Meet the Press NOW – February 26

If it's Wednesday, President Trump holds his first cabinet meeting, warning his team to follow his orders without exception, while vowing to forge ahead with mass layoffs as part of his and Elon Musk's sweeping overhaul of the federal government. Plus, President Trump says Ukrainian President Zelensky is coming to the US This Friday to sign a deal giving the US Access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals, adding that the agreement will not come with security guarantees for Kyiv and a big win for the White House as House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson narrowly adopt a sweeping budget resolution in a critical test of geok loyalty. But the next steps for the president's agenda will likely be even more difficult. Welcome to MEET the press.

Now I'm Kristen Welker in Washington, where President Trump held the very first cabinet meeting of his second administration, using the moment to reassert his push for total authority over the federal government while reminding his team that he calls the shots. Is it your view of your authority that you have the power to call up any one or all the people seated at this table and issue orders that they're bound to follow? Oh, yeah. They'll follow the odds, yes.

No exceptions? No exception. Well, let's see what you think. She'll have an exception, of course.

No exceptions. You know that the president also made clear that the sweeping cuts to the government will continue and that Elon Musk, who was front and center in today's cabinet meeting, will continue to run point. You have heard anything about mentions the cabinet weren't happy with the way things were going? And if so, what are you doing to address those dissatisfaction.

Now? Mos who Mr. Trump asked to speak before any of his cabinet officials said he's just following the president's orders while also seeking to clarify the intent behind a government wide email telling employees to justify what they did last week or face the threat of termination. I guess it was a like last week president encouraged me via true social and also via phone call to be more aggressive.

And I was like, okay, you know, yes, sir, as president, we'll do that. The president chief I'd be propricious or unfair. It's we want to give people every opportunity to send an email. An email could simply be what I'm working on is too sensitive a classified to describe that would be sufficient.

You know, I think this is just common sense. And today's cabinet meeting came as the White House in a new memo, directed federal agencies to prepare for mass layoffs, citing President Trump's election victory as a justification. Mr. Trump answered numerous other questions from reporters for more than an hour as his Cabinet sat largely silent with the president addressing everything from the war in Ukraine to looming tariffs to discontinued insistence that Canada should become a U.S.

state. We'll touch on all of that throughout this hour. I am joined now by ABCDC White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez. Also with me is Bobby Allen, technology reporter for npr, who has covered Elon Musk extensively.

Thanks to both of you for being here. Gabe, let me start with you. Look, we knew that Elon Musk was going to be in the Cabinet meeting, but I think that a lot of folks were surprised that he played such a prominent role. What key takeaways?

Hi there, Kristen. Well, certainly it was incredibly unusual. As you mentioned, this is not a Cabinet member, of course, that led off this meeting and spoke for a considerable amount of time, whereas some those Cabinet secretaries were forced to become audience members for a large portion of this first Cabinet meeting of the new Trump administration. Now, as you said, Elon Musk is defending why he is trying to slash the federal government.

And he's further defended the email that he sent several days ago saying that it was just to see if workers, federal workers had a pulse, that it wasn't meant to be any sort of review. But President Trump today, he also went a little bit further. He's saying that it is possible these employees, if they don't respond, could be fired, saying that they're, quote, on the bubble person. And Gabe, I have to ask you do a little bit of fact checking here because the president and Musk continue to tout the savings Doge has uncovered, talked about the receipts to back up the claims.

We're going to. What do people need to know here? Well, Kristen, we've been hearing from the White House, from the press secretary, Caroline Levitt, the last several weeks, and we just heard from President Trump that at his Cabinet meeting and from Elon Musk that Doge has cut some $65 billion so far. But a closer look at those numbers reveals, Kristen, that some of that was were contracts that have either expired or were about to expire.

And there are a lot of questions about how they get to that number. From our analysis of it, while the true number is very hard to tell, it does appear to be much lower than that $65 billion. Now, the new York Times also points out that several of the biggest items on the initial list that were posted on Dojo's website as major cuts, they were removed from that list five items. And yet the total number of the total amount that they claim to have cut still has not been lower.

So still a lot of questions. And the White House really has not provided exact specific receipts of where all those opposing cuts are coming from. Yeah, and I know that reporters will continue to ask for those receipts. Before I turn to Bobby, I want to ask you the White House Budget director, Russell Vote, acting OPM Director Charles Ezell sent a memo to agencies basically telling them to prepare for large scale layoffs.

What more can you tell us about this memo? Well, Kristen, we have been hearing about thousands of cuts in the federal workforce over the last several weeks and fear of many more among many of those federal workers we've been speaking with. But yes, as you said now just now, agency heads got that email from the Office of Personnel Management telling them to prepare for a large scale reduction in force and that agency heads should come forward with some sort of reorganization plan by March 13th, about two weeks away. Chris.

