Meet the Press NOW — July 10

If it's Wednesday, new defections from Team Biden as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi falls short of saying the president should stay in the race, and more Democrats publicly call for a new nominee, including one of the party's most successful fundraisers, George Clooney. Plus, President Biden also facing intense scrutiny on the world stage as he continues a day of NATO meetings amid aimed at strengthening the alliance, Ukraine, and his political standing at a critical moment for his presidency. And we are closely following Senator Bob Menendez's federal bribery and corruption trial, where closing arguments are wrapping up and jury deliberations are expected to begin soon. Welcome to Meet the Press Now.

I'm Aaron Gilchrist in Washington. The list of Democrats calling on President Biden to step aside is growing, and now includes one of the party's most recognizable and prolific fundraisers. The president did not address his political standing during an event with union leaders here in Washington today, and he spent the rest of the afternoon in meetings with world leaders at the NATO Summit, ahead of what could be a make-or-break solo news conference tomorrow. Today, Congressman Pat Ryan became the 10th House Democrat to call on the president to withdraw from the race, after Congresswoman Mikey Sherrill did so yesterday afternoon.

Even among longtime allies, there are new concerns. Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi gave this tepid endorsement during an interview this morning suggesting he should still consider withdrawing. It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short.

He's beloved. He is respected, and people want him to make that decision. He has said, he has made the decision. He has said firmly this week, he is going to run.

Do you want him to run? I want him to do whatever he decides to do, and that's the way it is, whatever he decides we go in. Now, her office later put out a statement, reiterating quote, Speaker Pelosi fully supports whatever president Biden decides to do, which is itself still notable, given that the president has already said he's made his decision to stay in the race, and he has said that multiple times. You're trying to push me out of the race.

Let me say this as clear as I can. I'm staying in the race. I don't think anybody's more qualified to be president or win this race than me. The bottom line here is that we're not going anywhere.

I am not going anywhere. Meanwhile, in the Senate, the first public signs of discontent among Democrats with Colorado Senator Michael Bennett confirming reports that he told Senate colleagues that president Biden can't win the election. Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election, and maybe win it by landslide and take with him the Senate and the House. If we just sit on our hands, if we say we're going to disregard what is plainly in front of us and plainly in front of the American people, and we end up electing Donald Trump again as president of the United States, that's going to be a huge tragedy beyond epic proportion.

Now, Bennett stopped just short of saying the president should withdraw from the race. The source tells NBC News Bennett was joined in his concerns by Senators John Tester and Sherrod Brown both facing uphill battles to keep their seats and adding to the list of defections after George Clooney, a major Democratic fundraiser who co-hosted that star-studded event for Biden last month that raised $30 million for the campaign. He's publicly calling on Biden to step aside. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell is outside the White House for us now, Julie Serkin is at her post on Capitol Hill.

Kelly, tomorrow's news conference, maybe the president's best chance to reassure some of these nervous Democrats we've been talking about that he is up to the job. How is he preparing for that? Well, Erin, we've been talking to sources who say that the president is preparing, knowing that it will be a challenging news conference, meaning tough questions on current key issues involving the fate of his own candidacy and the standing of his presidency. But they're aware of that.

They do know that it is different than preparing for a debate, which drew so much attention. And in many ways is the reason this new news conference is getting the kind of level of stature that we expect it will have, a difference because they say they're preparing for a debate which is often not tied to the day news cycle, the issues going through incrementally, but much more sweeping about a candidacy and, of course, the rules and the timing and the nature of a debate is different. So, preparing, yes, working on it while he is doing a series of interviews, there have been some already, radio, local newspapers, national television, war of that coming, this week and next. And so they're saying that's part of how he is engaged in that way.

And it certainly means that the president's answers will get scrutiny. It will mean that the nature of the questions and how broadly he addresses them. People will be able to watch and give their own assessment just as any voter would in an unscripted moment where there are not telepromters to support him, which is the typical way that a press conference would go. He can prepare, but he has to answer in the moment.

And people will have a sense to judge, does he calm their fears or does the question about his future still linger? Erin? Kelly, let's talk a little bit about money here. We mentioned that fundraisers are now publicly weighing in on this candidacy.

If we take the celebrity out of this George Clooney op-ed, how significant is it that someone like Clooney, who just spent time with the president a few weeks back in L.A., is saying that he's lost a step at this point? Well, part of what makes it so jarring is that he is well-known. People have their own sense of who he is, his longtime involvement in democratic politics. And as you point out, being a host at a fundraiser is already a big demonstration of commitment.

