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Campaign controversy Nikki Haley playing playing cleanup on the trail after not mentioning slavery when talking about what caused the Civil War, what she's saying today and how her 2024 rivals are responding. Plus, another Israeli American hostage is confirmed dead, her body being held by Hamas as the Israel military acknowledges a Christmas Eve strike on G camp cause, quote, unintentional harm to civilians and a shake up in the fight control. As Colorado Republican Congressman Lauren Bobert announces she's moving districts to one where she's less likely to lose. Hi there.
Welcome to MEET the PRESS now on Ryan Nobles in Washington. And the action is ramping up on the campaign trail today with the 2024 Republican candidates hoping to grab the attention of voters and donors ahead of the upcoming Iowa caucuses. But for Nikki Haley, who has been seeing some momentum in the polls in recent days, the attention that she's getting today is not the kind that she was hoping for something in New Hampshire today. She's trying to clean up these comments from a town hall last night.
What was the cause of the United States Civil War? Well, don't come with an easy question. I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was in the year 2023?
It's astonishing to me that you answered that question without mentioning the word slavery. What do you want me to say about slavery? Next question. Well, Haley made no mention of slavery in that answer last night, but she did address the issue multiple times today.
Of course, the Civil War was about slavery. We know that that's unquestioned, always the case. We know the Civil War was about slavery, but it was also more than that. It was about the freedoms of every individual.
It was about the role of government. For 80 years, America had the decision and the moral question of whether slavery was a good thing and whether government economically, culturally, any other reasons had a role to play in that. On the trail in Iowa this afternoon. Governor Ron DeSantis, who's also been criticized for his position surrounding issue of slavery, said that Haley's answer last night shows that she's not up to the task.
The minute that she faces any type of scrutiny, she tends to cave. And I think that that's what you saw yesterday. You asked a lot of tough questions. That's just the nature of this business.
And I think that she showed time and time again that when it's time when the lights get hot, that she wilts under pressure. And that was a good example last night. Well, keep in mind, Both Haley and DeSantis as well as the rest of the Republican field still trailed down Trump by double digits in most recent polls. And as another reminder of the state of the race, the former president has spent the past 24 hours not on the campaign trail, but on social media, railing not against his Republican opponents, but against President Biden and special counsel Jack Smith.
Joining me now is NBC News campaign and then Greg Hyatt, who's been following the Haley campaign. Also with me is NC News Von Hillier and Brian Fenistrell, who is the chief politics reporter at the Moyne Register and NBC News political contributor. So, Greg, let's go to you first. You've been with Haley all day today.
I believe you're with her last night when these comments were initially made. I mean, what's the mood of the campaign right now? And more importantly, how are voters there in New Hampshire reacting? Hey, good afternoon, Ryan.
So right now the campaign is really just trying to move forward. They're trying to get ahead of the remarks that Governor Haley had made last night in Berlin, New hamp. And really the mood today on the campaign trail is about how can you put this behind you? She did gag a little bit after that first event where she talked about the reason why she didn't mention that slavery was a cause of the Civil War because she thought that it was, quote, a given.
So really, the campaign is just trying to put this behind them. I think that's notable when you consider the fact that this is a campaign that typically doesn't deal with a lot of external drama or even internal drama. They're usually a campaign where if you go to a Governor Haley event, you're going to typically hear her say a lot of the same things on her stump speech. So the fact that she found herself in the middle of this controversy is somewhat new for the campaign.
And the posture is about trying to move forward as far as the voters. We talked to some of them a little bit earlier today. And they're really admiring her for the way that she's been able to kind of handle this situation with a bit of grace, so to speak, and about just trying to put it behind her and try to clarify her remarks that she had mentioned a little bit earlier as we played in that clip. And she also made a little bit of news at another event today outside of this particular controversy about pardoning President Trump if she were elected.
Tell us about that. Right. So after every Nikki Haley event, she'll speak for about 45 minutes and then she'll delve into a Q and A where she will ask the audience for their questions. And usually that's a good opportunity to get an additional insight on the psyche of Haley's campaign because as I mentioned a little bit earlier, when it comes to her sons, you're not going to really get new material.
But I came to that Q and A. There was one particular voter, as a matter of fact, he was a nine year old kid who was in the fourth or fifth grade and he had asked her about would she be in favor of pardoning former President Trump. Take a listen to what she had to say. I would pardon Trump if he is found guilty.
A leader needs to think about what's in the best interest of the country. What's in the best interest of the country is not to have an 80 year old man sitting in jail. That continues to divide our country. What's in the best interest of the country is to would be to pardon him so that we can move on as a country and no longer talk about him.
