Meet the Press NOW — May 16

If it's Thursday. Donald Trump's lawyer puts Michael Cohen's credibility on trial, painting the prosecution star witness as a vindictive liar of revenge against his old boss. As the historic hush money trial appeared to enter its final stretch. Plus President Biden, the Justice Department moved to block House Republicans from getting potentially damaging audio recordings, was interviewed with Special counsel Robert Herr.

House Republicans moved the whole Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt over the dispute. And the debate over Gaza's future divides is with war cabinet despite Mr. Netanyahu searches more troops to Southern Gaza, further killing fears of a large scale stall on Wafl despite intensive eyes in the north. Welcome to MEET the PRESS now.

I'm Jany Sha senor in Washington. Today was the third and most heated day of the test testimony testimony by Michael Cohen and Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial. Trump's former fixer has been grailed by Trump's attorney about his previous lies, his ambitions and his motives for revenge. Trump attorney Todd Blanche grew increasingly emotional during his cross examination as he accused Cohen of lying about a conversation he says he had with the former president.

As with the previous days in this trial, motions ran high outside of the courtroom as well. Some of Trump's most ardent supporters in Congress traveled to Manhattan for today's proceedings, echoing Trump's baseless claims about the trial. Testimony is just wrapping up for the day and the week. Michael Cohen expects to be back on the stand Monday morning.

This is typically when Donald Trump speaks to reports outside the courtroom. We're honoring the scene there and we'll bring you any news the former president makes if and when he does come to the cameras. This all comes after Trump lashed out at one of the prosecutors in the case as he walked into court this morning, potentially in violation of his gag order. That order bars him from making statements about the D.A.

this is Biden trial. This all comes out of the White House and the Department of Justice. This is all them. In fact, a lead person from the DOJ is running the trial.

So Biden's office is running this trial. This trial is a scam and it's a sham and it should happen. I'm joined now by NBC News national correspondent Yasmin Sukhin outside the courthouse of Manhattan. Also with me is former assistant Manhattan VA Dan Horowitz.

Thank you both for being here. Yasmin, you've been out there all week at this courthouse. What's different today about Todd Ledge's cross examination of Michael Cohen, especially his approach from Tuesday. Apologies.

She came to. I was looking down at my phone watching what was still going on. Of course, you know, we've been living off of this living document. And as you know, testimony, Michael Cohen is now done for the day, resuming on Monday.

But they're talking about the possibility of a witness to be called for the defense and an election expert witness, a former, a person who used to work for the fec. But normally I just want to state that usually when I come to election or any type of law, they don't necessarily have experts on the law because the judge in the matter is supposed to be the expert on the law. But to your question, to me, it was much different today than it was on Tuesday. And I said that because of what you mentioned.

Right. The emotional kind of behavior that Tom Blanche showed in the court today versus on Tuesday. What I mean by that is there was a moment, a real moment, I think the defense's case and I lead up to lunch and they're talking about an exchange, a phone call that happened on October 24, 2016, to Michael Cohen Shiller, in which Michael Cohen was calling him potentially about some grievances he had about people that were harassing him on the phone, looking to keep Shiller for some help. However, Michael Cohen has previously testified to that this specific phone call was also when he connected with Donald Trump at the time when Sean Trump said, yeah, go ahead, pay off Stormy Daniels.

Let's do this, take care of it, get it over with. Had the phone call lasted 90 seconds. And Todd Blanche tried to catch Michael Cohen in a lie and said, you are lying about this. You are lying about this.

At one point, Michael Cohen kind of said, well, this is what I believed to have been what happened. And Todd Blanche, that moment really kind of raised his voice. Remember on Tuesday, the testimony was more about Michael Cohen's credibility. And he has continuously lied, lied and wrote as well.

The testimony certainly, and the cross examination hit meander. Neither Michael Cohen himself would respond with, I believe that's what happened. I think that's what happened. If you say so.

I see the documents that you're referring to today. It seems more focused from Todd Blanche, I would say. But even for Michael Cohen, his response is he was more terse, said, yes, sir, no, sir, correct, sir, not correct, sir, and so on. So.

So it was certainly more of a direct cross examination today when I gotten more into the degree of this case, the timeline, the lead ups, that payoff, Stormy Daniel's image. I mean, Yasmin, you just laid it out there. Dan, I want to ask you, Yasmin just told us how combative was, how much more fiery he was today. When you think about sort of this tact that he took today, do you think it's more impactful than what he did on Tuesday?

And what do you think is motivating this change? Well, I think part of it is that the strategy is from a what to do with the witness. He is clearly trying to grind this guy down. It is very challenging to be a witness.

And he's. Cohen's been on the stand now for several days. I'm sure he's very tired. And by being even more and increasingly more aggressive, Blanche is really trying to get Cohen to trip up.

