Meet the Press NOW — April 10

Welcome to me the press now. I'm Kristen Welker. We have been watching an NBC News special report after a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, the extent of the injuries or whether there have been any fatalities, not yet clear, but we will continue to keep a very close eye on this story and bring you developments as we get them. We do want to turn though to fear an uncertainty returning to Wall Street as stocks tumbled again today, giving up a sizable chunk of yesterday's gains on renewed concerns about the president's economic agenda.

The Dow went to the day down more than a thousand points, falling roughly two and a half percent and giving up roughly half of yesterday's gains as yesterday's hopes of a trade war to taunt were replaced by new fears of a runaway trade war with China. And uncertainty over the future of the tariffs imposed on other trading partners. The White House clarified today that tariffs on Chinese imports now total 145% that's 20% higher than what was expected based on yesterday's announcement. And even with yesterday's partial rollbacks, the White House has still enacted across the board tariff increases in recent days, 25% on imported vehicles and auto parts, 25% on steel and aluminum, 10% on your every US trading partner plus that enormous 145% tariff on Chinese goods.

During a cabinet meeting today, the president defended his actions while also warning of short-term pain. We have Scott here and Howard and some of the people that are working on deals and the biggest problem they have is enough time in the day. Everybody wants to come and make a deal and we're working with a lot of different countries. So we think we're in very good shape.

We think we're doing very well. Again, there'll be a transition cost and transition problems, but in the end, it's going to be a beautiful thing. The president also expressing optimism that a deal with China would be made and that the administration is close to its first deal with other countries. I have great respect for President Xi.

He's been in a true sense. He's been a friend of mine for a long period of time. And I think that we'll end up working on something that's very good for both countries. I look forward to it.

How close are you to the first country coming to action made a deal with United States? Well, I think it's very close, but you know, we have to have a deal that we like. We don't want a deal that's going to be a bad deal or I could make every deal in one day if I wanted to do this all in one day. Also today, one of the president's top economic advisers clarified that the number of countries engaged in serious trade negotiations with the US is far smaller than the 75 he cited yesterday.

It's justification for that 90 day pause. There are maybe 15 countries now that have made explicit offers that we're studying and considering and deciding whether they're good enough to present to the president. We could do negotiations in a number of ways. We would expect that there would be quite a bit of world leaders into the White House in the next three to four weeks.

NBC News Senior Business Correspondent Christine Romans joins me now along with NBC News White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor. Thanks to both of you for starting us off today. Christine, let's talk about what we saw in the markets today. What do you make of it?

It shows you that yesterday was what we call a relief rally and boy, it was quite a rally yesterday, but that was just the sheer relief that the president wasn't going to put all of those reciprocal tariffs on so many other nations. And then today, kind of the fog lifts and look, there are still 10% tariffs, there are still tariffs on steam aluminum. There are still tariffs on Canada, Mexico and really big tariffs on China that could threaten some sort of a trade war. And when the news broke, the stocks sort of fell right off the bat this morning, but then when it was clarified from the White House, the tariff rate on China is 145%.

It just kind of sunk in, I think, with investors that we're in the midst of a big tariff war. The president is still trying to remake the global economy and they sold stocks hard today. Well, given that, Christine, a lot of red there as you're talking. I mean, what are the implications for the economic outlook, which is, I think, the big question looming over all of this?

I mean, there's still just so much uncertainty at the very base of it. You heard the president say there'll be a period of transition. Yesterday, you heard the president say people were getting yippy, and so he backed off. So it's unclear how the president is sort of looking at what's happening in the market and maybe moderating his trade war, but it is still a trade war.

It is still a White House that wants to put tariffs on countries to raise revenue, to fight fentanyl, and to remake the global world economic order. And one of the interesting things about investors, quite frankly, is that they're looking at what the president wants to do, which he says would put America first. And they see that as actually not putting America first, as taking America out of the leadership role in the global economy. And that means the good investment has always been.

That sort of the conversation you're hearing just had, you know, the top-line conversation in the past couple of days. Well, it's just fascinating to hear that, Christine. Let's delve a little bit more deeply into that 145% tariff on Chinese goods. I mean, it's just a staggering figure.

When do you anticipate consumers will start to actually feel that? I mean, within weeks, I mean, quite frankly, and there might be a lot of different ways. I mean, there are economists who say 145% tariff on China, some of these goods are just not going to come here. You know, they're going to be goods that are just not going to be ordered or canceled, so you'll see things, you know, expensive.

You might see companies that start not carrying certain things. It will be devastating for the Chinese economic machine, but I think consumers, it remains to be seen just how dramatically consumers will feel it, but they will feel it. Wow, couple of weeks, just incredible. All right, Christine, Romans, thank you so much for your insights.

Yamiche, let me head over to you at the White House. President Trump was holding a cabinet meeting when stocks really started to dip again. I know you've been talking to your sources since then. What is the reaction inside the White House?

