If it's Wednesday. President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are meeting in a rare face to face summit right now as the two world leaders try to turn down the temperature amid multiple foreign wars and a global fight for influence. Plus, the Israeli military conducts what it's calling a targeted operation against Hamas at Gaza City's main hospital after the US Confirms it has intelligence that the hospital is being used as a command and control center, all while a humanitarian crisis rages on. And Senator Manchin speaks out.
The West Virginia Democrat sits down with our own Kristen Rucker for a wide ranging interview on a potential run for president, third party threats and the future of the president and his party. Welcome to be the Press now. I'm Derek Hake reporting in Washington on a critical day for the White House. Right now, President Biden is meeting with Chinese President Xi at a high stakes summit in California as the two leaders seek to stabilize rising tensions economically and militarily.
Much more on that meeting and what we heard from both leaders this afternoon. But we begin with breaking news on the Israel Hamas war as the Israeli military confirms it's conducting a quote, targeting operation against Hamas inside the beleaguered Al Shifa hospital complex, the largest in the Gaza Strip, raising fears for patients and staff still trapped in the medical facility. Israel says it entered the Al Shiffa complex early this morning. And the military has released this video of an IDF spokesman walking through the building through a building in the complex.
Israeli officials say they killed a number of Hamas members as they entered the hospital complex and they say they found evidence of a Hamas command center, including military equipment. NBC is unable to independently verify those claims or what was found in the hospital. We'll speak with an IDF official in just a moment. Israeli forces also released footage of its soldiers apparently in the altitude courtyard carrying boxes of medical supplies.
The director of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip confirmed Israel's presence saying six hundred and fifty patients along with 400 medical staff and 200 displaced Gazans remain in the hospital. And the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry released a video of what they say is inside the besieged medical complex appearing to show doctors moving patients on stretchers through smoke and dust filled hallways. NBC News does not independently confirm the details of these videos at this point. The U.S.
national Security Council reacted to the operation at Al Shifa telling NBC News, quote, we do not support striking the hospital from the air and we don't want to see a firefight in the hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people trying to get medical care they deserve are caught in the crossfire, it all comes as a senior advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu said there had been no firefights inside the hospital itself. I can tell you, so far inside the hospital, there have not been firefights between our forces and the terrorists. We have discovered weapons and other things. We entered the hospital on the basis of actionable intelligence.
Hamas, as you know, and as has been announced by the administration in Washington, by the White House and the Pentagon, Hamas uses the hospital as a shield for its military machine. And what we're trying to do is deal with those Hamas targets and safeguard, of course, the civilians who are using hospitals. Meanwhile, the White House is confirming it has its own intelligence supporting Israel's claims, claims that Hamas uses hospitals, including Al Shifa, and tunnels underneath them, to support their military operations and to hold hostages. All this as Israel's broader military operation in response to last month's Hamas terror attack continues, with Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking to troops in Israel, lauding their efforts and pledging to continue what he called Israel's two eliminating Hamas and bringing hostages home, saying, quote, there is no place in Gaza we will not reach.
Joining now From Israel is NBC's Aaron Glachlfan in Tel Aviv. And, Aaron, we know Israeli troops are inside the Al Shifa hospital, but what else do we know about what's going on inside that hospital complex? Well, what we can piece together at this point, Garrett, is limited. It's very difficult to reach anyone inside of Al Shifa hospital.
We've been trying all day. In just the last few hours, we were finally able to connect to the head of the Al Shifa's burn unit. But he said that he was only able to paint a limited picture because he is constrained to the main surgical building in the Al Shifa complex. He said that he can't leave the building.
He said he's limited in terms of his movements because there are Israeli drones in the area, Israeli snipers surrounding the building. He can't get out. And also, communication within the building is limited because the landlines within the hospital aren't working. They have limited cell service, and they have no Internet.
So what he describes in terms of this raid is, last night at 11pm, a rocket, he says, hit the fourth floor of the main surgical building. He said that luckily none of the patients were injured as a result of that rocket fire, but everyone was terrified. And then at 1 in the morning, the Israeli military contacted the director of the hospital to notify them of their intention to enter the hospital. Take a listen to what he had to say, everyone felt really terrified and scary of what's happening there.
And we didn't know why this happening. You know, imagine all kinds of weapons used. The tanks are all around the hospital, which started like a day ago. So they all around the hospital.
The snipers are all around the hospital. At 1 o' clock early morning, they called the administration and told them they are planning to go into the hospital and to get into the building. And there are cooperation between them. They have other people now.
The Israeli military, he says, asked the director of the hospital to accompany them to tour the basement. The director then asked for the presence of the ICRC and the United nations to facilitate that search. The Israeli military declines and then searched the basement anyway and then also removed some patients from an adjacent dialysis center, bringing those patients out of the hospital. He said in total he saw 10 Israeli military soldiers inside the hospital itself.
