Meet the Press NOW — May 3

Drive off in a new Hyundai Launcher today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event. Take advantage of the $1,000 spring drive bonus and lease the 2026 luxury essential for just $73 a weekly at 4.99% for 60 months. And you're covered by Elantra's best in class five year new car warranty. Now that's the Hyundai Advantage.

Conditions apply. Offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit hyundaicanda.com or your local deal for details. If it's Friday, the CIA director returns to the Middle east in the Biden administration's latest effort to break the impasse on a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza as tensions and protests on US Campuses rage on.

Plus, one of the former president's top eight, Hope Hicks, takes the stand as the former White House communications director and longtime Trump confidant testifies about the campaign to scramble in 2016 to contain their candidates mushrooming scandals and Democratic Congressman Henry C. Been indicted by the Justice Department for allegedly taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from foreign entities. Texas congressman says that he and his family are innocent. Hi there.

Happy Friday. Welcome to MEET THE press. Now, I'm Ryan Nobles in Washington, where we're tracking a number of developments, both foreign and domestic ties to the war in Gaza amid an ongoing crackdown on college campus protests. But we begin in the region because right now talks appear to be intensifying on a deal to free the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, although it's unclear just how many of those hostages are still alive.

There's also growing pressure on Israel and the US to secure a temporary ceasefire to get a to Palestinian civilians who risk starving to death. The source tells NBC News that President Biden CIA Director William Burns has returned to the middle for those talks. And it comes as US Officials say they are still awaiting Hamas response to a proposed deal which the secretary of state described as generous in his latest visit to the region. Now we'll head to the White House for the very latest in just a moment, along with new and dire warnings from the executive director of the World food program, Cindy McCain, who sat down with Kristen Welker for an in depth interview for Sunday's Meet the Press.

But first, NBC International correspondent Rob Sanchez has the latest on those hostage talks from Tel Aviv. The world has been waiting for days to see if this latest round of ceasefire negotiations will actually lead to a deal. NBC News has now confirmed from a source familiar with the situation that the CIA director, Bill Burns has returned to the Middle east in the hope of getting this deal over the line. Here's the state of play.

Israel has been waiting for several days now for Hamas to give its formal response to the current ceasefire proposal. Reminder, that proposal would see Hamas release 33 hostages from the so called humanitarian category. It's women, it's children, it's the elderly, people with serious medical conditions. In return, Israel would agree to a 40 day cease fire and the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

Now, yesterday, Israel thought Hamas was gearing up to give a definitive answer either yes or no to this deal. Instead, Hamas said it wants to keep talking. It says it is sending negotiators back to Cairo, but at this point, we do not know when they will give that answer. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Israel has set a deadline, that it is telling Hamas that it has one week to give an answer and agree to this hostage deal or else Israeli forces are going to press ahead with an attack on the southern city of Rafah.

Now, the US And Israel have fundamental disagreements about that plan. The US Believes it would be a disaster, not just from the perspective of civilian casualties, but also the potential to disrupt the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel says it has no choice but to go into Rafah to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions there. And over the last couple of days, Israel has put out images of its tanks massing on the Gaza border from two separate divisions in apparent preparation to move into Rafah.

It is not clear whether this may be a negotiating tactic. Netanyahu trying to put more pressure on Hamas, saying the clock is ticking down until this Rafah invasion. Netanyahu is also under intense pressure himself from the far right of his own cabinet, who is saying that the deal on the table is a bad one. Israel should reject it and should instead focus on pursuing its military campaign against Hamas in Rafah.

But these are critical days, critical hours right now. And there is a feeling that this may be the last best chance to get a cease fire deal in place and that if there is no agreement, we may see Israeli forces heading into Rafah. Back to you. Okay, thank you for that reporting.

And as RAF mentioned, the Prime Minister Netanyahu and his insistence that Israel will go into Rafah is amplifying tensions with the U.S. washington is expressing frustration over Israel's apparent lack of a viable plan to move some 1.4 million Palestinian civilians out of harm's way. Now, U.S. officials tell NBC News that the Israeli military has informed the Biden administration that it does have an evacuation plan, though we still don't know the timeline or the details about that operation.

Meantime, the UN is warning an invasion of Rafah could deal an incredible blow to the already fragile humanitarian operations. Earlier today, the Executive Director of the World food program, Cindy McCain, spoke to my colleague Christine Kristen Welker at the McCain Institute Sedona Forum, where she warned that the northern parts of Gaza are experiencing a full blown famine. Let's talk about the World Food Program. You have provided aid to 1.4 million people every month since the start of the war.

But the war is nearly in its seventh month. How dire is the humanitarian crisis on the ground right now in Gaza? Well, whenever you have conflicts like this and, and emotions rage high and things happen in a war, famine happens. And so what I can explain to you is that there's famine, full blown famine in the north and it's moving its way south.

