Meet the Press NOW – May 14

If it's Wednesday. Wheeling and dealing in Doha, President Trump defends his decision to accept a laundry jet from Qatar as he forges new economic, diplomatic and business relationships in the Gulf. Plus, House Republicans barrel ahead with their mega bill to advance President Trump's agenda as a fight over taxes threatens to derail the whole thing. And as Democrats seize on the bill's sweeping cuts to Medicaid and the ripple effects from that bombshell new book about President Biden's re election campaign, the concerns about his alleged cognitive decline and the damage it did to the party.

Welcome to the press. Now I'm Kristen Welker in Washington on day two of President Trump's mini strip as he looks to deepen and in some cases renew relationships in the region in ways that could also enrich his sprawling personal business interests. The the president arrived in Qatar today, where he was greeted by the Amir. The visit comes amid intensifying concerns from security experts and ethics watchdogs about the president's plan to accept a $400 million luxury Qatari jet to be used as Air Force One.

The president has brushed aside any and all concerns that he told Fox News while on board Air Force One he feels his presidential plane is inferior. Look, when you land and you see Saudi Arabia and you see UAE and you see Qatar and you see all these, and they have these brand new Boeing 747s mostly, and you see ours next to it, this is like a totally different plane. It's much smaller, it's much less impressive, as impressive as it is. And you know, with the United States of America, I believe that we should have the most aggressive plane.

The subject of airplanes was also top of mind at today's meetings as the president and the Qatari Mirror took part in the signing ceremony, which included a joint declaration of cooperation as well as an agreement for Qatar to buy 160 jets from Boeing. The president's push to tighten ties with Qatar comes as the Trump Organization is building a golf club in Doha, and it's a notable shift from his past criticisms of the country. Here's what President Trump said about Qatar during his first term. The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.

The president struck a significantly different tone today, instead touting his close personal relationship with the emir. We've been friends for a long time and this is an outstanding man. He's a great man and we're going to help each other. I just want to thank you for the friendship, for the long time friendship.

And again Long before any of this stuff, we just liked each other. That's not a bad thing, that's a good thing. But we always had a very special relationship. But it's not just in Qatar where the President is forging ahead with new relationships with leaders and countries the US wants distanced itself from.

A day after announcing the US will be lifting sanctions on Syria, Mr. Trump met with Syria's new president, who is the former leader of a group the US Is called a terrorist organization. It's the first time in decades the leaders of the US And Syria have met, marking a dramatic diplomatic shift as President Trump looks to normalize ties not only between the US And Syria, but also potentially between Syria and Israel. Joining us, senior White House correspondent Garrett Haig, who is in Doha traveling with the President.

Garrett, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. Talk to me about the key takeaways from day two of this trip. Really?

Well, look, Kristen White has said at the outset this will be a focus more on deal making than non diplomacy. That has largely been the case so far. The President landing here in Doha today, going immediately to meet with the Amir and signing off a bunch of economic agreements the White House says will add up to $1.2 trillion. Now they don't provide the details to make that math work, but on some of the deals that we can look under the hood at, There is a $96 billion deal for Boeing jets purchased by Qatari Airways, as Boeing says, to the largest ever purchase of their wide body aircraft.

It's the kind of thing we've seen this president tout at the White House. Now he's able to do in these palaces in the Middle east, striking economic agreements in many cases with the business leaders in tow, as was the case today with the CEO of Boeing at his side during that announcement. Garrett, to what extent is the trip being overshadowed by the ethical questions surrounding this gift? We just heard the President talking about it, that the Qataris are saying they want to give to the United States.

This new. Yeah, look, it's a really huge part of, I mean, for example, today you really can't talk about Boeing and the purchase that they're making of these or excusing the sale that they're making of these airplanes to Qatar without talking about the other big Boeing headline, which is this jet potentially being handed over by the Qataris to the United States. The President didn't take questions really in any format yesterday in Saudi Arabia, but did today. And he faced some questions about this, including last night in the clip he just played from Sean Healey.

So he's having to fend some of this off. I will say this is one of, I think the key differences between the first term and the second is that this president is very dug in saying, essentially, look, I'm doing this stuff in the open, and if you've got a problem with it, that's your problem. The White House does not appear to be backing down at all from their plan to accept this gift on behalf of the Defense Department. What happens next, whether this plane is ever put into service as Air Force One?

Sort of a whole separate question. But the White House is not intimidated, I think, by the coverage this time around and perhaps the way they might have been four years ago. And Garrett, as you've been talking there, looking at live things, pictures of President Trump there with Qatari officials, Garrett, before I let you go, talk to me about this extraordinary meeting between President Trump and the new president of Syria. This is a huge diplomatic shift.

