Meet the Press NOW — March 28

If it's Thursday, President Biden is kicking off a historic fundraising campaign right now with Presidents Obama and Clinton. Biden is raising money but still trails Trump in the polls, plus new details in the investigation into what happened in the moments before a massive freighter crashed. on Fran Scott's key bridge as crews are now beginning the long process of cleaning up the disaster site and Baltimore pauses to mourn the victims and freed former crypto tycoon banker Sam is sentenced to a quarter century in federal prison for masterminding one of the largest financial fraud schemes. in US history, welcome to

meet

the

press

, I'm now the Yamisha Center reporting in Washington today.

The center of the democratic political universe is in Midtown Manhattan, specifically Radio City Music Hall, which is where President Biden will soon take the stage with the two newest Democrats. Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in a historic display of democratic strength. The event features several celebrities, from Lizo to Steve Coar, and is expected to raise $25 million to put that in perspective, a figure that is more than the Biden and Trump campaigns raised in the entire month of February and will rise The Biden campaign's monetary advantage over Trump will further increase, but the event will also highlight one of President Biden's biggest drawbacks: His age, 81, Biden is older than former Presidents Clinton and Obama, sources up to NBC News President Biden has remained in close contact with former presidents, but Biden is even trying to put a spin on a Clinton campaign line by answering a question about the age of his opponent Bob Dole, my fellow countrymen, the problem facing our nation is not It's how old we are.

How old are our ideas? I can only tell you that I don't think the senator is too old to be president. It's the age of his ideas that I question, but while tonight's big event highlights some of Biden's key advantages, he's still far behind. Trump in the polls, a Fox News poll last night has Biden five points behind the former president, although that is still within the margin of error, while Biden has seen a slight increase in some other polls since his State of the State address of the Union. former president by a small margin that the Fox News poll also showed numbers favorable to President Biden at 39% compared to 45% for Donald Trump, so right now we have a candidate with a slight deficit in the polls and a big money lead and another facing a cash crunch while slightly ahead in the polls and 21 days until Election Day NBC's Gabe Gutierrez stands across the street from Radio City Music Hall at NBC headquarters News the rocker fell center so Gabe is taking us to the event tonight, what are we waiting for?

Hello good. The security situation is really ramping up, of course, three former presidents, as you mentioned, and it's expected to be a star-studded event, as you introduced Lizo Queen Latifa, um, the Biden campaign is really trying to say that this is, this is. a huge fundraising event, the first of its kind and as you said over $25 million is expected to be raised in about 5,000 people of course yamish that will also mean there will probably be protesters here the police of New York will block many streets. around Radio City Music Hall, that iconic venue you're looking at right now, but there's also a big protest scheduled for nearby Bryant Park, so you know that's something the police are looking for and you see the video right there earlier today, President Biden and former President Obama walking side by side from Air Force One and this is the image that the Biden campaign really wants to highlight and talk about, it's amazing to see all these presidents together, of course, we know that.

President Biden is older than both of these presidents, so I wonder, when you think about the fact that President Biden is now

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ing with them, what does he hope Lear learned from them, especially since, of course, they both won well their candidacies for re-election. You know, we understand from NBC reporting that you know that President Biden constantly stays in touch with former Presidents Obama and Clinton and then in some cases, after they have a private conversation, he directs his aids to, you know, follow up on some finer points, so just a A few days ago, President Obama and President Biden recorded a video talking about the Affordable Care Act and this is something we can expect in the coming months, the former president Obama, of course, as many Democrats, you know.

He's been concerned about a uh Aid take on what's at stake in this election and the possibility that former President Trump could return to the White House and we've really been seeing that in recent weeks and in the coming months. we wait. take an increasingly active role in the campaign, yes, it will definitely be interesting to see them take an active role, we have to say it over and over again $25 million is what they hope to raise today when you think about that, although I think about the idea that Former President Trump, when he won in 2016, didn't have the most money of the candidates he could outperform, so how does the Biden campaign view this?

And it's still early in the campaign. You cover them too and what they constantly say is that they are really looking forward to this part of the campaign at the end of the next few months, when people really start to tune into this election, they think that everything before it has been There's a lot of noise, without However, they are quick to highlight its enormous fundraising advantage. At this point, I'm also told, according to One Source, familiar with fundraising, you know a good portion of this is actually coming from small dollar donors, of course. There might be some criticism today with former President Trump going near Long Island to visit the um, you know, sort of counterprogramming, essentially visiting the wake of a fallen NYPD officer, um, and you know, President Biden , which you know, will be seen with uh celebrities. here at Radio City Music Hall some of your critics say, "You know, he's focusing on that instead of other priorities, but again, this is trying to generate enthusiasm for this campaign, trying to show that the Biden campaign can raise this money and really get started.

