Meet the Press NOW — October 16

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1:13Rebecca Bennett: welcome to meet the press now i'm kristen welker with 18 days to go president trump right now is set to make his 12th campaign stop in the last 16 days amid even more signs of midterm momentum for Democrats. More than 7 million Americans have already cast their ballots nationwide, including 2 million in our 10 closely watched Senate battlegrounds. That's according to NBC News data via voter file company TargetSmart. Meanwhile, Democrats are reporting massive fundraising hauls last quarter, significantly more than their Republican opponents in those key battleground states. That's according to FEC filings.

1:51Rebecca Bennett: At this hour, the president is on one of those battlegrounds, Georgia, where incumbent Democrat John Ossoff is facing a challenge from Republican Congressman Mike Collins. As he left the White House earlier, the president touted the impact he says he's having on the trail.

2:07Meet the Press: I'm going to support you like that. We have a defend this crowd of people. I don't know if you know it. These rallies are turning everything around. These rallies are legislative. These are like the rallies I've had. And I didn't think I'd have to do it, but I want to make sure a Republican do as well as they could do.

2:27Rebecca Bennett: Georgia is just the latest stop on the president's midterm blitz. So far, he's hit 10 states, some of them multiple times. And he'll be back in Georgia later this month, one of at least eight campaign stops currently on the schedule before Election Day, notably absent from that list, Battleground Maine. And in an interview last night, the president's suggesting it will stay that way. Take a look.

2:48Meet the Press: There's no real reason for me to go to Maine, I don't think. Although they have a couple of interesting races going on, but I think we're going to win those races. But probably not. I'd like to go to Maine. I love Maine. But I'm so solid with Maine, too. It's, you know, can't get much more solid.

3:08Rebecca Bennett: It comes as incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson faced off in their fourth and final debate last night, where Collins once again sought to distance herself from President Trump. In addition, I would point out a major difference between Troy and me. I vote very independently. Of all the hundred senators, the studies show that I am the most bipartisan member of the Senate. We need more people in the Senate. We don't need more people who are going to vote a straight party line.

3:50Meet the Press: Well, Senator Collins likes to have it both ways. I mean, the reality is that 100 % of the time when Donald Trump needs her, Susan Collins is going to be there. That has happened time and time again. The votes that she throws away are managed votes that she already knows the outcome.

4:08Rebecca Bennett: And today we got yet another sign of the tough midterm environment for Republicans. Our friends at the Cook Political Report shifting 11 races in Democrats' direction, including five likely Republican districts now in the competitive lean Republican category. All of them are districts President Trump won in 2024, some by more than double digits. Joining me now from Georgia following the president is NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba. Chief White House Correspondent Garrett Haake is at the White House and Aaron Covey, House of Representatives editor for the Cook Political Report. Thanks to all of you for being here, Monica.

4:45Rebecca Bennett: Let me start with this breaking news we have to talk about. The fact that the newly installed White House press secretary is out after only a few days on the job. What is President Trump saying? What are your sources telling you?

4:57Meet the Press: This was a significant development, Kristen. And of course, her very short tenure was marked by controversy from that very first briefing that she offered on Tuesday that only lasted under 15 minutes. But it was really her resume and her background questions about her credentials. So she had identified herself repeatedly as a lawyer, but she did not pass a bar exam after graduating law school that it seems to have added to the president's decision making here that she could no longer serve in the role of press secretary. Here's a little bit more of what the president had to say when he left the White House earlier this afternoon.

5:36Meet the Press: Well, Katie's been treated very badly by the media, very, very badly, very unfairly, I think. And I just spoke to her about it. I said, Katie, is this for you? And I said to Katie just two minutes ago, I said, Katie, you know, you don't have to do this if you don't want. She said, this is a lot tougher. I said, welcome to the world of Trump. It was just moments after the president said that, Kristen, that we were able to confirm that she was out of her post. What we don't know yet is whether she will have some other kind of role in the administration. Officials are indicating that they may try to find something for her to transition to.

6:15Meet the Press: But interestingly, tonight, she's set to have dinner with Vice President Vance and his family at the Naval Observatory. Kristen.

6:24Rebecca Bennett: Well, just a stunning turn of events, Monica. You have been all over it in your reporting. Let me ask you, because President Trump's about to speak there in Georgia, that competitive Senate seat, the gubernatorial race. What is the president's strategy going to be?

6:40Meet the Press: Yeah, and it's been notable where the president has gone, where he hasn't. And he has spent most of the last couple of weeks in those reliably red states, whereas here in Georgia, in a little bit more of a battleground, He won in 2016. He narrowly lost it in 2020 and then flipped it back to red in 2024. But this is a case where he is trying to boost a Republican challenger, of course, in Representative Mike Collins to the incumbent Democratic Senator John Ossoff. And if you just look at the cash advantage that Democrats have here, it's remarkable. After those third quarter numbers came in, John Ossoff has about 33 million that he raked in versus Mike Collins, about 2 million.

7:21Meet the Press: And so the president is here to talk to voters who we know are loyal to him, but he's going to continue to make this case about asking them to pretend he's on the ballot. And in the conversations I've had here for voters, they say they feel that message is working. They're telling me that their Republican friends who maybe wouldn't have shown up to vote are heeding the president's call, have gone even to vote early. And there are record-breaking early voting numbers here in the state of Georgia on pace, Kristen, to break the last midterm record of four years ago if this keeps up.

7:53Rebecca Bennett: Well, we are going to continue to track those early voting numbers, that's for sure. Monica, I know you've been reporting on the president's travel schedule, his strategy there, 13 stops in 16 days so far. Where is he headed next, and what does that tell you?