And so with what we're asking for, and what we've continually asked for is a ceasefire and the ability to have unfettered access to get in, safe and unfettered access to get into the, into Gaza, to various ports, various various gate crossings. But, you know, it hasn't always worked that way. It's been a very difficult run. I'm so proud of our people on the ground there because it's dangerous and they continue to deliver.

I just want to be very clear because what you're saying is significant and I believe it's the first time we've heard it. You're saying there is full blown famine. Yes. In northern Gaza.

Yes, I am. And there has not been an official declaration that they're saying. But you are saying that based on what you've seen. Yes, it is.

Based on what we've seen, what we've experienced on the ground. Yes. Which is, it's, it's hard. It's, you know, it's, it's so hard to look at and it's so hard to hear also.

So I'm just, I'm so hoping that we can get a ceasefire and, and begin to, to feed these people, especially in the north, in a more, in a much faster fashion. They're also including, as I said, water, sanitation, medicine, it's all part of the, the famine issue. It's also something that we need to make sure that the world understands we can't let this happen. It just.

In this day and age when the world has the ability to feed itself 10 times over. Nobody should starve. Nobody should starve. You can catch more person's exclusive interview with CD McCain this Sunday only on the PRESS Join me now for more on the View from the White House is NBC.

Sally RAFA AS rally We're still waiting for Hamas's response to this hostage deal. So why did the White House feel it was necessary to send Director Burns to the region? Do they feel that he can help get it over the finish line? They do, Ryan.

And if you remember, CIA Director Bill Burns has been involved in multiple previous rounds of hostage talks before this proposal that, as you mentioned, the White House says is extremely generous. They're saying that the ball is in Hamas's court to agree to this deal. The White House sees this as a very narrowing opportunity to get this deal done, to not just allow for the release of hostages, but also for more aid to be able to go into Gaza, all before this looming ground invasion of Rafah by the Israelis, which the White House sees as this ever so concrete deadline to be able to get this done, to not lose any progress has been made so far. So that's why we've seen, for example, Secretary State Anthony Blinken this week go to this region and now CIA Director Bill Burns.

It really reflects the pressure that the White House is under to secure this deal before this round. Invasion of Rafa also signals that the key players in these negotiations may be very close to reaching an agreement. Obviously, the White House very interested in the success of a deal not just for political reasons, domestically for the president as he continues to deal with the fallout of the Israel Hamas war on college campuses nationwide, but also for US Foreign policy reasons. Because we have heard White House officials say for months now that they consider any pause in fighting, no matter how short, to be able to provide an opportunity to prevent this war from widening, to prevent this war from dragging the US Deeper into and also to lay the foundation for peace talks long term.

Ryan, you know, there does seem to be a disconnect here, though, Ally, because yesterday US Official are telling us that Israel says that it has a plan to move civilians out of harm's way in Rafah. But this was just days after Secretary Blinken said he hadn't seen one. He was in Israel talking to the prime minister. What more do we know?

That's right. And we continue to see White House officials keep their distance from this confirmation that we have from a U.S. official that Israeli officials have briefed their U.S. counterparts of a plan to relocate the more than 1 million Palestinians who have been displaced and sheltering in Rafah before this looming ground invasion by the Israelis.

This official saying the Israelis did not say the plan is final or when that ground invasion would take place. And this isn't coming as too much of a surprise that US Officials have been briefed on this because we know the Israelis have assured their US Officials that there would be an opportunity for them to provide input, to provide any of their opinions on these plans before a ground invasion began. The big question now, though, is what those plans entail and how the US Views them, considering the fact that we know that weeks ago an initial plan for these Palestinians to be relocated was presented to US Officials by the Israelis. That was a plan that, to say the least, they were not pleased with.

They said that it lacked credible plans to provide sanitation and to provide resources for these Palestinians if they removed. So that is something that we continue to ask the White House about in the coming days. Right. Okay, White House, we appreciate it.

Thank you very much. And amid these ongoing talks to free the hostages held in Gaza, Hamas released a video showing two of those captives, Keith Siegel and Amri Imran is a reminder of the urgency to secure a deal. Amrim's brother in law, Moshe Levi, joins me now. And Moshe, I first just want to begin with how you and your family are holding up after you saw this video of your brother in law that was released by Hamas.

What were your emotions when you saw that release? And how are you all feeling right now? Thank you for having me today. It was a Saturday evening, was a very difficult evening for us as a family to receiving the video.

We were not aware of it in advance and so we got notified about it as others were notified through social media and traditional media. Sienna Re was a trying time. He doesn't look himself. The spark in his eyes is gone.