That's the fundraiser where the president flew back from Italy all the way to Los Angeles and then appeared with those notable Hollywood types, including George Clooney and former President Obama. And George Clooney, who say that he has known the president over time, makes a difference. Here's part of what he described, where he says that it's devastating to say it, but the Joe, I was with three weeks ago with a fundraiser, was not the Joe who said the big effing deal in 2010. That's a reference to when healthcare was passed.

He wasn't even the Joe of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate. That's what's so critical that he had an opportunity to interact with the president and also to compare that to what he saw on the debate stage. And George Clooney's account is that it was more like the debate than the experiences he had in the past.

So it is one person's opinion, but it's a person who has done a lot to work for Joe Biden and a person who many other Americans can look to and say, I know something about George Clooney, maybe that resonates with them. That's the impact it has. Now, there are people in the campaign who say there are many other celebrities who are holding firm and that there have in fact been some past tensions between Clooney and the campaign, largely over the issue of the Israel War with Palestine and with Gaza. And so that is some of the background, but it is certainly notable it's getting attention and Clooney obviously took action to say he loves Joe Biden, believes in him, as a person believes he's a man of moral character, but would like to see him step aside.

Kelly, I do want to ask you very quickly, we played some of the sound from Nancy Pelosi in an interview she did this morning. Has the president spoken to the former speaker in recent days? How much weight does her opinion and her comments have on President Biden? Well, her comments are notable for the reasons that you outlined.

It was not a full throw that I'm totally with Joe Biden now. And Nancy Pelosi is someone who has a very keen sense of what her own members in the Democratic Caucus feel, what they think. She also has an acute sense of what the political landscape is for those races, things like what the House impact would be, what the Senate impact would be. And she's also very well connected with the donor community because as speaker in the years when she was actively in that role, she's now Speaker of America, she was one of the prime donors for the party.

She's connected to all of those different data points. And certainly the president has spoken to her not in the last 24 hours or so, but it is a real test of their relationship. She says she's with him and supports him, but is sort of encouraging him to review his decision. All right, Kelly O'Donnell for us at the White House today.

Kelly, thank you. We want to turn to Julie Serkin now. Julie, we're now up to 10 private and public calls for the president to drop out of the race from House Democrats. No calls from the Senate at this point.

What are we hearing from that side? And no formal calls from Senators Aaron for Biden to drop out of the race, but let's talk about the significance of the upper chamber versus the lower chamber, though it is significant and telling that at least 10 have come out in terms of House Democrats to call on Biden to step aside. I mean, where Biden feels comfortable where he feels at home in terms of the many years that he spent in his public service in the Senate. So if we start to see his allies, his former colleagues come out, you know, 100 senators versus 435 lawmakers come out and start calling on Biden to formally exit this race, that is something that I'm sure the president would pay close attention to.

Nonetheless, even if they didn't go that far, we certainly heard a number of concerns from his allies here, from senators who are up in vulnerable positions come November. Take a listen to a little bit of what we gather today. Speaker Pelosi nailed it pretty well this morning. So she's been deafening.

You can get out of here. Like I said, if you want to say that, then she can step aside. You know, at this point, I think he has a strong campaign and a strong message to the leader. I believe he's going to move forward on the sport.

He's working vigorously to try to quell the concerns that have been raised. And I think that's his task right now. He can do it. But there will be a question mark for some time.

There will be a question mark saying things like at this point, this is all rhetoric that is not to be ignored. Tomorrow, of course, as we have noted and reported campaign advisors will come and try to swage some of this concern that Senate Democrats have, but still, you know, we've looked for vulnerable Senate Democrats and our tester, for example, who privately in the meeting yesterday raised concerns. Similar to what you heard from Senator Michael Bennett saying, look, is this going to cost us our races down ballot? Is this going to cost us control of the Senate?

That's what they're thinking about here now. On top of the fact that they're not sure if Biden can beat Trump in November. You mentioned this meeting happening tomorrow with Biden campaign staffers and senators there. Obviously, we know the president spoke with CBC members directly himself, right?

He spoke to governors. He spoke to mayors. We have a sense of what the meeting tomorrow would be like and why we're hearing, why that group will hear from the campaign as opposed to from the president himself. Look, Aaron, of course, there's a level of, from senators at least, why didn't they hear directly from president Biden?

And everybody wants that outreach from the president to make sure that he is listening to their concerns of what they're hearing back home from their constituents when it comes to this meeting tomorrow. It is significant, right? It is being held off campus and basically the campaign HQ for Senate Democrats to help get them elected come November and we're going to see top campaign advisors from the Biden team there tomorrow in the words of what one Senate Democratic source told me they're hoping that they can lay out and flesh out the polling the way it really is in the states, certainly a number of them would want to hear from president Biden face to face too, Aaron, but that's not going to happen on a busy NATO day. All right, Julie, sir.

