If it's Thursday. Trump in the trail. Donald Trump's primary rival struggle to break through the noise amid the fallout from the former president's historic arraignment on federal charges as another candidate jumps into the race. Plus, NBC's exclusive interview with Ukrainian President Zelensky as he begins a crucial counter offensive against Russia and calls for more support from the west more quickly.
And a global cyber attack hits the US Government as top security and intel officials aggressively try to figure out what's been compromised and who is responsible. Welcome to me, the press Now. I'm Chris Welker in Washington. We begin today with the elephant in the room.
In the 2024 Republican primary and another candidate entering the race this morning, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez became the 12th Republican to throw his ha the ring. His announcement comes just days after his city became the epicenter of the legal issues facing the Republican frontrunner, as the former president pleaded not guilty to more than three dozen felony counts in the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents. In an interview this morning, Mayor Suarez vented his frustration and how Donald Trump and his legal problems have essentially consumed the presidential contest. Do you think it showed concern for the proper concern for classified material?
Do you think it was reckless? Do you think it was legal? Like I said before, you know, I'm not a, you know, an expert on these kinds of matters, but I do want to say this, that this conversation is not healthy conversation for the country. We should be talking about the issues that Americans care about.
We should be talking about, you know, candidates being indicted. If my candidacy is going to be about responding to, you know, things that former President Trump did, then there's not going to be much of candidates, not for any other Republican nominees now. So as his comments reflect a broader issue facing not just the Republican primary, but the entire American political system right now, the debate on the right isn't about tax plans, of foreign policy, is about whether to pardon Trump or have a dismantle the Justice Department. Case in point, here's Mr.
Trump's top primary rival today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, implicitly defending Trump by going after the justice system. My mission is to bring accountability to politicized agencies like doj, FBI. We're going to excise the political bias and we are going to end the weaponization of the federal government. We're going to do that.
I think when you have different standards that are applied, not just in terms of legal standard, but the level of zealousness that you apply based on who the target is, I think that strikes at the heart of a free society. Meanwhile, the White House is navigating this fraught moment by aiming to project a steady issue goes approach to governance. Today, President Biden announcing a commitment from some ticket sellers to make fees more transparent as the administration sidesteps questions about the Justice Department's independence in the 2024 presidential contest. Now, to some extent, it's not a surprise that Trump is driving the political conversation.
He is the clear front runner. Every poll out there shows that he leads the field by 30 points in the actual poll out yesterday. So where does all this go from here as a twice indicted, twice impeached former president and current candidate consumes the political conversation? Joining now NBC, Vaughn Hillier is covering all things Trump.
And MVC's Mike Memelin joins us from outside of the White House. Yvonne, I have to go to you first after this just extraordinary week. Take us inside Mr. Trump's world.
What's the mood? And Vaughn, what's their strategy moving forward after this week? Their strategy is to take up all the oxygen in the room here. And that is why Donald Trump, after his second night in a sen, he didn't go quietly back to his Bedminster club.
Instead, he greeted hundreds of folks outside and welcomed the cameras and the broadcast live on the likes of Fox and Oann and Newsmax, millions of likely Republican elected voters and made the legal defense as much as he did the political one here. And really for these Republican candidates, you know, there is an acknowledgement that there are so many litmus test questions that are now being posed in front of them, much like we heard to Francis Suarez this morning in that interview. And one of those that my pen's face last night was would he pardon Donald Trump if he were to become president and Donald Trump were to be convicted? Donald Trump swarmed his way or Ashley McKenzie squirmed his way of directly answering the question, much to the chagrin of the conservative radio host who made the case that he was avoiding asking and answering a difficult question.
But this is exactly what Trump's aides tell me that they see the benefits of this politically of is that everybody in America knew what Donald Trump did this week. The rest the fields there were question marks. When you look at the polling, you can't deny the fact that in a new Quinn PI national poll today, he has a 30 point lead over Ron DeSantis. He has more than a 30 point lead in a new morning console pull out today as well.
And so for Donald Trump, it is continuing to make the case that he is being unfairly targeted and he needs the backing of the American electorate to number one, for political reasons, but number two, to protect him from potentially going to jail. It's interesting, the Washington Post has this report that former President Trump repeatedly rejected advice to cooperate with the Justice Department despite several chances that he was given to do so. I know, I've been talking to some sources inside Trump world who said, look, there is a frustration that he didn't just turn over everything when he was subpoenaed, when authorities were asking for what are you hearing about that? I know that there are also others who were caught by surprise and frankly didn't always have the answer to the questions.
You know, the part of a campaign staff or, you know, post presidency staff is that you know how to best represent your boss. And this goes back to last summer when there were messaging questions around the search warrant execution from the FBI. It was known that two of his attorneys had signed off, Evan Corcoran and Christine Bob had signed off in Jim, that all the relevant documents had been turned over. And that was the understanding, we believe, to break many of the AIDS around Donald Trump.