And I think it's worth noting here, Ryan, that Governor Haley has mentioned this before. Back in June in the aftermath of one of former President Trump's indictment, she did mention in a radio interview that she would be in favor that quote, she'd be inclined to pardon a former President Trump if it came down. So she gave the same reasoning in that June interview she did just a second ago, that clip that we just shared that she doesn't want to have a former president at 80 years old potentially in jail. That could be potentially divisive for the country.
Right. Well, Greg, the reason that we created the role of campaign in Ben were for controversy just like this. And you were all over it for us here NBC. So we appreciate it.
Thank you for that report. Let's bring volume. Brian and I'll talk more about this. O' Brienne does this kind of spotlight on Haley matter to Iowa voters ahead of the caucuses even though this happened all the way out.
New Hampshire. Well, this certainly isn't the thing that Nikki Haley wants to be talking about right now. About three weeks to caucus day. This is the time when likely caucus goes are really tuning in.
They're starting to really make their decisions. You know, our polling from December showed about half of likely Republican caucusers, they're still making up their minds. So things like this can get into people's heads. They can think about it.
But that being said, I don't know that this is the kind of thing that's really going to stick to her. When likely Republican caucus tells us over and over again they're thinking about the economy, they're thinking about inflation, they're thinking about the border. And so they're going to listen to she's going to be back on the ground in Iowa tomorrow. And so we'll get a sense of how they're feeling about these statements.
But I don't know that it's really going to stick to her in the long term. So we're now just less than 20 days away from the Iowa caucuses. All the major Republican candidates are on the trail today except for the guy that's in the lead, Donald Trump. I mean, what are his expectations going into Iowa?
Is he a barnstorm going to be all over this state at any point leading up to the vote? His next on the docket here, Ryan is not until January 5th and January 6th. I think if in the scenario that Donald Trump Ryan were to somehow not win the Iowa caucus on January 15, one would have to look back at the fact that he's only done sporadic events across the state over the last year since launching this bid. It is not clear just how much barnstorm he's going to even do in that final week for the campaign.
Instead, they have indicated that they believe that they have built up an operation in the state of Iowa that has targeted the voter data of not only those who caucus for Donald Trump back in 2016, but those voters that voted for him in 2020. And this go around, they have more than 1800 precinct captains. They are saying who across the state of Iowa are in charge of turning out 10 new caucus goers, folks who had never caucused before. If you do that math, that would be an exponentially high number of new caucus goers coming caucus on behalf of Donald Trump.
And in fact, they are able to turn out that sort an operation, activate those sort of numbers. It'll be difficult to stop and come January 15th. So, Brian, you know this as much as anyone that Iowa isn't maybe much about winning and losing. It's about meeting expectations.
Obviously, Donald Trump's expectations as a front runner are sky either through the roof. Is there the potential that he could win, but maybe not win by as much and that could be somewhat of a disappointment for his campaign. Absolutely. And as you mentioned, this is an expectations game.
So all of the campaigns at this point forward are trying to set the expectations for what they think they can exceed. The point is to do better than everybody thinks you're going to do. And so if you're Donald Trump and you're looking at the polling and he's 30 points ahead right now in Iowa, you know, he needs to do that well or better on caucus night to really seal the deal in the media narrative that he is the clear, you know, heads above front runner. But if someone like Nikki Haley or Rod is able to get much closer than that and to make a compelling case that they are within striking distance of him, that could be damaging for him going into New Hampshire where the polls do show us a closer race.
So you've laid out what Trump could potentially lose. Who else has the most to lose going into Iowa? Well, I think Ron DeSantis has staked his entire campaign on this state. We've seen him scale back his operation in other states and really focus here in Iowa.
He's gone all in. His entire operation is here. He's been barnstorming the state. He's put a ton of money both through his campaign and through his super PAC, never back down.
And so if Ron DeSantis can't deliver a solid victory here, you know, it's harder to see the path for him going forward. Nikki Haley has been making the case to caucus, go over here in Iowa, that she has the infrastructure, that she has the pathway through New Hampshire into South Carolina to have, you know, a better long term fight against Donald Trump. Ron DeSantis really has to show that this is, this is his state to do that. And then, of course, the former president also has all his legal issues to deal with, some that are intertwined with the campaign.
And that includes what's happening in Colorado. The Republican Party there has appealed the rule banning Trump from appearing on the primary ballot. What is the party arguing and how does this impact the case going forward? Right.
