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Conditions apply. Offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit hyundaicanda.com or your local deal for details. If It's Friday, Biden's shaky standing the president's poll problems are just one of the reasons Democrats are still getting nervous about 2024 even as Donald Trump continues to rise in the Republican side as a White House is in response to whistleblower accusations that the DOJ interfered in the Hunter Biden case.
Plus, Republicans wrestle with the abortion issue 2024 JV opals head here to Washington. Already been here, actually, to speak to some of the country's leading evangelicals. One year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and extreme weather threats, we got a scorching heat wave, deadly tornadoes and two tropical storms churning out the Atlantic and what could end up being a more extraordinary hurricane season than we thought.
Happy Friday. Welcome to MEET THE press. Now, I'm Chuck Todd reporting from Washington. As we begin the hour, President Biden said to speak here in Washington on reproductive rights.
A day before the anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Biden the Democratic Party may not be saying out loud, but they're grateful they have the abortion issue to energize voters have 2024 and they're opening that abortion rights combined with the everliving presence of the Donald Trump are enough to get into voters that another four years of Biden as president is better than the alternative. And as you know, alternative is a key word here.
But will that be enough to overcome the problems facing the president's 2024 campaign? What if his numbers look more like Hillary Clinton 2016 than they do Joe Biden, 20? A new Q Poll shows that his job approval rating is wobbling in the mid-30s. That's down from the 41% that our NBC News poll track for the president at the end of April?
We'll have new NBC News poll numbers coming out this Sunday underneath the press check local cessation. But the concern is not just about Biden's poll. There's also nervousness their early fundraising isn't delivering the way they hope. According to some reporting by political even as the campaign says they're a good place.
And while Biden doesn't have a real primary challenger, the GAD flag gambit by RK Jr isn't helping the campaign. Biden very likely lose Iowa, NH since this campaign has decided to make South Carolina the first ballot Biden's name will appear on. So he's almost setting himself up for some negative early publicity there. In Iowa, New Hampshire, meanwhile, national Democrats are wary and that's to be kind here.
They're very concerned about the third party, no labels ticket because they think that ticket could be a spoiler. And what Biden has accomplished, this president may not be resonating. The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walls, called Biden's impact, quote, grossly underestimated. But he also warned, quote, they're having a challenging time connecting the achievements of the Biden administration, connecting it to real lives and real job creation.
And add to all of that the legal issues surrounding the president's son Hunter, the latest of which is an accusation by two credible IRS whistleblowers claiming misconduct by the Department of Justice and the FBI during the investigation of Hunter Bide, according to transcripts released by the Republican House in Ways and Means Committee. One of those whistleblowers, by the way, was questioned both by Democrats and Republicans on that committee, former senior IRS agent Gary Shapley. He alleged that Hunter Biden received preferential treatment from the DOJ. Shapley asserts that the Trump appointed U.S.
attorney leading the probe was blocked in his efforts to charge Hunter Biden with more serious crimes than the tax related misdemeanors Biden agreed to plead guilty to earlier this week and a press conference after he generally pushed back on lawmakers who have, quote, chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department. And he said the prosecutor in Hunter Biden's case was given complete authority. I'd be happy to. As I said at the outset, Mr.
Weiss, who was appointed by President Trump as the U.S. attorney in Delaware and assigned this matter during the previous administration, would be permitted to continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute anyway in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to. Mr. Weiss has since sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee confirming that he had that authority.
I don't know how it would be possible for anybody to block him from bringing a prosecution given that he has this authority. So pressure off that plea deal. The president's son was spotted by sign attending a state dinner for the Indian prime minister. Honor Biden is not of Course, of course not run for office.
But a presidential politics optics can matter and he represents what could be a major blind spot for his father in 2024. And again as a father he understands when you're dealing with somebody who's dealt with the problems of Hunter Biden's deal with his personal life, particularly drugs and addiction on one hand. On the other hand, was the state dinner a good idea? Mike, Alice at the White housekergate from the cattle.
Mike, let me start with you. Any White House response to the decision to invite Hurbum in the state dinner? Well, we did ask about it in the briefing earlier this afternoon, Chuck. We actually pressed them on a number of question to Hunter Biden and all these developments over the last couple of days with respect specifically to him attending the same state dinner that the attorney general was also invited to and did attend.
The White House said simply he is the president's son, that the president has every prerogative to invite members of his family to an event such as this one. And that is what he did. I specifically asked White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre whether the President spoke to Attorney General Garland last night because as we know in the last couple of weeks or so, not just with the news of this plea agreement deal with his own son, but the indictment in the former President Trump. After that, President Biden vowed essentially not to speak to the attorney General about any of these kinds of cases that are so sensitive within the Department of Justice.
