Meet the Press NOW — April 26

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Conditions apply. Offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit hyundaicanda.com or your local deal for details. If It's Friday, the second and third witnesses take the stand in former President Trump's criminal hush money trial as the Justice Department now waits for a Supreme Court ruling on Trump's claims of absolute immunity.

Plus hundreds of residents protests over the Israel Hamas wars spread to dozens of college campuses as the White House considers restricting military aid to an IF unit accused of gross human rights violations prior to October 7th. And President Biden speaks to shot jock Howard Stern, saying he's happ. Former President Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee once again turns up the rhetoric with more wild accusations against President Biden. Welcome to the press.

Now I'm just welcome Washington at the end of an historic week for Donald Trump as a New York jury heard testimony in his criminal hush money trial and the Supreme Court heard arguments about the scope of presidential immunity. In New York, prosecutors are now questioning the third witness of the day, Gary Farrow, who was a senior managing director of the bank Michael Cohen allegedly used to wire hush money payments to Stormy Daniels back in 2016. Now this afternoon, jurors heard from former Trump assistant Ron Graf. She's a longtime Trump Organization employee who handled Mr.

Trump's email in his calendar graph, testified that she had vague recollection of seeing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the receptionary area before Mr. Trump ran for president. Craft of the stand shortly after the former publisher of the National Inquirer, David Packer, concluded his testimony. Packer, the trial's first witness, testified for about four days about his so called catch and kill strategy to bury embarrassing stories about Donald Trump, especially ahead of the 2016 election.

Speaking to reporters before today's testimony, the former president continued to lash out at the trial that has taken him off the campaign trail and a Manhattan courtroom. He also praised the Supreme Court after yesterday's arguments over his presidential immunity claim. Case is over. You heard what we said and the case should be over, but you have to make that determination.

And yesterday I think in the Supreme Court having to do with unity argument was brilliant. I listened to it last night. I thought it was really great. I thought the judge's questions were great.

And all presidents have to have immunity. It has nothing to do with me. Absolutely not all presidents have to have immunity. So we have another day of court and freezing courthouses.

Very cold today for purpose, I believe. Now, as I reported yesterday, the justices seem skeptical of Mr. Trump's expansive interpretation of presidential immunity, but may very well send the case back to the lower courts, which would virtually assure that former President Trump's hush money trial in New York is the only criminal trial he'll face before Election Day. For more, I'm joined now by ABC News corporate Ellis outside the courthouse in Manhattan.

Also with me is NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns and former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Jeremy School. And thanks to all of you for being here. Raheema, let me start with you. Prosecutors calling former Trump assistant Rana Graf to the standard.

Why is this significant? Who is she and what is their strategy here? Margraph is a longtime employee of the Trump Organization. She worked with him for 34 years.

She rolls up to an executive assistant with him and some of the gatekeeper, you might say, she sat right outside his office on the 27th floor of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. And she testified about the fact that she was the one who kept records for him, particularly in terms of email. It was determined that Donald Trump didn't necessarily email. She would take care of that.

And I think the thing that was significant was she pointed out that she was the one who put in the Trump computer system the name and phone number of Stormy in reference to Stormy Daniel. And she also put in the name of Karen McDougal, put in not only the cell phone number, but the address for Karen McDougal. She also mentioned that she saw that Stormy Daniel have a meeting with Donald Trump, but the meeting was all about his interest in having her as a possible someone who contributed to the Apprentice. And that's significant because there's been lots of talk about how much did Donald Trump Noah at all, of course, are the pictures taken of him with her?

He's got pictures taken of a lot of people. But she was saying that her name and her number was actually in the contact list. And she did meet with him in the office. Raheem Ellis powering through what sounds like a heckler there in the background.

Raheem, we really appreciate that. Thank you so much. Let me bring in Dasha Burns, who know that David Pecker of the National Enquirer also testified throughout this week, Dasha takes inside the Trump campaign. How do they feel about this first week he has been inside a Manhattan courthouse.

He has not been on the campaign trail. He's trying to use all of the trappings of the courthouse to basically continue campaigning. What are they saying? Yeah, and what you'll notice that this week, a lot of the times that he has addressed reporters outside of the court there, he's trying to message what the campaign is talking about.

The economy, talking about his record versus that of President Biden. Less grievance politics outside of court this time around, more focused on the campaign because he is limited right now and how much he can go out there. And Biden has been trying to counter program and say, hey, look, I'm talking to the voters while my opponents in court. So Trump trying to turn that around a little bit?

