If it's Thursday, former President Trump returns to the campaign trail as he ramps up his revenge rhetoric. Now his allies in Congress are vowing a campaign of political and legal retribution. Plus, Joe Biden's widow testifies about her own illegal drug use. And she tells the jury she understood from text messages that Hunter Biden was buying crack cocaine immediately after purchasing a firearm.
And President Biden honors the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago today while delivering a warning to the world about surrendering to bullies and bowing down to dictators. Welcome to Meet the Press. Now I'm Davey Terriers in Washington. In just about an hour, former President Trump will be back on the campaign trail for his first public event.
Zimmerman being convicted. A week ago, hundreds of Trump supporters waited for hours a day in the sweltering Arizona heat, not deterred by his criminal conviction, which has thrust our political and legal system into uncharted territory. In the weeks since Century Verdict, we've seen attacks on the integrity of the justice system and vows of retribution from the former president and his allies. In just the last 24 hours, Mr.
Trump asserted his right to go after his political enemies. If he's elected to a second term in November, will you pledge to restore equal justice, equal application of our laws, end this practice of weaponization? Is that a promise you're going to make? I have to do it, but it's awful.
Look, I know you want me to say something else. I don't want you to say. I want to look naive. I don't want to what they've done to the Republican Party.
They want to arrest on no crime. They want to arrest the person that won the nomination in a landslide. It was nobody even close. Can you imagine?
You run for office and you get. You're not allowed to talk. When that happens, we are no longer a democracy and we're not gonna let that happen. And I know a lot of Republicans want retribution.
They want to do that way to see what happens. Hopefully everything works out, but you can't do it. The former president has had multiple opportunities to distance himself from those who want political revenge, but instead be hedged. His allies on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, are vowing to use their power as tools of retribution.
The Republican controlled House is pledging legislation in hearings as well as using its power of the purse to stop various investigations into Mr. Trump working with the probation committee. We tend to defund these things, stop the law there. No more federal funds can go to these, these rogue prosecutors, these state DAs who go after the president.
So no one's gonna Noah, funds can go. Alan, Brad, Connie Willis and any special counsel hasn't been Senate approved shouldn't get funds. That's our legislation. That would take the money away from Jack Smith.
We gotta use the power of the purse that we have. The Democrats corrupt weaponization of our justice system must be stopped. And we're gonna do everything in our power to hold them accountable. Beyond the capital, calls for arrests and jail time have cascaded throughout right wing media.
And the Biden campaign has amplified some of the discourse, claiming that the former president is priming his supporters for political violence. President Biden has also seized on the birth himself. He called Mr. Trump a quote, convicted felon, a connected fundraiser.
This week as as for the political impact, the verdict has been a cash boon for Republicans with the Trump campaign claiming it raised $53 million in the immediate aftermath. But does any of the fallout matter to voters on that point? The jury is still out. And the Quinnipiac poll of battle around Georgia, 50% of registered voters agreed with a guilty verdict.
But that same poll had Trump leading President Biden by 5 points just inside the margin of error. And nationwide, the New York Times Sienna poll had Trump with a three point lead over Biden before the verdict. But in a recontact poll after the verdict, that margin narrowed to a one point lead for the former president. So we begin with NBC's Von Hilliard.
He's in Phoenix where former President Trump has said to take the stage in less than hours of fun. We've seen Trump's allies go pretty far on the retribution rhetoric. Can you sum up what we've heard from Mr. Trumpians?
He's not ruling it out. The last two nights he spent two different interviews, one with Sean Hannity on Fox and another on newsmaps in which he was directly asked about the extent to which he would seek retribution against rivals and those who he feels like are behind the prosecutions and ultimately the trial and conviction of him in New York. And he suggested both interviews, one specifically about Bill and Hillary Clinton, that that could be a potential path that he sees if he would take back the White House. And yesterday to Sean Hannity, he said that he knew that Sean Hannity want him to say nice things and to all but moderate his message on that front, knowing that you could scare away some rights of conservatives or independents.
He said, well, he does not have any specific plans. He said that there are Republicans who are urging him to do so and he very well could. And so for Donald Trump is somebody over the last, you know, remember since the White House he went and targeted those Republicans who have peached him in the house, effectively booted eight of the 10 of them through their primary processes in 2022 midterms. And now coming the indictments and the charges that he's faced and now four different criminal indictments.
He is leaving the door open that if he were to win White House in November, potentially seeking retribution in undefined ways at this point in time. Okay. So Vaughn, tonight is Trump's first time formally back of the campaign trail. We see that behind you.
So in a state you know very well, Arizona, of course, what should we expect from Mr. Trump tonight? I think Arizona is kind of the perfect example for Donald Trump of the potential difficulty coming from the criminal conviction here. You should send the polling in a place like Maricopa county where there's a conservative independence, we're at the forefront of costing him the state in 2020 election, he lost by just 11,000 votes.
