Meet the Press NOW — January 28

Foreign. Welcome to the Press. Now I'm Kristen Welker in Washington, where the White House appears to be shifting both its tone and its tactics in Minnesota, with the president acknowledging a need to, quote, de escalate as the political fallout from the fatal shootings of two American citizens continues to grow. But even as the White House tries to turn down the temperature, the president today also warning Minneapolis mayor, quote, not to play with fire and to cooperate with federal government.

In an interview with Fox News yesterday, the president was asked about his decision to shake up the leadership of his team in Minnesota and replace Greg Bovino, whose aggressive tactics have made him a controversial figure. Here's what the president said. We have Tom Holman there now. We put him in there.

He's great. And they met with the governor, the mayor. Everybody else said, well, we're de escalating a little bit. I don't think it's a pullback.

It's a little bit of a change. But Vino's very good, but he's a pretty out there kind of guy. And in some cases it's good. Maybe it wasn't good here.

And we're learning new details about the moments surrounding the killing of Alex Preddy. NBC News has obtained a preliminary internal Customs and Border Protection report which says two agents fired their guns during the confrontation and that during the scuffle, an agent shouted, quote, he's got a gun. But the report makes no mention that Pretty ever held or brandished that gun, as administration officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, have claimed. NBC News also learned that the two agents who fired shots at Preddy have now been put on leave.

Meanwhile, a growing number of Republicans are voicing their frustration with the administration following the shooting. And so when people watch that video and the government tells them, well, he was assaulting the police officers, nobody with any objectivity watches that video and believes that's what's happening. Senator CHRISTINE I have already made a statement on that. I think we would be better served.

I think if Nolan looks at her body at work, I could not be if I were in her position. I can't think of any point in pride over the last year. She's got to make her own decision. The president does.

But she has taken this administration into the ground on an issue that we should own. Stephen Miller is in the same boat. This guy, after doing the stupid comments he made about Greenland, getting the president in a difficult circumstance, is one of the people that came out publicly and said that this guy was a terrorist before he'd even turned with anybody on the ground. That's clearly not the case now.

So, I mean, it's just that, I mean, Stephen Miller never fails to live up to my expectations of incompetence. There was also a frightening moment during a town hall in Minneapolis last night when a man rushed towards Democrat Congresswoman Omar and sprayed her with a substance that she was calling for Secretary no. To step down. Take a look at what happened.

Must resign or face impeachment. Congressman Omar did continue her town hall after the incident, and the man is now under arrest. President Trump, who has repeatedly publicly attacked Omar, telling NBC News that he hadn't seen the video and that, quote, she probably had herself sprayed, knowing her. Joining me now is our terrific 16 reporters.

NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba joins me from the White House along with NBC News correspondent Morgan Chesky. On the ground in Minneapolis, NBC News senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainsley and NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melanie Zinona. Thanks to all of you for starting us off on another very busy news day. Let me start with you.

So we're hearing the president talk about the need to de escalate. Take me inside your conversations inside the administration. Are we seeing a shift in strategy? I think so, Chris.

And I think all of these different moves taken together do amount to that, though it is a little too early to tell whether the actual tactics on the ground and what we're going to see perhaps play out in Minneapolis in the coming days will actually look very different. But certainly the message from the president and the administration is a different one, with a little bit of a softer tone at times. So you are still seeing administration officials say that the president plans to implement his tough immigration enforcement policy and plans. And that is why Tom Homan, the borders are is going to be there.

But the acknowledgment, the tacit acknowledgment of the president saying that we're going to de escalate a little bit tells you everything you need to know because he's acknowledging that whatever the administration was doing there had escalated things to a point that now they need to be brought down. So I think you are hearing from White House officials that they want to see if this can help ease tensions. And certainly the conversations that the president has been having with the governor of Minnesota and the mayor of Minneapolis, that tells you, too, that they're trying to do this, even though some of the rhetoric is still preheated from the administration. Absolutely, Monica.

You know, it's interesting to talk to some of my sources. They point to the Fact that this is a president who understands the power of television. How have these images, Monica, and these optics played into this shift that you're tracking? He really understands the optics.

And he was all weekend essentially watching those images play out after the death of Alex Preddy. And he was following this along and really eventually grew quite disturbed, we're told by a senior administration official. And that's when he knew he needed to make a change. And that's how you saw eventually the new leadership structure that was announced and the eventual departure of Gregory Bovino of the cpp.

Again, they're still going to carry out federal agents, will still be carrying out what the president wants to see when it comes to these broader immigration goals. But I do think it is a bit of a different way. And the president doesn't want to see those scenes repeated. We were told by this official he doesn't like to, quote, see chaos unfold on his watch, Kristen.

And against that backdrop, Monica, the finger pointing has begun. What do you know about that? Yeah, this is something that's a little bit more reminiscent of the first Trump term where we did see this repeatedly. Different factions emerging with contrasting narratives of who's up and who's down and who really could be to blame here.

