If it's Friday, former President Trump is set to deliver remarks with House Speaker Mike Johnson later this hour at Mar a Lago as both leaders try to navigate political perils, legal challenges and pressure from Democrats on the issue of abortion. Plus, Vice President Harris about to arrive in battleground Arizona where she set to step up the Biden campaign's messaging on abortion access and blame the return of an 1864 law banning nearly all abortions in the state on their campaign rival Donald Trump. And bracing for escalation, US Officials issue a new travel warning for government staff and their families in Israel as regional tensions and fears of an Iranian counterattack reach new heights. And President Biden warns of an attack sooner rather than later.
Welcome to me the PRESS now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington. We begin today with a pivotal meeting at Mar a Lago. We are expecting joint remarks later this hour from former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson is both leaders of the Republican Party are facing major challenges.
Former President Trump is about to become the first former US President ever to stand trial on criminal charges. And Singer Johnson is facing the threat of losing his job with a potential revolt from far right members of his caucus. They both need a boost and arguably a distraction. Which brings us to what they say is the focus of today's event at Mar a Lago election integrity.
It's an issue that has been something of an obsession for the former president who continues to spread conspiracy theories and falsehoods about losing the last election. Here's Peter Johnson on the issue earlier today. Well, Congress has rolled federal elections. We want to make absolutely certain that anybody votes is actually an American citizen.
In some states it's too easy. You just check a box and you can vote. So we need to make sure the federal law is clear on that matter and make sure that we actually have election because it is concerning American people right now. Now to be clear, non citizen voting is already illegal and also very rare.
In fact, the conservative group the Heritage foundation has documented just 85 cases of alleged non citizen voting in the last 20 plus years out of hundreds of millions of votes cast now. For his part, Speaker Johnson is meeting the former president as he tries to shore up his political support from conservatives in his conference while battling the threat of a motion to oust him if he defies his far right flank. While Johnson navigates political chaos, Mr. Trump is facing an unprecedented legal test.
In less than 72 hours, jury selection is set to begin in his hush money trial in new trial that could keep the presumptive Republican nominee inside a courtroom for more than a month. And it all comes as the former president. His party are looking for ways to change the subject away from the issue of abortion after the Republican Party stance on the issue was thrust back into the spotlight this week with a court decision affirming Arizona's near total ban. Joining me now from West Palm beach is NBC's Ali Vitale.
Garrett Hake is with me on set. And with me to preview what we can expect from the start of Trump's criminal hush money trial next week is Catherine Christian, a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan DA's office. And in NBC News legal analyst. Ali, let me start with you.
Peter Johnson heading to Trump's turf for this meeting. Talk about the significance. What do both of these leaders hope to accomplish today? Ali?
Well, this has potential positives for both parties here on the Trump front. It allows him to sort of attempt to placate and steal the waters on Capitol Hill. They're getting pretty choppy, especially as Marjorie Taylor Greene seemingly keeps finding more reasons why she wants to kick Speaker Mike Johnson out of his job. Jamal's be earning some friends given the way one vote went down today on Capitol Hill.
But we'll see when they get back next week. I think the other piece of this, too is that he allows Trump to stop talking about abortion and in some ways go on offense on one of his favorite topics, especially because my understanding of this is that this is ultimately going to be a bill that the House at least tries to act on. Of course, that's gonna be a messaging bill and nothing more person, because we all know that it's gonna go nowhere in the Senate. But perhaps the highest stakes and the potential biggest reward is for Speaker Mike Johnson, who comes here, yes, to talk about election integrity, but also mostly to get the proximity to the center of Republican power and the protection that could come along with it.
I because we know that when Trump gets in a room with reporters, things can get unpredictable. And we are sort of set up right now for the potential split screen of what happens when Trump is pit between two allies, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Speaker Mike Johnson. The idea that he could be asked about it is not far fetched, but the answer I think is going to be telling. That's certainly something that I'm watching for as they kick off at some point in the next hour.
Allie, I think you're absolutely right, but that's going to be high on everyone's list of priorities if they do, in fact take questions. Talking about the influence of former President Trump, I have to ask you about the effort to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Trump had called for that bill to be killed. Ultimately, it did move forward, but in a slightly different form.
Talk about the politics, talk about the policy. Well, the different form is actually really important here because earlier in the week we were watching this FISA bill kind of meet its death very quickly before they could even vote on the actual bill itself. It failed on the rule, which is an embarrassing procedural failure that really doesn't happen very often, but seems to be happening more and more to these Republican speakers because of the tight margins and unruly nature of this House GOP conference. Now, what we saw in the interim period is the bill that they voted on this week is not five year reauthorization, but a two year reauthorization.
And as one Trump ally put it to us when they made that change, at least this gives Trump a chance to come in if he were to win re election and to change this law that has many, that has run his ire on many occasions to actually change it to his liking. But there's still more of a tale to this story. Even though the bill did ultimately pass today, there was one amendment in there that hardline conservatives wanted to see pass. It ended up failing on a tie.
