0:02

If it's Monday after the daring and

0:04

deadly raid that brought home four Israeli

0:06

hostages, Secretary of State Antony

0:08

Blinken is back in the region, as

0:11

a ceasefire deal in this eight-month-long war

0:13

now seems even less likely. Plus,

0:16

it's in the jury's hands, deliberations beginning

0:18

just moments ago in Hunter Biden's criminal

0:20

trial, and a verdict could come at

0:22

any moment. That is, the

0:24

president's son faces multiple charges tied to

0:27

gun possession while using drugs. The

0:30

former President Donald Trump meets virtually with

0:32

his New York City probation officer as

0:34

he hits the campaign trail, rails

0:36

against the verdict, and vows vengeance

0:38

against his political enemies. And

0:52

welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm

0:54

Aaron Gilchrist in Washington. We are learning

0:56

more today about how Israel rescued four

0:59

hostages this weekend from Gaza, and about

1:01

the casualties in that daring daytime operation.

1:04

Over the weekend, emotional scenes of celebration

1:06

and relief as those four hostages returned

1:08

home to Israel, hugging their families after

1:10

being held hostage for more than 240

1:12

days. The

1:15

Hamas-run health ministry is saying at least 274 Palestinian

1:19

civilians were killed during the Israeli

1:21

raid, and while Israel acknowledges there

1:23

were civilian casualties, they estimate that number to

1:25

be less than 100. The

1:28

IDF says all four hostages were being

1:30

held in an apartment building that also

1:32

housed civilian families. And a

1:35

U.S. official familiar with the matter says the

1:37

U.S. provided intel to support the rescue operation.

1:40

And today, NBC News is also

1:42

exclusively reporting that the Biden administration

1:44

is considering a potential unilateral deal

1:46

with Hamas to secure the release

1:48

of American hostages in Gaza, as

1:50

well as the bodies of Americans

1:52

killed during the October 7 attack. Now,

1:55

when pressed about it by NBC's Andrea Mitchell

1:57

today in Egypt, Secretary of State Blinken did

1:59

not and

4:00

his allies in his very right-wing government are now

4:02

going to be able to point to this, and

4:04

we're already seeing this, as the

4:07

only solution, that continuing the war, not

4:09

reaching a ceasefire, is the best way

4:11

to free the hostages, that they can

4:13

have their cake and eat it too.

4:15

By continuing the war, they will accomplish

4:17

both goals. And as you mentioned before,

4:20

in the introduction, that kind of

4:22

makes any peace negotiations that are

4:24

now being shepherded by Secretary Blinken

4:26

here in the Middle East even

4:28

further apart, even less likely, than they

4:30

were before, and they were not likely before.

4:33

Aaron. Matt, I want to go

4:35

back to this number of casualties here. We do

4:37

have the Hamas-run Ministry of Health saying that more

4:39

than 270 Palestinians were killed

4:42

during that operation. Has Israel had much

4:44

to say about the civilian deaths here,

4:46

and also how are Arab countries reacting

4:49

to this weekend's operation? Well,

4:53

this has been considered outrageous by

4:55

most Arab countries. They're not celebrating

4:58

like the Israelis, even those who

5:00

have diplomatic relations. And this is

5:02

consistent. The same kind of noises

5:04

we've been hearing from neighboring Arab countries and Muslim countries throughout

5:06

the world, and really a lot

5:08

of leaders in European countries, advocacy

5:11

organizations, United Nations officials, all outraged at

5:13

the death toll, not just from what

5:16

we saw in Nusayrat refugee camp over

5:18

the weekend, freeing those four hostages, but

5:21

also now we've seen the death toll, according to

5:23

the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza

5:25

Strip, topping 37,000 people. Even

5:29

if that is an exaggeration, and the Israelis

5:31

have consistently said that those numbers are inflated,

5:33

they are still sky-high numbers, really, no matter

5:36

how you slice it. And that is what

5:38

we're seeing and hearing from the Palestinians here.

5:41

And, Matt, you insert the U.S. here.