8:10Meet the Press: Yeah, so tomorrow he will be heading to Kentucky, and then he's going to follow that up early next week with trips to Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida. And then he's also going to be coming back to Georgia. And then two stops on the calendar that I think will be pretty critical a little later in the month and early November. And that's, of course, Michigan and Iowa. There had been a lot of questions about when the president was going to head to either of those places. Now we know it will be toward that home stretch. But that one place that we haven't mentioned, Kristen, as you nodded to in the introduction, Maine, whenever we've talked to our sources and RNC officials about whether he really will go there, it is highly unlikely.

8:51Meet the Press: And we know that Maine Senator Susan Collins has implied that she is not expecting him there and doesn't necessarily want him to be campaigning there. So that's the one we're still watching for because it was the president who indicated he might go there.

9:04Rebecca Bennett: Yeah, Susan Collins among the Republicans trying to find some distance between herself and President Trump right now. Monica Alba, great reporting as always. Thanks for starting us off from the campaign trail in Georgia. Gary, let me head to you at the White House. So we've been talking about the fact that there were two big Senate debates last night, including in Alaska, where the president campaigned earlier this week. What were some of your key takeaways? I know you were tracking all of it.

9:31Meet the Press: Yeah, I mean, as we've seen in so many of these races, the part of the debate last night was focused on Dan Sullivan essentially trying to create a little bit of distance between himself and President Trump. He went after Mary Peltola in a New York Times story that suggested that she had been harsh with staff. When she pushed back asking when he had criticized President Trump for the kind of language or derogatory remarks he had made, Sullivan pointed to two examples. He pointed to the president's comments about John McCain and the president's comments about Megyn Kelly, both of which were from before he became president.

10:02Meet the Press: And while Sullivan didn't say this, and I don't think Peltola fully capitalized on it, that's in keeping with the Dan Sullivan I covered in the Senate, who's not necessarily willing to criticize President Trump. Those criticisms were only about candidate Trump before he had any power whatsoever. And so that was a theme. So, too, was discussion about energy production, as you can always imagine, is an issue in Alaska. Sullivan pushing back on high gas prices, saying that, you know, Alaska just needs to produce more energy. Alaska is already one of the top energy producing states in this country.

10:29Meet the Press: So I'm not sure how far that argument will go. But I think it was very telling about sort of the state of this race so far.

10:35Rebecca Bennett: So, Garrett, I want to ask you, because I know that earlier this week you actually spoke to Josh Turk, of course, who's running in another red state in Iowa for your podcast. Here's the Scoop Election Edition. What did he tell you?

10:49Meet the Press: Yeah, look, I've been fascinated with Iowa because here's a state that actually does have a history of behaving like a more purple state, even though it's been red for the last couple of cycles. Turek is in position to capitalize on that. We talked a lot about how angry he thinks people are there about the economy, about the tariffs, about the war with Iran. And he told me on election night, he'll be looking at one key group of voters to see if he's got a chance to win. Young voters, listen. On election night, when everyone's nervously watching the results come in, what are you going to be looking for to have a sense of, if you're going to be going to the U.S.

11:23Meet the Press: Senate or not? I think we're going to win this off of young people being engaged. I think they uniquely are realizing that they may be the first generation of Americans that are seeing their quality of life not being quite as high. They're looking at a situation where the average age of a first-time homebuyer is 40 years old. And so I think inspiring them, I think also we're going to win this by trimming the margins in rural communities and amongst farmers. Kristen, I think that idea about keeping the margins down in rural communities is big, not just in Iowa, but it's also something I heard when we talked about the Texas Senate and gubernatorial races in a lot of these other Midwestern states or states with large rural populations.

12:04Meet the Press: Democrats don't need to win with those folks. They need to not get blown out. And if that's the case, you could see a very blue, huge map on election night.

12:13Rebecca Bennett: All right. Well, it looks like a great interview. We look forward to listening and to hearing the entire interview, of course. Here's the scoop. Election edition with Garrett Haake. Garrett, great get. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it. Erin, let me turn to you now. Let's talk about the Cook Political Report moving 11 districts in Democrats' favor. Talk about the implication in this broader environment.

12:37Meet the Press: It looks increasingly like the center of the House battleground is in these districts that Trump won by even double digits in 2024. And that includes districts in Ohio, in Iowa, but also in upstate New York and southern Minnesota, places that Republicans have done quite well over the past decade or so. But these are parts of the country that used to vote for Democrats by wider margins. And it looks like Democrats have a chance of making some gains here for the first time in a while.

13:05Rebecca Bennett: Really significant. When you look at where the president is campaigning and then you compare that against the map that you all are drawing, what do you make of the strategy that we're seeing unfold? He's obviously been targeting largely ruby red states and districts.

13:22Meet the Press: I think that makes sense. I mean, that is where, again, the bulk of these competitive races are, particularly for the House. If you have a really competitive statewide race, like in the Ohio Senate race and the gubernatorial race, that has trickle-down effects on all of these districts. And so if you're sitting in a district that Sherrod Brown is winning by several points, it's tough as a Republican to defend yourself.

13:43Rebecca Bennett: But just to be and to drill down on the specifics a little bit more, you moved a lot of seats, 30, I believe, over the past two weeks towards Democrats. But that doesn't mean that they're likely Democrats. In fact, most of these races are still in the lean Republican category. So what do Democrats actually have to do in order to flip one of these seats? Because they still, in some of these, are facing an uphill battle. They are.

14:07Meet the Press: I mean, they're going to need to win over a certain number of disaffected Trump voters. They're going to need to do very well with independents. But that is quite possible. Our current range for what we're expecting for control of the House is that Democrats pick up between 10 and 20 seats. And so they'll have a majority regardless on either end of that range. But that we've known from the beginning that would require them to play in red territory.

14:29Rebecca Bennett: OK, well, so much to watch between now and Election Day. We'll be watching what the Cook Political Report does and says very closely. Erin, thanks so much for being here. Really appreciate it. Coming up, an update now next on the absolutely devastating mass shooting at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, that killed three children and a teacher. what we know about the victims, the 16-year-old gunman, and the hero bystander who stepped in to save lives. Plus, President Trump again denies any White House involvement in a Starlink outage that Ukraine says severely impacted its air defenses and calling Ukraine's latest attacks on Russian oil refineries a, quote, disgrace.

