Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington. That was the closing bell after another volatile day for Wall Street, spurred by uncertainty over President Trump's tariff agenda and some hotter than expected inflation data. All the major indices were down.
The Dow fell more than 700 points. It comes as investors gear up for another potentially bumpy week ahead, with the White House set to institute new tariffs on auto companies and potentially sweeping reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners. The economic anxiety is coming amid new signs of political anxiety at the White House, as President Trump is openly questioning whether his party has the ability to win races on its home turf.
In the Oval Office today, the president directly said he pulled Congresswoman Elise Stefanik's nomination to be U.N. ambassador yesterday out of fear that Republicans could lose her House seat, which Stefanik won by 24 points last November in a district that went for the president by 20 points. She's very popular in her district, and I didn't want to take a chance. We cannot take a chance.
We have a slim margin. We don't want to take any chances. We don't want to experiment. And she polls like I do.
We don't want to take any chances. And it's as simple as that. It's basic politics. It's politics 101.
She's very popular. She's going to win. And somebody else will probably win, too, because we did very well there. I did very well there.
But the word probably is no good. President Trump's choice to avoid a special election in a deep red district comes as Republicans are sweating the margins in special elections in two Florida districts. On Tuesday, both in seats vacated by Trump nominees who won by more than 30 points last November. Political reports in one of those districts, President Trump's own pollster found the Democrat narrowly leading.
And the Democrats in both of those Florida districts have far outraised their Republican opponents. That perhaps fueled the decision for the president to make last-minute teletown hall appearances in both Florida districts just last night. I love you, and you love me, and that's good. But we're just a few days away from an all-important special election taking place in your state on Tuesday, April 1st.
And I'm asking you to get out and vote for a true American patriot, somebody I've gotten to know very well, Randy Fine. Your vote in this crucial election will help determine whether the radical-left Democrats can grind Congress to a halt, which is what they want to do, just stop everything, all the progress that we've made, which is record setting. Now, of course, it is possible Republicans are being overly cautious to avoid shrinking their razor thin House majority, which would imperil the president's legislative agenda. But even so, the admitted anxiety among Republicans about their political standing in those deep red districts is not something you'd expect to see from a party that believes it still has a mandate from the voters.
Joining me now is our team of NBC News reporters. Vaughn Hilliard is at the White House. Melanie Zanona is on Capitol Hill. And Steve Kornacki is, of course, at the big board.
Vaughn, let me start with you over at the White House. We heard from President Trump today for the first time since pulling Congresswoman Stefanik's nomination. He was defiant about this decision. What were your takeaways?
Right. When talking about Elise Stefanik he said that she was doing us in reference to the administration and Republicans a favor underscoring the fact that Republicans in the U House right now have such slim majorities Of course next week there a Florida special election to replace Michael Waltz his current national security advisor Some Republicans are anticipating picking up another Republican seat in that race, but we have watched as budget negotiations, as the government spending deal, as potential reconciliation, the effort to extend the 2017 tax cuts and increase immigration spending. As all of these conversations are underway, the administration has acknowledged that having a greater Republican majority is going to be crucial in case there are some Republican members that refuse to vote along with the rest of the party on any number one of these votes here. And that is where we came to Elise Stefanik.
Polling her as the U.N. ambassador is number one notable for somebody who has been effectively sidelined for a number of months after earning a House Republican leadership post. They suggest that she'll still serve in a leadership capacity upon returning to Congress in her capacity here at this moment in time here, Kristen. But at the same time, it was the president acknowledging he doesn't want to take any risks was the way that he framed it when he said that he made the decision to ask her to stay in the U.S.
Congress and not go through the confirmation process to be confirmed for the National Security Post. Well, Vaughn, pretty remarkable to hear the president say we are not taking any risks. And, of course, the other big story we're following today, the markets closing down today after the president made the announcement that he is imposing more tariffs next week on auto parts. We know this morning the president spoke with the Canadian prime minister.
What did the two leaders discuss, Vaughn? Right, this is a notable phone call because typically, especially when it comes to an ally, a new leader enters office. And in the case of such a close partner and ally as Canada, Mark Carney took over as prime minister two weeks ago now. And this was that first phone conversation between the two neighboring leaders here at a time in which the president has articulated repeatedly that on April 2nd, next Wednesday, he's going to put these massive tariffs into place that impact Canadian goods coming into the United States.
And we have seen Mark Carney really run an anti-Trump, anti-tariff messaging campaign across Canada, as he has repeatedly said that they will not bow down to the demands and the bullying campaign, as they framed it, of the Trump administration. And that is where this phone call today was so notable. And the Canadian prime minister indicated that he will, in fact, place retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods entering Canada on Wednesday in response to the U.S.
tariffs. But said, however, that his trade minister will engage in close conversations with Howard Lutner, the U.S. Commerce Secretary, over the next months to immediately address the concerns of the United States and Canadian government officials to put this trade war to an end quickly. Kristen.
