Meet the Press NOW — Sept. 22

If it's Friday. Multiple gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. A Mercedes Benz convertible. All part of a sweeping criminal indictment charging Senator Bob Menendez, a powerful Democrat, with bribery and corruption charges.

He denies. Plus, discord and dysfunction consume Capitol Hill. Threatening to shut down the government as some House Republicans consider defying Speaker McCarthy and working with Democrats and the White House dealing with those of major influx of migrants at the southern border and a major expansion of that historic auto strike with thousands more union workers now walking off the job. Welcome to me the press Now.

I'm Kristen Welker in Washington where a week that has been dominated by political dysfunction is ending with alleged political corruption as New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, the Democratic chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been indicted on felony bribery charges. The indictment accuses Menendez and his wife Nadine and three businessmen of accepting bribes from New Jersey businessmen in exchange for currying favors for the Egyptian government. Here's the U.S. attorney in New York laying out the sweeping charges.

Senator Menendez allegedly provided sensitive non public US Government information to Egyptian officials and otherwise success to secretly aid the government of Egypt. Senator Menendez uses power and influence to try to disrupt a criminal investigation and prosecution undertaken by the New Jersey Attorney General's office with related to an associate and a relative of your rebate. Senator Menendez used his power and influence to try to disrupt a federal prosecution. Fortunately, the public officials the Senator sought to influence did not bend to the pressure.

That's a good thing. Now The Justice Department's 39 page indictment says the alleged bribes took place from 2018 to 2022. Included in the charging document. Picture showing cash that FBI agents found stuffed in jackets when they searched Menendez's home.

They also found multiple gold bars at his house worth as much as $400,000 prosecutors say were part of the bribery scheme. Menendez responded the allegations today deny he did anything wrong. While dismissing the charges is politically motivated and part of the campaign. The quote cannot accept a first generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S.

senator. It should be noted that U.S. attorney Damien Williams, who brought these charges is a Biden appointee and also the son of immigrants. Williams addressed the issue of potential political mot and the ongoing investigation today.

I want to make a couple of things very clear. First, my office remains firmly committed to rooting out public Russian without fear or favor, without any regard to partisan politics. That's in our DNA. Always has been, always will be.

And second, this investigation is very much ongoing. You're not done Menendez is stepping down for the time being as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, as he did eight years ago when he was indicted on unrelated bribery charges. The DOJ dropped those charges in 2018 after the trial resulted in a hung jury the previous year. NBC Handeladian has the latest on the Menendez investigation and NBC Cycle Court is on Capitol Hill for us.

Ken, I want to start with you, break this down. What specific charges is Menendez facing? He's accused in a three count indictment of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to deprive citizens of honest services. It's a fraud charge and conspiracy to commit extortion.

And perhaps the most disturbing element of this sprawling alleged conspiracy is the idea, the allegation, that the powerful chairman Foreign Relations Committee leveraged his control over foreign aid to Egypt and military sales to Egypt to essentially enrich himself and his family. That's what they're saying here, that he and his wife developed a relationship with various Egyptian officials and an Egyptian American businessman who they helped get a monopoly contract. The Egyptian government provide halal meat. He can't make this stuff up, which the indebtedness has cost other businesses in the United States money, hence the extortion charge and that this businessman provided a number of gifts and cash and other things.

And then separately, the government says that he intervened in two specific criminal cases to benefit two other businessmen, one of whom gave his wife a $60,000 Mercedes Benz convertible which he did not declare on his financial disclosure. This is being brought by the SCNY Southern District of New. Talk about why New York is bringing the charges against the New Jersey senator. It's a good question.

The indictment alleges that some of the conduct happened in New York meetings in Manhattan restaurants, for example. It's pretty easy to get jurisdiction in federal cases. It just as easily could have been brought in Washington. But this office SDNY has a history of bringing high profile political corruption cases.

And I think as the U.S. attorney said, for people who are making a living right now accusing the Justice Department of being a partisan operation, this is an inconvenient fact for them. And as I said at the top, he was also indicted in 2015. Those charges were ultimately dropped.

Is this a similar case? What are the differences here? It has some similar components. One could argue this is more serious case because it involves US national security and US Policy.

But essentially they're alike in the sense that it was gifts for action. That was the allegations. Back in the other case, he was alleged to have helped a Florida eye doctor with the various interactions with The US Government Florida eye doctor provide him luxury vacations and gifts. Now at the end of the day, a jury hung on that case and Justice Department decided not to bring the charges again.

The Senate Ethics Committee ended up admonishing Senator Menendez saying he brought disrepute on the Senate. He shouldn't have taken those gifts, but he won re election next year. All right, great reporting, Kendall Indian, really appreciate it. And a lot of fascinating developments on the story today.