15:10Rebecca Bennett: Stay with us. You're watching Meet the Press now.

15:17Meet the Press: This message comes from Wise Business, the only account your business needs to scale globally. You're building a business with global ambitions, but hidden fees are eating into your margins. With Wise Business, you can pay overseas suppliers without exchange rate markups. Have customers worldwide get payment details in 22 currencies, so you get more of each hard-earned payment without hidden conversion fees. Be smart. Get wise business. Download the app. T's and C's apply. My name is Annie Elise, a.k.a. your true crime BFF and host of the podcast Seriallessly. Now, I have been a true crime enthusiast forever, but I wished that somebody would break down the cases for me like a friend, giving me all the details, discussing every twist and turn, so I decided to create a podcast that does just that.

16:06Meet the Press: Serialously with Annie Elise is topping the charts with over 6 million weekly downloads. I do the deep dives in these cases, so you don't have to. Diving into all the raw details, saying what we all are thinking, and doing it in a conversational way, just like you're talking with your best friend. So join me and let's talk all things true crime. Serialously with Annie Elise. New episodes every single week. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube. To every clinician finishing notes at 9 p.m., there is a faster way. Whisper Flow is a voice-to-text app. You talk, it types in your EHR, your email, anywhere you type.

16:42Meet the Press: Say the progress note, the referral letter, the patient instructions, and it comes out clean and formatted with your terminology spelled right. Four times faster than typing and HIPAA ready. Whisper Flow is free. Get it at whisperflow.ai. That's W-I-S-P-R flow dot A-I.

17:04Rebecca Bennett: Welcome back. We are following that tragic news out of Bend, Oregon, where yesterday a 16-year-old shooter opened fire at an elementary school. Officials are set to provide an update next hour. Authorities say three children ages 5, 8, and 11 and a teacher were killed in the shooting. Another child and teacher were critically injured. Police say the shooter, who has been identified as John J. Griffin II, used a long gun to shoot through the school's locked doors. A Good Samaritan identified as 36-year-old Caleb Giamonaco intervened and shot and killed the gunman, likely preventing further loss of life.

17:41Rebecca Bennett: Yesterday, during a press briefing, local leaders reacted to the tragedy in their community.

17:47Meet the Press: I don't have any words for what this community is feeling right now, and I don't think anyone does. We are heartbroken. We are horrified. This is the kind of thing you hear about in other places and pray that it never happens here. And it has happened here. So my heart is absolutely broken today, and our hearts will stay broken in the days and weeks ahead.

18:11Rebecca Bennett: And my daily prayers will be with this community, with the children, with the parents, and with the educators. Today, while leaving the White House, President Trump made his first comments about the shooting and noted the heroic actions taken by the Good Samaritan.

18:27Meet the Press: There was a great hero, and it could have been as bad as it was, but we had a great hero that went in and did the business. He took care of business. And thank God we had him. Otherwise, it would have been much worse. It's a terrible thing. But thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it.

18:48Rebecca Bennett: Joining me now is NBC News correspondent Liz Kreutz in Bend, Oregon, and NBC News law enforcement analyst Jim Cavanaugh. Thanks to both of you for being here. Liz, yet another devastating school shooting. What are we learning about the victims and those who were injured?

19:03Meet the Press: Oh, it's just heartbreaking to be here and see another community have to go through a tragedy like this. Kristen, we are awaiting hopefully an update on the two people injured, a seven-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher. Her husband put out a statement basically thanking the community for their support and not giving an update on her condition, but we are hopeful that they're okay. But authorities did say they were both transported to the hospital with critical injuries. We're also working to learn more about those victims, the five, eight, and 11-year-old children that have died and another teacher as well.

19:39Meet the Press: The five-year-old's family has confirmed his identity, a little boy, a little five-year-old boy named Rome Summer. We've heard from his aunt, and understandably, the family is absolutely heartbroken. She says she doesn't know if his parents will ever be able to speak about what's happened. And we can tell you, Kristen, that several parents have also told us that it appears the gunman went into the special education classroom, which would explain why there's these varying ages of the children. Police have not confirmed that, but we hope to get that updated. This press conference coming up in about 45 minutes.

20:13Rebecca Bennett: It's just too horrific to imagine what those families are experiencing today. Liz, you spoke to a family member of the Good Samaritan. What did they tell you?

20:25Meet the Press: Yeah, so we spoke to the brother of 36-year-old Caleb Giamacco, and he confirmed that it was his brother that heroically intervened. In fact, we're standing on the road where we believe he drove by. According to his brother, Caleb was driving home for his lunch break. He wasn't even planning to come home for this lunch break and kind of on a whim decided to, he said. decided to drive by on his lunch break, was driving by the school, heard the gunshots, saw the gunman go inside the school, and really, without even thinking, because this all happened within a matter of a few minutes, got out, followed the gunman inside, and using his concealed weapon, he then stopped him, essentially stopped him and prevented more loss of life.

21:09Meet the Press: But according to his brother, he doesn't want to speak out right now because he's so upset by all of this, so upset by what he saw and also upset, sadly, with himself. Because even though he is being hailed as a hero, rightfully so, he feels like he's not one that he didn't do enough to save more lives, Kristen.

21:27Rebecca Bennett: It's just so devastating. Jim, let me turn to you on this. Police have identified the shooter. What are your biggest outstanding questions? What are investigators going to be zeroing in on at this point in time?

