Meet the Press NOW — April 5

If it's Friday, getting to the bottom of a quote, serious violation of command. Israeli military leaders detailing what led to the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers. Two senior officials now dismissed. How U.S.

leaders are responding as Israel vows to allow more crucial aid to flow into Gaza. Plus, President Biden on the scene of last week's deadly bridge collapse, meeting right now with families of the victims of the incident. His message to the people of Baltimore as efforts ramp up to reopen the vital port. And did you feel it?

Federal, state and local officials are taking no chances after a magnitude 4.8 earthquake rattles buildings from New York City to Boston and everywhere in between. Reaction to the rare event that caught everyone off guard. Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Garrett Haake.

Right now, President Biden is in Baltimore, Maryland, meeting with the families of the six workers who died following that devastating bridge collapse last week. This afternoon, he took an aerial tour to survey the damage before meeting with state and local officials to discuss the ongoing recovery efforts. He just wrapped up remarks a short time ago. We'll bring you more on his visit in a moment, but we begin today with the latest fallout from the Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers.

And the president's warning to Israel that U.S. military aid could be in jeopardy unless it takes concrete steps to protect civilians in Gaza. In the wake of that warning, Israel announced last night that it would increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the region. According to the White House, Israel committed to opening a key port on Israel's coast as well as a key border crossing in northern Gaza, which had been closed since the Hamas attack on October 7th.

Today, President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed those developments with cautious optimism that they would be just the first steps to be taken by the Israeli government. These are positive developments, but the real test is results. And that's what we're looking to see in the coming days and in the coming weeks. Some of the measures that we're looking to include things like the number of trucks that are actually getting in on a sustained basis and yet not just getting in, but then getting around the aid being distributed throughout Gaza, including critically northern Gaza.

Israel also announcing today the preliminary results of its investigation into that deadly strike on the World Central Kitchen workers. The Israeli military concluding the strike was a, quote, grave mistake and a serious violation of IDF protocol. As a result, two military officers were dismissed from their positions and three senior commanders were reprimanded for their roles in the strike. And despite the growing calls by aid groups and even some on Capitol Hill for an independent investigation, the White House says it will reserve judgment on whether that is necessary.

We're going to work our way through that investigation ourselves and take a look and see what we think of their findings and their conclusions before we make any kind of judgment going forward. We'll reserve judgment until we have a chance to go through those findings. Joining now is NBC News International Correspondent Hala Gorani in Jerusalem. And Monica Alba is at the White House.

So Hala, I'll start with you. What else stood out to you in the IDF's findings from their investigation here? And how are people in Israel responding to these calls for an independent investigation to go farther? There hasn't been a response, at least from the Israeli government, for these calls, these calls asking for an independent investigation, which stood to me is that when the Israeli military detailed what went wrong, it indicated that it believed there were one, possibly two Hamas fighters in that convoy.

In other words, this was a case of mistaken identity. And we now know that the seven killed were relief workers. But that still leaves very important open questions. If they believed two were Hamas fighters, it means they believed that at least several others were not.

So why then target three separate vehicles over an almost two mile stretch? There are many open questions. And the World Central Kitchen is asking, as are others, for a truly independent investigation and probe into this, because it says that really, essentially, the Israeli military cannot be left to investigate itself. Now, what we've seen, though, and you mentioned it there in your intro, is that what President Biden told the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led to him relenting on key points that he was resisting, resisting against, including the opening of that key border crossing in the north.

That key border crossing house was the main crossing before October 7th between Israel and the Gaza Strip. And of course, it was shut after the attacks at the beginning of October. And if aid trucks are allowed through, and that's a big if because Israel and the government has promised before to flood the north of Gaza with aid that hasn't happened. If indeed trucks go through and are able to distribute the aid, then it could make a significant difference to the starving people in the northern part of the Strip, Garrett.

Are there any indications that that aid could start coming today, soon? And I guess my other question is, if this is the kind of thing that just sort of happened day after a ton lashing for President Biden, why weren't these steps that Israel could have taken sooner to increase aid? Well, there certainly could have been steps that Israel was able to over the last few months to take sooner. The reason the U.S.

and other allied countries, for instance, started dropping aid from the air, which is a very imperfect solution because an air drop contains less than what a single truckload could deliver by land just a few miles away from its destination, is because the flow of aid has been very, very slow to go in. And that so many important crossings like Erez have remained closed. I was just on the Egyptian side of the border a few weeks ago and saw miles and miles and miles of trucks stuck on the Egyptian side because the inspection process is so slow and because sometimes an entire shipment is turned back because one or two elements inside the truck are on a list that is unclear to this day of what is allowed and is not allowed into the Gaza Strip. What the Israeli officials call dual purpose items, but that in many cases, charitable organizations say are basic necessities for the people of Gaza, Garrett.