All right, Bobby, let me turn to you now. Let's talk about Elon Musk. He addressed that email that was sent to federal employees last week. I'll tell you a little bit and then get your reaction on the other side.

I think that email pass was best interpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse check review. Do you have a pulse? Do you have a pulse and two neurons? So if you have a pulse and two neurons, you can apply to an email.

This is, you know, I think not a high bar is what I'm saying this is. Should be anyone to accomplish this. Bobby, people who've worked with Elon Musk before say they're actually quite familiar with getting these types of notes from him. What can you tell us about this type of strategy?

Yeah, this email was quintessential Elon Musk. It was done impulsively, it was done without telling a number of his lieutenants. It shocked more than 2 million people across the federal government. But he does it because he knows there are very few checks on his power and what he does day to day from the White House.

I mean, I saw when I was covering Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter that he operated exactly this way. Employees would get messages from him at 12 at night, at 2 in the morning, on the weekends, saying one thing and then quickly followed by something that, you know, maybe scales it back and then followed by something that might contradict it a few days later. He is a chaos agent. He operates and thrives in mayhem.

And the people really caught the middle. Here are the civil service of more than 2 million people across the federal government and they are obviously now, you know, the target of Elon Musk's sledgehammer. I mean, he is staging his war against the bureaucracy, going after what he says is fraud and government large, Jess. And abuse.

But in the meantime, it's just causing so much panic and so much confusion from all these federal workers who don't really know how to respond to these antics. Yeah, we've seen some of that frustration bubble up at town halls, quite frankly, all across the country. Bobby, is this basically how he runs his businesses? It is.

I mean, he doesn't like having to get anything approved by anyone. It's why if you or I tried to get comments, say, from Tesla, right now there's a big announcement. There isn't a communications shock. That's extremely unusual for a company that large, with that large market share.

The biggest EV company in the US doesn't have any communications team. It might seem like a small thing, but again, it's a window into how he operates. He likes to be, you know, almost a little dictator of his companies, meaning that he does what he wants with very few people challenging him without communications person or a lawyer saying, oh, maybe we should rephrase this. Maybe we should make wait, maybe we should get buy in from other individuals.

That is not the Elon what must way. And that might work, you know, just fine at a private company, but when you're bringing that strategy to the federal government, which has, you know, many laws and norms and protocol and typically moves a lot more slowly, methodically, and it's a little bit more orderly than any one must company, you're going to see a bit of chaos. And that's what we're witnessing right now, chaos that Elon Musk is himself triggering across the whole federal government. Well, let me follow up with you, because you said that he actually thrives in this chaos.

President Trump not afraid to create chaos as well. Is this a part of their underlying strategy as the shakeup gets underway? Yeah, it's hard to have an X ray into Elon Musk's mind to know exactly what his end goal is. But from, you know, talking to his biographers, people close to him, people who have worked very closely with Elon, he is thinking kind of hour by hour, day by day.

Sometimes he's not even sure if his opinion will be the same today as it might be a week or a month from now. He's very much living in the moment. And yet there is this theory that Musk, like Trump, is sort of flooding the zone with so much information and so many announcements that would cause upheaval. That's just hard for everyone to keep up its kind of head spinning.

And that confusion is kind of the point. But when it comes to Elon again, he's just, I don't know how. It's just a really impulsive person and he's very much driven by grievance. Just go over to his account on X and you'll see if somebody ticks him off, he will immediately attack them.

And because of his power, because of his influence, because of, you know, just how much clout he has in the White House, yes, he has some supporters, but a lot of critics right now. And he's often responding to, try to quell or put down some of that criticism. Well, it's just fascinating to get your perspective. Bobby Allen, thank you so much.

Gabe Gutierrez, thank you for your reporting from the White House. As you mentioned, the president also making headlines, headlines in his cabinet meeting about the war in Ukraine as both US Ukrainian officials say they are close to an agreement that would give the US Access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals in exchange for some kind of economic or security assistance. Now, President Trump said President Zelensky will be coming to the White House on Friday to sign that deal, but the US Security guarantees are not a part of it. I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much.

We're going to have Europe do that because it's in, you know, we're talking about Europe is the next door neighbor, but we're going to make sure everything goes well. And as you know, we'll be making a, we'll be really partnering with Ukraine in terms of rare earth. We very much need rare earth. They have great rare earth.

We provided, I mean, we provided something very important and we'll be working with Ukraine. And because we'll be taking that, we're going to be taking what we're entitled to take. The Russians get to keep the territory that they claim by force. Doesn't that send a dangerous message, let's say, to China, you try and take away, Right?

