Meet the Press NOW – September 28

If it's Thursday. House Republicans hold their first hearing on impeaching President Biden as a divided and dysfunctional Congress barrels for a government shutdown just two days away. Plus, about last night, where the 2024 race for president goes now as former President Trump is criticized on stage for skipping another debate by the rivals running out of time to blunt his momentum. And Senator Menendez speaks.

The embattled New Jersey lawmaker addresses his Democratic colleagues behind closed doors amid growing pressure from his own party to resign over allegations of corruption and bribery. Welcome to me the press. Now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington, where two of the most divisive and damaging political battles are colliding today.

Impeaching a sitting president and shutting down the government. Today, the House Overs Committee held the first hearing the Republicans impeachment agree in the President Biden's alleged ties to his son's business dealings. Launching this impeachment agree was one of the demands from Republican hardliners, a group that Kevin McCarthy is trying to wrangle as the government is set to shut down in two days. In today's hearing, which is still going on, Republicans pushing largely unproven allegations against the president and Democrats responding.

Since assuming our Republican majority in January, the House Oversight Accountability Committee has uncovered a mountain of evidence revealing how Joe Biden abused his public office for his family's financial gain. For years, President Biden has lied to the American people about his knowledge of and participation in his family's corrupt business schemes. All right, so let's get it straight. We're 62 hours away from shutting down the government of the United States of America and Republicans are launching impeachment drive based on a long debunked and discredited lie no foreign enemies ever made.

Shut down the government United States. But now mega Republicans are about to do just that. Well, a really major moment came as one of the Republican witnesses appeared to undercut Republicans claims that there's already a mountain of evidence to impeach the president. Take a look.

This is the question of impeachment inquiry. It is not a vote on articles of impeachment. In fact, I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment. That is something that an inquiry has to establish.

What I don't understand is the opposition to the inquiry itself. It seems to me the test is would the alleged conduct, if proven, establish impeachable offenses and is there a credible basis for those allegations? I think the answer is clearly yes. Now this all comes as the government is set to Shut down on Saturday night with no clear way out.

Speaker McCarthy met with fellow Republicans this morning urging them to pass a short term spending bill and avoid being, quote, held hostage by the Democratically controlled Senate. And amid Republican infighting over keeping the government open, President Biden is warning American principles are in jeopardy. With lagging poll numbers and with his Biden's messaging failing to break through, the President is pivoting today, condemning Donald Trump's so called MAGA message as an extremist movement. There's something dangerous happening in America now.

There's an extremist movement does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy. The MAGA movement. Not every Republican, not even a majority of publicans hear to the MAGA extremist ideology. I know because I've been able to work with Republicans my whole career.

But there's no question the Danish Republican Party is driven and intimidated by MAGA Republican extremists. Their extreme agenda is carried out with fundamentally all the institutions of American democracies. We know it. Join me now from Capitol Hill is NBC's Ali Vitale.

Also with me, NBC investigative correspondent Tom Winter and senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez is in Tempe, Arizona, where the President just spoke. Thanks to all of you for starting us off on a very busy day. Ally, I have to start with you. You have been watching every minute of these hearings, which have been going on for hours now, of course, the day after the GOP debate amid the shutdown fight, what did Republicans accomplish today?

Did they accomplish what they were hoping? You got to imagine that they're not thrilled by the way that this has played out here, Christian, in part because the Republican witnesses who were here did not necessarily march in lock step with the narrative that multiple Republicans were pushing going into this, including the head of this entire operation, the oversight chairman, Jim Comer, who had said previously that he would vote for impeachment outright right now, only to then be countered just moments later by one of the Republican star witnesses, Jonathan Shirley, who said that while he understands and thinks that there's enough for an impeachment inquiry, which is squarely where we are now in the process. He also said that he did not think that there was enough evidence at this point for an outright impeachment, Democrats were also pretty effective, this is ranking member Raskin and others, at disrupting any kind of narrative flow that the Republicans were trying to establish here, continuously trying to ask for motions, disrupt with votes. All of these the Republicans at some point seemed unprepared to counter, but really were effective at disrupting their ability to gain any momentum here during this hearing.

Now, it's many, many hours long. They are wrapping up this process now just in time for. For members to turn to the other crisis at hand here that actually has a clock on it, the shutting down of the government. But I want to play for you one of the more effective parts of this hearing.

When Congressman Ocasio Cortez highlighted that none of the witnesses that Republicans called had any firsthand knowledge of the allegations that they're trying to prove. Watch. Mr. Turley, I have a simple question for you.

In your testimony today, are you presenting any firsthand witness account of crimes committed by the President of the United States? No, I'm not. No, you are not. Ms.

O', Connor, you are the second Republican witness here today. Have you, in your testimony presented any firsthand witness account of crimes committed by President of the United States? I have not. Thank you.