So certainly there are steps that could have been taken sooner. And it seems now that the United States is putting just a little bit more pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to get some of those shipments through. It does seem that way. So Monica, how were the results of this investigation greeted at the White House?

We heard from Secretary Blinken today suggesting he still expects to see an independent investigation at some point. And this is really interesting, Garrett, because the State Department and the White House sort of walked those comments back a little bit, saying that the secretary was talking about this investigation and the preliminary findings that were released by an Israeli agency that doesn't directly report to the IDF chain of command. So they're trying to imply or argue here that this report in some ways is independent. But of course, that does not meet the standards of what World Central Kitchen, the UN and others are calling for, which would be a more third-party independent investigation.

The White House says they're not ready to back that kind of a request because they still want to go through the findings of this report, that there could be a more fulsome investigation that comes since this was just the initial one, and they want to reserve and withhold judgment until they can do that. So that's notable because they're not coming out and agreeing with some of these aid agencies. Instead, they're saying Israel was able to conduct this investigation in a rapid manner and we want to get into the specifics before we do take a stance on that. But I think there will be more international and mounting pressure for the United States to perhaps take a stronger position on that, Garrett.

And the president seems to have gotten some real concessions here from Prime Minister Netanyahu out of his call yesterday. How closely is the White House watching what I think Hala correctly cast some skepticism on, which is that the Israeli government will follow through on some of these promises to get more aid in and open more of these crossings? Yeah, that skepticism is definitely real and it's one that the U.S. does plan to hold Israel accountable for.

And the reason they do feel cautiously optimistic about that is because this conversation started earlier in the week between lower level U.S. and Israeli officials about these three specific points of improving the humanitarian aid corridor with that crossing by land and by sea and by just simply allowing more trucks to flow in from Jordan. And because that was something that the president asked the prime minister for in the call and the prime minister agreed to and said, we're going to even announce that we're doing it a couple of hours from now. That was reassuring because in the past, when the president has requested things like this, it's been met with, well, maybe and we'll see and we'll take it under consideration.

But this tone and their response indicates, at least to senior administration officials, that they are more serious about taking some of these immediate steps. And we know that the larger background to all of that is because for the first time, the president said to the prime minister in more blunt terms, if you don't do that, we may not support you in the way that we have been for the last six months. All right, Monica Alba and Hala Gorani, thank you both for your reporting. I want to bring in now Scott Paul.

He's the associate director for peace and security at Oxfam. Scott, thank you for joining us. You heard us talking about Israel now making this announcement that they'll open a new port, an old border crossing in northern Gaza to increase the flow of aid. Obviously, short of a ceasefire, what other steps can and should Israel take to continue to try to ease the humanitarian crisis there in Gaza?

Well, as you said, these are welcome steps, but we have to change our mindset to really understand what's necessary to save lives in Gaza and Even knocking down some trees in New York. New York City mayor Eric Adams reported there was no major damage to city infrastructure, but warned New Yorkers to be cautious in case of those aftershocks. We do not have any reports of major impacts to our infrastructure or injuries. But of course, we're still assessing the situation and we'll continue to update the public.

And if you feel an aftershock and a drop to the floor, cover your head and neck and take cover under a solid piece of furniture next to an interior wall or in a doorway. NBC News correspondent Rahima Ellis joins me now from the epicenter. So Rahima, tell us about the situation where you are and what are you hearing for people on the ground who probably have very little experience with anything quite like this. You bet, Garrett, very little experience.

And so this was something that unnerved people this morning when it happened. The actual point of the epicenter is about two miles just to the right of me here. And so where I'm standing, people were really rattled, as you say, when their houses and the cars that they were in started moving. Listen to what a homeowner said to us not long ago.

Did you feel the earthquake? Beyond. It was absolutely unbelievable. How so?

So, like nothing I've ever felt before. I mean, we thought our house was coming down, to be honest with you. You thought the house was coming down? We thought our house was coming down.

I mean, to the point where everybody was screaming in this house. I mean, we just had no idea. I thought that something was exploding in the basement because the walls were trembling. One of the good things for them, she said, was nothing was broken in their home, with the exception of there was a glass-framed picture that was hanging over her daughter's bed.

