Foreign. Welker. We begin with the new details in a desperate and agonizing search for Nancy Guthrie, the beloved 84 year old mother of our dear friend and NBC News colleague Savannah Guthrie. With a search now entering its fifth day and still no suspect or person of interest identified by investigators as authorities also investigate a potential ransom note.
Today, authorities providing new information with a timeline from the night they believe Nancy Guthrie was taken from her home. According to the Pima County Sheriff's Office, the doorbell camera at Mrs. Guthrie's home was disconnected at 1:47am Software, though, detected a person on camera roughly 25 minutes later at. At 2:28am Guthrie's pacemaker was no longer connected to its app on her phone, which was left behind, suggesting she was no longer in the range of that phone or at the house.
Notably the sheriff saying that video from the various cameras at the home may never be recovered. They had no subscription and therefore it would rewrite itself. It just kind of loops, right, and covers up. That's what our analysis teams have told us.
We're not done with that. We'll do all we can, but that's what it says. I know there's been a lot out there about suspects and I want to be very clear at this time, we have not identified a suspect or a person of interest in this case. We're working our best to do that.
We're actively looking at everybody we come across in this case. Everybody. We would be irresponsible if we didn't talk to everybody. The Uber driver, the, the gardener, the pool person, whoever.
Everybody. It's so cliche, but everybody's still a suspect in our eyes. That's just how we look at things and think as cops. Does that mean we have a prime suspect?
No. And the family's been very cooperative. They've done everything we've asked of them and we want that relationship to continue. Authorities also announcing that DNA analysis has determined blood found on the porch outside the home belongs to Nancy Guthrie.
The FBI meanwhile, confirming they're analyzing a ransom note that was distributed to members of the media because this was the ransom that came in and have facts associated with a deadline with a monetary value they were asking for. We start to look at what the deadlines were in the note. First I think it was five o' clock today and then it had a second deadline after that. So we are continuing in a normal kidnapping case.
There would be contact by now trying to discuss that, but those are the time frames we're looking at as we move forward. The FBI also now offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie's return or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance. This comes a day after FBI agents, sheriff's deputies, and even border patrol unit visited Nancy Guffey's two son Arizona home to search for evidence. And after Savannah Guthrie spoke publicly about her mother's disappearance for the first time, posting an incredibly emotional video alongside her sister and her brother on social media, which included a message to Nancy Guthrie's captor.
Our mom is our heart and our home. She's 84 years old. Her health, her heart is fragile. She lives in constant pain.
She's about any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it not to suffer. We, too have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media.
As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she's alive and that you have her.
We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us. And of course, we continue to pray for the entire Guthrie family and the safe return of Nancy Guthrie. The White House today reiterating its support of the Guthrie family with President Trump, who spoke to Savannah yesterday.
Posting on social media. I'm directing all federal law enforcement to be at the families and local law enforcement's complete disposal immediately. We are deploying all resources to get her mother home safely. The prayers of our nation are with her and her family.
NBC News correspondent David Griffin Jones now from Tucson, along with NBC News national law enforcement and intelligence correspondent Tom Winter. And Jim Kavanaugh as hired ATF special agent in charge now an NBC News law enforcement analyst. Did I want to start with you. What were your key takeaways from the press conference?
Just that they released so many new details. Four hours after she got home from spending time with her family. They had dinner, played games. Four hours later, around 1:47 in the morning, they say that's when the camera disconnected.
There was some. They were able to tell that there was some sort of image captured, but because they cannot download any images from that camera, it was uploaded. It was not uploaded. The cloud did not have that sort of subscription service.
They cannot see who was there. They say that camera was taken. They do not have it. And right now they are just, you know, really beside themselves trying to figure out who.
Who has her and why. You know, they also reiterated that she needs her medication. They don't know if she's getting that medication, and they want to say it could prove fatal. Right now, the FBI is planning to put up billboards in neighboring states to spread the word.
They are not giving up all this investigation. Well, Daniel, the search is painfully now in its fifth day. Investigators were asked if they're confident that Nancy Guthrie is still alive. What are they saying about that?
At last, chap. The sheriff says that he is hopeful that she is still alive. Until they have proof otherwise, they are operating from a perspective that she is still alive. He spoke with our colleague Lis CRO just a moment ago.
Listen, you have that hope? Do you have to have hope? Come on. This is somebody's mom.
I just. I'm not gonna think bad until I know. So, yeah, she's there. We're gonna find her, and hopefully she's alive when we do.
And that is the hope for not only this community here in Tucson, where there has been an outpouring of love from people who know Savannah to strangers all the way across the country. New York, they had a service held there last night. We've heard from the president. We heard from religious leaders and New York cardinal there.