And Karine Jean Pierre told me I can't tell you whether they spoke or not. She said she wasn't privy to that kind of information and didn't know everybody the president spoke to last night. So that is gives you a little bit of a window into if nothing impropriety wise, just the optics challenge here, the fact that the President's son was at this dinner, which for all we know this was long planned. And then when the development of the news came a couple of days ago, they decided to just stick with the plan.
But we did press them on whether any consideration or discussion was had about what it might look like, what questions it might raise. And the White House didn't want to get into any of that, essentially defending the President's decision to have his family there, saying there's no issue with that and not wanting to really go beyond or answer more questions. Is there have you had any indication where White House staff has tried to intervene here? So this is something that dating a long time back, for years in this circle, we know that the President has of course had such a complicated future feeling an approach to how the media and others have reported on Hunter Biden at what many would say were some of his lowest points in his life and that the president maintains he's incredibly proud of his son.
And in fact, in the White House, in terms of trying to answer some of this a little bit, they said they weren't going to comment on this at all earlier in the week except to say the president and first lady love Hunter and that nothing else was going to be said. And now today they are putting out an additional statement I think speaks to this question a little bit, which is reiterating some of that. But now trying to say very plainly that the president has never done any kind of business with his son and the Department of Justice remains independent here, as has been in this case, that the White House was not involved. But more than anything, they're proud, they maintain and say that the president feels the way that Hunter has rebuilt his life for him is an incredible source of pride that he's going to continue to talk about and tout.
Monica, one place to start. Is there been any thought of either Hunter Biden or through Hunter Biden's lawyer, that he say whether or not those phone calls and text messages are quoted by him, that when he referred to his father, he was do we know whether his father was actually in the room? No. And I asked Kareem that exact question as well.
I said, can you state definitively whether on July 30, 2017, a text message you're referring to that was referred to by the IRS whistleblower, again, somebody under sworn testimony, a former government official who is alleging this, whether she could speak to that in the White House and specifically told me I have not spoken to the president about that. I asked her, do you plan to can you get us that answer? And she said, chuck, no, I don't plan to speak to him about this and I don't plan to address this from the podium. That's why you're having other folks in the White House, like from oversight investigations, having to address this, but a different way, but certainly not on camera.
Now the podium, which in many ways creates more questions about this issue. Really nice work there today. Thanks very much. Let me move to Garrett.
Hey, Garrett, you know, for the longest time all this whistleblower talk, you know, it was not clear whether there was there there these transcripts, who these people were the second whistleblower. These look pretty credible. What kind of reaction have you got on the Hill today, Chuck? It's kind of ironic because I think as you point out, the various oversight efforts by different Republican House committees to find a handle on a Hunter Biden scandal that would really break through have been pretty weak.
They frankly been pretty feeble at times. They've got more of the goods here than they have elsewhere. And again, that's a very low bar. But what they have here, sworn testimony from serious people, current IRS officials, one of them quite senior, making these allegations.
Ironically enough, these claims haven't gotten the same kind of breathless treatment that some of the other more fantastical claims that amounted to less have. From nothing to do with Ukraine, this has nothing to do with China. Right. This goes back to just simply what he was doing with his business.
Right, right. And there's good old fashioned business malfeasance in here. You know, basically paying for flights for prostitutes and writing them off as business expenses. And I mean there's a lot in here and it hasn't quite landed.
Maybe it's the sort of less sexy packaging of a, you know, whistleblower's testimony from a Ways and Means committee. This is not a committee where Republicans have basically bet the farm, you know, on Oversight or on Judiciary or on the newly formed Weaponization Committee, which is basically whiffed on everything that it's approached here. They would be the one to find something that kind of like shakes the Biden foundation in some significant way. This, I don't know if it does that, but it comes much closer now.
Also, Chuck, it's worth pointing out that the House is finishing up a seven week run in session. Working seven weeks in row is pretty normal for most Americans, but for the House it's pretty unusual. They left town this morning. There may not just be a lot of wind left in the sails to really engage on this right now.
We'll see if that's different when they come back. Essentially rejuvenated from there. Holiday break very quickly. Impeachment, expungement.
Is this just a manufactured resolution because there's nothing in law about it? Yeah. The short answer is basically yes. I mean, we've looked into this.
Our in House historian Kyle Stewart kind of poked around on this. The House can pass a civil resolution which says we don't think Donald Trump's impeached anymore. But as another colleague from the network put it up here, you could pass a resolution expunging Tuesday from the calendar this past week. It doesn't change the fact that expungement that Tuesday happened.
Right. Like we all saw it, we all lived it. The former President went on trial twice those things occurred. And when Jim McCarthy was asked about this earlier, his answer was very thin.