We're going to do the best we can. We're going to do the best we can to make the best that we can for both sides. But for Ukraine, we're going to try very hard to make a good deal so that they can get as much back as possible. Now, in his nightly address, President Zelensky said he was coming to meet President Trump for negotiations.

Zelenskyy has long pushed for continued security guarantees from the US Saying today that without them there will not be a lasting ceasefire. Meanwhile, Russia has now also proposed a potential deal for the Trump administration where the US Would gain some ownership of rare earth minerals in parts of Russian controlled territory in Ukraine. That's according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Joining me now is NCBC international security correspondent Courtney Cubby, who's at the Pentagon. And also with me is Grace Ambassador and director of the Critical Mineral Security Program at the center for Strategic and International Studies. Thank you so much to both of you for joining me. Courtney, let me start with you.

President Zelensky said again today that the deal of rare earth minerals could be part of a broader security guarantee. What is your sense of how this package is coming together? Yeah, so it seems pretty clear that the Trump administration sees an economic deal as being the security guarantee that the US Is willing to offer Ukraine right now. So in other words, if the United States and Ukraine are engaged in some sort of a deal that involves extracting rare earth minerals and building infrastructure in Ukraine to try to build that enterprise, that that presence alone would be the security guarantee that the United States, at this point, the Trump administration is willing to make for Ukraine.

Of course, President Zelensky, on the other hand, is looking for something a little bit more tangible in the way of military security guarantees. So some of the things he spoke about in Munich, the idea of creating basically a European army, something that would not include the United States, of course, but an army that was for. That was for the countries in Europe that would be inherent to the continent. He's also spoken about obviously, NATO membership or some sort of a guarantee for an eventual NATO membership that according to what we are hearing, and frankly, what President Trump has been saying openly now, does not seem to be on the table with this deal.

The deal itself actually has changed dramatically from what we first heard about about two weeks ago when Scott Benthi, as Treasury Secretary, went to Kiev, met with President Zelensky and according to officials familiar with the meeting, essentially handed him a deal and said, you have one hour to sign this. And the United States is taking over 50% of Ukraine's critical minerals. Of course, he did not sign that. It's not even clear that we have the authority to do so.

What we're hearing now about this deal, it seems like it's much more favorable to Ukraine. In fact, no one side would have total ownership, not the United States or Ukraine. Both sides would would invest money that would then benefit Ukraine. The money would be invested into Ukraine.

And very quickly here, Kristen, the United States, neither the United States nor Ukraine could sell their part without the other side agreeing to whoever buys it. Oh, that's fascinating. There have been so many twists and turns to this court. You will have to see how it comes together.

What, if anything, happens between now and Friday when President Zelensky is supposed to be here? Let me ask you quickly, as we are reporting and as you are reporting, Russia's also proposing a potential deal over Ukraine's rare earth minerals in the territory that it illegally seized. I spoke with Ukrainian officials who were frankly outraged by that proposal. Tell me about your report.

Yeah, so this is something that was that the Russian delegation who met with US Officials in Riyadh last week to discuss this overall potential peace deal in Ukraine. They came to the table with a potential offer, at least elements of an offer, where the United States would have some sort of a deal that would involve them having some rights or some extraction ability for some critical minerals in eastern Ukraine. Specifically, they were talking about Donetsk and down by Zabrizia, which I'm sure you'll discuss further in this segment, includes some, some very important minerals like lithium and like graphite. Now, it's not clear at this point, it doesn't appear that there was any actual agreement that came out of this.

Officials came out and were very positive about how the talks occurred. But one of the big elements that has not been discussed here is what is also in the ground in that area of the Russian controlled area that are thousands, tens of thousands of unexplored ordnance and landmines that would have to be safely removed before many of these areas could be safely mined. That's a really important point, Courtney, that we probably don't spend enough time focusing on. So thank you for including that.

Really appreciate it, Grace. And let me turn to you. Help us and help folks who are watching right now understand why President Trump wants access to these rare earth minerals. Specifically, what are they used for?

Rare earths are the bedrock of national security, economic competitiveness and energy resilience. They are virtually in every defense technology from fighter jets to ships to missiles to lasers, tanks, ICT technology. They're also in wind turbines. They are in semiconductors.

Rare earths are actually a group of 17 elements. And they're a bit of a misnomer because they're not actually rare. They're just difficult to extract, often found in small deposits. The reason President Trump and and actually President Biden prioritized rare earths is because they were one of the first resources that China weaponized.

Back in 2010, Japan and China got into a fishing trawler dispute And China cut off rare earth exports to Japan. Now, the big problem with this is that China processes 90% of the world's rare earths. What we've seen the US do over the last five years is they've actually invested $300 million through the Defense Production act to build rare earth processing facilities here at home in the United States. This is a big deal because for heavy rare earths, China processes about 99.5%.

