Welcome to the press now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington. The White House is facing major questions right now about what happens next with the president giving mixed signals about potential military action against Iran over its lethal crackdown on protesters while renewing his vow to annex Greenland. Starting with the latest on Iran, sources telling NBC News that the Pentagon today is presenting the president with options related to potential military action in Iran.
It comes as the Pentagon is evaluating hundreds of troops from the U.S. based in Qatar ahead of any retaliation potentially from Iran in response if there is a U.S. action. President Trump has warned a very strong action if the Iranian regime proceeds with the execution of protesters.
And according to the State Department earlier today, Iran was expected to carry out its first execution of a protester, a 26-year-old who was arrested near Tehran. But this afternoon from the Oval Office, the president claimed that killing in Iran had suddenly stopped. We've been told if the killing in Iran is stopping, it's stopped and stopped it. And there's no plan for executions or an execution or execution.
So I've been told that a good authority will find out about it. I'm sure if it happens, we'll be very upset. He told me that there'll be no executions. And so I hope that's true.
It just means military action is now off the table against Iran. And we're going to watch and see what the process is, but we would give it a very good statement by people that are aware of what's going on. A U.S.-based human rights activist news agency estimating that more than 2,500 people have been killed in Iran amid the unrest. The vast majority of those deaths being protesters.
That death toll also includes 12 people under the age of 18 and more than 100 people affiliated with the Iranian government or military. Now, we should note the Iranian government has not released its own figures when it comes to the death toll. And there is limited information coming out of Iran due to a nationwide Internet blackout that U.S.-based group compiles these estimates based on supporters in Iran cross-tracking information and the data going multiple through multiple internal checks. The government of Iran has blamed its foreign enemies for the unrest.
Meanwhile, also at the White House today, Vice President J.D. Vans and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland. After President Trump's statement on social media this morning that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security purposes, adding anything less than that would be quote unacceptable.
The president also doubling down while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office this afternoon. Take a look. For us, ideas that would not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of certain intimidation of the Greenland people are, of course, socially unacceptable. We agreed that it makes sense to try to sit down on a high level to explore whether there's possibilities to accommodate the concerns of the president while we at the same time respect the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark.
So this is the work we will start. Whether that is doable, I don't know. Denmark also announcing today it is increasing its military presence in and around Greenland in coordination with NATO Allies setting security tensions in the Arctic region. Joining me now is NBC News Senior White House correspondent Garrett Hake, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engle and NBC News Senior National Security Correspondent Courtney QB both on set with me right here.
Garrett, let me start with you at the White House and these comments that we heard from President Trump about Iran saying that he believes the killing has stopped. What do you make of what we heard from the president? What's only marked departure from the tone of the president over the last couple days. I think back to Friday when he said that if the Iranian regime started shooting the U.S.
would start shooting back yesterday he posted a message to Iranian dissidents saying help is on the way. Today he seems to accept a line from unnamed Iranian sources that the killing has stopped. As you lay down the intro, there's been significant killing, significant regime violence against its people in the last couple of days and the Trump administration had staked out this kind of maximalist position that they would not back away from the Iranian dissidents here that they would support protesters and that they would act against the regime if they were violence against those protesters. Here you see me here the president say he's convinced that any violence against protesters has stopped.
Now we'll see if there's any evidence presented here and I'll point out that he also didn't take military options off the table but this did seem like a pretty marked reversal from the president. Yeah let me get reaction from Courtney and Richard here. Let me start with you. What are we watching today?
We're anticipating another briefing for the president of potential options. What kind of options has he been given so far? Yeah so why today is a little bit more intense than maybe we have seen in recent days since the president's been talking about the possibility of any kind of action in Iran is because the president has now provided, depending on the military, with the military objectives that he's looking for in Iran. So not just saying we're going to act, we're going to support the president.
He has told them this is what I want to accomplish out of some sort of action there. So the military has always had these plans ready. They're able to tailor him based on what he wants and that's what's being presented to him today. So we could really have a yes or no decision whether the president wants to move forward and the range of options is still everything that we've been talking about all week.