Trying to pivot to saying, you know, John Durham's report indicated that this impeachment should have never happened. Listen to what he told me when I kind of tried to press him on that. Beginning of the Russian investigation which with either impeachment which have nothing to do with the Russian investigations, it's just I think an indication that this is another attempt by some House Republicans. There's just muddy the waters around defending Donald Trump by any means necessary.
Garrett Hank, quite a busy week, particularly House Republicans. It always is. Garrett, thank you very much. Let me bring in panel Eugene Scott, senior politics reporter at Axiom Sanders Townsend, former senior senior advisor to the Vibe campaign, host of someone and SMC survey Republican strategist of course we Meet the Press contributor.
So I'm going to start with you because you dealt firsthand with the president as a candidate while this harder buying stuff. Anybody who's a parent can't imagine losing a shot. He's had a lot of loss. I understand what he's doing as a father but it does seem as if he has a political blind spot here until these appearances.
Is he hard to have a conversation with him about these things? I wouldn't say it's hard to have a conversation with the president about Hunter. But also as you said any parent and Joe Biden is a parent and when any parent he does not look at Hunter as anything other than his son and just a terrible idea that he should uninvite his son to a state dinner. Bumped into each other Tarmac and Loretta lynch had accusers.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean well also the Obama administration was notoriously risk averse. Very extremely risk averse. I mean I don't want to say he's a little less risk averse because there's three people in the White House and follow the Justice Department and two and all of them work in the White House counsel's office.
But I just, I would say he's a parent and I don't think that I would be hard pressed to believe that there was a full fledged analytical conversation about whether 110 I think it was and it just feels like one of those things that staff no, it's not worth, it's not worth the aggregation. She's not what we asking. Well thank you sir. Craig, it's interesting to me that it wasn't James Comer or Jim Jordan that got this unbridled stuff.
It was somebody that hadn't been waving around papers claiming to have all this crazy stuff. Lou Jason Smith, the Way of Mean Street. It's interesting to me that it was sort of a more methodical approach to these things versus sort of the grandstand approach. Well, it's like a traditional legislative approach, which is let's get all of our facts lined up and let's get all of the good, so to speak, before we go out and look, you know, all of these issues, whether it's the state dinner or the whistleblower or all the pictures that show up in tabloid press, they all create an environment that makes it harder for Joe Biden to run for re election.
It creates just doubt, ickiness, even if it's unfair. And so for them to put him out last night, it just struck me as I get it. I understand it's painful for the family, but it's not fair. But welcome to party, not a normal family.
You've got to think about the place, right? Eugene, does this look a mark? I think it could. I mean, obviously you have Republican voters who have already made it.
But I think what the president needs to figure out is a message in response that will connect with swing voters or voters who are interested and want to know more but aren't assuming he's aggressive maybe just once, but address it. Look, something has to be said because Republicans are going to keep talking. I mean, the reality is, although recess is about to happen, the number of Republican lawmakers who have addressed this on social media and on media has already grown like in the last 24 hours. And that's going to continue.
So the whistleblower charge charges the admission of guilt, you know, essentially, or the charges on top of the whistleblower, which is going to be added fuel. It's going to add to this. It is not going to take it away. It's only going to build from here.
What exactly does the president need to say I understand if someone say I understand if maybe folks will hear more from Weiss in the Justice Department about what he believes was theoristically happening at the Justice Department, blocking him. But what exactly does the president need to say? Because the questions about his, like Hunter Biden's business dealings. There was extensive conversation, I recall in 2020.
I think it's important to restate to swing voters. Look, I love my son. I'm going to support my son, whatever happened, but he's going to face whatever consequences he has. He pled guilty to facing up to this.
But I think he's got to acknowledge to your point, like he's Already provided answers. But now that there's new, there's a new event. Actually let's not forget that he said that there's no, there's no there there to anything. That was the vice President, that was the president's position the entire campaign that there was no there.
And now she's there and they pled guilty to it, which there they go. See, that's what, see, this is the money in the wars. This was a specific issue that he's dealing with. And the thing is a quick care point.
This is not this Ukraine conspiracy. No, it's not. That is the conflation. That is the conflation.
This makes abortion. That's more important than nothing. I mean, where would this campaign be, would have done correctly without abortion? I think it'll be a different environment completely.
Right, but I mean that's the same thing. Where would people be? Donald Trump had never been president. Right.
There are a lot of shame still matter America. Shame from the House floor the other day. So I think that the reality is, is that this is the situation that the Republic Party finds themselves in, is in fact a situation they brought upon themselves for 50 years. They organized to repeal Roe and then Roe got repealed.
