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The experts close to home. Each office independently owned and operated. Welcome to me at the press now. I'm Kristen Welker, and Washington.
We begin in Minneapolis. These are live pictures of protesters, braving frigid temperatures as anger mounts over federal agents use of violent and legally questionable tactics as part of the White House's immigration crackdown. Businesses across the state of Minnesota are closed today as part of the so-called ICE-out demonstrations calling on agents to leave the state. It comes amid a cascade of jarring images from on the ground in Minneapolis as thousands of federal agents have surged to the area amid the aftermath of ISIS shooting and killing of Renee Nicole Good.
We've seen authorities pepper-spraying protesters in some cases in the face while they were on the ground and apparently detained, as you see right there. A U.S. citizen was detained at gunpoint and without a warrant. An authorities led him out of his house in his underwear in the cold.
He was later released and is vowing to file a civil rights lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. And a five-year-old boy, Liam Ramos, was taken into custody as he made his way home from preschool with school officials claiming ICE used the child as, quote, bait to arrest his asylum-seeking father, border patrol and ICE officials pushing back on that claim earlier today and defending their tactics. Everything they could reunite him with his family, tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, the people inside refused to take him in and open the door. Now, lawyer for the Boys' Family says he's currently being held at a detention facility in San Antonio, Texas with his father.
Meanwhile, the Minneapolis mayor is saying today that what's happening in his city is no longer about enforcing the law. This is not about safety, it's not even about immigration. What we are seeing right now is that this is political retribution, it's about causing chaos on our streets. This all comes as new polling shows nearly two-thirds of voters disapprove of the way ICE is handling its job, and the majority of voters say ICE has gone too far in its tactics.
But 50% of voters say they do approve of the Trump administration's policy to deport people living in the country illegally. Joining me now to start us off at NBC News correspondent Maggie Vespa, who's on the ground in Minneapolis, NBC News senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainsley, and NBC News senior national political reporter, Sahil Kapoor. Maggie, I have to start with you. You have been tracking these protests from the start, despite the frigid temperatures today.
People are still out protesting. Talk a little bit about what they're telling you. Yeah, Chris, for sure. We didn't bring up that new video that we just got in of the crowds out there.
They are massive. It's incredibly striking how many people easily in the thousands have turned out for this ICE out protest in the middle of a workday in negative eight temperatures right now with a windshield of negative 33. They've been marching through the city basically toward US Max Stadium, which is where the Vikings play. If we do have those images, it's incredibly, there you go.
This is basically the latest attempt to show unity against what a lot of people on the ground that we talk to in similar to what the mayor just said there. See as an invasion of their city. And it's really exacerbated by a lot of the latest kind of flashpoint headlines, including that about little Lea Ramos, the five-year-old, the preschooler, who this week was taken into ICE custody when DHS's father was arrested and are produced around the ground, ask people in the crowd how they feel about that kind of latest thread of this story of children being taken into custody. And he got this reaction, which is really striking.
Take a look. They're kids, man. They're kids. How can you...what is wrong with you?
What is wrong with you? That you would do that to a child? All our producers said to get that reaction was literally, there have been headlines recently of children taken into ICE custody, how do you feel about it? And that reaction, Kristen, I think really speaks to the amount of pain, the amount of anger, and just the way this has really gripped this entire city in the weeks since these raids haven't hold it.
So, imagine it seems like that five-year-old boy, the image of him in custody, feels like it's becoming quite frankly an inflection point in this debate over how ICE is being deployed. You talk to a top-ice official about this. What are you hearing in that regard? Definitely.
I mean, this is like, Kristen, a preschooler turned poster child for the outrage over these immigration raids. And just to kind of set the stage for people who are catching up on this, DHS says they were targeting the father of Little Lea Ramos, you see him there, and that the father took off the running, saying he was in the country illegally, that he took off the running, and in their words abandoned his child, they said no one in the house would come to take Little Lea inside, so that's why they took him. With them eventually resting dad, arresting dad, and now they have the two of them together. The school district has been saying that Little Lea, I mean their words, was used as bait to try to lure adults out of the house.
They're slamming DHS and ICE for having him in custody at all. So all of this to say, at this press conference today, we had the top border patrol leaders and ICE leaders. I'm really frustrated about the narratives they feel like they've seen in the media and on social media, and they kept clarifying, listen, he is with his dad. He is with his family.
He's at a family detention facility. He called a residential center in Texas. He's safe. And so that prompted this exchange, this questioning from me.
It's tick-a-listen. We still have people saying that they're outraged at the idea of little kids being held in custody at all. So what do you say to those people and what kinds of conditions are young children being held in? As far as that family has not been separated.
So it goes back. We've reported that. So even with that in mind, he's in custody being detained in Texas with his dad. Yes, with his dad.
So that goes back to exactly what I just said is many American citizens are separated. When they're arrested, say by the Minneapolis Police Department or any other police department, they are separated from their children when they're arrested. So take a look at what's happening here with this particular case. They're not being separated.