However, you know, geology is where geology is. And we actually only have about 1.5% of the world's rare earths here at home in the US So what we've done over the last year is really start to look at strategic investments in rare earths elsewhere to bring them back home to the US to process in Texas and California. So we've seen countries like Brazil, Ukraine, Greenland come into strategic to reduce our own vulnerability to further supply chain disruptions. And given that Ukraine is in the middle of a war, this speaks to the point that Courtney's addressing.

I mean, how challenging might it be to actually access these rare earth minerals? There are many challenges. And ultimately the US Government is not a mining company. It can create an enabling environment for the private sector to mine.

Some of the clear challenges that we have, we don't even have good data on rare earths in Ukraine. The former Director General of Ukrainian Geological Survey has said there's no modern mapping of rare earths, which means that we don't have a good understanding of what is a commercially viable deposit to mine. So that's our first challenge. Second challenge is mining.

Exploration. Mining are incredibly energy intensive. Globally, it uses about 15% of electricity consumption. A lot of that energy was wiped out through during the invasion.

And then three is the there is an ongoing security risk, as Courtney noted, there's no security guarantee included. There is a hope that there's an implicit guarantee because of that economic cooperation. But you know, the private sector needs more than that. The conflict between Ukraine, Russia has been simmering for 11 years.

And the possibility of another potential expansion of occupied land is never beyond the realm of possibility. So given the average Mayan costs 500 million to a billion dollars, they're not racing to make that, given the risk of further land expropriation. Well, you explain well just how complicated and complex it would be. Just very quickly in terms of the timeline, let's say that they do sign a deal this week.

How long might it take for the United States to actually be able to access these rare earth minerals? The answer is a very long time. So we map it first. Right.

Mapping takes time. Then globally on average, from the time I identify a deposit to the time that I have a producing mine is 18 years. So really we're looking at 20 years for in terms of the development of a new asset. President Zelensky very strategically negotiated that no current producing assets will go into this investment fund.

In terms of that 50 revenue, it's only new assets in the future. So really we're looking at a 20 year lead time here and potentially longer depending on, you know, I mean, in the US it takes 20 years. It's 29 years. Okay.

Well that you made it very clear it would be long and complicated. Graceland, thank you so much for taking us inside. What this deal is really all about. Appreciate it.

Courtney qb, great reporting as always. Coming up inside, House speaker Mike Johnson's 11th hour push to get the first step to funding the Trump agenda across the finish line and what happens next. Plus, Hamas is set to release the bodies of four more hostages as soon as this hour in return for hundreds more Palestinian prisoners alive. Report from Israel is straight ahead.

Stay with us. You're watching THE PRESS now. Welcome back. President Trump has scored an incremental but important victory on Capitol Hill after the House adopted a budget blueprint late yesterday to move his agenda forward.

It was a win for both the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was able to get all but one House Republican on board with the plan. The proposal calls for $2 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending and for the House committee that oversees Medicaid to make nearly $900 billion in cuts. But President Trump insisted today that Medicaid and other entitlement programs would not be touched. Can you guarantee that Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security will not be touched?

Yeah, I mean, I have said it so many times. You shouldn't be asking me that question. Okay. This will not be read my lips.

It won't be read my lips anymore. We're not gonna touch it. NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melanie Zenono joins me now. Melanie, thanks so much for joining us.

So let's talk about what happened yesterday and why this is significant for President Trump, quite frankly, for Speaker Johnson. Yeah, it was quite a dramatic scene that played out on the House floor yesterday as we were heading into that vote series. It was clear that House Republican leaders did not have the votes. At one point, they even skipped the vote, moved on to the next one and never started to go home for the evening.

But behind the scenes, there was a furious web effort underway, including the leadership team, including Speaker McDonald's, and they were trying to twist arms. They're trying to wrangle members. They brought them to a back room at one point and were told that Donald Trump himself got involved, got on the phone to work to flip. At least one of the holdouts, ended up passing this resolution with the narrowest of margins, just one Republican defection.

So it was a big, messy win for Speaker Mike Johnson. But, Chris, believe it or not, that was probably the easiest part in this entire process, because what comes next is a lot harder. The Senate and the House both have to agree on the exact same budget resolution. And there are a lot of disagreements at this stage, including over how to make Donald Trump's tax cuts permit.

So once they agree on the same budget blueprint, which is just a framework, then they have to actually start writing the policy, where it can get really tricky and really complicated. So this was really just the first but necessary step to kick off this long and complicated process. Well, case in point, Mel, the Senate passed its own budget resolution, which really only dealt with the border, whereas the House dealt with the border and those proposed tax cuts. How are Senate Republicans responding?