They didn't have a plan, a piece of plan which have Republican candidates across the country, presidential candidates all over the board when it comes to where they voters believing a number of votes, at least one third Republican voters, people say, hey, we think abortion should be protected. And this gets me at something you change. I think we don't, we don't correctly articulate where the public. There is no divide.
There's not a divide on abortion. There's more of consensus than divide. There's a political divide. And the division is actually inside the Republican Party more than it is inside the Democratic Party.
And this feels like we're. The Republican Party's not there yet. I don't want to speak for you, Sarah, but that's what it looks like to me. They've got to figure out what their position.
But in the meantime, Democrats are trying their best to articulate to their American Fund what the GOP position is. I interview Catherine Clark, the whip, and she has argued that what Republicans want is a national abortion ban. The reality is we know that not all Republicans are on the same page about this, but there are Republicans who have been very clear that's the direction in which they would like the country to go. And until enough of them get on the same page to figure out some message, Democrats are going to try to own it.
Sarah, There was an interesting aspect in our poll question we've been tracking is abortion. Has access to abortion gotten easier or harder or saved by the same in your state? And then what do you think? Obama was astonishing was how many people are paying attention to what's happening in other states, not just their own.
This feels as if, if the party, the party's gonna get defined by its most extreme position, maybe not by what its position is. Is that what you think this happens? Yeah, I think, look, if you look back after Roe, I think the pro life movement kind of splintered a little bit in a sense that they had won a victory. And you know, it's very clear that they have to articulate a message of, of hope and you know, progress for family.
And you know, they can't sort of just lay back because the Democrats are going to find the position as opposed to, you know, allowing them to sort of put out an alternative argument. I mean, the reality is abortion is a very complex issue. Most people agree that there should be some abortion in the United States, you pointed it out. But boy, once you get past that layer, it is much more complex and the Democrats actually have the more extreme position.
And that to me is free Roe. I understand that. Again, free Roe, but it doesn't matter. So it is unacceptable in the Democratic primary and a Democratic primary today to be for anything other than abortion at any point.
I would argue it's about the same on the Republican primary side. You can't approach. I don't disagree with you, but my point is that the notion that Republicans are over here on one extreme and Democrats are for just consensus, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Now the reality is Democrats have done a very good job on this issue of convincing the public that the Republicans are the extremists and Republicans need to do a better job of counterbalancing those arguments.
Is there a policy where they can support argument? I mean, I think that's the problem. There's certainly division, there's certainly division about, you know, whether we should have any ban or a 16 week ban or, you know, a full on ban. There's no doubt that people of the party are in different views on this and that creates the challenge and it creates the challenges in the primary.
But you know, to your poll, your conversation on the poll, Democrats can hide behind abortion. It's been very effective political issue for them. At 35% approval rating, Joe Biden is not getting reelected and he's not beating Donald Trump with those numbers. Look, I think, I think the Donald Trump positions have been the positions that he has ran on have proved to be not popular with people that he needs to win an election, whether with the last presidential election or the midterms in 2022, but particularly when we talk about the issue of abortion, women are dying had come close to death.
The stories that are being told and that's a hyperbole the idea that the conversation at this point the conversation at this point is not theoretical. It is about whether women and their families and their doctors are the able to make the decisions about their bodies or what Republicans are saying is actually we think we should legislate that. If that is not the discussion, then I show me the evidence because the evidence says that that is in fact where it checks out. I'm showing time.
But this issue of OBGYN access in rural red states, this is going to be something that I think is something that Republic foster so many places Eugene Sarah contentious week American politics never have that the date was abandoned. Why we got more about all of this in just a moment. Faith and freedom in the field as we were just Talking about some 2024 public candidates call for federal portion bans. Chris Christie gets booed at a key conservative conference.
While those moments in more next. You watch me press fan. Welcome back. One year since the Dodge decision overturned Roe versus Wade Republican presidential candidates are addressing the issue abortion.
The angelic flutters Today in Washington, D.C. seven White House hopefuls spoke at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's annual conference today here in Washington. Former Vice president Mike Pence urge all candidates to pledge to impose nationwide restrictions if they become president. So I want to say from my heart, every Republican candidate for president should support a ban on abortion before 15 weeks as a minimum nationwide standard.
Meanwhile, former officer Hudson and Florida rod of census touted actions they've taken at the state level to restrict access to abortion. Let me tell you, it was my honor to sign over 30 pro life bills and Arkansas has been ranked after eight years of my leadership as the number one pro life state in America by Americans United for Life. We have also delivered in Florida on promoting a culture of life and that means signing the Heartbeat bill into law that protects unborn children when there's a detectable heartbeat. It was the right thing to do.
