Meet the Press NOW — February 27

Welcome to the press. Now, I'm Kristen Welker. All eyes are on Texas, where we expect to hear from the president. Corpus Christi this hour.

He has just landed. It's his first trip since Tuesday's State of the Union and his first chance to sell voters on his affordability message from that night. His visit also comes with the first major primary of the midterm elections just days away and still no endorsement in the closely watched Republican Senate primary in Texas as Democrats see an opportunity to flip that seat blue for the first time in more than three decades. Today, all three Republican candidates are expected to be at the event with the president hoping to boost their maga bona fides just days before voters head to the polls.

Senator John Cornyn is defending his seat from a two pronged challenge from state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt. The latest polling shows Paxton ahead, but not with an outright majority, which could be a runoff for the top two vote getters in May. But as he departed the White House, the president dodging the question on whether he would endorse the race, instead focusing on energy costs, a key part of his affordability pitch and expected to be the top issue in November's elections are definitely coming way down and prices generally coming way down. The bright thing is it's been amazing what we've been able to do when your prices are way down, led by energy, led by oil.

So where this sort of Texas, it's a little bit of an oil meeting now. We should know prices overall are still going up faster than policymakers want. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, all eyes are on frontrunners, Congressman Jasmine Crockett and State Representative James Calarico as polls present a much murkier picture of who could emerge victorious on Tuesday. In two polls from last month, one shows Crockett with an eight point lead while another found Talario ahead by nearly the same margin.

Joining now from Corpus Christi, Texas is NBC. Priscilla Thompson, NBC Gutierrez has the latest from the White House. NBC's business and data correspondent Brian Chung has a look at those new inflation numbers. Priscilla, let me start with you.

You are in Texas with just days until the all abort brinery there. How are the campaigns taking their closing arguments are billing themselves as Trump allies. You have a comment, Senator John Gordon saying that he is the same point that he is a workforce. He has demonstrated what he do.

Have told me about him. But of course, he is not without baggage. We know that he faces own and keep challenges here on the ground of corruption. That is something that came up on voters that I spoke with, but some of them saying that Gordon has the better character, but others saying what politician isn't corrupt in their opinion?

And so they are going to support Cash. You have that third candidate when Representative Wesley Hunt saying that he's the next generation MAGA candidate. And of course, as you know, Donald Trump has not endorsed in his race. And I did ask voters what that endorsed make a difference.

One man actually told me he has not voted yet. He will wait until Election Day because he is hoping that Trump might endorse that other one who voted for him, saying that she has already voted for him, but that both of them said that they want the person who Donald Trump wants he's going to work best with. So a lot going on here. A primary day on Tuesday.

Well, you can feel the energy in the crowd, that's for sure. Priscilla, talk a little bit about the Democratic side of this race. Equally heated, right? Equally heated.

Turnout on the Democratic side is outpaced. Republicans is the most turnout we've seen in early voting in any recent midterms or even general elections. So there's a lot of Democratic side. You have James Cal Rico is sort of pitching herself as a unifying candidate.

The big tent. Everyone is disillusioned. Republicans, independence. And then you have Representative Jasmine Crockett who say that she's going to be a fighter and that she's going to fight Republican, she's going to fight President Donald Trump and that she's going to stand for Democratic values and she's looking to really juice that Democratic voter turnout.

And so far we have seen those numbers. So a lot of folks turning out remains to be seen. All right. We're watching very closely.

Gabe, let me turn to you. Of course, we are going to wait, watch to see what President Trump has to say. Any minute now. How central is this to the president's affordability message?

What do you expect we'll hear today? Well, the president doesn't like calling it affordability. You know, over the last several weeks, he keeps trying to say that Democrats have made up that word. But in reality, you saw it in the State of the State of the Union address.

First half of his speech dedicated towards the economy. And this is significant. Look, the president has been talking about energy for quite some time during campaign. He kept saying over and over again, drill, baby, drill.

He's trying to make the case to Americans that energy prices have been coming down. And sure, gas prices have been coming down. They were on the downward trajectory even under President Biden. But Other prices are still going up, including beef prices, for example.

And there are real questions about drilling in general, that really offshore drilling really has not gone up during President Trump. It's actually down slightly. And there are other reasons that gas prices have come down that may not have nothing to do with the president's policies. However, the energy secretary today, in an interview just a short time ago, he did acknowledge that some of the unrest, the uncertainty rather in the Middle east has actually had oil prices go up slightly.

But overall for the economy is a complicated picture, Kristen. As you know, oil prices might be down, but that's not necessarily good for energy companies and for the economy as a whole. Still, though, the president hoping that that message, that prices are coming down, that's the message he's trying to sell this afternoon and that his administration, his the White House wants to get across the American people over the coming months. Well, let's talk about the coming months, Gabe.