Yeah, well, first off, some of them were surprised that the House was able to even pull it out of the hat in the first place and pull it off. I think there's a lot of skepticism that they would. I do think Republicans in the Senate are coming around to the idea that it is gonna have to be one big, beautiful bill, as Donald Trump calls it. But there are still a lot of different changes that are going to be made between now and that final stage in the process.

And Senate Republicans made clear that they're not just gonna represent what the House passed. Take a listen. Well, it's just a framework, but, you know, it'll need to be changed. Now, we've seen reconciliation.

Reconciliation you can accept. You mean verbatim? Yeah. Short answer is likely.

No. Wrong answer is. And as the House and Senate are trying to get on the same page, there was a big meeting at the White House involving GOP leaders, involving some of the top tax writers, and involving the Treasury Secretary. So this is going to be a huge point of contention, a huge budget battle between the two chambers as they try to pass down Trump's translation agenda.

Now, before I let you go, President Trump, you just heard there was asked about entitlements. He said, you don't have to ask me anymore. I've said it before. I'm not going to touch Medicaid, Social Security, or Medicare.

And yet they are trying to get these big cuts. And Republicans are saying, look, we're going to do it by rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. Basically, Democrats are saying that's impossible. You're going to have to take aim at Medicaid at the very least, talk about this debate that's playing out.

Yeah, that's been the concern among some moderate Republicans especially. So leadership have to work to convince them that they're not going to cut Medicaid benefits, that they're only going to on focus on fraud and waste and abuse. But there is still some deep skepticism that they are going to be able to achieve the level of savings that they are trying to achieve without impacting critical anti poverty programs like Medicaid, like snap, like food stamps. So that is something that is still up for debate.

And even some of these moderate Republicans who did vote for the budget resolution House yesterday warned, but that doesn't mean that they are guaranteed vote for the final product. And as I mentioned, they still have to actually write this bill. So still a lot of questions to come here going forward. A lot of questions, a lot of long days ahead.

Mel, for you in the Capitol Hill team, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. Coming up next, the room where it happened. We'll dig deeper into what we heard and didn't hear about the administration's priorities and loyalties in today's Cabinet meeting.

The panel is next. You're watching me. The press now get the best of NBC News with a subscription viewer ads E for access and exclusive content. And now during the Xfinity member celebration, members can get an exclusive 50 off an annual subscription.

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Welcome back. It is a very busy day in Washington from the president's first Cabinet meeting to the House adopting the budget framework and beyond. So let's get right to the panel. Join me now on set is seniority as congressional reporter notice actually Etienne, former communications director for Vice President Harris and Mike Dubkey, former White House communications director in President Trump's first term.

Mike, I have to start with you because you were in the first term, you remember, in the first term, we should note that what we saw was portion where reporters were allowed in. There's a whole separate portion where they were presumably an hour, exactly over an hour. That was a Long time. What did you make of it?

And specifically, the fact that Elon Musk, front center, he spoke before any cabinet secretary. I will say this. First of all, the fact that the press portion of this went on for an hour. Generally, when you get the pool in there, it may be less, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, at least in our administration, most administration.

So for the full hour, the president was basically getting a press conference. What I took, though, on the Elon seating is that there was. There was some power politics that were happening there. But I think the opposite, at least in my view, with Elon sitting behind the table.

He was not at the table, he was sitting behind, and he was asked to speak. But then when he started to speak, the president interrupted him in the clip that I saw. So there was definitely some dynamics that were happening. There's no doubt about that.

And let me play a little clip of what we heard speaking. Let me play a little bit. He's talking about those. He's talking about the receipts.

Here's what he had to say. We will make mistakes. We won't be perfect, but when we make mistake, we'll fix it very quickly. So, for example, with usaid, one of the things we accidentally canceled very briefly was Ebola convention.

I think we want a prevention. So we restored the Ebola convention immediately, and there was no interruption. Ashley, what is your take on what we saw, what we heard? I mean, it's clear that there is no method to the madness.

I mean, it's clear that there's nothing at work here but chaos. But what I really am so struck by is Trump's complete indifference to the impact of what Elon's doing on the American people, from dismantling, systematically dismantling government one agency at a time, potentially trying to fire 2 million people. But also the fact that, again, I think this is getting lost in the media, that he was. That he accessed sensitive data at treasury, in the irs.

Where is that data? Who is. Where is it House? Who's holding it?

What is being done with it? Those are answers that the President has not answered. And he owes the American people an explanation. So for me, this is what this again continues to reinforce, is that Elon Musk is in charge and Donald Trump is beholden to Elon Musk.

That is what's really going on. Care less about these headlines and these ruby rail. I think he absolutely cares about the headlines, and the headlines that he cares about is that we finally have a government. And then this is, in the president's view, we finally have a government.

That's doing things moving forward. Speed is of the essence. That's what headlines are saying. The headlines are his Ruby Red.