And so I think that's part of it. I also think that, you know, the reports have been that his cross examination has meandered a point. Now, maybe at points, maybe that's to throw Cohen off in terms of his rhythm. But what he did today was he's brought the lot to what Cohen has said in the courtroom.

In other words, it's not just, did you lie here about this? Did you lie to Congress? Did you lie to reporters? Did you lie to your family?

Did you lie to the federal judge? Now he's brought in full circle to did you lie to this jury when you said that you spoke to Donald Trump on this day about Stormy Daniels, when in fact what you were really doing was calling Keith Schiller to complain that some 14 year old was harassing you. So I think that accounts also for why you've seen a more strident and aggressive posture by Blanche. Now, I'm not a lawyer here, but the question did you lie?

Seems to be a hot one that you would ask in a very fiery way. So why do you think it took back Lance to get so far and so long? I should say rather to get this kind of questioning and to get to this posture. You know, everybody's got their own style.

If it was me, I probably would have done it more quickly to get the jury engaged on the one hand. On the other hand, he's got so much material to work with in terms of how many misstatements Cohen has made over the years. So by doing this in a more sort of slower build up, you know, the other thing I said a minute ago, what he's also trying to do is he's trying to get under and get Cohen to break, to get under Cohen's skin. So I think that may account for it.

But again, everybody's a different style. If it was me, I probably would have gotten to the jury much more quickly that he's lied to this jury to get them engaged. Makes sense to me now, Yasmin. There's of course, the politics that is looming so large over this trial.

And former President Trump has had a parade, an entourage of Republicans supporting him in court. Sometimes I'll still say it again in uniforms with all of them sometimes looking the same. Who are the people that we saw in court today? We didn't have the uniform as we did on Tuesday, but we didn't see heck of a lot of lawmakers here today or former lawmakers, I should say.

Lauren, Bob, Mac Gates about good Andy Biggs as well in a press conference a couple of people away from where I'm standing saying kind of the same thing that we heard as a sham trial. If it wasn't the former president of the United States who was running for re election, that actually wouldn't even be happening. It's the same stuff, the image that we have heard over and over again for many of these lawmakers who have visited former president during this trial. I imagine there will be more also next week when the trial resumes on Monday with Michael Cohen.

Certainly there will probably be more. Dan, I want to go to you former President Trump, he attacked one of the prosecutors on the case this morning as we play the gap order against him for making I want to read in making or directing, other than making other public statements about counsel in the case, other than the district attorney, really talk about district attorney, but you can't go after counsel in this case. Do you think Trump violated his gag order with the comments he made about this process? I mean, clearly referring to Matt Colangelo who used to work, used to work for the Justice Department.

So to me, it's another thousand dollars that Trump is going to have to write a check for to the court. I don't think there's any question about that. Do you think that this could possibly lead him to be thrown in jail for prosecutors and the judge to maybe have to take it that step? I don't see this causing Rashawn to depart from what he's done so far, which is to impose a financial sanction.

And to be sure, what Marshan is probably thinking and probably going to say is that there has been a period of time where Trump has been able to observe and abide by the gag order. But I don't think he's going to let go and look is calling balls and strikes. But he also understands when he sees a gaggle of Republican lawmakers standing in the back of the courtroom. And seeing Trump go outside the courtroom and say, this is all being run by the Biden Justice Department, he understands full well that Trump knows exactly what he's doing and he's flaunting the order.

But, no, I don't think this is going to be something that causes Trump to say, you've got to, you know, sit in the cooler for a couple hours, Mr. Trump. I don't see that happening. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, thank you, Dan, for your analysis. Thank you, Jasmine, Evan, for your, of course, full reporting all week long. Happy to talk to both of you.

We turn now to a legal case that Donald Trump's opponent, President Joe Biden, is once again struggling to put to rest. This morning, the White House informed congressional Republicans that the administration will not hand over audio recordings of President Biden's deposition with Special Counsel Robert her, citing executive privilege. The special counsel's interview was conducted as part of investigation into President Biden's handling of classified documents has been a major focus for Republicans. No charges were brought, but over the course of five hours of questioning, President Biden at times appear to struggle with memory issues.

Special counsel described him as an old man with a poor memory. A transfer of the interview was later released. Today, House Republicans moved to hold Attorney General Mayor Garland in contempt for not handing over to audio tapes. This morning, Garland defiantly defended the administration's move.

We have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committees get responses to their legitimate requests, but this is not one. Now, there have been a series of unprecedented and frankly, unfounded attacks on the Justice Department. This request, this effort to use contempt as a method of obtaining our sensitive law enforcement files is just the most recent. The effort to threaten to defund our investigations and the way in which there are contributions to an atmosphere that puts our agents and our prosecutors at risk, these are wrong.

