If it's Tuesday. Breaking news, a major ruling for the Supreme Court siding with Texas allowing a sweeping immigration law to take effect that gives local police the power to arrest migrants. It's a move that the Biden administration and three dissenting Supreme Court justices say could create chaos on the southern border. Plus, the former president looks to Trump Ohio's Republican establishment in today's Senate primary contest as the presumptive nominee faces a new blowback for baselessly accusing Jewish Democrats of hating Israel and their own religion.
And on the road again, President Biden hits the road in battleground states while ramping up his attacks on rival Donald Trump's red hot rhetoric by blasting his latest comments on Jewish Democrats and his defense of the January 6th rioters. Hello, hello and welcome to Meet the press. Now I'm Ryan Nobles. On a very busy Tuesday with the direction of the Republican Party and the turbulence of Donald Trump's influence, top of mind for voters, many of whom are voting today in primaries across the country.
We'll get to all that in a moment, but we begin with this breaking news out of the Supreme Court. The high court this afternoon gave Texas a temporary green light to enforce a controversial immigration law known as SB4. It means that Texas law enforcement officials now have the unprecedented power to arrest, detain, prosecute and deport migrants suspected of illegally crossing the US Mexico border. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated the news, calling it a huge win.
Moments ago, the White House responded saying, quote, they fundamentally disagree with the ruling and that the law was another example of Republican officials politicizing the border. In its ruling this afternoon, the court's conservative majority did not fully explain why it made this decision. It comes as the Biden administration has argued that the federal government, not the states, has the sole authority over the nation's immigration laws. As we noted, the ruling is temporary and the court could decide to reverse its decision as the case unfolds.
But for now, SB4 is the law of the land in Texas and a scathing descent. The court's liberal justice is warned of the decision's consequences, writing, the court gives a green light to a law that will upend the long standing federal state balance of power and so chaos when the only court to consider the law concluded that it is likely unconstitutional. This law implicates serious issues that are subject to ongoing political debate. And Texas's novel scheme requires careful and reasoned consideration in the courts to determine why provisions may be unconstitutional.
The dispute comes as the crisis at the southern border and the issue of immigration are expected to dominate the 2024 election cycle, and it's the latest clash between the Biden administration and the state of Texas over immigration enforcement. Joining me now is our team of reporters, NBC News Supreme Court reporter Lawrence Hurley, NBC News Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainsley, and NBC News White House correspondent Mike Memelis. Lawrence, let's start with you. And this did catch some of us by surprise because the court yesterday said that they were going to keep this in place for an indefinite amount of time.
As we're learning that indefinite is certainly up to the discretion of the person who declares it as such. It does seem like a bit of a 180. Explain what happened over the past 24 hours, what seemed possible here, because we can't know for sure. But what seems possible is that the court was close to issuing this decision yesterday, but because Justice Alito issued a temporary stay before that was expiring last evening, they hadn't obviously reached the outcome that they wanted to.
So they just extended it a bit further, gave a bit more time to think about it, finish all these opinions, because there's three different opinions by different justices. Clearly the liberals wanted to dissent to make their feelings known. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote a separate opinion to sort of explain what she was thinking. So, you know, they wanted to get their opinions right there.
That's probably why it ended up being deliberated. All right, we'll talk more about the decision here, but I want to go, Julia now and talk about what this means most immediately for the situation at the border. I mean, is Texas prepared to begin enforcing this immediately? Do they have the capacity and resources to implement a law like this?
I think they're gonna have to just put their money where their mouth is now, Ryan, because this is an enormous undertaking to be able to train not just local law enforcement on how to decide who to arrest, remembers anyone they suspect is in the country illegally, in a state where 40% of the residents are Latino. So already they could be violating civil rights with that. And we've heard from very loudly from national groups who are worried about that, but also just capacity. If you think about some of these really small rural parts of Texas already with full jails, already trying to figure out how to use their limited dollars.
How are they supposed to allocate resources to enforce this law when they have to start checking the immigration status of people at traffic stops and making arrested violations? And then further down that road, think about judges, judges who are not trained in immigration law. Immigration law has always squared completely within the hands of the Justice Department, who appoint immigration judges who decide whether or not someone can stay in the country or not. Now you have people without any kind of that training, without the understanding of really complex asylum bars and who qualifies and who doesn't and what kind of rights somebody might have.
Now those people are making decisions on who can stay in the country and who can't. They're not prioritizing people who might be, say, recently arrived versus someone who's been here for years and has generations of family here, just merely if they're undocumented. So really, this could so as the White House is saying, chaos and confusion. And it really is quite shocking to see the reasoning.
Lawrence, can get into this from the justices today, the conservative justices who put forward this opinion, saying that it's because they wanted to minimize harm. It's hard to see how that argument stands when they're going to allow this to go into effect, even for a temporary period. It could very well, though, be Ryan, that Texas can't ramp up their resources in time for whatever temporary period this would be allowed. So we really need to pay close attention to what's happening in Texas in the coming days.