At the same time you are seeing here this is his first time back in the State of Arizona, October 2022 and other Trump backed allies including like Security Link, narrowly lost in statewide races. At the same time, you've not seen Trump divert from his message that he felt like this was political persecution, that the charges against him were unfair and only broad because he was running for the presidency again. He has continued to lay claim that Judge Mern who oversaw the New York case was an unfair arbiter who should not be the one overseeing his even now sentencing. That we wait next month.
And part of that messaging is not so much to just win over the independence rights of conservatives in places like Maricopa county suburbs and convince them that he was unfairly targeted. But also I was talking with one gentleman who was here at this rally who comes from Mojave Counties, which is one of those deep red conservative rural counties in Arizona where he believes that Donald Trump can perform and turn out even more Trump supporters from 2020 and turn them into Trump voters in 2024 to make up some of the difference of those voters who time Republicans and voted against Donald Trump in the past and would still like to consider themselves conservative. But if you're able to turn some of those infrequent voters into Trump voters in 2024, you can make up the difference in a place like Arizona. We should expect a lot more of him in some of these battleground states over the next five months.
Intersped with those fundraising efforts that also including this weekend game yesterday about the Trump VP search and how it's accelerated. What's the latest on that front? Right. He's got just over a month to decide.
It's a Republican National Convention, which is in mid July. And he suggested that he can make that decision all the way up to the point that they get to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the convention itself. RNC News colleagues are now reporting that multiple potential VP picks have received a background of information requests from the campaign to help through that vetting process. This is normal.
Mike Pence went through it eight years ago. And this is the opportunity you're dealing with not only potentially individuals like Senator Tim out of South Carolina in Senator Jay Vance in Ohio, but also members of the House, including Elise Stefanik. You've also got the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum. His list is narrowing.
We are told at the same time it is still a big one and one that this potential banking process will help the campaign make clear what type of individual they think is best suited to stand alongside Donald Trump and appear separately on the campaign trail in these months. Dave bomb, Hillier, Black PRESIDENT in Phoenix. VON thank you for getting started. And joining me now here on set is the panel.
Rhonda Colvin, senior reporter for the Washington Post Megan Hayes, former special assistant to President Biden Garrett Ventry, Republican strategist and senior adviser to the Kerry Lake Senate campaign and my NBC News colleague, Mark Murray. He's our senior political editor. Thank you all so much for joining. Joining me, Rhonda, I want to start with you.
It's been weak since the verdict. How has this race changed or not? I think we're all waiting to see how it changes. You know, there have been some early polling done there.
In fact, was the ABC if this poll that showed how people are feeling about it, it's kind of split half and half, as you would expect. And that might be a party line situation where you're saying half of Americans saying that they think Trump should drop out. Yeah. Or half say, you know, this is unfair.
So I think we're still trying to get a clearer view of how this is affecting the race. But we do know that the former president's campaign says that they have raised a lot of money, record amounts. I think we'll get a clear picture of exactly what they raise when ABC filing deadlines happen next month. But for now, we're just seeing how this plays out.
I mean, we're in unprecedented times, uncharted territory. I think we've all been using those phrases a lot in our reporting, but, you know, we don't have a playbook for this. So we're gonna have to see how this goes. Yeah, the campaign has been saying repeatedly how much money it's raised and I garrett one from you.
I wanna put a fundraising email that the Trump campaign sent this week says Democrats would rather see me dead than back in the White House. But those deranged psychopaths would settle for 187 years of prison time instead. If they get away with this mob style attack on the most popular president in American history, imagine what they'll try to do for you. So Putting aside the 187 years, not sure where he got that number.
Yes, very on brand. So yeah, we've been talking up to four years potentially. And even if they were served consecutively on between them. But putting that aside, is a fundraising email like that, is that beyond the pale?
No, I mean fundraising emails are out of control. Is this out of control? Psychopaths want him dead. I mean, listen, I think this shows what he's trying to do.
He saw this has been died mentally now with verdict. These things have propelled this fundraising. They've also propelled his polls are talking about the primary. He went up 30 or 40 points after some of these indictments happen.
He still maintains a lead in the Q pole and morning console and the New York Times even after the verdict here. So I think he continues to use this here because a lot of reason is the political environment's baked in. These legal cases been going on since January 6th. Essentially when the committee was set up.
You had these investigations obviously different than the actual indictment and investigation legally like that and then a conviction. But you are going to have to wait to see how this place. I think when the dust settles, voters are going to look at this, they're going to look at Biden's record, they're going to look at Trump's record. They might not like some of the things that Donald Trump did.
They might even agree with the conviction. But that doesn't mean they're going to poll order for Joe Biden right now. Every poll we've seen over the last year or two, the top two issues are the economy and immigration. And Trump has mainly done this.