Garrett yeah, Chris. And the idea here that the US Would drop sanctions on Syria, which in some form or fashion have existed for decades, is front page news across the region, is certainly the biggest headline here along the Gulf. You've got a new government in Syria. And we know the president was pressured or spoken to, at least let's say by the Saudi crown prince and by the president of Turkey to make this move and essentially give this new government in Syria a chance to start fresh.

The president came out of a meeting which US Reporters were allowed with the president of Syria this morning and told reporters on Air Force One they serve an amber with this new president. He talked about it in the language we used to hear from Trump about being a tough guy, a brave guy, a fighter, a fighter who had been in jihadist with a $10 million bounty on his head a few months ago. But I think this shows part of the shift we're seeing, which has been a subplot of this whole trip by the president, who's much more willing to listen to some of these air leaders. They might have been willing to listen to more traditional allies like Israel, who's viewed this new government in Syria with a lot more skepticism.

The president willing to go along with giving this new government a chance and being roundly praised for it here in the Middle East. Kristen. All right, Eric Haig, really incredible reporting. Thank you so much.

I appreciate it. I know those are long hours hanging there. Thank you. Well, President Trump continues his Middle east visit.

His agenda is running into some potential sticking points in Congress as his so called Big, beautiful bill is advancing through committee on party line votes, but is encountering some opposition from Republicans of all stripes. Some hardliners want more cuts to spending and some moderates want a higher cap on state and local tax deductions, with several saying they would be a no on the bill as it is. Well, Speaker Johnson says those discussions may take a few days. He remains confident consensus can be reached in his conference.

We're working around Claudia consensus to get 218 votes and deliver on President Trump's first agenda so the American people can really begin to feel relief. Join me now, South Dakota Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson. He is a member of the House Agriculture Committee and chair of the Republican Main Street Partnership. Congressman, thank you so much for joining me.

Really appreciate it. You bet. We are, of course, to get all of the legislative disagreements and debates going on in your party in just a few minutes. But first, I do want to ask you about some comments.

You were asked yesterday about President Trump accepting that Qatari luxury jet. You repeatedly said, quote, I don't like it. Explain why not. The president is right.

The current Air Force One is not sufficient for the needs of the job. So we have a problem we have to fix. But we should not fix the problem with the Qatari aircraft. I think there are national security concerns.

I think there are financial concerns. Breaking this thing down to the studs and building it back up. And then it's not hard to imagine why. Some people have some ethical concerns as well.

Let's solve the problem. I think we can find a better way. Well, you actually lead me to my next question because you're right. In order to actually make this Air Force One ready, it could take two years.

It could cost more than a billion dollars. Would you try to block any funds from being appropriated for that use? Oh, you got to pay. There are a lot of food fights in Washington, D.C.

every day. I try to be smart and strategic about what are the right fights to fix today to move America forward? I think there are going to be a lot of questions about the finances of this. It would be a little hard for me to imagine that that would be the fight that I would go pitch a big fit on.

All right, well, let's turn to the major tax and spending package. I know you have been working really hard on it, and there have been some debates and disputes about what next steps should look like. Do you think the package right now as it stands, has the votes to pass? I do.

I know it doesn't look like that. And there will be some tweaks on the margins. But we have seen this movie time and time again. There are a lot of holdouts for Speaker Johnson, so people tell us we can't get elected.

There are holdouts on the Republican House rules package, so people say we can't get that passed. We can't get the Trump spending package done. The reality is we got all of those things done. We got the budget resolution for reconciliation done.

People said we couldn't do it. We're going to get this done, too. We should cut more. I would not put myself in the happy camp about how this package has come together, but nobody is going to get everything they want.

I actually think we're really well positioned to stick to landing next week, though. So you're not in the happy camp, Congressman, but as of right now, would you vote yes? Oh, I would vote yes. I am going to.

I don't play hard to get. I know if I was going to be a great negotiator, I would say hell no. And I would have red lines every single week around here, like a lot of my colleagues do. I want to push to make this bill more conservative and more fiscally responsible than it is today.

I do not think it does enough deficit reduction. I am working to move in the right direction, but as it's constructed right now, this is a good product. Not great. I want to make it great.

And as you say, I mean, look, some of the disputes are over deficit reduction. The big dispute going on right now, and Spear Johnson talked about this, is over, of course, those little tax deductions he's saying that could actually last through the weekend. Some of your colleagues just sort of viewers know what we're talking about from the New York area, New Jersey area are digging in. How do you see this impasse getting fixed?

Congressman Johnson, I don't like salt. The state and local tax issue. I don't think we should subsidize high tax states. I would move the number below a $10,000 deduction if it was up to me.

