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I'm not giving you a like, I'm not screwing you up. I'm not screwing you up. Search the Parent Chat on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. If it's Tuesday, the defense rests, testimony of Donald Trump's historic cash money trial is complete without the former president taking the witness stand as the trial now moves towards closing arguments and jury deliberations.
Plus, Donald Trump deleted a social media post which suggested his reelection in November would bring a quote, United Reich, the Biden campaign now blasting the former president and calling him a threat to democracy. And Rudy Giuliani and multiple other Trump allies faced an Arizona judge over their alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election as the former president keeps making false claims about the 2020 results and casting doubt on 2024. Hi there and welcome to Meet the Press Now on Ryan Nobles on a major day in the first-ever criminal trial of a former United States president. After 22 witnesses, more than 80 hours of testimony in 20 days in court, testimony has concluded the defense rested this morning after calling just two witnesses.
In the courtroom right now, the judge presiding over former President Trump's hush money case, von Roshan, is weighing arguments from each side on proposed jury instructions, which jurors will be given after closing arguments next Tuesday. Notably, the defense rested today without calling the former president to the stand despite Mr. Trump's insistence that he would testify. Yeah, I would testify, absolutely.
It's a scam. It's a scam. That's not a trial. That's a scam.
If you read Jonathan Turley, if you read Andy McCarthy, if you read the legal, they said there's not even a case there. That's election interference by the Biden administration. You plan to testify in court? Probably so.
I think so. The final witness in the trial was attorney and former legal advisor to Michael Cohen, Robert Costello, whose conduct on the stand yesterday infuriated Judge Mershan to such a degree that he cleared the courtroom to admonish the witness. Today's cross-examination of Costello was less heated, prosecutors used Costello's emails to question his credibility and to suggest he was working to protect Donald Trump. Yesterday, Costello testified that Cohen denied Trump was aware of the hush money scheme.
NBC News, national correspondent Yasmin Vasudian joins me from outside the courthouse in Manhattan. Also with me are former assistant Manhattan district attorney Jeremy Soland and Chuck Rosenberg, former U.S. attorney and former senior FBI official who's now an NBC News legal analyst. Sorry, Yasmin, let's start with you.
Obviously a lot of heat. Robert Costello's testimony yesterday, it was pretty contentious to say the least, was the move a little more subdued today. Yeah. More subdued today, but yesterday was not subdued at all.
So I can't quite get more contentious than we saw yesterday between Robert Costello and especially Judge Juan Rochon. He was on the stand for that long and this morning, Ryan, just about an hour or so of testimony with Robert Costello. I imagine the defense is kind of thinking about whether or not it was the appropriate decision to call Robert Costello to stand because of some of what he offered, especially during cross-examination in which, and I'll mention this one instance, which Susan Hoffinger essentially asked him. Did you at one point say you felt as if Michael Cohen was playing you and your firm when it came to retaining you as an attorney and Robert Costello said no and then Susan Hoffinger brought up the very email in which Robert Costello wrote, I believe Michael Cohen is playing us and that was in 2018 when in fact he was trying to be retained by Michael Cohen.
And so I think it seemed as if Robert Costello's testimony while he was called as a witness for the defense made Michael Cohen seem more of a credible witness than anything only because Michael Cohen when testifying on the stand and direct and talking about Robert Costello talked about the fact that he wasn't a trustworthy individual and so one of the reasons why he decided not to retain him and did not tell him the truth at the time of what he believed happened and we saw that on the stand over the last two days of testimony from the defense as witness Robert Costello right. So yes and we know that the judge and the two sides are hammering out the jury instructions that conference still taking place I believe. Have there been issues that we know have gotten resolved or addressed what's the status there? So unless we've all gone to law school and I'm sure Chuck and we'll talk more about this than I can, it's hard to really understand and grasp what exactly is going on in the courtroom here when it comes to these charging instructions partially because we don't have in our hands the draft of these charging instructions that they're going through right.
If the prosecution the defense have put together their suggestions for the charging instructions the jury instructions that will then go out to the jury after summations happen on Tuesday when court resumes. And so one of the things that seems as if it was a sticking point I'm sure the attorneys on the panel can talk more about this was about intent to defraud and the importance of defining Donald Trump's role in that intent to defraud in these charging instructions that was a sticking point when it comes to these charging instructions. One thing I will say though is I listened to the former president in the hallway when they resumed court at 215 and he talked about how this decision lies solely ultimately with the judges. We all know Judge Juan Roshani is getting these suggestions from the prosecution of the defense but ultimately lies with the judge himself and he is already saying for instance that he could see the judge here manufacturing a crime right setting up for what could come after we get a decision from this jury wanting to place the blame here on the judge but also understanding the gravity as we all do and the nature of these jury instructions as they go into deliberations Ryan.