We should know. NBC News is among several news organizations suing for the release of the audio under the Freedom of Information Act. Joining me now from the White House is NBC News is Ali Rafa. Also with me, NBC News justice intelligence correspondent Kendallanian.

So, Ali, I'm starting with you. The transcript is already out there. We know what was said. Why does the White House and President Biden in particular, see it's different than the audio here.

And is this really about politics? Yeah. Well, the official answer from the White House to that question is sort of twofold. The White House is saying that they have been more than transparent in releasing the transcripts, the unreacted transcripts of the president's interviews with Special Counsel Robert Herr.

And they're also saying that the President, in making this decision today to assert executive privilege, that he acting on a recommendation of Attorney General Merrick Garland, who says that releasing these audio recordings to Congress could risk undermining the participation of White House officials in future investigations. It was the White House counsel's office, though, that really leaned into the politics of this. They said in a letter this morning to the chairman of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, in part, quote, the absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes. You mean the problem for the White House now is that in making this argument, it really implies that the White House is concerned that these audio recordings could be politically damaging for President Biden as he runs for reelection.

And you'll Remember from the January 6th committee hearings how much more compelling those videos and audio recordings were, rather than the printed transcripts of those interviews with notable officials, in this case with the President. Republicans have not minced words about their intentions here. They have said that they are seeking to potentially amplify any moments on that reporting that could really lay bare what we have seen, the President argue, was a mischaracteristic mischaracterization that a special counsel, Robert her, put in his final report, specifically when he said that the President is, quote, an elderly man with a poor memory. You'll remember.

He also said that the President had trouble remembering the exact date of his late son, his death, which ignited a firestorm of criticism from White House officials as well as Biden allies. So the White House is saying that for now, they're drawing the line at those transcripts. But of course, you mentioned those lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act. So news organizations, including, as you mentioned, NBC News, trying to get their hands on those audio recordings.

And it's still unclear how the DOJ is going to act on that. So this doesn't really close the door on these ongoing efforts to get those records. Well, thank you, Ally, for bringing that all down from black. Sounds like a very busy White House at the streets in front of it with all the sirens.

So thank you, Ally. Now, Ken, Attorney General, Mayor Garland pointedly criticized the attempts to get these audio files released and said it would harm the deal's future investigations used, calling them sensitive material. What more did he hear from the Attorney General today? Yeah, that was the point he was making, Yamiche.

And I find it hard to fathom, frankly. The transcript of the interview has been released. We know what was Said all that people are asking for here is the audio. And there are really two issues here.

One is our House Republicans, why do they want this? Of course, as they've said, as Ali made clear, they said they wanted to run political ads. And the White House and Justice Department are rightfully concerned about what will happen to this audio once it gets out on the land. But guess what?

There's a public records law in this country called the Freedom of Information Act. And every lawyer that I talk about this says they don't have a leg to stand on. This is a closed investigation. Audio files are public records just like documents are released.

The transcript now, so there's no justification for holding back the audio. The idea that it would constrain a future investigation. Well, the transcript is out. So what does the audio have to do with constraining a future White House investigation?

So that's why NBC News and the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal and CBS and CNN are all suing the Justice Department trying to get this audio. The issue is that takes a long time and the chances of the Justice Department being able to stay that off through the election are high. And that means the public will not get a chance to hear the full conversation between Robert and Joe Biden and evaluate Mr. Hers characterization of President Biden's memory image.

I wanna ask you, I mean, as you break down, you might not have a leg to stand on. Do you think this is just the AG going to bat for President Biden or is he really trying to protect the integrity of the DoJ here? Well, I think he feels the. He feels that the DOJ is under attack by House Republicans who have bad motives.

There's no doubt about that. But this is an instance where, and it's anomalous for who invoked the ire of the White House by making decisions that were not in the interest of the White House. In this case, he's made a decision that is squarely in the interest of the White House. What his motives were there, I'll leave the others to sort of chew on.

But it's clear that this move by the Justice Department is exactly what the White House wants. Well, this is definitely a fight we're going to continue to watch. Obviously, news is a part of. So thank you, Ken, for breaking all down from the OJ Coming up, former President Donald Trump stirs up new controversy outside the courtroom with new conspiracy theories.

He's taking aim at early voting even at the rnc looks to get more Republican voters until early this November. The panel's next. Plus Fighting rages in northern Gaza, raising new security concerns for US Troops nearby as they complete construction on urgently needed dock. Free humanitarian aid.

We'll get the latest on the floor. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. In case you missed it, Donald Trump isn't just making headlines while in court, out of court, Trump continues to ramp up his fiery rhetoric and conspiracy theories tied to his presidential campaign.

In an interview yesterday, he claimed President Biden was a secret puppet for Ukraine, while also basically claiming that early voting is being used by Democrats to rig the election. Joe Biden is a Manchurian candidate in the true sense of the word. He is being paid off by China and he's being paid off by Russia. And he's being paid off and was paid off by Ukraine.

