This Sunday, Rising Threats, the country is on edge after a deadly New Year's Day terror attack that investigators say was inspired by ISIS. This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act. Plus, the new majority, as Republicans in Congress prepare to advance Donald Trump's legislative priorities, I'll talk to the new Senate Majority Leader, Republican John Thune of South Dakota.
Don't you describe your relationship with the President of Trump right now? Well, you know what? We are, it's a devolved. And minority report.
We are here ready to fight for the American people. How will Democrats navigate their new role in the minority? I'll speak to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and California Senator Adam Schiff, joining me for Insight and Analysis R, NBC News managing Washington editor Carol Lee, Jonathan Martin of Politico, Simone Sanders Townsend, former Chief Spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris, and Mark Short, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence. 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 Walker. Good Sunday morning.
On this first weekend of 2025, the nation is on edge. After deadly New Year's attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, federal officials are on high alert about potential security threats as Washington prepares for a series of key public events, the certification of the 2024 election on Monday, President Jimmy Carter's State funeral on Thursday at the National Cathedral, and in just 15 days, President-elect Trump's inauguration, President Biden with an emotional message to the victims' families of that tragedy in Louisiana. To all the families of those who are killed, to all those who are injured, to all the people in knowledge, who are grieving today, I want you to know, I agree with you, our nation agrees with you. We're going to stand with you as you mourn and as you heal.
Now, according to the FBI, the New Orleans attacker, a U.S. citizen and army veteran from Texas who was inspired by ISIS to kill 14 people, had planned to use a transmitter to detonate two explosives he had placed near the site of the Bourbon Street attack. Top law enforcement officials have warned the ongoing war in the Middle East has increased the threat of terror attacks inside the United States. At a time when the terrorism threat was already elevated, the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans inside the United States to a whole and other level.
We have been warning for quite some time now, both the Justice Department, the FBI and intelligence community, that we are in a heightened threat environment from malign foreign actors, including in particular ISIS. All of this comes as the 119th Congress convened on Friday, narrowly re-electing House Speaker Mike Johnson to lead the razor-thin Republican majority after he and President-elect Trump persuaded several initial holdouts. I sat down with the first new Senate Republican leader in 18 years, Majority Leader John Thune. Senate Majority Leader Thune, welcome back to meet the press.
It's a great deal with you. It is great to have you. Unfortunately, we have to start on this devastating news out of New Orleans, this terror attack. You have now been briefed.
It claimed 14 lives. What is the latest information that you have about the investigation? Well, horrible news, obviously, and our parts and prayers go out to all of the victims, families, those who are still injured, pranked for their recovery, but what a horrible way to start the new year. And it points to the need to get the answers and to make sure it doesn't happen again.
And I think that as more information comes out, the investigation is more fully completed. I think we'll have more of those answers. But clearly, it's a dangerous world, and I think it's a reminder that we need to be doing everything we can at every level to keep the American people safe. You said in your statement after the horrific attack in New Orleans of the threat posed by ISIS, quote, is a clear example of why the Senate must get President Trump's national security team in place as quickly as possible.
As you know, there are Senate Republicans who say they still have questions about the qualifications, about the character of some of President-elect Trump's picks from Pete Haggseth to Tulsi Gabbard. As we sit here today, are you prepared to vote yes on all of his nominees? Well, it's a process. What I promise them is a fair process.
And so these nominees are going to go through a committee where they get a lot—they're going to have to answer questions. They'll be some hard questions posed. We're going to do everything we can to ensure that he has the people he wants in place. I think you get a great deference and latitude to a president when it comes to people he wants to put into key positions.
And national security ones are especially important. But the Senate has a role, advice and consent, and we intend to—we have a lot of our senators who take that role very seriously. And so we will make sure that these nominees have a process, a fair process in which they have an opportunity to make their cases, not only to the members of the committee and ultimately to the full Senate, but also to the American people. And that's underway as we speak.
But my hope and expectation is that the president will get the people that he wants in place to implement his agenda. And I hear you say there's a process, but you're not prepared to say, you're a yes, you're a rubber stamp on all of these nominees at this point. Well, that's why we have a process. And you know, I've met with them.
There are some of them I think that I've been really, really impressed by. And I think there are, as they go through the process, there will be opportunities throughout that where members, senators will have opportunities to make sure they're getting their questions answered. And we'll see. I mean, I think this is a—again, that's why we have the checks and balances in our system that we have.