That child is in the least restrictive setting possible. So that was effectively Gregory Barbino's answer. Border Patrol Commander. And Chris, and I asked the question that way because he said it's being reported that Liam's by himself.
He's not with his family. And I said, listen, we reported several times in depth that he is being held with his father. Nevertheless, we're seeing this anger on the streets here. Well, Maggie, that's been reporting.
Has just been remarkable from the ground there in Minneapolis. Please stay safe in those cold temperatures. We really appreciate your joining us. Julie, let me turn to you and ask you about another piece of this.
There's this memo that came out effectively saying that officers can, in fact, enter people's homes without a warrant. What can you tell us about this? Well, I will tell you about that quickly on the boy. Yeah.
He did legally enter the country. He used the app that the Biden administration had. It is not unusual to detain families together and to arrest families together. What is unusual is they were targeting someone who was following the rules.
So that's what we're learning about that today. As far as the memo, this actually has a much broader sweep. There's just not a face attached to it yet. But as we understand, there was a memo that went out of May allowing ICE officers to go into homes without a judicial warrant signed by a judge.
They can use an administrative warrant that's just simply signed by the local ICE field office to enter a home. That's a totally different break from ICE president previously. They needed a judge because otherwise it was a fourth amendment violation of search and seizure. And now what we're understanding from two officials is that that actually began in July or actually in June rather when the head of the person who drafted that policy went to Los Angeles right before the immigration enforcement began in June.
Great information, Julia, on both the five year old and this really controversial memo that has now gone out. We really appreciate it, Julia. Thank you so much for being here. So let me turn to you on Capitol Hill.
We know that the House did pass a bill this week to fund DHS for a full year despite a fair amount of Democratic opposition over ICE tactics. It now goes to the Senate. What are you anticipating happens there? Yeah, this is still up in the air, Chris, and it's not a done deal yet in the Senate.
In part because of the manner in which this past the House Democratic sentiment has turned overwhelmingly against funding ICE without some guardrails and some restrictions to the point where Congress won, Rosa Delora, the top Democratic appropriator, who struck this deal with Republicans on this DHS funding bill and spent days defending it turned against it and voted against her own bill in the run up to passage only seven centers Democrats in the House voted for it. And by the way, they were the margin of victory. Without them, the bill would have failed. In the Senate, this requires 60 votes, meaning assuming grandpa is a no because he always is eight Democrats at minimum.
One of the eight Democrats who voted for the last government funding bill, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, it sounds like he's a no on this bill. Let's show his statement. He said that appropriations bills need a fund of priorities, but also restrained a runaway executive. He said he wants guardrails and safeguards on ICE operations.
He said he was, quote, we're not living a normal time, the President is acting chaotically and unlawfully and we shouldn't give his deranged decisions the imprimatur of congressional approval by passing this legislation without significant amendment, end quote. There is no amendment coming, Chris, and because as you know, the deadline is on Friday, the House has already gone on recess. So unless the Senate passes his bill, as is there will be a government shutdown, I should say Senator Patty Murray, the Washington Democrat, the Senate's top Democratic that's top Democratic defender, defended this, said she said there is much more to do to rein in DHS, she was very critical ice, but she said quote the hard truth is that Democrats must win political power to enact the kind of accountability we need. And quote.
All right, Sahil, well, fascinating to hear from both of them. Thank you for the view from Capitol Hill. We really appreciate it. Joining me now is Ty Cobb, he served as White House Attorney during the first Trump administration.
He's also a former federal prosecutor. Ty, thanks so much for being here. We really appreciate it. Wonderful to be with you, Kristin.
Well, it's always wonderful to have you and you are joining us at a moment of tense national debate. Let's just break through some of the top lines that we know in Minnesota. We've seen protesters who disrupted the church service arrested that five year old boy who we were just talking about detained by ice, a whistleblower report that DHS officials are authorizing immigration officers to forcibly enter homes without a warrant. Talk to me about the legality of all of this time.
Do you feel as though ice is acting within the balance of the law? Oh, not at all. I mean, you know, you can put you know, the toy Nazi, uh, of you know, up, uh, all you want in writing, uh, you know, uh, lines, but the reality is they're way out of bounds. And keep in mind, you have to look at this policy, which, you know, is not lawful.
It's clearly in violation of the fourth minute. But the purpose of this policy is to protect the agents for, you know, the civil from the civil liability that they have when they do bust down a door because, you know, now they can say we thought it was lawful because our management, you know, told us we could do it. It's the same type of, uh, papering over, um, war crimes and other, uh, violations that Pam Bondi and, uh, and the Justice Department have been doing throughout this process along in combination with HECS and others where, you know, they, they have a OLC memos that justify the, you know, people in boats, um, wholesale number of things that frankly, the courts have started to reject. I mean, keep in mind, this was a week where it started, I think, in terms of significant developments with a court in Virginia, um, you know, canceling Lindsey Halligan, making a plane that the masquerade, uh, for as the US attorney, uh, had to come to an end, uh, that it was a charade and that it was over.