Good for us today. Julie, thank you. Joining me now is Ohio Democratic Senator Greg Landsman. Senator Congress.

Excuse me. The time for us today didn't mean to mix up the title there, but I appreciate you making the time. I do want to put up the statement that you posted on Monday. We'll show it to our viewers here.

President Biden has to be able to make this case clearly to the American people again and again and again. Now's the time for action, but time is running out. Are you calling on president Biden to withdraw if he can't clearly make the case against former president Trump? Well, like Pelosi said today and we all have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Nancy Pelosi, it's his call and it is and my hope and what I've said publicly, privately is that the stakes are so high that we've seen fascism on the rise around the country or on the world.

You've got countries that have batted it down and countries that have not. We're in the middle of a moment where we have to look at Trump, who's unfit to be president, tried to overturn an election, which is disqualifying and appreciate that this is a type of authoritarianism and it can't happen on our watch. We don't want that to happen to the country that we love so much. Now, he's got other issues Trump in terms of, you know, his, the fact that he took reproductive freedom away from tens of millions of women and girls, that he's, you know, wasted trillions of dollars on billionaires and big corporations at the expense of us, but the big disqualifying factor for Trump is that he undermined our democracy and, you know, I took an oath to ensure that we protect our democracy and, and, and, and, so my, my feeling is that buying has to make the case that Trump is not fit and that he's the one to beat him.

So, and if he can do that great, if he can't, then he's got to say so. If he can, he's got to say so and, and step away in your estimation or, so that question and also what does making the case actually look like if you were to list out the things that say, you know, this is an effective way for this, this nominee, this potential presumptive nominee to make the case. What does that look like? Well, it's going to take a lot of work.

A lot of interviews, town halls may be calling into places, not necessarily a DC based show, but calling into Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio and being able to articulate the case against Donald Trump, why he's unfit to be president, how he will upend our democracy in our lives at Trump and do it over and over and over again until the tide turns. If he can pull that off, there were 40 million people who watched the debate. So this isn't going to be something he can pull off over the course of a couple of days and he's certainly not going to be but pull it off by, you know, reiterating that he's staying in the race over and over and over. He's got to make the case about why Trump is unfit and he's the only person who can win this because our democracy really is on the line.

And so that's what I'm trying to get an understanding of your opinion about, right? We saw this letter that the president sent to you and to your colleagues on Monday where he said some of the things you just mentioned. He wrote, I wouldn't be running again if it didn't believe, absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024. So do you agree with President Biden?

Is he the best person, the best Democrat to beat Donald Trump in 2024? He also said Biden also said that there were 50 other people who could be president, former president Trump. So I think that's true. Which is different from what he's saying currently, right?

Well, I think he said that a couple of days ago, I could be wrong, but I did see a clip of that. I think it's included in that, but we can't take any chances. If this was any, if Trump or any other Republican, I don't think you would see this kind of reaction to what happened at the debate. There would be concern, obviously, Democrats want to win.

The problem here is that Trump is not a normal Republican. He will break this democracy because the only thing he cares about is himself. He will put himself above our democracy as he did on January 6. And he worked on trying to upend that election for months.

He is a chaos agent. And extremists who will, I think, destroy what's core to who we are, our democracy. So given that, if you think that Trump is this existential threat to democracy, our Democrats putting your best foot forward to stop him with this candidate at this moment? This is the discussion that's happening right now.

And I think it's an important one. And I don't think anyone should try to silence or quell this. And I hope the White House stops. I think this is an important conversation for not just Democrats, but countries having this conversation.

People back home, Democrats, Republicans, independents, I'm hearing it from everybody. They're having this conversation because the anti-Trump majority in this country, or sorry, anti-Trump coalition in this country is, I believe, a majority of voters. And they deserve the best possible candidate. Now, if Biden can prove that, he's got a couple of weeks.

Otherwise, I do believe a change will have to happen. But again, as Nancy Pelosi said, that's his call. It is his decision. So he has to decide whether or not the stakes are so high, right?

Because it's me. It's my kids. You, your kids, we're the ones that are going to have to deal with this, which is what happens if we lose our democracy, what happens if freedoms aren't restored, aren't protected, what happens if this economy remains rigged for the super wealthy at the expense of the folks I represent. There's a lot on the line.

And the, you know, I think the president, I hope, is weighing all of that and will ultimately make a decision that's best for the country, not for the party, not for the country. And you say maybe in the next couple of weeks that there's something that could have happened. Congressman Greg Lanzen, we appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And before we go, we do have a special NBC News programming note for you. My colleague Lester Holt sits down with President Biden in an exclusive one-on-one interview that is set for Monday. You can watch a preview on NBC Nightly News, and then the full unedited interview in a prime time special at 9 p.m.