But politics, the other possible, Dusty Johnson doesn't get everything he wants. I know that number is going to go up. And although I know this looks like the single greatest point of conflict right now, it's a relatively easy one in the final analysis to get to because it's just numbers. You just turn that dial.

When does it expire? How big does it have to be? This is going to be a relatively standard negotiation that I think is going to get resolved for the end of the weekend. Well, and there are other lawmakers of course, actually share your concerns about deficit reduction.

Paul Gosar is one of them. He says, as it currently stands, I'm afraid that not nearly enough is being done to garner the support to pass the big beautiful bill. Needed reforms fall short, Meager spending cuts in waste. Long way to go.

You are striking a note of confidence that ultimately everyone's going to get on board or at least there will be enough votes. But when you hear those types of comments, long way to go. Do you think this can get done by Memorial Day? It can get done at least out of house by Memorial Day.

And here's what happens. Here's why we win so much more often than the press has a tendency to predict we will win at this stage in the process. People compare the product, members compare the product to perfect and they find it wanting. As we get closer and close to the deadline, people begin to compare the product to the next alternative, which is failure.

And they begin to understand the really good things in the product. So for instance, there is much needed welfare reform in this package, for instance, there are much needed reforms to how we go about having some of these agencies actually go take care of their business and get things done. And I think people are not going to give up on those big successes. Well, as you know, Democrats are really pouncing on the Medicaid a piece of this.

I want to play you what President Trump told me earlier this month. Take a look what happens if it comes to your desk, has the tax cuts but also cuts to Medicaid. Would you be to that? We're not doing that.

Would you do that? I would if they were cutting it, but they're not cutting it. They're looking at fraud, waste and abuse. And nobody minds that if illegal immigrants are in the mix, if people that aren't supposed to be there, people that are non citizens are in the mix, nobody minds that waste, fraud and abuse.

But we're not cutting Medicaid, we're not cutting Medicare and we're not cutting Social Security. President was pretty clear there. The CBO says more than 10 million people would lose their coverage with this package. Congressman, are you failing to live up to President Trump's own standard with this bill?

No. No. First off, we do have to correct the record. CBO was asked about a plan that would include not at all extending the premium tax credits on the ACA exchange.

And so yeah, I get when the Democrats ask the CBO a loaded question, we shouldn't be surprised when we get a loaded answer back. But listen, I understand CBO at some point when they reconfigure their math to make it more accurate is going to show that there will be some people for whom their eligibility will be reduced. So let's be very clear about what that means. That means that there is a young able bodied person who is not pregnant, does not have disabilities, does not have young children at home who could work but is choosing not to.

They are choosing not to volunteer, they are choosing not to be in a training program and they are choosing not to go to school. Those are the folks that will face these work requirements. Now we know the work requirements in SNAP work. We know that work requirements and TANF work.

This has always been a bipartisan area of agreement. 1996 welfare reform has proven to be a massive success. Apparently political times have changed because now putting that same regime in place for Medicaid is causing my friends on the left to lose their damn minds. Well, but as you know, the counterpoint to that is that work requirements could ultimately wind up depriving some people of coverage that they need.

Of course, it is a subjective matter. What do you say to that argument? That it still runs the risk, Congressman, of not getting Medicaid to all the people who would need it? I would say this.

I grew up with mas means and so many people I know who are out there every single day working hard, working the working poor. We want to help them if after they're working hard they still can't make ends meet. There's absolutely a role in a rich country for us helping them to get to the next payday. But if you got a 27 year old who can work and refuses to work, I think we need to have the same approach in Medicaid that we have in snap.

Food is pretty important. Of course, healthcare is important. And for a long time on a bipartisan basis, we have looked at the literature and we have known that when you apply food stamps to people on snaps over two years, their incomes triple, they move out of poverty, they begin to realize the American dream. This should not be about keeping people in poverty.

It should be about people helping people escape poverty. We know work requirements work. All right, Congressman Dusty Johnson, I know you have a very busy day. Thank you so much for spending some time with us.

We really appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up, we'll get the people for top Democrat on the Republicans mega bill to advance the President's agenda as the party battles its own demons tied to the 2024 election. Plus, cabinet members on Capitol Hill were tracking the testimonies of four top White House officials as they face questions on President Trump's sweeping agenda.

Mass deportations, vaccinations and much more. Stay with us. This one's for all the parents looking for something to do that isn't not talking about Bruno. From museums to ocean fun, there's something for the whole family here in Halifax.

Visit HalifaxKids CA plan your trip. Welcome back. As House Republicans advance pieces of their mega bill with party line votes, Democrats are beginning to hone their message in opposition. Take a listen to Menardi leader Hakeem Jeffords this morning.