Okay yes and thank you for that so let's go to our legal panel of Jeremy and Chuck. Chuck first to you and I wonder because even though it seems as though this case has been talked about ad nauseam there's a lot of superfluous information that doesn't go directly to what this jury has to decide. To that point how important Chuck are these jury instructions so that the jury has a clear understanding of what it is they're actually weighing in on here. Well the jury instructions Ryan are very important whether or not the jury at the end of the day has a clear idea of what they're supposed to do you know that always sort of befuddled me a bit as a prosecutor these these instructions and this charging conference can be dense and complicated and rather weedy but at a high level here's why it matters.
The jurors have just heard from 22 witnesses and they've seen scores of documents those were the facts deduced the trial. The law which is what the judge will instruct them on following this charging conference is their road map to apply the facts that they have learned in this case. So the way things are defined the way things are constructed the way things are explained to the jury by the judge in his instructions are really important again at a high level so it's not to sort of overwhelm people with the nuance and the detail and the complexity. The government wants a broad definition of liability of course the defense is looking for a more narrow one and this is something the judge Mershan has to get right because this is often an issue on appeal and so having accurate jury instructions that actually and accurately represent the law and allow the both parties to argue the facts to the jury in some nation it's an important task it's a difficult task and it's a complicated task.
Everyone recovering the corruption trial of former Virginia Governor Bob Mcdonald being at this stage of jury instruction and the judge giving a wide berth for the jury the Supreme Court ended up taking back that conviction so you're right this is an extremely important stage job. Jeremy let's go back now and talk about the testimony that just wrapped up of Robert Costello. Obviously you know there were some theatrics in the courtroom yesterday things calmed down today. Overall was he an effective witness for the defense?
He could very well have been, could being the operative word here. Why? Because he became the sideshow he became what we would expect about Trump and what we expect of Michael Cohen. Someone who loses his cool, loses his temperature, you know distracts and that's what he did.
If he would have been calm and collected and said no wait a second. Michael Cohen said to me you know inconsistently that you know he had nothing on the president it was nothing to do with the president. The president was unaware and substance when he was getting at multiple times let's concentrate on that and leave it alone and not make this you know snide remarks and from a guy who's former federal prosecutor you know maybe he's not used to the trenches of actual Manhattan criminal court which is badly different but this is not his first rodeo. So I'd be disappointed about whether the defense and I'd be I wouldn't take leave all but I would be happy to wait turned out about the prosecution and if I just made it for you move on to a different topic back to the jury instructions what I think would be interesting and I've really contemplated this for a while now.
Will the judge say to the jury you can consider what's called a lesser included offense meaning that even though you only are asked initially to consider the felonies you can consider the misdemeanor charge and will the prosecution say I don't want you to consider that it's either or nothing and will the defense say you know what maybe we don't want them either because if we get a quote or we hang me hang alternatively if you can back down a misdemeanor that's still whether it's a home run or not it's definitely getting on base for the former president. Yeah there's a lot of stake at the stage of the trial. Chuck let's go back to Robert Costello obviously the judge had a clear the courtroom yesterday obviously this was something that cable news and those of us that do this for a living talk about a lot because it was something exciting that happened in the courtroom how big of an impact they'll have on the jury it's much different than the perception our viewers at home may have of how this trial's gone. Yeah that's a fair question Ryan and a hard one to answer I mean the jurors have been around now for four or five six weeks I think I've lost count and so you know they're going to look at this holistically.
My sense is that jurors take the instructions very seriously and they take their role seriously and so while there was obviously you know a bad moment for the defense and for Mr. Costello in the courtroom and I think he sort of undercut any credibility that he had as a witness I'm not sure at the end of the day it matters the jury will make their determination will render their verdict Ryan based on the facts that used the trial and as we discussed on the law is instructed by the judge and so it was interesting and it may have been somewhat salacious and you know it was certainly good fodder for the press and I don't mean that in a derogatory way at all but I'm not sure that it matters very much at the end of the day the defense case was unavailing and unappealing and Mr. Costello certainly did not help it but whether or not he heard it we'll see. Okay to your point though Chuck we're now at week six I believe in this trial heading into week seven those jurors have been sitting in that room for a long time they have been consumed with a lot of information how important is it now for the prosecution in their closing argument to connect all these dots that they've laid out over the course of this trial.