But as we know, the governor and the attorney general there see this as a big win, and they're willing to put this in place as soon as they can. So, Lauren, to expand that a little bit so our viewers kind of understand, maybe are not fully clued in on the trajectory of this bill through the court system. The Supreme Court is not weighing in on the merits of this at all. They're just talking about whether or not the stay should be put in place.
Where does the bill actually sit right against the law? Where does the law sit right now in terms of its trajectory of the court system? And could eventually be something the Supreme Court weighs in on definitely. I mean, there could be action really soon.
And this case, we get back at the Supreme Court really quickly as well, because an appeals court, the fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, is currently considering the Biden administration's effort to put this law on hold separately. And that was the reasoning that Justice Barrett and joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh said, well, we don't want to intervene at this point because this appeals court hasn't weighed in yet. And so if the appeals court blocked the law, then the law would be blocked all over again. If the appeals court doesn't block the law, then the Biden administration can come straight back to the Supreme Court, which Justice Barrett said they would be fine to do.
So everything on the ground could change really quickly. Which is kind of interesting because the liberal justices are obviously saying this sows chaos. A couple weeks ago when the Supreme Court said it would keep Donald Trump on the ballot in Colorado, one of their reasons for saying that was because they didn't want to unleash chaos. So you could see a bit of a contradiction there.
Yeah. So let's go to the White House now and get their reaction to all this. Mike Mullie, did they view this as a set? I mean, what is the next course of action for the Biden administration as it relates to this ruling?
Well, I think from the White House's perspective, they know that there is still more to come on this issue. You have to have that hearing in the appeals court level before it might potentially then return back to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, I think you can look at this from the lens of both politics and policy. I don't think it's an accident that the statement that you already read partially from from Kareem Jump here, the White House press secretary reacting to this, calling this sowing chaos and confusion.
It's not a stake that that echoes the exact language we have in its very strong dissent from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson because as the president has pointed out, and we remember so clearly that off script moment he had, the State of the Union address where he referenced directly the Supreme Court and disagreeing with some of their previous decisions. This is going to be another one. The president likes to say Justice Jackson is smarter than the rest of the justices. I think they will amplify her dissent here, especially as we move forward.
The other part of this, I think is highlighting the campaign moving forward. Two different pieces. One is where is the president right now? He's out on the West Coast.
He's in Nevada right now. He's heading to Arizona later tonight. Two states where the Latino vote is gonna be critical. The campaign is launching Latinos cone Biden today.
So this is obviously an issue, immigration that they want to basically run on and turn back on the Republicans, especially using the failure of that Senate compromise in the House as an ammunition to point out the Republicans only want the political fight, not necessarily the solution that's involved, but also to underscore the fact that the Supreme Court itself is a voting issue for so many Americans. We think about it most clearly in terms of reproductive rights, abortion and the Dobbs decision. But this is another thing that they hope will animate Democratic voters in the fall as well. Recognizing the importance of the Supreme Court here.
In fact, the Supreme Court just over a decade ago made a contradictory ruling on a different bill in a different state, by way, Arizona. Right. And Julia, I know the politics of all this is not necessarily your lane, but see if I can frame this question in a way that you can understand what I'm thinking here. To Mike's point, it does seem as though the Biden administration is setting things up here.
Right. This to a certain extent now is going to give Greg Abbott the tools that he claims will give him the ability to try and calm things down at the border. But to your point, it's not an easy task. It's obviously been very difficult for the federal government.
Isn't there the possibility that this backfires on Texas now that they have this ability to at least enforce it on some level? Yeah, I see where you're going with this. It's like, okay, if you want this to be your problem, take it on. Let's show, show us what you can do and you'll see how hard this problem really can be.
I think there's, it's apples and oranges, too, because as we've seen as Texas has put through some of these tougher restrictions like razor wire like buoys and the Rio Grande, we have seen more migrants go to places like Arizona and California. So they're not in charge of a national border. The other thing is if they're really going to take on charge of deportation, that's incredibly difficult for these judges to be able to issue deportation orders. I think that's another challenge to this legally of whether or not they have that authority.
And then also what do you do about countries like Venezuela who refuse to take their migrants back? These are the realities this administration has been dealing with, realities that really the Trump administration didn't have because you didn't have this influx from Venezuela just four years ago. And so, yes, again, it's a matter of, okay, let's see how you would actually take this on. I think the problem is that this law really isn't created to try to take numbers down at the border.
It probably will do much more to just instill fear of people who've been living in Texas for a very long time. Okay, more to come on. This is obviously not the end of this discussion by any stretch. Lawrence, Julian, Mike, thank you for being here.