And speaking of polls, Mark, we showed some of those polls at the top. What do you take from some of this latest? Yeah, a few takeaways. Number one, majorities do end up approving of the verdict and that is in the state baseball like the Quinnipiac poll of Georgia as well as some of the national surveys that we've seen.
But that does not change. So in this my second point in the second takeaway is that there has been a little bit of movement in Joe Biden's direction. Three different polls, including the New York Times CNA recontact poll where you see incrementally by 1, 2, 3 percentage points, Joe Biden's doing better post conviction than he was pre conviction. But then the third takeaway is overall, you know, if you take away like one or two three point change, this is still the same overall race.
This wasn't a movement of 10, 15 points that substantially transformed the race. And the gay takeaway number four is it's still really early right now and there are going to be so many more different twists and turns in this race and we'll be monitoring all of this. I think what you just said though, a conviction of a former president and didn't really change, you know, where we are at this point. And as you said, it's still early.
Megan, I want to talk, I want to talk to you. You're very familiar with messaging at the White House. As we mentioned earlier, President Biden is now using the term convicted felon to describe former President Trump. I know there's a lot of debate within the campaign.
Are they going to go that route or not? Do you think that's going to resonate with voters? Is that a good thing for the president to be leaning in so much into that convicted felon? So I hate to speaking the truth here.
So he's a convicted Fallon. And to your point, like this campaign and these, this electionly won the margin and these are national polls are taking place and then battleground states are going to be won on the margins, one Arizona by 10,000 votes last time. So when you're talking about these fundraising mails and he's polling with things and using terms like convicting felon, that really matters to voters and that's what's making difference when people start paying attention, when they start really voting. And Gary, I want to play a little bit of sound from Senator Marco Rubio in the hallway yesterday.
Let's take a listen to that. I think it's part of our barter problem is the weaponization of government, whether it's Congress or through impeachments, years of investigations about variety of things. All these things are just an effort without pressure. I don't know anybody who's ever faced a strong swath of consistent persecution over some years in American politics.
And so those lines get crossed. I've been saying once you cross these lines, it's going to be hard to Put the genius back in the bottle, Gary. He's talking about putting the back and borrow and acting like, you know, he doesn't have a choice, like he's being forced to, you know, have political retribution against Democrats. What is Mark Rubio saying?
Is he trying to rationalize what former President Trump is saying? No, I think he says the other majority of Republicans have, half the country has actually their politically motivated case against the former president. But that's a mainstream view that people hold. Right.
And so this idea of political retribution, we heard it in our introduction. Right. The former president had the opportunity to kind of distance himself from that fiery rhetoric going after his opponent. Sean Hannity gave him that opportunity several times in that interview yesterday and he didn't take it well.
Again, I think this is, this is opening up Pandora's box. And if you look the closest place you can look at the immunity case when you're talking about the Supreme Court in Jack Smith now you're talking about a President Trump doesn't have a narrow immunity on the General six case. You're talking about with Obama, drone strikes, with what happened in Afghanistan though the Department of Justice from a future president doesn't be President Trump could bring those charges as well. So this has opened up Pandora's boxes from text investigation.
Rhonda, you covered Capitol Hill and we were talking about a little earlier, Jim Jordan talking about the power of the purse and how Republicans might have political retribution given the power that they have. What exactly is on the table in Congress? Well, this week the speaker did announce that they would have a so called three pronged approach where they're going to use the appropriations process hearings, other measures that are in the toolkit of the legislative branch to look into the investigations and former president, the jurisdictions like New York who have gone after him had these trials or one trial right now, I think the one area that I'm looking at as a reporter is if that threat to freeze up funds that would go to the DOJ or into any of the judiciary, if that will actually take fruition. I think right now we're just seeing a lot of talk.
But what it will do perhaps when we get closer to the appropriations process when they vote in September or maybe vote to not have the government shut down or any of the measures they can do to pause that. I'm wondering if they are going to bum up that process and if that's just going to be just more negotiations that go nowhere, more crs, continuing resolutions, the government won't be funded. You know, we're Waiting to see how this all works. But the real threat that they are putting out there right now is to freeze up funds.
Government grinding to a halt. You don't want to turn you and look up political team crunch the outspending numbers. And the Biden campaign essentially is outspending the Trump campaign by about 50%. And yet this race is still essentially high.
What do you make of that one? This is the power of incumbency that, you know, when you are the president reelection team, you get to actually start flooding the airwaves very early. We even saw this for President Donald Trump four years ago when he was the incumbent president. So this is like you start raising the money, you start trying in, particularly when you end up having a party that's having primaries.