The smile is no longer there. And of course, his condition does not seem very well. But we tried to focus on the pos, the fact that he's alive. And that's what my sister Isaiah and his wife Namri's father, Dani spoke about at the press conference at the beginning of this week in Tel Aviv, sharing why it's imperative to look on the positive, the fact that we and many others are still alive and push the different stakeholders to bring them home.

But we continue to live in anguish and anxiety. It takes an emotional and physical toll on all of us. But we have to keep believing that we can bring them home. And you mentioned your sister, of course, Anu's wife, she also a survivor of the October 7th attack.

How is she holding up right now? Yes, Nishai and two daughters and three daughters, one in Ama, survived October seven. They were held captive for Hours in their home, held at gunpoint, abused. Luckily, they were rescued at the end of that day, before they were taken or anything worse happened to them.

She's processing everything and taking every day at a time because every day we have to focus on, on the mission. And every day there's a new news cycle, new information we receive that we have to act upon in our advocacy work. And that's besides the fact she's raising two daughters right now on her own with the help of my parents who are reaching their 70s and did not imagine that as they retire from work, they'll have to raise two baby granddaughters. So we're trying to do everything.

Everyone is displaced as well. But we focus in again on we, on old hostages and processing the negative news, such as the notifications of hostages who were murdered. We received such notifications in the past two days and trying to see how we can leverage that to keep pushing our government and pushing international community to force Hamas to the table, force Hamas to accept the deal that will end his suffering for both Israelis and Gaza non combatants. How concerned are you that this particular deal that's being negotiated right now has to work, that it may be the last real positive opportunity that you have to bring your loved one home?

I disagree with you there. There's never last opportunity. There may be missed opportunities that were better, that we're in a better timing to execute deals, execute diplomatic negotiations, but there's always an opportunity to take advantage of. And that's what we learned from human history.

We also learned from human history that sadly, at times policymakers do not understand that they need to make difficult choices, painful choices, and prioritize the social contract, especially in democratic countries, the social contract they have as leaders of the state, at state of their actors in its entirety with its citizens. This is their priority and should be their priority. I hope this opportunity will not be missed. But we receive negative signals from Hamas.

They have rejected so many ceasefires also since the war begun. But we hope that this time, because of Egypt's involvement overriding Qatar, they'll be able to push Hamas to accept the deal. No deal is going to be a good deal for Israel. No deal is going to be good for the release of the hostages, because it's going to be gradual.

Sadly, it's not going to be all at once. But we have to see some development. We haven't seen hostages released since February, when two were rescued. And of course, over 100 were released through an agreement in November.

Okay, Moshe Alvi. We'll continue to keep you and your family in our prayers and hope for the best here over the next couple of weeks as these negotiations continue. Thank you so much for sharing your story. And we're going to turn now to the domestic reaction to the wars.

Protests continue to World College Camp campuses across the country. In New York, police arrested more than 50 people as they clear pro Palestinian encampments at the New School and New York University earlier Today, more than 2200 arrested on campuses nationwide. It comes after the NYPD confirmed what they say was an accidental discharge on an officer's weapon as police cleared out Columbia's Hamilton hall earlier this week. Meanwhile, at the University of North Carolina, a group of protesters took to the streets blocking traffic as they march through Chapel Hill shouting pro Palestinian slogans, including some of the White House had previously called it hate speech.

At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, protesters say the encampment will remain until their demands are met despite arrests and scuffles with police. Earlier this week, one of those demands for the university to divest from Israel. NBC business and data correspondent Brian Chung joins us with more on what exactly that means and how schools around the country are reacting to these similar calls. So Brian, we heard a lot about these demands to divest, but what does it actually mean for these schools and where are these investments coming from in the first place?

Well, Ryan, you hear a lot of these protesters demanding divestment, but they also often say disclose first. And the reason why, because we just don't have a lot of transparency into what is in useful endowment. So again, part of this is the broader strategy among pro Palestinian protesters to boycott divest and sanction businesses that have ties to Israel. Now, divest is a big conversation on college campuses where you have these universities with in many cases multi billion dollar endowments that they use to invest in companies.

So how much of those investments are going into businesses that have ties to Israel? Well, let's take a look at some of the requirements for how they have to disclose any sort of holdings. The 499 with the IRS has reported annually gives you the broad mix of stocks or responds that a university will be holding an endowment. But the detail on specific stocks are comes from a 13F filed with the SEC.

The problem though is that that doesn't really cover the entire scope of the endowment, which in many cases, as I mentioned, can be in the billions of dollars, which means it's largely up to universities on a voluntary basis to disclose in their annual reports what's actually in there. And Right. I'll give you an example of one university, again, Columbia University, getting a lot of scrutiny over all this. When you look at the endowment, we're talking about a university that has $13.6 billion in endowment funds.

