MTP NOW Dec. 15 — Trump Trading Cards, Sen. Whitehouse And Biden's Food Insecurity Initiative

if it's Thursday a slump in the polls and an eyebrow raising fundraising Ploy it's been a month of setbacks for the former president and Biden's White House allies craft a 2024 strategy for the current president plus crypto corruption dark money and the court how the implosion of FTX has reignited issues tied to anti-corruption campaign Finance laws and what Congress can do to clean it up and 21 tornadoes in 24 hours Louisiana in a state of emergency after a deadly tornado outbreak tears through the South leaving a trail of Destruction behind foreign [Music] for truck Todd it's been exactly one month since former president Donald Trump announced his 2024 candidacy and voters across the country across America are now sending a clear message to him and the Republican party they want something else a new CNN poll shows 31 percent of the country now has a favorable opinion of Donald Trump that's the lowest it's been since March of 2016. that's before he was president new polls from both Quinnipiac and the Wall Street Journal show similar Trends with a 59 unfavorable rating that's the worst Quinnipiac has seen since 2015 before he was the Republican nominee now his support is also wavering among Republicans 70 percent now view him favorably according to Quinnipiac now that number may sound high but it's actually his lowest since March of 2016 and many fewer Republicans just 38 percent want to see him actually run according to the CNN poll yes it's still 691 days until the 2024 election but the former president's political liability is something that every Republican in Washington is grappling with right now after Democrats were able to capitalize on the former president's struggles making him a pillar of the party's midterm strategy there's no question does the Republican party today is dominated driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the Maggie Republicans and that is a threat to this country this election is not a referendum it's a choice it's a choice between two vastly different Visions for America he has abused his power and put the loyalty to himself before lord of the Constitution and he's made a big lie an article of faith in the Maggie Republican Party the minority of that party that strategy worked in the midterms and according to new reporting from NBC News Biden's allies are now crafting a 2024 strategy that's focused on the former president even if his name isn't on the ballot same goes for Democrats in the Senate with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer telling NBC News quote the Maga influence on the party will not go away very quickly and today after teasing his first major announcement since declaring his candidacy former president Trump announced on social media that he was raising money by selling digital trading cards featuring pictures of himself a few hours later his campaign put out a press release on censorship in Silicon Valley joining me now with the latest from Trump World NBC's Von Hilliard at the White House NBC's Mike bemely and for the latest from Capitol Hill NBC's sahil Kapoor sovana of course I'm going to start with you Trump teased a major announcement we got a money grab and a censorship policy what can you tell us about today in Trump World right this is the moment in time where there's only one Republican who has announced the Run for the 2024 presidency and that is Donald Trump and so at face value when the former president United States says that he's got a big announcement I think that we justifiably pay attention of course that makes the case when uh the big announcement that he rolls out are digital uh uh digital trading cards that are not even for fundraising purposes for his campaign but for the likes of himself making money personally it really makes it difficult it's old you know the boy that cried wolf and so at what point is it not about us paying attention though but is it about Republican voters who decide to stop paying attention because there are other Republicans that are eager to jump into this and you just laid out those numbers there in first read which I would encourage everybody to go and look at the polling tabs themselves because when you see where Donald Trump stands in this Republican party today it's the most dangerous territory that he's been since first announcing his run back in 2015. at the same time this is a a proposition the Republicans are going to have to face is it going to be just Ron DeSantis that challenges him or are you going to have a splintered Fields because back in 2016 right before Iowa New Hampshire and Nevada it was Donald Trump who had yet to break 40 percent support among Republican voters and that is exactly where you see him sitting here right now I was talking with a an individual who's familiar with Donald Trump's plans here this is a a man who has not held the campaign event since announcing his presidential run a month ago yamiche but I am told that at the beginning of 2023 he intends to get on the road but hold smaller more policy focused events and we've heard this idea of policy events in the past and he has a history of diverting very much off of it but the big question here is can Donald Trump continue to hold on to this at least a stable base here and really make other Republicans like Rhonda send his question whether they want to do this at all and Von you're talking about this idea of whether or not it'll make other Republicans question whether or not they want to jump in Trump's announcement last month it was supposed to so in some way solidify support clear the field but it really hasn't done that has it no it has not done that and frankly we should not expect anybody else to jump into the race for several months even if you talk about Ron DeSantis and Glenn Younkin both of uh individuals around both of these individuals have suggested to me that they are looking to first get through their legislative sessions in the states Virginia in Florida respectively and so those legislatures will not be meeting and convening until later on this spring so this may be Donald Trump's terrain for himself at the same time look where his numbers are I think it was the CNN poll that showed back in January 50 percent of Republican voters said they wanted him to run again that number is down to just 38 percent now so that's a 12 point drop but you could suggest is that that actually that significant of a drop for a man who is you know potentially facing criminal referral from