8:00

executive order that he signed this month

8:02

was one that would create a situation

8:04

where people who crossed the border illegally,

8:06

the southern border illegally, would not be

8:08

able to apply for asylum. And

8:11

if the number of people coming across reached

8:13

a certain threshold, and then of course this

8:15

would be temporary until that number went back

8:17

down. And there were

8:19

a lot of organizations, entities that did not support

8:22

that action. The ACLU, along with some other groups,

8:24

are suing the Biden administration at this point as

8:26

a result of that executive order. And so the

8:28

question was, does this serve to balance some of

8:30

that? The White House says no, that's not the

8:32

case here. This is really about understanding

8:35

that there is a broken immigration system

8:37

in this country and the president has

8:39

been pushed into a place where he

8:41

has to take some executive action because

8:43

Congress failed to do so. Gabe? Aaron

8:46

Gilchrist at the White House. Aaron, thank you.

8:48

I want to turn now to Homeland Security

8:50

correspondent Julia Ainsley, who of course covers immigration

8:52

and the border so well and is as

8:54

steeped in all this policy. Julia,

8:56

how permanent will today's executive action be?

8:58

You know, depending on the election, we

9:00

were just talking about the politics of

9:03

all this with Aaron. What's

9:05

to stop if former President Trump is

9:07

elected for a Trump administration just doing

9:09

away with this? Yeah, look, they have

9:11

three years to apply, but probably most

9:13

people who are eligible for this are

9:15

going to try to apply as quickly

9:17

as they can. The one thing that

9:19

could give these people more hope than

9:21

DACA recipients is if they can get

9:23

on the path quickly to getting a

9:25

green card and natural becoming a citizen,

9:28

then that would be harder to revoke.

9:30

They could overturn the policy, keep new

9:32

people from applying. But just as we

9:34

saw with DACA, it's very hard to

9:36

take something away from people status once

9:38

they already have it. But yes, we

9:40

could definitely see a challenge from a

9:42

future potential Trump administration. In fact, today,

9:45

former President Trump came out calling this mass

9:47

amnesty and it could also be that we

9:50

get a lawsuit even before the election. So

9:52

that was my next question. How is the

9:54

administration preparing for legal challenges here? Because the

9:56

executive action just a few weeks ago has

9:59

already seen a lawsuit. from the ACLU, you

10:02

know, this might get a lawsuit from different groups,

10:04

but how is the administration preparing for this? How

10:06

are they gonna justify this? Well, it's funny, we've

10:08

seen a change in strategy just this year. You

10:10

used to ask the administration, why don't you do

10:12

this, why don't you do that? And they'd say,

10:14

it'll get challenged in court. Now that is no

10:16

longer an excuse they give. Oftentimes, they're going with

10:19

things, especially like what we saw two weeks ago

10:21

on the border. They know we'll be challenged, but

10:23

it shows that they're doing something and then they

10:25

wanna point back to Congress. So yes, they could

10:27

very well get a lawsuit on this, but

10:30

I think they're trying to take hope

10:32

in the fact that DACA is still

10:34

alive, although of course, the makeup of

10:36

the Supreme Court has changed since the

10:38

last DACA decision. Certainly, and Julie, I

10:40

wanna talk about the DACA portion of

10:42

this executive action, making it easier, at

10:44

least according to the administration, to get

10:46

work visas. Will this really streamline the

10:48

process? What is the process now? I

10:50

think what this order is pointing to

10:52

is a problem within USCIS, that's the

10:54

agency that has to adjudicate all of

10:56

these applications, that right now, they get

10:58

really overwhelmed. I've spoken to a lot

11:00

of DACA applicants who wait maybe a

11:02

little too late to renew, and all

11:04

of a sudden, they're not able to

11:06

go to work. In fact, that man

11:08

who I interviewed today, Javier Castro, he

11:10

also faced the prospect of not being

11:12

able to return to his job as

11:14

a critical care nurse, because his DACA

11:16

almost didn't get renewed. In this case,

11:18

they wanna streamline this, particularly

11:21

for this one group of DACA recipients who

11:23

have job offers, especially in highly skilled

11:25

work and have degrees in that same area.

11:27

They say those people should be moved to

11:30

the top of the track. And Julia,

11:32

as we talk about this new executive action,

11:34

you have some reporting on the efficacy

11:36

of the last one, which tightened asylum rules,

11:38

and now we're hearing from the administration,

11:40

though, that the illegal border crossing numbers are

11:42

down, but how much of that can be

11:45

attributed to the policy? How much of

11:47

it is just time of the year? Right,

11:49

and how do we define efficacy at

11:51

this point? So we do know

11:53

that there are some migrants who are still

11:55

being released with court dates, which goes against

11:57

the very thing that the White House said.

12:00

they would do by banning access for anyone

12:02

who crossed the border illegally. But the border

12:04

numbers are down by about half. We understand

12:06

that it's of yesterday, just over 2,100 migrants

12:09

crossed the border, compared to two weeks ago when

12:11

it was over 4,000. That's

12:13

getting close to that trigger number. Remember that

12:16

they said- That's right.

12:19

I remember when we were talking about this executive action,

12:21

we were like, oh, that hasn't happened since the beginning.