Speaker Johnson was the vote that ultimately allowed them to that ultimately allowed that amendment to fail. That is one more reason for some of these conservatives to be angry with him. We're going to hear more about it on Monday because of a procedural sleight of hand that will allow it to come back up. But this FISA moment was a win for the White House in the short term.
But we'll see how it actually impacts Speaker Johnson's bottom line. And it's another reason why when I talk to Republican members, his showing up here at Mar a Lago is a real political play for him in an attempt to shore up a base that is ever shifting beneath him. Yeah, it's a great way to describe it, Ali Vitale, Let me turn to Garrett Hake, who's been here on set. So Garrett, all of this is taking place against the backdrop, of course, of all of us gearing up for this Monday court case.
It's a little bit of a split screen moment. Talk about what Trump gets from this joint appearance with Speaker Johnson as he prepares to head into that hush money trial Monday. Well, he gets the opportunity to talk about one of his favorite issues, the false concept that the 2020 stolen standing beside someone who could, I suppose theoretically lend some Credibility to that argument as the speaker of the House, most powerful elected Republican in the country. Also, I think it's just a way for him to kind of turn the page from a week of abortion headlines, which they're hopeful to move past and to try to remind folks that this is a regular presidential campaign in his mind.
I mean, we're just not seeing as much Donald Trump as you might expect, given this where we are in the political calendar. He's been doing prep for this trial. Obviously, it's gonna take him off the road for a substantial period of time. You know, Friday afternoon event is not exactly the kind of thing you want to set the policy agenda for the week ahead, but it does let him kind of reinsert himself here as the candidate in a way that just hasn't really of late.
Yeah. One of the big X factors here is how this court case, how the other potential looming cases could impact him in general election. It was in the X factor when we first started covering the primary. Well, we know how that turned out.
It only helped him to energize his base. But there's a real question surrounding how these cases could impact moderate independence. And we know that we are going to hear arguments coming up. In the immunity case, there's still the document case that has been delayed.
So his delayed tactics have worked to a point. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he came in nominee without really breaking much of a sweat. And he's in what most of the polling shows is basically a 5050 race with Joe Biden nationally and in the swing states.
So the idea that these cases have hurt him anyway just doesn't really bury for. There's no evidence that these cases have damaged him in any way up until this point. We are so far to the unknown here. And anybody who tells you they know how these cases might hurt him, even if he gets convicted, I think it's sort of blowing a little bit of smoke here.
There is polling that suggests that independent voters or more modern voters, as you suggest, might be unfavorably inclined towards Donald Trump, depending on the results of these cases. But it's so hypothetical. This has never been done before. And I also add, as I said many times on this broadcast before, the Trump campaign strategy isn't based on winning a lot of those voters.
Right. They're running a base strategy. They want to jack up the numbers of people who love Trump. They want to lower Joe Biden's favor as far as they can.
And those folks in the middle like the way the Trump campaign looks as a lot of us they're probably already gone, so they're not going to sweat them. Yeah. Ali, Garrett did a great job laying out the strategy. We're talking about X Factors as it relates to the trials.
Let's talk about it as it relates to the issue that you and Garrett are talking about, which is abortion. Of course, Arizona becoming ground zero for the fight over reproductive rights. After that 1864 law was allowed to stand by ruling the state Supreme Court. There is frustration amongst Republicans and conservatives about the messaging that they're hearing from the GOP presumptive nominee.
What are you hearing in regards to that, Ali? How concerned are they that this is a real vulnerability? Well, look, especially when you see things like what happened in Arizona and even a few weeks or so before that in Florida, the fact that a six week ban is about to go into place there, I think that there's an easy line that's drawn between what Trump said in his most recent statement about this. Both the idea that states should be decided for themselves, but also the idea that he is willfully taking credit for toppling Roe.
Those things are all inextricably linked to what you see happening on the ground in a lot of these states. I think voters are in some ways surprised that laws from the 1860s can suddenly be revived and deemed enforceable. Certainly that's an energizing factor. But I think the larger landscape here is visible in that Republicans and Democrats both benefited off of the idea of the potential of toppling Roe.
For Republicans, it was something to strive for. For Democrats, it's something to push back against. Now we're squarely in the post Roe era and only one side is seeing the benefit of that. It's why we so often say that Republicans are the dogs that caught the car on this issue and now they're just sort of gnawing on the bumper trying to figure out what comes next.
It doesn't poll well. You see it in the way the Republican politicians on the Hill reacted to the Arizona ruling. You had Republican frontliners making sure that they tweeted out that this law was not acceptable, they would be dangerous to women, that they preferred a 15 week ban. That's a real sign to those of us who are tracking the political impact of the abortion access debate, that it's not popular and Republicans know it.
