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All 19 defendants in Georgia have now surrendered as Donald Trump becomes the first former president to have to get a mugshot taken, paving the way for an election year of courtroom and campaign chaos. Plus, Hawaii officials publicly identify a list of at least 388 people still missing as the Maui government decides to sue the state's largest power company accusing it of causing the deadly wildfires. And Bidenomics versus the Fed. As President Biden bets big on selling his record on the economy, Chairman Jerome Powell says inflation is still too high as auto workers threaten a major strike.
Hello there, I'm Chuck Todd and welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm here reporting in Washington. This has arguably been the most consequential week yet in the 2024 presidential campaign. And we're going to begin today with a question we continue to grapple with.
Does the Republican Party have a breaking point when it comes to Donald Trump? Last night, the former president traveled to Georgia to be booked at a Fulton County jail for his fourth criminal indictment. Every single one of his 18 co-defendants have now surrendered in that racketeering case. And we now have booking photos for each of them.
It's on your screen for posterity. And for the first time, a former president has had a mugshot taken, which he is using to fundraise, posting it on X, formerly Twitter, in his first post since January of 2021, two days after the attack on the Capitol that led, of course, to this case. All in all, as he continues to claim that all these indictments are a way to interfere with his campaign. This is their way of campaigning.
And this is one instance, but you have three other instances. It's election interference. So I want to thank you for being here. We did nothing wrong at all.
And we have every right, every single right to challenge an election that we think is dishonest, that we think is very dishonest. Quick fact checks there. He went and announced his campaign super early in order to create the illusion that his legal troubles were politically motivated. All of these cases were and investigations began before he ever became a candidate for office on that front.
But those remarks came the day after most of his primary rivals pledged at Wednesday night's debate that they would vote for him and support him even if he's a convicted felon. But folks, the summertime spectacles and indictments and arrests are over. And now comes the actual criminal trials. The one in Georgia potentially will be televised.
In fact, it could start very soon. Unlikely, but right now it's on the books for soon. And it means the Republican field will have to confront a reality of even more distractions from the front runner's legal troubles as they collide with the election calendar. Nikki Haley is the one that's been sounding this alarm the loudest.
She's been addressing that issue both during and after Wednesday's debate, saying that these distractions for Trump is reason enough to move on from the former president. We have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We can't win a general election that way. He's going to spend more time in a courtroom than he is campaigning.
I served with him. I was proud to serve with him. I agree with him on most issues and he is my friend. But the reality is we cannot afford Joe Biden.
It's all political. It's all weaponization. All of that. But the fact remains, he's got five court cases next year.
He's going to start the first one in the early part of January. He's got another one in March. Of course, we always have to note that as of right now, the voters, at least the ones we poll in Republican primaries, haven't been swayed. In Iowa, for instance, the first state on the Republican primary calendar, 65% of likely Republican caucus goers say they do not think Trump committed any serious crimes.
But the well of Trump devotion does have its limits. For instance, in the same poll of Iowa caucus goers, just 41% say that Trump should continue as leader of the party, which means roughly 60% of the party is at least open to the idea of an alternative. And that brings us back to the breaking point question. Republican voters and party leaders have largely stood by through every flavor of scandal, outrageous behavior, 91 criminal counts, and an attempted insurrection.
And they all did it because it did seem like when they tried to denounce him, it only made him stronger. And now they just assume all these things will make him stronger. But just like we failed to imagine that he could win in 2016, be careful with the groupthink that fails to imagine this thing could implode on him before the end of this nomination contest. Is this time different?
We're all going to find out together. Vaughn Hilliard is on the ground in Atlanta. Dasha Burns is on the campaign trail in Iowa. And frankly, this is how we pretty much open all of our campaign coverage.
One person near a courthouse, one person on a campaign trail. And Vaughn, this is exactly the question that we all have of whether of just how much Republican voters can take. But let's get to the details of what you saw today in Atlanta. Everybody is now surrendered.