Now, Mr. Jabinski, as a third and final Republican witness in this hearing, have you in your testimony presented any firsthand witness account of crimes committed by the President of the United States? I have not. And Professor Gerhardt, given that you are a minority witness, I assume the same, correct?

I am. Matter of fact witness. Correct. Now, look, at best, Democrats can call that a win, Kristen.

And at worst for Republicans, that's the challenge that they have here, underscoring the fact that right now they got a bunch of allegations, but no evidence directly tying allegations to the President of the United States. Yeah, that was a really striking exchange there that you just played. Ali, stay with me. I want to go over to Tom Winter.

Tom, just break this down for us and build a little bit, if you will, on what Ali just started to. I mean, did we see any new evidence presented by Republicans today? Did they move the needle at all? Well, I was just about to say before Ally just played the sound herself and we heard it directly from the fact witnesses or the witnesses, I should say.

They were not there to testify with first hand knowledge of crimes. We heard from nobody today that was involved in any of the criminal investigations involving the son of the President of the United States who's under indictment. And something that is of all the things that we've heard about Hunter Biden definitively not tied to his father. And of course, we're waiting to find out whether or not Hunter Biden will face any sort of criminal tax charges that might be filed in the coming weeks.

As soon as the coming weeks, I should say, in the Central District of California by Special Counsel Weiss, all put together here, Kristen, it's not surprising we didn't get that testimony today because it wasn't built as that. This is not a court of law, as we are often reminded it is certainly not. There's no impartial jury here. Everybody knows what side of the fence they're on and we all know that, too.

I think the important thing for us to remember is going forward, does this inquiry turn up evidence and turn up witnesses that can point to a definitive either Hunter Biden or another Biden family member providing money to then Vice President Biden or to then candidate Joe Biden? That, I think is going to be the big question for Republicans moving forward as to whether or not they can make those ties or legal terms of nexus between those individuals and then where did that money come from and is there some sort of a perceived conflict of interest? That remains the big question. It's the question we've asked Congress is the question that we're investigating as investigative reporters right now.

We haven't found that connection. Could be one day perhaps, could we not? Perhaps as well. And just to remind our viewers, Tom, of the legal implications that Hunter Biden is facing right now, he has been indicted on gun charges.

Republicans have made the point, well, these gun charges have nothing to do with exactly what you're talking about. Ties to his father, any proof that his father benefited or had anything to do with his business dealings. Right. I mean, what is the crux of the legal issues that Hunter Biden is facing right now?

That's correct. As far as what he's been indicted for, it's less than two weeks of conduct in Delaware involving a gun. No. No nexus whatsoever to Joe Biden in its possession of gun while using drugs and lying on the associated forms and lying to the, to the gun dealer.

That's its own specific case, almost never charged in and of itself. But it's kind of a splinter of a, of a case or a guilty plea that we thought we were going to get in July of this year. Christian, as you well remember. So that's column A.

Column B is the taxes and the businesses of Hunter Biden. And that's obviously what Republicans and as a matter of public opinion people have been focused on what were the ethics of Hunter Biden having the jobs and connections that he did? And did that in any way, shape or form either benefit the Biden family or did it benefit benefit those individuals who were paying Hunter Biden as far as influence that they may have been able to garner with then Vice President Biden or candidate Biden? Again, that's not evidence that we've directly seen our but it is something obviously that multiple, whether it be Congress, whether it be reporters and perhaps as well as federal investigators might be looking at that we've seen no indication of the latter.

All right. And with that, let me go out to Arizona and Gabe, Gabe, what are folks the White House telling you? The president doesn't spend a whole lot of time talking about this, but when he has been asked directly whether he has profited off of his son's business dealings, he has said no, that he has nothing to do with his son's business dealings. How's the White House responding to what's happening on Capitol Hill today?

Well, Kristen, the White House has been consistent in saying especially the last couple days, they're trying to brand this inquiry. It's coming from extreme MAGA Republicans. Zachary Jean Pierre, a few days ago in press briefing hit that message. And the White House is really trying to hit the overall message of what's going on right now, not just in impeachment, but also more broadly throughout the country is because of this extremist wing of the Republican Party.

And when it transition now to where we are right now in here in Arizona. That was the president's message here during the speech, a high profile speech. He has given several so far on this topic. But this was the most aggressive attack so far since the 2020 campaign on not just MAGA Republicans, not just Trumpism, but Donald Trump himself.

President Biden saying, Donald Trump saying at least once during his speech and taking him on for what he sees as threats to democracy. Of course, no accident, they did it here in Arizona. He was here with the widow of late Republican Senator John McCain, of course, one of the most outspoken critics of former President Trump. I want to play some of what President Biden had to say in his speech.