We appreciate it, especially as we're dealing with this breaking news. But coming up, voters are voted Lego Ohio, where today's primary is testing Trump's grip on the party. And you'll have major implications for party controls this Senate in November. Plus, Trump, former Trump advisor Peter Navarro reports to federal prison for defying Congress.
His final message before going behind bars is straight ahead. You're WATCHING THE PRESS now. Welcome back. And as we love to say around here, if it's Tuesday, voters are voting somewhere.
And today five states are holding presidential primaries. But all eyes are on a key Republican Senate contest in Ohio. It must be viewed as a test of Donald Trump's power over his party and the direction of that party. It comes as the presumptive nominees again making headlines for his inflammatory and divisive rhetoric, this time invoking an anti Semitic trope while talking about Jewish Americans during an interview with Zamborka, a former Trump administration official.
The Democrat Party hates Israel. Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed. The Biden campaign of the White House blasted the comments, calling them hateful and toxic.
Senator Chuck Schumer, who's of course the highest ranking Jewish lawmaker in the United States, called the remarks highly partisan and hateful. Notably, rather than downplay their candidates comments like they did with the former president's bloodbath remarks over the weekend, the Trump campaign is actually doubling down with even more inflammatory and baseless rhetoric, saying in a statement, quote, president Trump is right. The Democrat Party has turned into a full blown anti Israel, anti semitic, pro terrorist cabal. We should note that this is not the first time that Mr.
Trump has accused American Jews of disloyalty. He made similar comments both during and after his presidency. And in today's Ohio Republican Senate primary, all three GOP candidates have expressed support for the former president. Mr.
Trump is backing the businessman Bernie Moreno, who has attacked his opponent, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and State Senator Matt Dolan, as RINOs or Republicans in Name Only. NBC's Dasha Burns is covering all things Trump for us from Palm Beach, Florida. And our resident Buckeye State politics expert Henry Gomez joins us from Ohio where he's been traveling around the state on this election day. So, Dasha, let's start with you.
You know, after the blood bad comments over the weekend, campaign really try to clarify them, maybe tone them down a bit. Seems like a completely different response to these comments about Jewish Democrats. They're doubling down on what Trump said about Jewish voters. What does this tell us about how they view this kind of rhetoric from their candidate?
Well, number one, I think the team that surrounds the former president now does fundamentally understand that Trump is who he is, that he is going to say what he's going to say that they can't control much of what comes out of his mouth in interviews or at these rallies, but that they can control sort of the response and the strategy around it. And I think here we've seen for a while that they've been watching President Biden struggle on this issue kind of in both directions. Right. He's got people on his left leg that aren't happy with how he's handling this and people on his right flank that aren't happy with how they're handling this.
And there might be a sense here that, look, former President Trump, there's one thing he has, it's, it's very sort of forward, outspoken strategies when it comes to dealing with, dealing with matters of foreign affairs. Now, some people may criticize that, but that is how he handles things. And so leaning in rather than trying walk back on an issue where they see his opponent is struggling is one way to handle it, as opposed to bloodbath comments which were sort of more general. This is really for a specific issue where they see President Biden struggling.
And former President Trump wants to, you know, be this sort of strong man on the world stage, which he has said time and time again. And his team looks like they're let him do just that. And we should point out that we are seeing live pictures right now the former president and his wife Melania, as they're walking into vote. Today, of course, is the Florida primary.
This, of course, already stood up for him as he is the Republican nominee with no other opponents still in the race, but yet he is going to exercise his ability to vote for himself. You know, maybe expand on that point. You're making dasha about the campaign essentially letting Trump be Trump doubling down, kind of powering through when he makes comments like this, are they just operating under the assumption that they are going to turn any voters off, at least not the voters that were inclined to vote for Trump to begin with. This might be, Ryan, an election that is a game of voter suppression rather than trying to reach across the aisle and bring new folks in.
And I think that is a bit of the MO of both the Trump team and the Biden team, where they are using the negatives of the other side as a way to again rally the base and also maybe just tamp down some of the support, hope that people that are never Trumpers or people that are frustrated with how Biden's handling things simply don't show up and that helps boost them. And so for the former president, as he's been pivoting from the primary to the general. You know, sometimes you see a moderating of tone, you see a shift in rhetoric that's not happening here, clearly. And this is a call out to the base.
This is a rallying of the troops that are already in and potentially, you know, just getting those folks engaged who haven't necessarily been paying attention. I think they see things like the news cycle around the bloodbath comments as potentially a positive just in that he is in the ether, he is in people's faces, he is in the headlines. That's something that really the former president thrives on. Okay, Dash burns with the former president.
Paul Beach. Let's ship gears now and head up to Ohio where there is a competitive primary taking place today, at least in terms of the US Senate race. And that's where Henry Gomez is. So, Henry, you covered these individuals in Ohio politics for quite a bit.