Is there concern that stocks didn't rally again today? Well, really, you can sum up the way that the president and the White House are reacting to the stock market in one word, defiance. The president is continuing to say that he believes that this economic strategy, chaotic as it may be, is the right one forward for this nation. He is doubling down on the idea that he believes that the U.S.

is in a better position long term and that countries are coming really scrambling to try to make negotiations with the United States because of these tariffs. Of course, we saw, of course, him reverse course when it comes to most of these tariffs. Of course, they're still that same baseline, 10% tariff. But that's because he heard from business leaders and investors who are still, as we think about the stock market and what happened today, still very worried about the fact that there is a really consistency in this market.

The president also started doing something interesting, which is he started saying that there's going to be, quote, transaction costs. That was different than what he was saying before he started calling them short term pain. But the point is that he's hinting to Americans, including many of them who voted for lowering the cost of living, that things could get worse, Kristin. Wow.

And of course, he was elected on a promise to lower prices. So that certainly is an extraordinary admission by the president. You know, there's so much discussion about the fact that countries have been approaching the White House to try to negotiate deals. Yesterday we heard it was 75 countries.

Today Kevin has it said, no, it's more like 15. What are your sources telling you there? My sources are telling me Democrats are all over the place. They range from 70 to 50 to 20.

I've gotten some details about different countries like Vietnam, Israel, of course, we know the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at the White House earlier this week. I've also heard Cambodia and Poland are calling the president said that he's been negotiating with EU, with the European Union as a block, not going to individual European countries in that regard. He said that just today in this cabinet meeting, well, this clear is that the president saying that he's going to remain flexible because he was so the number of questions, including questions that said, well, are you going to roll back the tariffs if you don't get enough deals? Are you going to reimpose the tariffs if you don't get enough deals?

Are you going to do something different? Can you negotiate a 10% baseline? That wasn't rolled back. The president said all of this is depending on the conversations that he has and that everything remains flexible.

So that's the word right now, flexible, chaotic. That's the president talking. Well, all right. You, Michelle, thank you so much for your great reporting as always.

Really appreciate it. Let's turn out a CNBC senior economics reporter, Steve Lee, who has been guiding us through all of this confusion over the last week. If not longer, he is back with us, Steve. Thank you so much.

So let's talk about where the stock market is right now. We saw that rally yesterday. Christine talked about it dipped again today. Is that an indication that there has been some real loss here that may not be able to be recovered?

I think so. I think that the big thing that's happened here is a rethink of just how much relief there was yesterday in the tariff announcement. And it actually was pretty apparent at the time it happened, but maybe the numbers had not been crunched for investors to see. And what happened, Christine, was there was only a modest drop in total tariffs that were charged.

So we are now essentially in a place where we had historically high tariff rate to 30%. And now they're just a little bit below historically high tariff rates. These are still, when you add the new tariff on China, 145%, the still existing tariffs on autos as well as some on the non-USMCA compliance stuff from Canada, Mexico, add in steel, add in aluminum, all bunch of other things. The actual tariff rate only dropped a little bit.

So Wall Street didn't like the tariffs before. They hated them out of the Rose Garden and they still don't like them very much. And of course, there's this big question looming over a lot of investors and CEOs are looking for clarity on the president's strategy on just how big and long the trade war with China is going to last. How does the lack of clarity impact the markets right now, Steve?

Yeah, let me break that up into two different things. The first is that I really think the president would have benefited yesterday. If he could have come forward and shown the market what a single deal looks like. Because then you can kind of say, here's something that would be optimal and you can begin to price that in.

For example, what I didn't mention in my last list of things was the 10% across the board tariff. Is that a negotiable item? The president suggested it might be. So what people would like to do from an economics point of view and then from an investor point of view is price it in.

Just tell me what the price is going to be. I can put it into my model and I can come up with a number and I can bet forward against that number I can take the over under. You can't do that now. In fact, it's interesting that this 90-day period actually adds to uncertainty.

There's that. And then there's the whole China thing, which on the one hand, 145% tariff is unsustainable. Let you get above a certain level. I don't know if it's triple digits or in the high double digits.

It's like closing the door to trade. China's one of our biggest trading partners. It may be the most unfair relationship, but right now we are in this relationship. It's like being divorced by living in the same house, which is something I've heard people do.

In any event, they're in the same house. They have no choice but to trade with each other. 145% tariff says those goods cannot come and there's no obvious other place to get them from. Well, you know, Kevin Hassett says that they are negotiating with 15 to 20 countries.

How significant would that be if they can get a trade deal? I mean, I have to swallow and kind of roll my eyes on that. There used to be a thing called the World Trade Organization where you negotiated with everybody at the same time. We all set the same race.

This looks to be the most inefficient way to do anything. And then all of a sudden you're going to have to follow each trade negotiation. It looks like Vietnam is on tap and then we go to another one. Then we go to another one.

And again, I guess it would be very helpful if they could basically take China, Mexico, and Canada, and set those aside and come up with deals there. That would handle about, I don't know, 40 or 50% of all the trade in the rest could maybe take care of itself. But if you're going to go like Vietnam and then do the Soto and then do the Penguin Islands, I'm not sure that that's going to be something that Marcus is going to have any he's pricing in. And just a big picture.

Obviously, the big question living over all of this is could the economy dip into a recession? Steve, does what happened yesterday and anyway mitigate the threat of a recession? Well, it does mitigate it. But that's really the important story here, Christian, which is that while recession probabilities declined, they didn't go away.