Well, my expectation is, and as the leader of the Senate, that we're going to get the president, his people as quickly as possible, in the key positions when he wants them. Let me ask you about Cash Mattel in his book. As you know, as has been reported, he has a list of 60 people. He calls members of the so-called Deep State.
Are you certain that Cash Mattel's priorities would be fighting crime, protecting national security rather than settling political source? I think that he understands what his mission would be if he is successful in getting confirmed to that position at the FBI. The FBI is an agency that I think is in need of reform and needs a good makeover, so to speak in probably a good amount of housecleaning when it comes to just the perception the American people have of it. And these institutions that the American people need to have confidence and trust in, I think that confidence and trust is largely eroded.
And there's an opportunity to fix that. I think that's what—I sat down with him, I think he understands that's the mission. If he's successful through the nomination process, I hope that he will take very seriously that responsibility and focus on what he can do to make the FBI operate in a way that is protecting the American people and also being accountable to the same. When you say you think he does understand the mission, does that mean, yes, you do think he will put national security ahead of settling political source?
Well, you know, in my conversations with him, and I've not talked a lot about the meetings that I've had, but I felt like he fully understood, I think, what is expected, and I think what the president wants out of the agency. And I feel confident that he gets what his job is going to be if he gets over there, and I think that as he goes through the process, more members will have an opportunity to ask the questions of him. But I think the—at least based on my conversations with him, I feel very good about that. Are you a yes on cash without that?
Well, I haven't been advertising or disclosing my positions on individual nominees at this point just yet, but my job is to make sure they get a fair process, and so I intend to do that, and I think that's underway. And let's talk about the Republicans' agenda. When I spoke with President-elect Donald Trump, he said that his mass deportation plan was his top priority. He wants to deport everyone who is here illegally.
Do you support that plan to deport everyone who is here illegally? Well, I think there are certain—certainly, there are categories, people who have committed crimes. There are over a million people that the current administration had targeted for deportation. And so I think that we have to take seriously the fact that there are a lot of people in this country today, over 10 million who have come in just in the last four years under this administration's policies, many of whom are not here for good reasons.
I mean, we know we've apprehended almost 300 people to southern border. They're on the terrorist watch list, and you've got criminals and cartel members and gang members and all of the above. So I think that the—as we think about what those next steps are, the first thing is securing that border and making sure that we change the incentive structure. So people are incentivized to come here illegally, which they haven't for the past four years, and that we do everything to ensure that the border personnel, the ICE agents and border agents have the resources that they need to do their job.
Now, some of that means physical barriers, so it means technological barriers, et cetera, and those are all going to require resources, and some are going to require deportation of certain people who are here illegally. How that gets translated into actual policy and action will be a function of the new border czar and homeland security department secretary, who will be our governor of the Christian Hill. And of course, it's incredibly complicated. You need 24 more times—attention capacity, just to deport 1 million people in one year, not to mention more agents, more judges, more planes for deportation in 2016, you actually said, deporting everyone here illegally wasn't realistic.
Have you changed your mind about that? Well, I think you've got—again, I think you start. I think this is going to be obviously a process, and it's going to take resources, obviously, to get people to leave the country, we're going to have to make sure the administration has the resources. They need to enable them to do that.
Is it realistic to deport everybody? I mean, there's a lot of people in this country who are here illegally, but I think we have identified already, and I said, anybody who is committed to crime in this country clearly on that list. And there are a bunch of folks that over a million, million point four, I think, on the current administration's list of people that need to be deported. So start with that, and then we'll go from there and figure it out.
But I think that the administration, when they take office, these are decisions, obviously, they're going to have to make, and we want to work with them to ensure that we have a safe and secure southern border where people don't have the incentive structure they have today, which is essentially coming to this country, and we will waive you in. People have to understand that we are a nation of immigrants, that we are first and foremost in nation law. So you've got to follow up. Let's talk about tax cuts.
President Trump has proposed a slew of tax cuts extending the 2017 tax cuts, as well as further slashing the corporate rate eliminating taxes on tips, the estimated price for everything he's proposing would exceed some $9 trillion. Are you comfortable adding $9 trillion to the national debt? Well, I think you have to, first off, look at what happens if we don't act by the end of the year. We have a $1 trillion tax increase on the American people, because that's essentially what you're talking about if we don't extend the current the 2017 tax law.
The president has had some other suggestions and ideas with respect that he would like to do in the area of tax reform, and we'll take those into consideration. But I think that we intend to ensure that we don't have a $4 trillion tax increase on the American people by December 31 of this year. And in order to do that, we've got to act collectively, House Senate and White House, to extend the 2017 tax cuts. Now, in doing that, I believe there will also be a robust conversation about whether we can find offsets and achieve reductions in spending that would help offset some of that.