But now what you are looking and facing as a campaign operation is having to try to square the realities of what the candidate says versus what is being laid out by the Department of Justice in their indictments released over the weekend. And those are frustrating when you hear from great many voters that they would like to focus on issues. And the question here is also the extent to which Republican candidates are not going to be able to focus on issues, but instead the legal challenges facing Donald Trump. Yeah, there's no doubt that they all get asked about every day, as does President Biden, Mike, and the president still not responding to questions about this.
Do you think that that's sustainable? Do you anticipate that at some point he's going to want to say something, or do you think he's the course here? Well, Chris, as you and I have both been covering this policy in the White House of saying little to nothing at all about the Trump investigation, it's especially conspicuous now, now that we've seen this indictment, now that we've read the charges and the descriptions of what exactly the former president is accused to have done, it seems like it's unsustainable. But in this moment, I think a lot about covering candidate Joe Biden.
In the weeks and ultimately days leading up to those first voting Contests in the 2020 primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire candidate Biden was trying to talk to voters in those states about his economic message about the stakes of the election at a very high level when reporters like us were chasing him every day trying to ask him about the latest day to day in what was then the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. And the circumstances have certainly changed a lot, Tristan. We have now President Biden overseeing the Justice Department. He appointed the attorney general who appointed the special counsel in this case.
That's made the legal imperative here not to comment on the specifics even higher. But the political rationale is exactly the same on the part of Biden's team because in their view, the people paying most attention to the details, the most engaged by this storyline, are also the most partisan, the least likely to change their minds about the vote ultimately in 2024. Their view, their focus continues to be on those voters who are just going about their daily lives, who are frankly more worried about things like the surcharges and so called junk fees of a ticket price for a concert than what the legal woes of of the former president. So that's what the White House is really trying to do, is to keep their focus on the voters who ultimately decide this election while also.
Yes, maintaining the integrity of the Justice Department, which is also a top concern. Absolutely. And Mike, to your point, president trying to say it's business as usual here. Talk a little bit about what we heard from President Biden today on that very issue that you just mentioned, junk fees.
Obviously he made this announcement. I've been talking to some consumers who say she doesn't go far enough. We don't need the fees to be transparent. We want them to go away all together, we'll be able to afford concert tickets again for our families.
Yeah. Because you really put a finger on, I think one of the most important things that's getting lost today, which is that these companies, the CEOs that we're sitting with the president today, they're not eliminating these fees. They're not reducing the prices of these tickets. They're just being more transparent about them.
They're making them as they put a call it all in upfront pricing rather than a charge you see at the last possible minute after you already thought you were getting a good deal. What's interesting, Chris, is that the president didn't sign a law today. He's not proposing an executive order or legislation. This was all about the president just trying to use the bully holder of the presidency, which he used in a big way in the State of the Union address, talking about junk fees.
The idea is that the president as much as he thinks he's enacted a transformative economic agenda, things like infrastructure, the Checksville, the inflation reduction Act. Ordinary Americans relate much more to transparent pricing on tickets, for instance, perhaps more cleanly than what the new highway or what the new bridge will mean in their community. So this is an administration that wants to try to balance these two different lanes here, focus on the everyday pocketbook concerns that show he understands the concerns that Americans have had. Of course, there's always more to do.
And the administration says they're continuing to work to find more ways to get rid of some of these other junk fees in other industries as well. Yeah, we know the president is pushing for legislation that would tackle some of those concerns as well. One final question to you. Obviously, we saw on the day that for President Trump was indicted on federal charges, he obviously turned it into two different campaign opportunities.
Talk a little bit about what you're anticipating in this week ahead. Where are we going to see Mr. Trump? We're going to see quite little of him, frankly, Kristen.
The campaign announced that they've raised more than $7 million in the week since his indictment came down. But he has no travel plan until a week from the Saturday when he'll go to Washington, D.C. to address the Faith and Freedom Coalition. I'm told that he will be doing an interview on Fox in which he was talking to Brett Baer.
On Monday, we'll be doing some local radio interviews. But we do not anticipate him hitting truly the true campaign trail until July 1, when he'll make its way down to South Carolina for July 4th activities. It's a quite light scheduled here for the heart of the summer, Kristen. All right.
Well, Vaughn and Mike, thank you for starting us off. Great reporting as always. Joining me now is our panel, Betsy Wilson Swan, national correspondent for Polito and NBC News political contributor Savante Myrick, former Democratic mayor of Ithaca, New York, and president of People for the American Way. And Sarah Chamberlain, CEO of the Republican Main Street Partnership.