This general election season following the State of the Union certainly has a lot to do with New York, so thank you Gabe for joining us and joining me now is the Democratic Governor of Minnesota, Tim Wal, is the Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association and is supporting President Biden's re-election campaign, thank you very much for being here. Governor, it's a pleasure to be with you, so we know, of course, that this will be a great fundraiser. The Biden campaign is even calling this what they think it might be. being the most successful political fundraiser in history, that being said, what is the significance of today's event beyond the money?

Yeah, well, it's what money can do and we saw it here in Minnesota, of course, a purple state here, you know this. The race will be in the Midwest, from here to Wisconsin, to Michigan, to Pennsylvania, and what that meant was that three top operatives were hired here, a campaign team is here, we see the structure being put in place, what does this mean? money? in the people who will be out there knocking on doors to get out the vote to make sure we're getting the numbers we need and that's exactly how these campaigns are won.

People aren't paying attention yet. This is being prepared. for November and this money and this kind of enthusiasm around this will translate into an actual vote, so I'm very excited about this. I think it shows that they are taking it very seriously. It shows that enthusiasm. The gap will begin to close as people recognize the look. This is a president who has created 15 million jobs, got us out of the mess Donald Trump left us in, and they will start reminding you that while this president is out there doing the work of rebuilding roads and bridges, the former president is in court . trying to deal with their mess, so I'm excited about it, I'm excited about the event, I wish I was there, um, well, I have to ask you, uh, when you think about the fact that both President Obama and President Clinton Both They were able to win their re-election bids.

What do you think President Biden could learn from them if you think about the fact that he, of course, is now trying to do what they did? Yes, I think it's organization. I think that's serious. about this having existed especially during the president's second campaign, um Obama, I was a member of Congress at the time and I watched, if you remember, he was behind, his numbers weren't much higher than this, the polls had made it at the beginning of that and, of course, that's it. It wasn't the way it worked out and we all won again.

I think it's staying focused on the fundamentals. Vice President Harris was here a couple of weeks ago. He was at a Planned Parenthood clinic. He stopped by a high school softball game. They're starting to understand that. retail politics and he goes and looks at the contrast between his revenge tour and the angry rants coming from Donald Trump versus this positive vision of what we can do. I think that's what you should hear. I think they are doing it. I think president. Obama's re-election showed that you don't need to look ahead to what the polls are, that's no indication of where we'll end up, so I feel confident and see that President Trump is now taking and using whatever money they're raising, which is a lot less than this and putting it into their legal funds, the Republican party in Minnesota has $52 in the bank, they have less in Michigan, those are real liabilities when it comes time for a campaign and I just don't see how they are going to change that in a penny, so I'm excited about that and the Governor that you run for President Trump, we know at least based on the polls that are still on the fringes of your era. that President Biden is behind Trump, it appears that in various polls that is enough money to close that gap, the money that the Biden campaign is raising here, well, that's part of it, the other part will be that it will remind people.

What a mess Donald Trump left us in. I was there when he was telling us that infrastructure week every other day was going to be the one where President Biden was here handing out a billion dollars for a major bridge in northern Minnesota, so it's a combination. of money allows us to tell the story, this becomes the binary choice about our future of hope, rebuilding an inclusive place. Reproductive rights are something that the ACA and affordable healthcare protect, that's the complete opposite if it's a Donald Trump presidency and I guess what. What is starting to happen now is a kind of referendum on the frustration that people feel and, although the United States economy is better than any other, prices are still high, so there is a kind of general malaise that is attributes to the president, um, but once.

The election becomes clear and once we start addressing all the positives that have been made it will clear itself up so I am confident that we will re-elect President Biden and have a much more positive outlook on things as we let's keep going. If you approach the election and you talk about the economy, in this Fox News poll yesterday, about 20% of people said the economy, uh, the president is the president's greatest achievement, but about the same number of people they said it's also his biggest failure, so how could he The president says how can he make Americans feel good about the economy even if they see the numbers but don't think they feel it?

Yes, and maybe not. I said, "Look, you know, we're getting close to Easter." Over the weekend I saw the egg price report. Well, the price of eggs has gone up mainly because of the bird flu because of some of the things that have happened and a president sticks to that, but I think you start to show people what has happened. job creation and to be very clear, none of those things, there is nothing that the former president can talk about that comes close to that and I think as we begin to see some of the inflationary

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ures ease, we begin to listen more. let's talk about where people are going to come home because look, this is a choice, the world is struggling with all of this, but the choice is very clear: democracy protects that democracy, the freedoms and the reproductive choices that can be made versus this just dystopian uh just weirdness that comes out of Donald Trump every time he gives something that will be the election at the end of the day, well there's this responsibility that President Biden seems to have if there was an uncommitted vote in his state program on super On Tuesday, 19% of people whoThey voted without compromise, is the president doing enough to address this criticism coming from Democrats over his handling of Israel's war with Hamas?