For example, the economist that met life actually got it known for many decades. Now, a very conservative guy, he lowered his recession probability from 70% to 60%. I called JP Morgan, their chief economist, and he said his recession probability is still the same as it was, which is that there will be a recession. He said, Mr.

Down and then Goldman Sachs went from 65% who was still elevated 45%. Bottom line, these high tariffs will still reduce growth and increase inflation. Both of those things will happen and it will limit the ability of the federal reserve to come in and help the economy. Normally, if we were facing growth and an elevated recession risk, the Fed could come in and reduce rates.

It is frozen here because of the inflation threat. All right, Steve Lee, as always, thank you for joining us. I have a feeling we will continue to talk throughout the week. Really appreciate your perspective.

We want to head now to Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters. Senator Peters, thank you so much for joining me. Really appreciate it. I want to start with President Trump's announcement yesterday that he's pausing some of those tariffs so that the levels dropped to about 10%.

We did see that rally on Wall Street and then another dip today. Do you think President Trump did the right thing by pressing the pause button yesterday? Well, certainly it was the right thing to push the pause button, but it didn't fix the situation in any way. The amount of chaos that is out there right now is continuing to have a very negative impact on the economy.

You know, it's interesting. I was with a leading company, their CEO in my office yesterday. We had the announcement. We saw the short-term rally in the market.

And basically, he said, he goes, you know, I'm a little bit happy that this news came out today, but just a little bit because we still now have to wait 90 days. To figure out exactly what's going to happen. He said, basically, I have to freeze any kind of investing that I'm doing right now because of the uncertainty. I can't invest.

I can't start creating new jobs in order to do that. I can't do the things that I need to grow my business. I'm frozen. Yes, we've got to have some clarity here.

So certainly it was a step that prevented a lot of a lot more chaos, but let's not forget the fact there's still way too much chaos in the economy. And the one thing businesses hate more than anything is chaos. They cannot make the business plans. They need to grow their business, create jobs, and help the economy.

Well, given the ongoing uncertainty, given the fact that there are 145% tariffs against China, it seems like there is a trade war brewing between these two countries. Do you think that the United States has headed for a recession? Certainly the odds continue to grow. I know the segment you had before me, the economists still believe that it's very real.

But I think the thing that concerns me the most is we've actually heard President Trump say, yeah, you know, there could be a recession. And he basically said it was okay. And I've challenged people. Have you ever heard a United States president say it's okay if we go into a recession?

I've never heard that my entire life. And I think if we go through the history books, we would never hear a United States president say that's okay. This is going to hurt people in a meaningful way going forward. The one thing we know is costs are going to rise.

People are going to see those increases. We still have the tariffs on Canada, which is a leading trading partner for the country in Michigan where the number one state when it comes to trading with Canada is going to have a significant impact. And although right now some of it is on hold, if it's part of the Canada, Mexico trade agreement, there's still a lot of products that aren't part of that. In fact, we're waiting right now as to whether or not auto parts are going to be exempt.

And what would have the biggest impact on prices for American made cars will be if auto parts, which should be compliant with the trade agreement. But if it's ruled the other way, you're going to see car prices going up thousands of dollars. We already know the Canadian tariffs that are in place now are in lumber. That means building costs.

At a time when we do not have enough housing for Americans already to now have this tariff on Canadian lumber and have the price of new homes go up some estimates by $20,000. We'll just put housing out of the price range of most Americans. It's simply unacceptable to do this. And the president needs to roll back a whole lot more.

Well, speaking of the trade deal, you did support the U.S. MCA, which was negotiated by President Trump. Given that, given that he says that there are, you know, all these countries who want to make a trade deal, do you think that he can make some good deals? And if he does, will this have been worth it, Senator?

Well, certainly we have to make, I believe that we should still look at the Mexican Canada trade deal. We, I thought that when I supported it, but you know, certainly is not perfect by any means. There's a lot more than we need to do, particularly in the ability for other countries, countries like China that can kind of sneak in and able to work its way through that trade agreement. We got to make sure all those loopholes are closed.

It's not for renegotiation. That's part of the plan. And it must be renegotiated to make it even stronger, to prevent folks from engaging in activities that circumvent the meeting of that trade agreement. So, you know, I sort of support that.

I look forward to that. But certainly we're paying a very big price right now. The American people are going to be paying a very big price. And part of the instability that you're seeing in global markets as well is doing a lot of damage for our trading partners and our friends and our allies.

And I believe the longer this goes on, it's harder to unwind that damage. And we're going to end up paying the price of this for a long, long time. Let me ask you about something that some of your Democratic colleagues are saying, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer calling for an investigation into the timing of the announcement of the pause, saying that he's concerned that there was insider trading and a number of other Democrats saying the same. Do you agree with that?

Do you want to see an investigation into the possibility of insider trading? Oh, I definitely think there needs to be an investigation. When the market can move as much as it has done based on a few words of one individual, the ability for corruption and for crimes to be committed is immense. It should be investigated.