Now what? Right. All 19 have now officially surrendered. There is one of the defendants that is still currently in here, the Fulton County jail, because he has not posted bond at this time, Harrison Floyd.
But the next step from here is going to be Mark Meadows Monday hearing in front of federal judge. He is one of five who has motioned to have his case moved from the state court to a federal court, arguing that he was working in the role of a federal officer while serving as chief of staff to Donald Trump at that time. But this is going to be now a set of motions from each of these defendants. District Attorney Fannie Willis has made it clear that she wants to try all 19 of these defendants at the same time.
Yet you already saw the judge in this case offer up the October 23rd start date for at least one of the defendants, Kenneth Cheesepro. That does not mean that at this point that these cases are severed because there is no official start date for any of the other defendants at this time. But for Donald Trump, clearly there are different interests. He has said that he wants to begin this trial after the 2024 election.
Clearly, there are other defendants that have other ideas for him. Very quickly, we have the one motion for severance. Do we know of anything else? I think we have the we have the Mark Meadows.
Is it going to be a full on trial, sort of a hearing to decide whether it goes to the feds? Is that all next week? Right. This is Monday.
This is going to be a hearing in the district attorney has already put in her opposition to the movement to the federal court, arguing that he was not actually serving in his role as a federal officer, but instead he was violating the Hatch Act while chief of staff by coming down to Georgia and working on Donald Trump's own political effort that it was not a formal White House gig. And so this will play out in the courts. Ultimately, Mark Meadows already lost a bit in front of that same federal judge to have his surrender date postponed until after this Monday hearing. But there are others that we believe, including the likes of Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, even that are waiting to see whether Mark Meadows is successful in his effort before potentially filing their own motion to also have their cases moved.
All right. We start on the legal front with Vaughn Hilliard. Vaughn, thank you. Let me move to the campaign trail with Dasha Burns.
And Dasha, it gets at this. Look, everybody not named Trump. The reason they're running is that they are betting that at some point there is going to be a break at some point. There is going to be a fatigue in the Republican electorate.
Right. You've got a whether it's a DeSantis or a Vivek who's betting that actual Trump supporters might feel this or Nikki Haley or Tim Scott. You think, hey, I can bring a couple of coalitions together. What are you seeing today on the trail?
Look, a lot has to happen over the next five months, including a narrowing of the field. Right. There are so many factors at play here. And people are going to call me crazy and get mad at me probably when I say this.
But look, when you are out here and I spend a lot of time out here, I have to tell you, it does not feel on the ground like Trump has this in the bag. Yes, he's ahead in the polls. Yes. These other candidates have a mountain to climb.
And yes, there has to be a consolidation around one alternative. But but when I go to these events today, we've been with Vivek Ramaswamy, who has had this surge. Right. I'm talking to voters who are saying I'm open to other people.
I am not yet decided. These are voters who voted for him twice, including some voters who are telling me that they're still So a nice guy. And he continues trying to be that nice guy. He doesn't want to ruffle too many feathers.
He even saw it there, although he did challenge the voter and said, you want to have a monologue, you want to have a discussion or debate. He jumped to it. That's, it was just a, it was a, I know it's a no-win, but I know it's a no-win, but they're all praying for a Trump implosion. They've been praying for that for years, but it's not happening.
They're waiting for it. Others can do it. Republicans have to take him down. They can't rely on the media to do it or the courts or the Democrats.
They need to do it themselves. Charlie, as I, deep, I think you've heard me say this before, if you watch Star Wars, it was Darth Vader that got rid of the emperor. Right. It has to be the Republican.
It has to be the Republican. I know you've heard me say this. Let's, let's, the, I guess the question is, can, what I can't, what I, the reason I'm not ready to sit here and say, Trump's got this locked up is, you know, every week there's going to be some development in the trial, and we don't know what those developments are. And they could be small.
They could be small. It could be someone flipping. All of a sudden, that's an oxygen suck out of the air. Could be some motion to sever.