What exactly are you hearing about the strategy that we're going to see from President Trump? I know that he says he's gonna be out there on the trail. What exactly are you expecting? Well, look, I know during this first year there have been much of the Naga base.

And then Trump supporters reveal the president paid too much attention to foreign policy, that he didn't get out into the country enough, instead focus on many other issues. And so, you know, some White House officials have acknowledged that they argue that the president's policies have been benefiting Americans and that he is the best messenger. And he's been talking about, you know, affordability, perhaps not using that word, but they do expect and they say to travel the country in the coming, in the coming months and to try to meet Americans where they are and that they feel that, you know, we haven't seen much of the official schedule. We do know the president is heading for another foreign trip in just a couple of weeks to China.

But we are hearing from White House officials that the plan is for the president again, they feel the most effective messenger to try and sell his policies, something the president himself has acknowledged that he's blamed his aides and hello everybody, for not getting his message. But he wants to get it out there. He wants Americans to listen to that message and that he and Democrats is better for affordability. Well, as I was talking about with Priscilla, what makes today so extraordinary, here he's going to be in Corpus Christi, Texas with the three Republican candidates, Senator John Cornyn, Ken Past and Wesley Hunt.

He hasn't endorsed anyone. Talk about why. What's the Strategy. And what did he say about that today?

Look, it is very fascinating for the future of the Republican Party. Here you have Paxton, John Cornyn, really two different factions of the Republican Party. Look at maybe the reason why the president chose not to endorse her. He dodged the question today.

Doesn't look like he will. We won't expect him to endorse anyone before that primary. And part of that is because, look, President Trump does not like picking a loser in any political race. That's one of the things that he dislikes the most.

And he may be waiting to see how the dust settles here. And depending on who wins, you know, this goes for one off if, if Democrats were to win this seat in Texas, in deep red Texas, that could be very embarrassing for the President of the United States. So in the White House watching this race very carefully and waiting to see how the dust settles at least past Tuesday before he makes any endorsement, before he weighs in on this race. I should say it's gonna be fascinating to watch it all unfold Tuesday night, that's for sure.

Brian, let me turn to you. So here the president say prices are going down. He's talking about this golden age for the economy. We do have this new inflation report though that has a little bit of a contradictory note there.

Tell us what your key takeaways are from that report. Yeah, we got numbers this morning. It's called the producer Price index or PPI part is Alphabet suitable. All these different types of readings we get on what prices look like in America, I should play out.

These are wholesale prices. So basically what the producer particular item charges a re before it then gets passed on to the consumers. Again, we're talking about what your retailer is paying. Not necessarily you and me, but show that prices in January increased at a top line level by half a percent again in the month of January.

That was above what economists were expecting. They were expecting something a little bit closer to 3/10 of a percent. So either way, you cut your slice. You don't want prices to rise at a faster pace than you expect.

And that's what this report shows, at least at a wholesale level. And again, the fear is that those price increases could get passed on to the consumer, leads to higher overall inflation as well. As you point out, that is going to be an issue for Trump administration which has at times said prices are going down. Well, that's a plus number that you see on that graphic.

Have you? That means that prices are going up. Yes, it is indeed the case that energy prices are down, food Prices are also down in this particular report. But the overall picture figure that we're looking at here, prices in America at a high level are still going up instead of down.

That is an issue of resting for the administration. So Brian, how does all of this compare to other economic indicators that you're watching for right now? Yeah, well, actually, given all the caveats I just laid out for you, really pay more close attention to the consumer Price Index, which is a measure of inflation that you and I face at the store. This is the kind of bottom line measure, if you will.

That particular measure as we got last month showed that prices rose by 2.4% on a year over year basis. Again, a lot of people might say, well that's a lot more than half percent, but we're talking about yearly measure there. And that sounds all right. When you consider that the yearly rate of inflation during the peak part of the Biden administration was somewhere closer to 9%.

That's a good improvement. But a lot of economists have said where we really want to be is closer to 2%. So 2.4% is obviously above 2%. So it's not yet mission accomplished.

We're not there yet. The president has pointed out that inflation is something closer to 1.7% based off of some three month figure he said in the State of the Union. We at his team have not been able to verify that. It shows there's a lot of conflicting information out there, especially with Messag from White House person.

All right, Gabe and Brian, thank you both so much for starting us off. Really appreciate it. Speaking of the midterms, tune in Tuesday for NBC News. Now special coverage of the first major primaries of the 2026 midterm elections.

I'll be joined by my colleagues Hallie Jackson and Steve Bernanke covering the results as they come in, starting at 8pm Eastern. You do not want to miss it. Turning out some breaking news with developments out of Chappaqua, New York, where former President Bill Clinton is being questioned by the House Oversight Committee behind closed doors as we speak for a deposition and its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. We want to show you some video now what you're watching this video, of course, Christy.