So let me turn to you and get the reaction from Capitol Hill. What are Senator Menendez's fellow Democrats saying at this hour? Well, Chris, has been mostly silence from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Congress broke for the long weekend yesterday.

So not many of them are currently in town. The one member of Congress who set up to defend Senator Menendez would be his son, the Congressman Rob Menendez who expressed his unwavering confidence in his father defend his integrity and values. There is Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota, the Democrat telling our friends at CNN that he's disappointed and that Bob Menendez should resign. Privately I've been texting with numerous Democratic strategists and operatives who annoyed at the fact that Bob and that keeps getting involved in situations like this and do want party leaders pushing out one of them involved in New Jersey politics.

Who among us hasn't had an FBI raid find gold bars and cash in their US Senate jacket, unquote. That gives you a sense of how Democrats are feeling at this moment, Kristen? Well, as ACT says it all, that's a pretty powerful statement there when you think about the fact that this is happening against the backdrop of the 2024 election. Senator Menendez up for reelection.

Is there any talk of a primary challenge? There has not been a serious primary candidate to jump in the race against Senator Menendez for Democratic senators were incumbents getting a serious primary challenge almost unheard of. The party has been snuffing these out in cycle after cycle after cycle for many years now. There is some precedent here in terms of what this could mean in 2018.

After Menendez escaped the previous corruption charges, he ran for reelection. He lost 38% of the vote in the democr crime rate to a virtually unknown challenger. Which gives you a sense of the fact that New Jersey Democrats in that solid blue state were not particularly happy with Menendez and that he could be vulnerable there. Republicans have been piling on, including one candidate who's hoping to challenge Menendez saying that this is further proof that he should be should be voted out.

Kristen and I will say one national Democratic Senate campaign aid When I reached out to ask about this, said, quote, democrats have won every New Jersey Senate race since 1978 and assured that 2024 will be no different. Democrats still feel confident about holding that seat next year. They have to. Yeah, you would think that they feel confident and yet privately a little jittery as well, given all of this.

Let me turn to the other story you've been tracking throughout this week and I know it's been a busy one for you, the dysfunction over in the House, this potential government shutdown. What is the very latest? Because my sources told me overnight there's no resolution in sight. There is no resolution to say the House has been paralyzed for days.

It's been paralyzed all week. Republicans can't seem to pass their long term appropriations bill, the full year funding bill that they've written just to get through the House of Representatives. They can't pass a short term funding bill because a lot of members of the hard right were making trouble, you know, over those very same appropriations bills also say the government shouldn't be funded on a short term basis. So for Speaker McCarthy, he's in a jam both ways because they're fighting right now about their opening bid.

They haven't even begun seriously negotiating and compromising with the Democratic led Senate which would further anger these members. McCarthy been speaking about this earlier today. I won't tell you what he had to say. I think we've made some progress to those who have been holding up passing the rules to get onto these bills.

We have members working and hopefully we'll be able to move forward on Tuesday to pass these bills. I still believe if you shut down your weaker position, you need the time to fund the government while you pass all the appropriations. Now let's take the optimistic view for Speaker McCarthy, Chris, and let's say they do pass these appropriations next week. That's not going to stop a government shutdown which occur at the end of this month because again, the Senate is not going to pass these bills that House Republicans are pursuing.

So they're a long way off from figuring out a way to avoid this optimism to the extent that it exists at all. Has stated that there will be a resolution before shutdown. The question has increasingly become what is going to happen? How are they going to reopen the government shutdown?

Yeah, everyone is asking that question, Sahil, what about this move by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to potentially try to get a vote in the Senate and then force a vote in the House, which obviously would require Democratic support. What are you hearing about that. How realistic is that? Yeah.

So before the Senate broke for the weekend, Schumer started moving a vehicle that he hopes to use as a continuing resolution to avert a shutdown next week, at least for the Senate to pass a bill to shut down next week. He hopes to have that vote early next week. But there's still a number of questions here. They haven't exactly figured out what would be in the bill, how long, you know, would the continued resolution be, when would funding be extended to whether there would be Ukraine funding, disaster aid.

And more importantly, Republicans are going to hold it up because at this point, they're gonna need consent from all 100 senators to get this done before this looks increasingly unlikely. Sahil Kapoor, thank you so much for your great reporting. And joining me now is Nebraska Republican Congressman Don Bacon. Congressman, thank you so much for joining.

Really appreciate it. Thank you, Kristen. Thanks for having me on. So I want to talk about the shutdown.

Before we go there. Let's just talk about the big news where we started the top of the broadcast. Senator Menendez has now been indicted. I want your reaction, but I want to ask it this way.

Does it make it harder for Republicans like former President Trump, other Republicans who are arguing there are two systems of justice? Does the fact that Senator Menendez has been indicted undercut the argument that there are two systems of justice? I think it does to degree, Kristen. I've always believed in our rule of law, just like it perfect for people and people are flaws.