The fact that Trump is going to be continually put on the spot here by the Biden campaign certainly doesn't help the matter. Yeah. Great analysis and analogies. Ally Garrett, let me just turn to you quickly on this.
I spoke with one Republican strategist who said there was so much effort for half a century to overturn Roe v. Wade and then not a plan in place for how to talk about this issue in the post Roe era. How much of a vulnerability are you hearing this might be? Look, I think that's exactly right.
This is a great issue to run on. But the policy on the backside was never something that was fully thought out. I think from the Trump perspective, they would say, look, they've largely silenced, I think most of the criticism from the right on this issue. These anti abortion groups just don't have the same megaphone that they used to pre Roe.
Right. They can't really go after him. The Lindsey Grahams and my friends of the world who criticized him got very strong pushback from the Trump campaign. I think it was a warning shot to other conservatives.
If you have a problem with this, keep it to yourself. You've seen Carrie Lake end up in the same place Donald Trump has been on abortion. And Donald Trump is now coming out and criticizing this Arizona ruling as well. So I don't think this is going to pass muster with the broader electorate.
But I think they feel like they have cauterized the wound to a certain degree on the right and the Trump folks. I think Republicans in general, their big hope is that for November we're not talking about this as the number one issue. They can't get over this issue entirely. But this is like issue 4 or 5 of the issue set that the entire country is talking about.
They can live with that because they feel like they have a stronger position pulling back some up in a lot of cases on the economy, on the border, on some of these other issues that they think Americans will be making the choices on. Yeah. All right. Well, we'll have to see how it plays out.
Great stuff. Garrett Haig, Ali Vitale, thank you so much. Katherine Christian, let me turn to you and let's talk about this trial that is going to begin on Monday. We are expecting Jerusalem election to effectively get underway on Monday.
Just to remind our viewers, these are the alleged payments that Trump made in the hush money case with Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors are casting this as an election interference case, we should say that. But what are you going to be watching for on Monday when jury selection gets underway while they're watching for Donald Trump's behavior? Unlike the civil case of Gene Farrow where he got up and walked out the courtroom because he didn't like what he was hearing, he can't do that in a criminal trial.
No one can do that. None of the prosecutors, defense attorneys are Donald Trump. He's going to have to sit there. He'll only be able to leave when there's a break.
Will he be able to remember there's a gag order and the gag order prevents him from making statements against prospective jurors? Will he be able to refrain from doing that? Will he be able to refrain from making statements about prospective witnesses? Will he be able to refrain from making statements about the DA's staff?
So he's going to hear things that will probably irritate them and he'll at the lunch break and at the conclusion of the day, there'll be cameras and microphones in front of him. What will he say? How will he act as he's sitting there, as the jurors are being questioned by both sides and the judge. So that's what I've been looking for.
They're looking for what his lawyers are going to be asking. Are they going to try to tactically try to remove people, what they call for cause and say, you, Honor, this is proof that we can't get a fair trial because everyone we're asking questions to are so clearly biased. So that's what I've been looking for in a warning. This jury selection will not be over in a week.
It'd probably be at least two weeks because you also have the Passover holiday and they'll have days off of that. Well, it is going to be historic. It's going to be fascinating, that's for sure. Let's talk about the potential witnesses.
You'd have to think that Michael Cohen will be at the center of this, of course, his former attorney, who alleges that this hush money payment took place, that he was reimbursed by former President Trump. What other, what witnesses will you be watching for when you dismiss? We'll hear Michael Cohen, who's a very complicated witness, Catherine. He's complicated.
He has baggages. Anytime you have a witness who has a criminal record, particularly for lying, that's a problem. But it appears that the prosecutors will be able to. We'll see if it'll happen.
But they plan to corroborate everything he says. So he's going to say that, you know, there was this agreement that I would pay her off and then I would get reimbursed and then we would put in the business records that they really expenses. Well, you're going to have the control of the Trump Organization. You're going to have the accounts payable person for the Trump Organization who will corroborate that.
So there will be the documents that will corroborate that. So it will not just be Michael Cohen saying, trust me, this is true. You will have other people that I'm saying plan to, because I know as a prosecutor, you put a witness on the stand and you hope they're going to say what you want them to say and suddenly something else comes out of their mouth. We can expect that the prosecutors are hoping that every word out of Michael Cohen's mouth is corroborated.
And once you do that, you can argue to the jury, yes, he has this conviction for lying. Yes. You know, he's not the, you know, we're not saying he's the most best person in the world. But what he said to you, you can believe because of the other evidence in the case that corroborates it.
Catherine, very quickly, Trump has tried to delay this case as other cases, he's tried, I think just three times this week alone to delay this hush money case. Does he have any other recourse heading into Monday or into this trial to delay it? Not legal. I mean, stuff happens.
