Meet the Press NOW — October 7

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1:11Hi there, welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Ryan Nobles. With less than four weeks to the midterms, President Trump is hitting the campaign trail in Texas. In fact, he's on his way there now as Republican candidates across the country grapple with an increasingly Trump-skeptical electorate. There is near unanimity across the political divide because voters are screaming it from the rooftops that the state of the economy and rising prices are at the root of the political headwinds facing this administration. Across virtually every public poll, voters rank the economy, affordability, and cost of living as their most important issues.

1:47And they overwhelmingly do not approve of the president's handling of those issues. But the president and vice president dodged yesterday when asked to confront that reality. What do you see as the number one issue for American voters in the mid-season? Well, I don't know exactly. When you look at American voters, we're doing better. We're taking in trillions of dollars of investment. We have more jobs. You know, more people are working in America today than at any time in history. Well, I think, obviously, we have a big, diverse country with a lot of differences of opinion. And I think each voter is going to make up their own mind, right?

2:23So I think what the president is saying is, look, for some voters, obviously, they're most focused on the economy and jobs. Some voters are more focused on foreign policy. Some voters are focused on infrastructure. I think, you know, each voter is going to make up their own mind. I think there are obviously some common issues that are common across the entire country. In contrast, Republican candidates in some of this year's most competitive races are now trying to signal that they're clear-eyed about the economic headwinds facing their party, even those tied to the president's policies. In Michigan, Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers is out with this new ad calling for an end to the president's trade war with Canada.

3:01Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war now. As Michigan senator, I'll bring both parties together to lower your prices. In Texas, Republican Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton told donors behind closed doors in audio that was leaked that the fallout from the president's war against Iran has been the source of the party's problems on affordability.

3:57War. Now, today, President Trump defending both Paxton and Rogers when asked about their comments. After this week's leak recordings from King Paxton, do you have any regrets about endorsing his? No, no, no. He was a great attorney general. I think he'll be a great senator. Rogers called for an end with the trade war with Canada. Did he speak to you before you made that announcement? And who did? Mike Rogers called for an end. Well, I viewed it as though he wanted Canada to make a deal. Meanwhile, on the debate stage last night, key Republicans in battleground races tried to distance themselves from the president, including in Maine, where Republican Senator Susan Collins fended off attempts by her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, to tie her record to President Trump.

4:45I don't think that President Trump is going to come to Maine. He's talking about going to a lot of different states. I've heard nothing from his office and I'm not exactly his favorite senator. I voted against my party more than any other senator on either side of the aisle. I have voted nine times to end the war in Iran. I have been strongly voting against the tariffs with Canada. And joining me now is our team of reporters all across the map. Monica Elba is on the ground in San Antonio, also in Texas. Phil Prazen, anchor of Lone Star Politics on our Dallas-Fort Worth station. Shaquille Brewster has the latest on Michigan.

5:37And Matt Dixon joins us with some new polling out of Florida. And in Maine, former NBC reporter and the current editor of the Midcoast Villager, Alex Seitzwalds. Monica, let's start with you. In Texas, the president spoke about his midterm message as he left the White House. What should we expect to hear from the president tonight? Well, I was just as fascinated by that lack of an answer that you played in the introduction there, Ryan, when the president was asked yesterday to really enumerate what he views as the top issue to voters this midterm season. And he couldn't really. And so today he sort of tried to present a slightly different argument, a slightly different message as he was getting ready to leave the White House and head here to Texas.

6:18Here's a little of what he had to say on his midterm message as he sees it right now. Well, I think we're doing really well. We're beating Iran very badly. They're not going to have a nuclear weapon, which is very paramount. We are having, it was just announced, the largest amount of money in history ever put into a country, $21 trillion. Nobody could do that. Factories, plants built all over. Crime is at the all-time lowest we've had in, I guess, 125 years, the best crime stats. Our country is doing great. Ryan, a really important fact check on that 21 trillion dollar number. And if it sounds familiar, that's because the president keeps repeating it, even though there is no evidence to suggest that that is the actual number of foreign investment that countries have made, even though the president continues to use that figure.

7:11So that's an important point. But also, as he comes here to Texas, as you know well, Ryan, this is going to mark his third visit here in the last month, the second visit just in the last week, where he is totally playing defense on what was a Republican stronghold and certainly was key for him in terms of that clear, resounding victory in 2024 when he won by double digits. So the fact that he is coming here so much, I think, tells you a lot about his positioning and what the GOP may be nervous about. That's right. Watch what they do, not necessarily what they say. Monica, as we mentioned, there are some candidates distancing themselves from Trump, but others are gently criticizing the effects of his policy.

7:51Is there any concern amongst Republicans about this mismatch between the White House and their candidates on messaging? Yeah, and even a mismatch between what some of the candidates are saying privately and publicly, right? Because you did have Ken Paxton behind the scenes saying those things. And even when the president was asked about them, it was interesting that he didn't really lash out, even though he's been very critical of Ken Paxton, even just last week, not just of his appearance, but saying he can be a pain in the ass sometimes and things like that. Those are his words. But some of these other Republicans are doing it a little bit more delicately, like Mike Rogers, for instance, that you played there.