But we have checks and balances. You have a jury system, you have appeals. So I trust our legal system. I think it right in the end.

And you know what, the senator will stay in court, but he's guilty of what is charged. He deserves to be held accountable. What he did was wrong. If they make their case, I feel the same way when it comes with President Trump, People have a day in court and the prosecutors present their case and there's appeals processes.

So we have a good legal system, the best that we can have with human beings running the whole thing. All right, Congressman, thank you for that. Let's move on now to the shutdown. I mean, you are there in Nebraska, which kind of tells you everything you know about where these negotiations are.

We thought maybe there would be some boats. Clearly that's not happening. Give me your best sense right now. Do you think we are headed for government shutdown?

I believe in the end we're going to get this done. We'll get a CR probably done next week or maybe early the following week. We'll see. But we have five or 10 people that refuse to get to us.

Some of them want to shut down, which I think very short sighted. And Felicia, there's a saying that I heard that I like these people go against the Bible because there's not enough Jesus in it. Right. That's their mindset.

And so I also call the dysfunction caucus. They like chaos and they're not team players. We only have a four seat majority in the House and we have five to 10 members that are doing this depending on the bill. It does create this chaos that they don't have to be a team.

So in the end, and I've said this to the speaker who I support, that you gotta work anyway with the Senate when it's all said and done. So let's just do that now. Let's do a bipartisan agreement, we'll do a cr, get these spending bills, negotiate with the Democrats across the yellow, the best bill we can as Republicans and cut these five or 10 people out. I think we need to push it to the side and make them irrelevant because they're hurting the country, they're hurting the House, they're hurting the party.

Well, let me talk to you about a potential off ramp. As you know, there's talk of this potential discharge position and just the kind of petition, I should say, just to put that into plain English, basically a tool that allows lawmakers to force a vote on legislation even if the speaker doesn't want to bring it up for a vote. Would you support that effort? I would.

If it's the problem solvers build it, we have Support. We have 64 members of the problem solvers, half Republican, half Democrat and we agree on a framework. That framework is a CR until January 11, gives time to get appropriations bills done. We'll also do disaster relief.

There's a lot of money because of Hawaii and Florida. We would do Ukraine, which I support, I'm a Reagan Republican. We stand up the bullies, we help out. Those are being invaded like Ukraine has been.

But we also have a very stringent border security provision in us and this gets Republicans on board and Democrats on board with the other parts of these, of this framework. We have track legislation. Right now we're just trying to fine tune it and but in the end, if we could get legislation that looks like that, I'm going to support it and I believe we'll have a good Republican and press support. Let me push you on that a little bit though, Congressman.

What if you can't come to an agreement on all of those different measures that you just talked about, Ukraine funding for example. Would you support a short term bill with nothing attached, a clean bill, a clean CR as we say here. If it's that or an actual shutdown, we're talking short term. I will support the short term CR but there's some things we could get done.

Our border is totally broke. 10,000 people crossed yesterday and administration but then they released 90%. It's hurting local communities all over. We have to support Ukraine too in my view.

And we're out of disaster relief. So there's things that need to be done that they could have broad bipartisan support. We ought to try to do that. So I'm forward making a deal across the aisle now and making the best deal that we can as Republicans.

You're going to do it anyway. We all just go to it now and that get caught up with these five or 10 members who want us to shut the government down. As you well know Congressman, part of the drama that is unfolding is these holdouts are also threatening Speaker McCarthy's speakership. Do you think his speakership is in jeopardy right now?

This it's clearly about five of them don't want Kevin McCarthy to be a speaker. 200 of us plus or so or more do want to be a Speaker. One vote. Congressman, it only requires one vote to call a vote on his whole speakership.

Do you think he's going to take. It only takes four Republicans to potentially put it at risk and lose a speakership. But the fact is they have no alternative, zero alternative. They have nobody else that they could offer the 200 of us would ever vote for.

I think the Speaker's position is secure and they go through turbulence with a vacate to chair motion. I don't think it would survive the table vote. I think you especially if the speaker decided to start working across the aisle and get bipartisan deal. I think you have some Democrats that probably vote present and not vote to vacate.

In the end I think the speaker is secure though it's going to be turbulent and we have five people that want it their way on the highway. The problem is the other 200 people don't. Let me ask you about the other issue that will be coming up this week. Of course as you're facing the shutdown deadline, the House is holding its first impeachment hearing for President Biden.

Do you think it's appropriate for this to be happening this week while you're still fighting struggling to keep the government open? We have 20 committees all over committees be meeting this week. I don't think it's inappropriate. I advise against going the impeachment inquiry route.

We had three committees that were found. All this information to deal with wasn't for these committees. Who would have known about the $20 million of the 20 LLCs that are out there. So I thought, I thought the right work was being done.

And I think our country does not want to be. The country has impeachments with every president. So I think we should set a very high bar. You need direct evidence pointing towards the president.