Everyone, literally across the country and even overseas in Milan, where Savannah was supposed to host the opening ceremony tomorrow. They're all sitting there. Love and really hoping for the best here, Christina. The country and the world collectively hoping and praying for Nancy Guthrie safe return.
Dana Griffin, thank you so much for that commentary. I want to turn to you now. Let's talk about this ransom note. I thought it was extraordinary that we heard the FBI publicly state when the deadlines are.
What are your key takeaways at this point about this ransom note? The fact that the family put out that video is an indication that they're taking it very seriously. They're taking it seriously, Kristen, with a little bit of an asterisk. So let me explain.
The note apparently has a deadline at 5pm today, I believe to be local. The note has an additional second deadline of Monday. We don't know what that deadline is about. The.
If you guys have shared that detail. The note references two things kind of. We know what she was wearing, and we know something about the house. Well, it says that the house has a floodlight, as do most houses in the country.
And it says that she was wearing a white apple watch, which is entirely consistent with the photos that we've seen of her that have been released publicly of a Nancy Guthrie wearing a large white beard apple watch. Actually, this photo here, if we were to zoom out from it, we would see that watch on her left wrist. So these are things that are public. Doesn't necessarily mean there was something inside the house.
For instance, if they would say, well, we know that she has green towels in her bathroom, that would be something, I think that would catch investigators more. But they have to take it seriously. Kristen. And this is the other side of the coin.
This is a reach out. This is somebody that has sent this note along. There was a clear hoax, one, that individual has been arrested. We're in the process of getting the unsealed court paperwork, but you have to take it seriously.
You also have to give the family an opportunity for them to speak directly to the person who sent this or just anybody who is out there who's actually responsible for abducting Nancy Guthrie. So it's kind of a two fold thing in the form of this video that was out there. It's opportunity. Whether it's the person that took her, is the person that sent that ransom note, or if it's somebody else, you're giving the family opportunity.
One, to let you know what they think about their. About their mother, their loved one. Two, to speak to their mom, to say, mom, we believe in you. You're strong.
You can do this. You can make it through this. And three, to try to establish relationships with our colleagues. Amanda Guthrie.
Hey, talk to us. Give us that proof of life. But we're here. We're ready to listen.
That's the message that's trying to come across. This ransom note kind of allows that door to be open, if you will. Absolutely. Thomas.
Talk about the activity we've seen from authorities. We know that the FBI was back at Nancy Guthrie's home late yesterday. I believe I heard them say they're going to return today for more investigations. What are you anticipating?
What is the significance of this? Well, what typically happens is if you haven't seen this process as they did, and it was processed mostly by local detectives, what you might do, Kristen, is you might say, you know, we took photos of this. Maybe we should go back and take a look at this corner of the house again. I'm coming up with a hypothetical.
I've seen that happen. Maybe we want to go back and look at this, or maybe we've developed other evidence and we want to go back and test something in the house. We take a second look at it, or we need an additional sample. So this does happen from time to time.
And we have seen them, apparently, several items. They're filling out a receipt yesterday for the items that they took from the scene. It's the FBI. That's there.
That's FBI vehicle, that pickup truck. So, look, we'll see if there. What else did they gather out of the house? To me, it just.
It just speaks to the type of diligence they're doing and gathering evidence in this case. Jim, let me turn to you. Tom, stand by for me, if you will. Let's talk about where we are in this investigation.
Do you get a sense, we specifically heard the sheriff say they're not ruling anyone out as a suspect, just an indication that they're still in the process of conducting interviews. Do you get the sense that they are closing in on what happened to Nancy Guthrie? Well, Kristen, we're at a critical decision time in the case because of the family's release of the video yesterday. So that video did a lot of things.
It humanized Nancy. It told the abductors that, yeah, there's a ransom note, but we don't even know if that's real, really, you. Because there's no proof of life, and there's no nothing to establish that it's real. So that's saying two things.
If that's fake, the abductors know it's fake, and if it's real, they know it's real. And what the family's saying is, we can't tell. So how can we work with you? So that's going to, you know, dissuade their deadlines because the family's saying, we want to talk to you.
We want to work with you, we want to listen to you, but we don't know if this is you. So that was a very important juncture, Kristen. And what you're saying is spot on. Just building on what Tom described, this is a critical juncture right here.
Because this is the point. Instead of thinking about the police, don't think like the police. You gotta think like the abductors. This is the point that they have to make a decision, a critical decision.
For five days into their crime, they put a lot of effort to breaking in, absconding witness Nancy, injuring her, hiding her out. And now they're nowhere in getting their goal, which is money, cash, or bitcoin or something else, a message they want out or something else. And to do that, they've got to communicate. Snail mail, email, burner phone, you know, whatever.
Dropbox phone call, whatever they can do. They've got to communicate to move their criminal enterprise or criminal effort ahead to get what they want, or they've got to, you know, call it quits and release mischance. I think those are the best two options the abductors have. And they're right now in that decision phase.