Capitol Hill or even a doj indictment somebody who openly has talked about the termination of the U.S Constitution to reinstate him inside of The White House I'll let others determine that but right now despite all of these uh emotions that Donald Trump has taken over the course of these last month he's still very much in this ball game and again the only Republican presidential candidate in the field for now at least in Vaughn and you of course spent a lot of time with Trump World what are people close to president Trump people who maybe have been backing him for a long time what are they saying about these polls and do they think that the midterms possibly hurt him in a way that will hurt him possibly in the long run they they consistently tell me to look at the Republican field uh that this is going to be a republican electorate that determines who their nominee is and when you look at some of these numbers here there is reason to believe that Donald Trump uh can coalesce a great Coalition of Republican support here among voters still in that CNN poll that I referenced eight out of ten Republican voters said that they are either fully supportive of Donald Trump as the nominee or could see themselves voting for him in the general election and so you know the folks that are around Donald Trump they say look until folks start actually voting or these numbers start to crumble uh you know any any suggestion that he is disappearing uh you know everybody should hold on to that and especially when you talk about 100 million dollar Super PAC that still has quite a cash bag that they are ready to spend that frankly these other candidates don't have to their name well definitely something we'll keep watching Vaughn thank you so much for joining us now Mike memley at the White House you have some great new reporting about what the White House went is planning to do their strategy so how much is the White House trying to really make Trump the focus even even if he isn't the nominee and what will that actually look like well yamiche if you think back to this summer when President Biden was probably at his political low point there was a lot of questions among Democrats about whether he should or would run for president again and you even had the likes of Gavin Newsom JB pritzker other Democrats beginning to sort of Kick the tires think about running what was the response that we got from President Biden or at least what was his private conversations like with Democratic allies it was I am the only person who has beat Donald Trump and I am the only person who can probably beat him again so now you have a situation in which well they're envisioning a world in which as I talked about advisors they say I'll believe it when I see it in terms of somebody other than Trump being the Republican nominee but they're guarding against the idea that Trump may not himself be on the ballot so they want to make sure that trumpism still is so what does this look like we saw an example of this just last week when the president former president called essentially for putting aside the Constitution and the White House was very quick to call that out and to call on other Republicans to state unacca typically whether they agree with that proposition and that's really what some of this strategy looks like challenging Republicans to either stand alongside Donald Trump or to risk the opposition of his loyal base of supporters and speak out against him I think you're also hearing not just a political strategy but I'm told this is also reflecting a real moral conviction of President Biden he's been talking to historians about the rise of authoritarian movements and part of what we're seeing is his response to that advice which is when you see this kind of radical talk putting aside the Constitution among other things Trump we know has said you need to call it out aggressively and widely and consistently and that's part of what that Montage showed the president was of course criticized during the run-up to the midterms for maybe talking too much about this idea of democracy being on the ballot the White House feels validated by the midterm results that were better than everyone expected for his party and so it's a strategy they intend to continue for the foreseeable future and Mike you're saying that the White House is feeling validated by the midterms I wonder also is the White House feeling like the president this is his only pass for path forward that he ran for president in 2020 to beat Trump and now this is really his big selling point his one selling point well a lot of the conversations that are happening in the West Wing right now they're actually meeting with a number of groups allies constituency groups Partners in governing for the last year and they're talking about how to better message the accomplishments of the administration in the future so this isn't simply going to be when we expect a re-election campaign to take shape a campaign about Trump they think they have a real strong case to tell you've seen them tout the inflation easing you saw a little bit of trolling in fact from President Biden's uh political account today about a quote-unquote big announcement of his own uh the big developments being you know bringing Brittany Greiner home seeing job announcements in Arizona and so they think that the president's going to spend a lot of his time maybe trying to get some bipartisan work done to the extent that's possible with a republican house but otherwise traveling the country and doing more ground bakings around the infrastructure law more job announcements around the chips and science act and they think that really sets up a strong case for him for reelection well an interesting strategy thank you so much Mike memley and sahil you talked to Senator Chuck Schumer and it appears he is also all in on the mega train ahead of the 2024 Center races he's told you quote the maggot influence on the party will not go away very quickly they're very strong they're very active they're very hard right he said arguing that the Maga group that's the way that oh that's the way out there um that they're way out there rather will hurt Republicans even if Trump isn't there 2024 Presidential nominee so in some ways echoing with the White House strategy Mike was just talking about what did you make of what Senator Schumer told you it was quite an audacious prediction yamiche by uh the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer given how difficult the 2024 map will be for Democrats there are three republican-leaning states