Meet the Press NOW – September 26

If it's Tuesday. Politics and picket lines. President Biden makes an historic trip to join striking auto workers in battleground Michigan as his party struggles to win over working class voters on the economy. Just a day before his likely 2024 rival speaks with workers outside Detroit plus deal making or blame shifting.

House Speaker McCarthy suggests a meeting with the White House as he struggles to unify his caucus around a plan that keeps the government open without also costing him his job as speaker. And the floodgates have opened. New Jersey's senior Senator Bob Menendez facing mountain calls to resign from senators within his own party days after those stunning allegations of corruption and bribery. Hello and welcome to MEET the Press now on Ryan Nobles reporting in Washington as President Biden hits picket line in battleground Michigan amid an escalating autoworker strike and a struggling campaign that is failing to break through with the working class voters.

The president joined UAW members in Wayne County, Michigan for a short but notable visit this afternoon and round to a fundraiser in California. The UAW strike against the big three automakers has now expanded to 38 locations as the union seeks pay increases and reduce work week. Speaking from a bullhorn, Biden seemed to voice support for the workers demands. Fact of the matter is that you guys uaw, you see the automobile industry back in 2008 and four made a lot of sacrifices, gave up a lot and the companies were in trouble.

Now they're doing incredibly well. And guess what, you should be doing incredibly well too. Built the middle class. So let's keep going.

You deserv what you earned and you earned a hell of a lot more than you get paid now. So Biden's visit comes a day before his likely 2024 rival. Former President Trump is set to speak to auto workers near Detroit as he tries to cleave rank and file support from his leadership. The dueling messages mark the most direct confrontation to date in a key 2024 swing state.

Now the president's trip also comes as he and his party are getting hammered by voters on the issue of the economy. Only 37% approve of Biden's handling of the economy, according to our new NBC News poll. That's two points lower than his already endemic job approval numbers. And the new numbers out today from the poll show that Republicans hold an overwhelming 21 point advantage over Democrats on the question of which party handles the issue.

And that's the biggest Republicans have ever held on the issue, even going all the way back to 1991. Now Democrats do have a small advantage on the question of which party would better look out for the middle class. But that two point margin is their lowest in the history of the poll. Of course, poll numbers aren't economic markers, but in politics, perception is reality.

And right now voters don't see a 3.8% unemployment rate or a steady inflation rate is anything for the White House to celebrate. There is a silver line for Democrats though. It's that economic issues aren't the only drivers for voters. Just look at the midterms when high inflation dominated as an issue.

And yet Democrats still notched a stronger than expected showing at the polls as Republicans struggled with candidate quality and the issue of abortion. Two of my BC's colleagues are on the ground in Michigan reporting on the President's visit. And senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez, he's outside the plan in a way that Wayne Michigan I should say that President Biden visited. And Maggie Vespa is with striking workers in Centerline Michigan and also be joined by senior political editor Mark Murray.

So Gabe, let's go to you first as we show at the top poll numbers not really great for Biden and the Democratic Party on 2024. How's the White House handling economic outreach to the working class? And what did we see today as Biden visited the picket line? Well, line as you alluded to, this was a notable shift from the White House which up until now has kept itself at a distance from these negotiations in Michigan.

Now can tell you I'm actually outside of Ford plant with Inquin county, not the same one that President Biden visited. He went to a GM plant nearby. But that scene was just incredible to see as he was standing shoulder to shoulder with those auto workers. As he mentioned, the first time that a sitting president has joined the picket line in modern times.

The president focusing on that message that since the auto industry, since these union members gave up so much during the recession in 2008, 2009 with the GM bankruptcy and they went without pay increases in benefits for several years that now those union members and you can hear these cars and vehicles behind me honking in solidarity with these workers. The president is trying to make the argument that because these workers went without for so many years, they now deserve to share in the profits that the corporate executives are now seeing. Let's take a listen at what UAW President Shawn Fain said just a short time ago, standing right next to the president of the United States. Take a listen today.

I just want to take a moment to stand with all of you, with our president and say thank you to the President. Thank you, Mr. President, for coming. Thank you for coming to stand up with us in our generation's defining moment.

And we know the president will do right by the working class. And when we do right by the working class, you can leave the rest of us because we're gonna take care of this business. So the optics of all that line, the president of the United States is literally a bullhorn and also wearing a UAW hat standing right next to those auto workers. And it's all concept course as former President Trump prepares to head to Michigan tomorrow, the source of this campaign telling me that the former president plans to aggressively court blue collar workers as the 2024 presidential campaign heats up.

Rock. Yeah, let's expand on that a little bit more. As you write the point offices right before Trump comes there tomorrow night, do we see President Biden starting to engage and encounter the former president a little bit more slowly but surely? Yes.