Yeah, I mean, it was notable because Biden was in Florida this week talking about reproductive rights. Obviously, Democrats think that's an issue that's going to energize voters. When can we expect to see him back on the campaign trail, Dash? And is there any indication that he could be being hurt by being off the trail?

Well, we are going to see him next week. There was a little bit of debate about that because the judge had declared a hearing next Wednesday, but then that got moved to Thursday. So he's going to the battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin next week. Both, both states that he won in 16, lost in 2020.

And he's going to be talking, according to his campaign, about the economy and immigration and again, trying to contrast those records. This is the first time that we're going to see him use one of those dark days from court to actually go out and campaign. Last Wednesday he was. This Wednesday he was callfeng.

So he's actually out there talking to the voters and he has been using this trial to sort of stir up and rally the base. He's been sending out messages saying I might get thrown in jail. Which of course, we all think that all the lex first think is very unlikely. But again, trying to trying to serve folks up that way.

Let me ask you, Dasha, about the immunity case because the Supreme Court, obviously this extraordinary historic day unfolded yesterday where Trump's attorneys argued that he should have absolute immunity, that a president is entitled to absolute immunity. The justices were clearly very skeptical that by all accounts this will likely get kicked back to a lower court. You and I have been talking about this long time. The Trump team strategy has been delayed, delayed in this case.

It seems to have worked. Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, regardless of how the justices ultimately rule. It's inevitably a win for Trump because he does get to delay.

But his, his lawyers were really grilled by the justices, and they brought up a lot of, you know, potential hypothetical examples that his lawyer had a hard time sort of responding to. At the same time, a lot of conservative justices did seem to indicate that some limited scope of immunity might be, might be something they're looking into. I was curious to see Trump talking about how amazing the arguments were, saying that justices were on top of it. He said about the last time his lawyers were for the Supreme Court as well.

There doesn't seem to be sort of a reference for how the justices are conducting these very serious arguments and hearings that are not just going to impact the former president, but potentially all executives down the line. Absolutely. Presidents to come. Fantastic stuff.

Jeremy, let me turn to you. Let's talk about what I was talking about with Rahim Ellis, Ronna Graff, someone who was seen as the gatekeeper for former President Trump. What do you make of her being called to the stand? What do you think the prosecution gets from hearing from her?

She's sort of the DOT connector, if you will, and also the living Rolodex. Because if the former president, who then was running for office, didn't keep these records, and we know that in large part because we heard from David Pecker, said I didn't actually have an agreement and things are going through Michael Cohen, she kind of gives credibility to that story of, well, I was the person who was on those calls sometimes. I was the person who was handling the emails that came through me. So she, I know story, Daniel.

So she's connecting, she was there. She's connecting those dots. And again, she's that evidence that there is a paper trail and it's her. So that's her value.

Even if she's really a defense witness in the sense that she doesn't want to be there, but for that, she thinks of Keenan. Let's talk about David Pepper's testimony. One of the big revelations is that he did discuss with former President Trump while he was in the White House an alleged hush money payment to Karen McDougal. What do you make of that?

And what do you make of his testimony overall? Is he a credible witness? How do you think jurors will heal him? You know, very briefly, it goes to the knowledge and intent element for Donald Trump.

So if he's going to claim, I don't really know anything about an affair and have an affair, I don't know anything about the hush Money. I have Michael Cohen do my bidding. Michael Cohen's doing his own rogue thing. It takes him wind out of those sales.

Overall, I thought David Pecker was a very good witness to the prosecution. There was a couple holes exposed in him about maybe not remembering all the details or maybe there was an advantage for failing Inquirer to get access to the shows and information that Donald Trump was providing. And it was a cooperation agreement or a non prosecution agreement which benefited the city of the company potentially. So there's some holes there, but without David Pecker, there is no Michael Cohen credibility.

Without David Pecker, there's no Stormy Daniels credibility. Meaning that there's so much to cross them on in teaching material and David Pecker is giving, lifting them up to say, hey, it's not all about them. I can confirm and corroborate some of these information in these stories. So he's an important witness and overall it seems like a regular guy.

Well, okay, let's talk about another potential witness. Let's talk about Michael Cohen because he is widely seen as being one of the key witnesses for the prosecution, but also a hugely complicated figure. Jeremy, what do you anticipate we will see if and when Michael Cohen takes the stand? I don't think as if.

It's obviously when. I think it's going to be more of a circus. And I said not a flippant way, but a really sad way that that's what you're going to see in a courtroom and outside the courtroom. I can only imagine what the former president does.