where the Democratic incumbents are going to have to run way ahead of the Republican of the Democratic presidential ticket whoever the nominees are in order to win re-election and those three states could be ball game given that Democrats are looking at a 51-seat majority and that too barely given that Senator Kirsten Cinema in Arizona has switched parties from Democrat to Independent But Chuck Schumer cited a couple of reasons for why he's so confident when I when I pressed him on that the first is he believes that the democratic-controlled Congress has passed the number of laws in recent years that his candidates will be able to campaign on where benefits will start coming to fruition including lower prescription drug costs including more infrastructure spending more jobs created around the country as a result of the chips and science act and he also did mention as you point out that the contrast with Republicans is something he's quite excited about he said the so-called Maga influence will persist in the party that Donald Trump's influence isn't going away even if he isn't the nominee at the top of the ticket in 2024 and that contrast will continue to alienate voters particularly Suburban voters in his view who have trended away from Republicans toward Democrats he used the word realignment when talking about that segment of the electorate and as a result of all of that he feels very good about Democrats chances in 2024 even though it's not just those three republican-leaning states that Democrats are defending seats in it is five purple States including Michigan Wisconsin Pennsylvania Nevada and then that Arizona seat where Cinema has presented a bit of a predicament for the party do they support her in order to beat the Republicans or do they risk a three-way battle an independent versus a Republican versus a Democrat that could possibly help the Republican win certainly a tough map you were also of course on the hill today which is where you are now um what was the reaction among lawmakers after former president Trump's quote big announcement what are they saying up there not much you know it's a on Capitol Hill that most Republicans especially on the Senate side on this side of me uh don't like talking about Trump they've been avoiding him they Dodge him recently you've seen Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell open his press conferences by uh rebuking former president Trump and certain things that he's done including the cause to terminate the Constitution including that uh Infamous white supremacist dinner that he recently had and I asked McConnell a few days ago about the 2022 election as well getting back to the earlier theme how to fix that for 2024. for the first time ever I'd heard him identify Donald Trump explicitly as part of the problem that Republicans had in 2022 one of the reasons that he says so-called candidate quality ended up being a problem it's because of Trump's endorsement so you add all this together there's a rare point of agreement between Democrats and Republican leaders at least some of them that Trump is bad for the GOP at the top of the ticket well thank you so much so I have a great interview with Senator Schumer and coming up more on Trump's nfts and what the former president's slumping poll numbers mean for the Republican party and the White House the panel's next [Music] welcome back as as we said at the top of the show polls show former president Trump's political standing is on the decline his hand-picked candidates lost in midterm Battleground States members of the GOP are getting more comfortable speaking out against his controversial statements and his 2024 presidential run has failed to clear the field thus far Mr Trump promised a major announcement today and while he did release an online censorship platform he also put out an infomercial Style video Hawking Trump trading cards here's a portion of that video they're called Trump digital trading cards these cards feature some of the really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career it's been very exciting you can collect your Trump digital cards just like a baseball card or other collectibles [Music] quite the video joining me now on set is Susan page Washington bureau chief for USA Today fast Shakir senior advisor to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Florida Republican Congressman Carlos Cabello he's also an NBC News political analyst so Susan former president Trump's big announcement to make money and insert himself was really in some ways the latest in this sort of online speech Wars um is this a serious campaign right now we've seen him obviously say he's running but he's not really done much other it seems than released digital trading cards yeah well and of course that's a big step I mean I think Washington Jefferson I think they all had their moment of releasing their trading cards um you know it he since he announced he was running he has not done much running and what we found in our new poll this week is for the first time in six years significant erosion in his support among Republicans you know we didn't find that after Access Hollywood we didn't find that after January 6th but in the poll we came out this week we have seen Republicans lose support for him running for president although they still want trumpism on the ballot they still want Trump policies they're not so sure about Trump anymore if this were anyone else running would we climb a kind of data fly or what would you make if this wasn't a former president well it of course he is a former president he also has even though he only had 31 support in our in our poll 31 in a great big divided field could be enough to win the nomination but he is clearly in a weaker position than he has been since he became president in 2016. we're used to him Hawking materials remember the big red hat which obviously stays with them so he's used to we're used to seeing propaganda from him for self-profit but what's interesting is just like he's lost his touch I mean he got his Twitter account back and we haven't heard from him on Twitter he doesn't have anything to say which is interesting for somebody who's been so vociferous and you know always got some kind of way to troll you he's been very oddly quiet because I think he just didn't have an agenda or anything to talk about yeah yamiche and I think people maybe are afraid or hesitant to say this or to observe this but it really looks like this is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump it looks like the next bankruptcy