Something that was extremely notable last night was the fact that you had White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller out with his own statement on the record, essentially saying that he believes that CBP may have not followed some kind of protocol that he talked about, saying that they are reviewing that, but we're unclear on what this new protocol is. He also said that that initial statement from dhs, the one that came just after Alex Freddie was killed, was based on reports from CBP on the ground. Remember, of course, it was Stephen Miller who had called him a domestic terrorist and a would be assassin. But also in the statement, he refers to the fact that he believes there should have been a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors.

And again, that's what they say they are now looking at. And that is what raises a lot of questions, Kristen, because he indicated this was a new White House guideline that went out, but it's unclear to whom that went out. And again, the fact that Stephen Miller is essentially putting the blame elsewhere with officials at DHS saying that they were also getting chaotic reports from on the ground, tells you that there just simply are competing elements here of different people that the President says are very important to his policy operation. And he has stood by and the White House has stood by for now.

Stephen Miller and proceed home at this time. All right, Monica, I'll be starting off. Thank you so much for reporting as always on this developing story, Monica, really appreciate it. Morgan, let me go to in Minneapolis.

I want to get your perspective on the ground there. What are local officials saying about President Trump's call to de escalate? Is there a sense that things are de escalating? Yes and no, Kristen.

And it's been interesting 24 hours to follow because yesterday we see this changing of the guard of sorts. What is our Tom Holman arriving at the departure Board of Control Commander Greg Bovino. And then we hear from Governor Tim Wallace from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry saying that they did both meet with Homan in person and that those conversations were productive. Both Walls and Fry said that there need to be an ongoing dialogue.

But what's interesting today, Kristen, is that here we have federal officials saying that, yes, a number of federal agents will be departing Minneapolis as early as yesterday. But I had a chance to meet with the gunner this morning when he came here to this memorial to pay his respects to Alex Freddy. I asked him about that very thing. Take a listen, spoke to the president and then heard him say how, how good a job Christian Nolan was doing.

And then a statement that really took me back was the president said he himself will oversee investigations. That is so wrong on so many levels and it's the last thing that we want. Governor, are you aware that any agents have actually left this city? I have not been.

I have no evidence they have. So, Christian, while we've been told that Mayor Greg Vino is headed back to California, where he will be resuming his old job, the question over whether or not ICE agents, other federal agents will be leaving the applause so very much on the air. Residents here I've spoken to say they're hearing the words, but they're certainly waiting to see tangible proof. And I think that counts for the governor as well.

Absolutely. Great job tracking him down, Morgan, and getting those questions to him. Let me ask you about another development there. There are reports that federal agents tried to enter the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapol yesterday.

What were you learning about that? Yeah, videos captured an ICE agent trying to enter the premises there. He was kept outside by one of the employees inside the consulate. We know that the country of Ecuador released a statement to the US Embassy there saying this type of action cannot be repeated.

Again, Kristen. All right, Morgan Chesky on the ground there in a frigid Minneapolis. We appreciate your reporting and your interview with the governor. Thanks so much, Morgan.

Julia, let me turn to you. So let's start with one of the big developments today, which is that the two agents involved in the shooting have now been put on leave. What do you know about that? Well, that is what is supposed to happen.

In fact, that's what was unusual when the ICE officer involved in the renewable good shooting was not put on leave. They said he was taking time with his family, but that appeared to be voluntaries. You see throughout federal agencies and use of local law enforcement, there's leave after a fatal shooting, no matter who's to blame, so they can conduct an investigation. It's also so that if an officer has been involved with killing someone, they likely need time off before they're put back on the beat.

They're just not mentally ready to go back to that. It does not mean that this is a disciplinary action. It's more that they've identified there were two officers and they've been put on leave. If there's a disciplinary action, they could likely be put on paid leave, more suspended entirely that that decision would come from the Office of Professional Responsibility within cdp.

And all of this taking place with an investigation underway. You heard President Trump say that he wants to oversee it. Governor Walls responding, saying that he believes that's wrong on so many levels. What is the status of this investigation and are state and local officials involved in any capacity at this point?

You know, we do. We did hear a statement yesterday from Governor Walsh after his meeting with Tom Homo that he wants his Department of Public Safety to be working with the government. But that doesn't mean that they've been given all access. You know, that really should do more with the, with the protests are currently on the ground.

As we understand it, this still lies within the Department of Homeland Security and that if they get enough information, they could refer it to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation. But so far, according to our reporting or any public report is out there, that referral has not been made yet. And that's key because typically it would start with the Justice Department. They would never speak to the White House or the agency responsible for this.

They would be conducting the investigation. They would be talking to people like the bystanders who said they haven't been contacted yet. And we would expect that investigation to take some time and not to have people jump into conclusion so early. And let me just get what you'll be watching for with Tom Homan now on the ground there.