Republicans are really pushing an extreme agenda at this point in time directed by Donald Trump. And unfortunately, what we've seen is that Republicans in Congress continue to simply be a rubber stamp as opposed to standing up for the best interests of their constituents. Joining now is Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle. He is a member of the House Ways of Means Committee and spent the night in markup for this tax and spending package.

I know you are bleary eyed today, Congressman. Thank you so much for joining us. You were up all night with the Ways and Means Committee with all Democratic amendments being defeated. The tax provision of this package did advance and advance along party line votes.

And you have said you are going to keep fighting this. How do you do that given that you're the minority? Yeah. So first let me explain and apologize up front if I sound incoherent or more incoherent than normal.

We started early afternoon yesterday. We went all through the night, not concluding until 8am this morning. So we'll, we'll do my best here to explain what is a very large and complicated piece of legislation. The bottom line, though, is this is really the biggest piece.

And Congressional Budget Office confirmed these figures. This piece of legislation that passed Ways and Means last night or 8 o' clock this morning will strip away health coverage from at least 13.7 million Americans. They will take those cuts and the money saved from Medicaid spending that otherwise would happen, as well as spending in the Affordable Care act, and instead divert that and more to pay for tax cuts that mostly go to multimillionaires and billionaires. You can understand why even conservative Republican Senator Josh Hawley called this morally wrong.

Well, and I was just talking about all of this with Congressman Johnson and the issue of Medicaid specifically. He says the CBO numbers are not totally accurate. He rejects them. But he also makes this broader argument, which is that Republicans are looking to find as much as $800 billion in cuts.

And he argues, other Republicans argue that Medicaid should not be going to people who are able bodied, who can get coverage through their work. What is your response to that? Well, so first, let me be clear because I heard a lot of this over the course of 18 hours from my Republican colleagues. I don't for one second support anyone who defraud the system.

Frankly, I find it offensive. It's offensive to anyone who's going out for a living and working. I don't support anyone who can work, choosing not to do so and being on the system. You know, if you take all of those people who are able bodied, if you take even the most wildly high projections of fraud, they wouldn't factor even 10% of the cost of the cuts that Republicans are pushing through.

Furthermore, the Congressional Budget Office is the authority here. They are scrupulously nonpartisan. The fact that Republicans are now disputing their figures shows just how awful they are. When you consider, I mean, upwards of 14 million people losing their health coverage because of this, that would be the greatest loss of health care coverage in American history.

Not even during the Great Depression did we see that many people lose their health care. You know, there's been this discussion about what is effectively an end run about around the speaker of the House to prevent cuts to Medicaid, to prevent cuts to food stamps. It's called a discharge petition. What is the latest on that effort, Congressman?

Is that realistic? Do you see that having any likes. Yeah, you know, I'm always wary to talk about any, you know, tactics that we may take either now or in the future. But I will say the most straighforward way to defeat this is exactly what happened eight years ago when the Affordable Care act was saved.

You had just enough. Only a few Senate Republicans who famously voted, including the late, great John McCain, giving the final thumbs down. And that was what was able to save the aca. So here, eight years later, when we're talking about cuts, not only to the aca, but devastating cuts for those who are on Medicaid, it would literally just take three House Republicans, three out of about 220 House Republicans joining with House Democrats, and we would be able to stop these devastating cuts.

This is a great opportunity for political courage from just a few of them that would make the ultimate difference. I appeal to them to join with us and save health coverage for 13.7 million Americans. Well, Democrats are trying to figure out exactly how to oppose the bill. There is this impeachment resolution for President Trump that is coming to the floor.

Do you think this is a misguided Attempt. This is by your colleague, Sri Cinder. Yeah, look, I mean, I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that a majority Republican House Representatives is not going to impeach Donald Trump and certainly we're not gonna find 67 votes in the US Senate anytime soon, that is for sure. So I think it's very unfortunate that my Democratic colleague, who right now is facing a very stiff primary, chose to engage in what essentially is a publicity stunt for himself when I and my colleagues have been up all throughout the night trying to save health coverage for millions of Americans.

That's what we should be focusing on at this moment. I do have to turn to former President Biden. The state of the Democratic Party, of course. Excerpts have come out of this new book, including new details that Mr.

Biden had difficulty remembering the names of some of his top advisors. Let me just read you a portion of the book. The authors writing, quote, standing in the Oval Office with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Kate Beddingfield, his communications director. He couldn't come up with either of their names, according to one witness.

Steve, he had said to Sullivan, Steve, he continued, obviously struggling to recall Jake's name. He turned to Bedingfield Press. He called her as he beckoned them into the Oval Offices, of course. By Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.

What was your reaction to hearing this, Congressman? Well, this is actually the first time I heard what you read. I have to tell you that I feel, as Yogi Berwin said at stage, I fu all over again because in 2017 and 2018, I kept getting from members of the media endless questions about the 2016 Democratic primary. And when I said then applies now, I'm really not interested in last season or last election, why a team lost, why we lost.