We have elections that start 45 days earlier than they're supposed to. And they keep going. They keep going until they get enough ballots. This is their form of cheating.

And I have a voice, so I'm able to talk about it. You know, it's been, it's never pleasant. I mean, it's never pleasant are doing this, but we have to. These are fascists.

For the record, there is no evidence of President Biden himself receiving payments from those foreign nations. And there is no indication that early voting is anything but safe and secure. Joining me now on set is Betsy Woodruff Swan, national political reporter for Politico, Democratic pollster Colonel Falser. He's also an NBC News political analyst, Ramesh Per Neuru, editor at National Review, columnist at the Washington Post, and senior fellow, the American Enterprise Institute.

Thank you all for being here. So, Betsy, I mean, there's so much going on inside this courtroom. There might be closing arguments now starting on Tuesday. But I wonder, could this trial be overshadowing what Trump wants to be talking about on the campaign?

Because there's so much coverage of the trial and he's also saying stuff on the campaign that isn't happening and isn't really resonating the same way. Yeah, it's sort of a really strange situation for the Trump campaign, of course, because they see the most political value be talking about bread and butter issues like the economy. It's pretty clear that even though the stock market, of course, had a record high today, that for many regular Americans that hasn't reached through in terms of their quality life. The Trump people see that as a fruitful avenue to try to capitalize on.

At the same time, they lean really, really hard on small dollar donors. The large dollar fundraising community has yet to enthusiastically get behind Trump and These, the every political fight he has is just catnip for people who make the $5 10, $20 donations that he's so reliant on. And we should say Donald Trump is out right now. There are just some live pictures of him talking outside the courtroom.

If he makes any news, we'll bring it to you. But Cornell, does the Biden campaign, would they rather have people be focused on this trial and not the campaign rallies that Donald Trump I'm holding. Well, if his catnip for a small donor is the cat's not working because he's being outraised in a historic fashion. And the money that he is raising much to if I were a Republican down ballot, I'd be pretty ticked off that the money that RNC is raising is going to his legal defense fund as opposed to building the operation.

Look, I think the Biden campaign is doing what they should be doing. Right. They can't control the narrative of happening in the courts. But where's the vice president?

She's run the Great Lake. She's one of Wisconsin. You know, she made several trips to Nevada. Right.

They are going about doing the groundwork of campaigning, which is not pretty. It's not overnight. It's not a silver bullet. But if you look around the battleground states, they're in those states, they're giving speeches, they're building infrastructure, using their money advantage to build infrastructure and beginning to message to people.

And you, of course, have been talking to voters, you've been doing focus groups, and of course, you're our man on polling, probably maybe the best pollster in the country, I'll say. Tell me a bit about what you're hearing from voters in terms of what they're saying and whether or not they're paying attention to anything. Well, you know why, Zach, a lot of this isn't having breaking through in the polling as a point you're making on camera is that so many voters aren't paying attention. Right.

I know we spent all day talking about this court case, but the regular Americans, they're going about their lives. And so much of Washington, including court case, they're beginning to sort of drown out. Right. And so I think it's even more important for campaigns to be on the ground and to be at doors in a way that's different from even when I was working on the Obama campaigns in 2008, 2012.

Yeah. And remember, we keep seeing this entourage of Republicans showing up to court. Does it mean that this is the politics or is this really just about playing to Donald Trump. And they're not really worried about what voters in the rest of the country thinks.

You know, I think that this whole trial is sort of raising Trump and Republicans floor and lowering their ceiling at the same time. There are certainly negatives to it, but those negatives are sort of baked in. Voters already know that Trump had a lot of affairs and that he lied about them and that he associated with low lives for much of his career who then turn on him. None of that is news.

The victimization narrative really is kind of central to the Trump campaign at this point. And I think Republicans genuinely believe it and think it's a legitimate issue. That's a really good point. I mean, it does really sort of help them with the retribution and the victimization.

That is a really good point. Yeah. I also want to switch gears here because Donald Trump sat down with our Milwaukee NBC affiliate today. He talked about Robert F.

Kennedy and the possibility that he might be joining these debates or he could join these space tables. If RFK Jr qualifies to be on that stage, will you still participate? Well, I have no problem with him. I think he's really not doing well in the polls at all.

His numbers have gone down a lot lately. But I would have no problem if he got whatever the threshold is. But he's very low and he seems to be heading in the other direction, in the wrong direction. I would have no problem with it though.

If he qualified. I would have no problem. So Trump is saying, you have no problem with the Betsy, from what we understand president, he wants a one on one debate. So how could RK Jr being on that stage change things?