8:27He's not using the president's name, but it is absolutely very clear that he is sending that message at the president's policies. And so you are starting to see a little bit more of that. And I thought Senator Susan Collins' answer about whether the president is going to be joining her in Maine was very telling because it was the president just a few days ago who suggested he might be. And she said, no, I don't think he's going to be coming here. And that in her words, she is one of his least favorite senators. So we'll see if any kind of trip to Maine pops up. But it does not seem to be at all in the works, given what Senator Collins said last night, Ryan.

9:02Yeah, I don't know if I'd put money on that. All right. Monica Elba in Texas. Monica, thank you. All right. Let's get the view of the ground. Joining me now is Phil Prazen, anchor of Lone Star Politics on our Dallas-Fort Worth station. So, Phil, you and I were just in Texas together a couple of weeks ago when President Trump was there. He's now making his third visit to Texas in just under a month as Democrats seem to be gaining momentum in the key races there. Can these Republicans' problems, can they all be solved just by repeated visits by the president? It depends, Ryan, and good to be with you.

9:36You know, the power of the presidency is the bully pulpit. If he shows up to town, he gets all the headlines for that day, maybe even the following day. What he says is really important. The problem with President Trump is he doesn't really stay on message that well. I mean, these as you know, you've covered a lot of these. These are 45 minute speeches. For example, when we were in Dallas here, they're at the big convention that was supposed to be the big rally behind Ken Paxton. Yes, he's the president said Ken Paxton was the best attorney general of the country, but he also said he was ugly.

10:10He did not dress very well and he didn't speak very well. And what do you think people remembered? Right. They remembered him, the president, calling their number one candidate in Texas ugly. So it depends what the president says here. Yeah. It's also interesting that Governor Abbott has decided to skip the event with the president. Do you see that as him distancing himself because he's also in a surprisingly competitive race?

10:38Maybe a bit. Governor Abbott is still going to be a strong supporter of the president. But the thing to watch here is they're kind of running different races. Right. The problem for Ken Paxton is a fractioning of the Republican coalition. Do the libertarians independents show up for him? Does the Christian conservative coalition show up for him? Does the Bush Republican coalition show up for him? So President Trump and Ken Paxton are really focusing on picking, you know, keeping that broad coalition together. It's going to be very hard to do, especially with those Bush Republicans. Governor Abbott has a different race against the Democratic challenger, Gina Hinojosa.

11:18He really needs to focus on rural Texas, right? rural Texas and the exurbs of the big cities where really the problems that rural Republicans have had with Abbott are growth issues. They don't like the data centers. They don't like many of them, the school choice voucher plan that is rolling out. That was Governor Abbott's number one proposal in the legislature. And then also there's these big like transmission energy lines that are going through rural Texas. There's just a lot of revolt happening in rural Texas right now. And Abbott is the face of Republicans in Austin. So they're just running different races.

11:55Texas continues to be the hottest state on the map. Don't tell Garrett Haake, but nobody knows it better than Phil Prazen. Phil, thank you for being here. Let's go now to Shaq. And Shaq, let's talk about this ad from Mike Rogers today saying that prices are too high and that Canada is not our enemy. What kind of impact do you see that having with voters? It could have a significant impact, Ryan. And you know, the thing about that ad is very similar to something we saw from Rogers a couple of weeks ago where he was in a grocery store talking to cameras and saying instead it's time for the Iran war to wind down.

12:29I think it's a reflection of some political realities there in the state of Michigan. Number one, the economy, we continue to say because we continue to hear, is issue number one for voters. Number two, you look at President Trump's approval rating in the state. In Michigan, it's just 34 percent. Many people see that as a reflection of this is a state that borders Canada. There's a relationship there and they have a higher impact on those tariffs and the trade war. And this is a vulnerability that El Saeed is leaning into. We heard it yesterday when he was campaigning in a border city. Listen to how he tied those themes together for voters just yesterday.

13:07We were paying for it at the pump, paying for it in our taxes, paying for it at the grocery store. Add that to this insane tariff war that we have no business fighting with our neighbors in Canada. I mean, look, if you want to tariff the hell out of Ohio, go ahead. But not Canada.

13:28He went on to make a little college football joke, but you're seeing the themes there. And by the way, this is not just something that you're seeing in the Senate race. We saw the gubernatorial debate last night. And listen to how the Republican in that race, John James, is also creating some distance from President Trump. I've stood up to the president many times. I've said that I can agree with the president without worshiping him. I can disagree without attacking him. And I always put Michigan first. I've stood up to him recently in his administration with regard to tariffs. And I said this war in Iran needs to end quickly, as in yesterday.

