If it's Friday, the Supreme Court weighs in on guns, striking down a Trump era ban on what are called bump stocks, keeping the legal and political debate over gun safety in the spotlight right in the heart of this election here. Plus new reporting from inside former President Trump's closed door meetings with Republican lawmakers and powerful CEOs in Washington, where the presumptive Republican nominees spoke about tax cuts, abortion and more. And millions of Americans facing excessive heat warnings in the north and relentless rainfall in the south, raising new urgency over how to handle the extreme weather events being made even worse by climate change. Welcome to MEET the press now this Friday.
I'm Peter Alexander. The Supreme Court ruled today on another issue that could be top of mind for many voters this November after yesterday's ruling on a closely watched abortion case. Today, the Supreme Court weighed in on the topic of guns, striking down a Trump era ban on bump stocks, an attachment that allows semi automatic rifles to fire more quickly. The court ruled today that bump stocks could not be regulated as a machine guns and that the government overreached by banning them.
This was a 6 to 3 decision. It was split along ideological lines. In his concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito put the onus on lawmakers saying Congress can amend the law. The Trump administration banned bump stocks after the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
58 people you remember were killed, hundreds of others injured at a music festival in Las Vegas in 2017. At the time, the acting attorney general praised then President Trump for calling for the ban. As late as last year, Mr. Trump seemed to be standing by that decision.
As you know, the bump socks are actually a very important thing and NRA went with them and they said it doesn't mean anything. They're actually all they do is teach how to shoot very inaccurately. So we did that. But today the former president's campaign seemed to shift its messaging saying the Supreme Court decision should be respected, entitling his endorsement by the NRA.
This comes after Mr. Trump's slant present Biden on the issue at the gun rights groups convention just last month. Listen, they are coming for your guns. 100% certain.
Crooked Joe has a 40 year record of trying to rip firearms out of the hands of law abiding citizens. In my second term, we will roll back every Biden attack on the Second Amendment. Attacks are fast and furious starting the minute that Crooked Joe shuffles his way out of the White House. The Biden administration criticizing the court's decision and calling on Congress to act on guns.
The campaign blaming Mr. Trump for nominating the three conservative justices who are among those voting as part of the majority to stay president. Biden stocks try to rally voters on this specific issue. Speaking before gun violence prevention advocates, my protest told the NRA convention recently he's proud of them, quote, I did nothing on guns when I was president.
And by doing nothing, he made the situation considerably worse. That's why every town, why this summer, why all of you here today are so damn important. We need you. We need you to overcome the unrelenting opposition of the gun lobby.
Recent polling suggests there are some voters who could make their choice this year based solely on guns. 10% say they vote for or against the candidate simply on this issue alone. It does fall just below the issue of abortion, which, as we noted, the Supreme Court also weighed in on this week, throwing out a challenge to a commonly used medication, abortion, drug. Democrats jumped on that ruling with cautious optimism, warning voters, though, that the fight is not over as they seek to link any restrictions on unreproductive rights.
The former President Trump. For his part, Mr. Trump has yet to weigh in directly on that abortion, medication decision. But yesterday he told congressional allies on Capitol Hill the party needed to talk about abortion in his words, quote, correctly saying the issue is costing Republicans.
Joining now is NBC News is senior legal correspondent by friend Laura Jared. NBC News is Dasha Byrne. She covers the Trump campaign for us. We'll get to you in a moment.
Dasha, Laura, let me ask you, walk us through the decision as it relates to bump stocks. This is about guns more than it is about the Second Amendment, right? That's right. And look, if you are somebody who is a survivor of gun violence in this country, it's cold comfort, I imagine, for a court to say, look, this is a technical reading of a statute and you can't say it's a machine gun.
So therefore we're going to allow bump stocks. I understand that, but the legal framework here is if it's not a machine gun, it can't be regulated. And so Justice Thomas or his conservative majority saying we don't think it's a machine gun, it's really up for Congress to regulate. And as you outline for justice leader, they're not saying there isn't anything that you've done here.
They're saying it's not for the courts to do. To be clear about this, what I was saying is, Congress, you can take this ball, you guys can run with it. By the way, when Donald Trump was in office, he helped ban bum stocks but didn't pursue income ever to get rid of them. Which basically said the Supreme Court doesn't have anything say on this.
That's why it's a sort of bizarre sort of turn about how the legal landscape has played itself out here because it was a Trump error rule responding of course to that deadly massacre. But the Biden administration ended up having defended in court, which they were happy to do. And now it's sort of Trump backing away from it even though it was his rule. He's kind of dismissed it as well, basically saying, hey, this is unimportant as we saw or was gonna do much anyway.
It's yeah, I guess of a bizarre framework practically. But legally there is something that still can be done here. The court is again saying nothing can be done forever. It's just in Congress's pants.
Nosha will ask you about this topic. Moment of Laura, last one to you because we were sitting on set this morning waiting for Rulul. We don't know in advance what decision is coming from the Supreme Court. We got a couple weeks to go left in this month before the end of the term.