There may be people, particularly some of President Trump's billionaire friends, who have made an awful lot of money in these last few days, and we need to investigate that. We need to have faith in the security markets are truly fair. And inside information is insidious. And if the President has been engaged in that, that needs to certainly be brought to light.

And if a crime was committed, prosecute. And your state's Governor Gretchen Whitmer, as you know, shifting gears a little bit was here in Washington, D.C. She gave a speech on tariffs. She met with President Trump yesterday.

She was brought her staff says surprisingly into the Oval Office. She says she wasn't expecting her to know what the content would be of what the President was signing. He did wind up signing some executive orders. He said she'd done an excellent job.

What do you make of that and the optics of her being in the Oval Office, which some Democrats have taken exception to? Yeah, I think it was certainly not right to do. She wasn't there to be part of any kind of press conference. So she's there working on behalf of the state of Michigan to try to get things done.

She certainly is concerned about the impact of these tariffs on the auto industry. The auto industry is critical to Michigan's economy, critical to the American economy, but especially Michigan. We're also looking at things like a new fighter mission for our international guard days in Michigan. She's advocating for that.

So she's certainly there meeting with the President, advocating for Michigan and trying to have a business meeting. It's too bad that he wanted to make it a show that's certainly unacceptable. But certainly she's doing her part to try to make things better for the people in Michigan. One of our spokespeople saying her presence was not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made at that event.

Senator Peters, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. Good to be with you. Thank you.

Thanks very much. We want to turn back now to the breaking news of New York City and Jersey State officials telling me to do is that five people are aboard a helicopter that crashed last hour in the Hudson River, New Manhattan, two children, two adults and the pilot officials telling me to do is that there are multiple fatalities. Moments ago we got this eyewitness account of what happened to listen. About 120 feet north of the Holland tunnel ventilation shaft.

It broke down. India, like the blades came off and it just dropped into the water. So what I understood you correctly, you said you witnessed the blades come off? Yeah, blades just like blew off the helicopter and it just dropped.

Joining me now with more amazing news, senior correspondent covering aviation, Tom Costello, Tom, thank you so much for being here. What a another devastating story that we are covering. What's the latest that you are learning? Well, the latest is it appears that there are five people who are on board the source helicopter and the immediate response, of course, was the FDNY.

The NYPD boat units. We presume the Coast Guard boat units will respond very, very quickly. However, the supplies have been a tourist helicopter. And as you can see there, it looks like it was upside down on the water.

That is a very, very challenging situation to try to recover from. If it's true that the blades were coming off in air, that would suggest some sort of a catastrophic mechanical failure of the helicopter itself. But we should hasten to add that early reports are very often wrong, very often wrong. And we need to get far more information and details.

This will go forward with an NTSB and FAA investigation, NYPD, FDNY as well, at the moment until they can recover the helicopter and ensure that they've got all the victims. This will remain a first responders incident only when the investigation begins and the scene is clear. And of course, that means bringing the helicopter up and out of the water. Only them will the NTSB assume command of this investigation.

Yeah, and Tom, you have covered so many of these, unfortunately and tragically, what will investigators be looking for once this investigation does get underway? One of the first things they're going to look at, and by the way, you may recall we had a horrific crash in the East River back in 2018 in New York. That was a tourist helicopter. You may recall that the doors were off on that tourist helicopter because people wanted to take cool shots, photographs of Manhattan, if you will.

But one of the first things that they will look for is any photographic evidence, any video evidence of the plane in, or pardon me, the chopper in the air experiencing whatever happened. Because these days, there seems to be a photograph and video cameras almost all the time, maybe on some surveillance camera, a security camera. If anybody happened to be shooting a tourist shooting in the water at that moment, they'll be looking for any and all of that. And then as they pull that chopper out, they're going to want to examine exactly what might have happened with the blades themselves with that entire structure.

As they go forward to this investigation, they're going to be looking at the pilot's actions, the history of the pilot, to he or did she have what kind of track record did he or she have? And then they're going to want to look at the survivability factors involved in this emergency. In other words, were the victims able to free themselves quickly or were they strapped into tightly on the chopper outside down on the water? The water temperature, the air temperature, all of that, the fire department, police response, all of that will be part of the investigation.

All right, and Thomas, we're having this conversation. We want to warn our viewers, we are getting some video of the moment of impact. This is a disturbing video. We do want to show you as we do know this investigation.

Oh boy, boy, look at that. That would suggest to me, they have lost all aerodynamic forward momentum. That is just astonishing. Very often in helicopter crashes, they try to auto-rotate down.

In other words, they try to use the blades. It's almost a feathering device that allows them to land safely. That is completely out of control. That is going down like a rock.

I don't see any and look at that. It looks as if maybe as you play it, are the blades moving or not? It almost look like the blades. It's hard to tell.

I'm not sure those blades are moving. That kind of evidence is what investigators will be looking for to give them into any clue at all with what happened. And keep in mind, they don't want to just solve this particular crash mystery. They also want to, if they can, learn lessons.

In other words, I don't know what kind of chopper this is. But is there some sort of a problem with that chopper that they need to immediately identify and spread the world to chopper operators around the world to be looking for this problem? We simply don't know, but that kind of photographic and video evidence is really powerful. And Tom, apparently, the eyewitness said that the blades had actually come off of this helicopter before that moment.