The party and Donald Trump were both named in the lawsuit filed by those Colorado voters that was taking the Colorado Supreme Court. And so that is why the appeal here is coming from the Colorado Republican Party, though we anticipate Donald Trump and his legal team to file their own appeal in the coming days. But what they lay out, Jay Sokolow, who is a former Trump attorney himself who's now representing the Colorado gop, lays out is an argument that Donald Trump was not actually an officer of the United States. So therefore is not it cannot be considered under the Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, but also makes a case that under the 14th Amendment that only Congress can determine whether somebody has engaged in insurrection or not, that this should not be left out to state, secretary of state or state courts.
And that's why in the filing, they laid out that it is imperative that the U.S. supreme Court do in fact take up the space and hear oral arguments and determine that, in fact, that Donald Trump is eligible. Of course, if the US Supreme Court does take this up, they could take it up even after the primary process out of the general election. There's a lot of take as this will not only have the impact on the Colorado ballot, but likely in all 50 states.
Everybody, I have to ask you a question about the vibe in Iowa. This is my first time not being in Iowa for the last several presidential cycles. The view from outside is that there just isn't as much juice as we've seen in prior campaign years. Is that the case now or are people Iowa still heavily invested in this at least Republican caucus?
Well, I think caucus are still very invested. They're going out and they're listening to the candidates. They're giving everybody a fair shake. But if you're comparing this to past years, there just isn't quite the intensity.
The excitement maybe where we had, you know, a lot of contenders really going into caucus day. Now there's, there's really just the top four. Chris Christie is not competing in Iowa. So we're seeing Donald Trump.
Ron is saying to Nikki Haley, but they promise swami competing really heavily. But, you know, there's, there's just less interest when it appears that Donald Trump is leading by so much. And so that's a really interesting dynamic that Donald Trump's competitors are having to fight against. But Donald Trump himself, too, is working with that when he's coming to campaign here.
He's telling people, you know, the poll show us up by a lot. But I still need you to turn up on caucus days. It's going to be dangerous for me again, this expectation game if I don't do as well as, as we've been predicting. Okay.
Very good view of what's happening on the ground. Thank you so much for that, Bond. Thank you as well. Let's Bring our panel now to talk more about this.
Basil, Michael, and former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent. Congressman, let's start with you, and let's talk about the situation with Governor Haley and her comments about the Civil War. What was your reaction to this and what does it tell us about the voters she's trying to court and where she thinks the party is? Well, clearly this is a real stumble and an artful answer to a pretty straightforward question.
And it's unfortunate. This is a slow news week, so the media's gonna obsess over this. Remember, Nikki Haley is the governor of South Carolina who did take down the competitive battle flag from the state Capitol grounds, you know, after that horrible shooting at the Amy Church where all those people were killed by that white supremacist. So I think Nikki Haley needs to sharpen this answer.
It was a mistake. I don't think it's a fail mistake by any means. I mean, Donald Trump is not Charlotte moment like Donald Trump had. And I think she will, she'll recover from this, but it was an unnecessary stumble and she'll get beyond it.
But it was clearly unfortunate. She, of course, a candidate who was enormously disciplined in her messaging. I mean, she's very careful. And in this case, I don't know what she was thinking.
Maybe she thought she was answering a question in front of a hostile audience in South Carolina and she had to dance on that issue. But she was a New Hampshire. She can't get further north United States than that. So she'll get beyond it.
But, you know, she'll, she'll need to do better going forward. All right, so, Basil, let's get into that what confident dance talking about, about that effort to clean these comments up and whether or not she can get over it. One of the things that she attempted to do on the radio station this morning was blame the question on a Democratic plant. Does that make the situation any better or does that kind of walk out or walk back, you know, resonate with Republican voters?
Well, that aspect of it might resonate with Republican voters, but the statement or lack thereof still stands. You know, I agree with a lot of what Congress Robert Denson, at the end of the day, if you're a Republican voter, I don't know if this matters. If you're looking for an alternative to Donald Trump in a primary or you're an independent voter looking for an alternative to any to Donald Trump or Joe Biden. I don't know that this matters.
It may diminish her stature in a general election a bit, but there Might be some opportunity to recover. What I do think is most notable is the point that was made earlier about her removal of the Confederate flag. Whether it was because she generally understood the importance of that, or she did it for political expediency, she was at that moment seen as someone who actually could be this sort of general election candidate and move into this rising star in the Republican Party status. But the comment or her inability to answer that question straightforward could be taken as a gap.
I don't think so. I think it is just part of a larger effort, if you will, to fail to recognize the atrocity of slavery and to sort of conflate it with just a point in America where we were having a difficult discussion around states rights. It's certainly far more than that, but it's part of a larger trend, in my view. Speaking of that trend, Governor DeSantis has his own issues with making questionable remarks as it relates to slavery.