There are several major issues still being determined. One of the ones that you're watching, another big one on guns having to do with whether somebody who is under an order of protection for domestic violence should be able to have a firearm. It's a big case about federal law on that score to have big obligation for 100. Biden's case, same statute having to do with guns there another big one on abortion.
We saw just yesterday about the abortion pill. That one that we're still waiting for has to do with a conflict between federal law that says you get an abortion if it's to save the health of the mother, save the life of the mother. What about safe that abandon? How do you reconcile that conflict?
And of course the last one we're waiting on, last but not least the one involving the former president, his efforts to interfere with the last election in cases he says he's completely new from prosecution. But if the justice disagree with him, that case is going to go to trial, although likely not anytime soon. And the declares relates to the former president. He says that he should be immune for prosecution.
At the same time he's campaigning on prosecuting the current president of the United States. So it's been a challenging position for him sort of maintains. Well Laura, appreciate you. We'll see tomorrow on Saturday.
Today I can't about this from a Donald Trump made his executive order on bump stocks when he was present. But today his campaign sort of distancing himself from it. Yeah. And it was justices that he appointed that overturned this ban.
Right. But today his campaign is saying that the court has spoken in their decision should be respected, saying that the former President Trump has been, always will be a fierce defender of American Second Amendment rights. Of course, as Laura pointed out there, this isn't a Second Amendment type of ruling, but it's notable that this is the posture from the campaign given. We know that the former president is not one of pull punches when there's a Supreme Court decision that he doesn't like.
But with this, they're letting it be. And then, as we know, obviously he controlled Republican position in Congress, but they made a move on this in some form. If he wanted to ban it via Congress, he did not do that. He made any remarks about what a future Trump term would look like.
I was looking up some of his past quotes. It was just one month ago he was speaking about this issue and saying his priority is to push back on anything, as he described, any binding attack against the Second Amendment. It's more about guns than the Second Amendment, but it does sort of draw his line in the sand. Yeah, that's right.
I mean, there was some bipartisan will at the time. There were Republicans and Democrats that were open to legislation to ban bum stocks. Instead, he went this executive order route, which, by the way, at the time was something that the nra, of course, that massive gun lobby that's very powerful in Republican politics. It was something that NRA themselves were open to, was a third decision.
Rather than do nothing, rather than go via legislation in Congress. This was the third option that allowed the former president to take some sort of action at a time when most voters wanted something done here, but without the sort of permanence and lasting power of legislation. Instead, an executive order that has been challenged by the Supreme Court. And now we are where we are up here.
And let me ask you if I can, about this abortion medication decision about the abortion pill. Just yesterday, Donald Trump, we know, was in Washington. He was visiting some of those Republican lawmakers on this topic. He has sort of been all over the map on this issue.
He said he wants to be in hands of the states. Democrats and the White House criticized him, saying basically, you put these three conservative justices in place and overturned Roe v. Wade. Right.
Now, what is his current sort of position as it relates to communicating this message, which he himself has acknowledged is a big problem for Republicans this fall? Yeah, he's walking an interesting line here, Peter, where he does continue to tout the fact that he was responsible for the justices that overturned Roe versus Wade. But he's been kind of almost chastising some of his fellow Republicans for not talking about it correctly, as he put it in his meetings on the Hill here yesterday, saying they need to be doing better at emphasizing exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, that they shouldn't be pushing policies that are too far to the right. But he continues to say that he's going to have more policy announcements when it comes to issue of abortion.
When it comes to mover Presto, for example, he said over a month ago now I believe that he was gonna make an announcement on this in two weeks. We haven't yet seen that. So there are still a lot of questions that have not been answered about where former President Trump stands on the nuances, but important nuances when it comes to reproductive rights here. Yeah.
And certainly on the topic of Mithristown abortions, abortion pill, and particularly Dodger burns. We always appreciate reporting. Thank you so much. We should know former President Trump to Washington was not just about presenting the sort of show of force, this united front with House and Senate Republicans.
Mr. Trump had another closed door meeting on his calendar while he was in D.C. back at the Capitol for the first time for Capitol Hill for the first time since the January 6th attack. He spoke to a group of business leaders while in town.
Among the big names there, Tim Cook, Jamie Dimon and CNBC's Brian Schwartz reports that Mr. Trump told the group of CEOs that he would cut personal and corporate taxes and slash business regulations if he wins in November. Brian joins us now on set. Brian, walk through this.
What was the particular pitch from Mr. Trump to these CEOs? Well, there's about 80 CEOs there, Peter, and really it was let's go back to the old days, okay? We're gonna have four more years of what he believed is a better economy and you can touch on it before cutting the corporate tax rate from 21 to 20%, cutting income taxes, going away, business regulations.
This is what he's trying to tell. It's not really much of a put like this forward thinking mentality. It really is kind of looking back and going, hey, we're gonna go Back to the 2016-20, 20 days. Come with me, support me.