12:23

That'll never happen. But you know, we are a little,

12:25

is that surprising to you as someone who covers this

12:28

a lot? Yeah, it was certainly a quick dip. The

12:30

time I'm reminded by though is when they rolled out

12:32

those asylum restrictions after the end of Title 42, we

12:35

saw a sudden dip then. And it

12:37

could be what happens as smugglers, cartels,

12:39

people who move, these people across the

12:41

border, wait to test the waters, see

12:43

who might be getting through, and then

12:45

they'll start bringing more. So sometimes there's

12:47

an initial drop before people realize, hey,

12:49

if we flood the zone, bring more

12:51

people, we could get across. In fact,

12:53

we're already seeing some smugglers message migrants

12:55

on these WhatsApp channels, telling them, you

12:58

know what? You should still come. Things

13:00

haven't changed. So could that bring the

13:02

numbers back up? We'll have to wait

13:04

and see. Yeah, the migrants themselves don't

13:06

always have the ins and outs of

13:08

US policy, but the smugglers, the cartels,

13:10

they definitely pay attention. They pay attention

13:12

for sure. Julia Ainsley, thank you so

13:14

much for being here. We appreciate your

13:16

expertise. And joining me now is Lindsay

13:18

Teslowski, executive director and co-founder of the

13:20

Immigrant Defenders Law Center. Lindsay, thank you

13:23

so much for joining us. An immigration

13:25

advocate told us that this is the

13:27

biggest thing since DACA, the

13:29

executive actions announced today. Do you agree?

13:31

And what was your reaction to today's

13:33

announcement? I

13:35

mean, this is absolutely a big deal. This

13:38

is huge. This will bring relief to

13:40

hundreds of thousands of families. I

13:43

can just imagine, and I know we're hearing

13:45

from clients and our staff

13:47

and family members and friends in the community.

13:50

And this is really bringing a lot of

13:52

hope and optimism to so many

13:54

people. The ability to get

13:56

a work permit, the ability to finally

13:58

actually be able to... to get

14:01

their legal permanent residency. And

14:04

I think it's really important to note

14:06

here that these are people who were

14:08

eligible for legal permanent residency by virtue

14:11

of being married to a US citizen,

14:13

but for their manner of entry, sometimes

14:15

25 years ago. So

14:18

removing this barrier to them, getting

14:20

on that path to citizenship is

14:22

really life-changing for so many families.

14:25

Of course, this does come just

14:28

two weeks after there was a near total

14:30

gutting of asylum at our Southern border.

14:32

So as immigrant rights advocates, we certainly

14:34

have mixed feelings about these

14:37

two things happening together, but really

14:39

today focusing on the joy for

14:41

so many families and

14:44

dreamers and others who are

14:46

obtaining long awaited hope

14:49

and relief in their cases. Lindsey,

14:51

you just said mixed feelings. On that

14:53

point, I wanna talk to you about

14:55

what we were talking about two weeks ago. Around

14:58

that time when President Biden announced

15:00

the executive action tightening the asylum

15:03

rules, you said that you

15:05

and others felt betrayed by

15:07

the Biden administration. Does this make up for

15:09

that? I

15:12

think yesterday when this

15:14

news was first breaking that

15:17

the announcement would come today, I was

15:19

actually at a shelter in Tijuana with

15:21

families helping to explain

15:23

to them how limited their options

15:26

are right now to obtain access

15:29

to our asylum system. I was sitting

15:31

with a young mom who's sleeping in

15:33

a tent on a floor with her

15:35

two children, someone who fled horrific domestic

15:38

violence in her home country, who is

15:40

seeking protection. And I feel and I

15:42

feel that our organizations in

15:46

the immigrant rights movement, we know that

15:49

a country that today

15:51

we saw the president say, really

15:53

values keeping families together should value

15:55

that for all families. There should

15:58

be no exceptions. And so. So,

16:00

you know, we continue to fight for

16:02

policies that will allow people to be

16:04

welcomed with dignity in the United States.

16:07

We don't need to, you know,

16:10

look at these as two different situations.

16:13

People at the border deserve to have their

16:15

families kept together. They deserve to have due

16:17

process and dignity as well. And so we're

16:19

gonna continue to fight for that. This

16:22

doesn't change anything except for the fact

16:24

that we welcome this news for

16:27

the families here and we continue to fight for the

16:29

families at the border as well. And Lindsay,

16:31

last week the chair of the Congressional

16:33

Hispanic Caucus said that, if you have

16:35

to do enforcement policy, you

16:37

have to pair it with something positive. So

16:39

do you agree with that approach? Is there

16:42

any enforcement action you believe would work at

16:44

the southern border? So

16:46

we have lots of enforcement

16:48

action happening at the southern border at all

16:51

times. What I don't agree with in that

16:53

statement is that we do not have to

16:55

have trade-offs whenever we

16:57

talk about immigration policy. The

17:00

benefits for people here in the United

17:02

States do not have to come by

17:05

impacting and deterring people at the border.

17:08

We as a powerful nation have the

17:10

ability to do both. We have the

17:12

ability to have justice and do the

17:14

right thing like we saw today with

17:17

this executive action for hundreds of thousands

17:19

of families and for dreamers. We also

17:21

have the ability when there is political

17:24

will to do what is right at

17:26

the border and what is right

17:28

is to do what we would want done for our own families, which

17:31

is to have people welcomed with dignity,

17:33

to have an orderly process, to make

17:35

sure that people can be safely processed

17:37

and that they can protect themselves and

17:39

that we follow US and

17:42

international law and uphold our

17:44

obligations to protect those

17:46

who are seeking protection and who are

17:48

fleeing persecution in

17:50

their home countries. And Lindsay, quickly before I

17:53

let you go, as we mentioned, a recent

17:55

poll shows Americans overwhelmingly favored the executive action

17:57

from the president two weeks ago. What is

17:59

your message to voters who cite

18:01

immigration and border security as

18:04

one of their biggest concerns heading into

18:06

the election? Is it warranted? You

18:09

know, as someone who spends a lot of time on

18:11

the border, I would say that we at the border,

18:15

we have families, we have

18:17

children, we have people who

18:19

are fleeing persecution, we

18:22

have enforcement, we have processes.