He was asked today how he would answer the. The same question that Nikki Haley had. And this is what he had to say. Of course, you have the issue of slavery.
You had the. The states that were concerned about Lincoln interfering and potentially eliminating it, and they viewed it as a states rights issue, not as a federal issue. And they were concerned. You have this Republican president may come in and get rid of.
Get rid of the institution of slavery. So, Charlie, is that any better than Haley's? Why is this question being so difficult, being difficult to answer? Why can't they just say it was not slavery?
You know, again, the guy who's from northern Mason Dixon line. This isn't a very difficult question for me. Of course it's a war about slavery, but, you know, maybe it's in that part of the world where they. They have politics, they have to deal with it.
That's why they have this hard time just calling out slavery as it's in America's original. It's our original sin. And, you know, we've been trying to make it right ever since. And I think this is just a problem for some of these candidates.
Maybe it's part of the other base in where this has to be dealt with more delicately than throughout much of the other country. When I was in Congress, I had to deal with this issue on, you know, Confederate flags being displayed at cemeteries, federal cemeteries, cemeteries. And I would tell my colleagues, I said, I can't support this. You know, this was to the balance of Gasburg.
We won that war, so let's not have this conversation anymore. And so I'm surprised by the difficulty of this, this is simply a matter of condemning. Yes, we can talk about the role of the states at the time. You know, secession is not something that's permitted the Civil War cell that question, but it was fundamentally about slavery.
But I do think it has to do with politics. So the Deep south, is that part of the problem, that it's handled delicately in certain parts of the country, that people just don't confront it, particularly in the south, as an issue where there are clear lines of what was right and what was wrong with. Of that type? Well, yeah.
Well, I think it's a couple of things. One, I do think it is part of the politics of the region where there has been some difficulty in trying to create this counter narrative to, you know, the Southern tradition and that slavery wasn't so bad. You know, that may be the sort of prevailing thought. I don't know among whom and how many, but it's clear that a lot of the candidates coming from some of these states are wrestling with this issue.
And if you think about the fact that you had Ron DeSantis, who is in many ways trying to not only play down the atrocity of slavery itself, but then trying to excise it from even the curriculum from K12 education, you had Tim Scott on a debate stage in September saying that African Americans being on welfare was actually worse than slavery. It's not just a denial of slavery and the, and the rise of the importance of state rights in terms of making that issue more prevalent. It's the fact that there is seemingly a concerted effort to just rewrite history and that that is what's so concerning. But again, you know, owing to the sort of first question he has, does this really resonate with Republican voters?
That is our current Republican Party, so perhaps not. And, Charlie, just quickly before we wrap up, I know you thought that this wouldn't be a death knell to the, to the Haley campaign, but given that she has such a small room for error here, if she's got any hope of topping Trump, could it still be something that is difficult for her to overcome, especially this late in the game? Well, it could certainly stun her growth a bit, maybe in New Hampshire, where she made this gaffe, maybe not as much in Iowa, but sure, this could, this could slow her down. She was on the move.
Her campaign has been ascending. She has a little amount, and this is obviously an unwelcome distraction for her campaign. So I guess I don't think this is fatal. We'll see how things play out.
I mean, Donald Trump was the candidate the of you know, this direction, the candidate that Charlesville and Rhonda Sans has some problems on this issue. I don't think it's a big problem. But that said, you know, we'll see, we'll see what voters have to say about this in a few weeks. Okay.
Basil, Michael, Charlie, Dan, thank you for being here. We appreciate it. Coming up, new developments on multiple fronts of the Israel Hamas war as militant attacks intensify on the Israel Lebanon border while civilians in central Gaza rush to escape a brutal ground offensive where live in Israel next. Plus, House Republicans are ramping up their impeachment according to President Biden.
But new details on how lawmakers are taking aim at President Biden's vacations with his son Hunter. You're watching Mika Press now drive off in a new Hyundai Launcher today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event. Take advantage of the $1,000 spring drive bonus and lease the 2026 Elantra Essential for just $73 weekly at 4.99% for 16 months. And you're covered by Elantra's best in class five year new car.
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Welcome back. Turning now to the Israel Hamas war where a second American hostage was declared dead today. Kabut near Oz announced the death of 70 year old Judy Weinstein, an Israeli Canadian, American triple national. It comes just days after her husband God Hagi was also an American Israeli American citizen was declared dead.
The Kabut said their bodies were being held by Hamas in Gaza. The newscom says NBC News confirms that the Secretary of State Blinken is set to return to Israel for the fifth time since the war began with no apparent end to the fighting in sight. Israeli officials tell NDC the war cabinet will meet tonight to discuss a post war plan for after Hamas is defeated. As Egypt says it's got no response and its framework proposal to end the war between Israel and Hamas.