Thanks to all of you for being here on a busy Thursday. Betsy, I want to start with you. I mean, here we go again. This is yet where former President Trump is sucking up all the oxygen and where his Republican rivals are struggling to figure out a how to respond to him, but how to break through themselves.
It's really an extraordinary situation where your political opponent getting indicted is a problem for you, but that's where somebody else that's what we're supposed to do about this. And part of the reason for that, of course, is that the Republican primary voting base is not even stored on the microcosm of the American electorate as a whole. It's just very different. And you have all these niche issues and intense loyalties that really, really matter in this contest that all of a sudden are likely to become huge liabilities once the general turns up.
That's a broader problem for the GOP as a whole. But right now, it's also a problem, of course, for Mayor Suarez and the host of other Republicans running who aren't really sure what to say about the fact that their main competitors got charged with a bunch more crime crimes. Yeah, we'll start talk about Mayor Suarez's entrance into the race, because in some ways, look, he's Latino entering the race, so that makes this a significant moment. On the other hand, here we are with all these candidates in the race.
Everyone saying this feels like 2016 all over again, where there are so many candidates that are just going to pave the way for a Trump nomination. That is the fear. It is wonderful. He's Hispanic.
He jumped in. But now I think we have 12. And you're exactly right, it is the same thing. Trump has his base, there's no doubt about it.
So do the other 11 candidates, split what's remaining, and Trump ends up coming through it again as an indicted individual. It's scary. And it's also a big unknown. The Republican partnership members aren't really sure how to handle that well.
And I think a lot of the candidates don't know how to handle this moment. But Chris Christie has been very clear. He's arguably the person who has the clearest message as it relates to former President Trump. Let's take a listen to something he had to say.
Not one of them mentioned his name. They would say cute little things like, we need new generational leadership. Oh, oh, I get it. Trump's old, you're younger.
Oh, I should vote for you. Or we need a leader who looks forward, not backwards. Oh, I get it. You're talking about the way he still thinks the 2020 election was stolen.
And you won't say it wasn't stolen, but you won't say it will. What do you make of that? Because you know the counterpoint to that? Trump's Republican rivals will say, we have to walk a fine line right now because we don't want to alienate his supporters.
We need them if we want to win the nomination. Is that misguided who's right here? Well, they are right. But first, forgive me.
My mom would kill me if I didn't say congratulations. Thank you. You're just so thrilling. Great.
Thank you. I really appreciate that. So Trump? Well, it depends on if they want to win the nomination.
And I think with these 12, there's a real question, how many of them intend to win, how many are auditioning for vice president, and how many are just hoping he gets indicted, put in prison, and then they can swoop up his voters? But Chris Christie is following playbook. Look, let's be honest. Trump has a tremendous political talent.
He has beaten every generational talent of Republicans and a couple of Democrats. There's only been one person who's ever been Trump in an election, and that was Joe Biden. And he did it by taking it directly to him and making it a referendum like Chris Christie is doing. So I think if you want to beat Trump heads up in a primary, I do think you have to do what Chris Christie is.
You have to do Chris Christie. Well, speaking of candidates who kind of being eye for potential VP nominees, let me Senator Tim Scott had to say, Americans must have a justice system where the lady of justice wears a blindfold. We cannot target Republicans and protect Democrats. As president of the United States, I would restore confidence and integrity in the Department of Justice because you cannot be the city on the Hill if you cannot trust law and order in our nation.
Betsy, what do you mean we're hearing from Senator Scott? Some people say he would be great as a presidential nominee. Others say, you know, we could see a Trump Scott ticket in the end. I mean, is he running to be president or.
He's running. Vice President Trump himself has said that he likes Tim Scott and thinks he's doing a nice job running. So it seems like that's perhaps one read on it. And the fact, of course, that Tim Scott is pushing out this boilerplate, you know, DOJ is unfair language, is very much consistent with the kind of thing that whoever might become Trump's running mate would need to say.
Of course, there's a huge irony here, which is that Trump is already receiving much better treatment than just about anybody ever charged with the same crimes. Since he's not in prison, he hasn't his passport confiscated. In fact, part of the reason that his case is likely to still be underway once we get into the early nominating contest of the soonest is that classified procedures are so well that it just takes a long time. But it's gonna be easier for Trump because he's not in jail.
It'll be easier for him to look the relevant classmate materials. He'll be able to walk into Spiff with his lawyer. Other people charged under the same crimes do not have that privilege. And these arguments that he's being treated unfairly, harshly just disintegrated quickly.
So what do you think of what we've heard from Nikki Haley, who did sharpen her tone this week and then just one day later said, yes, she would potentially considering pardoning former President Trump. So talking about people who I think are running for vice president, I would put her at the top of my list. And I think she is a little bit all over the place. She tries to take the temperature of the audience where she's speaking, but I do think she's running more for vice president.