for Donald Trump is in the Horizon now and sure we're traumatized he has surprised us before uh but this is really pathetic this is this is you know beneath so many things and Republicans are starting to lose their fear that to me is the number one indicator somebody has to run against him right well that's coming but but all these people are smart they don't want to get into the mud now because they know that can only be well he is sinking on his own and the Ron desantises of the world don't want to send him a life but you still see Republicans reluctant to take him on directly they they ignore him they design they declined to endorse a statement he's made but there's still not a lot of vocal the Republicans who are vocally criticizing Donald Trump these days in public are the Republicans who are no longer right at DeSantis or other sorry they would be loud and proud at the moment when he's engaging anti terrible anti-Semitism where are they like these are moments to just say these 80 views or 90 of the American public is with us not Donald Trump and yet they are silent which suggests are they really ready to take them on sorry well I was going to ask you you've run political campaigns I mean Bernie Sanders I was exhausted in 2016 because he was in 18 states all the time running so hard is this really going to cut it and is there legal benefits possibly here I think Trump is president he's making the calculation that he's got 30 40 of the Republican base with him and they're going to stick with him and no one's going to dare to take him on and he's not going to run a real campaign until somebody wants to punch him in the nose and I think he knows if somebody wants to get in the ring then finally he's got a foil now he's got a message now he gets to take somebody on and you know to your point of congressman is that I'm not sure anyone wants to I'm not sure anyone on the Republican side is ready to get in the ring with this well and to me there's no question that part of this at least is a legal defense strategy uh former president Trump believes that prosecutors will be more careful about going after him if he's a candidate so that's a factor here as well definitely a complication if he's if he's running he as he is running for office and an incredible candidate a credible a credible nominee that doesn't really stop prosecutors and the other thing that could happen with all these legal actions is they could become an enormous distraction you know he could be involved in multiple simultaneous trials on civil and other issues Susan explain these poll numbers for us when I saw the USA Today Paul said okay well let's wait for other calls and then the other polls came and they also in some ways echoed in big ways really um what you at USA Today found so talk a little bit about these polls so by two to one Republican voters told us they wanted trumpism they wanted Trump policies but they didn't want Trump as a nominee and I tell you they did have a name in mind and that was Ron DeSantis uh you know he's not been a national figure for very long and yet he was well known to the Republican electorate that we were that we were polling and by 23 three percentage points they preferred DeSantis over Trump as a party's Presidential nominee last time now we've seen people look really strong two years out and then you remember their names by the time the convention comes around but that is a pretty significant showing by Governor DeSantis so the question is he more akin to Jeb Bush right before another former governor of Florida who obviously at one point was also leading in the polls had a lot of establishment Republican support he gets in the ring with Donald Trump and Trump tears him apart and I think the question of DeSantis is that at some point he will have to make a decision am I running or not but the early moves are an unwillingness to kind of suggest any conflict with Donald Trump which suggests that the campaign itself would be compromised and Congressman what Professor is talking about is something that I was going to ask you which is this idea is it it's hard in some ways to say are you underestimating former president Trump because he has broken expectations met ex surpass expectations rather in so many ways but what are you hearing from Republicans or people who might run against him about sort of where he is right now his standing short-term and long term term Republicans see and observe that he's unraveling that he's in disarray and no one wants to get in the way of that and that's why you know the strategy is to not go at Trump not to attack Trump but let Trump set himself on fire get himself out of the way and then someone like DeSantis and others there will be other candidates Governor DeSantis is very strong now as you said Susan very impressive numbers but it's early and I don't think he's going to scare too many people out of the race this is probably going to be a big field which is good for Donald Trump but I think Republicans will probably learn something from Democrats in 2020 and as soon as someone starts emerging they're going to get out of the way because none of them want to see Trump again and that's put on your your strategy hat here um I wonder when you think about sort of the reporting that our Mike memley has which is that Biden and the White House are saying we're going to run against Trump even if he's not on the ballot is that a smart strategy is that a possibly a winning strategy yeah for sure for his political standing I think Joe Biden always performs better when he's got a friction and some kind of a fight and it's harder for him to be a sitting president United States trying to Wrangle votes with legislators because that's messy it's complicated what is the friction and you don't want to piss off people who you need whose votes you need to pass legislation so better for him to engage in the fight against Donald Trump he's beaten once before and who animates the Democratic Base by the way as well and and Susan President Biden's numbers they aren't really great all that much either but they're better than former president Trump's with his sort of string of good dues you have gas prices going down Brittany greiner's home same-sex marriage the bill has was was signed on the lawn um could we see them go up even more could we see them go up sooner well in our poll only 40 percent of Democrats said they wanted Biden to run for president again and I think that's a problem uh they want they they you know he's got a record his approval ratings ticking up uh some but