Meet the Press NOW — August 29

Is that bound? Okay, remember A is for asking. The questions that matter to me. Andrea, the doctor will see you now.

B is for beginning the conversation. Hey, Andrea, good to see you. So, what brings you in today? C is for choosing which treatment is right for me.

And Z is for Zepbound, and I'm ready to ask. Ask a doctor about Zepbound quick then. Get your savings card at zepbound.ca. Exclusions and exceptions may apply.

Is that bound? If it's Friday, the CDC's vaccine chief quits, then meets the press, speaking out on the crisis of confidence and leadership turmoil that has enveloped the health agency under HHS Secretary Kennedy and the future of vaccines in America. Plus, one nation under guard former President Obama joins high-profile Democratic leaders who are blasting President Trump's military show of force in U.S. cities to crack down on crime, warning that Americans liberties and free and fair elections could also be at risk.

And the parents of the two young children murdered in the tragic mass shooting at a Minneapolis church speak out as new details emerge in the investigation and the shooters passed interactions with the police. Welcome to me, the press now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington where President Trump is testing the boundaries of his power, seemingly trying to silence his dissenters and ousting top officials at some of the nation's most crucial and historically independent agencies. Today, attorneys for Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook were in court arguing the president overstepped his authority when he tried to fire her this week over allegations of mortgage fraud, allegations she denies.

Now, removing Cook would create a vacancy as President Trump is pressuring the central bank to dramatically slash interest rates. The judge did not rule today on whether she would temporarily block the president's firing. Meanwhile, the showdown between the White House and top public health experts is intensifying today following the firing of CDC director Susan Menares for other top CDC officials resigned in protest and I'm going to speak to one of those officials in just a moment. Former CDC acting director Richard Bess are telling me the press yesterday that he spoke to Menares and that her firing came after she refused to follow directives from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.

Kennedy Jr., take a look. What she said to me is that she had a couple of lines in the sand, which is so critical when you're in these rolls. She said she would never do anything illegal and she would never do anything that ran counter to the science. And she said the secretary asked her to do both.

The president is now tapping Secretary Kennedy's deputy Jim O'Neill to replace Menares. Current and former CDC employees rallied outside the agency headquarters yesterday as the leaders who resigned about the weaponization of the country's public health. You are the people that protect America and America needs to see that you are the people that protect America. Americans have to trust CDC.

We have to get the trust back here. I believe in our scientists. We need our leaders above us. The leaders in CDC have stopped saying a question behind us.

Let's skip it. Politics out of public health. Yes! The president of the U.S.

Science leaders who has asked how we look at the biggest decisions for public health. Now, as President Trump pushes to stack historically independent and apolitical parts of the federal government with loyalists, his supporters argue that it's the president who knows what's best for the country, whether it's on public health and the health of the economy. We need to look at the priorities of the agency. If there's really a deeply, deeply embedded, I would say LA is at the agency.

And we need strong leaderships that will go in there and that will be able to execute on President Trump's broad ambitions. Who makes the decisions about this country? Is it those the American people elect or is it unelected bureaucrats? And I feel very strongly that the president of the United States is much better able to make these determinations.

Tony, now as NBC News White House correspondent, Yamiche Alcindor, Yamiche, thank you so much for joining me on this Friday. So take me inside your conversations at the White House. What are sources saying to you about the thinking internally about the shakeup at the CDC? Well, this is, of course, Kristen, a massive shakeup at the CDC.

But this is really focused on making America great again and making America healthy again as white health sources continue to tell me and say, now, we haven't directly heard from President Trump since Tuesday when we had that really marathon on cabinet meeting. But we know that the White House press secretary had said that they fired the CDC director because she was not, quote, online with the president's vision. We also know, of course, that there's a lot of backlash to this with critics, as well as, of course, at least four top health officials resigning saying that the CDC, as well as the whole health department, have been politicized. So the White House is pushing back on that defending this and really saying, this is what people voted for, Kristen.

Well, you know, we also learned a little bit more yesterday about the person who's going to be replacing Susan Menaras as the acting director of the CDC. What can you tell us about that person, Jim O'Neill? That's right. So the acting interim head of CDC is Jim O'Neill, and he's right now the deputy health secretary.

And from my understanding, he's gonna stay in that role. He is seen as a close ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. We're also told that he is someone who has been critical of the CDC, especially during the pandemic.

But during his own confirmation hearing, he told senators that he was pro-vaccine. But some of the officials that have now resigned in the CDC say, in fact, that he is someone who is spreading misinformation or backing the idea of it. It's also remarkable, Kristen, because after covering all of this, one of those officials said that at this point, his message to Americans would be, do not trust information that's coming out of the CDC, especially on vaccines. And if you have any questions, you should be talking to your doctor and also looking at organizations that have doctors in their ranks.