We're right now in the game. I'm focused on the fight that we are immediately in to save health coverage for the American people. And then in terms of politics, I'll be focused on the election that will be happening just 18 months from now where I believe we Democrats have a greater than 50, 50 shot of winning back the House of Representatives. So that's the election that I'm going to be focused on, not 2024, not 2016, not what Al Gore should have done in 2000 or Jimmy Carter in 1980.

All of those things are now for the historians, not those of us who are in politics right now, today and for the future. Well, let me challenge you a little bit on that, Congressman. In order to move forward, do you have to acknowledge and contend with the mistakes of the past. And do you think it was a mistake?

I think it would be. I'm sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt. No, no, go ahead. No, I was gonna say I actually think it'd be a great mistake and almost self indulgent at this point for any elected Democrat to re litigate 2024 or 2016.

I mean, if you can find me a way that we can go back to the past and change those things, then it actually would be worthwhile to talk about. But otherwise I only have so much time and so much energy. I'm going to focus on the fight that I'm in because I really do believe saving health coverage for the American people is a winnable fight. I think it will actually come down to just one vote in the House of Representatives, just like it did eight years ago in the Senate to save the Affordable Care Act.

I think that I'm doing the most responsible thing right now being focused on the fight that I'm actually in. But you know, you were supportive of President Biden. He of course visited Pennsylvania. Do you think that he shouldn't have run for reelection based.

You know, again, the reality is that elections passed. It was very close. We lost by a point and a half. The second closest presidential election of my lifetime.

I'm more focused on the 2026 elections, which are the most important congressional elections perhaps in my lifetime. Coming up in a very short period of time before I let you go, a new AP poll has just 35% of Democrats saying they're optimistic about the future of their party, compared to 36% who are pessimistic. How do you fix that deficit in optimism, Congressman? How do you get the party rallied again?

You know, I kind of mentioned this before, but I have to say this moment really reminds me of eight years ago in 2017. Donald Trump had just been elected in an narrow election. They had a Republican trifecta, actually a much bigger majority in the House of representatives of 47 seats. Majority then has only a few seats now.

They had the Senate, they had the Supreme Court, they had the White House. And there was a rather doom and gloom type mood among some about Democratic prospects. Well, that proved exactly false because the very next congressional election, Democrats won the majority of the House. Representative Nancy Pelosi came back for a second stint as Speaker.

And then very next presidential election, we Democrats were successful and actually had a trifecta. The House, the Senate, the White House. So the reality is most elections actually in my lifetime have tended to not validate the previous election, but actually overturned them. And I believe that if we do everything that we're supposed to do here and now in this fight as congressional Democrats, it will be successful next year.

Congressman Boyle, thank you so much for joining us. After a marathon night, hope you can get a little bit of rest today. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

Coming up next, we're digging deeper into the political fallout from that new book alleging many people around President Biden didn't believe he was fit to serve a second term as Democrats grapple with the party's future. The panel's next. You're watching the PRESS now. Welcome back.

According to a new book, some people around former President Biden have real concerns about his mental acuity stretching all the way Back to the 2020 campaign. NBC News has obtained a copy of the upcoming book Original Sin. In it, the authors say they spoke to four Cabinet secretaries on the condition of anonymity and that Cabinet members say they had concerns from the start of Biden's presidency. According to the book, quote, before Cabinet meetings, White House staff called the various departments and agencies to figure out what secretaries were going to ask the president so that answers could be prepared.

The conversations were largely scripted. Even after the press had left the room. Some Cabinet secretaries felt, in fact, Biden relied on the cards more heavily when reporters were absent. The Cabinet meetings were terrible and at times uncomfortable.

And they were from the beginning, Cabinet secretary number one told us, I don't recall a great Cabinet meeting in terms of his presence. They were so scripted. A Biden spokesperson pushing back on the allegations in the book, saying the authors did not provide any evidence that the president was unable to do his job. Joining me now to discuss all of this is USA TODAY Washington bureau chief Susan Page, Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden, and Matt Gorman, Republican strategist and former senior communications advisor to Tim Scott.

Thanks to all of you for being here. Michael, I have to start with you. You obviously worked in the White House. What is your reaction to reading these accounts?

And did you personally, you left after two years. Did you personally ever witness anything that was alarming to you? Right. And so I was with them in the traveling bubble on the general the primary and general election campaigns in 2020, spent a lot of personal time with them in their homes in Delaware, Camp David, and for two years at the White House.

And it just was my experience. I had never experienced anything that gave me pause. Now, look, I left at the end of 2022. That doesn't mean things.