It might be the circumstantial evidence right now, but I wouldn't be more cautious and meticulous with this process. All right. Well, I know you have a heart out, Congressman, so I'm gonna let you go. I really appreciate your answering all these questions and as you point out, no hard evidence so far the link between the president and his son's business dealings.

But I know that there will be ongoing investigations into that on the Hill. Congressman, good to see you. Coming up. Thank you.

Coming up, sources tell ABC News President Biden, President Zelensky, the US Would give Ukraine long range missiles which would give Ukraine the ability to strike behind the Russian front lines. But first we'll go live to the Texas town that just declared a state of emergency amid an escalating migrant crisis on the southern border. You're watching the PRESS now. Welcome back.

President Biden is facing pressure from officials on both sides of the aisle to tackle the growing crisis of the US Southern border amid mounting frustrations at migrant centers in cities across America. An official tells NBC News about 8,200 migrants crossed the border illegally yesterday alone. Those numbers are creeping back up to a record levels in response to the recent surge. The administration sending an additional 800 active duty troops to the region to assist CBP with processing logistics.

The situation has royal border communities including Eagle Pass, Texas, where the mayor has declared a state of emergency as thousands of migrants cross into the border town. Joining me now is Guadalas at the border in Eagle Pass, Texas and Maria Alba is at the White House. Thanks to both of you for being here. Guad, let me start with you.

This is obviously a dangerous journey. Just take us there to the front lines. What are you seeing, Kristen? So this is a part of the river where a lot of migrants have been crossing this week here in Eagle Pass.

That's Pierre as Megas and Mexico. There's a group of migrants right now. Appear to be migrants over on the other side. We've seen these smaller groups Today arrive and cross the river throughout the day.

It's a very surreal image because across the water on the Mexican side, we have seen Mexican law enforcement, members of the National Guard, local and what appears to also be state police, who essentially patrol the area and watch as a lot of these migrants arrive, make their way across the river and then they come here to this area that has been patrolled by the National Guard and also by Texas state troopers where they've installed this wire. There's been a lot of reporting about the wire. At some point, the state authorities, Governor Greg Abbott said that the wire had been cut for migrants to come in. We've been seeing a lot of these large groups come in through that area and essentially they figure out a way to move the wire.

They use sticks, they come inside, they come under the wire, and then Border Patrol will take them for processing. So you have a lot of different pieces moving here during this border crisis with large numbers arriving. So the state of emergency was declared by local authorities in Eagle Pass. We need more resources as the migrants who are seeking asylum are released in the United States under this parole.

But before that happens, Border patrol picks them up here, takes them in vehicles to a processing center. Even before that, they have what's a makeshift area right over here where they load them onto these buses. Now, just so you can have an idea, the local sheriff here in Narrow county told me that it takes about 45 minutes for one officer to process one individual. He used to be a Border Patrol agent.

So a lot of knowledge of how that works. It's after that processing, if they are releasing the country to continue with the asylum seeking process, then they go to shelters or areas where then local authorities have to offer the help. So a lot of people moving here as these numbers have been rising this week. Kristen wow, it truly is extraordinary to see in real time what is happening there.

Quad and really fantastic reporting. Monica, let me turn to you because you have been doing so much reporting on how the White House is responding. They talk about the fact, look, migrants ebb and flow in terms of the numbers, but they have sent troops to the border and take other steps. What's the administration doing?

Monica? Yeah, this has been a major question that we have seen this administration confront before, Kristen, and really this is a process that is ongoing with several different countries. When we talk about this temporary protection status and extending that to many Venezuelans, as we just saw in the last couple of days. And essentially what happens here is that the administration can evaluate several countries.

This takes likely weeks, sometimes months and sometimes countries can be given this status and other times they can be reevaluated and redesigned in this way. One example that we can think of for this would be essentially in Ukraine after the war started, TPS was given to those Ukrainians who were trying to flee from there within about two to three weeks. Just to give you a sense of how quickly but theoretically that process can still go. This is now something that several Latin American countries are also obviously being evaluated for.

But it comes at a moment where there have been many officials, particularly in New York City and New York State, that have been pressing the White House and the president to do more when it comes to trying to do something about migrants specifically coming to that city. And the White House will tell you day in and day out is that this is something that isn't obviously just affecting New York City. It's larger than that. And their main message here is that they would like for Congress to act.

They continue to talk about bipartisan immigration reform, which they would love to see happen, but which for Reality Check and as we know and discuss often on the show, that's a really difficult sell right now in this divided Congress. So that's something you'll expect to hear the president continue to talk about, but that likely we won't see happen anytime soon, Kristen, that is for sure. This has been something they've been debating and discussing and wrestling with for decades, and it continues to be the root of the crisis. Thanks for your great reporting, but don't go anywhere.