But he's going to be the next level of DOC connectors because he's the one who's going to I was getting this money and I was gonna pay the money and Stormy Daniels was going to be silenced. And the boss, because we've heard that term many times, the boss is one and only Donald Trump. So my big concern about the prosecution, much like I would have the same concern if Donald Trump testified, is that Michael Cohen likely cannot follow the script, maybe a little bit with the prosecutors, but as soon as the defense has at him, who knows what he's gonna say, especially when he's doing, you know, I don't know if it's a podcast, whatever he's doing outside on social media. There's just so much for him to be crossed on his truth and his veracity.

All right, well, great conversation. Starting us off Dasha and Jeremy and Raheema beforehand. Really appreciate it. I am joined now by Ty Cobb, who served as a White House attorney during the Trump Administration.

Ty, it is so good to see you. I wish we were in person together, but it's great to be reunited with you. Really appreciate your time. And I haven't got a chance to congratulate you on the air for your meets press gig.

I'm very proud of it. Thank you, Ty. I really appreciate that very much. Well, we are really honored to have your insight.

And let's start with the case in New York before we head to the Supreme Court. What is your assessment of how former President Trump's lawyers are handling this case so far? We talked about David Packer, we talked about on the graph they both taken the stand now. How do you think they're doing?

I think they're doing fine. I think Packer did not deliver, frankly, on the one thing that he needed to deliver on. Keep in mind, his testimony was, you know, for the most part, that he had an assumption that all this stuff was for the campaign. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't that he had, he had direct evidence of that and then he did, you know, if he did his, his introduction of his agreements and those are obviously written by the prosecutors with an eye toward being evidence in this case.

And I heard that there was reporting that one of the lawyer jurors thought that was a little odd when he had one was being read and made some facial just stipulations. But, you know, Packer was good. I mean, Packer was that he was definitely the right first witness because he talked for four days and was able to basically lay out, you know, what the prosecution would like people to believe is the entire scheme. And you know, now it makes it a little bit easier for Cohen to come in and, you know, not justify for quite as long story, Daniels a lot of other people to come in and just sort of pick up in the what is now the pecker narrative and add their spin to it.

Do you think that Ron O graph, as Jeremy was just saying, helps to connect the dots, as you're saying there were some dots that were left unconnected. Did he connect the dots? Tyranny? I think Ronna did connect you dots.

And I think, and I think solely because of there's a big fiction in this case, which is the theory that Trump didn't have these two sexual relationships. I mean, he handicapped his lawyers by lying about that. Nobody in America believes that he didn't have these two sexual relationships. He did.

So they had to call Ronna, who's got, you know, got in the office talking to him. I mean, why is that? Nori didn't have a link to it? Well, yes, of course.

I'm going to say, did she connect the dots? Thank you for correcting me there. Let's talk about Michael Cohen. As I was just saying, he's a hugely complicated witness.

How risky is he for the prosecution? If you were handling this case, would you put him on the stand? You don't have a choice. I mean, he's the person that's out there.

He pled guilty to, you know, in essence, the offense that the prosecution is trying to tie to the petty misdemeanor, record keeping issues, the charges on that, the 34 charges, they're trying to tie that to a campaign finance offense and going to plead guilty to it. So they have to have him. He's essential. But yeah, it's risky.

I mean, he is, he is smarmy. In fact, if you look up Smythmy in the dictionary, his picture would probably be there. It's very, it's impossible to make him likable. And, you know, there's so much to work with him on.

The taxi cab medallions, the lies to Congress, the lies to almost everybody. And you know, on the other hand, he testified in the Ingram trial. Ingram said he told the truth. How Ingron knows that, I'm not sure.

But you know, he looks unreliable. So I suspect, as Jeremy said earlier to you, that Cohen gets a lot of help from the Packer foundation of evidence. And I think he'll, you know, he'll get buttressed again and again by people who follow him. I don't, I think the jury will see through the shell game of, you know, the billing and the payments and stuff like that as corroborating.

It's not really corroborating anything. I mean, this is the evidence of how he was paid back on this. But it certainly doesn't corroborate campaign. So.

And I guess the big question is, if you were representing Donald Trump, would you have him take a stand? He says he's willing to take the stand. Would you advise him? No, no, Trump can't take the stand.

I mean, and you know, I don't know what the, what lawyers are telling him, but they're telling anything different than any means in the lawyers. Let me ask you about the Supreme Court. Yesterday, Trump's attorneys arguing that president should have absolute immunity. The justices obviously seemed very skeptical.

You think this gets kick to a lower court? Where do you think they end up on this? Well, I think it will definitely go back down to at least the court appeals. I suspect it'll go back to Judge Chuck and the district Court.

