Meet the Press NOW – February 20

I'm Craig Malph, cheers. Cheers. I've always been a glass half bowl kind of guy. And now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way too.

So really fascinating folks who shared their defining moments, their triumphs, their challenges, their stories are funny and my candid. So I hope you'll join me each week. Who knows? You might just come away with your own glass half bowl.

Search Glass Half Whole with Craig Malph, and from today on YouTube and wherever you get her podcasts. Hi, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor, host of the podcast The Drink. This month I'm grabbing a matcha latte with comedian Taylor Tonlinson. The drink is always about someone's journey to the top and Taylor's story is remarkable.

She tells us all about her unlikely path from performing in churches all the way to headlining her own Netflix specials like her latest prodigal daughter. And she opens up about her religious upbringing, what drew her to stand up and how she feels when she gets on that stage. Hope you'll listen and follow the drink wherever you get your podcasts. If it's Thursday, one month in office and White House officials are moving with dizzying speed, they execute President Trump's sweeping agenda as new polling shows Americans are divided on the president's performance and his unprecedented exercise at presidential authority.

Plus, President Trump moves to terminate all taxpayer-funded benefits for undocumented immigrants, but leaves open major questions about where the administration will draw the line and whether vital services for undocumented children could be impacted. And new reporting on what was happening behind the scenes as a war of words publicly erupted between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky, signaling a potentially historic upending of U.S. foreign policy in Europe and with Russia. Welcome to Meet the Press Now, I'm Gabe Gutierrez in Washington.

Today marks one month of the Second Trump administration, and new polling shows Americans are divided on his performance, his agenda, and his unprecedented actions slashing the size and scope of the federal government with help from tech billionaire Elon Musk. The public is also leery of the president's vast, and at times legally questionable exercises of his powers. A new Washington poll shows that 57 percent of Americans believe he has gone beyond his authority as president, and a new CNN poll has 52 percent of Americans saying he's gone too far, with 39 percent saying his actions have been about right, and 8 percent saying he's not gone far enough. Both polls have President Trump's approval, job approval rating, below 50 percent, although they still are some of the highest numbers he's ever had as president.

White House officials today spiking the football on what they call a month of five percent. From success. He has packed eight years of transformative action, restoring this nation, restoring our laws, restoring fairness, restoring economic opportunity, restoring national security in just one month. No one in this country has ever seen anything like it.

We're incredibly optimistic about the future of inflation and the future of our economy, and we're optimistic because we're making so much progress so far. Trump is on what we call Trump work speed. We are all, we are all honored to be really serving under his leadership and his vision. Today also saw more action in the president's push to cut federal spending and staff a key agency, thousands of IRS employees are bracing for layoffs, potentially as soon as today, with many dismissals expected to hit employees working in the enforcement division with tax season underway.

Under defense secretary Pete Hanksat, the Pentagon says it is pushing for an 8 percent cut in the defense budget with savings going toward president Trump's priorities. A conservative conference today in Maryland, vice president Vance, prays the Trump administration's commitment to cutting the spending he deems wasteful. What are we doing with all of the American taxpayers' money and why are we wasting so much of it on garbage that the American people either aren't aware that we're spending it on or don't want to be spending it on in the first place? I think all of us are sitting around and asking, what the hell are we doing with the American people's money for the last four years?

Let's turn off the spigot and spend the American people's tax money on the American people's priority. And that's, of course, been a big focus in the administration. The new polling does show there are some caution flags for the White House. The president's decision to give Elon Musk a prominent role in his administration is attempting to shut down the USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are all not popular, according to that CNN poll.

And two-thirds bulk at the president's funding freezes according to that Washington Post poll saying he needs congressional approval first. Republicans in Congress at this juncture are largely cheering on the president, today confirming his hard-line pick for FBI director, Cash Patel. And one of the few remaining Republican senators willing to even gently push back on the president announced his retirement today. Here's Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history using his remarks on the Senate floor to remind his colleagues of the Senate's institutional strength.

On this floor, there's no place to hide from the obligations of Article 1, the Senate's unique relationship with Article 3, or our role in equipping the powers of Article 2. There are any number of reasons for pessimism, but the strength of the Senate is not one of them. So let's bring in some of my amazing news colleagues. White House correspondent, Jimmy Shausindor, senior national security correspondent, Courtney Cubie at the Pentagon and Capitol Hill correspondent, Julie Serkin.

Thank you all so much for being with us. You mean, Sean, I want to start with you. It's been quite a month. What else did we hear from the White House today?

It's been a month over a year. I'm not quite sure. It's been quite a month, Gabe. And there was a lot to talk about that, right, press briefing.

They started talking about immigration with Stephen Miller talking about the fact that the president feels very good about the low number of border crossing, as well as the immigration policies and executive orders. We should note that the president has signed 73 executive orders. A lot of them had to deal with immigration, but there were also other things, including tariffs, including changes to the DEI programs across the country, as well as it's most creating doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, where we've seen so many cuts backs to the federal workforce. So the Trump administration said that they're feeling really good about this situation.