Yeah well on one hand the jurors will be told and properly so that closing argument is not evidence and it's not it's simply argument but on the other hand it's the opportunity for both sides to weave together all the facts that they think are helpful and so as a former prosecutor and by the way I think both sides have a bit of a gift here in that they have several days to get their closing arguments together and to practice them but what both sides will do will be to tell their story their side their version drawing on facts helpful to them the prosecution started out linearly and chronologically I imagine they'll close the same way they'll ask the jurors to draw certain inferences from the facts they'll also show them documents that they do stirring trial they may play additional clips for them that they were a do stirring trial so the idea here is to knit it all together Ryan and then to argue that the evidence that the jurors saw only compels one outcome if you're a prosecutor which is guilty as charged. So Jeremy who's got more pressure on them as we reach the stage the prosecution or the defense? Well I can only imagine the pressure in the room with Donald Trump when he's saying what the defense should be in summation or what he wants to hear but I think the way to this right now is really an album brag and it's not a way that I would want almost by worst enemy I mean justice isn't easy you don't pursue a case because it's easy you don't pursue a case because you think you'll just get a conviction sometimes those hardest cases you challenge and take are the ones that are the right ones now that's up to the jury in terms of what that outcome will be if it's grouping on a reasonable doubt but this has a ripple effect that's going to be astronomical but the nation no matter what happens and if there's a acquittal or a hung jury he's gonna be the girl he's gonna hold the bag and it's a serious one and that's not not meaning that it wasn't a righteous prosecution but it's gonna appear as such so I think right now that heavy burning that heavy weight is on the other rack yeah sometimes I think we lose sight about just how historic the next couple of days are going to be and what this trial has been because we've been so consumed with it for such a long period of time but it's gonna have a long lasting impact no matter what Jeremy and Chuck thank you both for your expertise we appreciate it coming up more legal drama surrounding the former president this time in Arizona where nearly a dozen so-called fake electors were just arraigned on charges they tried to overturn the 2020 election results but first the Biden campaign and the White House are slamming former president Trump for posting a video to a social media account suggesting that his victory will bring a quote unified Reich you're watching me the press now let's kickstart your wellness journey with the dark today yeah workouts meal plans it's your fast track to a healthier you and now during the XFINITY members celebration members can get an exclusive 50% off an annual subscription head to XFINITY.COM slash membership to learn more XFINITY imagine that subscription automatically reviews each year at 6599 plus taxes and fees until canceled all for ads may 20th 26th prices subject to change visit today.com slash XFINITY for full on for terms of details Hey guys Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday sit down podcast on this week's episode I sit down with one of the biggest bands in the world Mumford and Sons as we get the boys together to talk about their new number one album prize fighter and the evolution of that irresistible foot stomping sound you can get our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts stay informed with the NBC News app breaking news just coming in moments ago watch read and listen throughout your day and now unlock even more with a subscription it's the best of NBC News with fewer ad interruptions including ad free articles podcasts and full NBC News shows plus deeper access and exclusive content let's just take a step back it's more context and clarity from the reporters you trust download the NBC News app now and subscribe for more welcome back turning out to a strange and arguably unsettling episode from the campaign trail as the Trump campaign tries to explain why the presumptive Republican presidential nominee posted a video on his truth social accounts suggesting his victory would bring a quote unified Reich this image was part of a 30 second video shared by the former president which showed hypothetical newspaper headlines if he wins one of which included the phrase a unified Reich a term associated with Nazi Germany now Trump has since taken down the video and the campaign says it wasn't their creation and then it was just reposted by a staffer who did not see the phrase the Biden campaign put out two fiery statements denouncing the Trump campaign for posting the video while tying it to other instances of Trump using language associated with Nazi Germany may also send out a fundraising email on it the White House also put out a statement criticizing the post and President Biden is expected to address it at an event later today here's what we heard from Vice President Harris this afternoon while speaking to union workers in Philadelphia just yesterday the former president of the United States who praised his dictators who said there were very fine people on both sides in Charlottesville let's not forget took to social media and highlighted language from Nazi Germany highlighted language from Nazi Germany this kind of rhetoric is unsurprising coming from the former president and it is appalling and we got to tell him who we are let's talk about it joining me on set as Molly Ball senior political correspondent for the Wall Street Journal Eugene Robinson columnist for the Washington Post and NBC News contributor and Republican strategist Matt Gorman who recently worked on Tim Scott's presidential campaign so Molly this is becoming a familiar refrain with the Trump campaign they post something incendiary borderline racist and they say well it was an accident you know we didn't mean to do it this was a staffer or a supporters idea but it's becoming a pattern right let's take a look back in November of 2022 Donald Trump died in with a white nationalist and Hall class denier Nick Fuentes they said well he didn't know who he was and the New York Times the story from October 3rd of 2023 escalates an anti-immigrant rhetoric with poisoning the blood November of 2023 calls his