It would certainly turn it into a wackier situation. Right. Beyond that, I don't know that I have like any great necessity. It would just make it much more weird.

RFK is now gonna be an ex president. It would be what, the first time a third party candidate, at least in decades, has participated. Decades, yeah. A decade has brainworms.

I cannot, I mean, really. Betsy's face when I asked her this question told me so much about what this could look like. What do you think it is? An X factor?

Look, I think both candidates want to take each other on one on one and so get the best contrast. There's a third person on that stage. I think it makes it harder for Trump to get the contrast against Biden that he wants and Biden get the contrast against Trump that he wants. I think it muddies for both candidates.

And the brain worm guys, I think the big benefactor, you know, however Dishonest you think candidates are during debates. They're even more dishonest when they're debating the debates beforehand because none of them will tell you what they really want. They will all talk about things to position themselves. So you can't tell whether Trump really wants Kennedy in that debate or just doesn't want to look like the guy who's afraid to have him there.

Well, there's also the question of the idea that now the Commission on Presidential Debates, they've just kind of been thrown to the side by President Biden, former President Trump. What's the significance of that? It's an institution that people look to at a time to really bring some order to these debates. You know, I think that there was sort of inevitability to the sidelining of that commission as part of the general loss of authority and institutional respect for lots of things in American culture.

This is basically a negotiation between the two candidates and everybody else. Kind of superfluous. Yeah. Betsy, there's also, of course, this news about the Justice Department and these audio.

What do you make of what we heard from Merrick Garland today? He was feisty. He was really pushing back on the idea that this audio tape should be released, even though we already have the transfers of this interview. Yeah, there's been so much friction between the White House and DOJ for months now.

Just like an extraordinary level of tension, not just the principals, of course, but at the staff level, because there's such a view among White House staff that Garland and his team have failed to basically run the political interference they would have liked to see run. And this was displayed in a series of letters we reported on between White House lawyers and people close to Garland in the lead up to the release of Rob Herr's report. So this morning, Garland doesn't do a huge amount of media availability. He himself doesn't do just tons of media engagement.

The fact that he called reporters to come and stand outside his office and talk directly to cameras, that's out of character for him. He just isn't a flashy, high profile attorney general. And this was an important moment for him to send a signal to the White House, for his team to send a signal to the White House. Hey, look, look, we're doing you guys a solid.

This is a big deal. Even though legally, as Ken said earlier in the show, it's unlikely to succeed in the long term. It's a moment for the department to say, basically, look, we're trying to help Corey. Now, what does this leave the present body?

He said he wants to be transparent. We already have a transfer. They don't want to hear about you. He doesn't want the public hear about you.

You know, this whole story is a head scratching me because we do have transferred out there. Right. And we've had this back and forth about whether or not her has been too political than it should be. And of course, now you have the House Republicans who are part of that sort of whole impeachment circus wants to keep this story going.

I understand the White House wants to say no, this is just another thing to sort of keep this impeachment story going is not helpful because the transcript is already out there. If we often say Republicans are doing things for an audience one Donald Trump. This time the audience one is Joe Biden. Oh, interesting.

That's interesting. Thank you all. An up next, badly needed humanitarian aid into Gaza consumed, start to float via a massive floating dock that the US has just installed. We'll get the latest from the Pentagon on the complicated mission still ahead.

You're watching THE PRESS now. Welcome back. Despite repeated calls from the Biden administration not to launch a major not to launch a major offensive into Rafah, today Israel announced it will be sending more troops to join the ongoing operations in southern Gaza. Until now, Israel has been conducting what it described as limited and precise operations.

But this latest move confirms what US Officials have been warning, that the IDF may soon be expanding their operations in the south. Meanwhile, questions about Israel's strategy at endgame continue to sow discord at home and abroad. Yesterday, Israel's defense minister spoke out and said he would oppose Israeli military rule in Gaza. It's a stunning rebuke by war cabinet member Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's public position that Israel and its military have to maintain security control over Gaza.

NBC News international correspondent Raf Sanchez has more from Tel Aviv. Israel's defense minister saying more Israeli troops are heading to Rafah, a sign that Israel has no intention of scaling back its ground offensive in that city despite American opposition. Now the US has consistently said it is opposed to an all out ground assault on Rafah where more than a million Palestinian civilians are sheltering. But Israel insists that the only way to defeat Hamas is to go into that city where it says four remaining Hamas battalions are hiding.

But this comes amid a growing rift inside of Israel's war cabinet. The defense minister yesterday saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to make a decision about what the future of Gaza looks like after Hamas. He says the prime minister's refusal so far to make that call means Israel is drifting to one of two bad outcomes. Either Hamas will reemerge and take control of Gaza once Israeli forces leave or Israel will be forced to mount a full scale occupation the way it did before 2005.