Right now, we saw that because we saw a number of other officials, including, of course, Kevin Hasett, who's overseeing the National Economic Council, as well as the National Security Advisor, Michael Walts. He also took to the briefing to talk about sort of his views on the war and ending the war in Ukraine. So a lot to talk about, but rather the Trump administration feeling like moving at lightning speed is the way they want to continue to go, Gabe. So I mean, about the IRS, what do we know about the expected layoffs there?

And are they going to hurt the way the government processes applications and catches tax cheats? Well, it's a key question because this is, of course, the height of tax season. And our understanding is that thousands of people will be getting laid off at the internal revenue service. Most of them will be probationary employees who've been with the government for a year or two.

Kevin Hasett, again, the head of the National Economic Council, was asked about this. And he said that he does not believe that these cuts are going to impact the government's ability to process tax returns or to go after people who maybe aren't paying their fair share in taxes. But he also said that some of these people are being laid off for poor performance. And there has been some pushback with some employees, federal employees, across agencies showing that they actually had excellent performance reviews.

But Kevin Hasett said, well, no one who's being fired for poor performance actually admits that they had poor performance. But the administration's point of view here is that these are cuts that are necessary. And these are cuts that are really going toward the overall goal of cutting a lot of what they see as waste brought and abuse from the government gives. The other White House is repeatedly touting that, that it's cutting waste from the government.

But President Trump had also some less than stellar marks on the economy in these polls. So I want to play what he said about the economy on Fox earlier this week. Inflation is back. I'm only here for two and a half weeks.

That was inflation. Inflation is back. Don't think of it. Inflation is back.

And they said, oh, Trump, I had nothing to do with it. These people have run the country. They spent money like nobody has ever spent. So, Amish, how long can the president get away with blaming Biden's?

Does the White House have any plans in the works to fight inflation? It's really interesting. I think it's going to be a tell-tale side how much time he has to continue to blame President Biden when it comes to the voters, the people who put him in office. I think we're going to continue to check back in with people to see if they've sort of grown tired of the mantra that this is something that they had to fix and it's going to take a long time.

So think about the president saying this just a short time ago. He said that we're ending trillions of dollars of waste. We will rapidly grow our economy by dramatically shrinking the government. So there he's talking about the fact that cutting the federal workforce is going to help with inflation.

You also have Kevin Hasett at the White House briefing. I want to read part of what he said. He said we're incredibly optimistic about the future of inflation and the future of our economy. We also heard Vice President Jamie Vance today saying that it's just going to take time to cut down inflation.

I mean, it's just getting a little bit of time, but there are activities and actions going on to try to cut down inflation. Of course, there's still a lot of big questions because Americans are waiting for costs to go down, especially costs that are living since President Trump ran on that promise game. And Yamiche, we're just learning that President Trump is holding an event for Black History Month. It's just about to get underway, or just starting.

What can you tell us about the event and about the guest list? It's really interesting. One of the things that I think we need to underscore is that the president, scientists, executive order, ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs. And as a result, a number of agencies actually canceled their cultural celebrations, not just Black History Month celebrations, but also Martin Luther King celebrations as well as Women's History Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day, a lot of cultural events that agencies used to sort of praise and celebrate the differences and diversity among us.

So it's really interesting to see the president say, well, he's going to have this Black History Month event. I don't know exactly who the guest list is, but it's going to be very interesting to see who gathers there and what the president says. And also how he sort of explains why he wanted to have this celebration, given the fact that he's been so critical of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the country. And Michal Sinard, the White House, will continue to monitor that event and bring you any news from it.

And from the looks of that video, we see Tiger Woods at that event. So according to QB, I want to turn now to you. What can you tell us about the 8% cut the administration wants to see it dependent on? How much is that in dollars?

And what would need to get the acts to get to that number? Yeah, so I think Gabe, we should really look at this less as cuts to the budget and more as reallocation. So 8% is supposed to be cut from the majority of the Department of Defense overall budget. There's 17 different agencies, combatant commands, departments that have been exempted.

And frankly, those are agencies or combatant commands that are more in line with some of the priorities that President Donald Trump has, some of his national security priorities. So when you exempt those 17 and then you look at the overall DOD budget for FY26, it comes to about $50 billion that are expected to be taken out of the overall DOD budget. Now, that is going to prioritize getting rid of things that are not in line with President Trump's priorities. So things like diversity and equity and inclusion programs and policies, also climate change.

The sorts of things that we have already, frankly, over the last month plus have been hearing from President Trump and from those around him that they no longer want to prioritize. Instead, that $50 billion is more likely to go things like the southern border, protecting the border. The Indo-Pacific command, China, some big programs that the President has spoken out about. So yes, this is taking money away from the DOD budget.

But at the end of the day, we expect that to be reallocated to other priorities, Gabe. OK, so Courtney, they want these cuts, as the White House is also calling on more defense spending in Congress. How do you square that? Yeah, and that's exactly what this is.