enemies vermin echoing dictators like Hitler and Mussolini and then of course this unified Reich post from today how long can he keep just excusing this away or should we actually think that there's a purpose behind this honestly I have a hard time getting excited about something like this when it does seem to be unintentional I mean it's impossible to read to imagine that Donald Trump personally was like editing a piece of clip art here and like going on Photoshop to put a subliminal message in here to like neo-Nazis or something it just doesn't make any sense I think there are plenty of reasons that many people consider Donald Trump a threat democracy starting with the fact that he tried to overthrow the government and didn't conceive an election that he lost but the idea that this is some kind of dog whistle or as the vice president said that he's highlighting language I mean I just think that in a lot of ways this sort of cheapens the actual threats that democracy faces to allege that this is some kind of serious threat but it's happened more than once right I mean it's not and we know that he's quite indiscriminate about the things he posts on social media and he posts all kinds of disturbing things and they're not and they're not very well vetted and the reason campaigns usually try to avoid that is because then you get new cycles like this where people are trying to but again you don't need hidden meanings to make the accusation that Trump you know may pose a threat to democracy well that's and that is definitely true but you know if you if you rob a bank and get caught you don't get clemency by saying well but I rob banks all the time you know and so he posts this stuff happens all the time and we I think we get a little nearer to it we get a little you know okay oh that's you know that's what Trump does but I shouldn't the word right be a flashing giant red symbol for anybody you know who looks at that who thinks about gee maybe this was something out of reposed I mean it would jump out at me I think it would jump out at most people there's only one context in which the word is used in this country and that's still referred to Nazi Germany I mean Matt in a different era would this have been a disqualifying error on behalf of a candidate we see this before the other candidates we saw with other candidates in the earlier in the primary too um look I think the biggest thing is quite frankly aside from this and I'm glad he deleted it which is actually rare I was actually surprised he deleted it I think it speaks to something but also you give the Biden Harris campaign this entire news cycle as you just he's now president Biden's gonna talk about this directly so you're now that's covering some bleed the next day so look if the election was held today I think a lot of us would think that Trump is in a good position to win but with days like this you get the news cycle away from the fact that he's out raised Biden and you talk about this a lot so they have to be very very careful about these sorts of mistakes I don't think at the end of the day it's gonna really affect one vote based on you know this video in particular but it gets a new cycle away from you yeah Molly I know your point is well taken about you know there wasn't something here but this was a video that was created by one of his supporters that they kind of indiscriminately just reposted and it reminds me of a line that Andrew Gillam used in his race against Ron DeSantis which he did lose back in 2018 I covered that campaign and he said I'm not calling Mr DeSantis or racist I'm simply saying that racist belief that he's a racist I mean what does it say about Trump's base of support that he has supporters creating videos like this well I mean this has been the case for a long time I mean I'm old enough to remember the entire several news cycles back in 2016 when he wouldn't disavow the support of David Duke Trump has always run what I think we could share to be call a big tent campaign where he welcomes all kinds of unsavory people as long as they like him and you know you talked earlier about how he you know praises all these authoritarians and dictators and they know that if they suck up to him he will repay them in kind and that tends to be the basis of his foreign policy I think that's a much bigger issue than a word in a what seems to have been a piece of stock art that somebody just slapped into a video for the imagery without really looking at it and Eugene the Biden campaign doesn't want to just let this go right obviously there's an opportunity and so these when one of these things comes along you know you you beat it until it's them and you keep beating it until the next comes along so I'm sure that you know they're I mean you saw Vice President Harris president's gonna talk about it it's I'm sure they're gonna make whatever hey they can now I again is mess and I don't know how much hay there is to be made from this one thing but but I do agree with you that yeah it's this is a new cycle when I'm sure that Trump campaign would love to be talking about the fundraising numbers the quarterly or monthly fundraising numbers you know Biden still has a whole lot more money in the bank he's not poor but for this period he got out raised by Trump and that's what they would want to talk about and then they're talking about the unified rights yeah no that's a good point right you got a piece days like just together if you're the Harris campaign the Biden campaign because look you're here in search of positive momentum somewhere you just got a really tough April not only did you get out fundraise but you had the campus protest and so you need to start piecing together going on offense a little bit so I think this could be you know something that they refer back to over and over again just because they need something to hang on to. Eugene you mentioned the money let's show where things stand right now between the two sides in terms of their total cash on hand between the Democratic National Committee and the Biden campaign they're up to 146 million dollars the RNC and the Trump campaign is at 88 million dollars this was a better quarter for the Trump campaign as Eugene rightly points out than that than they've had but it's still a pretty significant deficit man and the Trump campaign is funneling a lot of that cash to his legal defense fund you probably always rather be the campaign with more money but is this how important is money going to be at the end of the day especially we have two candidates that are so well.