Now this is an unusual public argument at the very, very heart of the Israeli government. Prime Minister Netanyahu hitting back, saying that he will not allow the Palestinian Authority to take control of Gaza. Now remember, the Palestinian Authority, the PA is the semi government's internationally recognized backs by the United States in charge of parts of the occupied West Bank. And the US says that while the PA may not be proud.

Perfect. It is really the only show in town that could potentially take charge of Gaza after Hamas is driven out. But there are real questions right now about Israel's political strategy for the future of Gaza, but also its military strategy. Right now what you were seeing again and again is something that looks like whack a mole in Gaza where Israeli forces move into an area, clear Hamas out, they leave and Hamas pops right back up again.

And the US Is saying that is a pattern that is going to repeat itself unless Israel comes up with a sustainable plan to secure the peace. Back to you, thank you so much for that report. Let me now bring in NBC News Pentagon correspondent Courtney Kuby. So Courtney, I want to really turn to the humanitarian part of this.

There's that doc that is now in place. How soon could we start seeing deliveries beginning? How much food and critical aid will this peer be able to support? I won't also sign up.

I mean they're not going to actually be leaving the ship US Troops. So I just want to get your take on that. Yeah. So the reality is, yes, this system is now in place and it's taken out two months to get it across the Atlantic Ocean to get it built off the coast of Israel.

And then overnight last night this causeway or pier was anchored into the shore in Gaza. And then the dock where the humanitarian aid will first be brought to, that's now anchored a couple of miles off the coast of Gaza. So we should expect to see humanitarian aid making its way to that dock. But then there's a bit of a process here that has to go, that has to take place before we see the first aid actually distributed to the people in Gaza.

It has to be checked on the dock. Then it's loaded onto trucks. Those trucks are loaded onto smaller boats. The boats make their way to this causeway or here.

Then the trucks are driven off the causeway into the beach. And then there's the question of how will it be distributed to people in Gaza. So it's not exactly a quick process. It will be a matter of days before we see the first food and aid actually distributed there.

As for the U.S. troops, look, we've heard from Secretary Austin very candidly in recent days that US Troops will be, it will be nearby what is an active war zone. And because of that, there's always the element of danger. But he and other administration officials continue to insist that there will not be any US Military troops on the ground in Gaza as any part of this distribution.

And then there's a question of how exactly how big of an impact can this happen? The answer here is pretty significant once this is fully underway. Just to give you a sense of the volume of aid that this can deliver. There have been since the US and other allies have started these humanitarian airdrops.

There are about 40 of them. They deliver about 3 million years meals to the people in Gaza. The first two days of full operation of this system will equal that same amount. So more than a month of airdrops delivered the same amount of aid in just two days.

So it's a significant amount. But the reality is it is taking quite a bit of time for it to get set up. And there's still the issue of whether the security situation will allow them to continue full operations once it's underway. Amish, wow, you really put it in perspective.

A month of supplies in two days. That's incredible. Thank you so much for your reporting from the Pentagon. Thanks.

After the break, I'll talk to the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee about security concerns in Gaza as the president faces mounting political challenges at home. You're watching me the press now. Welcome back. As we've mentioned, the White House continues to find itself in a complicated position amid the Israel Hamas war.

President Biden is facing criticism on multiple fronts for his Israeli weapons policy. That comes as Biden's also trying to surge much needed aid into Gaza who address mounting humanitarian concerns. Join me now is Democratic Congressman from New York Gregory Meeks. He's the rating member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Thank you so much, Jonathan, for being here. Good to be with you. And the Biden administration is expected to announce a new $1 billion weapons package for Israel. This comes a week after pause providing some offensive weapons.

Is the White House sending Prime Minister Benjamin mixed messages here? No, I think the messages are clear and consistent. On the one hand, the message is 2,000 pound bombs in a dense neighborhood should not be utilized because of the collateral damage and the innocent lives that will be lost as a result of that powerful bomb. That there's a way to go after Hamas and the way to do it is with different type of weapons like tanks and ground motors that we would do in urban warfare.

So, so it is let's go after Hamas and beat Hamas, but let's do it in a way that we minimize innocent lives lost which will take place if you utilize a 2000 pound bomb. Is the message though you're saying it's consistent? Is it really getting to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here? Well, what should be getting to him is that he's not going to be allowed to get any more of those bombs if in fact he does not listen.

And I think that there has been, you know, when I'm looking at what's taking place thus far, you'll see what happens in the next few days and weeks. That the kind of operation that the IDF is court is doing now is the kind that is on the ground and more directly specific at trying to get at the leadership the of Hamas and not dropping a 2,000 pound bomb. Joe Biden is clear he wants to get Hamas, but he does not want the thousands of lives lost of innocent people. You're saying you can do both.