Talk to us today about what this primary means for the direction of the Republican Party in Ohio. Well, Ryan, it's a classic battle between Trump's MAGA movement and the older Republican establishment here in the yc, How Governor Mike Dwind, who really is an emblem of that pre Trump Republican Party, has endorsed states under Matt Dolan, who is very similarly styled. You know, old school conservative Republican, talks a lot about tax cuts, doesn't talk a lot about these culture wars, some of the strongman stuff that the Trump's really into. But then Trump has endorsed businessman Marino, who is a political newcomer who has been really, without Trump's endorsement, would not have much of a chance in today's primary.
But as it stands, we came in the final days here with Marino and Matt Dolan sort of neck and neck and polls really a toss up, as all my Republican sources on the ground here have been telling me. Trump came in Saturday and did a rally for Moreno and we've just seen a city parade as a reminder. World influencers coming in to flood the zone and campaign. Carrie Lake has been here.
Christine Noem, the South Dakota governor has been here. J.D. vance, of course, isn't Ohio and won the center race two years ago. Trump's health has been campaigning alongside Marino, whereas Dolan has been relying on the Mike DeWine endorsement as well as endorsement for performers, Senator Rapport, but he's also cut from that same traditional GOP clap.
So the stakes really, the battle lines really couldn't be any clearer. There's a third candidate, Secretary Franklin Rose. He has sort of fallen behind polls over the last week or so as Dolan and Reno spent a ton of money on television to get their message out there. And again, it's just been really, really nasty over the last few days with the Trump folks calling Matt Dolan Mitt Dolan, which is of course a reference to Mitt Romney and Matt Dolan himself talking about how there's too much shouting right on politics.
It's time to let people who can go to Washington actually get things done. When I asked Madonna that was a shot at Trump, he demurred and said, no, it was more a critique on leaders who are already in Washington. But you can just really see where this is headed in the final hours. Just a very, very clear battle versus MAGA in that maga and the Democrats, you know, this is their seat right now.
This is Sherrod Brown, the incumbent. They believe it got shot there despite how much Ohio has turned red. And Democrats are getting involved. Right?
They have in this Republican primary. Explain how they're intervening, if you will, in the primary. Yeah, that's right. And last week we saw an ad from the Democratic superpacist closely aligned with Senate major Chuck Schumer.
They put money behind an ad that highlights Brainerino's conservative credentials, highlights the Trump endorsement. And it really is like, if you watch it closely, it seems like it could be an ad for bringing Marino. They hope that it helps lift him out of this primary. They feel that he's an easier opponent for Sherrod Brown in November because he's sort of blank slate.
His businessman doesn't have a record and does have some record in business that they have to exploit. And they put more than $3 million behind this ad. One that Republican told me it's the best ad that Brino has had this entire cycle. Wow, that's crazy.
All right, Henry, thank you for that report from Ohio. We appreciate it. And as we mentioned, the Buckeye State is key in the 2024, 5% control. Right now, Democrats have a very slim margin, only 51 to 49 in the Senate.
That of course, includes the three independents who caucus with the Democrats of the 34 Senate seats on the ballot in November. And this is crazy, democrats are defending 23 of them, many of them in pretty red states. That's because these races are holdovers from the ones that Democrats won that wave year of 2018. Now, what that means is that Republicans have multiple places where they can pick up seats, but Democrats have nearly no pickup opportunities.
According to our friends at the Political report, there are 10 Democratic health seats that have a chance of flipping. That includes the toss ups in Arizona, Montana and Ohio. And with incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin retiring, they have West Virginia rated as solid Republican. So that means if Democratic incumbents like Sherrod Brown, Ohio or John Tester in Montana lose, even if Democrats run the table in the other seats they hold, it's highly likely that Republicans flip the chamber because on the Republican side our friends at Cook have no races ranks more competitive than likely Republican and both those seats have well funded Republican incumbents.
Join me now. Is the brain behind those set rankings Cook Political Report Senate and Governor's editor Jessica Taylor. I think Democrats are well aware of their challenge coming up in this election cycle but it's important for to remind them. Let's talk about Ohio.
Depending on how this primary ends today, does that change your thinking about how competitive this race could be in November? It wouldn't change our rating because I still think Sherrod Brown is the most vulnerable Democrat actually, even though the numbers say it should be John Tester. Tester has sort of unique appeal in Montana. His approval ratings have been upwards of 60% and so that's a 16 point Trump state.
Ohio has gone twice by eight points for Trump. So I think it's sort of Brown is in the toughest lane there. Now you can see again as Henry mentioned from the ads from Chuck Schumer's pack, they would much read it rather face more. They feel like he is he's a first time candidate, he ran last time but then dropped out before the primary.
So sort of more of a political neophyte. They feel like he's a little more unscripted on the trail and you know, it's just the first time candidate. It brings some vulnerabilities in a way that a state senator like Magdalen doesn't. And then Dolan sort of has more of those establishment credentials.