It doesn't mean the accounts of those in the book are wrong. And I don't want to undermine the reporting either because these are generally well respected journalists. And you know, they talked to 200 people, including three cabinet members. That's going to be really hard to challenge, Susan.

It is when you hear the cabinet secretary's accounts. That's not just a White House official. We're talking about a cabinet secretary. Let me read something else.

This is a portion of the book about Biden's performance in zoom conversations during the 2020 Democratic National Convention. The videos were horrible. One top Democrats said he couldn't follow the conversation at all. I couldn't believe it, said a second Democrat who hadn't seen Biden in a few years.

It was like a different person. It was incre. That was like watching Grandpa who Shouldn't be driving. A special team was brought in and told to edit the videos down to make them airable if only a few minutes worth.

They had to get creative. Susan, this was 2020. How damaging are some of these revelations? So it's so disturbing to see this portrait of a president in some decline.

And if it's not true, we'd like to hear from the White House officials that it's at variance with what their experience was. It's also disturbing that other people knew if it's true, other people knew about it and weren't transparent about it. And the Democrats, by and large, with only an exception or two, fell into line to not tell people what they were seeing. So I think that's.

I think both things are distressing Biden's decision to run again, which seems mystifying in retrospect and also kind of the failure of the system to let people know what was going on. Yeah. You know, Matt, it's interesting he's chosen to address and to try to get ahead of the revelations in this book with an interview on the obviously talking largely about foreign policy. He also did that interview with former first lady Jill Biden on the View.

Do you think as someone who understands communication damage control very well, is that the right strategy? Should he come out and talk again? Well, he's not gonna have to. And let's step back for me, talking about 2020, he was no dynamo in the Republican Democratic primary debates here.

I think bcc, one of the first ones, his answers were halting. He didn't know really when to start and stop. It wasn't like this suddenly went really quickly downhill. But also, you're absolutely right, he's gonna have to do another one of these.

I think that Is a very big key. BBC News. Exactly. He's doing.

Talking about foreign policy, crying NATO. They're the domestic process of this. Which really I think Susan's point. This is going to live on.

It reminds me of the Iraq war. Bush. Bush was off about long gone. But the remnants of the effect that people supported and talked about it hurt them in something.

I gotta say I'm shocked because. Because as everybody knows, an axiom in politics, speed kills. It's something we learned maybe 1992. This is so illustrative of the Biden operation that it's been 10 months.

They've had 10 months to be ready to pre. But all of these things and believe me, if you have the relationships in Washington, you know what was coming in these books and the fact that they have such poor responses to this book or no response at all is really. It really leads you to draw the conclusions about what was wrong with the team around him and their instincts on policy. So the plot point where you're saying you don't think the BBC review and the View interview were enough to prove what we're getting.

Absolutely not. But also, look, Kate Bedingfield, Jake Sullivan, President Obama, the Cabinet secretaries, all of them can come out right now and say these are lies in the book. They have the opportunity to do it to defend Joe Biden's honor. If these are lies now, silence is confirmation in this case.

And so if it's not true, let them say this anecdote never happened. This is not an experience I had. And I think you do need to have President Biden out there talking himself as well. I used to think so.

Now I'm not so sure. BBC Chris Walker goes to Tim Rush. It's Joe Biden is the joy we've seen last 10 months. It doesn't matter.

We see our eyes and ears. You know, let me play. Because we have other Democrats weighing in, albeit very carefully. This is what we heard from former Transportation Secretary to Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg.

Take a look. We'll discuss on the other side. We gotta come up with some new answers. And I'm talking about my party too.

If all my party has to say is let's go back, I am not here saying we gotta make things back the way they were in 2023. If. Look, the hard truth is if our government, our politics, our society and our economy were working, we wouldn't be here. Susan, how do you see this?

Is this a glimpse of what the Judge 2028 campaign could look like? And this what needs to happen For Democrats, which is a reset messaging. Yeah, that's right. And yes, I think it's clear that people running for president again, no big surprise here, there are you can probably get all the fingers on your both hands running for president.

But I think they have not yet figured how they're gonna respond to this particular controversy. And for Pete Buttigieg, a member of the Biden cabinet, it is important that he have a response I think is more fulsome than he said so far. And he also said, Michael, the Democrats might have done better if President Biden hadn't run for reelection. You just heard my interview there and basically Congressman Brendan Boyle saying I don't want to look to the past, I want to look to the future.

Do Democrats need to have a moment of just saying we accept responsibility and we've got a better place? Absolutely. I love Congressman Boyle and I know he's a personal friend of the Bidens. I know it probably hurts him to have to tell you the truth, but he didn't tell you anything.

And what the hell are we paying you for if you don't have opinions about the election a year ago, less than a year ago. He's got to have opinions. That's the problem. His responses, his obfuscation is exactly what candidates running and Democrats in Congress should not do.