It wrapped up just a short time ago. Take a listen. I've tried my very best, and I'm sure I haven't met the test of all you want me to be, but tried my very best to meet the highest standards, whether you voted for me or not, because that's the job, to deliver light, not heat, to make sure democracy delivers for everyone to know. We're a nation of unlimited possibilities, of wisdom and decency, a nation focused on the future.

I'm asking you, regardless, whether you're a Democrat, Republican, independent, put the preservation of our democracy before anything else. And I senior administration official telling me that this was very personal for the president, that he'd been working on this speech up until at least through last night when he flew here from California. And Chris, in this town at a time when the president's message, both on the economy and perhaps the threats of democracy has had some trouble breaking through, according to a recent NBC News poll, when he gave a similar speech like this at Independence hall months ago, the Democrats, according to voters, voters gave Democrats the benefit of the doubt when it came to which party to better preserve democracy. Now, according to the most recent NBC News poll, both parties are about even with Republicans having a slight edge.

So certainly the White House now dealing at this message is extremely important. And again, President Biden going further than he had for name checking Donald Trump about he sees a crucial threat to democracy if Trump were to be reelected. Yeah, great reporting and obviously an indication that President Biden is really pivoting in some ways to the general election now, not waiting until there is an actual winner of the Republican race, even though obviously the voting has yet to begin in the primary. Alibitali, let me turn back to you.

The hearing has just wrapped up. And yes, you've been watching the hearing, but you've also been working around the clock on the other big story on Capitol Hill. You referenced it at the top of the fact that we're two days away from a government shutdown. Ali, what is the latest and is there any hope to avoid one at this point in time?

It's painful to say, Kristen, because shutdowns are very difficult, not necessarily for people in this building, but for Americans across the country who once you get into one, there's a lot of uncertainty about how long you'll be in a shutdown posture, how long workers will be furloughed, how long those paychecks will not be in your mailbox or in your bank account. Those are all open questions because in my conversations with lawmakers today and over the course of the last few days, increasingly I have yet to find one Republican or Democrat who doesn't think we're about to go into a shutdown this weekend. We're watching House Freedom Caucus members just in the last hour or so continue to pressure Speaker McCarthy on what his plan looks like. We're still hearing from more Republican hardliners who would be a no on the continuing resolution, which is the mechanism that Speaker McCarthy wants to use right now to buy himself and his conference more time to finish out figuring out what rest of those sending bills will look like.

We know that there are 12 appropriations bills in total. They've tried now to pass four of them. Again, we're really adding impasse here because for McCarthy, this is not just a question of how you keep the government open, it's how do you keep the government open and also keep your job as speaker. Yeah.

A really tough moment and test for Speaker McCarthy. All of my sources echoing what you're hearing, Ally, that it feels like at this moment a shutdown is all but certain. Ally. Tom and Gibbs, thank you for getting us started on a very busy day.

I want to bring in our panel, Betsy Wood of Swan, national correspondent for Politico and NBC News contributor Cornell Belcher, Democratic pollster and an NBC News political analyst. And Lonnie Chen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and former Romney campaign policy advisor. Thanks to all of you for being here. But we have so much to talk about.

We have two panels today, so this will just get us started. Betsy, let me start with you. Just set the table here. Coming off of this hearing, what actually happened today, politically speaking, because even Republican witnesses say, look, there's enough evidence yet to actually move to a full impeachment.

The politics of the situation are a big mess for everyone. And what we also see, of course, is that the Hunter Biden impeachment saga is intimately intertwined with the government shutdown saga. Hunter Biden is the one figure who unites almost all the House Republican Conference. Obviously not on this question of whether or not the president should be impeached, but broadly, virtually every Republican likes gesturing at the president's sign and suggesting that he somehow means the president should should be viewed negatively.

And of course, polls show that that message from Republicans is resonating. Now, part of the reason Republicans love talking about her Biden so much is that many of the other biggest issues they're having to grapple with are huge mess for them. Obviously, government shutdown being at the top of the list. My colleagues reported that private meetings have included a foul language for Republicans lobbying at one another as they're grappling with the fact that they are very much on the brink of failing to fund the government.

For Democrats, meanwhile, the Hunter Biden saga is also really thorny. Democratics, Democrats in the House have not figured out how they're going to talk about the president's son. It's difficult because where the politics are and where the president himself is at are very different. The president loves his son and he's not going to buy House.

Democrats suggesting that Hunter Biden isn't close to his father or Hunter Biden is a problematic figure. Grappling with that and dealing with all those, all those dynamics together is going to be challenging for times going forward. I think that Betsy hits on what makes this so complicated for the White House because you have Hunter Biden showing up at various events, including a state dinner, which raised some eyebrows. Could this be how problematic is it for President Biden in his reelection campaign?