We should also remind folks right now that Jim O'Neill, he is not a medical professional, he doesn't have a science degree, he's not a doctor. Though he did work in the health department during George F.W. Bush's administration, Kristen. And Yamiche, as the White House said, does President Trump still have full confidence in Secretary Kennedy?

It seems that way, because he was obviously at that cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the president was very warm to him at that cabinet meeting. So for now, he does have the support of President Trump. And just very quickly on another story, there was obviously a hearing today over the Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook. She's suing the president over his attempt to fire her trying to block that, at least temporarily.

Where do things stand? Well, at the hearing, we had Lisa Cook's attorneys arguing that she should not be fired one, because they don't believe that these allegations, by the way, she has not faced any charges, has not been convicted of anything, not been charged with anything. But her attorneys say those don't have anything to do with her role as a fed governor, and that she should stay in her job. The Trump administration is arguing just the opposite, saying she should be fired for cause.

At that hearing, the judge did not make a final decision. He gave both sides until Tuesday morning to send in their filings, and then after that, we might get some sort of ruling. The other thing to note here is that senators, Republican senators are trying to move forward with the person that President Trump wants to replace her. But Democrats are saying that they want to postpone this hearing that's supposed to happen on Thursday, while all this plays out in court, Kristen.

All right, Yamiche Nelson, we're covering a lot of ground for us today. Yamiche, thank you so much. Joining me now is Dr. Demetri Daskalas, one of the CDC officials who resigned in protest earlier this week.

Dr. Daskalasasas, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. My pleasure, thank you so much for having me.

Well, we appreciate having your perspective today, and you were at the CDC for years. So this undoubtedly was an incredibly difficult decision for you to make what made you want to ultimately resign. Yeah, so I was the CDC for about five years and in governmental public health for over 10. And my guiding principles are that I'm a physician, and as a physician, I take the Hippocratic Oath, and that oath is to first do no harm.

And I, in the time the recent history at CDC have seen it slowly being transformed into a weaponized organization that is being designed really to achieve ideological goals, rather than to deliver important public health messaging and services to support the health of people in America and frankly the globe. When I feel that I'm going to do harm, I have to make good on my oath, the thing that I did when I graduated from medical school and the time it come. That along with the fact that it seemed as if there was no way to have scientific leadership at CDC be maintained if Susan Minaras wasn't there anymore. That really meant for me that there was no way to really maintain the firewall between ideology and science.

And so I think now it's inevitable that science will be contaminated by ideology, unless people take our wake up call here, our red flag to really try to make a change now. You know, you said in your resignation letter, and I'll read just a little bit of it, that HHS policies do not reflect scientific reality echoing what you've just said here. But my question for you, why not stay and fight if you think this void with Susan Minaras could be so devastating to the public's health? Why not stay and fight for public health?

Trust me, if I thought that there was a fight that I could fight in there, I would have stayed. And the reality is that there is now an irresistible force that is going to make it impossible for CDC to maintain the validity of its science against ideology, especially in the vaccine space, given what I'm seeing from HHS leadership. I stayed there during some really complicated times under the current secretary. I managed to sort of toe the line and make sure that we were able to end a measles outbreak in the US, the largest in the history since elimination, by really towing the line and making sure vaccines were first, but that we really created communication and strategies that also aligned to his vision.

The list, you know, we received a directive about changing COVID-19 vaccine for children and for pregnant women. And we were able to do that in a way that maintained access. I don't see a way out. If there are documents that make someone on the ACIP who doesn't really demonstrate any experience or belief in science as far as I can see, makes them my boss and is the person who can direct the staff over and above the director of the CDC and whose job it is to prevent CDC bias from entering the work group that will make very important recommendations to the advisory committee for immunization practices when that bias does not exist.

But that means rather than prevent CDC bias is allowed their bias to influence the science. And there's no way out when it is, in fact, codified in policy. So just the bottom line here, do you believe the public will be able to trust the information coming out of the CDC moving forward? I mean, I really hope that the answer is yes, but I don't think that it's going to be possible, especially in the vaccine space.

I think that there has already been some attacks that are making me very concerned. Of course, there's some physical attacks that we can talk about that were related to vaccine misinformation, but I think that there are also attacks around things that have already been litigated that will really, I think, erode trust in vaccines, really interventions that have prevented millions of diseases that have allowed us to have healthy children. And so I do think that that's not the source that you should go to right now. You should cross check it with your clinician, talk to your doctor, talk to your pharmacist, see how they're interacting with their professional organizations, ask them what do you think about the pediatric associations, guidelines around COVID vaccines and maybe other vaccines?

I think it's really time to take this worth a grain of salt, because I think that the data that's going to be used to make these decisions is going to be compromised, because there's no way that it is going to be protected from ideology. Just to boil down what you're saying. Unless there's a change. Unless there's a change.

