If it's Thursday, impeachment, war, and the crisis at the southern border. Dealmakers in Congress try to make a deal on immigration before lawmakers head home for the holidays, as the President braces for the fight of his political life in 2024. Plus, Israel's Prime Minister defiant in the face of deepening divisions with U.S. officials telling Israeli troops that nothing will stop the war against Hamas, as fighting and widespread suffering intensifies inside Gaza.
And the 2024 primary and general election races are heating up, with new polls showing former President Trump ahead of President Biden in every crucial battleground state as the President faces sharp criticism on the trail from his long-shot primary opponent. Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington, where Congress is scrambling toward the year-end finish line as lawmakers in the White House wrestle with a number of unanswered questions on key issues facing the country, including an impeachment inquiry into the President, a crisis at the border, and still no additional wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine. With lawmakers about to leave town, House Republicans laid down a clear marker for their agenda in 2024, formally voting to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
Here's what Committee Chairmen James Comer and Jim Jordan, who are spearheading the investigation, had to say after that vote passed along party lines. The House has now spoken, and I think pretty loudly, pretty clearly, with every single Republican voting in favor of moving into this official impeachment inquiry phase of our constitutional duty to do oversight. Today's unanimous vote by our conference showed that we are united as a conference. We're very pleased with the vote today.
I think that sent a message loud and clear to the White House. We expect you to comply with our information requests and our subpoenas. Now, in a lengthy statement following the vote, President Biden called the impeachment inquiry a stunt and accused Republicans of wasting time instead of focusing on passing aid to Israel and Ukraine, which, of course, is the biggest agenda item that still remains in limbo. Negotiations over border policy, which the administration has linked to the foreign aid package, have been slow and at times near collapse.
But there are some signs that some progress has been made. And remember, the White House is warning if these talks fall apart, it'll run out of money to provide weapons to Ukraine in its fight against Putin. NBC News congressional correspondent Julie Serkin spoke with Senator Kyrsten Sinema, one of the lead negotiators, earlier today. The deal.
Do you think the president in this case actually wants a deal on immigration? I believe everybody wants a deal on this issue. What's difficult about it is this is the thorniest political issue, and I've been doing this work for over 20 years. It is an incredibly difficult and complex issue.
Not only is it difficult from an emotional perspective, it is difficult from an operational perspective. It's very complex. And so we have to be very careful as we're negotiating that we both come to the right policy decisions and that we can actually implement them. So I believe everybody wants a solution.
I think that the challenge here is to help people be willing to continue to compromise to get to that solution that is workable and implementable. You think the White House is negotiating in good faith and they're ready to compromise? I believe everyone is negotiating in good faith right now. So to be sure, some deals are getting done in Washington.
Today, the long anticipated bill to fund the military heads to the president's desk after the House was able to bypass demands from far right members who wanted to use the legislation to spotlight conservative culture war issues. The question is what happens now as lawmakers get ready to recess for the holidays with no deal on the administration's foreign aid priorities and the cloud of an official impeachment inquiry hanging over the president and his 2024 reelection campaign? NBC's Julie Serkin is on Capitol Hill. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell is outside the White House and NBC's Julia Ainsley is near the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.
Julie, let me start with you and the drama on Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer just said that negotiators will stay through the weekend. He wants a vote next week on that aid package. You spoke with one of the negotiators.
So first, do you expect the Senate to stay in town to try to get a deal? And what else is Sinema saying about the legislation? Hey, Kristen, they're already heading toward the exits. They just took their second vote of the day.
And the problem here is for Schumer is that Republicans on the other side of the aisle don't feel like there's a point in them coming back into town on Monday because they say there's just no time left to write the text of this immigration bill to pair it with that funding to Ukraine and Israel and to get it all in any package for the Senate to pass and for the House that already left earlier today until mid-January to pass both of those items. And so for that reason, and because Republicans say this is still an untenable discussion to House Republicans who want some more conservative partisan border priorities that they believe they should leave and punt this exercise, as Senator John Cornyn told me into January. I want you to take a listen, though, to what Sinema had to tell me when I asked her about her discussions on the other side of the Capitol with Speaker Mike Johnson, who she said she had a relationship with when they worked in the House together as colleagues. Watch.
Well, you know, Speaker Johnson keeps counsel with himself. And I really appreciate the work he's doing. What he's done today actually was a huge step forward by clearing the National Defense Authorization Bill through the House today. He's got a major issue off his plate.