5:44

We have Secretary Blinken back in Israel

5:46

today, his eighth visit to the region

5:48

since the fighting began in Gaza. What

5:50

are your biggest takeaways from the meeting that the

5:53

secretary has had today, and is in Israel? a

14:00

greater likelihood of a ceasefire deal being done.

14:03

But if you ask me a week from now, will we still be

14:05

in the same place we are right now? I wouldn't be so sure.

14:09

Well, what gives you that feeling though?

14:11

I mean, you point out the idea

14:13

that Hamas might be embarrassed. What incentive

14:17

do they have in the near term

14:19

to go back to the drawing board to

14:21

say, oh yes, we'll take the deal even

14:23

though we have this new operation behind us?

14:26

Well, a couple of things. One is

14:28

the Israelis are still operating in Rafah

14:30

and they're also operating within central Gaza.

14:34

One of the factors that influences his

14:36

sinwar is how close does

14:38

the Israeli military to him? And

14:41

does he therefore have an interest

14:43

in getting a reprieve? That's

14:45

number one, that's one factor. The

14:48

second is, okay, maybe there will be

14:50

other Israeli operations that we plan. The last thing

14:52

Hamas wants to do is have

14:54

other rescue operations that once again, rob

14:57

them of what they see as being these

15:00

bargaining chips, these assets that they have. So

15:03

I wouldn't conclude that necessarily

15:05

from Hamas standpoint, everything

15:07

is in a sense off the table. Number

15:10

three, I suspect that they will be under

15:12

increasing pressure from Qatar

15:15

and from Egypt precisely because the Secretary

15:17

of State is in the region. So

15:19

this is not a static situation. I

15:21

think we shouldn't draw conclusions based

15:24

on this operation and say, now it looks

15:26

like it's impossible. I don't conclude

15:28

that it's impossible. Having said that, when

15:30

the Yayha's sinwar is the arbiter of whether or not

15:33

you can do a hostage deal, it's pretty

15:35

hard to predict that you're going to see one. What

15:38

do you think this does for Benjamin

15:40

Netanyahu? We know that he's faced criticism

15:42

from Israelis, from hostage families for not

15:44

doing enough to get the hostages home

15:46

at different points during this conflict. Does

15:48

this rescue operation change that? Is he

15:51

gonna see domestic pressure that he's been

15:53

facing ease after the rescue

15:55

of these four hostages? Or does this

15:57

embolden him to do more militarily? substance

26:00

at every moment in time, such as

26:02

when he's filling out the form. And

26:05

I think the defense in the case

26:07

has been, well, he was an addict,

26:09

but he didn't recognize himself as an

26:11

addict at the time. Because remember, one

26:14

of the devastating pieces of evidence in

26:16

this case is Hunter Biden's own book,

26:18

where he says that he was an

26:20

addict during this two year period of

26:23

time. So his very own words, and

26:25

by the way, because he did an

26:27

audible book, they even have

26:29

him saying those words out loud as if

26:31

he had testified in the trial that he

26:34

was addicted to drugs during the two year

26:36

period around 2018. So

26:40

it's a tough fact pattern for the defense to deal

26:42

with. Well, let me ask you a few more

26:44

things about the defense here. We saw the defense push

26:47

back pretty hard on Halle

26:49

Biden's testimony. She was called by the prosecution.

26:51

She suggested that they suggested

26:53

that Hunter told her to find the gun

26:56

and also told her to file a police

26:58

report after it was dumped. Does

27:01

redefining that testimony at this

27:03

point give Hunter Biden more

27:05

credibility? Does it risk highlighting that he

27:07

was sort of more involved here? Hard

27:11

to say because you have to remember

27:13

that part of her testimony also was

27:15

that she became addicted to crack herself

27:17

as a result of her relationship with

27:19

him. So many of the women

27:21

who were called in the case were

27:24

very harmful to him in terms of

27:27

the testimony. I think with

27:29

respect, though, to the gun charge, that

27:32

testimony would seem to indicate that he

27:34

wasn't he hadn't planned to use

27:36

the gun on any person in particular

27:38

and that at least the jury will

27:40

think that nobody in Delaware was endangered

27:42

by anything that he did during that

27:44

time period other than himself. And of

27:46

course, the big picture when you step

27:48

way back on this case and maybe

27:50

the jury will do this is

27:53

that he's he hasn't been addicted to

27:55

drugs for a very long time now

27:57

for at least a few years. And

27:59

he seems to have straightened his life.