No, no, these are headlines in Kristen, you talked about this in your headlines. These are headlines in Ruby Red states where people are concerned about the cuts to the federal government and the delivery of services. Really briefly on this. The one, the one big concern in this is what you're saying actually that I have is that he said up as allies in Congress with no answers and they go home to these, these town halls and they don't have answers.

That's exactly what I'm hearing from Republicans in the Senate, in the House majority are saying that they support what Elon's doing. They believe that federal funding should be cut, there should be less jobs. We don't need to play a lesser role in Americans lives. But they are concerned about how these cuts are going to affect them when they go back home.

I mean we've been Lisboardowski, she says this could affect energy projects in her state. I mean we've been hearing from working for Republicans, some facing tough re elections. Tom Tillis, North Carolina who's up in 26 saying that while would they support Elon in his efforts to cut government funding it could really be if you look at the polls of plurality say that the majority of Americans do not agree with what Elon Musk is doing and these cuts are too drastic to their lives. So it's now with the White House when Republicans are doing backfire.

Of course. Thank you. We're moving at such a rapid pace right now. And whether you say shock and awe flooding the zone, whatever, whatever the case may be, put it back for a yes.

But we are that far away from the midterms. I'm not worried about it right now. But speed is speed is of the essence here. All right, let's pivot to what happened, the drama that unfolded on Capitol Hill overnight.

The president's agenda on the line. House Secretary Mike Johnson trying to get this quote unquote big beautiful bill passed. As the night started, there were more than one detractor which you only for want to lose one vote. Donald Trump helped him get over the finish line.

Talk about what you think the key takeaways are at this point. Well, it was a shocking night because Speaker Mike Johnson sent voters on there watching all the lawmakers leave the House floor and then be very confused when they were called back Republican and Democrats. And I think it was really interesting that we saw Donald Trump in the 11th hour enter and be able to help flip those last three key holdouts. The bigger picture here now being that this unlocks the actual processor.

Talking behind stage on this, that this is now the messiest fight on Capitol Hill trying to write this bill. That's the hard part. And also Republicans already saying we don't agree with everything in the House version of this. We're gonna make changes.

And Republicans, House Republicans not liking that. Mike, you're no stranger to this process. This is going to be a huge lift. You have the House bill, which has the border, immigration piece of it, which has taxes.

And then you have the Senate bill, which only deals with the border. I mean, to Daniella's point, it's very uphill to try to reconcile. Both of the bills are uphill to reconcile. The fact that they came back yesterday, got to the next stage of this.

These are all building blocks. I think everyone was surprised that they came back last night. The important thing is they put the one block in place and now moving to the next one. Who knows what that's gonna look like.

I'm an optimist. I've always been an optimist. I'll just say this. It's clear to that budget resolution that the folks who voted for Donald Trump got duped prices.

Consumer prices are going up from eggs to gasoline. And he's nia. To make matters worse, they pass a budget resolution that will call for tax cuts on the backs of working class people. So there's one thing I will say you gotta get Trump for.

He's consistent. J. Band said the best that his greatest failure in his first term is that he didn't deliver on a populace. And he's not doing it again.

He's abandoning his voters in hard work. No indebted. If this president is doing what he said he was going to do, I don't think he said he's gonna get taxes to rich on the backs of the poor. That is your spin on what cutting the size and scope of government is to the point of how complicated this is gonna be.

Democrats, I'm gonna get you guys weigh in on this, are saying this is going to inevitably touch Medicaid. President Trump today said absolutely not. Republicans are saying absolutely not. But it seems to me this is where a big part of the fight and the messaging is gonna play out.

That's part of the problem with Republicans too, because they're saying they do not want $180 billion that's supposed to come from that Commerce Committee that has Medicaid. They don't want that to Medicate. But then you have Peter McDonald's is saying there is fraud and abuse. He's not guaranteeing there won't be cuts.

And of course, his vulnerable Republicans coming out and saying we cannot go back to our home districts. We are the ones that delivered this majority, Republican majority, and we're not gonna go back and tell our constituents that there's gonna be cuts. This vital program. So a lot of debate on that, like how do you do it without touching Medicaid?

I mean, you can't get the type of numbers that Speaker Johnson is aiming for. I mean, critics would say without at least trimming something from Medicaid. I love how prepared this is exactly why I'm not elected official. Because if you want me, if you ask me how am I going to spin that it's not touching Medicare, I can go there for you.

Democrats have to actually find a message. You've been very strong in the fact that Democrats have not found their message. I don't see them doing it yet. I mean, how do you see this playing out?

No, I think that this, these, these funding fights create opportunities for Democrats. We were talking about this backstage. To really compel and provoke votes on some of these questions about what is Doge doing with those, with that private data, they can compel some votes on their oversight questions and really force Republicans, those vulnerable ones, to make that votes. They can go back to those districts and wear them out with them.