And when you talk about that 13F, that discloses how many securities and how many types of companies are investing in. It covers only 68 million with an M, which means that the number of stocks that we know Colombia is invested in through their endowment is only about 0.5%. So 99.5% of the endowment funds we don't know about. We don't know if they are or aren't in any sort of companies that have attachments to Israel.

So that's what protesters are asking for. They're asking for more disclosure of the nature of those investments before they then ask them to divest from those funds. But the status quo, there's of transparency into these endowments. Right.

Okay. Ryan Chun, thank you for that. Appreciate, sir. Coming up, former President Trump lashes out at the judge in his New York hush money trial as his former communications director was once one of his closest advisors at the White House takes the stand for the first time on the very latest from day 11 of the Trump criminal trial.

You're watching me. The press now drive off in a new Hyundai luxury today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event. Take advantage of the $1,000 spring drive bonus and lease the 2026 laundry essential, which is $73 weekly at 4.99% for 60 months. And you're covered by Elantra's Best in Class five year new car warranty.

Now that's the Hyundai Advantage Conditions apply offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying [email protected] or your local dealer for details. Welcome back. We are, of course, in week two of testimony down from hush money trial and just wrapped up with some dramatic moments from one of the former president's closest confidants. Hope Hicks testified about the fallout from the now notorious Access Hollywood tape, including Mr.

Trump's reaction to its release. She told jurors about her coordination with Michael Cohen amid the fallout on a statement in response to an upcoming Wall Street Journal report on Karen McDougal and the National Enquirer's efforts to keep the story of her alleged affair with Mr. Trump a secret. NBC News correspondent Yasmine at the courthouse in Manhattan.

Also with me is Jeremy Salana, former assistant district attorney in Manhattan. So, Yasmin, let's start out with you. Obviously, this we've been waiting for the Hicks testimony for some Time. What were some of the notable moments that we saw in the courtroom today?

There were so many notable moments. And I think let's start with the prosecution because the prosecution kind of built a timeline for hooks. She really kind of connected the dots from runograph. We heard the testimony earlier on, testified earlier on to David Packer, obviously talking about Michael Cohen, talking about the knowledge of Daniels, Karen McDougal as well, beginning with the revelation that Access Hollywood take email directly to Ho Hicks in which she then went up to a couple floors higher in Trump Tower to talk about what the response should be.

As they were preparing for the debate just a couple of days later, they built a timeline as to a former president who was desperate to win election. Right. Someone who's concerned about the response. This Access Hollywood tape asking the question whether the former president was worried this was going to affect the election outcome, whether or not this was going to affect his female vote.

How Republicans responding to Access Hollywood tape. They had this rapid fire Q and A with opics to build this narrative of an individual, of a man, Donald Trump, running for president of the United States for the first time just a couple of days out from the November elections and desperate to win that election and worried about the fallout of something like the Access Hollywood tape being revealed. Then subsequently, as we well know, especially from David Pecker's testimony a couple of days earlier, which it was October 27th, 6th, when contact was first made between David Pecker, Michael Cohen, Davidson as well Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, attorneys in which subsequently that hush money payoff was put together. And then it was the defense's turn.

And there was a moment which you briefly touched on that was quite emotional for hopes and you have to understand hope Hicks has been with the Trump family essentially since 2014. She talked about how the Trump Organization, despite the fact that it was quote, unquote successful, as she put it, it was a small family business. Everybody reported to Donald Trump. She was 25, Ryan years years old when she first started working for Donald Trump.

She became a close advisor to the president of the United States in 2016 at a very young age. In 2022, after she testified about the event leading up to it on January 6, those those relationships soured with the Trump family. Subsequently, White's positioning had become emotional as testimony began with cross examination with former presidents of attorneys. And within that testimony and cross examination, it seems that the defense tried to kind of build this character of Donald Trump as a family man, someone who was concerned about the fallout of these allegations.

Being made by these women along with the release of Access Hollywood tape for Melania Trump concerned for his family, embarrassing his family and embarrassing his life. Cross examination, by the way, was incredibly short, Ryan. Just a couple of minutes, 25 minutes or so. So.

And now court is in recess until Monday, wrapping up three weeks so far of the Hutch Money trial. Ryan. Okay, thank you for that, Yasmin. Jeremy, let's go to you now.

From your perspective, how does Hope Hicks play into the prosecution's case? She did a solid job. Again, no solid witness for the prosecution. She establishes this crisis.

We heard that term, we heard that Yasmin said this was a tight family run organization. We also know that everything was dead to Donald Trump. There's a message sent. Donald Trump approved it.

We heard about the tweeting, how he's either from Donald Trump or Donald Trump's approval, how Donald Trump can multitask. There was so much going back to Donald Trump. Donald Trump asked for data because he wasn't sure we still had it. It was the white one.