And in the meantime, the bombardment of Gaz Gaza continues. And today the Israeli military is acknowledging it caused, quote, unintended harm to uninvolved citizens during strikes against Hamas targets in a central Gaza refugee camp. The IDF says they are investigating, stressing steps were taken to limit harm to civilians before the strikes. Joining me now From Telugu is ABC's Jay Gray.
And let's start with the death of another American hostage. What do we know about the deaths of her and her husband? Yeah, we're learning a bit more about how all of this unfolded. Though we don't know ultimately where or when the couple died.
We do know that they were involved in the Oct. 7 attack. Victims of those attacks at their kibbutz, both wounded by gunfire during the attack. Her husband got Hagai, as you talked about up 73 years old.
She's 70. They had four children, seven grandchildren, both shot on October 7th and both of their bodies in Gaza right now. But it's unclear if they died at the kibbutz or if they died once in captivity. Their family wants to figure out exactly what has happened.
Here they are the two Israeli American hostages that have died as a result of the attacks. We know according to the State Department, at least six Americans are still missing and presumed to be hostages right now being held in Gaza. Right. There seem to be potential progress before the holiday on hostage talks.
Is that just completely stall at this point? Look, it has when it comes to Israel talking to Hamas, we know that Egypt, we know that Qatar and the Americans on the sidelines are talking with both sides, but both sides aren't talking to each other. And they really have seemed to hit an impasse here. Hamas says they will not release any more hostages until the fighting stops.
Israel, as they've said from the beginning, won't stop the fighting until all of the hostages are released. And it just continues to be a circular argument with no solutions right now. So it's a desperate situation. The family members of those hostages continue to plead with the government here in Israel to do something to stop the fighting, to focus on those hostages.
They say time's running out. And do we expect that this will be a major focal point when Secretary Blinken comes there next week? Oh, I think it has to be. This will be a trip and it has been in each of those trips.
And he will again push to find some solution, or at least a temporary solution to bring some of those hostages, if not all of them, home. I think they'll focus on that. I think they'll also focus on the growing debt toll and what can be done to maybe change the way war is moving forward. Though Israel has made it clear that they have no intention of stopping right now, that they are going to continue this until they say Hamas is gone.
Yeah, and you're right. They do seem to be willing to continue to prosecute this war. But there is talk that the war cabinet is ready to discuss a plan for a post Hamas Gaza. I mean, what does that tell us about Israel's assessment of their military campaign?
Yeah, you're right. I think you make a great point because it's interesting they're talking about the end of this war while saying in the next breath that it's going to continue for several months. I think what it shows you is that they're very confident that they feel like they're winning this war, that they feel like it will ultimately be a victory and that they're trying to present some idea of how things will continue once the bullets and the bombs are silent. Has there been a solution to that?
No, not at this point. And it's something that's a focus not only here in Israel. Israel, but really around the world, people, countries weighing in on how things should be handled once the war stops. And they don't have an answer at this point.
Okay, great. As always, excellent reporting from Tel Aviv. Appreciate it. Up next, Democratic mayor is calling on the federal government to step up and help.
As they say the immigration crisis has reached a critical point. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. Three big city Democratic mayors are joining forces to speak out against the impact the ongoing migrant crisis is having on their cities.
The mayors of New York, Denver and Chicago have been very public about their struggle to handle busloads of migrants coming from the Texas border. Now all three cities are introducing new regulations around the arriving migrants and they're calling for federal help. New York City is a city built by immigrants. We will work together to emerge from this crisis stronger than ever before.
But this is a national problem that has only been exacerbated by Governor Abbott's cruel, inhumane politics, and that requires additional national solutions. Now that call for help came as representatives from the Biden administration were south of the border yesterday for a meeting with Mexico's president. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the meeting, quote, productive. NBC News correspondent Morgan Chesky is in Dallas.
He's got the latest on the border crisis. So, Morgan, what are we hearing about this meeting with President Lopez Obrador and what kind of messaging is coming out of the administration after yesterday's meeting? Ryan, we're hearing bits and pieces. This was a closed door meeting between this U.S.
delegation and Mexico's president. But 24 hours after it took place, as you mentioned, both sides having knowledge it was product, is hopeful in the short term future in handling this really irregulated migrant surge that we've seen, particularly over the past week when we saw a record number cross in a single day, more than 4,000 migrants along the US Mexico border. We do know that specific topics were discussed One including offering migrants incentive to stay in Mexico, such as a work permit. We heard the Mexican president also say that he will pledge to crack down on human smugglers and that the US Promised to repatriate more migrants going forward.