So now it's ready to put some more issues on his plate. So I hope to be talking with him very soon. She could talk to him very soon. But the bottom line here is, and she told me this, Kristen, I mean, Congress has not been able to address immigration policy to make critical changes at the border for three decades.
This isn't something that they could just write overnight, even when they have that full deal signed and done. But the problem is, even after they get that text on paper, Speaker Johnson has not indicated whether he would put this compromise product on the floor. Because remember, the very same conservative House members who are calling for strict policies at the border for strict restrictions to immigration are the same people who would never vote to send more aid to Ukraine. Julie, I have to congratulate you on getting that interview.
We don't hear from Senator Sinema very frequently. So it is significant that you were able to get her to open up about the negotiations. Let me ask you about one of the steps that the House took. Of course, they have now formalized an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
That is making some vulnerable Republicans nervous. Those who are, of course, going to defend their seats in Biden districts. What are you hearing about that? Is there concern inside some Republican ranks that this could backfire?
Well, certainly. And just speaking for the Senate quickly here, of course, it's the House that is taking us up. A number of Senate Republicans have told myself and my colleagues that they do believe that the House should be focusing on other matters rather than pursuing this impeachment inquiry, which nine months into their investigation, they still have yet to produce evidence linking Hunter Biden to any wrongdoings, linking those wrongdoings with his father, the president, Joe Biden, which, of course, this inquiry would fall under. Now, you do have those 17 vulnerable House Republicans.
They lost one because of George Santos that right now are going to be fighting for their seats to get reelected in districts that the president won in 2020. All of them voted to support formalizing this impeachment inquiry. And I think something that's really important here is the House really cannot go back now. Now that Republicans have taken this step, Speaker Johnson has indicated that he's willing to take this all the way to the top, to the top.
He said if the facts, if they're following the facts and they lead to this evidence of wrongdoing, then they would formalize those impeachment articles, sending those, of course, to the Senate. But that's a big step for them to take, especially in an election year. And the only other step they could potentially take is to exonerate the president, which, of course, the president and the vice president are, of course, fundraising off of this impeachment inquiry that Republicans are pursuing. Raising large amounts of money in doing so.
You're absolutely right about that, Julie. And that takes me to Kelly O'Donnell at the White House. Kelly, of course, you were on the Meet the Press panel this past weekend. And you and I talked about the fact that the White House was stepping up its engagement in these negotiations.
What does your reporting tell you about how engaged they've been in recent days and how close they think they may be to a deal? Well, certainly trying to get more of the senior advisors with the White House engaged on this is something that we're seeing. And you also have a cabinet secretary like Alejandro Mayorkas involved. And as you pointed out, Julie's interview really shines the light on a rare voice.
We don't often hear in the public space in Senator Sinema, who I'm told by Democrats is really the one who's got to try to sell this in many ways. Chris Murphy, of course, is also part of the negotiating team. But Senator Sinema comes from Arizona, lives with these border issues in a very direct way. And on the Republican side, Mitch McConnell has deputized, if I can use that word, James Lankford of Oklahoma to be negotiating for Republicans.
So you've got this small group. And ultimately, you need the president's signature on anything they can achieve. So knowing where the administration is willing to go when the president is saying very plainly he is open to compromise, even at take back the numbers that are pushed back into that country, the asylum seekers we deny, the whole thing could fall apart. So while these negotiations are being played out, a lot of those practicalities are really keeping a lot of DHS officials up at night.
And Secretary Mayorkas, as you know, has been on the Hill to try to give a voice to those concerns. Julia Ainsley, incredible reporting as always from the border. We really appreciate it. And coming up, we are live in Israel where the Biden administration's top national security advisor is meeting with top Israeli officials as the ideas tactics in Gaza face growing scrutiny.
Plus, Russian President Vladimir Putin hints at another possible prisoner exchange with the U.S. government and recommits to his war on Ukraine in a marathon four-hour press conference. We are live in Moscow with the key takeaways ahead. You're watching Meet the Press Now.
Please stay with us. Welcome back. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is in Israel for meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his war cabinet as Israel warns the war against Hamas will last at least another several months.
In a statement following the meeting, Netanyahu said he told Sullivan Israel would continue the war until, quote, absolute victory. The visit comes days after President Biden criticized Israel's, quote, indiscriminate bombing. And today the president saying Israel must do more to protect civilian lives. Do you want Israel to scale back its assaults on Gaza by the end of the year?
Do you want them to tone it down, move to a lower intensity phase? I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives, not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful. And the White House saying Sullivan asked, quote, hard questions of the U.S. ally during his visit.