Eastern on your NBC station and on NBC News Now. Coming up, our election forecasting friends at the Cook Political Report say the political wins are now at Republicans' backs in multiple critical swing states, plus a major change to election laws in a battleground state that is so crucial in November that Republicans are about to host their convention there. You're watching Meet the Press Now. And welcome back.

Democrats' biggest post-debate fears were put in stark terms today as the Cook Political Report shifted its rating for six key presidential contests all toward former President Trump. Arizona, Georgia, Nevada moved from toss-up to Lean Republican, while Minnesota, Nebraska's Second District, and New Hampshire moved from likely Democratic to Lean Democratic. Amy Walter at the Cook Political Report writes, although Biden likes to argue that he's overcome bad polls and dismissive pundits before, this situation is different. Biden's challenge isn't simply to convince voters that he can win or that his policies are superior to Trump's.

He has to convince voters, including many in the anti-Trump coalition who supported him four years ago, that he is physically and mentally able to govern for another four years. Joining me now to talk a little bit more about this, NBC News Chief Political Analyst Chuck Todd, Mariana Sothamayore, congressional reporter for The Washington Post, Mo Ilethi, Democratic Strategist and Executive Director of the Georgetown University Institute of Public Politics and Public Service, and Mark Lotta, former Director of Strategic Communications for the 2020 Trump Campaign and Chief Communications Officer at the America First Policy Institute. Thank you all. So Chuck, I'll start with you.

We look at these numbers, the data that's been aggregated by the folks of the Cook Political Report. It's saying loud and clear that Biden winning a second term is not going to be an easy thing. Is any of that reality getting through to the campaign, to Democrats on the Hill in other places? Because think about who you hear from and who you don't, right?

Who has put out supportive messages of providing its people that either are not in swing districts or in swing states or not on the ballot in 2020, for him to be a John Federman. The people raising the most concern are the ones that are on the ballot. You take a Mikey Sheryl, she's in a swing district in New Jersey. It's a tough district in a good Democratic year, let alone whatever this could look like.

So those are the fact that that's who you're hearing from, and guess what? They're not just saying it. They're not just talking to voters. They also have their own polling operations, and they've been seeing this problem.

None of this was new. But things that the Biden campaign is sort of trying to take some solace in is that the numbers aren't moving that much. Well, that's because the voters had already decided that he might not be up to the job, which sort of was priced in. Unfortunately, him having the debate performance he had failed to do what the Biden campaign was trying to do, which was unlock this sort of stuckness that this race has been in.

And that's why there's widespread panic on anybody that's in a competitive election in the Democrat style. Mariana, you spend your time on Capitol Hill talking to these lawmakers. Is that what you're hearing too? They're worried about these down ballot races?

Oh, absolutely. I mean, to Chuck's point, they have their own internal polls. And based on some of the conversations I've had, and it's not just the competitive district members anymore, there are some members in safer seats in California who are starting to see based on their internal polls that not only is Biden going down, but they're starting to go down. And that is why you have seen an array of members, or, excuse me, privately still talking to leadership and saying, we're raising the alarms here.

And it's really key, both in what Pelosi has said, and I would even say yesterday, the Democratic Chairman Pete Aguilar made very clear that you have to kind of give Biden this week. Pelosi said, you know, let's wait till NATO is over. Many Democrats are going to be watching the press conference tomorrow that he's giving, it's the first time that he is very much unprompted taking questions. If that doesn't go well, we are likely to hear many more members come out publicly to step aside.

But there is this realistic perspective from how Democrats more so than the Senate, they know that they can't totally influence the process, that Biden's going to have to make this decision on their own. But they're actually starting to parade, that maybe some senators can go to the White House at some point and make this very clear to Biden. So if we talk about this news conference that's coming up tomorrow, what, how big a deal is this, do you think, and what does success actually look like for the president coming out of an event like that? Yeah, look, I think every day is a big deal right now, and to both of your points, it's not that the polling is bad, I think that is causing a problem.

It's the inability to do anything to sort of counter the slippage that they're seeing in the polling. And that's what people are waiting for. Those who are being silent or those who are just browsing in the background, they are waiting to see the president tackle the number one concern with him right now, which is the appearance of strength and decisiveness, right? That's it.

It's that he's got to look strong and in command. So what does success look like tomorrow? The success looks like what we saw the day after the debate in North Carolina. What we saw at State of the Union, but without the prompter, right, and without the script.