All right, guys, great conversation. Fiery conversation. Appreciate. We will continue the conversation.

There is a lot of red guys looking great. Thank you for being here. Daniella, Ashley and Michael really appreciate it. After the break, Democrats look to chart a new path forward.

I'll talk to the lawmaker hoping to lead the charge as he pushes his party to embrace a more moderate message in its pursuit of taking back power. You're watching the press now. Welcome back. As Democrats debate the future of their party, a group of moderates called the New Democrat Coalition, which is the largest block of Democrats in the House, is out with a three pillar version vision to reach voters.

Those pillars are economic growth and lowering costs, healthy and safe communities, and strong national security and defense. The group says it is launching working groups to come up with ideas to translate into policy ideas and recommendations and join me now to discuss. This is Illinois Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider. He is the chair of the New Democratic Coalition.

Thank you so much for joining me. Really appreciate it. Congressman, thank you. So talk to me about this pitch.

What is your vision for the path forward for the Democratic Party? Well, the vision is doing what we did with new dams in the last election. In fact, with a tide kind of vote against Democrats in general, new dams elected 25 new members in addition to protecting 85 of already 70 comments. So we're 110 Democrats in the center, very strong.

We're focused on addressing issues voters are talking to us about, the kitchen table, pocketbook issues, the economy, healthy and safe communities and strong national security. National events as we rolled out today, nine working groups dealing with everything from economic growth and lowering cost of living for Americans, addressing immigration laws and border security, working on health care, on education, working on addressing climate change and revitalizing our rural communities. These working groups will build on the strength and energy as well the expertise and wisdom of the 110 members coalition. Let me ask you, because your focus on the economy, safer communities, national security, it does sound a lot like what we heard from Vice President Kamala Harris when she was running for office and from Democrats in this last election.

How is what you're offering different from that? Well, I think that you look at it as it lays down the boardroom. We're talking about a growing economy. It is, as Vice President Harris said in her campaign, investing in small businesses.

But it's also making sure that America is leading innovation, protecting our intellectual property. So we're inventing things here, making those things here and shipping them around the world. It's making sure that we are building our energy independence and moving towards a clean energy economy that protects our climate but also grows and creates real quality, well paying jobs. And our neighborhood is making sure that everyone can live, work and play in communities where they feel safe, going to work, going to school, coming back home where they can access doctors and affordable health care in the communities they live, where they have the opportunities to raise their kids, grow their families and ultimately have a security retirement.

And then it's American leadership in the world. You talk about the goal of regaining trust. How do you think congressmen, Democrats lost trust? I think the most important thing we do is listen to our voters, listen to the people at home, hear what they're saying, understand what their concerns are.

And they're concerned about the cost of living, but not just making us meet. It's getting ahead and providing for themselves, but making sure our children have a better future than what our parents sacrifice to give us. It's about making sure we hear when they're talking about immigration, our immigration laws are broken and fixing. We also need to address border security and know who's coming into this country, keep out those who want to come in and do us, do us harm.

It's making sure that our defense is ready for the challenges we face around the world. But we're addressing the needs we have here at home as well and doing it in a smart, thoughtful way. Congressman, you were one of the first Democrats to call for President Biden to step down in 2024. Do you think that his candidacy and the fact that Democrats didn't come out and some of them say they didn't think he was able to serve another four years in office, do you think that led to erosion of trust in the Democratic Party?

Well, I think what we have to do is build trust back going forward and making sure that voters understand that Democrats are the party of bold ideas, that we're the ones trying to come up with solutions that can be implemented and will have an impact today and be successful going into the future as well. That we're addressing the things that they care most about. Lowering costs for living, but also educating our kids for the future, making sure that American culture companies are at the cutting edge of innovation and productivity. So we're creating wealth for all Americans, and we're doing a way to make sure that all Americans have a chance to have the American dream, not just a portion of you.

I want to get your reaction to something that Democratic strategist James Carville wrote in an op ed. He said, quote, it's time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party. Roll over and play dead. Allow the Republicans to crumble beneath their own weight and make the American people miss us.

Only until the Trump administration has spiraled into the low 40s or high 30s and public approval polling percentages, should we make like a pack of hyenas and go for the jugular. Until then, I'm calling for a strategic political retreat. Very powerful words there, Congress. Congressman, is he right?

I think he's half right. First of all, I don't want the Democrats to play possum. I don't want them to be hyenas. We should be lions.

We should be people leading the pack. But he's right to let Republicans basically implode. Last night you had 217 Republicans vote for a budget bill that's gonna take $800 billion out of Medicaid. It's gonna cut the SNAP benefits.