The U.S. has also been pressuring Israel to allow humanitarian aid trucks across the Kerem Shalom crossing as civilians on the ground face a desperate humanitarian crisis. Fighting has flattened four blocks in Gaza, including in Rafah on the Egyptian border, where many have fled, leaving many in tents with little access to food and water. This was the scene earlier today as people ran toward an aid truck in Rafah filled with supplies.
The head of the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency spoke to the desperation. Hunger has now emerged over the last few weeks and we meet more and more people who haven't eaten for one, two or three days. And this is the reason why we see people stopping sometimes trucks, downloading and eating on the spot. Joining me now from Tel Aviv is NBC's Hallie Jackson.
Hallie, thank you so much for joining us. So let's start with this massive humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Obviously, we've heard yet again from President Biden about this today. What is the latest on the ground there?
What is the U.S.? What are humanitarian organizations doing to try to address this? Listen, they're trying to get food in, Kristen. They're trying to get medicine and water in considering how desperate the situation is in Gaza.
I mean, you heard from the U.N. refugee agency head there describing the conditions, a living hell, essentially, right? Laying out the despair that people feel, the desperation that people feel to go and swarm a truck to grab food off of it, to eat that food immediately and stopping aid from going further. You're also seeing some images of what it has looked like on the ground.
Keep in mind that the weather has been atrocious. Things have been rainy and muddy and just making a miserable situation even more miserable. This is a concern. It is those conditions that is creating some international pressure here on Israel, specifically with the release of some new information or at least some new reporting that NBC News has, according to multiple sources here, that 40 to 45 percent of the munitions dropped in Gaza are so-called dumb bombs or unguided munitions, which are less precise than those guided munitions, those guided missiles, I should say.
And that is creating, listen, you heard the president even say it. You talked about it there in the introduction, Kristen, that he would like Israel to be more careful, essentially. This is not the first time, even just this week, that he has laid out concerns about the way that Israel is conducting this war. That is likely one of the things that Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor, is talking about here in Israel today, Kristen.
Yeah, no doubt. These are high stakes, high pressured meetings that Jake Sullivan is having. Hallie, I do want to ask you about Israel saying it conducted a counterterrorism operation in the West Bank. The IDF saying it's investigating there after videos emerged appearing to show their troops in a Janine mosque.
What do you know about all of that? Yeah, a 60 hour operation, essentially. So this is something that has been sort of bubbling over the last few days while we've been in Israel. Of course, the ISS Israeli forces were attacked in the raid with seven injured soldiers.
That more than 10 people were killed as well. The Hamas run health ministry, the Palestinian health ministry, I should say, said that 12 people were killed in Janine, including at least one teenage boy. The reason why this is so significant, of course, is that this is the West Bank. This is and people who know the map know this.
This is obviously a different area than Gaza. And there have been concerns now for weeks, really since this war started, that what is happening, this war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, right on the southern part of Israel, could spark a flame that spreads and expands across the rest of the region, perhaps to the West Bank, perhaps to closer to where I am here in northern Israel, in Haifa, further up toward Lebanon, of course, where Hezbollah is. And so that is another one of these diplomatic issues that you are seeing come to the forefront here with pressure now to make sure that this does not expand even further. We know the defense secretary is also in the region, set to be in the region speaking with the Qataris, for example, as well, who have been the tip of the spear on some of those hostage release negotiations, too, Kristen.
So a lot of moving pieces here, as it has been now for more than two months. Absolutely. Hallie, fantastic reporting, as always. Please stay safe, my friend.
Come back soon to D.C. We miss you here. Thanks so much. We want to turn now to the other raging geopolitical conflict, Russia's war with Ukraine.
Earlier today, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a marathon end of year news conference and call in session, his first since Russia invaded Ukraine back in February of 2022. The event included questions from members of the public and journalists on issues ranging from Ukraine to Gaza, the economy and tensions with the West. Putin painted Russia as a victim, but claimed Russia is ready to build relations. Speaking of normalizing relations, it's not only up to us.
We did not ruin the relations. They did that. They've always been trying to push us back to the backstage in the background, disregarding our interests. Joining me now from Moscow with NBC Chief International Correspondent Keir Simmons.
So, Keir, this is obviously yet another marathon four hour news conference that we heard from Vladimir Putin. What were your key takeaways? And you've been making the case that it's significant that he's invited more journalists into this. That's right.