It could be this, but at some point, you know, there's a reason the metaphor of the straw that breaks the camel's back. One of these could be a piece of straw. It could, it could. And at the same time though, it's kind of working for him.
If these small minute developments are garnering attention, if people are turning on their televisions or they're turning on their radio stations and they're hearing that Trump is, you know, turning up at the Fulton County jailhouse or this small development or this small development, he's dominating the airways. He's getting that coverage. He's getting that attention. And that's something that on the other side of the aisle, Joe Biden's going to have to fight for.
At the same time, when all of this is unfolding. I want to ask you guys about the strategy the other candidates took on Wednesday night. Charlie, Deepak Ramaswamy's probably not going to be the nominee. If you say Donald Trump's the greatest president of the 21st century, again, unless he's disappears from the trail, he's got no path.
A lot of candidates, to me, it looked like, well, they can't beat up Trump, so they're going to beat up him. But they left DeSantis alone. It seemed like a missed opportunity. Yeah, it was a missed opportunity.
And Ramaswamy, I mean, I got the sense that he was running for number two. He wants to be vice president. He couldn't believe his luck that everybody wanted to make him the center of attention. I cannot understand why a person would run for president of the United States without trying to take down the lead dog.
That's what you need to do in this campaign. But he has already made, he's got a different calculation. As Jonathan Martin wrote, he might be running for the next one. Well, he could be, but at the end of the day, these guys, like, Pence was surprisingly aggressive.
I think Haley actually made a good general election argument on the abortion issue. And I think she was rather clever in the way she phrased that. Probably didn't help her inside that room. Reminded me of how well John Kasich did at the debates in 15 and 16.
And I say this not disparagingly. That gets you to a point. Correct. But it doesn't necessarily get you over the top.
Well, again, a lot of these folks are playing to the evangelical base in Iowa, which is really not representative of the broader electorate, which they're going to have to appeal to at some point. When you hear the word consensus from someone like Nikki Haley on a primary debate stage, I mean, she's playing that game early. And it's not like anyone else is really going out there. If she needs it on money, I think.
Donors want to hear that. And I think that even though they may not work, but she needs to build a better infrastructure. Right now, she is not built to win, to compete in Iowa. Tim Scott is.
And Ramaswamy, at 38 years of age, he captured a moment. People are kind of knowing his name now, you know, in the states. I mean, but Ramaswamy, he's not a. He will be around for a while.
He's a shooting star. He's a shooting star. That's an important thing to note as well. In terms of compassion, the man is compassionate, man.
I don't think it's that. It's more of the visuals were no comment. Forget no comment. Just watching him walk around.
This didn't look like a vibrant president right now. And I think that's a struggle. Charlie, then, if Joe Biden's political standing were stronger, do you think there'd be more hand-wringing over Trump by Republicans? I don't know, but I think there are a lot of Republicans out there looking for an alternative.
I mean, you hear a lot about the no-labels movement, trying to put together some kind of. Do you support it? I am supportive of the idea of getting ballot access. Absolutely.
And, you know, pull the plug if Trump's not the nominee. But I think that what they're doing is trying to provide an alternative for a lot of disaffected voters. I'd say somewhere between center-left and center-right. If Trump can't get more than 45% of the vote.
It depends who's the candidate. But if 45% is the winning number in a four-way race. If Trump can't draw the vote, what's the use of having him? So I do think it's another third party.
No-labels is a party unto itself. But remember what happened in 2016. There was a large number of voters who did not vote for either Trump or Hillary Clinton. I think there's an even bigger number out there that is very dissatisfied.
Somewhere between center-left, left to center-left. We just don't know where they're going to land. Do you find them on the trail a lot? In Nevada, yeah, I did.
I talked to a lot of people who are in that boat. But it's early. Well, you'll be glad to this. At the end of the show, I'm going to try to find out when the heck the Nevada primary caucus is.