We know his poll numbers nationally. He's tied with former President Trump, who's facing four indictments. This is one more cloud. But how big of a cloud is it?

There's a lot to unpack here. One, the only thing I would disagree with is that it's not that Democrats haven't figured out how to talk about Hunter Bin. They're not going to talk about Hunter Biden because last time I checked, Hunter Biden was a top issue concern for women sitting around their kitchen table worrying about how the kids are going to get a good education, how they're going to pay the bill. So they do have questions about it.

So they're not. Yeah, of course they get questions because they're probably going to push the questions. Right. But last time I checked, Hunter Biden was a top issue concern for voters across the country.

Now, Hussein probably want to play politics for this, but what are the politics shown right now? This is not a new investigation. This is months and months and months and months and months of investigations. And they found absolutely nothing here whatsoever to sort of to point to Biden having anything to do.

So the president is actually doing what the president is supposed to be doing. He's going around the country talking about his vision for the future, talking about the accomplishments that he's done. It would benefit only Republicans if, in fact, the president got in the mud, Democrats got in the mud and made Hunter Biden the central conversation that they want to have, when the central conversation Americans want to have are about education and about guns. Let me jump in here.

Talk about the potential for a backlash. Here you have day one and one of their key witnesses, Jonathan Turley, says there's not enough evidence to impeach. Now, he also said, doesn't mean we shouldn't have an inquiry. But wow, that's not the smoking gun that I think some Republicans who are watching this from the outside were hoping for on day one.

And the politics are complicated, right? Because on the one hand, you do have a lot of voters in the Republican base that love this. They love the concept of focusing on this. They love the inquiry.

But it's hard for Republicans who come from marginal districts. I'm thinking about districts in California where I'm from, where you really don't want to be on the record on this issue because in an election year it creates some challenges. And so how do you react to that? When the politics are as tricky as they are, good for some, not as good for others.

And we've actually seen it in the long term bolster presidents, former President Trump, former President Clinton. I mean, they use their impeachments to energize their base. I mean, do you think Biden will be savvy and do the same? I'd separate Clinton from, from, from Trump here.

I think clearly when Clinton, when Clinton went down, the rally base also rallied the American people more around. I think, I think President Clinton was in better shape after that impeachment thing. Was going into that impeachment. To a certain extent, I think Republicans botched that impeachment.

Betsy, you make the point that this is all going on against the backdrop of the government likely shutting down in just two days. To what extent is there a sense that Speaker McCarthy speakership is in real trouble in this moment or do you think he holds on? We aren't getting that it's sort of an emergency house on fire problem for McCarthy in terms of holding on his speaker. But there's no question that long term these types of major escapades are profoundly unhelpful and show that much of the case that he made for his speakership has not thus far borne out.

He hasn't been able to get all those Row House Republicans on board with his project. What else is just notable about this shutdown, of course, is how simple it was with government shutdown in 2013 when you had Virginia state elections happening, you had a major state level story. Then it was Ken Cuchill running for governor. Now it's Governor Glenn Youngkin trying to take broader control over the state of Virginia.

And it's a state that has tons of federal workers who could be impacted by a shutdown. So that's another problem, immediate problems. I want to play a quick sound bite of Senator Cornyn. He was asked about the politics of the shutdown.

Get your reaction on the other side. And Republicans often take the blame politically for shutdowns. And it happened in 2020 with the midterms, where after that long sh. What is your concern with Rodney about how this could impact her chances to get the senate back in 24?

Well, I think it's bad policy and it's bad politics. Lonnie. That was Julie Chenna asking that question. Julie Circuit, I'm sorry, I'm combining names.

That was her own Julie Circuit asking that Question, Lonnie, what do you make of that? I mean, it's just a blunt reaction to politics. If this are not good. Yeah, politics.

Senator Corn's right. I don't think the politics are good. Now that having said there is distance between the shutdown and the 2024 election cycle. So that may be the saving grace for Republicans.

Even though this is not great politics, it may indeed impact what happens in the off year election in Virginia. It's not clear to me that it has an impact in 24 Senate races, Houses. We'll see. How much do Democrats drive this in issue, particularly in those marginal House seats are gonna drive shutdown, they're gonna drive impeachment.

And of course, Donald Trump's at the top of the ballot in 2024. A lot of those moderate Democrats, Republicans are gonna have challenge. I think how they drive it, and that's a good point, but I think how they drive it, look, it's not a silver bullet, one thing, but I think the conversation that Democrats will be having, chaos, confusion, destruction, not focusing on any of the issues that they. I've not seen their crime bill, I've not seen their border security bill at all, any of the things that they've run on.

That's the case that bit by bit Democrats are made of the bill. Well, that's going to be the test if the government does shut down. Don't go anywhere. We have a whole debate to talk about.