Yes, look, this is and the Motans are an independent people, we have elected independent governors and and I'm proud that our party can have these conversations, this is what campaigns are supposed to do and I believe that. I think you saw the UN resolution on a ceasefire. I think you see the president talking about the need to have a lasting two-year agreement. state solution the need to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and at the same time recognize Israel's right to exist, so I think those people were expressing a democratic frustration that is healthy, but at the end of the day they are certainly not going to go with Donald Trump, the question is that we need to make sure that they are motivated enough to realize that they need to go back and address the issue of what is happening in the Middle East, but also what is happening in the reproductive sector.

Rights, what is happening in health care, what's happening in the environment, all of those things, those are people who are with President Biden, so yes, I think they are doing it and I think it's healthy and I think those people have every right to express their frustrations, but at the end of the day they will come home and that will help make a difference. Thank you very much for joining us. I know you wanted to be at the event, but we appreciate you being here at Meet the prid now. Thanks for inviting me. Joining me now on Z are the mayor of Mariana, the congressional reporter for the Washington Post, former New York Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley and Mark Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence and an NBC News contributor, so Mariana, I want to start with you right now.

Of course, Biden seems to have President Biden seems to have the cash and the infrastructure, he has an advantage there, but the president, former President Trump, leads the polls although again he is within the margin of error, but he has a cash disadvantage, so who's in Do you think it's the best place here? Yeah, I mean, the cash disadvantage is real and that's how Stark is just in this fundraiser. Biden's campaign is expected to make 25 million, Trump's campaign only raised 20 million in February, so it's pretty significant. in itself and you know what the governor was saying, it's true that if you have money you can open campaign offices, the Biden campaign is expected to open, I think at least a hundred across the country will use some of this money in the In very near future, things like that and you know, something that's a little murky for Republican donors is the fact that the Trump campaign with the RNC just changed the rules a little bit to make sure that a number of donations go to the save America package. who supports Trump and that group has been paying some of his legal fees so I mean it's still early yeah things can change definitely in terms of the polls there are serious concerns for Biden that Trump might know Jin on his base, but at least as far as right now, the financial picture tells us a few things and Mark, what does this financial picture tell us?

In his opinion, former President Trump's campaign is healthy right now. I think he's struggling to raise money, but I think it's also over the top. in the press in many cases, as you mentioned before, Hillary Clinton also outraged Donald Trump, he is going to run a smaller staff campaign, he does not have the ability to attract media attention, so I think the traditional campaign It's not what Donald Trump does. is going to run is not what he ran for in 2016 or 2020, so I think we're making too much of a deal out of this. I think a much bigger issue is whether there will be a third, fourth or fifth candidate on the ballot, will Robert F.

Kennedy be on the ticket? On the ballots there will be a candidate without labels because Donald Trump's support is so intense on both sides, polarizing that he will remain, he will have a high floor, but if you have the no-win vote that is divided between multiple candidates, that harms Joe Biden . I think that's a bigger issue than the money issue, well Joe, I want to ask you, of course, there's that big money issue in terms of how much money the Democrats are going to raise today, but I'm wondering about the front end. united of this idea. that you have these three presidents coming out, that I can't even imagine a time where you would have George Bush on the same stage as former President Trump, so what does it mean, just from a messaging standpoint? , that these Democratic presidents can come together like that, well, I think especially looking at the president, former President Obama, getting in the car and getting out of the car with Biden, he's speaking to a particular audience, too, I think it shows tremendous unity. aiming. not having Donald Trump re-elected and I'll just go back and we'll talk about history, let's go back to 1864 Abraham Lincoln thought he was going to lose the election, you know, uh in his in his in his re-election um and we are this is it's It's going to be one of the longest campaigns in history.

There are still 200 days of overdoses left between now and Election Day. Many things are going to happen. I think money makes a difference. Until a certain point. Yes, I think Mark is right about that and I had my own campaign. where he was, I outspent my opponent and we know what happened, but having that infrastructure in place is critical for a national campaign of this type and that's why I think the gap will narrow. We've been talking about the kind of advantages of President Biden is on stage with these presidents, but there's also the disadvantage that both President Obama and President Clinton were younger than their opponents and they both won re-election against people who were older. that they.