18:25

Right now, what is causing the most

18:27

chaos is the uncertainty for

18:30

people. We go into shelters and we explain

18:32

to people what their legal rights are, but

18:35

there is a lot of misinformation out there.

18:38

People at the border who are seeking

18:40

asylum seek to do this because they

18:42

want to avail themselves of the system.

18:45

They want to be processed. They want

18:47

to be vetted. So I

18:49

think, you know, in border communities, there

18:52

isn't that same sense of panic in many

18:54

cases, because there is an

18:56

understanding of how integral our

18:59

border communities are and how welcoming and

19:01

receptive they can be. I would say

19:03

look at places like California and San

19:05

Diego as models of what welcoming with

19:07

dignity can look like. Lindsay,

19:10

thank you so much for bringing us your expertise.

19:12

We really appreciate it. Thank

19:14

you. And coming up, the race for

19:16

racing. We're heading to that swing county

19:18

in a swing state where former President

19:21

Trump is set to take the stage

19:23

any moment now. Plus, Senate

19:25

Democrats new effort to pass a bill

19:27

to ban bump stocks after the Supreme

19:29

Court struck down a Trump era ban

19:32

last week. We're keeping a close eye

19:34

on the Hill where that vote could

19:36

happen at any moment. You're watching Meet

19:38

the Press Now. Here's

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Brought to you by Argenics. I'm

20:17

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a great mystery. That mystery

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20:25

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20:28

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20:30

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20:51

back. The campaign trail is heating

20:53

up both literally and figuratively today. Right

20:55

now, former President Donald Trump is on

20:58

the ground in the battleground state of Wisconsin

21:00

getting ready to rally in Racine, where supporters

21:02

are braving hot temperatures to see Trump in

21:04

his first trip to the state since

21:07

his conviction in the Manhattan hush money

21:09

case. It's also Trump's first

21:11

trip to Wisconsin since reportedly calling the

21:14

state's largest city and site of this

21:16

summer's Republican National Convention, quote, horrible.

21:19

Though the campaign maintains he was referring to crime,

21:22

what they say, and what they say was voter fraud in

21:24

2020. NBC's

21:27

Shaq Brewster is on the ground for

21:29

us at that Trump rally in Racine.

21:31

Hello, Shaq. This is Trump's first visit

21:33

to Wisconsin since a guilty verdict, as

21:35

we mentioned. It's a hot one

21:37

in Racine. So what do you think? Yeah,

21:41

those temperatures are floating with 90 degrees or

21:43

at least expected to as we get later

21:45

in the day. But that's not stopping the

21:48

crowd that's out here, Gabe. This seems very

21:50

much as a standard Trump rally. You have

21:52

big crowds here, a long line of people

21:54

outside, a lot of red hats, a lot

21:56

of red hats, a lot of shirts, embracing

21:58

the person who is here. trying

22:01

to win back the state that he lost in 2020.

22:04

Remember, Donald Trump won the state of Wisconsin in

22:06

2016. Biden flipped it in

22:08

2020. And this is all

22:10

part of an effort to win back support

22:12

here. He won this county narrowly in 2020

22:14

while he lost the state. And

22:17

I think the music just stopped. So you may hear

22:20

the crowds start to tear as

22:22

if he walks on stage. But this is

22:24

part of that big push that you're seeing,

22:26

not from just the former president, but

22:29

also Republicans in this state to win back and make

22:32

up some ground that they lost a few

22:34

years ago. And Shaq, as we mentioned, this

22:36

is also his first time in Wisconsin since

22:39

reportedly calling Milwaukee horrible in

22:41

a closed door meeting on Capitol Hill. Have

22:43

you heard any reaction to that? You

22:47

know, I did bring it up to some supporters

22:50

as we were out here, as they were

22:52

lining in. And one thing that

22:54

I picked up on is this is

22:56

not anything that they disagree with. It's

22:58

not a sentiment in which they disagree

23:00

with. I tell you, I've been covering

23:02

Wisconsin for several years and covering Republican

23:04

events. You hear this from Republican candidates.

23:06

They talk about crime in the city

23:08

of Milwaukee despite the fact that this

23:10

year it has been going down, despite

23:12

the fact that you look at the

23:14

trends across the country. They talk about

23:16

election integrity despite the fact that we

23:19

know that the election was upheld in

23:21

Milwaukee, that they had a free and

23:23

fair election. That's not stopping that

23:25

perception that you hear among Republicans.

23:27

So if anyone's upset about it, you're

23:30

not going to hear it at this rally, and at

23:32

least among his supporters. Well, Shaq, are

23:34

we expecting the former president to

23:36

take a swing at President Biden's

23:38

executive actions that he announced today

23:40

regarding immigration? Right,

23:43

and you know, it's something that we can expect to

23:45

come up today. I just looked down because we know

23:47

our affiliate talked to former President

23:49

Trump just a couple of minutes ago. We're still

23:52

waiting on the notes from that interview where we

23:54

do know it was at least asked.

23:56

But I'll tell you, his supporters have already mentioned

23:58

it to me. about how they're

24:00

upset about it. And if you watch former

24:02

President Trump, you know this is a top

24:05

issue for him. You know this is something

24:07

he will likely bring up. But Gabe, I'll

24:09

tell you one thing we can also expect

24:11

him to bring up is the economy and

24:13

manufacturing. And that's something that Democrats here have

24:15

been almost daring him to mention. And that's

24:18

because they want to highlight and have already

24:20

highlighted through billboards, through some

24:22

press conferences earlier today that it was President

24:24

Biden who was able to bring a big

24:26

plant to this area just last

24:28

year in a way that former President Trump did

24:31

it in 2018. So

24:33

that is a message that you'll likely hear.

24:35

And you can expect to hear him push

24:37

back on President Biden that immigration announcement when

24:39

he hits the stage any minute now. Jack

24:41

Brewster live for us in a sweltering Wisconsin.