And he says that it's not clear to him if they're still inside of this hospital. Aaron, Israel also said it will allow UN Aid trucks to refuel at the Rafah crossing today. What do we know about the latest on the distribution of aid into Gaza Strip? Yeah, well, the fuel, the fuel situation inside of the Gaza Strip right now is desperate, according to any number of humanitarian organizations.
Today the United nations confirmed that 20,000 liters of fuel were allowed to go through the Rafah crossing, But that is only 9% of the overall needs within the Gaza Strip. They said that there is a serious lack of water, according to the United nations, clean water. Only 70% of Palestinians living in Gaza right now do not have access to clean water because that fuel is needed to power the desalination plants. Also the hospitals relying on that fuel.
And because Israeli military is limiting the fuel that 20,000 liters that they did allow into the Strip today just to aid distribution, those other needs simply aren't being met. And humanitarian organizations say the situation there in Gaza is approaching, quote, catastrophe. All right, Aaron Laughlin, thank you for reporting and please stay safe. Joining me now is Lieutenant Colonel Amnon Scheffler.
He's a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces. Lt. Col. Adiyaf said this afternoon that the operation at Al Shifa was still ongoing.
The first question is, is that still the case? And what degree of control does Israel now have over the hospital complex itself? Gary, thank you for having me. And good evening.
We are acting inside the hospital in a very precise way, based on intelligence in a very small part of the hospital where we have already found clear evidence of Hamas using it like they use other civilian infrastructure. They use schools and UN installations. And also the hospitals like we've seen in Langisi Hospital, in Ankut Hospital, and now also in Al Shifa Hospital. This is, of course, a war crime and sickening behavior to use the ill and the patients and the staff human shields.
And that is why we need to meet the goal that we have put forward to dismantle Hamas so that we can't carry out these heinous acts again and again. Can you talk a little bit more specifically about what kind of evidence you found and whether that evidence points to hostages being held at any point in hospital as well? So we found in the last few days in different hospitals, I mentioned specifically that MDC hospital where we saw that potentially hostages were held. We've been saying for weeks asking civilians from the northern part of the Gaza Strip to move to the southern part where it's safer, and similarly also from these hospitals that are used as the basis for Hamas to carry out its terrorist activity.
But I was asking about Al Sifa specifically. So that's. So what we found today is evidence that they used that in the MRI room. We found AK47s and other weapons and other equipment of military use, and also the other quarters in the same facility within the hospital.
And we're continuously acting to find more. What I was saying is that for weeks we've been asking the hospital and civilians in the region to move to a safer area. And that's why we also know that Hamas is already taking whatever it could out of those areas. And still we need to go after wherever they are acting and wherever they can be acting in order to dismantle it.
And more importantly also is to bring our hostages home. That 239 Israelis and other nationalities, that this is the day 40, that they're still held hostages in Gaza. I want to talk about the hostages in one second. I have one more question about the hospital specifically.
When this target operation is over, is the goal for that hospital to continue to be operational or to be operational again? I guess, depending on how bad you think the situation got there. Or are you trying to get folks out of there to other facilities? How will that be handled?
Generally, we're trying in the best ways to facilitate and to allow humanitarian needs to be met. We're doing it specifically within the hospital. We offer fuel to the hospital, putting our officers and soldiers in risk, bringing fuel to the hospital. We brought this morning incubators so that we can help out with that.
We have said that specifically the eastern part of the hospital will continuously be an area that people can evacuate from. We are, as mentioned also before giving fuel to ULA like we did today in fasting. And we're also inviting any international aid that can come and build field hospitals in the southern part of Gaza and transfer it in any way that we can help the innocent people that are in Gaza. Our war is not with the Palestinians in Gaza.
Our war is with Hamas that launched this war on the 7th of October in horrific massacre that killed over 1,200 people and kidnapped 239 that are still being held hostage in Gaza. In the little bit of time I have left on the issue of the hostages, a diplomat that spoke to NBC News talk about this idea that if Hamas is pushed too far, they may feel like there's nothing left to lose. How do you balance the military activities of the IDF in the Gaza Strip with searching for these hostages and not wanting to potentially take any action that might negatively affect the negotiations that are going on for the hostages releases? We have two clear goals for this war.
One is to dismantle Hamas and second is to bring back the hostages home, safely home. We're doing this in all different ways. We're doing this militarily, diplomatically, intelligence wise, in any way that we can in order to reach these goals. I must remind all the safest and the easiest way for these hostages to get back home is for Hamas to release them.
And we expect the international arena and anyone who plan to continue pressure Hamas to doing so. All right, Lieutenant Colonel Schaeffer, thank you very much for your time. Thank you. And as we mentioned, President Biden is currently meeting with Chinese President Xi in the San Francisco Bay Area on the sidelines of this international economic summit with Asian Pacific leaders.
That high stakes meeting, which is now its second hour, is the first time these two leaders have met, let alone talked in a year. And in the course of that year, relations between Washington and Beijing have come under immense strain, including the US Shooting down that Chinese spy balloon earlier this year and multiple close encounters between the US And Chinese militaries in the South China Sea. Here's some of what the two leaders had to say at the start of this meeting. Mr.