If he looks strong and in command of that podium, when he is taking questions from the press corps, that will begin the rehabilitation process. The polls that we've seen are all mostly the public polls, at least, snap polls, post debate. What matters is not what the initial post debate polls show. It's the trend line.

I usually don't care about any singular poll, but if the trend line continues to show slippage after another week, then you're going to, I think, see the drum beat get louder and louder. So Mark, while that drum is either getting louder or staying where it is, we've know that former president Trump has been relatively calm and controlled through this time period. It's been fairly quiet, if you will. What's the opportunity for him going into the RNC next week?

What does he need to do to take advantage of this moment in time? Well, I think you're seeing them set that up right now with the themes they've announced. So you're going to have the economy on night one. You're going to have the border and security crime on night two, national security night three, and then obviously the president, the former president, giving his acceptance speech on night four.

So this is a chance to get back to the policies, because while we all talk about the debate, Joe Biden was losing this election prior to the debate. He was down in the national polls. He was down in all the battleground states. The debate didn't help clearly.

So getting back to the policy and the reason why two thirds of the American people say the country's on the wrong track, that plays the Donald Trump's favor. Chuck, let me go there with you. I want to put up on the screen part of the column that you wrote this week and talk a little bit about the former president. You said this isn't about Biden's feelings.

This is about Trump. Handringing about Biden isn't anti-Biden. It's anti-Trump. The sooner Biden understands how he got to the White House and why there are so many questions now about whether he should be the Democratic Party's standard bearer, the sooner the party can figure out how to move forward.

Now, as long as Biden is the nominee, you're going to have this low hum about his fitness for office, sort of sitting next to Trump being his competitor. You write that none of this is actually helping Donald Trump, though. What's been interesting, he hasn't gotten a huge bump, right? It's been more of a sinking for Biden, but, you know, I subscribed to an old Haley barbarism from the 90s.

Good, gets better, bad, gets worse in politics, and it happens a lot, and you can sort of see this with Biden. It goes to what Mo is saying. It's not that the polls have moved a lot, and okay, this in theory is recoverable. What is the evidence he has the ability to do what it takes to sort of turn this around?

And so, for instance, instead of complaining that people are upset at him, he ought to be more impacted. I get it. I'm sorry. The only reason he got the nomination is because he was seen as the easiest and best path for Democrats to unite around somebody to beat Trump.

He has benefited from this where the elites said, look, Biden's never been my friend. He's never been the first choice of a lot of constituency groups. But what he was was he was the least bad option, and he's benefited from that. Now, he's got to realize that his one strength was his ability to beat Trump.

When that's gone, you have no more strengths unless you can, you know, he ought to bring Mark Warner to the White House and say, I get it, I'm sorry. I blew it. Give me one more chance. But instead, he's attacking him, which I don't think is a very smart way to sort of get the party back into your good races.

Mario, I want to ask you about Donald Trump's rally last night. He talked quite a bit about the issues that the Democratic Party is dealing with right now, but also about Vice President Harris in some of his remarks here. Let me play a little bit of that now. But whatever else can be said about Crooked Joe Biden, you have to give him credit for one brilliant decision, probably the smartest decision he's ever made.

He picked Kamala Harris as his vice president. If Joe had picked someone even halfway competent, they would have bounced him from office years ago, but they can't because she's got to be their second choice. So what do you make of that to comment? We just heard about the vice president.

I mean, it's significant that he devoted any time to her, right? Because it is a switch. I mean, Republicans are very much aware that if Biden decides to set the side, Democrats are likely going to support Harris. Why?

Because she's the only one who has that Biden-Harris campaign operation that could stay. But also, for many, even though they may not have liked her policies before, I'm even hearing in the two meetings that frontline swing district House Democrats have had with leadership. They have said, we will get behind Harris. I think that's why you heard from Mikey Cheryl yesterday when she was asked if she would get behind Harris unequivocally.

She said, very, very quick that she would be a fantastic candidate. So this is where lawmakers are pivoting. I can make an argument actually that while she may not be able to, she may struggle with some swing voters, she helps fire up a base that actually can help Democrats down the ballot even if she comes up short. So there's a lot of folks I've been talking to her last week and said, look, if we're going to lose, give me somebody that might actually get the Democratic base out and get some enthusiasm out.

And suddenly, the thinking is that's not Biden anymore. Right. And she gets that age question off the ballot. That's what I hear consistently.

But she doesn't get the policy. She's off the ballot. And so on immigration, the economy, energy, the border, she still owns all of Biden's decision. I don't think she'll change many.

Here's the thing. And this is one of these Donald Trump's ability to stay disciplined when it comes to her. I question that. And the likelihood that he says something about her, her identity that ends up blowing up, is I don't think a small percentage.