He has more appeal I think to sort of those suburban swing voters that they're going to need that really. They can say hey I might not vote for Moreno if it's Brown and Moreno, but maybe Dolan I think too. So I absolutely think that Dolan would be more formidable. But that doesn't mean that this isn't going to be erased even if it is.
Marino yeah, you mentioned how narrow this road is for the Democrats. I do feel we've been writing the epitaph for the Democratic Senate majority for the last couple cycles and they somehow been able to sneak out a victory and a majority. This is a different map for them, isn't it? I mean they basically have to run the entire table if West Virginia is off the board is that the only way they can hold on the majority, they have to run the entire table and win the White House.
So if we're talking about Trump winning the White House, they already lost it. If you consider that seat for Joe Manchin gone, which we do in the Republican column, that brings it to 50, 50. And then the deciding vote would be a Republican vice president. So they have to sort of pray that Biden still wins, and they have to win every single senator race.
Now, last time in 2022, they faced a very uphill path as well. They didn't lose any incumbent, any Democratic incumbent, and they were able to flip Pennsylvania. So they sort of pitch a perfect game. Now, pitching perfect game twice in a row is really, really hard to do.
Yeah, yeah. We've already talked about the primary and Ohio, but there are primaries in other places. Mitch McConnell's often talked about candidate quality. Candidate quality may have been the reason Republicans were unsuccessful in 2020.
How much will that matter this time around? It absolutely, I think, cost some very winnable races in Pennsylvania and Arizona and in Georgia. And we have seen the National Republican Senatorial Committee be more involved in these primaries. Now, they didn't endorse in Ohio, but they went heavy, for instance, behind Tim Sheehy, their top recruit in Montana.
And Trump also endorsed him. And then his challenger, Congressman Rosenfield, dropped out and avoided a primary there. You know, they carried like they've gone behind in Arizona, and she is still sort of one of those untested, more volatile candidates they hope to avoid. There is a messy primary still in Michigan, though.
Trump has weighed in there behind Mike Rogers. So they've endorsed in some places, you know, in Pennsylvania now they have David McCormick as a funder running against, running against Bob Casey there. So they've done better candidates in some places, but places like Ohio, Michigan, they're still primaries. Okay.
We're in March Madness season, so I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Go Vols. What is your sleeper? Is there a sleeper race that we're not thinking about, that we're wake up up the day after the election, be a little surprised by the result?
That's a very good question. I, you know, Maryland is one that sneaks up there. I still have a hard time getting rated likely Democrat at this point, but they Republicans really got it coup when they convinced former governor Larry Hogan, who's still very popular in the state, to run there. We'll see who ends up winning that Democratic primary there.
So still keeping an eye on it. So I'm Very skeptical because we've seen sort of red state governors run in Democrats like Phil Bredesen and you know, people like run and not be successful because governor racers are ultimately very different than Senate race. Okay. But world me too.
It's gonna be Marilyn or nothing. That's Jessica. Just kidding. Thanks, Jessica.
We'll see your balls do. Yes. All right. Turning now to a former Trump White House official behind bars.
Peter Navarro, top adviser to Donald Trump when he was in office, reported to prison in Miami this afternoon after the Supreme Court rejected his attempt to delay his four month sentence. Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress last year after resurfaced refusing actually to comply with subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Navarro was defiant while speaking to reporters today, airing his grievances about his prosecution, pitching himself as a victim of political prosecution and voicing his loyalty to the former president. I will walk proudly in there and through my time I will gather strength from this.
Donald Trump is the nominee for the Republican presidential campaign. Navarro sensing in January, the US District judge presiding over the case said he was not a victim despite his claims. Up next round, Israel, President Biden and battleground Nevada. We're live in Las Vegas after a quick break.
You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. Moments ago, President Biden arrived in Las Vegas, the second stop on his trip to Nevada. Earlier today, he was in Reno, part of the Washoe county, which the Biden campaign is calling the swingiest county in the swingiest state.
President Biden nearly won Nevada four years ago. His campaign says defending the Silver state is a 2024 top priority. NBC News spoke to Nevada voters ahead of the president's trip today about the issues that will decide who they support in November. And who do you think you're signing with at this point in time?
Donald Trump. For what reason? Yes, I think our country was in a really good spot prior to, you know, he was, when he was president, it was a really good spot. Things it went kind of down south.
I mean, we obviously know that. But I think, you know, I just think it's gonna, we need to do the best for the country. Biden's iffy. I know he's older, but he has standards.
And I think he really cares about what's going on for the country and is doing the best that he can. Dockress is traveling with the president. He joins us now from Las Vegas. So, Aaron, what's President Biden's message to about our voters today?
Well, the president is headed this way and this is technically a an official White House event here today where the president will focus, as you can see from the signs behind me, on lowering housing costs. It's something he mentioned during his State of the Union address. And today will detail his proposal, a $258 billion housing proposal that he says would lower housing costs for Americans by way of increasing the housing supply. They're proposing that this plan would help to either build or renovate 2 million housing units across the country, at the same time lowering costs, providing tax credits to homeowners and the renters as well, to make housing more affordable for those groups.