And again, remember also the record was long gone but he came question of judgment. What's your judgment? Like clips that Boyle had Wes Moore saying that Joe Biden can run circles around make them out the White House it's going to use to impeach their integrity and judgment test. Susan, is it striking to you that several months have gone by now since the election and it seems like Democrats are really struggling still to find their messaging and their footing.

Quite frankly, this is a party that's still very divided. It seems like how to move forward. Who is the leader of the Democratic Party? I ask every Sunday.

I agree there should not be you guys agreement, but you need it's one of the things that prevents a coherent voice from coming through. Like if Chuck Schumer now damaged. I think as the party spokesman it takes a while to figure out who your nominee is going to be. We're not at that point yet.

But the idea that some Democrats have that you just wait for Trump to make a mistake and then people will be, you know, people don't have it. They don't have a Trump, they don't have to vote for you. They can stay whole. So Democrats I think have not yet figured out what it is that they as a party, want to stand for.

All right, guys, great conversation. Thank you all so much for being here. Really appreciate it. Susan, Michael and Matt.

And after the break, the live report from Capitol Hill, where Robert Kennedy's testimony before the Senate today got heated at times over his vaccine views. We have the big takeaways. Stay with us. Watching the press now.

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Listen daily on SiriusXM. Welcome back. It has been a contentious day on Capitol Hill with multiple cabinet secretaries online. Security Secretary Christy Gnome, HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.

And Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy all testifying before Congress. No telling lawmakers she would support suspending the constitutional right for people to legally challenge their detention by the government, a fundamental right in America, also known as habeas corpus. Are you aware of which presidents have suspended the writ of habeas corpus? No.

That President Lincoln did. Yeah. Also, Roosevelt and President Grant, you testified under oath. I believe that the Biden administration allowed an invasion into our country.

Is that correct? That is correct. So do you think it falls under the constitutional guidelines I just read you? I'm not a constitutional lawyer, but I believe it does.

Are you open and supportive of this constitutional option to suspend the writ of habeas corpus to keep Americans safe and carry out the President's agenda. Well, this is something that's not in my purview to weigh in on. This is the President's prerogative to pursue and he has not indicated to me that he will or will not be taking that action. Kennedy, meanwhile, was pressed on his views on vaccinations during a hearing before a House committee.

If you had a child today, would you vaccinate the child for measles? For measles, probably for measles. You know, what I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant, but I don't think people should be taking advice, medical advice from me. So you vaccinate your child against chickenpox.

I, again, I don't want to give advice in the last one to say yes or no, please. We could. Polio. Polio again, I don't want to be giving.

Okay. It's fair. Kennedy, of course, has a well documented history of making false and misleading claims about vaccine safety. NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melanie Zinona joins me now.

Mel, thanks so much for being here. So Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut had a pretty heated exchange with Secretary Kennedy about vaccine safety. Walk us through that exchange. What it looked like.

Yeah, Chris. And Senator Murphy was really trying to call out how disingenuous it is for the secretary to when one rep say he supports vaccines and would never discourage anyone from getting a vaccine, but then the next breath to spread either misinformation or conspiracy theories about the safety and effectiveness of some of these vaccines. So that led to a pretty heated exchange. Just watching.

You said you support the measles vaccine, but then you have laid out a set of facts that are contested and the result is to undermine faith in the vaccine. It's kind of like saying, listen, I think you should swim in that lake. But you know, the lake is probably toxic and probably some snakes and alligators in that lake, but I think you should swim it. Nobody's gonna swim in that lake if that's what you say.

If I advise you to swim a lake, then I knew there could be alligators. And wouldn't you want me to tell you there are alligators? And what I'm left before this committee when I, during my confirmations, that I would tell the truth, that I would have radical transparency. I'm telling the truth about everything we know and we don't know about.

I am not going to just tell people everything is safe and effective if I know there's issues I need to respect people's intelligence. You're answering the question. And Murphy's reference to swimming in a toxic lake comes with reports that the secretary and his family recently actually were swimming in a contaminated portion of the Potomac river here in D.C. so perhaps it was a coincidence, perhaps not.

But clearly Democr are just exasperated with Secretary Kennedy because he promised during his confirmation hearing that he, despite his own past views and common sense on vaccines, would continue to support them as secretary. But his behavior has shown otherwise. So this hearing instead helped, maybe especially it was the first opportunity for senators to confront him since that confirmation hearing there. Mel.

And of course, House Democrats ruled Secretary Kennedy not just about vaccines, but also about massive cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services. What was his defense to their questions? That's right. Kennedy was pretty defiant.