You know, there are real earthquakes. People get sick. But barring some unforeseen legitimate thing like that, there really are no other legal recourse that he has that will work. All right, Catherine, Christian, thank you so much for your great little analysis.
We'll be talking to you a lot along the way. Really appreciate it. As we said, we're keeping a close eye on those upcoming remarks in Florida. And we'll bring you any updates as we get them.
Coming up, Vice President Harris is expected to blast Trump on abortion battleground Arizona today, just days after that state Supreme Court paved the way for a near total abortion ban to take effect. We are live in Tucson ahead of the VP's remarks. That's next. Plus, from the ballot box of the Democratic Convention, we have new reporting on how some progressives are planning to up the pressure on President Biden over his handling of Israel's war against Hamas.
Stay with us. You're watching the press now. Welcome back. Just moments ago, Vice President Harris landed in Arizona ahead of what is expected to be a fiery campaign event on reproductive rights in Tucson the next hour.
She has not deplaned yet, but we are watching closely to see when she does walk down those steps. Her visit comes. Oh, there she is deplating with the second gentleman live. Here are the pictures.
Now. Her visit comes just days after the Arizona supreme court appelled in 1864 near total ban on abortion in the state. The Biden campaign and Democrats are hoping to capitalize on the issue and blame the rollback of reproductive rights on their Republican opponents. This was the Democratic governor of Arizona, Katie Hobbs last night.
I think a lot of Republicans are seeing that this is gonna hurt them in the election. They own this. I'm not giving them a pass on this at all. They own this.
All these folks are seeing the consequences of what they want to play out and they're trying to run away from that. I am confident that voters are going to hold them accountable for that in November. Joining me now From Tucson is NBC's Yamiche Alcindor. So, Yamiche, thank you for joining us.
Vice President, the second gentleman just touching down there in Tucson ahead of this event. This is not a White House event. This is a campaign event. So we're expecting the gloves to come off here.
That's right, Kristen. When the vice president comes to this media center where she's going to be talking to abortion right activists, she's really going to be going very aggressively hard at the former president Donald Trump. Now, she's the number of official deaths, including their reproductive rights. Toward that she has gone to swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin.
When she comes here in Arizona, while she's here in Arizona, she's going to be really his name check Donald Trump repeatedly. She does not do oftentimes official death because of the Hash Act. She also specifically say that he would, he would sign a federal abortion date even though the former president is saying that he's valuing not to do that. She's really there some people not to trust Donald Trump.
Well, we are expecting this to be a pretty heated event based on everything that we are here hearing. You given that you think about the politics of this. President Biden won Arizona. He won it very narrowly back in 2020.
The Vice President has been consistently speaking about this issue of reproductive rights. What has happened in Arizona has clearly given her new fuel. But what are you hearing from Democrats? Are they now feeling more optimistic about Arizona?
What are they saying needs to happen in order for them to hold on to the state? Democrats here are feeling more optimistic, especially because of the ballot initiative. She's sensing that there's momentum here in this swing state. Now I want to play fields down from the state attorney general was talking about sort of when this ruling that could be a total ban on abortion could go into effect.
Take a listen what she told me. I think if it's safe to say 45 days that abortion is still legal in the state of Arizona. But how absurd is it that we're even having this conversation? How absurd is it and awful.
We're gonna fight like hell to prevent this 1864 ban from being implemented. But I think the women of Arizona who are pregnant, who want to have an abortion or that have if they end up having a complication are gonna have to make a plan. I mean, it's time to make a plan to think about another state. Now let's take a training general question.
She told me she feels like she was elected for this moment, saying that she felt like when she told lawyers that she was not gonna prosecute people in violation of abortion law that he elected her president. I also reminded me that she won by a little over 200 votes. So she had a really close election. So she really does feel a mandate, as does the vice president.
So it's go very interesting to see how to talk about abortion here and it'll be very interesting to see sort of the next steps here as a valid initia making way their signatures still being gathered for July deadline there. Yeah, it is going to be fascinating to watch what plays out over the next several days and whether they can in fact repeal that ban. Great interview, Yamish. Thank you for bringing us part of it.
We really appreciate it. Good luck out there. Coming up after the break, racing for escalation. We're live in Israel where the US Is now restricting travel among its diplomats and their families amid serious concerns that Iran could launch a retaliatory attack.
We're watching the press now in this moment. Don't we are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will defend, help defend Israel.
And Iran will not succeed. Welcome back. That was President Biden answering a question from NBC's on Monica this afternoon and issuing a new warning to Iran amid concerns about a retaliatory strike on Israel. President Biden also telling reporters he expects a potential strike to happen, quote, sooner rather than later.
Now those comments come after the US Embassy in Jerusalem issued a new security alert for its staff and their families, announcing new restrictions on travel within the country. That warning comes as Iran's supreme leader vows Israel will be, quote, punished for last week's strike on Iran's consulate in Syria. Israel has never claimed responsibility for the strike that killed senior Iranian military commanders. But Israeli officials, including the foreign minister and defense minister, have said the country will respond to any Iranian attack.