I think it was significant. It certainly felt significant until we got in the room. And as you mentioned, kind of heard some of the old records being replayed at this marathon question and answer session, four hours long, a reprise of the kinds of things that he was doing before Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine. And, you know, if we thought that it was kind of invite being invited major news organizations like NBC News was reaching out a hand.
Well, there's only one word to describe President Putin's message during the news conference. And that's uncompromising. He talked about still being determined to reach the same goals, the same goals as earlier this year, the same goals as last year. Back at the beginning in February 2022, things like demilitarization of Ukraine, which translates as not having the West involved in Ukraine in any kind of strategic or military way.
And the point here really is that while President Putin says he's interested in talking, it's clear he's only interested in talking on his own terms. And we know that that's not the terms that President Zelensky is going to be prepared to countenance. So the picture really from here in Moscow right now, I think, is more fighting in Ukraine in the months and maybe longer to come. Keir, could you get a sense of how closely he is watching the debates play out here in the United States over aid, aid to Ukraine, aid to Israel, obviously.
But the mere fact that aid to Ukraine is currently being held up. Well, he hinted at it once in that whole four hours where he made those comments about that the aid is going to dry up. We see that. And so I don't think you'd be surprised that Vladimir Putin would be enthusiastic about the idea that the U.S.
won't send billions more to Ukraine. The interesting thing is, of course, that when President Putin says he's got more than 600,000 troops on the front lines in Ukraine, perhaps that sends a message to Washington that is the opposite of the message he might perhaps would like to be sending. So ultimately, it was a slightly confused picture in that sense. I mean, he certainly seemed confident.
Perhaps some of that confidence comes from what he's seen in Washington. But he didn't say that. And we can't know that. I mean, inevitably, as ever, it's kind of Kremlinology.
That that that term from the Soviet era that describes trying to understand what's going on inside the Kremlin. Keir Simmons, thank you so much for your extraordinary reporting. Having been What's desperate is propagating the campaign of a man who's going to lose to the most dangerous man in the world. And I don't understand how Democrats are circling the wagons behind an unelectable ticket.
Period. And by the way, if the data said something different, my goodness, you think I would be doing this, putting myself, my family through this? Absolutely not. The fact of the matter is we have data, we have polling.
And show me one. Show me one. The battleground state poll that just came out today shows President Biden losing to Donald Trump in every single one of the seven battleground states. His historically low approval numbers at 37%.
Senators can say what they want. House members can say what they want. The fact of the matter is over 50% of Democrats, 83% of Democrats under 30 want a different nominee. And I'm the only one out of 250 members of Congress, Democrats in Washington, saying the quiet part out loud.
Democrats would argue, we have a year left. This polling may be an indicator of where things should go, but are you not harming his run for reelection by speaking out against him, by chipping away potentially at his support right now? No, Kristen, I'm running because of his standing in the polls. That's the whole point.
And by the way, and because of the way the system is set up, you can't enter the race in two months. I had to do it on October 27th because of the system, the way it works. The problem is he was weak, which is why someone had to enter this race and it was me. You talk about the polls.
Let's talk about your polling. A CNN poll out of New Hampshire last month has your unfavorable numbers among Democrats higher than President Biden's here. You can see it right there on the screen. So if you are actually polling lower than President Biden, how are you the alternative?
President Biden has been in Washington for 50 years and America doesn't know me and they will get to know me. I'll be introducing myself. I'm doing what you do. You campaign, you meet people.
I'm doing it every day. By the way, it's a Joyflix. You have been in this race now for a couple of months. For six weeks.
But it hasn't helped your favorable ratings. For six weeks. Like anything else, it takes some time. And the reaction in the streets through New Hampshire, everywhere I travel is so different than what people here in Washington are saying.
And that's why I'm going to stay in this race, to give people a chance to practice democracy, let people make the decision. I understand, you know, there's a system set up to prevent competition. They don't want this. They do not want an alternative.
But the people in America, 75% of the people in America are saying they don't want either of these men to be at the top of the ticket. So why is Washington circling the wagons to prevent the competition the country is begging for? And by the way, if not me, where are the other candidates? And that's why I'm saying is we need alternatives.
Marianne Williamson. She's running, of course. I wish there were more. But right now it is me and I'm going to see it through.
Let me ask you about Republicans' decision to formally open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. What is your reaction to that, given that Republicans have not established a link between Hunter Biden's business dealings and President Biden? And do you think this could actually embolden President Biden? We saw that with Clinton.