Don't let anyone tell you it wasn't. While that's likely what evangelical voters want to hear, that's not where a majority of Americans are. As we first showed you yesterday, RBC News poll shows that 61% of voters still disapprove of the Dobbs decision one year later, more than half, 53%, say that abortion access in this country is too difficult. So those numbers, along with today's faith and freedom of conference, show that challenges that lie ahead for the anti abortion rights movement.
They call themselves, of course, pro life. My colleague Kristen Walker has more. For half a century, anti abortion activists were united around a singular goal, overturning Roe v. Wade.
Now, one year after the constitutional right to abortion was struck down, activists in the anti abortion rights movement are speaking out about the future, including Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. So much has happened. We're not protecting as many of those unborn children as we would like, but we have the opportunities.
We have a lot of opportunities ahead of us. And Kristen Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, I think just for this generation to be able to see this huge seismic shift take place, I don't even think the whole. I don't think the cultural change has even yet been measured from just that one decision. While these advocates say they are still united in their primary goal to end abortion services nationwide, there are divisions about how to achieve that aim.
If you don't believe abortion is a federal issue, you have no business running for federal office. I think going for any kind of national ban at this stage is not possible. Even if you're looking at something like 12 or 15 weeks, there's not the support for that kind of legislation. The guy creating a patchwork of approaches.
The challenge now, refining a strategy. It is federal, it is state, and it is community. And that is where we engage. Whether it's on campuses changing hearts and minds, whether it's in the community promoting nonviolent alternatives for families and mothers in crisis, or whether it's here in Washington or a state capitol.
Real world factors about the impact of abortion restrictions on women's health care pose serious questions. A 2020 study from the Commonwealth Fund, which supports independent research on health care issues, found that in states where abortion is restricted, the maternal death rate was 62% higher than in states with access to abortion care. How does that impact you? To hear that figure, I'm appalled that the numbers are as high as they are in the United States.
We need to do better, but that does not justify or cannot use as an excuse to kill more unborn children. Meanwhile, organizers like Mark Lee Dixon are fighting at the grassroots level. The overturning of Roe v. Wade did not slow down my life, just increased it.
Dixon, who marched outside the Capitol on January 6, but who denounced the violence during our interview, says he is appealing to city councils to ban abortions at the local level, hoping to create what he calls sanctuary cities for the unborn. So far, he says he has succeeded in 65 local areas. If an abortion facility moves into a community, it's not their state capital's problem or the nation's capital's problem, it's their problem. When the discussion was thrown to the states that legislators could no longer say, we're waiting on the Supreme Court, that the ball was in their court to do something, we pressed him on how he justifies urging city councils to not follow federal and state laws.
What do you say to people that's creating chaos and undercuts law enforcement? I don't think it creates chaos at all because at the very heart of what these ordinances and laws are being used for, it's to protect innocent human life. Dixon's latest target, Snowflake, Arizona, population 6,300. Abortion is already illegal in Arizona after 15 weeks.
It's really a religious community. We all believe the right for life, you know, that they would choose life. And so it's really important that it stays that way. But in other places, Dixon's anti abortion platform is enraging some residents.
In Gallup, New Mexico, where Dixon's proposal is being considered and facing some intense opposition. I went to nursery school before many people were born and I saw the results of illegal abortions. People that use cocaine, people that use toxic chemicals injected into their uteruses. Facing a campaign year when abortion politics will animate voters across the political spectrum.
A new test for this movement after it achieved its decades old goal, searching for a new strategy and seeking new candidates to carry forward this deeply personal and political debate. Krista Welder, NBC News, Washington. As you already know, we devoted a special half hour to abortion in America one year later. Meet the Press special.
You can watch it right now on nbcnews.com, or just go to YouTube. Alec Tower has been at Faith and Freedom all day today and she joins me now. So Allie was interesting. It's a boy.
They came and out. They all want to catch their flight so they could get to, you know, Des Moines, Manchester, Columbia, important places like that in the primary calendar. We did some highlights on this. What were some of the most intriguing takeaways that maybe our cameras didn't catch?
Yeah, look, I think obviously the fact that the former vice president Mike Pence is trying to make a litmus test here for the rest of the field saying that everyone should support a 15 week national ban on abortion. I think it's notable, especially as we watch people like Florgana Rossettis and Donald Trump all sparring for a what the right number is here in terms of the numerical weak mark that should be litigated around. But then also if there's a role for a national abortion ban, period, I mean, that's an active conversation within this primary. But I do think the other thing that was significant here too is we're watching these candidates now try to take Trump on contrasting him on policy.
You're seeing that from people like Pens and Desantis. But then you've got someone like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who comes in here and does not center his speech around the policy items that many of the rest of the candidates did, like the courts, like abortion. Instead, he centered it in his words around character and made this a referendum against Donald Trump as someone who he said has let people down, as he said that there were booze here. Here's just a snip of what that look and sounded like.