Well, and to boil down what you're saying, Secretary Kennedy has long pushed the disputed claim that there's a link between vaccines for children and autism. This has been debunked by the science for the past more than two decades now. Is that the crux of your concern? And is that the crux of the argument with Susan Menares that there's going to be an attempt to push that type of policy forward, an ideology forward?

I mean, let's make a list. The secretary went on a video and said that mRNA vaccines didn't do anything in the pandemic, and they moved the most dangerous vaccines known to humanity. That's wrong, that's untrue. The vaccines for COVID helped end the pandemic.

And their safety track record is wrong. There are safety issues. Yes, people do have adverse events. There's no such thing as a zero risk vaccine, nor is there such a thing as a 100% effective vaccine.

So that's number one. We can also talk about the fact that there is, I think that we have signals that there's going to be retrofitting of data or analyses of data that really aren't based in any good scientific methods that are going to come to a conclusion that something is causing autism as well as other diseases related to vaccines. I think Alan is going to be pointed out that it's another part of the vaccine that makes sure that it causes the immune system to react appropriately to protect people from the pathogen that they're being vaccinated against. They're going to have a story about Alan.

They already had a story about dimerisol that led to the removal of dimerisol from the 4% of influenza vaccines that had it. That's not a very big win. Based on science that is really debunked, the FDA website right now has a website that is very clear showing that dimerisol that preservative does not have any adverse events associated with it, especially in the space of autism and other neuro-cognitive issues. Nevertheless, because there's a half truth somewhere in there that maybe it's great to prevent having people being exposed to anything extra that they don't need, we get to the place where a hunch is enough to remove a vaccine from the market.

That is not a good precedent. Let me ask you about comments that you recently made in which you said that Secretary Kennedy has never been briefed by your group on COVID measles, other viruses. Can you explain that? Did you reach out to Secretary Kennedy where briefings offered to him?

Did he refuse them? What exactly does it mean that Secretary Kennedy was never briefed? What did that look like? I'll start by saying I've never met Secretary Kennedy.

I never, I wasn't there when he visited CDC after the attack, the gun attack on CDC through his staff, some of which have been fired, others who are still there. Every time I met with him in any space, I said we would love to brief the Secretary, especially on topics that are important and are higher profile and important to the health of America. I thought that it was great to offer a briefing on measles. That was not something that we were ever allowed to do.

I offered briefings on H5N1 on bird flu. That was not taken up. I said we're happy to talk about vaccines in general. And that was through some of the folks that work in his office of the Secretary.

I offered those at senior leader meetings at CDC. There were many people present. You could ask Dr. Howrey, you could ask Dr.

Jernigan, and it was crickets. We heard nothing back. So he's never been briefed by any of the CDC experts on any of these diseases, specifically vaccine preventable diseases, which seem to be a pretty significant piece of his agenda. What do you think are the implications of Secretary Kennedy never having been briefed on a range of different diseases that could be prevented by vaccines?

Yeah, I think that the question that everyone should be asking is if you're not being briefed by your experts, who's briefing you? Where are you getting your information? I think I gave the example of what we heard about mRNA vaccines from the Secretary, that they didn't help anything in the pandemic and that they were the most dangerous vaccine known to humanity. But we also had the Secretary saying that the measles mum's rubella vaccine caused more harm than it does good.

We also heard that it doesn't last long enough, or it hasn't really been raining immunity. And that's contrary to anything that our experts would say to him. So I don't know where he's getting that information. I would love, I mean, if I were still there, I would offer in the same spirit.

I would love to give him the opportunity to hear from the people who are the world experts. Every country in the world calls us to learn about measles, to learn about COVID, to learn about these vaccine-preventable diseases. We are the leaders in the world. It's strange that our own Secretary won't listen to our experts and says it very clearly.

Don't believe the experts. Well, let me ask you, as we look forward, the President has tapped HHS Deputy Secretary, Jim O'Neill, to be the Acting CDC Director, what do you make of that decision, that choice? Just as I did with the Secretary, I always give people really the benefit of the doubt in a chance, and I'll just put it in a time machine when the Secretary started. He gave an address to HHS saying that he was coming in with no preconceived notions and wanted us to approach him in the same way, and I did that when I just sort of melt our science with what his vision is.

And I'll say the same with Jim O'Neill. I don't know him. I'm not familiar with his resume. I understand that he is not a scientist, but has some experience in governmental public health at HHS.

So I hope that he, in those experiences, understands the importance of engaging with scientists and really supporting the science so that America's health can be optimized, so that people know what to do with the best science, so they don't get sick from any of these infections. Though I talk about infectious diseases, CDC does a lot more. Like, follow the science on how to prevent overdose, follow the science on how to prevent injury, follow the science on how to prevent chronic diseases. And so my hope is that someone who's a leader of large organizations, which he has been, will understand that the best thing to do is listen to your experts.