I'm not sure though that it has to go down and back up. And I think, you know, the frustration that Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts expressed yesterday was, you know, the tautology of the DC Circuit opinion, which is, you know, can he be prosecuted? Well, he is being prosecuted. So obviously the answer is yeah, you know, that's, that's, that was sort of the problem with the sweeping opinion that they issued.

I thought it was adequate, frankly. I thought it was a good opinion. But they tried to say in that opinion that under the circumstances before them in that case with that defendant, you know, there's no unit and they didn't articulate a standard. And the Supreme Court, you know, for better or worse has to articulate a standard because there has to be a standard.

This is the most consequential separation powers case since Marbury versus Madison. And it's a very difficult case. As Jack Goldsmith, the learned hand constitutional law professor, Harvard pointed out in a very good article, this is a difficult case. It's a very difficult decision.

And trying to chart these waters is a very difficult task for the Supreme Court. And they'll have to do it well. And of course they did indicate they believe that there should be some guardrails around prosecuting President. This is what John Dean had to say, obviously.

Former Nixon lawyer, he says lawyers used to laugh when they heard Nixon's analysis during Frost Nixon. When the President does it, that means it's not illegal. Listening to the arguments before today's Supreme Court, it appears the Republican justices are all in with Richard Nixon. American democracy may be unraveling quickly.

What do you make of that from John Dean? I think it's stupid. And everything Gandhi knows about criminal lawyer is defended. The reality is that I don't know what he was listening to yesterday.

Nobody suggested that there would be absolute union, nobody, not a single justice. Even Alito, you know, who's probably the most right leaning self double right wing person on that, on that bench, you know, he started off by making a claim that I don't think you need, you know, to go that far in your argument. And, and, and Trump's lawyer gave up on absolute immunity quickly under the, under the withered examination of Amy Pony Barrett, a conservative who made it very clear that the conduct in this indictment is private act and she got him to concede that. So I don't think there's much left of that argument.

And I think the theory that these judges are gonna do Trump a favor at all. The only thing that benefits Trump here is the delay and that this delay is caused in large part because of how high the stakes are for the country and for the Constitution. So non judge is going to write an opinion or suggest in any way that Trump's argument of absolute immunity is correct or that his theory of the impeachment judgment clause requiring impeachment and conviction before you can be prosecuted. Those are the two legs of Mr.

Sauer's argument and they won't be mentioned anything. The only thing Sauer said yesterday that we mentioned in the opinion is the multiple concessions he made about private acts. All right. Ty Cobb, thank you for your great analysis.

I hope you will come back and join us again soon because there's going to be a lot to talk about in the coming weeks. Hi, Kristen, nice to be with you. Great to see you. All right.

Coming up, hundreds arrested, a commencement canceled and more fallout from the protests on campuses all across the country. And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken weighs in on wise intentions at home as negotiations over a new ceasefire proposal convene in Israel. Do stay with us. You're watching the press now.

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Conditions apply offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit HyundaiCanda.com or your local deliver details. Welcome back. As we are following the rising tensions on college campuses and dramatic scenes of protest at schools all across the country over the Israel Hamas war, we are also following developments on the ground in the Middle East.

An Egyptian delegation is in Israel today to discuss a new ceasefire proposal as well as broader security issues in the region. An Israeli official telling NBC News the new proposal would include a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of 33 hostages, mainly women, children, the elderly and people with medical conditions. Now, notably, that number is down from the proposed 40 hostages in the deal that was under discussion earlier this month. At that time, Hamas was unable to confirm it had 40 hostages who met that criteria, according to U.S.

and Israeli officials. It remains unclear how many of the hostages are still alive in Gaza. Earlier today, while in China, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reiterated the US Wants to see the war end and was asked about the growing college campus protests here at home in our own country. It's a hallmark of our democracy that our citizens make known their views, their concerns, their anger at the given time.

And I think that reflects the the strength of the country, the strength of now. Those college demonstrations have spread to include encampments on more than 30 campuses. Yesterday, the University of Southern California announced it would be canceling its main graduation ceremony, citing safety concerns. Joining me now is NBC News GU of the University of Texas at Austin.

NBC's Antonia Hilton outside Columbia University. And NBC's Julia Jester just got back to our D.C. bureau after being at GW University right here in the nation's capital all day. Julia, let me start with you and the situation at GW where things seemed very tense.

What can you tell us? Well, Kristen, the protest outside of University Yard has been growing steadily throughout the day, but the encampment that is now barricaded inside has been dwindling as the university keeps issuing warnings to the students that remain there. Now the scene was pretty peaceful throughout the day even as counter protesters started to instigate some conflict. And I spoke with students there who said that they are there to show solidarity with the people of Gaza.