So I think he just said it's connecting those dots and building upon that foundation that we started off with David Pecker and we're going to follow through and we're eventually going to get to Michael Cohen and we're going to try to take at the prosecution to win that event. Sounds about a lack of credibility and putting it all on his shoulders. So it's those building blocks hearing from home who are buying the people who are listening. She was testifying on a subpoena not because she wanted to be there, but because she had to be there.

And obviously she was one of the big star witnesses that we had anticipated. Her testimony was not done quite yet. But how important are the technical witnesses that we also heard from earlier today and late yesterday? Do they play just as important a role?

Well, they're necessary, sometimes mundane and boring. This is a law and order getting summed up an hour on tv. You know, when Donald Trump or any defendant does not stipulate to certain evidence coming in, you have to lay that foundation. So in the beginning of the trial, there's at one point Donald Trump didn't wait to cause his anti monkey rights and he wanted to be all sidebars and then he weighed that.

That's what happened. He laying the foundation. I should point out hope testimony is done at this point. I also want to talk to you about Donald Trump's backtracking.

He originally came out to the cameras and said that the gag order put him in a position where he couldn't even testify because it was so lim. Now he came out today and said actually no, I can't testify. I take it all back. I'm a win peak of the back and forth here with Trump on this.

You know, I can do so many words, disheartening, disappointing, tragic even that this man is doing, saying these things in this, in the courtroom, 100% he'll prove it guilty, proving guilty beyond reasonable doubt. But the weaponization outside the courtroom is just dismantling the criminal justice system for trusting it. And Blanchard's attorney, I get it, he's the boss. But you're the boss too, you're counsel.

I get it. There's an agenda because there's a campaign. But they have to reel him in for the sake of it. I hate to say it's a broadly for the sake of the nation because he's tearing things down and should not be tearing porn down and creating a false narrative.

And then finally just give us the overall grade of the job. You think that's been done by the district attorney's office up until this point and then the same for the defense? No, I think the district trade off is getting an A. Now whether they ultimately they meaning the prosecution going to establish for the jury that there's a second crime or the COVID up or the effort to commit another crime, well that's still yet to be seen.

It's really going that direction and the defense is working with what they can. You're working with people cooperating, you're working with people with agendas. There's only so much you can do for example with Cole Dicks when this is not necessarily adversarial witness and she's testifying credibly and there's only so much you can pull. They're working with what they can and certainly I think that's going to lead to Donald Trump testifying the defense.

Crazier things have happened and he's certainly done this before. We will see. Okay, Jeremy Slant, thank you so much wrapping up for us. We appreciate it.

Up next, more legal news this time, Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar has been indicted for allegedly accepting more than half a billion dollars in bribes from foreign entities. We have the details on the years long federal investigation next. You're watching MEET the. Welcome back.

We are following some breaking news this afternoon. The Justice Department has just announced an indictment of Congressman Henry Cuellar. The long time Texas Democrat and his wife are facing several charges including bribery, unlawful foreign influence and money laundering. Cuellar has denied any wrongdoing and says he'll continue to run for re election.

House Minority Leader Hucking Jeffries meanwhile, says that Cuer will leave a post from as the ranking member of the Homeland Security Operations Subcommittee. At this point, Jeffries is not calling on him to resign. Now prosecutors say that his wife accepted $600,000 in blind from two foreign entities in exchange for using his position to influence US foreign policy towards Azerbaijan. And BC's justice and intelligence correspondent Kalini drown out and I should point out we broke the story together.

So glad to make that clear and just break down for our viewers what Henry Cuerr and his wife are accused of doing. And kudos to you. Right. For making sure that NBC News was first to report this news.

Yeah. So what the diamond says is that the congressman and his wife accepted over a decade nearly $600,000 in bribes. And it says these bribes were laundered through what called sham contracts paid to shell companies controlled by the congressman's wife but said she did little to no work for those companies. But instead it says that he agreed to take official action to help both entities that paid in this Azerbaijan controlled oil company and then a bank, foreign owned bank located in Mexico City.

And the Azerbaijan party is really interesting because they have a very significant foreign policy agenda in Washington. They're in a war with Armenia. They expelled 100,000 Armenians from a disputed enclave. And so they have some goals that they're trying to achieve in Washington, the Biden administration.

And this indictment says that Henry Cuellar has been helping them all along. Now Cuellar protested innocence. He said that he got Ethics committee opinions that cleared the work that his he says he's going to run for reelection. And his lawyer says that the Justice Department is making leaks of logic here and finding quid pro quos where none exist.

Right. And Ken, it's taken a while. Right. This investigation began more than two years ago.

We know there was an FBI raid on his office and home. Why did it take so long to secure this indictment? You know, we don't know the details. It's a secret process.