We saw that with former President Trump. Let me make this clear. To weaponize impeachment is despicable and dangerous, especially in the light of no evidence whatsoever. I've not seen a single shred of evidence that President Biden has done anything wrong.
I voted against it, of course, yesterday. And especially for a GOP, House GOP that has enough time to prosecute some nonsense like this, but can't even bring our budget bills to the floor. This is what Americans are saying. They're so sick and tired of.
It's nonsense. It's dangerous. It's foolish. And the fact of the matter is the president, I believe, is not guilty.
And that's why I voted to not proceed with an inquiry. Very quickly before I let you go, Senator Leader Chuck Schumer has said he wants the Senate to say he wants them to vote on an aid package to Israel, Ukraine and the border. Do you think that's realistic? Do you see something getting done?
What are you hearing? I do and I hope so. And I hope next week we come back. In fact, I'm a Democrat who's going to say again the quiet part out loud.
Yes, we should be supporting Ukraine. Yes, we should be supporting Taiwan. Yes, we should be supporting Israel. And yes, we should be supporting Palestine, a new Palestinian state.
And we need to secure the border. It's true. I'm sick of the nonsense and dysfunction. We have to do all of them and we should do it fast.
So very quickly, you would vote for a bill that has tougher asylum laws and tougher parole? I think we should actually make asylum something you file for in countries of origin and save the horrible journey people have to make, the $10,000 that they pay to the Mexican cartels right now. They would keep that money in their pockets, adjudicate the cases locally. We should change so many things right now, Kristen, but it takes people sitting down, bipartisanship, decency and the intention to do so.
I hope in the future, when we pass the torch to a new generation, we're going to do that. All right, Congressman DeFazio, thanks so much for being here in person. Really appreciate the conversation. After the break, primaries, politics and probes.
We're digging deeper into the race for the White House with new polling in six critical battleground states. The panel's next. You're watching The Press Now. Welcome back.
A new Bloomberg News and Morning Consult poll shows former President Trump leading President Biden 47% to 42% in a potential Election Day matchup across swing states. But perhaps even more worrying for the Biden campaign, six of those swing states were ones that Biden won in 2020. So let's take a closer look here. Trump is leading President Biden by four points in Arizona, two points in Pennsylvania, and a whopping seven points in Georgia, states that were crucial to Biden's 2020 victory.
The Midwest is in play as well, with Trump up four points in Michigan and Wisconsin. The former president is also up three in Nevada. I'm joined now by today's panel, Politico congressional correspondent Olivia Beavers, Naveen Nayak, president and executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and Pete Seam, former White House deputy press secretary during the George Bush administration and current Republican strategist. Thanks to all of you for being here.
Great to have you. I have to start with you, Olivia. Look at those polls. I mean, look, we are less than a year out.
You just had Congressman Dean Phillips sitting where you are making the case that there is room for him. Given these poll numbers, he kept going back to these poll numbers. How much concern is there inside Democratic ranks with whom you speak with about these poll numbers? I mean, I think Democrats are quite concerned.
And this poll is adding on top of a bunch of polls that we've seen compounding a problem, which is showing that, you know, voters are basically saying we might not support you and might not give you a vote for Donald Trump. And that is definitely concerning them. There's concerns about how Biden has set up his operations in some of these early states as well and whether he's been working hard enough. Dean Phillips said that was really interesting.
He kept on saying, because of his poll numbers, I'm in. But we're about to sort of see, does that really pull in other people? Because for a long time, we're also seeing polls that suggested they didn't want another matchup of Trump. They didn't want another matchup of Biden.
Yet those are the leading candidates. Yeah, it's such a great point that you raise there, Olivia. Naveen, let me get you to weigh in here. I was just in the Rust Belt, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio.
And what I kept hearing over and over again was not the concern amongst Democrats that their voters would necessarily vote for Trump, but that they would stay home, that there is an enthusiasm gap. As Olivia's reporting shows, they're not as organized as Democrats think they should be in some of these critical places. Yeah, I mean, listen, I think it's a year out. So the first thing I'd say on the polls is like, it's amazing to me.
Remember a year ago, there was gonna be a red wave. And those were polls weeks before the election. There was gonna be a red wave. It didn't happen.
So we're over-indexed on polls a year out. And the other thing I'd say, if we want to get into the polls, in none of these polls is Trump ahead of where he was in 2020. So he's basically at the exact same number, 46 in Michigan, 49 in Georgia. Those are all what he got five years ago.
He's not made any grounds to this point. And I think the more important point is there is no enthusiasm on their side. You're not seeing this huge turnout for crowds. It's actually pretty astounding how little energy there is for a party that's out of power, that's in a primary.