And they said that if you look throughout history, change started with students. It started on these universities. I spoke with one student who was with Jewish Voice for Peace. She's Jewish.

She was in the encampment earlier today. And here's what she said about what drove her to take this action. We do have to disrupt everyday life because we need to see an end to this genocide. We need to see freedom for Palestine.

And that's not going to come through non disruptive action. So we're really just out here to to disrupt business as usual and let the university administration know that they cannot carry on. And so she's among the many students from universities across the D.C. area and the sentiment I heard from a lot of them is that they really like the focus to recenter to the people of Gaza rather than the climates on these college campuses.

They said that it's distracting from their message and that is their priority. Kristen. All right, Julie Jester, thanks for hustling back for us to give us that breaking information. We really appreciate you being on top of it.

Guavanagas, let me turn to you. What is the very latest where you are and how tenser things get in there? Kristen, the dynamic here is different from other universities. We have not had an encampment here in Austin.

What we did have is an escalation that happened on Wednesday. That's when the first walkout took place. A Large number of students arrived in support of Palestine, and the university says they were violating rules. They have also released a statement from the president indicating that they had information that the organizers were following patterns they had seen in other parts of the country.

And they brought in the state troopers. They were highly criticized for bringing in the state troopers. That was the day when we saw more than 50 individuals arrested in the same spot where I've been standing. The following day, they had another walkout, another protest, but the difference was that the police did not arrive to disrupt that one.

And today what we have is a gathering of dialogue. It's a very interesting gathering. It's led by members of the faculty who've been here all day. They're giving away food.

They have a lot of students essentially just stop by and talk about Palestine. This is, of course, in support of Palestine, but we also have students here in support of Israel who are in the crowd having that dialogue. So it's very different from what we saw on Wednesday, different from what we saw on Thursday. And what members of the faculty here tell me who've been organizing this, is that that's what they want.

They want more dialogue amongst the students, and they want the university to allow them to do this, which is not what they did on Wednesday during that first walkout. All right, Guadalas, thank you so much for the view from Austin. Antonio, let me turn to you and this stunning headline that we said at the top of this segment, which is the graduation, the broader graduation is being canceled at usc. Are you hearing that other colleges of Columbia, for example, considering that.

And how are students reacting? Students are wondering the exact same thing right now. Kristen, we haven't heard much about the exact graduation plan, but when you walk on campus and reporters get a window every day, we can get behind those gates and really see what's going on. You can see they have some preparations for graduation there ready to go.

And then like a split screen, you can see an encampment right there out on the lawn where students are gathering, doing their homework, eating all day long in a space where graduations had to take place. When I talk to students, what they tell me is that they are or they feel they are part of a very unique narration. They lost out on their high school graduations. Their first few years of college were very strange and often very virtual.

And so they feel like so much has kind of been bearing down on them, from the pandemic to the war. And so they told me they almost didn't want to make it about themselves. And if they lose their graduation, they will be disappointed, but they're not even sure how to share that grief with the rest of the world. Kristen and it tells you a lot about what this generation has been through these last few years.

Boy, when you put it into that context, Antonio really just showcases and underscores how much they have been through. We really appreciate it. Antonio Hilton, thank you. It's always for your great reporting.

Coming up next, the White House is considering restricting aid to parts of the Israeli military after determining three IDF units were credibly implicating gross human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank. Now, this was prior to October 7th. We'll delve into all the details. You're watching me, the president.

Can I tell you what fantasy I had? If you, I don't know if you can debate your, your opponent, I am somewhere I don't know when I'm happy to say it. Welcome back. That was President Biden talking to radio host and notorious shot jock Howard Stern in a live interview this morning.

The interview was largely focused on President Biden's biography and his life in politics. And Stern began the conversation on friendly policy territory for the president, talking about the administration's latest rule requiring airlines to issue refunds for delayed flights and crackdown on hidden fees. Now it comes amid a slate of consumer and worker friendly policies the White House is promoting and hoping will translate to votes in November, even as inflation shows few signs of letting up. Joining me now to break this all down is NBC News White House correspondent NBC's Aaron Gilker.

Chris. Aaron, so good to see you. So talk about how this interview came together. It's not often the President Biden sits down to talk with Howard Stern.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. You referenced him as a shot. That is a label that he's had for many, many years. And it seems a bit unusual that President Biden would sit down to have a conversation that was about an hour or so long with Howard Stern.