Great conversation about. Secretary, you are sticking around because we do have more to talk about. Up next, tick tock, Donald Duck and a very weird moment about sleeping with school teachers. We're breaking down what happened at last night's debate and what it means for the future of the 2024 race.

Plus, live reporting from the Pentagon as US officials react to a run in between US and Iranian armed forces and the return of that US soldier who was just released home from detention in North Korea. Stay with us. You're watching the press. Now get the best of NBC News with a subscription, viewer ads and exclusive content.

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For the second straight time, Republican presidential candidates sparred on the debate stage, at times aggressively and personally. And for the second Straight time front runner Donald Trump did not attend. Notably, the candidates on stage seemed well aware of the dire political position they face right now with Trump holding such a commanding win in the race and everyone else batt him to break out of the pack. The result, we did see some more attacks on Trump's record at his absence on stage.

We also saw some strong performances. But overall, the dominant theme of the night was more about how the candidates argued with each other, not with Trump. Take a look. These are good people who are tainted by broken systems.

Thank you for speaking the line up. Gentlemen, you have your turn. Everybody knows that. Just one of many moments where there are a lot of candidates talking at once.

NBC Shack Rooster joins me now. He spent last night watching the debate with Republican voters in Wisconsin. As always, Shaq, you brought the voters to us, gave us a front row seat into their minds, what they were thinking and feeling. Before we get to that, I want to ask you about your takeaways from the night.

Did anyone move the needle? What are your thoughts? Yeah, Kristen, you know, if you went to nbcnews.com I believe one of the subtitles in one of the digital stories was it got loud and it got weird. And that was kind of the feeling that you got from that debate where, yes, it was fiery.

You saw that moment between Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy. You saw Nikki Haley really step up and engage in attacks. There was moments directly where you saw Tim Scott and Nikki Haley going back and forth. But whether or not he changed the needle, that's not really clear from last night.

You know, one thing that we continue to see and one big shift that you saw last night, especially comparing it to the first debate, is that these candidates were a little bit more willing to take on Donald Trump. He's only seen his position in this primary increase since the last debate over the course of the summer. And you saw, of course, Chris Christie go after him on things like conduct on his record. He does that all the time.

But you now hear those kinds of attacks coming from Ron DeSantis. Nikki Haley also stepped in with those punches and jabs at the former president. So I think you're starting to understand that these candidates are realizing the clock is running out if they want to draw that contrast with the former president and this idea that he will just fade away or that his legal troubles will stop his rise or his dominance in the field, I think there's some reality setting in with those candidates. But again, he wasn't on that stage.

And when he's not on that stage, the candidates then end up squabbling and going back and forth among one another. Yeah, it's such a great point, Shaq. And of course, former President Trump's poll numbers have only increased from the first debate when he wasn't on stage during that debate either. Shaq, take us inside the room with you.

Last night you watched with voters in Wisconsin. What did they tell you? Yeah, yeah, I guess we should start calling these living room conversations. We start with dinner, there's some drinks, and then we watch the debate.

But you know what we. What I noticed last time, this was a group of conservative voters in Waukesha, Wisconsin. They're all self described conservatives. Two of them were the same people we talked to last time around.

The other three were new to our conversation and there was some interest in other candidates. Look, all these voters said that they would support former President Trump again in a general election. Hands down. They don't like what they're seeing in Washington right now, but there is some interest in other candidates.

I want you to listen to some of the conversations we had right after the conclusion of the debate. You're the Trump guy after the first. Before and after the first debate. How about now?

He's our guy. I really like Doug Burgundy, though. I actually think Doug Burgum. I mean, who doesn't like Vivek?

I think Vivek would make a fun. Either a running mate or. But I really like. I had to pick the people that I'd feel safest with.

Booty DeSantis number one. And I would say, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Chris Christie number two, and then three. I like Doug Burgum and I really think there's a lot of great candidates for vice president from there. Yeah, yeah.

Because there's a lot of great talent up there. Yeah. No one candidate is not. I should say, no candidate is perfect.

You know, I'll tell you, there was a lot of frustration over that moment that you started this segment when you heard all the candidates talking over one another. But they couldn't understand. Voters couldn't understand what was going on. But when I asked who won the debate, there was no clear answer.

There's a lot of dynamics. I don't know if that shifted the dynamics of the race in any fundamental white person. Well, what's so interesting, also you asked them to raise their hand if they wanted to see Donald Trump on stage. They all raised their hand.

So it's a clear message from the voters that they do want the former president to participate in these debates. Absolutely, Chap. Sir, we just love your segments of voters and we learned so much. Thank you so much.

We really appreciate it. Coming up next, facing the fallout, Senator Mendez addresses his Democratic colleagues for the first time since dozens of them started calling for his resignation following his indictment on bribery and corruption charges. We'll have the very latest on what was said in that closed door meeting next. You're WATCHING ME the PRESS now.

