This Sunday, decision 2024. I just hope we get fair treatment because if we don't, our country's in big, big trouble. As the presidential election year begins, former President Trump faces multiple legal challenges. While President Biden makes the case his likely GOP opponent is a serious threat to democracy.
Choice is clear. Donald Trump's campaign is not him, not America, not you. Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.
I'll talk to Republican Congresswoman Elisa Fonick of New York and Biden's deputy campaign manager, Quentin folks. Plus, wider war There are growing fears the war between Israel and Hamas could spread further after the US Killed an Orion backed military leader inside Iraq. A top Hamas leader was killed in Lebanon. And tensions are rising in the Red Sea.
We have an intense focus on preventing this conflict spread. I'll talk to Israel's president, Isaac Herzog and shut Will Republican demands for spending cuts lead to another government shutdown? We want to get the border closed and secured first. How far is the White House willing to go to get a deal on border security?
Joining me for insight and analysis are NBC News White House correspondent Mike Nemeli, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, and Kimberly Atkins Storr, senior opinion writer for the Boston Globe. Welcome to Sunday. It's Meet the Press from NBC News and Washington, the longest running show in television history. This is Meet the Press with Kristen Welke.
Good Sunday morning and welcome to this first show of the new year. The Iowa caucuses are just eight days away. We are just 303 days from election Day and democracy is front and center. Faced with low approval ratings and trailing former President Trump and head to head polling, President Biden kicked off his 2024 campaign on Friday, on the third anniversary of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Biden framed the election as an existential choice for the future of democracy.
This is not rhetorical, academic or hypothetical. Whether democracy is still America's sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time. That's what the 2024 election is all about. A new Washington Post University of Maryland poll shows a third of Republicans and nearly half of Trump voters believe the false claim that the FBI organized and encouraged the January 6th attack.
That's the site, one of the largest criminal investigations in American history, resulting so far in more than 1250 charged 890 convictions. President Biden accused Mr. Trump of refusing to denounce political violence. Just this week, bomb threats were reported at government buildings in at least 10 states, forcing lockdowns and evacuations at state capitols and courthouses across the country before the FBI determined the threats were a hoax.
Political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States political system. Never, never, never. It has no place in the democracy. None.
You can't be pro insurrectionist and pro American. Trump and his MAGA supporters not only embrace political violence, but they laugh about it. At his rally, he jokes about an intruder whipped up by the big Trump lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi's skull, echoing the very same words used on January 6th. Where's Nancy?
And he thinks that's funny. Now the Supreme Court will consider whether former President Trump can be banned from the ballot in Colorado because of his role. On January 6, Mr. Trump was disqualified from primary ballots in Colorado in name pending appeals on the grounds that anyone who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and then, quote, engaged in insurrection or rebellion against it is no longer eligible for state or federal office.
At least 18 additional states have unresolved 14th Amendment challenges. Trump, who was looking to cement his dominant lead in the polls with four Iowa rallies in two days, responded forcefully. When you make your speech in front of millions of people and you're making the beautiful speech looking down to the white, that was one of the great scenes I've ever seen, by the way. I think J6 had an equal amount of people.
It's the biggest crowd I believe I ever spoke to. You never hear about that. Do you have the hostages? The J6 hostages, I call them.
Nobody's been treated ever in history so badly as those people. You know what they got to do? They got to release the J6 hostages. They suffer them up.
They're gonna release them. I call them hostages. And join me now is a key Trump ally, Republican Congressman Elise Stefanik of New York, who chairs the House Republican Conference, making her the highest ranking woman in congressional GOP leadership. She's also the youngest woman ever to serve in elected congressional leadership.
Congressman, welcome to Meet the Press. Great to be with you, Kristen. Thank you so much for being here. I want to start by talking about 2024 we've heard over the past 40 hours.
Obviously, President Biden officially kicking off his campaign against former President Trump. Who's the strong front runner? You are one of Trump's strongest supporters. In his speech, President Biden cast the former president as a threat to democracy.
This was an argument that was effective in 2020. It was a winning argument for Democrats in 2022. How do you answer that charge? Well, first, Kristen, I wouldn't say it's a winning argument.
In fact, in 2022, Democrats lost the House and House Republicans ran on issues that matter to the American people. We ran on securing the border. We ran on addressing the historic inflation which the American people know is a result of Joe Biden's failed policies and the trillions of dollars of reckless spending. And what Joe Biden didn't mention in his speech were any of the policies that have created a crisis across America.