It's a busy day. We're going to keep you around for more. Coming up after the break with the latest response from the White House after the auto workers union expanded its strike today and invited the president to to the picket lines. That's next.

You're WATCHING me, the press now. Thousands more workers are joining the picket line and the auto workers strike. This morning, UAW President Sean Stain announced 38 more facilities across 20 states are joining the strike, adding over five and a half thousand auto workers to picket lines. Automaker GM pushed back on the isolation in a statement today calling it unnecessary.

In his live stream address this morning, Fain invited President Biden, among others, to visit the workers. Take a look. We invite and encourage everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line, from our friends and families all the way up to the president of the United States. I'm joined by NBC News correspondent Jesse Kirchhoes in Pontiac, Michigan, and Micah Alba, who has stayed with us as a White House correspondent.

Micah, you have breaking news. Tell us what you know. Yeah, this is significant, Kristen, is a question we had posed to the White House for some time now. We knew there were active discussions about it.

And now we can confirm, according to a person familiar with the plans, that President Biden does plan to go to Michigan to the picket line to be with some of these auto workers who are clearly obviously on strike in this moment. And we expect that could take place as early as Tuesday. They're still working everything out. But it comes against the backdrop of what you just laid out there, which was for a couple of days, it was unclear exactly whether the president would be welcome there, what he wanted to do with this opportunity.

But then once we saw the actual invitation from the union president extended, this was something that in the White House they were pleased to see. But of course, the politics of all of this. And for Joe Biden, who calls himself constantly the most pro union president of all time, that is how he likes to identify himself. This clearly will send a message because he is going to insert himself in this labor strike, clearly going and talking about the need for wanting to seek a fair contract for these workers.

And now over the last week or so, we have seen that the White House at the beginning of this was not maybe necessarily welcome to come to Detroit. It was a week ago today that President Biden said he was going to dispatch two of his top aides in senior advisor Gene Sperling and acting Labor Secretary Julie Sue. And then in the days that followed, they didn't end up going to Detroit. In fact, they had said they were going to be there.

Then they kind of walked that back and said they were just going to participate virtually. So clearly the White House has been a part of these talks, but they're not in any way a mediator and they're not seeking to intervene here. But with the president now going, that does shift this in terms of their active engagement, clearly. The other thing we can't fail to mention is that Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, the former president, is supposed to be in Michigan on Wednesday and that's his own counter programming to the second Republican primary debate, as you know.

Well, Kristen, absolutely. The politics of this strike, very powerful. Fantastic that you were able to get that. Breaking news, Monica.

Let me turn to you, Jesse, because as I said at the top of this segment, this strike is now expanding. Today, 38 states, sites across 20 different states talk about what led to this expansion, what it means for the overall negotiations. Yeah. So, Kristen, this shows two things.

It shows progress with Ford and it shows that Americans who are not directly tied to the auto strike could soon be caring significantly more about the impacts. I'll get to that in a second. But what the union had been warning of is if there wasn't substantial progress for the big three automakers by noon today, it was to expand its strike. And so this morning the union came out and announced the new strike sites.

It announced strike sites at gm. It announced strike sites Atlantis. But it did not announce any expansion against Ford. And the union made a point of saying that it has made progress with Ford.

So that separates Ford out from the other two companies as far as progress and negotiations. The reason more people may soon care about this is because the union is specifically targeting parts distribution at all parts distribution sites for GM and across the country, as mentioned, across 20 states. So what does that mean if you need a repair or maintenance work done at a dealership, depending on what parts you need, that could take more time. I spoke with a dealer from the Midwest a short time ago.

He said they've been stocking up extra on parts like brake pads, more the routine maintenance. But if you need something like an engine overhaul, that could be something that could be very hard to. That could be hard to come by throughout the duration of a park's distribution strike. And our understanding is this isn't something that will be a major financial blow to the company.

So the pressure is ramping up on them, not from a financial standpoint, but potentially from a PR standpoint. And I just want to add one more point person shout out to Monica. She and I for last week have been trying to figure out what is going on with the president's team coming here. And it's been very interesting to see the union's evolution in his commentary on the White House.

A week ago or so, the union's president put out a statement saying that the White in part the White House is afraid. Then the union's president denied saying those words in a statement. And here we are even calling the President of the United States to come join the picket line and the president appearing to be coming to Detroit. It's just been very interesting to watch all this unfolding and of course can't forget that Donald Trump is also playing the country too.

Lots to be watching on the political front here as well. And more Americans could be keyed into this pretty soon. It's such great analysis, Jesse. And it just underscores how critical the union vote always is in any presidential election is Monica talked about the fact President Biden wrestling himself as a union president while here Former President Trump is making a strong play for that vote as well.

Fantastic segment to both of you. Jesse and Monica, thank you. And after the break, a standoff in Congress, corruption and the dismal state of Americans faith in the US Political system. The panel's next.