President, we know each other for a long time. We haven't always agreed which one's not surprised, I mean. But our meetings have always been candid, straightforward, and I value our conversation because I think it's paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunications. For two Large countries like China and the United States turning their back on each other is not an option.
It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other. And conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides. For more on what we can expect at that meeting, I'm joined now by Monica Alba in San Francisco and Bonnie Lin, director of the China Power Project at the center for Strategic and International Studies. Monica, how will the White House judge if these meetings have been successful?
Are there deliverables that we expect to see? A couple there and the president actually put out a baseline for how he views success in this meeting yesterday. And there are a couple of areas probably near the top of the list would be the resumption of military to military communications. That's something that totally broke down after then Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan more than a year ago.
And that is something that both sides have likely agreed up at this point, that some of the close calls in recent months when we're talking about the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the fact that these military leaders can't pick up the phone and talk to one another is a real concern. Perhaps when this was most problematic was, of course, when the US Shot down that Chinese spy balloon in February of this year. So reestablishing those kinds of communication channels is paramount. And you saw there from those remarks from both leaders that there could be, quote, unbearable consequences if some kind of a smaller skirmish or issue mounted to something larger in the form of any kind of military conflict.
They don't want to let that get to that point. So reestablishing those kinds of military communications is a real key deliverable that they expect to have come out of this. And then there are some other more obvious areas of cooperation. Potentially there could be a joint working group on addressing fentanyl, specifically the fact that these chemical companies in China produce some of the drugs that then go to Mexico are mixed with other substances which become fentanyl laced, other kinds of drugs and opioids that are then smuggled into the United States.
That's an area where I think we can also see some kind of potential progress. But there are plenty of other very thorny, intractable issues on the agenda that there might not be real progress. But overall, the US will say the fact that these two leaders are sitting down face to face having these conversations is a real significant moment in this diplomatic relationship that really has had a lot of issues in the last year, a lot of issues and a lot of behind the scenes maneuvering to even get to this point. Monica.
Thank you, Bonnie. You just remark outlined some of the expected deliverables here, including this possible announcement on fentanyl. I was in a press conference with Chuck Schumer who seemed to suggest that he thought that was a sort of definite thing that was going to come out of this. But this does kind of feel like low hanging fruit.
You don't talk for a year. The idea that you might continue talking after you talk is pretty basic, right? That's right. So.
So aside from fentanyl mill, another we have seen have seen is cooperation on climate change, particular agreement on both sides to invest more renewable energy. I do think that though, that neither side is going into this meeting expecting major outcomes. Part of it is that both sides want to stabilize relations as we may be moving into a relatively potentially Rocky year in 2024. 2024, we are expecting results of Taiwan's next presidential elections in January.
And depending on how the election pans out to be, it could be one in which Beijing might want to, might feel like it needs to escalate against Taiwan. We're also expecting the US presidential election 2024 to potentially introduce more uncertainty in US China relations. I think China's fully expecting that as US presidential election heats up, that President Biden as well as Republican leaders will potentially embrace more rhetoric that is about competition with China. And China is not going to like that at all.
China has some unsteadiness in its own government too. I mean, they don't have a defense minister right now. The Chinese economy has been weaker than it has been traditionally. Talk a little about the position Xi finds himself in domestically coming into this meeting.
What are the Chinese looking for out of it? Sure. So I think yesterday President Biden may have said, I don't have the exact quote, that China does face some difficulties at home. Exactly.
Like you mentioned, economically, China is experiencing a number of challenges, including difficulty attracting foreign investment. We are seeing record rates of youth unemployment. At the same time, on the foreign policy side, China recognizes that some of its activities on his periphery as well as with other countries, have led to pushback. So she is coming.
Xi Jinping is coming to this meeting expecting that the optics will look very good for him. I think one of the reasons why he is interested in meeting with CEOs after the meeting with President Biden is, for example, to make the pitch to US Corporate leaders, hey, invest in China. So hopefully he will, he hopes to leave this meeting in a better position that he came than he had when he came to these meetings in the United States. You mentioned Ford affairs.
Obviously, there are two wars going on right now in which Iran is kind of a major figure behind the scenes. The Chinese have some influence with Iran. Is that another area we might expect to see the president and Xi discuss the Chinese using their influence on Iran? I think definitely that will be a topic that President Biden and his people mentioned to the Chinese.
I doubt we will see significant movement there just because China, first of all, has been very reluctant to really step up in the Middle Middle east, but also because I don't think the Chinese believe that they actually have that much leverage over Iran, most of their leverage on the economic side. And they don't want the Chinese don't want to present themselves to be similar to the United States in the Middle east in terms of using its leverage to tell Iran what to do. I think in some ways that is a little bit irresponsible of China, but that is the how they view their constraints in the Middle East. Very interesting stuff.