Is there a risk here for President Biden shows the fact that he is the oldest person in the room. I mean, yeah, there's that physical contrast, but I think, bringing in Obama in particular, he's always energized the Democratic base and the younger voters, which is something that's just a group of people that Biden definitely needs to bring in from back to the game to get them excited about being a reliable participation base, so yeah, physically we'll probably see that difference, but I mean people still want to go see it and they're tuning in. Also go online to watch this fundraiser and there might be a podcast that I want to turn to as well, of course the other person in this race Trump is also in New York, he's in Long Island Mark at this wake for New York for the NYPD Well, you're talking about crime even though crime has decreased in several ways.

Is this as big an event as maybe a campaign rally for Donald Trump? Can you capitalize on this crime issue without perhaps making a big demonstration about it? I think so, I think this today is really a favorable contrast for Donald Trump. I accept the point of having three presidents on stage with many stars, but for the average voter they are watching Donald Trump at the funeral of an assassinated man. official and I think I accept your point that crime has gone down in some areas, but in many Americans' perceptions it is still high and I think that is a big advantage for Donald Trump and it is a sincere comment that could have been a vulnerability. the reality is you know he teamed up with a lot of democrats to pass jailbreak legislation.

I also think he has attacked the officers who were attacked on January 6th and defended the riers as patriots, so I think that could have been a vulnerability, but optics. Him being there with the family of the murdered soldier who was arrested 22 times before killing an officer is a stark contrast to what Joe Biden is doing tonight and I think that significantly favors Donald Trump, but is there a risk of that can be seen as hypocritical because obviously former President Trump is dealing with his own legal problems here. Well, I share with you what I believe are the hypocrisies that in many cases he was associated with legislation that I believe let many criminals out. , has also attacked or defended those who attacked the police office on January 6, so I think there is a challenge there, but I think the optics are completely different and I think it favors Donald Trump today.

I have to have my New York a little bit up here, uh, and as the grandson and son of New York City police officers my father uh Being for 22 years in the NPD was a detective uh the notion or idea that Donald Trump cares at all about this officer or this officer's family it's outrageous he doesn't have a lick of sympathy in his body he's hypocritical uh I think people find it hypocritical that he's using this grieving family for political purposes for a political rally, it's outrageous, where was that same empathy for the families of the police officers and others who died as a result of the attack of the six? he didn't exist, he doesn't care about anyone but himself and New Yorkers are sophisticated enough to know that I hope America is more sophisticated to understand that he is exploiting a grieving family.

It's interesting to bring this up because Republican voters in Mariana haven't. He hasn't pitted us against Donald Trump, what do you think? Yes, and you know it from my position on Capitol Hill. House Republicans have talked about defending the police. They make it a problem, especially in the majority of the House of Representatives when they can pass. certain bills state that, but at the same time you have this party that is very used to also saying that we need to defund the FBI, we need to defund the Department of Justice, other types of law enforcement officials that the Democrats are now dealing with to point out that Contra contrasts, that's fine. you say we want to defund the police well you all also want to defund a different type of police yeah yeah I want to ask you real quick about the congressman before we go there's the third one and there are no labels right now , are having a lot of trouble recruiting a candidate is that they may have already finished or they won't be able to get it off the ground.

You think I'm not going to run on a third party line. I won't do it, otherwise I haven't done it. They've asked me, but by the way, if they ask me, I won't run, but look, it looks like they're running out of time. Is not easy. Put together a campaign to raise resources to do the things you want to do. um, you know, uh, I think we know who the two candidates are going to be, yeah, it's over, yeah, well, but I think there's a third candidate, Robert F. Kenny Jr, and I think that hurts Joe Biden significantly, but right now there is a primary. not in the F, in the November elections, well, we are seeing it in the polls, but we will have to leave it there.

Thank you very much Mariana Joe Mark, thank you all for being here and celebrating an emotional day in Baltimore marked by a moment of silence for those killed in Tuesday's devastating bridge collapse we are live from Camden Yards with the latest on the investigation and response below, plus we have new developments from Capitol Hill House Speaker Johnson now says he will send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayoras in the Senate on April 10. You are watching Meet the Press. Now, welcome back. We are receiving more information from investigators about the disastrous accident that took down the Francis Scott Key Bridge and today the people of Baltimore paused to honor the victims.

The Baltimore Oriols began their 2024 season about an hour ago. The team began with a moment of silence for those who died less than 10 miles from Camden Yards in Tuesday's bridge collapse. Two bodies were recovered from the Patapsco River yesterday, but authorities called off the search. For the four remaining victims, they have moved on to what they are now calling a salvage operation, meanwhile, the NTSB has released this video for their investigators who are already on board the ship and have spoken with the crew members. NBC News correspondent Ryan Nobl joins me. Now, from Baltimore, Mr. Ryan, what have NTSB investigators determined in the last 36 hours?