I mean, right now, we're going off what we have, which is the $8% cut, the $50 billion. But the reality is, Gabe, I do expect, because we have been hearing from people close to President Trump on Capitol Hill at the White House, frankly, even here in the building about how we expect the defense budget to ultimately grow, not shrink here. And look, that's keeping, frankly, completely in line with what we have been hearing about how the President has talked about needing to rebuild the military. Secretary Hegseth frequently talks about making the military more lethal.

We will involve making cuts in certain areas. So if you're thinking of something like a military unit, I would expect to see cuts to the headquarters unit. But to see additional, as Secretary Hegseth calls some additional war fighters or additional equipment for those war fighters going forward, it's really more about reallocating the priorities here than anything else at this point, Gabe. And Courtney, you also have some reporting that the defense secretary is discussing firing some top military officers.

What can you tell us about that? Yeah, that's right. So this is something we've been hearing for some time now. And we're just expecting now that it's getting, it's pretty imminent at this point.

But these are general officers and flag officers who have, in some way, have been identified as people that the President does not want to have serve under him anymore. Now, keep in mind, Gabe, this is a new administration. He has the right to choose the general and flag officers to serve in his administration. The reason this is getting some attention, though, is because not because of what these people have done, but the jobs they have held.

So we're expecting the people who are singled out here to have close ties to the former Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. Perhaps they've been assigned to jobs that have had a diversity or equity inclusion sort of role or policies that they've had to enact. Again, policies that were implemented by the civilian leadership of the military. And these uniformed service members had to enact them or carry them out.

Or people who may be seen as having policies or opinions that are contrary to President Trump. Again, keep in mind, these are senior military officers, general and flag officers. They do not set the policy here in the Pentagon or throughout the Department of Defense. They carry out the civilian leadership's policies, but it seems as if they will be targeted for no other reason than carrying out the roles and the jobs that they were assigned to Gabe.

Courtney Cubey, live for us at the Pentagon. Courtney, thank you. I want to turn out to Julie Serkin, alive on Capitol Hill. Julie, I want to start with Mitch McConnell's announcement that he won't be running for another term.

What else did we hear from him today? Well, he gave a floor speech, Gabe. And certainly this was not a surprise to his fellow colleagues. In the Senate, it really wasn't a surprise to anyone that he decided at 83 years old today as his birthday, by the way, to not seek an eighth term in 2026.

He served as the longest serving leader of either party in the Senate, as you mentioned. And then he stepped down from that role, of course, because his popularity was shrinking given all of his entanglements and his back and forth. With Trump, even before he won in November, it was very clear that McConnell could not continue his role. In leading the conference, I remember a moment last year, for example, when he was trying to push his members to vote for Ukraine, aid.

None of them wanted to buck what Trump wanted, even though he wasn't in the White House at that time. And so his influence was certainly waning, and he understood that. We've seen from him in the last couple of weeks vote against three of Trump's nominees today. I should note he did vote for Cash Patel, which I thought was interesting, given that he certainly doesn't align with him on much.

And on the Senate floor, he did give a speech saying that while he is going away, he said that his critics won't be happy to know that he will not be silent. And that's what his fellow colleagues told me to. Yeah, on that point, surely, after McConnell's speech, we saw the Senate approve Cash Patel as a new FBI director. Is that a pretty accurate reflecting of how the Senate majority is largely just giving a thumbs up to everything Trump wants?

Absolutely. I think we saw that starting from Pete Hexett's vote. Of course, all the reporting surrounding him, the controversy that he was embroiled in, the Republicans who privately were saying that they would vote against him. Ultimately, most of them went out and voted for him.

I think that was a pretty good signal for us. And then of course, we saw that happen with Tulsi Gabbard. Again, Cash Patel never really had that kind of Republican opposition materialized like those other two did. Of course, we saw Lisa Murkowski vote against him today.

Also, she was in Collins. They also voted against some of Trump's other nominees. But McConnell voting yes for him. Democrats continue to push back even this morning to Durban standing in front of the FBI headquarters calling Cash Patel a political hack.

This is somebody who, of course, had some Hill experience. But most notably was Trump ally and served for him in the first administration during the last critical moments on January 6. And he wanted a clean house at the FBI. And this is really the investigative arm of the DOJ.

So Cash Patel said he wants to clean house. There was a moment of concern where Democrats said that he murdered himself when he said he had no idea that people were being fired from the FBI before he even was officially confirmed for this position today. None of that really matters because all of the Republicans but those two went in line. And when they have a four-seat majority, of course, that fourth vote being JD Vance's tie-breaking one, they can pretty much do whatever Trump tells them to do.

And they certainly are going to. Julie Sorkin, on Capitol Hill, Julie, thank you. And coming up, the human impact of the government's layoffs reverberating well beyond the belt way. We'll hear from a Marine veteran who lost a job he considers a calling working with veterans.

His story is next. Plus, the potential political impact of these layoffs is communities across America brace for turmoil with their federal employees and their local economies. They're watching me at the press now. Hey guys, Willie Geist here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

On this week's episode, I get together with Red Hot Stand Up comedian Nikki Glaser to talk about the long career grind that has brought her to this starring moment, hosting the Golden Globes, killing at the Tom Brady roast and now with another hit special on Hulu. You can get our conversation now for, for re, wherever you download your podcasts. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Marine veteran Andrew Lennox started working at the VA hospital last year. But as a probationary employee, he was fired last week.