So zero mention of the border, which is wide open and a top issue even in my home state. In New York, you have Democrat mayors who are speaking out about Joe Biden's border crisis. No mention of inflation, which continues to be a concern for voters across my district. And when it comes to threats to democracy, Joe Biden and Democrats are a threat to democracy.
We see them at attempting to remove President Trump from the ballot. We saw this in Colorado in May. That is the suppression of the American people and the American people's ability to cast their ballots this November. So it's Democrats that are threat to democracy.
We should note, of course, there's no evidence that President Biden is in any way coordinating with the Justice Department in terms of the indictments against former President Trump. But staying on this issue of January 6th, because of course, Mr. Trump was talking about this as well this weekend we did mark the three year anniversary. And I want to pause for a minute and play some of the comments that you made on the evening of that day.
Let's take a look. This has been a truly tragic day for America. Americans will always have the freedom of speech and the constitutional right to protest. But violence in any form is absolutely unacceptable.
It is anti American and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In terms of what we're hearing today, former President Trump has referred to January 6th as a, quote, beautiful day. Just this weekend, he referred to some of those who are serving time for having stormed the Capitol as, quote, hostages. Do you still feel as though that day was tragic and that those who were responsible should be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law?
Well, first of all, Kristen, as typical for NBC in the biased media, you played one excerpt of my speech. I stand by my comments that I made on the House floor. I stood up for election integrity and I challenged and objected to the certification of the state of Pennsylvania because of the unconstitutional overreach. So I absolutely stand by my floor speech.
I am proud to support President Trump. And I want to correct another statement you made that there's no coordination with Joe Biden and the Department of Justice and prosecutions against President Trump. We just saw Hunter Biden defy a congressional subpoena and the White House admitting it was in coordination with Joe Biden. The morning of that is coordination.
And I believe that Joe Biden will be found to be the most corrupt president in our nation's history. And that's why all the investigative work that we're doing is so, so important. Because the American people, they deserve transparency and accountability. A lot to unpack there.
Of course, the White House has said that Hunter Biden is acting unilaterally on the issue of election integrity, though, as you know, Trump took his case to court more than 60 times that there was fraud. He didn't win. But I want to get back to this key question. Do you still think it was a tragic day?
Do you think that the people who stormed the Capitol should be held responsible to the full extent of the. I have concerns about the treatment of January six hostages. I have concerns we have a role in Congress and oversight over our treatments of prisoners. And I believe that we're seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, but we're seeing it against conservatives, we're seeing it against Catholics.
And that's one of the reasons why I'm so proud to serve the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Government. Because the American people want answ, they want transparency and they understand that as you look across this country, there seems to be two sets of rules. If your last name is Clinton or it's Biden, you get to live by different set of rules. And if you're an everyday patriotic American, I've been clear Christian, if you go back and play the full speech idea on the House floor, I condemn the violence just like I condemn the violence of the BLM riots.
But I also importantly stood for election integrity and security of our elections, which if we don't have that, we do not have a democracy. So the real threat to our democracy is these baseless witch hunt investigations and lawsuits against President Trump. Whether it's Tish James or whether we see the D.C. circuit Court.
And that is undemocratic and it's treading our Constitution. You know who grieves me Christen the American people. That's why President Trump is winning in poll after poll against Joe Biden. The Justice Department has indicted a number of top name Democrats as well, including the President's son twice.
So I mean a lot of critics argue that undercats are arguing they're two systems of justice. I want to answer that. If you want to, if you want to make that case. American people are very smart.
They know that they tried to give Hunter Biden a sweetheart deal. We've heard from multiple IRS indicted twice. Congresswoman, it was because of a judge that threw out a sweetheart deal that was negotiated on Joe Biden's behalf. Joe Biden and the Department of Justice have been withheld from going after the Biden crime family, which Joe Biden sits atop of other top 10 presidentials.
But I do have a lot to get to, so I want to stay on track. You mentioned Pennsylvania. Would you vote to certify and will you vote to certify the Results of the 2024 election no matter what they show? Well, I voted not to certify the state of Pennsylvania because as we saw in Penny and other states across the country, that there was unconstitutional acts circumventing the state legislature and unilaterally changing election law.
What about 2024? What about 2024? We will see if this is a legal and Val, so far is that Democrats are so desperate they're trying to remove President Trump from the ballot. That is a suppression of the American people.
And the Supreme Court is taking that case up in February. That should be a 9 to 0 to allow President Trump to appear on the ballot because that's the American people's decision to make this November. The matter is of course halted pending that appeal. As you said, just to be very clear, I don't hear you committed to certifying the election results.