Listen to us. I'm not a helicopter. I'm not a pilot at all. I've just spent a lot of time covering crashes.

I will tell you that, again, to underscore very often the initial reports and eyewitness reports can be wrong, but it would almost seem that that eyewitness report is consistent with that video because I don't see those blades turning. And I see no forward momentum. It seems like that just felt like a rock. Clearly, the NTSB is going to be looking at that as well.

This was very close, by the way. I should have mentioned very close to the Holland Tunnel there in New York. And if you don't live in New York, if you don't go to New York very often, if you look at a map of New York City, north is up to the top. The east side river is on the right.

The Hudson River is on the left and New Jersey is on the other side of the Hudson River. So this is very close to the Holland Tunnel connecting New Jersey to New York. And there is an awful lot of helicopter traffic, as you know, up and down the Hudson and up and down the east river. Yeah, you can just imagine how devastating it would have been had it crashed into Manhattan.

Absolutely. Let me go to Tom Winter. Tom, I know that you're tracking the investigation and this horrific incident as well. What can you tell us?

I can tell you, Kristen, it's reporting myself and my colleague, Jonathan Dean. So there are multiple fatalities as a result of that accident in this crash into the Hudson River that we just saw there a few moments ago is Tom so accurately described that the blades of this helicopter apparently started to come off. Prior to the helicopter landing into the water and as the video very clearly shows, its tail rotor section was also missing. It's just too soon to say what the cause might be.

According to senior law enforcement officials who briefed us on the information I just gave you and in our getting real time updates on this investigation, they were able to recover some of the individuals on board. It's not clear among those who may be missing, among those who are treated at local hospitals, among those who were found in the water already deceased, whether or not those were all passengers or crew or who they might have been. We have been told preliminarily the information is that this was a tourist helicopter. You're looking there at the end result in the river.

This is a still image of that. And as I think Tom had pointed out before, what's clear here is that this was a catastrophic incident because that helicopter is equipped. As so many are required to be equipped in this area with floats. Basically they sit on top of the skids.

You're to avoid them when you're getting on one of these helicopters as I have in the past is on assignment with the New York City Police Department and the pilot has the ability to rapidly inflate those which would allow the helicopter to land on the water. But since this helicopter was clearly out of control, as Tom alluded to, it's unclear whether that would have been helpful at all. Perhaps they were in the process of being inflated. You noticed something I didn't notice until you said it.

And it certainly looks, as you suggested, that the tail boom, if you will, the rotors on the tail boom don't seem to be there or the tail boom is not there. So number one, we're part of it anyway. And second of all, I don't see any helicopter blade activity with the main blades. I mean, this really would suggest, again, we have one eyewitness report saying the blades came off in air.

Boy, this might very well support that by witness. Tom, it is accurate. If we could show the video, not this video, but the video that we were looking at earlier, watch the water. There's several splashes.

One there and another one there. One of those is clearly one of the rotors. We were told about that. The initial report of this, at least one of the initial reports, came from a fire department marine unit over the radio.

And that's what led to this response. They were on the scene shortly thereafter. So yeah, the fire department that was there almost immediately, the NYPD, which always has boats in the rivers and the NYPD dive team, which, if they weren't on the water already, would have been able to get there in fairly short order. So they had all of those resources there.

And then I think, as you mentioned earlier, Tom, it looked like a number of either commercial vessels or private vessels were also there as well. So this was just clearly some sort of a catastrophic incident led to the loss of the tail rotor and the entire tail boom. And as you're seeing there, those splashes, clearly parts of the rotor also came off in advance, which does as you mentioned, Tom, sync up with the evidence reports. And Tom Costello, you have some more information.

FAA is just out reporting that this helicopter was a Bell 206 helicopter. A Bell 206 crashed and is submerged in the Hudson River in New York City. A number of people on board, according to the FAA, is unknown at this time. As you know, that information always will come from the local police and fire department.

So their FAA will be behind FDNY and NYPD on that particular piece of information. But that's interesting. This is a Bell 206 helicopter. I need to go to my database to look at the history of that chopper, Tom.

Yeah, Tom, winter, does that type of helicopter? We keep these other words, Tom. Yes, exactly. And we appreciate that because there's a lot of complicated news to cover right now.

Tom, winter, what do you make of what Tom Costello just said, anything that you can glean from the type of helicopter? Or again, just this extraordinary video that we're seeing here? Yeah, as the other Tom knows quite well, it's more in his wheelhouse, but the two of the Bell 206, very common helicopter type period, very common helicopter type in this area period, typically used by these tourist type companies. So none of that is all surprising to me.

It's not something that's very familiar to us that cover first responder communities here in New York City. It is not the same type of helicopter, either the NYPD or the Coast Guard or the New Jersey state police use. They use helicopters that are larger, too much larger than this particular one. But it is commonly used in private transport here in the New York City area, as well as the tourist flights that we see so often around town, where it was explicitly coming from, where it was going to.