And she left the courthouse later that evening with her tail between her legs. Um, you know, this is something where, unfortunately, the courts are lying indicator on. But when the courts take, take a look at this policy, they will, uh, initiate it and it will no longer be, uh, be acceptable. I have to ask you about this five year old boy.
It does feel like it has become an inflection point in this entire debate. Ice is basically saying, look, we took him into custody. He is in custody with his father currently. What do you make of how that situation specifically is being handled and how it speaks to this moment?
Yeah, well, well, you know, I mean, it sounded like he was a Disney world. I mean, the reality is he's 1500 miles away from where he lives. You know, the theory that, uh, you know, he's somehow enjoying this or that he's safe now in Texas. Yeah, that's absurd.
This kid is a citizen. This kid is lawfully here. It's just insane that these guys, you know, run, run them up the way they do. And, you know, keep in mind, you know, during the election, what you heard, you know, repeatedly over and over is that this policy would not, um, you know, be used for the ethnic and racial cleansing that Trump is using it for.
This is a policy that was designed to go after murderers and bad guys. You know, it's not murderers and bad guys. It's dishwashers, gardeners, nannies, you know, people of modest means doing jobs that most Americans will not undertake, you know, well over the majority of detainees thus far have no criminal records. So this is really, really run amok.
It needs to be reigned again. I think I think the gentlemen who cried on camera going, these are kids. What are you doing? What are you thinking?
You know, that almost made me cry. And I think that's the reaction of certainly Americans, you know, with a heart that are not under the influence of the Kool-Aid that allows Trump to be supportive. Let me ask you about the investigations that have been opened now into the governor and the mayor of Minneapolis. Do you actually, they have been defiant, they say this is there being pursued for political purposes.
Do you think that they will ultimately be indicted? How do you see this playing out? You know, we've seen grand juries around the country start to reject the types of revenge prosecutions and intimidation prosecutions that the authoritarians under Bondi and Trump have tried to do. I hope that that'll be the case here.
But it clearly has no legitimate basis. I mean, you know, I mean, just think about it. When was the last time a mayor and a governor couldn't righteously complain about the fact that one of their citizens was murdered by federal officer, which is all which is really all they did. You know, it's this is a this is an administration that punishes its political enemies, you know, pardons, pardons fraud, committers, pardons, you know, major, major authoritarian salesman of drugs within the United States.
But all because that they're supportive of Trump. And yet it goes after, you know, people like Comey, people like walls, you know, even the demonstrators in the church in Minneapolis, you know, who should not have demonstrated in church. It was a bad it was a bad tactic. It was detrimental to the cause.
But it's not a federal crime. I mean, yes, it's trespassing. Yes, it's advice. Some say in local laws, but it's not a federal crime.
And and these people are only being prosecuted for that purpose. And what does the White House do? They arrest them, you know, per welcome. And they post their mugshot with them in a mean, they distort through AI the face of one of the one of the protesters to make it look that she is in anguish and crying when the actual picture makes her look very composed.
So we have, you know, we have, you know, basically propaganda coming from the White House, people being arrested for things they didn't do, investigated for things that are not a crime purely for political reasons. That is that that is the crumbling of the rule of law, which, you know, long ago distinguished us from Third World dictatorships, but no longer. Well, I do want to switch gears because I do want to get your perspective on a couple of other topics, including the testimony on Thursday, a former special council, Jack Smith, in the middle of it, President Trump hosted on social media that the Attorney General should look into Jack Smith, he was asked to respond in real time and said that effectively he is bracing to be told that he's under investigation. What did you make of that moment?
Well, I think that's, you know, I think that is our current reality, as I was just saying, which is, you know, Trump is after you know, anybody who's ever wronged him. If you stepped on his shoe in an elevator 20 years ago, you should you should lock your door. All his enemies are unsafe. And certainly, Jack Smith, you know, who accepted a very, very challenging role, prosecuting a former president who clearly incited insurrection, who clearly was responsible for the for resisting the peaceful transfer of power and inciting his followers, even to the point of, you know, their threats to kill my pants.
It's it's it's certain and his abuse of classified documents and showing them, Willie Millie, you know, to friends in Mar-a-Lago and refusing, you know, to return them when asked at a point where he would never have been prosecuted for it. And and in the investigation, he made his own lawyer lie. He told his lawyer false information and made his lawyer share that with the government. So these are facts.
And I think Jack, it was very cautious. He didn't take the bait. He didn't emote. He was very clear.
He was very factual about those facts and the two indictments, the indictment on January 6th offenses and the indictment on classified documents is, you know, very, very different from the Comey James type of indictments, which were perfunctory didn't really spell out a crime. The two Smith indictments against Trump, you know, they are, you know, dozens of pages long and complete with detail, emails, facts, dates, times, actions. So the facts are compelling. Jack was very good about staying with the facts.
He didn't take the bait, not with any of the significant efforts of Republicans on the committee, including Jordan and others, you know, who tried to rewrite history in a way that we're seeing across the government with Trump, white Washington, you know, the Smithsonian accounts of January 6, you know, putting up blacks around the White House, demeaning former presidents, but, you know, I'm drawing praise to himself. You know, this is this is an unbridled time. And we're being led by a demented narcissistic madman. I want to ask you finally tie the president speaking of his social media posts also posted on social media a couple days ago that perhaps he should seek a fourth term.