The possibility of what we kind of refer to is gray zone options right. So short of kinetic or military strikes all the way up to possibility for military strikes in Iran. Richard what do you make of this moment and what we heard from president of the local office and of course the death toll continues to climb in Iran. I mean give us your reporting from the ground so I'm still trying to digest this.
He said this a short while ago and it's very different as of yesterday president Trump looked like he was going to take some sort of military action. He said he was going to take military action. The state department said we're going to do something if the killings continue and specifically reference that 26 year old activist his family says he's scheduled was scheduled to be executed today. Now president Trump's saying well we're going to wait and see what happens.
He spoke with some Iranian officials who assured him that the killings have stopped. He's taking a pause and you were just reporting yesterday that there were officials in the region Arab officials Israeli officials who were concerned that the US was going too fast into this. So I'm not sure that the military option is off the table but maybe he's just pushing back the deadline a little bit perhaps to get ready perhaps to get the equipment in place to perhaps come up with a more coordinated plan but he's definitely seemed to be slowing things down today. He certainly did talk a little bit about what Richard was noting which is that there were these Arab leaders who were encouraging the White House to pull back a little bit.
What were you hearing about that? And Israeli officials and it's not that they're saying don't take any military action at all but they're they're they're more stressing that any military action needs to be more decisive when it happens. So if in fact the goal here is decapitation of the Iranian regime decapitate Tehran then that it doesn't seem that the situation on the ground is ready for that at this point and also but the military has in the region isn't what it was back in June when the US took the strikes against not even close. It's not even close and that's not just for being able to support the military operations but it's really critically for being able to defend against an Iranian response or retaliation.
Why is that significant that you're saying it's not even close? Well look at what just happened in Venezuela and they're very different countries but just look what was in place for Venezuela. There was aircraft carrier strike group submarines drones many many aircraft build up of thousands of troops troops in Puerto Rico months and months of preparation to carry out this commando strike against a country that America knows frankly much better than Iran is much closer that America has more familiarity with culturally and otherwise the US has moved a lot of its assets out of the Middle East after the the Gaza peace agreement a lot of the assets kind of left so you're going to send them back that takes a little bit of time and Iran has the capacity to attack tankers as the capacity to attack American military bases to attack Israel to do cyber operations so you pick a fight with a country that can fight back you want to prepare for it at the very least certainly the military commanders who would be tasked with carrying it out would want time to prepare for it. Well just to follow up on that point Richard President Trump said that he wants to win and everything that you're mapping out just explains how complicated it would be for the United States to have any type of decisive victory in this moment.
Well you don't want to operate at the speed of emotion right you want to have a plan in place now it doesn't mean that the plan is off people aren't speaking to a variety of different levels think that there's still going to be some action that the Iran is still in President Trump's crosshairs so maybe this is just pushing it back maybe it's a diversionary tactic there could be something tonight on a smaller scale we really don't know but this is President Trump sort of signaling to the world to Iran perhaps to others in the Middle East Israel Arab allies coming that he doesn't plan to do a major regime change level operation tonight or in the next couple of days perhaps. Court is that your sense based based on your reporting and based on what we heard from the president? The president's box himself in he has said he's going to take some sort of action to support the protesters whether it's today whether whenever it happens he's box himself into doing something so now the he's done this before where he has said he's going to act on something and it's not the one thing that's fascinating watching President Trump when it comes to these sort of military actions is he loves to brag about the covert stuff too so it is very possible that if they do move into this sort of gray zone territory which generally is carried up by intelligence operatives or some sort of the more elite military if the president acknowledges that the US does has done it and the protesters are the protesters are not in control of the streets right now in Iran in a way that they were a couple of days ago the government is finding his feet a bit more they're more pro-government activists on the street they're still a lot of opposition but they're they're happening more at night than they were just a couple of days ago. Well the images just showcase how incredibly tense the situation is on the ground there let me turn to Garrett and talk about another major focus at the White House today another foreign policy focus we know that top officials there met with officials from Greenland and Denmark what came out of that meeting Garrett what were the key takeaways?