She would love to beat down Trump's vice president. You know, I talked to a source inside Trump world this week who said their real concern and what they're bracing for is there are going to be more indictments. And that actually starts to become a drag, that voters start to get worried at that point. What do you think?
Can you see that happening or do voters start to go numb? No, they definitely, they know it's possible because they watched it happen. Hillary Clinton in 2016, they watched voters who were open to her message. Maybe they were undecided.
They watched the FBI coming through emails to say enough with this. It seems messy. Maybe not following every beat of it, but it seems messy. I don't want that kind of cloud hang of the White House now.
Those voters don't get on Trump's beyond it, but they did. And so Trump's campaign knows that's possible, that Republicans even in the primary, are starting to save themselves. Can we afford multiple indictments? Can we afford this heading into a general election?
But he has such a base. It's really hard. I mean, a couple years ago, and I laughed when he said it, he said he could shoot somebody in Fifth Avenue and people wouldn't leave him. Maybe he's right.
I mean, it's shocking. And I also think it's unfortunate they went with the New York indicted him first. Yeah. Other people have expressed concerns about that, that the federal charges seem to be weightier.
Betsy, to that point. Are there votes for the getting in this primary? Obviously you have states where unaffiliated voters like New Hampshire can vote. Maine.
I mean, there are some voters to be gotten here still. Yeah, I think most of the polling shows Trump getting 40 to 50 ish percent depending on which contest that you look at. So that's, you know, that's a lot of Republican brown voters who don't support him right now. Part of the Challenge for Trump opponents is that now there are so many folks running against him, it's all getting divided up into very small little sectors.
And of course, as we noted, with Trump's wild fundraising haul, he's gonna have a lot of money very quickly. Savante, one Biden supporter said to me, we need Trump to win, actually. What do you make of that, do you think? Is that the view inside the president's orbit?
Look, I can't speak to the president's thinking, but I can tell you that Trump is the ideal candidate for us to run this. Even mayor. Sorry, and Saint German mayors. I'll tell you about it later.
He is photogenic, panel photonic, is Hispanic. I'm not gonna vote for him because he's leading a party that attempts to ban abortion nationwide. But I think he and a few others could win a ton of moderate votes. So, yes, the best possible outcome if you are a Democrat, is Donald Trump running this primary.
All right, great conversation, you guys. Thank you. Betsy Smonte and Sarah, fantastic stuff. Coming up, NBC News exclusive.
Ukraine's president sits down with N. Richard Engel and delivers a message to war weary Republicans on the campaign trail. We'll have that interview, Max. Plus, inside the Biden administration's quiet diplomatic push with Iran.
We'll have the very latest reporting as Washington looks to ease tensions and avoid a potential nuclear confrontation. That's all ahead. You're watching Meet the Press now. Welcome back.
As Ukraine continues to push ahead with its counter offensive campaign, defense officials gathered today in Brussels for another round of talks to coordinate Western aid for Kyiv. In his opening remarks, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asked the group of some 50 nations to, quote, dig deep to provide continued arms and ammunition to Ukraine. Austin also stressed Keith will need both short term and long term support, calling the war a marathon and not a sprint. As the war rages on, our very own Richard Engel sat down for exclusive interview with President Zelensky.
He told Richard that the military's counter offensive has been generally positive despite tough Russian resistance and that healing Russia will lose the war if the counter offensive is successful. Richard also asks about America's support for Ukraine's military campaign. Take a listen. You are now fighting to push the Russians outside of your borders, reclaim your territory.
Does it feel like you are sometimes fighting, however, according to a US Political timeline? So you have the Russians that you have to fight, but you also have to keep an eye on the US Political clock. We have to think about that. We keep in mind what Americans think.
American leaders who provide this help and I'M very grateful to them, grateful to people, and grateful to the politicians for this help. And as I have said, of course, we analyze everything. I always watch what is happening in Europe, what is happening in the United States of America, first of all, and what kind of internal conflicts you have and the risks that we are discussing. All of this influences the war.
What is the most important thing? If we're talking about protection of democracy and freedom, these are the values, and it's important to say them, then we all are on the same side. Richard Engel joins me now. Richard, congratulations on getting a critical interview at a really important moment.
Obviously, Ukraine now starting its counter offensive. And I just want to ask you, what were your other big takeaways? That was such a fascinating exchange there to hear him acknowledge that, yes, he has to keep an eye on the American political cop, too. What else stood out to you?
So that was an interesting admission of sorts that they're fighting this war here. They're fighting against an enemy larger than they are better armed, and they are constantly looking at the United States and watching the internal politics and watching political statements. Statements. Because Ukraine has become so dependent on foreign aid and so dependent on the flow of weapons.
