are kicking off the year, right? Because Hoda is officially the co-anchor of today. Let's give her a round of applause. What did that moment feel like to re-write the history books?
It was incredible. To realize that it had an impact on women mattered. And to another lady said to me, my little girl now knows that when she turns on the television and looks for two people, a man doesn't always have to be the one with the authority who's bringing her the news. It can be women too, two women in fact.
And it just, it felt empowering and amazing and magical. And also, it was good journalism and good television. And it just worked on a regular level. I mean, I never thought in my 50s that I would be sitting in that chair doing that job.
I mean, how could that be possible? But now we're showing that, you know, women doesn't matter how old you are. Because what's inside you, the spirit part of you is there and it'll come out, no matter. And the greatest blessing, I would assume in your life also happened in your 50s, which is that you became a mom.
You adopted your two beautiful girls, Haley and Hope. What was that like the first time you held baby Haley in your arms? I remember it so clearly. We were at the adoption agency and I heard her first.
They opened up these big doors and a woman is carrying your child who's a month old. And when they placed Haley in my arm, she was right here. It bit like a puzzle piece fits in life. I felt like I was home probably for the first time.
And you have all of these blessings in your life. And yet you have also known incredible heartache. I know that you lost your father suddenly to a heart attack. What do you think he would say, looking at your life right now, how full it is full of love and success.
And now you're charted in your course. What would he say? I always wanted to hear the words from him. I'm proud of you.
And I think now, looking at what I built based on the foundation he built for me, like this is all because he and my mom built this for me, this foundation. I think he'd be incredibly proud of me as a mother. Like I did that. I think he would be super proud of me that I took a risk and, you know, in my professional life too and tried something new because that's what he did.
He took risks. I think he'd be proud to know that. And, you know, I talk to him sometimes about it. Like, and this sounds weird, but all my last day of work, when I woke up that morning, I heard what sounded like him say, everything's going to be just fine.
And I literally jumped up from my bed because it was weird. And I was like, Oh my God, is he here? Like is he watching it over me? And I think he is.
And I think he always has. He's probably watching over what you're doing now with immense excitement in addition to all that pride, Oda, and this wellness venture that you have embarked on to help people have better, healthier, more joyful lives of joy 101 is what it's called. And I was looking at this app that you have, which is so powerful. There are so many resources on it.
What drew you to this space? I feel like we women need something. We're tired. I feel it.
It's like everyone's hunched over and they're walking around like that. It's like, take off the backpack. You don't even know you're hunched over because you've been walking like that for years. And let's figure out how we can make each other feel better.
It's like 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and you're done. That's it. Like that. To me, it's like a magic wand.
Well, the thread throughout your whole life is that you face your fears and you don't let it stop you. What is next for you, Hoda? What's next? What's next is walking my kids to school in the morning and holding their hands.
What's next is sitting in the bleachers at a Friday night high school football game with my kids and going to the concession stand. What's next is building this fun business brick by brick and helping women. What's next is tomorrow. I think short term now, and I like it.
I like having that short vision. That's all I want is what's happening next. And it's all it's all filled with goodness. Hoda's new book jump and find joy comes out on September 23rd.
Before we go, we'd like to acknowledge the passing of longtime CBS News White House correspondent Mark Nohler. Mark was beloved among the White House press corps and was known as the unofficial White House historian with his meticulous record of presidential statistics. And on a personal note, Mark was incredibly supportive of me when I first came to the White House in Washington. He will be incredibly sorely missed by all of us.
That is all for today. Thank you so much for watching. We'll be back next week because if it's Sunday, it's meet the press.