And a recent fundraiser he held this week, the president has taken on Trump more directly. And also he's planning to give a speech on Thursday in Arizona following the GOP primary debate on Wednesday where he plans to talk about the threats to democracy. And is every indication here that, you know, he might talk about, if not former President Trump directly, what he sees as the threats from people like President Trump, whether it be, you know, denying the results of the 2020 election and so forth. So expect President Biden to go after former President Trump more directly as in the coming weeks and months.

And certainly the visuals that we saw today, going directly here to Michigan to meet with auto workers just hours before the former president is expected here to try and examine. All right, Gig Gutierrez, thank you for that. Let's now go to the other side of Michigan, center line Michigan, where Mangueves are standing by. Obviously, the workers that you were with, Maggie, did not see the president directly, but did his message resonate to where you are right now?

Oh, Brian, definitely. I mean, the enormity of this, the historic nature of this is lost on no one. And they loved in particular his comment. I'm going to quote the president here.

So I apologize advance saying that the union and the members have earned, quote, a hell of a lot more than they are being paid. I quoted that to someone here and she went amazing, amazing. And she said the world needs to hear that, the nation needs to hear that. And she said maybe if it comes from the president, in other words, if it comes from the top, people will listen and they will believe that.

Here's, here's some more of what we've been hearing from workers on the picket lines in the wake of this historic business, take a listen. Any president that puts their money where their mouth is, he said he walked the picket line. He is we've had other presidents in the past say if they want to strike they're going to put their tension on walk line with us. And they did.

He definitely is doing. He's walking the walk and talking to talk. What are you going to get the magnitude of White House saying this is the first time this has ever happened, a sitting president joining. Amazing.

Amazing. He, he's from day one he's went on record saying welcome to the back of the White House uaw. He has been in our corner and I appreciate everything he's done and just kind of put this in context. By the way, remember last week the White House was considering sending a team, basically top aids, including the acting labor secretary here to Michigan to the White House said help with talks.

They then niched those plans. After all three of the big three, GM40 quite a came back to the table, resumed talks with the union saying they kind of do that job effectively from DC as they have been doing. At the time, people here really frankly didn't care that much. They told us about that planned visit and or the visit being canceled to Sanctus was kind of between them and the big three.

So we're hearing a real shift in tone. People here think the visit from the president is going to mean something and it is, they hope going to have an impact at the bargaining table. And that's even despite the fact that the big three have all put out statements saying that this is between them and the union kind of leading politics out of this. But people here frankly don't buy that.

They think this will have a real impact and hopefully help move these stalled talks forward. Right. Okay, Maggie, thank you for that. Let's now go to Mark Murray for a look at this from a more global perspective.

Things really are looking great for Democrats on labor and the economy. In the poll that we shared earlier in the broadcast, Republicans have a huge lead on handling of the economy. Break down these numbers for us. What's the most important takeaway here?

Yeah, I think the most important takeaway, Ryan, is just how problematic the economy has been both for President Biden and the Democratic Party. And so we'll start Overall with President Biden's handling, you know, 37% approval handling of the economy. Another number, 28% are satisfied with the state of the economy today. And then as you end up mentioning Republicans now have a 21 point lead when it comes to which party better handles the economy.

It is the biggest advantage Republicans have ever had on this. And of course, it's important to know that our poll was conducted before we saw President Biden come into Michigan today into that picket line. It also comes though, is that the White House has made a concerted effort touting Biden Bidenomics about contrasting President Biden's stewardship of the economy with the meeting with a 3.8% unemployment rate versus Donald Trump's stewardship of it, particularly in the final days of his administration during COVID and so forth. Biden is an important swing state today.

Should we take anything out of the fact that independents say overwhelmingly that Republicans are better on the economy, but then on the other side to give Democrats a small advantage on issues around the middle class? Yeah, right. You're exactly right. Our poll ends up showing that, you know, you know, having Republicans with a 25 point advantage on which party better handles the economy, that's even bigger than what we end up seeing, that 21 margin point margin overall.

And then, yes, Democrats actually have the advantage among independents when it comes to which party better handles is better for the middle class. But it's important to note that, you know, the economy has sometimes been a jump ball in the history of our poll. During really good Democratic cycles, the Democrats have had the advantage on the economy. It's in the last five years, however, where Republicans have had that advantage on the middle class.

The Democrats have owned that issue, sometimes in double digit advantages. And what really does stand out in our poll is that two point advantage on who is better for the middle class is the lowest it has ever been in the history of our poll. And that question dates back to 1989. Now, in general, we always fall back on the conventional wisdom of it's the economy, stupid.

The economic numbers here are pretty bad for Democrats. But is that really what's driving people to the polls in 2024 when Democrats do have big advantages on issues like health care and abortion? Yeah, it certainly wasn't the case, ryan, in the 2022 midterms where we end up seeing Democrats using Donald Trump's unpopularity as well as the issue of abortion to hold on to control of the United States Senate and keep down their losses in the House. And so, you know, as we were looking ahead to the 2024 presidential election, yes, as we showed you, Republicans have the advantage on the economy, but Democrats have big advantages when it comes to the issue of abortion as well.