This city we're in right now, Kyiv, is very well protected. If there are more strikes tonight, then there very likely could be. There things seem to happen almost every night. We will hear air raid sirens and there will be missile defense systems deployed.
And generally they work. This city is very well protected. But if the weapons stop coming, then the city is undefended, like many cities are in Ukraine. Kyiv is really the only major city that has this level of air defenses.
And what one of the things that they're trying to do that the meeting was aimed at today in Brussels is to get more air defenses so that other cities in this country can have this level of protection. I think one thing that struck me, and I'll take away, was his admission that not only are they watching the US Political calendar and comments there, but how difficult this counter offensive has proven to be generally. I thought, okay, I'm going to talk to President Zelensky's first interview since they launched this highly anticipated campaign. He's gonna tell me it's going great and that they're making progress and people should be encouraged to keep the weapons flowing.
Instead, he said, it's been hard. It's pretty difficult. The Russians are fighting back. They're fighting back hard.
But one of the things he's most concerned about are the comments coming from the US because that is Something that they can't immediately control. They can fight against the Russians, they can use their tactics, but they can't change directly American politics. Particularly comments coming from Ron DeSantis and former President Trump, both of whom have questioned the current levels of support for Ukraine, saying that it's not necessarily in the US Interest and it's too costly. And Richard, he had a pretty direct message to former President Trump and Ron DeSantis on that point.
Right. What you asked him specifically, what did he tell you? What would he say to them? Well, I think you have the clip lined up.
You can hear some of his, some of his response for yourself when I asked him anyways and read him some of the comments that. There you go. In many ways, this country is very. Survival depends on the assistance of the United States, other allies.
And several Republican presidential candidates are expressing concerns about support for Ukraine. What would you say to them? What would I say? Is any candidate or senator who thinks it costs too much for the United States to support Ukraine, is he ready to go to war, to fight, to send his kids, are they ready to die?
Because anyway, they will have to do this if Neto gets involved. And anyway, if Ukraine would lose, if Russia would occupy Ukraine, Russia will continue going towards Baltic countries, Poland, etc. They will start war with one of the NATO countries. And at this moment, the United States will have to choose the collapse of NATO or go to war.
And finally, Chris, I think one of the most striking things that he said today was he blamed Russia for blowing up the dam in southern Ukraine that has flooded so much territory in this country, caused tens of thousands of people to be displaced. Russia denies that it was responsible, even though the dam at the time was occupied by Russian forces. He believes that Russia's next target, Vladimir Putin's next target, would be to destroy the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, also currently occupied by Russia. The IAEA Director General visited the site today.
So it is a place that is, is being monitored to a degree, but there's fighting all around it now. There's flooding, flooding of waters that were used in part for its cooling system. And President Zelensky today in this interview made an urgent appeal. Watch this place.
Watch what could happen. Because he believes that Vladimir Putin wants to blow it up in order to force a crisis and force him to end. Force Zelenskyy to end the counteroffensive. An ominous warning indeed.
Richard Engel, just an extraordinary interview. Thank you so much for joining us live. And you can catch more of Richard's reporting And his exclusive interview with President Zelensky tonight on Nightly News. You do not want to miss that.
We want to turn now to another major foreign policy issue for the west and the U.S. for months now, U.S. officials have been engaging in quiet behind the scenes diplomacy with Iran. The first line of toxic negotiations around reviving the country's nuclear deal fell apart last summer.
Now according to the Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration has restarted indirect talks of Tehran in order to secure American prisoners as well as Kirby runs growing nuclear program which now has enough material to make a nuclear bomb in roughly 12 days. That's according to testimony from a Defense Department official earlier this year. In exchange, Iran wants the release of billions of dollars in Iranian energy revenues that has been trapped abroad by U.S. sanctions.
The State Department has pushed back on the reports and rumors about a nuclear deal, interim or otherwise, are false and misleading. Join me now is NBC News Tehran bureau Chief Ali Arousi. So Ali, this is significant. What more are you hearing?
What are you learning about the talks? Well, as you mentioned, Chris, this has been going on for several months now. I think they actually started towards the end of last year when those protests were still happening in Iran. There was an outreach made by Biden's Iran envoy, Robert Malley, and they'd be making a very slow diplomatic approach.
Most of the it through conduits which are the Omanis who have represented the talks between the Iranians who wouldn't talk directly to the states. And this isn't going to be some return to the full blown jcpoa, far from it. This is sort of designed just to lower tensions a bit, to try and avert another conflict in the Middle east and basically try and get Iran to stop enriching uranium at very high levels in return for some sanctions relief. You have to remember right now Iran is enriching at 60%.
That's only a step away from 90%, which is weapons grade. And I think these talks are designed to limit it at 60% for now to avert a greater danger with Iran pushing that nuclear enrichment way up to 90%, which is a red line for many people. But you also have to remember 60% is really, really high. The JCPOA had stipulated enriching up 3.7%.