He's not disciplined. He's not known for having the policy debate. The conversation usually goes in different directions. So there's a potential for an exposure.

Plus, she also has the ability to reframe the policy debate. And you saw that before the presidential debate, the campaign putting her out there as the face of the Democratic message on women's health issues and reproductive freedom. Putting her out there actually redefining Republicans have kind of owned the word freedom for a long time now in our politics, going out there to help redefine it on terms that Democrats can play offense on. She's been doing that as vice president for the past year.

And I think she has an ability to actually go toe to toe with the Trump campaign on the policy issues that Democrats want to focus on. And that's going to be helpful. Mark, there is a need for swing voters to hear something that's coming out of the RNC too, right? Is that something that you expect the former president is going to be able to capitalize on to talk to those people without going off message?

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that's what they're going to be focused on grocery and gas prices, securing the border, dealing with illegal immigration, making your homes, your communities, our country safer, putting it into the wars that all have happened under Joe Biden and now Kamala Harris, because they will add that as well too. So you're going to tag them with everything that people are upset about. And we'll provide and point to Donald Trump's record as being the answer.

That's not over. Look what Trump is doing right now. Suddenly he made room for Rhonda Santas. There's words he's trying to make room for Nikki Haley.

I mean, look, this is a different Trump campaign. They're being very, they did smart politics. If they present a more united party next week at a time when Democrats are having this fight next week, I mean, it shows you Donald Trump's listening to somebody. Yeah.

All right. We will leave it there for now. Chuck Mariano, Mark, thank you all. Appreciate it.

Up next. NATO Secretary General said to hold a press conference any minute now as a major day of meetings wraps up here in Washington. Next for the Alliance. You're watching Meet the Press now and welcome back with NATO leaders gathering in Washington for their annual summit.

President Biden is hoping to lean on his decades of foreign policy experience to reaffirm America's leadership on the world stage at a time when allies are looking for reassurance in a forceful speech yesterday. President Biden promised new air defenses for Ukraine as it continues to defend its territory and today the president highlighted the progress the NATO Alliance has made in recent years, including adding to new members. Here's some of what the president said today during the summit's first working session. This new pledge sends an unmistakable message to the world that every NATO member is committed to do either part to keep the Alliance strong.

We can and will defend every inch of NATO territory and we'll do it together. But looming over this NATO gathering are the U.S. elections in four months now with world leaders uncertain about how long America's commitment to the Alliance will last. Joining me now is retired Admiral James Navrita's former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and NBC News Chief International Affairs analyst Admiral.

We appreciate you being here today. We've been talking about the level of scrutiny President Biden is under from people in his own party, but how closely are world leaders also watching President Biden this week? You put your finger on it. There are really two conversations going on in NATO.

One is the one you're describing, everybody watching the president hoping he will continue to be strong in his communications, which he has been starting with the inaugural arrivals speech he gave last night. They have a dinner tonight at the White House. Hopefully he'll continue to be on his game, but they are watching and watching closely. The second conversation that's going on is also about a president, but it's about a former president.

And that conversation is, oh my gosh, what will it be like if Donald Trump returns to the presidency because he talks frequently about his distaste for NATO, his skepticism of it. And so those two conversations are going on kind of woven together throughout this summit. Well, to your point about those two conversations, the second part of the conversation, I do want to play some of what President Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, had to say about the elections and what comes later on. Listen, Biden and Trump are very different, but they are supportive of democracy.

And that's why I think Putin will hate both of them, but it's not my decision. I'm just sharing with you my thoughts. And I hope that if people of America will vote for President Trump, I hope that his policy with Ukraine will not change. So we know international leaders try to stay out of domestic issues, but in this case we know that the election is high stakes.

How high are the stakes for Ukraine in this election? Oh, they're enormous. And Donald Trump has said at any number of points that he will solve this war in one day. I can't imagine how that would happen.

But what it smacks of to me is going to the Ukrainians and saying, you Ukrainians were going to cut off aid and go and negotiate with Putin while you still have a chance. That would be a terrible approach. It would reward Putin. It would punish the Ukrainians.

I think that our friend, Volodymyr Zelensky, we would say in American English is kind of whistling past the graveyard when he says things like that, hoping it doesn't come to pass and doing all he can to have reasonable relations if Trump is reelected. But from all I can see, it would be much better for Ukraine and its cause of Joe Biden comes back to office. Let me ask you two other things. NATO leaders have been trying to map out this quote, irreversible path to membership in NATO for Ukraine.

There doesn't appear to be any sort of a timeline for that. What message, though, does that send to Vladimir Putin as long as Russia continues its war? Is there a lack of urgency or desire to welcome Ukraine into the defense alliance? Yeah, unfortunately, I think that sends a mixed message to President Putin.

