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Russian aggression once again front and center in American politics from Congress to the campaign trail as Trump compares his legal troubles to the death of Alexei Navalny and an FBI informant in the House's impeachment inquiry is going to have ties to Russian intelligence. Plus abortion and the 2024 race. In an NBC News exclusive, the wife of a Republican running in a highly competitive Senate race opens up about her abortion as her husband says he abortion ban. And President Biden makes a billion dollar bet on student loan relief as he struggles to win over young voters heading into November.
Hello and welcome to me, the press. Now. I'm Ryan Nobles in Washington, where the specter of Russia seems to be looming over almost every aspect of American politics, from threats to national security to the chaos on Capitol Hill surrounding aid to Ukraine and the impeachment inquiry into the president. It all comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be flexing his power and influence.
The White House is warning Americans to leave Russia as we learn more about the latest Russian American dual national to be detained by Moscow on suspicion of treason for allegedly donating money to support Ukraine. NBC News spoke with her former mother in law who raised concerns about her safet to the death of Russia opposition leader Alexei Navalny. I'm desperate to be honest with the news of last week with the murder of Alexei Navalny. We all know that she is not safe there and if we do not help her so she will spend the rest of her life in jail.
If we do not help her as America, as a country that she belongs to now, nobody else will. Putin's crackdown on dissent in Russia also in the spotlight on the campaign trail here in the US As Donald Trump addressed Navalny's death during a Fox News town hall last night. Navalny is a very sad situation and he's very brave. He was a very brave guy because he went back.
He could have stayed away. But it's happening in our country too. We are turning into a communist country in many ways. And if you look at it.
I'm the leading candidate. I get indicted. I never heard of being indicted before. Now.
That position by Trump and his unwillingness to condemn Putin comes as his allies in the House are holding up a foreign aid bill that includes more than $60 billion in vital military assistance for Ukraine to fight back against Russia. And today has Republicans raising questions about whether their impeachment inquiry into President Biden may have been influenced by Russia. According to a filing by federal prosecutors, a former FBI informant who was a central figure in the House's inquiry allegedly provided false information about the president and his son, based in part on what he was told by officials associated with Russian intelligence. Congressman Jordan, of course, is one of the lawmakers leading the impeachment inquiry, spoke to reporters today.
I have a closed door deposition with President Biden's brother. Well, it is what it is. So doesn't change the fundamental facts. We got the 4.5mil fact he's not qualified to be on the board.
He gets to put it on that board, gets paid a million dollars a year. That's our Gary Grumbach pressing Jim Jordan. So with no indication that these mounting threats posed by Russia will fade anytime soon, the big question remains. How prepared is the US to address the multifaceted threat to get us started?
NBC's chief foreign correspondent Richard Engle is in Ukraine with more. It's not surprising that the US Is calling on all Americans, including dual nationals American Russian citizens to leave Russia immediately. It's a sign of how tense things are right now between the United States and European countries and Vladimir Putin's government. This latest woman who was taken off the streets in January, 33 year old ballerina has been arrested for the flimsiest of reasons.
She accused of treason in Russia, which is a serious crime in any country, carries a very stiff prison sentence for supporting Ukraine, for donating money to Ukraine, which from Russia's point of view is an enemy state. But she allegedly donated $51 to Ukraine, the tiniest amount. A trifle, but it seems that even that is enough to catch the Russians attention right now, particularly because she's a dual national peace, particularly because she's an American citizen. Evan Kirschmitz, an American journalist still in prison in Russia.
In fact, the judge just denied one of his appeals. So it seems that Putin's regime is rounding up Americans in order to show its power to punish the United States, punish other governments, particularly the US Right now for imposing sanctions and for his harsh criticism after the very suspicious death. Alexei Volodya Pinocaly Richard Angle, thank you. Let's bring in now our team of reporters, Gabe Gutierrez at the White House.
And with me on set, his NBC News congressional course, MJ Serkin, NBC News justice reporter Ryan Reilly. So, Gabe, let's start with you. What communication has the US had with Russia in regards to cardinal's detention? Well, Ryan, the White House and the Biden administration has asked for consular assistance in Russia, but that has yet to be granted, as you just saw in Richard's report.
You know, this comes after other Americans that have been tame. For example, American reporter Evan Gershkovich. There have been very tense negotiations regarding his release for quite some time. And now as Richard mentioned, that the White House and the State Department today reiterating that call for all Americans, including dual nationals in Russia, believe immediately, Ryan, and gave the White House also working on a new package of sanctions against Russia in the wake of Navalny's death.