People who are struggling with food insecurity are hungry, not being able to put food on their table. It's gonna take 200 million out of there. We already have a 1.7 trillion dollar deficit, which we'll be working on fixing that. Their budget last night will add $300 trillion to the debt, which means that if we don't do something, the Republicans have their way, we'll add $20 trillion to the debt in over 10 years.

That's not responsible governments. That's not technical problems. Democrats. The New Dell doing is offering a clear alternative, the path forward.

Speaking of a path forward, I want to play a little bit of what President Biden said about the path forward in his farewell address last month. Take a look today. Oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. Do you think Democrats should be focused on that type of messaging, focused on the threat of what President Biden called an oligarchy taking shape in the United States?

Or should Democrats stay focused on grocery prices? I think there's two pieces to it. I think Democrats should focus on what President Biden said is a fair shot to get ahead. Every American wants to have that piece of the American dream where they can pursue their aspirations and give their kids a chance to reach our highest potential.

And what we're seeing with Elon Musk and his Doge brothers ripping apart our government, cutting benefits to seniors to veterans, eliminating preschool for children, making it hard for them to succeed in the future. That's what the president was warning about oligarchy. What Elon Musk is doing is trying to line his own pockets in the pockets of his cronies. What the Democrats are doing is trying to give Americans a chance to get ahead very quickly.

The government shuts down in just a few weeks. Some of your Democratic colleagues say they want to block any proposal by Republicans to keep it open, to really push back against what we're seeing from Elon Musk. Would you support that effort trying to shut down government? Well, what I wish we were doing, we had an agreement almost two years ago now, June of 2023, where then Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden laid out the numbers to fund our government for fiscal years 20, 25, 24, 25.

We had that agreement. If the Republicans wanted that agreement, we could have finished this whole thing months ago. But before I do anything else, I want to know one that what Congress does, Congress, who has the power of the purse, the president is going to implement the will of the Congress and that what we're going to do is not negotiating, Democrats negotiating against themselves. There's going to be a conversation with Republicans how best to Move the country forward.

All right. Congressman Schneider, thank you so much. Great to have you. Appreciate it.

Coming up next. Thanks. We are expecting the final handover of phase one of the Israel Hamas cease fire deal happen any minute now. We are live in the region next.

Stay with us. You're watching the press now. Welcome back. Any minute now we're expecting the mosque to release the bodies of four more hostages killing Gaza.

The four hostages are expected to be the final Israeli hostages released as part of phase one of the ceasefire deal. In exchange, Hamas says Israel will release almost 600 Palestinian prisoners, though the Israeli government has yet to confirm that number. Joining me now is MC News International correspondent Matt Bradley, who is live in Israel. Matt, what do you know about these four hostages whose bodies we are expecting to be returned?

Well, we know that their names are Itzhak Al Gharak, Yahlomim and Shlomo Mansoor. All four of them were actually captured alive on October 7 and died during their captivity over the last 16 months. So we know from several sources that there were people who essentially were living, most of them in kibbutzim, so these sort of encampments, agricultural areas around the Gaza Strip that we call here the Gaza envelope. And they were captured on October 7 by Hamas and their allies, mostly by Hamas fighters.

And again, they either died of their injuries on October 7 itself or were killed later on. Hamas has said that several of them were killed in Israeli bombardments, but the Israelis have neither confirmed nor denied whether or not that happened. And Matt, today Israelis held a funeral for the Bibas family, Shira and her two beautiful children whose bodies were returned last week. Talk a little bit about that and the devastation that you're witnessing.

Yeah, truly a wrenching moment, not just for the family but for the entire country. What we saw was a funeral cortege that started here in sort of central Israel and really lasted for almost half length of the country. The Israeli media reported that more than 10,000 people came out to witness this cortege before the burial, again near the Gaza Strip near where the family had been abducted on October 7. They were one of the more high profile hostages because of the youth of the two children and because there was a video taken of the children of the mother, as you mentioned, Shira, holding them as they were being captured.

So this is why that was took on such an outsized importance compared even to the other hostages who had been taken. And because of what happened just last week. The body of Shira Dibos was supposed to have been handed over by Hamas to Israel instead. That was mistaken.

Hamas corrected that with another body. But it caused a major problem for the peace treaty, just devastating. Matt Bradley, thank you so much for your report. Thank you for watching.

We'll be back tomorrow with more MEET THE press. Now the news continues with Hallie Jackson right now. Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of the Drink. This month, Demi Lovato is my guest.

The global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now. But getting there, it wasn't simple. Demi opens up about starting in Hollywood young and why she now thinks she may have started too soon. She talks about recovery, her new marriage and the deeply personal reason behind her new cookbook.

The Drink is always about the journey to the top. And this was an honest conversation about what that takes. Hope you'll listen and follow the Drink wherever you get your podcast.