28:01

out. This kind of charge usually is

28:03

lodged against an active addict

28:05

who presents a danger to society. So I think

28:07

they're hoping that the jury will look at the

28:09

big picture and not the details of the evidence.

28:12

Well, let me ask you about that. We just

28:14

learned that the jury has been sent home for

28:16

the day. 4.30 was the time we

28:18

understood that was going to be happening. So they

28:20

do have the case now, though. They've been able

28:23

to start at least some level of deliberation on

28:25

this. How soon do you think

28:27

we might see a verdict in a case like this

28:29

with evidence presented in the way that you've just laid

28:31

out? Is this fairly

28:33

straightforward legally? Well,

28:36

it is straightforward legally. And I

28:38

would be very surprised if we

28:41

don't have a verdict tomorrow in

28:43

the case. I mean, it could go for

28:45

a third day. But I would think by

28:47

days and tomorrow, the jury would have been

28:50

through all of the facts. Now, the only

28:52

thing you can't really measure is whether there's

28:54

a possibility of a hung jury. And that

28:56

is if if there are

28:58

two or three jurors who really don't want

29:00

to convict him and they're

29:02

willing to hold out against the other jurors,

29:05

then jury deliberations could go for a longer

29:07

period of time. All right. Paul

29:09

Callan with us today. Paul, we appreciate your time today. Thank

29:11

you. Thank you, Aaron. Coming

29:14

up next, Congresswoman Nancy Mace is in

29:16

the fight for her political life. Will

29:18

her vote to oust Speaker McCarthy cost

29:20

her her seat in Congress? We'll explain

29:22

that for you next. You're watching Meet

29:24

the Press Now. And

29:35

welcome back. Whether you call it

29:37

revenge, payback, or just hard-nosed politics,

29:39

tomorrow's Republican primary for South Carolina's

29:41

first congressional district is shaping up

29:43

to be a dramatic proxy fight

29:45

between incumbent Nancy Mace and Kevin

29:47

McCarthy, the former speaker of the

29:49

House, who she helped oust last

29:51

fall. NBC's Ali Vitale has more

29:53

from the Palmetto state. Around

29:57

Charleston, South Carolina, shade isn't just thrown

29:59

by the Check out

30:01

just a few. This is just

30:03

a sampling of Catherine Templeton's lies.

30:07

Our current congressman goes to Washington and

30:09

votes however she wants. This race to

30:11

oust Nancy Mace is the first of

30:13

the primary challenges to the eight Republicans

30:15

who voted out former Speaker Kevin McCarthy

30:17

last year. I'm on the side of the

30:19

people. I'm not on the side of the establishment. Now

30:22

Mace appears to be Act One in McCarthy's

30:24

revenge tour, though he says he's not out

30:26

for payback. Are you on a political vengeance

30:28

tour? No, I know you guys try to

30:30

say that. McCarthy says it's not a revenge

30:32

tour. Oh, 100%. He's a mean girl. I mean, oh, absolutely.

30:34

He's a mean girl. This

30:38

is all about revenge. It's about powerful people

30:40

that were taken out. No regrets about that

30:42

vote. Never. Never. Mace

30:45

is no stranger to intra-party feuds. Last cycle,

30:47

her quarrel was with Trump. He endorsed her

30:49

challenger, who she beat by 5,000 votes. Now

30:52

she's back in Trump's favor. Congresswoman

30:55

Nancy Mace. We've

30:58

come a long way. Well, we've come a

31:00

long way. A full circle moment for the

31:02

woman who called on her party to start

31:04

over from Trump after January 6. This was

31:07

an easy call supporting Donald Trump because we've

31:09

had four years of Joe Biden. Mace has

31:11

outraised and outspent her nearest opponent, Catherine Templeton,

31:13

a Trump backer and former Labor Secretary to

31:15

former Governor Nikki Haley. She's

31:18

widely seen as McCarthy's pick in this race. I

31:21

haven't talked to him about taking out Congressman

31:23

Mace, but I have asked him to help

31:25

me raise money. Mace's vote to boot the

31:27

speaker is why she's in it. I saw

31:29

you say that that's when you decided you

31:31

were running. Absolutely. She broke our trust and

31:33

she did it by voting out Kevin McCarthy.