I'm running because he's let us down. He's let us down because he's unwilling. He's unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made, any of the faults that he has and any of the things that he's done. And that is not leadership, everybody.
That is a failure of leadership. And I. You can boo all you want. And look, Chuck, you and I both know that Christy is not someone easily deterred by some boos in the room.
When you talk about the cameras might not have picked up as I was standing here on the riser listening to folks react. Yes, there were the audible boos, but I also then heard from some people in the back shouting. That's true. Speaking to what Christie was saying about the former president and the likely standard era of the party, it does represent the people who most of these candidates are trying to appeal to, the ones that maybe don't want Trump again, but want people who will still represent conservative value.
So even though Christie seems like he's gonna be walking that lonely road, coming to events like this, earning those boos, it is something, I think that's an outlier in terms of the way these candidates are handling that. Even big cattle calls. It's almost like Christie's like the official protester of Donald Trump. You know, you might have protesters follow around the candidate and that's what he's gonna try to do and see if he can somehow win over converts.
It's it's something out of town now, an empty all get out of town Friday. Good luck. Thank you. Nice work.
Up next, big victory for the Biden administration. It's a big victory for federalism, folks. And it's also about border policy that's at the Supreme Court. But first, life is a highway.
And look at this. Phillies mascots want to ride. That's right. Philadelphia's favorite sports icons, not named Mike Schmidt, Jalen Hurts, were among the very first passengers to drive over i95's newly created temporary roadway that reopened a stretch of i95 to all cars today, less than two weeks after that fiery bridge collapse and months ahead of what was originally predicted.
Look, this is still temporary. They still have to Finish, finish. But i95, you can take it, boy. Sometimes government, when they put their mind to it to get something up, you watch it with Christmas.
Welcome back. We are nearing the end of the Supreme Court's term. There are still some major decisions we're waiting for based on, of course, having to do with affirmative actions. But we did get a few rulings today, a fairly significant one that was handed down.
The spring court backed the Biden administration's authority to decide what to prioritize an integration and deportation policy ruling that the attorney general who filed suit on behalf of the states of Texas, Louisiana, did not have standing to block these administration policies. It was a like a 8 to 1 decision only, oddly enough, just to single Leecho, this idea of the 8 to 16 Thomas ruling revised the 2021 policy that sets certain priorities for arresting and important migrants, focusing on those who were considered threats to public safety, national security. States argued the prioritization left too many migrants with criminal records on the streets while their cases were under consideration. In his opinion, Justice Kavanaugh shot down the legal basis of the suit, calling it, quote, extraordinarily unusual and that the state cites no precedent for a lawsuit like this.
Joined now by our whole next time, Julia Ainsley. So, Julia, this is this feels like it's a it's an old fashioned federalism decision, that it's not about the specifics of immigration but about who decides immigration policy. 50 states or one federal government. Yeah, maybe that's the thing that you can actually have eight justices agree on right now that immigration is a federal issue and it shouldn't go to Texas or Louisiana.
We should look, though, at how the Supreme Court allowed title 42 to stay in place a little longer than the federal government would have liked to. All that kind of public health issues. But what this also sets us up for down the road is that with this Supreme Court believes so heavily that it's up to the federal government and the executive branches that there's priorities. That means the next administration about a day fall on immigration can make those same decisions.
Say you have a hardliner who comes in who says we're going to try to deport 11 million people, they'll leave that up to them. But they really knocked these states down. Not saying that this policy is one they agree with or justice have an algorithm majority opinion, but just that these states really had no grounds to stand on until the federal government how to do its job here. Does this mean we'll have fewer of these frivolous attorneys general lawsuits that they like to write for press releases to say they're suing the Biden administration?
You'd think so. We still have a lot of them kicking around challenging the Biden administration. And the last administration, it was Democratic attorney general, soon the Trump administration. Like these are all and this was a case where there's headlines and then there's a policy.
I think these attorney generals down, particularly Texas one, that's true. But they really may be sending a message down to lower courts because as you can see, I mean Texas, it's not allowing these to happen. Yeah, at first they did side with Texas and Louisiana. That's how we got here.
In other words, you ruled incorrectly. Maybe that'll send a message right now very policies they have that are keeping this border number so low are challenged by the ACLU and by the Stephen Miller types. So along with Con. Well remember the real goat in all this is our friends in Congress who do nothing on this.
After the break data about something we've been reporting on for quite a while, a racial disparity and how the VA is doling out veterans health benefits the VA now says they're going to address. They're watching me Express now. Welcome back with an update on the story we've been following right here now for several months. Black veterans being denied VA health benefits more often than their white counterparts.