Welcome back. All eyes are on the Senate Democrats closed door lunch today to see if indicted Senator Bob Menendez could defend himself to his colleagues in the face of federal bribery charges. We're watching to see if the Senate was able to change any minds, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has not called for his resignation but has not defended him either. The senator is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit three New Jersey businessmen and the Egyptian government.

So far, 30 senators, majority of the Senate Democr caucus have called on Menendez to resign. But Menendez has shown no sign of caving to the pressure. Listen to what he had to say as he left today's lunch, as I have for 18 years and I'm sure many of those votes, they'll be looking forward to re cast a defiant Senator Menendez there. NBC's Ryan Noble has the very latest from Capitol Hill.

So Ryan, to the best that you can take us inside that lunch. What came out of it? Was Senator Menendez able to win over any hearts and minds? Yeah, Chris, we actually have quite a bit of reporting from what was happening inside of the room because our team, Frank Thorpe, Lizbeth Kaiser and Julie Serkin, kind of fanned out and talked to all these different senators as they were leaving.

And the sense we got was that this really didn't change many minds. Senator Menendez spoke for about 15 minutes. He actually didn't really even get into the allegations against him. Basically talk about his history as a senator and his relationships with the folks in the Democratic caucus.

And then he didn't even take any questions. Nobody really attempted to ask him any question questions. So as a result of, you know, many of the senators that left that meeting that already called on him to resign didn't change their position and there doesn't seem to be any real movement among Senate leadership to try and force him from office. And then even further out, there really is no indication that Menendez is changing his posture at all.

He appears to be willing to stay in office as long as it takes. The big question, that's still an answer that we thought maybe would have been revealed during this meeting is whether or not he intends to seek re election. He is still not definitively said if he plans to do that person. Interesting.

We know it's so interesting because Leader Schumer has, as you say, hasn't called for him to resign yet. And he said let's see what happens. We're watching Schumer very closely, obviously to see if there's any tea leaves to be read within his orbit. What are you hearing?

What are you observing, deserving? Yeah, I think it's an issue right now where Chuck Schumer has to be the leader of the entire Senate Democratic Caucus and there really isn't any motivation for him to call on Senator Menendez to resign because it likely won't result in Senator Menendez stepping down. And what I think you can read behind, you know, between the tea leaves here about this and nobody from the senator's office has specifically told us this, but it's just kind of our understanding of how these things work. The fact that you saw a floodgate open and so many of these Democratic senators feel comfortable to call for Menendez resignation is probably a signal that Schumer at the very least not telling them not to do that.

And I do think that that's a significant distinction because for the most part he's able to keep the Democratic caucus in line. But I'd have to say there's one senator who's an outlier among outliers, and that's John Fetterman. He called on Menendez to sat down before anyone else did and he's double tripling, sometimes quadrupling down on the fact that he believes Menendez should resign, even to the point where he didn't even go to this lunch today. Listen, what he said about earlier, I didn't go to the lecture, refused to because the only thing that if he has something to say, it's like, you know, he's resigning.

That's the only honorable exit and he's got to go. He's got to go. I can't imagine, you know, how he could possibly explain any of that kind of thing, but that's it to do in the court, not here among us. He needs to go.

So that is Senator Fetterman stance on that. Obviously, his other colleagues maybe not as forceful in calling on Menendez to resign, but there was certainly no one whose mind was changed after hearing his clea was caucus earlier today. Kristen. Well, great reporting and fascinating analysis about what Leader Schumer is trying to do there by giving his colleagues space Ryan Nobles, thank you so much.

After the break, stuck in neutral, last night's candidates took jabs at Trump over abortion, China and the nation's debt. But those attacks might have been too little, too late to have an impact on the the race. The panel is coming back, so don't go anywhere. You're watching the press now.

Welcome back. Just moments ago, Trump campaign advisor Chris Lavida told NBC News former President Trump will not attend the next Republican debate in November. That comes after last night's debate where some of the loudest criticisms of Mr. Trump weren't focused on his record or his mounting legal troubles, but rather his decision not to attend.

You know who else is missing in action? Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record where they added 7.8 trillion to the debt that set the stage for the inflation that we have.

Donald Trump should be here to answer for that, but he's not. And I want to look at the camera right now, tell you, Donald, I know you're watching. You can't help yourself. I know you're watching, okay?

And you're not here to tonight, not because of polls and not because of your indictments. You're not here tonight because you're afraid of being on the stage and defending your record. You're ducking these things. And let me tell you what's gonna happen.

You keep doing that. No one appears to call you Donald Trump anymore. Duck. One of the more memorable lines from the night.

Back with me is the panel, Betsy Widder, Swan Grill Belter, and Lonnie Chen. Lonnie, let me get you. There's a lot to break up. Let me get you first, just your reaction to this news.