there are still a feeling I think among a lot of democratic voters that it's they're ready for a next generation of leadership take over interestingly it seems like voters of both parties want something completely different and I I wonder uh Susan I'll come back to you we've heard President Biden say many times don't compare me to the almighty compare me to the alternative um is that where he needs to be is that sort of it just like look at what's going on over there look at the Republicans he calls the mega Republicans and don't don't Focus too much I mean he's obviously he's selling himself as wanting to be reelected but he's saying look at the alternative and why did they succeed the Democrats succeed Beyond expectations in the returns it's because people looked at it as a choice election not as a referendum on the president so yes that's a smart strategy he has some achievements in this first two years some significant legislative achievements he's likely to go into tougher period now with Republicans controlling the house but that is his task to make it a choice not a referendum and Congressman uh Republicans do they want to see a President Biden back on the ballot do they find that to be sort of beneficial for their party or do they want to see someone else young possibly fresher someone who who we're not even maybe even talking about yet what are you hearing if Trump is not the Republican nominee then Republicans want to see Joe Biden on the ballot if if uh you know if it's uh some someone else Republicans are confident that they can be uh Biden so uh you know and I think Democrats in a way are kind of waiting to see what happens with Republicans as well because conventional wisdom is that Biden can beat Trump he has done it before but if Republicans put someone else forward Biden may not be the best candidate yeah and and as you as you hear that in with among Democrats do you hear that they are maybe looking for someone new well I I mean the last time you remember the 2020 primary you know I think Joe Biden wasn't ever considered the front-run of the people one that people wanted or you know even like you everyone went through a phase in which Buddhist Rose Kamala Rose other people were up there and he became the safe and comfortable Choice which I assume is still the case yes Democrats might have different feelings and Views but he is still the safe and comfortable Choice should he want to run again and he has a stamina and desire to do so he's got the nomination well thank you so much for this hearty and robust conversation Susan rise and Carlos Congressman thank you up next how cryptocurrency could complicate the fight against political corruption Senator Sheldon's White House joins me on set next but first we're expected to celebrate we're excited I should say to celebrate 75 years of Meet the Press with clips and highlights from the best archives in news here's a man who needs no introduction George Clooney of course talking about big money's overwhelming influence in politics in 2016. we caught

our camera caught you having a conversation with the protesters uh last night what did you say to him well that was the funniest thing I went over to try to talk to him and he said I was some corporate chill which you know me that's one of the funnier things you could say about me and then he just said you know you sucked as Batman and I was like well you're kind of you kind of got me on that one and then I walked away and that was that was basically it but you know here's I I think what's important and what I think the Clinton campaign has not been very good at explaining is this and this is the truth the overwhelming amount of money that we're raising and it is a lot but the overwhelming amount of the money that we're raising is not going to Hillary to run for president uh it's going to the down ticket it's going to the congressmen and Senators to try to take that Congress and the reason that's important and the reason it's important to me is because uh we need I'm a Democrat so if you're Republican you're going to disagree but we need to take the Senate back because we need to confirm a Supreme Court Justice because that fifth vote on the Supreme Court can overturn Citizens United and get this obscene ridiculous amount of money out so I never have to do a fundraiser again and that's that's why I'm doing it foreign welcome back according to a filing yesterday tied to fxt f t X's Bakery C5 proceedings former FTX executive Ryan solomay disclosed to authorities in the Bahamas quote possible mishandling of clients assets by Sam bankrin freed this comes as Baker and freed is facing charges of campaign Finance violations prosecutors allege the FTX founder funneled tens of millions of customer assets to political campaigns in the hopes of influencing public policy regarding crypto bankman Freed's political contributions have since come under scrutiny the FTX founder previously acknowledging that he was that he has made political contributions to both Democrats and Republican candidates though most donations to Republicans were through dark money joining me now is Democratic senator from Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Sheldon Whitehouse he also has a new book out titled the scheme how the right used dark money to capture the Supreme Court so Senator thank you so much for being here given the Fallout of Sam Baker and Freed's charges his arrest is now the opportunity the time to pass legislation to strengthen campaign Finance laws and really is there any way to reverse the citizen United's um the decision here by the Supreme Court the tool to use to undo the citizens united problem of unlimited dark money is the disclosed bill that we voted on in the Senate a few months ago every single Democrat voted for it we want to get rid of this dark money Scourge unfortunately every single Republican voted to protect the rights of billionaires to influence politics with dark money now both parties are becoming so increasingly unpopular how much of this is due to the power of special inference groups um and their ability really to influence policy here I think virtually all of it I think all sorts of polls and studies show that the American people are quite fed up with Congress and they're particularly fed up with huge dark money contributions secret influence and um you remember uh wonderful Jane Mayer's report in the New Yorker where she got her hands on the transcript between the Koch brothers operatives and Mitch McConnell's operatives and they said there was one issue that