We will track those conversations quite closely, Vaughn. Thank you so much for your great reporting from the White House. Now, let me head over to you on Capitol Hill. What are your sources telling you about President Trump's decision to pull Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, which, of course, you reported on yesterday?
Yeah, Republicans on Capitol Hill were absolutely stunned with this decision, Elise Stefanik included in that camp. First of all, her nomination sailed through the committee process. And had she gone to the Senate floor, she likely would have gotten bipartisan support. So this nomination was never at risk of failing.
And second of all these political realities and the difficulties of governing with a razor thin majority in the House is not a new political dynamic This is something that Speaker Mike Johnson had been warning about ever since right after the election when Trump was first considering tapping people from the House for his new administration So a lot of surprise on Capitol Hill about this decision But based on some reporting I've been doing with my colleague Garrett Haake, it appears that for Trump, those political realities are only now setting in as he has really witnessed how hard it is to govern and the GOP's math problems firsthand, having to sometimes call personally to members in the middle of a big vote in order to get them to fall in line. Now, for Sabonix's part, she's putting on a brave face and saying she's going to continue to be a team player for Trump. Take a listen to what she said on Fox News last night. It really came to a culmination today, but it was a combination of the New York corruption that we're seeing under Kathy Hochul, special elections and the House margin.
And look, I've been in the House. It's tough to count these votes every day. And we are going to continue to defy the political prognosticators and deliver deliver victory on behalf of President Trump and importantly, the voters across this country. And now the GOP leadership is really scrambling to find a new spot for Elise Stefanik on the GOP leadership team, because remember, she gave up her number four position in leadership in order to pursue this ambassadorship.
Those discussions are still underway, I'm told, but anything they come up with is going to fall short of the power and weight that she had when she was the conference chair in the last Congress. Yes. What an incredible twist for her. Of course, she's someone who has been one of the president's closest allies, including throughout the course of the campaign.
Now, you broke some other news yesterday, including about the status of President Trump's relationship with his national security advisor, of course, under a microscope after he admitted responsibility for effectively having a journalist be invited to a group chat on Signal. Yeah. So publicly, of course, Donald Trump is standing by Mike Waltz. But privately, I'm told he has been fuming about this entire fiasco in multiple conversations yesterday.
Trump expressed frustration with Michael Waltz for inadvertently adding that Atlantic reporter to the group chat. Trump does not like the media coverage. He's upset that this has become a multi-day controversy. And in those conversations, he also pointed to another matter surrounding Mike Waltz, and that is the special election to replace Mike Waltz in Congress.
As you mentioned, there is a special election in Florida next week. That is a seat that Trump carried by 30 points. But it has become very competitive for Republicans, with the Republican candidate just being massively outraised by the Democratic opponent. Trump had to do a teletown hall even last night for that candidate there.
So even though Republican leaders are confident that Randy Fine, the candidate, is going to pull out a victory, it's not going to look for Republicans, which Trump has been complaining about privately behind the scenes. So all of that really adding to Trump's frustrations with Michael Waltz here. Yeah, complicated mix there. Mel, thank you so much for all of your great reporting.
Steve, let me head over to you at the big board. As we've been talking about, Republicans appear to be concerned about these special elections, particularly the one in Florida next week. What are you watching for? What do the numbers say?
Yeah, let's take a look at both of these districts. Really, it is that you've been talking about here. Waltz's old district, the 6th. This is where more of the action is in Florida.
You see where the two special elections are being held. We're talking about here sort of the area between Jacksonville, Daytona Beach on the coast, and the district now moves a bit inland as well. So the Republican candidate, Randy Fine, the Democrat, Josh Wheel, a lot of money has come in nationally, like grassroots money from Democrats were very keyed in on these special elections here for wheel. And the backdrop, of course, is this is what the presidential result looked like in this district last November.
Trump winning it by 30 points. Waltz for that matter was reelected by a similar margin last November So you look at this number and you say why would Republicans be a little concerned Is it about losing the district That might be a stretch There nobody in the House There no Democrat in the House who has won in a district like this recently. But would they be embarrassed by a smaller, a significantly smaller margin? That's certainly possible.
They wouldn't want that. And the other thing, as you mentioned, talking about Elise Stefanik and her district, the decision for her to stay there, the margin in her district was 20 points. That's the New York district that she represents. Trump won that district by 20.
So 30 is an awfully high threshold for Democrats to overcome. When you start talking about 20, it's probably still much too high in a special election for Democrats, but it's lower than this. And if this is making them sweat at all, you can imagine what they would think about turning towards a turning towards New York 21. And again, the other district where there's action here, this is in the panhandle.