And he sees Garrett Hake spoke to him about being forced out of the job he loves. After leaving the military, there's like, you kind of feel alone. People don't really understand what you think or why you think that way. And like, that's what we understand that.

But the second I walked into a VA hospital, and just again, stepping into the building, interacting with Vietnam veterans, older ones, younger ones, people that finally understand you, they understand just why you walk the way you talk. And then like, these are the people that I was serving with. You know, these are the people that created the institutions that made me who I am in the Marines. And like, I've got nothing better to like, help them.

It's my family. Yeah, this isn't something like a job. It sounds like a calling. Yeah, absolutely.

So like, I think somebody compared to you, like, you know, you can have a lot of jobs that make you happy, but there's very few that can make you proud. And that is something that made me proud that, you know, I was being able to serve again. What do you think the people who see jobs like yours as lines on a spreadsheet are missing? Like, there is absolutely no denying that there are areas where our government agencies can be like, made more efficient.

There's like, there's no way to say that we're running machines, but it's all about the execution and perhaps the input from the people that are running these places that should be taken into account. Because from my perspective, somebody looked at a spreadsheet who has no idea what happens in our hospital, no idea what my position is, but they saw it. Not a doctor, not a nurse, probationary, you're not a union click. They didn't ask my supervisor if he was okay with it.

They didn't consult the director of our hospital if she was okay with it. Or even what my job was, and if I was to be removed, can we continue? And I think that kind of, that shows the care and attention to detail and forethought that they put into this process or lack thereof. These are very complex and fragile institutions that if you try and you know, you slash away, it grinds a whole and this isn't something that you can just bankrupt and start over again next month, you know, whenever it's gonna affect people.

These are customers, these are veterans. It's convenient to create an enemy that everyone's against us. But like, we're federal work, like, I'm just trying to help veterans. You know, it's possible where it's all these people.

We're not some deep state that like has ulterior motives. I wanna go to work, I wanna help veterans. And I wanna do it again. And I'd like to do it continually.

Like, I don't wanna be dragged into these politics. My job is to take care of veterans and to help make sure our doctors and nurses and providers can do it. Like, I don't care whose pictures are the wall downstairs. Thanks to Garrett Hake for that reporting.

And to Andrew Lennox for sharing his story. Joining me now is the panel, Deepa Shiver. White House correspondent and NPR. Now, Veena Yek, president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

And Rob Louie, president and executive editor at the Daily Signal. Thank you all so much for joining me. And Deepa, I wanna start with you. We just heard that story and Garrett's interview.

There's a human side to these layoffs. As more and more stories start to trickle out, do you think that will have an impact on how they're perceived across the country? I think so. And the reporting that Garrett is doing, and people who are federal workers have jobs that also serve their communities and their public, right?

And when you try to turn the lights at your overnight, there are gonna be consequences. And we might not see that immediately. It might be months and potentially years down the line to get the full scope of what it means to call down the federal workforce this dramatically. But I think there are some immediate impacts that people are seeing right now.

And they're communities I've seen a lot of social media today about national parks workers getting cut. And what that means, IRS workers, right, in the tax season, there are immediate impacts to trying to change something like the federal workforce, literally in the span of days and weeks. And it really does cause a lot of chaos and confusion and especially when it's services that people are dealing with. And Deepa, I wanna get your thoughts on this next point and Rob, you as well.

We put up these numbers earlier. Just over a majority of respondents think that Trump's executive actions have gone too far. You see those numbers right there. It's Washington Post, Ipsoff, Ipsoff, Ipsoff, 57%.

I think he's gone too far. What do those numbers mean to you? And are you surprised to see where they're at right now? It is interesting because I do feel like just in covering this White House in the last couple of weeks.

I mean, the amount of executive authority that is being exercised here is something that they're bragging about, it came up in the White House briefly today, right, talking about how President Trump signed more executive orders in July and more executive orders in Barack Obama. And they argue voters chose this. And they argue that it's a good thing that they're doing. But it is such a stark contrast coming from covering the Biden administration.

Executive powers of the president like this are not meant to be done every day. This is not a way to legislate or run the country. It's typically meant as you maybe couldn't get something done so it's an emergency or something like that. The way that President Trump has used this power just in an extraordinary amount of time, which is very little time, is very stark and very shocking.

Rob, what do you think of this? Just about two weeks ago, there was a poll that showed Trump's job approval. The majority of Americans support it. What he was doing.

So what do you make of those numbers? Well, even as you look at the poll that came out, you talked about the CNN poll earlier. 75% of the people in that poll said that they expected Trump to do these things that he's doing. I mean, they may not agree with all of it, but they recognize that he said these types of things on the campaign trail.

So they're not necessarily a surprise game that he's carrying out these things. To your point about the executive orders, I think this is why it's critically important for Congress to follow through and actually legislate on these issues because the next president could come in and just wipe out a lot of these cleats. Well, speaking of Congress, I'm gonna put up some of the comments that some of these Republican lawmakers are saying right now, defending some of these cuts. For example, in Alaska, Congress from there saying it's important for us to think about this as a way to diversify our economic base in Oregon.