was Kryptonite for them it was terrible they couldn't fix it dark money whether you're a Bernie bro or whether you're a tea partyer you hate this stuff and we need to get out of our system the people are right about this and you were just talking about sort of Jane Mayer's reporting we've seen in some ways dark money in politics before so why does it seem like members of Congress that they're caught off guard by Sam Baker and Freed's of attempts to sway policy given what we know should come as no surprise whatsoever it's the way the Washington runs right now and the main difference between the parties is that the Democrats want to stop it and move power back into the hands of Voters and move information back into the hands of Voters and the Republicans are defending a system in which big dark money operations can control Congress and they do very well with dark money just look at the last election now should then Republicans and Democrats sitting elected officials should they have been more hesitant um in accepting this money knowing that this is coming from an unregulated industry I think you've always got to Be watchful about the sources of your funds but usually there's a check on that which is that the public can also see it if I get a campaign contribution from this character there it is in my campaign Finance report but if he writes a 10 or 15 or 20 million dollar check to a Super PAC that Mitch McConnell controls and it gets washed through donors trust nobody ever sees the guy's name and that's what's unacceptable you're saying it's unacceptable I should say your colleagues Senator Warner and Senator Marshall they introduced the bill that combats crypto money um laundering in light of the FTX collapse is that legislation something that you would support are you supporting it now I don't I haven't looked at the bill closely I think that the whole question of crypto is a separate one because it's a different way of hiding your identity when you make contributions um but I do think that whether you come in through crypto or whether you come in through cash or checks or money orders however you come in you've got to if you're a big donor make sure that the American public sees that it is you playing in the political arena there should not be masked players in America's political Arena and in talking about the political Arena we talked about your book at the top of this um in your book you write that the right wing is quite is trying to quote capture use the word capture the Judiciary and the Supreme Court how worried are you that that kind of rhetoric um that it could possibly erode the public trust in the Supreme Court here the public trust in the Supreme Court right now is crashing and it's crashing for a very good reason that has to do with the Supreme Court's own behavior and I think if we're going to fix the Supreme Court and put it back on a sound footing again the public has to understand why it got where it is and my book shows what went wrong and that gives you a guide print for how you fix it I want an honest Supreme Court that behaves like a court just like everybody else but we got to fix the mess that they're in right now and as part of that sort of wanting it honest Supreme Court you have call for a code of ethics for the Supreme Court what other reforms do you think need to be made by the Supreme Court would you even possibly support expanding the court which is something some Democrats and Democratic activates have been pushing for I think there are a lot of transparency reforms that are important I think there's a Code of Ethics that is important I think in addition to a code of ethics you've got to have a way to get a decision about the code of ethics from somebody independent you certainly ought to think about term limits for judges on the Supreme Court Justices and I think that the question of how and when you expand the court is one that we should come to once we've explained to the American people better what the problem is because I think when people agree what the problem is then the aperture for the solutions to the problem grows and becomes more appropriate so I don't want to get ahead of our skis I'm putting my effort into making sure that the American public knows how the Supreme Court got into the trouble that it's in what went wrong and who did it and and I mentioning the American public I want to ask you about how they're viewing the current president we've seen President Biden have some really big wins you have inflation showing slowing you have Brittany Greiner home you have the same-sex marriage um protections being codified by by Congress that being said the polls are showing that he's not getting the sort of booth that you might expect why do you think that is what do you think should be happening here I don't know I'm not a polling expert and I'm not a pundit but I do know that the president is doing a consistent good job at delivering important things for the American people and I have to believe that in 2024 whether we're campaigning on those things or whether they're just a part of people's lives in a way that makes them feel better it'll make a difference and it'll be to the president's advantage and the Senate Democrats of course your party they're facing a tough map in 2024 a lot of seats to defend but Senator Schumer she told he told our sahu Kapoor that he seems really confident that Democrats um that they'll be able to maintain control they'll be able to hold on to everything in 2024. what are your views on that how do you see this you know we're obviously going to do our level best to do that I think that if you see the world the way I do and you see the extent of the dark money influence in the Republican party and you see its effect on the Republican party's ability to for instance treat climate change as a real problem push back on the pharmaceutical industry you know solve the injustices in the tax system for Americans I think there's a case to be made that the system is in fact rigged and we are the people who are going to unrig it and if we can convince the American public of that I think a very big win is possible and I fully support Senator Schumer in taking us there and if you're talking about a big win in 2024 should the president the current President Biden should he be running in 2024 he is our president uh and I think that he's coalesced a lot of support behind him and I think if things continue to go the way they are he is our strongest candidate again he's got a record of really significant achievements that by 2024 when people