Well today the Department of Veterans affairs announced a new equity team to investigate why this has been happening, why health benefits are granted or rates of black veterans. This has been a proof with statistics veterans advocacy groups of press the VA for more transparency in action on this issue. For years even having to sue them to release the data that show the discrepancies, some of which the BAA released today. Lucy Lucas Money Martha station NBC affiliate has been reporting on both the current and Historic inequity issues with VA benefits.
Here's a look at some of her reporting from earlier this year. The GI Bill of 1944 promised all veterans returning home from war and education, along with housing and unemployment insurance, all meant to create a strong middle class in America. Historian Richard Rothstein in practice, African Americans had very, very little opportunity to use the GI benefits that the GI Bill provided throughout the South. In the north, it was somewhat better.
A study by Brandeis University projects based on limited available data from the VA that descendants of World War II veterans lost $80,000 in economic opportunities. African Americans never gained that wealth and therefore the effects of that policy still perpetuate the inequality of today. Well, our Pentagon correspondent Cordon Cubate has more on today's announcement. Just covers the VA for so Courtney has been a lot of pressure on the VA.
This was a VA where Denis McDonough was the secretary there, was trying to acknowledge. Okay, I hear you. Is this that moment? Is this real?
So, and remember when he came in as the VA secretary two years ago, he made this a priority and said that they are going to establish these equity councils and essentially these divisions within the VA that would look at these issues, not just racial, by the way, also looking at LGBTQI women, Even veterans who live in rural areas may not get the same level of benefits as those who live in more cosmopolitan areas. So yes, he came in, Dennis, because I'm promising to do this two years ago. Well, today the VA announced that they are officially starting one of these equity groups. Now one of the things that they will be looking at is the issue of benefits.
What you were just talking about there, Chuck, and a lot of reviewers understand what this means. So when you leave the military, you become a veteran, you're given a disability rating and that is essentially an amount of money that you're going to get. A tax free benefit that recognizes any kinds of mental health or physical problems that you may have gotten because of your military service. The VA will compensate you for that for the rest of your life.
Now, according to the data that we just released today that we got from the va, in fact, we've known for decades that black veterans do not get the same grant level as their white veterans. But we found out that in fact, as recently as FY23, fiscal year 23, that is still a problem. It's a decades old problem that is still persisting today. Now, the hope, according to VA officials is that with this equity council that they're beginning, hopefully they'll get to the root of why this is still an issue and they'll finally be able to address it.
Chuck, is there on these other how are they going to treat something like the, you know, the GI Bill at the time with older African American veterans who may be deceased but they were denied benefits. Perhaps a relatives deserve these benefits. What how is the day going to handle this? That's and that's an excellent question.
So one thing that they're doing is they're encouraging living veterans who may have been denied benefits to reapply. Now they're hoping that people will come back. One of the things that one of the officials I spoke with just today about this said was they're hoping they can re earn trust with some of these veterans and these, in these, these communities that have been underrepresented with their benefits, they can rear ear some of their trust and that they can help bring them back into the system. You know, an excellent question about people who have veterans who've passed on in their families probably won't ever get any of these benef.
Another thing that we learned though is even though these veterans, the black community has less of a grant rate, they actually are over represented in the number of veterans that do get benefits. Black veterans who get these benefits but that's because they apply to much higher rate shocks. So the stats are kind of confusing. At the end of the day, black veterans have a harder time getting the same benefits that their white counterparts get.
Still today, Courtney Cubby with some important elements on how VA is trying to write a decades long wrong. Courtney, thank you. Still to come, this is Tropical Storm Cindy with a sea. That's right, we're in the seas.
It's still June. For us amateur hurricane meteorologists who've lived on the Atlantic Ocean, that's scary. I want to talk to the National Hurricane center director about what to expect. What's been already active tropical sea season again, not even a month old.
You're watching me press now. Welcome back. We have seen our share of historically extreme weather across the country this weekend. Texas or tornado killed at least four people, injured 10 in the town of Matabo Wednesday night in a combination of rain, hail and wind hitting parts of Colorado.
Earlier this week, several people were hurt when golf ball sized hail rained down on a concert at Red Rock Amphitheater Wednesday night. And in the Atlantic, it's been an active start to the hurricane season. Less than three weeks into season, we're already up to the letter C of name storms. Tropical Storm Cindy formed like yesterday and has continued to gain strength as it threatens the Caribbean Tropical Storm Brett, which left a path of damage in the Western Antilles and the Grenadines today.
So I'm joined now by Michael Brennan. He is current director of the National Hurricane Center. And Michael, you have to forgive me. Growing up in Miami, I think I'm, you know, we all think we're experts, but let me ask you this.