But Gabriel's actually right. Our colleague Ben Kamsar has crunched the numbers in the Biden campaign and Democrats in general about spent Republicans by more than a 2 to 1 margin since the general election came out. It hasn't gotten and hasn't gotten now the argument a lot of people still aren't tuning in. It's June.
But this is the crucial part of the season in which the Democrats are ones with the money advantage. As we're already seeing Donald Trump and his campaign, Republicans are now starting to raise a lot of money since he became the presumptive nominee and they're going to start closing that gap. So yes, the Biden campaign hitting all of it up, hitting Trump early, that was their opportunity. But again, we've had millions of dollars spent.
We've had billions of dollars spent gave. And so this isn't the end of ad spending. Megan Shin, the buying campaign be getting more bang for the buck right now. I think they're gonna mess it out there.
Right. I think it's hard for the message to break through. We have Trump on TV every single day. It's hard for his message to break through.
Yeah. But I do think that, you know, yes, you would hope that they break through more and more frequently. But I think they're doing the thing to do. They don't want to look back and say we should have set money we had.
So I do think they are doing right. I've heard a lot of talk about messaging breaking from when you talked the campaign, that's what they were trying to do with Robert De Niro was last week. Everything seems to work together. But I'm curious, I haven't talked to you since then.
What'd you make of that move? You know, it probably one grand but it got it got them on TV that day. It did get them on TV that day. It's not something that it is very off brand for the president.
I won't deny it. I'm not exactly sure that it accomplished what they wanted to accomplish. I'm not sure about the Monte T in the way that they wanted it. But it did get them on tv.
So did accomplish some message. It did also break through into some other outlets that they weren't breaking through like Variety networks are trying to make others where they are. So, you know, whether or not it success or win, I'll let them decide. All right.
Thank you so much. Rhonda Garrett and Mark, thank you all so much for joining us here on panel and getting started today. I really appreciate it. And coming up, President Biden takes the stage in Normandy, reminding world leaders that the fight for democracy is still ongoing, even 80 years after he did the first Hunter Biden's criminal gun trial continues as his brother's widow, Hallie Biden, testifies about Hunter's drug use around the time you purchase the firearm.
While the latest from outside the courthouse. Stay with us. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back.
The prosecution in the Hunter Biden criminal trial in Wilmington, Delaware, could arrest its case by the end of the day after one of its most high profile witnesses took the stand. Tally Biden, the widow of Beau Biden, who was also romantically involved with Hunter Biden following his brother Beau's death, testified today about finding Hunter's gun, that weapon and how Hunter purchased it. To the heart of the stride, Ali Biden, who testified under an immunity agreement, spoke in detail about Hunter Biden's use of crack cocaine, as well as admitting to her own drug use, which she said she was embarrassed and ashamed of. Meanwhile, ABC News reports that President Biden said in an interview today that he would accept the outcome of his son's trial and that he would rule out a pardon.
Joining now from outside the courthouse in Delaware, NBC News justice and intelligence correspondent Kendall Lane and NBC News with White House correspondent Mike Menlo. Thank you both for joining me. And Ken, to you. First, walk us through today's testimony.
What stood out to you? Hallie Biden's testimony was really the main event of today. Gave she stuck up most of the day on the stand and it was dramatic. It was heartbreaking.
It was sordid at times. She talked about how Hunter Biden introduced her to crack cocaine when they began a romantic relationship after Hunter's brother Bo and her husband died. And she talked about Hunter's descent into the depths of drug addiction, the fact that he was using a lot and buying drugs a lot while they were together. She also talked about the moment when she discovered that handgun in his truck and decided to get rid of it.
In a hasty decision that she said appears silly in retrospect, she took it to a grocery store and dumped it in a trash can. And when she told Hunter Biden about that, he panicked because the gun is registered in his name. They called the police. The police responded, and that's really why we're here today.
Became a police report, and it became clear exactly what happened. And most crucially, the prosecution gave. She also testified about a text exchange where Hunter Biden talked about using drugs one day after he bought that gun and filled out a form that said he wasn't using drugs. That's really the crux of the case, and it was devastating evidence.
So, Ken, how did the defense try to poke holes in her testimony today? Well, they tried to suggest that perhaps those texts didn't mean what they we thought they meant, that perhaps Hunter Biden wasn't telling her the truth when he said he was dealing with a drug dealer in Wilmington, smoking crack in a car, that perhaps he was seeing another woman or doing something else. And they tried to establish that he didn't always tell her the truth. And they tried to sort of undercut her credibility in a variety of ways.
Because if the jury believes that Hunter Biden was using drugs one day after he filled out that form, that's a big problem for Biden defense. Their whole defense is that he didn't knowingly lie on that form. Yeah. So on that point, 10 is that the burden of proof for the prosecution is that Hunter was on drugs and knowingly or intentionally lied on the background check forms.