The Trump campaign saying he's not going to attend. That's what they're saying today. Of course, ultimately, the decision will be up to former President Trump and he sometimes changes his mind. But what do you make of that?

It's what I expected. It makes a lot of sense after last night's debate. I don't know if you're Donald Trump, there's any reason to go to a debate like that. I sort of thought, I wondered if his ego would allow him to stay out, given how many barbs were thrown at him at some point.

He's like, listen, I'm going to go defend myself. But this is obviously, I think, the right political move. It's the right move given where the campaign stands, given the fact that Democratic, strategically, Donald Trump becomes a smaller figure on the stage. So you do not allow him to get on the stage.

He benefits. Other candidates benefit. You don't give an opportunity to benefit. Why your candidate loses it.

In no way he's on the stage. But to that point, the headline from last night just seemed to be the catastrophe of candidates clashing with each other and the fact that many times you couldn't hear what they were saying. And so if you are Donald Trump watching this now, his campaign says he didn't watch, but it doesn't seem like there's a huge incentive to jump into that fray. No, it doesn't seem to benefit at all.

And I think I don't wanna be too cute about this, but today in a lot of ways felt like the first day of the general election. If Biden gave his major address setting the stage for how he's gonna take on Trump, all but explicitly saying he expects Trump to be his opponent going in and then Trump himself calling for the RNC to shut down the rest of the debate. So basically say lights out, we're done here. And of course, the subtext of that, Trump wasting energy by writing in this primary.

But you know, everyone on Trump steam is also thinking about money and the fact that he has these massive legal bills that are genuinely impacting his ability. One of the things I thought encapsulated all that was, was a woman in the, in the focus group that y' all show. There's a lot of great VP candidates on that stage in the conversation. Let's talk about who had a good night, who did well, who didn't.

I want to play this sound from Governor Ron DeSantis talking about abortion. One of the big issues after former President Trump told me wouldn't commit to a national ban and slammed DeSantis six week ban in Florida. Take a look. I reject this idea that pro lifers are to blame for midterm defeats.

I think there's other reasons for that. The former president, you know, he's missing an action tonight. He's had a lot to say about that. He should be here explaining his comments to try to say that pro life protections are somehow a terrible.

I want him to look into the eyes and tell people who've been fighting this fight for a long time. Betsy DeSantis kind of hung back during the first debate. He certainly did make himself more known last night, including taking sharper attacks at former President Trump. Was he effective, particularly on that issue of abortion?

It's hard to say. And the challenge for Republicans dealing with the abortion issue is that where the base is at on this question is very different from where the general is going to be at. And Trump seems to understand that the way that he is at least rhetorically trying to distance himself from the movement of people opposed to abortion, essentially signaling that he views it as a fundraising grift rather than a meaningful political movement. The way, the way he himself is basically signaling his views of the politics here is quite different from how to say it as a.

I think people think of Haley. She is clearly understanding this as how do we position this issue for general election. She did it in the first debate. That continues to be where she is.

And I think ultimately that is why you see her running in hypothetical matchups against the president stronger than any other Republican because her positioning so far has been as, look, I can be the only room. I can give you the general electionary. I can be the contrast. And she is the contrast.

She's relatively younger. She obviously has the Indian American heritage. There's a lot of things about her that make her an effective contrast. Too bad we'll never see it.

But her older. She is. I mean, Lani makes a good point though. It's notable that in a general election matchup she does better than any of the other candidates, according to our ladies.

Yeah, and. And just before when my guy running against your guy. Look, Governor Perry was running really good at a hypothetical match against Obama. It just never happened.

Look, when I see DeSantis now attacking Donald Trump, I think little too late. It's so you gotta try, right? If you want to get in front of the person that's in front of you, you have to hit them. I think what it comes down to though is what these debates, the purpose of these debates are to win on the field.

At some point there will be a one on one and that's when it's gonna get really interesting. The question is, is it gonna matter when it gets to one on one? Yeah, that'll be interesting. We'll see how the first couple states.

Yeah, there was a really fascinating moment that's gotten some buzz today. It involves teachers education. I'm gonna let it play out and we'll do some analysis on the other side. When you have the President, United States, sleeping with a member of the teachers union, there is no chance that you could take a stranglehold away from the teachers union every day.

They have an advocate inside the White House every day for the worst of their teachers. Not for our students to be the best they can be by full disclosure. Chris, you mentioned the president's situation My wife is a member of the teachers union, but I gotta admit, I've been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years. Cornell.

That line got no reaction. We should just explain. Governor Christie was representing the fact, of course, that the first lady is a teacher. Right.