But that happened. And it really is consistent, I think, Kristen, with what we've been seeing from the Biden campaign, particularly over the last several months. The campaign has leaned into this idea that it needs to try to talk to people in to potential voters in slightly unconventional spaces. We obviously have seen a flurry of ads come out the last couple months from the campaign, but President Biden has been going to a lot of smaller events, smaller gatherings with supporters.

He's been able to do a ton of radio, local radio interviews, local TV interviews as well. He's done some Spanish language television interviews as well. And, and so the campaign is really trying to turn to these spaces that maybe don't have a massive national footprint potential, but these spaces where the president can speak to specific groups of people at different points in time and try to paint a picture about what he's done and what he wants to do in the future and hopes that that will drive people to the polls in November and help to bolster his chances of winning the re election. You know, Aaron, it's interesting you referenced the polls, obviously in a lot of polling, which is very narrow.

We have seen former President Trump leading President Biden. That gap has been narrowing, of course, including in some battleground states. But there's actually some new reporting that privately President Biden has been pretty confident about his chances in November. Tell us about those conversations.

Yeah. Three sources familiar with some of the president's comments have told NBC News that President Biden privately expressed confidence that he is going to win in November, partly buoyed by the polling that you suggested. The president. We heard him, we've heard the president himself spe several times the last couple of weeks, in particular at campaign events, these smaller events, saying that the polling has shown that he is winning in some polls, more polls, and that he's tied in other polls.

He feels as though the progress is being made. Our own NNBC News poll the last week or so did show the president moving up in the polls a bit. We've also from sources come to understand that the president is also buoyed by the fact that there have been so many campaign offices opened around the country in the last couple of weeks. There have been so many more staffers hired, hundreds of them.

And the president, according to some of these sources, has felt good about the fact that these small dollar donations seem to be increasing. We know he's had almost a $200 million war chest that he's been able to use to run this campaign. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. And he hasn't hit a campaign trail with a more robust pace, shall we say?

Let me turn to a very different topic, Aaron, ask you about this US Assessment. The three IDF battalions were credibly implicated in human rights violations in the West Bank. Now, this happened before October 7th. But what is the White House saying and how might this impact military aid?

Well, honestly, the White House is saying talk to the State Department. And to that end, our team at the State Department has been able to learn, as you noted, Kristen, that there are these three Israeli battalions that were implicated in these human rights violations against Palestinians in the West bank prior to October 7, and that the State Department has been reviewing some of these activities and it's also been reviewing what the Israelis have been doing and what they're planning to do in terms of remedying some of the concerns that the US has presented. As a result of that, military aid will continue to flow to these two particular two of the three IDF battalions that were referenced here and the third is still being reviewed. The national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, was asked about this at the White House earlier this week, and he said that President Biden would not be intervening, would not be getting involved in what he described as a State Department analysis with a State Department outcome.

And so the the position for the White House at this point anyway seems to be that they're going to let the career diplomats, the career folks at the State Department continue with their analysis and ultimately make the decision about what outcomes result from that and how the these Israeli battalions might be impacted. All right. Aaron Gilchrist here. Thank you so much for your reporting covering all the angles for us.

After the break, new NBC News poll numbers on what voters say are President Biden and former President Trump's biggest red flags. We'll break it down to watching the press now. Welcome back. We've got some new numbers from recent news poll, this time on President BIDEN, Former President Trump's greatest weaknesses in the eyes of voters, 23% said the most convincing reason to vote against President Biden is concerns over his physical mental health that beat out the situation at the border and inflation during his presidency.

As For President Trump, 20% said his ongoing criminal and civil trials are the most convincing reasons to vote against him, followed by his hands on abortion and his desire to pardon those convicted for their role in January 6th. Join me now on set. Isaniel Diaz, congressional reporter for Politico Simone Sanders Townsend, former senior advisor to Vice President Harrison, co host of the Weekend that's weekends on msnbc and Republican strategist Garrett Ventri. Thank you so much to all of you.

Appreciate you being here. So, Daniel, what do you make of these numbers and the most convincing recent vote against Trump, his legal entanglements? The most convincing recent vote against Biden is his age. It wasn't surprising to me at all.

I don't know about you guys. It's been the recurrent theme of this entire campaign season. Biden's age, Trump's charges. These are the themes that we're keeping happen in November.

And I don't expect it to change should the news cycle not change. I Don't. I don't think it can seem different, Simone. Court cases have largely been delayed.

Obviously, the New York Hashem trial is underway. But when age is intractable for President Biden, what do you make of those numbers? Look, I was thinking about this this morning because obviously the last election, Joe Biden was all sold. Okay?