14:01It's a delicate balance that these Republican candidates have. But they are trying to create some distance as they make their case for voters in this very purple state. And of course, the top of the ticket's important there, Shaq. But there's also some bottom or lower down on the ticket implications. And you have the Republican Congressman Tom Barrett. That might be one of the most competitive races this cycle. He said on this show last week that he would welcome President Trump with him on the campaign trail in Michigan. Are there any places where President Trump's presence could actually help Republican candidates?

14:35Yeah, I think so. And the thing that's really interesting about this, you're talking about the 7th Congressional District there. We hear this with both candidates in the Senate race. Both sides, you hear Republicans and Democrats saying that they're willing to have President Trump come to the state. And both can be true. For Republicans, operatives have been telling me that they can they believe President Trump can mobilize some of those low propensity voters, the Republicans who lean Republican but likely would skip a midterm election that he can mobilize and get them out. But for Democrats, they're saying the same thing.

15:09They believe that it can President Trump and a visit there could help mobilize their base. It really depends on where President Trump goes. We have some reporting that President Trump was considering a stop in Traverse City, Michigan. It's not clear why that was canceled. But operative told me just yesterday that they would prefer to see the president in the western part of the state. That's where you have more of those conservative voters. President Trump will be in Michigan. It's going to be a question of where he goes and what impact that will have and which base he mobilizes more with a stop there.

15:44All right. Shaq calling a shot, saying the president will end up in Michigan. We're going to hold you to that, Shaq. All right. Thank you so much. Always on top of it. Matt Dixon, let's bring on bring you in our resident Florida man. We are getting some new poll numbers from Florida, and this may actually be the bright spot for Republicans on an increasingly difficult map. It shows the top of the ticket for Republicans holding significant leads over Democrats. Very different from what we're seeing in other places in the country. What do you make of all of this? Well, it really comes down to one word.

16:15It's money. Starting in maybe the 2018 election cycle, the national democratic groups that, you know, the DNCs and the D-TRIPs that do congressional races really kind of gave up on the state. Governor DeSantis won by huge margins. President Trump won the state three times. Florida has 10 very expensive media markets. So they said, hey, we can go to places like Arizona. We can go to Georgia. We can go to North Carolina. Cheaper states trending blue. The money really dried up. In the 2018 midterm, there was about$60 million in national spending here. jumped to four years later, the next midterm in 2022, it was$2 million.

16:48So that really kind of shows the drop off. So there's a lot of states that are getting money that used to come to Florida. The race here has been a little more competitive than past statewide, especially midterm cycles. Those numbers, Governor DeSantis won his reelection in 2022 by about 20 points. So it is narrower and we've gotten a little more national attention than usual, but Republican Byron Donalds, as you show, has a big advantage. And also Senator Ashley Moody's Republican has even a bigger advantage over Angie Nixon, the Democratic challenger. She's running like an incumbent. We haven't seen much of her.

17:22She hasn't talked to us. And also Byron Donalds has been on the trail pretty hard. So the differences in those races are kind of reflected there. Yeah. Far cry from the 2018 midterm that I covered, which were two very competitive races at the top of the ticket. I want to talk, though, because the path to the majority for Democrats includes winning really important races in places like South Florida. How does this lack of a robust campaign at the top of the ticket impact these down-ballot members of Congress? Like, for instance, Jared Moskowitz, who's in a newly drawn district and is in the fight for his life.

17:58That is a bright spot here for Democrats. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is the national group that does congressional races, has done significant money for Jared Moskowitz, an incumbent, Kathy Castor in the Tampa area, Darren Soto in the Orlando area. And they also put three Democrats on what they call their red to blue program, which is designed at flipping seats from the Democrats. So there has been actually a fairly significant presence at the federal, at least at the congressional level. And I think Democrats here hope that they can maybe flip a seat or two, hold on to their incumbents and signal to national folks going into a presidential election cycle that, hey, Florida might be able to regain its old swing state status.

18:40We might be worth sort of spending money here going into a presidential. And if they can hold on to their incumbents and maybe flip a congressional seat or two, I think they're really holding on to that idea is the signal that they can send nationally. And maybe we'll be able to say Florida, Florida, Florida again as a key race in the presidential election cycle. It's been a while. All right, Matt Dixon, thank you for that. Let's go to Alex Seitzwald now, who is our main man. Main man. You're a main man, Alex, on many different levels. We talked last night about this debate between Senator Collins and Troy Jackson, her opponent.

19:15I mean, she really bent herself in many different directions to try and distance herself from President Trump. That's worked for her in past election cycles. Are main voters buying it this time around? Well, that's the key question, Ryan. And I think for Troy Jackson, this was a big test. And I think he passed. Remember, he's a sort of accidental candidate who took the place of Graham Plattner after he imploded just 100 days before the election. And a lot of voters that I talk to here in Maine still feel like they're getting to know Troy Jackson. He was not a super well-known national figure. And there was also, frankly, a lot of concerns about him.