And the Mexican president Ryan also made a key point here and that is that he hopes that railways can be kept open. They were temporarily shut down over the last few weeks because hundreds of migrants have been seen by freight trains. He says that every day that those trains were closed it impacts the commerce between the two nations that it can be absolutely critical as time goes by. Those are few of the topics discussed.
As for what will be enacted first, that remains to be seen. We do know that there will be cabinet meetings between the two countries in Washington come January of next year, Ryan. And it's possible the Mexican president himself could come to Washington for being at the White House in January. And so how does the administration try and tackle this crisis in the interim, especially given the amount of pressure that's up there under.
But we do know that there are still international crossings along the border that if they're not closed are at least impacted as personnel has been handled since elsewhere to handle some of the migrant surge. Right now we can report that having been in your past yesterday the numbers had taken a significant dip than what we saw last week. But that's only expected to be temporary. Ryan.
We do know that there was a migrant caravan spotted in far south Mexico. Its numbers have dwindled significantly according to multiple sour. But all signs point to month by month a rise in crossings here we've seen November be October and when we see the December numbers expected in a couple weeks, there is an expectation by all parties that they will surpass November as well. So right now DHS officials say all they can do in the short term since their hands are somewhat tied resource wise is divert as many resources as they can to these key points, many of them in very remote areas and handle these crossings of migrants as they present themselves.
Right. All right, Morgan Chat. Thank you for that. We appreciate it.
Turning now to another political issue plaguing President Biden and that's the Republican led impeachment inquiry. The chairman of the oversight engineering committees are now calling on the White House to hand over years worth of communications between President Biden and his son Hunter Biden. In a letter to the White House, Congressman James Comer and Jim Jordan say they are seeking to determine if the president was involved in Hunter's decision to defy a congressional subpoena earlier this month. Running now Is my partner covering all things Hunter related and he sees Gary Grumbach.
So you know, Gary, what are Republicans actually looking for here? Do they actually think there's some there there or is this a bit of a fishing expedition? So this supplement may never actually even happened had White House Secretary Trump here not said that, quote, Joe Biden was certainly familiar with what his son was going to say when this deposition statement instead of deposition happens. It does seem like it is a bit of a phishing expedition here because what they're saying now is that they want to see if there's a conspiracy to structure proceeding of Congress related to President Biden and the deposition that Hunter Biden did not show up to.
They're asking for three big things here. The communications, as you mentioned, between Hunter Biden and the president, communication between the White House and Abby Lowell who Hunters lawyers, Abby's law firm and any communications between Kevin Morris, who is an entertainment lawyer that is said to have paid off Hunter Biden's taxes. I mean this does seem like a bit of an escalation, especially because they describe it as potentially an impeachable off. What does this tell us about kind of the broader impeachment inquiry as it currently stands?
It does seem like they're trying to throw things at the wall and see what sticks here, especially during a Hollywood releasing. This is during a Hollywood of something they see. I think hope to make some news and get them talking more about the investigation because I think we're going to see coming up next year. We're spending a lot of time in the hallways outside of the positions on Capitol Hill.
Ryan, as we see both Rob Walker who's a Hunter Biden business associate and Joe Biden's brother James Biden apparently appearing for depositions before the committee. Expand upon that. I mean what more can we see with this impeachment convention? Those two individuals that both committees and get asking for another business associate of James Biden to appear before the panel.
It does appear that they are willing to bring as many people in front of them as possible. At what point did it get to actual articles of impeachment? So we have seen almost a dozen people appear for depositions before the committee's transcripts have been released after that. But it does seem like it is going to be a slow process as they keep finding things.
But they have depositions with a archer of business associate Leslie Wolf who was part of the intelligence community here. And it seems like they've not gotten what they wanted out of those depositions with Democrats certainly pleased with how they went. Okay. And Gary, you're going to be back here tomorrow, which we're excited about the first story that you're working on, a little bit different topic.
But we're looking forward to that when you join us back here tomorrow. Thanks for being here. Appreciate it. Very unusual story, I'm told.
I can't wait. Gary, It's a candidate in North Carolina. After the break. Well, how about how 40s?
After the break, Redistricting and retirements. We're digging into the state of the race for congressional controls. Both parties face some major shakeups. You're WATCHING ME the PRESS now.
Welcome back. We got a surprise shakeup last night in the race for control of Congress. Colorado Republican Congressman Lauren Boebert announced that she's abandoning her contested re election bid in the state's third District to run in the safe Republican fourth Congressional District, which is really on the opposite side of the state. The 4th district is currently being represented by the retiring Republican Ken Buck and was carried by Donald Trump by 19 points in 2020.