Joining me now is Hollywood and Tel Aviv Eve Hala. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon and this evening there. Obviously for you what is the mood like inside Israel right now as it braces for this potential counter strike by Iran? What we're hearing from Israeli leadership that they're preparing themselves, they are preparing themselves in terms of anything that could be coming from the air, anything that becoming could be coming from the sea.
They are being very public and rhetorically very forceful in their statements, essentially saying that an attack on Israeli territory would be met with a response in kind militarily by Israel. And of course this is a big cause for concern from a regional perspective because it would mean a much wider conflict involving not just countries but also proxies of Iran that could involve Hezbollah today, for instance, Christianity. We saw dozens of rockets fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. They were intercepted by the Iron Dome system here in Israel.
But still you are starting to feel that these cross border attacks are starting to escalate in a way that could be worrying. I will say I've been out on the streets of Tel Aviv today and you wouldn't know that there's a war going on. It seems absolutely normal. It was a beautiful sunny day today here and just ordinary Israel is going about their business.
So it doesn't feel like it did after October where the streets were a lot quieter. So it seems like people are taking this threat in their stride. Really fascinating observational reporting there. Khala, let me ask you because we know that US Officials have been pressed on this.
We heard what President Biden said at the top of this segment. What can you tell us about the back channel conversations that are taking place as we speak to try to prevent Iran from acting? Because of course since October 7th the concern has been a number of different things but one that this could escalate into a wider war. Sure.
And we're hearing not just from U S officials but also European officials. For instance, the UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has spoken to his counterpart, the Iranian Foreign Minister, urging restraint, really trying to push for any kind of de escalation that they can at this very late stage. Because Iran person of course is in a position where they feel like there has to be some sort of response because from their perspective, and this we heard from the Supreme Leader of Iran, their their embassy building was targeted in the Syrian capital. They consider that an attack on their territory and so by doing nothing they feel like it would perhaps potentially signal weakness or invite even escalatory attack.
So from their perspective they feel and they have been communicating and telegraphing that something needs to be done. As far as we're concerned, it's a question of when and how. And that's what's got the region on edge right now. Kristen, great reporting as always.
Please do continue to stay safe. Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. Back here at home, divisions inside the Democratic Party tied to President Biden support for Israel are expected to drag on for months, potentially culminating in a bruising fight over the party's platform, the Democratic National Convention.
Now according to new reporting by our own mvc, Mike, Emily, Alex, thanks. Wall. Progressive Democrats are now gearing up for that fight and other fights as well at the convention in August. And NBC's Mike memory does join me now live.
Mike, thanks so much for joining me. So Hickman Tides are reporting. What can we expect over how this fight might play out at the N. Well, Chris, it's so interesting because we've seen this really grassroots mobilization in some key states, including Michigan and Minnesota, where they found the uncommitted or right in option as a real opportunity to express their concern, their opposition to President Biden's policy with regard to Israel.
And we've seen some double digit levels of support in those states, including getting delegates to the national convention. Well now a group of activists, some overlap, but also a different set, including some with ties to Bernie Sanders, are looking at the institutions of the Democratic Party itself, specifically the platform, as the next front of this battle to pressure the president on his midi's policy. So as we look ahead to the convention, there has been language in the last two party platforms about Israel expressing the Democratic Party's quote, ironclad support and continued insistence on supporting both militarily and financially the state of Israel in its defense. Now they want to see a condition placed on that support linking it to a potential ceasefire and they're going to try to use the mechanisms of the Democratic Party to pressure the president on this.
Now we should mention the president has the lion share, overwhelming majority of the delegates to the convention. That means he can control, for instance, who is on the platform committee. But this is a clear example of how the outside and inside pressure is starting to build on the President. And if we are heading to the convention with this still a major issue, it will potentially lead to a fight over not just the platform, but on the streets around the convention.
Yeah, it's a great point. Mike. Let me ask you broadly, I mean, do these organizers feel like they have a seat at the table? Do they feel like their concerns are being heard?
And if they're not, is there a worry that they won't in fact and that as you say, all the people who are potentially poised to gather at the convention center, they won't turn out in November. I thought it was so interesting, Chris, and how the response came from the Democratic National Committee. They said they haven't yet spelled out what the platform writing process will look like, but they said there's going to be a process that tries to incorporate a diverse set of views from across the party. The Biden campaign has often, especially months ago when this conflict really just began, when we were talking with them about the political challenge here, especially a state like Michigan.
Well, we'll see where this is when we head to the convention and into the fall. Well, it's now been months since then. This problem has not gotten away. And in fact, it's gotten worse in terms of the politics for President Biden.