So he was also the oldest person in that last election of the Democratic field. And for whatever reason, it did not. It was not a topic of conversation in 2020 in a way in which it is. I know some former colleagues of White House like to say this is.

The media is making this up. But I will say the age thing is something you. I heard from the cousins, like last year, and I think it is because everyone. The presidency does age you.

You look at pictures from. I mean, even President Obama when he started, when he started in 2008, when he came out of office, and a lot more grades and he's. He's young. And so I think Joe Biden doing these interviews, like he needs to do more, frankly.

But what he did with Howard did a long form so people can hear and see the president interacting in his own words. It makes a difference. I think it alleviates any concerns voters may have. It's fascinating that he did Howard Stern.

Garrett, I want to put up some more poll numbers. This is from CNN. 28% of respondents in this particular poll say that the Trump hush money payments should disqualify him from office. Now, if that's true, that's lower than the other cases.

Look at that. The other cases, again, are delayed. So what do you make of what's happening in New York? How damaging do you think it is?

He is stuck in a New York City courtroom. He's not on the campaign trail. Yeah, that part's obviously tough for trying to do the bodega visit these, trying to rally North Carolina. That got rained out.

Obviously. The interesting thing about here is it is the only. If you have said 10 years ago we were saying that a guy's gonna get indicted running for president, he's shoot up in a primary and be leading general election polling at this time, 4,644 in your recent poll. In most polls, swing states, those things we've seen in the last few months, he's winning, we would be like, you're insane.

But that's exactly what's happening right now. So he's using this obviously to propel his campaign here. Interesting part of you essentially seeing 30% people, 34% people say, you know, we think he's being treated unfairly. Other people are saying, we think he's actually being treated too fairly.

And he kind of has middle grounds, like, really not sure. We're not paying attention. I think the most interesting part is from 39 to 45%, you see an increase where people are actually saying, from last year, this is actually not a big deal in terms of his fitness for office. I think that's interesting.

And in the same poll, 55% people think he can't get a fair trial. That does play to his advantage. It's also just notable because from a practical perspective, he is off the trail. He has been making use, Garrett, as you're saying, of the microphones outside the courthouse.

I want to play something he said this week that's gotten a lot of attention. Let's look. We're having protests all over. He was talking about Charlottesville.

Charlottesville was a little peanut, and it was nothing compared to hate. Wasn't the kind of hate that you have here. This is tremendous hate. We have a man that can't talk about it because he doesn't understand it.

We should just say Daniela. From a perspective of the impact of the country, a lot of people say Charlottesville is anything but a little peanut. It was something that was incredibly controversial, including because of the way in which Trump responded when he said there seemed to be nice people on both sides. It is just extraordinary.

And someone died at Charlottesville. It's extraordinary that he would raise that in that context. What do you make the whole context of Charlottesville? It was a white supremacist rally.

I mean, this is shocking to hear, you know, former president who responded in this way that a lot that shocked a lot of people in this country, saying, there are good people on both sides. I still remember that moment. I'm sure we all do. I watched it live.

And it's. It's. It's a really. I believe, under comparison, to compare that to what's happening with these college protests considering, you know, no one has died.

It's, you know, people have a right to protest. I mean, for many reasons in this country, I find it very shocking. Do Republicans and Trump supporters, when they hear that, is that something that makes them tear their hair out and go just, you know, stick to the economy, stick to the issues? Yeah.

I think. I think you can make the point that these protests that are happening on college campuses, something you're saying, students have Hezbollah flags, those type of things, no doubt. Which has been condemned. Yeah.

I think I can point that out as something that is violent. Evil without having to compare to something else. It was not obvious. It was also violent evil.

I do think one pushback here on the both sides. I think that President Trump during that time did make very clear that he wasn't talking about white nationalists. He wasn't talking about neo Nazis. He said two sentence later said we condemned them.

That's not what we're talking about. He was talking about folks who were protesting in a park over Robert E. Lee park being renamed. I'm from New York, not big fans of the guys down south, but that's what the context was.

Simone, let me let you respond to that and also the facts that then candidate Biden in 2020 launched his entire campaign around Charlottesville. Look, I just, I think Donald Trump has called out the proud boys. I don't know what the man believes, but I think that he's regularly aligned himself with some of the most vile factions of. It's not the vile factions of our country when it comes to white nationalist white supremacists.

Lest we forget the dinner that he was holding in Mar a Lago, not just last year. And I don't want to get in Kanye. So please, when it comes to President Biden, I just, he did, he launched his campaign. And frankly, I've argued this 2024 campaign is really an extension of what he said he wanted to do in 2020 and why he got into the race to restore the store, the soul of this nation, what we're seeing for college campuses and whatnot.