You're watching the PRESS now. Welcome back. It's been a chaotic and historic week in Washington and it's likely to get even worse next week as the government shutdown gets closer. And with partisan warfare over impeachment beginning, plus congressional gridlock and growing corruption issues amid all you would be forgiven for asking, is our political system working at all?

For the most part, Americans say the answer to that question is no. With a recent poll showing just 5% believe our political system works very or extremely well. Joining me now, Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today. Simone Sanders Towns informed by Vice President Harris and host of Simone on msnbc.

And right then, but former advisor to House Speakers Baner and Bryant. He's also an NBC News political analyst. Thank you for being here. All I want to start with this breaking news that Monica just reported, Susan, the fact that President Biden is now going to the picket lines.

He's going to meet with union members in his UAW Auto workers. Right. What is the significance? What are the politics around this first of the 5% who think our government is.

Exactly. We've been saying that we got to find them. You know, I think President Biden's a little slow to get to the picket line. And then former President Trump said he was going to go.

This is an important vote for him. I did this important group of voters for him, these union workers and that the strike is a curious apparel for him that has a big economic impact. So this is not a surprise he's going to the picket line. Maybe surprise he took along to say he was going to go there.

Pick up on that point, Simone, because you have former President Trump who has been saying now for a week he's going to go. He's counter programming the GOP primary debate, which he's skipping, by the way. It underscores the importance of union workers. But Biden has always said he's the union president.

Why did it take him so long to reach this? You know, and I think Biden and they have done a lot as it relates to unions and labor in this administration. But the implications, as Susan just alluded to, are very real. Look, you have electric vehicles, you have the parts piece that you know, might laid out and Jesse talked about.

And if this affects how Americans already folks Feel like it takes a little longer to get the things they need if this affects that, if prices go up, because there are not a lot of parts, nothing. Yes, the president will bear responsibility. And so I think the White House has been walking the kind of line. I don't think there's any doubt that, you know, President Biden stands with UAW workers, but nobody wants to strike.

And the White House for a while didn't think there was go strike at all and showing us union folks. And then they got attacked on the shoulders going on. This is a real thing talking about the potential ripple effects of that and pivoting to another crisis that we are watching. Brendan, the potential ripple effects if there's a government shutdown.

You know this all too well. You have been on Capitol Hill when things are at the brink, do you see Republicans signing a resolution to this and how does this all end? Or do you think we're headed part shutdown? Yeah, I actually reported parts out.

I've been through several government shutdowns and I've never seen a situation this dire. I mean, there's so much effort and energy and hurt feelings around just a House bill that is dead on arrival. Like, no question. No one is even asking the question, how are you going to get something through the Senate and through the White House?

This is all about Republicans unwillingness to do anything with Democrats. It's the culture of the House Republican conference. It always has to be us. Can't ever do anything with Democrats.

They're entertaining those questions that are so obvious that this has to be bipartisan. They can't get themselves there to that point. I mean, how does this end, given the gridlock that Brendan just laid out? And when you hear that context that he's never seen anything this bad?

I mean, are we just headed for a shutdown? And is the real question how long it's going to last? You know, not even that Republicans are unwilling to engage in bipartisan Democrats. It's that Republicans are at war with one another.

And I think it is very hard to see how we do not have a shutdown. The question is how long we're gone. And the other question is, does Speaker McCarthy survive a shutdown? And when it didn't actually happen, I'd be at the government back.

You take me to my next question. Is he going to survive this? Simone, obviously not your party, but you understand the politics well. Do you think his leadership survives?

You know, I am leaning towards the no. And this takes me back to the real debt. Yes. This takes me back to the debt ceiling fight.

I remember when there was all this fight about the debt ceiling, and it ended up that the White House ended up negotiating with Speaker McCarthy on the debt ceiling, Essentially the budget as the budget as well. And that negotiation had to happen because if not, it would be the White House that would have borne the brunt of the fallout. In this situation, Speaker McCarthy needs to negotiate with Democrats, and he does not look like he will. It seems as though he will not.

Democrats are not going to lean over to offer olive branches. And because he at this point will not, he will bear the brunt of the fallout. And I think that's why the speaker ships. He doesn't run the caucus.

It's hard to look at this and not think that some of the House Republicans are doing this to set him up to fail. I mean, it is nonsensical. Some of the things they are talking about, their unwillingness to do anything reasonable. It feels like they're just setting him up to blame him later.

And, you know, Democrats would be happier about that. They had some idea who was going to follow him. Right. And whether it would be someone who'd be worse or better for him.

This is true. Maybe another 15 rounds. Well, and I guess that's the big question. And for this, when I go back to you, I mean, you do have a little bit of movement with Senate leader Chuck Schumer saying, look, let's get something done on the Senate side and then force a vote in the House.