As health care and also on the issue of education. And so we're gonna end up seeing these two different types of, you know, campaigns play out. However, there's also no doubt just how important the economy is to the White House. And President Joe Biden, there is a reason why he's in the battle around state of Michigan today on this particular issue.

And also particularly joining this picket line, they see this as an issue that they need to be better on. It'll be interesting to see future polling, Ryan, whether, you know, after this joining this picket the picket line and also on be on Capitol Hill on what's in uprising, there's a government shutdown and what this does to all those numbers on who handles the economy better. Yes. Still a lot to go before the voting starts.

Mark Murray, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Coming up under pressure as Mark talked about, we're live on Capitol Hill with the latest political fallout as more and more lawmakers are now calling on New Jersey Senator Bo Menendez to resign following those damning allegations of corruption and bribery. Plus, if Republicans are unable to come to an agreement to avoid a government shutdown, will Democrats help them out?

I'll talk to a top House Democrat whose district is home to tens of thousands of federal workers about the stakes. You're watching Be THE Press Now. Welcome back. Turn now to two fast developing stories on Capitol Hill in the House.

The chamber back in session today. And it appears to be no closer to avoiding a government shutdown than one that left before the weekend. Speaker Kevin Carthy's planning procedural votes on four spending bill tonight. But no real indication they have the votes to pass.

And even if they do, they'll be DOA in the Democratic controlled Senate. Now, McCarthy tried to deflect questions from reporters today about the path forward as he attempts to frame the funding fight around pretty much the only thing his caucus can agree upon right now, the border. Take a listen. The Republicans will put on the floor a rule to secure our border.

I think that's the appropriate way to be able to keep government funding secure our border while we continue to keep the government open to work on the rest of the appropriation bills. The president has ignored this problem. The president can no longer ignore what is happening on the border. Now asked again up front of the government, Mark tried to put the onus on President Biden saying he wants to meet with the president on the border.

I will continue to move through our postdoc. We're getting ours done. Send voting Senate. But I think the best way here is for the President to acknowledge the problem that he created on the board.

Are you asking for a meeting with the President? I think it'd be very important. Are you willing to shut down the government if you do not get border security? It would not be on us now.

Remember, Speaker McCarthy could deal to avert a debt default in April and then has now blown it up. With pressure from conservatives and with no clear path forward from McCarthy, the government will shut down on midnight Saturday. Meanwhile, over the Senate, the floodgates appear to have opened on embattled Democrats. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey after being indicted on bribery charges.

It's approaching 20 of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate that are now calling on him to resign, including his fellow New Jersey senator and longtime ally Cory Booker. Booker put out a statement that read in part the details of the allegations against Senator Menendez are of such a nature that the faith and trust of injuries as well as those he must work with in order to be effective have been shaken to the core. I believe stepping down is best for those that Senator Menendez has spent his life serving. Joining me now with the latest on this from Capitol Hill is my colleague S.

So Sahil. We heard a lot from the speaker today. I think he was in front of the media three different times and basically said the same thing all three times. Are we getting any insight into whether or not he's making progress to get through this log jam?

And what about this idea of conferencing with President Biden? Is there any real merit to that? Yeah, there's no indication that the White House is going to take out speaker on potential meeting between President Speaker, White House's attitude is that they caught a deal with speaker several months ago on two year budget deal on Arthur Rene on that. But the speaker situation right now in the House of Representatives, it's a bit of a mess.

Ryan. There are four days to go until the government shut down. And what McCarthy is trying to navigate is a Republican division over messaging bills, appropriation bills that are never going to come law anyway that the same far right members have, you know, that have pushed him to renege on that budget deal are pushing him to cut spending quite substantially in a way that he's struggling to get through the House of Representatives and certainly at the point not has no shot in the Senate. Even if he does succeed in these appropriations bill, it's not going to cover a shutdown.

Those bills are not going to become law. And McCarthy did indicate that he does want to put a short term funding bill on the floor of the House this week for a vote that actually would have a shutdown, but it's not really clear what would be it. He wants to support border measures in it. The White House is interested in additional resources to combat these additional migrants as silencing here at the border.

They're not interested in controversial or partisan immigration policy changes on that front. And that's where the Jan is now. McCarthy is also deflecting questions about where things stand in terms of the Senate sending over a short term funding bill. The Senate has not yet passed one.

They've been sluggish as well, but they're expected to release one as early as today. A short term funding bill that could keep the government open if it were passed. McCarthy was asked about that. Let's play a little bit on the other side.

How many times you've asked me a question this week? It's the exact same question. It's always a hypothetical that the Senate is going to do something. I'm not going to take up hypotheticals of someday dreaming the Senate's going to do something.