So we're way beyond that. This is just trying to contain a situation from getting out of control. And obviously regional allies are watching all of this very closely. Israel, for example, watching very closely.
How are they responding and has there been any engagement with the US for them? Well, the Israelis are saying that those predictions that are being made by the US Are exaggerating, that they are. They run into actually probably a year or two years away from actually being able to build a bomb. And they're saying that Biden administration is doing that so they can give a sense of urgency to get this sort of interim deal going.
And one of the concerns for the Israelis is that if this interim deal is settled between Iran and the US it may lead to a broader deal which would give Iran huge financial benefits. They get a lot of their assets that are frozen back back without really breaking down Iran's nuclear program. And the Israelis have also said that if Iran breached that 90 enrichment, that's a big red line for them and they will have to do something about that. All right, NBC.
Ali Rusi, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. Ali, always good to see you. Coming up next to is government hit by another cyber attack.
What we know and don't know about the attack and who could be behind it? You're WATCHING me, the PRESS now. Welcome back. We rarely get to say it, but if it's Thursday, voters are voting somewhere.
This time it's in Tennessee, where pair of Democratic state lawmakers are fighting to keep the seats after being expelled back in April for protesting gun violence inside the state House. Both Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were reappointed by local officials, but on an interim basis, both now must be reelected by voters to keep their seats. Jones is unopposed in today's primary, while Pearson faces a Democratic challenger. The election will take place on August 3rd.
Join me now with the very latest on today's election is NBC. Antonio Hilton, who has been following all of this for quite some time. So Antonia Jones and Pearson's expulsions, their reinstatements, which of course made national headlines. You covered all this back in April.
What has it been like for these lawmakers for them to return to their state houses? And what's the state of play today? Well, Kristen, initially they returned to the state house. It was a dramatic one.
They came in to see some colleagues who were not happy that they returned after their Republican colleagues turned on them and expelled them. And then other Democrats who celebrated their return, you know, they were very defiant in some ways and, you know, have really followed through on this continued campaign to make a gun reform and child safety in Tennessee, you know, really central to their platforms. And in some ways, the fascinating thing, of course, was that that expulsion initially seen as a knock on their careers or, you know, what people call them, something that would silence them. It has propelled them into the national spotlight in a way that Democrats in Tennessee very rarely, I mean, almost never get to enjoy.
It brought hundreds of thousands of new fundraising dollars into the party behind these candidates. And so, you know, their campaigns, their supporters are feeling very good today. They were very quickly sent back after being expelled by their city leadership in Nashville and Memphis, respectively. And they feel that those communities, which are some of the most diverse communities in the state of Tennessee, are ready to send them right back again.
Kristen? Well, and it's notable, of course, the momentum that Pearson, for example, the one who actually has an opponent has going into today. Talk a little bit about the challenger. What do we know and what are the messages that we're hearing from both candidates?
Well, Jones has no challenger, so today is straightforward for him. He's really going to be looking forward to August. But Pearson is facing another Democrat named David Page, and his profile isn't quite the same national level as Pearson's, which is part of the reason why, particularly we talk to young lawyers in Tennessee who have rallied around Pearson. There's a lot of this feeling of comfort right now.
But, you know, that can be the challenge sometimes in these elections as well. You know, people kind of fall asleep at the wheel. They might not think they need to come out and support candidates so they assume are set. And so part of Pearson's message has been, you know, if you liked the message that we brought about gun reform, about police reform, about Kyrie Nichols, if you're concerned about abortion access, you need to send me and you need to send Jones back kind of this package deal.
Almost the two of us are part of this new vanguard, and we want to continue the work we've started for you. All right. Antonia Hilton, such fantastic reporting as always. Thank you so much for joining me this afternoon.
Really appreciate it. After the break, the very latest on what we know about the global hack that penetrated several U.S. government agencies. That's next.
You're watching THE press now. Welcome back. According to the country's top civilian CyberSecurity agencies, several US government agencies were hacked as part of a broader attack and also hit dozens of companies and organizations. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or cisa, says it is still investigating the scope of the attack and is providing support to the agencies that experienced an intrusion.
My colleague Andrea Mitchell sat down with CISA Director Jen Easterly earlier today. Here's what she had to say about this latest hack. So it's a software that federal agencies and companies across the world use. We put out an advisory about this last week and we're responding to it.
You know, these vulnerabilities are pretty common in software and our job is to work with businesses to ensure they have the resources and tools to mitigate that risk. Could it have originated in Russia or not in Russia, but we're trusting it as a criminal group. Many of these criminal groups are located in places like Eastern Europe. Joining now is global security reporter Daniels, who has been tracking this story all day long.