There you go. That's Chappaquaqua. This is video of the four president arriving at the Chappaqua Performing Arts center this morning, becoming the first former president to be called to testify in a congressional investigation. According to his opening statement, he told the committee today, quote, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing.

His testimony comes today after his White Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also deposed. She spoke to reporters after the grueling six hours of testimony, saying she told the committee she never had any connection or communications with Pepsi. Here's committee Chairman James Comer speaking to reporters on his way to former President Clinton's deposition about how Secretary Clinton's testimony set the stage for today. It took seven months, seven months to get the Clintons in here, but we got him in here and we look forward to answering, to asking lots of questions that I think any curious media outlet America would have.

Yesterday, Ms. Clinton deferred a lot of questions to her husband. Today. There were at least a dozen times when she said, you'll have to ask my husband that.

I can't answer that. So we already had a big portfolio of questions for him and that increased yesterday. So we look forward to that. Democrats on the committee today renewing their demands that President Trump also testify and saying they want more transparency from the Republican majority of we are demanding again that the press and the public be allowed inside the depositions so you can hear the answer to the questions directly.

And if that's not gonna happen, they need to release a full unedited review of the questions and video within 24 hours of the end of these depositions. That means the Secretary Clinton petition needs to be released immediately today. ME C News chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles joins me now from Chappaquada, New York. Ryan, thanks so much for being here.

Really appreciate it. So what exactly do we know about what former President Clinton has said so far today during his deposition? Well, Chris, we actually just have an update from inside the room about this back and forth between Bill Clinton and Republicans and Democrats on the House over second committee. You heard James Colbert, the chair of the committee, saying that they had some very pointed questions for Bill Clinton, particularly about the way that he appears in these Epstein documents.

And I'm told from a source inside the room that Bill Clinton was given a lengthy bit of questioning, particularly about those photos that appear in the Epstein files. In this photo in particular, which shows the former president in a hot tub with an unidentified woman. According to the sources inside the room, Clinton was specifically asked if he knew who that woman was and whether or not he had sex with her. And Clinton told the committee members under oath that he did not know who the woman was, recall who she was, and that he does not believe he had sex with her.

That's one key point that came out of the hearing today. And also support, keep in mind, that's just one example of the type of questions that Clinton was getting was given throughout the course of this deposition, which is ongoing. We're told that there are multiple, multiple examples of him being shown something from the files and then being asked pointed questions about his role in whatever it was that came from the files, whether it be a diary or a picture or some sort of correspondence between he and Epstein or someone in Epstein's orbit. Now, to be clear, Clinton said before he went into this deposition that he did nothing wrong and that he was prepared to answer questions about the photos that appear from some 20 years ago.

And he also said in his opening statement this. He said, I know what I saw, and more importantly, what I didn't see. I know what I did, and more importantly, what I didn't do. And I did nothing wrong.

And so one of the other things I'm told he was asked about over and over again was whether or not he'd ever been to Epstein Island. And Clinton told the committee that he has never been to Epstein island, despite being asked that several times. In this room behind me here today, Kristen and my Democrats are calling for the release of the transcripts from both of these depositions from President Clinton and Secretary Clinton. You anticipate that's gonna happen?

What are you hearing there? It's 100 gonna happen. Republicans have promised that that's gonna happen. They have been.

They have a very good track record of releasing the entire video and the transcripts of the prior deposition that took place. They did that with Les Wexner less than 24 hours after that deposition took place. And this time around, Democrats are expecting the same thing. They want to see these video depositions turn around as quickly as possible.

Today. It was disappointing that they refused to hold a public hearing, so I wouldn't have to be out here characterizing it for you. You could have seen it for yourself. We asked for that.

We think it would have been better for the committee and its efforts to gather whatever information they are seeking, calling for the full release of it. I do think, just to set expectations. Chris said it's unlikely, given the fact that they're in the middle of a deposition now that we see the video deposition of Hillary Clinton sometime today, but I do think sometime early next week, it's very possible that we see both of these depositions in their totality. All right, Ryan Nobles, thank you so much for that.

We really appreciate it. Coming up, mission denied. Anthropic digs in rejecting the Pentagon demands for broad access to its AI technology. And President Trump just responded moments ago, threatening the company saying he will use the full power of the presidency to make them comply.

Plus speaking out. NBC News sits down with the family of Rene Nicole Good, nearly two months after Goode was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, marking their first on camera interview since that tragic incident. Royal Donation. Stay with us.

We're bringing it to you. We're watching the press now. Welcome back. We're less than an hour away from the Pentagon's deadline for American AI giant Anthropic to drop its demands for guardrails surrounding the military's use of its AI technology.