I think in the past four or five days, they've been christened in a manic phase because the thing just got too big for them. It spun out of control. I don't think they really understood the response that this would get. And it kind of maybe drove them into a little more quiescent period.
But now they're probably coming out of that and they have to make some decisions. So it's a very critical time, you know, right now, today, tomorrow, what decision are the abductors going to make? And just to close the police release the timeline today, and Tom's reported on it extensively, but it does narrow things down from 148 to 147 to 228. That's critical now.
So the sheriff's department, FBI can say this is the time that they can go out into the neighborhoods further, push that corner out even a mile or more and see, you know, if there's some cameras capturing activity right around that time. So that's very important to them. Well, Tom, Jim is making such a critical point here, which I think a lot of people have wondered, did the person who did this, did this moment simply become too big? Here we are with the president involved, saying that he's putting basically the full force of the federal government behind this.
This is not just a national story, it is an international story. Talk about the pressure and the fact that investigators, as Jim is saying, are in the midst of this critical moment in this investigation and trying to get Nancy Guthrie home. Well, it's impossible to get in the mind of any person who would hurt an 84 year old woman. But I know you're not asking me for that.
I think the pressure of the moment is exactly what's trying to be brought to bear here. Right. So, you know, clearly they want to. Jim and I have spoken about this off camera.
Clearly you're at the point of this. We really need to drive some leads, some something here. If you're investigators, that's what your thought process is. That's what you want.
You want to open communication. You want to let this person know that they've got two doors out here. One, contact Savannah Guthrie or the Guthrie family, or two, you know, bring Nancy Guthrie to a place where she can be safe, a church, a mall, a hospital and just help her out. And so that's where this really stands.
They need to try to push for an answer here because it doesn't seem so far that the evidence. That the evidence is amounting to that, and I'm curious, by the way, the thing that sticks out for me is that 40 minutes, it appears that this individual was at the house. That I find fascinating. And I don't know if you have any more time, but maybe something we could get into in the days ahead.
Yeah. Jim, you want to weigh in on that very quickly. Those 40 minutes, what does that tell you? Yeah, well, Tom's spot on, but here's how I narrow that down.
When I look at that, I look at that in a holistic view of the whole crime. So these people are in there. They don't ransack the house for valuables. We've got the loser robbery.
They're not stealing guns, jewelry, money, cash, watches. We don't see that. We don't hear about that. So what do they leave with?
Dancy. So the first indication at 147 is the doorbell camera is ripped off or disabled. We don't have to enter the house at that moment. You can rip the doorbell off and hide in the brush or even take the doorbell off and get back in the car and drive around the block a few times and come back later.
Now at 2:12. Come back a little bit later to see if anybody came. But a police call was radioactivity. Now at 2:12, someone's on a camera.
We don't know if that's an outside camera, but likely it is some figures on a camera. And then at 2, her pacemaker disengages. So that time could be narrowed down really, really tight. They could have only been in there 10, 12 minutes and, you know, roughed her up, grabbed her and got her out.
Because the whole purpose of going in there was just to get her to achieve their goal, which we don't know quite what that is yet, Kristen, until they message you. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And again, anyone with information, please call 1-800-call-FBI or drop Nancy Guthrie off at a local fire station police station. Tom Winter and Jim Catton, thank you both so much.
We are following this closely story. This story very closely. It's deeply personal to all of us. Our hearts here are just broken for Savannah and her family.
But we will bring you any developments as we get them. We do want to turn now to the president's repeated calls for federal control over elections despite the Constitution granting that right to the states. My colleague Tom Yamas, in an NBC News exclusive interview, pushed the president on comments he recently made suggesting that Republic, quote, take over elections and, quote, nationalize the voting. Here's some of their exchange.
Okay, let's talk about the midterms. You've recently suggested nationalizing elections. What do you mean by that? When?
And I didn't say national. I said there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt. They have very corrupt elections. Take a look at Detroit, take a look at Philadelphia, take a look at Atlanta.
There are some areas that are unbelievably corrupt. I could give you plenty more, too. I say that we cannot have corrupt elections. We can't allow cheating in elections.
Now, if we need to put in federal controls as opposed to state controls, remember this, they're really an agent. They're really accumulating the votes for who wins an election. If they can't do it honestly and it can't be done properly and timely, then something else has to happen. Okay.
We should note there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in any of the places the president mentioned in that interview or elsewhere in the country. Today, the president once again aired his revisits about election results while attending the National Prayer Breakfast right here in Washington, falsely telling the crowd that he won the popular vote in 2016, though he did not. Joining now is senior White House correspondent Garrett Hake. Garrett, thanks so much for joining me on this Thursday.
So again, the president doubling down in his comments about nationalizing the election yet again. His allies say he's talking about legislation, but that's not what we heard from the president. You actually pressed White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt about this. What did she say to you?