But then also, you've got to understand, too, that tax policy is directly connected to economic growth. And we've been told by all the experts, the Joint Committee on Taxation and Congressional Budget Office, that for every 1% increase in GDP, you generate about $3 trillion in additional tax revenue. Many of the tax provisions that are in law today that will be extended will have a very positive impact on growth in the economy. I'm somebody who believes in growth, with growth, you get better paying jobs, but you also generate more tax revenue.
And I think that's something that isn't fully contemplated or considered when people talk about deficit numbers. You've said that the size of the national debt is actually a national security threat. You're talking about the 2017 tax cuts, but when you lump all of these other potential tax cuts onto it, it just balloons the debt. How would you pay for that?
I hear you expressing some skepticism that the whole entire package could get done. Well, I mean, I think that you start with extending existing tax policy, and that is current policy. Now, some people, depending on which scorekeepers you use, will say, well, yes, this is going to contribute to deficit down the road. But the fact of matter is, this is the law today, and what you're going to essentially extend that.
Well, it's not perhaps all of it, but what I'm telling you is a combination of growth, a combination of offsets, and an expectation, I think, that if you want to avoid a $4 trillion tax increase, you're going to have to take some steps to extend the current tax policy. When you do that, I think you get outcomes that are good for the economy. When the economy is growing, expanding, creating better paying jobs, people are making money to take in realizations or paying taxes, tax revenues go up. And that was demonstrated and proven in 2017 with the Tax Test and Jobs Act.
Monday marks four years since January 6th, since the attack on the Capitol, you were here that day. You've been in this building for more than 20 years. In my interview with him, President-elect Trump said he plans to pardon those who attacked the Capitol on that day, and potentially even some of those who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. Do you support that, pardoning people who attacked police officers who stormed the Capitol that day?
Well, I mean, as we've discovered under the Biden administration, the pardon authority is a very broad one. I mean, he's taken it to a whole new level. That's ultimately going to be a decision that President Trump is going to have to make. And, you know, what I'm focused on is the future, and not looking in the rearview mirror, but looking at the windshield and what we have to do.
I think you've learned from the past. Remember the past, but you live in the present in the future. And right now, we have an agenda which consists of a stronger, more robust economy, energy dominance, rebuilding our national security and security, our border. Those are things that we want to get done, which I think the American people voted on in November and gave President Trump a very decisive victory.
And I think the expectation is that we're going to work with him to accomplish that agenda. As the majority leader in the Senate, though, what message do you think it would send to give pardons to people who pleaded guilty to attacking police officers who stormed the building four years ago? Well, look, I mean, again, it's ultimately going to be a decision that the President-United States, the pardon authority, exists with him. My job right now is to get, help the President get the people in the positions that he wants to implement his agenda, and then work constructively with him with the House of Representatives on an agenda that we think is what the American people voted for.
And you can't be looking in the rear view mirror to do that. That's four years ago. I think the American people are living in the present, and I think they want the work that we're doing to be done with an eye toward what we can do and improve their lives today. President Trump told me he is open to doing a deal with Democrats to protect dreamers, those who were brought here illegally as children.
Do you commit to working with Democrats to try to get a deal on the dreamers? Well, if the President-United States, he's obviously going to lead on a lot of this policy with respect to the border. But that is an issue that I think on which there could be some bipartisan cooperation. In the past at least, there have been conversations around.
If you get the right things with respect to border security, that might be part of a conversation where you could get up a package. I just finally, a big picture, I want to ask you, you endorsed Tim Scott during the Republican primary. You ultimately backed Mr. Trump.
How would you describe your relationship with President-led Trump right now? Well, you know what, it's evolving, and we have a relationship, I think, where we understand what each other wants to accomplish. And what I said before is that we have, there is an alignment of incentives. We want to get the same destination.
I want a lot of the same thing to accomplish the same things he does. And I think that's a powerful combination, and we're going to continue to build on that. Senator John Thune, thank you so much for your time. And when we come back, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joins me next.
Welcome back, and joining me now is the Senate Minority Leader Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York Leader Schumer. Welcome back to Meet the Press. Kristen, good to be back, and happy new year to you and your family and to all of America. Oh, happy new year to you.
Thank you so much for being here on this first Sunday of the New Year. I do want to start off by getting your insights into the attack in New Orleans. As you know, a lot of families are sitting at home. They feel afraid.