What do we know about this package at this point? Well, Ryan, as the president said yesterday, that's expected to be announced on Friday. Now, today the State Department said that those sanctions are expected to be robust and that summit, at least some of them, will be related directly to Alexei Navalny. Now, several administration officials have spoken to NBC News and one of those senior administration officials says that at least some of the sanctions may be related to the Russian oil price cap, basically how much that oil can be sold on international markets.
So we expected that potentially again, a lot is up in the air right now until here on Friday. We understand the package sanctions package is still being discussed. Obviously, there have been quite a few rounds of sanctions. It hasn't really changed Russia's behavior much at all, if any.
How do they believe that this will actually turn the tide and some sort of impact on Putin or the Kremlin? Yeah, that's certainly a huge question, Ryan. As you said, Russia has been under sanctions since really the war in Ukraine began. But those sanctions have had little to to no impact because Russia continues to be shielded by China.
It's still selling oil internationally, and it's also being held by Iran and North Korea. So there are a lot of questions about how this package of sanctions might be different. Again, the State Department saying today that these sanctions will be more robust than previous ones. And President Biden also today calling out Donald Trump for his lack of a response to Navalny's death.
What did the president say? Yeah, that's right. President Biden and his team posting on X a video where the president went on the attack against Donald Trump and basically called him out called the former president out for not referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin when discussing Navalny. Now, as you mentioned in the Fox News town hall last night, former President Trump said it was a horrible thing happening in our country.
We're trying, we're turning into a communist country. And President Biden today in that video that was just released, asked why the former president was blaming America in this instance and he called on him. President Biden calling the former president to call out Russian President Vladimir Putin directly. So this debate over Russia, over Vladimir Putin certainly factoring in to the presidential campaign as we head into the heat of the 2024 election.
All right, guys, on the North Florida forest game, thank you for that. Julie letter to you now because obviously on Capitol Hill with the president's brother on Capitol Hill answering questions about the impeachment court committees. And what do we know so far about this interview which we should point out is still ongoing. It's still happening.
It's been hours of this interview so far. It's happening also behind closed doors. There's not much we can glean of it until members come out. Until James Biden can himself.
We'll see if he wants to talk to the press. You certainly tried to get him to talk come into that interview. We told you, Ryan, that he plans to tell the committee the truth. But you do also get their hand cut your hand on opening statements from James Biden.
He pointed out in the statement that he has had a 50 year career and none of it has ever touched the president, which is his brother Joe Biden, that he had a lot of business ventures. They separated his personal life from his professional life and never told his brother Joe Biden about it. So certainly the committee, Republicans especially are going to try to make that point. They tried to establish this link that somehow these business ventures not only from James Biden but also from the president Hunter, had anything to do with the president, that he profited on this James Biden poking a hole in that and see what happens when it runs up.
And of course, Jim Jordan, as he went into the hearing today, actually admitted that, you know, a big part of what they're investigating here was that period of time after Joe Biden left the vice president's office and before he was elected president. Doesn't that certainly undermine the whole premise of the impeachment, that he was using his influence as a public official to benefit his son or benefit himself? It's a great question. It's not the first time Jim Jordan made the kind of comment Republicans have been very Clear that they're looking into Joe Biden's time as vice president as kind of senator, Senator as well, and how he profited, allegedly or didn't profit off of his.
Off of his name, essentially. And so you have a case where, of course, Republicans are still moving forward, the impeachment, regardless of that fact. But I do want to point out, before President Trump had his second impeachment trial before the Senate, a big reason why Senate Republicans did not vote to convict Trump in that case is because they said that the actions that he married on January 6 was after his time as president. Gary Hassan and Mark Mullen, for example, last month say that argument that if they send this over and households only votes on us, it's gonna be a really, really high bar for them to convict the president when all these actions, to your point, happened before he was president.
Right. So speaking of potentially undermining the impeachment inquiry, Ryan, we had an interesting revelation yesterday in Las Vegas courtroom. The sexual counsel, David Weiss, obviously pushing for indictment of Alexander Smirnoff, who's a former FBI informant. I believe he is the root of this FBI tip sheet, which Republicans are the ones that describe.
This isn't me describing it, have described it as one of the major pieces of evidence that to launch the impeachment inquiry. Now the special counsel is asking that they reconsider the release of Alexander Smirnoff. What's the likely that the judge of Grant is requested. Yeah, these allegations really were at the heart of this impeachment inquiry.
That's from Jim Jordan himself saying that directly in this case. Essentially, this is what happens. Essentially the same January 6th is where someone gets arrested in one federal district and ultimately the cases occur in a different one. So what they're doing here is saying this initial decision by the federal magistrate judge in Las Vegas, rather should be looked at by the judge who will ultimately oversee this case when it's prosecuted in California.