Will you only commit to certified results if the president. No, it means if they are constitutional. What we saw in 2020 was unconstitutional circumventing of the Constitution, not going through state legislatures. When it comes to changing election, we're seeing this in my home state of New York, Kristen.
We are seeing Democrats try to steal the election and illegally gerrymander congressional districts that we fairly won and are fair line. So I see this at a very local level as well as the unconstitutional overreach we saw the National Outlet 2020. I want to move on to the University of President just to put a fine point on this. Mr.
Trump, his allies did take their case. Their concern about the election to court more than 60 times. They lost every time. Mr.
Trump hired two independent firms to investigate that. They came up short as well as the federal agency responsible for overseeing election security. CISA said that the 2020 election was the most extreme American history. But let's move on to the university.
Let me make a final point and I think it's important because the American people understand that it was not a fair election. We had unconstitutional overreach. And that was why I objected to certain states when it came to my constitutional responsibility as a member of Congress. I'm going to always stand up for the Constitution and make sure that we have strong election integrity.
And the real threat to democracy is Joe Biden and Democrats who are attempting to remove President Trump from the ballot because Joe Biden knows he can't win the Taliban. Again, there's no evidence of coordination between Biden and doj. Let's talk about the university presidents because of course, the president of Harvard, Claudine Gay, resigned this week after this exchange that went viral that you had with her the other presidents of some of the top universities in which you press them on their response to anti Semitics speech on campus. Let's take a look.
And Dr. Gay at Harvard, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard's rules of bullying and harassment? Yes or no? It can be depending on the context.
Now, of course, she was criticized for that response. She has since come under some scrutiny for allegations of plagiarism. She's resigned. Amidst all that, what was your reaction when you learned she was resigning?
It was long overdue. She should resigned immediately following the hearing. And of course, this follows the resignation of Liz McGill, the Penn president, who also answered almost verbatim, the same way that the Harvard former president is as well. And so to the MIT president, I my dying, I call for all three of the resignations.
It's not just me who called for the resignations. We pass a vote bipartisan, who called for the resignation on the floor of Congress. But I want to take you a little bit into that hearing, Kristen, that the last question of the hearing, and I tried to structure the question in a way that was a moral question and not political. And it was a moral question.
And I was expecting them to answer yes. And I was astonished in real time that they said it depends on the context. You put up three of my constituents, a farmer, a manufacturer and a suburban mom, they know how to answer the question correctly. It is it was the most morally bankrupt testimony I've heard ever in Congress.
And that's why it's the most viewed testimony ever. Let me let you respond to what Claudine Day has written in the New York Times. She says the campaign against me was more about more than one university and one leader. This was merely a single skirmish in a broader war to unravel public faith in pillars of American society.
She write. How do you respond to her? Well, I respond that she failed to stand up for Jewish students on campus who have been facing anti Semitic attacks, who have been facing physical assaults. We've seen that footage.
We've heard that directly from students on campus. We've also heard faculty concerns about her tenure, her position and her lack of academic integrity. But it really goes back to protecting Jewish students. And frankly, when it comes to Harvard, the only time that Harvard has pled for academic freedom was or freedom of speech was when it comes to the genocide of Jewish people that is inherently unfit for a person to be president.
University. It is part of a broader issue at these schools, which is why our investigation is so important. We're going to look at dei, which inherently has refused to bring up concerns from Jewish students at the rise of anti Semitic tax. We're going to look at foreign funding as well as taxpayer funding and the governance of these universities.
You saw that these boards doubled down to support these university professors despite the morally bankruptcy testimony. I want to ask you, talk about moral clarity. I want to ask you about something that former President Trump recently said. He referred to migrants as, quote, poisoning the blood of our country.
This is language the Biden campaign, others says quote is parroting Adolf Hitler. Are you comfortable with former President Trump's comments? Well, yet again we have the media, which is so biased, which is reiterating whatever the talking points the Biden campaign is giving. I'm giving ISIS is poisoning Americans through fentanyl.
It is poisoning people, including in my district, who are dying from overdoses of fentanyl. And you know why? Because of Joe Biden's wide open border, that executive actions he took on day one. So, yes, I say it by President Trump.
And President Trump also worked. Yes. And the strong he has the strongest record when it comes to supporting the Jewish people and supporting the state of Israel. Whether you look at the historic Abraham Accords or whether you look at the ability for Jewish students to sue and stand up for equal treatment at school under the Title 6 executive order that President Trump put into place, not Joe Biden.
And again, I just want to allow you to respond to what has been said because you are one of former President Trump's daughter's defenders. What do you say to your critics who've argued that you're holding the presidents of these universities to a higher standard than former President Trump? These university presidents answered the question, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university's code of conduct? If they said it depends on the context.