But just moments ago, ahead of that deadline, President Trump posted on social media, quote, I am directing every federal agency in the United States government to immediately cease all use of Anthropic's technology. We don't need it, we don't want it and will not do business with them again. President goes on to say he will use the full force of the presidency to ensure Anthropic complies. It comes as Anthropic is digging in, wanting to ensure its models will not be used for mass domestic surveillance or for fully autonomous lethal weapons.

And yesterday a new statement, Anthropic CEO said, quote, these threats do not change our position. We cannot in good conscience accede to their request. Meanwhile, the Pentagon maintains it only wants to use the Anthropic model for, quote, lawful purposes. Joining now as NBC News national security reporter and retired Lt.

Gen. John Jack Shanahan, who served as the inaugural director of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence center from 2018 to 2020. Thanks to both of you for being here. Gordon, let me start with you.

What are the implications of this latest announcement by the president? Well, it's just so interesting because we were waiting for 501pm to come around today, but we got our answer from the president by tweet. I think that, you know, he's saying they're going to pull the technology which is very sought after. Government wants this, military wants the technology.

This kind of phase out, period, I think to me is a bit of a negotiation as the president would like to see the president do. Potentially they can have a meeting in the mind. But I mean, I would just point out that, you know, if there were other AI technologies, other models like this that were waiting in the wings ready to just turn on a switch, they wouldn't be making this particular one. I think this is like, as I say, it's sought after.

It's very useful. Its speed, its analysis and its ability to compile the data that the Pentagon Needs is critical and that's why we're seeing such drama about this. Talk about the drama. How did we get here, Gordon, where there's a standoff between the Pentagon, the US Government and this AI startup.

The military and government, large other agencies have been using this for, as I say, like for a while to integrate weaponry in a smart and quick way. All this technology, all this weaponry that needs to be networked and the data that they can use to use effectively. But what's kind of an issue here is, you know, the Pentagon says, you know, we want to use it for lawful operations. The company which has a reputation for really trying to be a responsible steward of the technology has, you know, kind of drawn this line in the sand.

I believe they can probably try to find a way forward. But the issue is that the administration's view of what's legal, what's not, doesn't always support with how others see it. So that's any kind of where we are and we'll see where we go after that. We'll see how it all resolves itself.

Gordon, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Lieutenant General Shanahan, let me turn to you now. So the President says there will be a six month phase out period for agencies like the Pentagon to use anthropic.

Anthropic products. Do you think that's enough time? Thanks, Chris, so much for having me on. I agree with everything that Gordon just said and the word that comes to mind when I just read what the President said is unfortunate.

It's unfortunate that we reached this point. As somebody with 36 years in uniform and who, who started two AI organizations in the Pentagon, you will find no stronger proponent for putting the world's best software and hardware in the hands of American men and women who are tasked to defend the country and if they have to, to fight and win the nation's war. Anthropic is one of those countries. Why would we not want that technology being used for national security purposes?

I hope what Gordon said is correct. Maybe this is the opening salvo of a little bit more of a negotiation tactic. Six months, if they're directed, people are directed to pull out, they'll pull out, but they will have a less capable military than if they had this plus the other. OpenAI RockX.

There are other tools that are out there, but this is so far the only frontier model, this large language model, this special AI capability that's been approved for use on classified systems. So will six months be enough to pull this out and substitute with other companies to get approved at that level. That remains to be seen, but I think it's a big Just within the last hour saw a letter that the chairman and ranking members of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Appropriations Committee sent to the Secretary Hexev and to Dario Amadi asking them to resolve this. This is at court a policy dispute that should not be resolved through contract negotiations, which, as Gordon said, comes down to this phrase, any lawful use.

I think Anthropic carved out two very narrow cases that are reasonable to me because the technology is so immature, they're not ready to be used in lethal, fully autonomous weapon systems. So we'll see where it goes from there. Six months may be enough, but I hope it's the beginning of a more serious behind the scenes negotiation, not a public dispute. And is it possible that another AI company could agree to allow the Pentagon to use its models without guardrails?

And what are the potential implications of that? Well, essentially, they've already done so. They signed on the dotted line, so to speak, about any lawful use. But what I think would happen in reality is even though they said that it will be a legal determination during some crisis, during some conflict where everybody wants to make sure that whatever company's AI capabilities are being used get reviewed in the same way that we reviewed every single weapon system we've ever had in the military, there's a very rigorous legal review process that should never disappear.

In fact, the department has a directive on autonomous weapon systems that mandates two separate senior level reviews. I certainly hope those don't go away. The department has AI ethics principles. I don't want those to go away.