What's the last thing he said to me before we talked? I just want to tell you about a pretty emotional moment that took place behind me here at Camden Yard, where the Baltimore Orioles are. opening the 2024 baseball season and between the third inning, in the middle inning, in the third inning, three officers from the Maryland Department of Transportation were honored for their bravery, they were part of that group of officers who alerted people who They were driving in and around the Key Bridge not to do it on the bridge to close traffic in that area and save lives and while they thanked everyone for all the recognition that has been given to them, they said, I quote in a statement that not a large number of training could have prepared anyone for the events they hadtook place on the Francis Scott Key Bridge and, of course, even though there was a lot of heroic action that took place and there were a lot of lives that were saved, there were still six lives lost and as you rightly point out, two of those bodies have been recovered, the search for the other four continues in terms of the NTSB investigation, it is a long process, they have been able to get aboard the shipping container that is still in the middle of In the Patapsco River, they recovered that data register that allowed them to least begin to piece together the timeline of events, but one thing they discovered while they were aboard that ship is that it contains hazardous materials, which is just going to continue complicating the recovery process there in the river before they can reopen the port.

Yeah, and Ryan, you talked about the fact that this is going to be a long investigation. Do we have any idea how long it could last? The way officials are approaching it is by seeing it in stages. In theory, the entire investigation could take years. It could take a long period of time before they actually close and stop all work needed to figure out what went wrong. but they do expect that over certain periods of time they will learn new information, for example, why this ship lost control, why it lost power, what led to that, that is something they could discover in the next few weeks or months, but in terms why the ship sank or sorry why the bridge sank so fast.

What could be done to avoid that? Going forward, they're not really putting a specific timeline in place to make sure they do everything they can. They can possibly find out everything they can about this tragedy. As we take this tragedy into account, there is still the fact that change is still in the middle of the river. What have authorities said about how long that ship could remain there? and what it takes to move it, yes, yes, I think with each passing day, that task becomes more daunting. When those investigators got on the ship, they realized how much damage had been done to the ship.

There are two parts to this process: they have to remove the wreckage from the ship's bridge and then they have to begin the very careful process of removing the ship from port. That's not going to be easy because as we mentioned before, there are those hazardous materials on board, there is also the safety of the crew members who are also on board right now, so they are also measuring in weeks and they really believe that it should There's a sense of urgency related to this because this port is a very important port in terms of the United States economy and of course the jobs associated with it, but they want to make sure that they do it safely because it's going to be a task. very delicate and in many ways an unprecedented process, this is something that the people who deal with this have never had to deal with before the Amish ran, it is still very difficult to see those images and you have been doing a great I work covering this story, so thank you very much for being with us joining me now is Alan, a former NTSB investigator.

Thank you very much for being here based on his experience. What would researchers focus on at this time? What do you think is really happening here? Well, there are probably several types of investigations being carried out simultaneously, the first question is why the engine failed and how much manned the engine. People in the engine room that diesels don't suddenly fail normally. Did this crew communicate with a captain? Because obviously, he did know that engine. could fail, I probably would have told the pilots, hey, look, let's keep the tugs on hand because the engine room tells me we have some problems there that would have greatly reduced the dangers, of course, they were facing a crosswind if you look at the smoke.

Have you seen the video, the smoke didn't go up straight, it veered to one side, there was a north wind that pushed the ship south, basically, and I can imagine this was no different than the Titanic situation where you have this mega monster ship, in that case heading towards an iceberg, when you lose your power, your rudder loses its effectiveness and you must remember that these ships have a lot of cargo area and the ship is like a big sail that is literally pushing the ship out of the channel , so they dropped anchor. The pilot ordered that he ordered to turn left.

I understand the rudder, but it couldn't stop the momentum, so communication between the engine room, the captain, the pilots and the tugboats are going to be critical and there is a type of training that they are supposed to have called Resource Management of the crew. I think that will be one of the big focuses of the board. In this investigation, Alan, you raise the idea that there were tugboats um and there's been a lot of conversation about whether or not they should have been used more here I want to play for you the sound of the head of the NTSB take a list of tugboats help him help the ship , leave the dock and leave the port and then enter the main shipping channel and then leave once it is underway, it is a straight shot across the channel, so there are no tugboats with the ship at that time, as well They were asking for tugboats, so what do you think of what she's saying?

Could the tugboats really have prevented this tragedy? Well, that's what the NTSB will have to determine now what Sher Hy was describing is a normal situation. If you think they have engine problems, no. I don't think that pilot is going to allow the ship to move towards the bridge because he is basically controlling the ship in port, so I think he would insist that the tug stay with him until let's resolve whether or not we have an engine problem I also want to ask you about this The black box of this ship is called the ship's voyage data recorder.