Congressman Thera, Cliff Ben saying, we have to stop spending so much money and President Trump is doing his best to take action in that regard. What do you make of those answers? Cutting spending is easier to defend, but as we just saw in that interview, it gets tougher to defend when there are real people behind these layoffs, for example, Kansas City, preparing for potentially thousands of layoffs. Sure, and I think as a conservative, I am sympathetic and don't want to see anybody lose their job at the same time, we are running a $2 trillion trillion with a T deficit in our federal budget.

So you have to look somewhere to make cuts. I think part of the problem is that the reason they're going after probationary employees, it's so difficult to terminate or remove other employees who have been in the federal government for a long time. So yes, what I like to see reforms in the federal workforce, absolutely. I think members of Congress who have been talking a good game about cutting spending for a long time and have failed to follow through on the actions are now going to have an opportunity with this budget reconciliation bill to actually prove that they are willing to make the cuts necessary.

And the Veeam, do Democrats see an opportunity here though, talking about these cuts and the human impact of this? Absolutely, I mean, this is where conservatives imagine particular are really good at campaigning and disastrous at governing. The American people did not vote for stories like Andrews one month into this, and it's not Andrew personally. Remember, he serves veterans.

I don't think once in the campaign, Donald Trump said, I'm going to make life worse for veterans in this country by cutting services they depend on, but that is what he's doing. And Musk and Trump can do this when it's Twitter, because you know, Twitter doesn't work well, who cares? And speaking of Musk and those polls, a majority said that putting Musk in a position of prominence is a bad idea. Is he easier to attack for Democrats than President Trump?

I mean, I think they're both going to own what happens. You're an every Republican and every congressman is going to own these cuts. Farmers are not getting payments. They were promised as a result of contracts.

Daycare centers are not opening. People's heating bills are going up because they cut off a program that funds people's heat in the winter. We are having a cold spell. These are all consequences that Trump, Maga, Musk own.

And I think this is interesting comparison. The ACA was very unpopular until what? Until Donald Trump attacked it and the Republicans tried to repeal it. Then it was one of the most popular policies in this country.

We're conservative, spent 40 years attacking government. And now they are dismantling it. And guess what? The American people are going to wake up and go, oh, wait a second.

That's what you meant by government? You meant Medicare? You meant my food? Stamps?

They're going to freak out. And they're going to own it. Look, Musk is set to take the stage at CPAC any moment. Now he is central to the Republican party here at this point.

How would you rate his performance thus far? The criticism is, oh, he wasn't elected. But he says that President Trump says that he's giving him a broad range of authority. But the buck stops with the president.

How is Musk doing? The buck leaders never want to use the board. No, of course they want to appease their constituents and the American people. So I think that's why, to your point, it's difficult.

And it's why probably somebody like Elon Musk has a unique ability to go in because he's not elected and look and use his skills as somebody who's led at successful companies to help the president make these choices. He is incredibly popular with conservatives right now. I think they appreciate what he's done at X, giving them a platform of free speech where they can openly communicate their ideas and having been a CPAC earlier today. I can tell you that that crowd will embrace him enthusiastically.

Unelected person, though. Just tap-stacks. Hairying on elections. I'm not elected.

We're speaking of one elected person, Deepa. I want to get your thoughts really quickly on major development today, Mitch McConnell, saying he's not running for reelection. What do you make of that? And his legacy here in the Senate.

I mean, a long career in the Senate has seen so many presidents come through a lot of different agendas and has certainly shaped, I think, the Republican Senate and their priorities and what that has looked like for years and years and years now. His health concerns the last couple of months, years. It's been a very top of mine. You Google Mitch McConnell recently.

That's a lot of things that are likely to come up. But to me, I'm kind of thinking about it in a way of what is Mitch McConnell's Republican party and the Republican party of his majority of his career versus the Republican party that exists now. And if he's gone in the Senate, really, how much of a difference does that make, given where we are politically? Speaking of that, I want to play something quickly, Josh Hollys, today about the Senate's budget plan and get your reaction on the other side.

This is. Trump wants us to move forward with it, then I will support it. If he doesn't, then I won't. So I'm going to be with him on it.

I'll take his direction. If he doesn't support it, there's not a lot of point in it. If he supports us moving forward, then that's fine. It's his agenda, so I'll support it.

But if not, then it doesn't seem to be like it's, I exercise that a lot of points. If he doesn't take a position either way, what's your plan then? Will you go against it? Oh, I mean, I'll ask for his instruction.

So I'm sure he'll give the President's who's pretty good about expressing his opinion. Listen, I mean, is there a co-equal branch of government? I think there's four million voters in Missouri who are like, what did I vote for? Exactly.

Wasn't I supposed to vote for a Senator that would have a voice? I mean, this is really something where you now have a branch of government, a party that is completely at the women of one individual, even though they were elected to represent their constituents in their interests. And he's saying, listen, I don't have an opinion. Donald Trump tells me what to do.