Grand jury investigations are among the most secret things the government does. But it's not uncommon for political corruption cases to take a long time. And in this case the FBI we see from the they have text messages and other evidence from the Azerbaijan Hun side which can be, you know, can take an extensive, extensive evidence gathering process. And it's worth noting, Orion, this is the second lawmaker in a year, Robert Menendez being the first under Menendez to be charged with essentially selling their office office to take action on behalf of a foreign government.

Bribery allegations against members of Congress, you know, are fairly common, sadly. But this takes it to another level. This is congressman accused of essentially helping foreign governments manipulate American foreign policy. It doesn't get more serious than that.

Also worth pointing out both those two congressmen, Democrats, and they were indicted by a Biden Justice Department. Thank you so much for that. We appreciate it. After the break inside former President Trump's quiet search for a running mate as many of the top contenders head down to Florida for a major donor retreat this weekend.

Our panel's next. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. We are just about six months to election Day and there's just one major blank space left on the presidential ballot.

Donald Trump's running mate. And at an event this weekend, the veep stakes could start kicking into high gear. The RNC's spring donor retreat is at Trump's Mar A Lago compound and it will feature a number of potential VP hopefuls such as Senators Marco Rubio, J.D. vance and Tim Scott, Governors Doug Burgum and Kristi Noem, House members Elisa Fonick and Byron Donalds, and former 2024 presidential candidate Vic Ramaswamy.

Mic's College report that Mr. Trump's team appears in no rush. They have yet to move past the early stages of vetting potential running mates and top contenders have not yet even received detailed questionnaires. Joining me on set right now is Ron Holden.

She's a senior reporter for the Washington Post, former New York Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley and Republican strategist Alan Trover, who recently worked for Doug Burgundian campaign. He'll give us some inside access to the VP stakes, the VP pick, that's really the most direct way that a presidential nominee can talk about what he thinks about his campaign, make a big statement, make a big splash. What do you think Trump's looking for his VP pick? You know, I don't know.

I think we're all waiting to find out. And you know, honestly, the list of names that you just said, we've all been looking at them. But it really could be an 11 hour twist, you know, you just don't know. And this is such an atypical, to say the least, atypical election cycle that I'm left wondering if whomever he picks, is that going to help move the needle?

It's going to be such a slim amount of the electorate who haven't made up their mind. So will anyone really change their mind on Trump if therefore against him at that point in 2016, he picked my pence as a way to try and show up his support with conservative Republicans, religious conservatives in particular. Is there a group that he needs to kind of check that box with this time around? Well, that's the thing we've been reporting on.

Maybe it might be African Americans. So he might look forward to Senator Scott or Byron Donalds or it might be a woman to sort of shore up support with suburban women, especially in the wake of Doves decision. Again, I don't know if we know just yet and I know we heard that it might be July, it might be very close to the RNC convention where he'll announce this. It almost sounds like me reading the names.

I was thinking this almost sounds like the Apprentice a little bit. You know, this cast coming to Mar a Lago and presenting their pitch. They just all throw in a boardroom and do that. Right.

I'm sure that a lot of people would watch. So Lance Trump's advisors have told us not to read in anything. Don't believe any of the reporting. We won't know until the former president makes his pick.

But there's obviously a lot of different contrad different things that these candidates bring to the table, including your old boss Doug Burgum who's on this list. He brings self funding element to the table that some of these other candidates wouldn't be able to do. Do you think that's one of the pitches he's making to the Trump campaign? Well, I think having worked with Doug Burgum and spent a lot of time in airplane with him in a car and traversing New Hampshire and Iowa, I can tell he's one of the most decent, nonstop people I had pleasure working with that work for a lot of politicians in the business.

When he tells you he's all in because he believes Trump is the right director for this country, you can take it to the bank. And I'll be honest with you, I don't think he spends a lot of time knowing Doug ruminating on this parliament that we love to talk about here inside the way. That's just not who he is. Look, he's all in for Trump.

He's going to do whatever he has to do. He's at Mar a Lago this weekend. He's going to be in North Carolina in a couple weeks. I think that's what you're going to see him doing over the course of the next couple weeks.

Okay. So you know, Joe, we're now going to talk about the problems Democrats are facing Right now with Henry Cuellar in Texas. This is a, you know, investigation that's been looming over him for some time. It's now reached the indictment stage.

He says he's not going anywhere. But this is a very pivotal seat for Democrats, one that he's been able to hold because he trends a bit more moderate than some other Democrats, especially in a state like Texas. How worried should Democrats be about what he's facing right now? First, I'll just say I think that humiliating people down in Mar a Lago and I think you're right in terms of the Apprentice analogy, that's very, very good.

Look, you know, I've known Henry for about 20 years. He is someone who can win that seat, as you mentioned, because of his more conservative end. He, I think the only pro life member of Congress on the Democratic side down today was able to narrowly win by a primary with the investigation over his head. It's now an indictment which is completely different.