24:43

Jack, thank you. And you

24:46

know what we like to say around here.

24:48

If it's Tuesday, someone is voting somewhere. Today

24:51

is primary day in Virginia and Oklahoma and

24:53

it's run off day in Georgia. Among

24:56

the races we're watching most closely

24:58

is whether two incumbent House Republicans

25:00

could lose their primaries. In

25:02

Virginia, Congressman Bob Goode is in serious

25:04

danger of losing his seat. As

25:07

we told you yesterday, he's facing a challenger

25:09

who's been endorsed by both Donald Trump and

25:12

Kevin McCarthy. Goode, chair of

25:14

the far right freedom caucus, drew the

25:16

ire of Trump for initially backing Ron

25:18

DeSantis in the presidential primary. He also

25:20

voted to house Kevin McCarthy as House

25:22

Speaker. In Oklahoma, Congressman

25:25

Tom Cole, the chairman of the

25:27

powerful House Appropriations Committee could be

25:29

in trouble. He's facing

25:31

a primary challenge from businessman

25:34

Paul Bondar. Cole

25:36

has Trump's endorsement, but Bondar has

25:38

poured millions of dollars of his

25:40

own money into his campaign, allowing

25:42

him to blanket the airwaves with

25:44

ads. And up

25:46

next, my interview with the parents of

25:48

Hirsch Goldberg polling, an American

25:51

Israeli who was taken hostage by Hamas

25:53

on October 7th, 256 days ago.

25:57

Their message to world leaders as their

25:59

family holds out. without hope for all

26:01

remaining hostages. You're watching

26:03

Meet the Press now. Welcome

26:10

back. Ahead of a trip to Washington

26:12

to address Congress in the coming days,

26:15

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video

26:17

statement today, lashing out yet again at

26:19

the Biden administration's decision to withhold some

26:22

weapons from Israel amid the

26:24

ongoing war in Gaza. Speaking in

26:26

English, Netanyahu described the, quote, candid

26:28

conversation he had with Secretary of

26:30

State Antony Blinken during his visit

26:33

to Israel last week. I

26:36

said it's inconceivable that in

26:38

the past few months the administration

26:40

has been withholding weapons and

26:42

ammunitions to Israel. Secretary

26:45

Blinken assured me that the administration is

26:47

working day and night to remove these

26:49

bottlenecks. I certainly hope that's

26:51

the case. It should be the case.

26:55

Years later, Blinken was asked about those

26:57

comments and whether they were an accurate

26:59

characterization of that conversation. Here's what he

27:02

said. We,

27:04

as you know, are continuing

27:06

to review one shipment that

27:09

President Biden has

27:12

talked about with regard to 2,000-pound

27:14

bombs because of our concerns about

27:16

their use in a densely populated

27:19

area. Like Rafa, that remains

27:21

under review. But

27:23

everything else is moving as

27:25

it normally would move. It

27:28

comes as the Israeli Defense Forces

27:30

says it intercepted three aerial targets

27:32

that crossed over from Lebanon into

27:35

northern Israel as tensions between Israel

27:37

and Hezbollah continue to escalate. Joining

27:40

me now is NBC News chief international

27:42

correspondent, Keir Simmons, in Beirut. Thank

27:46

you, Keir. Good to have you here.

27:48

Tensions in the regions are high and the

27:50

ceasefire proposal President Biden outlined last month seems

27:52

to be in limbo. So what's the latest

27:54

on the ground, Keir? Well,

28:01

there are continuing fears that there could

28:03

be conflict escalating here

28:05

on the border between Lebanon

28:07

and Israel. That's

28:09

why we've seen the president, senior

28:11

adviser Amos Hochstein here in Lebanon,

28:13

in Israel, trying to dampen

28:15

down those fears, trying

28:18

to de-escalate. Now, as we've

28:20

said many times, it escalated to a serious

28:23

level last week. But

28:26

on the other hand, so far over these nine

28:28

months, we haven't seen a full-scale

28:30

war between Hezbollah and

28:32

the Israelis. Hezbollah itself has said

28:34

over the last nine months it

28:36

doesn't want that. And

28:38

while the Israelis are threatening,

28:40

if Israelis aren't able to

28:42

get back into villages along

28:45

the border, and Lebanese too are not

28:47

able to get into their villages along

28:49

that same border, while the Israelis are

28:51

threatening, it's difficult to tell whether

28:54

those are signals or whether

28:56

it pretends to something more serious in

28:58

the weeks and months ahead. It continues

29:01

to be unpredictable, this situation in the

29:03

region. Kir Semen's live for us

29:05

in Beirut. Kir, thank you. Poland

29:10

and Rachel Goldberg Poland, the parents

29:13

of Hirsch Goldberg Poland, an

29:15

Israeli-American who was taken hostage by Hamas

29:17

on October 7th. Thank you both so

29:19

much for being here. It has been 256 days

29:22

since your son was taken by Hamas. I

29:26

see it there written on your chest over your

29:28

heart. What keeps you

29:30

going? I

29:33

think it's a primal,

29:35

natural, innate response of

29:37

any parent or

29:40

loved one if you think that

29:42

your child is in danger or

29:44

you know for a fact that

29:47

they're in a very

29:49

treacherous situation that

29:52

you spring into action and try to

29:54

save them. And we have been doing

29:56

that every single day since

29:58

October 7th when and Hirsch

30:00

was stolen from us and all the other

30:02

hostage families are doing the same thing. John,

30:05

you met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill today.