Which one matters. But that's a whole other story. Joe, Charlie, thank you all. Excellent way to start the show.
Coming up, Trump's tangled legal web. We're going to get some answers about just how fast that 19-person Georgia case could go to trial as the 2024 race heats up. Plus, severe storms and extreme heat and more severe weather is on the way, including a potentially big storm that hits Florida, which would actually have some 2024 implications. You're watching The Press Club.
Did you know that everyday activities like ASMR can actually be healthy for you? Right now, you're improving your heart health, boosting your brain activity, and lowering your stress. Manulife wants you to see healthy living differently so you can live a longer, healthier life. Visit manulife.ca slash health to learn more ways Manulife can help.
Welcome back. As we mentioned earlier, all 19 defendants, including the former president, have officially surrendered, been booked, and had their mugshots taken following their indictment in an alleged racketeering scheme on Georgia election interference case. And a judge has set a trial date now of October 23rd for one of the defendants, former Trump attorney Kenneth Cheesebro, after he made a formal request for a speedy trial. Now, the Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis has asked the judge to schedule a trial for every defendant on that day as well.
That is not clear. That's going to happen. Joining me now is Jay Tom Morgan. He's a former district attorney of DeKalb County, Georgia, which, of course, borders Fulton County.
Jay Tom, I really appreciate you coming on and helping us do this here. First, let me ask a basic larger legal decision in what Fannie Willis did. She decided to go with a racketeering case. Many of our legal experts, who admittedly are more federal government experts, former U.S.
attorneys, things like that, believe that she could have just done a straight up conspiracy case without the racketeering aspect. And the fear is that making it a RICO case, it just inevitably makes it impossible to get to trial in a reasonable amount of time. Is that a fair critique? No, Chuck, not at all.
I prosecuted the first RICO case in Georgia against a public official where I prosecuted a Georgia sheriff for corruption and murdering the sheriff elect. John Floyd, who wrote that indictment for my office, wrote the indictment for Fannie Willis in the Fulton County office. The Georgia RICO statute is broader than the federal statute. I understand that federal prosecutors are not savvy to understand the Georgia statutes.
But Chuck, it encompasses many more crimes than the federal statute. And what that does, it gives Fannie a way to bring in other crimes from other jurisdictions that you cannot do in a straight up conspiracy case. She's got 160 overt acts. She's got 40 other separate charged crimes.
You cannot do that but in a RICO case. All right. Now, we've got the first attempt to sever from the other 18 co-defendants with Mr. Cheesebro demanding a speedy trial.
Fannie Willis says, fine, let's try everybody together on that speedy trial. The judges, it seems to be open to former DeKalb County prosecutor. Really appreciate you coming on, offering your expertise, getting us all familiar with the Georgia penal code. Thank you, sir.
Up next, thank you, Jeff. U.S. auto workers vote to authorize a strike. They're not on strike yet, but it means 150,000 union members could soon walk off the job if the big three automakers offer them a deal they don't like.
It could obviously have a huge impact on the perception of the economy. You're watching Meet the Press now. Welcome back. Markets closed up today despite a warning from Fed chair Jerome Powell that inflation is still too high.
During his annual keynote address in Jackson Hole, Wyoming earlier today. Why does that matter? Well, it could mean interest rates are still going to creep up. Despite the wave of good economic numbers in recent months, Powell called for more vigilance in this fight against inflation, and he hinted at even more rate hikes in the future.
Powell also doubled down, insisting that the Fed's inflation target is and will remain 2%. A level the U.S. economy hasn't seen since February of 2021. That last part is because there's been a growing intellectual movement, particularly among left-leaning economists.
Hey, should we raise it to 3% since that's where we are right now. Joining me now with the best live shot location in America right now, it is CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leesman. Steve, I'm in a hole, but it ain't Jackson Hole, so good for you. Let's start with, I saw that there were some economists, there's been this debate.