When they do something, come back and ask me about something. So McCarthy a little bit tested there. As you can see, the next step here in terms of pressuring him might be for the Senate to pass something, put it on his desk and write that contract, say it's this or the government shuts down. Yeah, he certainly does appear to daring them to do so.

So we see his move is if and when that happens. Let's talk about the other big controversy on Capitol Hill. We're talking about the floodgates opening now in a Senate, more and more Democrats calling on Bob Menendez to resign. What can you tell us about who is calling him, calling on him to step down versus who is not?

Yeah, that's right, Ryan. The dam has broken. The floodgates have opened. Pick your analogy here.

More and more Democratic senators are calling on Bob Menendez to resign after the jarring allegations in this federal indictment. The most notable one is New Jersey's other Democratic senator, Cory Booker. Now the what all Democrats agree on is that he has a presumption of innocent until proven guilty like any other American injustice system. What they also say is he doesn't have a constitutional right to continue being a senator while he's fighting these very serious charges if he doesn't have the trust of his constituents.

A number of Democratic senators have come out for him to resign, including Booker, including multiple red state Democrats who are facing re election in 2024. And a single glimpse of the politics they don't have that money the waters as to them running again, you know, running at the government try to run the party of good government against the Republicans. That includes Sheriff Brown and Ohio, John Chester and Montana. A couple of people we haven't heard from.

Ryan most notably said Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, he said the Menendez is going to step off his position as chair of Foreign legislation Committee has not called him to resign. Another person who's not called on Menendez resigned. President Joe Biden who is Justice Department of course issued that indictment. And our tax chain is thriving against Kaiser.

Informing all of us at work on Capitol Hill that Gary Peters is calling for Obama's resign. He of course significant because he shares their campaign committee. All right. Thank you so much.

We appreciate that. Joining me now to talk more about this, someone in the fifth Velvet, Virginia Democratic Congressman Abigail Sandberger. Congressman, you represent an area that is the heart of the federal workforce in central Virginia, including a lot of military personnel. Your district could be hurt more than others if the government shuts down.

Where are we right now and what specific help are you and other Democrats willing to give the speaker so that there isn't a shutdown? Well, the path forward is very straightforward. It's just a question of whether Speaker McCarthy wants to take it. The option before us is an obvious one.

We pass a continuing resolution that can pass the House with bipartisan support. It goes to the Senate, the Senate votes. It goes to the president's desk. But Speaker McCarthy, in an effort to protect his speakership, is unwilling to bring forth a bill that will garner that bipartisan support that will fund the government.

And instead this week as we are hurtling towards a government shutdown that would hurt the tens of thousands of federal workers, service members and federal contractors I represent, he is bringing forth individuals appropriations bills that have no path in the Senate, that there's zero expectation that they would get any substantial bipartisan support in the House. And we are burning our daylight hours as we head towards the end of the month without a continuing resolution put on the floor that can pass the House, the Senate and get the president's test in time. So outside the speaker, are you having discussions with some of your moderate colleagues and your member of the Problem Solvers Caucus about a potential short term spending bill of both Republican Democrats with Ripon? Absolutely.

The Problem Solver Talk has put forth a bipartisan framework of a continuing resolution that could garner bipartisan support that would fund the government, that would create a period of time for us to then go and do the Individual preparations bills, funding. The government addressing issues related to Ukraine aid, emergency disaster relief and border security was present in our framework in an effort to extend the period of time that the government is functioning as we work to get Those fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills through the House, the Senate, into the President's desk. Okay, so the President, or I'm sorry, the speaker should say is now trying to bring President Biden into this. Of course you were part of the debt ceiling negotiations.

There was a deal hash where we thought the top line numbers have been agreed to by everybody involved in this. Obviously House Republicans and Ryan, we thought that because speaker, the White House said that and then we voted on legislation confirming as much. So to that end, my question is he wants to be the President Biden again, the White House even perhaps open to that idea. Is it worth it for President Biden to entertain a meeting with the speaker, given what happened in the fall off from the debt ceiling negotiations?

I mean, I hope that the President and I expect that the President is just as focused on supporting the federal workers, the very function of our government, our federal contractors and our military service members, as so many of my colleagues and I are certainly across Virginia and the rest of the country. But I do think that there's an obvious question here. What good is Speaker McCarthy's word if he can promise something? We will vote on legislation to that end and then he will reverse his stance.

I hope that any steps that can be taken that would protect the government from a shutdown, avoid a shutdown, will be taken. But I think the obvious question is what's, what is going to be different about whatever next agreement speaker McCarthy might try to make with the President if he didn't keep the last one. So you know, above all this, right, is this potential threat from hardline Republicans that call a motion to vacate the speaker McCarthy averts of a Democrat a shutdown, working with Democrats like you. So to that end, if the speaker comes to you and another members of your caucus and says, I want to do everything I can to prevent a shutdown, but you gotta help me out.