Ani Lin, thank you very much for sharing your expertise with us. Thank you. And coming up, taking on Trump, President Biden slams his likely 2024 rival after former President Trump compared his political opponents to vermin who posed threats within the country. Plus, in the clear, the Senate is set to vote tonight on a short term plan to fund the government.
With just two days to go until the deadline, we're live on a Hill and a busy day for Congress next. You're WATCHING ME, the press. Now we'll go back on what has also been a busy day on Capitol Hill. In the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office signaled this afternoon that they had secured an agreement to vote tonight on that stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown which passed in the House late yesterday.
And over on the House side, FBI Director Chris Wray warned lawmakers that violence in the Middle east is raising concerns about potential attacks on the US during hearing on threats to homeland security. In a year where the terrorism threat was already elevated, the ongoing war in the Middle east has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level. Since October 7th, we've seen a rogue's gallery of foreign terrorist organizations call for attacks against Americans and our allies. My colleague Ryan Nobles joins me now from Capitol Hill.
These worldwide threats earrings are always fascinating. What was the biggest takeaway from today's edition? You know, Garrett, there's no doubt that the two secretaries that were part of this, Secretary Marcus from the Department of Homeland Security and the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, wanted to really make it clear to these members of Congress that we're living in a very scary time. There's a real possibility that something could happen as relates to several of the conflicts around the world, but some of that could end up right here in the United States.
But to be honest with you, that did not seem at all to be the focus of many of the Republicans that participated in this hearing. Instead, they chose to use it as an opportunity to try and express some sort of political vendetta. Many of them spending time talking about the prosecution of the January 6th defendants, suggesting wild conspiracy theories about the federal government's involvement in the January 6 attacks, which has been largely discredited and not really focused, focusing on the substance of what Director Ray and Director and Secretary Marcus were there to do. So there was certainly a lot that they talked about that was of the substance that was very important.
But it's also an important reminder that there are many that are focused on a lot of things that in the grand scheme of things do not appear to be all that important. House Hearing Light on substance Bring me my fainting couch, Ryan. I can smell the jet fumes from here. Any word on when the Senate will vote on the CR and get out of town?
Yeah. So we know that both the Republicans and the Democrats have done a process called hotlining. When they send out the potential piece of legislation to be voted on to give sense of where things stand, that's usually the last step before they actually bring something to the floor and vote on it. It does appear, because they're going to vote on an amendment by Senator Rand Paul in exchange for a time agreement that will allow them to speed that process up and doing as late as tonight.
To answer your question specifically, I cannot. We don't know exactly when that is going to happen. Now. We're in a bit of holding pattern now waiting to see that process played out.
I guess the county votes on this hotline to see if there are any issues in passing this swiftly. So the vibes we're getting is that we should still expect it tonight. The exact timing of it though is still up in the air. It wouldn't be a possible shutdown without a possible last minute Rand Paul storyline.
Really quick, we are waiting on a ethics report of George Santos that's supposed to come out before you end this week. Any news on when we might see that or what might be in it? I mean it could come at any time. We could drop tonight, it could drop tomorrow, maybe even Friday.
But we didn't learn something very significant about it today, Garrett, and that is that the chairman of the committee telling us, Congressman Michael Gass, that there will not be a specific recommendation from the Ethics Committee as to how to handle the information that they've uncovered into their investigation into George Santos. It's not uncommon for the Ethics Committee to release a report and then say this person should be censored, this person should be expelled, this person should receive no punishment. They are not going to do that this time around, which leaves open a wide range of possibilities as to how Congress could potentially handle this specific ethics report. Keep in mind that gaggle of New York Republicans who've been calling for his expulsion for a long time are only going to make their voices louder once this report comes out.
So we'll have to see how Speaker Johnson handles this once we actually see the report. The congressional choose your own adventure in December, probably when they're fully back. Ryan, thank you for your reporting. And up next, Senator Joe Manchin meets the press.
The West Virginia Democrat sits down for a wide ranging interview with our very own Kristen Welker as he weighs a potential presidential bid after announcing his retirement from the Senate. Kristen will be here to break down the biggest moments and what they mean. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back.
MEET THE PRESS moderator Chrissy Walker sat down today with a lawmaker that a lot of people have questions for right now, West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. Manchin, of course, recently announced he's not running for Senate again next year, leaving the door open for a presidential run. And he isn't being shy about his criticism of President Biden. Chris impressed him on that potential run.
Are you seriously contemplating a run for the White House? Here's what I'm seriously contemplating. And I've said this very clearly, but people always want to say, well, are you going to run? I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure, immobilize the moderate, sensible, common sense middle.
That could be a center left, center right. So it could be a person who's involved in the Randall Party forever. But they basically said, well, you know our Democrat friends over here, the old blue dog Democrats, the middle's gone. There's not many of us interest left.
And if I can reinvigorate that. And I said I will do everything I possibly can. I'm totally, absolutely scared to death that Donald Trump would become president again. I think we will lose democracies.