Well, his wife is a teacher. It goes down to some of those awkward moments, I think in political debates in modern era. Maybe it doesn't look that bad already, but on television and just the pause and how the audience was just sitting there silent, not movement, it looks really awkward. It's something that lives on the Internet forever.

Lonnie, what does it say about the moment that they were in last night? Because I got the sense, and this is where we started the discussion, that each of these candidates were really reaching to try to have a moment, to try to create a moment to break through. Yeah, you know, I've been involved in preparations around dozens of these primary deb. And you're always thinking how do you break through?

And there's like 15 on stage last night. But how do you break through? How do you create a moment? How do you make yourself memorable?

The one liner is the most tired. I got an idea. I'm so worried about the next debate. It's a question.

It's an open question. Look, Senator Scott, Betsy, I thought he came out of the first debate. And Democrats, Republicans all said to me, as I'm sure they did to you, he is such a nice guy. Tonight showcase that he's such a nice guy.

Last night you could see him really ramp up. He got in there, he tried to mix it up. He had a very strong bite when he was going back and forth with Governor DeSantis on the issue of what is written in Florida's educational guidelines about slavery, for example, really speaking passionately from the heart, what did you make of his performance? He clearly has gotten the message that just out nicing everyone is not the way to win the Republican presidential primary.

So it was certainly more of a gloves off approach for him. His clash with Nikki Haley, of course, is really memorable. Sort of Battle of the South Carolinians. In that case, he didn't seem to have done as much research as he should have on the additionally contentious issue of curtains and when couldn't get his initiation, another big moment.

But no question that he said he's trying to be a little bit less nice, a little bit scrappier. Is it going to change the way enough people vote? Tbd. Okay, very quickly, Lonnie, did anything change last night?

I think the only thing that change is that Ranci one last person next debate probably. I think Bergam at this name in his last debate. I think that'll be a change. Do you agree, Cornell?

Anything else you did? No. Okay, then we'll leave it there. Betsy, Cornell and Lonnie, thank you.

Still a comic spell from North Korea. The American soldier who ran across the DMZ months ago is officially back on US Soil. We'll have the latest on that story and what it could mean for US North Korea relations next. You watching me?

The press now. Stay with us. Welcome back. U.S.

army Private Travis King is back on American soil, arriving in San Antonio, Texas early this morning after he was released by the North Korean government. It comes two months after he willingly ran across the border between north and South Korea while on a tour of the militarized zone. Now at the time, King was facing possible disciplinary action after being released from a South Korean jail. A senior administration official says King appears to be in good health and good spirits.

King's release comes after weeks of negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington by a Sweden who serves as the protecting power for the US And North Korea. Senior administration officials say no concessions were made. Quote, full stop. Tuning now to discuss.

This is NBC News Pentagon correspondent Courtney QB Court. Thanks so much for being here. So this is significant. Travis Ting now back in the U.S.

what can you tell us about how he's doing? What's next for him? Well, all we know is that according to administration officials, he seems to be healthy, but beyond that, we don't really know much. Now he's at a military facility in San Antonio called Cormier Medical center where he's undergoing something that's basically a reintegration process.

So it's something that's common for people who've been held or detained. Brittney Griner went through a similar one several months ago. Essentially, the officials will look at him and determine his medical health, his physical health, but also his emotional well being and his mental stability. They'll look at things like did he endure any traumas that he will need continuing care for throughout this process?

It's different for every individual. It can last upwards of two weeks or less depending on the individual and what that person went through throughout that process. They'll determine whether he needs any follow on care, medical, physical, medical or emotional health. And, but and then out of that, the big question is what does the army do next?

Now he could be eligible for some sorts of trauma charges. He did go awol, absent without leave. But the official I've spoken would say that right now they are really focused on his mental health, his physical well being and they're not even really thinking at this point about the follow on. That's so fascinating.

Courtney, talk about the broader implications here. The fact that no concessions were made. How significant is that? It's so significant.

And I gotta tell you, Kristen, it's kind of a head scratcher. You know, when we look at past times where Americans or others have been detained by North Korea, it simply hasn't been this seemingly easy for an individual to be released. He was held for about two months, just over 70 days, and then released. Swedish authorities were able to go across the border into North Korea, take him into China, where US Military was able to fly in and pick him up and bring him back to Seoul.

We still hear that there was no concessions made. I have to say it's the biggest question mark about a story that had so many question marks. Why did he first run across the border into North Korea? How was he ultimately released and what is the way forward with him with the military?

And this one really should know any of those three things, Kristen. Yeah, it really does raise so many questions, Courtney, and of course, questions about what this could mean for U.S. relations with North Korea moving forward. We really appreciate your joining us, Courtney qb, and you'll continue to stay on top of this developing story.

Thank you. Thanks. And thank you for being with us this hour. I'm back tomorrow with more MEET the Press Now, NBC News now 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 for 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.