You know, I think there could be a change. I don't want to be too quick to jump to it. But the thing that I've always taken away from my conversations with Tom Holman, that he really believes in two things. One is that sanctuary study should not exist and places like Minneapolis need to cooperate with ice.

But also that the first priority needs to be going after criminals. That means someone's name on a piece of paper. That does not mean going up to people at a gas station asking for their papers. And that's what we saw in Greg Bovino.

So there could be a real change here. But I don't think he's going to back down on this insistence. So they get cooperation from Minnesota, but it doesn't look like the governor's budding there either. So I'll let the watch get another standoff.

All right, Julia, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. Let me turn to Mel's owner now on Capitol Hill. Mel, talk a little bit about the backlash that you are tracking there, particularly this growing opposition to funding Homeland Security government set to shut down on Friday.

Where do you see this going? Well, it does appear to be headed in the direction of a shutdown at this moment. I will tell you there are lawmakers in both parties who are trying to find an offer up here. Democrats did huddle for their lunches today behind closed doors where they came up with a list of demands that they want to see in the DHS funding bill fight.

And the three things they were asking for. Number one, ending roving patrols. Those are the sweeping immigration checks. Number two, applying the same use of force standards they're apply to state and local police.

And number three, prohibiting masks as well as requiring body cameras for ICE agents. Meanwhile, on the Senate floor right now you have Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar speaking about the tragedy in Minnesota. The question, though, is whether Republicans are going to be willing to play ball. They have already rejected some of those ideas.

But Treasury Secretary Scott Benson did tell her Julie Circuit today that Trump appears to be at least a little bit more engaged in this process than he did in the last shutdown. Let's watch another conversation. Again, the government shut down, hurt the economy, longest shutdown in history. So I don't believe that we have to shut down.

I don't believe that we should shut down. But it's always an economic hit. Some of it gets pushed forward. We will see some of the shutdown, the economic growth appear in the first quarter, but then there's some that falls forever, especially in the service economy.

Deal with Democrats on the Hill. I know the president's been in contact with Republican leadership. He's been in contact with some of the Democratic leadership. So we'll see that the president is trying to prevent the shutdown.

So we got a great economy, but time is running out to come together on a deal. And if they don't, that means a significant portion of the federal government expects to shut down at midnight on Friday. Just extraordinary to think that could happen after the longest government shutdown in history. Now let me turn to this attack on Congressman Elon Omar.

The video is absolutely terrifying. The president now falsely saying she staged the incident. What's the latest there? Well, there's been a mixed reaction here on Capitol Hill.

Democrats and even some Republicans did come out and swiftly condemn this attack. That includes fireman Congressman Nancy may have acknowledged she vehemently disagrees with most of what Ilhan Omar says and stands for. But she also said no one deserves to be physically attacked. That is not who we are.

But then there are other Republicans who have really echoed the president. And that includes Rainy Fine. He's a Republican from Florida. He took the social media and essentially downplayed this attack, saying, I don't know what Ilhan Omar is so upset about.

He also blames the left for legitimizing political violence. And this all comes, Kristen, as threats to members of Congress are on the rise. According to the Capitol Police, just last year they investigated nearly 15,000 concerning statements against members of Congress, their staff or their family members. And that's a 40% increase from the previous year.

It's also a record high since they even start tracking these numbers. But it all comes as the Capitol Police force is already understaffed and overworked. So that's been an ongoing problem here at Capitol Hill. Christine, staggering numbers to see in print.

Melanie's and I thank you so much for your great reporting as always from Capitol Hill. We really appreciate it coming out. The top Democrat on the Security Committee joins us as Democrats threatened to partially shut down the government over an effort to reform isis. Now it's just talking about the first breaking news.

The Federal Reserve says it is keeping interest rates unchanged despite mounting political pressure from the White House. Stay with us. You're watching the press. Welcome back.

It's the first interest rate decision of the year. The Federal Reserve voted to keep interest rates steady. The central bank announced in this afternoon it would keep the federal funds rate at 3 1/2 to 3 1/4 percent. The vote was not unanimous.

To governors, both Trump appointees favored rate cuts. The decision company made unprecedented pressure on the Fed with Chair Jerome Powell revealing just weeks ago that he was the target of a federal criminal investigation which he says as a result his unwillingness to bend the president's rate cut demands. Powell was asked multiple times about that investigation and declined to speak further about it. NBC News about Christine Romans joins me now.

Thanks so much. Great to have you here, Christine, in person. So any surprises today? I don't think there were any big surprises.

The Fed deciding not to cut interest rates. We had expected that because the Fed's in it's kind of a position where the economy's growing firm footing. The Fed chief told us heading into 2026 there still is inflation that is somewhat elevated, the Fed chief said, and a job market that saw from last year, but is, you know, stabilizing each inflation because you know, when I look at the consumer sentiment readings, sure the stock market is record high, sure people have all this money in their home, but people say they feel pretty lousy about, about the cost of living. And he acknowledged that there's a squeeze or part of the, part of the electricity.