Garrett? Yeah, that's right, Kristen. I picked up right where Tom left off and read back a portion of the president's answer. He specifically seems to be calling for counting the federal government counting votes if states or localities can't do it.
The White House now has its story. They're sticking to it. Here's what Caroline Levitt told me. What the president is suggesting, and I just spoke to him about this, is that Republicans and Democrats in Congress should pass the Save America Act.
The SAVE act doesn't say anything about who counts votes. There's always been a state, a local, county function. Why does he keep talking about somebody else resuming the federal government counting votes? Because the SAVE act directs states to remove non citizens from their voter rolls.
And we know in states across the country, the president is right to point this out. In states like California or in places like New York City, non citizens are allowed to vote in state and local elections. And the federal government should absolutely do away with that with no disrespect to the press secretary. I think this is not a story.
We're going to stop asking this question because the president has been so outspoken in his belief and we've seen so many examples over the course of his two terms where he really only speaks for himself on certain issues. In this case, on this issue of what he continues to believe is a rigged or a stolen. He's made comments about it in other contexts and he suggested further in that interview with Tom, you're pointing out those specific cities, those are not places where even the, you know, sort of conspiratorial view of a soil election hinges on undocumented people voting. So the dots as laid out by the White House don't fully connect here.
And I think the questions that will be coming upon us to answer between now and November are what is this White House going to do about it, if anything? I think you're absolutely writing great job. Pricey. Caroline.
Loved it today in the briefing room. Garrett. It is not easy. Really appreciate it.
Coming up, the showdown in Congress over President Trump's immigration crackdown as Democrats release their list of demands for ice with just days left to hammer out a deal with the White House before funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security expires. My interview with the top Democratic Senator is next. Plus, Russia, Ukraine and U.S. negotiators end two days of back to back peace talks without a major breakthrough towards ending the war as Russian strikes leave Ukrainian cities without power and heat amid frigid temperatures.
A former ambassador to Ukraine is straight ahead. You're watching the press now. Stay with us. Welcome back.
Democrats have a new list of demands. They want to see an exchange for continued funding for Department of Homeland Security which runs out of funding in just eight days. The list of 10 demands includes targeted immigration operation using judicial warrants, a stop to racial profiling practices, no masks for agents and mandatory body cameras, among other changes to how the department conducts its immigration enforcement. The White House saying the president is willing to discuss some of the demands.
Take a listen, Senator Schumer, and learn. Jeffrey sent over a very long list of demands, some of which the administration is willing to discuss. Others don't seem like they are grounded in any common sense and they are non starters for this administration. But we're not going to negotiate policy from the podium.
I'm going to allow the president to do that and any final decisions that are made will be made ultimately by him. Joining now is Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. Thank you so much for joining me Senator, really appreciate it. Happy to join you.
So let's talk about this fight over DHS funding. You effectively have eight days to work out a deal to reforms to ICE before the funding runs out for the Department of Homeland Security. So Democrats, as I understand it, have come out with 10 demands. We're going to show some of the key demands here.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has called the list, quote, unserious. Take a look. If they're coming to the table demanding a blank check or refusing to consider any measures but their own, they're likely to end up with nothing, which is fine. Democrats just want a political issue.
How do you respond to that charge? The Democrats just want a political issue and you're not negotiating a good faith effectively. Well, that's ridiculous. They've asked us for what are our demands to talk with them on Homeland security.
We put those out. Now we're waiting for Republicans to respond. And if you take a look at the demands, they're not unreasonable to common sense. And quite honestly, the use of excessive force and the de escalation standards are the same standards that our state and local law enforcement utilize.
I mean, it's just common sense. You shouldn't arrest a U.S. citizen, detain them and deport a U.S. citizen.
You shouldn't be able to have a roving patrol and go out there and stop people based on the color of their skin or because they speak with an accent. Our local state police are allowed to do that. ICE is violating constitutional rights. And we're just asking for common sense reform.
So they've asked us for our position. I think we were very clear about it. We've put it out there. And now we're waiting for the Republicans in good faith to come back to us and talk with us about what they support, what they can support, what they can't support, and have this conversation.
We got time to do it. Senator, let me ask you, what happens if a deal can't be reached? Are you willing to support an additional continuing resolution to give negotiations more time or you a no on a cr. No, no, I'm a no.
That's the reason why we're here is Mac made it very clear not to move forward on any funding for ICE unless they seriously come to the table and talk about these reforms. That's why we are here right now. And let me just be clear. This is not a Democratic demand.
Across the country, people are paying attention in their cities and on what they're watching MTV from Los Angeles to Chicago to Minneapolis. Now, these are reforms that The American public are demanding and they're not saying oh I'm a Democrat, I'm a Republican, I'm nonpartisan. They're saying no. Why is ICE being allowed to use excessive force brutalizing our communities?