What would you be most interested in and what would researchers possibly be most interested in when they look at that box? Well, it's a kind of combination of voice and data recorders, but as Hy pointed out, it doesn't have many channels, it's not like an airplane recorder with a thousand parameters, the most important thing, I think, besides the voice, we talk about whether the The captain was informed that we have a problem with the engine, but the other thing is the wind speed. Some of these Voyage data loggers actually have a wind measurement device that sends the data to the black box and I didn't hear her mention that, but like I said when I saw that smoke going horizontally instead of up I thought, oh boy it's in a strong cross, it's a high profile vehicle, we all know what happens to trucks on the road when they have a cross wind, the same thing happens in an even bigger way with these high profile vessels.

Thank you very much for giving us your experience. Really we appreciate. Alan, it's a pleasure. Thank you for inviting me to remember the life and legacy of the former senator, presidential candidate and frequent encounter. press guest Joe Liberman you're watching Meet the press now welcome back mark your calendars today speaker Mike Johnson announced he will air House articles challenging how Homeland Security Secretary Alejandra Mayorcas on April 10 The Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says senators will be sworn in as jurors the next day, Johnson announced the decision in a letter signed by all 11 impeachment managers, including George's Marjorie Taylor Green, who is actively threatening the job. of the spokesperson.

This impeachment trial will be very different from the presidential impeachment trials we saw during the Trump administration. and depending on what Senate Democrats do, this could all be very, very brief, we also got some news about the other chairman of the House Impeachment Investigation Oversight Committee, James Comr, who previously invited President Biden to testify publicly, suggesting April 16 as a potential date when a lot is happening. On NBC News, Sahil Kapor is on Capital Hill with the latest, so what can we expect specifically from the Mayorcas impeachment trial? What might many potential impeachments look like right now?

Yamish on the impeachment trial of Mayorcas that the chamber is finally going to carry out. pass on those articles after voting to impeach the DHS secretary on April 10, as you pointed out the next day, Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader's office said senators will be sworn in for the trial. We know that the impeachment managers include 11 members, including a couple of committee chairmen. including Mark Green, chairman of Homeland Security, as well as some far-right Trump allies such as Andy Bigs and Marjorie Taylor Green. The parameters of this trial are very unknown at this time. It's up to the senators in terms of how to bring this to light.

It's going to be a full-blown extended trial with evidence presented and, you know, senators are considering all of this or whether they could vote to dismiss it early. This is a possibility, it's something that Republican Senator Rand Paul tried to do in the Donald Trump impeachment trial, he failed to get the votes to dismiss, but the Democrats control the Senate, they have 51 votes, if all those 51 members vote for of dismissal, then this could be dispensed with very quickly, very early, and there are some signs of hope, uh. Democrats know that could happen because Sen. Joe Mansion, the most conservative member of that Democratic caucus, told me a couple of weeks ago that he finds Mycus' impeachment ridiculous and would vote to impeach him if that came up sooner and zah.

Of course, there's also the other impeachment inquiry, the one, of course, against President Biden, right now it looks like the Republicans might be preparing to end this whole investigation with a whimper. What does that look like? Could you explain what is happening there? Yes, what is happening is basically yamish. that Republicans do not have the votes right now to impeach President Biden. This is proving to be a much heavier push than the impeachment of Alejandra Mayaras, which was not easy. They succeeded after failing the first time, but James took the camera. The president overseeing one of the leaders of this impeachment inquiry has recently been hinting at a possible exit by voting to impeach Biden.

The Republicans are not going to bring this up if they don't have the votes, it would be useless, it would be a disgrace to them and what comr has been saying in fundraising emails to his supporters is that the Democrats would block this anyway , even if the House votes to impeach President Biden, that Democrats would do what they have signaled they will do with myus, which is kill him. on the Senate and COMR front has hinted at the possibility of issuing criminal references. He has explicitly said that he hopes Donald Trump will be elected president this fall and that he will appoint leaders to the justice department who would act on those criminal referrals and prosecute members. of what he calls the Biden crime family, it's extremely unusual to see prominent American officials say they hope one person is elected so they can prosecute specific people, but that's where we are now yamish, that's where we all are, so thank you .

Thank you very much shahil kapor, now we want to take a moment to remember someone who has been present at the Capitol for many years, former Senator Joe Liberman, who represented Connecticut for 24 years, first as a Democrat and then as an independent senator, has passed away. In New York yesterday, a statement from his family said his death was due to complications from a fall in 2000, when Al Gore's candidate, Liberman, became the first Jewish American on the presidential ticket. of an important match. Our opponents are decent and like capable men. I am proud to call many members of his party my friends, but America must understand that there are very real differences between us in this election tonight.