This is Pensacola based here. This really is one of the most Republican districts in Florida. How Republican Trump's margin here was almost 40 points. So again, Republicans with more of a pad here, you take a look at what we've seen from the early voting.
This is just the share of the ballots taken by registered Republicans, by registered Democrats in each of these districts. And you do see, look for Democrats, that's pretty good in a district like the first, but again, that's still a solid Republican advantage in the sixth. Again, that's, that's still a Republican advantage. That's good for the Democrats.
They're historically speaking, but again, it gets to that question. Is it going to be enough for the Democrats to actually have a chance to win it. These numbers suggest that's still very much a stretch. But again, to get that number down certainly seems possible for them.
The question will become how much can they get that 30 point Trump margin down? And Kristen, what this really speaks to overall is I'll just put this up on the screen quickly. We're talking about special elections. Boy, there's a lot of numbers on the screen here.
But what these numbers are telling you is that in the last couple of years, in special elections for the House and in lower turnout elections, like not like presidential elections where everybody votes, that's where the Democrats have had advantage. That's where they've overperformed. They've done well. Why?
Because it seems the Democratic base for elections that do not have Donald Trump on the ballot seems more motivated than the Republican base. That was the story going right into the 24 election. It's one of the reasons Democrats had a lot of hope in last November. They thought they had this turnout motivation edge.
Didn't turn out to be a thing in November, but it may still very much be a thing in special elections. That's something we could find out on Tuesday. Tell us a lot about where the mood of the country is headed. Steve Kornacki, thank you so much.
We really appreciate it, as always. Turning now to Greenland, where the vice president and second lady, along with the national security advisor, arrived to the U.S. military base this afternoon for a brief and notably scaled back visit to the Danish territory. The U.S.
delegation was not formally invited to the island and did not meet with any local officials. The vice president is the highest ranking U.S. official to ever visit Greenland. And today, President Trump once again doubled down on his claim that the U.S., quote, needs to annex Greenland.
Listen. We need Greenland, very importantly, for international security. We have to have Greenland. It's not a question of do you think we can do without it.
We can't. Greenland is very important for the peace of the world, not the peace of the entire world. And I think Denmark understands it. I think the European Union understands it.
And if they don't, we're going to have to explain it to them. Joining me now in Greenland is Molly Hunter, who is covering the vice president's trip there. So, Molly, we know that the vice president made some remarks. What was his message today?
He did make some remarks. He was only on the ground, as you mentioned, Kristen, for about three hours, way up in the remote northwest at the Bidifus Space Base, where he met with about 150 U.S. military. personnel.
They're called guardians. They're never set foot in nuke the capital, which is where I have never actually spoke with Greenlanders. But he did take Denmark to task. He really accused European allies and specifically Denmark.
This is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark for not taking care and not investing enough in Greenlandic infrastructure and security infrastructure and Greenlandic people. Take a quick listen to a quick portion of what he said. Our message to Denmark is very simple. You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.
You have underinvested in the people of Greenland and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change. And because it hasn't changed, this is why President Trump's policy in Greenland is what it is. He spoke about the incredible people, the incredible place, Kristen, but the people we're speaking with here at Duke say he never bothered to even try to kind of meet people or see this country.
And certainly, as we've discussed, this itinerary has changed massively in the last week. They didn't want the second lady. They didn't want the vice president. They didn't want this high level U.S.
delegation to come under these circumstances. Yeah. Underscoring the fact that polls show the vast majority of people in Greenland do not want to be annexed by the United States. Molly Hunter, we've been tracking your reporting throughout the week.
We really appreciate your joining us. Thank you so much. Coming up, Republicans respond to contentious town halls as some constituents raise concerns about doge cuts. And the president's agenda, one of those House Republicans who face those frustration head on, joins me next.
Plus, the Iranian-American journalist targeted in a murder-for-hire plot backed by the regime in Tehran meets the press after her two would-be assassins were convicted for trying to kill her on U.S. soil. You're watching the press now. Welcome back.
As we mentioned, next week's special House elections in Florida and a key judicial race in Wisconsin are going to give us our best look yet at the political environment 10 weeks into the second Trump administration. Up until now, perhaps the best potential barometer we've seen has been reaction at congressional town hall meetings. Republicans and Democrats have been met with crowds in their home districts upset about just about everything from tariffs to government cuts and President Trump's agenda. Here's some of what happened earlier this month at a town hall with Nebraska Republican Congressman Mike Flood as he was answering a question on the president's relationship with Congress.
Congress, under Article 1 of U.S. Constitution, has the power of the purse. I know that. I know that.