19:50He's from this tiny town way up against the Canadian border, population 234. his highest education is an associate's degree from the University of Maine at Fort Kent. He was in the state Senate, but he's never dealt with all the issues that U.S. senators do, foreign policy, federal budgets and whatnot. So there was some concern. How would he do on a debate stage against this titan of the Senate and Maine politics as Susan Collins? And I think he showed he could really hold his own, drive a message, stay on topic. And what the message that he was trying to really boil down to is Susan Collins has made her entire campaign, as she always has, about what she does for Maine.

20:32She's the chair of the Appropriations Committee. She brings a ton of money back home. You can go to any little town around me and find some project that she's funded. And he said, you know, that's fine. That's nice. But the policies that you've enabled with Donald Trump have cost us so much more than the little bit of money that you bring home to us. So he's saying to Maine voters, this is a blue state after all, stop reelecting Susan Collins because that little bit of money is not nearly worth it. And I think that's going to be the big question for voters. About one in 10 Democrats still support Susan Collins, according to the latest polls.

21:07So he's trying to make the case to them as good as she might be for Maine. Look, zoom out, look at the bigger picture. And we need her vote to reflect the state's values. Yeah. In fact, let's play a section of the debate from last night that kind of gets to that point you're making. Let's listen to this. I voted against it because it did cut the Medicaid program. But if I had not allowed the bill to go to the floor, I would never have been able to author the$50 billion fund to help rural health care. That is so important to the state of Maine. Yeah, well, Senator Collins is like an arsonist who helped set the fire, and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out.

21:55I mean, she advanced the bill out of committee. You just heard her say if she had stopped it, she wouldn't be able to do the other things, meaning that she could have stopped it. I mean, this is exactly what you're talking about here, right? I mean, that bill also included a ton of Medicaid cuts, which is what required that$50 billion hospital fund. Do you think that message from Jackson is breaking through? I mean, I do. And in a year when Trump is unpopular, the war in Iran is unpopular. I mean, the biggest issue right now in Maine is heating prices. Everybody knows Maine winters are a big deal.

22:27Fuel oil, which Maine is more reliant on than any other country, any other state in the country to heat our homes, is up 80 percent over last year because of the war in Iran. That means that every time you refill your tank, it's an extra$700. We're the oldest state in the country. A lot of seniors on fixed income, low income people. We have a story in my newspaper, Midcoast Villager, this week on the front page about people facing these awful choices of do I pay for food, do I pay for medicine, or do I pay to heat my home? Fire chiefs are worried that homes will burn down because people turn to alternative heating methods.

23:01So, you know, she opposed the war, but she hasn't stopped the war. Yeah, a couple of extra sweaters is not going to solve an 80 % increase in heating oil. Alex Seitzwald, always appreciate your insight. Thank you so much. We're going to have much more on the state of the race later this hour, with less than four weeks to go until the midterms. But coming up, it's been three years since Hamas launched its deadly October 7th attacks on Israel, with the region still reeling from the ongoing fallout and the years-long war in Gaza that followed. My interview with one of the White House officials who led the negotiation to free the hostages abducted by Hamas that day is next.

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25:40Welcome back. Today marks three years since the horrific Hamas attack on Israel. Across Israel, people paused to mourn the lives lost on that day, including the more than 1 ,000 people killed on that day and the 251 people taken hostage, some held in captivity for more than a year. In the aftermath of that attack, Israel launched a devastating military campaign on Gaza, sparking a humanitarian crisis and internally displacing over 1.9 million Palestinians, according to the UN. Last year, President Trump announced a 20-point phased peace plan to end the war in Gaza. That proposal has largely stalled.

26:20Joining me now is Brett McGurk, former Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs for the Middle East under President Biden. He's also served as a special envoy to President Trump and President Obama, And he's out with a new book, Brink, Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages. And Mr. McGurk, thank you so much for being here. Of course, today marks the three-year anniversary of that horrific October 7th attack where more than 1 ,200 people were killed. Some 250 people were taken hostage. When you think back to that awful day, what do you most reflect on? Well, three years ago today, I mean, at this moment, I was obviously in the Oval Office.

26:58This was all coming together. The day before that, though, on October 6th, and I lay this out in the book, I had the Saudis in my office at the White House because we were working towards a historic breakthrough between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Palestinian Authority was a part of that deal. We were putting the pieces together. And when I put my daughter to bed on that evening, you know, that's kind of what we were working on. I shook hands with the Saudi ambassador that day. And then the reports came in overnight about midnight, started to get reports of rocket attacks and then an incursion.

27:31And I got a message from the Israeli ambassador saying this is war. And as I got to the White House that morning, I describe it as coming together in jagged pieces because it was hard to really know. And the Israelis were both very defiant and deeply, deeply concerned. This was like an existential threat to Israel because the concern was that this wasn't just a one-off attack. It might be coordinated. Hezbollah had 30 ,000 troops on the border. And just a final point on that day, you know, President Biden spoke with Netanyahu, obviously, and Netanyahu very defiant, but also said, Joe, in the Middle East, if you're weak, you're roadkill.

28:13And they think we're weak. And what he meant was Hezbollah, Iran, the whole kind of all the groups surrounding Israel. And just within a few days after that, on October 11th, I don't want to skip ahead, but we almost had, you know, we're in kind of a regional crisis now. We were we almost had that because the Israelis thought Hezbollah was preparing an attack. They were about to do preemptive strike. Biden told them not to do it. And there's so many moments like that in Brink in the book that I go through where we truly were on the Brink. Yeah, let's talk about that. And you talked about this concern in the book about this idea that not just Iran, but their other proxies could launch follow up attacks.

28:52You write about an incident where Israel was preparing a preemptive strike into Lebanon because they were so concerned about it, but they ultimately stood down. You write in the book, the public had no idea how close we'd come to a full-blown war. What more do you want the public to know about what was happening behind the scenes in those frantic moments? And just, I know it's been an awful series of events afterwards, but how much worse it could have been? Well, that was on October 11th. So you're four days into it. And again, just how these things unfold in real time. You get a call at 6.30 in the morning.

29:26The Israelis say, we have to talk to the president urgently. Race to the White House. We have a secure call. And the Israelis have planes in the air because they believe, members of their system believe, that Hezbollah, which has 30 ,000 troops on the border, is about to come across the border, similar to what Hamas did. And at that moment, given the situation Israel is in, it was quite dire. So the Israelis said, we have an opportunity within the next hour and a half or so to do a strike, take out the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and a number of Iranian commanders and other Hezbollah lieutenants.

30:03And President Biden said to Netanyahu, like, slow down, okay? Let's think this through. And it was on one of those calls where Biden said, you know, I want to come out and see you. I'm going to come out and see you face to face. It's the middle of this, as this is unfolding. Kind of unthinkable for the president to go to Israel that soon. But over the course of that morning, at one point, the Israelis thought the attack had started. I was in Jake Sullivan's office in the West Wing. We got a call from Ron Dermer, who was Netanyahu's right hand, saying there are paragliders coming over the northern border.

30:33The attack is underway. We're going to strike. I got a back-channel message from the Iranians over the course of that morning. But as we worked through it, the Israelis decided to stand down. There's still a debate in Israel of whether or not they should have gone ahead. I feel very strongly that they were not ready. We were not positioned for that moment. But it really could have gone over the edge. Obviously, the aftermath of October 7th has been horrific in so many different levels. And we're in a situation now where the peace plan with Gaza has essentially been stalled for months. There's no effort to begin the reconstruction process there.

31:07There are people dying, people starving. What's your biggest concern about the lack of progress in Gaza? Is this the new status quo or is there any hope things can get better? Well, I hope not. I mean, there's a Security Council resolution now, to bring it up to date where we are right now, 2803, that whatever side of this most polarizing issue you're on, that resolution says to Israel, no annexation of Gaza, no occupation of Gaza, no forced population transfers, a pathway to Palestinian self-determination statehood. But it's all in that resolution. It also calls critically on Hamas to relinquish its hold on power in Gaza.

31:49And without that, just the reality of this, after October 7th, without that, there really is a fundamental obstacle to any progress. Because Israel will never accept Hamas reconstituting. And Hamas is holding back that reconstruction and the ability to have a path forward. So that resolution lays it out. But as the book, if you read the book, getting from, you can't just say, end the war, bring the hostages home. How do you actually do it? How do you use incentives and power and leverage with all the different players on the field to try to get that outcome? It's exceedingly hard. But there is now a Security Council resolution that at least provides that roadmap, and I think it's important to get behind it.

32:33All right, let's talk about the situation in Iran now. We're into the eighth month of this war. The president has repeatedly said he'd like to make a deal. But obviously, Iran has a degree of leverage here, right? They've proven that they can disrupt traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, use it as leverage. How significant of a win is that for Iran? And is that the biggest reason why we're seeing a stalemate in that particular conflict? We use the right word, leverage and power. I have a chapter called Power and how Iran and its groups that use asymmetrical advantages against us. And how do you kind of reset that?

33:06Yeah, I think right now, you know, we've had, since President Trump came in, and I'm not a part of the Trump administration, but there's been two military campaigns against Iran. One last year against the nuclear sites, I thought had a clear objective. That was a military operation that had been planned over multiple administrations. Whereas what started in February of this year was very different. The first night, take out the entire leadership of the Iranian government and system. And then you're into kind of, is it regime change? What is it? And all Iran has to do, if you set that for your objective, is hang on and increase the cost for us, macroeconomic costs and other costs, which they've worked to do.

33:47But right now, Central Command, the military command in the region has a blockade on all Iranian oil exports. Iran's never faced this level of economic pressure. Unfortunately, I think they can withstand it because they have this very rigid ideological system, and they're willing to use ruthless force against their own people to stay in power. Bottom line, this has a long ways to go. I do not see a clear endgame here. But it's something presidents have been dealing with, the vexing problem of Iran for almost five decades now. Let's talk about your time in the White House. And you talked about President Biden and the struggles that he had, particularly internal party politics.

34:26I want to read an excerpt from your book, you say, I'm only telling you this, Biden said. I uncapped the pen. Okay, I said, I'm worried about my party, he said. I rarely dealt with politics, let alone internal party politics. But Biden said some members of his party were moving toward positions that would have made it impossible to secure a hostage deal and that could endanger Israel's future. You were obviously dealing with an issue that you felt was nonpartisan, and that was bringing the hostages home. But when you dealt with President Biden, it was clear that he had other concerns that went beyond just the physical effort to bring these hostages home?

35:01How did you balance all of that to what was ultimately a successful end? Well, throughout the part of the story, he's on the campaign trail running for this reelection. So that and that obviously feeds into some of the key moments which are in the book. Yeah, I've worked for four presidents, two Democrats, two Republicans. I was before that as a law clerk for judges appointed by Republican presidents, Democratic presidents. I've never been part of internal party debates. But that phone call, that was two days before the inauguration. And we finally had a deal for a ceasefire, 25 ,000 trucks of humanitarian aid about to roll into Gaza.

35:36We've been working on this for months and hostages are going to come out the next day, we hoped. And the president was just reflecting on this very difficult period. And one thing he said to me, we never had the all-out regional war that was predicted so many times. We're on the, as I said, we're on the brink. And he felt very strongly decisions he made throughout the crisis helped contain it. It could have been much broader. And we could have had that all-out regional war, as we've seen play out over the course of this year. And we wouldn't have gotten the deal that we finally got. He felt very strongly about that.

36:12And in the latter chapters of the book, you know, his last day in office as president, the day before the inauguration. He's at a church in South Carolina. And he's going to give a speech. But before he went downstairs to the parishioners for the main speech, he gave a speech on the second floor of that church about the deal, about Gaza and about foreign policy. And he says, you know, I got advice to take different courses. I didn't. I respected. I respect the advice. But I stayed on the course I was on. And he believed that was the right course. And, you know, when I look back and I let readers make readers are in the room for these key moments.

36:49And they can judge. There's never a right answer. They can judge at any particular moment what you might have done. But the president felt very strongly. He laid it out in that speech and reflected in the book. OK, well, we're going to have to leave it there. The book is called Brink Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages. Brett McGurk, thank you so much. Thanks so much. And up next, Russia launches a massive overnight assault on Ukraine, killing at least two dozen people in Kiev and other cities. The latest escalation and what it means for the war. Keep it right here. I'll meet the press now.

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39:21Welcome back. Overnight Russia launches a major attack on cities across Ukraine, killing at least 25 people, including five children and injuring almost 100 others. That according to Ukrainian officials. These are the images out of Ukraine this morning as rescue workers searched through the rubble for survivors. President Zelensky condemned the strikes, calling them a deliberate choice of terror. The strikes also coincided with Russian President Putin's birthday, President Zelensky calling them Russia's birthday gift to Putin. Joining us now is NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel.

39:58So Richard, what more do we know about these strikes and why is Russia escalating now? so the the worst attack uh with the the most fatalities the most civilian deaths uh happened in an apartment building in ternyhev which is in northern ukraine uh right along the border with belarus witnesses say that about 6 30 this morning uh people in this building were suddenly woken up to the sound of a massive explosion uh one woman described how she and her husband uh while still in bed, got out of bed, jumped over the body of their baby, and both of them received scratches to their back, lacerations, but the infant survived.

40:45Five other children in that attack alone were killed, about 20 others just in that one attack on an apartment building north of Kiev. And it was President Zelensky who said that this was an act of terror and that, in his opinion, And the reason that the Russian generals decided to launch this attack on civilians today was to show their commitment to the war, their strength, their dedication, and give Russian President Vladimir Putin a gift on his 74th birthday. And as you mentioned, there were many other attacks. Two were killed in Russian drone attacks in Kiev. More Ukrainians were killed in the center of the country.

41:29So a day of violence. So why is Russia doing this now? It seems that Russia is trying to push its technological advantage. For the last several months, Russia knows that Ukraine is critically low on air defenses. It can't stop the kind of missile attacks that that destroyed that apartment building, killing those at least five children. It can't stop the drone attacks because Russia is using an upgraded model of drone, a drone that has been fitted with a rocket propelled engine. And the rocket engine makes the drones fly incredibly fast and high and unreachable by Ukrainian air defenses. And lastly, Russia knows that Ukraine isn't getting quick resupplies because the United States isn't supplying the United States with the kind of weapons, money, intelligence support that it did in the past.

42:22President Trump has shifted that responsibility to Europe and pulled out a lot of the weapon systems or failed to replace them because they're needed to defend U.S. troops in the Middle East for the war in Iran. So Russia feels it has the advantage and is pressing its advantage. And the cost is is at least today was dozens of Ukrainians killed and injured. And Richard, President Trump continues to try and tease some sort of resolution to all of this. Is there any sort of status on the U.S.-led peace negotiations?

42:56None, really. There was a visit a couple of weeks ago now by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who were supposed to be relaunching the peace process. And they went to Kiev. But there has been no significant breakthroughs or follow ups. And you just look at what happened today. I think it's obvious that Vladimir Putin is not seriously interested in pursuing a peace deal. He thinks he has an advantage right now. He's pressing that advantage, particularly as the winter is now setting in, because he's not just attacking apartment buildings and targets in Kiev. He's also hitting the power grid, trying to make the people suffer in order to try and force them into some sort of submission and surrender.

43:40OK, Richard Engel with the latest from Ukraine. Richard, thank you so much for that. We appreciate it. After the break, Krista Pike's attorney says she's awake and speaking. It comes one week after that botched execution attempt in Tennessee. This is Meet the Press Now.

44:02Welcome back. A judge has ordered that evidence in Krista Pike's failed execution to be preserved. This says we're learning more about the conditions of the Tennessee death row inmate. Krista Pike's attorneys say their client is conscious and speaking limitedly from her hospital bed and that they were informed she was likely brain dead on Monday night before she awoke the next day. Our understanding was the first thing she said was, where am I and who are you? There's still a lot of cognitive confusion. And so I will say that. she has wanted to know what's happened and she's asked about several people she's asked about her team she's asked about the victim's family she is I think she is angry and confused about everything right now and there are so many questions that need to be answered not by Krista but by the state of Tennessee but one of those questions has to be how much suffering is enough.

45:10Now, Pike survived being administered two doses of the drug petobarbital in an attempt to execute her last Wednesday. Tennessee's Governor Bill Lee has paused all executions for the remainder of the year and ordered a third-party review of what went wrong. Still to come, a curious stop on the president's midterm travel plans. The panel is next. You're watching Meet the Press Now.

45:41Welcome back. President Trump plans to travel to, of all places, Syracuse in upstate New York this week to shore up support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman. But one of the president's supporters there is telling him to stay away. In a social media post, Bob Lonsberry, a very popular conservative radio host who says that he's voted for the president multiple times, wrote this addressing the president. The last thing that Bruce Blakeman needs is a visit from you. His slim chance of unseating Kathy Hochul goes out the window if you show up. So don't. Joining me now is our panel, Francesca Chambers.

46:17She's a White House correspondent for USA Today. Taryn Rosencrantz, she's a founder and CEO of New Blue Interactive. And Republican strategist Malik Abdul. So Francesca, let's talk about this. Admittedly, I am from upstate New York, so this hits a very important Venn diagram for me. And I know the kind of impact that Bob Lonsberry has on the voters in upstate New York. He is somebody that Republicans in particular listen to. Does he have a point? I don't think there are too many people that think that Bruce Blakeman really has a realistic shot at pulling this out. But the congressional districts that kind of meet in this area where President Trump's going to be don't really seem to be all that competitive.

46:51Why, of all the places he could go, is he going there? Well, the president has been insisting this week, Ryan, that wherever he goes, that the candidates start doing better immediately afterwards. And while we don't have polling from this week that's new yet, what we have seen in the past week is actually the Cook Political Report shift races to toss up that had been right leaning in some of the areas where the president or the vice president had been recently, or at least keep them in the toss-up category in places where they had been or they're trying to go. So it's debatable whether or not at this point in the cycle the president showing up is helping candidates or not.

47:31I mean, there's a reason the White House has had him going to some of these very red areas where they know that he'll get big crowds so then he could in turn say, look, everybody was very, very enthusiastic for me and there was not a seat that was empty. I mean, this is a pretty glaring blue dot on the president's travel schedule, Malik. Like, does Bob Lonsberry, the radio host, have a point here? Could it be more harm than good for Blakeman? I don't think that it's going to be harmful to Blakeman at all. Donald Trump, at the end of the day, is a popular Republican president. And I think that in New York...

48:01With who? With voters, actually. When you actually... With all voters or just Republicans? Well, I don't think... Because every poll shows us that he's actually deeply unpopular. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of splitting the baby. But if you talk to Republican voters... His approval rating is at least in the high 30s. I that's a very specific question. You're asking whether or not why is he going to New York? And I'm telling you, because he's popular with Republicans. I didn't say that he was popular. That's the point. You got to let me finish the point, though. But the point here is that much like he's going to Texas, he's probably not going to go to somewhere like Maine.

48:35But Donald Trump, if you listen to Donald Trump, actually, if you look at his history, Donald Trump has a history of winning and endorsing winning candidates. And so he's convinced whether or not it makes a difference or not, he's going to go everywhere where he has at least some level of support. And I think that's why he's ending up in New York. He's also in Texas, too. There's a district that is actually one of those redistricting districts that he we may not actually win. But Donald Trump is still going to go because he's convinced that if he has to carry the party on his back over the finish line, that's exactly what your point about New York being blue.

49:12I was talking about Alabama and some of these other places that we've seen the president been. But you did mention this about Maine and how we probably won't see the president going there. We saw Susan Collins say that that's not somewhere that she wants the president to be. So it's not just people in New York saying this. It's some of these other states like Maine saying, also, please don't go. So what about you, Taryn? If you're supporting Kathy Hochul here, please. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. It's it's not somewhere I would go if I was an advisor to President Trump. But nobody advises President Trump.

49:41And we all know that. I mean, he's deeply unpopular right now. The kinds of things that he's not talking about and talking about are sort of tone deaf to what's happening to voters. And we know that we know that voters care about grocery prices. We know they care about what they're paying at the pump. They know that they don't like this war and what's going on. And yet he is kind of prancing himself around in places where I don't think it's going to be helpful. I also don't think electorally this makes a huge difference, which is your point. It's almost like they're sending him somewhere so he doesn't cause trouble, but so they can put him out somewhere.

50:10And I hate to say that, but that's what this feels like. It feels like, oh, where can we send him? OK, this will do no harm. Yeah. OK, let's let's talk more about another governor's race. And this is in Iowa. We had a debate there last night. The Republican candidate, Zach Land, his residency has kind of come into an issue as part of that. Rob Sand went after him. He's the Democratic candidate there. I want to play part of a video that was designed to boost Sand and some of Land's defense last night. So let's play a bit of that. Now, generally, I support Kansas. I was even proud to see Zach Lane voted here in 1820 and 22.

50:47I hope he worked for me in Kansas' governor's race. But in the Iowa's governor's race, I'm supporting the Iowa. This is not about why you're in Kansas. This is about the fact that you're not in Iowa. There are 3.1 million people who live here, and they need to have a full-time Iowa. It is just not true. It's just not true. You have no evidence of that. All right. So, man, I think I messed up my Kansas's and my Iowa's because this is so confusing. So let me reset here. That was the governor of Iowa talking about the Kansas governor's race and basically saying that that Zach Lane is someone who spends most of his time in Kansas and has lived in Kansas.

51:27He voted there in 18, 20 and 22. It's an interesting debate. Good news for you. OK, you want to know where I'm from? Kansas. So I can help you with this one. Laura Kelly is the outgoing governor of Kansas, both of which now have very interesting Senate races that were in the category of what we're talking about. And it's directly relevant to this as well. But people that are from Kansas are proud of being from Kansas, right? And they want their representatives to be from there. I'm very proud of being from Kansas. But this matters. These gubernatorial races matter because at the point when you have these Senate races that have become very competitive in Iowa and surprisingly competitive in Kansas for the first time in a century, you could see a Democrat elected there.

52:07When you have that kind of competition at the Senate level, it can affect the gubernatorial races as well. And there's questions right now about whether there will be split ticket voting statewide in these states, potentially for Democrats, maybe at the Senate level. Republican. Some of the angst I'm hearing from some of your fellow colleagues in the Democratic advising sphere is that maybe you're reaching too far. Are places like Iowa and Kansas and now South Carolina, are these actually legitimate targets or could it force you to take the eye off the ball in places like Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and others?

52:43I have strong feelings and I apologize to the world for this about Texas actually pulling through, but I do think he's a wonderful candidate. And I think it's great. But I do think that you have to play a large field. I actually I know there's a lot of consternation from people that are like, oh, gosh, are we doing too much? Are we doing too much? I think you actually do have to kind of cast a wide net when you have elections like these. If you go back to 2006, when they took the House and the Senate, they took them back. They took them in places like Iowa in particular and Indiana and all these places where people were sort of under the radar and kind of came out there.

53:15You have a deeply unpopular president. And you have a lot of the same economics that we were looking at at the time. And I think that that means voters are fed up. So we do want to make sure we're getting that message out, whether it's South Carolina or not. It doesn't mean history doesn't always repeat itself, but it is important to play there and to get that message out. Malik, are they stretching themselves too thin? Is it realistic to think that any of these deep red states are actually in play? Well, I'm old enough to remember that there are a number of states that Democrats thought that they were going to get that ultimately didn't.

53:44And Republicans thought that they were going to get a number of states that they ultimately didn't. I think it's good. I think Democrats should compete everywhere. I don't think that in the Iowa race, Kim Reynolds, who's the current governor of Iowa, she's actually a popular Republican governor. But I think what you're seeing, because Republican governors had so many of these seats, that it seems to sort of this anti-incumbency, whether that's Glenn Youngkin or even a number of other candidates out there. There is a real sense of that across the board. Jessica, Taryn, Malik, thank you guys all for being here.

54:16We appreciate it. We're back tomorrow with more Meet the Press Now. But as always, there's more news ahead on NBC News Now. Have a great day.

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