He says record numbers all over the place. Should I try for a fourth term? We should note that polling shows that actually he's under water in various different areas. And he's only served two terms so far.
He's in the middle of his second term. I should say, what did you make of that post? Do you take him seriously? Yes.
Yes. I've actually said this before. How many times has he teased a what was previously called a third term now? I think he's counting 20, 20 as a win in his demented state.
But the reality is, you know, we've seen so many statements from the president, you know, where he teases the third term and then says, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But he's not just kidding. He's not kidding at all.
He's not kidding when he says, maybe we don't need election. And all you have to do is look at the look at the insane letter he wrote the Prime Minister of Norway about being untethered now from any obligations to seek peace because Norway denied him a Nobel prize. Not saying in fact Norway has nothing to do with who gets that Nobel prize. It's given by a group in Norway that's not under the influence of the government.
But you know, it's that was just the same. And then you saw the two speeches he made it or the speech made before he went to novels and speech after. You know those were not saying moments. I think I think you know Mark Carney from Canada made very claim that there's a new world order out there.
America's no longer a protector. America's a predator. And if you as he said, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. And I think that many countries now feel that way.
I think NATO was dealt with fatal blow this week. And that was also not a saying by the president over green. All right, Ty Cobb. Thank you so much for giving us your perspective on a range of so many critical issues.
We really appreciate it. It's always great to see you. Thank you, Chris. Great to be with you.
Thank you. Thank you. And we are also monitoring that massive and potentially historic winter storm that's threatening to bring snow ice and dangerously cold temperatures to more than half of the United States at least 179 million Americans from New Mexico. Way to across the country to New England or under some form of winter weather through Sunday.
That's already working its way across Texas. One of them more than a dozen states declaring an emergency as governors urge residents to prepare for the worst. Don't begin getting prepared late tomorrow or think you can get around doing it on Saturday. I'm here to say this is a very dangerous combination of heavy snow and extreme extreme cold temperatures and whether you find yourself facing ice or snow, we've all got to be prepared for whatever impacts may come.
NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens is with me now for the very latest bill. So walk us through the timing of this storm. When will folks in various areas of the country feel it's wrasse. Yeah, Kristen, we've already begun.
We're now seeing the first areas of freezing rain developing in Texas from Lubbock to just almost north of Abilene. Just white line shows the freezing line. It's expected to go through Dallas between 10 p.m. in about midnight.
So Dallas has a couple more hours of just plain old rain and then it's going to get very cold and very icy in Dallas for at least the next three to four days. In total now we're almost up to 180 million people with about 343 million roughly people in this country. So that's why we're more than half of the population. And you can just see everything in the red here at Winter Storm warnings going from New Mexico all the way now to Boston.
The areas of purple are the ice storm warnings. These are the areas that at least have the chance of losing power, maybe even for a couple days. The areas that look to be the worst, Shreveport all the way back up towards northern Mississippi, the Nashville and then it's going to be areas to the east too. As far as the snow forecast goes, the heaviest snows are going to be about north of Oklahoma City, north of Little Rock.
If you have any friends that live in Missouri, southern Kansas, southern Illinois, right along the Ohio River. This is going to be a big snowstorm for them. Areas like Louisville, it's not often you get a foot of snow, but that's the forecast currently. Nashville, it's snow over to sleep, then possibly freezing rain.
It's very messy, especially on northern portions of Mississippi. And then our friends in the Easter here. These are the regions that are going to be getting a mix, especially in the Mid Atlantic. That's where our snow forecast and sleet is only one to two inches from Norfolk to Raleigh, and including the Charlotte area.
We're getting a lot of ice out of this after a very little bit of snow. So that's where we could see power out of just two down through the Carolinas. Pretty much DC to New York, Northworth. It's primarily a snow event with ice on top of it.
This is why we're 6 to 10 in DC, 8 to 12. But when you stay all snow, that's when you have a chance for a foot to foot and a half from Syracuse to all up near to Boston, Hartford, Bighamton, Oianza, all of our people. We're going to be in Minneapolis, which will be in the country. Many areas of the country are not going to melt anytime soon after this storm.
It's going to take a while to warm up. Maybe at least a week. Wow. Well, we are hoping everyone he's the advice and stay safe.
Bill Cairns, thank you so much for joining us for that update. We really appreciate it. Coming up, US, Russia and Ukraine hold their first round of trilateral peace talks since the war in Ukraine began nearly four years ago as Moscow strikes keeps power grid leaving the capital freezing and also in the dark. Plus, the head of the world economic forum speaks to MBC news about the prospects of peace in Ukraine after a pit of a week of diplomacy and deal making in Davos.
You're just about here here in Davos, I ended my speech with words. Europe needs to know how to defend itself. A year has passed and nothing has changed. Right now NATO exists thanks to believe that the United States will act that it will not stand aside and will help.