I really do believe that a lot of Republican elected officials, you know, Speaker Johnson and now President Trump and there are others, they want to use the protest to be folly, if you will, for Democrats and whatever. But the president has spoken out loudly and clearly. It's not as though he's silent on them. And there's a difference between what the college, what's happening on the actual college campus and outside agitators.

That being said, the issue on the table is an issue that is going, is not going away this summer and it's not going away for November 2020. Well, and you make such an important point because what we're seeing on college campuses underscores the reaction to what's happening in the Middle east and just how fraught it's going to be one of the X factors, undoubtedly in 2024. Thank you all for great conversation. Daniela, Simone and Garrett, really appreciate it.

Silicon Tennessee governor just signed a controversial bill that will allow teachers to carry guns in school. We'll have the details next. You're watching Meet the Press now. Welcome back.

Tennessee's governor sign a controversial bill to allow schools to arm teachers into law earlier today after the bill passed the state House Tuesday despite intense protests in and outside the chamber for gun control advocates. Now, the bill requires those carrying concealed handguns to undergo training and have the approval of school officials in law enforcement. Yesterday, Governor Lee called the legislation a tool to keep children safe. I think we need to be really clear about what this, what this all does.

You're right. Districts have the option to choose that. The vetting that's required, the training that's required, the approval from the district, the approval from local law enforcement. This is an option, and I think it's an important one that district should have.

Now, look, it's worth noting Tennessee is far from alone on this issue. More than half the states in the country have laws permitting teachers to carry guns on school grounds. That's according to the Giffords Law center to Prevent Gun Violence. Joining me now for more is Blaze Gady, a political reporter for NPR's Nashville station.

Thank you so much for joining me. Governor Lee has now signed the bill. As we said, take us through the specifics of the legislation. Are there any requirements for school districts to arm their teachers?

No requirements. This is something that school districts can choose to do. Like you said earlier, the principal, the school district and the local law enforcement all have to sign a memorandum of understanding first. And then the teacher after that has to go through a lot of training, about 40 hours of training, get a background check, a psychological test, and get a handgun carry permit.

A lot of that, all at their own expense. So so far, some districts have already said they will not be allowing their teachers to bear arms on campus. Those are important details as we understand this legislation. Look, the backdrop to this is that it comes more than a year after six people were killed, including three students in that Covenant school shooting.

Can you take us inside the community? How are those families reacting? How is the broader community reacting? What's the response?

I mean, you heard it in that clip there. Some of the Covenant parents who have students that go to the school were there and they were chanting, blood on your hands. I think they really believe that this will make schools more dangerous and open the chance up of schools being attacked. Now, obviously, on the other side of this, you have Republicans who believe that this will help make schools a deterrent.

And so people won't want to go there because they don't know if teachers are armed or if school resource officers may be there. So it's two sides of a different coin, Governor Billy actually tried to say that some Covenant parents have told him that they wanted their teachers to be armed. Well, it's just an incredibly emotional scene there. Just extraordinary the reaction.

And look, part of the uproar was about how all of this played out on the House floor on Tuesday. Walk us through how this unfolded and why Democratic lawmakers are so angry. Well, after the coming of school shooting last year, this bill was already in action and they stopped moving any bills last year. And so I think a lot of people thought the issue could go on away.

And then this recession came back this year. The Senate passed it and the House was next to do it. A lot of people, as you see, rally against the idea for weeks saying don't pick up the bill. And still they chose to pass it, even though I want to say, you know, 300 people were there trying to say do not do this against a lot of what parents and students wanted to see happen.

Well, we will continue to track it and we really appreciate your joining us. Lace G. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Good to have you. Well, we will be back Monday with MORNING THE PRESS now. And if it's Sunday, it's MEET THE Press on your local NBC station. I'll have exclusive interviews with Senator Tim Kane and Ruby bridges, plus my one on one interview with Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.

But before we go, we have a very important announcement. The best breaking news ever, my colleague, my friend and frequent anchor of this program, Garen Hake. Welcome to beautiful baby girl to his Hannah Allison Hake was born on April 18, weighing six pounds even and 19 and a half inches long. She's just perfect.

She's home now with her loving parents and very excited. Big sister Lainey is doing great. Mom is doing great. Everyone here at NBC News is wishing the very best for the new family of four now and sending them all the love in the world during this incredibly special time.

And Hannah is just beautiful. The news continues with Tom Costello in 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 Trace of Suspicion, an all new podcast from Data Lab.

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