Is there any concern about the housing market crashing here if we keep inching up interest rates? It's been remarkable that it hasn't yet, but are we playing with fire? Almost certainly. I mean, those interest rates for mortgages are creeping up near 8%.
And it's a real struggle for people, especially first-time buyers, to come in and buy a home. The real issue, though, for the Federal Reserve is sort of the opposite, Chuck. It's how the housing market seems to have held on and held up quite so well despite these high interest rates. And the answer is there's so much pent-up demand.
A lot of it spurred on by the pandemic, which created a tremendous need for new and different kind of housing, as you can imagine. And also pent-up demand among, you know, those 30-somethings or 20-somethings that were living on the couch and want a house now. So there's concern about that. There's concern as well that maybe the economic numbers are just kind of too good.
Well, so what does that mean? I mean, is this economy too hot? And that's why it continues to want to put the brakes on? So let me set the stage a little bit.
Out here a year ago, Powell gave a very forceful speech about the Fed's determination to bring down inflation. And he said that bringing down inflation was going to require the economy to run below what they believe the potential of the economy to be. In other words, run slower, sluggish. Well, guess what happened?
The economy ran above potential. This quarter, it's kind of knocking the doors off. It's up near, well, they think, you know, somewhere between 5% and 6%. So the economy actually has been accelerating despite the Fed's attempts to slow it down.
And it's running counter to what the Fed wants, which it wants the economy to slow down, create slack in the economy, slack in the job market, and that will reduce pressure on prices. That's the theory anyway. OK, and I'm sure you've asked the same question. How is our economy so strong with China in potential contraction mode?
They've got their own, you know, it's a big piece of the global economy suffering right now. And energy prices are going up. And the price of energy is going up in general. That's what's been remarkable here.
There's a lot of other parts of the economy that indicate that the cost of doing business is going up. And it doesn't seem to be impacting anything. What's the secret? OK, so let me try to unpack that very fair but difficult and complicated question, Chuck, which is, first of all, the inflation rate has come down from 9% this time last year when we were in the mountains listening to the Fed chair, to about 3% now.
Yes, it's creeping back up because of higher oil prices. But a lot of stuff has happened. And mostly it is on the supply side of the economy, which is, it was a lot of the supply chain problems that really led to the inflation. Those are clearing.
And then you had the central bank interest rate hikes. Those slowed down other parts of the economy. And that led overall to inflation that came down. Yes, it's creeping back up now.
But I don't know that it's going to have the kind of problems that we had before. Meanwhile, you know, the unemployment rate is at or near a 50-year low of 3.5%. What does that mean? It means only 3.5% of all the people who are of kind of working age who want a job can't find one, which is a very low rate.
So that may be what's powering this economy. Yeah. And on the interest rate front, I think I saw a stat, 90% of people that have mortgages have a mortgage rate of, I think, 5% or lower that they locked in a while ago. Anyway, Steve Leisman, enjoy your work trip out there.
Thank you, my friend. Speaking of the economy, we could have some unnecessary economic trouble potentially brewing and a major part of our economy. The United Auto Workers Union moved one step closer to a strike today as an average of 97% of the union's members across multiple car companies voted to grant union leaders the authorization to call a strike. The union covers around 150,000 workers at the top automakers, including the big three, Ford, GM, and the company that used to be Chrysler, and Dodge.
And President Biden was asked this afternoon about the state of those negotiations. I'm obviously not concerned, but I think that there should be a circumstance where the jobs that are being displaced, replaced with new jobs, they should go to the first choice should go to the UAW members that had the jobs and the salaries should be commensurate. NBC correspondent Jesse Kirsch has the latest on this potential strike. So, Jesse, what is the sticking?
Is there one sticking point or is it multiple? Yeah, Chuck, we're looking at a laundry list, right? Per usual when we look at this kind of situation. Here's what the union's talking about.
A couple of their big things. They're talking about wanting a pay bump of close to 50%. They want traditional pensions back. They want to be able to strike if there's a plant closure.