If I became the CEO of a hedge fund, I would definitely want his advice. Very quickly, before I let you go, Senator Bill Cassidy, who is a doctor, expressed real concern over the firing of Susan Menares, and he said, quote, I'm committed to the President's vision, which is why the Health Committee will conduct oversight. Do you have confidence that Congress can conduct effective oversight over the decision to fire Susan Menares? So I'm American and I believe in the power of our system.

I believe in the power of the people that we elect, I believe in their vision, and I believe in their ability to make a change. So I'm here with no job raising a red flag and I hope that those red flags really inspire the right action from our elected officials. So again, just like I walked in optimistic with the secretary and I'm optimistic with the acting director of CDC, I'm gonna be optimistic as well, that these folks will do the right thing and make sure that they protect the health of America, rather than focusing on ideologies or other agendas. All right, Dr.

Dimitri Daskalakis, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your perspective, we really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me, have a nice day. You too. Joining me now is Dr.

Paul Offit. He is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center and Infectious Disease Physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He also is a former member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the CDC, also known as ACIP. Thank you so much for joining us, Dr.

Offit, we really appreciate it. Thank you. I have to start off by just getting your reaction to everything we just heard from Dr. Daskalakis.

What do you make of his perspective and his decision to resign? Well, it's an impossible position. I mean, on the one hand, if you stay, it's going to be very hard to, in any way, get your point across. On the other hand, if you leave, you do get to make a statement to outline just how difficult things are right now.

What worries me is what was said at the end there. I mean, it's true that Senator Cassidy, I guess now with the Finance Committee meeting, will be meeting on September 4th to oversee RFK Junior's actions. But I think that RFK Junior has learned very early on in his tenure, that he basically is free from federal oversight. I mean, when he was confirmed within two days of that confirmation, there was the start of a measles epidemic in West Texas, which is now about probably close to 5,000 people.

There's been three deaths, which is equals the total number of deaths for measles over the last 25 years. We've had two little girls, healthy little girls die. That's the first child death since 2003. And what did RFK Junior do?

He went on national television and said falsely, measles vaccine kills people every year. Measles vaccine causes blindness. Measles vaccine causes deafness. And measles itself, the virus itself, can prevent cancer and heart disease and autoimmune disease.

All of that, dead wrong, that right there should have ended his tenure. That right there should have had Senator Cassidy, who supposedly has an unprecedentedly close relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Junior. He should have walked into President Trump's office and say this is not the guy.

I think when nothing happened then, RFK Junior knew that he could do whatever he wanted. Well, let me follow up with you because Senator Cassidy urged the panel that makes recommendations about vaccines, which is set to meet in early September to delay that meeting. And he writes, if the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made, it should be rejected as lacking legitimacy, given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership. Do you agree there with Senator Cassidy?

And is that a step from your perspective in the right direction or is more action needed? Well, I certainly agree. I also don't think it's gonna happen. I mean, when June 9th, Robert F.

Kennedy Junior fired the 17 members of the advisory committee for immunization practices, claiming that they were all in the pocket of the industry. When that wasn't true. What he did was he eliminated expertise. He eliminated a group of people who had tremendous expertise that had been giving us good advice.

He then replaced those people with seven people who are far less capable of giving us good advice, who frankly, at some of them, were anti-vaccine activists and science nihilists. When they then met, like the end of June 28th, June 29th, Secretary, I'm sorry, Senator Cassidy said, I wanted to lay that meeting until we had better representation. That never got delayed. So I think, although he was in a powerful position, he hasn't in any sense really exercised that power.

Well, do you think, and I guess what would your message be, to the public? Because you just heard Dr. Dafelakis raise questions about whether the information coming from the CDC can be trusted. What is the public to think?

What information can they trust as they make their decisions about whether to get vaccines this fall? I think you can't really trust the advisory committee for immunization practices. I think you can't really trust the CDC right now because it is being run by a man who for 20 years has been an anti-vaccine activist, science and nihilist and conspiracy. There is, he is that same person.

He is a vigorous anti-vaccine activist and he will do everything he can to make vaccines less available, less affordable and more feared. So who can parents turn to? Look, for example, at his choice to stand up in front of the public at the end of May and say in a one minute video on X, we are not recommending the vaccine for pregnant women. Well, we're the only country in the world that doesn't consider pregnancy a high risk condition for COVID.

Of course, you should give COVID vaccines to pregnant women. And so what happened? The American College of Obstetrics and Data College immediately stood up and said, that's wrong. And need to do this.