And that's what I do. What do you make of that? Well, for years, Donald, which McConnell hasn't been representing the interests of his constituents, they overwhelmingly have supported Donald Trump. His nominees and his policy priorities.

In terms of what the Senate and the House need to do, they need to come to an agreement and get this budget reconciliation bill done quickly. The President is waiting on this money and these resources to carry out his agenda. And so I understand that there are narrow margins in both houses of Congress. But whether they go with one bill or two bills, they need to get together and they can happen.

What is clear, President Trump will definitely have quite to say. Thank you all so much for joining me here on the panel. Deepa, Navin, Rob, thank you so much. And up next, we're breaking down President Trump's executive order calling for an end.

The federal benefits for undocumented migrants has questions emerged over just what benefits? That order could affect. You're watching me at the press now. Stay with us.

As the day wraps up, get the scoop on what's been happening. With Here's the Scoop, a new podcast for NBC News. With Meteor 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 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 SiriusXM.

Let's kickstart your wellness journey with the crowd today. Workouts, meal plans. It's your fast track to a healthier you. And now during the XFINITY member celebration, members can get an exclusive 50% off in annual subscription.

And to XFINITY.com slash membership to learn more. XFINITY. Imagine that. Subscription automatically reduced each year at $65.99 plus taxes and fees until canceled.

All for ends May 20th, 2026, prices subject to change. Visit today.com slash XFINITY for full on returns and details. Welcome back. The Trump administration's effort to end the birth-wide citizenship is facing another legal setback as the White House takes new actions targeting undocumented immigrants.

An appeals court has declined to reinstate the president's birth-right citizenship order after a lower court blocked the executive order from taking effect. The three-judge panel ruling that the Justice Department did not make a strong enough argument that the order did not violate the 14th Amendment. It comes as the Trump administration has told organizations that give federally funded legal representation to unaccompanied migrant children to halt their work. And as the president signs an executive order to terminate federal benefits for undocumented immigrants.

Joining me now here on set. Let me see news homeland security correspondent Julia Ainsley. Joining me, what is the next step here? Yeah, I mean, look, the White House, as you know, has to review exactly which benefits they're going to cut off.

But some of those could include infant assistance. The assistance that goes out to pregnant women and young babies. It includes healthy foods for women who are about to have babies and infant formula. That has always been something that's been protected.

But they're looking at whether or not that can cut off. I believe you understand as well that they aren't trying to go after free and reduce lunch programs for undocumented children. At least not yet. At least not yet.

Right. They don't rule anything out yet. And then there are some states that do allow some welfare benefits to go, allow people in those states access to federal welfare dollars, especially if they're on a parole program. As you know, every 100,000 people came and under those programs that are fighting.

Do you think that this is having the desire to turn effect at this point? I was just at the border just yesterday. And as you well know as well, legal border crossings are down significantly. Is, besides the tightening of asylum restrictions, essentially shutting down the asylum program.

But also, in halting some of these programs in the interior, is it having the desired effect? You know, I don't know exactly if that is the thing that we see on these messages from people telling their family members to come or people communicating with smugglers. The message is like, it seems more likely that what you're seeing, that people are not being able to cross the border in the immediate effect. So it begs the question, is it necessary to cut off some of these benefits to go through this amount of pain for what could be young children so that that message somehow trickles down to the person who's thinking about leaving Venezuela.

It's not clear that that that's the direct deterrent effect that they wanted to have. But certainly, it does serve to try to show the base that none of their federal tax dollars will go toward these things. Although we should point out that emergency rooms still need to take care of anyone who walks through the door. So if someone's not being able to get life-saving nutrition, does people get it up in your emergency room?

These measures are expected to get an avalanche of legal challenges, are they not? Yeah, of course. As we've seen for legal challenges across a lot of these executive orders, and some states could say that they're burdened by not being able to be able to give out that medicine or nutrition or whatever this assistance programs might be, because then they have to deal with the after effects. And you could also argue that if this money was already allocated by Congress, that Trump is in this position to be able to cut off this fund.

You know, I spoke with the White House official today, and also we had Stephen Miller at the White House briefing touting that they view immigration as perhaps the administration's biggest success of its first month. What have you been hearing that the administration is considering what other measures are they considering that they haven't implemented yet? I understand there's a stack of executive orders that whether that's metaphorical or not, but that Trump can continue to dribble out, to continue to make news on immigration. I think at the border shirt, they can call that a success, although of course it's challenged because they've completely shut down the asylum process at the border.

As far as arrested deportations, though, I don't know that they can call that a success yet, because as we've seen, those numbers are not high enough, really to please the president yet, and we know that's something he's been angry about. Yeah, and the question will be, a lot of questions for Congress as well, will they fund that deportation effort, that still remains an open question. Yeah, they need that. Julianne's, our Homeland Security correspondent.

Thanks so much. And after the break, President Trump doubles down on his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymiers Zelensky, as the administration criticizes Europe and loves Russia. They're watching me at the press now, stay with us. Welcome back, U.S.