And, and what we are asking is questioning why are they doing it and why are they operating to keep our community safe like our local and state police. What I see right now in the American public sees is when ICE comes into a community, they're not keeping it safe. In fact, it's just the opposite. And so really right now the Republicans need to come to the table to talk to us and just to drill down on that point.
I mean if DHS were to shut down, it wouldn't just defund dhs, it would impact agencies like fema, the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol as well. Are you prepared to effectively shut all of those agencies down for a period of time? Well, let me put this even in a bigger perspective. Last couple months ago or actually last year, the Republicans passed this bill they called the beautiful bill.
Within that bill they passed $190 billion just for ICE and CDP. The normal annual budget for those agencies is anywhere from 8 to 10 billion dollars. Now they have 190 billion to Homeland Security. It's outrageous.
They have excessive funds. There's no control or oversight by Congress on how those funds are utilized. There's no oversight in them coming to us to explain how they're utilizing these funds. They have the ability to move those funds around.
So it's not like they're have not have funding to do what they need to do. And that is the challenge and I'll be very honest with you, because of those excessive funds I have introduced legislation, said I'm a big beautiful bill. They don't need all those funds. Let's take it and let's put those funds towards our local police departments for more cost for JAG grant funding.
That's truly the law enforcement that is understaffed and overwhelmed by these communities. And they're the ones that are keep our community safe. They know the de escalation standards, they know how to use excessive force. They know how to build trust within the community to really focus on protecting public safety and individuals within the community going after the violent criminals but at the same time protecting individuals constitutional rights as well as a protesters right to peaceful protest under the first Amendment.
So to me there's a lot at stake here and we've got to address it. But it starts with the White House and it starts with Republicans coming to talk to US this idea that they get all this money and they get to create a national police force. It is unamerican. It's outrageous.
And the American public are demanding just the opposite. Senator, let me follow up with you because you're making the point that they do have these extra funds. And I hear you, you're saying part of what you're proposing is to scale that back. But given that, what would the actual impact of shutting down DHS be, given that there are those extra funds?
Wouldn't have any impact. Well, that's, well, that's why the Republicans, they're running around claiming that government, the Democrats, are not operating in good faith. They're not willing to work with us. Remember, this is a part of fiscal responsibility.
And they've given this agency, Homeland Security, three to four times the amount of money they normally get and then they want to give them another appropriation. So what we are asking for is not unreasonable. But more importantly, what we're asking for is really making sure that our communities are truly safe and that American public and Americans the rights are not run over. That at the end of the day, when we are looking at addressing an immigration issue in our communities, we definitely want to go after the violent criminals and hold them accountable.
But if you are somebody that's been in our communities and you're a dreamer and this is the only community you've ever known and you want to be a part of our workforce, that you shouldn't be swept up in this net, that this broad net that ICE is casting across the country just because they have this idea of quarters that they need to deport people across the country. It is outrageous. And again, I go back to, it's not just Democrats, it's the American public. They're that sees what's going on and they want change.
They're demanding it. Senator, let me finally just ask you on another topic. Here we are in the midterm election year. I don't have to tell you that with critical races in Nevada.
I want to ask you about these comments that President Trump has quite frankly made a few times about nationalizing elections, which is causing some concern among Democrats. I want to play what your colleagues, Senator Mark Warner had to say, get your reaction on the other side. I am more worried now, More worried now than I've ever been about the state of our elections. He says, do you agree or is that overstated?
Listen, when the president of the United States says he wants to nationalize elections and that's how state election process is their agents of the Federal government. That's just wrong. It's unconstitutional, it's illegal. And you got to question why a President of the United States is taking those actions coming from a president who's already said past elections where he has lost, there was fraud or there was some sort of illegal activity going on.
Here's what I know. Here's what I know. In this country. There is not wholesale fraud in our election process.
I was a former train general. I worked with FBI task force to go after and root out any time there was some sort of election fraud. And I can count on one hand how many times it occurred and they were prosecuted and they were convicted. So to me, and I agree with Senator Warner, we have a president now who not only is putting false information out there to his own benefit, his own political gain, but on top of that, it goes back to what we were just talking about.
He has created a national police force to do his bidding and we see it happening across the country. He's already talking about nationalizing elections. There's nothing stopping him. Unless we stand guard from having those ice ages now in our election offices.
When election time comes to intimidate and further terrorize our communities, it is wrong and we have to stand together to stop it. And we'll say, finally, I'm not, you know, as a Democrat, I'm not the only one that's calling this out in concerns about it. Some of my Republican colleagues have also said that it is illegal, it is unconstitutional, and the president should not and cannot do this. All right, Senator Catherine Cortez Maso, thank you as always for your time and insights.