Or is it just enough to say that Hunter Biden was on drugs and therefore lied on those forms? It depends on the jury. They do have to prove it's a state of mind crime. They do have to prove that he lied knowingly.
But you know how you get inside someone's mind. Sometimes the weight of the evidence is enough. If the jury decides, well, look, I mean, we can see the evidence that he was using drugs. There's no way that anybody in their right mind could have not known they were using drugs.
That could be enough. And Mike, the first lady was there for the first three days of the trial, but she's in Paris today for the D Day anniversary. How has the Biden family been grappling with this trial? And some of those Unflattering details have come out.
Well, we've seen just a blanket of support from not just the Biden family, but the extended network, not just the friends of Hunter Biden, but people who Biden President Biden has known over decades in politics and here in Delaware attending the trial on a daily basis. We just learned in the last hours. Thanks to Kelly o', Donnell, the first lady after returning to Paris after attending the D Day commercials with her husband today, is flying back now to Wellington, Delaware. We presume that that means she would likely turn up here for Friday's trial proceedings and as we understand it, return to Paris yet again where she'll attend the state dinner on Saturday with her husband.
We also saw today another family member join Valerie by Noen. She is President Biden's sister, perhaps his closest friend, as he often says, his confidant. She took her herself a red eye flight from the west coast to be here straight from the airport this morning. So it's just critical for the family to be there for Hunter Biden in this moment, there is a significant concern, especially as they're now deconstructing the most difficult period of his life for the public to see, for them to be there for him.
People have spoken with our colleague. Saratoga said he has been good, in good spirits. They had dinner with him. But there's obviously deep concern about what this trial is going to be impacting.
You know, Mike, it is remarkable. First lady is crisscrossing the world essentially, potentially to go back to that trial tomorrow. And the thing you just said, Hunter Biden, you know, how is he doing? How has been reacting to what his ex wife and his ex girlfriend have been saying.
Yeah, I was in the courtroom for about an hour today. I was able to keep close eyes on him and others. And he has been very engaged. He's had his hand, his head perched on his hand at times as he listens to this testimony.
We have seen other members of the family at times become emotional during some of this. I thought it was notable that yesterday when Kathleen Jewell, Hunter's ex wife, that's why that was the only moment that Jill Biden, the first lady, was not in attendance. It is so difficult for this family to have to see members of this family that grieve the loss of Beau Biden together in 2015, now in the position of having to testify about the stark chapter in their lives. Halle, of course, saying that she's embarrassed about becoming addicted, which she attributed to her relationship with Hunter.
And think about the grandchildren we have not seen any of either Hallie and Beau Biden or Hunter and Kathleen children at 10. But we may see one of them called as a defense witness Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden's oldest daughter, potentially a defense witness as we see the prosecution saying they could still wrap their part of the case today. You know, Mike, quickly before I let you go, we talked about how the first lady might be reacting to this with the president overseas in this drip. And you know, how has he been?
Do we know if he's been paying attention to this at all? Yeah, I'm not. Kyle Bar, colleague reporting from source familiar that the president and the first lady today, even in the middle of their engagements in the solemn anniversary of D Day, have been asking aides for updates from that trial. I know I've heard from other members of the family that they've been watching our coverage of this as well.
Significantly, the fact that he's being interviewed comments to ABC News about potentially pardoning his son. The president is really wrenched by the fact that it was his decision to run for president in 2020. He blames himself for the fact that Hunter is now going through this ordeal and the one tool he has to potentially spare him from this presidential pardon is one he says he's not going to use. Mike, my way in.
Thank you so much. And turning out to another courthouse, this one in D.C. this afternoon, a federal judge ordered former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to report to prison by July 1st to begin his four month sentence. It comes after he was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress.
Back in 20. Bannon Ben's sentence had been on hold while he appealed the case. But last month the federal appeals court upheld Bannon's conviction. The judge, however, made it clear today that Bannon could still appeal today's decision, which would further delay his surrender date.
And outside the courthouse, defiant Bannon said he will continue to fight. I've got great lawyers and we're going to go all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to. There's nothing that can shut me up and nothing that will shut me up. It's not a prison.
There's not a prison. There's not a prison built. There's not a prison built or jail built that will ever shut me up. Welcome back.
Israel is once again facing criticism for its latest striking Gaza, this time on a UN Operated school that the organization says was turned into a shelter for displaced Palestinians. This video taken by our NBC News team on the ground shows damage to the exterior of the building, rooms filled with Rubble and what appeared to be makeshift beds. The UN Agency in Gaza said, according to early and unverified reports, between 35 and 45 people were killed in the strike, with dozens more injured. Israeli Defense Forces pushed back, saying they were not aware of any civilian casualties and that they were targeting a Hamas compound housed in the school.