Well the president says he is being briefed essentially right now on that meeting what we heard from the Danish Foreign Minister at his news conference was that it was a quote frank but productive conversation Kristen is you know that sometimes Washington speak for something to just below a fist fight breaking out in a meeting right I mean this is not the type of thing that gives you a lot of confidence that a lot of progress was made that Danes came out and said they want to put together a high-level working group that continue to talk with the president about this another sort of common Washington stalling tactic for a problem without much of a solution here you have a situation which the Danes say Greenland is not for sale. Greenlanders say we do not want to be sold or become part of the United States and the president seems wholly unwilling to accept anything less than that even in this Oval Office meeting just a short time ago mocking Greenland and the Danes saying they dropped their defense from one dog sled to two the great irony here is Greenland's defense against Russia and China is us it's NATO it's the alliance here which a lot of outside analysts and by the way Republican politicians are warning the president he could break permanently by being too rash on Greenland. Richard what do you make of the developments today and we have Denmark increasing our military presence around Greenland amidst this threat from the president to go in and take it potentially by military force if necessary so NATO countries are absolutely livid terrified outraged the list could go on and on of adjectives to use they're they're looking in a situation where one NATO country potentially just steals a piece of land from another NATO country and says that would be the US stealing from Denmark and that says yeah what are you going to do about it right and they're not built for that and European allies say you do this you're going to undercut NATO you're going to destroy this military alliance the greatest military alliance that has kept peace in the hemisphere since World War II kept the Soviet Union at bay is sort of trying to keep Russia from going beyond Ukraine and they're saying publicly this is all at risk don't do this you want to protect Greenland there's already American base there you want to expand that American base go ahead why are you talking about occupying it taking away ripping it from another NATO ally you're going to destroy the alliance. According it is just extraordinary to hear the president say that he's not taking military action off the table and as Richard maps out so clearly the concern is that it would blow up NATO yeah and it's very possible that would by the way I think that's very possible so the real question is is this all about President Trump putting pressure to ultimately get the gain of getting Greenland without military force but look we thought that was going to happen in Venezuela we thought that his whole goal where there was military pressure on the people around Maduro and on Maduro himself to ultimately get him to set down without the military stepping foot and that's not what happened here and we do know that there are discussions about diplomatic and even legal methods that they might be able to use to actually attain Greenland.
You know this is not entirely entirely new the US is expressed interest in in controlling before the height of the Cold War when it was the US versus USSR the US wanted to put nuclear weapons in Greenland but that was de-escalated the ultimate solution was to leave this military base there which serves to a monitor missile defense it looks up into space monitors satellites all of that is happening right now the difference is President Trump says no I want it you're gonna give it to me and you're gonna give it to me or I'm gonna take it and NATO just isn't built for that kind of threat and European allies trying desperately to find an offer at Garrett final question to you based on your conversations at the White House do you have a sense of the timeline that the president has in his head for potentially taking Greenland it's hard to say Chris I mean this is something he really started talking about early in the term it went away for months we didn't hear another word about it I don't get the sense that there's imminence here I mean the fact that we're still discussing everything from a purchase to a referendum to military action suggests to me that we're not close to borrow the military phrasing here I think this is kind of like a political shaping operation not anything close to actually pulling the trigger if you will on Greenland all right well great conversation great start to the show Garrett Richard and Courtney thank you all so really great to have you here Richard coming up we will turn to another foreign conflict as republicans move to block a senate effort to check the president's power in Venezuela after several of their members crossed the aisle to side with democrats plus new clashes in a major exodus of federal prosecutors in Minneapolis over the Trump administration's handling of its investigation into the fatal shooting of renowned equal good by an immigration officer we're in the ground with the very latest in Minneapolis you're watching at the press now welcome back we turn out to another debate roiling Washington about the president's intervention abroad in Venezuela today on Capitol Hill Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune now saying that a vote on a much-anticipated war powers resolution may not happen the resolution to limit president Trump's use of force in Venezuela advanced last week with the help of five republicans but now one of those lawmakers senator Josh Hawley of Missouri says he will join republicans in trying to kill the measure citing assurances from the administration there are no troops on the ground and that the White House would seek congressional authorization if that position changed leaders and also suggested the resolution could be dismissed as not relevant because of the administration's assurances though a motion to dismiss the resolution would also need a vote joining me now is Florida Republican Congresswoman Maria a virus Salazar