Far better would be a dirt date certain by which Ukraine would come into the alliance a three years from now with security guarantees between now and then. But as I've said to any number of people as a former Supreme Allied Commander of the Alliance, we want Ukraine in the Alliance, not only because of their democracy, but when this war is over, they will have the most capable, experienced and blooded land forces in Europe. We want them on our team when this thing is over. Well, given what you just mentioned, we know that Secretary Blinken announced today that Ukraine is going to be getting some F-16s, American-made F-16s by this summer.

How significant is that? That shift in the policy from the administration? What's Ukraine going to be able to do that it couldn't do before this? F-16 is a multi-role fighter, which is a Pentagon speak for, it can do almost anything.

It's a Swiss Army knife on the battlefield, meaning it can drop bombs air to ground. It can shoot down enemy fighters air to air. It can conduct electronic warfare at jam enemy systems. It has multiple roles and skills.

I think it'll be an important addition to the battlefield. I don't think it'll flip the table in a moment, but it will give the Ukrainians real heft and reach and the ability to go after Russian targets and the big decision to conclude is whether we authorize them to use those F-16s against targets inside Russia. I think we should do so. All right.

We'll be watching to see if that does happen. Admiral Jameson of Reedus, we appreciate you today. Thank you. My pleasure.

After the break, top negotiators for the US, Israel and Egypt meeting to discuss a possible ceasefire as the war against Hamas surpasses the nine-month mark. You're watching Meet the Press Now. And welcome back. As President Biden convenes with NATO leaders here in DC on the war in Ukraine, top-eyed administration officials are in the Middle East hoping to close the gaps on a ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas War.

As it comes as civilians in Gaza are desperately looking for a reprieve in the fighting. With new evacuation orders raising questions about where displaced Palestinians can safely shelter. NBC News International correspondent Matt Bradley filed this report from Tel Aviv. Well, there were heavy bombardments all across the Gaza Strip by the Israelis over the past several days.

One of them stood out yesterday in particular when an Israeli strike against a school or a campus that was housing a lot of displaced Palestinians from elsewhere in Gaza Strip killed nearly 30 people and injured dozens more. Now, this was apparently a strike that the Israelis said was against a Hamas operative who they said was hiding out in the school. Now, UNRWA, which is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, they have said that this was a strike against the fourth school in as many days and they are saying that the death toll is continuing to climb. Palestinian health officials have said that the death toll is now well above 38,000 ever since those initial October 7 attacks that set off this latest round of fighting.

Now, as these continued strikes are going on, it's clear that the Israelis' message that they are no longer in the intensive phase of the fight against the Gaza Strip isn't really happening. They've said time and again that they're entering into a phase C or a phase III of their war in the Gaza Strip, but we're still continuing to see bombardments across that Palestinian enclave including on places that the Israelis had evacuated or evacuated earlier and told a lot of citizens to leave. Because of the intensive phase of the fight is still ongoing, but there are efforts to bring some level of peace to the Gaza Strip. We're now seeing that some diplomats are huddling in Doha from Egypt, America and Israel, including intelligence chiefs from the US and Israel, all of them, trying to come to some sort of deal to free the remaining within 100 hostages in the Gaza Strip, of which many are already dead, as well as to bring some sort of peace to the Gaza Strip to halt Israel's assault there.

Now, this has proved elusive for so many months, there was a burst of optimism last week about the prospects of the deal that Hamas had maybe bludged on there abiding demand that if they are to release some of their hostages, that Israel will completely halt its fighting in the Gaza Strip. And we've heard from Israeli officials, especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that that is a non-starter. They will not agree to anything that doesn't allow them to renew their fight, to completely dismantle Hamas. But it looks as though there is enough optimism that all of these countries have sent delegates to the Middle East to Qatar, these negotiations are supposedly going to be moving on to Cairo in the coming days.

It's yet to see whether this burst of optimism from just a couple of days ago could actually end in some sort of negotiated deal. Matt Bradley, NBC News, Tel Aviv. And still to come, Senator Bob Menendez's legal fate could soon be in the hands of a jury. We'll have the latest developments for you.

You're watching The Press Now. Welcome back. It's been another day of closing arguments. And Senator Bob Menendez's trial, the New Jersey Democrats attorney wrapped up his closing arguments today.

Attorneys for two businessmen also charged in the case, are now delivering their summations in this federal corruption trial. Prosecutors say Menendez acted as a foreign agent for Egypt and that he and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes and gifts and cash, both have pleaded not guilty. NBC News law enforcement and intelligence correspondent Tom Winter is with me now. Tom, this seems to be taking quite a bit of time to get through this last part of the trial.