And similarly, the American Academy of Pediatrics, when when Secretary Kennedy said that he wasn't recommending the vaccine for young children. In direct contradiction, the data that had been presented to the CD showing that thousands of young children, half of whom were healthy, were admitted to the hospital, one in five admitted to the intensive period. And 152 children died last year from COVID. So the American Academy of Pediatrics stood up and said, COVID is a serious disease for unvaccinated young children.

And we need to vaccinate them. So we're turning now to our professional societies, our medical societies, our scientific societies, to get good information because it is not the CDC, it is not the advisory committee for immunization practice because it's being run by someone who has a clear anti-vaccine bias and doesn't follow the science. All right, Dr. Offit, thank you so much for joining us and helping us to break down all of this really important information, we really appreciate it.

Thank you. Coming up, former President Obama joins a growing course of Democratic leaders warning that democracy itself is in danger. Plus, politics unguarded former Vice President Kamala Harris is about to speak out on a high profile bookstore as President Trump canceled her secret service detail after it was extended under President Biden. Stay with us, you're watching Meet the Press Now.

Welcome back, some top Democrats are now escalating their warnings while pushing back against the president's deployments of national guard troops to democratically run cities. Former President Obama saying it quotes the liberties of all Americans at risk and should concern Democrats and Republicans alike. Illinois Democratic Governor Jamie Pritzker is saying it's a ploy to keep the president's party in power. This is a part of his plan to do something really nefarious, which is to interfere with elections in 2026.

He wants to have troops on the ground to stop people from voting to intimidate people from going to the voting booth. So take note, that is what this is all about. And California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom going further saying the president is mobilizing a private police force to seek an unconstitutional third term. I don't think Donald Trump wants another election.

You think for a second you want, I have two dozen Trump 2028 hats. His folks keep sending me. People actually think this guy's serious about having another election. You think he's joking about 2028?

You think when he brings foreign leaders to the Oval Office and he goes to the White House store, have you seen this? Anyone, is it just me? And he shows on the 2028 hats? He's not being serious.

Wake up, you will lose your country. Joining me now on set is Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief for the USA Today. Former Maryland Democratic Congressman Donna Edwards. She's also an NBC News contributor and Republican strategist Matt Gorman.

Thank you for being here on this very busy Friday. Susan, let me start with you very strong words from Governor Pritzker there that you heard Governor Newsom, as well. Democrats seeming to find their messaging around some of these actions that President Trump is taking, whether it relates to redistricting or sending the National Guard into Washington DC and threatening to do so in Chicago. Democratic governors, I mean, there is still not a sense that Democrats in Congress showing the kind of leadership out in the kind of traction that we see starting to sprout up in these states with Democratic governors, Westmore, J.D.

Pritzker, Newsom, of course. And by the way, the other thing they share, a desire to run in 2028 prison. Just a small little thing that they share. Donna, to that point, let's put this poll up.

This is the Emerson College poll and it kind of shows you the traction that Governor Newsom has gotten in recent months. Take a look at June, 12%, August, 25%, the other candidates basically stayed the state. That's a massive jump from June until August. It kind of underscores the fact that he has been out front on these issues as the opposition to President Trump, really.

Well, and it also shows that voters out there want somebody who's gonna stand up against this president. And so it's not a surprise to me that Newsom's numbers have gone up so significantly. It's a sign that people want somebody who's ready to fight. And Newsom demonstrates just about every day if we follow his ex-feed, that he's ready to fight against this president.

Yeah, I mean, Matt, he has taken President Trump head on whether it is his social media feed, whether it's comments like that. Like take what he's saying about running for 2028 seriously. What are, how are Republicans responding to all of this? I mean, are they cheering privately saying, great, Gavin Newsom, Governor of California?

That's a great foil for us. And look, as a former Jeb Bush, I can tell you, polls a couple of years out, I mean, don't mean that much. Yeah, fair enough. But no, it's a good foil for us too, right?

And he has been for a while, Governor of California, he looks the part, he looks like a politician, but he can command attention. He understands on the age of Trump, you need to get attention on yourself. He's tried several tactics to do that. But look, it's a long race.

I think guys like Westmore and others are kind of trying to be the hare, so the tortoise to the Gavin Newsom's hare on this. Yeah, I mean, Newsom, not afraid to go on Fox, not afraid to really meet Republicans where they are, which has differentiated him, Donna, for quite some time, I think, with some of the other Democrats who are now starting to ramp up their strategies. Well, I think again, he's demonstrated that he's prepared to go toe to toe, and he'll do it in any forum. Look, I've got family members sending me his memes and tweets and everything else.

And so it's showing to me that that's really getting out into the ordinary ether. All right, well, this isn't the other Democrat who we've been watching this week. Former President Obama, he has inserted himself into this redistricting battle and talking about the broader democracy. Let's take a look at what he had to say recently.

We're facing an existential threat to our democracy, and we need your help. If you want your voice to be heard in next year's midterm elections and beyond, help us meet this moment and preserve our democracy. Susan, what do you make of this? He's choosing his places to speak out very carefully.