a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee thank you so much for being here wonderful to have you here really appreciate let's start off by talking about the very latest out of Venezuela I had the opportunity to speak with President Trump last week about this I asked him if there could be elections in 30 days he said absolutely not that's way too soon he later in a another interview said the United States would actually be there for several years are you comfortable with that timeline is that what you were anticipating listen I'm comfortable with the fact that the Americans are in Venezuela the fact that they took out into her and the fact that Maria Carina Machado is going to be meeting with the president tomorrow she is the leader of the opposition she earned it she proved it and we're delighted that she's going to have that face-to-face with the president and I am sure that she's going to explain to him what she did which we know very well well what are you hoping will come out of that meeting there's been a lot of talk will she give her Nobel Peace Prize to President Trump what do you think could potentially move the needle because obviously right now Del C. Lord because his in power what do you think well Maria Carina was the one who was able to against all odds prove to the international community that they the opposition had won the elections 70 to 30 she was able to conjure up somehow this plan all over Venezuela and bring the talents out so everyone could count and see that they indeed had won she had been in a tunnel for 60 months and we have been in communication with her not only myself but other members of congress where she has been telling us how the opposition is still strong inside Venezuela so in other words she is the leader and she was there until she went to Oslo to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize which she dedicated to president Trump I am sure that she is going to just explain it to him and he is an intelligent guy he's going to understand who really has the votes in Venezuela do you think it's fascinating what you're saying you actually think tomorrow could change the way that president Trump views who should be running that as well and his empirical evidence the empirical evidence is overwhelming and she will definitely demonstrate it to him and he I mean he gets it he gets who the leaders are who the votes who has the votes and she does up until today but I do believe that there has that we will the United States sponsor free and fair elections with international observers will be there to make sure that those elections are clean and she may win again do you think it was a mistake for the Trump administration they took out Maduro but they left Del C. Rodriguez and other Maduro allies affect a lot how this is a great question is the art of the possible politics is the art of the possible for 25 years that Jeffy says destroy the country del c was part of that plan remember we got to remember that del c was the vice president of Maduro Maduro's indicted in 2020 they were he was the head of the sons cartel along with del c and dio's dado cabeo and padrino who's the head of the military we're talking about that they're the same gang but we also know that the United States needs to keep stability which is what what secretary Rubio said stability restore and transition we need the United States we're nodding the business of occupying or in the business of liberating and that's what I think it's happening and just to push you on that point you have been very supportive of secretary Rubio's plan that he laid out that you just referenced part of it is for American oil companies to go in and to help rebuild the infrastructure of Venezuela's oil industry a number of the oil executives were at the White House last week they expressed skepticism they said look there have to be real security guarantees before they can go back into Venezuela what did you make of that meeting and what is your level of optimism as we sit here and have this conversation that that part of the plan is realistic once again the art of the possible those the oil executives are in the private sector they're not in charity they need to go in and make sure that they're not going to be confiscated again which I understand but that's why we're the Americans and that's why the opposition can definitely come come together and say okay let's rebuild a peta visa which is the oil industry largest reserves of oil in the world I always told Maria Carina and I'm going to say yeah now publicly over the phone while she was hiding in the tunnel once you make it back and that Venezuela is a free and is a free country make sure that the American companies are the ones who will be definitely taking over and helping you rebuild that country and that oil industry because we do not want the Chinese buying once again 90% of the Venezuelan oil because then China will use that power to invade Taiwan no we'll use that power to be have dominance when it comes to AI no we want that to be in the hands of the Americans let me ask you because of we started off the second talking about the war powers resolution one key republican in the Senate switching his vote now no longer supporting the war powers resolution do you think if there is more military action in Venezuela significant military action do you think the president would need to get authorization I know you were opposed to it when it came through yeah but you know we know that there will have that there will be no need for any more military action you're that because of course because delcy and patrino and jos out of all these people who stole the country for 25 years I have info that they know that there is a new sheriff and they're not going to be playing with the White House because look what happened to Maduro he's going to be spending the rest of his lives with with his life with his wife Celia in somewhere in an American jail they don't want that destiny so this is a new blueprint this is like a new model that president trump has created vis-a-vis western hemisphere where now we will not need military heavy military intervention just those three minutes to take him out and they will understand so that's like i'm saying Rubio is right str stabilize