Earlier today, my colleague LESTER Holt asked U.S. secretary of Defense Austin about the growing number of civilian casualties in Gaza. When you look at the number of civilian deaths in Gaza, what does that tell you about the way Israel is waging this fight? And should they be doing it a different way?
Well, first of all, to the point that you made, Lester, is that this is a, this is a complex environment. You know, it's a three dimensional fight. You know, rooftops, alleyways, underground tunnels, underground. So very difficult.
And to compound that Hamas routinely centers itself in amongst, in amongst the civilian population, puts its command and control facilities, its logistical nodes underneath schools and hospitals. And that makes for a much more difficult fight. Now, we continue to emphasize to the leadership in Israel that, number one, we are going to continue to provide support to Israel so it can defend itself. But number two, there are things, there are clearly ways to ensure that we're protecting the civilian population and moving the civilian population out of harm's way.
And there are ways to be more precise in terms of achieving one's objectives. You can catch more of that one on one interview with Secretary of Defense Austin tonight on NBC Nightly News. But for more on the reaction to the and fallout to today's strike, international correspondent Ralph Sanchez filed this report from Tel Aviv. Israel is today facing tough questions over a deadly airstrike it carried out at a UN school in central Gaza.
The Israeli military says it was targeting Hamas operatives, some of whom directly took part in the October 7 terror attack, who were hiding inside that school. It says it precisely struck two classrooms where they were hiding. But these schools have been a refuge for Palestinian families throughout this war. And it is now clear that a number of innocent people were killed in this Israeli strike.
And nearby hospital says of the 40 or so people killed, more than half of them were women and children. Our team in Gaza was in the emergency room as these dazed and bloodied, wounded kids were being brought in for treatment. Now, the Israeli military says it twice delayed carrying out this strike to reduce civilian casualties. It says it took other measures to reduce civilian harm, including reconnaissance flights shortly before the attack.
But a leading Israeli human rights group, Betsellam, is saying today that while it would be illegal, a violation of the rules of war For Hamas to have planned military operations out of that school, it would not justify Israel carrying out a strike on a protected facility where so many civilians were sheltering. Now, all of this just underscores the fierce urgency of the White House's push to get to a ceasefire, to get to a deal to free the hostages. President Biden and 16 other world leaders today releasing a joint statement calling on Hamas to accept the ceasefire proposal that is on the table. Hamas has not formally responded to that proposal, which they've had for about a week now.
But they are saying that they want guarantees that the Israeli government is committed to ending the war and to withdrawing its forces from Gaza, something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused to publicly say he will do until Hamas is destroyed. Back to you. Our thanks to Raph Sanchez reporting from Tel Aviv. And still ahead, marching 80 years since E Day, President Biden in Normandy speaks about the past, present, and what he sees as the increasingly fragile future of democracy.
You're watching me. The press now. Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it.
That's the test of the ages. In memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here. Let us be worthy of their sacrifice. Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time, in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now, it'll be said, when the moment came, we met the moment.
Welcome back. That was President Biden speaking from the Normandy American cemetery as world leaders gathered to honor and pay tribute to those who fought and died in the defining World War II battle 80 years ago. The president and first lady later reed at the cemetery where more than 9,000Americans are buried, most of whom lost their lives on D Day. President Biden also met with some of the last surviving veterans of the pivotal battle.
Around 150Americans who took part in the Normandy landings managed to make the trip for this year's remembrance. Speaking at the American cemetery, President Biden addressed the ongoing fight between autocracy and democracy. The struggle between a dictatorship and freedom is unending. Here in Europe, we see one stark example.
Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant then on domination. And make no mistake, the autocrats of the world are watching closely to see what happens in Ukraine, to see if we let this illegal aggression go unchecked. We cannot let that happen. To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable.
And joining me now from Paris is my colleague, MEC News senior White House correspondent Kelly o'. Donnell. Kelly, good to have you here, take us through the event today. What else did we hear from the president?
Well, Gabe, you touched on some of the really important themes here by tying current events to what happened 80 years ago. And to use the the memories evoked by these veterans who by just simply seeing them, you were struck by the fact they were once young men who put everything on the line, lost many of their comrades who died in battle, and they came back as a sign of how important this is. That's part of what the president was trying to know, to sort of shake the public if they have gotten a bit weary of war or perhaps less familiar with the history, new generations learning about how significant this was. So the president's themes were certainly about trying to preserve and defend democracy and how each generation is called to do that.
And because we're in Europe and he was surrounded by a number of allies, about two dozen other leaders here talking about Ukraine made a great deal of sense, especially with President Zelensky here as well. And so 10 years ago at the celebration for D Day, Vladimir Putin was welcomed here because Russia was a part of the alliance. 80 years ago, not this time. Yeah, certainly after the invasion of Crimea, things have definitely changed.