And even in the case of the Penn president, they said it would have to take a step towards conduct, though that testimony speaks for itself. It was morally bankrupt. It was viewed by over 1 billion people in less than a week. And when you are the president of these universities, you need to show moral leadership as well as academic leadership.
And they have absolutely failed. And what was interesting, Christian, is they did not even realize in the moment. What you can't see in that hearing in the video is there were Jewish students from each of those schools. And from our vantage point where I was seated, they were physically shaken by those answers.
So they're unfit to be those presidents. And these schools need to do a lot of soul searching to make sure that they have morally fit leaders as university presidents, which is why our investigation is important. And you've talked about again, just on this issue of moral clarity, are you applying the same stand to your own party? Absolutely.
House Republicans stand strong when it comes to condemning anti Semitism. And let's be clear, Kristen, over 100 Democrats in the House voted against condemning anti Semitism, whereas it got universal support among House Republicans when we put the resolution on the floor calling for the resignation. House Republicans voted in support of that and so did a fair number of Democrats, but there were a number of Democrats who did not vote in support of it. The rise in anti Semitism is an issue on the left.
And you know who hasn't spoken out loudly and clearly calling for the resignation of those president was Joe Biden. The White House did speak up very firmly against the statements, but Joe Biden did not. It did not come from Joe Biden, the White House, Doug M. Hoff, the second gentleman for speaking out and the press secretary.
But the president of the United States did not was a teacher at Penn and he could have spoken out and he should have spoken out. Let's talk very quickly about what's happening on Capitol Hill. As you know, the Senate locked in these fierce negotiations over the border and border security. Congressman, if they reach a deal on border security that the House does not believe goes far enough, are you prepared to shut down the government over that?
Well, let's take a step back, Kristen. It is Joe Biden who would rather shut down the government than secure the border. Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer in the Senate have failed to take up our Secure the Border act which we passed. It has strong policies returning to the very effective border security policies of President Trump, including construction of a border wall and in catching in release returning to remain in Mexico and the Senate.
Negotiations are ongoing. We will see what they produce. But it needs to be real border security policies that we know work, which did under the Trump administration. Joe Biden has failed to take that up, and so has the Senate.
Very quickly, are you ruling out supporting the government shut down something that you've said? We don't support shutting down the government, but we must secure the border. We must secure the border. That's where the American people are.
We're losing our country in front of our very eyes. And again, I take my home state in New York, every state across the country's border. So the person who's threatened a government shutdown is Joe Biden, who refuses to secure the border. And again, you have Democrats, like in New York City speaking out about this Biden border crisis.
Before I let you go, I have to talk to you about your future. Former President Trump, in his interview with me, said he, quote, likes the concept of picking a woman as his vice president if called upon. Would you serve as his vice president? Well, I would, of course, be honored to serve in any capacity in the Trump administration.
I'm proud to be the first member of Congress to endorse his reelection. I'm proud to be a strong supporter of President Trump, and he's gonna win this November. Have you spoken to former president about the possibility of running as a ZP pick? I'm not gonna get into the content of my conversation with President Trump.
I talked to him frequently. We've been focused on winning. There's so much work to do as a House Republican Conference chair, as a representative for New York's 21st congressional district, and we need to make sure that President Trump is in the strongest position to win in the general election. That's what I've been focused on.
That's why I'm gonna remain focused on. Put a very fine point on it. It sounds like you're saying if he were to ask you the answer, I've said for a year now, I'd be honored to serve in the next Trump administration. And I'm focused on doing my job right now, which is a really important role as a conference chair and as, most importantly, representative for the people of New York.
21. Congressman, Chairman Elisa Phonic, thank you very much. Thanks for being here in person. Really appreciate it.
And when we come back, President Biden's 2024 campaign is off and running. I'll talk to his deputy campaign manager, Quinton Fultz. That's next. Welcome back.
As President Biden ramps up his general election campaign, there are new warning signs. The Washington Post reporting former President Obama has raised questions about the structure of President Biden's election campaign. Two sources confirmed NBC News, that Obama and Biden met over lunch in December and discussed the campaign, with Obama expressing deep concern about Mr. Trump's political strength.
Underscoring the urgency, one source telling me this is an all hands on deck movement join. Joining me now is the president's deputy campaign manager, Quinton folks. Quintin, folks, welcome to MEET the press. Thank you for being here.
Thank you for having me, Kristen. It's a pleasure. It is a pleasure to have you. It's a busy one.