This is something that the president want to talk about in front of an audience that is largely one of supporters. There are people we've spoken to in this crowd who say that the president still has to do some work to earn their votes. This is, as you mentioned, a swing state where people feel like they're independent voters or swing voters and they're not just going to give their vote away. There are a lot of union folks in the crowd here today as well who said that they support President Biden because he supports unions.
And the work that he's done so far around housing and lowering costs has helped union workers in this particular area here in Clark county, in Las Vegas, across state Nevada and other parts of the Southwest as well. Right. You know, President Biden is struggling with Latino voters right now. How does he hope to break through to them, especially in a state like Nevada?
Well, I think the campaign would say that part of their effort is around showing up. They're going to be in states like Nevada where the population, 30% of the population is Latino. They're going to go to places like Arizona. They just today released a new campaign ad that they've released in English, Spanish and Spanglish, as the campaign has said, mixed in Spanish and English.
And the idea is that they want to get in front of Latino voters here for the black voters, in front of Asian Pacific Island, Pacific Islander voters as well, to talk about what President Biden has done for those communities. And they also intend to talk about the challenges that would be presented by a second Trump administration to only tackle issues of immigration, economic issues, election denialism issues, as well as abortion, in speaking to those particular communities. Right. Okay.
Aaron Gilbert from Las Vegas, thank you for that, Aaron. And after Las Vegas, President Biden will head to another battleground state, Arizona, which, as we mentioned earlier, is holding its presidential primary today. And while Biden has already clinched the Democratic nomination, pro Ceasefire activists in Arizona are using Today's election to send a message to him about the Israel Hamas war. And they're doing it in a different way than in past primaries.
NBC News campaigning about Alex Habit has war in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Hi, good afternoon, this is EMMA. Vote CeaseFire Arizona, a group protesting President Biden's handling the Israel Hamas war, phone banking ahead of election day. But unlike states like Michigan and Minnesota, where uncommitted is an option on the ballot, Arizona activists who want to send a message to President Biden are having to improvise.
You're asking folks to vote for Marianne Williamson, a candidate who's publicly called for cease fire. We're not looking to win. We're looking to make an impact. Belen Sisa used to work as the national Latino press secretary for the 2020 Bernie Sanders campaign.
Now she's one of the activists behind Votes Ceasefire. Ez. Our country and our taxpayer dollars are taking part in this and we want it to stop. Their goal is to get to 10,000 votes for Marianne Williamson.
That's a bald number similar to the margin Biden beat Trump by in Arizona in the 2020 general election. We want to take those votes away to send a very clear and measurable message to the Biden administration. You want us to vote for you, then you need to do better and call for a ceasefire. For Rowan Imran, a Palestinian American activist, this campaign is personal.
These are real people's lives. This is my family's life. Williamson has backed a ceasefire, rearrating her position. NBC News before an event in Scottsdale over the weekend.
We have to have a ceasefire. We have to have a list of hostages, and we have to go towards architect of 42 states lose. There is no other way. But the ceasefire activists have made it clear, even though they're asking people to vote for her, they're not officially endorsing her.
Does it bother you that they're not actually endorsing you? No. You know, it's the horse race. It's how things work.
President Biden has already clinched the Democratic nomination, but protests calling for immediate ceasefire become a hallmark of Democratic events. At recent campaign stops in Arizona, both First Lady Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were interrupted by protests. But for Imran, who's anxious about the safety of her friends and family, her message for Biden is simple. Be courageous.
Take the extra step and not just use words, because actions are what matters. And our thanks to NBC campaign adbed Alex Tanner for that report. We should note, when asked for a response to this effort in Arizona, the Biden campaign told us, quote, the president believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans. He's working toward an end to the violence and a just lasting peace in the Middle East.
He's working tirelessly to that end. And after the break, trunked up rhetoric, primary politics and third party problems. The panel is next. You're watching with the PRESS now.
Welcome back. As the centrist group no Labels gains valid access across the country, it appears to be running into a big problem. And this is a pretty big problem for a presidential campaign. They can't find a candidate.
According to YNBC News colleagues, more than a dozen prominent individuals from the world of politics and beyond have rebuffed approaches from no Labels. Republicans from Liz Cheney to Larry Hogan and Brian Campbell turn the group down. Same goes for Democrats and Democratic leaning independents like Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sin, NBC reports the group has also reached out to businessman Mark Cuban, retired Admiral William Craven, even the actor Dwayne the Rock Johnson would probably be my kids vote. None of them have shown much interest.
Joining me now is our panel no word. I love it. No Labels has reached out to Lisa Descartes, the correspondent for PBS News Hour, or Eugene Robinson, economist of the Washington Post and NBC News political analyst, or Matt Gorman, a former advisor to Tim Scott for America Campaign. Any of you like to officially rule yourself up from the labels right now.