So, Dan, what more do we know about this whole lot, but what do we know about the investigation, the potential timeline? Where are we with this? So this is targeting this software that a lot of people use in and out of government, which helps you transfer files really easily. And they tried to warn private industry last week about this.
There's a press conference going on right now. And so hopefully we'll learn more. But it's still not clear, you know, were sensitive files, data stolen from the US Government and was the group behind this connected somehow to Russian criminal cyber gang? And you mentioned that there was this warning.
Given that there was already a warning from cisa, how is it that the government, that some of these private industries were caught off guard? Why were they prepared? I think they would say that they try to prepare, but they can't fully prepare. It's sort of a new normal now, these kinds of attacks.
There's so many intrusions and attempts that we actually don't hear about. And I think this software is so popular and it's very hard once you, once you kind of plug the damn one place hackers find some other weakness. And so that's kind of the struggle they're in right now. But there are a lot of questions you would think at this point that would have prevented something like this.
Are there concerns that they may have hacked into confidential top secret information? We don't know at this point. They're not even saying which federal agencies are involved. However, private industry has gotten very hard hit by this.
There are dozens of organizations that have had this attack happen. There's a ransomware attempts in those cases. So I think what we're still learning, the scale of this and whether federal data is vulnerable here, could this be something that impacts American consumers too? Could it be that widespread?
I mean, I mean, if they in other words, have their holdings in some of these companies that after their origination, as so many other cyber attacks do. Yes, for sure. And just finally, Danny, talk about the fact that obviously this is not the first hack. What is being done broadly to better secure government systems?
It's a massive effort. They'll tell you they're spending all this money. They're always trying to hire, you know, really talented engineers from the private sector. But the big thing now is they sort of accept these happen.
And the test is how fast you can hatch it up, how fast you can repair. Now, one sort of positive example is in Ukraine. The US Helped the government there a lot defend off Russian cyber attacks, and they feel they've been successful there. Okay.
Interesting stuff then. I know you will stay on top of this for us. Thank you so much. Great to see you.
Silicon Decision day at the Supreme Court, what we learned from today's ruling and the major cases still ahead. That's next watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. Turning now to the latest from the Supreme Court, which handed down rulings on three cases today.
With the session about to end, the high court appears to be pushing its biggest decisions until the last possible moment. Two of the remaining decisions, one challenging affirmative action and the other centered on President Biden's student debt relief plan, could have major implications for current, former and future black college students across the US Ahead of these rulings, the NAACP voiced their disappointment that the president has not done more to secure black student debt relief. According to the Brookings Institution, black students owe about $25,000 more on average than their white counterparts. We will speak to a top official at the NAACP in a moment.
But first, me C News justice correspondent Julia Angley joins me to break down today's key rulings and the remaining cases. So take us through these three big decisions. Julian, thank you for being here. Thanks for having me.
And I will say that Ken is usually justice horseback and I'm putting on his hat today. But I will tell you, what's left are some really big decisions that we're keeping in. So affirmative action, which you named, and whether or not schools can actually have diversity without keeping race as a factor. We're also looking at Biden's student debt relief plan, whether or not his plan to relieve students of up to $20,000 can stand, whether or not the secretary of education has that authority.
And, of course, free speech. It's a very similar case to what we've seen over LGBT rights and whether or not a private business owner operator can deny same sex couples their services. In this case, it's a website designer. Previously, we've seen wedding cake operators.
It's very similar to that previous case and one more on voting rights having to do with North Carolina and whether or not the state legislature there has the right to make voting laws or is it the courts? So a lot coming up? There is a lot coming up. It's not unusual for the court to leave some of its biggest decisions until the end.
But talk a little bit about the time I mean, that you are watching in this case, I mean, for the public and for those of us watching, it always kind of feel like a grand finale at the end of June. But what it is is that some of these opinions are probably harder for the court to build a consensus around and then write those opinions. They're going to be lengthy. These judges know that these opinions are going to carry weight.
And so it makes sense that these are the harder decisions that they've left for a little while down the road. We did hear last week about a major voting rights decision that was one of the bigger ones that came a little earlier. But over the next two weeks, when we see now 20 opinions that need to get done, the fact that these really weighty ones remain is really not surprising. Looking at previous Supreme Court sessions.
Yeah. And notably today we did get one ruling that the court ruled to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act. Talk about the significance of that and what it says more broadly, do you think, about the court? Yeah, that's right.
This act was enacted in the 70s to make up for a history of taking children away from Native American tribes and allowing white families in America to adopt them. And the tribes have said we need to be able to hold on to our children toward traditions. And so the court said they're going to uphold that and cited against a Texas couple that wanted to adopt a child from a Native American tribe. What that does is the 7:2 opinions not narrow.