That came down and it gave the daughter the notion that she's probably not going to put a glass-framed picture back up above her bed anymore. This was a real teachable moment, if you will. And one that happened without any injuries to them. We're hearing that here in this area.

No reports of any major injuries or any major damage, Garrett. Yeah, that is all pretty fortunate. Now, there were some ground stops, public transportation systems that were affected at least earlier in the day. What's that gonna look like as people start to get into this rush hour headed home?

Things are telling us that it should look pretty normal. Now, at JFK and Newark, they did do a ground stop. But we are told that that ground stop has been lifted. But there could be some delays still at the airport because now they've got to get the people who were stopped.

They've got to get them out of the way. And so it tends to line up things along the runway, if you will. But the expectation is that things are going to get back to normal. I should tell you also, of a 1.1 million buildings in New York City, according to the New York City Building Commissioner, they're going to have inspectors on standby over the weekend.

In the event that someone feels that things just aren't right in their home or in their building, and they want to call somebody in to take a look at it. New York City says they're going to be prepared to do that. Sorry, I remember we had that small earthquake in D.C. a couple of years ago and people were finding little things at issue for a long time after that.

Rahima Ellis, thank you for your reporting. And still ahead, President Biden on the ground and in the air as he tours the Key Bridge collapse. And as crews rush to get the vital shipping lanes in Baltimore back open. Plus, the Biden campaign looks to tout a blockbuster jobs report as the president caps off a week that featured some positive political developments for him for a change.

You're watching Meet the Press now. Welcome back. As we mentioned at the top of the show, President Biden is in Baltimore right now where he toured the wreckage by air caused by last week's bridge collapse. The president is also meeting with the families of some of the six people killed when that cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the collapse.

As well as the officials who are now tasked with clearing the wreckage, reopening the port of Baltimore and eventually rebuilding that bridge. Here's the president speaking in the last hour. So, on the air, I saw the bridge that's been ripped apart. But here on the ground, I see a community that's been pulled together.

My administration is committed, absolutely committed to ensuring that the parties responsible for this tragedy pay to repair the damage and be held accountable to the fullest extent the law will allow. But I also want to be clear. We will support Maryland and Baltimore every step of the way to help you rebuild and maintain all the business and commerce that's here now. NBC News correspondent George DeLise has been following the story for us since it broke and joins me now from Baltimore.

So, George, what did the president see on his tour of the bridge site? Hey, Garrett. Yeah, I mean, you heard it there from himself. Just that imagery, that harrowing imagery of where the Francis Scott Key Bridge once existed.

He also reflected on his personal loss as he spoke to the people of Baltimore, the people of Maryland and this country, frankly, about what it means to lose. He understands that those families are still waiting for answers for those four individuals that have not been found. He is expected to meet with some of those family members and express his condolences. Again, playing the role of consoler in chief during this difficult time.

And I will point to you right behind me here where we are. Something pretty unique and special, a mural and a memorial that's been growing here by the community, which we touched on, who was paying their respects to those workers, those people that made a difference, who were simply there, as he put it today, pouring concrete to fill those potholes, doing their job, serving their community when the tragedy occurred. Garrett. So, in terms of the cleanup, the efforts to open these channels, the water, I understand, has been too dangerous for dive teams to operate in.

Is there any idea when it will be safe for them to get back below the surface and do so much of the work there that needs to be done? Yeah, keep in mind, there's two different types of operations that will be happening in the water. You have the salvage and the recovery. So what we have seen from Unified Command is some footage of some of those salvage teams kind of going in there.

In one briefing yesterday, we saw a video of what one official described as high beams in a blizzard, just really showing the conditions of just how difficult it is to really see what's going on. So they are in the water, sort of mapping out what it looks like underneath there. But as far as going in there and doing more of the recovery, keep in mind, the weather here in the Mid-Atlantic has not been ideal. It's been rainy, it's been cold, it's been dreary.

So it has been sort of putting the kibosh in a way on them being able to go back into the water and really see what's going on down there. They will expect to be able to do that once the weather improves, hopefully in the coming days, Garrett. And what about folks in Baltimore? How are people there adjusting to this new normal with the bridge at the heart of their community now at the bottom of this river?

Yeah, something that struck us immediately when we got here is people don't think of this as just another piece of infrastructure, especially here in the Baltimore region. This is named after Francis Scott Key, a Marylander who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner. It means so much to the people here. And we've seen people just looking in awe of where the bridge was.