They feel on edge. There are a lot of big events coming up from the inauguration to the Super Bowl, which is going to be in New Orleans. What are the security gaps that you think need to be addressed? Well first, I want to express my condolences to the families who were mourning for the loved ones who were lost in New Orleans.
We agree for them. I also, you know, the former soldier, a member of the Armed Forces who had PTSD and committed suicide in front of the Las Vegas Hotel, showed, I think, that we need to do more for our veterans who had PTSD and other things there. As for security. The bottom line is that I believe the authorities are on full alert in terms of security.
Look, terrorism is a greater threat here in America. We have ISIS. We have other groups. The terrorist who rammed his car and killed so many people was a professed member of ISIS.
Now we do not know. We know that he acted alone. We don't know if the ISIS directed him to do what they're still investigating. But we need to be very, very vigilant.
And so I sent a letter yesterday to John Thune suggesting we have an all senators briefing this week on the preparations for the big, the big events that are coming up and for the ability to ask questions of our law enforcement. I believe they are on top of this, but having an all senators hearing, giving us a chance to answer questions and them to reply is a good thing. So I'm hopeful Senator Thune and I can work that out and get it done this week. All right.
Well, I know that you're going to continue to watch that closely. I do want to turn to how you see Democrats role in this new Congress. Your fellow Democratic congressman, colleague, Tom Swazie said the party needs to try a different approach when it comes to dealing with President-elect Trump. Let me read you a little bit of what he had to say.
He said, I know my party will be tempted to hold fast against Mr. Trump at every turn. That would be a mistake only by working together to find compromise on parts of the president-elect's agenda. Can we make progress for Americans?
Do you agree with Congressman Swazie, the Democrats need a new approach toward President-elect Trump? Well, look, I think it's clear that whenever we can get things done in a bipartisan way, we try to do it. And that's the best way to go. It creates programs that are long-lasting and very popular.
So back in 2021-22, when we had the most successful session of the Senate of the Congress, in decades, seven of the eight major bills were done in a bipartisan way. So we always look for bipartisan cooperation and would welcome the ability. On the other hand, when there are things that we can't agree with, for instance, tax breaks for the wealthiest of Americans paid for, as many Republicans have suggested, by cuts in social security and in Medicare and making it harder for new families to buy their first home, they're going to have to go through us. We're going to oppose those kinds of things very, very rigorously.
So I think we will be bipartisan when we can, but we will also, when they are trying to do things, our Republican colleagues that are so bad for working people, will oppose them. I'm curious where you see those potential areas in my interview with President Elect Trump. He said he's open to potentially getting a deal for dreamers, those who were brought to the country illegally, as children, to be able to stay here permanently. Do you think that that is feasible?
You heard Leader Thune say, yes, he thinks there are some areas of bipartisanship there. Do you think a deal on dreamers is possible? Well, we'd love to do that. Our party has been strongly fighting for the dreamers for a decade.
We've been blocked by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. If there's going to be a change and we can get some help, look, these are people, they were little tiny children when they were brought over the border. Many of them have been here for decades. Some have served in the armed forces.
Many of them are working very productively and have families. And yes, if we can find a solution so that the dreamers could stay here, we'd welcome it. You heard Leader Thune in terms of President Elect Trump's cabinet say that the Senate should work as quickly as possible to get his cabinet picks in place and basically saying that if his national security picks are not in place quickly, that could undermine the nation's national security. Do you agree with Leader Thune there?
Look, we've asked for three things that are reasonable. First, that there be thorough FBI background checks of everyone of the nominees at the cabinet level. Second, that there be hearings where members have the opportunity to fully ask the questions that they want answered. And then third, there be a vote.
That's been the tradition here under Democratic and Republican presidents. It's been advised and consent. And look, any American who applies for a job has to undergo a background check, has to answer questions that the potential employer asks him or her. So of course, we should do those things.
And I hope we will. The bottom line is these positions are really important, as Senator Thune said, for our national security. And the American people should have the ability to know who is being nominated and what their criteria are. Are you a yes right now?
Are you a yes right now on any of these picks? No, I'm waiting for this process, this reasonable process that we've asked for to unfold. Let's talk about background checks, thorough background checks, hearings and votes. All right.
Let's talk now about the future of the Democratic Party. Democrats have said this is a real reckoning after losing a White House, the Senate not winning back the House. Here's a Democratic strategist James Carville had to say. He wrote, quote, we lost for one very simple reason.