It will be and I think you know now that the Trump campaign can really use the RNC's rules to raise it essentially if you're a big dollar donor maybe Ryan Nobles now $800,000 a donation just a lot of money but so that they can raise it at a higher clip. Now look if you're getting double up on front of you that has an impact but 30, 50 million at some point you just kind of lose the scale at a national rate in a funny way the race would talk the most about money presidential campaigns and oftentimes when money's the least important you're relying on earned media and then you would have to say a center house race. Right so Mollye we're seeing the beginning of the end here of this initial Trump or I'm sorry the trial the hush money trial I've sometimes I just said it earlier it feels like we've lost the gravity of an event like this there's gonna be a verdict that verdicts gonna come before the first presidential debate Donald Trump's either gonna be exonerated or potentially convicted felon. What kind of impact would the verdict have on the direction of the race if any at all?
I would be surprised if it has a major impact frankly I mean I think we see in polls that voters while they take this seriously they are relatively a nerd to it a lot of people seem to view it as old news it of course has to do with his conduct before he was elected president and and the and you know it's not a big revelation to a lot of people that Trump was a bit of a womanizer and maybe engaged in a lot of sleazy dealings so I think you know a lot of this is just baked in and we do see in polls that there is some slice of the electorate that says that while they support Trump now they would give it a second thought if he were convicted of a felony I think that the way that Trump has steered the narrative around this case makes me doubt that that would actually happen just because he I think has very successfully messaged to his supporters that the idea and there's you know has a lot of practice at this that he's been victimized by a witch hunt and so I think you know it's gonna be pretty far in the rear view mirror by the time we get to November. Both your take quick before we go. I think that's basically right I mean you know some of the conduct did take place when he was in the White House we'd write in those chats and so you know you wonder if that could have any impact but I don't think it's a I don't right now I don't think it's a huge deal we'll see you know if these voters they do what they want. All right Matt I'm not going to let you wait.
You can tell me private. I'm not going to be in here blameless in here. Up next three Giuliani and ten other Trump allies are arraigned on charges of conspiracy forgery and fraud tied to their alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election. With more on that you're watching me the press now.
Welcome back nearly a dozen Trump allies were arraigned today in Arizona on charges related to their alleged involvement in a plan to overturn the state's 2020 election results. They all played not guilty. Those were arraigned today include Rudy Giuliani was actually served his summons in dramatic fashion outside of his 80th birthday party in Florida after alerting eluding process servers for weeks. On Friday Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays announced that Giuliani had been served a notice of his indictment just over an hour after Giuliani taunted the AG for failing to find him and he now deleted social media posts.
18 people were indicted last month in connection with the plan to falsify the certification that falsely I should say certified that Trump won in 2020 and former president Trump was named as an unindicted co-conspirator. Mr. Trump himself faces criminal charges in two other election interference cases but despite those charges he continues to repeat lies that he won the 2020 election and cast doubt on the about the results of this coming November. Joining me now to talk about this is the Washington Post Yvonne Winget Sanchez who's covering voting issues in Arizona and Bremer Resnick who's the political reporter and anchor for NBC affiliate in Phoenix.
Thank you guys both for being here. So Yvonne 11 defendants arraigned today. One can we expect the rest of the arraignments and how quickly could this case move forward? Well the defendants are going to appear early next month.
Some of these things will probably stretch into sometime mid-June. I would not expect this case to wrap up anytime soon. It's probably going to stretch on for a number of years. What was really interesting about today was the schedule that the commissioner laid out for all of the defendants.
It is lining up right along with that election schedule and it's definitely going to keep this electric case front and center of the electorate psyche ahead of this expected rematch between Trump and Biden. And we mentioned Giuliani's summons this weekend that impacted his release conditions. What are the judge rule? Yeah so Giuliani was the only defendant that state prosecutors sought conditions for.
They wanted $10,000 cash bonds. The judge issued basically an insurance bond. He will have to go through a bail bondsman, find some other form to basically ensure that he is going to appear before the court. He also must appear within the next 30 days in Maricopa County for his booking procedures.
And obviously this follows this odyssey that we've tracked over the last three weeks where state prosecutors try time and again through multiple phone calls, visits to his New York apartment, matching a real estate listing for his old apartment with the background that is featured in social media posts, repeated attempts to try to get him finally catching up with him late on Friday at his idiot birthday party. Well he was live streaming that birthday party. We should point out, Yvonne, among those indicted in this case are current errors on the lawmakers. So give us a sense of what's going on in the state Republican party there.
And what does it mean for state-house politics at a time when state lawmakers have been garnering more national attention? Look, this is an issue that we've been dealing with non-stop for the past three and a half four years. I feel like the rest of the country is just sort of catching up to sort of the denialism and the skepticism towards the 2020 outcome that has really sort of ripped and only deepened in Arizona over the last several years. I don't think this really changes anything at the state house other than perhaps giving and elevating a platform now, a courtroom platform, cameras, reporters showing up to all of these events for some of these people to date their case in a sort of reasoned fashion.