Boebert's current district was Trump +8, but she narrowly won reelection in 2022. In a video last night, Boebert called the district switch the right move for her personally. And it's likely good news for Republicans were looking to hold on to her current seat and retain their narrow House majority as her polarizing presence made that seat more competitive. Our friends at the Cook Political Report have moved her old district from a toss up to now.
Lean Republican. The guy makes us calls running now. David Wasserman, the senior editor and elections analyst for the Cook Political Reporter. So, David, let's start with this news in Colorado.
What impact does Boebert switch have on the races in both of these districts? And could it be good news for Republican Orion? Lauren Boebert is the reason why Republicans were in danger of losing Colorado's third district. She came within 546 votes of losing last time and the same Democrat is running again.
This cycle outraged her three to one and she's her own worst enemy. So she moved from the Western Slope to the eastern Plains of Colorado in this latest decision. And although these districts both lean red, the Eastern Plains district is a lot redder. And culturally and economically, it's quite different.
There were already four prominent Republicans running in that open seat, including a prominent state rep, two former state senators, Radio host Boebert may be counting on a fractured primary field to allow her, with her existing high profile, to retain a seat in Congress even though she currently represents none of those constituents. Yeah. So maybe break down the stakes there in that primary. There's no guarantee, I should say, to be the nominee in the House district.
That's true. You've got Ted Harvey, Jerry Sonberg, Deborah Flora. These are Republicans who have racked up plenty of endorsements locally in a district that is really sprawling and has a lot of farms on the eastern plains. Now in the third district where Adam Frisch, the Democrat had raised over $4 million so far against Boebert, he's essentially lost his rationale for all the Democrats who've given him a ton of money to get Lauren Boebert out of Congress.
And we'll see who Republicans nominate. But Republicans prospects have improved in that district and they also got good news, by the way, in Georgia today when a federal judge approved of a new map that preserves Republicans gerrymander advantage in that state. So the House prospects for Republicans have brightened at the end of the year. But do you think that it is going to matter who ends up being the nominee in the third district as to whether or not that remains a lean Republican or could potentially go back to a to up if it is another candidate, maybe in the style of Lauren Borber?
Well, that's, that's why we have this district in lean Republican as opposed to likely or solid Republican. If they were a traditional conservative without personal controversy running in this seat, the polarized nature of the seat, you've got these conservative oil and gas and ranch towns and then very liberal resort destinations like, like Aspen and Gunnison and those culturally polarized communities mean that there are very few persuasive voters. Of course, Laura Overt managed to polarize that persuasive block against her. But as long as Republicans, and this is a big if were to nominate a more conventional candidate, then they would be favored to retain the seat.
Okay, let's talk about the rest of the House. Now there are 35 sitting members of Congress right now say they're not going to seek re election, they're going to retire. They're going to run for different office. So far that's only one shy of the final retirement numbers in 2020.
What are the tea we should take from this? You know, it's shocking, Ryan, how the Republican dysfunction that we've seen this year has not been reflected in the partisan breakdown of retirements. As you just showed, there are nearly twice as many departing Democrats as Republicans. And so a lot of Democrats are saying, well, not only is the House not really moving anything and Republicans can't get their act together but we're stuck in the minority.
And so we really don't have hardly any influence here. And Democrats own the bulk of the vulnerable open seats. There are two members leaving in Michigan, Dan Kildee, Alyssa Slotkin, whose districts are very, very competitive. Abigail Sandberger's district in central Virginia is going to be another competitive seat.
Now Republicans do have the single most vulnerable vacancy and that's New York's third district. So we'll see what happens in that February. And you've already touched on this, but there's a lot of these battlegrounds are really still in flux because there are redistricting decisions that still need to come down that could completely change some of these district lines. You mentioned Georgia, New York, there's some other states as well.
And one of the states that you are watching specifically that had the biggest impact on the control of the House. Yeah. So North Carolina was Republicans biggest victory earlier this year when they redrew the map to basically nab another three or four seats depending on one toss up district. And then Democrats won a victory in New York recently when New York's top court ruled that that process must start over again.
We're still waiting for the ships to fall there. We're not sure whether the Democrats in Albany can be as aggressive as North Carolina Republicans given some of the rules there. However, there's also pending litigation in a couple other states regarding racial redistricting lawsuits. Now Georgia I mentioned is a setback for Democrats.
Alabama earlier this year was a victory for Democrats. There's gonna be another black majority seat in that state. A big outstanding question is Louisiana where there's a similar lawsuit to the one that produced an additional black majority seat in Alabama. Just a question of whether it will make it to a new map in time for the 2024 elections.