31:35

Still, she downplayed the former speaker's power. All

31:37

due respect to Kevin McCarthy, who is, I'm

31:39

sure, a wonderful man. Nobody's paying attention to

31:41

Kevin McCarthy in the low country of South

31:43

Carolina. On the airwaves, though? Self-serving

31:46

politicians like Nancy Mace. Follow

31:48

the money. Find a rhino. That's Catherine Templeton.

32:00

box where voters settled the score one way

32:02

or another. We need mature adults, not silly

32:04

girls. I want to win bigger than ever

32:06

before on Tuesday night because I want to

32:08

send a message to Washington that voters don't

32:10

care about DC. And

32:13

Ali Vitale joins us now from Charleston.

32:16

So, Ali, we heard from Templeton herself

32:18

there, but is anybody in South

32:20

Carolina paying attention to Kevin McCarthy? Does it seem

32:22

like that's the case? If this is a revenge

32:24

tour, did he pick an effective platform? Look,

32:29

at this point, McCarthy might be more

32:31

a vehicle for getting Mace out of

32:33

office. You're seeing specifically the way that

32:35

groups that are aligned or allied with

32:37

the former speaker are spending big on

32:40

the airwaves here, trying to go negative

32:42

on the incumbent on Nancy Mace. For

32:44

Mace, though, and in our conversations with

32:46

sources on the ground who know South

32:48

Carolina so well, the McCarthy vote could

32:50

be both a knock against her, but

32:53

also something that helps bolster her independent

32:55

credentials. We know that conservative voters love

32:57

people who go against the establishment, who

32:59

aren't afraid to buck the grain of

33:01

the party. Certainly, Mace going against McCarthy

33:03

did just that. She thinks it could

33:06

help her, and so do some experts

33:08

who know South Carolina well. So,

33:10

Ali, if this is a revenge tour, who's number two

33:12

on the list here? This

33:16

is the first act of the so-called revenge

33:18

tour. And again, McCarthy might not think it's

33:21

that, but we know the way that he

33:23

talked about these members who voted against him.

33:25

We know that these challengers also didn't come

33:27

out of thin air, so next week we'll

33:30

head to Virginia's fifth congressional district. That's where

33:32

Congressman Bob Goode, who's now the head of

33:34

the rabble-rousing Freedom Caucus, will face his own

33:36

challenger, a state senator there who's actually earned

33:39

the endorsement of Donald Trump. It's going to

33:41

be a very different dynamic than what we've

33:43

seen on the ground here in Charleston, where

33:46

Mace has Trump's endorsement. She's a powerful incumbent.

33:48

Goode, on the other hand, is working against

33:50

the Trump grain. He could be in some

33:52

trouble, but of course, we'll see that next

33:55

week. You mentioned Nancy Mace having

33:57

Trump's endorsement. There was a point in time

33:59

when she did not. I mean, she some

34:01

would say has a unique ability to sort

34:03

of create some bad blood among party leaders

34:05

there, including former President Trump at one time

34:07

and still survive. Does something like

34:09

this only strengthen her hand, you think? She

34:14

has an act for that, certainly. And I

34:16

think that she relishes the idea that she

34:18

has earned attention for bucking the establishment, for

34:21

going against the powerful people that are at

34:23

the top of the party. Certainly

34:25

it was something where you saw her with

34:27

that scarlet letter A in the piece. That

34:29

was something she wore, really earned attention for

34:32

after the vote to oust McCarthy. That attention

34:34

getting is also something that her critics are

34:36

seizing on here in this race, saying that

34:38

she's not in it for South Carolina voters.