But yes, there are other companies that probably somewhat eagerly at this point will be willing to jump in and fill the gap that's left by anthropic, but it will be a good gap. We should want all these capabilities available to the men and women in uniform, not just selectively pick a few. And while we're having this conversation, President Trump is now in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is joined there by the governor, as you can see, Greg Abbott, Senator Ted Cruz, he Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

He's about to address the crowds there. And of course, it comes amid Tuesday's all important primaries, the Republican primary, which he has not endorsed a candidate, Senator John Cornyn, in the political fight, his life. But Lieutenant General Shanahan, to go back to this conversation that we're having, what type of when we talk about guardrails, what are the guardrails that you think should be in place, we always look at this is you would do very what we call rigorous and disciplined test and evaluation. The military has done tested evaluation on hardware spectacularly well over the past 70 years as a result of many accidents in the 50s and early 60s.

They decided to put an emphasis on how to make sure these systems will work as designed in the first place. And we put a lot of emphasis on tested evaluation. What you want to know is not only how these AI capabilities are supposed to work under normal conditions, but what are their failure modes? What risks are you buying when you get these capabilities?

And then you have to decide how do you mitigate those risks? Who accepts those risks? Do some of those risk decisions go potentially all the way to the president of the United States? If you're talking lethal autonomous weapon systems.

So the guardrails are a way to ensure you don't get rogue AI or AI that's acting in ways that the human never intended. That's what's different about this technology with hardware. In the past, it was what I would call binary. It worked or it didn't work.

With AI you're going to see increasingly advanced capabilities potentially act in ways that humans never quite anticipated. We have to do the testing and the focus on making sure they work as. All right, Lieutenant General Shanahan, thank you so much. Really appreciate your perspective on such a critical and developing story.

Thanks so much. Come back soon. Up next on alert, US And Western allies race for potential escalation with Iran after yesterday's high stakes nuclear talks made progress but failed to reach a deal. We'll have the very latest.

Stay with us on the PRESS now. Welcome back. On his way to Texas, President Trump had some tough words for both Cuba and Iran and advising tensions with those countries, going as far as saying he's mulling a quote, friendly takeover of Cuba. Listen, the Cuban government is talking with us.

They're in a big deal of trouble, as you know. They have no money, they have no anything right now, but they're talking with us and maybe we'll have a friendly take over of Cuba. President Trump also saying he's not happy with the way talks are going with Iran after a third round of negotiations ended in Geneva without a deal. Here's what he said about that.

I'm not happy with the fact that they're not willing to give us what we have to have. I'm not thrilled with that. We'll see what happens with Zoe later. We'll have some additional talks today.

Meanwhile, embassies in the Middle Eastern high alert today. The US Told non essential staff at its embassy in Israel who wish to leave the country mid rise, intentions to do so immediately, according to an email from Ambassador Mike Hugby reviewed by NBC News. Australia directed the departure of families of its embassy staff on Wednesday, while the UK Announced it's temporarily pulling personnel from its embassy in Iran in a massive US Military buildup in the region. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said to travel to Israel on Monday to update the Israelis on the status of talks with Iran.

Joining now is NBC News international correspondent Raf Sanchez. Raf, thanks so much for being here. So President Trump said today he hasn't made a final decision on striking Iran. I want to play what he said when he was asked if strikes on Iran could turn into a longer drawn out conflict in the Middle East.

Listen, I guess you could say there's always a risk. You know, when there's war, there's a risk in anything, both good and bad. This comes a day after Vice President Jamie Vance said there is, quote, no chance the US Will be in a drawn out war in the Middle East. Where do things stand in the region right now?

RAF so, Kristen, we have this enormous buildup of US Forces in the region right now, the largest military buildup in the Middle east by the United States since the Iraq war back in 2003. Just look at bases across the region, fighter jets, bombers, refueling tankers, and then all of these ships, including two aircraft carriers moving into place now. And all of these American service members are waiting for a decision from President Trump about whether or not he's going to strike. He has been discussing almost deliberating this process in public in front of the cameras.

You heard him there say that he does not feel that these talks are going well. What we learned back in June when first Israel and then the United States bombed Iran, is that the Iranians have very limited ability to repel these airstrikes by advanced Western aircraft. They couldn't stop Israeli warplanes. They couldn't stop those B2 self bombers sent by President Trump to bomb their nuclear facilities.

What they can do, Kristen, is they have large numbers of ballistic missiles still. They can use those to threaten both Israel and American military facilities across the Middle East. We saw them attack the US Base in Qatar, the Al U Dat air base back in June in response to that B2 strike. So when Vice President Ban says we're not going to get bogged down in a years long conflict, he seems to be saying this isn't going to be like Iraq in 2003.

We're not going to have hundreds of thousands of American boots on the ground. But the threat is very, very to American service members across the region. Oh, it absolutely is. Well, look, President Trump said talks with Iran are continuing, but what more do we know about what happened in the wake of yesterday's talks in Geneva?

What are your expectations moving forward after that? Yeah. So we had Jared Kushner and Steve Wyckoff, the president's special envoy, in Geneva yesterday. They were in these indirect negotiations that were with Iranians that were moderated by the government of Oman.