We have a vast network through the reserve banks and also through the board of Governors where we talk to small and large businesses and households. And so we do hear a lot about affordability and we take that very seriously. And we take it to heart because, you know, our job is one of our jobs is price stability. And so, you know, the best thing we can do for people who are feeling that squeeze is to keep inflation under control and you know, frankly to finish the job of getting inflation back down to 2%.

Yeah, finish the job. He's not saying the president who says it's solved, I solved it, it's defeated. He's saying there's still work to do there. Yeah, still more work ahead.

And it does come against this extraordinary backdrop. But he says that the O.J. is investigating him. He was asked multiple times about this, declined to specifically weigh in, but he was not without some interesting comments.

Left it out to you. Look, we all tried to get more from him on just where they stand in this epic fight between the White House and the Fed and his independence. He was asked what his advice is for the next person who's saying fetch you because he his term up in May and he was so interesting how he said I would say avoid politics. You report to Congress whoever takes this job.

Your boss is Congress. That's where the oversight comes from. And the American people are your customer, your client. Those are, those are my words.

And he said just make sure that you do that. But he Said the people in this building, this independent Fed, the envy of the world, essentially the smartest people you ever work with are the people who work there at the Fed. He seem very proud about that position and setting it apart from the executive branch and these criticisms from the president. And he's someone who has so firmly talked about the importance of the independence of the Fed.

Fascinating to hear that. Let me ask you because Treasury Secretary Scott Bessel was on CBC this morning. I'll tell you a little bit of what he said and get your reaction. I do think that there are many members on the board who had a false narrative on inflation and I hope that they will have an open mind and see what's coming over the next couple months.

What do you think that means? False narrative on inflation? He is saying that Trump, President Trump's policies are going to create a non inflationary boom. He says and has said many times inflation is way lower than the official statistics are showing and that the Fed has spent too much time dithering about worrying about inflation and should, if the president wants cut rates, cut rates, cut rates.

That is not the view from the Fed Reserve. They still feel those policymakers, most of them are very concerned that inflation could come roaring back because the economy is so strong. That is, that is a recent, a recent scar for many people. If you look at polls, it is making the money last the month is still a real problem for a lot of families.

So inflation still front line for them. All right. Christine Romans, always so great to have you here in D.C. with us.

Thank you so much. Great to see you. I'm after the great Secretary Marco Rubio on the hot seat, testifying on Capitol Hill for the first time since the US Capture Venezuela's leader. Stay with us right here.

Meet the PRESS now. Welcome back. U.S. secretary State Marco Rubio testified on Capitol Hill today for the first time since the US Capture and arrest of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro nearly four weeks ago, saying that, quote, good and decent progress has been made in recent weeks.

In his prepared remarks, which he did not read during the hearing, Secretary Rudio wrote the administration is, quote, prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation by the interim government in Venezuela. But when pressed by senators, he appeared to walk back that threat. The president never ruled out his options as commander in chief to protect the national interest of the United States. I can tell you right now with full certainty we are not posture to, nor do we intend or expect to have to take any military action in Venezuela at any time.

The only military presence you'll See, in Venezuela is our marine guards and embassy. Okay? That is our goal. That is our expectation.

To me now ZC's Chief Foreign affairs correspondent and chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell. Andrea, thanks so much for being here over your key takeaways. This was significant that he was on the Hill for the first time this year. He was on the Hill for the first time, not only this year, but not since last spring as he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He is the secretary of State, of course, and the national security advisor. He's been very busy. He's also the head of the National Archives. But the fact is that he has not been that accessible to his former colleagues.

They are, of course, giving him a lot of running room because he is someone they've known for 15 years. And among the national security team, he is clearly the one that they know best and that they rely on the most. Look on Venezuela. He's clearly slow walking it, saying that they're willing to, it's going to take a while.

They're willing to see how this goes. He defended Darcy Rodriguez, the new president, the former vice president from of course, the Maduro regime, when they asked, didn't she have a connection to narcotics also? She was part of that regime and she was known to have those connections. And he kind of lost over that.

So they're willing to give Venezuela a lot of running room. And he was skirting around detailed questions from Senator Shaheen and others about the money, the $500 million supposedly from the first oil sale, that several hundred million are deposited in an account in Qatar. And he was questioned about how that is being accounted for. And that was a little bit murky as well.

Even is the president saying the US could be there for years? Also met with the opposition leader, the Nobel laureate Matado, this afternoon and she was very diplomatic about when or if the opposition would ever get any kind of recognition because clearly this Maduro, post Maduro regime, the successors to Maduro are still very much in charge. Yeah. And very much in alliance with Maduro.