If a motion to vacate comes to the table, will you help Speaker McCarthy out? I think the question is if Speaker McCarthy is willing to do the job of the speaker of the House, which is preserve the very function of the government, which is to ensure that Congress is doing its job, then that's a discussion I think anyone is open to having. But right now, when we see one man so obsessed with keeping his job that he is unwilling to actually do that job and bring Bill forward, that will fund the government, which is a basic function of Congress. Then, you know, he's doing this to protect his job, not to serve Congress.

And so, you know, any conversations he wants to have with Democrats or even reasonable Republicans about what his future looks like as speaker need to be predicated on a real desire to actually govern, which thus far the speaker has not demonstrated. And I hope that he changes it too quickly. I look forward to those conversations. So I want to point you to some of our new polling from NBC.

And it shows that Republicans have a 21 point advantage on the economy. That's the largest edge they've ever had going back to 1991. Democrats leave by just 2 points on looking out for the middle class. That's the smallest edge your party's had since 1989.

You are in a very moderate district, perhaps one of the most competitive districts in the country. What if others saying to you about the state of your economy, money, things are difficult, people are struggling, families are struggling, life is not easy. You know, we, there are certain markers of the economy that are moving in a great direction. But here at the grocery store and you're trying to buy eggs and you're trying to feed your family and you're trying to send your kids with school lunch money, right?

It doesn't feel that way. People are still struggling. And when the folks in my district or other places across the country hear some, you know, pundit or politician on television say things are going in a great direction, things are great, you know, the numbers might be demonstrating that things are moving in the right direction, but for so many of the people who I represent, if they don't feel that yet or they don't feel it now, then like, that is hard, right? Things are hard.

Life is hard. And frankly speaking, a government shutdown, especially for my district over the entirety of Virginia, would make things harder. Because the only thing more difficult than dealing with inflation at the grocery store is dealing with inflation at the grocery store when you are a devoted public servant. And now you're not getting your paycheck, you're reporting to work because you are essential and your work is vital and you're not getting your paycheck.

Right. These are the real hardships that people across my district are, you know, they have faced in the past and they are staring down as of this weekend. All right, Congressman Abigail Spanberger, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

Thank you so much for having me. And up next, setting the stage, who's in and who's out and what to watch for in the second Republican presidential debate. That's tomorrow night. The palest you're watching Be the president.

Some of the people calling for my resignation for political reasons say I'm lost to trust the people of New Jersey. That couldn't be more wrong. For now, I remain focused on continuing to do the important work I do every day on behalf of the 9 million people who call New Jersey home, including doing everything we can this week to avoid a government shutdown, deliver critical funding for states affected by catastrophic natural disasters, and ensure the people of Ukraine have everything they need to defeat Putin. And I'll return to Washington this week to do exactly that.

That would be today. We're expecting to see the senator back. And despite that defined tone from Boba Menendez, as we reported just a moment ago, it's now up to 19 of his fellow Senate Democrats calling for him to resign in the wake of his indictment on federal corruption charges, with 16 of those demands coming today alone. For more, joined by my panel, T.N.

mitchell is Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal Constitution Moly, the former communications director and chief spokesman for the dnc. He's now the executive director of Georgetown's Institute of Politics and Public Service. And Jim Gary, a senior political correspondent for National Review. Tia, I think you know better than anyone that there's probably a correlation between all those coming today and the fact that all the senators are going to be in front of us when they walk back into Washington.

They're trying to get out in front of it. But I wonder, probably the most significant name in this group of 19 is that of Senator Cory Booker, who testified as a character witness for Bob Menendez during his last corruption trial. How significant is it that Senator Booker decided to take the stand when it comes to his fellow New Jersey? Not only do I think it's significant, I think that's what helped open up the floodgates.

I think there are other Democratic senators that didn't want to get ahead of Senator Booker, knowing how sensitive that decision was for him. He and Menendez had been allies, as you mentioned, he had really protected Menendez in the previous case. So there was a big decision for Cory Booker about whether he would decide to speak out or not. Once he did decide that he was going to speak out and recommend that Senator Menendez resign.

I think that freed up other Democrats to take up the position that I think a lot of them were feeling but weren't necessarily ready to verbalize. Jordan 19 There could be more as the day progresses Is there a magic number that compels him to actually step down, or is he not going anywhere? I'll say. I don't know.

Send him Menendez very well. But based on what we saw from him yesterday, I don't think that he's necessarily going to be moved. Now, perhaps if we get some of the top Democrats, your Chuck Schumer's, your President Biden's, that might have a little bit of an effect, but he seemed pretty resolute yesterday. Yeah.

So for Democrats, would it be enough for him to say, I'm not going for reelection? Because he's left that open right now. Yeah, I think if you were to say he's not running for reelection, I think he. Then the focus turns to his upcoming legal issues and a new campaign kicks into high gear.