We need to know it. And my reason for saying that you can't normalize this visceral hatred. Calling people names and attacking people. You can't basically think the only fair election is the one you win.
And the only laws pertain to everybody but you. That's not the country we are. That's not how we became the country. And I'm afraid that Joe Biden's been pushed too far to the left.
Can he come back? We'll see. But the bottom line is that's not the Joe Biden we thought was being elected to go that far left. Just to clarify, just to put my point, but are you considering running for Christ?
I will do anything I can to help my country. Is that yes. And you're saying, does that mean you would consider. Absolutely.
Every American should consider if they're in a position to help save the country. I think we're on the wrong course. So I will do everything possible. You said you don't think you would be a spoiler.
If you look at the polls, it shows that a third party candidate would take support away from President Biden. What do you say to those who say you would be a spoiler? I've never been a sport in my life of anything. I would never be a spoiler.
Now everyone's saying this one is spoiling. Tip the scales one way or the other. Okay. You have basically Ross Perot.
Who would have predicted that Ross Perot would have elected Bill Clinton? I don't think so. Who would have predicted that Bobby Kennedy, now with his support, would tip the scales for Donald Trump or hurt Donald Trump? I'm sorry.
And tip his skills to Joe Biden since he basically left the Democratic Party? I don't. You know, to predict these things. As you sit here today, do you think President Biden and Vice President Harris are the strongest ticket to represent the democratic party in 2024?
Not in the centrist part. No, I don't. And they know how I feel. This is not.
I do not believe that they are basically where Joe Biden has come from. And just go back to the campaign. He's been here for long. He understands the system.
And I think he's a good man. And we have good conversations. We disagree. You're going too far left.
I can't go there. Do you think he should run for reelection? That's what he make that decision. I'm not gonna make anybody's decision for him.
You heard mentioned say that he won't be a spoiler for President Biden. But he also did not hold back on his fears about what second Donald Trump term in the White House would mean for the country. What would a second Trump presidency mean to the country? I know I can speak for myself, okay, Taking that type of visceral approach to everything that's sacred, everything that's amazed.
We're not perfect. The Constitution is a more perfect. We're trying to be more perfect. And we've been trying for a long time.
This takes it to another level to just destroys everything that we built to now. And I'm just scared to death that would basically, as we know democracy, you can't publicly tell someone that if I get reelected, I'll use the power of my office for revenge. And joining now is the moderator of Meet the Press, also the regular host of this program, Kristen Welker. Kristen, you spent a lot of time with Senator Manchin today.
What sense did you get about where his head is on this? Is his heart in the idea of running for president? Like, how does he really see his political future? It's such a great question.
I don't think his heart is in it yet. I think he is in a listening and contemplating moment. You heard him there that, yes, he's thinking about it. I think what he's doing is traveling around the country, talking to people, listening to people.
He doesn't think there is enough focus on the center of the country. He's concerned about the two extremes of each party. And essentially his message is that the middle is getting lost. And so I think he's trying to gauge how much energy and enthusiasm there would be for a third party candidate and whether that's realistic.
Obviously, recent history shows that third party candidates don't do too well and they're not good for incumbents. That's exactly right. They're not good for incumbents. It was notable that he pushed back so forcefully on the idea that he would potentially be a spoiler.
But I did drill down on him, or I tried to Garrett, on the ways in which he thinks that President Biden has moved too far left. Here's what you have to say. You have said he goes too far left. What makes you say that?
What specific policy? Well, basically, because it's to the point now we want to bring everything back to America, all the building blocks now, whether it be electric vehicles, things of that sort, that's fine. Let's make sure that we can support ourselves. And doing it, we have, you know, we're producing more energy today than we ever have.
You don't hear this administration talking about energy security. We're producing 4.6 billion barrels of oil, 37 cubic feet of gas, and Also, we're doing more wind and solar. You can walk and chew down the Americas. United States.
America. Well, that's what I was gonna ask you. The US did have its best drilling month of the year. Does the president deserve some credit for that?
Well, yeah, they had to let it happen because we forcing the bill, we wrote the bill to where you have to have a balanced approach. You never hear administration talking about energy security. You never hear the administration talking about we pay down $230 billion of debt to get our debts running wild at 33.7 trillion. If we don't get our debt under control in the next 10 years, we'll be spending more to service the debt, the interest on the debt, than we will anything else we spend money on.
I think that basically he is not talking about the things he's done. That really protects the middle. The things we did in bipartisanship, the intentions of the bills that we did, how they were enacted. You cannot implement a piece of legislation you didn't pass.
I'll give you a perfect example of inflation reduction Act. Not once have you ever heard it was a energy security. We're producing more energy. That bill forced us to produce more energy because you know why?
Putin declared war on Ukraine and he used energy as a weapon and put all of our allies in Europe at apparel we had to produce. We weren't able to help them. We started producing. That's when I got involved and we started writing the IRA bill and 35 for basically insulin, letting Medicare negotiate for lower prices, bringing in more oil and more natural gas.