We're looking at pictures of the bridge, where it existed, shedding tears even. And then again, it speaks to just how much it means to this community. You can even see a memorial here that's been growing and a vigil expected to grow in huge numbers tomorrow. People, of course, are concerned about the economic impacts and what this means for the supply chain.

But really, it's just a matter for them to see that bridge rebuilt and make sure they can get to their neighbors on the other side from Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County and beyond. Really, again, it's such an important part of commerce and such an important part of history of Maryland, of this nation. And so to see it gone has been such a meaningful and it really has hurt this community. But they are eager to see the work and the progress that's been occurring to get it rebuilt as soon as possible.

I'm sure they are. George DeLise, thank you for that reporting. And joining me now is Alan Diehl, a former investigator for the NTSB. And Alan, we spoke to you last week about this disaster.

In the last few days, what's been the most significant development? Well, progress is being made, but it's all being made behind the scene. Clearly, I understand they're gonna be taking fuel samples. They're looking at the black box, the recording.

But the big issue is what kind of repairs or maintenance was performed on those four engines, five engines, I guess, before it left? There's been reports in the press that there was routine maintenance on those engines. Obviously, the fuel contamination issue is still there. I'm sure the NTSB is taking samples from both the bunkers aboard the ship as well as the shore facilities.

But the crew coordination, I think, will be a big issue here. When did they first realize they had a problem? Obviously, it was after they released the tugs. Yeah, so I'm not an expert in shipping here, Alan, but the idea of the Dolly losing power a couple times and then just being afloat into this bridge, are there levels of redundancy?

Are there things The Fed was gonna tip the U.S. economy into a recession on purpose. That simply has not happened. And where the hiring is, healthcare, just about every kind of healthcare job, government construction, these are well-paid jobs.

And again, here they show that with these high mortgage rates, high interest rates, you still have the construction industry moving ahead. It just shows the underlying strength of the American economy. You mentioned high mortgage rates. I am living with them.

If the Fed meets later this month, are we going to see the interest rate cuts that have been discussed for so long? And what else could these numbers mean for inflation more generally? I have learned never to make a prediction about the Fed or the stock market. There's two things that I know, but I would wager, so I am going to make a prediction, that they do not cut interest rates.

They won't cut interest rates here at the next meeting. The economy is so strong. You cut interest rates when the economy is slowing a little bit to give it a little bit more gas. This is an economy that doesn't need any gas right now.

Gas in this economy might actually make inflation rear up again, right? So we want to see the inflation rate get back down to that 2% that the Fed wants to see. And some gradual slowing on these economic numbers would be welcome for the Fed at this point. And you're just asking, it's very strong.

But maybe later this year, the markets are pricing in one or two rate, two rate cuts maybe later this year. So you might have your lower mortgage rate, but certainly people who six months ago thought there'd be a rate cut in March, that's just not looking like it's going to happen. Yeah, who are those people? What were they thinking?

Oh, well, Christine, we'll leave it there. Who were those people? I don't want to talk about it. Thank you very much.

All right, still ahead. Why the Biden campaign and the White House see those 303,000 jobs as 303,000 reasons to celebrate as they end the week on a high note. At a moment when good news has been hard to come by for the president and his allies. You're watching Meet the Press now.

Welcome back. Green shoots are not just for gardens in the first week of April. The Biden campaign is wrapping up arguably one of its better political weeks this year. We already mentioned today's strong jobs numbers, which President Biden praised as, quote, another chapter in America's comeback.

The president's head-to-head poll numbers against former President Trump are still largely within the margin of error. But in a few, like this new PBS NPR Marist poll, they actually had Biden's name first. And no labels, the centrist political group that threatened a third-party run from the center, says they will not now be fielding a candidate, which could have cut into the president's support. All in all, it's been a week of relatively good news for President Biden.

But ask any baseball fan, success in early April is great, but it often doesn't translate to a strong run in the fall. Joining me now on set is Tamara Keith, White House correspondent for NPR. Simone Sanders-Townsend, former senior advisor to Vice President Harris and co-host of The Weekend, weekends here on MSNBC. And Republican strategist Jim Dornan.

So, Simone, vibes have been good. Things seem to be moving in the right direction. I assume they're not like popping champagne bottles here at the White House, but I assume, yeah, I wouldn't know. How do they build on this momentum if that's indeed what we're seeing here, however modest?

Well, look, I think getting out there is going to be a continuing to be out there is going to be a really important piece of this. Obviously, the president was in Baltimore today to visit and tour and see up close and personal for himself the devastation of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the Baltimore Harbor and the port. But there's travel to be done, right? There are the American people.