So they say they wrote from the federal manager judge to a national federal judge here and saying that, you know, there's a lot of reasons that he should be held pretrial. He's already been released, so he's got a little bit of, you know, freedom and potential to communicate at this point already. But they said that he really needs to be held behind bars because there's a threat that he's going to continue to spread misinformation about one of the presidential candidates, ie, Joe Biden. And that could be something that was derived from the Russian intelligence context.
Maybe expand on that a little bit because I think that came as a surprise to many of us. We knew. Well, the initially was a surprise, but then the surprise that he was actually could be working with Russian intelligence officials is that perhaps the biggest takeaway from this rainy yesterday it was. That's what really surprised me yesterday was just how recently some of these contacts were.
Because what we knew before is this was someone who was trusted as of, you know, middle of 2020. Right. This is a long while ago, almost four years ago at that point when he was trusted. But what this shows is that he was recently dealing with his FBI handler and had these planned trips overseas and, you know, was going to meet with other Russian, I guess, you know, foreign intelligence counterparts and could get more information.
He's been used very recently by the FBI. And I think that raises a lot of questions for the fi. For all that, how they've been getting a lot of information that's coming from these sources and why they continue to use this individual when those tips that he initially gave back in 2020 were pretty suspicious. Yeah.
And that's something that Republicans are bringing up today. But it doesn't seem, though, Julie, that despite this credibility kind of being blown out on this particular witness, that they based a lot of the premises of this impeachment inquiry. It doesn't appear that they're slowing down that process at all. Despite Democrats saying that this should mean the end of the impeachment inquiry.
No, they're not. And Jim Jordan basically said as much today. He said that this does not fundamentally change the course that Republicans are pursuing the facts that they're trying to find here. And you're right, he was the star witness.
He was the whistleblower that they based their entire inquiry on. But so far, Republicans are kind of finding new things to latch onto. They talked about, for example, that special counsel report that came out against the president. They're gonna keep finding other ways to push this forward.
And I should know after they talk to James Biden today, they're gonna hear from Hunter Biden behind closed doors next week. So certainly despite Democrats, despite Jean, you're asking this blows a hole in their entire case for PG President, which they said that this whole time that they are still pursuing this and they're doing these interviews and trying to find what's next. I think one thing's about by Ryan was the timeline of all this. And it seems as though the judge is concerned about that as well.
And what's the source of his scrutiny in to discovering this alleged line by this source and the way the prosecutors have handled it. You know, if you go back to when this was being handled at the time, remember at the time that they looked at this, that this tick came in, guess who was in charge of the Justice Department? The Trump administration. Right.
This was something that was assigned to a US Attorney at a Pennsylvania. Scott, Scotty, who was looking at this very directly. And you know, Bill Barr had recommended that he investigate this. They looked at it and they didn't end up really doing a deep inquiry into this.
I think that was probably the pivot point where you have to say, okay, well, if this wasn't true, if anything, these were false allegations. If they couldn't verify this confidential human source of travel, why didn't that raise more suspicions going forward? Why was he still used? But the big picture, I think when you're talking to average voters, one thing that sometimes just gets lost in this is that we know where Joe Biden's money came from after he was president.
We know how he purchased that. He's released all his tax records. Right. So it's like someone asked you where all this money come from.
Well, I had a pre sweet book to you. Right. So that all sort of, I think it's just big picture, something to remind people of. Like we know the source of this.
He got a good book. Dealer number two. Okay, Ryan, Riley Lewis, thank you for being here. We appreciate it.
And up next, we have two NBC exclusives as Republican candidates navigate the politics of post Roe Roe America First. Nikki Haley tells NBC News that she believes embryos are babies, agreeing with a controversial ruling from Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos are considered children. And Willy from a Republican Senate candidate on how his family's personal story has shaped his view of the issue heading into November. You're watching me.
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Conditions apply. Offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers or your local dealer for details. Welcome back. Turning now to new developments tied to an issue that Republicans that has Republicans should say on defense and could swing elections across the country this year just like it did in the 2022 midterms.
Abortion access and reproductive rights. The politically and morally complicated issue of When Life Begins was thrust back into the headlines this weekend way when Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos should be considered children and that there could be legal penalties for destroying them. Since the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, laws around reproductive rights and abortion have turned into a complicated patchwork.
Abortion is banned or severely restricted across a wide swath of the country now. And activists on both sides of the aisle are pushing a number of ballot measures to protect or further limit abortion access at a state level in November. In Maryland and New York, amendments aimed to codifying abortion rights in their state constitutions are already set to be on the ballot. At least 11 other states are working on getting proposed measures on the ballot this year, the majority of them brought by pro abortion rights groups following successful campaigns in red states like Kansas and Ohio.