i mean as our t recover and transition a couple more questions we're almost out of time i can't ask you about Iran because there's been so much focus right now with president trump signaling he's weighing potential military action against Iran and it's these protesters today seem to walk that back a little bit but would you support military action against Iran in this moment comes i will support the same type of military action that happened in Venezuela uh look at the Iran and you know this is complicated in Iran indeed because the western hemisphere cannot be compared to the Middle East but look what's happening the effect in Caracas was felt all the way in Tehran where people we everyone wants the same thing freedom liberty to be able to raise their kids and the Iranians are claiming for the same thing and i'm so happy the president is saying to the Ayatollahs don't dare don't dare and you know i'm sure they read the memo well let me ask you finally that's something domestically i think there's been a big debate over the way in which ice has been deployed all across this country and the backdrop to all of this is the debate over immigration yes and the president was posting about this today are there any real conversations going on conversing on i know you're engaged in this any bipartisan conversations that make you think yes immigration reform is possible listen i'm going to start with a lead i'm sure that immigration is i'm sure that president trump i am sure that president trump is going to be for immigration with Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism he is a man that he comes from the private sector he comes from construction and hospitality construction hospitality and agricultural or there's three sectors 15 percent of the economy that need those hands i'm not blaming ice i'm blaming congress that has not been able to write a law and for the united states congress and president to sign immigration reform and that's why i introduced this legislation called the dignity act which is not citizenship is not amnesty is dignity let's give dignity to those people who've been here for more than five years do not do not have a criminal record have been contributing to the economy are needed in the labor force we need to know who our neighbors are so let's just clean this mess and write an immigration reform and i just wrote dignity and i would love to be able to come back and explain it to you because that's the salamani in the middle and that's what i think will solve the problem okay well we're going to track it closely we will have you back thank you for joining us congresswoman salam i want to always appreciate you thank you well we really appreciate your being here coming up next protest growing minnesota one week after the shooting of vernain a cold good as half a dozen prosecutors in the state tell the trump administration they're quitting what's behind those mass resignations stay with us you're watching with the pressure let's kickstart your wellness journey with the criteria workouts meal plans it's your fast track to a healthier you and now during the infinity member celebration members begin an exclusive 50 percent off an annual subscription head to expinity dot com slash membership to learn more infinity imagine that subscription automatically reduce each year at sixty five ninety nine plus taxes and fees until cancel all the rans may twenty twenty six prices subject to change visit today dot com slash infinity for full-on for terms of details stay informed with the nbc news app breaking news just coming in moments ago watch read and listen throughout your day and now unlock even more with a subscription it's the best of nbc news with fewer ad interruptions including ad free articles podcasts and full nbc news shows plus deeper access and exclusive content let's just take a step back it's more context and clarity from the reporters you trust download the nbc news app now and subscribe for more welcome back protests are escalating minnesota one week after an ice officer shot and killed 37 year old rina cold good in a minneapolis neighborhood good's family announcing today they are now launching a civil investigation into her death it comes in six federal prosecutors in the state resigned over the direction of the justice department's investigation into the shooting a law enforcement source telling nbc news the attorney's felt pressure from justice department leadership to investigate any ties to activist groups by good and her widow since good shooting the federal government has surged hundreds of agents to minneapolis we've seen intensifying confrontations between officers and protesters like this one where ice officers dragged a woman out of her car while she screams and tells officers she's disabled and trying to get to a doctor's appointment so this was just a resident saying she's trying to get to a doctor's appointment telling newsweek the woman was arrested for ignoring multiple commands by officers to remove her car doing me now as nbc news correspondent shack rooster minneapolis and nbc news senior homeland security correspondent julia angeli thanks to both of you for being here shack let me start with you there on the ground seems like the anger is growing in the streets of minneapolis take us through what you've been witnessing and also what people have been telling you yeah it's a really interesting contrast because yes on one hand the anger is growing you see that in the lashes you saw that overnight when protesters went downtown and were marching at hotels that they believe ice agents were sleeping but then you have that one week uh member a one week mark of when rina cold good was killed at this site and at this site earlier today you had three hours of prayers a prayer vigil led by local uh prayer and faith leaders um to kind of have that more solemn memoration and commemoration and that's the mix that you're having we have that statement from the family where they call her a bright light but then you have the frustration in this community because the immigration operation that uh she was resisting or that she was uh responding to uh when she was killed is still very much underway ice and dhs saying that they have now conducted