I believe that the next Frontier is not only in front of us but within us to overcome the differences that still exist between us. us to break down the barriers that still exist and help every American reclaim the God-given possibilities of their own lives as a liberal Democrat was also willing to go against his party at times when he criticized President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and later a strong supporter of the Iraq War, he was also known for forging bipartisan friendships, especially with Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham (they jokingly called themselves The Three Amigos eight years after accepting nomination for vice president in the Democratic National Committee) Liberman spoke at the Republican Congress.

National Convention shortly after endorsing Republican candidate John McCain, what is a Democrat like me doing at a Republican convention like this after all? Well, I'll tell you why I'm here to support John McCain because country matters more than party. I'm here. tonight, for one simple reason, John McCainis the best option to unite our country and Lead America forward Joe Liberman was a frequent guest on Meet the Press and appeared more than two dozen times on the Sunday show. Here is part of his appearance in December 1996, the most important. The challenge is to regenerate America morally and part of that part of immorality is the suffering that the poor endure, we, we, you know, I'm an optimist right now, and the very fact that more people are concerned about the moral future . of our country that the economic future tells me that the American people understand that we really do not live on bread alone and that even if we have more bread than most people in the entire world, we still have to find the difference between good and bad. evil and and truth and falsehood and live according to that.

I have the feeling that there is a moral resurgence taking place in this country. Recently, Liberman became co-chair of the group No Labels, the group working to find a challenger to President Biden and former President Donald. Trump in November, the group issued a statement that reads in part: Senator Liberman was a singular figure in American political life who always put country before party. He was a pragmatic and deeply principled leader who believed public service was a privilege and who dedicated his life to the betterment of others Joe Liberman was 82 years old Welcome back today Disgraced crypto magnate Sam Bakeman Fred was sentenced to 25 years in prison prison, ending months of legal drama surrounding one of the largest financial fraud crimes in history.

A jury found Bakman free. guilty of seven counts of criminal fraud following a month-long trial last fall after his cryptocurrency company FTX collapsed and went bankrupt in 2022, the company lost billions of dollars of customer money. We heard from Judge Kaplan about his reasoning behind this sentence and was it longer than expected? Yes, it's great to see you. Well, it was in line with what many legal experts expected: between 25 and 35 years. The range that people expected to be the maximum sentence was about 110 years, much less than what the prosecution had recommended, which was 40 to 50 years. The freed banker had meanwhile suggested five to six years or at least his defense team did it more or less right. in the middle, as far as what we heard from the judge today and the reasoning behind that sentence, because he found that the freed banker committed perjury on the stand, the judge thought he lied on the stand, which adds to the sentence and That was really one of the big gambles that he testified in the first place, so it came back to haunt him when the sentencing came.

He also said you know that beyond being untrustworthy and committing perjury, he said he was at risk of committing other crimes. and he thought the sentence had to be long enough to ensure that he wouldn't do something like this again. Prosecutors called this one of the largest financial frauds in US history so those were the two main issues and he said that in his 30 years on the stand he had not seen anything like what he called a Sam Bman performance. released in terms of how evasive he was during the interrogation and much of the line. that happened and, as you said, this will be remembered as one of the largest financial fraud cases in history.

What message do you think this sentence sends? That's really what the prosecution was trying to emphasize today is that they are trying to send a message with this phrase in this case in general, that things like this will not be tolerated, especially in newer technology industries, like cryptocurrencies, where It can be confusing, you can really get into the weeds with some of the investing and it can sound confusing. but they said this was a good old case of financial fraud and they're trying to make it clear that it doesn't matter what rapper you know your financial instrument could be in, whether it's stocks or cryptocurrencies or whatever they say is fraud. fraud and they're going to be tough on that so that was really the message here thank you so much Kate for breaking this all down and there's still to come BB backtracks on details on Prime Minister Benjamin Netan under pressure to reschedule meetings of Israeli delegations in Washington. the latest report you are watching below Meet the Press now welcome back White House says it is working to reschedule an Israeli delegation's visit to Washington to discredit Israel's planned offensive in Rafa earlier this week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly canceled the visit after the United States abstained from a vote calling for an immediate ceasefire, allowing it to be approved yesterday at a meeting with a bipartisan group of American lawmakers in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Nyaho played down concerns about an offensive. Victory is within reach. It's a few weeks away. Now they tell us this. Is it the last point? Now they tell us they can't do this. If they enter the RAF, they will have a humanitarian catastrophe. They will have, I don't know, 30,000 in the entire Gaza Strip north of Raa. I know people move down, they can move back up, they don't have to go to northern Gaza, but 65% of the Gaza Strip is still open and people are just moving, they are moving with their tents. Those comments come as President Biden continues. to face domestic pressure over his handling of the war while the president holds that fundraiser we talked about on Radio fool around 50 protesters Braving the elements in nearby Bryant Park and yesterday a State Department official resigned in protests citing US diplomatic and military support for Israel We will have more from the White House in a moment.