Now, Oman came out of those talks sounding fairly optimistic, saying they had made progress, saying that both sides were gonna head back to their capitals for consultations and that they believe that there is a path ahead. Today, the Omani foreign minister was in Washington. He met with Vice President Vance. And I'll read you just a bit of a tweet he put out.

He said, I met Vice President Vance today, shared details of the ongoing negotiation between the United States and Iran and the progress achieved so far. He says, I'm grateful for their engagement and look forward to further and decisive progress in the coming days. Peace is within our reach. Now, that is certainly a level of optimism that you are not hearing from President Trump, who has been clear he does not think these talks are going well.

And the big, big sticking point seems to be, Chris, in this question of enrichment, the United States indicating it will not allow Iran to enrich uranium at all. The Iranians saying that they have a right to enrich uranium even if it isn't for nuclear weapon. And it is not clear right now how you square that circle. All right, Ross Sanchez following these fast moving developments for us.

Ross, thank you so much. Here in the US the family Renee Goode is speaking out after she was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last month. Her killing feeling weeks of protests across the country against ICE tactics and demands from lawmakers for major reforms to how ICE and Border Patrol carry out their immigration enforcement operations. You'll remember Renee, Nicole Good was in her car when she got into a confrontation with ICE agents.

The Trump administration, saying the agent feared for his life, shot at the vehicle, a claim disputed by local officials. NBC News correspondent Maggie Vespa sat down with Renee Good's family and filed this report. Take a look. Hey there.

Almost two months after an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, we raced here to Denver where her brothers live because in short, the family is ready to open up. Telling us in their first on camera interview, Renee was a fiercely protective mother, daughter and sister that she had a contagious laugh and that none of them knew she was volunteering as a so called ICE observer in her neighborhood in Minneapolis when she was shot behind the wheel of her SUV. Drug Administration argued videos of the Jan. 7 shooting proved the ICE officer fired in self defense as good drove towards him.

Supporters of woods were raped, arguing she was scared, she was turning the wheel and she was trying to escape. We were on the ground for weeks in Minneapolis as those videos still protest there and around the world. Which is why this moment from our interview was so striking. This was captured by multiple cameras.

Have you watched the moment Renee was shot? I, I have not given myself to do that. None of you have watched video of the moment she was shot? I think we've all intentionally just let that go.

The only thing I saw of that day was her saying, I'm not mad at you. And that was so weird, those words to, to the officer, I'm not mad at you. And that was just her. How then have you processed the noise?

That is the debate around what happened and people kind of seeing what they want in the video. How have you been able to weather that, especially if you haven't seen it yourselves? I mean, I feel like we're the ones who know Renee. No one else knows Renee.

And so I think, at least for me, the default thing when you hear any of the noise is it's just, I don't know, to a certain degree it's easy to tune out because it's just no one knew her. We'll have much more, including the family's take on the Trump administration's response in Minneapolis and their message to the ICE officer who shot Renee. Go. Coming up tonight on NC Nightly News with Tom Knox.

We will be watching Nike Vespa. Thank you for that extraordinary interview. We really appreciate it. And we'll be right back with more Meet the Press now.

Welcome back. As we noted, President Trump has not thrown his support behind any of the three Republicans who are competing in Tuesday's primary in the race for Texas Senate. But that hasn't stopped the candidates, which include incumbent Republican Senator John Gordon, from making their support of the president known to Republican primary voters. Look, I voted with President Trump 99% of the time, securing funding to finish the wall and hiring 10,000 new ICE officers and thousands of Border patrol agents.

I was the first person in the country to endorse President Trump on this last election cycle because I knew that we needed a fighter. It's going to take a patriot like Ken Paxton to make America great again. He's Very, very talented. He's a very talented guy.

Joining me now is our panel for NBC News national senior national political reporter, Chris Maher, Democratic consultant, and Ashley Davis, former George W. Bush administration official. Thanks to all of you for being here styled. The race in Texas could not be more fascinating.

Talk about this moment where President Trump is there in Texas with the three candidates, has not endorsed. It's expected this race could go to a runoff. It's the first time Democrats are actually eyeing the possibility of maybe being competitive in a Texas Senate race in more than three decades. Absolutely.

Those ads really show the extent to which President Trump has cemented his grip on the Republican Party. It wasn't that long ago that they used to find primaries or things like taxes more taxable more than you. I won't have spending more than vote if it's ear marks. I have the endorsement from this conservative group.

Now all of that is demolished. It's all Trump. Who likes Trump the most, who supports Trump the most? Who Trump likes the most.

What's interesting About Senator Cornyn, 99% of the time going record with which Trump has not enough. He's in real danger in this race. I've been in the Senate for quite a while now, and he reliably votes for the Republicans, rarely breaks. But that's not enough to these voters.