Now this all comes as the Republican front under Donald Trump has privately signaled he might support a national 16 week ban on abortion. President Biden and Democrats have seized on the issue, putting pressure on Republicans, especially those in competitive races. NBC senior political reporter Natasha Correcki spoke to one of those Republicans, Nevada Senate candidate Sam Brown. He's an army veteran who was severely injured while serving in Afghanistan with a deeply personal connection to the abortion issue.
Voters need to know here that I'm not, I'm not in a position to, nor do I want to do anything that changes our existing law. Our existing Nevada law is also not at risk of being changed. I cannot change it. I will not change it.
I respect law that the voters put in place over 30 years ago that they grants access for women up to 24 weeks. And so, no, I will, I will not vote on a federal abortion ban. There was one time where you said if there was any sort of legislation that would come forward, I want to see the specific language. It seems like you're leaving an opening there.
But you're saying now, yeah, close the door. I'm not going to support a federal abortion ban. Close the door. And the interview Brown's wife Amy publicly shared for the first time that she had an abortion.
Before the two met, Sam Brown spoke about how about learning about her experience, how that's influenced his position on the issue. My position has been, and I believe more broadly, many, many Republicans I know are in favor of there being exceptions for, you know, real medical emergencies or threat to the life of mother rape or incest. So to underscore that, rape, incest. And you are, because I do think that there have been some ads already targeting you about abortion and saying that you do not support these exceptions.
Right. There have been misleading ads and just, you know, frankly, just ask it why about my position. I do believe that there ought to be exceptions for medical emergencies, threat to the life of a mother, rape, incest. But again, these are things that are very easy to just say and just sort of, you know, have people run through a checklist.
Let's not, let's not forget that, you know, we're talking about someone's life and someone who's really in a tough spot. And that's why, you know, Amy, Amy has used her own personal experience and I support her as her husband, to share her message of what her, what she felt like, her choices were and what her life was like before, during, and after her pregnancy. Joining me on set is NBC News senior national political reporter Natasha Grecki and NBC's Dasha Burns, who's covering the Republican primary and abortion politics. Natasha, obviously a fascinating interview, a compelling character who's at the center of this raging debate across the country.
Tell us a little more about your interview with the Browns and in particular about his wife Amy sharing her story and the complicated emotions that she has around it. So complicated, Brian. She told us she felt a lot of remorse about her abortion, a lot of regret around it, and you could really see that come across in the interview. She also talked about empathy for other women who have abortions and what they're going through before and after and having support for this woman.
That was something she really wanted to get across, but she did get very emotional at times. Let's take a listen. I think when I made my choice, I was under the impression that I was choosing freedom, but I did not receive freedom. I received a five year sentence to living with regret and shame and just having my life wrecked.
I feel like we've boiled the pro life movement down to legislation and policy, and I feel like it should really be so much more. It should be building awareness, increasing or building advocacy and increasing support for women before, during, and after pregnancy. And that's really what my focus is on. Sam is running for Senate.
If you had to give a message to men and stick to women, you know how your husband sees this issue, what would you want to get across? I would want them to know that Sam has been with me essentially from day one on the issue, and he's helped me process it with compassion and with empathy. And he understands the constraints of the law. He respects them, and he respects and understands fully what a difficult personal issue this is because he's been with me through it.
All. What a fascinating response that she has. Obviously is still dealing with the after effects of all this. And it's interesting too because I think this is a criticism of Republican politics is that they're concerned about the life of a baby or the embryo in the womb is up until birth and not after.
Is that part of the message here? They're trying to expand beyond kind of challenging Republican politicians to care about the entire life cycle? Yeah. I mean, certainly here that's what Sam Brown and Amy Brown got across numerous times.
What about the woman here? Are we forgetting about the woman? Let's, let's be compassionate toward her. Let's offer her support.
I think one point Sam said shame on us if we don't offer women support. And certainly there's some political realities. There's politics here. Right.
I mean, this is a difficult position to be about a swing state. This isn't the type of state that's necessarily ruby red. He has a, he's challenging incumbent in Jackie Rosen. Does he feel the need to tilt toward the center on this issue?
Is that part of why they're sharing a story now? Well, I mean, I think the timing is he feels safe in his primary. He's a front runner by pulling and fundraising. And also, you know, now he's moving into the, he's getting attacked by Democrats.
And this is going to be a big issue in Nevada. Abortion is a very popular, lots of support in Nevada. He knows that they have a 24 week ban right now. He had to get that across it.
He would support that ban. And also federal abortion bans very unpopular. It's particularly Nevada. He got that across to us numerous times.
He would not support a federal abortion ban. Okay. So Josh, this also comes at the time that we have this ruling in Alabama related to IVF and embryos. Is this likely to be a court decision that eventually makes its way to the Supreme Court?