Look, if you look at some of the polls of the election were held today, President Biden is struggling in some of the battleground states that propelled him to the White House. I guess the question a lot of Democrats have, a lot of questions that his supporters have is why does he appear to be struggling against the GOP front runner who's been indicted four times? Well, first of all, let's take a look at the polls. First of all, polls don't vote.
Voters do. 2020, 2022, 2023. What do they all have in common, aside from beginning with 2 and 0, is the fact that Democrats were behind in the polls and took it to Republicans on Election Day and every single one of those years under the leadership of President Joe Biden, his agenda. And at the end of the day, you know, the president just Friday made the case that this is an election about democracy and freedom and that the choice is clear.
Our campaign is focused on making that choice clear to the American people. The president did that Friday at Valley Forge. And we're looking forward to continuing that message directly to voters that Mattison have the most at stake tomorrow in South Carolina. You talk about that speech on Friday.
I've been talking to a lot of Democratic sources who say they wish they had seen that fire, that urgency from President Biden out on the campaign trail months ago. How do you respond to those Democrats who say he's getting a late start here? Well, look, we have to build a campaign. We need to build in order to be competitive heading in 2024.
That's where our mindset has been. President Biden's mindset for the past several months has been continuing to do the work for the American people, continuing to lower cost, continuing to make sure that job creation is up month over month, continue to drive down unemployment in the communities that need it the most. And so that's where it's focusing when it comes to the campaign. The president has been staunch and out and about, as has the dp and we're going to continue to make that case again that this is a choice in election, about freedom and democracy, with President Biden focused on the future of America and Donald Trump focused on only himself.
I have asked you about this new reporting in the Washington Post this weekend that former President Barack Obama raised concerns about the structure of President Biden's campaign over this lunch in December, The Post writing, quote, obama grew animated in discussing the 2024 election, former President Donald Trump's potential return to power. One of the people said and has suggested to Biden's advisors that the campaign needs more top level decision makers at its headquarters in Wilmington. I should know that NBC News has confirmed that lunch has confirmed Obama's deep concerns about Mr. Trump's strength.
How is the campaign responding to former President Obama? Well, we're going to continue to do what we need to do in order to be competitive, in order to make sure we're growing the infrastructure that we need to win. President Obama and President Biden talk frequently as the campaign and former operatives for President Biden's administration and his campaign. But the one thing is that we're both aligned on the fact that we have to push back on that extremism, the threat that they pose to freedom of democracy.
And so we're focused on doing just that. The president has been very clear that the experience he got as VP serving with President Obama has been critical to the experience that he brings to the job and what he's been able to accomplish. But we're united. In fact, we have to do everything we can to push back on Donald Trump and the threat that he poses to democracy.
Does the campaign see this warning by former President Obama as a wake up call? Will there be structural changes to the campaign? Look, our campaign has been awake since the president announced in April, which is why we've come up against swinging. That's why we put innovative organizing programs in place to begin to communicate with voters on the ground, which is why we've made investments into constituency media, the largest investments to vote of color, Hispanic voters, young voters, than any other presidential campaign in history.
And now we're in the phase where more Americans are paying attention to what's going on. And that is why we're making the choice. The president's speech at Valley Ford was the first of that. We'll do it again tomorrow in South Carolina and we're going to continue to make case of the American people because we are running this campaign and organizing it as though democracy is on the ballot, because that's what's at stake.
This election, you talk about democracy being on the ballot. Some top Democratic lawmakers say, okay, good to be focused on former President Trump. But you've got to talk about what a second Biden agenda would look like. What would on day one, President Biden's top priority be?
Well, look, the president announced this campaign with moniker offense, the job in protecting freedom of democracy. So we talk about that. Let's look at it. First of all, Roe.
The president has been adamant that we need to restore Roe. It is unfathomable that women today wake up in a country with less rights than their ancestors had years ago. Number two, the president has already done a lot to prevent gun violence. He passed the bipartisan, bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
He's established an office for gun violence prevention. But we have to ban assault weapons in high capacity magazines. Three, the fact that millions of Americans are still paying thousands of dollars a month for medicine, a life saving. That patent was sold for $1 for insulin.
We had to cut the cost of insulin for everyone. And then number four, the president has already forgiven over $130 billion for student loan debt for 3.6 million Americans. And there's billions more to be forgiven. So that's what the president means by finishing the job.
And that's some of the things that I think you can expect from a second Biden Harris administration. You just heard my interview with Chairwoman Elise Daphnek. She, as former President Trump, is dubbing the indictments against Mr. Trump as the Biden indictments.