They want you to look apart and sound part and just be more maga. And this could be a really defining race in the Senate landscape right now. A rare red state where Democrats see real hope. It's just so fascinating.

And actually, if this does go to a runoff, which is expected, it's basically going to be a fight for the heart of maga. Because you have Ken Paxton arguing that he's the more MAGA candidate. Well, absolutely. First of all, John Cornyn did get on the plane from Washington today to Texas.

So he was probably like, well, no, I think he's probably lobbying very hard for those couple hours. But listen, it shows right now that Paxton has, you know, not significantly, but, you know, four or five points in most polls. But John corned that gun bill probably six years ago now, five years ago now. And so that's the 1%.

And, you know, Texas likes their guns. And so that's gonna be a real issue for him. But listen, I think I was actually talking to the Democrat side and they feel like they're already running against Paxton. Okay, so, Chris, that takes me to you.

What are you looking for in this race? You have one poll which shows James Talarico up, another poll which shows Jason Crockett has the lead. The dynamics of this race are so fascinating because they're not that different on the policies. This is more of a style race.

What are you watching for when you make it? Do you think Democrats can actually win this time? Yeah, I think. I think we can.

And I think it's incumbent upon us to nominate James Talarico because he's our only chance of winning the general election. We're still talking about Texas. It's a very, very, very red state, and not just anybody can pick up and win there. James Talarico has the tone, he has the style to appeal to tens of thousands of people who have donated to his campaign, who have organized for his campaign, who can appeal to a general electorate.

Jasmine Crockett, on the other hand, you know, she's very dynamic. She's very vocal, but she's very controversial, and she's very divisive, which as a Democrat running in red state, you just are not going to be able to win in a place like Texas with her sort of style. And as we're having this conversation, President Trump has taken the stage in Corpus Christi, Texas, so we anticipate he'll start talking any moment. Style to this point that Chris is making.

Congressman Crockett is the more progressive candidate. She's outspoken, she's a firebrand. She's had these moments which are more controversial. What do you make of the state of play on the Democratic side?

And is this. I know Chris is expressing optimism, always talking about Texas, and yet when Election Day comes around, boy, it's really tough for them to pull off a victory. Yeah, absolutely. Democrats have one statewide in Texas for several decades now.

I think what Chris is reflecting is the consensus among most national Democratic strategists that I talked to that they would have a fighting chance with James Talarico, that it's far from a guarantee. Even if it's Talarico versus Ken Paxton, which is the matchup that the NRC is eager to avoid, Republicans are very clear. They've been made abundantly clear that they believe Jasmine Crockett is a weaker candidate. They're actively and openly trying to boost her.

They're doing some trolling memes on social media. They're doing ads out there to try to get, to try to trick Democrats to vote for her or how you want to see that. But that's the deal among Republicans, that they're rather fascinating. Crockett.

And even if it's Sally for versus taxon, it's far from guarantee that Adam Crowds win. Actually, let's talk about the messaging that we're going to hear from President Trump presumably will echo some of what we heard in the State of the Union address, where he did start off talking about the economy, but a lot of Republicans saying, boy, I wish he had just acknowledged that the economy is not working for a lot of Americans, that that may have been a missed opportunity. How do you see it? What do you hope to hear from the president on these campaigns?

I mean, I think Veronica is going to probably say all three candidates are really great and then he's going to move on, you know, but then they're going to move on to energy independence. I mean, this is like his place, right? This is energy independence, perfect place to be, Texas. And he's also going to talk about the border.

And so I think if sticks to those two messages and not that's a video, if he sticks a message, but if he does, I think that would be a win. Chris, let's talk. Go ahead. Well, and I would just say one of the reasons that we're talking about Texas in the first place, we're talking about places like Iowa or Ohio, is because the president hasn't focused on what people care most about, which is affordability and the cost of living.

People are seeing their costs go up, their grocery costs, their housing costs, their gas costs, like all of those are going up. And, and that's playing these states that otherwise would be off the table for Democrats in play. And that's why we're talking about Texas today. Yeah.

And Sahil, I think the question for Democrats is what is their strategy going to be? You obviously had these big victories. Abigail Spamberger, Mikey Sherrill, you also had Zoran Dami, who's back at the White House, by the way. He ran as a Democratic social media list.

What do you anticipate Democrats are going to lean into in these closing weeks? Well, certainly not Democratic socialism in Kirkland Brinks, the worst New York City is not in northern Texas or Iowa or Maine even. But yeah, I think in Texas right now, John Cornyn and his allies have made abundantly clear to President Trump and his team that Cornyn and their view, the only candidate who is safe and secure to win. What Republicans also worry about is that fast and his nominee, they'll have to pour a lot of money into that race, which they'd rather be spending in places like places like Iowa and Ohio at this time.