It was, it is, and it will always be the economy. Stupid. Do you agree? What do you think was the root cause of Democrats across the board loss?
Well, look, I told my caucus and I'll say it here too. We should regard this election certainly. It was a loss, but it's also a challenge. And we did some things right against very severe headwinds.
We kept four of those seven contested Democratic seats, but we did some things wrong and we have to look in the mirror and see what we did wrong. And then there's some things we didn't do that we should have done. One of the things we have to do is we must focus on the working families of America. We believe in them.
And we passed all kinds of legislation that helped them. The infrastructure bill, which made our economy stronger and employed lots of people. The chip hubs, where we're now having chip hubs in places to do new manufacturing and new research that were left out before, Missoula, Montana, Bloomington, Indiana. The bill lowering the cost of prescription drugs as of January 1st, 10 of the most popular prescription drugs will be greatly lowered because we finally allowed under our leadership the drug companies, we forced them to negotiate with Medicare.
So we did a lot of good things, but all too often, Kristen, we talked about the mechanics of the legislation and the details of the legislation and we really didn't show the kind of empathy and concern to average or show enough of it, to average working families who didn't realize how much we had done and how much we care for them. So what we're going to do is spend a lot of time talking to working families, showing them how much we care about them, and not just talk about legislation, but talk about the conditions that have made so many working families worried about their futures. And that's going to be a significant change. And obviously it will make a difference.
Obviously, there has been a lot of focus on President Biden's role in this. You were obviously in close contact with President Biden well before the public tuned into that debate that ultimately led to him stepping down. I want to play you a little bit of something you said last year. Take a look.
I talked to President Biden regularly, or sometimes several times in a week or usually several times in a week. His mental acuity is great, it's fine, it's as good as it's been over the years. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity is declined is wrong. Leader Schumer, what do you say to Americans who feel as though you and other top Democrats misled them about President Biden's mental acuity?
No. Look, we didn't. Let's look at President Biden. He's had an amazing record.
The legislation we passed, one of the most significant groups of legislation since Lyndon Johnson's great society, putting in 235 judges a record. And he's a patriot. He's a great guy. And when he stepped down, he did it on his own because he thought it was better not only for the Democratic Party, for America.
We should all salute him. We should all salute him. Do you feel as we have this conversation today that President Biden could serve another four years had he stayed in the race and potentially won? Well, I'm not going to speculate.
As I said, I think his record is a stellar one and he'll go down in history as a really outstanding president. Before I let you go, Leader Schumer, in two weeks you will be the highest ranking Democrat serving in Washington. Do you believe you will be the leader of the Democratic Party? Look, I think we have a lot of great leaders in our party.
We have a great bench of people coming up and I am really optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party in the future. As I said, there are certain adjustments we have to make. We're going to do those. And I think people are going to realize that the Democratic Party is the party of working families, of working people.
We're doing more for them. We're going to show them that some of these Republican things like tax cuts for the very wealthy individuals, which were, they did it in 2017 and they lost the election in 2018. They haven't learned, but we're going to hold their feet to the fire when they do things that hurt working people. We're going to stand with the working families of America and that's going to bode very well for us.
All right, Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, thank you so much. I hope you'll come back again soon. Really appreciate talking to you this morning. And when we come back, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California joins me next.
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Hey guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I sit down with one of the biggest bands in the world, Mumford and Sons, as we get the boys together to talk about their new number one album, Prize Fighter, and the evolution of that irresistible foot stomping sound. You can get our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts. Welcome back.
As we approach Monday's anniversary of the January 6th attacks, President Biden this past week awarded the country's second highest civilian award, the Presidential Citizens' Medal, to the leaders of the January 6th Committee, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Congressman Benny Thompson. And Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California, who was another member of that committee, joins me now, Senator Schiff. Welcome back to Meet the Press. Great to be with you.
Great to have you here. Happy New Year. Thank you for being here. Happy New Year.
Tomorrow, as we just said, does mark the anniversary of the January 6th attacks, and in my interview with President-elect Trump, he said that he does plan to pardon those who attack the Capitol, potentially even those who plead guilty of their crimes. You heard leader Thun say that's ultimately a decision for the president to make. How do you respond to that? Well, first of all, that day when we peacefully transfer power, historically, peacefully transfer power is a real solemn occasion, I think, for the whole country.
But it has another meeting now that we had this terrible violent attack four years ago. For those of us that were there in the Capitol, it's going to be, I think, quite an emotional experience to be back in the environment. On that day, I invited Daniel Hodges, one of the Metropolitan Police Officers, who was being crushed in that revolving door, to remind people of what that day was really like, given all the revisionist history around it. But if the president goes forward with pardoning vast numbers of people involved in that violence, he will begin his new administration the way he ended his last administration.