And so this is an opportunity perhaps for the Biden campaign to give them another mechanism to express their concern. But ultimately, a source close to the campaign did insist and note that the platform for a president incumbent seeking re election reflects his policy priorities. And President Biden has not budged, has not joined that growing call, even within the Senate Democratic Caucus and allies like Chris Coons to consider linking future military assistance with a potential ceasefire. Fantastic reporting, Mike Memley, who is joined also by Alex Seitzwald.
We really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Up next, all eyes are Mar a Lago, where we are expecting to hear from the presumptive Republican nominee and the House speaker as they deliver remarks on what they are calling election integrity. We're going to preview those remarks and get the facts straight next.
You're WATCHING ME, the Press now. Welcome back. As we said at the top of the hour, we are expecting House Speaker Mike Johnson and former President Trump to speak at Mar A Lago any minute now with remarks they are billing as an announcement on election integrity. We are going to keep a close eye on those remarks.
We'll bring you any news as it happens. But before they speak, we do want to get a few facts straight on what Johnson and Trump are expected to say on the topic of election integrity. The former president has remained fixated on debunked conspiracy theories tied to his 2020 election loss as he tries to sit down about the 2024 election. Speaker Johnson has signaled they might bring up legislation focused on preventing non citizens from voting.
But look, Congress has already made non citizen voting in federal elections illegal in 1996. And according to voting records, multiple studies and audits, there isn't evidence of any widespread violation of that law. Joining is my colleague Jane Tim she covers elections and voting laws for us. Jane, thank you so much for being here.
Really appreciate it. So what do we know about this announcement? They are supposed to announce proposed new legislation that would prevent non citizens from voting. But again, that's incredibly rare, right?
Yeah. And non citizen voting really does not happen in any large numbers when we know they've happened in the past in very rare and isolated cases. It's usually a mistake or a misunderstanding. And I think it's important to actually point out why.
You know, when you vote and when you register to vote, you create a paper trail that's part of the public record that election officials are required to review by law where there's a record of the crime and the reward, if you will, is one ballot. And as you said, many groups have looked into this and searched for nonsense with prosecutors who have looked into this and prosecuted a handful of cases because these are again really easy to catch in there Butler paper trail. But it just doesn't really happen that when there's cases that happen like people who have naturalized but haven't actually sworn in as a new citizen and went to register to vote out of excitement. This is not something where you see it in any widespread way.
So Jane, I guess a couple of questions just to follow up. Do you expect the former President Trump will reiterate his fraud claims about the 2020 election and what's the fact check there that people should keep in mind if they do hear that? Yeah, there is no evidence of widespread fraud in 2020. Feel like I've said this many, many times, but just about every relevant government agency, non government agency Trump lawyer has looked into this and found no evidence.
And I think it's important to note that Trump started saying this fraud was going to happen before he lost the election. He also said about the elections he won in 2016. He said non citizen voters had caused him to lose the popular vote back in 2016. He put together a presidential commission.
Didn't find fraud then, they're not going to find fraud now because fraud happens really rare. Isolated Inc. It does not typically change the outcome of a presidential election. At least never happened yet.
Yeah. Chris Krebs, who's of course the top election security expert, called it the most secure election in American history. Jane, just before I let you go, you talk to election officials all the time, all over the country. What are they telling you about the 2024 election?
Do they have concerns about the security of the election? Do they have concerns about some of the rhetoric that we're hearing around the election. You know, election officials try really hard to explain the processes to voters that have doubts because they think that if you understood the process, you'd understand why fraud is so hard to do because there are all these mechanisms to make sure that only eligible voters cast ballots in the U.S. but the fraud talk very much affects their daily experience.
I talked to officials who said that they get questioned, that they seem to be dinnertake by their own family members who, you know, they fear for their safety. Sometimes I prefer people getting security systems or security guard. These are people who very much do this because they believe in American democracy. But voter fraud talk absolutely affects them.
It hurts them. It's one of the issues that is driving election officials from their jobs at higher rates than we've ever seen before. That's fascinating. All right, James.
Tim, great reporting as always. Thank you so much. Great to see you on this Friday. And we have a great panel here on set.
Amy Walter is editor and chief and publisher of the Political Report. Simone Sanders Townsend, former senior advisor to Vice President Harris and co host of the Weekend weekends on msnbc. And Mark Short, former chief of staff and Vice President Pence. He's also an NBC News contributor.
Thanks to all of you for being here. I'm just gonna sit back and let you guys go. But Amy, let me start with you. Talk about the politics of this event.
Trump standing next to Johnson, who by the way, has this threat for his public life that they might oust him if he introduces Ukraine aid. What do we do to these leaders gain? Yeah, I think it's pretty clear what Johnson gains, which is just having Trump stand next to him looking like an ally, telling those on his right flank that, look, I got the support of the big guy. It's not worth it to come after me if he's gonna support me.