Those details are still not clear to us. We're going to try to continue to get that information. But at least initially here, Kristen, we have at least five people on board, multiple fatalities, at least two, in a number that were taken to local hospitals. Their exact condition is not known yet.

My colleague, Jonathan Deinsta, reporting that as many as four may be deceased is a result of this. So really, we're looking at live video, Kristen. You saw a boat right next to the helicopter. That's one of the NYPD's marine units.

Those units came onto their fleet shortly before the Pope visited New York City in the big UNGA that we had. You're looking at the vessel right there with most of the flashing lights on, the largest one that's up against that, what looks like a pier. Those have a capability of getting up to 45 to 50 knots in the water, so they can get anywhere in the New York City waterways. I've been on them.

There's a couple of them all same type very, very quickly. And they also have thermal capability, so they would have been able to see initially when they arrived if there were any bodies that may have been in the water. Same with the FDNY. It's a little bit difficult to tell because of the visibility now, but their vessels are there.

More the red boats, at least one of them that's in the water. Tom Costello, we should say that all of this taking place against the backdrop of a number of disturbing incidents in this guy, including a few months ago that fatal crash at Washington's Reagan National Airport. Yet again, today you had two planes bumping into each other with no injuries in that incident, but underscores some of the concerns and jitters right now. Yeah, I'm going to separate out this incident in New York because it's a private helicopter or at least a tourist helicopter, right?

It's not a commercial helicopter per se or commercial aircraft. But today we did have an incident at Reagan National. And candidly, guys, can we show the video from Reagan National as opposed to the chopper? I just don't confuse the audience.

Candidly, what happened today typically would be a non-event. It's virtually a fender bender, right? We had two planes, two American Airlines regional jets clipped wings at Reagan National Airport today. Okay, stuff like that happens, but it was Reagan National.

And Reagan is in the spotlight. You know, we had the fatal crash two months ago, 67 people died when the Army helicopter crashed into that regional American Airlines regional jet. And then last month, we had another close call in which an Army plane, or I'm sorry, Air Force plane, came very close to a Delta Airlines plane in the airspace. And then we had a fight in the control tower in which a supervisor was arrested for allegedly punching us aboard in it.

And now the FAA is bringing a new management into the Reagan Airport tower trying to get a handle on what if anything is happening at that tower? I want to make it very clear that is completely unrelated to the incident with the chopper today. And the DOT secretary today is making the point in his view. FAA staffing issues have had nothing to do with two planes clipping each other today.

Reagan, both of them were American Airlines jets, no injuries. The wing tips were damaged. All right, well, it's so important to draw that distinction as we continue to cover this breaking and just horrific news out of New York, this fatal helicopter crash into the Hudson River. Tom Costello, thank you so much, Tom Winter.

Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. We will be right back with more news ahead. You're watching the press now.

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All brands may 20th, 26th prices subject to change. Visit today.com slash Xfinity for full offers and details. Well, the back wallet has been another busy day here in Washington. As the president tries to downplay the continued market volatility despite rolling back some of his tariffs.

Well, on Capitol Hill, Speaker Johnson tries to claim a major victory of his own after the House narrowly adopted a budget blueprint to advance the president's agenda. Joining me now is the panel Daniella Diaz, Congressional reporter for Notice. Pemberley, I can soar columnist at the Boston Globe and an NBC News political analyst and T.W. or E.H.

Republican strategist and vice president of the push digital group. Thanks to all of you for being here. Daniella, let me start with you. What do you make of how the White House, how the president is handling his tariff for?

I mean, he did make that major announcement yesterday. He was going to hit the pause button. The markets spike, but then another downturn today. What's clear that it's shocked not only the country and the world, and in my case, Capitol Hill, where I've been the last couple of days working nonstop.

And you can see the relief from these Republican senators, Republican House members, when the tariffs were paused. And when they realized, okay, this is something that Donald Trump is doing. We've had faith in him all along, of course, still defending the president and his decision to do this. Even though he had two deputies on Capitol Hill, we made this announcement and it caught everyone off guard.

But it's really clear that this plan has ricocheted across the country, across the world. And it's unclear what his plan is going forward. We're seeing him fight with China in real time. The market went up yesterday.

It's back down today. I mean, everything's in flux. You take us inside some of your conversations with your Republican colleagues. What are they saying about where things stand right now?

On the one hand, you have President Trump saying, we have to reset the global order. The United States has been taken advantage of for far too long. He says, if he can get these trade deals, that's going to change. At the same time, you have all of this volatility, and frankly, uncertainty.

Yeah, no question. And this is not a unanimous decision among our party. There is a lot of debate about tariffs within our own party, and it has been this way for years. When you hear Donald Trump speak about tariff policy, it almost sounds more like Bernie Sanders than it does Ronald Reagan.

And I would divide this into two areas here. I think on one hand, you have the argument about countries that treat us unfairly, that have high tariffs toward us, countries like Europe and elsewhere. And then I think, so are the goal to be bringing rates down? And I think you have what's going on in China, which is about unfair trade practices, yes, but on ensuring of important industries.

Yeah, and Kimberly, you have Democrats pouncing and saying, we want investigations to see if there was insider trading. Do you think that's the right strategy right now? Or is it, to some extent, going too far and promising people something that might be challenging to actually pull off? I mean, I think it is a delicate dance there.