Special Envoy Keith Kellogg was in Ukraine today, where he met with President Zelensky. The two were set to hold a joint news conference in Kyiv, but Ukraine's presidential spokesperson said the event was canceled by way of a request from the U.S.S. But it comes after President Trump and Zelensky publicly traded bars yesterday with President Trump doubling down on some of his sharpest criticisms last night. But think of it, a modestly successful comedian, President Zelensky talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion to go into a war that basically couldn't be won.

A dictator without elections, Zelensky better move faster. He's not going to have a country left. Today, the president's national security advisor, Mike Walts, trying to explain the growing tensions between the two leaders. Some of the rhetoric coming out of Kyiv, frankly, and insults to President Trump were unacceptable.

And look, President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelensky, the fact that he hasn't come to the table, that he hasn't been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered. I think he eventually will get to that point. Walts was also pressed multiple times and dodged multiple times when asked about President Trump's false claim that Ukraine started the war. After the president's post-entric social yesterday, need to know who does he think is more responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Who is Zelensky? Look, his goal here is to bring this war to an end. Period. Should you wrote in an op-ed of the fall of 2023 that Putin is to blame, certainly, like, al-Qaeda was to blame for 9-11?

Do you still feel that way now? Or do you share the president's assessment as he says Ukraine is to blame for the start of this war? Well, it shouldn't surprise you that I share the president's assessment on all kinds of issues. What I wrote as a former member of Congress, what I share the president's assessment on is that the war has to end.

Notably, Walts did not call Vladimir Putin a dictator in that press conference. And according to three sources familiar with the situation, on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion, the US is declining to co-sponsor a UN draft resolution affirming Ukraine's territorial integrity. Join me now here on set. Is NBC News global security reporter, and Aluz Dan, thank you so much for joining us.

Look, NBC reporting has says that really it was within the past week that the relationship between the US and Ukraine has imploded. Around the time that Mark Fogle was released from Russia, where does this leave the US standing in the world? It really turns everything upside down. I think it's really hard to overstate the significance of this.

This is not just sort of political rhetoric or being provocative, right? This is the US kind of upending its whole approach to the world. And Russia was always seen as an adversary since really, since after World War II. And the NATO alliance was built to deter and to counter the threat that Russia was posing.

And really, except for a brief period during the 90s, Russia has always been seen as this country that the US had to be wary of. They'd be cautious of that. Look, the Trump administration will argue, there's some movement in terms of a possible peace deal here that wasn't happening during the Biden administration, that President Trump is doing what he needs to do, perhaps flattering Vladimir Putin. And his goal was to end this war.

What do you make of that argument? Well, that's their argument, right? And I think the European government and the Ukrainians and a lot of senators, even Republicans, privately, say that the only movement that's happened is the Trump administration bringing Russia in from the cold and actually offering them concessions upfront. What has Russia done, actually, to try to end the war?

They, of course, started the war. Trump campaigned on this America-first foreign policy. So why do you think our traditional allies are so shocked here? They're really struggling to respond.

Yeah, I think on the one hand, they knew they were bracing for yet more difficulty with the president who doesn't really buy into the idea of US alliances the other way his predecessors did. But I think even they were shocked at the scale of this, that he would call Zelensky a dictator, for example. How are our adversaries responding to this? Russia, obviously, China, Iran.

How are they receiving all this? Right, so the allies are not only shocked, but I think they have to recalculate, will the US even come to our rate in the future? And as far as Russia, China, and Iran, this is very good news for Russia, obviously. And I think China too, is a season of vacuum developing.

I think they sense the potential that the US is sort of withdrawing from Europe and maybe even elsewhere in the world and that our line system is unraveling. And so this is a moment for them, an opportunity to do what they've been wanting to do, which is basically displace the US as the world's dominant power. And according to NBC News reporting, several days ago, Treasury Secretary Gabe Zelensky this document that signed away half of their rare earth minerals in exchange for USA. Zelensky, as far as we know, still has not signed that.

Where does that stand? In limbo? I think Zelensky government was actually open to a discussion about this. I mean, they recognize they've got to be flexible.

But I think what they were not ready to do was to sign a deal right then and there with a virtual gun to their head within an hour or 24 hours. Yeah, you just gave them a short time to do it. That's right, and Zelensky's saying, I need something in return, some kind of security guarantee, because they're worried that Russia will just invade again if there's some kind of ceasefire. Stand to loose.

Thank you so much. We appreciate your time. And an update now on Pope Francis' medical condition as he continues to recover from pneumonia in both lungs. Today, the Vatican told reporters that the pope has focal pneumonia, which means the infection is not widespread.

The director of the Holy See Press office says Pope Francis is in stable condition and blood tests have shown a slight improvement. Italy's Prime Minister who visited the Pope at Rome's family hospital yesterday said he was alert and responsive, adding that he has not lost his proverbial sense of humor. The 88-year-old pontiff has been hospitalized since February 14th and turning now to the Middle East. It's been a somber day in Israel after Hamas returned to the bodies of four hostages taken during the October 7th attack.

The handover took place in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunus. It's the first return of hostages' bodies under the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Forensic testing is needed before. Authorities can confirm identities.