30:07

What was your message to them? The

30:10

message was basically 256 days of captivity, it's

30:15

256 too many. We

30:17

met with Dems, we met with Republicans, and

30:19

the message was clear, not only from us

30:21

to them, but among themselves. This

30:24

is not a political issue, this is not

30:26

Democrats, it's not Republicans, this is a human

30:28

issue. And 256 days

30:30

of captivity, it's gotta end. And

30:33

I remind you that most of

30:35

these hostages were pulled out of their beds,

30:37

or pulled from like our son, a music

30:39

festival. These are people who just

30:42

got caught up in a terrible day, in

30:44

a terrible situation, and it's time to end this.

30:47

Look, I can't imagine what

30:49

it must be like for you two. Hearing

30:51

what we hear, you know, on a daily

30:53

or weekly basis, there's so many, you know,

30:55

there might be an announcement that we might

30:57

be close to a deal, and

31:00

then a few days later, that deal doesn't

31:02

materialize. You know, a few weeks ago, President

31:04

Biden laid out this three-phase ceasefire

31:06

deal, and there was a lot of talk that

31:08

we might be on the verge of this. How

31:12

has it been for you over the last several days

31:14

to see that it isn't quite there? Well,

31:18

we've been

31:21

down this road before. So

31:23

this is not our first

31:25

rodeo with having this roller

31:27

coaster ride, and our

31:31

whole community of hostage families feel

31:33

this way. So when we hear

31:35

that things might be happening, or

31:37

that there's movement, we are optimistic

31:39

and we are hopeful because that

31:41

is mandatory, but we

31:44

are also realists, and until we

31:46

are holding our son in our hands and

31:49

hugging him, it's not

31:51

over. Do you feel that the situation is

31:53

closer now than it has been in the

31:55

past, or you really don't know? It's

31:58

a very fair deal. question and

32:00

it's really, at least

32:03

for us, it's not known. We

32:05

keep having these whispers of maybe

32:09

and then it swings

32:11

back the pendulum to maybe not. I

32:13

am hoping

32:16

that things are happening behind closed doors.

32:19

There's so much suffering in the region

32:21

on both sides. The

32:23

people, the regular people on both

32:25

sides of this horrible conflict are

32:27

desperate for the suffering to end.

32:29

And John,

32:31

Secretary Blinken said today that the gaps

32:34

are bridgeable in his words but right

32:36

now that it's really in Sinoar's hands.

32:39

Do you think that the momentum for this deal,

32:42

there will be less momentum the longer this strikes

32:44

out? There's no question.

32:46

Time does not help the hostages.

32:48

Time does not help the deal.

32:50

We need the parties to all

32:53

feel a sense of urgency and

32:55

until they feel that sense of urgency, I

32:58

do think that the risk to

33:00

everybody involved from time passing is

33:03

against all of us. And

33:06

the sad part of the way you asked it

33:08

even is it's not just

33:10

the time is hurting the hostages. Time

33:12

is hurting so many innocent people in

33:15

the region who are caught up in

33:17

this and the leaders just can't seem

33:19

to find a way to solve it. But

33:22

every day that passes without a deal, it's bad

33:24

for the region. And

33:26

Rachel, yesterday Prime Minister Netanyahu

33:29

dissolved the war cabinet in Israel.

33:32

Do you think that helps or

33:34

hurts the negotiations for this ceasefire?

33:38

I'm not sure.

33:40

Truly, I think

33:45

that there have been a lot of questions about

33:47

the effectiveness of the war

33:50

cabinet. Recently two

33:52

of the sitting members chose

33:54

to leave and I

33:57

think that Prime Minister

33:59

Netanyahu whose decision to dissolve it,

34:02

surely must mean that it

34:05

wasn't doing whatever it needed to do. And

34:07

I don't mean to get you into a

34:09

political discussion here because I know that is

34:11

not your focus. I'm just curious as parents

34:15

have so much at stake here. A

34:17

couple of weeks ago, I asked President

34:19

Biden at one of his events whether

34:21

he thought that Prime Minister Netanyahu was

34:23

playing politics with the war because during

34:26

a Time Magazine interview that had published

34:28

earlier that day, he seemed to suggest

34:30

that there was every reason for people

34:32

to think that. But President Biden said

34:34

no when I asked him. He said

34:36

that the Prime Minister was dealing with

34:39

a serious problem he has. Do you

34:41

see it the same way as President

34:43

Biden? Or do you think that Prime

34:45

Minister Netanyahu could possibly be dragging

34:47

this out? I

34:50

think that Prime Minister Netanyahu

34:52

understands that there can be

34:54

no picture of victory without

34:57

bringing home these hostages. So

35:00

I know that he is motivated for

35:02

victory. I know that a piece of that

35:04

is bringing home the hostages. So he's got to be motivated

35:06

to bring them home. Israel's

35:09

a parliamentary system. So you've got different

35:11

interests in different parties within the coalition,

35:14

pulling the Prime Minister in different directions.

35:16

I'm not giving him a free pass. I'm not

35:19

trying to explain what the complexity is here. At

35:22

the end of the day, he's gotta deliver. Prime Minister

35:24

Netanyahu is coming to speak to Congress in a few

35:26

weeks. And I don't

35:29

know what he will say to Congress if

35:31

there are still 120 hostages sitting

35:33

in tunnels in captivity. This has to get done for

35:35

him. What do you want to hear from him when

35:37

he comes to Congress in a few weeks? What

35:41

do you want to hear? We would love to

35:43

hear him saying, thank you,

35:45

America, for all the support

35:47

these past many months during

35:50

this extremely tenuous

35:52

time. And I am

35:54

thrilled that we have a deal and

35:57

that the hostages are home. That's

36:00

what I would love to hear him talking about

36:02

when he comes to Congress. Thank

36:04

you both so much for being

36:07

here. We really appreciate it. Rachel

36:09

Goldberg Poland and John Poland, parents

36:11

of Hirsch Goldberg Poland, who has

36:13

been in captivity taken by

36:15

Hamas 256 days ago. Thank

36:18

you for joining us. Thank you. Thank you for telling the

36:21

story. After the

36:23

break, a major Midwestern warning sign

36:25

for President Biden as polling shows

36:28

former President Trump with a nearly

36:30

20-point lead in Iowa. You're

36:32

watching Meet the Press Now. And

36:42

welcome back, turning to the 2024

36:44

presidential race and a state poll that

36:46

caught our eye this week. It's not

36:48

from a key battleground or even from

36:51

a bellwether state, but from reliably read

36:53

Iowa. A well-respected Des Moines Register MediaCom

36:55

poll has former President Trump up 18

36:57

points in the

37:00

Hawkeye State, hitting 50 percent

37:02

in a multi-candidate field among likely voters.