It's a, it'. A, it's a El Nino year, which supposedly meant we were going to have fewer storms in the Atlantic, but the Atlantic is warmer. What is going on in these first three weeks? How concerned should we be on the East Coast?
Well, we need to be concerned every year, regardless of El Nino or what the seasonal forecast says. Like you said, we have these competing factors. This year. We do have an El Nino that's developed in the Pacific.
All things being equal, that tends to suppress hurricane activity on the Atlantic side. Although you've been from South Florida, Hurricane Andrea, el Nino year 1992. So there's no guarantee that even in a slow season you're not going to get potentially catastrophic impacts. But like you said, the Atlantic Ocean is warm.
The waters out in the Eastern Atlantic are as warm as they typically are in August or September. That's why we've seen Brett and Cindy develop in that region well ahead of schedule, as we would expect in a typical season. Is there anything else contributing to this or is just simply, this is, you know, El Nino. We've never had El Nino with this warm of an Atlanta coaster.
That's right. Yeah. And so these factors are competing against each other. We're also seeing pretty strong tropical waves coming off the coast of Africa earlier in the season, and that's something we're anticipating this year as well.
Those tend to be the seeds for the most powerful storms we get. So we'll see how the El Nino effects still during the hurricane season if they're able to counteract these. Otherwise, what period? Favorable conditions in the Atlantic.
Since it's not often I get the chance to talk with you as an expert in this. One of the things that it seems like has developed more often in the last, I'd say five years is that we get these tropical systems that feel like they develop out of nowhere for the Yucatan and just sort of shoot up into the Gulf. And all of a sudden, instead of the typical, we get to watch one of these things off the coast of Africa make its way and we decide how seriously to take it versus one of these are suddenly popping up. And in 24 hours you're like, wait a minute we're 48 hours from landfall and this is a category three.
What is happening in the Gulf? Well, I mean we have seen a lot of storms develop and rapidly dense by. But if you go back actually over the past hundred years, the strongest hurricanes that hit the United States were all tropical storms three days before they made landfall. So these are all storms that develop relatively close to land.
And that's a big problem for the Gulf coast and for the state of Florida particularly. There's a storm like Andrew, storms like Laura, Michael, Harvey and going back to all the way back over the last hundred years. So this is not an unprecedented event. It's just that we've seen a lot of development of storms in the western part of the basin in the last few years.
It hasn't been as much activity farther east like we've seen in the last few days. And those storms that we, you know, they're not all gonna be like Irma. We have seven to ten days to watch it come all the way across the Atlantic. And that's a huge challenge for preparedness and just getting people ready to take action.
When it our expectations for this year, considering we're at sea, I mean, is this something. Is hurricane season really start June 1st and November 30th anymore? I guess it's the easier way to say it. Or are we going to start to have to worry that maybe hurricane season starts May 1st and we gotta be prepared for the middle of December?
Well, we do have storms that develop actually any month of the year. If you go back to the record books across the Atlantic, we have seen a few storms developing in late May in the last few years, but we haven't had them in the last two. So, you know. But June 1st to November 30th is still captures about 95% of the activity.
And most of the big storms happen in August, September, October. That's when really the bulk of the major hurricane activity happens. But. But you do have to be ready every year.
Hurricane may plan Fallon forward in November last year, if you remember. I do. And let me finally go to this for us amateur trackers, what makes the European model seem like it's more accurate at times? At times every model sort of has its day in the sun and these models get upgraded every year.
What we use at hurricane center is a blend of the best models and that outperforms any model individually. Now the European does really well in some storms, in some years. The US model does really well for some storms. And some years you just don't know ahead of time which models are going to be the best.
That's why you can't just go all in on any one particular model forecast. I'll just plug the hurricane center forecast has lower average air and is more consistent than any individual model. So we really encourage people to look at that. That's why we're there with the professionals to help guide you through that.
Well, yes, you are an error lifeline to many folks. Any last words of warning to people on the east coast this year? I mean, I think it's really important what you just said. The most dangerous storms are the ones that develop out of nowhere fast, which means start preparing.
Right. Know if you live in a storm surge evacuation zone zone, that's the first thing. And then also remember that water kills 90% of people. And tropical storms, hurricanes in this country, most people in the last 10 years have died from fresh water, flooding from rainfall.
And that has almost nothing to do with how strong a storm is from wind perspective. So remember, it's the water and you want to evacuate from the storm survacation zone if you're asked to. Michael Brass, the head of the National Hurricane center, really appreciate you bringing your expertise to our viewers. Thank you for the time.
Thanks, Josh. All right, that's all we have for today. Thank you for being here. As the day wraps up, get the scoop on what's been happening with here's the scoop with a podcast from NBC News with me, your host, Gas in the studio.
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