We brought the price of gasoline down. Inflation was 9%. We passed it worth 3.3. But that's the middle.
But you have to play to the far left because that's what I think the basis. So, Gary, just to boil it down, Senator Manchin's basically saying President Biden should spend more time talking about these bipartisan pieces of legislation. Exactly. He notably said.
I said, when are you going to make this final decision? He said by Super Tuesday. So he sees that as his hard deadline. I also press him on his decision not to run for reelection in West Virginia because a lot of Democrats, as you know, you talk about the Hill, say he was the best chance for Democrats, the only chance to hold on to that seat.
He said, look, he thinks it's very likely that that seat will ultimately go to a Republican. So we'll have to see what happens. But you do get the sense that he now, he denies that he had concerns about losing. That was a part of his final decision not to run for re election.
But the liberal realities that he was facing, real uphill, a very difficult race. I heard the Ukraine flag pin on his lap. There's going to be a deal on Ukraine 8, Israel 8. He's probably going to be in the middle of it.
Didn't make any news on that topic. He did, Garrett. He was very bullish on that topic. He said he thinks that Israel and Ukrainian should be linked.
He talked about the importance of not backing away from funding defending Ukraine as well. Obviously, there's a growing call within the Republican Party not to write a blank check for Ukraine. He said it's equally important to continue to fund Israel, but also Ukraine as well. And he wants it tied to border security.
He said he thinks they can get it done by the end of the year, but expressed some disappointment and frustration with the fact that it wasn't linked to this CR that Congress is voting on. All right, Kristen Looker, thank you for bringing that interview in. And I look forward to seeing more of the stuff we saw was great today. We'll see more the next couple days and on Sunday, I imagine.
And after the break, President Biden compares the former president's campaign rhetoric in Nazi Germany, what it says about the state of our Politics headed into 2024. The panel is next. You're watching Meet the Press. Welcome back.
President Biden took some time during his California swing to slam some recent remarks from his past and likely future election rival Donald Trump. Referencing remarks from the former president over the weekend, Biden said, quote, in just the last few days, Trump has said if he returns to office, he's gonna go after all those who oppose him and wipe out what he called a vermin. It echoes language you heard in Nazi Germany in the 30s, and it isn't even the first time. A spokesman for the former president called Biden's comparison despicable.
Trump's vermin comments are just one recent example of dark and aggressive statements and proposals that the former president and his allies have been making less than a year out from next year's election. And just like in 2020 and in 2016, we expect this rhetoric to be a focal point of the 2024 campaign. Joining me now on set is Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for the York Times, as well as an NBC News political analyst, Democratic strategist Amisha Cross, and Jim Garrity, senior political correspondent for the National Review and contributing columnist for the Washington Post. And Peter, I'll start with you, president, right after this vermin comment in California.
Just an answer to the pleas from some on the left to take on Trump more directly as part of this campaign. Yeah. There have been frustration on the part of a lot of Democrats who think that the positive message about Biden omics hasn't been working. His numbers still in the tank.
These polls showing him tied or even worse with President Trump, in their view demands a more aggressive strategy, and that is to draw a contrast. If the theory of the case is you can't convince voters to vote for Biden, you have to convince voters to vote against Trump. The only way of doing that is by calling him out on rhetoric like this. I mean, is this exactly what President Biden needs?
He talks all the time about the alternative versus the Almighty. He's got to start hammering the alternative. The Almighty's sitting this one out as we've been talking about. Absolutely.
And I think that, you know, this kind of landed in his lap. This is a president who didn't want to go and attack Donald Trump forly as much as I think he would have had to to bolster people to get excited about. The other thing is Donald Trump is still far and away ahead of everybody who's running against him in the Republican primary. Even though we saw the election results of this past Tuesday's race, at the end of the day, there's still an upset amongst Democrats who are like, hey, how do we get our people out for November?
That is the biggest question. Next September is a huge question. And this president has to showcase not only his strength, but also the fact that Donald Trump is dangerous. And he's dangerous because he has authoritarian leanings.
He's dangerous because he models himself after dictators. He's dangerous because he doesn't believe in democracy. Jim, this work in Republican primaries? This is what Republican primaries want to hear from.
Primary voters want to hear from the candidates. I don't know. I don't know if Donald Trump cares. If that's what people want to hear, that's what pops into his head.
That's the way he feels about people who have the audacity to dare criticize him. One thing I wonder about, I don't know this will work for Biden in the sense that, did you know Donald Trump says crazy outrageousness? We've been seeing this since kingdom yesterday in 2015. You wonder if this is priced in.
Maybe not everybody hears every particular comment and, oh, my God, that really is terrible. But I think most people know what they think. Donald Trump. But this has had an impact in the primary.
I mean, you wrote about this Right. Tim Scott doesn't talk this way. Tim Scott's not a presidential candidate anymore. Yeah.