You know, I've heard some people try to draw a comparison between what he's going through and what Ralph Northam went through in Virginia, the former governor of Virginia, and the scandal he faced over whether or not he was wearing blackface in a photo. And everybody in the political establishment came out against him, called on him to resign, all of his closest allies, he chose not to and found public opinion that stayed with him. I've heard some people say that might be the Menendez strategy, but there's a big difference here in that that was an old photo in the Northam thing, and people saw his record and they liked him and they stuck with him. This is about a betrayal of public trust or an alleged betrayal of public trust.

I agree that the number of senators who call on him to resign is far less important than whether or not the people in New Jersey stick with him. This is a harder thing, though, I think for the people of New Jersey to stick with him on. That's what he's got to be keeping a close eye on. If the polling shows he starts to nosedive there, then I think he really needs to look hard at resigning.

And, Jim, do you think the floodgates of all these senators calling on him to resign have anything to do with Donald Trump's legal trouble? They've been very critical of him. Critical of him? Were as critical, yes.

In fact, all the way over here, I saw this tweet from Marco Rubio emphasizing that you are innocent to live and guilty. That is the mark of a senator. Who knows? If a Republican senator says, come on, who are we kidding?

We all know Amanda is a corruption. I just interrupt. You said in his last corruption trial, the first one might be accidental pattern there. Right.

But Rubio Already Republican senator says indicted. Not that I shouldn't be in office. It would be like people can't trust him. People would turn around so.

Well, you know, Menendez has 88 indictments behind former President Trump. No ways to go there. But I look at Brandez credit for something he did say, something quite true in that he has not lost the trust of people of New Jersey because he really didn't have the first place. Well, I should point out that the former president has called on Menendez and every member of the Senate to resign in response to this.

To your point about this, though, the complication of this for Republicans, you know, they would probably like to pounce on him in this case, but it makes it very difficult. The subsequent messages. Don't resign. No, no, stay in there.

For the federal election, you're beatable. And in New Jersey, a pretty darn blue state. Fickle. And Senate races, you know, a really wounded Bob Menendez might be beatable.

Those of us with long memories can remember the Torreslli mover back in 2002. You substituted a better candidate, and the scandal issue disappears. Okay, so there is a debate tomorrow night. I don't know if any of us remembered that.

It does seem to be kind of the. The kind of lower act. Again, everything that's happening in politics, Ace Hutchinson is not gonna make it on the stage. He's had a real difficult, real difficulty breaking through.

Jim, is there any way his campaign can recover from this if he's not able to be on the debate stage? I'm so tempted to death. Who? Yeah, no, like, once you're not on the debate stage, it's hard to imagine some surge Bergman is on because probably one poll had it 3%.

Nobody else did. But God forbid that's a rounding error, and somehow he's on the same. It gets late, early, and if you're down in that 1% range, then you probably have a really tough time justifying remaining in the race. This is really your last shot to make a splash.

Don't go out there and mouth a single time, too. You gotta do something. Otherwise, people are gonna say, what are you doing here? To that point, could we see more Republicans drop out if they either don't make the debate stage or don't make the splash I'm talking about.

I mean, I think around this, as the year kind of draws to a close and everyone knows that campaigns are gonna start really ramping up after the new year, I think it's time for people to start making some tough choices. But I think a Lot of these candidates are hoping to get to that third debate. And I think really it's not the second debate where we might see a lot of drop off. It's the third debate because there already is another one scheduled that they're trying hard to make it to the states.

So believe it or not, Donald Trump said something incredibly controversial, even by Donald Trump's standards. By talking about the outgoing Joint Chief Chairman, Mark Milley, he accused him of treason on Friday. This is what he said. This guy guy turned out to be a woke train wreck who, if the fake news reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China.

To give them a heads up on the think of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that in times gone by, the punishment would have been death. Okay. It doesn't even seem that any Republicans are outraged by him calling for the death of the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

But what does that tell you about the state of our politics right now? I mean, look, they threw their lot in with him long ago. They're with him until they walk away, and they don't seem to be ready to walk away. He is going to continue to do what he does.

And that's why I think this election is incredibly important, because it will, in my mind, signify the direction of our politics for the foreseeable future. If after everything we have seen and learned about Donald Trump over six years, we continue longer, we continue, he makes it in, back into the White House, it's going to change the. The way our politics is practiced forever. We talk a lot about the impact on democracy, but how we practice that democracy is forever changed.

And so, you know, until there's only one way to kind of put an end to this, and that's to repudiate him at the ballot box once and for all. So it seems to me that you're suggesting that it's going to be a referendum on more Donald Trump than it is on President Biden. Is that part of why Democrats like you strategists talk more broadly, don't seem all that worried about President Biden's lower approval number. The 2020 election, in my mind, was not a referendum on Covid.

It was a referendum on the economy. It was a referendum on chaos and whether or not people were tired of the constant swirl of chaos that Donald Trump brought about. What this election has the potential to do is remind people of all of that, of everything that they felt during those years. We kind of had a little bit of a break, short one, a little bit of one.