He's not, for example, doing a bunch of interviews, if he were, hopefully he'd be sitting here doing one with me, but that's not happening. But he's very targeted, and yet it is a break. It's a departure from tradition. Former President Georgetown Bush, for example, did not speak out during Obama's presidency.

I don't think this is Barack Obama's choice. I don't think he thinks, oh, I would love to be in there, fighting against Donald Trump. I think he is, watch with concern, kind of avoid, in Democrats kind of struggling since the election to figure out what attack they're gonna take against or how to effectively respond to him. And there is no more respected Democrat in the country than former President Obama, and that's why I think we're starting to hear more from him.

Yeah, Matt, what's the impact because he is the biggest voice still, I think, in the Democratic Party to come forward and insert himself in this moment? Could there be a rallying effect of him coming forward? And is that something that could backfire for Republicans? There's diminishing marginal returns, the more he does it, the more he becomes like anybody else.

You see, that's number one. And number two, to borrow a phrase, right? If it's Friday, our democracy is at stake. We hear this all the time, and it really becomes white noise.

We hear it all the time. We saw it, certainly in 24 with a rallying cry for Kamala Harris campaign. We've heard it again since the more they use that, again, it becomes white noise. If you came out more rare, and with something new that wasn't a standard talking point, maybe, maybe more.

Donna, what about that point that this is an argument that we have heard from Democrats since 2024. It proved to be ineffective as a closing message for then Vice President Kamala Harris. Well, I will say, that was before this Trump presidency began and the threats that we've seen. Look, I think that any time President Obama, former president comes out and speaks, one, he does do it rarely.

Two, he chooses his words very carefully, and he chooses his audience. And he's not just speaking to Democrats. You gotta remember, he's speaking to a whole slew of independents who are out there who are on the fence about this president. I think it can be very effective in a party that doesn't have a natural leader right now.

Somebody has to step up, and good on former President Obama for doing that. All right, well, we'll see. To what extent he continues to speak out. In the meantime, we'll talk about the big news in the race to hold on to the Senate.

For Republicans, we are learning that we reported earlier today, according to multiple sources, that Senator Joni Ernst is expected to announce she's not running for election. Of course, we have to wait to see what her announcement actually is. How is this playing inside Republican circles? It wasn't that much of a surprise, and it hasn't been for asylum in Republicans.

They have already had a pretty stacked Democratic side. There's no A candidate per se, but she was going to have a more competitive race, and I think she would have been in most other years, most likely now they're focusing on Ashley Henson, the Congresswoman from one of the more popular parts of the state, former news anchor. She's been preparing for some opening, whether with Ernst or Grassley for some time in the Senate. I think I expect folks to unite her on her pretty quickly.

And Donna, the fact that you have Democrats lining up to try to take on this seat, this pretty reliably red seat, what is the potential strategy to try to take on and Ashley Henson, for example, if she were to step into the race? Oh, look, I think whenever there are any of these openings, it is a natural opportunity for Democrats in this environment. The question is gonna be choosing the right candidate to take on anyone in a state that has been more reliably Republican. Susan, talking more broadly about this likely decision by Senator Ernst, she's someone who's a military veteran.

She's been quite outspoken on a range of different issues, impacting veterans and service members. She recently though, has sort of struggled to find her messaging in this Trump world, opposed some of his early picks, for example, for his cabinet. What do you make of this decision? I think it's the most interesting Iowa race, was not this Senate race, it was a state Senate race, this week in Iowa, in a district that I think went by 11 points to Trump last November, and then a Democrat won, a Liberal Democrat, a Democratic supporting abortion rights and gun control, won this race denying Iowa, this Republican was a super majority they had in the Iowa state Senate, and that is a sign, maybe it'll turn out to be wrong, but that is a sign that there is maybe something happening on there, some concern among people who supported Trump in November about what's happening now.

All right, well, so many developments will be fascinating to watch, thank you all for being here, we really appreciate it, Susan, Donna, and Matt. Coming up next, the two children killed this week in that horrific mass shooting during the Catholic school mass have now been identified as their parents speak out for the very first time, the latest on the aftermath of that tragedy and new developments in the investigation. You're watching with the press now. As the day wraps up, get the scoop on what's been happening with Here's the Scoop, but you podcast for NBC News, with me, your host, Gazzam DeSuea.

We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News's trusted journalist. It's a fresh take that's sharp, thoughtful, and it's informative, bringing you closer to the headlines and conversations that are shaping our world on the front page, the Zeitgeist. Here's the scoop from NBC News, listen daily on Amazon Music. Get the best of NBC News with a subscription.