And that you can kind of see looking toward the future with electric vehicles. Because while companies are making a lot of money, and that's something that the union's pointing toward, profits for the companies but not being passed along to the workers. Companies, as I talked with one of our friends at CNBC earlier, pointed out, companies are putting profits toward investments in electric vehicles. They are doing the R&D.
They are trying to look toward the future on all of that. But EVs might be potentially good for the environment, might be good for the consumer down the road, right? But there's concern that that will require fewer jobs to make those kinds of cars. So, this is about a contract now, but also you can see that there are concerns, right, more existentially in this industry.
As you mentioned, this is a potential strike that we're talking about. They were authorized for leadership to call for a strike if they feel necessary. But it is not a foregone conclusion at this point, and negotiations are ongoing. What is the timeline?
Where are we here? What is our midnight hour? Yeah, mid-September. At the end of the day, when the clock strikes midnight on September 15th, these contracts will expire with the big three, GM, Ford, and Stellantis.
And so at that point, right, we could be looking at a strike if we do not have a deal by then. I want to talk about what this means for you at home who might be looking to buy a new car. I'm at a car lot right now. I'm at a dealership in the Chicago suburbs.
And the dealer here told me that he's got about two months of inventory. And obviously, we're already looking at a tighter car market than in years past. But that could get more challenging if a strike stretches on and on, Chuck. And we know what had the biggest contributor to the inflation rate early on?
The price of used cars. Anyway, Jesse Kirsch on the beat for us on this labor strike in the auto industry. Jesse, thank you. After the break, Maui's government says systemic failures by the state's largest electric company is what caused those devastating wildfires that killed at least 115 people.
We'll have their necks watching the press now. We're releasing this list of 388 names today because we know that it will help with the investigation. But we're also balancing that because we do know that once those names come out, it can and will cause pain for some folks that are affected by this. This is not an easy thing to do, but we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can possibly to make this investigation the most complete, thorough to date.
Welcome back. That was Maui Police Chief John Pelletier last night speaking about the difficult decision to publicly release identifying information of people who are still unaccounted for the first time since the deadly wildfires struck Maui. Officials in Maui have also filed a lawsuit officially now against Hawaiian Electric. That's the top power company on the island.
The suit alleges that the company failed to shut off power despite repeated So that's just in terms of our development. We're looking at low wind shear. They like that, too. So it's going to develop, no doubt.
And this is what we're expecting as it moves into the Gulf and then as it impacts portions of the west coast of Florida. So we don't know exactly where that landfall is going to be. We're not exactly sure how strong it's going to be. But Chuck, it's probably going to be tropical storm status, if not hurricane storm status.
So a little bit too early to tell. And it looks like it will make that landfall, I know, as early as late Tuesday into Wednesday. So stay prepared, as you know. Yep.
And stay informed. Check. No, that's the reason. You just got to be prepared because these ones in the Gulf now, those ones that develop out of there now, they pop fast.
Michelle Grossman, thank you for giving getting our viewers on alert. Still to come, what the heck is happening in Nevada? Republicans there have scheduled both a primary and a caucus in this key swing state. I'm hoping John Ralston can explain which day of the week Nevada matters.
Plus, but first, the vice president hosted the WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces, today at the White House. VP Harris addressed the team before she was given her own jersey by reigning league MVP Asia Wilson and the finals MVP Chelsea Gray. Take a listen. You inspire our young people and people across our nation to dream with ambition.
You are living the truth that women belong in every room and on every court. Welcome back. As the late John Madden used to say, if you've got two quarterbacks, you have none. Can you say the same thing about presidential nominating contests?
Right now, Republican voters in Nevada have to navigate not one, but two conflicting primary dates on their calendars. If you're confused, so are we. Here's what happened. Back in 2021, then-Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, approved a state law changing the state's nominating process to a primary system.