We had a little bit of a break for a while where things start to normalize and we all started to go back and worry about the actual issues wherever you fell. And we start to think about those again. This election, if Donald Trump is the nominee, it's going to come back to that issue of chaos and whether or not we are willing to go back to that. That's why I think it is smart for the president to continue to make or to focus the contrast on Donald Trump starting now to remind everybody of that and how they felt back then.

Is it enough given Biden's approval numbers right now, my first instinct is no. Insanity versus sinility. Here are your options, America. Good luck.

But Trump says a lot crazy things right now. We're not hearing about it because there's a lot going on. This program talked about the urban shutdown, stuff like that Biden versus Trump race. We will be hearing about Trump and he goes off and says this guy should be killed or something like that.

Then they'll get a lot of attention. And people were currently really upset with Biden. I raise you. Imagine.

I can't go back to that. I just can't do it. Well, we're running out of time. Otherwise I have to go further on that Trump accent that you're not.

Jim, thank you all for being here. We appreciate it. We have a special programming, though. Tune in after tomorrow night's Republican primary debate for MEET THE PRESS special coverage.

That's where Kristen Welker will have the nice top takeaways, live reporting, interviews with campaigns and expert analysis. That's starting 11pm Eastern right here on NBC News now. But after the break, the January 6 wire who stunned on a police officer and sought a citizen's arrest of the then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, facing sentencing today for prosecutors argued for more than 10 years in federal prison. Well, heavily.

It's next. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back. A Capitol rider who intended on a citizen's arrest of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was sentenced to serve just over four years in federal prison today.

A jury found Evidalion guilty back in April on three counts related to his actions on and around the January 6th insurrection, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding and an additional misdemeanor count. The evidence proved that he had prepared for potential violent action after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. He lashed out during his sentencing today, yelling at the judge about his belief that he was protecting the country. He was originally charged alongside another Capitol rider, Daniel Rodriguez, who was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison for aiming a stun gun at a D.C.

metro Police officer, Michael Fanone. Joining me now talk more about this is NBC News justice reporter Ryan Reilly. So the prosecution was asking for more than 10 years in federal prison. What was their argument and how does this sentence Compare to other January 6th sense?

They said that he was an essential part of this and that's why the sentence was going to be so long in their mind because essentially him and this other two and fifty hundred up driving that stun gun into Michael Phenone's neck. I teamed up and went to paintball trainings even. And the judge was sort of saying that does sound sort of funny. And the prosecution of acknowledges is sort of funny and ridiculous.

But it was also very serious in Ed Bedallian's mind because he really thought he was preparing for war and he wanted to go in and arrest traitors. And it really was this remarkable scene in court today when you had him just go through and say that he was protecting the Capitol by arresting traitors and that even though he was getting led into custody, he was taking his belt off, he was taking his tie off, he was taking his shoelaces off because he was going to be taken into custody. He was confronting the US Marshals who were with him saying what do you think about this? He got a pretty break off what prosecutors were 16 year olds only getting 4 years from 10 that the prosecutors wanted.

And this is kind of a lot different than what some other January 6th defendants have received. In fact, his school conspirator received 12 and a half years in prison back in June. Why the big difference in the sentencing lengths what the judges is that he wasn't violent. And you know what she wasn't sure about is why he that ended up happening, whether it wasn't the quote unquote traitors ended up presenting themselves.

He didn't have the opportunity essentially to do this, but he never finally really got to that level. He went inside the Capitol, especially in the ransacked hideaway office of one of the Republican senators there that just really got trash, mobile windows, furniture overturned and a really sort of disturbing scene. But he never actually committed violence. He sort of was a participant in the heave ho against that police line in the tunnel.

But it didn't rise to the level that you saw in the Danny Rodriguez case where he triggered the heart attack that Venera actually suffered that day after this. And you conducted a rather extensive interview with medallion after his conviction back in April. What did you make of him? So he's a big Infowars and Alex Jones fan.

He's just sort of really out there. But we had talked occasionally and ended up meeting up after this verdict, actually came in and took 17 minute interview with him out there and just sort of walked through this like how do you think you can citizens arrest someone? And he just die hard by this. Right.

He thought that that was what he could be able to do, that he was going to arrest her for suspicion of interfering in the election. It was just his vague idea. You're not going to find a statute in the US Code that he would really assign that to. But it was just his vague idea of like, oh, she tried to interfere in the 2000 election so we should have been able to citizens arrest her.

What he said in court today was that he was really mad at those officers on January 6th because he wanted them to flip sides and he wanted them to join the mob in actually going and arresting these quote unquote traitors that he thought had betrayed the country by not allowing Donald Trump to stay in power despite losing the 2000. Because we've seen some of these defendants kind of see the light, realize that they were on a fool's errand. Others kind of double down, triple down. He in some respects, as you see in this case.