I am working in Congress to make sure that the cuts that are identified to the extent we agree with them are codified. And joining me now is the Congressman you just heard from Nebraska Republican Mike Flood. Congressman Flood, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me on. So let me first ask you about the political landscape. We've seen some signs this week that the White House does have some anxiety about the political standing of Republicans. We just showed some of the anger that you heard directly from your constituents.
Do you think, Congressman, that there is a reason to be concerned about Republicans' political standing right now? Well, you know, I'm bullish on where we're going. I think we're going the right direction. Obviously there those that disagree And by the way anytime you change anything change is hard for a lot of people But what I try to communicate at my town hall and actually I think it was really good for me and I think it was really good for those that attended I tried to make the point where trillion in debt Doing nothing is not an option.
We can disagree about what the next steps are, but we have to confront this federal deficit. We have to confront the debt head on. And ultimately, we had a spirited conversation. But I'm someone that believes that if you ran for office and you believe in what you're doing and the message you have, stand in the town square and engage with people.
And even though I had a lot of people at that town hall that I know were upset at different issues. There were some things we agreed with, and I had a lot of people come up to me afterwards and say, you know what? I didn't vote for you, but I appreciate that you're doing this in person. I was going to say, I'm sure your constituents appreciated hearing from you.
That engagement is so important to voters. I do want to play a little bit of the reaction you got when the topic of those doge cuts came up at your town hall. Take a look. I support Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
That seemed to spark some of the most passionate response, Congressman. Do you think and did you get a sense from your constituents that the concern is that the cuts have just been too deep and that they've gone too fast. Well, I think a lot of times the people don't have all the information. And obviously, sometimes in Congress, we don't have the information.
But ultimately, as I said, also my town hall, Congress decides because we have the power of the purse where the money is spent. And so, yes, there's this process looking at waste, fraud and abuse. I generally even though you heard a reaction there, I don't think people in the audience were against waste, fraud and abuse. They wanted to make sure that Social Security is protected.
I heard a lot about that. And I said, absolutely, we can't even touch it under the law in the reconciliation package. And there were some current concerns raised about Medicaid and medical research. You know, at the end of the day, if I didn't have that town hall, I wouldn't have really appreciated some of the different issues that they shared with us.
You know, I'm very big supporter of veterans. I heard a lot of people talk about the Department of Veterans Affairs. I am scheduling meetings to meet with our local VA facilities in my district and in my state. And I'm going to have really good answers the next time I attend one of these town halls.
I want to ask you about some of the other cuts. The National Weather Service suspended balloon operations in Omaha because of staffing cuts. You actually put out a statement this week. Let me read part of it.
You said through flooding, blizzards, tornadoes and more, Nebraskans have relied on forecasts from the NWS. And it is my hope to see the agency continue to serve Nebraska well for many years to come. So do you disagree with these cuts to the National Weather Service? Well, I absolutely believe we need these weather balloons in the air, and it's a top priority.
And I do have a plan to visit with both the federal and the local folks that serve our area out of the Valley, Omaha, Nebraska, Weather Service office. Let me tell you, last year we had several really dangerous tornadoes just on the outskirts of Omaha. And because of the National Weather Service efforts, we did not lose one person's life in the state of Nebraska. And we had hundreds of millions of dollars of damages.
And, you know, at the end of the day, sometimes, you know, my job is to communicate with the executive branch and in this case, the Department of Commerce and the National Weather Service to find out what are the hiccups. They say they having staffing issues That doesn surprise me We have one percent unemployment oftentimes in Nebraska and it is tough to get staffing If I determine this determine this is connected to DOGE then I going to take that and make sure the president knows about it These weather balloons save lives They important. Nebraskans want them. We rely on them.
And the National Weather Service, in my opinion, is one of the agencies. We get the best bang for our buck. They literally save lives. And it is an essential service that the federal government provides the people of our state.
Well, I do want to turn to another big topic, which is tariffs. According to The Hill, you said at your town hall that there would be an adjustment period on tariffs, similar, quite frankly, to what we heard from the president. How long do you expect that adjustment period to last in your reaction to what we saw on Wall Street today? Another down day.
Consumer confidence is down. Well, in his first term, you know, President Trump successfully used tariffs to produce great trade deals for the U.S. In his first term, he cut trade deals with Canada, Mexico, China, other countries. In four years, President Biden had zero major trade deals by the end of his administration, and he pretty much continued what President Trump had been doing.
When you're in an ag state, we rely on these international markets. The president said at his joint address in early March that he would be there to help the farmers and the ranchers during the adjustment period. If it's up to me, the adjustment period is as short as it can be, only long enough to make sure that we can get better trade and fair trade with as many countries across the globe as possible. And so I hold out, you know, this is a unique situation.
We have a president who did this in his first term, and it worked out well for Nebraska and the world and the country. We saw more investment. I have every confidence that he can do it again. Finally, I do want to ask you about the Yemen airstrike signal messages that were released this week.