And also, listen, Democrats have limited power right now. They're not the ones in control in Congress, but one thing that they do have is the power of the bully pulpit. They can make clear how this volatility is the fault of Donald Trump. It would be one thing if it was, you know, a tariff policy that you can disagree with.

It would be one thing if the formula even was based on anything or made sense. He seems to be just on a whim deciding this policy without even consulting his closest advisors. The markets hate instability. And you know what?

American people, they may not pay attention to every Washington fight, but they see their 401ks. They know that the things that they buy are going, the prices are going to go up. That is landing right at the kitchen table of all kitchen table issues. And Democrats need to point to the president to say, this is exactly why this is happening and do so with even a fight.

Yeah, I would quarrel with that just a touch. I think when we chase the stock market and it's ups and downs, it's fleeting. So, for example, when he announced the tariffs, they plummeted. When he announced the pause, they came back up.

They slid again today. It's the argument about egg prices with the Democrats. We were talking, well, the egg prices haven't come down. How come?

Well, they cratered. And now we don't hear about it anymore. Here's the fact we knew that there would be an economic cost of implementing this grand strategy of realigning U.S. trade.

That's not been lost to anybody. It's not lost on the president. When the president begins coming out with trade deals that are coming out with other nations, the 70-plus that have called him, you will see markets rebound. This is a tough road.

Donald Trump knows that it's a tough road. He's willing to take the risk. Danielle, you talk about some of the reaction on the Hill. Some lawmakers have picked up the phone to say, Hey, let's tamp this down a little bit.

Do you think that there was an expectation that the tariffs would be as sweeping as they have been? I think it shocked everyone even on Capitol Hill. I mean, some of the more outspoken people that have been against the tariffs, of course, think of Brandon Paul, but even Tom Tillis, who, you know, facing a very tough reelection, is going to have to go back home these next two weeks to North Carolina, tried to win the election, has not always been the most aligned with Trump in the past, also spoke out against these tariffs, and it's going to be really, really difficult for these members to go back home to explain what just happened these past two weeks, because they're on their way home now. I mean, the recess is starting.

So much of what we're tracking right now is the messaging. Kimberly, we had the governor of Michigan Gretchen Wimmer here yesterday. She had a very firm message on tariffs saying we should not be taking a hammer. We should be taking a scalpel that President Trump's taking the wrong tack at the same time.

She didn't directly criticize President Trump. What do you make of her strategy and her messaging? Listen, she lives in a manufacturing state that's also an international border. She understands how tariffs work.

She understands that you can't just be against tariffs or for tariffs, that it is much more complicated than that, and she's trying to put that forward. Now, stepping into the Oval Office, I think that was one of the biggest gas ever. I mean, we should have, she should have known. Recall that when the President said there were very fine people on both sides in Charlottesville, that was during an infrastructure week press conference.

You never go in there and not without knowing what is going on, but what in that, unfortunately, overshadowed the smart response she had with respect to tariffs from a position someone who understands them well. T.W., do you think those optics will be as devastating as Kimberly just discussed? I'm actually not so sure. I think that there is a big problem with the Democrat strategy when Trump got into office of stopping everything Trump is doing, because this might surprise you, but cutting government is still popular, trying to get fair trade deals are popular, lowering taxes is popular.

The Democrats would be far better served, offering real concrete solutions and playing ball when necessary, instead of just throwing up roadblocks. Yelling and screaming, saying we hate Donald Trump's to we're not going to let anything move forward is not a strategy. All right, guys, great conversation. Thank you.

You have to cut a little bit short because we do have so much breaking news today, but I really appreciate you all being here. We want to go back to breaking news. We've been following the helicopter crash in the Hudson River. WMC is now reporting that six people were pulled from the water and that there are five confirmed fatalities.

Joining me now from the scene in Laura Manhattan is NBC News correspondent Sam Brock. Sam, what a devastating scene there. What can you tell us? What are you hearing?

Yeah, it's devastating. And I can tell you officially from New Jersey State Police, especially that there were at least five people confirmed on board that helicopter, which we still don't know what type of helicopter it was or why it was out on the water, but that would be the pilot to adults and two children. Apparently there's been updated editorial really within the last couple of minutes as far as potentially six people being pulled out of the water up to five fatalities. I want to draw your attention right now across the Hudson River.

We are standing on Pier 40 here. This is in lower Manhattan right around Soho. Across the Hudson River, you will see just a clustering of marine units and ferries out there, those flashing lights. That's been there really for the last hour and a half since we have arrived.

And obviously that crash happened somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 15 in the afternoon. So there's ongoing activity somewhere out there as you look out across the Hudson on the New Jersey side. And Kristen, you can see just how close to the shoreline it was. Somewhere out there is the helicopter, but we cannot get a visual from where we're standing right now.

There is video out there, and I'm not sure the level of verification to this point, that appears to show a helicopter effectively free-falling, Kristen, that it sort of dips up and down. You can see the tail going. According to witnesses, pieces of the helicopter falling into the Hudson River before it just plops into the water in what is no doubt frigid conditions right now. We do know that at least two children were rushed to the hospital in critical condition as of an hour or two ago.