All right, Ryan Riley, thank you so much. Turning now to Alabama, where the Supreme Court has again struck down a Republican drawn congressional map that includes just one black district. The decision marks the second time in three months that the court has rebuked Alabama Republicans after the court's a June ruling striking down a different map containing only one majority black district. About Alabama has seven congressional districts and 27% of the state's population is black.

The state is currently represented by six Republicans and one Democrat in the House lower court efforts to approve a congressional map that meets the Supreme Court's requirements to have two majority black districts remain ongoing silicon fears of an ethnic cleansing and worsening humanitarian crisis as a decade long conflict between our comes to a head. While the latest on that story you're watching Beat the Press now. Welcome back. We are following some breaking news out of New York where judge just denied Donald Trump's mother motion to dismiss New York Attorney General Leticia James's lawsuit.

In issuing that denial, the judge ruled the former president had committed repeated acts of fraud for years, lying to banks and insurers by both overvaluing and undervaluing his assets. There are six other issues that still remain unresolved ahead of the trial which is set to begin next week. NBC News has reached out to Trump's attorney as well as the AG's office for comment. We have yet to hear back.

Elsewhere, let's turn out to the ongoing humanitarian crisis amid the decades long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Yesterday, two senior administration officials, including USAID Administrator Samantha Power, arrived in Armenia to discuss the humanitarian needs in the Garo Karbakh, an ethnically Armenian territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. It comes as the Armenian government said this morning that more than 13,000 people who call that region home are fleeing across the border back into Armenia. The White House estimates that numbers up to 28,000.

Last week, Azerbaijan launched an immense military offensive operation in order to, quote, reintegrate the territory after three decades of separatist rule. The Armenian government is now warning about ethnic cleansing in that region. Joining us now is NBC News foreign correspondent Matt Bradley. So, Matt, tell us what prompted this latest round of tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

You're right. That depends. As any conflict like this, it really depends on who you ask. Now if you ask the Armenians and these are the people who are populating that Nagorno Karabakh region, as you mentioned, that ethnic enclave that is really inside of Azerbaijan, they say that this was incited by Armenia's prime minister.

So this is not Armenia. They're governed by their own breakaway republic. They said the Armenians prime minister had been cozying up to the west and that this had incited Azerbaijan by basically considering joining the International Criminal Court which considers Russia's Vladimir Putin to be a major war criminal and also by doing several other things, basically offering to have joint military drills with NATO powers. These are the kinds of things that antagonize Russia.

And Russia was the dominant power and the peacekeeping force that was governing the region. The Iranians also say that because they held a election inside Nagorno Karabakh. Again, this is a breakaway republic that isn't really recognized by most of the world, including the United States, that incited the Azerbaijanis in order to also take action and to launch this 24 hour offensive that then essentially ended a three decade war and brought to Nurugh and Karabakh under Azerbaijani control. Now a lot of this, of course, is a sort of opportunity.

Now the Aeraibai Shanis is getting stronger and stronger. There was a war, you remember, just three years ago and that's seen the Azerbaijanis take a lot of love both inside Nagorno Karabakh and on the fringes. So a lot of this was a question of whether or not the Azerbaijanis were ready to once again launch an incursion. And this week they were to devastating effect for the Armenians to live.

Nagorno, Karabakh so what does the fighting mean for the region in general, for the geopolitics in that area? And is there a concern about the role that Russia specifically could play? Yeah, it's very, very complex. And what we saw back in 2020 when there was that previous warning, again, this was very deadly war.

It was one that was undercovered by a lot of the global media between the United States, even by us, we didn't do much because this just flew under the radar. The situation there was that Russia is the guarantee of basically peace in the region. They deploy peacekeepers there with one so negotiation the peace read between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Historical Russia has stood beside Armenia is mostly a Christian state, whereas Turkey has stood behind Azerbaijan, a mostly Muslim state.

Though there are other interests at play, this is not, I should say chiefly a sectarian conflict. This is about ethnicity and about international interests. Now, Russia was behind Armenia, but in the past couple of years, as I mentioned, we started to see Russia has some priorities. Ukraine that meant that they couldn't expend the kind of resources in protecting Armenia and Nagorno Karak as they used to.

So they were distracted. But at the same time, it looks as though Armenia, as I mentioned in the previous question, had been sort of flirting with the west and that had angered Moscow. But they also saw a better ally in Azerbaijan. As you know, a lot of the gates have closed around Russia and there's been restrictions on oil imports.

The oil flow, the pipelines in Azerbaijan that lead to Central Asia. That's something that Moscow might have seen as beneficial. Them. Okay, Matt Bradley, thank you for that report.

We appreciate it. Thank you for being with us this hour. Back tomorrow with more MEET the Press Now NBC News now coverage continues with Hallie Jackson right now. Hey, 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.

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