go into the voting booth will have started to really manifest themselves in people's lives it's not theoretical it will be real the new jobs and clean energy be real the lower pharmaceutical costs will be real the infrastructure Bridges will be real and I think those things will add up to a good difference I want to ask you also about social media and and something that's really on a lot of people's minds yesterday the Senate unanimously passed legislation Banning tick tock on government devices a number of Republican Senators have also banned for state agencies would you like to see Rhode Island follow that lead would you like to see people who are working for the Rhode Island government have no or be banned from using Tic Tac on their company and their and their phones I very much doubt that the Chinese government to the extent that it has infiltrated tick tock is going to see much gain about following Rhode Island political figures so that is not a top of Mind worry for me not with you know our efforts to recover the economy to finish off kovid to address climate change and to clean up government I think we've got better things but would you like to see Rhode Island follow suit I know it's not maybe a top concern right you know that's going to be up to the governor and the general assembly I try not to get into their business that's a state question what they want to do but we've done what we've done in uh the Senate and we've made a record of it well thank you so much Senator Whitehouse for coming in thank you I appreciate it and after the break extreme weather Coast to Coast tornadoes rip through the South killing at least three and injuring dozens more as life-threatening blizzard conditions Barrel through the Northwest we're on the ground with more next you're watching Meet the Press now foreign [Music] welcome back we're tracking multiple severe weather events in the U.S right now blizzard warnings are in effect across the Northern Plains where at least 18 inches of snow has already fallen over the past two days in some places with about six more inches of snow expected in the coming hours and Louisiana meanwhile is recovering from a series of tornadoes that killed at least three people and injured more than dozens or more than two dozen others the state's Governor said they'd be hit by they've been hit by 21 tornadoes within 24 hours the tornado that tore through the New Orleans area yesterday was the second deadly twister to hit the region this year one person was killed in a tornado there back in March here was Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards minutes ago this storm system uh brought a lot of damage to the state of Louisiana the National Weather Service told us this morning that they're out surveying each of the different um areas where they believe a tornado existed they think at the end of the day somewhere between 10 and 15 different tornadoes and they'll they'll give it a strength and rating as well NBC's guard Venegas is in Kelowna Louisiana so guad tell us what's the status of the search and rescue operations right now uh exactly yamisha the governor said they're still evaluating a lot of these reported uh tornadoes this is one of the locations where they've confirmed that a tornado came through uh one of the scenes with the most destruction that we've seen earlier today we saw one of the search and rescue teams here they told me they were on their third face this is the third sweep they've done and today they're not looking for people anymore they were essentially evaluating these structures trying to determine if some of these houses like the one you can see over here are safe for the owners to go inside and clear some of their property for example that structure the smaller home those are two homes one on top of another by the way the one on the right hand side they determine is not safe for the homeowner to be in there taking his property but as of now we have no reports of any search and rescue efforts underway anymore the weather has improved today and we've seen a lot of work as you can see from the power companies trying to make repairs here and of course some of the Neighbors coming to pick up whatever it is they can rescue from as you can see the properties that were destroyed to me there's no search and rescue operations happening right now so there are no additional people missing if that's the case what are survivors telling you right so we don't have any reports of people missing at the time I've been speaking to survivors all day I spoke to a woman who was about to leave in her car down the street before the tornado hit yesterday she said she walked outside got in her car and minutes later as she was waiting for her sister to come out of the house with her kids they heard a noise they saw the clouds her sister yelled and told her to go inside she told me as she ran inside she saw how quick the tornado came in she said it was a mix of lightning cloud rain so by the time she got inside the home was shaking she said she took the kids inside the bathroom they hid in the bathtub trying to find some type of protection their home was shaken fortunately it was not destroyed like some of the homes of you've seen here there was a person that died in this neighborhood and seven people were injured and that's the description we've gotten by some of the survivors here there's another woman down the street who told us she had to crawl out of her house because the walls were destroyed and there was a small opening left between a door and a wall and she was able to crawl out through there a lot of the neighbors have been here today trying to help each other get whatever items they can take from the debris but that was the experience here at just one of the tornadoes that hit Louisiana through the storm yamiche important reporting quad thank you so much for joining us and turning now to Peru which is under a nationwide state of emergency after a week of violent political unrest set off by the ouster of then president Pedro Castillo authorities say six people have died and more than 100 police officers have been injured today's declaration suspends civil liberties including the right of assembly for 30 days Peru's new president says the National Police and the military will enforce the emergency order Castillo had tried to dissolve Congress just before an impeachment vote the third such of such votes since Castillo took office last year hours later lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to remove Castillo he was then arrested and faces charges of rebellion and conspiracy and still to come President Biden looks to address Global Food insecurity at a summit with dozens of Africa's top leaders details on the meeting and the administration's new commitments next you're watching Meet the Press now foreign welcome back right now President Biden is speaking on the issue of food insecurity during the final event of the U.S Africa leader Summit here in