I mean, look, people are paying attention. They're seeing the president. They're like, OK, they're seeing the big fundraising numbers. They remember they're looking at that video that came out of the big fundraiser.

And all of that is fine, well and good. But the election is not tomorrow or next week or next month. This is upcoming November. And so in order to keep that momentum, they will have to stay out there and in front of a number of things.

And I think that's what they plan to do. But Israel, the Prime Minister Netanyahu situation is something that could definitely throw a wrench in that plan. It's an albatross, clearly. For sure.

Jim, if these economic numbers keep improving, should we expect to see Republicans continue to distance themselves from the economic argument that we thought this race was going to be about? Like, are we going to just be hearing more about crime and immigration and less of an economic argument and his age? Yeah. I mean, that's what they seem to be running on right now.

I told Tamara earlier that if I was Joe Biden, I'd be at the top of the White House screaming at the top of my lungs about how great these numbers are. I mean, they're wonderful. And they're worried about not getting enough coverage on it. Well, they're not taking the coverage that they can be given.

So, yeah, short answer, I think immigration is what Trump is going to be running on almost completely and Biden's age. And I think, you know, it's gonna be an interesting summer watching these court cases. Yeah. Tamara, we talked about the other piece of good news here.

No labels, no candidate is basically where they ended up here. They're sitting this out. How does the Biden operation take advantage of at least one, you know, potential spoiler out of this race? One potential spoiler is out of the race.

We'll talk about the other in a minute. And certainly the Biden operation, the DNC, Biden allies, outside groups had their eyes on on this no labels effort. And and they were because it had a lot of money behind it. The potential existed for there to be an outside super PAC.

It was going to be very well funded. All they needed was a magical rainbow unicorn candidate that doesn't exist. And which is a candidate that people who are actually partisan would want the the idea that America has this great middle and everybody's just searching for this moderate person. It hasn't been proven out.

And obviously it's made more difficult by the two party system. But there isn't that magical unicorn that people actually like hating the other party. I want to ask you to expand on this a little bit here, because to me, this is surprising in the sense that people tell pollsters time and time again, they don't want these two parties. But they also don't want the magical unicorn candidate or that person can't be found.

Is that just sort of negative partisanship? What do you think? Well, the people that were all that could also fit the mold, right? The people that could have been an available candidate didn't want to be no labels candidates.

And so no labels did not have an audience. They didn't have an audience of candidates. And I don't think they frankly had an audience of the American people. They said for months and weeks that, you know what, we're going to get this process together.

And they weren't very transparent about how it was happening. There was no one that wanted to be on their ticket. And I think that is telling. And to me, that says that a number of these candidates, everybody from Joe Manchin to Chris Christie, understand the level, the stakes of this election.

And they were unwilling to get engaged and involved in any kind of effort that could potentially help elect Donald Trump. If I'm one of their donors, I am ticked because they took all this time to come up with nobody. I mean, the credibility is in bad shape right now. And I think they're gonna have to spend a number of months and maybe years rebuilding that.

But with high interest rates, maybe that money will make money. That's all I'm gonna say, but I'm happy. They've got a great cut. I want to ask you about Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. He's obviously not taking a hint to stay out of this race. He's very much in it right now. He's only on the ballot in Utah.

But for the sake of this argument, if he gets onto the swing state ballots that he says he's qualified for, places like New Hampshire and Nevada, Arizona, if he's really poised to play a big role here in your mind, you know, what do you think the impact actually is here? This is carrying out a script that we see every four years with a third party candidate. I mean, he's the big news right now. He's actually polling a lot better than most, you know, short of Perot.

But he's, I mean, it's a third party candidate. And I think when voters wind up going into the polling or the voting booth, they're like, well, wait a second. He doesn't have a shot at winning. I also think he's really confused right now because he sent out a fundraising letter praising Jay Sixers.

And then he's back in a way and he's reaching out to the left on issues. You know, I just I don't know where he's at and I don't know if he knows where he's at. Well, it went further than that. He also said he would appoint a special prosecutor to basically investigate the investigators.

But is part of the freak out here. He doesn't have to win. Doesn't have to do well. It doesn't have to do well.

It just has to be there. And that is the that is the issue that Democrats have. I mean, is this the ghost in the machine? Is this the fear of 2016 happening all over again where Democrats ignored third party candidates?

And oops, surprise, Donald Trump's president. Also the year so I may be biased here, but when you read that order, I read Judge Cannon as actually being quite deferential to the government. When the judges, when federal judges deny a defense attorney's motion, they don't spend a paragraph patiently explaining why they denied it. And that was the sense I got from Amy Cannon's language there.