And you know, there are two sides of what's going on here. One, you know, at that meeting, you know, the Trump campaign told this day he was well received. But you know what's equally as important as what people thought after the meeting and how People looked at him after what's a place there. I think it's interesting the dynamic.
Well as to be clear we'll remember right that the Trump tax cuts ballooned the debt while he was serving as president of passage House Republicans. Earlier in the day he also pitched this plan to eliminate Inc. Impose an all tariff policy. What do you tell us about that and what would it do in terms of how the government is funded?
Yeah, I mean look, this is one of these things I just don't buy or is actually gonna happen. We don't know how this is gonna go. If in order for him to do this I feel like you have to change around the tax code to such an extent where he'd have to get congressional approval. It seems like that's where this would have to go.
Right, Because I mean you're gonna replace the income tax system with an all tariff policy. Okie dokie. You have to go back around and comment. What does all tariff policy do that's not gonna help your inflation?
Well and it's the thing, key details actually what this. But for me what it would seem like is basically we would try to eliminate all these kinds of tons of income taxes and put on some sort of large scale tariffs to a variety of goods coming into the United States. We talked about doing at some scale anyway but it would have to be at a scale where you're limiting the kinds of income taxes. I feel like, you know, that's so far fetched, so unheard of that I cannot imagine it' especially if Congress is split in the next term that this is actually going to take place.
It's interesting we talk about the issue of the economy because you remember not too long ago, four years ago, former President Trump was saying that Joe Biden takes office the stock market which was a key metric for him in office, he said it would tank, it would just go right down the bottom of the barrel. And now it's at record high 40,000. Of course the Dow Jones not too long ago. Let me ask you about the new policy we heard here, eliminating taxes on worker tips.
Walk us through this. It does seem right. Nevada obviously a crucial state. You got a lot of those workers in hotels and casinos there.
What is he trying to accomplish here? Is it really just play those workers? Well, I don't think it's necessarily play those workers. I think it's a play to people in some of these key states you salute to.
I mean if you, if the idea here is that you're eliminating, reducing the taxes on tips, well that could be again if enacted a real boost to workers. So in a way you're looking at looking at it from second up. He's trying to appeal to people who are say restaurant workers kind of in the middle class and trying to reel them in with listen, let's go with a version of the economy that I can bring the tail that Joe Biden does not have for you as workers. And yet Jo Biden is trying to put workers himself in the middle class all the time.
He's no class Joe. So that's that the idea here that is trying to get into that lane, real and kind of middle class worker people may be working restaurants rely on tents and that could be a socialist campaign. Another thing, another demonstration of why it's easier sometimes to be a candidate that's right. To be the president on that.
Of course, we require congressional approval as well. Right. Appreciate it. Nice to see in person.
Thank you. And before we go to break, a quick update to bring you for the part of the justice the doj, you remember announced. The DOJ announced late this afternoon that the Attorney General Merrick Garland will not be prosecuted by his own department. This comes after House Republicans who remember voted hold Garland contempt of Congress for declining to provide audio tapes, audio recordings of President Biden that are protected by executive privilege.
The Justice Department's decision was expected after the president's assertion of executive privilege over these recordings. The DOJ has declined similar prosecutions in the past. Coming up absurd, manipulative and a sham. That's how some top Ukraine officials are describing Russian President Vladimir Putin's so called peace proposal as President Biden meets with the Pope and other world leaders on the final day of the G7 summit in Italy.
Plus southern Florida in a state of emergency. Look at some of the pictures there. After dealing with days of heavy flooding and other round of flash floods that could be on the way. You're watching MEET THE Press now.
Welcome back to today. After G7 leaders announced a $50 billion loan to Ukraine and ahead of this week's Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland, Vladimir Putin unexpectedly announced Russia is ready for peace talks outlining his conditions for the end of the war, all of which are being viewed as non starters by Ukraine. Russia's conditions include the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from four regions that Russia illegally annexed at the start of the war and Ukraine renouncing its plans to join the NATO alliance. Ukraine responded.
They called the so called proposal manipulative and slammed Vladimir Putin for trying to present himself as a peacemaker when he is the one who launched this war in the first place. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engels in Ukraine and filed this report for us. Just one day after President Biden announced a ten year security pact between the United States and Ukraine. With the US committing to arm this country, share intelligence, continue to finance the military and reconstruction here, President Vladimir Putin offered his terms for a possible peace deal.
He was speaking to diplomats in Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry. So this is now a policy that Russian ambassadors and senior officials will take around the world. This is now Russia's official negotiating stance. Vladimir Putin said the war can be over immediately if Ukraine gives up forever.
Four provinces in this country, four large provinces, each one of them about the size of a state in the United States, and they are four provinces along the Russian border. He didn't talk about Crimea, but said of course, Crimea, which is up a peninsula in the Black Sea. He said of course that belongs to Russia, even though Russia illegally annexed it. Ukraine and many other countries do not accept that illegal annexation.