But you can't ever trust that he will have his back. I mean, though, half the reason that Johnson is as much trouble as he is politically is the number of times that Donald Trump has said, oh, actually don't vote for this very thing that leadership has told you to vote for. So I don't know that it's going to actually change much in Johnson's day to day life. It just seems to me that if you are are in the Trump camp, the idea of a more chaotic House isn't helpful for you.
Especially if the Biden campaign messages, if you like Republicans, it's going to be complete, not just complete chaos, but dysfunction. Mark, pick up on that point. I mean, do you expect former President Trump to say in some form or to signal knock it off Marjorie Taylor Greene, stop threatening Speaker Johnson. We've got to at least have the air that things are running smoothly to Amy's point.
I concur with Amy that the beneficiary of this is going to be Speaker Johnson and try to allay concerns from Marjorie Taylor Greene. Having said that, I don't think it helps President Trump's campaign to have division in the House. But the president loves drama, Kristen, and so it's hard for me to sit here and suggest you that he's going to tell anybody to knock it off. So I think the optics really help Speaker Johnson.
But exactly what former President Trump says, I think is anybody's guess whether or not he says Monday, March today, he'll say something different tomorrow. Yeah, maybe reminds him of the Apprentice. I'm thinking that he's a new thing and I don't know, it just seems as though going to bend in the essentially of saying it to Donald Trump. It didn't help McCarthy.
Right. Like so at the end of the day, I think Donald Trump is going to do what he believes is best for him. I will say I do think this meeting just reinforces though that it is remarkable that a unelected person is currently dictating what's happening in the House of Representatives. Donald Trump is not the current president of the United States of America yet one phone call one is it a truth is that we're following non truth on his social media site.
A post can throw the agenda of House of politics. It's a great point, Mark. And obviously you were in the Trump administration. I covered the Trump administration when the legislation we thought was about to get over the finish line.
He would post something on social media. It would get derailed. He's had a complicated relationship relationship with Speakers of the House fast. I was first to head White House my mornings start by letting your tour fee at 6am and that's how you would know the rest of your day with Congress was out because it would be members of Congress calling.
Why did he tweet this out about this bill? I thought he was supportive of so yeah, I think that is the dynamic and someone's right. This is unprecedented. But it's also unprecedented at this narrow of a margin right now.
And so with certainly with early retirements, it's even more precious for Speaker Johns at the moment. But it's also a reminder that when you all came in in 2017, how different the House was and how different the Senate was. There a bunch of people there that certainly I thought, oh, I don't know if they're gonna line up behind Trump. This is gonna be a big learning curve for him.
They have their own way of doing things. And now you look at the House and it is 100% locked behind him. Watch any of these primary commercials in competitive Republican districts. It's about who, who can show the most loyalty to Trump and that's how you win now.
Absolutely. And I'm being told that Trump and Johnson are actually meeting as we speak. So not yet speaking, but they are apparently meeting. Simone, let me ask you about the politics of this because this is an issue that does resonate with some in the Republican base, this idea of what Trump and Johnson are calling election integrity.
But look, there are other issues that they're going to be talking about likely, if not today, obviously that he's trying to put front center like immigration issues that actually pull better in terms of what is the top issue for voters than an issue like abortion, which we're going to get to in a second. Yeah, I mean I am, I'm interested to see what the eventually actually starts speaking in front of the cameras. What actually is the topic. Right.
Because I could imagine that it should be this very narrow thing and Donald Trump might not rail against the machine because he has a, you know, criminal trial starting on Monday night with joint election Even know if we're going to get the substance of whatever it is they discuss. I think the most substance we received is in the background. It will be fascinating once they come to the podium. We'll have to listen closely more.
Let me ask you about Arizona because obviously the state Supreme Court ruled that this 1864, your total ban can stay in place. Legislature, the state legislature wants to repeal it. But talk to me about the politics of this because Biden won Arizona in 2020 very narrowly. Is there concern amongst Republicans that this could make Arizona even tougher?
Sure. I think in the aftermath of doth decision that those who favor abortion are more have more energy right now in the vote. I think that there's no doubt about that. Having said that, I do think that the president's u turn on this position.
I think falls in one more line. Whether or not it was TikTok decision that this the Trump administration advocated for forced divestiture. Whether or not it was Ukraine what this was there there's been a series of issues is turned back around on. I think this is the police.
Your former boss is highlighting that you turned today in Arizona. That's the focus of her remarks, I think what we're going to hear folks say coming out of Vice President Harris's remarks is that she prosecuted the case that we used to talk about that she does very well. When I worked at the White House, when I worked on the last campaign, and she's obviously a former prosecutor, top prosecutor in California, and prosecuting cases, really laying out the facts so that everybody can understand. And I think on this particular issue, she's talking about a health crisis in America.