We really appreciate it. Thank you. Joining me now is our panel, USA Today is Washington bureau chief Susan Page, who was just honored with the lifetime achievement Award for the Washington Press Club last night. Arshi Siddiqui, former senior Aiden Speaker, Mayor of Pelo Pelosi and founder and CEO of Bellwether Government Affairs.
And Rob Lewy, President and Executive Executive Editor of the Daily Signal. Thanks to all of you. Susan, congratulations. I'll start with you.
Since you got the lifetime achievement award, you earned this first question, that's for sure. No one is more deserving, by the way. Let's start on what we're hearing from the president about nationalizing the election. Republicans, notably, are saying, oh, no, he's talking about legislation that would change the way people vote.
But he's not talking about that legislation. He's very clear he wants to nationalize the elections. What do you make of what he's been saying? The strategy behind it he said not once, but several times.
If the White House tries to walk it back, he walks it out again. You know, I think this is an effort to raise doubts about the sanctity of the election we have in November. You know, there's every sign that Republicans are going to have a very hard time in these midterms. And I think he may be trying to sow some distrust when the Republicans lose big, which now seems not guaranteed, but it looks likely.
Rob, what do you make of this and is it putting Republicans in a tough spot, as Susan's pointing out? It seems like they've got a real uphill battle to hold on to the House and even the Senate's going to be tricky. Sure, this election's going to be flawed on the issue, the kitchen table issues that we've talked about all the time. It's going to be on economy, cost of living, probably some of the issues regarding immigration enforcement.
And this adds another complicating factor. Susan, I agree with you that they do face an uphill battle when it comes to some of these things. History is also not on their side. But also we know that depending on whether you're a Republican or Democrat, your candidate wins or loses, you seem to doubt the outcome of the election.
If Democrats have done it in the past. Nancy Pelosi wanted to nationalize things just a few years ago. Republicans successfully pushed back on that. So I would prefer to see the president pivot to the Save America act, which some of his staff seem to be doing, because that seems to be an issue where over 80% of Americans are in support of some form of voter id.
And yet he doesn't seem to be pivoting to the Save act at all. Archie, how do you think this is going to play? What do you make of how Democrats are responding? Senator Mark Wal, for example, Senator Cathedral Court has massive very firm in pushing back against what they're hearing.
I think they're very firm, but to the point on say that I think there's some troubling aspects of really trying to limit who can vote and making it so difficult. Like you look at it, you either have to register to vote on the cfac, you have to have a passport or your birth certificate. I actually was thinking where is my birth certificate and passport? Only 50% of Americans have a passport.
So I do think that this is a concerted effort at multiple levels. And we saw redistricting as well in terms of red state redistricting. So from that perspective, the stakes are very high for the president. So I think it's gonna get worse, not better.
Let's talk about high stakes. Susan. I want to put some polling that we're getting today up so folks can see it. A new NPR PBS Marist poll finds 65% of voters, 65% say ISIS actions have gone too far.
The same poll found the president's approval rating is underwater across multiple issues. Foreign policy, the economy. Susan, 24. That is the biggest issue for voters.
How much of a weight could that be potentially heading to them? Well, you know, midterms are traditionally kind of a referendum on the sitting president. And that is very bad news for the Republicans who will be on the ballot. The president will not.
They will be. They'll be looking to put a negative 24 on the economy is very alarming. On immigration, what used to be one of President Trump's assets has suddenly become, at least at the moment, a big liability. What about that, Rob?
The fact that it used to be immigration, one of his biggest assets. But what's happening with ICE is starting to really show in the polling and dragging down the president's overall approval rating. Arguably overall. I think Americans and even Democrats begrudgingly give the president credit for what he's done at the border in terms of sealing the border and stopping the flow of illegal aliens into this country.
At the same time, as you pointed out, there are some concerns about the that ICE is using. I think Americans still broadly support immigration enforcement. The president seems to be focusing on the worst of the worst. But he's in a situation, Kristen, where he's promised to carry out the largest deportation in American history at his Magna Bayes certainly wants him to follow through on that.
And you're not going to get there if you just focus on the worst of the worst. Yeah. Arshu is so notable that we heard the president acknowledge to our Tommy on this yesterday that what he has learned from the two citizens who were killed at the hand hands of federal law enforcement is that yes, maybe the government needs to have a quote, unquote, softer touch. So really trying to step back from that a little bit.
Democrats fighting for these changes when it comes to ice, do you think they should take this to the mountain and potentially shut down stock funding for dhs? I mean, I think they're political issues and then they're also on the border. Border, I would agree with Rob. That was something that I think was also buying.
But these are constitutionally protected rights, whether you're talking about freedom, freedom of speech in terms of when you're talking about all of the Protesting peacefully. All of these issues are at play and you have U.S. citizens targeted. So I think for Democrats, this is not about politics.