But as a ranking member, as the ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, you have a unique position here to put on hold these weapons packages. Is that something you're considering doing? Do you want to see more assurances from Israel that are not going to be using the bombs to to hurt its civilians in Rafa here? I think that's why the President has done it.

You know, in the situation which comes in because I did not have to clear those 2,000 pound bombs. There's nothing that's coming before me where I have to clear 2,000 pound bombs. Because if were I would do just what the President has done. My problem wouldn't clear 2000 pound bombs, especially if they're being utilized in dense areas like Rafah.

Now on the other hand, I do want Israel to have 2,000 pound bombs should there be an incursion by Iran or Hezbollah. And that's where there is one instance where we're talking about specifically this area, the Palestinians in Gaza or in Rafah. It's a whole different situation as we saw with the 300 drones and rockets that were sent over from Iran. So we want to make sure, and the President has been clear that we are with Israel to defend itself, especially against Iran and Hezbollah and we're with them to get Hamas haas in in Gaza, but there's two different types of weapons that will be utilized for each.

You know, whereas tanks may not work on its own in Iran, 2000 pound bombs don't work in Rafah. We already know that. Israel saying now that more troops will be on the ground in these operations in Rafah and the Prime Minister Benjamin who signals he's willing to go along without the US Support. Should there be consequences here if we do see from Israel a major offensive into Rafah?

I was saying that the President has said if there's not a plan, and there has to be a plan of getting many of the innocent individuals, but if it doesn't happen, should there be consequences for Israel here? Well, the President has said the consequences is that the weapons that are utilized, if they're not using the weapons in the appropriate way, then they don't get them. That's what the President said. But if you do, you know, still under any circumstance, the 2,000 pound bombs are not going to be utilized and should not be utilized by the United States given by the United States for utilization in Rafah or if I can't.

Congressman, I also want to ask you about the news of the day. Here we have President Biden, executive privilege, saying he doesn't want to have the audio release of his interview with Robert Heard. Now he's pledged to be transparent here. Is the White House and President really holding up their pledge to be transparent because as they're blocking the release of this audio?

No, I mean, look, I don't know the circumstances of all of that particular situation. I had not had that conversation. Fact of the matter is the snake that you're telling me is new to me. So I know the President does not want this audio out there.

So do you think that's really him being transparent with the American public? I don't know that. So that's what I'm saying. I'm focused and what I have been focused on in the last few days is this situation with Israel.

We had a vote on that on the floor in a very short period of time. So I don't know the circumstances of what and why that the President, if he does not want it out, why I would have to, you know, hear that explanation. Another quick question on this. Republican colleagues are making or marking up a resolution for AG Garland over his refusal to hand over the audio.

Do you believe that that's the right thing to do? Do you think that's where they should be going here? Look, the Republicans, from the time that they've been in charge, they've done nothing other than have these baseless and warning subpoenas and trying to impeach individuals for no reason. It goes nowhere.

It's, it's just messaging. It's trying to divide the nation. They've not accomplished anything. The fact of the matter is if it wasn't for Democrats stepping up and saving them into some degree, as we did with the speaker, as we did with the budget, as we did with the bills to give Ukraine and Israel the dollars they want that they needed, nothing would happen.

So in effect, they've done nothing, continue to do nothing. And it's only when we decide that, look, the tide is doing nothing and sitting on the sidelines. Let's step up and let's get something done for the American people. Let's put people over politics.

That's what Democrats are focused on. And the Republicans are just focused on themselves, division and argument and dysfunction. The MAGA Republicans have proven that they cannot govern. Yeah.

Well, thank you so much, Congressman Gregory Meeks. I appreciate you coming on. Still to come have a fight over abortion rights fuel a record breaking filibuster in Missouri's state Capitol. I'll talk to Missouri's House minority leader about the marathon effort and what happens next after the break.

You're watching. Need to press now. Welcome back. Yesterday, Missouri Democrats and a record breaking 50 hour filibuster in the state Senate.

The move was aimed at preventing Republicans from making it harder to amend the state's constitution. It comes as Missouri voters will likely be expanding abortion rights this election cycle. Abortion rights advocate organizers say their amendment in trying abortion assets into the state's constitution has more than double the needed signatures needed to appear on the ballot. Missouri has had one of the strictest abortion bans in the country since overturning of Roe v.

Wade. Join me now is Missouri state Representative Crystal Craig. She's the Democrat, the House Democratic floor leader and also a Democratic candidate for governor in the state. So thank you so much for soul for being here.

So that marathon filibustered ended yesterday evening. For now we should say where do things stand on this zone? What kind of conversation do you have with your Republican colleagues? Yeah.

So just moments ago the House actually voted to send this legislation back to the Senate on a party line vote. Of course, all the Democrats voting no because we do not want to see the addition process. So our expectation is it'll go back to the Senate and if they take it up, the Democrats are gonna continue to filibuster. Wow, that's interesting.