more than 2,400 arrests in the minnesota and minneapolis area that is causing a lot of frustration you have uh ice observers that come out and uh below their whistles whenever they see one of those arrests and those clashes that are only continuing so yes the anger is definitely growing person but you're seeing at scenes like this there's definitely still that pain in the morning especially one week since her death and shack we know that her family is now saying that they're opening a civil investigation into her killing what can you tell us about that yeah they're saying they're definitely investigating and affloating the idea of that civil law so they they acknowledge that there's some hurdles here especially with it being a federal case against federal officers they acknowledge that it's a higher bar that's needed that it would be a case that would be before a judge rather than a jury so despite the complexities despite the difficulties in bringing a case they say that they are not going to hesitate to pursue what they're calling justice for rene good and for her family so that's something that we're going to watch uh in the days and weeks and really months to come all right shack rooster thank you so much and we're getting a little bit of an update from dhs on the officer involved in the shooting julia what more can you tell us what is this update that's right so what we understand now from dhs is that jonathan ross the officer who fatally shot reneacle good did was treated at the hospital and that the doctors are said that he had some internal bleeding to the torso this is after we heard that he was taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries but it was surprising to people who saw him walking around at the end of that video seemingly uninjured wondering what had happened and of course the investigation will probably point to this as they say that her car did come close enough to be able to cause that injury but of course we don't know the specifics of far yeah and it all comes as there have been multiple resignations of federal prosecutors what can you tell us and how is that adding to the puzzle pieces of all of this well we know of six so far these are career u.s.a. career prosecutors in the u.s.
attorney's office in minnesota who have now stepped down entirely from their positions because they didn't like the way that the fbi investigation which they were a part of as part of the justice department was going into the death that they didn't think that they should be interviewing or focusing on goods partner there's been investigation to her and her background and then instead that they should be focusing on the circumstances of the shooting itself what led to it was a violation of her civil rights but as we've heard from Todd Lynch at the justice department he says that he concluded that there should be no criminal investigation civil rights investigation into whether or not this officer criminally violated good civil rights and let's get back to the protesters we have seen some arrests what is the scope in there well of course there's been a number of arrests of protesters but that also comes at the same time they've arrested over 2,400 immigrants as part of this we've seen a lot of videos that we actually haven't gotten as much response from DHS this week like asking what exactly is happening in each circumstance there's a viral video of them pushing a protester really into traffic there's a bus that comes to a sudden stop there is another one of a vehicle being rammed that we haven't gotten a response about what happened there a lot of use of tear gas and as we see more protests like the one shacks recovering overnight there has been an increase in the arrest of the protesters there as well and just really quickly what are you watching for as we move forward with this i think it's a question of how much administration wants to keep hammering on Minneapolis he's very prosecutors who stepped down we're leading the charge on fraud that's the reason ice came there in the first place that's the reason president trump focused on the state of minnesota but there seems to be really walking up to the line where minnesota may cry uncle we've seen that from what secretary gnome and others have said about whether doing in minnesota because they so want the cooperation of state police in their immigration enforcement all right Julia anxley covering all of the angles for us thank you so much really appreciate it we'll dive deeper into the political fallout over ice's tactics plus another sitting democratic senator says she's under investigation by the truck justice department the panel is next to you the president welcome back let's get right to the panel mariana said to my or congressional reporter for the washington post chuck roger former senior advisor for bernie sanders presidential campaign and now host of the sub stack show the roger revolution cohost of latino vote podcasts and charlie dent former republican congressman from pennsylvania and now executive director of the aspen institute congressional program thanks to all of you for being here maria and i have to start with you and minneapolis continues to be a hotbed protest clashes with ice officers where do you see this going what have you been watching for i mean hopefully it doesn't continue to be a tinderbox and see another example what we saw last week you know what i'm watching on capitol hill is that we have seen democrats for the past year honestly longer saying we're not going to we don't want to talk about defunding ice we don't want to talk about you know defunding the police and while they're not saying that there is just so much frustration and i think that this is going to play out not just politically but also in the halls of congress we have a government funding deadline and there are many democrats are already saying well we're not going to give any any of our votes unless we see some kinds of reforms and republicans of course you know this has become such a politically divisive issue but privately there are many who don't want to continue to see this happening talk a little bit congressman about that about the fact that there are republicans privately who are saying this is not what