Is this the last suit of this? Or could there be more around this? Of course, with the reminder that the Supreme Court is a pretty conservative court right now. Right.
This is the last suit of this. This is also not necessarily just limited to Alabama. So just to remind our viewers, Alabama just rules in a case, a wrongful death case brought by three couples whose embryos were destroyed. They ruled that embryos are children.
And that has massive implications for couples going through IVF or IVF and fertility clinics Already just today, the University of Alabama at Birmingham paused IVF treatments because they're not sure where this is gonna head. So it's possible this goes to The Supreme Court, it's not guaranteed that they're gonna take it up. And if they don't, that is going to be the law of the land. In Alabama, there are also several other states.
Florida, for example, they're taking a legislative approach and bringing bills to the table that would create personhood for embryos. This is going to be a problem for Republicans because after Roe fell, this was exactly the concern of a lot of people, not just Democrats, but people were concerned that they were going to then go after contraception next. They were going to potentially go after these sorts of fertility treatments. So for Republicans, who at the.
At a lot of levels, like the gentlemen you just spoke with, they're trying to moderate their message. Right? While at the state level, you're starting to still see these sorts of initia that, you know, IPF is not a blue or red issue. This is something that the hundreds of thousands of couples across the United States use every year, no matter where they are in the ballot.
Nikki Haley, as an example, she's running the ICE office in the line. She talked about it. Yeah. Carl Gallon on top of it.
Already asked her a question about this. Her response to what happened in Alabama, I mean, I think. I mean, embryos to me are babies. So I mean, it was created through ivf.
I mean, I had artificial insulation. That's how I had my son. So when you look at, you know, one thing is to have to save sperm or to save eggs. But when you talk about an embryo, you are talking about.
To me, that's a like, so really interesting response there. Certainly this is gonna be something that we'll be asking former President Trump about as well. So every Republican candidate is now gonna have to respond to this and we're gonna have to watch over the course of this year how Republic abortion. Because there is a big effort on the part of the GOP.
They saw the losses in 2022. They were for so long pushing for the overturning of Roe vs Wade. But now it's become a political liability. So how they handle this going forward.
I've been talking to Kellyanne Conway, who's been trying to lead the charge on this with the gop. She's been talking about compassion and consensus on this issue. Very specific terms. I think we're going to hear a lot more.
I don't have to imagine this is going to put them in a difficult position because you can't on the one hand say that you're in favor of or would allow a ban of 1524 in Brown's case, 24 weeks, Trump is saying 16 weeks. If you're then at the same time saying that an embryo is a person. Right. You have to, if you're, if you're in agreement with the ruling, you have to be in agreement with the abortion being legal at all.
State yeah. What's fascinating, I think right now we're seeing a little bit of federal versus state and local divide on this where some of these conservatives that state legislatures are pushing further to the right on this issue. As you have national Republicans going, no, no, no, we got to reel it back in. But for this is an opportunity, but it's also something they have to walk a careful line out as well.
There's an assumption that if you put abortion on the ballot, if you put an initiative to, for example, enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, as we've seen in a lot of states, that that means people are gonna turn out and vote for Democrats down ballot as well. That's not necessarily the case. There are Republicans, Republican voters and moderate voters that will come out and vote in favor of abortion rights, but might still vote for a Republican candidate over a Democrat. And that's something that one of the things that we're seeing Republicans kind of message test is the idea that Democrats are in favor of abortion right up until the moment of birth.
I mean, is that an effective message anywhere in the country at this point? Right. It's a way that they're trying to push back on this. They are saying, well, you know, you're painting us in extremes.
Why won't we paint you in extremes? I mean, of course we know a lot of facts behind that. It's very few cases of abortion passed up. And in late term, abortions are very rare.
And then we're seeing as as point efficacy of these extreme measures that Democrats can easily point to. And people like Sam Brown who are in, you know, who are going to be really significant to the Senate majority in the fall are saying, please, no, we don't want to be tied to some of these extreme measures they're trying to moderate at the same time that this is happening across the country. Yeah. I mean, there is no doubt that abortion will be one of the major topics on the ballot this fall for sure.
Terrific report to both of you. Thank you for being here. We really appreciate it. Natasha and Dasha, you guys should be sisters.
Thank you all. And you can get even more Natasha's incredible reporting today in our NBC News Politics newsletter. Sign up for from the Politics desk@NBC news.com newsletters or to scan that QR code which is right on your screen. Up next, President Biden's new moves on student debt relief and what could mean for you in 2024.