Your fellow Nebraska Republican, Don Bacon, told us, quote, the White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data. They should just own up to it and preserve credibility. Is Congressman Bacon right? Well, first of all, Congressman Bacon is a former general in the United States Air Force, and he has a lot better handle on what's classified and not classified.
I don't have that background, but I can absolutely say this was more than a mistake. It needs to be dealt with very seriously. And the White House, together with all of these different agencies, have to do everything in their power to make sure this never happens again and restore the confidence of anybody that is concerned about the use of the Signal app to do anything like that. Do you still have confidence in the defense secretary and the national security advisor?
I do. I've worked with Michael Walls. And I think the defense secretary is off to a good start. In fact, I think the entire Trump administration is off to a good start.
I will say that, you know, speaking very bluntly, everybody that I ran into in my district has concerns about the way that was done on Signal. And I think at the end of the day, I'm sure the president is addressing this. He's got a he's got an administration in a country to run. And I have every confidence that this will not ever happen again.
But to General Bacon's point, Congressman Bacon's point, Senator Ricketts and everybody else in our inner Nebraska delegation, we want to see accountability. We want to move forward knowing this won't happen again. All right, Congressman Mike Flett, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
Thank you very much. Have a good weekend You too Have a great weekend Coming up next making sense of another wild week in Washington and new fallout from the Signal chat fiasco The panel next You watching Meet the Press now Welcome back It has been a jam week here in Washington so let get right into all of it with the panel Joining me now is Idris Kaloun, Washington Bureau Chief for The Economist. Heidi Heitkamp, former Democratic Senator from North Dakota, who's now director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and a CNBC contributor. And T.W.
Ariki, former communications aide to Mike Pompeo and Lindsey Graham. He is now vice president of Push Digital Group. Thanks to all of you for being here. Just let me start with you.
The fact that this signal gate has such staying power, the fact that it has loomed so large over the White House all week, and there are going to be questions into the coming weeks and months. What are the implications of this for the White House? Well, the implications are this is probably one of the first times that a scandal has really broken through. It seems like Trump has been kind of unstoppable at the start of his term.
He's pushed through so many changes at so many levels. But this just suggests incompetence. It has broken through in a way that all the other kind of scandals don't. I mean, the other scandals are things like impoundment and separation of powers.
But, you know, the signal chain is just it's right there. It's very easily understandable. And I don't think it shows the administration in the best light. T.W., it was interesting because Congressman Flood said this is more than a mistake.
He was very candid about what he thought the impact would be. And he said that his constituents were concerned about this. Based on your conversations, how much concern is there inside the Republican Party? And do you think some people are going to lose their job over this?
That remains to be seen. I think there's absolutely concern, especially from an OPSEC standpoint. This was absolutely a major screw up. And I think every every principal knows that.
And Donald Trump knows that the reason I would tap the brakes on there being any firing right now is Donald Trump has the full confidence of everybody. He has put that administration. He has done it intentionally. and he believes they can drive forward his agenda.
What he will not stand for, though, is when there is a very successful mission to reestablish deterrence that the Biden administration let fall off, and it's getting stepped on by these screw-ups, it's now a shape-up moment because then there will be a ship-out moment. Yeah, I mean, Senator Heitkamp's screw-up, a technical term for this was. I could be. I agree that this was not handled well.
A lot of people are pointing to what Republicans said about Hillary Clinton, who was out with an op-ed in the New York Times today. Let me read you part of it. She says, it's not the hypocrisy that bothers me. It's the stupidity.
We're all shocked, shocked that the president Trump and his team don't actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws. But we knew that already. What's much worse is the top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That's dangerous.
And it's just dumb. What is your reaction to this moment? And do you think that this could have implications for Democrats as they try to regain their footing? I think because this president's been Teflon, right?
Nothing seems to stick. They have no muscle memory on how to deal with a real crisis. I mean, they weren't they didn't get the memo that you basically find a scapegoat, you fire him. In this case, I would say he would rather keep the SECDF than the head of national security.
Get rid of them. Say you're sorry and move on. Nothing more to see here. But they double down and they double down and it's worked for them.
And they're shocked that this isn't working. And it's not working because people in the heartland know. And there's. So many people, I would tell you, my brother's on top radio in the heartland every day, and no one will defend the administration on this one.
They will defend him on almost anything else when he runs a call-in radio show. Yeah, I mean, just part of what the president's allies are saying is just admit you messed up and move on, that it would be easier to turn the page. Instead, they're making excuses. They're pointing to the journalist.
Is there concern based on your conversations, not just that this happened, but now how it's being handled? Yeah, I think so. I think that, you know, these accusations that the journalist was the person at fault when he was inadvertently added to the text changes, everyone knows what happened. Someone messed up.