we want this is not what we should be focused on particularly heading to the midterms and obviously the tragedy of what happened yeah i think most republicans do want the homeland security department through ice to go about interior enforcement but they don't like the way this is being done or how it's being done or even the types of people who are being targeted that's the problem there's always been a need there's always been a need for greater interior enforcement but this is beyond what anybody had expected and of course now everybody's concerned that all these investigators or all these prosecutors are stepping out resigned and that calls in the question what type of investigation there will be a public confidence in that decision yeah the problem is is the president wants to be talking about immigration he wants to be talking about border security the problem is is what we are seeing with as we head to the midterms to the congressman's point is that if you ask somebody in polling right now they'll all say that we should have a secure border anybody comes to our country and breaks the law so they should be deported what they don't want is what they're seeing on their tv screen and that's the conflict between the republican congress and this white house the white house is firmly footed i won't talk about this issue but the congress is scared of it is there enough time to resolve that dichotomy before the midterms before people start making their minds up about who they're gonna vote for well they have to figure it out not only before the midterms but before this funding deadline right home and security appropriations bill has to be done by january 30th and i i'm sure that people are going to have amendments on that bill to say no masks uh you know they're going to say uh well they get all sorts of issues that they're going to uh put into condition any funding for ice chug on that point do you think it would be a mistake for democrats to try to hold up government funding over this issue funding dhs because it is a real debate as maria and maria will tell you that this cuts both ways and before she says that i'll say that there's not a winner or a loser when it comes to shutting down the government in this particular case the base though the turnout for the 2026 election is much different than the president it's the base of both parties the base of the party for the democrats is hungry for a fight for folks to stand up to this president all right well we heard from joe rogan on this and i'm gonna play it and get your reaction on the other side take a look i can also see the point of view of the people say yeah but you don't want militarized people in the streets just roaming around snatching people up many of which turn out to actually be us citizens that just don't have their papers on them are we really going to be the Gestapo where's your papers is that what we've come to so it's it's more complicated than i think people want to admit maria do you think the white house listens when he speaks on an issue like this i don't think so just because it is contradictory to what the perspective is of the white house right now i mean trump hasn't really said okay ice agents calm down these images are bad he's at some points been sympathetic to what happened last week but there is no directive and frankly christy gnome who is the home and security secretary i mean she's she's saying you know what the actions that ice are taking are the right ones you you americans need to follow the law don't get in their face so i don't really think i mean unless there's some polling unless things change i think there is a difference between potentially seeing more congressional republicans speaking out about this but i i just don't see the white house or the administration necessarily taking that stance again american public has a much more nuanced view on this issue than the politicians given credit for i mean most americans aren't reacting saying oh that this woman was a terrorist this poor woman who's who's been who's died and the others are saying you know this cop isn't necessarily a murderer and so they there's nuance and but that's not what you're hearing from each side they're all very angry and they don't don't frankly the politicians need to talk a lot less and then conduct serious investigations before they run their mouths yeah well and this is all coming against the backdrop of the midterm elections i want to talk a little bit about uh... the mid-term senate minority leader chukshoo mariana named north carolina maine ohio and elaska as for states democrats quote have a real good chance of winning and flipping do you think that's realistic i mean it's ambitious it is incredibly ambitious listen when you're in the minority what is a minority leader gonna say oh my gosh these are our chances to get there they have done a good job with recruitment that is step number one i think that has given uh... especially senate democrats a lot of confidence especially the move that we saw with paltola entering the elaska race we have shared ground in ohio they are no names in their states but by no means this is going to be a gliding easy path to the majority of that you're you're going to jump into this on average uh... in the last in this last election we just had november new jersey and virginia and if you take all the averages of the special elections there's been overperformance of almost fifteen points on average some of those were much more if you got half of that you would win all of these senate seats and a hard tip again to your point around to chukshoo marina excellent recruiting like if there's a chance to win in ohio it's with sherrod brown and he still has a little bit at least there's a chance or there'd be no chance roy cooper in north carolina the former governor was an ace recruit like these are the kind of people if there's a slim chance to do this it's with these great recruits congress would you think that republicans are nervous about the senate and do you think part of their consternation is because they're all of these other issues that are kind of at the forefront right now and not the economy which is what folks like susie wiles want the president to be talking about uh...