Do you think that's how this ends? And does the president need to intervene here? He's still the President. Does this still his government?

I just wonder, kind of sway Joe Biden has on Speaker McCarthy. Remember Speaker McCarthy, they did their negotiations, though Joe Biden said he was not going to negotiate on the budget. He did during the debt ceiling fight. And it was that negotiation that Speaker Carthage could not come back and sell to his entire caucus.

I think what happens, the Senate, they get together, maybe the delta they are, they try to force something in the House. But again, I just do not see Speaker McCarthy playing ball. This is the third strike for him as it relates to the Freedom Caucus. I think they, the White House and Chuck Schumer all know they can't bail him out yet.

Kevin McCarthy needs to fail a few more times. He needs to fail right up to the deadline and basically get permission. I've tried everything, guys. I've gone down every path you point me to.

None of them work. I'm sorry, I have to go. He'll still catch grief, but he has to go through all these stages to get there. Let's talk about the other big story on Capitol Hill today.

Senator Bob Menendez and his wife have been indicted on bribery charges, among other things. Susan, how big of a bombshell is this and which party kind of bears the bigger blow in this sense? Because on one hand, you have it kind of undercutting sticky arguments from Republicans that are two systems of justice. On the other hand, the Democrats don't welcome this news.

You know, you're innocent until you're proven guilty. But voided the U.S. attorney guilty with his, with his indictment. I mean, it's almost comical little bars and the Mercedes and I mean, it's quite the indictment.

I think it's bad for Democrats. I think I should be surprised if Menendez survives as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It's bad for politics. It's bad for trust in our government, and it's probably also bad for Republicans because as you say, this Justice Department led by Merrick Garland doesn't just go after Republicans like Donald Trump.

They're going after a very senior Democrat. Simone, how much concern is there if in fact, it gets to a point and we're not there yet, as Susan says, you're innocent until proven guilty. But if he winds up stepping down or if he's primary, I mean, how conservative Democrats at this seat could be in jeopardy. New Jersey, obviously, it's a blue seat.

It's a blue state. It's been a blue seat for a very long time. So I don't think Democrats are concerned about losing the seat. But I think this is is bad for it.

That's the optics that people feel. Right. It's very hard to distinguish if, you know, Democrats are going out there on campaign trail saying we are the party, you know, these folks say the party of law and order, but we are the party of law order. We are the party that are standing up and we are not the corrupt folks they are.

It's difficult when you have a sitting, a sitting United States senator, chairman of the committee, which I believe, given the central he stepped down though, who it just muddies the waters in it. This is why people feel as though regular America, not political professionals, that Democrats, Republicans is kind of all the same, even though it's not right. It goes back to where we started the conversational only 5% of the government's working. Yeah, they're losing more high grounds.

What they're losing, and that's the argument they're trying to make is, you know, the Republicans are the corrupt party. And this really undercuts that. The other issue is you have person who's clearly great again. You know, usually somebody gets hot with gold bars, they kind of understand maybe it's time for you to get this person who's been indicted previously for corruption.

Obviously that ended in a mistrial. But someone who doesn't seem like he's ready to leave, it's probably going to fight this out. And it's kind of saying running into door Santos in the House who doesn't feel like he feels like the need to leave the wanderer he sticks around, more problems he creates. Finally, last topic, Susan, we only have about a minute left, but weigh in on this crisis on the border.

You have the Biden administration, this all hands on deck approach. They're sending troops down, this temporary protective status for Venezuelan migrants, about half a million of them. Obviously this is a situation that ebbs and flows, but do you think this feels different this time around? I think no more difficult issue exists for this administration than the issue of the crisis of the border.

It's hard to deny it's not a crisis. And now we have not only Republicans in Texas talking about it, but Democrats in New York City and New York State saying it's a crisis, calling on the administration more this action on Venezuelans, allowing close to half a million Venezuelans to work legally. An important step of the concern is does that just encourage more people to come over the border and some advocates say actually should be expanded to more nationalities they're getting from both sides. Thank you all.

Fantastic conversation. Susan, Simone and Brendan, appreciate it. Still a coming inside look at how one local community is bringing islands and Ukrainian refugees together amid the war's historic humanitarian fallout as the White House vows to send more weaponry to the front lines of the fight. That reporting is next.

You're WATCHING me, the PRESS now. Welcome back. During their meeting at the White House, President Biden told Ukrainian President Zelensky for the first time the US Will provide Ukraine with a small number of long range missiles known as attacks. But it's not clear when those weapons will be delivered.

President Biden also announced $325 million in new aid in the meeting. That money is separate from the $24 billion for Ukraine that the White House is asking for from Congress, which is part of the ongoing spending fight among House Republicans. As the fight over Ukraine continues in Washington and out on the campaign trail, NBC's Alex Tabit has a look at how one Iowa community is helping Ukrainian refugees start a new life after nearly 19 months of war, more than 6.2 million Ukrainian refugees have spread around the world. Just like second life will start again, including Natalia and her son who found peace in the small town of I'm good people, kind.