And Kelly, the president also said to deliver a speech tomorrow. What do we know about those remarks and the significance of the location? Well, he will certainly be touching on some of these things, but as you point out, the location matters because Point Du Hoc is where American Rangers were able to scale the cliff and be a part of a very important battle in World War II. And so there's a real tie to American heroism there.
And he will also use that opportunity to talk about how some of the threats that certainly world saw 80 years ago today, those threats come in different ways. Some of it will have more of a feeling of some of the domestic issues that are happening. Typically, presidents, when they're overseas, don't talk about domestic issues straight on the nose. But the president will certainly be talking about some of the themes that will echo in the current national conversation we're having and in the election year we're all experiencing.
So location will matter, symbolism will matter, and try to connect those historical parallels to some of the issues that are in play right now. That's what we expect tomorrow. President will also meet with Volodymyr Zelensky while he's here in Paris. That, of course, a chance for them to talk about the ongoing support of the US And European allies for the war effort in Ukraine against Russia.
Kelly o' Donnell in Paris, Life for us. Thank you so much, Kelly. And joining me now is former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFall.
He's also an NBC News international affairs and less ambassador. Thank you so much for being here. I want to start with your reaction to the president's speech, especially the direct line he drew from the threat of hypocrisy in 1944. Well, I think the president's absolutely right about that.
We were in a fight against fascism back in D day. We won that battle then because of the Soviet Union. We went into a cold war that was also a fight between a totalitarian dictatorship and free world. And then after the Cold war, we thought for a while that that was all over and that the whole world wanted to be democratic.
The whole world wanted to join with us in a kind of collection of international community democratic states. But that turned out not to be true. And today you have the rise of autocracy in Russia and China, Iran, and it creates not exactly the same challenge. But we are back to a world between autocrats and democrats like the president just described.
And he's absolutely right. All the autocrats are watching to see what will happen in Ukraine. Will the free world prevail there? And I would add something that he didn't say.
They're also watching our election to see what happens here and are we truly committed to democracy here back at home? That's something qualitatively different from the era when he was speaking about earlier today. Ambassador, on that point of the world watching what happens in Ukraine, of course, one of the most significant alliances that came out of World War II was NATO. It had been strengthened in the first few years since the war in Ukraine broke out.
But if the war continues, can that last? Well, I most certainly hope so. It's the greatest alliance in history, the world, it's most enduring alliance. It's based mostly on values, by the way, too.
Almost all members are democracies. And for us, it advances our security interests. We're always better dealing with autocracies and potential competitors. And even if we have to go to war, we're always better doing it with allies than going it alone.
And this alliance has been a very stabilizing force for security and stability in Europe for many, many decades. And Ambassador Kelly just mentioned President Biden's Zelensky are scheduled to meet on this trip. And reporting suggests frustration is building over the pace of US Aid. Ukraine says the US Is hamstringing.
Then the US Says its caution is out of fear of escalation. More than two years in, is that risk the same. Well, that tension has been there from the beginning because President Zelensky, his watch is ticking faster than ours every day. He has to get repressive, but he has to get reports from his intelligence officials about Ukrainians that were killed.
And he doesn't have a way to stop that. And I know because I've talked to him personally about it, that is a heavy, heavy burden. President Biden, he wants to do as he just said in his speech, he wants Ukraine to win and repel those Russian forces. He also does not want to drag the United States into a war with Russia.
And toggling between those two objectives has been a major challenge, I think mostly successful, but it leads to frustration on the Ukrainian side. They would like more weapons faster and be able to use those weapons wherever they see fit. Militarily. We won't let them use them everywhere.
Yeah, that's right. To that point, just today, in an interview with ABC News, President Biden reiterated that the US would not sign off on weapons being used to attack Moscow. But his remarks, President Biden's remarks about the threat of autocracy come just a day after President Putin threatened to provide weapons to the west, to other countries. So that, of course, comes after a US decision to allow Ukraine to use those weapons to hit Russia around the border, as we mentioned.
So how seriously should we view this threat from Putin? Well, first I want to apply the Biden administration's decision to allow Ukraine to use those weapons on the border around Kharkiv. I think it was an absurd position that they were being attacked from Russian territory but couldn't fight back. We believe in self defense.
At least I do. It's codified in the UN's charter. Ukraine has the right to self defense. That was the right decision.
Putin, of course, is responding as he always does. He's threatening, he's escalating. This is designed to deter us. I have no way to assess.
I don't have access to secret intelligence anymore like I used to when I worked in the government. But I see it as a bluff. I think one of the things we've learned so far in this war is Putin is ready to attack Ukraine and ready to attack civilians and ready to kidnap Ukrainian children. He'll do anything to Ukrainians.
But he has yet to ever attack us or the NATO alliance. I think that's a good thing and I think it'll remain true for the remainder of this tragic barbarian war that he is conducting inside Ukraine. Ambassador Putin has also renewed his threat of nuclear weapons. Do you think that's also bluff.