We begin on the ground with NBC journalist Sánchez in Israel, just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu very publicly canceled a trip to Washington by a delegation of senior Israeli officials that he is now quietly attempting. to reschedule those meetings, those talks were supposed to be about this very public disagreement between Israel and the United States over Israeli plans to launch a major ground defense in the city of Rafa Netanyahu says it's the only way to destroy Hamas, but the The Biden administration has been very clear that it believes any large-scale attack on Rafa would be a disaster that would lead to significant civilian casualties and thus disruption of humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza, it now remains to be seen whether U.S. officials At this rescheduled meeting they will be able to change Israeli minds.

It is not clear that the United States believes that Israel can achieve its objectives with a series of more targeted and surgical strikes against Rafa, but all indications are that the Israeli side is determined to strike now amid this public dispute between the White House and the administration. of Netanyahu. A new Gallup poll shows that 50.5% of Americans disapprove of Israel's military operation in Gaza; It is the first time this poll has found a majority of Americans disapprove and comes amid what is an increasingly public set of tensions between the United States and Israel, while all eyes are on Gaza.

There was more fighting on the Israel-Lebanon border in recent days. Israel targeted what it said was a senior official of a militant group aligned with Hezbollah. Hezbollah struck back yesterday, killing a civilian in a town in northern Israel and among the many concerns among Israeli officials is that this single-front war right now in Gaza could spread to a second front in Lebanon. Thank you very much to Sánchez for that report. Once again, join me now outside the White House, NBC's Monica Alba. Thank you very much for being here, so Monica, the United States says Israel has agreed to reschedule talks on Gaza after canceling them just a few days ago.

So why is Israel backtracking now and to what extent is Benjamin Netanyahu, of course, Israel's prime minister? to feel how far it can push the US, it really feels like this is the historic low point in the relationship between the US and Israel, which has already become quite strained, but the US . have been very clear and the Biden Administration has said. continues to support Israel, there has not been any conditioning on aid, there has not been any major policy change when it comes to the war in Gaza, but now the United States is being a little more direct with its rhetoric and saying that It was the Prime Minister who canceled this meeting that was supposed to take place this week trying to attribute it to that UN resolution in the extension of the US when in reality they claimed that it was some kind of political movement that they really ignored this broader need to hold the meeting. which now the prime minister's office says okay we will work to find a new date and I'm told it will probably be sometime next week and what it really indicates here is that the United States does not believe that Israel is preparing for go to Rafa imminently that there is some time here and that they have not been able to observe any imminent military movement on the ground, so they still believe that there is an opportunity to have a conversation here, but the big yamish question is what will happen if finally Israel challenges the United States and the president and that could perhaps lead to some kind of change in policy here and that is what everyone is waiting for now to see if this meeting actually takes place next week and will give us a small window to but it may also mean that that is simply delaying the purchase a little more time so that Israel can decide whether they are going to attack Rafa while there is still this other important question of whether there could be some kind of decisive factor that will lead to a temporary ceasefire and a hostage agreement, as that is also a major priority and how much is the Biden administration escalating?

It seems that his criticism of Israel really about how to deal with the internal pressure they face and the backlash over President Biden's handling of the war in the Middle East is certainly a factor in all of this, but this is also the focus of the President Biden from a foreign policy perspective. He has felt this is the right way to handle it for months, almost six. Months after those October 7 terrorist attacks, the president really believes that the way to try to influence Israel and its decisions is by keeping them very close and hugging the Prime Minister, but we know that they have had very intense telephone conversations recently. weeks and that that relationship also has its own weaknesses, so now the United States is still trying to use all these other types of soft power approaches to try to really emphasize their position on all of this and that is again what everyone is attentive.

We'll see if that ever changes, but the United States has also been clear in recent weeks raising these concerns about the humanitarian crisis in particular, saying that something absolutely needs to be done on that front and that's what a potential ceasefire could achieve. Definitely a lot. To watch, we will continue to look for your reports. Thank you very much Monica. We'll be back tomorrow with more Meet the Press now, but the news continues with h Jackson right now. Thanks for watching. Stay up to date on the latest news and top stories. NBC News app or follow us on social media