Washington at the top of his remarks the president underscored how climate change drought and the war in Ukraine have deepened the food crisis in Africa President Biden has vowed to renew U.S commitments to Africa on issues like trade stability and health care and earlier today he announced plans to make his first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa next year joining me now is David miliband president and CEO of the International Rescue committee so thank you so much David for being here how significant is the president's focus on food insecurity during this Africa was Africa Summit and where should this rank as a priority when you think about of course all of the things that the president is talking about and dealing with thank you very much for giving some attention to this very important issue I think the president has really raised the game of the administration through this Summit in very substantive ways we've released a report this week that shows that over 20 million people in East Africa alone are suffering from food insecurity and the predictions are that 750 000 or so in Somalia just one country will be in famine status by next year so this is a very timely initiative I think a couple of things are very significant firstly There's real money behind this 80 of international Aid to Somalia is now coming from the US so there's real leadership what we haven't yet got is followers so other countries need to follow in this wake secondly I think it's very significant that the president has recognized the link between what's happening in Ukraine which is at the top of the geopolitical agenda at the moment and the African situation African countries are paying the price of the Ukraine Invasion because of what's happened to food prices and energy price is around the world so there's geopolitics involved Here thirdly China has been very significant actor in Africa over the last decade and America has too often been on the west more generally has too often been absent and I think that this is a very important signal that there's a structured relationship being built here what we would say as a humanitarian organization is that alongside the politics and the trade it's absolutely vital that those tens of millions of Africans who are being left behind by global Prosperity or Worse are in the absolute eye of the storm when it comes to the climate crisis and the conflicts that still besmerge too much of Africa that they're not forgotten in this discussion and he talked about sort of the impact of this could have so I wonder how important it is that African leaders you have presidents and a number of officials but they're actually in Washington to have this conversation well it's only important if there's some plain talking and I'm impressed that there has been some straight talking and some plane Talking part of the story of Africa is that there's Africa Rising and it's right to emphasize that it's a burgeoning middle class over 400 million people 350 million people in the middle class but it's vital that we don't ignore the three drivers of Crisis that we highlight in the irc's report this week one there's a lot of conflict in Africa in Ethiopia in Somalia in Mali in countries that are represented there conflict is a feature secondly the climate crisis is here now in Africa and thirdly the global risks that are around like the pandemic as well as the economic uncertainty that's been created out of the Ukraine crisis those mustn't be ignored because frankly there are still two 300 million Africans who are if they're pushed to the edge they're going to fall over and it's very very important that they're not left behind this is a continent that will have the largest population growth at between now and 2050 is vital for the future of the continent but also frankly The Wider world that we sustain the important growth rates that have been achieved in the best performers and tackle the really significant problems in the watchless countries that we've highlighted this week and you talked about some of the challenges that are that are being faced what is the current impact of the war in Ukraine on African fuel insecurity according to the IRC 90 of grains apply us of Somalia comes from Ukraine and Russia that green deal is of course still very shaky how does that potential for a potential famine hinge on that agreement well I think that the famine consequences are really hinging on the Global Response because we know how to tackle starvation it's a matter of resources and organization but for the next level down for those who are not yet at what's called level five but those are at level three and four which means they don't know where their next meal is coming from even though they're not in the starvation status the consequences of the war in Ukraine are twofold one is the grain deal that you very rightly highlight ninety percent of Somali grain of wheat actually comes from Ukraine there's obviously the fertilizer issue out of Russia there's a false narrative being put out that there are sanctions Western sanctions that are somehow creating this food crisis that's wrong there are no sanctions on agriculture but there's a second part of this the Ukraine war has driven up Energy prices Energy prices drives up fuel prices Transportation costs are an important part of the food basket and that's part of the reason that you've seen a 40 rise in food prices is in the 20 countries of the IRC watch list double the level of food price inflation in countries like the us or Western Europe so there's a very profound impact of the Ukraine crisis it's not just a European problem it's a global problem in 10 seconds here do you trust turkey to continue to broker those deals yes turkey has a very strong interest in playing a good brokering role on this so I'm hopeful the problem isn't turkey yeah well thank you so much David milband for for joining us um and of course thank you for being with us this hour Chuck is back tomorrow thanks for watching our YouTube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app

2022-12-17 04:57

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