and really think should be the key focus i do think republicans in the senate are nervous uh... i tend to think that elaska is a real stretch uh... for the democrats and i would argue ohio's probably a stretch but they will be more competitive than they ought to be uh... and certainly north carolina and uh...
main are extremely proud of one before you don't think he can win again but he could he could but i don't think it's probable at this point things can change they can change but today i wouldn't say so but we just don't know there's a lot happening here in this in this map it's a it's a tough ryan house is a lot easier that's right and every dollar that republicans spend in one of those seats is a dollar not spinning in another place where they probably have a better shot yeah marion let me ask you because among the topics uh... that the white house is in the administration has been focused on obviously these foreign entanglements have spent the hour talking about them in iran uh... as well as greenland and then what some would call the retribution campaign centerless is like and saying federal prosecutors are investigating her after she and fellow congressional democrats took part in the video encouraging service members to defy orders i want to play a little bit of what she said to be clear this is the president's playbook truth doesn't matter facts don't matter and anyone who disagrees with him becomes an enemy and he then weaponizes the federal government against them it's legal intimidation and physical intimidation meant to get you to shut up he's used it with our universities our corporations our legal community and with politicians who falsely believe that doing his bidding and staying quiet will keep them safe mariana how is this playing out and obviously we see senator mark kelly having a huge battle as well yeah i i i don't think democrats are actually nervous it is a warning shot though to especially republicans we've seen how trump is trying to intimidate a number of republicans who've been voting against him calling them up they are listening to him i think democrats have anything it has somewhat emboldened them and i think she's right like it is intimidation to what extent has it stopped democrats from doing something going public i haven't heard of that yet all right guys well great conversation thank you all for being here mariana chuck and charlie really appreciate it coming up after the break the president special envoy says the next days of his peace plan of gaza is underway and proceeding towards full disarmament that's next i'll make the president welcome back turning out a gaza where president trump special envoy steve wickoff is declaring phase two of the president's 20-point plan to end the war between israel and tamas has begun even his outstanding questions about the ceasefire and whether the terms of the first phase have been met mpc international correspondent matt radley has more on the region's next steps that is we heard from steve wickoff president trump special envoy was anticipated saying that the cease fire was moving from phase one of the deal to phase two now this was supposed to happen quite a long time ago but there were delays in returning the deceased hostages inside the gaza there's still one remaining that of the body of a young police officer who was killed on october 7th his body is still in the gaza strip that is the last outstanding hostage that still remains in gaza the israelis have withdrawn to the so-called yellow line inside the gaza strip and even though the israelis are continuing to attack hamas targets inside the yellow line this ceasefire has largely held and president trump has been pressuring all of the sides to move on to phase two even though there still is that body remaining but a lot of terms about phase two have still not yet fully been decided one more clue we got tonight and that was announcement from mediators saying that ali shot as a former deputy minister in the palestinian authority which governs the west bank and has not governed the gaza strip for much of the last 20 years that this man will now be leading the palestinian administrative body that will run day-to-day affairs inside the gaza strip and presumably we're reporting to the so-called board of peace that president trump himself will lead this was all in that 20-point peace plan that president trump unveiled and that was signed in egypt so whether or not we actually see a move toward the next phase that's uncertain in many ways the announcement that we heard today was more symbolic than anything else because the terms around phase two haven't really been determined well our thanks to matt bradley for that report we will be back tomorrow with more meat the press now the news continues straight ahead he was a young marine she didn't care about convention they made a life together then one night the marine died and then the death investigation took a wild i expected and utterly bizarre turn i'm josh makowitz and this is trace of suspicion an all-new podcast from date on that listen to all episodes of trace of suspicion now wherever you get your podcasts