You're watching Eat the Press now. Welcome back. The Biden administration announcing today it will cancel student loan debt for more than 150,000 borrowers and that the people receiving the relief will get an email from the president. It comes as President Biden, who's on a fundraising swing in California, continues to make his case for re election while trying to shore up support from key groups that will be pivotal in November, like, for instance, young voters.
Joining me now on our panel is Nicholas Wu, the congressional reporter for Politico, Stephanie Shurock, a senior advisor for the Strategic Victory Fund. Nat Continenti, who is the director of Domestic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and is a columnist at Commentary magazine. Sir Nicholas sorry, he's the Biden administration canceling student debt for 150,000 borrowers. I assume he's hoping they're voters.
Is this going to lead to voters showing up to the polls in November or could even backfire? Because what if you're not in that group of 150,000? I think the question for the Biden administration and his campaign is what extent voters are going to connect this particular policy movement and wanting to vote for the president this November. There's a lot of other issues on young voters minds and a lot of discontent we've seen in polling, whether it's about policy in the war in Gaza or climate.
And so, you know, we'll have to see whether or not this is the kind of thing that will sway off young voters. Yeah. To that point, Stephanie, I mean, cancer, student loans, certainly something that young voters care about. But it seems that the energy of passion right now with young voters is, to Nick's point, about what's happening in the Middle East, a lot of concern about what's happening in Gaza.
Is it going to paper that over? Is it much stronger than the other or does he really need to zero in on this angst that young voters have about the situation in the Middle East? Oh, I definitely think the president has a, he's got a job to do to talk to younger voters. And this piece on student loans is a piece of that puzzle.
Right. I mean, so it was abortion access, which they care about deeply. So sponsoration, which has an incredible record on and yes, of course, in dealing with Israel and Gaza, you can, you can see that this is popping up on the campuses all across the country. But as a building campus says, and find out, like this student loan thing has been really loud recently and folks were really disappointed that the courts turned it around.
Right. We had it from a brief moment and so many of these students thought they were going to get their relief and then they didn't. So they blame the course or they blame the president. Well, this is part of our job because we have to make it clear that it was the course that Chip is down.
He's been able through administrative means to move not just this, but $138 billion of student loan. Just think about what that means for the economy. Right. So, Matt, let's talk about one of the issues that we talked about on our show, actually two of them, Russia and abortion.
There are two different issues, deep divisions right now in the Republican Party on how to proceed. How are Republicans grappling with the Russia peace and the abortion peace heading into November? Well, I think we're divided on the questions and you see some of the confusion coming from different messages, especially on abortion and this news out of Alabama about the child endangerment and the I. But just to take a step back and go back to the student loan debate, what's interesting to me about this election so far is despite all of Biden's attempts to hand out favors and constituency, such as the student loan forgiveness for young voters, and despite the bettering macroeconomic picture, like our low unemployment numbers, voters aren't giving him any credit.
And so that suggests to me is that Biden's problems in policy, it's actually him. And I think it's very hard to correct for that in the months running up to the election. But then getting back to abortion, particularly this IVF issue that the embryo protections, I mean, how if you're a Republican candidate, you don't even live in Alabama, how you grapple with this issue, you're something to be asked about. Right?
You are. And you're going to have to have an answer. And they saw the answer from someone like H.E. haley earlier in our program.
You're going to have to be ready to defend that answer. You're going to have to be ready to talk specifics. You're probably going to be in a position similar to Trump's position, which is you say we should have some type of restriction on abortion, but there should always be exceptions. Right.
And so in some ways, he's actually toward the center of the electorate, unlike the Alabama state Supreme Court. So I'd expect most Republicans to follow Trump's lead, not the state Supreme Court's lead. Okay, so Democrats, are they talking about abortion enough? 70 from your perspective, can they talk about it enough?
Especially given rules like this one? This Alabama ruling is terrifying. That set abortion aside for all of reproductive freedom in this country. I mean, my goodness, how all of us have friends and family or are part of a family that has had ivf.
I mean, this is incredibly dangerous. And so the Republicans just continue to just mishandle this issue. And oh, Trump, Trump might be where he says where he is today, but he also very proudly stands by the court he put together who took which took down Roe v. Wade and took this freedom away from American women and their families.
So this issue is going to be a huge one. And at the end of the day, when this election is about choices, it's not necessarily a Trump versus Biden. It's going to be about access to abortion. What's happened with climate.
These are going to be the issues that are going to be motivating voters across the country. So Nick, we heard Nevada Senate candidate San Brown in our last segment talking that if he gets elected, he's a no on any sort of federal abortion ban, which would be significant if he were to flip that seat. But we do have some members who are in favor of that. Lindsey Grant continues to propose a 15 week ban.