I do think that there will be a continued perhaps more to be learned sort of conversation around the knowledge of some of the electors who will tell you that they just did what they were told. They were hearing from really important people from the national level, from attorneys who seem to know what they were doing, from the leader of their own party who was summoning them down there and telling them what to do. And there seems to be sort of a disconnect between what those people might have known and what the middle man nationally and Arizona. Okay, Yvonne, thanks for that.
I know you're on deadline. So let's move over and talk to Bram about it from his perspective, Bram. The document includes many Trump allies, the former president himself is an unindicted co-conspirator. What does this tell us about Trump's influence over the Arizona Republican Party?
Let me see the elections playing out today. The primaries, for example, a Red District on the west side of Maricopa County. Donald Trump has endorsed one candidate there, and that endorsement likely counts for a lot. Although it will have to see how that shakes out because the candidate he endorsed right now is in second in polling in that district against the guy Donald Trump endorsed in the last cycle, like Masters vs.
Epomedes. But still seems Trump has a hold on the party. We are seeing some fractures here and there, local districts, certainly Democrats think they can crack some of those districts and take control of the state legislature for the first time in about half a century. So there are some fractures showing in specific places.
We'll have to see how that plays out. And I wonder, are voters paying attention to this case? Are they concerned about the fake electors? Is it resonating with them?
Or is this not one of the top issues that voters are taking with them when they go to vote? Well, if you see what voters rank as their top issues, democracy for Democrats is quite high. Does a fake electors story fit into that? Perhaps I have to keep reminding myself as a journalist that all this happened three and a half years ago and keep reminding myself to tell folks, here's what happened and what other accused of doing because in this environment, the news flies by so quick.
To many, it is very important. And I think as more information comes out, information that was reported two years ago or so, they might get more engaged. And I'd add about Rudy Giuliani in particular, this would happen today is significant because if you look at the emails that have been released, if the voice messages we have, it is clear Rudy Giuliani played a central role in bringing the scheme together. And at one point, according to the emails, even holding it together, when Kelly wore the former chair of the Arizona Republican Party thought for a moment that she might be committing treason.
That again, that's when the emails and that's likely to come up again. As we get to trial, I would agree with him on that the trial is a long way away. Yeah. So there's a new poll of Arizona voters that chose nearly half of Republican voters believe the election results should be challenged and investigated if President Biden wins.
This is the upcoming election, not the one that already happened. Our officials in Arizona are prepared for a similar scheme to unfold in 2024. Are they hoping that maybe this indictment serves as a deterrent? The answer to that question is no, they're not hoping this indictment serves as a deterrent.
They think it's an important step to take to hold people accountable. At the same time, they are preparing for much of what we saw in 2020 for the possibility that could happen again, challenges to the elections. You saw what that poll says. That's half the Republican electorate if you believe the poll, but doesn't have to even be that much.
We do know our top elections officials are preparing for challenges and maybe even worse as the results come out on election night. All right, Graham, excellent perspective. I appreciate you so much for being on things for that. And you know what we like to say around here, if it's Tuesday, voters are voting somewhere.
And today, those somewhere are California, Oregon, Idaho, Kentucky, and Georgia. We've got our eyes on California where Capitol Hill Republicans are set to pad their slim majority by filling Kevin McCarthy's former seat, Republicans Vince Fong and Michael Drow are vying to finish out McCarthy's term. Once either one is sworn in, the House Republicans will have 218 members versus the Democrats to 13, meaning Republicans will have room for two defectors, if the full House votes. Wide margin.
Another place we're watching is Oregon and three closely contested House primaries. That includes the Fifth District, a toss-off contest which could ultimately decide which party controls Congress. Two Democrats are squaring off to unseat the first-term Republican Congresswoman, Laurie Chavez-Dumer. The Democrats' congressional campaign arm is backing state representative Janelle Bynum over Jamie McLeod Skinner, who lost the seat by two points back in 2022.
After the break, massive crowds gathered to mourn the death of Iranian President Raisi as the Iranian regime and the world grappled with what's next at a precarious time for the entire Middle East region. You're watching me The President. Welcome back. Thousands of mourners gathered in northwest Iran as the country grapples with the sudden death of its president, Iriham Raisi.
Funeral processions began early today, less than two days after the helicopter crash, which killed Raisi, along with Iran's foreign minister. You can see here the crowds dressed in black filling the streets, some carrying flags and flowers for the late president as they walked alongside the truck carrying the coffins of the eight people who died in the crash. Raisi's body was then flown to Tehran, where additional prayers and a burial procession are scheduled. Joining me now is NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons.
He's reporting from the Gulf region. Keir, Taran has declared five days of national mourning. What can we expect for Raisi's funeral services in Tehran? Five days of national mourning and three days just of the funeral, as you mentioned Raisi's body and those of the other officials including the foreign minister who are killed in the crash now in Tehran.