You heard our robust exchange there. Do you expect President Biden to start to more forcefully speak out about those allegations against him? So far, he's largely left that to the sidelines. Look, the president understands this election isn't about him.
It's about the American people. That's the first and most important difference between President Biden and former defeated president. But look, I'm not sure that this. I know you are, but what in my situation is going to work when it comes to democracy?
In this argument that they're trying to put this is nothing more than a pathetic, failed attempt by former President Trump and his accolades to try to make sure that they are leveling the playing field for something that's fatal for President Trump's administration and his presidency, you're making that argument. But will President Biden start to make that argument? I think we've already seen him make that argument. He made it Friday when he laid out the case that Donald Trump isn't concerned about the freedoms in the future of American citizens.
He's only concerned about his own self and what he wants to do. He wants to win again, not to pass an agenda. He wants to win again so that he can enact revenge and retribution on his political enemies. That's a key difference.
This isn't that simple or hard of a choice to make and for American voters to see. And we'll pump that up. All right, Quinton, folks, thank you so much for your time this morning. Really appreciate it.
When we come back, the risks of a wider war in the Middle east are increasing. I'll talk to Israel's president, Isaac Herzog. That's next. Welcome back.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is in the Middle east for the fourth time since the October attack on Israel three months ago in effort to prevent escalating tensions from breaking into a wider war after a series of regional attacks. Joining now is the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog. Mr. President, welcome to Meet the Press.
Thank you for being here. Thank you, Kristen. I want to start right there with concerns about those regional attacks. Obviously, Secretary Blinkett is there aiming to de escalate some of the tensions within the region.
But talk to Americans, if you will. How concerned should they be about this escalating into a wider war that could ultimately ensnare Americans as well? Well, so Look, Christine, today's January 7th, the barbaric attack against Israel by Hamas terrorists was launched exactly three months ago on October 7th. It's a day that shall be and will be remembered in infamy because clearly it is a watershed in world affairs and regional affairs.
It's not only a war between Israel and Hamas, it has to do with the values of the free world as we see them all throughout. Let me show you a document, highly confidential, strictly confidential document, which we just unraveled from the Hamas headquarters. It's a brochure which is a directive by the commanders of Hamas as to how to manage summer camps for children in order to disseminate the values of jihad. It says it clearly, to disseminate the values of jihad and the values of the resistance, meaning terror and how to make it a militarized society.
And it's all over the Gaza Strip, meaning they take the kids. Whilst we all know what summer camps are and what they're aiming for and what a wonderful experience it is to, to enable youngsters, kids and adults, I mean adolescents, to become citizens of the free world with liberties, with happiness, with joy, with sports. Here, their entire aim is to make them terrorists. And this is exactly the watershed situation in this, in this war.
And that is why it impacts the entire world. Because when you have an empire of evil emanating from Tehran with arms in Syria, in Lebanon, in Iraq and in Yemen, which increases the cost of living of every American because of hijacking in the high seas, it means it's a regional battle with impacts on the entire global situation. President Herzog, we appreciate your sharing that new document with us. We should note NBC News has not been able to review the document or confirm it, but we appreciate that.
I want to ask you about these attacks that we've seen within the region. Israel security chief has said that Israel is determined to, quote, kill Hamas leaders in every location in the world, including Qatar, Turkey and Lebanon, even if it takes many years. Is there any country, is there any place you won't go to track down Hamas's leadership? So we are determined to undermine the ability of Hamas to operate terror throughout the world and of course, in Israel.
And it's a network of terrorists all over the world and in the region for that matter. We're cooperating very closely with our allies. Tomorrow's visit by Secretary Blinken is another expression of the huge impact and importance that the United States places as to the direction and the exit from this conflict by making sure that Hamas will not be able to repeat these abhorrent acts and also to project a future for the region, a hopeful future for the region, something which President Biden is utterly committed to, and I'm utterly grateful to him on behalf of the people of Israel for his steadfast stand as well as his projecting his vision to the region. This week, top Israeli cabinet members called for the resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza.
Some of the most striking language that we saw comes from the heritage minister who said Friday about the people of Gaza, quote, you will not be here. You will not live by our side. And that is the main point. We should encourage them to leave the place.
Two other cabinet ministers have made similar statements. Is this forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza the official position of the Israeli government? Mr. President?
Absolutely. Absolutely not. Totally not agreed or is not the position of the Israeli government or the Israeli parliament or the Israeli public? But we are a democracy.
And in democracy you have a variety of ideas. And in a variety of ideas and in society where free speech is the basis of our national DNA, people can say whatever they want. So in a cabinet of 30 ministers, where it's not a security cabinet, the minister can say whatever he wants. I may not like it, but this is Israeli politics.