That is by celebrating violence against our democracy. I think it would be a terrible start, send a terrible message about our democracy, about lawlessness, about people who attacked police officers, exactly the wrong message on, and the wrong way to start out of the situation. Let me ask you about something else the president-elect said to me. He said that he believes everyone who was on the committee should go to jail.
That includes you. Senator Schiff, are you bracing to be targeted by the president-elect, by his incoming administration? I don't think any of us really know what he means by any of that, whether he's serious about it, whether it's his kind of Trumpian hyperbole or what it is, all of us on the committee, I think, are very proud of the work that we did. We stand behind it.
I'm glad to see President Biden acknowledge the role of Chairman Benny Thompson and Liz Cheney, and I'm Kinzing, I think, also, as a Republican, she'll great courage, and the witnesses that came before the committee were so powerful because they were Republicans, because they put the country first. So who knows what the president means, I guess we'll find out, but we stand behind our work. There's been a lot of talk about whether President Biden should issue preemptive pardons to those who served on the committee. You've been very public about saying you don't want a preemptive pardon.
I wonder, Senator, have you conveyed that directly to the president himself, to his administration? Not directly to the president, but I have conveyed it to the administration, and the concern that I have, which is what I conveyed, is the president that it would set, that you have an outgoing president giving a broad group of pardons to members of his party or others, because I think the president could be abused. Now, people have rightly pointed out Donald Trump may have used that precedent regardless, but the idea that each administration hereafter gives broad pardons to the people who worked in the administration or aligned with the administration, I don't think that's a road we want to go down. But the president will do what the president does, and if he goes forward, I'm sure it will be responding to these baseless arguments of Donald Trump and the threats to retaliating against people.
This week, that sentencing will be scheduled for president-elect Trump in that hush money case. The judge has said he's not going to seek jail time. That sentence is going to happen a little bit later on this week. Do you agree with that decision not to seek jail time?
What I've always said about what the judge should do, vis-a-vis sentencing, and frankly, the whole process of that case is he should treat Donald Trump as he would any other criminal defendant charged with like offenses. So if the judge concluded that someone else charged with a similar offense of fraudulent business records to conceal a campaign finance violation, then that would lead to no jail time, then he should get no jail time. But I particularly concur with his decision to go forward with the sentencing. The federal justice system really led down the country.
The Supreme Court certainly did. It didn't timely investigate and prosecute the offenses around January 6th. I think New York has demonstrated, frankly, how the justices ought to operate. No one should be above the law.
So much of your time in Congress was spent basically conducting oversight over then President Trump for a range of different reasons. The Russia investigation, Ukraine, and then January 6th, given that the two federal cases as you just referenced have been dropped for now. How focused, as a senator, will you be on overseeing oversight of Donald Trump's actions? Well, a lot of that will depend on what the president's actions are.
Does he take a different approach in the second administration or does he once again try to abuse the powers of his office? You continue to focus on his election interference. Well, my focus is going to be on getting things done for people of California in the country, and particularly on the economy. I know I'm going to have to face very early on these tax cuts for rich people and for large corporations.
What the voters in California elected me to do was to try to bring down the cost of living, the cost of housing, the cost of child care, not to give tax rates to very wealthy people of corporations. So my focus is on the economy. I, you know, to your question earlier about James Carvel. I think James Carvel was right.
I think it is still about the economy. I think we lost the argument on the economy. We need to win that argument. We need to persuade the American people once again that we are focused first and foremost on delivering for them.
And that means helping them with their small businesses, helping them pay their rent or their mortgage. That's going to be my first priority. But, you know, if the president is trying to take away the rights and freedoms of the American people or abusing his office, I'm certainly going to stand up and defend our country and our constitution. Talk quickly about the president-elect's cabinet picks, Cash Patel for FBI Director.
That comes against the backdrop of this latest terror attack in New Orleans. You, of course, serve on the Judiciary Committee. If Cash Patel is confirmed, will you be able to work with him? You've been quite critical of him.
Well, first of all, Cash Patel should not be confirmed. And I think the terrorist attack in New Orleans and my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones in that attack, just underscores, again, the importance of having someone directing the FBI that has experience, that has judgment, that has character that will prioritize defending the country against the violence we saw in New Orleans, or the violence we saw in January 6th. Not someone whose top priority is political vendettas, who believes in deep state conspiracy, thinking not someone who is as unqualified as Cash Patel. So Cash Patel is an easy one.