If you are ads, deeper access and exclusive content, and now during the XFINITY member celebration, members can get an exclusive 50% off an annual subscription. Head to XFINITY.com slash membership to learn more. XFINITY, imagine that. Subscription automatically renews each year at 6599 plus taxes and fees until canceled.

Hover ends May 20th, 26th. Crisis subject to change. Visit NBCNews.com slash XFINITY for full offer terms and details. Stay informed with the NBC News app.

Breaking News is just coming in moments ago. Watch, read, and listen throughout your day. And now unlock even more with a subscription. It's the best of NBC News with fewer ad interruptions, including ad free articles, podcasts, and full NBC News shows.

Plus, deeper access and exclusive content. Let's just take a step back. It's more context and clarity from the reporters you trust. Download the NBC News app now and subscribe for more.

Welcome back. We now know the identities of the two children killed in the horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis earlier this week. They're eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel, and 10-year-old Carper Moisty in a statement Harper's parents described her as bright and joyful, whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everyone who knew her. Fletcher's father also delivered an emotional statement yesterday remembering his beloved son.

Fletcher loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking, and any sport that he was allowed to play. While the whole in our hearts and lives will never be filled, I hope that in time our family can find healing. Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life. Give your kids an extra hug and kiss today.

We love you, Fletcher. You always be with us. It's just so devastating to hear from him joining me now in NBC News correspondent Shaquille Brewster in Minneapolis. Shaq, I know that the whole community is hurting.

Take us to the ground there. How are people coping and what more are we learning about the victims? Well, you're really getting the idea that the families, the loved ones, the community want these two kids to be remembered as beautiful little kids who are doing nothing wrong. They were at school, they were sitting in a church.

I'll tell you, that's what's bringing so many people out here to the vigil behind me. I want you to take a look at it here right now, because this is a scene that we've been seeing really throughout the day, people coming here, dropping flowers, lots of hugs, lots of tears, as they've been thinking about and paying the respects for those who were lost in Wednesday's shooting. And let's remember, there's also folks who are still hospitalized right now. We got an update from the hospital, the main trauma center here in Minneapolis, and we learned that the patient count is down from nine yesterday to five today, but there's still one young girl who is still in critical condition.

So that's why you have many members of the community calling for those continued prayers, calling for the thoughts as this community, not only just grieves, but also does what it can to come together. Absolutely, and we're also learning some new details about the shooter. What should you tell us about the status of the investigation? Yeah, we just listened to a press conference with city officials and members of local law enforcement.

No significant updates with the exception of the deputy police chief saying that they have made contact with both parents of the shooter. That's notable because it was about 24 hours ago where we learned that they were still waiting to make contact with the shooter's mother. NBC News also obtaining search warrants, showing that police had an interview with the father of the shooter who told them that the shooter recently went through a breakup. We also know that they obtained and recovered from the home of the father, another tactical vest, as well as some digital devices, all as investigators try to figure out why exactly this happened.

We know that they're going through those writings that we talked a little bit about yesterday, incredibly disturbing, but showed that this was a shooter who was obsessed with mass shootings, and also, and I should say specifically, school shootings and really had a heart as described by investigators, a heart full of hate. All right, Chef Brewster, thank you so much for that really heartbreaking update. We really appreciate all your reporting on the ground there. Coming up, federal immigration authorities are set to ramp up rates in Chicago as the administration faces a setback in Florida with a controversial detention center, Alligator Alcatraz is being forced to close due to a court order.

We'll explain and get the latest from Julia Ames in the election of the press now. Welcome back, we're following multiple developments in President Trump's nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the US. Chicago is bracing for a surge of federal agents into the city, starting next week to carry out deportation operations. Law enforcement officials telling NBC News the plans involve ICE, Border Patrol, and other agencies.

Meanwhile, in Florida, the immigration detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz will be empty in just a matter of days following a federal judge's order to wind it down in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and a Native American tribe. Joining me now with the very latest is NBC News Senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ames. Julia, thanks so much for joining me. Let's start with Chicago.

What exactly do we know about this upcoming operation from the White House, why Chicago? Well, it should be ramping up next month, Kristin, and we expect them to be using a naval base, just north of the city in order to bring in more officers and agents from around the country. We expect them to be Border Patrol. It should be people from Homeland Security investigations and ICE and as well as other federal agencies that we've seen swarm in.

Now, the difference here from what you've seen in Washington DC is that we don't expect local police to be helping them. That's because Chicago is sticking to its sanctuary city policies and they are not going to be cooperating with ICE. In fact, that's one of the reasons that has continually been targeted. It was one of the first cities where they did operations at the beginning of this administration.

Tom Homan talks about Chicago all the time and recently when the governor of Illinois said that he didn't want National Guard and the mayor of Chicago said that they did not want ICE to increase operations there, he shot back. Here's what he had to say. And so when you get pushback as you head into Chicago from people like Mayor Johnson, what's your message to the mayor? Get out of the way, because we're going to do it.