21:40Meet the Press: Kristen, they got to dig into his past. They got to find out the motivation so we can use the information to stop future attacks. I'm particularly centered on how he did shoot out the lock of the school. It's not so easy to do. You know, in Hollywood, one shot, you know, the lock opens up, but it's not really the way it works. In law enforcement, we had to use breaching rounds, shotgun breaching rounds to be able to bust through hinges and locks. So I'm interested to see if this delayed him at all. Did he have to spend a lot of time trying to shoot out that lock? because we need higher security on locks like that.

22:14Meet the Press: That's pretty obvious. And reviewing the security posture and what makes this guy tick, what's the motive? Why is he taking revenge on his school? Words fall short of the cold-blooded murder of a 5-year-old, an 8-year-old, an 11-year-old. It's just this case has just really hit the country hard. Everybody I've talked to today is just like, you know, just cannot believe it. It's just so disgusting. We've got to do more as a country to stop it.

22:45Rebecca Bennett: Absolutely. Jim, when you hear about this 16-year-old shooter, one of the questions, undoubtedly, where did this person get the weapon from? What are investigators going to look at in that regard?

23:02Meet the Press: You know, Kristen, I've worked so many cases over all my 36 years with guns and people getting guns and how they acquired them. In the school shooters cases, oftentimes the gun comes right from the home. It's taken from the parent's closet, the grandparent's closet, or it's given to the child by a parent. I mean, this is the Adam Lanza case in Newtown, Kentucky, and others we can cite. Parents give teenagers rifles. Their brain is not completely formed. When you're 15 or 16, your brain is not completely formed. You're not an adult. And emotional things can take you on rides that can take you to evil places.

23:41Meet the Press: And that's why you have parents who direct you. You know, you can't have your driver's license to your soul. You don't join the military to your soul. You shouldn't be, you know, getting a powerful rifle when you're too young. Sure, if you're under adult supervision, you're going on a hunting trip, of course, we understand that. But not just, you know, giving a child a gun. Parents really got to think about what they're doing here. And they'll all certify that their child won't do it. And every child that does it was certified by their parents prior that they would never do it.

24:13Rebecca Bennett: Well, our thoughts are certainly with the community in Bend, Oregon there. Liz Kreutz and Jim Kavanaugh, thank you both so very much. We really appreciate it. And we are following this story closely. We're going to bring you any updates as we get them. Coming up next, going for the Garden State, I'm going to talk to the Democrat running to flip a key Republican-held House seat in New Jersey. It's one of November's most competitive and also consequential congressional races. You don't want to miss this conversation. Stay with us on Meet the Press now.

24:51Meet the Press: This message comes from Wise Business, the only account your business needs to scale globally. You're building a business with global ambitions, but hidden fees are eating into your margins. With Wise Business, you can pay overseas suppliers without exchange rate markups. Have customers worldwide get payment details in 22 currencies, so you get more of each hard-earned payment without hidden conversion fees. Be smart. Get Wise Business. Download the app. T's and C's apply. My name is Annie Elise, a.k.a. your true crime BFF and host of the podcast Seriallessly. Now, I have been a true crime enthusiast forever, but I wished that somebody would break down the cases for me like a friend, giving me all the details, discussing every twist and turn.

25:36Meet the Press: So I decided to create a podcast that does just that. Seriallessly with Annie Elise is topping the charts with over 6 million weekly downloads. I do the deep dives in these cases so you don't have to, diving into all the raw details, saying what we all are thinking, and doing it in a conversational way, just like you're talking with your best friend. So join me and let's talk all things true crime. Serialistly with Annie Elise. New episodes every single week. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube. To every clinician finishing notes at 9 p.m., there is a faster way. Whisperflow is a voice-to-text app.

26:11Meet the Press: You talk, it types in your EHR, your email, anywhere you type. Say the progress note, the referral letter, the patient instructions, and it comes out clean and formatted with your terminology spelled right. Four times faster than typing and HIPAA ready. Whisper Flow is free. Get it at whisperflow.ai. That's W-I-S-P-R flow dot A-I.

26:37Rebecca Bennett: Welcome back. House Democrats' path to victory in November could run through a New Jersey district considered one of the most competitive this midterm cycle. New Jersey's 7th Congressional District is currently represented by Congressman Tom Cain Jr., who is facing a challenge from Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot who then turned to a career in health care. Congressman Cain's tenure included a four-month disappearance from public view earlier this year, which he later revealed was because he sought treatment for depression. Now, to give you a sense of how swingy this district can be, Congressman McCain flipped the seat red by three points in 2022.

27:16Rebecca Bennett: President Trump won the district, which is home to his Bedminster golf course, by just one point in 2024. And Democratic Governor Mikey Sherrill carried the district by two points in 2025. That is the definition of a swing district. Joining me now is the Democratic candidate running in New Jersey 7, Rebecca Bennett. Thanks so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me on today. Well, let's get to the state of play. The Cook Political Report moved your race from toss-up to lean Democrat last month. What do you think it's going to take to win this district, to flip it?

27:52Meet the Press: Yeah, well, you know, as you mentioned, I'm a former Navy helicopter pilot. I served in the military for 15 years. I'm also a mom to two girls. And ultimately, the reason why I'm running for Congress is because I deeply love this country and care about the future that we're going to leave for my daughters and the next generation. And what I've heard loud and clear from people across my district is really three things. One, it's taking on the cost of living crisis that we are dealing with in this country. Two, it's tackling the corruption in Washington. And three, it's putting country over party to move this country forward.

28:22Meet the Press: And that's the message that I've been talking to people about. And it's resonating across the political spectrum. And that's why we're going to flip the seat in 18 days.

28:28Rebecca Bennett: Well, traditionally, this has been a red district. Registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats. By nearly 20 ,000 voters, President Trump remains popular in critical parts of the district. What's your strategy to reach out to those Republican voters, independent voters, undecided voters who are going to determine this race?