37:04

And here's why this matters. Back in

37:06

2020, Trump carried Iowa by just eight

37:09

points. Well, it's only June. This poll

37:11

from a high-quality pollster shows a 10-point

37:13

swing from that 2020 result.

37:16

And if he carried just a fraction of

37:18

that swing over to neighboring Wisconsin, where other

37:21

polls show a margin of error race, that

37:23

could be more than enough to tip the

37:25

balance in a crucial battleground. So let's get

37:27

right to the panel. Joining me now here

37:29

on set is Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent

37:32

for USA Today, Simone Sanders

37:34

Townsend, former senior advisor to Vice

37:36

President Harris and co-host of The

37:38

Weeknd on MSNBC, and

37:40

Stephen Hayes, editor and CEO of The Dispatch,

37:42

and also an NBC News political analyst. Thank

37:45

you all so much for joining me here.

37:47

Francesca, I want to start with you. We

37:49

just mentioned that new Des Moines Register poll

37:51

that has Trump up 18 in Iowa. We

37:54

mentioned that was a 10-point swing from 2020.

37:56

Polls also show close

38:00

race in Wisconsin, though, can

38:03

those two results exist at

38:05

the same time? How do you explain that? Well,

38:07

Iowa's been a reliably red state. And I should,

38:09

by the way, note that this is a USA

38:12

Today Network

38:14

paper as well that

38:16

conducted this poll. But I think one

38:18

of the numbers that is probably pretty

38:20

concerning for the Biden team in a

38:22

poll like this is the youth voter

38:24

number at 15 percent job approval rating

38:26

for the president. A couple

38:28

of months ago, it was 21 percent among voters

38:30

under the age

38:33

of 35 in Iowa. So that was a

38:35

drop of six, six points in just a

38:37

few months time. Now, granted, the same number

38:39

said that they disapprove as a disapproved before.

38:41

But when you look at that key voting

38:43

block that the president needs to turn out

38:46

in this election, I think it's really symptomatic

38:48

of the problem he's having with young voters

38:51

around the country. So, Simone, on that point,

38:53

Democrats, we've been hearing from them time and

38:55

time again that the Midwest is what's going

38:57

to save President Biden because he has some

39:00

diminishing support in the Sun Belt and places

39:02

like Arizona and Nevada. Should

39:04

these polls spook Democrats? Look, I think

39:06

it is someone that I spent a

39:08

lot of time in electoral politics for

39:10

years, as you all know, and polls

39:12

are not predictive, right? They should

39:15

inform. You do polling to inform your strategy to get

39:17

a temperature test, but polls do not predict what is

39:19

going to happen when people go to the ballot box.

39:22

And so I would say that Democrats need to look

39:24

at every single poll, but also

39:26

juxtapose what they're seeing in the polls, from what's happening on

39:28

the ground, from their reports from

39:30

their field organizers, the knocking doors, and then

39:32

make sure they're doing their own internal polling

39:34

regularly throughout the week. This polling to me

39:36

says, one, you know, I was on that

39:38

plane when Joe Biden left Iowa the last

39:41

time he was there for the last election.

39:43

And I'd never been so happy to get

39:45

out of the Hawkeye state. And I

39:48

say that as a Nebraskan. So, you

39:50

know, I don't know if

39:52

there's one Democrat that's elected statewide currently in

39:54

Iowa and they are not a high ranking

39:56

Democratic representative. So I would just note, I

39:59

don't think what's happened in Iowa. is necessarily

40:01

indicative of what's happening in Wisconsin or Michigan.

40:03

So a Nebraskan, or a... You

40:06

know Wisconsin, well how do you see this playing out

40:08

in Wisconsin? Yeah, I mean look, there's a reason I

40:11

think that other Democrats are alarmed by this poll, and

40:13

there are really two reasons. One, Ann Seltzer is regularly

40:16

regarded, people say gold standard Ann Seltzer

40:18

poll. She's very good, she's been very

40:20

accurate over the last several cycles, even

40:22

when other bigger pollsters have missed. So

40:25

people take her seriously. Because

40:27

Iowa and Wisconsin have similar profiles, I agree

40:30

with Simone, they're not exactly the same, you

40:32

can't just say one translates to the other.