Roughly half the party since the very beginning of this campaign has decided, yep, let's roll the Trump again. And nothing has really changed other than maybe the indictments which made Trump's popularity go up. And if you want to criticize Tim Scott, you can he certainly, you know, take off like a rocket. I think it's like 6 point something percent in Iowa.
When you drop it out, it goes anywhere, New Hampshire or South Carolina or anything like that. But it's not. Anyway, it's not like Desantis or Haley are nipping at Trump's heels. Everybody's down by like 20 points.
So now that other half of the party that might be interested in something else, they're not unified behind any other option. Is this own the lib's mindset as a political campaign base, Peter? I mean, is this, again, sort of like the Republican primary voters want this. This is another one of those things that.
Yeah, but when it gets to the general election, it'll be different. As Jim points out here, that this is so baked in now, it just doesn't matter to your kind of like standard voter who just expects Donald Trump to talk this way. Well, it is baked in. Obviously, people do know what they think of Donald Trump, but the people who are bothered by this were probably bothered by him before.
Right? That's obviously the case. The people who like him look at this and think it's kind of, you know, they like it. It's refreshing.
He's brassy, he's bracing. You know, they appreciate what they see of his authenticity and his willingness to get out there and take things on. And he wants us to be talking about him. He says provocative things to get the kind of reaction he's seen, because then it's a cycle.
He dominates the conversation all over again. But I think it's also important to talk about these things and where they come from. You know, anything the phrases use about us, people like us, that's a Stalinist phrase. And he's been using language, like, from the beginning.
He knows it's language that's associated with history's worst actors. He doesn't mind that it's okay with him because he gets the deuce of stirring. I mean, I think the fear among Democratic strategists or the concern that I would have if I were sitting in that seat is that this doesn't cut both ways in the sense that, yeah, Biden can rally people around some of Trump's language as it turns people off, but it turns you off to the point you just don't vote or turn off your TV and say this politics thing is gross as opposed to getting fired up to go elect the other guy. It doesn't work.
How do Democrats capture that discussed and use it and not just watch it push people out of the political discourse altogether? Well, he's got a two things here. I think that what we heard from Peter was actually correct in the sense that everybody knew who Donald Trump was. All right, none of these things are notions.
He's been somebody who's been authoritarian slide. He's been somebody who mirrors dictators. He's been somebody who's drawn inspiration from minecamp. We know who Donald Trump is.
However, what Joe Biden has to do is showcase what that type of trajectory looks like. Not only what January 6th is, January 6th move people in a way, I think Democrats believe that it would help. It helps in the midterms, but it's not something that are going on right now. The other thing he has to do is showcase what he has done since he's been in office.
The president has done a seismic amount of work when it comes to policies as that the American people can feel, but they're not translating in the way that they think the people on his campaign as well as those in his administration expected. So on the one hand he's got an attack Donald Trump where it hurts. On the other, he's also got to show what have you done for me lately to the people on the ground. It's funny because I thought about this during the Joe Manchin interview.
I hope you guys are able to hear it. Manchin's complaints about Biden's policies, which he voted for, don't appear to be that the policies were too far to left, but that the president's not selling them as Joe Manchin would. Is there another lesson to be learned here from Joe Manchin? If Joe Biden appeared to go out there and talk about energy security, not, you know, the sort of greener elements of what's something like what's in the inflation Reduction act, the president doesn't talk about certain elements of his program or priorities with American people but he thinks are going to be damaging, he doesn't talk about immigration very much even though it's a seismic usual we're concerned among a lot of voters.
I just voters on the right, but a lot of people believe even in the military, Democratic mayors and governors of northern states talking about it. You won't hear Joe Biden talk about it, and there are some things he gets to brag about and some things he would have to defend. Same thing on emergency ethic. I didn't hear anything in Joe Manchin's voice that made me think, this is a guy who really wants to go run for president.
Maybe he wants to be president. But the kind of MRI for the soul, you got to go out there and fight for it every day. I didn't hear that there, did you? I didn't.
But there's two thoughts on. The first is that you saw that New York Times poll. Robert Kennedy Jr. Gets thrown as the third option, and he's getting about a quarter of the vote in like six swings.
It's really unsurprising that to me, he doesn't say the country's really sick and tired of vaccines and stuff like that. That to me says Trump, Biden, what else you got? Who else? You got an option there.
And I think that Manchester should look at it that way. Are you gonna win? Probably not. But you could be H.
Rossborough. You could be an independent candidate who really gets the biggest chunk of the vote in, like, a generation. Maybe you want to do that. And the second thing that I than Joe Manchin's voice was Joe Manchin's voice in the sense that, like, this guy is, like, only eight years younger than Biden, but he looks and sounds and feels like a guy who's still on top of his game.
And go, go like, we're gonna have Trump four years older and crazier and Biden four years older and older and looking at and showing it and sounding it. So why would Joe Manchin have to lose in a situation like this? It's a good question. I want to ask you about one other internal Republican issue here, and that is what Vivek Ramaswamy doing, which I don't mean in a broad sense, but I mean specifically the idea of going after Ron McDaniel and the RNC chairmanship.