Is there really any momentum behind this idea of a federal ban on Capitol Hill besides certain members messaging it to their core constituents? As long as the legislative filibuster remains in place, it is going to be impossible to get any kind of national abortion ban through folks on the ground. I've talked about this for years. It hasn't really gone anywhere.
And, and so I think what we're hearing from folks like the Neva Senate candidate will really be a task of Republican strategy of trying to knight candidates go their own way in these crucial races. At the same time, Democrats, we face the challenge of trying to tie these candidates to these nationwide Republican proposals. Right. So even if he says that he's in favor or is not favorite of the national ban, they're probably going to be accusing him of that.
Right? You can expect to see a lot of that. Let's go back and talk to you about what we talked about at the top of our program. This kind of overarching threat from Russia on multiple threats.
You have the issue with Donald Trump comparing himself to Alexei Havali last night over his legal woes. Do you think there comes a time where Donald Trump is penalized by voters because of his appeasement for Putin and Russia could that, that fireframe, particularly in the general election. Well, I'm not so sure voters vote on foreign policy. And in truth, the idea that Ukraine is turning into kind of a standstill war of attrition, that isn't just Republic, many independents as well.
So I think when you talk about Trump's liabilities in this election, it's more of his association with extremism. It's more of the sense that chaos follows him. As Nikki Haley always says. It's those sort of things that I think will give independent voters pause in November.
But we have to say as we sit here today, Donald Trump is winning this election. He's winning independent voters. And I think the reason is memories are short and people are concentrating on the incumbent rather than his predecessor of four years ago. What do you think that's Stephanie?
I think that's why we have campaigns. And when we live in a, I dare say, sitting here on Meet the Press in a really large media environment that is driven very much by right wing media, they campaign through their media systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, which is to my great frustration, but was really smart. We start campaigning now and you're going to start seeing the flood of ads go up, the flood of volunteers hitting the doors. And this is going to be fought out in the campaign season and it is just getting started and these two folks are going to be very defined by each other and we'll see where the voters land at the end of the day.
All right, great conversation, guys. Thank you for being here. Nick, Matt and Stephanie, we appreciate it so much. Next, a decade long extradition saga facing WikiLeak father Julian Assange could finally be coming to an end as a British high court hears the case to send him to the US where he faces up to 175 years in prison on espionage charges.
You're watching Heat THE PRESS now. Welcome back. Following two days of hearings, judges at the High Court in London today announced that they won't make a decision on Julian Assange's extradition to the United States until March at the earliest. Protesters, including Assange's wife, line the street outside the court on both days of the hearing.
NBC News international correspondent Josh Letterman has the story from London. After two days of hearings here at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, the only thing standing between Julian Assange and extradition to the US Is a decision from the judges. Now, the two judges in this case could have issued a ruling from the bench just as soon as the hearing wrapped up, but instead they said that they are going to wait, they're going to review all the evidence, including potentially new submissions, by writing to the court. That can take place up until March 4th, and at that point, they will issue a ruling.
So at this point, no final decision is expected until March 4th at the very earliest. But if the judges deny Julian Assange a full appeal, it could be a matter of weeks or even just days before he is put on a US Plane with marshals and brought back to the US to face a trial on espionage and other charges. And today in court, the US Made the argument that the legal team from Assange is distorting this case by claiming that he is being persecuted and prosecuted from mere journalism. They say that the U.S.
case against Assange is going to focus on the computer hacking and the computer intrusion, arguing that he conspired with former former army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning to actually hack into government computers using passwords that they were not theirs, stealing information that they were not supposed to have access to, and then dumping it on the Internet in unredacted ways that put the lives of Americans at risk. It will be up to the judges to decide whether they feel the US has made its case or whether human rights concerns may intervene and grant a full appeal to Julian Assange. All right, Josh, thank you for that report. Next, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee will join me to talk the foreign and domestic threats facing President Biden and Congress.
You're watching Be THE Press now. And welcome back. As we reported earlier, the White House is working on new sanctions package against Russia in waking Alexi's death. Now, while the V Step has received bipartisan condemnation from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, that confirmation may not translate to action.
There remains no consensus on proving additionally for Ukraine in its fight against Russia. And joining me now is the Democrat from New York and for the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congress, Congressman Gregory Meeksman. Thank you so much for being here. So much to talk about.
Let's start with Russia and how it looms over our domestic politics. We have the war in Ukraine and now this new Russia connection to the FBI informant. It was a key aspect of the Biden impeachment inquiry. Do you right now view Russia as the greatest threat to the US and our interests?
Russia is a huge threat. You know, we got a number of threats. Unfortunately, Russia is a huge threat, one of the greatest threats. But you know, you've got to watch out for.