40:34

But they're similar enough in profile that

40:36

this should be alarming to Democrats, it

40:38

should have Democrats concerned. And Francesca, back

40:40

to Arby at the White House. As

40:43

we were mentioning earlier in the program, President

40:45

Biden announced that new executive action on the

40:48

border. Do you think that

40:50

this executive action was meant

40:53

as a way to blunt criticism

40:55

from the progressives on

40:57

the last one that he did two weeks ago,

40:59

tightening the asylum rules? How do you think that

41:01

the White House is

41:04

using this potentially in an election year? What are

41:07

the politics of this new executive action? Well, the

41:09

president today said that he's not trying to play

41:11

politics with immigration and that he would have wanted

41:13

Congress to do something in a bipartisan manner if

41:15

they didn't do that, so now he's acting. But

41:18

he did directly address some of those critics that

41:20

you're talking about. He noted that some of them

41:22

were at the White House today, that they were

41:24

standing behind him. So it

41:27

is a balancing act here. But one

41:29

thing that the White House is also

41:31

trying to do is reclaim the narrative

41:33

around immigration. He repeatedly talked today about

41:36

how he wasn't separating families and the

41:38

White House stressed that as well. He

41:40

indeed brought up Trump by name and

41:42

brought up comments about poisoning the blood

41:44

of America. So it's also about drawing

41:47

a contrast with the Republican nominee. Again,

41:49

he mentioned by name. And

41:51

so we're actually getting some new reaction

41:54

from former President Trump, who is speaking

41:56

right now in Ray's

41:58

scene. He

42:00

says he loves Milwaukee, by the way. But

42:03

what you've got to fix is the crime. And there

42:05

was also a chant that broke out at the rally

42:08

among the crowds saying, send them

42:10

back. Essentially a response to

42:13

that new executive action. And I want

42:15

to put up the Trump campaign's response

42:17

earlier today to that executive action. The

42:20

campaign says, quote, Biden's mass amnesty

42:22

plan will undoubtedly lead to a

42:24

greater surge in migrant crime. Biden

42:26

has created another invitation for illegal

42:28

immigration through his mass amnesty

42:30

order. So besides a fact

42:33

check here that, you know, there are no

42:35

statistics that suggest any surge

42:37

in migrant crime from undocumented immigrants. In

42:39

fact, there are many studies that show

42:42

that they commit crimes proportionally

42:44

less than the general population.

42:46

But what do you make of

42:48

the Trump campaign and trying to

42:51

really maintain this issue as a top

42:53

issue for them? I think they have been

42:55

successful in muddying the waters on this to

42:57

the point where I have heard a lot

43:00

of individuals today talk about this in the

43:02

context of border enforcement and immigration. When these

43:04

are two with the executive actions that the

43:06

president took a couple weeks ago

43:09

that anchored some of those same people that

43:11

were standing behind him. I mean, Congresswoman Dilea

43:13

Ramirez from Illinois was behind the president today

43:15

with her husband who is undocumented. So

43:18

and she has been an outspoken critic of

43:20

this administration when it comes to immigration policy

43:22

and immigration reform. So that those were enforcement

43:24

actions. This was not about any

43:27

new folks who are coming to the border

43:29

right now. This is particularly the 12th anniversary

43:31

of DACA is today, which I think is

43:34

very important for why this was and

43:36

why this event happened today, because the majority

43:38

of those first cohorts of DACA recipients are

43:41

people who are going to benefit

43:43

from this particular policy. The 12

43:46

years later, the the DACA population

43:48

remains largely unchanged. Five hundred thousand

43:50

people and half of those folks

43:52

are married to American citizens. They're undocumented.

43:54

And now today it will be on a

43:56

path to citizenship. Simone, I know you work

43:58

for Vice President Harris. spokesperson

44:01

and you know

44:03

how complex the issue of the border. You're

44:05

telling I was there. That's right. That's right.

44:08

Vice President Harris was tasked with looking

44:10

at root causes of migration, certainly not

44:12

an easy subject. So I'm curious, what

44:14

do you make of Democrats over the

44:16

last couple months trying to seize this

44:18

issue back from Republicans? It's a tall

44:20

order considering that for so long it

44:22

was Republicans that really wanted to talk

44:25

about immigration. Democrats

44:27

preferred not to. They preferred not to.

44:30

I think a lot of folks at the

44:32

White House early on thought this was a

44:34

political liability to actually discuss. They didn't want

44:36

to engage in the conversation because the conversation

44:38

is nuanced and nuance is not something that

44:40

my Republican friends out there who

44:42

support President Trump actually trafficking. I

44:45

think it was a missed opportunity, but I'm glad that

44:47

they are being more forceful

44:49

now. I saw some numbers that

44:51

said border crossings are down. 2,000

44:54

yesterday. 2,000 people down. That

44:56

is significant, I think. Those numbers haven't

44:58

been seen since 2020. Is it going

45:00

to make a difference in how people think about immigration

45:03

and what this administration is doing before November? I don't

45:05

know. You know, Stephen, a new CBS

45:07

YouGov poll has a majority of Americans being

45:10

in favor of mass deportations.

45:13

Does that mean that Trump's rhetoric has

45:15

won? No, I think

45:17

in fact people are paying attention to the reality. The

45:19

problem, I think, that the Biden administration faces is this

45:21

has been a three-year policy failure. It

45:23

just hasn't worked. If you look at the

45:26

White House itself, they denied for years that

45:28

this was a crisis, and all of a

45:30

sudden now they're pivoting to address what I

45:32

think is pretty obviously a crisis. If you

45:34

look at President Biden's approval rating on immigration,

45:36

I think it's the second most biggest

45:39

political vulnerability. In the last five polls, negative 34,

45:41

negative 28, negative 30, negative 29, negative 30. That's

45:47

a huge political problem. So I think what you're seeing the

45:49

president do right now, he's flailing.

45:52

He had this changes on

45:54

asylum policy just a couple weeks ago. Now

45:56

he's trying to appease the people who are

45:58

frustrated, as you report. at the time

46:00

who were frustrated with those policies. This is

46:03

a president who's failing. But isn't it a

46:05

good political message, this idea that just several

46:07

months ago, it was Republicans that killed that

46:09

border funding. Yeah, I mean, I think it's

46:11

a, look, Republicans should be faulted for

46:13

what they did, right? I mean, they came out and

46:16

said, we want to kill this because President Trump

46:18

wants us to kill this. I mean, it's politically cowardly.

46:20

You disagree with him. Mike Johnson said, oh, they wanted

46:22

something tougher, that the bill that they were going to

46:24

in the House. So you think that that was a

46:27

bad move? I think they did want something tougher. But

46:30

you think they should have gone with the bill

46:32

they had in front of them. I do, I

46:34

definitely do. I think it would have made a

46:36

difference. I think it would have been helpful to

46:38

solving the problem. I think for the problem that

46:40

we face as people who want progress on immigration

46:43

reform is that for two

46:45

decades, both political parties have wanted this as

46:47

an issue more than they wanted to solve

46:49

the problem. I think as, I don't know

46:51

any Democrats that wanted immigration as

46:53

an issue for them, I do think that

46:55

they had not played hardball enough. And I

46:57

would just note, I remember

46:59

discussing conversations during the campaign with then

47:02

candidate Biden. And he is someone that

47:04

does not believe in legislating

47:06

by executive action or executive order. So

47:08

the fact that he took action today

47:10

on undocumented spouses and then did the

47:12

enforcement action to me says he's just

47:14

like, somebody got to do something because

47:16

Joe Biden does not want to do

47:18

those executive actions. Samoan Sandberg,

47:20

Stephen Hayes, and Jessica, thank you so

47:23

much for being here. Always good conversation

47:25

when the three of you are here.

47:27

Really appreciate it. And still to come,

47:29

we're live on Capitol Hill. We're a

47:32

Senate Republican just blocked an effort to

47:34

ban bump stocks by unanimous consent days

47:36

after the Supreme Court threw out a

47:38

Trump-era federal ban. You're watching Meet

47:40

the Press now. Stay with us. Welcome

47:47

back. We're keeping an eye on a

47:49

couple of developing stories in the Senate

47:51

today, where Boeing CEO just wrapped up

47:54

testimony before a subcommittee about his company's

47:56

safety standards, following a series of Boeing

47:58

airplane mechanical failures. During that

48:00

hearing, the CEO, Dave Calhoun, apologized

48:03

to families of victims of

48:05

recent incidents involving Boeing planes. We're

48:08

also following the Senate's attempt to

48:10

pass legislation restoring a ban on

48:12

bump stocks. Democrats were looking to

48:14

pass the bill under unanimous consent,

48:16

but a Republican senator, Pete Ricketts

48:19

of Nebraska, has already blocked that

48:21

effort. NBC News Capitol Hill

48:23

correspondent Ryan Nobles joins us now live from

48:25

the Hill. So Ryan, let's start with his

48:27

vote on bump stocks. What's happening right now?

48:30

Well, the path to getting a bump stock

48:32

bill passed has now become increasingly more difficult.

48:35

The Democrats in the Senate were

48:37

hoping that they could pass this bill under what's called

48:39

unanimous consent, which would basically mean they put it on

48:41

the floor, A's and Nays, if

48:44

it passes, it passes. But it

48:46

only takes one Republican to block that from

48:48

happening, and Senator Pete Ricketts was the person

48:50

to do that. So that means that if

48:52

a bill like this is gonna have to

48:54

pass, it's gonna have to go through a

48:56

much more lengthy process, it's gonna need 60

48:58

votes in order to pass the Senate, which

49:00

is obviously a much higher bar and

49:03

would require a lot more Republican support than it

49:05

would if it were to pass

49:07

under unanimous consent. What's interesting about this, Gabe,

49:09

is that this is a proposal that by

49:11

and large most Republicans have been supportive of.

49:13

Keep in mind that it was implemented during

49:16

the Trump administration with President Trump's support in

49:18

the wake of the Las Vegas mass shooting.

49:20

But now in the reality here of attempting

49:23

to try and pass any sort of legislation

49:25

that would limit the rights of gun

49:28

owners, any form of gun

49:30

control, you see Republicans backing away. So the

49:32

idea that this is something that's gonna happen

49:34

quickly now seems as

49:36

it's not going to happen very quickly as

49:38

a result of what we saw play out here today.

49:40

Is there a better chance at this passing at all

49:43

after November? I

49:45

mean, it really depends on how the

49:47

election plays itself out, Gabe. We've kind

49:49

of entered this period of time on

49:51

Capitol Hill where it's almost a silly

49:53

season where there isn't really gonna be

49:55

much substantive legislation passed

49:57

until after the election. Both

50:00

sides are reluctant to move forward

50:02

any sort of legislation that could

50:04

either be helpful or hurtful during

50:06

the election, and they've really

50:08

passed all the major pieces of legislation that need to

50:10

be done before the end of the year. They will

50:13

have to deal with spending in the

50:15

fall. But to answer your question, maybe

50:18

it's more likely after the election, but it

50:20

really depends on the results of that election

50:22

before we know for sure. And Ron, before

50:24

I let you go, Boeing CEO faced tough

50:26

questions about his company's safety record. Anything

50:29

actually happen as a result of today's hearing?

50:32

Yeah, it's a great question, Gabe.

50:34

And I do think that Congress

50:36

does have some ability here to

50:38

change the way Boeing conducts itself.

50:40

The company is a huge client.

50:43

The federal government is a huge client

50:45

of Boeing's, and so therefore future

50:47

appropriations packages could have some

50:50

level of oversight into the way they do

50:52

business. And also keep in mind, the airline

50:54

industry is one of the most heavily regulated

50:57

industries in America, and the FAA has very

50:59

direct oversight into what Boeing does. So there

51:01

could possibly be substantive changes to the way

51:03

they do business. What those are, we'll have

51:05

to wait and see. Ryan Noble's live for

51:08

us on the Hill. Ryan, thank you. I'm

51:10

Gabe Gutierrez, and I'm back tomorrow with more

51:12

Meet the Press now. The news continues with

51:14

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