I think kicking Jeffrey set the right tone. You know, every person in America is entitled to presumption of innocence. You know, but one thing I think it does do positively for Democrats is that under a Democratic administration when President Trump, President Trump says it's all corrupt and all the way up to Republicans, they're actually waiting for a Democrat here and a pivotal Democrat in an important state like Texas. I think it really shows the independence of the Justice Department.

It seems that this is a shift, right, that politicians now instead of resigning, trying to go away quietly, they stay and fight. Right. Is this the way it's going to be going forward? Yeah.

That shocked me too because Cuellar put out his statement saying my wife and I are innocent of charges before we knew what charges were today. So it seems like he is ready to fight this. It does seem like that's the post that we see from a lot of politicians, Donald Trump being one of them and so many others who have had these issues come to the forefront while they are currently holding a seat in office. We'll see how this affects Cuellar's race.

He is not, he is going to be the Democratic nominee for now for his seat. But you know, that has been a closely watched toss up district for a while now and very, very well could be a Republican pickup. Does it make it more difficult for Republicans to make this argument that they're just talking about a two tiered justice system when Democratic sitting Democratic politicians are also being indicted? Well, look, when I see we talked about this, I think before the break, when I see sham companies, gold bars and Bob Mendez's house.

I mean you run for Congress, the pay structure is pretty well set out for you. What it is, if you want to get into a different line work, why not find a different line work? What are these guys doing? That's what I don't know in the first place.

That's my question as the two year justice system. I don't know. I think Donald Trump's got a pretty about microphone on this and I think this newer cases, he is having a lot of luck in terms of colonization with the polling south there right now. So far he's having a lot on the front.

Okay, let's talk now about the issue of abortion in Ryan. The Biden campaign is out with new ad targeting Latino voters in battleground states. On this particular show, we're gonna play a short clip of that. I'm a Marine, I served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I know what tough is. And a guy like Donald Trump that attacks women, takes away their freedom and brags about it, that's not tough. If he wants to take any more freedoms away from my three daughters, you'll have to come through me first. So it's probably not surprising that they're using abortion as an issue, but targeting Latino voters in particular, many Latino voters are Catholic.

That's not monolith by any stretch of the imagination. What do you think is behind this strategy specifically targeting Latino voters? Unfortunately, I think this is a part of a larger strategy by the Biden campaign where they're acknowledging that the Latino vote will be a part of this vote in November. You're right.

That the Biden administration announced they're going to be spending a lot of money on Hispanic in Hispanic areas, on radio ads, TV ads, to talk to specifically Latino men and see if this is an issue for you as well. It probably points the fact that they're looking at Florida as more in play than ever before because of their recent abortion ban that just took effect a few days ago. Arizona is another battleground. It's also having a local issue with the abortion issue.

So it looks as if Democrats and Biden are saying, look, we've got to go everywhere at this point and talk to everyone. Is that from our strategy joke specifically starting Latinos? I do think it is. I think when you think you're right about Florida in particular, where there will be a ballot initiative on abortion in that state as well as other states that really aren't in competition like South Dakota, but it could have an impact.

We'll see what happens. I do think this is clearly towards Latinos or every one of the battleground stakes. And that's why I think it's also important. I agree.

I don't necessarily have all of the VP candidates in place yet. I think one of the signing factors will be who could bring a Florida, who can bring a Pennsylvania, who can help me in a particular state with a well known name. I think that's also in place still. But I still think this is a real critical role.

I think Florida, maybe it starts to be in play. I find it interesting though with the Latino vote. To me, when I look at this in the actions, it tells me how much struggling the president is doing with the Latino vote. The fact that they have to go out and spend money to try to court these voters shows you how far he's fallen with the Latino vote.

I will say one thing, though. The president has the Latino unemployment. Unemployment is at record lows. It has been sustained under the presidency.

And comparing to President Trump who wants to put them in concentration camps and ship them all back to central South America, that's the comparison, I think so much there being here. We appreciate it. Still to come, a green New Deal of sorts. As President Biden, I said significant shift in marijuana restrictions.

I'll talk to a House Democrat who've been leading the charge on this issue for decades who says it's yes, I'm saying high time for cannabis reform. That's after the break. You're watching with the PRESS now. Welcome back.

We got some big news from earlier this week. Sources tell NDC News that the Biden administration plans to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug like heroin and LSD to a Schedule 3 drug like Tylenol with codeine and steroids. The rescheduling is the first time the federal government has acknowledged potential medical benefits of cannabis. The move will take months to take effect once the government officially announces it.