Again, these are hard things to understand unless you're talking to Putin directly, you don't know. But we've seen him threaten this for now 2 1/2 years, and he has not followed through on that. What he's trying to do is to prevent us from giving Ukraine more effective weapons. And from time to time that's been successful.
And, Ambassador, what would you like to hear from President Biden tomorrow? And then also looking ahead to next week, the G7 is meeting. What should their priorities be? Well, tomorrow, to the extent I understand it, he's going to give a big speech on democracy, and I think that's great.
I think he needs to frame for the American people why it matters what happens in Ukraine, why this is not just their fight, but our fight for the free world. And I think he needs to explain that very clearly. That has implications for peace and security in Asia. What Xi Jinping might do vis a vis Taiwan might be informed by how successful Putin is in Ukraine.
So I think that's the objective of the speech tomorrow at the G7 meeting. I hope he will do more to squeeze the Russian economy. They've done comprehensive sanctions together, the G7. I applaud that.
And at the same time, I think they could do more in particular to reduce technologies that are flowing in from Russia, not just from China, which has been getting a lot of news lately, but from the Western countries, from Germany, from Europe, even from the United States of America through intermediate areas, going through countries like Georgia and Kazakhstan, Hong Kong. We've got to stop that. And I hope the G7 will announce new measures to try to reduce that technology, because every time we allow that technology to go to Russia, that technology is being used to kill Ukrainian civilians and Ukrainian soldiers. Ambassador Michael McFall, thank you so much as always for your expertise.
And coming up next, President Biden's southwest border policy backlash by both immigration agents and asylum seekers are at a loss of what to do following this week's executive action. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. And welcome back. Less than 48 hours after the Biden administration's executive action on illegal immigration went into effect, migrants and US Border officials alike are expressing confusion.
US Officials tell NBC News there's concern the new policy could lead to overcrowding at detention and processing facilities. They're also questioning what to do with migrants who would be deported under the new rules, but whose countries won't take them back. The new policy bans most asylum claims from migrants who cross between official ports of entry when the daily average of illegal crossings is above 2,500. The last time illegal crossings were below that more than three years ago.
Joining me now on set is NBC News Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainslie, just back from the border. And Julia and Toby have some new reporting on numbers just within the last day or so after this executive action went into effect. Yeah, that's right. We now know what the numbers look like within 24 hours of this being in effect.
And actually they're unchanged. We still saw about 4,000 migrants cross between legal ports of entry over the entire southern border on Wednesday, which is about where they were on Tuesday and Monday as well. So what does this mean? Well, at least in the very near term, it's not doing anything to deter migrants from coming into the United States.
And in fact, it's really causing a lot of confusion for those migrants. Wondering, is now the best time to come? Well, there's so many questions with that and you're always expect there'd be some big flip of the switch. But the truth is many of these might be coming here.
They're not familiar with the policies, the intricacies of all this. But we've been hearing from the Biden administration whenever we ask them about, you know, are there enough resources here to be able to handle all of this and all these processing facilities. What are you hearing? What is the confusion among those agents on the ground?
Are they going to be able to handle these changes? Well, agents are certainly really concerned about what do they do exactly as you said, with people who are from countries like Venezuela, China, countries are some of the fastest growing nationalities they see at the border. They can't be deported. Their countries don't want to take them back.
But if they can't claim asylum, where do they go? And we posed that question to DHS officials on a call with reporters yesterday. They said, look, we're clear eyed about this. Congress didn't give us the funding.
We're not going to be able to do as much as we want. And they keep claiming Congress over and over again. That's something the White House has really done, especially the last couple of months. But when the rubber meets the road here, what are they going to do?
Well, the real question is will these numbers rise this summer? Because if they do, they could see extreme overcrowding. Either that or they'll have to roll back on a lot of these provisions that they just laid out a pretty spectacular way with the presidential speech on Tuesday. So if the numbers stay low, maybe they won't have to go as far, and they can keep deportation numbers going pretty quickly.
But if they get higher than this or even maintain, it's going to be hard to see how this order is really happening. Is there any way that these numbers get below 2500? They haven't for three years. They haven't for the entirety of the Biden administration.
So it's really hard to see how they would, not just because of who's in the White House, but because we're at a point in history of the most global displacement of anyone many people across the globe since 4, 2. There's so many questions to look at over the next couple of months. It should be very interesting to see how this plays out, especially with the backdrop of the 2024 election. Correspondent, thank you so much for joining us.
Say to head back. And we're back tomorrow with more MEET THE press. Now. I'm Dave Gutierrez.
The news continues with Hallie Jackson right now. Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of the Drink. This month, Demi Lovato is my guest. The global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now.
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