And by the way, you have in America people who say things which you don't like, but that doesn't mean it's the policy of the administration. So same goes here. They're speaking about the windfall, leaving of the, of the, of the Gaza Strip. But truly, I'm saying outright, officially and unequivocally, this is not the Israeli position.
We should remember, however, the national psyche here we are in deep trauma. In the last three months we've seen so much agony, pain and sadness. And may I remind all that we still have over 130 Israelis from babies, from toddlers, one of them due to celebrate one year old in a week's time, all the way to 85 year olds as well, including people with Holocaust background. So because of that, our nation is bereaving, is worried, is agonized, and we are doing whatever we can to do whatever it takes to bring back these hostages.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, you are saying that you don't agree with that position? Prime Minister Netanyahu has not yet spoken out about calls to displace the citizens of Gaza. Does he need to condemn those statements? And is the Prime Minister the right leader for this moment, despite polls showing he's losing the public?
So I would say that as the head of State of Israel, I'm not directly involved in the political arena by taking sides. I'm not in charge of the executive, but I do represent the national spirit of Israel. From my capacity as President of Israel, I know that I'm sure the Prime Minister will relate to it, undoubtedly. But it is one of the items in the national debate on so many topics because we are a democracy, but we are focused, really focused to bring about change in the region.
We should remember that in Gaza is a huge state of terror. There is underneath hundreds of kilometers of tunnels and a terror establishment, the biggest terrorist city in the world. World which we have to unravel and clean up in order to enable the people of Gaza to go back to their dwellings and move on in a different direction, a direction of peace. Israelis.
250,000 Israelis are evacuated from their homes in the south and in the north. Just about half an hour ago we were attacked again from Lebanon. A house was demolished in Metula, 120 year old beautiful village on the border. And therefore you have to understand that whilst we are a small nation and attacked from two corners, north and south, we are at war, we are united and we are committed to change this equation.
And as such, whilst committed to changing this equation whilst bereaving, while it's worrying about the hostages, we also have debate within Israeli society and it's only worthy and I'm very proud of the fact that we can hold it free and open debate on every topic of topic that matters to our life. Israeli President Herzog, thank you so very much for joining us this morning. We really appreciate your perspective at this critical time. I hope you'll come back.
It was a pleasure to be. Thank you. Well, an honor for us. Thank you.
When we come back with just one week to go before the Iowa caucuses, the GOP candidates are making their final pitches to voters. How important is Iowa to winning the nomination? Some historical perspective is next. Welcome back.
With the Iowa caucuses now just over a week away, former President Trump has a commanding lead with Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis in a race for second place. In 2008. Then Senator Barack Obama won Iowa in a pivotal victory for his insurgent campaign, pushing the early favorite, Senator Hillary Clinton into a third place finish. Obama joined this program ahead of that contest.
Your wife, Michelle Obama has spent a lot of time campaigning here and this is what she said. Iowa will make a difference if Iraq doesn't win. Iowa, it's just a dream. This is must win well, we want, we have to do well in Iowa.
Now, keep in mind, when Michelle goes to New Hampshire, South Carolina, I think she says, you know, she probably says the same thing there. The early states are critical to us because, you know, I am not as well known as Senator Clinton and some of the other candidates in this race. Oh, well, look, there is no doubt that we have to do well in Iowa. If we do not do well in Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina, race is over.
Well, I think that's true for any new candidates. When we come back, former President Obama is warning President Biden about the perils he's facing in 2024. Will he listen? The panel is next.
Welcome back. The panelists here, NBC News White House correspondent Mike Nemoly, Peggy Noonan, columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and Kimberly Atkins store, senior opinion writer for the Boston Globe. Thank you all for being here on this first show of the new year. Mike, let me start with you.
You've got some new reporting. Obviously, you saw this robust back and forth with Congresswoman Stefanik with Quentin. Folks, everyone is getting into fight Mode heading into 2024. And President Biden's gonna be ramping up.
Yeah, that's right, Kristen. I mean, I've covered this president, his team, a long time. They feel very much that they are confident in their theory of the case. They pride themselves really on taking the long view of seeing significant through the noise.
But I think we, you know, it's one thing to discount the criticism, the advice from a Democratic donor, a strategist, a lawmaker, you can't when it's coming from the former president of the United States, Barack Obama. And I think you're seeing now this acceleration, the campaign calls it a sharpening of that strategy to respond to what we're seeing from those donors, that concern. And so you kick that off on Friday with that speech I covered at near Valley Forge. And I'm told by Biden campaign advisors this is a new ramped up tempo they're going to see for the next few weeks leading up to what they see as a really critical opportunity for the president to make the case for a second term, but also to speak to that concern about whether he is up for this fight.