Let me ask you about another big topic that came up today. NATO, of course, a lot of concerns about NATO in the wake of President Trump threatening to take Greenland. I want to play what Secretary Rubio said against your reaction on the other side. Do you still believe that the U.S.

benefits from NATO? We do. I mean, the problem that NATO needs to be reimagined as well in terms of the obligations when we antagonize our allies and partners and when we send Canada to do a trade deal with China instead of coming to New Hampshire or the United States, it weakens our ability to confront our adversaries. But our allies have to be two things, have to be willing to step up, but they also have to be capable of stepping up.

And frankly, many of them have not. How are European allies going to watch that exchange? Not happy. I mean, this is hardly ever bringing an endorsement of NATO and coming after Davos and after his emphasis on the Western Hemisphere.

It's not what they want to hear. Heading in two weeks to the minute spirit is something which I know you'll be watching closely. And there was also some news on Iran, more news on Iran, actually threats from the president. The armada is on the way.

We know that Abraham Lincoln, the carrier is in the region and saying that it is a bigger fleet than the fleet that was arrayed against Venezuela, saying Rubio, saying that the US Is prepared to retaliate and to preempt any kind of Iranian strike against thousands of US Troops in the region. We have more aircraft as well on basis. But the Saudis have said and the UAE have said that they do not want to see a US Strike against Iran. Rubio testified that there are intelligence assessments and I've confirmed that, that there are intelligence assessments that the regime is weaker than it has been.

That's what president being told we could have been at any time since 1979, the revolution, but that there still is no strong opposition and they don't see a crack in the regime. Well, it's a region you and we continue to watch very closely. Andrea, thank you for covering all those angles for us. Great to see you as always.

Coming up next, one of the few Democratic senators who voted to confirm Secretary Kristi Noem as the DHS secretary responds to the growing calls for Noem to resign over her handling of ICE operations in Minneapolis. Plus, breaking news in Georgia. The FBI serving a search warrant today at the Fulton County Election center looking for records related to the 2020 elections. We have the details straight ahead right here on the PRESS now.

Welcome back. Congress appears headed toward a partial government shutdown at the end of this week with Senate Democrats united in their opposition to a Homeland Security funding bill they say does not do enough. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are resisting efforts to separate that bill from the larger appropriations package before Friday's funding deadline. Join me now is Democratic senator from Michigan, Gary Peters.

He is the ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee. Senator Peters, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. Well, good to be with you.

Thank you. It's wonderful to have You. So let's start right there. After this weekend's killing of Alex Preddy, you announced that you would be voting no on this DHS funding bill.

So just walk me through the timeline for you. Were you always a no or was it this incident that happened on Saturday that pushed you to be a no? Well, I certainly had reservations from the get go on the DHS bill. I believe very strongly that we need to have guardrail.

Have guardrails in terms of activities that ICE and other DHS folks are engaged in. When it comes to being on the street, certainly we had incidents that have been incredibly troubling. And then with Alex murder on the street of Minneapolis on Saturday, it became clear that we need to have guidelines. Certainly we have to basically ensure that federal agents are basically have the kind of accountability that we expect of our local police force.

The kind of, kind of actions that we all witnessed. We all watched it on video and I think all Americans who watched that were troubled and outraged by it. That's simply unacceptable in this country and we can't continue along that path. We need to put in some meaningful reforms and now's the time to get Republicans to join us and what should be just the right thing to do.

I want to get your reaction to something that Senator Murray said now, not supporting the legislation, but this was last week, quote, ICE must be reined in. And unfortunately, neither a CR nor a shutdown would do anything to restrain it because thanks to Republicans, ICE is now sitting on a massive flush fund. It can tap whether or not we pass, pass a funding bill, weigh in on that. Will partially shutting down the government actually achieve what you've just laid out?

Well, a couple things. First off, we've got to make sure that we're not shutting down other elements of government that we all agree need to be funded. As you know, there are five bills, important bills for labor and Health and for the Department of Defense. We all agree that.

That's 95% of spent federal spending. Those are bipartisan bills that I served not only as ranking member, Homeland Security, on the Appropriations Committee. We've worked in a bipartisan way. We need to pass those bills.

The House separated them. They just voted on those bills. We can do that in the Senate as well. So far, Leader Flune is not allowing that.

Remember, the Republicans control the Senate and this is just a procedural move. What procedure do you use to put votes on the floor? It's very clear we can just vote on the bills we all agree on and accomplish that. And then I'm going to appeal to my Republican colleagues is that let's work on these refor hope and I know I heard from several of them, some of them have gone public that they too were outraged by what they saw and were incredibly troubled by what they saw on the streets of Minneapolis.

So we have to appeal to that. Let's focus on that issue. It's certainly what the American people expect us to do right now. But we're going a little time to work through those kinds of reforms.