But he said aside from Crimea, which he says is already Russian, he wants these four border provinces. Now, the issue is there are many issues, but one of the main issues is that, that Russia does not even control these four provinces. Russia launched its occupation and invasion of Ukraine about two and a half years ago. But Ukrainian forces have managed to drive the Russians back close to their border.
So Russia holds some territory within these four border provinces, but not all of the provinces. And that is what Vladimir Putin says he wants as a basis to begin the negotiation. So in practical terms, Ukraine, if it were to accept this, Ukraine is not contemplating accepting it. It says that this is ridiculous, is absolutely rejected.
But even if Ukraine were to contemplate it, it would mean Ukrainian troops voluntarily filling in their trenches, packing up their gear, pulling out of frontline positions, but also pulling out of Ukrainian cities where Ukrainian forces are fully in control, cities not far from where I am in Ukraine right now, heading toward the east and abandoning them to Russia. Ukrainians don't want that. Ukrainians don't want to make huge territorial concessions. They don't want to make any territorial concessions, especially right now, a day after the US signed a major security pact with Ukraine, which included a long term pathway to joining NATO.
The big problem, however, remains US Presidential elections. His security pact, which was signed by President Biden, could be undone by a future American president. Richard. Grandfather, Ukraine.
Richard, thank you. I want to bring it. Ian Bremmer, the President, founder of Eurasia Group and Gzero Media. Ian, I just want to get your gut reaction to Vladimir Putin and this so called peace proposal that he is making right now.
And what your view is of the timing of this announcement given all the G7 leaders are meeting together in Europe as we speak? Well, very shortly we have a peace conference that is being organized in Switzerland by the Americans, many other countries in support of Ukraine. And so this is Putin balancing off of that with something that is clearly a non starter. But I'll tell you who it is.
It's a non starter for. It's not a non starter for Hungary's Viktor Orban, it's not a non starter for the so called the National Rally Party and Marine Le Pen who may well occupy the premiership in three weeks time depending on how France's election goes. And it may not be a non starter for Donald Trump who has said that he would end the war in a day if he became president and that of course he would want a ceasefire immediately and then to begin negotiations. If this was Putin's position and he's willing to have a conversation that starts on that, he's going to look a lot better.
So I mean, if you're Vladimir Putin right now, looking at the political calendar in the coming weeks and months, the timing is very propitious for you to throw a little chum in the water and see who wins. And you know, just for all I want is to make it very clear three of the countries through these G7 nations, France among the UK have seen far right parties in their countries gaining ground, gaining seats in the European Union's governing body here. They got a bunch of elections coming up in the months ahead here. How concerned should Americans, those worried about the maintenance of this Western alliance, sort of be about this moment specifically as we witness what's happening ahead of us in Europe?
Well, if you're a Putin, divide and conquer is your strategy. Divide NATO, divide Europe and conquer more of Ukraine. That's what he's trying to do. If you're American, you should care a lot about that.
To the extent that you think NATO is valuable and that the Americans really get a lot out of having the world's most powerful multilateral defense alliance. Of course a lot of Americans don't care about it. A lot of Americans think that other countries don't pay enough. They think that the United States shouldn't focus on global security, should focus more at home.
That's one of the reasons why we continue to see anti establishment political figures in the US hold better and better and better. If you think your own country is illegitimate, your leaders aren't doing much for you. Why do you care about things like free trade, the promotion of democracy internationally or the support of global alliances? Having said all of that, the Europeans are spending more on defense and they care a lot more about what's happening on their front lines precisely because they're worried about this war that Russia is doing reasonably well in right now in Ukraine.
And even if Trump were to become president in the US he would see a NATO that is larger, that is stronger and is spending more money on its own defense in Europe than was when he was president before. And if he saw it fit to say, hey, I like NATO now, they're doing more because of me and takes care of everything, that's not necessarily a losing proposition for NATO long term. You talk about the growing NATO, Finland, Sweden, the examples of that. We ask quickly about the announcement we've seen, the 10 year security agreement between Biden and Ukrainians.
What should we make of that, Ian, more broadly here, it does seem like it lays the foundation for whatever future Ukraine looks like, but it seems like that's a long way away. Is this just trying to set the table? It's not very significant, frankly. It's long term, but there are no guarantees.
The more significant headline that came out of the G7 is the 50 billion that the G7 countries are agreeing on to provide funding directly for Ukraine defense. That is coming out of collateralizing the frozen Russian assets that are in the U.S. they're in Europe. Does that mean to think about some agreement that ends this thing, though?
I just want to go for a long time. Time. This war is going to go for a long time unless Ukraine ends up partitioned. The problem is Ukrainians believe they can take all their territory back, but militarily there's no way for them to actually accomplish that.
Yeah. Ian Bremmer, it's always a pleasure to have your perspective with us. Thank you so much for joining me. Coming up next, cease fire talks between Israel, Hamas are once again at an impasse as the fighting on Israel's northern border intensifies.