Someone added someone they shouldn't have added. And that's it. And, you know, I understand why the president doesn't want to head to roll, but it's pretty clear what happened. And the longer they say that it's actually really a kind of conspiracy, I mean, it just patently doesn't work.
In terms of, go ahead. I would simply add, though, that it's unusual, especially given the last four years we just went through, to see not only the president of the United States takes questions on this for 20 minutes, but the SECDF answer questions, the National Security Advisor, what a breath of fresh air of accountability. Now, we might not like the result of that accountability, but at least they are answering and being public. We didn't know where our secretary of defense was for days, if not weeks, at a time in the last administration.
This is a change of pace. Unfortunately, the defense is, what did Hillary do? say, oh, that journalist, he must have like weaseled his way on. And I want to say that's proof positive.
It's not a good answer because it's proof positive. You should not be using signal. I mean, if somebody can, in fact, just hack in that you shouldn't be using it. And so they don't have a good response.
The good response is we messed up. Give them ahead and move on. One of the stories that does have a lot of staying power, the president's announcement, more tariffs this time on auto parts. And we're seeing consumer confidence has dropped, I think, a new low since 2021.
Wall Street finished down today and very volatile day again on Wall Street. President Trump, though, defiant, he says, look, people don't need to worry about buying cars right now because ultimately car prices won't go up. What are the potential ramifications, both for consumers and for the White House? So the ramifications are pretty serious.
A 25 percent tariff on autos that are imported. Americans buy a lot of imported cars. A lot of auto parts supply chains are integrated across Canada and Mexico. If you're slapping 25 percent every time parts go across the border, that will either crop up in higher car prices.
Now, the president is telling the car companies keep the prices down, but that means they're going to they're going to eat it. I mean, the money's money's not going to has to come from somewhere. So I think that what we've seen is the president really wants to do tariffs, but he seems also to be aware that the market reaction is going to be severe. That's why he keeps proposing them and pulling them back.
But if we go into the world that he wants us to go to, a world in which tariffs are near 20 percent, 25 percent, there's no way that Americans are not going to feel that. And there's no way that there won't be a reaction. And T.W., the economy is the number one issue. The president's promise to bring down prices.
That hasn't happened. How long do you think voters will give him before they start to lose their patience with that promise? Right. Well, we were hearing the Democrats cite eggs a lot, but eggs have dropped significantly.
So they didn't stop talking about that. But I would give it some time. Look, this is part of broad economic plan that the president has laid out. He has long talked about reciprocity in trade This has been his position since the 70s It takes some of the wind out of the sails of Bernie Sanders and AOC who have been long saying NAFTA was a ripoff and American workers are hurting from it His whole mission is to streamline government get reciprocity and trade try to onshore people and through tax policy free up capital to bring back manufacturing jobs to this country It will take time.
He has a political capital to burn. He doesn't have to run for election. It can happen. Senator, what is your reaction to that?
And does he have a point? Is there a long term plan? No, there's no long term plan. This is I mean, what he says he's he is so wrong on tariffs on so many levels.
Right. the other country will pay for it. It won't increase. It won't be inflationary.
This is going to reset the economy. The economy has moved on, and we have basically a supply chain that is not as resilient as what the president thinks. And in fact, we proved that during COVID, right? And so the Republican Party used to be the party of free trade.
Let's find the best way to move consumer goods forward. Guess what? There is no party of free trade anymore, and this president is leading the economy down the path of recession. All right, guys, unfortunately, we're out of time.
Great conversation. It flew by. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Idris Heide and TW. Great conversation. Up next, a critic of the Iranian regime speaks out on her fight for women's rights and equality and her perseverance in the face of an Iranian plot to murder her. My one on one interview with Masih Alinejad is next.
You're watching The Press Now. Stay with us. Welcome back. Two men are now facing the possibility of life in prison after being convicted last week in a murder for hire plot targeting an Iranian journalist and women's rights activist living right here in the United States.
The plot, which was backed by the Iranian regime, targeted Masi Al-Najad, an outspoken critic of Iran's government and its treatment of women. As part of our Meet the Moment series, I spoke to Masi about her work, standing up for women and her source of strength, her mother, who still lives in Iran and who she hasn't seen in over a decade. She's very brave and she's my hero. She's not even able to read and write, but she is a true feminist and she taught me how to be strong.
And it's not easy for me to get away from my mom. I'm very sorry. Nothing to be sorry for. Take your time.
I wake up every day out of fear of losing her without being able to hug her. And this is the situation of millions of Iranian people. Living even in exile or inside Iran, this is the government. They ruin families, many families.