But let's not hold up the rest of government while we work up on reforms that I hope we all agree. And if the Republicans down if they insist on just pushing all these bill bills together this is clearly the shutdown is clearly on that this is just a procedural issue. There's no disagreement on five of those bills that fund 95% of government or more. It's just they have a procedure that don't allow us to do that.

So I'm hopeful I fucked a number of my colleagues. We're not there yet but I hope that saner heads will prevail in the and just to be very clear, do you have any actual buy in from your Republican colleagues at this point as we're having this conversation? Do you think that we are headed for a partial shutdown? Well certainly I can tell you that all of my colleagues at the Democratic side we're not going to be voting to put this motion to proceed which is going to happen tomorrow.

There's not going to be I don't believe there'll be any Democratic votes, perhaps a couple. But it's an overwhelming response from Democrats and we're not going to go forward and it's just unfortunate because we only can move all the other appropriations bills. But I have your question. You know I've had conversations with Republican colleagues.

They many of them are troubled. It takes time I think to work through this and the kinds of reforms that I'm looking at and my colleagues are looking at are basically just common sense reforms and encapsulated it basically says when ICE and other federal agents are engaged in these activities in our communities they should abide by the same rules that our local law enforcement abide by when it comes to body cameras and make sure they get a judicial warrant before they pound down doors people and invade their personal space. You need to have a warrant for that and to make sure you have proper training. And if an officer does something that is goes horribly wrong there needs to be an independent investigation of that.

It can't be within that particular Department states have that. In my home state of Michigan, for example, the policy is that there's a shooting that is investigated. It's not the local department that investigates it, it's the Michigan State Police. We need to have that kind of independence when it comes to the federal government.

Senator, when I ask you about the leadership that you're seeing right now. Secretary no in particular. You were one of seven Democrats actually voted to confirm her as Homeland Security Secretary. Do you regret your vote to confirm?

Secretary There's a question. I'm incredibly disappointed by what we've seen in action. So, you know, I'm ranking member of Homeland Security. I have an opportunity to talk to the secretary.

It's important for me to do my job. But if you look at her actions recently, they are impossible to defend. I think she has done a very bad job, but I don't want to focus just on that because I think if she gets replaced by somebody else, they're also going to do a bad job, especially when you got folks like Stephen Miller and others basically calling the shots. And that's why we need to have meaningful reforms.

We have to put in guardrails into legislation. This has to be in law so a future Secretary of Homeland Security isn't able to freelance and do horrible things that are terrible and are not what the American people want to see from their Department of Homeland Security. Let's focus on keeping us safe from dangerous individuals, but let's not terrorize people on the streets and certainly let's not kill American citizens on the street. And Senator Anderson, it's a bigger picture, but just staying on this question of Secretary Noem, as you know, a number of your colleagues are calling for her to resign.

There are lawmakers in the House who are saying they want to impeach. Do you think she should step down? Well, I think she should ask. As far as resigning, she asked question can she effectively lead this agency?

And based on her performance as of late, I think she should come to the conclusion that she can't. She should. She should move on. But again, let's focus on what we really need to do is I don't know who's going to replace her, but that person will also likely be very bad.

And that's why we need to make sure we're changing the rules, the procedures and the law so that we can have proper guardrails for the Department of Homeland Security, whoever takes that position in the future. All right. Senator Peters, thank you so much for your time and perspective today. We really appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you. We do want to turn out some breaking news out of Georgia, where the FBI is conducting what it calls court authorized activity at the Fulton county election office. County officials say that activity involved serving a search warrant seeking a number of records related to the 2020 election.

Fulton county has been a focus of President Trump's false claims about election interference in 2020. The President referencing those baseless allegations last week in Davos. It was a rig election. Everybody now knows that.

They found out people will soon be prosecuted for what they did. Important to note, of course, the 2020 election, it was not right, as the president just said. NBC News justice reporter Ryan Ryland joins me now. Ryan, what are you learning about the focus of this FBI activity in Fulton County?

Yeah, so under FBI protocol, what they're allowed to do is confirm when there's law enforcement activity at a place. And in this instance, they've said that this was court authorized law enforcement activity. But we know from the county itself is that this the search WARRANT that invol 2020 election. And so obviously that's something, as you know there, that Donald Trump has had a long focus on, and he's really been pressuring the Justice Department to bring forward some sort of action on.

But there's a number of reasons, you know, including the fact that the 2020 election was not, in fact, rigged. That really created a burden, I think, for the people who were being pressured by Donald Trump to move forward. This is a major step forward potentially into a future investigation that we don't know where exactly this is going to land. And what are state local officials saying about these developments?

Yeah, I mean, I think they were surprised by it. And as of this afternoon, this was still an ongoing search. And so all they sort of said was that this was about the 2020 election. But we had a number of measures from the Justice Department to attempt to get these records before there were sort of separate court battles involving the Civil Rights Division to sort of get records from from Fulton County.