The fact that the confirmed fatality number, according to authorities speaking with WNBC is five, tells you there's a very, very strong likelihood that children as well as adults were killed in this horrible crash. And as I'm looking back out again, you're seeing some activity coming back and forth from New York to the New Jersey side. But I will tell you, they were clearly prepared on this side as well for CPR and all sorts of emergency services, because when we arrived, we saw dozens upon dozens of ambulances and fire trucks. It was pretty haunting when I walked onto Pier 40, because I saw these stretchers being moved on and off the pier and there was no one on them.

It was just equipment and EMS material, but there were no people, no victims there, which tells you at least as far as our folks on the ground are aware of. It was all done on the New Jersey side, and still just a very, very active scene over our shoulder. It does sort of bring to mind a situation from about seven or eight years ago, 2018. The other side of the city, the East River, when there was a tourist helicopter trash, the deadly one that killed five people.

This is such a rare occurrence. What we are seeing right now is the aftermath of just a horrific tragedy again in the Hudson River. Back to you, Chris. Sam Rock, thank you for being on the scene there.

Thank you for bringing us that reporting. We really appreciate it. We will continue to cover this breaking news here on News Now throughout the evening. We do want to turn back to our other top story, the wild market swings over the last several days.

They've caused a lot of uncertainty and anxiety for everyday Americans. So if you're looking for some guidance, no matter where you are in your career, how close you are to retirement, on how to weather the storm, my next guest is here to help. Joining me now is Michael Lier Schwellfargos, head of Advanced Advice and Planning. He's an expert in the field, but he's also a long time friend.

Michael, thank you for being here. Happy to be here, Kristen. Thank you for having me. It's so great to have you, Michael.

And I think that the word right now is uncertainty. A lot of people are feeling this, and there are different groups of people, right? You have the folks who are nearing retirement. They may be especially anxious about what they're seeing in the market right now.

So what is your advice to folks who are close to retiring? So for those who are close to retirement, Kristen, it's really important to take account of your money. So think of all the things you have, your investments, whether those are in tax advantage investments, I think of a 401k or IRAs, your money and your home and what you might owe in a mortgage. You just need to take account of everything, your cars, everything you've got and what you owe, and then think about what you're spending, Kristen, and then what you're putting away.

And there's a lot of opportunity before you retire to make choices. So could you work a little longer? And sometimes right before you retire, it's your highest earning years. And at the same time, it's your highest spending years because you might be taking care of adult parents, or you might be taking care of kids who are going to college.

And so really making sure you're making those correct trade-offs yourself, and then you also have an opportunity, Kristen, to make catch up contributions for many free retirees. And so you can really invest now when markets may be, you know, at an opportunity point for you to put even more money away for that retirement. Well, and that idea of trade-offs, such a powerful one. Michael, let's talk about people who are at the other end of this spectrum, who are just starting out in their careers, just starting to save, and might be very nervous about what they're seeing in the markets.

What would your advice be to them? So three pieces of advice, Kristen. The first is really think about today when you're in that first job, that first career, making sure you're getting those basics, right? You might have debt from college, and that's the second largest debt of most Americans, so that's real.

You might be paying rent. You might have a lot of obligations. So make sure you take care of today first. Have that cash on hand or that access to money, so you can make those today famous just in case something happens to your job, or something happens to you.

Then think about what's sustainable for our contributions standpoint. So don't just look at that advice, Kristen, which maximize your 401k in the match, make sure that you're really being smart about it, you have enough cash on hand, because you can incur penalties for drawing money out without a hardship. And the last thing I had mentioned is you have time on your side. So it's really important to take an evaluative approach, really don't be light switch oriented, where you take action or you do nothing, really look at your money and think what you can sustainably do for your present self and your future self system.

Great analogy there. So Michael, big picture with the lesson a minute that we have left. What is your general advice for the public right now? Is there a cause for panic?

So what I would say is from a behavioral scientist, Kristen, as you know, and what that means is I understand a lot about human behavior. And people tend to panic at these times, which leads to two things. Action bias or stick your head in the sand and try to ignore everything. I would encourage people to do neither.

Stick your goals, organize your money, and look at if you're on the right path, you're taking the right risks, you're making the right financial decisions for yourself, and if so, maybe there's nothing to do. But if there's something to do differently, Kristen, to your point on tradeoffs, really lean into that and focus on those tradeoffs that you can make that are in your control today. Well, such fantastic advice. Michael, there's stay close.

We'll have you back as we continue to track these extraordinary developments with our economy. Thank you for your expertise. We really appreciate it. Thank you, Kristen.

And we will be back tomorrow with more Meet the Press Now, but the news does continue with Hallie Jackson right now. I'm Craig Malthus. Cheers. Cheers.

I've always been a glass half-full kind of guy. And now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way too. Some really fascinating folks who shared their defining moments, their triumphs, their challenges, their stories are funny, and you're quite candid. So I hope you'll join me each week.

And who knows? You might just come away with your own glass half-full. Search glass half-full with Craig Malthus from today on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.