We're going to take you live to Tel Aviv and to Beirut coming up next. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back to MEET THE PRESS now. I'm Peter Alexander.
As mediators try to prevent that ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hamas from falling apart, new escalations in northern Israel are threatening to put new strain on those negotiations. Just this afternoon, sirens blared as Hezbollah launched a major missile and rocket attack into northern Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces say it tracked approximately 30 projectiles some of which they were able to intercept. It does follow days of cross border strikes, including an Israeli strike earlier this week.
The killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Southern Lebanon. Meanwhile in Gaza, Israel once again said it will not stop its military operation in Rafah, with a military official saying the IDF will move forward with its operations until it achieves all of its goals. The U.S. state Department maintains that it has yet to see Israel launchable scale military operation in Rafah.
Something the President Biden has said would be his red line. And joining now the very latest from that region, Raf Sanchez who is in Tel Aviv. Kir Simmons on the ground for us in Beirut, Lebanon. Gentlemen, thank you for being here.
Raf, first to you yesterday. President Biden as we saw, told reporters that he is and his words, not confident the ceasefire deal could be reached. What are you hearing from both Hamas, Hamas officials, Hamas side and Israeli officials on where things stand right now? So Peter, in terms of the diplomatic choreography of these ceasefire talks, you'll remember exactly two weeks ago President Biden stood out in the White House in the afternoon he laid out that three phase ceasefire proposals and the war in Gaza to free all of the hostages.
It took Hamas until this week on Tuesday to respond to that proposal. And they sent back a whole series of changes, some of which the USA are workable, some of which they say are not. So right now we are in the stage of the us, Egypt and Qatar, the mediators going back to Israel, trying to understand which of these Hamas changes could be acceptable to them, which of them are just a total non starter and trying to see see if these gaps can be bridged. But Peter, fundamentally there remains a zero sum divide between Israel and Hamas.
And that is the question of whether this is a deal to end the war entirely, which is what Hamas wants, or whether this is a deal to pause the fighting temporarily, which is what Israel says it wants. It says it will not end the fighting in Gaza until Hamas is completely destroyed. And the mediators have the difficult, difficult task of trying to bridge the gaps between the two. Meanwhile, there are more than 100 hostages still in Gaza and there are Palestinian civilians losing their lives as well.
Here again from your view, we're seeing Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire across the Israel Lebanon border. How does this sort of recent cross border series of strikes compare to previous ones? Clearly this has the risk of becoming an escalation. This is a real concern on both sides.
It's a real concern and I think it's a real concern in Washington, Peter. And there are reports that appear to be Accurate that President Biden's senior advisor will head to this region once again? Of course he would be. Because every time there's an escalation like this, the US Needs to demonstrate that it is paying attention and that it doesn't want that.
Now, this escalation, as you mentioned at the top, has happened after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander. It does today appear to have died down a little bit. It's not the first time there was an escalation like this. And both sides do still appear reluctant to descend into a full scale war.
Certainly Hezbollah's deputy chief in command has said just in the last 10 days that they don't want a wider war. That's not because, of course, there's any love between Israel and Hezbol. It is because certainly on the Hezbollah side, they don't, I think, at this point see an advantage to that scene. From the Hezbollah perspective, they think Israel is having more challenges in Gaza and that in a sense, they will continue to, in their words, back Hamas, but they don't want to take it further than that.
And Kir, as you know from where you are in Beirut and as I have seen in past skirmishes fighting between the two sides, like, it's hard to explain to Americans the proximity between these two. It's literally just across the border from one another, you know, like a football field that separates some of the, some of the people that live on each side of the border there. I want to ask you your reaction to this, though, Raf. What are you hearing from inside Israel about whether it can afford to fight a second front?
This is going to be real concern for Benjamin Netanyahu right now, who is already so thin in terms of resources because so many folks are so focused on the situation Gaza. Yeah, I think that's right, Peter. So it would be difficult for Israel to fight on a second front against Hezbollah, who, remember, are far, far more powerful than Hamas while they are still engaged in Gaza. I think in an ideal world, the Israelis would like to wrap up their operations inside of Gaza before they turn to the north.
But they may find the situation forced on. And Prime Minister Netanyahu is under intense political pressure to do something about the situation in the north. As you said, daily rocket fire, 70,000 Israeli civilians displaced from their homes, widespread forest fires, acres and acres of fields set on a flame by those incoming Hezbollah rockets. And the Israeli government has basically said this is an intolerable situation and that it needs to change, either through a diplomatic deal which the US And France are trying to bring, or Potentially through a military operation in southern Lebanon.
The Peter, Israel would really struggle to fight a full scale war inside of Lebanon without American support, especially to replenish the interceptors for the Iron Dome. So they would need a certain level of buy in from Washington before they moved in. It's an awful situation that the world is witnessing right now. Raptors quickly, we heard from one of the hostages that was rescued last weekend in a new video statement released today.