And it's still well short of federal legalization, which still has high level of support. According to a recent pupil, roughly 9 in 10Americans say that marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use. 24 states as well as the District of Columbia have legalized small amounts of marijuana for recreational use. Join me to talk more about this is Oregon Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who's of course a longtime leading voice for cannabis reform in Congress.

Congressman, thank you so much for being here. This is something that you've been pushing for for decades. What do you know about what the administration's planning and what do you think about this rescheduling move? Is it the smart decision at this particular time, I think it's very consequential, as you say.

I've been working on this for 50 years. I have never been more pleased in terms of a single decision that the Pentagon has done. By moving to schedule three, it sends a signal that the lie that somehow cannabis doesn't have medicinal properties is just simply that it's not true. By changing it to schedule three, it will take tens of thousands of cannabis businesses across the country and make them profitable overnight.

Because right now most of them cannot fully deduct their business expenses. Now they can. It changes the economics fundamentally. It also is going to be a signal in areas like medical research.

It'll help smooth that path. I could not be more pleased and I think, I hope that the administration will own it and accelerate it because this is something that's good for America and candidly, it's good politically for the administration. So talk more about that. Do you think that this is the first stage?

Is it your belief that they may even be considering outright legalization, something you've also been pushing? House in we see that. Well, I think this is going to unleash a set of actions that's going to build the momentum. There is legislation in the Senate, the Safe Banking act, that is teed up, ready to go if they allow that on the floor of the Senate.

This, mind you, has passed the House seven times. That takes care of an opportunity to be able to have state legal cannabis companies, to have banking services. I mean, right now there are people carrying duffel bags full of $20 bills to pay their taxes. That's insane and it's dangerous.

And I think this is another domino that can fall very quickly. When this momentum builds, I think we're going to see the public awareness, we're going to see the political impact. I mean, it's no secret, if it weren't for the cannabis issue, Senate Democrats would not be in charge. But John Fetterman embraced legalization throughout his career, and it's clear that that was a deciding effort.

In a close race for Senate. Cannabis pulled younger progressive voters to the polls in Arizona and gave a 30,000 vote victory after it passed the marijuana initiative by a 60, 40 margin. People understand the politics. No politician has ever been punished for embracing marijuana reform.

And we're about to see this play out in spades. And this is something that we've seen a degree of voter apathy with young voters in particular right now. There's obviously a number of things on the world stage that they're Concerned about is this a way to combat that and energize young voters to get to the polls this fall? Well, the failed war on drugs destroyed the lives of a million young African American men.

It has enabled people to have their criminal records otherwise complicate their lives. This is something that is now supported by 70% of all voters, a majority of Republicans. And this is something that I think will energize not just young people, but people, people of all ages are using medical cannabis. It is going to unlock the economics.

It's a $40 billion a year business now and that's just state legal. If we can squeeze out the black market, it's almost a half million people work there. It continues to build that momentum and it's something that's broadly popular. So let's change here.

So if we can. Now, Congressman and I want to talk about the protests that we're seeing on college campuses around the country, including right near Portland State University in Oregon. When you see these scenes from college campuses, what's your response to what is going on, both from the administration's perspective and from the perspective of the people protesting? Well, I fully understand the frustration with the war in Gaza.

What's going on there with the Netanyahu government. I think borders on war crimes. They're just misguided and wrong. I understand that frustration.

But people standing up, as we've seen, to make sure that it doesn't trample on the rights, first of all, the rest of the students to be able to get an education and there are other people who have different views. Being able to acknowledge that and work with it is absolutely essential. And I'm hopeful that we can calm this down a little bit. I hope that we're going to see a ceasefire move forward in Gaza and I'm hopeful that we're able to listen to the pain and anguish that is evidenced by so many, but not devolve into violence and disruption.

I feel like I've admit, sir, but you are retiring at the end of term, single out in Congress, he told an Oregon publication at the end of last year. I'm not certain that two more years in Congress in this climate is the best way to deal with the things that I care about. What do you mean by that? If Congress were less toxic, would you still be running?

Well, there's so much time and energy that's taken up on things that just simply don't matter. It shouldn't have been that hard to be able to get the aid to Ukraine. I think as a civilian, I can work on things I care about like cannabis reform and animal welfare and bicycles and communities without being caught up in the day to day politics. I love the institution.

I'm really frustrated by what it's become. Okay. Congressman Earl Minau, we know you buy that bicycle pin, sir. We will miss you when you leave the halls of Capitol Hill.

But we appreciate you being with us today. I appreciate it so much. Thanks. Happy to do it.

And we'll be back Monday with more MEET THE PRESS now. But don't forget yet, if it's Sunday, it's MEET THE Press on your local NBC News station. Kristen will have exclusive interviews with Senators Tim Scott and Mark Kelly, plus Cindy McCain. But the news right now continues with Tom Costello, who is in for Hallie Jackson right now.

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