And so, you know, this really feed grievance that Donald Trump has had. And now that it's been five years since the 2020 election, is it possible that statute of limitations could preclude any charges related to what happened in that election? Yeah, that's precisely the big question here, because that five year statute of limitations is up. And so in order to charge any crime, they would have to find that there was some sort of criminal conspiracy in which there was some sort of action as part of that criminal conspiracy that took place within the past five years.

And so you know, right now, as of, you know, January 28th of 2026, that five year statute limitation goes back to 2021 to late January 2021. And so they have to find that there was some sort of criminal conspiracy and that there were actions taken during that time. And that's at a point where of course, Joe Biden is already back or is already in the White House. This is it's not a scenario where the election was still sort of off of debate.

So it's a little bit of a trick if they actually want to bring forward any criminal charges to try just to get past that prel given the statute of dictations. All right, Ryan, thank you so much for joining us on the breaking news. We really appreciate it. Silicon President Trump hits the road to have his administration's economic agenda.

But will his message break through in the aftermath of those back to back bail shootings in Minneapolis? The panel's next. This is the President. Welcome back.

This week was meant to be President Trump's big pivot to the economy and unofficial kickoff to the midterms. While he did give emotionally economic focus speech in Iowa, that message has been largely overshadowed by the fallout from the deaths of two American citizens at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota and the backlash of the president's immigration agenda. Joining now is our panel, Nicholas Wu, congressional reporter for Politico, Megan Hayes, former special assistant to President Biden and Stephen Hayes, editor and CEO of the Dispatch and an NAC news contributor. Thanks the to all, all of you for being here.

Really appreciate it. Nicholas, let me start with you. And what President Trump has said needs to be a little bit of a de escalation. What are you seeing and what do you make of this moment?

Oh, what we're seeing, the collision right now is all these different factors with the government funding fight that's happening in Congress. We have a crucial deadline on Friday where funding for a good chunk of federal government is set to lapse. And a very carefully crafted deal is about to really fall apart in the Senate right now because there's been such a backlash among Democrats to the ideal funding DHS after these shootings in Minneapolis. Yeah.

And Stephen, it does come as the president was going to make this pivot to the economy. But everything has been overshadowed by this moment. What quite frankly feels like a pivotal moment in Minneapolis and in the president's deportation. Yeah, I think a big moment for the country.

Honestly. It's not just the war that we saw in the House over the weekend. Remember, this comes on the Heels of the president speaking open about the possibility of the United States invading a NATO ally to take territory that does not. I mean, that's on top of the kidnapping of Napoleon Venezuela.

That's on top of discussions of Iran strike and strikes in Nigeria, strikes in Syria. This is just a huge moment. I think people in the country get the sense that this is out of control and the president isn't focused on the things that they, in some ways, elected him to focus on. Some of his base, of course, voted for him for this kind of retribution for some of the stuff that we're seeing on immigration.

But a lot of people voted for him because they wanted their prices to come down, because that's what he said and that's how he ran against Joe Biden. Yeah, well. And, Meghan, one of the aspects looming so large over all of this is the initial response that we saw from top administration officials, including Secretary Christine Noem, who came out and referred to Mr. Freddie as a domestic terrorist.

I want to play a little bit what Trish McLaughlin had to say. In response to questions about her initial response, Secretary Noem accused Alex Pretty of being a domestic terrorist. Is the administration standing by that language? So initial statements were made after reports from CBP on the ground.

It was a very chaotic scene. We know that our ICE law enforcement are facing rampant violence against them, a highly coordinated campaign. So that is why this investigation is so important, so we can get accurate facts to the American people. So, Megan, despite that, you still heard Senator Peter say.

Yeah, he thinks actually it's time for Secretary Noem to go, which I thought was striking. Guys, it's really interesting. The last 24 to 40 hours, you've realized in the blame game really take shape here. You've seen no blame blame Stephen Miller in the President.

You've seen Stephen Miller blame cpb. That information was inaccurate. All that this is creating is just more chaos. And to your point, the American people are tired of it.

They don't want to wake up and hear about taking over Lane. They don't want to wake up and see the thumbs being shot on our street. They literally just want their grocery prices to come down. They want to be able to get their kids to school and pay for groceries and pay for electricity, which they cannot do right now.

Steven, what did you make of what we heard from Trisha? And that seems to be the line that we're hearing from dhs. And as Megan rightfully points out, the blame game is in full swing right now. Well, let's be really blunt about it.

There's very little reason to believe this Trisha McLaughlin because she lies a lot. And what she's doing here is lying in defense of the lies that we saw from the administration officials. It wasn't a massacre. They had no idea that Alex Brady wanted to come and kill ICE agents.

One lie after another after another. That's what she's doing here. And the thing that I think is disturbing is that they're often lying when the reality is contradicted by the things that we can all see. And I don't think they're lying because they help to persuade people who have seen the video or people might have just heard about the video.