So bottom line, I think the answer to your question is it differs from place to place, from state to state. They want to run local regional campaigns. The one through line will be affordability and cost of living because suddenly the economy is an asset to Democrats. Okay, guys, great conversation.

Thank you so much. We have a fantastic weekend. Sahil Christ and Ashley, we do want to turn now to a quick update on the situation involving Iran. We were talking about this moment ago.

President Trump speaking to reporters telling them he doesn't want Iran to have any immigra archery capabilities. Take a listen to somebody had to say, I say no enrichment, not 2030. They always want 2030. They want it for civilian, you know, for civil.

Civil. I think it's uncivil. So I'm not happy with it. I'd rather not tell you.

You would have the greatest group in history. Meanwhile, Oman's foreign minister, the country mediating the talks tell CBS News that Iran has agreed to not have enough nuclear material for a bomb, something that wasn't in the original Iran nuclear deal under former President Obama. We will continue to track all of that. Still to come, meet the North Carolina House candidate and self described fake Republican who's stirring up a primary race to make a point about gerrymandering.

That's next. Only press now. Welcome back. In 2023 we profiled North Carolina Democratic state Senate candidate Katie Barr who knowingly ran an unwinnable race to make a point.

Her campaign was a form of protest effort. Earlier that year the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that gerrymandering did not violate the state constitution, allowing the Republican state legislature to redraw the maps in their favor. Well, Barr is back. Tuesday's primary.

North Carolinians will see her name on the ballot this time challenging Republican Representative Tim Moore for his seat in the Charlotte suburbs. NBC Grumbach has more on the long shot campaign. Last time she was running for office, Kate Barr described herself as a loser. I certainly wish that I could represent this district.

It won't happen. She was running for North Carolina state Senate seat in a race she knew she wasn't going to win as a Democrat because of gerrymandering. Well, Barr is back how to save our Mother Democracy. And this time she's running for Congress as a Republican.

I am a fraudulent Republican for sure. I am progressive. I wish that I could run in the general as a Democrat and have a fair chance. She's doing it to continue to make a point about partisan redistricting.

Maps are drawn to ensure that our incumbent Republican Congressman Tim Moore will win. Every time I think that's wrong. I think voters deserve a choice. And so I changed my voter Registration, but not my values in order to challenge him.

With hundreds of thousands of registered Republican voters living in North Carolina's 14th congressional district and a closed primary system, or knows it's going to be uphill battle, but it's a battle she's willing to fight. My vision is that we put power back in the hands of voters and give voters actual choices so they can hold their leaders down. The primary election is coming up on March 3, but Bor think she's already made a difference. Honestly, we have already won because we have seen Tim Moore actually working for his job.

He is putting out yard signs, he's knocking doors, he's buying digital ads, he's sending mailers. He's actually having to defend the choices he has made as our congressman. And that is the whole point. And now voters get to choose.

Do they like what he's done or would they rather give me a shot? Congressman Moore isn't at all a fan of what she's doing. The only thing that she's been honest about is that she's a fraud. So I'll give her that.

But she's a left wing liberal who supports all the far left causes that Republicans are not going to vote for her. But for Barr being called a fraud, it's just the tip of the iceberg. You can get some pretty nasty messages online. Yep, yep.

Death threats, all sorts of hate. Are you concerned for safety? Sure. Of course.

When you make enough people mad, then you worry that somebody's actually going to take action. With two kids at home, she's had to take additional security precautions, but she's hopeful. Her electoral gambit is teaching them a life lesson. I hope that they take away when something is wrong, you speak out against it and you do everything you can to fight for the way things should be.

And joining me now on set is NBC News legal affairs reporter Gary Grumbach. Gary, what a great piece. Thank you for bringing that to us. Talk about why she's running as a Republican.

Why is it so uphill as a Democrat in the 14th district? So this is such an interesting district because it's actually used to be represented by Jack Jackson, who's a Democrat and he won 60% of the vote when he won that race. And now she's trying to win this race. Her math says there's about 400,000 people that are Republican or affiliated in the 14th.

About 15% vote in a primary. And all she says is she needs about 30,000 votes to be able to win this primary against Congress. It's just fascinating, given that there are so many unaffiliated voters. Gary, what's her message to those unaffiliated voters?

Her mess is where you're a Democrat or Republican, meaning even if you are affiliated, if you want to live in a world where there's just because you live in an area where a lot of people have the other political equation near you doesn't mean that's where things have to go politically. It can go either way, whether you're Democrat or Republican. Okay. Well, it's just a great piece, a great window into part of what we are going to be watching for on Tuesday night.

Gary, Grandma, thanks. So great to see you as always. Thank you for joining us for MEET THE Press now. Of course, make sure you tune in to MEET the Press on Sunday.

We'll have exclusive interviews with Senators Lindsay Graham and Congressman Ro Khanna. There's more ahead on NBC News 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.