It's about American democracy. One of the things looming over the midterms is whether President Trump might in some way shape or form try to hold on to power. He's going back and forth on this. This was Tom Yaman was asking about it yesterday.
On January 21, 2029, do you see any scenario where you were still president? I don't know. It would be interesting. But wouldn't it be terrible if I agreed with you and if I gave you the answer that you're looking for, it would make life so much less exciting, right?
It would be so much less exciting. He kind of teases it. It would be interesting, but then acknowledges, I want to give you the best answer for tv. How seriously should people take him teasing out the possibility that he might try to hold on to power?
So just the Constitution, the const says the answer to that question is no. Yes, there is no way I will be president on January 21 after the next inauguration. And sometimes the president has acknowledged that that's the case, but he can't stop teasing the idea that maybe there's something else in the works. And one reason that makes people more nervous than it might is because he has said some things in the past that were dismissed as outrageous and then happened.
I'm thinking of Greenland now, Rob. I mean, Republicans, including Marco Rubio, J.D. vance. This must make him a little nervous.
Well, Tom also asked the president about both of them, and he did not weigh in one way or the other. I think as the NBC News story on this, I believe the term was stirring drama. The president likes to be in the headlines, and I think this is just an example of him. I would say it's more than that.
You see, he has running trends. He goes back to them over and over again. If he can get a third term, I think he's keeping his options open. And the question is, is that do Republicans and Democrats let him get to that point again?
The Constitution says he can't do it. All right, Gu Conversation. Really appreciate it, Susan, Archie and Rob, thank you. And a quick note that voters are voting in New Jersey today in the state's private Democratic primary.
To Felicity of now Governor Mikey Cheryl, there are 11, yes, 11 Democratic candidates sitting the ideological spectrum, including a former congressman, a former lieutenant governor, and a labor organizer who has the backing of national progressive leaders. Which way this race goes could be a sign of what issues are resonating most Democratic voters are heading to the midterms. The winner of today's Democratic primary will face Republican Joe Hathaway in the general election in April. Coming up after the break, this is a really incredible story.
QB is cleared for takeoff. Guys, we just got a chance to fly in an F15. These are the type of aircraft that could be called on to help keep the sky safe over the super bowl this week. Again, we'll show you how they do it coming up next.
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Price is subject to change. Visit nbcnews.comxin for full offer terms and details. Welcome back. What Most people will be glued to their TVs this Sunday for the super bowl, members of the military will have their eyes on the sky.
NBC News got an exclusive high flying look at the training and preparations the US Military is doing ahead of the super bowl, including at norad, the military agency charged with protecting the North American airspace, where pilots will be on high alert to intercept any unauthorized aircraft flying over Levi's Stadium during the big game and escorting them out of the danger zone. And our very own NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney can you get a chance to truly see this mission up close from the cockpit? One of the F15 fighter jets that will be on the ready this Sunday. And Courtney joins me on set after that sky high adventure course.
This is incredible. So just tell me what it was like. What were your key takeaways? But it's scary.
It's a little overwhelming. Your senses are completely overloaded when you're up there because you're going really fast. Every time you take a turn, you. You hit these GS.
You go so fast that it literally feels like an elephant is pressing down on your entire body. And I didn't believe that description until I felt it the first time. We should say we're looking at you in the plane. Tell me what's going through your mind right now.
I was. Once you're up there, it's a lot smoother and it's not quite as scary. But when you're. When you first take off and you're going so fast, I mean 1500 miles per hour and you take these turns, the aircraft goes completely sideways, almost upside down.
Oh my gosh. And I was able to hear everything that the pilots. There were actually three F15s up in the air for this. I was able to hear everything the pilot said and that was actually a calming influence because I knew what we were doing.
I knew we were about to take a turn that was going to be tough or we're going to speed way up or go up higher altitude. So that helped. And the best thing was the pilots were unbelievable and they just made everything seem so easy. Talk to me about the pilots because the training for this must be extensive and they really focus on these high profile missions, right?
They do. And it's an amazing alert mission that they have here. So there's always least two F15 pilots were at the ready 24 hours a day. They go on shifts.
And we saw it happen. When the alarm goes off, suddenly you see the doors automatically open everywhere they are and they come running out to the F15s. The maintainers have several. They're always ready to go.
They jump in those in a matter of minutes. They can go from literally in bed asleep to being in the cockpit, taking off and getting. And being up in the air. And we talked a couple of them about this mission.
Here's a little bit about what they had to say. As a NORAD task unit, we are trained to protect the skies over the United States. So for any sort of TFR violator, which there will be a TFR over the Super bowl, it'll be a 30 mile ring over the stadium. If there were somebody who were to enter into that tfr.
Any ACA unit would be able to respond to that and, and intercept the aircraft and safely escort them outside the TFR to keep the super bowl safe. What happens when you spot this plane that's blind somewhere it's not supposed to be? What happens? What do you do?