No question. I think there's a lot of work to do on the Democratic side to actually get people re-energized, to get people re-engaged. There's a year. The campaign is just getting going.
So I am definitely not in the camp of the Democrats that are freaking out. But I appreciate if you pay attention to the polls, you can get sort of misled. Pete Rudy Giuliani on trial. We're following new legal developments for Trump's former lawyer and confidant and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Stay with us. You're watching Meet the Press Now. Welcome back. As both parties gear up for next year's election, the issues that plagued the 2020 election are still playing out in court.
Closing arguments wrapped up a short time ago in Rudy Giuliani's civil defamation trial. The former New York City mayor and former Trump attorney chose not to testify in the trial brought by two former Georgia election workers who say his baseless claims of election fraud tarnished their reputations and exposed them to threats. A federal judge already found Giuliani liable. Jury must now decide how much to award those election workers.
They're seeking up to $47 million in damages. NBC News justice and intelligence correspondent Ken Delaneyan joins me now. So, Ken, walk me through this. The judge already ruled, of course, that Giuliani defamed those two election workers.
So when do we expect to find out how much he'll have to pay for it? And what are the dynamics playing out in court right now? Well, the jury's had the case for more than three hours, Kristen, and we're getting close to the end of the business day. So we may either have a verdict soon or an indication that the jury is going home tonight without a verdict to resume deliberations tomorrow.
And as you said, the only question they have to answer is how much money they're going to award these two women in both compensatory and punitive damages. And just as you said, just on the compensatory side, the plaintiffs brought in an expert witness, an expert in reputational damage, who said that they deserve some $47 million. In terms of punitive damages, the judge said that that could go as high as four times the compensatory damages. So we could be talking about a lot of money here.
Mr. Giuliani is obviously in some financial distress. He's got his New York co-op on the market. One of his lawyers is suing him.
So it's not clear that he'll be able to pay these damages, but it's just the latest in a series of legal setbacks for him. As you know, he's under indictment in Georgia. And this trial, this three-day, four-day trial has been a real kind of a trip through the repercussions of election lies, Kristen. And Ken, it really is fascinating.
And I guess the question here is big picture. What have the largest revelations been? I know you've been tracking this very closely. Yeah, I would say that those of us who follow this trial learned with more granularity just how substantial the repercussions were when Rudy Giuliani decided to malign these women with no evidence.
Remember, you watched the video and he said that they were passing around USB ports like they were vials of crack cocaine. It was actually a gingerman that Shae Moss was handing to her mother, Ruby Moss. He made this stuff up out of whole cloth, but the repercussions were very painful for these women. They were subjected to vile, racist harassment.
They had to leave their homes, leave their jobs. Their once happy lives were upended and just made miserable. And so it was a real sort of illustration of the profound implications of these false statements, Kristen. Absolutely.
Ken Delaneyan, you've been tracking another story, of course, the legal challenges swirling around Hunter Biden, the fact that he has now been indicted on not just gun related charges, but tax related charges as well. The White House has pledged that President Biden will not pardon his son on any of the federal charges he's facing. What are you hearing about that? Well, his camp is not saying much about it, but my observation and analysis is that Hunter Biden has been acting like a person who may expect a pardon.
Because first of all, he walked away from that plea deal, which the judge raised questions about, but they were not able to reach a deal. This plea agreement would have called for no jail time. Now he's facing two felony indictments and he still doesn't have the immunity that he was seeking in that plea deal. He's going on offense.
You saw him make those public statements. That's not the behavior generally of a criminal defendant. But some people believe it could be the behavior of someone who never expects to see the inside of a prison cell, even if convicted on these very serious charges, Kristen. All right, Ken Delaneyan, as always, covering all of the legal angles for us.
Thank you so much. Great to see you as always. And thank you for being with us this hour. I'm back tomorrow with more Meet the Press Now.
NBC News Now coverage continues with Yasmin Vasuvi in for Hallie Jackson, right now. Everyone, I'm Dylan Dreyer, co-host of the third hour of Today, and mom to three wild boys. I've learned a lot in my years as a parent, mostly that I don't have it all figured out yet. And I'm not the only one.
This is my new podcast, The Parent Chat. Each week I sit down with someone new for honest conversation and real-world advice about parenting. I am over here just like winging it. Hey, I'm just trying not to screw my own kids up.
I'm not giving you advice on how not to screw yours up. Search Parent Chat on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.