What that shows us is that there is a willingness to uphold some of these long standing presidents. Of course they're not holding everything. Think about the fact they struck down Roe. But at least in this case and what we saw last week on the Voting Rights act upholding Section two, there is at least a willingness even among the conservatives of the court not to break away too fervently from that president.
Julie Ainsley covering all of the angles for us today. Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. Joining now is Winston Cole, NA CP's National Director of Youth and College.
He was the co author of a letter the organization sent to President Biden earlier this week. I'm going to read a little bit of it. It says we are, quote, disappointed that the needs of black communities have suffered from the negotiated agreement that will erode economic press progress for black Americans. Thank you so much for joining me.
I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. So let's dive into this. You co authored the letters the president earlier this week expressing concerns on the debt ceiling deal and how that impacts student loan forgiveness.
Why did you decide to call the president out publicly on this? Why state this point? You know, it's a. It's about making sure we are protecting black borrowers.
You know, effectively what happened with the debt ceiling bill is it codified the end of pots. Right. And throughout the entire pandemic, we have seen after extension, after extension supporting people as we are finding out our new way in this new reality. And so we had to send this letter to make sure we understood exactly the economic impact on the black community if the decision goes through.
Right. We are awaiting the Supreme Court's decision on the student debate and the binding plan. But regardless if it fails in the Supreme Court, it is up to President Biden to ensure it comes through for black borrowers. Have you heard back from anyone at the White House?
Have you been in contact with the president, for example, about this? What reaction did you get? We've not, but we've had tons of support from our allies, from our coalition members, folks who recognize the deep impact the black community this has, especially if it is not single beef right now. The president campaigned on student cancellation and we've seen this pause.
But it's time to actually deliver on this relief and to ensure that black borrowers are not pushing the party wisdom. Let me just take what the White House would likely say to you, which is, look, we have done as much as we can. Obviously there's opposition to extending the student debt relief beyond August, which was the original plan. What do you say to that argument?
That they are basically fighting against Congress and the law here. You know, the White House has to show the American people and tell the American people that they are going to come through on this promise. Right. Time after time, you see candidates come to our community and make these promises.
There's actually time to see those and policy put into place so we can actually see the racial gap be reduced. You know, the White House has done a lot to make sure that we have a seated table and we can work with them and talk with them. But it's also important that they actually deliver on those promises and not object to those or make sure they put ways to ensure that these happen. What are you bracing for as it relates to the Supreme Court decision on student debt relief?
Are you concerned that they're going to strike it down? I'm concerned they're going to strike down. You know, we talked about things that it is an alarming conservative and right winning Supreme Court at the moment in time. They have not been listening to people.
And so I think it's very important that we are prepared for any and all outcomes. The fact that it does happen, we'll celebrate and we'll rejoice and make sure that implements a plan so everybody has access to loan relief. If it doesn't pass again, we're going to push to the president to ensure they use all legal authority to ensure that student debt cancellation actually happens in its own time. And obviously we are waiting for this decision on the further action.
Just heard my colleague Julia Ainsley talking about this as well. There is broad thinking that it could likely be struck down. What's your thinking? What do you think is going to happen?
Even though obviously you can't climb to the mind of the justices. Yeah. You know, it is important for us to understand that from action and student loan forgiveness are not mutually exclusive issues. If the Supreme Court fails to afford action and student loan forgiveness, we're putting a path to resegregate our education system.
Deny black Americans the opportunity to achieve the so called American dream. You know, regardless of what the court size is up to the President to deliver on his promises to the American people. And it's up to every institution's country to pledge their commitment to embrace diversity no matter what. I'm gonna read a little bit more of your letter and then get you to react.
On the other side. You also say, let us be clear. Absent further swift action in the wake of an unfavorable ruling from the court, black voters stand to be incredibly disillusioned by an administration who failed to deliver on key campaign promises. What specifically are you saying?
Do you think that the president has failed black voters or do you think that he will lose some black voters in this next election? You know, we have to be real. We have to recognize that there is consequences to inaction. Right.
One campaign that have galvanized millions of black voters to turn out based on politics actually want to change their lives. It's important that we finish the job. It's not done until it's done. We have to use every legal authority, every opportunity, every option to ensure that black voters can see relief.
You know, as we attempt election, it's important for us to engage black voters and ensure that there is a real path to economical fairy in this country. And just very quickly, does he still have your vote? Yes or no? No, I'M waiting.
Okay. Thank you so much wisdom, Cole. Appreciate it. And thank you for being with us this hour.
We're back tomorrow with more Meet the Press. Now, he was a young mar. She didn't care about convention. They made a life together.
Then one night, the Marine died. And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected, and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Wakewitz, and this is Trace of Suspicion, an all new podcast from Big Line. Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion now, wherever you get your podcasts.