He's not going to do it. President Trump's going to do it. I would think he'd be shoulder to shoulder with us, but it's disgusting that he's not, but we're going to be there anyway. So if you don't want to help, get out of the way, we'll do it.

So you can see this is the message we've heard time and time again from Tom Homan. And honestly, it's similar to what he told Jacob Soboroff in LA when Gavin Newsom said, go ahead, arrest me, because Tom Homan was having a similar back and forth with him over stepped up immigration enforcement there. It is something, Christian, I will say, a lot of people say, if ICE wants to go to cities where there has been increased crime or increased immigration, there are plenty of red cities and red states where they could target. And then said, over and over again, we typically see them target sanctuary cities and those run by Democratic mayors.

Quickly becoming the backdrop to the midterm elections as well. While I have you, Julia, I want to ask you about an announcement today, the White House saying they are pulling Vice President Harris' secret service details. She's about to start a book tour, talk about the significance of this in the pattern that we're seeing quite frankly. Well, significant, certainly the time you just laid out with that book tour, it's an international book tour.

She would definitely need more protection at that point. And of course, she was running me, so it's not like she's any vice president who just left office, she's a lot more public scrutiny. But this is a pattern. There's a long list of people who President Biden wanted to see protection extended for, and he asked for extensions of up to six months for many people leaving office, people like Homeland Security Secretary, Ali Mayorkas, people like his adult children, Ashley and Hunter Biden.

And systematically, Trump has shut down and denied them that kind of security, unlike what Biden did for Trump when the she was on the other foot. All right, Julia Ainsley, thank you so much. Really appreciate your joining us. Still to come, we are marking 20 years since Hurricane Katrina is a live report in New Orleans as the community and the nation.

Remember the devastating storm and its aftermath. Keep it here, I'm with the press now. Welcome back, turning out to Asomber Milestone. Today marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina.

The deadly category three storm made landfall devastating the Gulf region, especially New Orleans, where large portions of the city were completely underwater. To date, it is still the costliest storm in US history. Joining me now is Priscilla Thompson, who's in New Orleans to mark this somber anniversary. Priscilla, what is the mood like there today?

Yeah, Chris and commemorations have been going on throughout the day today as the city and the community here seeks to remember the lives lost and also to celebrate the rebirth that continues today. A solemn day and the big easy. Which as we all know was 20 years ago. New Orleans marking the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina when more than 1,300 people died.

Today, honoring victims and survivors with a traditional second line. The music and the people marching on. 20 years to the day after the category three storm overtook the levees. 80% of the city was flooded.

Unforgettable images of water up to rooftops. A day's long rescue operation, residents seeking refuge at the convention center and the super dome. It was horrible. More than one million people across the Gulf Coast were displaced.

Two decades later, tourism has rebounded. The city even hosted the Super Bowl earlier this year. And some neighborhoods have emerged stronger than before. But outside of the tourist areas, scars from the flood, lay bare.

This is what the hardest hit lower ninth ward looks like today. Army General Russell Honorary commanded the relief effort here all those years ago. Doorstep's still there, but no house. Yeah, symbolic.

It gives a marker that there's somebody in this property you're gonna come back. Mm, that's what you see when you see that. Somebody's coming back. Somebody's coming back.

Criticism over the federal response led to a strengthening of a federal emergency management agency. Though recent budget cuts prompted nearly 200 FEMA employees to release an open letter warning of the potential for another Katrina-like disaster. This month, a mural unveiled honoring the community where the levy in the lower ninth broke. What do you see when you look around here?

I see opportunity. Come in, get you a lot, build a house, love your neighbors, and come back home. Do you think this community will ever come back? I think the opportunity is there, yeah.

For some of those images are just so haunted. And different. Please go ahead, for some of us. Yeah, I was just gonna say the Department of Homeland Security says that FEMA is fully prepared for hurricane season.

And in fact, they just released a statement a short while ago commemorating and marking this milestone, talking about how this storm helped to strengthen FEMA. But Kristin, I will tell you that New Orleanians are doing it the way they do. The second line was out, the brass band with all of the folks falling behind were out earlier today. Folks are out here in the park right now.

They've got burgers on the grill. So remembering those lives lost, but also celebrating the spirit of the city, which is still alive here today. Well, so evident in those images, people dancing and celebrating the strength of that community. Priscilla, thank you so much.

We really appreciate it. And we will be back Monday with more Meet the Press now. And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press on your local NBC News station. I'll have exclusive interviews with Senator James Langford.

Congressman Rokana and my longtime friend and colleague and mentor Hoda Kapi. You don't want to miss that very special Meet the Moment conversation. There's more ahead on NBC News now. 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 tastes. Hope you'll listen and follow the drink wherever you get your podcasts.