Initially think about abortion. You don't think health crisis in America, but women in Arizona, women in Mississippi, women in Ohio, women in Florida. I mean, name a state in this country, they, there are stories of women who have nearly died because they couldn't ever see the care they needed if that care was an abortion. And so I think that is the way we're gonna hear her about see the case.
And it's something that she's personally passionate about. And I think we've seen it come out throughout, you know, the tour that she spok so on, so and so forth. This is something I know I had to push her, ask her to do. She wanted to do this, I believe.
Amy, how do you see this playing out in terms of turnout? Because if you look at the polls, President Biden is trailing Trump nationally and in a number of these key battleground states. Is this motivating enough? I mean, as Mark says, yes, it's obviously motivating for Democrats, but it's motivating enough to make up some of those gaps, those significant gaps that we're seeing in some of these states.
Right. So it seems like Biden has a number of challenges right now. The first is can he motivate those people who showed up for him in 2020 who right now are sitting on the sidelines? And is this one of those issues that can do that?
In some ways, yes, sure. But there are other things that are splitting apart that the coalition as well, including situation in Gaza or frustration about the economy. I don't think this is the hard thing about voters, is we have to remember they're human. They do not process like a robot of like, what is my COP issue?
Is it inflation? Is it abortion? So they can hold two of these things at the same time. The question is, what are we talking about in October?
Are we still talking about these? And what are voters talking about? And as we see all it takes, we think that it's over. And then all of a sudden, the Supreme Court case comes down from a state, whether it's on IDF or whether it is on this issue and it once again highlights the importance of it.
All right. We'll have to leave there a great conversation. Thank you all for being here. Amy, Simone and Mark.
And a programming note. Tune into Simone's show the weekend for an exclusive interview with former Trump lawyer Michael COHEN. That's at 8am Saturday on MSNBC. You do not want to miss that conversation.
Still a comm NBC News exclusive reporting on how a migrant on the terror work watch list was released back into the U.S. you're watching me the Press now. Welcome back. We have new exclusive reporting about how a man on the FBI's terror watch list was apprehended back in 2023 and then released by border officials.
Muhammad Karwin ended up spending nearly a year working and traveling freely inside the US before being taken back into custody just last week. The incident comes as security at the border and congressional gridlock on the issue has become a hot campaign issue for both parties. That is November after Republicans blocked a bipartisan deal designed to address the crisis. Joining me now is the reporter who broke that story, NBC News homeland security correspondent Julia Ainsley.
Julia, this is just a true tremendous story. Congratulations on breaking this. But boy, I had to read this a number of times because I couldn't believe it. How was this man able to stay in the United States for so long while being on the terror watch list before leaving his eventual arrest?
It is a head scratcher. And in fact, I think some people inside DHS are scratching their heads as well because right now Muhammad Harwin is back in custody. They arrested him again last night at our initial report here at NBC News. And that is the third time this man has been in U.
S. Custody since he crossed the border in March of 2023. We understand he was first apprehended by custom supporter protection. And one piece of information linked him to a person on the terror watch list.
But they didn't have a corroborating second piece of information, so they released him. And from there he was able to apply for work authorization, asylum, get on domestic flights. He ended up in San Antonio, Texas. And that is when in February of this year, DHS got a tip from the FBI that in fact he is on the terror watch list and with somebody they should go apprehend.
They apprehended him. But then, Kristen, when it came time for ICE to make their case in court to an immigration judge about why this particular migrant should not be released, they didn't explain that he was a national security threat. In fact, they said he was a flight risk, thinking that would do the trick until they didn't want to disclose all the classified information about his case. Instead, the judge released him on $12,000 a bond.
And he's been living in San Antonio, we believe, for the past month until after our inquiry and our reporting, they went and arrested him again last night. We are still trying to figure out what they'll do with it. Now, will they appeal the case and how big of a threat they might think he has. Although I should say US Officials don't believe that he entered the country with the intent to commit a terrorist act.
That's the wording we're hearing right now. Well, it's an extraordinary report. We have less than 30 seconds, but give me a quick reality check. How frequently does this, this happen?
It's rare, Kristen. I've spoken to some people who say, look, it's so rare that people cross the border on the terror watch list. Less than 0.02% under the Biden administration, less than 0.5% under the Trump administration. So rare, even more rare that something like this could happen.
I think that's why we're still looking for some more answers. And we'll continue to report on the story. I know you will. Julia Ainsley, thank you for joining on this Friday.
Really appreciate it. And we will be back Monday with more MEET THE PRESS now. And if it's Sunday, it's MEET THE press. On your local NBC news station.
I'll have exclusive interviews with Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Congressman Mike Turner and Governor Wes Moore. Don't miss it. The news continues with Gary Hagen for Hallie Jackson Right now, he was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention.
They made a life together. Then one night, the Marine died. And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Mankiewicz, and this is true Trace of Suspicion, an only podcast from datalife.
Listen to all episodes of Trace of SUSPICION now, wherever you get your podcasts.