But what if it doesn't? Welcome back. That was Ukrainian president Volodym Zelensky yesterday speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland questioning the strength of the NATO alliance and its willingness to respond to global challenges. It comes as US challenges.
It comes as U.S. Ukrainian and Russian officials gathered in Abu Dhabi for talks the first trilateral meeting since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A White House official describing today's meeting is productive and saying conversations will continue tomorrow. Those talks come a day after special envoy Steve Whitcough and the president, son-in-law Jared Kushner, met with Russian President Putin in Moscow.
Now, according to the Kremlin, that meeting lasted approximately four hours describing it as substantive and constructive. Joining me now is NBC News Chief International correspondent, Chris Simmons, and with me on side is NBC News Chief Washington correspondent and Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent, Andrea Mitchell. Thanks to both of you for being here. Let me start with you.
Talk a little bit about the expectations of this trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi. What are officials hoping the takeaways will be? Well, it's the first time, Kristen, that the three sides, if you like, the U.S., Ukraine and Russia have been in a trilateral talks like that together. It's happening here in the United Arab Emirates.
We're not allowed to be in the room, obviously, but even to be around the meeting. But I will say that in terms of who's involved, the Chief of the General Staff on the Ukrainian side and on the Russian side, the Director of the GRU, which is Russia's military intelligence organisation, they are there. As well as, here was a meeting we have President Putin's envoy who talks more about business, Steve Whitcough, President Trump's envoy. So they are serious meetings.
They are meetings that are looking according to President Trump and President Zelensky territory. And that will be about the territory in the Don Bass that is currently held into Ukrainian, of course, currently held by Ukrainians, which President Putin is demanding. I had the chance to speak to Borga Brenda, the Director and CEO of the Welcome It Forum, where President Trump spoke of course, President Zelensky spoke, and he was around those leaders through this week, taking a listen to how he frames the Ukrainian leaders' perspective at this point. My feeling after also speaking to Zelensky is that he is ready to go for a peace deal.
I think what's important for him is, of course, the long-term security guarantees. There's a war of four years now, almost, and he doesn't want that war to end, and then he will be attacked again in the people of Ukraine after one or two years. It's a question of political will with Putin and Kremlin to agree on a deal that is relatively balanced. To go more granular, Kristin, quickly, the area, 25 per cent of the Donbass, that the Hiroshima demanding, the US proposal, the Ukrainian proposal seems to be that both sides withdraw and it becomes a special economic zone.
Whether or not the Russians are going to accept that is one of the fundamental questions at this stage. It really is central to whether there can be any progress. Kia, stand by for me. Andrea, let me turn to you and get your latest reporting on this.
It is extraordinary that they're holding these trilateral talks. And yet, the question that Kia raises looms over all of these talks, looms over this entire issue, will Russia ever be ready to say yes to peace? Not according to the people who were in Davos whom I spoke with when they came back, the US senators from the Foreign Relations Committee, who had also been in Copenhagen, they feel first of all that NATO has been severely weakened by what happened with the whole Greenland push, the threats, the pullback, the statements that the President made in his speech against NATO saying inaccurately that NATO has ever come to the US defense and never would come to the US defense when in fact they did once in its 76 year history and it was in Afghanistan after 9-11. So that was insulting.
They feel that the cohesion of the alliance has been severely damaged. And Zelensky is clearly concerned about the security guarantees because he believes that in Mar-a-Lago, he got security commitments from the President of the United States. But President Trump's commitments don't seem to hold up very much when it comes to Ukraine versus Putin. And Ukraine is absolutely getting hammered in the cold weather.
The utilities have gone, the power has gone, people are freezing. It's just a very difficult time in Ukraine. And they are very nervous that Putin, who is not agreed to European security agreements, will never mean to American troops being on the ground there in Ukraine. Well, and Andrew, I want to follow up with you on this point that you are making about the damage that may have been done between the United States and its European allies.
I do want to play a little bit of what UK Prime Minister, your starmer had to say in response to this idea that NATO allies had never come to the US defense. Take a look. And so I consider President Trump's remarks to be insulting and frankly appalling. We have a very balanced relationship with the US and that is important for our security, for our defense and our intelligence.
And it's very important we maintain that relationship. But it's because of that relationship that we fought alongside the Americans, for our values in Afghanistan. And it was in that context that people lost their lives or suffered terror injuries. Andrea, are your sources telling you that a line has been crossed?
Is this in fact an inflection point? Would you go that far? What they are saying is that they believe it is. We're going to Munich and everyone will be together again.
But it was in Munich just a year ago that JD Vance insulted Europe. And since then Marco Rubio and the whole establishment of the administration has come out with this new national security strategy which pivots away from Europe towards the Western Hemisphere. They saw what happened in Venezuela. They don't trust any of the explanations for what's been happening in the Caribbean against the boats.
They say that's a smokescreen. So there's real, real concern. And you heard the Mark Carney speech in Canada. That was a lot more resident than President Trump's speech, which frankly had a lot of threats.
But then the pullback on later, the pullback on both tariffs and on military force. They don't know what to expect from the US. And here let me turn back to you what was so notable. You had President Trump forming this board of peace to the point that Andrew is making initially inviting.