And keep in mind, every one of these developments matters a lot when you're talking about this game of inches in the House, which is currently a nine seat margin for Republicans and even lower than that given the vacancies caused by George Santos's expulsion, Kevin McCarthy's exit and others. Yeah, Dave, I could talk to you all day, but I. Enough. That's it.
You've had a terrific report here and we appreciate you being on. Thanks Dave. Thanks a lot, Ryan. We also have some sad news to report in the world of politics.
Her Cole, the former Fortune Democratic senator from Wisconsin, died last night. Cole was a major advocate for Wisconsin in the Senate and supported strong education and childhood nutrition programs. Despite his low key Persona, Cole won more landslide elections than any politician in modern Wisconsin history and he never lost a race. Cole was also the longtime owner of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.
He spent big to keep them in Wisconsin. Of course they recently won championship her. Cole was 88 years old and as we do every year, we want to take a moment to remember some of the other iconic people in politics, culture and the media. We lost in 2023.
I'm ready for a good fight. I've got things to fight for. I'm in a position where I can be effective and hopefully that means something to Californ. The United States cannot by itself solve every crisis that exists in the world, painful as these crisis may be.
And one of the philosophical questions that has to be answered is where we engage ourselves beyond moral condemnation and to. I had no problem with being frustrated with the world of stardom because I never thought about it. Nowhere in my boyhood dreams was there the idea that one day I'd be in Hollywood, one day I would be on Broadway, and one day I'd be making an album that was successful. Athletes useless take too long.
They stay past their peak. I think you should always leave on time so they can remember the best of you. I loved what I did and I thought the way to do it was to just work very hard and it would be noticed. I don't think I have a shadow with a controversial.
I think Jimmy has a shadow with controversy. Jim has always told me that if you do anything, you're going to be criticized. The only way not to be criticized is just to be mediocre. Never do anything.
Welcome back to 2023. We'll go down in History is the year we all entered the brave new world of AI. Now the New York Times is suing Microsoft and OpenAI, the copy behind ChatGPT over alleged, quote, mass copyright infringement, the lawsuit argues. Millions of articles published by the Times have been used to train the chatbots, and now those bots compete with the times.
MEC News Technology Correspondent Jake Ward has more on AI's breakout year. Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence could soon transform Hollywood and the harm this software can cause. 2023 was when AI went from nerdy jargon to a daily part of Polit Entertainment. ChatGPT did even schoolwork.
How many of you use the AI like ChatGPT? Your Bard in this discussion. It has come at us very fast. ChatGPT for Ministry the OpenAI now has 100 million weekly users just since its launch last year, with 92% of Fortune 500 companies using the technology, according to the company.
But beyond chatgpt the stuff AI did this year is amazing. It caught a glimpse of our thoughts. So as long as I have seen it and you know the patterns of my brain, then the AI will read that out of my brain. Exactly.
Spotted mental health risk to children. An output will say, this is a patient at high risk. This is a patient at low risk. And created tons and tons of weird art.
The godlike power commission in the artist history. Yeah, that's the fun part. But as 2024 approaches, AI's ability to trick anyone's eyes could be the end of trust. Deep fake faces.
Unbelievably easy, right? In just the time it took us to set up our cameras, UC Berkeley professor hunting for you made me look like I had starred in Doctor Strange. This is on your laptop in half an hour. An hour.
Wow. But that same tech in our politics can be dangerous. The Republican National Committee already aired one AI generated ad full of fake images. Go to Slovakia right now, where the Russians are trying to imperil elections.
Go to Sudan where we're seeing fake audio trying to stow civil unrest. Still, David Holtz, founder of AI archcoady Inventory, said earlier this year, the risk of misuse is not worth giving up on AI. It's better to trust people, but they're going to use things in good ways. You're always going to get some edge, Case.
That's just what having an effect on the world is like. AI investors like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt say companies should more or less regulate themselves. There's no way in the government who can, but the industry can roughly get it right. And then the government can put a regulatory structure around it.
That argument has mostly won out. Europe and China have both moved forward on broad AI relations this year, but as 2023 winds down, the US remains the wild west for AI. A world changing technology moving so fast and with little sign of slowing down. Jake Ward, NBC News.
And that does it for this hour of NBC News Now. Coverage continues though, with Joshua Burns. And for Hallie Jackson right now, he was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention.
They made a life together. Then one night, the marine died. And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Matiewicuous and this is Trace of Suspicion, an all new podcast from Dayline.
Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion now, wherever you get your podcasts.