34:40

She's in it to earn attention and media

34:43

for herself. Of course, Mace would say

34:45

that she's still in this for South Carolina

34:47

voters. She pointed to several different moments of

34:49

constituent services. But that's really what she's trying

34:51

to point to here. But look, on the

34:53

Trump of it all, she is someone who

34:55

endorsed the former president at a critical moment

34:58

here in South Carolina. It didn't go unnoticed

35:00

by a lot of people, including Trump, because

35:02

now he's back in her corner. All

35:04

right, Ali Vitali for us in Charleston, South Carolina.

35:06

Ali, thank you. Well,

35:09

after the break, running on revenge, former

35:11

President Trump lashes out against his political

35:14

enemies and his criminal conviction as he

35:16

meets with his probation officer. The

35:18

panel's up next. You're watching Meet the Press Now.

35:29

And welcome back to Meet the Press Now.

35:32

Amid meetings with campaign staff, donors and strategists,

35:34

former President Donald Trump has another kind of

35:36

meeting on his schedule today with

35:38

his probation officer. NBC News was first to

35:41

report that the presumptive Republican nominee is sitting

35:43

for a virtual interview with a New York

35:45

City probation officer today while he's off the

35:47

trail at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Trump's

35:50

legal team is expected to submit

35:52

their sentencing recommendation this week, ahead

35:54

of his July 11th sentencing date.

35:56

Now, that probation meeting comes after

35:58

a rally yesterday. in 100

36:00

degree temperatures in Las Vegas, where Trump

36:02

condemned his guilty verdict, and he accused

36:05

President Biden of weaponizing the American justice

36:07

system. Since that verdict, Mr.

36:09

Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of

36:12

using a second term to exact revenge

36:14

against his political enemies, even as some

36:16

interviewers gave him the opportunity to soften

36:18

his tone. Listen. You

36:21

know, the word revenge is a very strong word,

36:23

but maybe we have revenge through success, but

36:26

that's what I'd like to see. I want

36:28

to see the country survive, because this country's

36:30

not going to survive like this. Well, revenge

36:33

does take time, I will say that. It

36:35

does. And sometimes revenge can be justified. Well,

36:37

you pledge to restore equal

36:40

justice, equal application of

36:42

our laws, and this

36:45

practice of weaponization. Is that

36:47

a promise you're going to make? You have to do it, but

36:49

it's awful. Look, I know you want me to say

36:51

something. No, I don't want you to say I'm asking.

36:53

But I don't want to look naive. Joining

36:57

me now on set here is

36:59

Tolu Olurenipa, White House Bureau Chief

37:01

for the Washington Post, Fash secure,

37:03

Senior Advisor to Vermont Independent Senator

37:05

Bernie Sanders and Sarah Chamberlain, President

37:08

and CEO of the Republican Main

37:10

Street Partnership. Thank you all for being

37:12

here today. Tolu, I'll start with you on this. My

37:14

colleague Matt Dixon here at NBC News talked

37:16

to Trump's former attorney, Ty Cobb, about this

37:19

revenge rhetoric. We'll put up on the screen

37:21

what he had to say about this. I

37:23

think there should be concern. From a 30,000

37:25

foot view, what

37:27

I see is Trump angrier now than he

37:29

was before because he

37:31

is convicted now. Is

37:34

what we're hearing from the former

37:36

president something a message, this revenge

37:38

language breaking through with voters? Well,

37:41

what Ty Cobb said is pretty interesting

37:44

in part because Trump was pretty angry

37:46

during his first term in office. He

37:48

was impeached twice. He had a lot

37:50

of his policy goals flouted by the

37:52

Democrats who took power and started investigating

37:54

him. Now that he is a convicted

37:56

felon, he is even more determined

37:59

to go after him. his enemies. He's more determined

38:01

to go after Joe Biden, the

38:03

quote unquote Biden crime family, and go after

38:05

Democrats and prosecutors and people who have made

38:07

his life miserable for the last couple of

38:09

years. And so I do think that's breaking

38:11

through with some voters, some voters like that.