They're lying to give their base something to say. And I think that's the. Nicholas. One of the aspects of this moment is the video that everyone has seen that is so difficult to watch.

And there are so many different angles that people spent the weekend reviewing, quite frankly. And that posed a real problem when those initial statements came out. This is a president who understands television. He understands the power of optics.

How do you think these visuals are playing into the shift that we're seeing with him? It's really a reflection of things that the moment we are in now, 2026, where smartphones are ubiquitous, all these videos are on social media almost immediately afterwards. And so in many ways, that served to contradict this initial narrative that came out of the administration. I think that's why we're seeing such a turn of opinion in some ways after this bigot shooting and then politically, too.

Yeah, because I want to go back to a point that you made, which is about the potential partial government shutdown that's looming over all of this. What did you make of what you heard from Senator Peters in terms of it's shining light on whether or not there might be a breakthrough? Did you get the sense that there could be one by Friday? Right now it doesn't seem like there will be.

The Senate's going to take basically a key testimony tomorrow. It doesn't look like it'll succeed. And so it's a question of where things go from there. Like some Republican senators are talking about stripping out the DHS funding bill from this whole funding package, but that means we have to go back to the House, and there's no guarantee that a standalone DHS funding bill could even pass the House right now.

So this leaves us in a very bad place, politically speaking. How are Democrats viewing this? We know that in the last government shutdown, polls did show that most of the blame went to Republicans. And yet here you have Democrats threatening to effectively shut down government for a second time.

But it backfire. I mean, I think I always get backfire when you choose to shut down the government thought it a way to reopen it. But I do think that the Democrats have to stand for something here and they have to really push back on the funding for dhs. And I specifically.

But my question is should demand all these things that I do, all these reforms. But they aren't following the law anyway. So why are they going to follow these reforms that you're asking? They're going to take their money, they're going to move on and we're going to be back in the same situation criticizing them for wearing masks and not having warrants and not following the law or the Constitution.

So I just don't understand where we're coming, how we're going to get at this moment. Stephen, do you see a way out of this moment? No, probably not. I mean, you think Republicans are feeling the heat.

No. That they haven't before. There is a sense that this is this big moment that things have spun really out of control and you're having people, you're having people don't want to talk about politics like Victor Wembiano, the NBA star and Dave Matthews. People are weighing in because they think things are out of control.

And Republicans will listen to that. Yeah. I want to play a little bit of what President Trump had to say last night because of course the backdrop of all of this is the midterm elections. He clearly has his eye on that.

Here's a little bit of what happens have to say what will happen to Democrats trying to impeach me. They'll say he went to Iowa and he spoke unfairly to people and he's not supposed to do that. Let's impeach him. Okay.

Nicholas, what do you make of those comments by the president? This is not the first time that he's predicted that if Democrats were to win back the House, it would be impeach. I have said interviewed a lot of Democrats and they don't jump immediately to impeachment, though no one's closing the door on them either. And this is very much a long time fixation of the president.

And you know, there's some reporting that, you know, his fears impeachment were what even drove, you know, nationwide redistricting push by him and his knowledge. But you know, to your point about Democrats, pretty much almost every Democratic politician I've talked to really doesn't want to touch impeaching. President Trump. But that is the part why we see so much talk right now of impeaching Christine Noement officials instead.

That's a much safer political target for Democrats. Weigh in on this. Stephen, do you think that this concern about impeachment is just, I mean, has been impeached twice in the past. It stands to reason that he would jump to that conclusion.

But what do you make of his sort of fixation on it right now? Yeah, I think he's right just in terms of where the Democrats heads are. If Democrats did take the House, they would try to impeach him. They probably try to impeach him several times.

Like Nicholas is right, too. They don't want to talk about it. They want to do it, but they don't talk about it because they don't think it's very good. And if there's one thing that Republicans that the president can do at rallies, Republican days is to play the martyr we saw and do this very effectively in the 2024 presidential campaign.

They're coming after me and they're not really just coming after me. They're coming after me and they're coming after you. I think you could play that to good effect if Democrats spoke about more openly. Megan, how do you see this impeachment discussion?

Do you think the Democrats should stay away from it and stay focused on what you're talking about? Affordability? Absolutely. It has no go to 27 to be the president until 2029.

So they should focus on solutions for making things more affordable. Hope of winning The White House, 28, let alone the midterms. And I think that that's looking more favorable. The president needs to get out of Washington to get out of his inner circle, to really touch grass because he is falling.

It's going every day. It's more disaster than how many he's taking the midterms. All right, thank you all for being here on the very busy day. Really appreciate it.

We're back tomorrow with more MEET the PRESS now. And as always, you can catch up on full episodes of Meet the Press and Meet the Press now with the Meet the Press podcast. Just scan the QR code and listen now wherever you get your podcasts, there is much more news ahead on NBC News now. Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of the Drink this month.

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