I sat down with Masi again yesterday following the conviction of the men hired to kill her. I began by asking her how she felt the moment the verdict was read. To be honest, I want to say that I'm relieved, but at the same time, exhausted. You know, learning about all the chilling details gave me goosebumps when I was like hearing all the details from killers.
Like my husband was sitting there, my family members sitting there in the courtroom. And they were saying how they got close to me to my beautiful garden to my beautiful sunflowers garden in Brooklyn And I remember that I saw the big guy with AK I stared into his eyes He stared me back And I thought maybe he was there to appreciate my sunflowers But he was there to kill me as he admitted in the courtroom At what moment when you were standing in your garden, when you saw this man standing before you, did you realize this is not someone admiring your garden? This is someone who wants to take your life. I didn't really know that he was there to kill me.
I learned from his testimony. But I remember that I was very scared because my garden is beautiful. And I was like, maybe I shouldn't judge. Maybe I shouldn't judge people.
He was quite scary, you know. And the scariest moment for me, which made me cry, was the moment when he said to the prosecutor that I was there to burn down the whole house. I'm talking about a house that my amazing husband, my amazing stepchildren lived there. So that was the scariest moment for me.
When he said that, you know, I just, he recruited a woman to knock the door and ask me for a flower, for plants, and to kill me. So this is scary for me that he was there to hear me die. This is what he said, that the stabbing is difficult only for some people. How did you find the courage to face people who wanted to kill you in court?
You know, my heroes are millions of women inside Iran. They face guns and bullets every single day when they walk in the street. They face morality police. They get beaten up.
They receive lashes. They face rape. But they never give up. So I am one of them.
You know, I'm a badass woman. I'm not going to give up to killers. And the ideology, the manifest behind assassination plot is to make you live in fear, in paranoia. So I'm not going to let them win.
At the same time, I have to tell you that thanks to the U.S. government, my new country, protecting me from the government of my birth country, Iran. But the justice only comes when I see the mastermind of the terrorist plot are going to be accountable. The Iranian regime, the Revolutionary Guards.
That's my next question. You have said that the mastermind behind this assassination plot against you has yet to be held accountable. Masi, what does real justice look like for you? To be honest, you know that very well.
That President Biden administration, they just offered me to go under witness protection. This is not in my DNA to hide myself. I want to be loud. The reason they wanted to kill me, the regime in Iran, is because I'm a loud woman.
Now I am more determined not only to protect the women of Iran and give them voice to protect America as well, because I've been given a second life. So I want the Trump administration to hear my voice. Negotiating with this regime is not going to save the lives of Americans. It's not about me.
It's bigger than me. The regime that's trying to kill me, they tried to assassinate President Trump as well. It is about America. It is about the national security of America.
It is about the lives of Americans, innocent people. Given your passion around this, your strong convictions, do you want to meet with President Trump directly? I always want to meet with my president here in America. I was ignored by Biden administration because they wanted to negotiate and they thought maybe I'm making trouble for them.
But I really want to meet with President Trump as well of course because this is my country And I don want to see that the dictators and killers from my best country Iran threatening America And I strongly believe that we the people of Iran we better allies for Americans And my sister don forget they don care whether you right wing or left wing. They don't care whether you're Republican or Democrat. The killers in my country, they hate America. They hate free women.
They hate my hair. They scared my hair, my body. They really hate us. So that's why we should be united and end these transnational repression.
Otherwise, they will end us. What is the status right now of your life in the wake of these two killers being put behind bars. You have been, as you say, living in FBI safe houses with your husband, with your family. Can you start to feel safer at this point?
Or are you still looking over your face? Yes. Yes. Say for even safe is too luxury.
The word safe is too luxury for those of us who dare to challenge Islamic ideology. Do you feel afraid on a day to day basis right now? I mean, I mean, it is scary, but I want to enjoy my life. I have a, I have an amazing husband.
The love saved my life. And I mean, the day when I saw the killers, I got really scared. But let's be very honest. When I left the courtroom, when I got back home, I had the best amazing love.
The best amazing heart rate in my husband. So I'm enjoying my life. I'm enjoying my life. I don't want to leave him.
I said that because I want the haters to hear me. But I still enjoy my love, my life, my people, my neighbors, everything. Masi, you fight so hard for the women of Iran every day, every minute of your life. If you have dedicated your life to this fight in this moment where you've had this moment of victory, of strength, of vindication, what is your message to the women of Iran who are going to see you?
Nothing. The women of Iran are brave enough. They send their message to me and my job is to echo their voice. I have a message for women here in America.
I have a message for the youth here in America. To those actually are in university campus. Believe me, saying I am Hamas, not saving your life, not actually helping the people who are the victim of Hamas and Islamic Republic. You should join us.
I have a message for American women who say that, you know, we don't care about Iranian women, women of Afghanistan. Believe me, Taliban and Islamic Republic, they will ruin your freedom as well. It breaks my heart that I see everyone. There is no outrage.