He should not be confirmed. The others, you know, some look, Marco Rubio, I think Emily well qualified, several of the other nominees. Again, we should follow that record of process that the majority leader has laid out, but that one should be an easy one. All right.
Senator Adam Schiff, thank you so much for being here in person. We really appreciate it. Thank you. All right.
Look forward to hopefully talking to you again soon. As the nation mourns the death of former president Jimmy Carter, we look back at his message to a divided country, our Meet the Press Minute is next day with us. Welcome back. Former President Jimmy Carter, the longest living president in U.S.
history, is lying in repose in the Carter Center in Atlanta after he passed away last Sunday, nearly two years after being admitted into hospice care. Jimmy Carter joined this broadcast 11 times in 1976. He talked about wanting to bridge the country's divides just days before becoming the Democratic nominee in his first run for president. I think the American people resent being put in boxes, and I've always avoided that myself.
Obviously, since the beginning of this calendar year as a caucus approach, I've been heavily covered by the news media, and it's not possible for me to make a different statement in Iowa than the one I make in New Hampshire, Florence. So I think those are sharp differences that usually exist between the liberal and conservative elements of our society, pretty well been removed. So when I say I'm going to manage the government in a tough, competent business like Wade, and also deal with the sensitive needs of our people and human rights, civil rights, good environmental quality, I don't think there's as much alienation of groups as it was before. And Carter was 100 years old.
Welcome back to panelists here, NBC News managing Washington editor, Carol Lee, Jonathan Martin, politics bureau chief and senior political columnist for Politico, Simone Sanders Townsend, former chief spokesperson, device president Harris and co-host of the weekend, and Mark Short, former chief of staff, device president, Mike Pence, thanks to all of you for being here on a very busy Sunday. Carol, let me kick it off with you. You heard Senate majority leader John Thune say that his relationship with President-elect Trump is evolving. I thought it was a fascinating answer.
And it kind of underscores, I think, what we're all going to be watching for, how complicated is it for the Trump agenda to get passed? That's right. And he essentially described this as a business relationship, saying that they have shared goals when it comes to achieving the policy agenda, and that's what's going to bind them. But whether they can achieve those goals is really what matters, and Trump has set very high expectations for the American people that he's going to get a lot done really fast, with the Republican Senate, House and White House.
And what you heard from Thune was a little more measured, a little more pragmatism about what is actually going to be possible. And so, you know, how this relationship evolves is really going to depend on whether in Trump's view, Thune is delivering for him. And if he is not, then you're going to see the president-elect looking to blame someone, and Thune may find himself on the receiving end. So, Jonathan, talk about high expectations.
The president-elect Trump has conveyed to the new House Speaker. He wants to get a border, taxes, trade done, all in one big bill, and it all comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson barely won the gagglebacks. It's all the day's workers. Yeah, exactly.
Look, Donald Trump has not been known to accept blame for anything at all. And the clock is running. And I think there's a huge challenge ahead for Jonathan, but especially like Johnson, because of the nature of the House majority, and because of the coalition that Johnson is trying to juggle in the House. Look, Donald Trump is going to want victories and want victories fast.
And to Jon Thune's credit, that's why I think Thune wanted to do two big bills, because he wanted to get Trump a big victory first on the border and on energy and on defense spending. But I think Trump has come up with the conclusion, these guys in Congress can only do one big bill, and that's what we're going to have to do. But when you do that, you deny Trump a fact early when, and that sets up a difficult spring and summer, I think, for Johnson and Thune, Johnson, especially because Trump's going to get really impatient. Where's my bill?
Yeah, it's a big, big test, Mark. You understand legislate the fairs better than most? I mean, can this get down this big, massive bill that's going to die? No, I hate agreeing with J.
Mark. I think he got it right. It's like, it is going to create an expectation that's difficult. I think there's going to be a pressure on the beginning with the nominations to get confirmed, but getting two budget reconciliation bills done was always impossible.
I think Speaker Johnson was right to encourage the president to go to one bill, but that bill's going to take a long time to put together. In the meantime, this spring, you're going to have a debt ceiling fight. You're going to have another continuing resolution that they should have passed one continuing resolution for the entire year, pushing off just to march, creating an enormous struggle for Speaker Johnson. And as Jonathan said, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure if that bill fails to fund the government, but then the president's going to blame Speaker Johnson for that.