You got North Korea, you got China, you got various folks But Russia is one of those head leaders. And what they're doing in Europe against Ukraine, the threat that they is a big threat. And we know they're tampering into elections both in the United States and other places. Those are problems.
And so we've got to make sure that we stand up strong. That's why passing the supplemental is tremendously important. We got to do it next week. You know, the White House is working on a sanctions package to hold Russia accountable for Napoleon's death.
I know that you spoke to his widow. What did she tell you and what do you think should be in the sanctions package? Well, number one, I got to tell you how brave a woman that she is to be there at the time that the death of her husband was announced to state that she was made a statement publicly at that particular time saying she would continue the work of her husband, that she will not let his living be in vain. To met with me and other members of the congressional delegation saying that her focus will be on the foundation, and the focus will be on making sure that there's democracy in Russia and that the criminal activities of Vladimir Putin is exposed and that she wanted her concern about making sure she gets her husband's body back.
So she is a brave, focused woman who understands and will not allow the sacrifices that her husband made, sacrificed his life for a better democratic society in Russia will not go in vain and she will pick up his work. But to the sanctions, though, sir, there have already been a long line of sanctions that have been imposed upon Russia. It doesn't really seem to change the course of the war or their activity in that region. What can be done in terms of sanctions to actually get them to start changing course and doing things differently?
There will be additional sanctions that will, of course, be devastating to the economy of Russia, also warning those that are dealing with parts and other things that go to help them continue the war. So there will be other sanctions that will be going and extended to other countries. But the most important thing that we can do to deter Russia is pass the supplemental, give the Ukrainians what they need so that they can fight Russia and its aggression. And that's the most important thing that we need to do.
We need to do it immediately. I think that if we give them what they need, they will have the ability to be back and stop Russia from continuing its assault. All right, let's talk about your strategy there. I know that you were in Munich with Leader Jeffries.
I know that he and you both heard several countries really press on you to get this Ukraine aid bill over the finish line. What is the minority leader's plan to get this over the finish line? Are you looking at discharge petition? Are you talking to moderate Republicans about finding way to partner up to get this legislation on the floor?
What can be done to at least get a vote on this particular. All options are on the table. There's several different options, some of which I'm not going to even talk about. But all options on our side are on the table.
But what Leah Jeffries has been saying and ready and willing to do is to meet and to talk with our Republican allies so that we can get something done. It's clear that the Senate has passed a bipartisan bill that we should be able to vote on. And there are a number of Republicans, those that were on the trip with us who have said that we will get it done. So one of the quickest ways to get it done is to join with Democrats to sign a motion of discharge so that we can go around the Speaker.
The first thing they should do is to be able to talk to their leadership and get Johnson to do. I mean, that would be the first thing, the easiest thing to do, get their leadership. They believe there's enough numbers there because if the vote goes on the floor, it gets three. If Johnson refuses to do it because of him talking, we saw Johnson talking to Donald Trump and Donald Trump does not want him to do it, then work with Democrats to go around the speaker to get it on the floor.
And that simply means that most folks never heard of a motion to discharge. If you have sufficient numbers, 318, 218 people, to sign on a motion to discharge, then the vote can go on the floor without the consent of the speaker. So we should have that. There should be a number of colleagues that I know that say that they are for Ukraine.
Here is the time for them on the Republican side to really step up and step up quickly. And if you could either convince the speaker to put it on the floor or work with us in some sign up a motion to discharge, we can get this bill on the floor immediately. All right, let's turn the campaign trailer. And I want to talk about your colleague, Congresswoman Rashiditha Leave.
She's urging Democrats in Michigan to vote against President Biden in the primary. It's in response. She wants to send a message to the White House about the way they're prosecuting the war with Israel against Gaza. What's your response to the congresswoman?
She's flat out wrong. She's absolutely flat out wrong. When you know what's going on in the confidence that you have and she should have and also have. And President Biden, knowing the hard job that he is currently doing to try to make a fundamental difference in the Middle east and the alternative to that, an individual who was the first to come to a Muslim ban, and we know what he stands and what he represents to this country, you know, to discourage people to come out to vote is something that is but not wrong.
I would never, ever too many people die for the right to vote. So to sit out voting is something that I would never recommend. All right. Congressman Meeks, I thank you so much for being here.
We appreciate it. We'll see you back here in Washington next week. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me.
And I'll be back tomorrow with more MEET THE PRESS now. But in the meantime, sign up for NBC News's new political newsletter. From the political desk, go to NBC news.com newsletters or scan the QR code on your screen right now. And I should point out that Kristen will actually be back here tomorrow.
It won't be me. So that's good news for you probably. The aggregate NBC News NOW coverage continues with 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, expected an utterly bizarre turn.
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