Jana and Elena are also starting a new in Iowa, taking jobs as a painter and a housekeeper. It's my life. It's my second life. We are very grateful to the USA and American people for the support.

While lawmakers in Washington are in the midst of a fair fight over government spending including aged Ukraine, here in Iowa refugees are receiving support from the local non profit Iowa Nice. These are young, hardworking families that really just want to find a safe place to settle. Angela Boland is the founder of IowaWanice, an organization that helps Ukrainian refugees find homes, cars, jobs, whatever they need for a fresh start and to feel welcome. Iowa Nice has relocated 27 refugees right here in DeWitt.

But just as they started to settle down, their rhetoric's been ramping up. Do you think that our security, the United States security is linked to Ukraine's security? I think that Europe has to do more. We're in for $200 billion.

They're in for $25 billion and it affects them whether it affects us. Some GOP presidential hopefuls questioning American involvement in the war and I think it is a misplaced priority that we're defending against an invasion across somebody else's border. They are doing a blank check policy without telling us when we will have achieved our objective. And the rhetoric is reflective of a shift in public sentiment.

According to a CNN SSRS poll from July, 45% of all registered voters than Congress authorized more funding to age Ukraine. Among Republicans that number drops to 28% and a quote a P I poll from August show that 58% of all Republican registered voters in the US is doing too much to help Ukraine. Well, I kind of understand that something that is a lot to invest in another nation. I also think that getting to know these people personally makes it feel very much worth it to me winning interest in providing funding to Ukraine as refugees like Elena anxious.

Yes, I worry because Ukrainian it's my country. I love you my country. Alex Abbott do it Iowa. Well, we appreciate Alex's fantastic reporting that perspective that we don't often see.

Alex in one of our Iowa 2024 campaign embeds. Great reporting by him and he's Courtney QB joins me now for the latest on long range missiles to Ukraine. Our Pentagon correspondent Courtney, incredible reporting as always. So walk us through the back and forth over these attackums what does it mean that President Biden has now approved some to be sent to Ukraine?

Ukraine. So this is something that Ukraine's been asking for for months and President Zelensky's been very vocal about it. The argument is these longer range systems would provide Ukraine with the ability to fire beyond Russian front lines. So going after things the military calls the command and control nodes, going after the military call their supply lines, essentially being able to, to stop Russia from resupplying and direct their troops out in the field by hitting back beyond the front.

That has been the argument for some time now. Ukraine does have some longer systems that can go after some of these targets that they argue that they need longer, even longer range, including so that they can strike targets in Crimea. Well, the US has been resistant. One of the main reasons that we've heard for months is that simply the US doesn't have enough atacoms, these long range missiles in their own arsenal to provide to Ukraine.

But beyond this, that defense officials have quietly whispered and US Officials that they're concerned about Ukraine striking in Crimea and that escalating the situation, escalating the war, provoking Vladimir Putin even more than we've already seen over the last year and a half, plus in Ukraine. Now fast forward to this week when we started hearing rumblings that the Biden administration was leaning towards potentially sending these, specifically sending a variant that includes cluster munitions. Now, we finally learned, according to a couple of US officials and a congressional official, that in fact President Biden, while meeting with President Lindsay at the White House on Thursday, did tell him the US has will move forward with writing the tackles. But the big question is when will they send them?

How many will they send? Exactly what variable goes? Those are questions. We simply don't have the answers to that yet.

I'm glad you say that because that was my next question, Corey. So let me move on to my next question, which is, which is, look, there's been so much debate over these ATACMs. Can you put them into broader context? Are they controversial, for example, like the cluster munitions?

How should we be thinking about them? Yes, cluster munitions have been controversial, but remember the Biden administration started providing this to Ukraine back in July. Human rights groups have argued that the dud rate or failure rate can be high and it can cause civilians, including children, many times to be injured or even killed. So what that means is a cluster munition is one that when it explodes on a target, it releases a bunch of smaller bombs, often called bomblets on an area, but they don't always explode.

In fact, some have a dud rate that the U.S. uses upwards of 2%. Well, then those can be lodged in the ground. They're shiny kids.

People find them, they can get injured. So that can be very controversial. If the US Provides those, we should expect here some human rights groups that will denounce it. Kristen well, tremendous reporting.

Courtney qb, thank you so much for joining us this hour. And thank you for joining us this hour. We'll be back Monday with more MEET the Press now. And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press on your local NBC station.

I'll have interviews with Congressman Kleiber, Transportation Secretary Peter Judge and presidential candidate Chris Christie. Plus a brand new NBC poll that you won't want to miss. NBC coverage continues with Hallie Jackson right now. Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of the Drink.

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

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