That's right. So we'll look to make ourselves visually apparent to them and get their attention. Oftentimes it's somebody that just wasn't aware of the tfr. So if they see one of our aircraft next to them, they'll immediately take notice and start trying to talk to somebody to get out of the way.
So we'll look to intercept them and rock our wings and we make calls over the guard frequency to try to get them to acknowledge our presence and away from any sort of threat. A couple things that really shocked me yesterday. You can see that these are called pilots running out right now and running to the aircraft. It's amazing how quickly they can go.
It's amazing the precision is required for these missions. The communication that they constantly have to have because they're flying really close to one another, not always at higher altitude. They're trying to intercept these aircraft. And think about it, they have no idea who's in these aircraft at this time.
All they know is they have violated restricted airspace. They don't know what's going through that pilot's mind. So it's a, it's a mission that really requires a lot of dedication and precision. That's why the pilots here are more senior aviators in the military.
Well, it's an extraordinary mission that you have. Court, you're braver than I am. Thank you for bringing such a really fascinating report to us. We appreciate it.
Great to see you as always. And if it's Sunday, it's the Super Bowl. Special coverage takes off at 12pm Eastern only on NBC and Peacock and don't want to miss that and be right back in the morning to pass now. Welcome back.
U.S. ukrainian Russian officials concluded their second round of trilateral talks today. Though there does not appear to be any kind of a breakthrough towards any of the nearly four year war. In a post on social media, US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who attended those negotiations in Abu Dhabi, called the task constructive and focused while also acknowledging significant work remains despite the apparent lack of progress towards any kind of ceasefire.
Russia and Ukraine both agreed to a prisoner swap, the first exchange of prisoners since October. Each side released 157 prisoners and releasing these images showing their return. Jordan Allen said is Bill Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Ambassador Taylor, thank you so much for being here. Where are we at the conclusion of these talks? Do you get the sense that any progress whatsoever has been made? I can't say yes.
I cannot say yes. It seems that the Ukrainians are serious. They sent a serious delegation. The Americans have been there and there apparently is agreement between the Americans and the Ukrainians.
It's the Russians in the Senate. They did not send the political interested folks. They sent the military and intelligence. But that's not the delegation that you're looking forward to.
Make some breakfast. Well, talk to me about what you make of this prisoner slot, because we're talking about 157 prisoners. Significant to some extent. What do you make of it?
What are the implications? I wouldn't read too much yet. And it's important to get those prisoners back. And both sides, I'm sure, are very happy.
The Ukrainians put value on everyone, every Ukraine soldier that comes back. But that had to be in the works for some time. That wasn't the result of the conversation today. We are watching Russia continuing to strike Ukraine, including its energy infrastructure.
Ukrainians, some of them freezing to death. Based on some of my conversations, I spoke to Lithuanians minister yesterday. He called this war crime by Russia. Is that how it's being received in the international community?
How do you see it? The cold there is horrible. There are people undoubtedly freezing in cold apartments. Some people who live on the top floors of these high rise have to carry water up because there's no electricity.
This is. This is really grim. Yes, this is. This is war criminality.
And I guess the question is what could potentially break the logjam? Because if Putin did not send his top lieutenants and the people who would ultimately be responsible for the deal. We've heard President Trump say this is his top priority. Before he got into office.
He was going to resolve this in 24 hours and acknowledged it's proven to be the most complicated war to bring it to an end. It's the most complicated. To their credit, to the administration's credit, they stopped. And as you say, this is their top foreign policy priority.
And they're still at it. But that's where it has to end. That's the way it's going to end. It's going to be President Trump recognizing that Putin is a problem and that President Putin is vulnerable to the leverage that President Trump has.
Putin knows he's vulnerable, and President Trump has to use that leverage. Let me ask you about the new start of the nuclear arms control treaty between the US And Russia. It expires today. What are the potential implications of that treaty expiring?
Nothing immediate, I think. Nothing immediate. Both sides know what the other side has. Both sides are deterred from doing anything that would threaten the stability.
So that's today, just like it will be tomorrow. Tomorrow there will be a formal limit on the number of warheads and delivers, but that can, that can change over time. But that's not gonna happen immediately. Let me read you what President Trump said.
He posted on social media, that there needs to be a new, improved and modern treaty. Do you agree? And should other countries like India, Pakistan, China, for example, be a part of that treaty? The Chinese absolutely have to be.
The Chinese are building up very dramatically. The new Star Treaty was signed between the Americans and the Russians when the Chinese were not an issue, not a factor. Now they are. All right, Ambassador Bill, thank you so much for being here.
We really appreciate it. We are back tomorrow with more MEET the Press now. There's more head on the BC 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 listen and follow the Drink wherever you get your podcast.