Then the day after that, he will be moved to his hometown where he will be buried. Those scenes that we've seen through the day-to-day really impactful, huge crowds of people in the town of the city of the breeze. That is the place, the city close to where the crash happened. You saw people holding up pictures of the late president.
You saw them reaching out to try to touch the coffin, many in tears. There are, of course, not in these pictures, many Iranians who were opposed to the late president who disagree with what he had to say. We actually have heard interviews from our partner networks, Guy News, with people inside Iran who are saying that in other areas, people have been handing out sweets to celebrate the fact that he has passed because many protests have been crushed to underscore the ruthlessness, the continuing ruthlessness of the Iranian regime, Ryan. They prosecuted there telling people that anyone who has seen celebrating or marking the death of President Raisi in a positive light would be pursued.
In the way, you could just say about that, nothing has changed despite the death of the Iranian president. The constitution in Iran says that the country must hold elections within 50 days. What can we expect? Who will be the candidates and what will voter turnout look like?
Well, it depends who you ask about the Iranian election, but most in the West and in Washington would say that it's not much of an election, to be honest. The election that appointed President Raisi was one where only the candidates that were approved by the Supreme Leader could take part. We don't know who the candidates will be this time, but it will be very similar to that. It's going to happen in late June.
The interim president himself is a hard liner and took a phone call from President Putin very quickly. The Kremlin, emphasizing how many times President Putin and the now interim president have met in the past. He is someone who went to Russia last year to negotiate weapons for Russia in its fight against Ukraine. So we will see candidates, but again, maybe not a change in Iran's direction.
Okay, here's Simmons. Thank you for that report. We appreciate it. Turning out of the continued fallout after prosecutors at the International Criminal Court announced that they were seeking arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas officials for war crimes against humanity.
It is an issue that has divided the West with some European countries, including France and Germany, expressing support for the ICC and its independence. But here in Washington, the Biden administration continues to make clear it opposes the ICC's latest actions. Concrete allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice. What's happening is not genocide.
We reject that. The extremely wrongheaded decision by the ICC prosecutor yesterday, the shameful equivalence implied between Hamas and the leadership of Israel, we'll be happy to work with Congress with this committee on an appropriate response. Do you want me to now? We saw Hill Kapoor on Capitol Hill.
We saw Secretary Blinken there. He was testifying today and he signaled the administration may take some action against the ICC. What would that look like? That's right, Ryan.
This was a revealing moment where the ICC's action actually unified the Biden administration and Democrats with Republicans on this issue as they have been kind of moving further and further apart, unified them in condemnation. You just played Blinken over there calling this an extremely wrongheaded decision. He described the shameful equivalence in his words between Hamas and the government of Israel. He said this sets back the cause of a ceasefire in Gaza and makes it harder to get a hostage release deal.
Now, Blinken told the ranking member of this committee and his testimony, Jim Rish, that he could support legislative action against the ICC. He said, quote, we want to work with you on a bipartisan basis to find an appropriate response, unquote, but Secretary Blinken, ever the diplomat, said the devil's in the details and he would need to see a proposal before he commits to it. His message to the committee was essentially, show us what you got. We'll take it from there, but we agree on the broader point.
Of course, Sahil, the U.S. policy on his reel is really a dividing line, dividing the country on both sides of the aisle. Was the Secretary able to say anything to minimize some of those criticisms? Yes, somewhat, Ryan.
Interestingly, in that exchange with Jim Rish, Rish seemed to like the fact that he talked about that shameful equivalence. He said that point. It was, quote, a good starting point for all of us. That is Rish talking to Blinken and said he also wants to work with him.
Now, of course, there are Republicans who are not satisfied with Blinken or the administration. That includes conservative Senator Ted Cruz who have fiery exchange with Secretary Blinken, demanding to know whether the Biden administration was withholding any intel about Hamas from Israel to which Blinken categorically insisted no, it is not. And that reports that the contrary, and Blinken's words were false. Their speaker, Mike Johnson, said if the administration doesn't show leadership, Congress will consider any and all options, including sanctions to punish the ICC and ensure that its leadership faces consequences if they proceed.
And then, of course, on the progressive side, the protest continues. Secretary Blinken faced yet another protest in that room from people calling him war criminal and complicit in genocide. Finally, progressive Senator Bernie Sanders actually said the ICC is right that the arrest warrants may never materialize, but international law must be abided by, Ryan. Okay, so I hope you're on top of all of it for us.
We appreciate it. Thank you. Still to come in a state where abortions are already illegal, lawmakers are now looking to go even further to restrict access. We're live in Louisiana, where lawmakers are considering classifying abortion pills as controlled substances.
They're watching the Depression. Welcome back, lawmakers in Louisiana are just beginning debate on a bill that would in some instances criminalize the possession of two medical abortion pills, Miffa-Pristone and Ms. Pristol. Under the proposal legislation, both medications will be reclassified as a schedule for drug and possession without prescription would be punishable under law by up to 10 years in prison.