The State of Union address in two months will be the biggest audience he has throughout the year to show that he is up for this. And they plan to deliver on it. The State of the Union address, no doubt, is going to be one of the most important speeches, if not the most important speech of his political life. Trivially, I mean, do there be structural changes if former President Obama is calling for those inside his campaign?
Look, the Biden campaign has to do whatever it can to do two big things. It's to re energize the people who are energized in 2020. I've talked to young people in my life who were very motivated. They were mobilized in 2020.
They were voting like their futures dependent on it. And they themselves admit they are less engaged this year. They need to turn that around. And they also need to rebut the narrative that Donald Trump is creating with the help of people like Lisa Fan is saying that it is Biden that is undemocratic because of these challenges.
They need to be able to do both things, both as an administration do that work, but also as a campaign, really point out why Donald Trump's rhetoric is so dangerous. I can set the stage, if you would, for this extraordinary moment that we are in. What we heard this morning, for example, from Congresswoman Elise Stefano, which undoubtedly will be what we hear from Trump and his surrogates out on the campaign trail, as if he wins the nomination, tries to take on President Biden. Yeah, the I can't.
I think we're all so fascinated by Elise Stefanik this morning. First of all, man, she comes in hot. She comes in like a hot jet that possibly might be overshooting the airfield when she called the January 6th. Those have been arrested and or convicted hostages.
Oh my gosh, that's going full bore. That's doubling down. Not saying that of course we mean to accept and intend to accept the outcome of the 2024 election, but saying sort of it's very much a doubt. We'll see.
Sort of doing that jarring thing that was startling. And I think that is part of the mood, as you say, that we'll be seeing in 2024 on the trail. I will say for Elise Stefanik, her superpower is that she immediately goes to policy. Not so much.
Her superpower is a Republican thing. Policy, policy, policy. The lovely Democratic guest you had this morning was more politics and process. Do you know what I mean?
There are two different moods and there are two different importances. And the first probably has a bit of an advantage. It's such a fascinating point, particularly as we head into Iowa. Kimberly, eight days away.
What are you watching for? Yeah, I'm not sure I'm watching for that policy. I'm not sure policy is what is landing for her audience. She was talking about the weaponization of the federal government, which of course is something Trump has promised to do, yet they accused Biden doing.
She was talking about how the most viewed testimony ever was her questioning of Dr. Gay. Sort of harkening on the oh, I got the biggest crowd. She is trumping her way to this, hopefully, it seems VP position, a running mate position.
And she is going in with the full Magdalena. And I think that is exactly what she thinks it's going to take to help you. Fair enough. What you say is true.
But she pounds on illegal immigration, which is huge in America is an issue. She pounds on this new thing which is not a tax on institutions, but on specific institutions that Republicans and conservatives believe have been out there for at least 20 years. That's going to be big. So she does hit on policy.
There's no doubt about it. Go ahead, Mike. When you talk about what you're seeing in Iowa, you know, listen, Quentin, folks, it's clear they view the Trump base as loyal, as unmovable. I think that's the only thing that Trump and Biden teens probably agree on this point.
That's why you're to going this week, not in Iowa, but in a D.C. federal courthouse, one of the many court proceedings that he's dealing with. And that speaks to, I think the challenge for the rest of the Republican field. Right.
They, as we saw in these conversations, they're struggling necessarily make a case for themselves. But to make the case against Donald Trump. And that's why I think eight days until Iowa, eight days after that is New Hampshire. He might have the earliest start of the general election and why the VP audition started very quickly.
We're going to hear about talking about Trump's legal problem. Well, they view Trump as a legal drama and they think Biden's job is to procure the case as a candidate, not to deal with legal drama. Peggy, we are, it seems like watching a fight for second place. What are you gonna be watching for Friday in terms of that second place?
And it's just third, fourth have to drop out. Does the field have to narrow? We'll see. I mean, I'm wondering who's gonna drop out first, but someone's gonna have to become the Trump slave and there'll be Trump in the Trump Slayer and somebody's gonna have to drop out.
Or like 2016, nothing will work in opposing Trump. Funny thing about Iowa, let me say quickly, it doesn't seem big. Big policy speeches, big, big declarations, big policy fights. It's in a funny way, it seems smaller.
And what do we do about Donald? Keeps it small. That's the question. The lingering question.
Thank you all. That is all for today. Thank you for watching. We'll be back next week because if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press.
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