He said that there's going to be no money withheld for life saving research. He said no critical services would be impacted by these cuts and explained what the agency is trying to do is essentially more with less. They're trying to spend smarter and trying to make the agency more efficient. But Kristen, it wasn't just Democrats who were grilling the secretary today.

There were also some Republicans who were expressing concerns about some of these specific cuts and asking him, pleading with him to protect either specific medical research foundations in their district or to protect critical safety jobs. It was definitely a bipartisan building, at least in the House here today. And finally, let's just turn to Pullman Security Secretary Christy Noem's testimony. We heard a little bit of it there.

What were your biggest takeaways from her appearance today? She was asked about everything, of course, from FEMA cuts to the White House's immigration policies. But one topic that was certainly top of mind for lawmakers here at Capitol Hill was the recent confrontation, a protest at a New Jersey detention facility involving a trio of House Democrats from New Jersey. No one was asked about that.

And she said the Department of Homeland Security has footage of these members getting up in the faces of police officers, shoving them, screaming profanity. She called it lawless. She also said that they would have been happy to provide a tour of these members if they had asked. But she did not say whether these members would be arrested, if there would be any additional legal action, which is something the DHS had said earlier with a potential thing on the table.

But Kristen, we do know at least Speaker Mike Johnson is looking into potential punishment for these members. He said Data press conference. They may do a central resolution or even strip those numbers of other communism. So something certainly flow out.

A busy day there, Mel. Thanks for bringing us up to speed. We really appreciate it. Silicon US Ukrainian and Russian officials are expected to be in Turkey tomorrow in what would be the first direct talks between Kiev and Moscow since the war began.

We have all the details coming up. You're watching the press now. Welcome back. Russian and Ukrainian officials are set to be in Turkey for their first direct talks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.

The face to face talks were proposed by President Putin over the weekend and quickly backed by the Trump backed by the Trump administration. President Zelensky also seized on the opportunity, saying he will be waiting for his Russian counterpart in Turkey. But it remains unclear whether President Putin will be a part of the Russian delegation. President Trump also said he was unsure if Putin would attend the meetings, but floated the idea of joining the talks himself.

Joining me now, news correspondent Daniel Hamjin. Danielle, thank you so much for joining me. So let's talk about this high stake meeting in Turkey tomorrow. What are the expectations?

Well, we now know, and it was just come out in the past 30 minutes or so that Vladimir Putin is not included in the list of individuals making up the Russian delegation arriving in Turkey tomorrow. Neither is the foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, for that matter. Earlier in the day, Dmitry Peskov, of course, is the Kremlin spokesperson, had been asked what were the president's plans tomorrow. His answer that he had work meetings.

It didn't say who they were with or where they were going to take place, leaving us guessing. But we now have confirmation that it doesn't look like like Vladimir Putin will be attending this meeting tomorrow. The Ukrainian leader, Vladimir Zelensky had said that he would be ready to meet him in person. Donald Trump, of course, had called on him to accept the offer made over the weekend.

So he will be there tomorrow as far as we know. But he did say he was waiting to see who was going to be part of this delegation to decide what Ukraine's next steps were going to be. In heading that delegation will be a man named Vladimir Mitinsky, former culture minister who accused the United States once of trying to brainwash Russian young Russians through Netflix. He was also the chief negotiator for Russia the last time both countries met directly back in March 2022, just a few weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And Daniel, what are the implications of President Putin not being there? President Zelensky will be there. Does this look like President Zelensky is calling his bluff? Is it a sign that Russia's not really ready to have serious talks yet?

Well, that's a question. And Vladimir Zelensky had said, well, if you're not afraid, show up. That was essentially his message to Vladimir Putin, who should be noted, is not an international frequent flyer, is he? I mean, he's traveled to Mongolia, to China, North Korea over the past year or so, but he's mostly stayed within Russian borders.

The Ukrainian position has been that despite these temporary ceasefires announced by Russia either for Easter or Victory Day, they were widely seen as PR stunts. And the Ukrainian position is that Russia was just playing for time here. In his evening address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that while the world was awaiting for a yes by Vladimir Putin, he was still hitting and attacking Russia. He also Ukraine.

But I should also mention, Kristen, in his evening address, he also thanked the Pope, the newly elected Pope, for his proposal to have the Vatican mediate efforts to reach a ceasefire between both countries. Well, I know they are urgent talks. You'll be tracking them very closely. Thank you for bringing us that developing news.

We appreciate it. We are back tomorrow with warming the press. Now the news continues with Hallie Jackson right now. I'm Craig.

Mel. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.

I've always been a glass half full kind of guy, and now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way, too. It's really fascinating folks who share their defining moments, their triumphs, their challenges, their stories are fun and quite candid. So I hope you'll join me each week. Who knows, you might just come away with your own Glass Half Full.

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