If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve. Well, fair enough. But Lisa, we're joking about this because should we be taking the labels seriously?
I mean, it is quite the feat to get on the ballot in as many states as they have. But if they can't find a candidate, what does it matter? I think that's the right question. We should be taking seriously the group of American voters who do not like either former President Trump or current President Biden as their top choice.
That is a serious group of voters. They will affect who becomes president next. However, no Label has not shown that they should be taken seriously while they are And I think 17 states now we need to look at those because some of those are key swings state and they are able to take voters away, especially from let's say it's Republican candidate. That will matter in North Carolina, a state which Democrats will come back and in other states that I'm about.
Yeah. And you know, Eugene, we've seen the same thing happen with Central groups in 2012 and 2016. You know, well known names considered for the ticket. But the word that's going to hurt Their reputation are going to be thought of as a spoiler.
Could we argue to a point where there's a legitimate third party candidate in a presidential rice? You know, not this time, I don't think. But look, that's a pretty wide range of candidates they're considering, right? People they're talking to.
And it would theoretically make a big difference, like which of those people you chose, because some might take more votes away from Donald Trump, some might take more votes away from Joe Biden. And so they gotta make up their minds what they want to accomplish here and then try to find the candidate. And that doesn't seem to be going that well for them. Third parties are hard.
Our two major parties are so entrenched and when they lose and lose and lose, they tend to regroup and reconstitute themselves and, you know, sort of they're reborn from the ashes. And that's happened over and over again, you know, and also American politics gets binary really, really quickly. So suddenly, no labels. Candidates can't decide.
Four against abortion, four against a ceasefire. Right. It always sounds. And I can't even ballot in all these states.
That's very hard to do. Very. But you're right, like these candidates, they sound good in theory, but they'll take vice president of the different party. How do you square that circle, so to speak.
And also, Sam, very happy Aaron Rogers as a jetpack as cap rings of for the Kennedy ticket. But you're right, like it is a lot easier said than done. Right. The jets have a lot more problems than this requirement.
So we need to get into these comments that former President Trump made over the weekend saying that Jewish Americans who voted for Democrats hate Israel. He just voted in Palm beach in a Florida primary and he actually doubled down on those comments. We'll play a clip of it right now. I think that the Democrats have been very, very opposed to Jewish people.
That's true. And to Israel. All you have to do is look at Senator Schumer, what he did with Israel as a disgrace. And I think Israel will probably not forget it very soon.
So we're doing very well with the Jewish voter, it looks like, and we should do very well. If you look at all of our presidents, they're saying Trump was the best for Israel, by far the best for Israel. And we're doing very well with the Jewish voter. So obviously backing away from this at all.
I mean, could there be a penalty to this with Jewish voters and even non Jewish voters who seem who might be offended by President Trump's comments? I Honestly don't see it. I think that this is a kind of baked in sort of statement that we've expected from President Trump. He's talked about race for his entire career.
He's had made clearly racist statements in his career. I don't think this is new. I do think that it is important as a country that at this moment has very real problems with hate and anti Semitism for us to look at this and to understand the codes that a lot of people will get from the messages he's sending. Yeah.
And Eugene, this is a problem for Democrats, right? There's a real divide about the handling of the war with Israel and Hamas, and it's made it difficult for President Biden to see his way through this. I think where it really makes it difficult for President Biden is in the crucial swing state of Michigan, for example, where Arab Americans are a big and important voting bloc. If you, if you're Democrat, you're going to.
And Michigan rack up huge margins in Wayne County, Detroit metropolitan area. And Dearborn is a majority Arab American city, a big suburb of Detroit. And people there are really upset at what they see as President Biden's uncritical support of what Prime Minister Netanyahu has been doing in the way Israel has conducted the war. And I think a lot of those voters will ultimately probably vote for Biden, but not all of them.
And that's potentially a big problem in a crucial state. It should be tens of 10,000 votes right back that can have an impact in a state like this year. Thousand percent. And a lot of those folks in Michigan with the ceasefire, a lot of the same folks, I think, about who are voting against Trump in the Republican primary.
It's very easy to make that choice in March, you know, look me in the face in late October, early November, and do it again. Really, really, truly means something. That is a different thing. But you're right, it could come down to those smaller margins.
I think what the biggest interesting part of this is Israel and Democratic sides divided far more on age. You see, older Democrats far more likely to be staring towards Israel, or younger is more likely to be skeptical or more likely to see some sort of, you know, equivalency. I think that is where you're trying to see Trump kind of carve it up a little bit more among traditional political lines. And again, you know, Joe Biden needs younger voters in Arbor as well as Steelboard.
That's right. There's a fascinating primary taking place in Ohio today. And I want to play an interaction that we have with Republican candidate Matt Dolan and a voter in Ohio. Listen.