What is he saying? Is he in good condition? He seems to be. This is Andre Koslov.
He's one of the four hostages rescued on Saturday. He was an immigrant to Israel from Russia. He spoke in English. He said that he was deeply grateful to be back in Israel the Shabbat.
But he is deeply, deeply aware that there are 120 other Israelis who remain inside of Gaza. And he asked people to turn out at the weekly rallies calling for a hostage deal, urging the Israeli government to do what it has to do to get these people home. Here, Ralph Sanchez. Here, Simmons, our all star team in that region tonight.
Thank you gentlemen. And after this break, it's going to be a long hot summer already underway. You were looking at the brutal, potentially record breaking forecast for millions of Americans across the Midwest and Northeast as we head into this Father's Day weekend. A dangerous heat wave steamrolling across the country.
The White House's climate advisor is standing by to speak to us about the rise in global temperatures and the administration's response. That's next right here. You're watching me at the press now. Welcome back.
South Florida right now is experiencing its fourth consecutive day of near historic levels of rainfall. Get this, more than a foot and a half of rain has fallen in some communities in just the last 72 hours alone. Despite these totals, state officials there say there have been no reports of any deaths, fortunately. And While more than 7 million Florians are under flood watch right now, much the country is dealing with the opposite really.
A potentially devastating heat wave which could bring record high temperatures to St. Louis, Chicago, New York, all of it. And summer doesn't even technically start until next week. According to the Associated Press analysis, the US Saw a record number of heat related deaths last summer.
And this season they fear, many fear, could be even deadlier. NBC News correspondent Prius Reether is joining me now from North Miami. Priya, I mean the pictures, I have friends, they've been sending me videos from outside their home. It was just relentless for days.
When do we expect a break from all this rain? Well, Peter, we're hoping that this weekend, things will die down a bit. But 7 million people here in South Florida remain under a flood watch. And as you can see behind me here in North Miami, this is one of just several roads that still is flooded.
You can see vehicles still submerged and abandoned. We've seen a steady stream of tow trucks today going to address all of these abandoned vehicles. Some people have told us that it seemed like a zombie apocalypse here because so many vehicles were just stalled and left abandoned in the middle of roads, on sidewalks and medians and in parking lots. And it created quite dangerous driving conditions, not just because people were trying to drive through water, but also because they were trying to navigate around these cars.
Now, forecasters were projecting another 2 to 5 inches of rain today. And on a normal June day in Miami, that wouldn't be a big deal. But when you add that on top of the 15 to 20 inches that you mentioned that has fallen here over the last 72 hours, that's really what could trigger those flash flood warnings. So Governor DeSantis did issue a press conference earlier today, and he said that they're deploying about 90 water pumps.
We actually saw one of those come to this three twice today. But in that time period, it also started raining. So as you can see, it didn't do much to get rid of the water. That's at least on this road.
Peter? Yeah, for a stage drive, be careful down there. We think about all people in that part of the country in South Florida right now. And I'm joined now by Ali Zady.
He is the White House's national climate advisor. Ally, it's nice to see you. Not on the North Lawn, but I guess by satellite. I'll see you back in the White House.
Another occasion to do this conversation in person. But how does the White House, how do you balance prevention of climate change's effects with a sort of mitigation of what we're already experiencing? Well, good to be with you. And you know, we are seeing those visuals, the gut wrenching effects of climate change, not a line in a scientific manual, but a reality in communities all across the country.
And the fact of the matter is, where we are in the crisis means we've got to do both things at the same time. We've got to help harden our infrastructure raids, raise our roads and bridges, improve the resilience of our communities, be partners in the response, and at the same time attack the root cause of climate change, which we know is putting greenhouse gas emissions, burning fossil fuels, putting that into the atmosphere, and continuing to drive global Temperatures. We've got to do both things. And that's what the President has done.
A historic investment in resilience, $50 billion in his infrastructure law, and the world's largest investment in tackling greenhouse gas emissions. I want to ask you about that, the Inflation Reduction act, in just a moment, but let me know. You're a policy guy, not a politics guy, but in the simplest of terms here, what can this administration, what can the Biden administration do to address. Address climate change in such a way that a future administration, if former President Trump returns to office, cannot undo?
As you know, the former president has a very different view of climate change. He's described it as a hoax in the past. He said that windmills can cause cancer. Of course, an unfounded claim.
There is no evidence of that. How do you sort of, how do you institutionalize some of these things? Well, one of the most profound ways you can do it is by building the infrastructure we need to tackle the climate Crisis. There are 185,000 charging stations that line our roads and highways.
New offshore wind farms where the steel is going in the water. 80,000 farms have signed up to take on climate smart agriculture practices. Over 100 factories and counting manufacturing clean products in America. No one's going to drive around and rip the steel out of the ground and take, take us backwards.