Yes, she used words like unjust and other words that you could interpret as being a little harsh on the government. But at the same time, she also took some time to explain, hey, I was just kind of soliciting some ideas for jury instructions. That's not an explanation that defense attorneys normally give, but please take it with a grain, a block of salt because I am a defense attorney and frankly, it is rare to see the government get any flack from a federal judge. And that's because the government's really pretty good at what they do in good at filing motions.

As a civilian reader of these things, you do detect some frustration from the special counsel about Judge Cannon, though. I've seen some ink spilled on this this week. Do you expect Jack Smith to try to seek the removal of Judge Cannon? How rare would that be?

It would be very rare, and I would be really surprised if the government did that. I mean, look, so far, yes, you have a judge that seems to be deciding everything against you. And I would say this to the government, welcome to our experiences with defense attorneys. And again, I may be biased, but as a defense attorney, it often feels like the judge, especially federal judges who are usually former prosecutors, former federal prosecutors.

They are often, at least, and again, this is just my bias. It feels like they're often ruling against the defense. But another explanation could be, this guy's guilty, so that's why he's losing all these motions. So, fair enough, I get it.

But look, all this is is a case of Judge Cannon seems to be going a lot of times against the government, but she's also deciding some things in their favor. That, to me, is never grounds for recusal. You need some inherent fundamental bias that you can demonstrate. I see Jack Smith getting frustrated.

I don't see him moving to recuse because I just don't see the grounds here. Donald Trump loves talking about the Presidential Records Act when he talks about this case. Based on what we saw this week, can his attorneys still use that as part of his defense once we get to trial, or is that now off the table? I would say it's completely off the table.

All this denial is cabined to really is saying, let's look at the indictment. The indictment controls here because the indictment tracks the criminal statutes. You can't get the case thrown out at this stage because the standard is so deferential. When you're talking about moving to dismiss an indictment, the judge will literally look to the statute, look at the indictment, see if the words track.

And usually, that's enough. I mean, there are obviously exceptions. But in this case, they don't apply. I think that's a fair reading of a judge's duty at this stage.

Things change once the factual record is developed at trial. So we may see that issue come up again somehow. All right, Dan, we're gonna do a lightning round on these other cases before we run out of time. Georgia, the judge there throws out this First Amendment argument here from Trump's attorneys.

Was that ever something to take seriously or was that just a delay tactic by the Trump attorneys, do you think? That was very much something to take seriously, especially because I think Judge McAfee is an academic type. I think he's someone who might be interested in some of these theoretical First Amendment arguments. But the biggest takeaway from me is what Judge McAfee said in his decision was essentially, just because there is speech and it may be false, that can still harm the government and that can still be a crime.

Because one of the themes of the Trump defense is that false speech is okay and it can't be criminalized, which Judge McAfee seems to disagree with. And quickly on the New York trial, April 15th, do we think that holds or do we get this kicked down even further? Well, in re-elect terms, I've been betting black on this every single time. And that black bet is, it's always going to get delayed.

Now, I realize I'm probably wrong this time, but I've been right every single other time I've said that a trial date wouldn't hold. So I'm just being consistent and saying it probably won't go. But as I see it, there really isn't anything left to delay this case. I'm with you, I've been taking the over since it's March Madness.

I've been taking the over on all these trial dates. David Sabolos, we've got to leave it there. Thank you. We're also following now some breaking news out of Vermont, where police are investigating a fire at Senator Bernie Sanders' office as a potential act of arson.

Police and fire officials responded to the fire at Sanders' office in Burlington this morning. They say an unknown man had entered the vestibule at the office, sprayed some kind of accelerant apparently on the door and lit it on fire, then fled. No one was hurt, but the fire did damage the office. Water from the sprinkler system also damaged the office and other parts of the building.

Police are now looking for that suspect and the motive is unknown. The investigation is ongoing. That's gonna do it for us. We'll be back on Monday with more Meet the Press Now.

NBC News Now continues with Tom Costello. Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of The Drink. This month, Demi Lovato is my guest. The global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now.

But getting there, it wasn't simple. Demi opens up about starting in Hollywood young and why she now thinks she may have started too soon. She talks about recovery, her new marriage and the deeply personal reason behind her new cookbook. The Drink is always about the journey to the top.

And this was an honest conversation about what that takes. Hope you'll listen and follow The Drink wherever you get your podcasts.