Yes. You're following the race. I'm following the race. With your heart to somebody else.
My heart says until Trump is going, I'm sorry Trump is gone, I will never vote them Republican again. Sorry. Definitely gone. It wasn't, but it was the first person, first time I hadn't voted Republican in my life.
We'll never do it again. So I'm se control. So sorry. I know.
I realize that. I get that. I get that. So we unfortunately have about a minute, but we can quickly all go around.
Do you think there are more voters out there that are like this particular voter than maybe we pay attention to? I do think Trump support is softer than people realize. I'm not saying it is radically soft, but I do think it is an exhaustion factor. I also think in the U.S.
senate when they have a lot to do this week, a lot of those Republicans are going to be watching this race in Ohio. I know they are at a big meeting tomorrow. I think it's also important to point out that might be a nationwide because remember, Ohio was leaning pretty far right in the Trump years. That'd be the exception in Ohio where most folks talk about some states.
Ohio really is on that list, right? No, it's not. I correspond with a couple of Trump skeptical Trump disliking Republicans. And so far one is sticking to that.
He's not going to vote for Trump. One is going to vote for Trump, I predict. So I think he's going to break both. Great.
Eugene sample size very good. President on the no labels line. Thank you for that. Still to come, two big stories on Capitol Hill.
House and Senate leaders play whack a mole one more time. Lisa and I know all about this. To avoid government shutdown. And retired military officials testify on the Biden administration's ill fated withdrawal from Afghanistan.
You're watching me. The press now sprung here in Washington. The National Park Service announced that the capital's beloved cherry blossom trees reached peak bloom status on Sunday. From yesterday's scenic sunrise at the Jefferson Memorial to scenes of pink and crowds of eager tourists and locals around the title basin soaking up the spectacle.
And if the seasonal tree feels a little early this year, that's because it is. This is the second earliest peak bloom in more than a century of record keeping, thanks to an unusually warm winter. So happy first day of spring, everyone. We'll be right back with more MEET THE press now.
Welcome back. Congress is one step closer to a ring on government shut down by the End of the week. After congressional leaders in the White House announced this morning they'd reached a deal to fund the remaining federal agencies. That includes the Department of Homeland Security, which had been a sticking point in those talks.
Sources familiar with the talks that the deal includes funding the Department of Homeland Security for a full year and not stop yet. Bill as was previously being considered. But Speaker Mike Johnson already facing some pushback from the hard right flank of his party. In a letter to their colleagues, top DREAM caucus leaders Bob Good and Chip Away as well as a dozen of other House Republicans urge lawmakers to block the funding bill, saying that it directly funds Biden's, quote, disastrous policies.
Joining me now is Sahil Kapoor on Capitol Hill. So what more do we know about the details of the DHS funding in this bill? Do we know who got more voting line Democrats or Republicans? We don't really know much about that, Ryan.
The details are still somewhat of a mystery. The negotiators who announced the deal have not released a summary. They have not released legislative. I just spoke moments ago to Senator Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat the chamber.
He chairs the committee that oversees immigration enforcement. Even he said he hasn't seen the details of all this. So this seems like a close negotiation that occurred between President Biden and his staff as well as Speaker Mike Johnson and his staff. This is the White House and House Republican venture.
That's another thing that Democratic aides on the Hill have been telling me when I ask for the details. It sounds like there were some real concessions made for the White House side, but also a product, you know, of the fact that President Biden has recognized that his approach to immigration has really been working, that he wants more resources to do some tougher immigration enforcement while also keeping humans. He doesn't have to do the kind of very harsh Trump policies now also happening on Capitol Hill today saw Hill at times a 10 tiering related to the Afghanistan withdrawal with some former military generals. What came out of this here?
What did we learn about this investigation by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and what could it lead to? Yeah, this seems like an attempt to shake some trees after that situation in Afghanistan. Talking to two generals who are now retired and hope that maybe they would reveal more information. One of them was General Kenneth McKenzie who led CENTCOM at the time for 2019-2022, said that he was the overall commander and he alone bears full responsibility for what happened at that so called Abbey Gate situation.
He also did place some blame on the State Department saying that the order for the evacuation came a little bit too late. There was also testimony from General Mark Milley, who was then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He agreed that simply for the families who lost out in this, he said we owe them answers. And he said there's nothing that I can say or do that's going to fill that gap hole in your heart.
Ryan Yeah, I know there's some Republicans, I believe that Republicans maybe should be focused on this investigation a little bit more than the impeachment, according to President Biden, because they believe that there's a lot here to uncover. So we'll have to see how this all plays out. Thank you so much for your work there on capital. I appreciate it.
And we, of course, are back tomorrow with more MEET THE PRESS now. But there's more news straight ahead with Hallie Jackson right now. Hey, everyone. I'm Dylan Dryer, co host of the third hour of Day and mom to three wild Boys.
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