Abortions in Louisiana are already banned with no exceptions for rape or incest. If this legislation passes, it would be the first attempt to restrict the use of abortion pills by classifying them as controlled substances, potentially opening up another front in the abortion fight. NBC's Marissa Para joins me now from Baton Rouge, so Marissa, how did this legislation come about and what are lawmakers hoping to accomplish with this bill? Okay, Ryan.
Well, our timing is perfect because they actually just started debating this. This started within the last couple of minutes, so hopefully we will get an update on how lawmakers are going to vote on this soon. But in terms of how it started, in terms of the story there, we know that this was authored by State Senator Thomas Presley. And you might have heard a little bit about the story behind that.
He said that his sister had been given abortion pills without her consent, without her knowledge, by her now ex-husband. And this caused her complications during her pregnancy, not just to her, but also to the life of her child that she eventually birthed. And so this bill originally started as with the intention to make coerced abortions illegal and punishable, because 180 days was the sentencing that her ex-husband was given. And so State Senator Thomas Presley said that was simply not enough.
So I want to take you to him, an interview we did within this morning, and I'll explain more on the other side. The goal certainly is to not provide an additional challenge to our medical providers, but it is to ensure that these drugs are being used appropriately and effectively for legitimate medical reasons, which are outside of abortion. As I've stated previously, abortion is already illegal in Louisiana. I'm not changing that at all.
So I want to explain some of what we're hearing from people on both sides here. We're hearing from not just people on both sides of the abortion rights debate, but also some physicians. And I want to explain that quickly because I know we're almost out of time here, Ryan, but there was an open letter signed by nearly 300 physicians within the state of Louisiana, because as you heard, he said this isn't about abortion access, begin with, because as we talked about, there's a near total ban here. And so you can't use these drugs, specifically Mythopristone, it means a prostonal.
You cannot use them for abortions, but you can use those drugs for other medical purposes. And so physicians who signed this letter, including Dr. Wagner who we spoke with earlier, was saying she says, this is quote, bad science, because it's going to put pressure on physicians around here in terms of decision making that needs to happen, because we talked about other uses for these drugs. They're used for delivery purposes, they're used in other ways other than for abortions, Ryan.
And so that's something that they're trying to get out there and provide clarification from, but abortion rights activists are saying this is another way to control and restrict access to these pills, particularly with concern from people against abortion rights, who are saying that these are being mailed in and it's become too easy. So it really depends on how you're looking at this. But in terms of that, but we just talked about, it looks like that may not be happening, Ryan. So we might have to wait a little longer to find out the fate of this bill as it stands right now.
Okay, thank you for the update, Marisipara. We appreciate that. And it is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. That's the month of May, which celebrates and recognizes the contributions of the AAPI community here in the United States.
But it's also an opportunity to reflect on some of the darker days in this country's history, including in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US incarcerated more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent, including many Japanese Americans, forcing them to leave their homes and give up their property. Now, one of those internment camps has opened its doors as one of the country's newest national parks, NBC's Emily Akeda filed this report from Camp Amachi in Colorado. This is pretty high-brush. For the first time, Hideko Hamamoto is returning to her birthplace, Amachi, a Japanese incarceration camp that held innocent families seen as threats for merely looking like the enemy in World War II.
120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans within four months were put into barracks. I mean, how does that happen? Today, the foundations of the barracks remain in Grenada, Colorado, along with fragments of daily life, marbles, tin cans from 80 years before, photo show, a young Hideko playing with a tin can turned toy, and during the unthinkable with dignity. Now she's walking those grounds again alongside her daughter and granddaughter.
It's a little emotional. They should be protected by the government who instead incarcerated them. You think that being here kind of reminded me of the connection that it has to the present and to who I really am, and it's not just some kind of isolated, separate era. It's a feeling I share.
You know, my grandfather used to share he had this vivid memory of a child where he would look through the barbed wire, he would look up at the armed guards as an eight-year-old boy. I wonder, why am I here? For decades, survivors like Bob Fucigami have pushed for Amachi to become a national historic site. This year, those efforts were officially realized.
It's one thing to talk about, it's another to actually be on the grounds. Think about being placed there. Continuing a decades-old tradition, hundreds descended on the side over the weekend to remember those who endured and have since passed. There was a breeze coming through, and it was almost as if they were seen, but thank you for being here and don't let this happen again.
It's important to remember. Emily Ketta, NBC News, Grenada, Colorado. We're back tomorrow with more Meet the Press Now, the news continues with Hallie Jackson right now. Hey everyone, I'm Dylan Dryner, co-host of the Third Hour of Today and Mom to Three Wild Boys.
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