Does he want that job? Is he doing the reverse Buttigieg runs for president first, to then help you be a party chair second, maybe try the Vic Cheney, President Trump, I will help you find a better RNC chair. I've done my review. I am the better RNC chair.
That's sort of like. I can see that. Because, like, the funny thing is Ronna McNeil McDonald, terrible truth. Who put her there?
Well, Donald Trump did. Like, that's not. Absolutely not. I think that's a whole lot scarier than running Daniel.
Now there's questions about the fact that she just loses, loses and loses again. Anybody with that right of losing the she has should be gone. But Vivek is not the one to call balls and strikes you. He's crazy.
Okay, well, we have to leave it there. Peter, Andisha and Jim, thank you all for that conversation. And folks, do you know where you'll be on January 23rd? Because I just found out where I'll be.
We've got a 2024 election update for you after the break. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. New Hampshire Secretary of State David Stanlon announced this afternoon that New Hampshire's primary will be held on January 23, officially bucking the Democratic Party's plan to put South Carolina at the front of their primary campaign.
This move ensures New Hampshire keeps its historic status as the first primary in the nation. But the state will face punishment by the DNC for not following its new order. At a press conference today, Scanlan had some pretty strong words for President Biden and a Democratic Party officials who have argued that more diverse states should instead go first. We did not take first in the nation primary for anyone and we will vigorously defend it.
Using racial diversity as a cudgel in an attempt to rearrange the presidential nominated calendar is an ugly precedent. At what point does the state become too old or too wealthy or too educated or too religious to hold an early primary? NBC News White House correspondent and former New Hampshire embed Mike Mamily joins me from Concord, New Hampshire. So my God, obviously date not much of a surprise that it really does set the Biden campaign and the Granite State on a collision course.
Yeah, it really does, Garrett. And you laid out my most important credential, which is that I spent a lot of time here in 2008. I've come back here every presidential cycle since then. And I've seen the battle that New Hampshire has to wage firsthand to keep it troll at the front of the nominating calendar under Secretary Gardiner and now Secretary Scanlon.
And this time, though, has felt very much different. There is a bit of more direct confrontation here. And you saw that in Secretary Scanlan's announcement today. He was saying that New Hampshire believes that it is the voters who should decide who the nominee of the party is, not the elites in Washington or in the party.
And that really is a direct review to what the president and his team has ordained here by roaring South Carolina as you do. The staging of this event was so fascinating as well. Secretary Scanlan was standing in front of flags that were carried into battle by New Hampshire soldiers during the Civil War in, you guessed it, South Carolina. And now.
It was interesting the lack of a response from the Biden campaign from the DNC today, but they did send their own sort of pre emptive shot just a few days ago. I was on Air Force Two with Vice President Harris for what was a last minute decision to send her rather than just having Jim Clyburn bring the paperwork. It was Vice President Harris who presented the paperwork to the South Carolina Democratic Party chairman saying this is 41st in the nation primary. So this is a much more direct confrontation.
And the question is, what does this mean for Democrats down the road? Republicans are sticking with their traditional order. I will be first, then New Hampshire, followed by the states to come in. Ultimately, Super Tuesday, there is concern that the Democrats now are somewhat divided over how to handle this decision by the president not to be in the ballot.
Do they support, for instance, a right in effort that might not necessarily succeed succeed? Do they just stay out of the primary altogether? And this is an important state because, as Al Gore will tell you, the four electoral votes that New Hampshire brings to the table might be the margin of victory next November. And the Democrats here are somewhat divided over what the president has done.
Yeah. Can you push that butterfly effect a little bit further out here? Because that's what I'm interested in. People forget that New Hampshire is actually a very competitive state despite the fact that it has been blue more recently.
Are New Hampshire Democrats mad enough or divided enough about this? That really pushes New Hampshire kind of back up a list of battleground states in the fall. Do you think one of the things that's really interesting to going to be interesting to watch is what do other Democratic surrogates do ultimately next November we might see people like Pete Buttigieg, like Wesmore, like J.B. prisker, Gavin Newsom volunteering to campaign in New Hampshire on behalf of knowing that the 2020 calendar might differently.
All right, Mike Bentley, thank you. I'm sure you'll be all over it. And thank you all for being with us. This hour puts us back tomorrow with more MEET the Press now.
NBC News NOW coverage continues with Hallie Jackson. Right now, everyone, I'm Dylan Dryer, co host of the third hour of TODAY and mom to three wild Boys. I've learned a lot my years as a parent, mostly that I don't have it all figured out yet. And I'm not the only one.
This is my new podcast, the Parent Chat. Each week I sit down with someone new for honest conversation and real world advice about parenting. I am over here just, like, winging it. Hey, I'm just trying not to screw my own kid.
If I give you advice on how to screw yourself, search parent chat on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.