28:48Meet the Press: Yeah, you know, I was serving in the military. We were just there as Americans to get the job done. And that's really the mindset that I'm bringing this campaign into office is that I will work with whoever wants to work with me on being able to solve the issues that we're facing for this country. Also, just add, we've been very intentional about going and meeting people where they are, both in person and online. And so, you know, I'm a mom. I've got young kids. And so we do meet and greets at playgrounds on Saturday mornings because it's very hard to be able to come to do an event. If you've got kids, I refer to, you know, 5 to 7 p.m.

29:16Meet the Press: in my house at Zoo o 'clock. And so we have stickers and popsicles and bubbles and make it fun and go to where people are as opposed to ask them to come to us.

29:24Rebecca Bennett: If you are elected, is there one issue you could name where you see yourself working, reaching across the aisle, working with President Trump and Republicans?

29:32Meet the Press: The number one thing that I want to focus on for the district is transportation infrastructure. So we have the gateway tunnel in our district. We have got to get one seat ride done to make sure that people are able to commute reliably into New York City. You know, Donald Trump held up the funding for the gateway tunnel last year. And so I want to make sure that we're getting that gateway tunnel done. We're getting the infrastructure funding that we need for our district. to now work with whoever wants to work with me on being able to make sure we get that done.

29:56Rebecca Bennett: Well, as you know, gas prices are above$4 a gallon. Would you support, would you vote for a federal gas tax if you are elected?

30:06Meet the Press: My focus on, to your point about gas prices, you know, really the reason why we're seeing the cost go up is because of the war in Iran, which is really personal for me. You know, I deployed to the Middle East in support of the Afghanistan war, and I flew and led missions through the Strait of Form News where it was my helicopter between the Iranians and the U.S. Navy. And what we have seen is that my opponent, Congressman Tom Kane Jr., has now voted three times to allow this war to continue without any sort of congressional oversight. We need to bring an end to the war, make sure we get our service members home and bring down the cost of oil and gas.

30:36Rebecca Bennett: And just to follow up with you, and apologies, I left out the word suspend, but if there was legislation to suspend the federal gas tax, would you support it? Would you vote to support it?

30:47Meet the Press: It's something that I'm open to looking at, but I want to make sure that we're getting the money, to your point about the infrastructure, that we're not taking money away from that. So it's definitely something I'm open to looking at, though.

30:58Rebecca Bennett: Okay. Republicans have attempted to link you to progressive New Jersey Democrats, Adam Hamaway, and Congresswoman Annalia Mejia, who have called for abolishing ICE, ending weapons sales to Israel. Are those ideas that you would agree with abolishing ICE and ending weapons sales to Israel?

31:16Meet the Press: Well, you know, what I will say is that one of my most prized possessions is the American flag patch that I flew with around the world. And, you know, it's got a little bit of grease on it. I had to replace it after about 10 years. And so ultimately, my loyalty is to this country and to the Constitution. And so, no, I do not agree with a number of those positions. But for me, this is about making sure that we are moving this country forward and focusing on the issues that I'm hearing from people, which is really cost of living and, you know, corruption in Washington.

31:43Rebecca Bennett: Well, and just to break it down into different... positions, abolishing ICE, where do you stand on that? Agree or disagree?

31:52Meet the Press: I do not think that we should abolish ICE. I think we need to make sure that we have strong borders. If there are violent criminals in this country, they should be deported. But we also need to recognize that we fail to have meaningful immigration reform in this country for 30 years. And so we need to have a pathway to citizenship for people like Dreamers. And we need to make sure that we are holding ICE accountable, just like any other federal law enforcement agency. And so to me, it's about working to make sure we're seeing that meaningful immigration reform and that we're holding ICE accountable to the law, just like I said, any other.

32:20Meet the Press: Because what I hear from, you know, police officers is that ultimately they've spent decades building relationships with people in the community and people are afraid to go to them now because of what ICE is doing in our communities. And so we need to make sure that people feel safe and that we're able to hold ICE accountable.

32:35Rebecca Bennett: And would you support ending weapons sales to Israel or making them conditional?

32:40Meet the Press: You know, my perspective on this has really shaped from my time in the military. I've seen firsthand how important Israel is as an ally to the United States. I believe we need to work towards a two-state solution to have long-term stability in the region. I do think that what Netanyahu administration is doing is not in the best long-term interest of Israel, just like what I think the Trump administration is doing is not in the best long-term interest of the United States. And so my perspective and my framework for this is that I I think Israel should be held to the same standards as any of our other allies.

33:07Meet the Press: It shouldn't be a higher standard or a lower standard. And so ultimately, these decisions should be made in the broader context of what is in the best interest of our U.S. and national security interests. And that's the framework that I'll use for making those decisions.

33:19Rebecca Bennett: Let me ask you a little bit about the Democratic agenda. As you know, there's a big debate right now within the Democratic Party about whether to pursue impeachment against President Trump if Democrats do, in fact, win back the House. Is that something that you would support, impeaching President Trump for a third time?

33:36Meet the Press: You know, impeachment is a very serious process, and it needs to be treated with the severity of the process that it is. And so, you know, I don't think anyone is above the law. We need to make sure we are holding this administration accountable for the lawlessness and the corruption that we are seeing across this administration. And also, we have got to walk and chew gum. We have got to make sure that we are tackling the cost of living crisis. They were able to show people we can really bring the costs down for so many things, whether it's child care, health care, elder care, housing, energy, groceries.

34:08Meet the Press: You know, I put out a number of policy proposals and solutions because I believe that as Democrats, we have to be for something and we have to talk about what it is that we can actually do to make people's lives better. And so that has been my focus and is going to be continue to be my focus in office.

34:22Rebecca Bennett: So it sounds like you don't rule out the possibility of impeaching President Trump, but you're not quite there yet.

34:29Meet the Press: Yeah, you know, it needs to go through the process of whatever, you know, the proper process for that. And so, you know, don't want to just jump to that. It needs to be treated with the seriousness that it deserves.