Canada then retracting that invitation. You have Russia saying we'll think about joining. You have European allies saying that they're not going to join. How does that play into this broader picture here?
Well the board of peace is fascinating because there's clearly a question about how long it lasts after President Trump is not a long president. But he will be chairman of the board of peace according to his charter forever for as long as he wants to be, until he hands over to another chairman who he chooses. We talked about a question earlier in the week that ultimately this is being seen as a potential replacement for UN bodies because it's a body of leaders and it's not just constricted to Gaza. But the only leader on the board of peace according to charter is President Trump.
Remember on the security council where the UK, France, China, Russia and the US have a permanent seat. All five of those have a veto. So you can imagine why in that sense the UK and France, but maybe even Russia and China are not interested. So bulldozer another Trump bulldozer on the international scene and again at the same time questions about whether it really will work or last.
Alright, Andrea, thank you so much for being here on set here. Thank you. Thank you both for your incredible reporting. We really appreciate it.
Coming up next end of the run. The FBI says they've captured Ryan wedding the Canadian ex Olympic snowboarder accused of running a massive drug trafficking scheme for Mexico. That story's next on the depressing. As the day wraps up get this scoop on what's been happening with here's the scoop but you podcast for NBC News with your host, Jasmine Vesugian.
We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News's trusted journalist. It's a fresh take. A sharp, thoughtful, hands informative, bringing you closer to the headlines and conversations that are shaping our world. On the front page, the Zeitgeist.
Here's the scoop from NBC News. Listen daily on Amazon Music. Hey guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday sit down podcast on this week's episode I get together with Red Hot Stand Up comedian Nikki Glaser to talk about the long career grind that has brought her to this starring moment hosting the Golden Globes killing at the Tom Brady roast and now with another hit special on Hulu. You can get our conversation now for every download your podcasts.
Welcome back. A former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin is now in custody. The FBI announcing today that Ryan wedding was arrested yesterday in Mexico. You are looking at new video of wedding de-plaining in Ontario, California.
Wedding who represented Canada in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games was on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. FBI director Cash Patel calling him one of the largest narco traffickers in modern times. He's a modern day El Chapo. He's a modern day Pablo Escobar.
And he thought he could evade justice. But these brave men and women put together prosecution package, put together investigative package, put together an operation strategy. And here we are today bringing him to justice for trafficking hundreds of kilos of cocaine and also for the murder of innocent civilians. The BBC News Chief Justice and National Affairs correspondent Kelly O'Donnell joins me now.
Kelly, you and I have discussed this case for quite some time. It's out of a movie. And today Cash Patel called Ryan Wedding the largest narco trafficker of modern times. Talk about what specifically he's facing.
What is so stunning about Ryan Wedding is his ability to excel into very different arenas as an athlete. And then on the criminal side where he put together a large enterprise and he grew that from earlier arrests and charges related to some smaller kind of drug trafficking to this global enterprise worth an enormous fortune. They have been looking for him for years. They believe that he attempted to change his appearance, that he was using some aliases and ultimately perhaps surprising in all of this after a huge reward offer of $15 million.
We don't know if someone led to a specific tip, but they worked with the Mexican authorities and they were able to apprehend him by surrender. So there was no incident associated with it. And that ends a long time on the land and now begins what they expect will be a long process to try to prosecute this case. So talk a little bit about what you are watching for next.
Where does this go from here, Kelly? So this is a combined charges of drug trafficking and includes this conspiracy charge where they allege that he ordered the murder of a person who is going to be a witness in a trial and a murder happened. And so they have amassed a lot of material, but also he has been a part of this complex international cartel with their support and backing. So it's going to be difficult perhaps to get some of the witnesses, but they have been doing a methodical case.
And for the moment for this day, they want to sort of cheer lead this accomplishment of getting one of the most wanted fugitives off the books and in custody. Well, it's a remarkable development. Kelly O'Donnell, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it.
Great to see you as always. Coming up after the break, Senate Showdown, meet the Texas size Democratic primary fight that's drawing national attention as Democrats debate the future of their party and the run up to the midterm. Stay with us. Meet the president.
Welcome back. Democrats face a tough road if they want to take back the Senate this November, but the party is hoping it can expand the map by being competitive in states like Ruby Wright, Texas. But first, they have to pick their candidate. Tomorrow state representative James Tallarico and Congressman Jasmine Crockett will face off on the debate stage.
Both Democrats come from very different backgrounds and have very different political styles, but both are seen as rising stars within the Democratic party joining me now. It's Jeremy Wallace, politics reporter for the Houston Chronicle. Jeremy, thanks so much for being here. Really appreciate it.
Let's dive in, set the scene for tomorrow. This is going to be a big Texas showdown. Talk a little bit about what you're anticipating and the fact that one of the critiques or comments about these candidates, they have very different styles, but not necessarily different policies. Yeah, right.
This is kind of the best and the worst of both worlds for Democrats. These are two of their best rising stars. This is the key to their bench and they're having to go against each other, right? With these two different styles.
And the whole question that both of them are going to be trying to answer through this whole debate is not only who you should vote for in this primary, but think about who can win in the general election in November. And they both have very different ways to make that case to voters to why they're going to be better in November to take on either John Cornyn, Ken Paxton or Wesley Hunt. So, Jeremy, tell me what each of these candidates has to do in order to have a strong night tomorrow night to frankly stand out and say, I'm the best person to win this scene against all odds. Yeah, it comes down to that question of who can win this primary and build this coalition of Democrats.
You know, the Democrats are a wide group of people, right? We're talking about who can mobilize the black voters in Texas who haven't had good voter turnout in the last couple of cycles, who can get the Latino voters, the South Texas voters back on the side of the Democrats when they go into the general election cycle. You know, you know, Trump did so well with them in that last presidential race. People are worried like, are we going to get those back into the Democratic column?
So they're going to have to address those two things and still tell the independent moderate type Republicans out there. They know I'm a reliable choice if you want to find a home over here. So that's a lot to manage and one debate. I know.
But boy, you know, they have to make that case if they're going to pull off something that we haven't seen happen in Texas since the 1990s, y'all. Yeah, well, let's thank you for that context because you take me to I have a panel here. So they're laughing if you hear them in the background. So it was a great joke.
Look, give me a little bit more of that context because the closest that a Democrat has come to winning the Senate seat was back in 2018. That was when Beto O'Rourke gave Ted Cruz a real run for his money, but he couldn't pull it off. What does a Democrat actually need to do to exceed because everyone thought, Oh, Beto O'Rourke has a real chance and yet couldn't do it. Yeah, I just had better work on my podcast where we talked about this.
Remember, he was 215,000 votes short of winning that race. Since that election, just Harris County, Texas, where Houston is, has added 340,000 votes. You don't have to be mathematician to see that the potential is there. This is a very blue county that's added enough votes to pull this off.
But it comes with a huge but who can get that the Black voters in Harris County fired up? We haven't seen that happen since the Beto O'Rourke campaign. Nobody's been able to go into those communities and get that voter turnout up. I looked at about 15 precincts in particularly Houston in some of the Black community vote areas around Tugel Park and Kashmir Gardens where Beto O'Rourke actually outperformed Democrats in the past by 3000 votes just in that neighborhood.
But when Colin Allard ran, you know, just less cycle, he actually went 1000 votes short of where Beto was. So you see, like, it's a tough challenge for whoever wins it. And Jasmine Crock is trying to make the case. Look, I can go into these communities.
I can talk to them in a way that you haven't heard since the Beto O'Rourke campaign. And I get them fired up with the registration vote and voter registration changes in Texas. There is a pathway. All right.
Well, it's going to be a fascinating race. Jeremy Wallace, thank you. Stay in close touch. We're going to have you back soon as we continue to track this race.
Really appreciate it. Great to see you. We want to turn now to new numbers that suggest the president's 2024 coalition risks potentially collapsing ahead of the midterms. The president's current level of support looks more like it did in 2020.
That's when he lost reelection and Democrats took full control of Congress. A New York Times, the Annapol shows the president's net job approval has dropped double digits compared to his 2024 level of support at the polls among Hispanic voters and nonwhite voters, more broadly, as well as with young voters, that critical voting block, his support falling to levels at or below where it was in 2020. We should know some voters who viewed the president unfavorably still ultimately voted for him. But whether that's saying goodwill extends toward the rest of the Republican Party in the midterms, certainly remains to be seen.
One of the big questions we'll ask you, asking, joining me now is Deepa Shavram, White House correspondent for NPR, Chris Maher, Democratic consultant, and Ashley Davis, former George W. Bush, administration official and a Republican strategist, thanks to all of you for being here, Deepa, let me start with you. What do you make of these new numbers, which I just laid out? The fact that you see all those negatives stacking up as we're getting pretty close to the midterms.
No, and we know the president is someone who consumes a lot of news and is watching probably some of his poll numbers come in, which follows last month's polling numbers that came out, which also didn't really smoke the news for the president, especially on issues of the economy, which he's historically been really strong in. You've seen a little bit of his immigration approval numbers that also issue he's historically been very strong in. And then as a result, you're seeing the president, if you've been following his true social posts, lashing out a little bit and speaking of this near-time poll, questioning its legitimacy, of course, and potentially bringing up a lawsuit against pollsters. Yeah, Ashley, pick up on that point in what we're seeing in these polls.
What are the types of conversations you're having with fellow Republicans about these polls? Deepa referenced the polling on immigration, which is so fascinating because a majority of people still support deporting people who are here illegally. And yet, when you drill down on the numbers more deeply, ICE is becoming less and less popular. It's becoming a flashpoint for the administration.
Absolutely. In my background, some land security. So I 100% understand this issue. And I support making sure that our borders secure.
But I think that you see the swinging. I mean, after Trump in 2020, and then Biden went the opposite way of opening the border. And now we have the opposite way of getting of maybe Trump closing the border. And then the ICE issues have been an issue for him.
But I mean, here's the deal. We midterms are horrible. I lived through it during Georgia. We both know this.
The speaker has actually been very good with the numbers that he has right now, which is minimal, two, one, three, depending on who shows up. But I really think that the president and actually Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, he's going to have, he's going to be on the road now pretty much the next week, every week for the next year, until the elections. He or his cabinet is not going to be good or bad. That was my next question.
However, I do think that the president doesn't want, I mean, we all know that he loves the ego aspect of this. And he does not want to lose. So I think he will put everything in to trying to win. But listen, we need to bow back a little bit on ICE.
We need to make sure that that affordability is a good issue. And right now Democrats are winning on that issue. That's interesting to hear your acknowledge that. Chris, let me turn to you on that point.
We have seen a real focus on affordability with these Democratic candidates, Mikey Chirrell, for example. And I think that that it's been very clear that that's still the top issue for voters. But I want to put up the generic ballot and look at the latest New York Times, the New York College poll, which suggests that Democrats do have an advantage. Five points.
So it's an advantage, but it's not a huge advantage. It's right outside the margin of error. What do you make of that number, Chris? How much confidence is it giving Democrats?
I mean, I think we're headed in the right direction, right? But we have to remain laser focused on what voters care most about. I think one of the problems that Donald Trump and this administration are running into is an issue of misplaced priorities. Voters are saying, Hey, this is not what we signed up for.
I'm I'm all for board enforcement. But what we're seeing in Minnesota and these actions by ice, that's not what we signed up for. I want to wake up in the morning and know that the president is working every single day to lower the cost of my groceries, my health care, my rent. Instead, I'm waking up and I'm seeing headlines about him wanting to buy Greenland or whatever he's focused on that day.
The president's not focused at all on affordability. Democrats have been able to, you mentioned Mikey Chirrell in New Jersey, every single county in New Jersey, every single demographic, white working men, black Latino, they all moved towards Mikey Chirrell because she was so laser focused on affordability. And she took action on day one of her administration just on Tuesday. Actually pick up on that point.
We saw it with Mikey Chirrell. We saw it in Virginia, as well, Latino voters part of that Trump coalition that he was able to bring together in 2024 just started to erode in those critical races. How much stock do you put in what we saw in the editorial? I think this is why he's going back to a populist message right now.
I mean, the 10% credit card, I mean, and the health care message that he's doing, I mean, listen, we've lost Republicans lost on the health care message during shutdown. Now I do have to say that we were able to pass every bill pretty much in the last month. So I think the shutdown was a force both on the Republican and Democrat side. However, I do think that he needs to concentrate on that and making sure I mean, he's actually dealing right now with Elizabeth Warren on the credit card deal.
I mean, if he can get something like that passed, does he bring a coalition? But listen, our biggest problem is Republicans is he's on the ballot. He brings out people. Whether you love them or hate them, he brings out people.
And that's not going to happen in this term. It isn't just to be like how much on the margins, of course, this election will be in terms of like really tight in the times we live in really, really tight. And the battleground is smaller and you just see like in some issues that both the White House and some of these, you know, governors, some of these 2028 contenders are focusing on just last week, the White House and some of these bipartisan group governors were trying to make this announcement on lower energy costs around, you know, these AI data set is some of these micro issues are going to be the thing that matters. And who's coming together to talk about it?
I think is really significant. Well, I want to put up another group of polling here. This is President Trump's polling by issue. Deba, you brought up the point that immigration has is still largely positive what has gone down a bit.
Look at his net approval on some of these other issues. The US-Mexico border, he's a positive three Venezuela negative 13. They're all negative. Actually, when you see that, the economy negative 18.
I mean, that's the top issue for voters. Is there enough time, even if he's out on the campaign trail to reverse some of those numbers? Well, there is a number that I think that we're missing right here is he's his 40% approval rate or whatever it was with the New York Times. By the way, I don't believe in polls ever since Eric Cantor was up 13 months.
Democrats are still 10 points down on that same poll. So I mean, I think that there is no one likes anybody. I mean, this is why Trump came in. Let's remember this because everyone was done with the establishment.
So that's I think the bigger problem. I mean, I think it's an issue of whether Donald Trump can remain focused on affordability. You know, he goes out, they say he's going to give a speech on cost of living and then he calls affordability a hoax in that same speech. You know, so he has to be able to maintain that focus if Republicans are going to make up any ground at all.
And so far, we've seen Democrats able to maintain their own focus on affordability. All right, guys, great conversation. Thank you so much. Stay safe in this storm.
Deep because and actually, we appreciate it. We'll be back Monday with more Meet the Press Now. And if it's Sunday, it's me, the president, your local NBC station. I'll have exclusive interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch and Senator Adam Schiff, as well as documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.
Don't miss it. There's more ahead on NBC News I'm Craig Malph, cheers. I've always been a glass half-full kind of guy. And now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way too.
Some really fascinating folks who shared their good finding moments, their triumphs, their challenge, their stories are funny and my candid. So I hope you'll join me each week. And who knows? You might just come away with your own glass half-full.
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