Talk to us about what's going on here and when the jury might get this case. Sure, Aaron. Well, a nine-week trial. What difference does a few more hours make?

Of course there's an opportunity to make that argument in front of the jurors. It's the closing arguments and Senator Menendez' attorney Adam Fee has wrapped up his presentation, and now there are still the presentations of closing arguments from the other attorneys involved in this case representing the two other businessmen, also from New Jersey who have been charged alongside the senator and accused of being part of this bribery scheme. So that's where this case stands. Right now they're going to still continue their closing arguments and federal prosecutors have the opportunity to provide a short rebuttal to that.

So at this point, when you include jury instructions and what's left to be done here, Aaron, I don't think the jury is going to get this case much before lateIVE which means that likely deliberations will start in earnest on Friday. That's it as far as the timeline of this. And that's by the way exactly when the judge had telegraphed when the jury was hoping the jury should get this case based on the schedule. So that handles it as far as from a timing perspective.

As far as the substance of the issues here today, the defense kind of going with a closing argument that they previewed in their opening statement, which is this. Look, you cannot demonstrably show, according to them, that Bob Menendez was aware of what the cash in Gold Bars were for, rather, that he was aware that the things that he was doing on behalf of these constituents was anything more than that, just his constituent reach out in his constituent representation. And then all that cash that you're looking at on screen in those gold bars. Well, that was found mostly in Nadine Menendez's closet in her possession.

And hey, prosecutors haven't directly shown that Senator Menendez was aware that well, obviously, prosecutors were aware of that argument in advance. That's simply the address in their closing arguments, saying we have text messages that show that the senator was aware of the payments to his wife and some of those guests that they received. You have him googling certain things after particularly the value of gold after having some meetings. So they were able to show evidence that they think will help the jury lead to a conviction.

What ultimately happens here? Obviously, Aaron, we'll find out in the next couple of days. All right, we'll be watching for short time, Winter. Thank you.

Sure thing. Let's turn to Wisconsin now, which will be the focus of the 2024 campaign next week when Milwaukee hosts the Republican National Convention. A source tells NBC News that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will be a speaker at the convention after a quote, change in the schedule. It's not clear which night of the convention the former Trump rival will be speaking.

And while Republicans are preparing for the convention, both parties are preparing for a major change in the state's election law. Last week, Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned its 2022 ruling that barred most ballot drop boxes. That decision could be a game changer in a key battleground state that Joe Biden won by about 20,000 votes in 2020 and which Donald Trump won by a similar margin four years earlier. NBC News correspondent Shaquille Brewster joins me now from Milwaukee.

So Shaq, talk to us about how many Wisconsinites used drop boxes, these ballot drop boxes in 2020, and how many are likely to use them this year? Well, Aaron, I'll tell you, I've had conversations with the clerk here in Milwaukee, also in Madison. And they're not able to give a specific number of how many people use the drop boxes, but they know that it's substantial. And they say that if you look back at 2020, you saw the overwhelming majority of people who chose the vote by mail decided to return that mail in ballot using a drop box.

So that is why it was such a big deal when after the 2020 election, you had the state Supreme Court, it was then a conservative leg Supreme Court, they overturned or put a ban on the use of drop boxes. And that's why you have groups now celebrating that the new liberal majority on the Supreme Court here in Wisconsin now say that drop boxes are allowed because they know that there will be a lot of people who now have a tool, one of the many options here in Wisconsin, but who will now have an additional tool to cast their ballot. And what officials they're doing to make sure that these boxes are secure? Officials are saying these are the most secure way.

This is the most secure way to return that absentee ballot. They say it's more secure than a mailbox. And that's because in order to open it, it takes not one but two election officials to go through. They tabulate how many ballots come out of it.

They have a seal on it to track each time that someone has access to it. So officials are saying that this is a safe tool, and it's an important tool for folks here in Wisconsin. And one shift that you're seeing is when you talk to party officials. I had a conversation with the head of the Wisconsin Republican Party, a group that has fought against the use of drop boxes in the past.

He now says that while they may have monitors, they may have volunteers to go out and monitor some of these drop box locations in front of libraries, in front of fire departments. They say that they can see themselves or a situation in which they're encouraging Republican voters to hand in their ballots by using that drop box. So you're seeing a shift, you're seeing here in Wisconsin celebration, but you're also seeing a shift in perspectives as the Supreme Court ruling now takes effect. All right, Shaquille Brewster for us in Wisconsin today.

Of course, we'll be watching to see how the election goes there as well as everywhere else. Thank you, Shaq. We are back with more Meet the Press now coming your way tomorrow. The news continues now with Hallie Jackson.

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