You're kidding me. The killers are here. The killers are here. If you really want to free Palestine, free Palestine from Hamas, from Islamic Republic.
Because I have experienced, my women, Iranian women, they have experienced living under Hamas, living under Islamic Republic. So we know them better than anyone else. So I don't have any message for the women of Iran. But the message from Iranian women to the youth, to women in America is do not empower our killers to stand with us and let us end these terrorists.
I want to ask you about the most important woman in your life, which is your mom. And I know you don't get to be in contact with her as you would like. Have you gotten to talk to her, to speak to her after this court ruling? What is it you want her to know?
You know, last time I cried when you asked. But my mother, and I said that I haven't seen my mom for 13 years for the crime of just speaking up. And when I was walking in the street, there were a lot of mothers who watched the show. They gave me a hug.
Isn't that beautiful? So the regime in Iran want to deter me. This time I'm not going to cry. I want to make them cry.
I love my mother. But I have a lot of beautiful family here in America who support me, protect me. They're back there in Iran who's still fighting against the regime. So I want my mother to know that I'm strong enough to continue my fight.
And I'm sure one day I am going to hug her. If not, there are a lot of beautiful mothers. I'm going to hug them. And I'm going to be proud of my mom who told me a lesson.
fight, fight, fight, and don't be scared of those who want to put the fear inside your heart. Imagine how proud your mom is. I love her. Thank you, and we love you.
Thank you for being here. And there's more of my conversation with Masi. You can watch the extended version on meetthepress.com. She is a true hero.
Our thanks to Masi for coming for that incredible conversation. And still to come new developments in the case involving the detention and attempted deportation of a Columbia graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist. We are live outside the courthouse in New Jersey where a hearing just wrapped up. You're watching Meet the Press now.
Welcome back. We're following developments in Newark, New Jersey, where a hearing took place today for Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who is facing deportation. Khalil's lawyers say he is one of an increasing number of foreign-born students being targeted by the Trump administration after attending or participating in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses last year. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said Thursday the State Department has revoked at least 300 visas, both from students and visitors.
We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses. And if we've given you a visa and then you decide to do that, we're going to take it away. NBC News correspondent Antonia Hilton joins me now from Newark, New Jersey. Antonia, thanks so much for being here.
So first of all, for people who are watching at home, who is Mahmoud Khalil and what is the status of his hearing? Hey Kristen Mahmoud Khalil is a Columbia graduate student and he is best known as an organizer behind the student movement there the movement of students the encampment protesting the war in Israel and Gaza And in fact many NBC News colleagues including myself have met with or spoken with him at some point because if you did any reporting on that encampment you entered the encampment to interview people. Very likely you had to interact with him, have conversations with him, check in with him about what was going on there. DHS has accused him of essentially being a threat to or of undermining U.S.
foreign policy through his activism on Colombia's campus on March 8th. In the images you're seeing right there, he was detained by ICE. And the person who took that video, according to the ACLU and his family, was his wife, who is a U.S. citizen.
And I should add, is also actually about to give birth in the coming days. So in addition to being an activist and a student, he is also on the verge of becoming a father. And his case has become a flashpoint, sort of the tip of a spear. But it is now just one of many of these cases of foreign-born students.
In his case, he's a permanent legal resident, a person with a green card. But some of the other students are people here on valid F1 student visas who have been detained and who the Trump administration is arguing pose some kind of threat to the U.S. right now. And these cases are really heating up.
And as you mentioned, with 300 visas canceled, it's very likely there are a lot more of them to come. In the final 30 seconds we have left, Antonia, what's the timeline for ruling? Well, we're hoping that next week we hear from the judge about the ruling. Certainly, both sides are actually quite anxious about this.
Khalil's legal team wants him released from detention, and the Trump administration wants him deported and wants the case transferred to Louisiana. Experts tell me that's because they think that the case law and the judges that are in Louisiana, where Khalil is currently detained, will be more favorable to them. All right, Antonia, thank you so much. We know you'll watch it closely.
Appreciate it. We are back Monday with More Meet the Press now. And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press on your local NBC News stations. I'll have exclusive interviews with the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, as well as Senators Michael Bennett and Mark Wayne Mullen.
Don't miss it. The news continues with Tom Costello in for Hallie Jackson right now. As the day wraps up, get the scoop on what's been happening with Here's the Scoop, a new podcast from NBC News with your host, Jasmine Vasugian. We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News' trusted journalist.
It's a fresh take that's sharp, thoughtful, and it's informative, bringing you closer to the headlines and conversations that are shaping our world. From the front page to the zeitgeist, Here's the Scoop from NBC News. Listen daily on Spotify. you