Sure is a big first test. Well, let's talk about the Democrats. I thought the conversation was either Schumer was fascinating. I asked him if he thought President Biden could serve another four years.
He kind of pivoted didn't answer that directly. There's obviously a lot of soul searching going on right now in the Democratic Party. What did you make of what we heard from Leader Schumer? Well, I was very surprised that when you asked the question about mental acuity, he didn't more forcefully push back.
The question on the table is, is the president all the way there? And the answer is unequivocally yes. Now, people can say that you feel as though President Biden might be a little too old to do the job, but he is doing the job and his mental acuity is there. So I think that there's a conflation of two things here is his middle capacity and serving another four years as old as he is.
But those are two separate things of my opinion. And look, these people that have known Joe Biden their entire political lives, I know Joe Biden is like, y'all just please defend me a little more. Well, it's not worth defending him though, because at every turn the last year and a half, he has taken the path of the most indulgent turn for himself rather than the good of the party by running again, by pardoning his son. And now frankly, by some of these choices for the Medal of Freedom going to Rome for one last trip, he's not exiting in a way that reflects well on his party and Democrats are deeply deeply unhappy about it.
And they should be right now. I was saying this one thing about president. I heard Democrats in November to try to tell the American people something they can see with their own eyes wasn't true. But it's not true that the president doesn't have the mental acuity.
Of course it is, Simone. I mean, people saw that for themselves. What are you saying? He can at least put a sentence together.
Yes, because I really spoke to the president. But let me say, let me just say this thing about the Democrats and with friends like these, okay, the Democratic presidential president has had, I do think that he understands the nature of where things are going, which is why he pardoned his son, because the president elect has been very clear about his ire and what he wants to do to his son. So after everything Joe Biden has done, do you really expect him to go out on the high note for his last surviving son because Chuck Schumer would like it to be so? Let's talk about the note he's going to go out on.
You have been reporting, Carol has been giving two major speeches. He is not going to be taking questions from the press and the press conference as far as we know so far. But he is delivering two different speeches. First one, on foreign policy, which is his real house.
He's going to talk about it. There's alliances, the importance of that. The second one, a farewell address where he'll have a message from the American people about the future. Talk about his legacy.
But really, it's an opportunity for him to have one final moment on the national stage before he exits after more than 50 years. But the fact that he's not conducting interviews are taking questions from the press as he leaves office. It's a huge issue. And also after he turned the White House over to Donald Trump by running again at H82 and there's no accountability for it of any kind.
I think it's remarkable. Mark, let me shift gears a little bit and talk about the anniversary tomorrow, January 6th. You were in the Capitol on that day, obviously I'm sure the day comes with a lot of, uh, thoughts, emotions for you. And it does come as we're watching him waiting to see if President Elect Trump does decide to move forward with what he said that he's going to pardon those who attacked Capitol on day one.
He told me in my interview with him. I, I expect that he will. I think he's been pretty clear that's his intention. Um, I think that President Trump has a remarkable ability to kind of tell a narrative and get America to be able to follow that narrative.
I think it's important to remember from the day of January 6th, he was so disturbed by the events that he referred to them as Antifa protesters over his course of history last few years and now become American patriots. And I think that it's important to remember that many of the people who are incarcerated for assaulting police were put there by Trump appointed judges who heard the evidence. And so I expect that he will go forward pardons. I think there are probably some people that caught up in Capitol and things they shouldn't have been caught up in.
But to see a Republican president pardon people who physically assaulted police officers, I think is an enormous departure from Republican positions on the water. And a lot of them plead guilty. That's that as well. It's a really good point.
Simone, what are you going to be watching for? And I talked to senators about oversight. How much is it going to be focused on oversight versus actually trying to govern potentially work across the aisle? Okay.
I think Democrats in the Senate and the House they want to find ways to govern because they want to win so that they too can potentially take back power in the midterm election. However, I think the reality of the situation is that some of the things they just won't be able to come together on when it comes to the House specifically because of my Johnson's aggressive way of wanting to take up Donald Trump's agenda. All right, you guys. Great conversation.
Very spirited. Thank you so much to kick off the new year. That is all for today. Thank you for watching.
We'll be back next week because if it's Sunday, it's need the press. Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of The Drink. This month, Demi Lovato is my guest. The global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now.
But getting there, it wasn't simple. Demi opens up about starting in Hollywood young and why she now thinks she may have started too soon. She talks about recovery, her new marriage, and the deeply personal reason behind her new cookbook. The drink is always about the journey to the top, and this was an honest conversation about what that takes.
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