But Nevada's Republican Party is resisting the change, probably because Democrats did it, and announced it would hold its caucus on its own on February 8th of the next year. That comes two days after the statewide mandated primary election at the ballot box paid for by the state, by the way. Nevada Republicans actually have to spend more money to do this. Joining me now is John Ralston.
He's CEO of the Nevada Independent, NBC News political analyst. And John, I love reading Ralston reports, and it was there that I didn't fully appreciate how confusing one of our early states already is. What's going on? I wish this was as clear cut as the Las Vegas Aces being the most dominant team in pro sports, Chuck, but it is not.
This is so embarrassing for Nevada. And you and I have talked a lot over the years about how I hope we matter. The Republican Party is embarrassing itself. They want to do a caucus instead of a primary because the people who run the Republican Party here are in the tank for Trump.
And they want to make sure that's very low turnout because they think that will be better for Trump. Remember, we mail ballots now to all registered voters. That was the law that was passed by the Democrats. And so they're worried that in a primary that Trump might not do quite as well.
Now, of course, it's very early, Chuck. We don't know what's gonna happen in the early states before us, but that's what's going on here. And the establishment Republicans here are mortified by this. So is there any, so at this point, it's gonna be a caucus, right?
If you want delegates, it's gonna be a caucus, right? Well, Chuck, as the person who explained delegate math to me about 15 years ago, you know that the delegates in Nevada are not as important, right? You're only about 1% of the total. It's about momentum after whatever has happened in the other states.
And so I think there's gonna be a push for other candidates to participate in the primary. It'll get a lot more coverage. It goes first and maybe make the caucus irrelevant. Remember that, excuse me, the state party is penalizing candidates who file for the primary by not allowing them to be in the caucus and charging them $55,000 to participate in the caucus.
Only Vivek and Trump so far have said they're gonna be in the caucus. It'll be interesting to see what some of the others do. And this is what I don't get. I understand that Trump has wired this.
Trump does better in primaries than caucuses. Sorry. No, you're absolutely right. And I think this is a bit of overthink by people who want to show their master at Mar-a-Lago that they're trying to fix this for him, but aren't doing a very good job of it, which is on par, as you know, for the Republican Party.
I don't have a lot of time left, but I got just enough to ask you about the Nevada Republican Senate primary. The NRSC really put on a show for Sam Brown out here this week. They're coming to his defense. They're really aren't.
It looks like they're gonna, they're gonna try. They're not gonna clear the primary, but they're putting their weight in there. Can it, does it, can it work? Uh, I think it can work, but I think they're very worried about this race.
Chuck, as you know, we had a very close Senate race last cycle, 8,000 votes. Cortez Masto won by Jackie Rosen in her first term. She's very vulnerable. But Jim Marchant, who is this far-right MAGA Trump-loving guy who has been on a ballot a few times, could win that primary.
And that's a disaster for them. They would just have to walk away, the NRSC, I mean. So they are really trying to do everything they can to elevate Sam Brown, a guy who did okay in grassroots fundraising, but has never won a race. John Ralston, I just want to know what day you matter.
Tell me what day you matter, and I'll be there. Just tell me what day I gotta be there. February 6th. Be there.
All right. We'll be there. John Ralston, always a pleasure from Las Vegas. He was there before the rest of the pro sports world showed up.
Now they're all coming to join John. Thank you, sir. And thank you all for being with us this week and this hour. We'll be back with more Meet the Press now on Monday and all of next week.
And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press on your local NBC News station. I think I've got the interviews you want to see this weekend, including the presidential candidate of the moment, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Senator Bernie Sanders. The news continues with Hallie Jackson right now. It's here.
The Ford is a big deal. Not yet. The Ford is a big deal. Oh, guys, just wait.
The Ford is a big deal. Event is on. Really? Now.
Hurry in to lease a 2026 Maverick XLT hybrid all-wheel drive for $197 bi-weekly at 5.29% APR for 60 months with $2,995 down. That's like $99 a week. The Ford It's a Big Deal event. Visit your Ontario Ford store or Ford.ca.