But the bodies are believed to include Kefir and Ariel Bebas, who were just eight months old and four years old when they were taken, along with their mother, Sheree, another hostage, a four-year-old, Oded Lipschis, was also believed to be handed over. Israel is expecting six more of the living hostages still being held to be released on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. Enough for the break. A reporter in Kenya details what she's seeing and hearing on the ground in Africa as the Trump administration aims to slash foreign aid programs that millions of people rely on.

You're watching Meet the Press left. Welcome back. President Trump's rapid moves that remake the government are affecting not just people here in the US, but also millions of people around the world. In particular, the Trump administration's effort to freeze all funding for the US Agency for International Development, sending shockwaves around the globe, particularly in counties and countries, rather, that rely on humanitarian assistance from the US for food assistance, health and medical resources, as well as anti-terror programs.

Joining me now is Washington Post and I Robi correspondent, Katherine Harro. Thank you so much for joining us, Katherine. What are you seeing and hearing on the ground? What are the real world impacts of the freeze in USAID money for communities in Africa?

Well, it's been very chaotic ever since these esprits was announced. You have a situation where anti-terrorism funding has been frozen. Food was initially affected, although the biggest agency world, the World Food Program now says that it's food is moving. You have situations where Kenya is looking at losing 40,000 health workers who help prevent HIV.

So there's lots of layoffs, lots of panic, and lots of people who just don't know whether they're going to be able to get like saving medicine, health care, shelter, lots of other things that help them survive. And Katherine, the White House has tied many of its latest actions to combating what it calls waste, fraud, and abuse in government. You touched on this a little bit, but really explain to viewers what types of aid countries in Africa are receiving and why it's so important for them? Well, a big chunk of it is what's called humanitarian assistance.

So there's the things that you need to stay alive. Clean water, food aid, medicine, life saving medicine. Another big chunk of it is the pet park program, which has saved I think 26 million lives since it began. That's the help on that, this is right of HIV AIDS.

And then other programs look at things like pro-democracy programs or programs that promote freedom of the press. There's programs that help protect human rights defenders. So for example, if you're documenting war crimes, and then you have to leave the country quickly, that programs help people live out. Now it's not just food and humanitarian assistance, but also military aid that could be shut off.

What are some of the impacts of that? So we've seen counter-ID programs shut down in Kenya. We've seen programs to patrol border Somalia using drones shut down. We've seen training programs for militaries on the edges of the Sahel shut down.

We've seen the forensics lab in Mogadishu, which means being a potential crime scene to the FBI. And that's not working anymore either. So it's had a huge impact on counterterrorism programs. And Catherine, look, as we mentioned, the administration has been saying that within USAID, there was an incredible amount of what it calls waste abuse and even fraud, although it's provided no evidence of that.

What's your response to those allegations? Was there a large amount of waste in USAID? And what do you say to the supporters of President Trump, a voter forum, who argue, look, we want the government to take a close look at some of these programs? Well, of course, voters are entitled to the vote for whoever they want.

I can't respond to allegations of fraud because I haven't seen any that have been supported by evidence yet. I have reported on things like the shutdown of food aid in Ethiopia last year when it emerged that there was diversion of food aid that was supposed to go to families that have been displaced by complex and poor families. And the entire distribution of food aid was shut off for six months. So I went up to the refugee camps on the Ethiopia- Sudan border.

And I saw the women who were so thin that you could see their ribs underneath their collarboats. So I met with families who had had children go back into Sudan, into the Civil War, looking for food and had their boys kidnapped by militias. So there is an immediate effect when these things are shut down. And I know that they are sometimes shut down if fraud is uncovered or if diversion is uncovered.

I reported on that myself in Somalia during the famine in 2011 when I followed trucks of food aid that were being diverted to warehouses. So difficult to hear those stories happen. Now, USAID was a critical agency to help promote US soft power. So are you seeing signs that other countries are moving in to fill this gap in aid?

For example, China. Well, the Chinese ambassador gave a speech in the Ruby this weekend just reassuring Kenya that they could rely on China and the China wasn't going to go anywhere or change its policies. She didn't comment directly on the states, but I think the message was pretty clear. The long way the capital of Malawi has been plastered with posters for China aid.

I don't think China is going to set in and fund humanitarian aid in the same way that the US has. That's just not their style. And I don't think Russia will either. I don't think that there's going to be a very big gap there.

And there will be instability that other countries can actually. Catherine Harrod, thank you so much for your time. Catherine, Washington Post and I will be correspondent. Thanks again.

Thank you. And that does it for us this hour. I'm Gabe Newtier as we're back tomorrow with more Meet the Press now. The news continues with Zinc Leassenwa for Holly Jackson.

Right? I'm Craig Malthier. Cheers. Cheers.

I've always been a glass half-vault kind of guy. And now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way too. Some really fascinating folks who shared their good finding moments, their triumphs, their challenges, their stories are funny and my candid. So I hope you'll join each week.

And who knows? You might just come away with your own glass half-vault. Search Glass Half-vault with Craig Malthier from today on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast.