Meet the Press NOW — September 22

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0:56Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Kelly O'Donnell in Washington. As President Trump addresses the United Nations General Assembly, using that global stage to ramp up his threats against Iran, saying he could annihilate the country all while the deeply unpopular war drags on against the backdrop of a worsening political environment for the president ahead of the midterm elections. In his speech to world leaders this morning, President Trump defended his decision to launch that attack on Iran seven months ago and hinted at what could be next. But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?

1:44Maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations? But I believe we'll make a deal right after the election because it doesn't make sense for them not to. The president also calling on the international community to do more to support his administration's goals, like lowering oil prices and fuel prices. I call on all nations to join us in enforcing the complete economic isolation of Iran until they stop their attacks on commercial shipping, relinquish their nuclear ambitions and cease their support of terror.

2:44If we stand united, we will soon see a world free of the last 51 year menace of Iranian terror and oil prices will come plummeting down even lower than they were at the start of the conflict. We mentioned the political headwinds here at home facing the president and his party that are a consequence of this war. And now two Republican Senate candidates, Ashley Hinson in Iowa and Mike Rogers in Michigan, are publicly breaking with the administration, calling for an urgent end to the war and citing affordability concerns. This comes as the latest NBC News poll shows 62 percent of voters say the military action against Iran has not been worth it.

3:29And as the war drives up prices on gas and other goods, a majority of voters say the president's policies have hurt the economy. Meanwhile, President Trump's approval rating now sits at 41 percent. That's a new low for his second term in our poll. Joining me now is NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba outside the United Nations. NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons is in Saudi Arabia. And with me here on set is Elise Labatt, the host of the Cosmopolitics podcast. Monica, let me start with you. You're right on the ground in the thick of it there. What are your big takeaways from the impact of the president's speech today to the U.N.?

4:07Do you have a sense of the reaction in the room and how it was received? I was fascinated, Kelly, by the way in which this speech was obviously meant for a global audience, but also a very domestic one. The fact that you have the president of the United States talking about his predictions for after the midterm elections, when the war against Iran could potentially come to an end, but making the case that he says politics will not factor into his decision making here and trying to remind everyone that he will still be president for another couple of years despite the outcome of the midterm elections and whether Republicans suffer major losses or not.

4:50So dependent on that, the president is sort of framing his foreign policy view, approach and strategy here. And so that was fascinating to see and to hear a president who during other U.N. addresses has gone a lot longer, has gone a little bit more off the cuff, has had some more pejorative language at times, not necessarily doing that today, making very bold claims about his strength through peace strategy and approach on the world stage. but really narrowing here what we know many Americans are talking about, which is the super high oil and energy costs and prices. And it seemed to be a tacit acknowledgement that that is what is on many, many voters' minds.

5:32Again, on the domestic front, even though this tends to be a very global message from any president here at the U.N., Kelly. I was also struck, Monica, about the president using the word annihilate, but also talking about direct engagement with Iran. He said there was a meeting between some U.S. representatives and Iran today. What do we know about that? Yeah, and this kind of harkens back to some threats that the president has made over the course of this nearly seven-month conflict. He has talked about eliminating Iranian civilization, essentially wiping Iran off the map. He's used that kind of language and escalatory rhetoric before only to kind of walk back from it, but saying that he has a very big decision to make.

6:14Now, he has also kind of talked about those terms before, and it's unclear what kind of a timeline he could be talking about when he says he's going to make that. But perhaps a window in a factor into that is this three hour meeting that we're learning about that really was led from the U.S. side by his son in law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Wyckoff, who spoke with Iranian officials again for a pretty lengthy amount of time. We know that obviously they have been the face of some of the diplomatic negotiations and the back and forth in the past. Whether there was any actual progress made today is still to be determined.

6:50But remember that this White House, this administration started the day by saying that they think there could have been a meeting potentially or that the president was open to a meeting with the president of Iran while they were both here. Obviously, that has not materialized. But just one more note, Kelly, on what was a little bit of an unusual view that we had today here at the U.N. Because the White House has banned three media outlets, MSNOW, CNN and Politico, the TV pool, all of the networks together did not provide the typical footage standing in solidarity with CNN, who was not allowed to do that on this trip.

7:23So we are seeing and experiencing this U.N. in a different way than we typically would have. And we wanted to point that out for our audience because that's important and part of the transparency here as well. Kelly. And yes, and the United Nations provides the feed of the speech itself, which is why that was readily available. That's done every year. So they control their own space there. Monica, thank you for that. We appreciate it. I'm going to turn now to Keir. President Trump said the U.S. and Iran are talking. We just discussed that a little with with Monica. And do you get a sense that that is being viewed with seriousness in the region?

8:01I think it's being viewed with great caution and, frankly, skepticism in Iran. It was interesting, I thought, to listen to what President Trump had to say at the top of the show there, Kelly. And one part of the phrase that really stood out for me was where he said they will make a deal after the midterms because it wouldn't make sense for them not to. And it reminded me of Steve Witkoff some months ago saying that President Trump just simply couldn't understand why Iran wouldn't capitulate. And the fact is that Iran has its own rationalization. It has its own kind of thought process. and it does think that it makes sense not to do a deal necessarily.

8:41And in particular, the Iranian leadership would say, we've come close to doing deals and then the landscape has changed. You can't rely on President Trump. We get attacked when we negotiate. All of those things we've heard from them before, whether you agree with that or not, believe them or not, that is something that they do express and which I think makes it very unlikely that we would see President Trump meet with the president of Iran there in New York, or I think you're in Washington, but in New York for the UNGA there. And then in terms of just quickly, in terms of your question, the Arab world, Saudi Arabia here, for example, just think about what's happened the past few days reported by Courtney Kuby, where Saudi Arabia has asked President Trump to help them fight the Houthis, to target the Houthis who are in a conflict with the Saudi Baxa government in Yemen.

9:38And President Trump, from our reporting, has declined to do that. Which is striking given the close relationship. I'd like to play for our audience something that King Abdullah of Jordan said today in his UN speech. Let's watch that. If anyone had any doubt that a crisis in our part of the world stays there, Just look at the energy and grocery bills of ordinary families from Mumbai to Madrid to Minnesota. That's an effective message that you might hear provided by leaders in the United States. What do you think the king is trying to say about how other nations are affected by this war and the ripple effects of it all?

10:28well i think what's happening there is he's trying to bring it home to americans what's happening here in the region is that those leaders who have been allies and partners the united states are watching the potential decline in american power in this region and potentially the withdrawal from a very engaged position the withdrawal of the united states from this region they don't like it. And they're trying to say to American voters, there are good reasons to stay engaged. And of course, as you know, Kelly, there are many American voters who are really questioning whether America has its priorities right in regions like this, when they say, for example, there's so much to do on health care and other issues domestically.

11:10So I think what you're hearing from King Adola there is a plea for America to stay here. And there is a good argument. I mean, look at what's happened to oil prices when this place gets destabilized. But there's also a familiar and sizable group, political group there, who think that actually it is time to withdraw to some extent. Kier, we're glad to have you in the region tracking it all. Thank you so much. I'm going to turn now to Elise, who's joining me here in studio. And if we look at the big picture of this speech, typically presidents have a message they want to deliver. What is your sense of what the president wanted the audiences to hear?

11:51And did they hear it in the way he intended? Well, I think he wanted the audience to hear. I'm great. The America is back. We are the most powerful nation. And, you know, talking about the Iran war and whether he's going to obliterate them or not. I mean, the world leaders and Iran itself, they've heard all this before, Kelly. It's kind of almost like, you know, all right, yawn. I don't think anybody really took anything that he said very seriously, but they are looking at, you know, what Kier was saying, the bigger picture about the American retreat from the region. You hear Gulf nations talking about maybe they're going to make their own deals with Iran because the Americans are not a predictable ally.

12:38You look today that the UK, the Saudis asked the UK for military help, and now the UK is doing that. You saw what happened last week when Canada is talking to the EU about a associate membership. And so I think what's happening is nations are looking at the United States. They're saying even if another president comes in in a couple of years and reverses it, what the president has done, someone else could come and reverse it again. And so they're trying to make their own relationships. relationships, I don't think, you know, the message that President Trump tried to get across, I don't think it was taken quite in the way he wanted it to.

13:16On Iran, part of the president talking, as we've heard him do many times about the imminence of a deal, a deal is going to happen. The Iranians have a long established history of working on their own timeline and having their own perhaps longer horizon that doesn't fit right into U.S. domestic politics or the cycle of our presidents. What indications would you be looking for that Iran would be prepared to try to bring the conflict to a conclusion? I think the Iranians want a deal. I mean, listen, I don't think they're not or, you know, destroyed like President Trump said. I don't think they're begging for a deal.

13:52But there is a blockade against Iran. There was a lot of damage done. You know, we don't talk a lot about what the military actually did because it's more crowd pleasing to say that the war is still going on and, you know, no one's happy about that, but it's easier to point what what's going wrong. Iran has been severely damaged. They do want to deal. And the fact that they sat down today is suggestive of that. I think what's going to happen is and I do think it'll be after the midterms. They're trying to push the president back to this MOU that they signed earlier, early summer, late spring and get back to that MOU.

14:29When President Trump says he has a choice to make, annihilate or deal. I think the choice is really, do I want the Strait of Hormuz open? Do I want oil to get in? Do I want gas prices to go down? Or am I going to keep continuing to push Iran on its nuclear program? If he decides that's really the goal, and I'm not, I mean, I know that's the ultimate goal for everybody. I'm not really quite sure that's where we'll end up, because that's going to take, Cal, as you know, a lot of troops, a lot of manpower. The U.S. will be in the region for months, if not years. Oil prices will continue to skyrocket.

15:07And you see what's happening now with the Houthis. And I don't think the president, I agree, I don't know that the president really cares about midterms. I don't know that he really cares about what people around the world think. But I know he wants to be seen as someone who has a legacy on this issue. We appreciate your insights and expertise on this. Thank you so much, Elise. And coming up, the Trump administration officials who are defending the president's fight against the press. What does it all mean after three news organizations sue the administration for banning them from the White House ahead of a key court hearing tomorrow?

15:45Plus warning signs for both parties. We'll dive into our new NBC News poll with six weeks to go until the midterm elections. You're watching Meet the Press Now.

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17:06And welcome back. The Trump administration is defending its decision to ban three media outlets from the White House. While at the U.N., the president today calling it a matter of national security, which has become a justification he increasingly uses to defend some of his controversial policies. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also justifying the president's decision this morning on NBC's Today Show. The president feels very strongly that why should I have people working in my building and in my office that I believe are not honestly covering my administration. That's how he feels. We're not closing CNN.

17:41There aren't a bunch of police officers or soldiers kicking down the doors of MSNBC or MSNOW, whatever it's called, and arresting people and unplugging it from the grid. They're just not allowed to work from the workspace at the White House. Journalists from MSNOW, CNN and Politico were denied access to the White House and had their badges confiscated on Saturday. Of course, the White House is the people's house. It doesn't belong to any individual president. A day after the president announced the ban on those news organizations, citing the content of their coverage of his administration. They're now suing the administration, asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order to lift the ban.

18:21Part of their argument goes like this. This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment, nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles. A hearing in that suit is scheduled for tomorrow. NBC News is among the five major television networks that typically provide pool coverage of the president's activities. And joining me now is Jeff Mason. He's a White House correspondent for Bloomberg News and, like me, a former president of the White House Correspondents Association. So we talk about these issues a lot. And today the president said that he was asked a question about how this is all going to play out.

18:58And he was critical of the fact that CNN was at the United Nations doing its job. Of course, the United Nations credentialed that separately. It's not quite the same thing. But he's on a world stage at a time when these issues are playing out. And that room is filled with nations that sometimes have very repressive policies about press access and media freedoms. Do you think that was a stark sort of contrast today? I think it absolutely was a stark contrast. And I think like all of President Trump's policies, they follow him when he goes places. So everyone in that room was aware that, or I suspect most people in that room were aware of his ban on CNN, MS Now and political from the last few days.

19:41I think it's also interesting that he sees CNN there because, as you rightly said, they came under different credentials. And that is also a sign that even if he puts up restrictions at the White House, that's not going to stop news organizations and our colleagues from doing their jobs. And he said to them, you weren't supposed to be covering me. Well, no, no, no, that isn't what happened. They have not stopped covering him. They'd like to have access to the White House. There was a reporter today who asked the president about the ban, knowing this court first step in the process happens tomorrow.

20:10And would he comply if a federal judge who, as you and I were just talking about, was appointed by President Trump? Correct. If that judge says that this ban is in violation, let's play how the president responded to that. If the district court decides against you, would he let the free media outlets pack in? Well, it probably will, because this is a judge who's not a particularly fair judge. So you never know. But I'm talking about national security. I think we have a right to clean out fake news, you know? News is fake. And by the way, they said they were going to be here, but they came. You know, I knew that would happen.

20:49What, are they not going to be with President Xi tomorrow? So, but they said, we will not cover Trump. This is something you don't have to know about. You know, you won't have this problem. But, you know, we have a lot of fake news. And I think when news is fake and it's actually dangerous, I think I have a right to clear it out. Again, CNN and the other organizations involved in this are not saying they're stopping coverage. That's right. That clip, just to explain some of the mechanics of this, that was not the network pool because CNN was assigned to be the network pool, which would have been the camera and the sound and all the things you're accustomed to seeing when you watch the president.

21:25That was not happening today. So it's a bit of a difference. Do you think that this case is something where the White House would respond to a federal court in many instances they have? And what's your expectation of what could happen next? Well, we've seen there is precedent for this. During his first term, the president kicked off Jim Acosta from the White House campus, who was at that point or at that time the White House correspondent for CNN. And he sued and CNN sued a very similar situation in that he was he was denied access to the White House grounds. And the judge ruled that that was not allowed and that he needed to get his credentials back.

22:03So if that precedent is followed here, then one could deduce that that's the same thing that's going to happen here. That doesn't stop the president, however, from imposing more restrictions if they are granted access back. As you well know, the wires were also kicked out of the pool last year and denied access to the Oval Office and Air Force One, unless or until the president and his team decides to let them in. So that could be the next step if the court rules for these three organizations now. And when the president invokes national security in a space where we're talking about press freedom, access, and the opportunity to cover in a broad way, does that surprise you that he's invoking national security now or has that become just a useful tool for him?

22:47Well, I liked how you mentioned that in your introduction, that he is using that more often now. He used it to describe his reasoning for building the arch, which is a completely separate reasoning from his initial proposal. So I do think it's become part of his lexicon. And I would just say, again, as we've talked about multiple times, the forefathers of the United States put freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. So it's by design that reporters and journalists and news organizations are here. And that's what's going to be up for discussion in the court tomorrow.

23:19Well, we'll watch that closely. There'll be more to say about all of this. Thank you for helping us to understand it. I know Jeff and I will be talking about this a lot off camera and in our after work hours. Thank you, Jeff. And up next, Harris. You remember Kamala Harris. She's hitting the trail. The former vice president makes a campaign comeback, rallying with Michigan Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed. The panel will weigh in next on this, and you'll want to see it right here on Meet the Press Now.

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25:12And we're glad you're back with us. And as we mentioned, the president's approval rating is now at a second year low in the NBC News poll, sparking Republican concern about their party's chances in the November election. And joining me now at the big board is NBC chief data analyst Steve Kornacki. And Steve, I know you are tracking all of this. What are your key takeaways from what's in this new poll? And what does it tell us about what may be unfolding in these next six weeks? Yeah, Kelly, so you see the low job approval rating for the president, the low marks on the economy, the war with Iran, inflation.

25:45And what it adds up to here is this generic ballot question, which party of folks say they want to see control Congress. Now, in our poll, that's an advantage of five points for the Democrats over the Republicans. A couple of things are interesting about this. Number one is there's a bunch of other polls that have come out from other folks this week that have tended to put this margin a bit higher here. And this number also is a bit lower than it was when we were polling back in Trump's first term in the 2018 midterm that turned into a blue wave midterm. We found an advantage there for the Democrats of seven points over the Republicans.

26:18And so it's sort of key where this number actually lands here when you get to when you get to election day, because I think if the actual sort of split between the two parties in November was 50 to 45 was about a five point split right there. That would probably be enough for the Democrats to flip the House. Just when you look at how narrow the margins are right there. But some of the stuff you might be hearing this week about incursions of Democrats into deeply, deeply red territory, double digit Trump seats, that sort of thing. If the margin's only five sort of in the popular vote there nationally, that's probably not going to happen.

26:51That's going to be. But if it gets up to the high single digits, if it gets to the double digits that split between the parties, that's when you start to see that real landslide, that real wave that that some folks are saying might might be forming here for the Democrats. Another thing here that jumped out, too, is just the sort of motivation and the focus the electorate saying it has on Trump. You take those low marks we show you there. Are you voting to send a signal of opposition to the president? Right. We have been asking this question in the NBC poll now for a long time in midterms. Forty three percent of voters say they want their midterm vote to show opposition to Trump.

27:27Look at compare that to the last 20 years. All the midterm elections, the numbers never been this high. That focus squarely on Trump and a negative message towards Trump that voters say they want to send even back in 2018. Rough midterm for Trump and the Republicans. It was only 33 percent who wanted to send that message back then. That's interesting. Really an interesting number. Can I ask you to drill down into one particular Senate race? And that's Ohio. Happens to be my home state, but that's not why I'm asking. It is one of those seats that Democrats think they might be able to flip. What are the factors there?

28:00It's really interesting, right? Ohio is one of the states that moved that has moved most dramatically towards Trump and the Republicans since 2016. Remember, this is a state that Barack Obama carried twice, 2008, 2012. Sherrod Brown, former senator, he won three elections to the United States Senate as a Democrat, lost his seat in 2024 as Trump was carrying the state. Now the Democrats have nominated him against John Husted, appointed by the Republican governor there to replace J.D. Vance. So where are you kind of looking when this map fills in an election night? I think a couple of things are interesting.

28:33First of all, this whole swath here, southern, eastern Ohio, this is basically Appalachia. It's about 32 counties that are in this region. And this is where you have seen like 25, 30, 40 point shifts towards Trump and the Republicans. This has been the heart of it in Ohio. This is an area where Brown, when he won those three Senate races, he managed to be relatively competitive in this region of the state. In 2024, when Trump was running and Brown lost his seat, the bottom absolutely fell out for Brown. And for the Democrats right here, also sort of the older areas here, older sort of industrial areas along Lake Erie, sort of getting into the interior here in northwest Ohio.

29:14Similar story. Massive, massive shifts towards Trump. Trouble for Brown in 2024. So can Brown recover some of the old Democratic strength in these areas? How much of that is lost to Democrats permanently? I think that's going to be one of the big questions here in this Senate race. Thank you so much, Steve. We always appreciate your insights and the new details you always unveil for us. Thank you so much. And joining me now is our panel, Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief at USA Today, Arshi Siddiqui, Democratic strategist and founder and CEO of Bellwether Government Affairs. And Rob Blewey is here.

29:46He's president and executive editor of The Daily Signal. Susan, let me start with you. Just talking Ohio, let's go to the other part of the blue wall there, as they say. Michigan, a big Senate race, Kamala Harris on the trail today with Abdul El-Sayed. And this is an event where it raises a lot of issues. She did not win Michigan. He sort of opposed her in the sense of that was the sort of progressive pro-Palestinian cause in 2024 that was perhaps some challenge for Harris in that race. What are the dynamics now? Well, of course, this shows democratic unity. That's one point that Abdul El-Sayed made today.

30:24For another thing, she is helping him with a constituency he has some challenges with. Black voters, very important in Michigan. He was he did poorly among black voters in the Democratic primary. A new poll out today with Suffolk showing him doing better, but probably not quite as good as we expect Democratic candidates to do in Michigan. But this Suffolk poll did show Abdul Asiyad pulling away from Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate, a seven point lead. That's not a safe lead, but it is a significant sign. That's a striking number. Seven points at a race we've been talking about as being so tight.

30:57Does that seem like an outlier to you, or is that telling us something about where this race is right now? Well, ask me that on Election Day. Fair enough. I think this is part of something we see happening in several states across the country, especially in these swing states where the Democrats are doing enough better that it has really tantalized Democrats into thinking maybe this is going to be a really significant wave election. And before we move off Kamala Harris being in the heartland, Is this a window into her thinking for 2028 at all? Well, it's keeping her options open. But I don't think we know if she's going to run again.

31:31This is a sign that maybe she wants to, wants to. But I don't think it's a signal that you can take to the bank. OK. Arshi, when you look at how El-Sayed had positioned himself in the primary, he was very anti-establishment. But he is also now in a different race in terms of needing to coalesce, needing to rely on party structure. He's talked about Chuck Schumer being a pragmatist. Where do you think or how do you think he is making that sort of shift from the primary to this phase? I think he's doing an exceptional job because he started with some very intensely devoted supporters and he caused a lot of excitement.

32:08Now he's at a stage where he has to show that he's a pragmatist. he has to show that the Kamala Harris piece is a great example because obviously he had some very strident disagreements over foreign policy, not a fan of the Biden administration. And now he's shifting to say that, listen, there are places where we can come together and other places where we'll disagree. And then on the black vote, I mean, I think that Haley Stevens had some really great relationships and she had support and she was a masterclass in grace when she lost that She lost the primary. Yes. And she lost it. But she said she was going to be supportive.

32:43And so I think he has a lot of work to do in the black community and bringing Kamala Harris. I mean, I think the black community and black voters still have a lot of respect for her. And and many of them think that she didn't get a fair shake in this last election. So it was a smart move to bring. And I think it says a lot about where he's going. And when when he talks about pragmatism or I may be imposing that on him, but he talked about Chuck Schumer. Do you think he would have a different view of Chuck Schumer if he were to win this race? Meaning, is he going to take some of what he's learning in the general election phase?

33:16And would he use that as a sitting senator if he is elected? I mean, as you know, in the Senate, if you're going to get anything done, you have to you have to build relationships and you have to have a good back and forth. You don't have to agree all the time, but you do have to build those relationships. So I think if if he wants to take and take his kind of platform and be successful, then he's going to have to build bridges by definition. Well, instead of building bridges, Rob, let me ask you about maybe extending some distance between some Republican candidates who are on the ballot and seem to be wanting a little distance.

33:48We've seen Hinson in Iowa. We've seen Rogers in Michigan talking about concerns that the war has generated really practical higher costs for their citizens when they're trying to win these campaigns. How do you think they're handling that? And how do you think the White House needs to manage that disparity? Well, Kelly, I think that, first of all, voters are going to be looking at how their personal finances are doing now compared to maybe before when the war started. And that is a factor that, quite frankly, these candidates need to take into account when they're out in the campaign trail. It's one of the reasons why you heard conservatives arguing so aggressively when Congress was still in town to pass another reconciliation bill and show the American people that they were doing something to try to lower the cost of living in this country.

34:34And so now these candidates are up against this deadline of Election Day. President Trump said today at the U.N., there's probably not going to be a deal with Iran until after the midterm elections. So they need to figure out a way to message that effectively to voters and assure them that Republicans do have a plan that will result in lower prices. And one of those messages is a TV commercial that Mike Rogers is running. Let's see if our control room has that on play for us. The war with Iran needs to end and end quickly. When it does, energy costs will plummet. But Michigan families can't afford to wait for that to happen.

35:09We need to do something now. I've previously called for the suspension of the state and federal gas tax, 70 cents a gallon. And another place we can start, diesel. So until this war is over, I'm calling for a temporary embargo on American diesel exports. What do you make of that strategy? Not aggressive toward the White House, but definitely a different position. Well, sure. And the president hinted today that he may be in favor of that export ban. I think it's bad policy, quite frankly. All that's going to mean is that we're going to see a reduction in the production of diesel. There's already a surplus.

35:46That's what goes to the exporters, right? And so we have a situation where I think that Mike Rogers is correct. Energy prices will come down when the war is over and the Strait of Hormuz is open again. But that is separate from some of those other policies that are quite protectionist and probably not necessarily going to deliver the relief for Americans right now. There are a couple of Democrats that have said they don't want to appear with Kamala Harris if she were available to campaign for them. It includes Josh Turek for Senate and Rob Sand for governor. That's in Iowa. It's a redder state.

36:20Do you get a sense that that makes sense in that place? Iowa is a state where both the Senate race and the governor's race are competitive. Which is usually not what we've been seeing. Not the case, no. No, not in Iowa. And it's competitive because this has been a nationalized election. You know, good luck, Mike Rogers, distancing yourself from President Trump. You saw it in your poll with 43 percent saying they're sending a message in the in the Michigan poll. I mentioned 48 percent of voters said they were casting their ballot to send a message to Trump to change course. That is the most powerful single finding, I think.

36:58That was very striking. A nationalized election with Americans. very unhappy with the direction of the country. And Arshi, is there a way for these Democrats in heartland states where the president has retained some popularity? Is it a smart strategy to say, thank you, Madam Vice President, but not this time? Yeah, they have to tailor their campaigns to their local communities, right? And so when you look at the economics in these states, I mean, these communities are really struggling. So I think absolutely they need to make that decision. And I think in some some places the vice president will play really well.

37:32And in other places, she's probably better off, you know, focusing her efforts elsewhere. And that's that that we've seen across the board in politics. I mean, that's that's standard. There's places where, you know, the vice president can go and there's others that she can't. And is there any way, Rob, for Republicans to get away from this price issue that the war has, in fact, led to a direct increase of diesel and gas prices and all the trickle down effects of that? Maybe change the subject. Kelly, your poll, the NBC poll showed that Republicans still hold a decisive advantage on border security, crime and immigration.

38:04So if they can focus perhaps on the successes in those areas, maybe voters don't pay as much attention. And if we look at one more thing, if we go to Texas and there's a new poll from our affiliate showing that James Tallarico is holding a narrow advantage over Ken Paxton. Is that a surprise to the table? Well, not over the last few weeks because we've seen Tallarico do really well. If you look at the long picture of history, you know, Democrats should not hold their breath that this lead holds up by Election Day. But it is it is pretty encouraging at the moment. Yeah. Ted Cruz was in a similar spot and ultimately pulled it off.

38:38So and there is a tsunami of Republican money coming along, you know, hitting just now. And then also there's these kind of the shadow of voter intimidation in terms of what the administration might do on Election Day. So I think those are real. Everything is big in Texas. Thank you all to our panel. Appreciate that so much. And after the break, back to back violent incidents involving immigration enforcement operations. And this includes a shooting in Austin and an altercation with a U.S. citizen outside of Chicago. Stay with us for an update on that coming up on Need to Press Now.

39:15And now we're following developments in a pair of incidents involving ICE officers on Sunday in two different states. In Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, a witness recorded this video showing ICE restraining a man on the ground. Local reports say the man was yelling that he is a U.S. citizen. Immigration agents were seen then leaving the man, apparently injured, laying on the ground. Homeland Security officials described the incident as a case of mistaken identity. We're also learning more about the ICE-involved shooting of a Venezuelan man during a traffic stop in Austin, Texas. Two DHS officials tell NBC News the officer who shot Wilbur Garces Perez had been issued a body camera but was not wearing it at the time.

39:58Officials do not know why he wasn't using that equipment. Immigration officials say the man had no criminal record other than being in the country illegally. His attorney says he entered the country legally, was seeking asylum, but missed a court date because a notice to appear was sent to an old address. NBC News senior homeland security correspondent Julia Ainsley joins me now. I know you've been tracking every detail here. Let's start with Evanston, Illinois. An American citizen has an encounter that results in injuries. What's at play here? Well, ICE says that they had a target in mind and that this man resembled that target but turned out to be the wrong man.

40:37Now, what happened in this case is it appeared that he's yelling he's a U.S. citizen. But ICE in their statement said that it took him a while to be able to show his identity. and that once they realized they had the wrong man, they left without any more events, basically. They left without anything else happening. But the issue is, did they render medical aid? In any use-of-force incident, whether you have the right target or the wrong, officers from any federal agency or local agency are supposed to ask if the person will take medical aid. They're supposed to offer that. It's an oath and a rule.

41:09Sometimes they could refuse it. In fact, I spoke to people today who have made arrests who say that they've had that refused before, mainly because the person just wants them to go away. But the question is, did they offer it? And I've reached out to DHS and I specifically on that point, and they haven't answered me. When we look at what the circumstances were in Austin, Texas, so this is a wounded man. We just described a little about how there's a disagreement about whether he had the right to be in the country, not a citizen. What happened here? Well, in this case, he was a DoorDash driver.

41:39He had come into the U.S. a few years ago, and there was an unmarked car that turned out to be driven by ICE officers. Now, in Austin, these officers had been issued body-worn cameras. In fact, the officer involved here had a body-worn camera registered to him in the system, but he wasn't wearing it. Turns out someone else in the car with him, another officer, was wearing his body camera, but it didn't capture the full incident. In this case, the man said that he tried to tell officers he just wanted to pull over. But before he could, their vehicle sideswiped his, also an unusual maneuver I've learned from people who train for these type of things.

42:15And they shot him in the back. Now, he lived, and after he was in the hospital, he was put in ICE detention. Also unusual, given, again, the medical protocol for these kind of things. He has since had to go back and get more medical treatment because he described numbness in his body. And the latest update from his attorney is that they have temporarily won a stay on his deportation. So while all of this plays out, there is a stay on his deportation. The big question here about why that officer was not wearing his body camera, could it be he hadn't been properly trained on it yet? I've asked that question.

42:48But they say typically by the time someone is assigned a specific camera with a number on it, they've undergone that training. So if ICE is going to carry through on this promise to try to bring more transparency is what they promised with the body cameras, they're going to have to have specific policies in place that are followed every time. Big investment to provide those cameras. If they're not using them, what's the point? Right. I know you'll be following up for that accountability. Thank you, Julia. And still to come, we have our common ground segment on the field and in Congress. NBC News sits down with the bipartisan co-captains of the congressional women's softball team.

43:26Now, this is ahead of tomorrow night's annual charity game. So keep it here. We'll give you a little sports coming up after the break.

43:41Welcome back. Tomorrow night is the annual Congressional Women's Softball Game. This is our sports page. That's when a bipartisan group of women lawmakers, they team up to take on women from the D.C. Press Corps. And the proceeds from the game benefit the Young Survival Coalition, which supports young women fighting breast cancer. And for the latest edition of our Common Ground series, NBC's Julie Serkin sat down with the bipartisan co-captains of the team to talk softball and a lot more. I'm an 18-year breast cancer survivor. I was serving in Congress when I was 41 years old. One day I was the picture of health.

44:17The next day I did a self-exam in the shower just a couple of months after I had my first mammogram at 40 that came back no evidence of disease. And I found a lump that had not been there before. And I had known, you know, I did self-exam often enough to know what I normally felt like. So I knew something was different. and the next day I was a cancer patient. You've been involved in this game since the beginning. You're a co-captain as well. Oh, Shelly has too. I mean, she was on the first team right from the beginning. So given that and given the experience that you both have had with this team, with this effort to raise funds for this incredibly important cause, why do you think that this has remained one of the very few areas of bipartisanship that we still see today?

44:57I think the concept was we have enough partisanship here. Let's do something where we're all on the same team. It was just magical the way it's come together. The first year or two, I think we played a different kind against some very young, we're getting slaughtered, young team. And then somehow we came up with the idea to play the press. We thought it was really important to set an example as women that the men play against each other. We decided to play on the same team. And we all have women members. I mean, Shelley and I were on financial services together when she was in the House, and so I already knew Shelley also.

45:31But we all have met and gotten to know our colleagues on the other side of the aisle that, honestly, we would have never spoken to, would have no relationship with. I've passed laws. Actually, I've passed laws that fight breast cancer with Republican women who I would never have met without the softball game. I want to talk about different issues as well. Artificial intelligence. How do you feel like Congress should play in this space? And I don't mean from a specific political standpoint, but AI should be one of those issues that is not politicized. Well, I mean, I look at it from a couple different lenses.

46:10When it became apparent that the CEOs of the AI companies come out and say, it's dangerous, it's going to lead to dangerous and bad outcomes if we don't rein it in, and Congress, you need to rein it in. My first reaction, I think this is my mother reaction, is, well, you guys control it. Why don't you rein it in? Because you know how to do it. I couldn't sit there and write the code or even write the parameters for a guardrail legislation because it's going to take deep understanding to know what we're doing. But when we're talking about breast cancer research, in my view, the future of AI for health care is incredible.

46:47And so I think AI has such promise in so many areas, cybersecurity, military. But, you know, I accept that we need to get some guardrails here. I really couldn't agree more with nearly everything that Shelley said. It is a both and, not an either or. Yes, there's a concern. I believe the CEOs of the AI companies when they say that we need to slow the pace. So get on it. Slow the pace. You can do that. And we absolutely have to make sure that we help using government and private industry to make sure that we have the appropriate amount of regulation without stifling innovation, that we can do both.

47:34And we should be working together in a bipartisan way, sit down with the CEOs. I mean, there are rogue models that are, they are uncomfortable that they're going to lose control of. I don't know how much time that we have until that gets worse and beyond our control. So let's pull everybody in together and start talking about it. The competitive forces that are creating these models don't want to self-regulate for fear that somebody else, you know, we live in such a, yeah, yeah. And, you know, when you said, oh, you remember that first game that you played and got creamed, we're a competitive business.

48:13I mean, we've seen you on the field, Senator Capito. I mean, you too. We run every two years. I mean, we are in a competition. Every two years, I got the six-year term. So that's a good thing. And so that's what you see in the push and pull. I don't think it has any. I think it has to do with the concern that I have. We have a tendency to legislate to what's happening today. If we legislate in AI of what's happening today, we're going to miss the boat. We've got to be able to have the foresight to be able to not over-regulate so that we squash innovation, but that we also are looking forward to where is that innovation going to lead us.

48:52Shelley is right. The profit motive exists here. And so some of, forgive me if I don't ascribe the best intentions to, or only altruistic intentions to the CEOs, they want us to come in and do it for them because they want the playing field to be level. They don't want anyone to have an advantage. They want the models and the regulation to be written in a way that benefits them. and I want it to make sure that it protects consumers and doesn't stifle innovation and doesn't let China eat our lunch. Your parties are both going through a moment right now. I've spent a lot of time on the campaign trail in 2016, 2020, 2024.

49:37I see something different happening now on both sides of the aisle. I mean, with Republicans, you have people who are openly very frustrated and they might have voted for this president three times. There's no doubt. There's no doubt. So I'll start there and then I'll swing back to you on the Democratic side. What are you hearing from people? Well, there is frustration. It's revolving around things like gas prices, food prices. I live in a state that has great price sensitivity. We have a lot of challenges economically in our state. So I think we're hit harder than a lot of other states that may have more pockets of affluence.

50:17And so I feel that very much. I think also the feeling that we're not doing our job. I mean, we're not working. And it's not about not being here so much. It's about what are you getting across the finish line? And there's so many things that we could be much more effective with. And so it's turning into, I think, an anti-incumbent type of election, which I think it normally is in the second year of a presidential. When a new president comes in two years later, incumbents begin to suffer because promises have been made and unkept. And so I think we have to talk about things that we have done and things that we still want to do.

51:02And then, you know, you always draw a contrast in an election. I think in terms of the parties, I see this happening on the Democrat side as it's happened at ours. Sometimes the edges keep pulling out. And, you know, most Americans, we believe, I believe, live more in the middle, middle 40 percent, 50 percent, 60 percent. Unless they're chronically online. Yeah. And then they're only looking at their own media. And they're just getting stoked. The one thing I've noticed recently that I have not noticed and I've been doing this quite a while is the level of intensity of negativity that people will put right in your face.

51:41I mean, the fact that I am getting yelled at, doxxed, our house has been bomb threaded. I never had any of this before. I agree with you. I mean, over the arc of the time I've been in elected office, I mean, let's just say during pre and post, because I have a foot on each side of the timeline of pre-social media and post-social media. the willingness of people who disagree with you to get in your face, to be rude, and the decline of our ability to interact with our constituents is really direct line related to that you can't. It is hard to convene larger groups of people and be able to have a back and forth and really be able to hear from them and have you be able to explain your point of view to them without coming to something that someone jumps up and starts screaming and wanting their own and only their own opinion heard.

52:41And that just completely obliterates normal discourse. You can still get tickets to the game or you can make a donation. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Roof repair? Done well. Kitchen sink install? Done well. Deck upgrades? Done well. Electrical upgrade? Done well. Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for nearly 30 years, so we know the difference between done and done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie.com.