Are you saying now that Democrats might filibuster until it sounds like 6pm Friday, which I think last I read was the deadline for legislation to pass with this legislative session. Yes, our deadline is tomorrow at 6pm Central Time. And the Senate Democrats just finished a 50 plus hour filibuster and they are expected to go back in if the Republicans decide to pull the bill up at the last hour. Wow.

Now Republicans have been trying to make it harder to amend the state constitution for years. Now in the grand scheme of things, is the filibuster in this situation a short term solution? What's a long term solution given that Republicans are going to continue, it sounds like, to keep doing this? Yeah, we absolutely know that the Republicans are going to continue to try to make the initiation process very harder.

Our citizens have used this for everything from expanding Medicaid to passing racial marijuana, increasing minimum wage, stopping right to work laws. They use this mechanism time and time again to hold elected officials accountable and to do the things that they're refusing to do here in this building. And so yes, we know that folks are going to continue to push this if it doesn't pass this year. But the reality is, as mentioned, we have abortion access on the line this year.

And so we know that Republicans absolutely want to make it harder for citizens voices to be heard to try to stop that. Now I did talk to some Republicans in your state yesterday and they told me that the requirements are really necessary. These new requirements they want to put in are necessary because they want to give rural Missouri residents more of a say in how to amend the Constitution. What's your response to, to that?

Yeah, well, someone who grew up in Rome, Missouri, I think what they're saying is absolutely false. You know, with this specific initiative we can pick up so many. We have 380,000 signatures across the state from citizens saying that they wanted their opportunity to have their voice walking to reproductive health care. This was from every county in the state.

This was not just in our urban cores. And when we look at how folks are voting for all these initiatives, one person, one vote is extremely important. And you know, as elected officials in this building, we get voted in by 50 plus 1. We don't have to have an overwhelming majority to do so.

And I believe that voters voices should be held to the same standard. I just ask you, if you're running for governor of the state of Missouri, do you worry that your stance on this issue might alienate some rural voters in your state? Absolutely not. You know, every corner of the state, regardless of local party folks are fed up with extremism that's going on here.

Whether it's a reproductive rights conversation and having politicians in the middle of our doctor's offices to the way that our educators are able to teach their kids, parents involvement in all sorts of healthcare issues, Republicans and defense and names are read have been going too far. And regardless of party, as I said, folks are done with it. And so now I do not believe that this will hinder anyone's chances. In fact, I think it will be exact opposite.

And I want to ask you specifically about the abortion ballot measure. We've seen legal challenges to similar measures in other states like Florida, where they want the state Supreme Court. How confident are you that this ballot measure will actually make it to the ballot in November? We're very confident.

You know, our secretary of State Jay Ashcroft tried every possibility that he could to try to stop this process and he lost in court every single time. The coalition who have put this initiative together has done an amazing job over the past few years to make sure that we can hold up to every legal challenge that we know is coming. So we're very confident that we have an overwhelming amount of signatures as mentioned. And so we have no doubt this is going to make it to the ballot.

And we actually know the vote for this. And as we talk about this, I wonder, are you concerned about a situation where Democrats succeed in blocking this bill, but then the governor decides to put the supportion access amendment on the August primary ballot rather than November general election about it? You know, either way, I'm not concerned because again, we know that Missourians want this. And so if it's in the August ballot, folks are going to show up.

If it's in November, folks are going to be there. When we look to our neighbors, right? In Kansas, they had their initiative in August ballot was slightly different. And we know overwhelmingly folks were on the choice the side of making sure that voters have a choice over their reproductive health care.

And so regardless of where it ends up on the ballot, we are very confident that we'll succeed. And as we mentioned, and as you mentioned, you're running for governor, would that change if he decides to put the ballot on in August instead of November? Would that change for the way that you're running? I'd give you a point here to make your case so the voters might be watching here.

I appreciate that. You know, it will not change what we're talking about here. I'm running for governor because I am tired just like everyone else in our state of the far right. Extremists holding everything hostage, whether it's our federal money for Medicaid patients, our funding for disability rights to reproductive healthcare access, it's gone too far.

And whether this is in August or November, we're going to continue to talk about this. So we're excited about election season. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Crystal kwaii Representative CHRIS okay, who's the four running for governor of Missouri?

Thank you so much. And we're back tomorrow with more MEET THE press. Now the news continues with Hallie Jackson right now. Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of the Drink.

This month, Demi Lovato is my guest. The global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now. But getting there, it wasn't simple. Demi opens up about starting in Hollywood young and why she now thinks she may have started too soon.

She talks about recovery, her new marriage and the deeply personal reason behind her new cookbook. The Drink is always about the journey to the top. And this was an honest conversation about what that takes. Hope you'll listen and follow the Drink wherever you get your podcast.