34:37Rebecca Bennett: Let me ask you, because you've been campaigning on a promise to pass common sense popular gun safety reform. Gabby Giffords recently came to campaign with you. The U.S. has, as we were just discussing, experienced yet another school shooting yesterday in Bend, Oregon. What does common sense gun safety reform look like to you?

34:58Meet the Press: Yeah, and first of all, I just have to say that seeing that story yesterday, I mean, it just breaks my heart and my heart goes out to all the families that were impacted by that shooting. It's just awful. And, you know, I deployed with weapons of war on my aircraft. I taught people how to use weapons of war. And I'm also a mom and I've got two young girls. And every day when I send them to school, I make sure to leave on a really positive note because I know they may not come home at the end of the day. And that's the reality that our families are dealing with right now in this country. And it's just unacceptable that we have failed to pass meaningful gun reform and gun legislation in this country.

35:32Meet the Press: And so to your question specifically, what that looks like for me is background checks, red flag laws and banning assault weapons. I think there's broad support for those things because we have to make sure our kids and our communities are able to live free of gun violence.

35:46Rebecca Bennett: All right, Rebecca Bennett, thank you so very much for your time. We will be tracking your base very closely. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. And don't forget to sign up for our NBC News subscription service to dive deeper into the 2026 midterms, early vote data, the very latest polls, expert analysis, and much more all at your fingertips. Just scan the QR code on your screen right now. You see it right there. Coming up after the break, an investigation is underway into dozens of suspicious letters containing white powder sent to election officials in congressional offices weeks before the midterms.

36:22Rebecca Bennett: We'll delve into that. Keep it right here on Meet the Press Now.

36:34Rebecca Bennett: Welcome back. President Trump is lashing out again at Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky calling Kiev's latest strikes on Russia's oil refineries a, quote, disgrace. In recent days, President Trump has blamed Ukraine's attacks on Russia for the rise in diesel prices, when in reality, the high price of fuel right now is largely driven by the U.S. war with Iran. But it comes as there appears to be a growing rift between the president and Zelensky.

37:00Meet the Press: Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with. Does that war end before you leave office? It should end soon. I think they actually both would like to see it end. But I think I find Zelensky to be more difficult to deal with than Putin.

37:15Rebecca Bennett: Meanwhile, President Zelensky is in Belgium today meeting with European leaders, and he was asked about the impact the U.S. domestic politics may be having on the U.S.-Ukraine relationship.

37:27Meet the Press: His personal popularity is very low. Diesel prices in the U.S. are very high. And the war that he started in the Middle East is not going the way he wants it. Do you think you are being treated as a scapegoat for his own problems?

37:56Rebecca Bennett: Well, this is my answer. What a moment that was. We should note President Zelensky paused in part to allow for the translation of the question. Joining me now is NBC News Senior National Security Correspondent Courtney Kuby. Court, thanks so much for being here. Really appreciate it. In addition to everything we just mapped out, there's a big back and forth over this interruption to the Starlink Internet connection in Ukraine. President Zelensky saying that it really hampered their efforts to fight the war. It has been restored. A lot of finger pointing. Was it Elon Musk? Was it the White House?

38:28Rebecca Bennett: President Trump was asked about it. Here's what he had to say.

38:32Meet the Press: Well, I don't know if it was anybody because it wasn't me. And I don't think it was Elon. And from what I understand, it's the same as it's always been.

38:41Rebecca Bennett: Now, Senator Tillis is calling for an investigation from the Pentagon into this. Are you hearing anything about a Pentagon investigation? And others are as well, especially after Elon Musk said, look, this wasn't us.

38:53Meet the Press: This is something that the U.S. government controls. I think the confusion is we talk a lot about Starlink. This is actually Starshield. So this is not the commercial version of Starlink, which provides Internet connectivity to people all over the world. This is specifically for the U.S. military. provides this encrypted version of communication. The military uses it all over the world. And so the big question is, who would have the authority and the ability to curtail its use in some way? The answer is, we just don't know. We have been asking all week. It's not clear. Yes, it has been restored.

39:26Meet the Press: But this did cause a very, very serious disruption in Ukraine's ability, specifically their ability to operate drones at sort of a medium range. And why that's important is these were the assets, the drones that Ukraine was using to go behind some Russian lines and strike some of their targets. The Ukrainians essentially lost that ability for a stretch of time while this service was disrupted.

39:51Rebecca Bennett: All of this is taking place, Courtney, against the backdrop of really remarkable language that we are hearing the president use to talk about President Zelensky. It started about a week ago. You and I were messaging about this. President Trump saying there should be a new leader of Ukraine. And you just heard there in the soundbite saying it's easier to deal with President Putin than it is to deal with President Zelensky. Based on your conversations, how are European leaders, how's the European community reacting to this strained relationship?

40:20Meet the Press: I mean, it's not surprising that President Trump is saying things about President Zelensky. We've been hearing that since even before Trump was was reelected in his inauguration. But, you know, the concern right now is the impact that this will have on the ground in Ukraine. Keep in mind, Vladimir Putin and Russia today alone have caused disruption to hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine to their power. They are striking electrical grids. And they're going into a potentially brutal winter there in Ukraine. Now, when we have President Trump, the president of the United States, making positive comments about the leader who is carrying out these attacks that is killing Ukrainians on a day-to-day basis, how is Europe supposed to respond to that?

41:10Meet the Press: You know, one thing that we keep hearing all about as well on this is the impact this could potentially have on the NATO alliance going forward. And it's just not clear where that's going to go.

41:18Rebecca Bennett: Yeah, well, it's just extraordinary developments. Courtney Kuby, thank you so very much. Really appreciate it. Turning back here at home, the Department of Justice announcing it's suing California, accusing the state of failing to review a list of alleged non-citizen individuals on its voter rolls. Earlier this week, the DOJ sent California's Secretary of State a list of names the federal government identified as possible non-citizen voters. But in a statement yesterday, California's Secretary of State said the Trump administration lacked the legal authority for this request and wrote, quote, The DOJ's relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states' protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections.