Regardless of the policies in Washington, the big question is how quickly do we move forward? How do we accelerate the pace of progress? And, you know, I think that comes down to leadership and it comes down to policy direction. So I want to ask you about that, because every time the White House officials say to me, this is the year of implementation, we're gonna see a lot of this construction taking place.
I wanna hit you specifically on the topic of these, these EV charging stations. Right now, the Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, has said that we need about 500,000, half a million of these stations by 2030. That means we gotta pick up the pace a ton right now. How many charging stations have been built from the money that was directed to this effort from the IRA so far?
Yeah. The Inflation Reduction act provides the private sector with tax incentives, with loans and grants to get these charging infrastructure built. We now have 185,000 chargers built. That's almost double the number on our roads and highways relative to when the President took office.
And so just to make sure I get right. So are those, Are those chargers all that you're referring to, being built from the ira? How many are being built for the funds directed by the ira? So Almost all of those chargers are claiming tax credits provided through President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.
They're also credits being provided to manufacture those technologies. Here in the United States, we've got about 40 factories that are manufacturing chargers or part of that supply chain. That's happening because of the president's investment agenda. And by the way, thanks to his leadership, we've got the entire auto sector now sprinting to establish US Leadership on delivering choices to consumers.
Consumers rather than locking us out of leadership in this next generation of transportation technologies where frankly, before the president took office, China was absolutely the leader. Today, the US has repositioned to leave once again. And I guess the last question would be to a lot of Americans who are dismissive of this is a top issue. I think only 5% of voters in a recent newspaper, climate change is the most important issue facing this country right now.
What would you say those Americans were not convinced that this should be a top priority, especially when countries like China, they fear and India, based on some evidence, are not pursuing the same path that the United States is? Well, look, folks I talked to are concerned about the air that their kids breathe and they're glad that Joe Biden is investing in school buses that run on electric, not on duty diesel. Folks I talked to are concerned about where the jobs are going to be in the future. They're glad that tens of thousands of jobs are being created in a clean energy economy.
They're concerned about energy costs and they're glad that Joe Biden's providing tax credits and rebates to reduce home energy bills and utility bills. So look, maybe the conversation at the kitchen table isn't about climate science, but it's about topics that relate back to whether the US Is stepping up to win the future. And Lee on clean energy and the present policies are helping us do that. Natalie said he always a pleasure to have you here.
Thank you for taking time so much to me today. Coming to max, President Biden's birthday wish to floor President Trump sealed with a dis. You're watching Meet THE Press now. Welcome back.
Today is former President Donald Trump's 78th birthday. The Trump campaign putting out some footage of Republicans senators presenting them with a cake on Capitol Hill or near the Capitol yesterday day where. Well, that's what it looked like behind closed doors. Doors.
While we've seen birthday messages roll in from his political allies, we also saw one from his campaign rival. President Biden posted a video on social media earlier today accompanying with the message that read Happy 70th Birthday Donald, take it from one old guy to another. Age is just a number. This election, however, is a choice.
Joining me now on set is Basil Spikel, former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party. Also fortunately for us on NBC News, political analyst Rich Lowry, editor at National Review. Gentlemen, nice to have you guys with me in person. Rich, let's get to you on this for a moment.
So first, as Republicans highlight every awkward moment or misstep that Biden makes right now, you're not a misstep, just every step he takes right now to try to make an issue of this. Is this a line from the Biden campaign, a way to try to neutralize this? You sort of, you laugh about a little. We're both old, right?
So let's talk about it. But the problem he has is, yeah, Trump is old. Trump's capable gaps as well, but it just seems much more vigorous and publicly doesn't walk the way Joe Biden does, which is increasingly rickety. He doesn't have the blank stare sometimes Biden seems to have.
So this is why the one thing there's a super majority that Americans agree on is that Joe Biden is not fit for another four years. Now, he might win anyway, but that's a huge obstacle for him. Well, depends on what you react to that right now. Right.
Because as Joe Biden says, it's not about your age, it's about the age of your ideas right now. His sort of casting is unlike the person to be framing this argument. But he said, hey, I'm the man of the future. I'm looking with these more progressive thoughts, these more moderate views than this other guy.
It's a contrast of opinions and views. All right. I don't know. I would disagree with, take issue with the not fit for office.
I mean, we can talk about the age issue. And I think the reaction that we had, which was the laugh, is exactly what we wanted. Right. Because it does, to your point, it does sort of balance out the age issue, which I do believe is top of mind for a lot of Americans.
But on the issue of fitness, when we focus on the policies, Joe Biden still coming forth with a lot of really great policies for the country. We probably don't talk enough about the Trump gas, which could speak to his age in ways that some are sort of tagging Joe Biden's age with these gas as well. And I do. But I also think that, yes, you see some energy around the Trump rallies, but the reality is you're going to see that around the Democratic rallies As well as the campaign.
The Biden campaign is counting on this being a big contrast moment. We had this debate in 27 couple of weeks away from us right now. They want Americans to go realize that Donald Trump's gonna be the other guy and dictate this is happening. Here we go again.
2020, part two, as it were. These things are performative as much as anything right now on both sides. What should the Democrats be concerned about? What should Donald Trump be concerned about, you know, with respect to the debate?
And I thought it was a great strategy for Joe Biden to do that because I think it fits his to call it out earlier and to sort of set the terms knowing that Donald Trump would be like, yeah, ready for you. Right. Because this sort of works to Joe Biden's benefit. No audience on policy, in a position in a way that, you know, he can engage in a way that I think shows off his strength.
What's up about the base that was we all witnessed, right, Is that there's going to be some folks over CNN doing this thing. Is the fact checks are, generally speaking, supposed to be completed by the candidates themselves. Right. And Joe Biden has to be quick in terms of those fact checks, which is anybody who's held with Donald Trump.
That's going to be a unique challenge for Donald Trump, though risk. There are some unique challenges here as well. I mean, you know, get a day one, a show of force. Look at the united front of the Republicans yesterday.
It was celebrated Fox Day. He was on message just hours earlier. He was rigging on Milwaukee as a horrible city. And even if he didn't say it was a horrible city, he said the crime rate there was horrible.
But oh, by the way, that's not true because murders are down 39% year over year. So what's the risk of him being on? So I see this debate as a competition to be normal. Okay?
So Biden, he can't mumble, he can't descend into incoherent sentences. That'd be very bad for him. And Trump can't do any way he didn't first debate in 2020. He can't be out of control because he does have this amazing reconsideration of him amongst some crucial segment of voters who look retrospectively and approve of him more than they did even when he was in office.
So that's a huge advantage and he doesn't want to remind them of the things they don't like about him. What do you say about cynicism of voters right now who saw that it was all over the news. The photo behind closed doors. Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump shaking hands.
And two who hadn't shared words I think since 2020. It's been more than four years basically since the two of them were together. This is A guy, Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, who said he was practically and morally responsible for the attack. On January 6, Trump said reportedly racist comments about Elaine Chao, his wife.
He called him a broken old crow or maybe something not as pleasant. And then they see the two of us, obviously they're all on one team. Do you wonder, I mean, I certainly could understand like what American's supposed to make of moments like that. It just feels like what is going on.
Yeah. The insults of his wife are just any other politicians. Those be like the worst thing they ever said in their career. But Donald Trump has it.
Why does come back a chance to say we're all on board. It's Trump's party. One, McConnell didn't want to get here and he's got a choice. He's, he's a very Republican conservative guy and he's going to want Trump over Biden even though he has huge misgivings with Trump.
So I didn't want to be in this moment, but serious Basil, let me show you what happened in Milwaukee yesterday. The people of Wisconsin were paying close attention to reporting from behind closed doors with Republicans. This is the headline from the Milwaukee Journal. Sendal Trump, Milwaukee, Horrible in quotes.
I mean, in a key battleground state, right. One of three in the Midwest that Donald Trump, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania needs to try to win this fall. That's not the headline you could be looking for. Is going to be a difference maker.
Does none of this matters is all just sort of wash away. It can make a difference as long as the DNC helps the state party actually continue to roll that message for the next five or five or so months. But look, you're right that the crime rate actually has gone down. But we see this as a Republican strategy, Right.
Take issues that they feel are endemic to cities and try to extrapolate that to the suburbs. We saw that in New York in congressional races, in the gulfatory race, even in 2022, there's a belief that that's a winning strategy. It has not been a winning strategy, but it is part of an old trope. You can tag Democrats with being soft on crime and hopefully it'll bring out everybody else.
The United States crime is down year over year, but still elevated over 2020. And it's true, but it's definitely too high in most Americans and it's not a problem suburbs. It's a problem of crime. But I think the core of the race is economy, immigration, inflation, Dobbs and what do you think?
He's got to do a good job. Biden's job approvals under 40 and they'll have polls and I think they're trying to the Biden campaign focus on peripheral stuff. He said this thing behind closed doors about Milwaukee. You know he kind of joked he's going to be diction because I do think the Democrats with anything are going to try to rely on especially in states like Arizona.
It is on the ballot. How does Donald Trump handle this? He's still looking for the way to speak about this topic. He prefer not to talk about that.
Right. And that's what his position is. I'm not going to support federal legislation figured out. He's mostly not what I talked about yesterday said Republicans.
That's why I but if Biden pulls us out and I think Trump would win if it was held today the election I think he has a better chance of winning in November. If he does pull out dollars will be huge. Do you think he has a better chance Trump, you think Trump has a better chance of winning? That means we got five one zero seven Gentlemen, thank you.
We're going to be back Monday with more Meet the Press now and if it is Sunday it's Meet the Press on your local NBC news station. I'm going to have exclusive interviews with Congressman Byron Donalds, a potential vice presidential pit for Mr. Trump and O' Connor progressive Democrat plus Kristen's winter momentum interview with Emmy award winning actor Michael Imperioli. Don't miss it.
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