38:13

Large number of voters think that that takes

38:15

us very far from what a president should

38:18

be, not only a convicted felon, but someone

38:20

who's determined to seek revenge against his enemies.

38:22

Do we know who those voters are? I

38:24

mean, who is that messaging, messaging breaking through

38:26

with? Well, you have a number of voters

38:28

that have started to stray away from the

38:30

Republican party, Reagan Republicans, moderates, college educated Republicans

38:32

who like the policies, they like the tax

38:34

cuts, but they don't like the extremism. They

38:37

don't like the idea of, you know, a

38:39

president going after his enemies with the Justice

38:41

Department. And so some of those voters have

38:43

started to stray away even before this guilty

38:46

verdict. And they could be even

38:49

more of those voters going away from him if he continues

38:51

to use this language. Sarah, I'm going to ask you to

38:53

weigh in here. I want to play a little bit more

38:55

sound though from this is from the campaign trail yesterday in

38:57

Las Vegas, the former president there talking about January

39:00

6th defendants. Let's listen to this. We're

39:03

going to look very strongly at J six.

39:05

Those people, there's never been people treated more

39:08

horrifically than J six

39:11

hostages. Those J six warriors, they were

39:14

warriors, but they were really more than

39:16

anything else. They're victims of what happened.

39:18

All they were doing is protesting a

39:20

rigged election. That's what they were doing.

39:23

So Donald Trump has been a candidate for what,

39:26

a decade or so now in one way or

39:28

another. And so there are some people who may

39:30

not be following day to day everything that's happening

39:32

and everything that's being said. But what we do

39:34

here, when we do hear things like this and

39:37

we hear some of the revenge

39:39

language, what's your impression of whether that's breaking through with

39:41

part of the electorate in a way that's going to

39:43

be helpful to him? So it's certainly going

39:45

to be helpful with the Magus. I mean, they're

39:47

more fired up than ever to turn out to

39:50

vote for him, to send money to him. So

39:52

that is working with them. The suburban women, which

39:54

I would argue is going to decide this election.

39:56

It's not really breaking through with them. They're kind

39:59

of turned off. 720

48:01

seats and you've got various political

48:03

groups which are sort of umbrella

48:05

groups under which you've got political

48:07

parties in every single country, 27

48:09

countries. You mentioned France.

48:12

What a humiliating night for Emmanuel

48:14

Macron. A crushing defeat.

48:17

His party coming in with 15% of the vote. Far-right

48:22

parties combined received 40%. That's

48:25

four in 10 people in France voting for a

48:27

far-right party. You've got

48:30

a landscape, a reality on the

48:32

ground that is not reflected in

48:34

the parliament in France and so

48:36

hence his decision to dissolve parliament.

48:38

It was, it stunned the

48:40

country quite frankly, leaving experts,

48:43

analysts bewildered. Some people are

48:45

calling it political suicide, but he is daring

48:47

the French people. He's saying, I dare you

48:49

to let this happen at

48:51

home. He didn't have to call elections. His

48:54

position is safe until 2027. That's

48:57

when the next presidential elections will be. But

49:00

we find ourselves in a position where

49:02

in just a few weeks' time, the

49:04

opening of the Olympics in Paris, he

49:07

could very well be next to a

49:09

prime minister who is anti-EU, anti-immigration, stands

49:11

for everything he stands, against everything he

49:14

stands for. That is certainly be

49:16

a first in French politics. I

49:18

am curious. You talk about anti-EU

49:20

and anti-immigration. I do wonder what

49:22

it was that seemed to drive these

49:24

gains for the far-right and

49:26

the European Union parliament. Well

49:32

they have over the years. I mean, like I said earlier,

49:34

what was on the minds of these voters? Migration,

49:36

a huge topic in Germany, in France,

49:39

really the cost of living. The farmers.

49:42

Farmers are a huge issue in

49:44

Europe. All these environmental

49:47

bills being passed by parliament. But

49:49

as we say, big picture, central

49:52

right stays, holds onto power with

49:54

gains on the far left and

49:56

the far right. Thank you Danielle.

50:00

All right, the news continues now with Halle Jackson.