42:03Rebecca Bennett: Joining me now is NBC News senior reporter covering elections, Jane Tim. Jane, thanks so much for being here. So what more is the Department of Justice asking California to do in this instance?

42:14Meet the Press: Yeah, DOJ is asking California not to count these ballots they say are likely non-citizens. L.A. got this list on a thumb drive this week handed over with a post-it note or a piece of paper with a handwritten password on it. And they pointed out that they couldn't plug this into their computers, that a flash drive without a known sort of source and genesis and security testing was not a secure device. So they were unable to even look at the list when it was initially handed over. Very quickly, DOJ filed this lawsuit asking them not to count these ballots. It's clear this is going to be a central fight of this election cycle, with the president insisting there are non-citizens voting and his administrations are trying to find the evidence and also stop those people from voting.

43:02Meet the Press: We know non-citizen voting is really rare, and the people who typically get caught up when they get flagged as a non-citizen are newly naturalized Americans who used to be a non-citizen and no longer are. People who often register to vote at their naturalization ceremony. Those people often get tagged up in this. And California is clearly setting themselves up for a big fight with the Trump administration over this.

43:26Rebecca Bennett: Well, that's an important fact check there. I want to ask you about another story. I know you've been following, you're learning your details about those letters with white powder being sent to several senators and over a dozen local election officials. That's according to law enforcement sources. I know preliminary testing did show the substance was not hazardous. But what more are you learning today, Jane?

43:47Meet the Press: Yeah, my colleagues and I have been on the phone all day tracing down some of these. We're up to the count of 25 state election offices have been targeted. Wyoming just confirmed to us that they had one. Many people are intercepting these before they reach the election offices. But we now know that it's targeting Republican senators. It's targeting congressional offices, state election offices. And while those materials are non-toxic, of course, this is very upsetting and threatening to a lot of people. We're seeing congressional offices be shut down over suspicious packages as people try and make sure that they are being safe.

44:23Meet the Press: Because just because the other ones are non-toxic does not mean that everyone can feel confident in that when they get this kind of threatening mail.

44:30Rebecca Bennett: All right, Jane, Tim, thank you so much for bringing us the very latest. We'll be right back with the panel and more Meet the Press Now next.

44:42Rebecca Bennett: Welcome back. Joining me now is the panel, Benji Sarlin, editorial director at Vox, Megan Hayes, former special assistant to President Biden, and Ashley Davis, former White House official in the Bush administration. Thanks to all of you for being here on this Friday. Benji, let me kick it off with you. Let's talk about Texas. Sure. One of the biggest Senate races that we have been tracking. President Trump was asked overnight about the state of the play there. I'm going to play a little bit of what he said. Get your reaction on the other side.

45:10Meet the Press: If James Tallrico does win in the state of Texas, will you have any regrets about endorsing Ken Paxton over John Cornyn? No, because I think Cornyn would have lost. I think Cornyn would have lost. Look, the base in Texas, here's the way I look at it. Ken Paxton, some people don't love him, but everybody admits he was the best attorney general in the history of Texas, one of the best in the country. I dealt with all of them.

45:36Rebecca Bennett: Pretty defiant heading into this homestretch, Benji. How do you see it?

45:40Meet the Press: Yeah, he's never been the most introspective guy. But I do think his comments on Texas in general have gotten a lot of attention because they feel like they're pre-spinning a loss a bit, right? Where it's like, well, the other guy would have lost too. And he also had a long post on Truth Social basically blaming John Cornyn for not supporting Ken Paxton hard enough. So that is notable. I would add one little caveat. Obviously, it's not a great sign for your party when it seems like people are already playing a blame game before the elections even happened.

46:10Rebecca Bennett: Especially when that person's the president.

46:12Meet the Press: Yes. But weirdly enough, the thing it reminds me of most is with Trump, where Republicans were lining up right up to Election Day 2016 to tell us this terrible loss that's about to happen to Hillary Clinton. Not our fault. We see the same polls. We know he's going to lose. And then you never know what's going to happen. So don't accept this race is over either. It's still very close. We were all going to lose the Senate then. I remember that night. I'm like, we're losing every day.

46:36Rebecca Bennett: We all remember that night. Not over till Election Day. That's for sure. Actually, weigh in on this point, though, that Benji's making, because you do have the president saying, look, if he loses, it's Ken Paxton's fault. It's John Cornyn's fault. It's going to be Karl Rove's fault for not getting on board. What do you make of the fact that he seems to want to get out there and freebut any loss that might be coming down the line?

47:01Meet the Press: Well, listen, he's put himself on the line for all of these races, actually, at the end of the day. And, you know, there's a lot of talk now about Speaker Johnson or Thune and who's going to get blamed if we lose the House or if we lose the Senate. But at the end of the day, this election, and most midterms do, I'm not going to act like they don't, is this is really owned by the president. So the issue with Texas, though, which he's right about, is John Cornyn lost by 28 points. I mean, I don't think he would have won even if Trump wouldn't have endorsed him. Remember his build on gun control that he had years ago, and he never really survived after that.

47:40Meet the Press: And so, listen, do I think Paxton's the best candidate in the world? Absolutely not. However, let's see how this—I'm not ready to give up Texas yet, but I may be—I'll be back in two weeks and probably say the opposite.

47:53Rebecca Bennett: Well, we have to let it play out. Megan, let me ask you, because James Tallarico is touting the fact that he brought in a whopping$64 million in the third quarter. That's a record for a Senate race. What do you make of that? And do Democrats, to the point that Ashley and Benji are making, do Democrats run the risk of being overconfident in these final weeks?

48:15Meet the Press: Well, we're Democrats, so we're never that overly confident because we're bound to mess something up along the way. But I do think the interesting thing here is this is an anti-incumbency election, and there are going to be seats that are solid blue seats now that Republicans are going to win, and there are seats that are solid Republican that Democrats are going to win. whether it is Texas or Kansas for Democrats is yet to be seen. But I don't want to sleep on the governor's races here that are really helpful in some of these really red places like Texas. Gina Hanna-Hossa is able to bring a coalition of people that James Tallarico necessarily doesn't have and vice versa.

48:45Meet the Press: So these two people are helping each other. Their money and their ads are also helping each other.

48:49Rebecca Bennett: Yeah. Another race that we're watching very closely is in Minnesota, Benji Sarlin. And of course, you have Peggy Flanagan, Michelle Tafoya. This is a little bit of a sleeper race in the sense that we haven't been talking about it maybe as much. And yet Republicans think this may be a pickup opportunity for them. They had a debate today. I want to play a little bit of what we heard from Michelle Tafoya on the Iran war. Obviously a big flashpoint for Republicans. Take a listen.

49:17Meet the Press: No president of either party should be given a blank check to wage war without the OK of Congress and without the buy-in of the American people, and that includes President Trump. Now, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, but this has been going on now seven months, and Minnesotans and Americans writ large are hurting. The prices are too high. This war does need to end, and it needs to end quickly.

49:42Rebecca Bennett: So, Benji, she becomes the latest Republican to distance herself from President Trump in this instance on the Iran war. We've seen Mike Rogers distance himself on tariffs, on the Russia deal that the president just struck. What do you make of that strategy? Could it work?

49:59Meet the Press: It certainly is helpful because if you look at that specific race, which I don't think a lot of people expect it to be as competitive as it is. In polls, it looks pretty tight, even though it is a state that voted against Trump, even as other, you know, as other Rust Belt states flipped red. And part of that is that there is a bit of an anti-incumbent situation going on there. The Democratic nominee is, you know, former lieutenant governor, which ties her a bit in the eyes of voters to some of the fraud scandals they had in the state that forced Governor Tim Walz. He would not say forced, but he decided not to run.

50:35Meet the Press: It was pretty directly tied. So here with victory potentially on the threshold, all the ads against Michelle Tafoya are she'll do Trump's bidding. Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. There's real opportunity here in the stretch to distance herself. And she's taking it.

50:51Rebecca Bennett: Well, Ashley, how are Republicans viewing this race? Because, again, initially it wasn't necessarily high on the radar of a potential pickup. But as Benji lays out, this could be dynamic. It is. But here's what I was. There's one thing.

51:05Meet the Press: There's not too, too much money being diverted yet, which I always watch. So we'll see if that comes in in the last couple of weeks. You know, as some of our money leaves Georgia and North Carolina, is that a place that it goes besides Kansas and some of the others? But what Megan said about the governors are very important. So you have Amy Klobuchar that could really push the Democrat candidate Flanagan over the line. But in New Hampshire, I'm not ready to give up on Chris Sununu because you have Kelly Ayotte, who's 11 percent up. in Iowa, you have a really popular governor candidate that's extremely ahead.

51:38Meet the Press: Does he hurt Ashley Henson's chances? And so I do think this, I don't think many people do split tickets as much

51:46Rebecca Bennett: as people like to think they do. So we'll see. I have to ask you, Megan, because we're almost out of time, about the fact that the newly installed press secretary, Katie Zachariah, is now out after a rocky first week. Seems like, and by her own admission, she wasn't quite prepared for the first briefing. Then, of course, there were questions around her qualifications. She acknowledged she never passed the bar, but called herself a lawyer. What do you make of this turn of events? And why does it matter? Why is the press secretary, as someone who's worked in the Biden administration, why is it such an important role?

52:16Meet the Press: Well, you're the voice for the American people and the rest of the world of what the president thinks, what the administration is thinking. And you're really the voice out there every day, or you should be out there every day, because the president actually shouldn't be in front of the press every single day in the way that Trump is. And so it is an important job. It's also a really important job. You manage a team. You manage all the stories coming out of the White House. There is a whole second part of that job that people do not talk about that is almost as important as the podium job. It is an incredibly challenging job.

52:43Meet the Press: People prepare for weeks, if not months, before they go to that podium. Being a pundit on TV for three to five minutes is not the same as being in that room taking questions from journalists for 45 minutes. It just isn't.

52:53Rebecca Bennett: Yeah. Ashley, I'm glad that Megan brings up the big picture role of what the press secretary actually does, often fielding a lot of questions from people like me throughout the course of the day. No, absolutely.

53:03Meet the Press: And you look, and also her not telling the truth about her is really what I think killed her at the end of the day. I mean, obviously she didn't do a good job this week, but that's a problem. She wouldn't pass the background check. I mean, there's a lot of things there that are problematic. But going back to one of the things about her predecessor, even though she did do well, whether you agree with her or not, and she was very good at being able to speak at the podium. From what I understand, and you can answer this better than everybody, she was responsive to the press corps. She was. She was able to, you know, she was different than what she was on TV.

53:36Meet the Press: She understood how to kind of cut deals and things like that. She was in the room with the president, and she had the credibility, and that's a really important thing. And I don't necessarily think the current press secretary would have had that same credibility.

53:46Rebecca Bennett: Yeah, there's no doubt being in the room. Who's next? What do we think? Who is next? We'll track it. Thanks, guys. Great conversation. Benji, Megan and Ashley. We will be back Monday with more Meet the Press Now. And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press on your local NBC News station. I'll have exclusive interviews with Senators Raphael Warnock, James Langford, as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Besson. Plus, Steve Kornacki will be here with a brand new NBC News Decision Desk poll. There's much more ahead on NBC News Now.

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54:49Meet the Press: So join me and let's talk all things true crime. Serialistly with Annie Elise. New episodes every single week. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube.