MTP NOW Jan. 31 — Rep. Yvette Clarke; Biden & Trump 'mirror' candidates; McCarthy meeting preview

If it's Tuesday, polls poll and 2024, new numbers from our NBC News poll show how uncomfortable voters are with the prospect of a rematch between Biden and Trump in 2024, as both men face new legal and political headwinds in against, plus new fallout in Memphis, where officials have suspended a seventh police officer and fired three first responders for their role in the death of Tyree Nichols and the White House announces plans to end the country's coveted Health Emergency , marking a major shift in the response to the pandemic, even as the death toll from the virus continues to rise.

Meet the Press Now I'm Kristen Welker in Washington, we begin today with a series of legally and politically troubling developments for the leaders of both major parties, President Biden and former President Trump. The new NBC News poll released now shows that voters in the United States have very little enthusiasm for either man to run in 2024. Only seven percent of voters say they are excited about a possible Biden run in 2024 and Nearly half say they are very uncomfortable with the prospect, only 15 percent say they are excited about Trump's 2024 bid More than half say they are very uncomfortable, so in total about two-thirds of Voters say they have some reservations or are very uncomfortable with Trump or Biden seeking another term now that this comes amid a day of news showing the Stark challenges both face for the former President Trump remembers the network most Legal troubles surround him, as sources confirm to NBC News that the Manhattan prosecutor has convened a grand jury to hear possible criminal charges over Trump's role in hush money payments made to an adult film actress in 2016.

The New York attorney general today released a video of his deposition of Trump in his investigation into business practices at the Trump organization. A new report from NBC News reveals that Trump's campaign operation is struggling to raise money. The former president began the campaign last weekend. with a speech to his supporters that seemed pretty similar to his 2020 campaign, listen, everyone in this room shares the key mission that we are going to feed Joe Biden to feed Joe Biden and the radical Democrats, I think they are radical left people in many cases its Marxists and communists and today the Biden White House faces new questions about the chronology of classified documents found in Biden's home in office that are the subject of its own criminal investigation, two senior officials charged with making Law enforcement officials have confirmed to NBC News that the FBI searched the offices of the Penn Biden Center in mid-November after the president's personal lawyers found classified documents there earlier in the month, despite many opportunities to do so, law enforcement officials Biden did not publicly disclose that FBI search as the president prepares for a high-stakes

meeting

with the president.

Kevin McCarthy tomorrow, ahead of his State of the Union address next week, all amid stagnant and sluggish approval numbers, the president has spent the week so far leaning on one of his own 2020 messages, bipartisanship, This is what he said earlier in New York City. As they tout a new infrastructure project, Americans see these projects popping up across the country and it sends an important message that we're going to do this when we work together like we did on the bipartisan bill on the chip bill, there's nothing we won't we can do. I'm joined now by NBC News White House Correspondent Mike Memley and NBC News Senior National Political Reporter Jonathan Allen.

Thank you both for being here. Mike, we have this latest news on the FBI and the documents at the Penn Center, as you know. As we've been reporting throughout the day, I wanted the message of the day to be about bipartisanship, about your infrastructure bill, after all, this is infrastructure week and yet we're also going to get these tough numbers in the surveys in 2024. What are they? You're hearing from your sources inside the White House about all of this, well Kristen, wow, those poll numbers really show a country that is extremely dissatisfied with the current state of the nation, they think it's on the wrong path and they're They feel extremely uncomfortable with him. the two options the two main options they have to lead the country into the future.

Now, President Biden has a real idea today here in New York of the tone he wants to set for next year leading up to the State of the Union. The speech and ultimately his re-election campaign talk about promises kept, they talk about the ability to achieve an economy that works for the middle class, they really tout billions and billions of dollars that will generate tens and thousands of new jobs for Americans. That's really what he wants to talk about, but this White House continues to face challenges on multiple fronts. The biggest challenge lately, of course, has been this investigation of classified documents and the White House really fighting this trickle of New Revelations is now learning that.

Like his home in Wilmington, Delaware, the office he used in the Center corral was searched by the FBI, so why wasn't the White House more direct about it? That is a great question, there is also the challenge of the unknown, this tragic case of Tyree Nichols forcing the White House must be agile the White House announces a

meeting

with the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday at the White House we also just learned about that Vice President Kamala Harris will be a late addition to the funeral in Memphis tomorrow, by the way, an interesting move to send her there, but ultimately the biggest challenge facing the White House this year is with this new Republican Congress.

You get a real idea, Kristen, with that great exchange you have with the president about what his message is to the new Republican. speaker, you're challenging him to show me his budget, you know the divisions in the Republican Party and we got an even more candid sense of the president's thinking before this meeting, when he was just in the final hour talking to donors here in New York , talked about the Off the Wall promises that Kevin McCarthy had to make with his group to be elected president, said that one of the goals for him and that he is about to head to present the case to voters is to show that we will not tolerate to the maga republicans, that's a real insight into how the president sees his mission as he's potentially seeking a second term now and a lot of reports about the timing of a possible announcement, of course you first informed mike that will occur sometime after the State of the Union, if so.

In fact, he decides to go on the record, let me ask you very quickly before I let you continue with that high-stakes meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, there's a lot at stake, Mike, and again, as you noted, the president just to indicate today when I asked him. if he were to negotiate, he won't move away from his perspective that he's not going to negotiate yet, President McCarthy says we want to cut spending, yes Kristen, the White House clearly thinks they have the political advantage here, the president has been doing this. Not only was it doing it all over the country lately leading up to the midterm elections, Republicans are proposing very unpopular things like spending cuts to Social Security, Medicare and defense spending that are going to divide the Republican Party and a lot. less divide the country, but they are also doing it.

It's one thing for Kristen to have the political advantage to win a fight on a campaign stage, but this fight over the debt ceiling has real risks for the economy, not just here but globally. A default on US debt obligations would be historic. extremely detrimental to the global economy and would really hurt the situation. The president wants to make a strong case for the economy in 2024. Yes, and of course, the nation has never defaulted, so the stakes couldn't be higher. Jonathan, let me turn to you. Of course, former President Trump returned to the campaign trail over the weekend and you have new reports about some of the difficulties he's having fundraising, what do sources say about him?

Yes, Christian, President Trump, in his launch has had difficulties, a big wall after the announcement, uh, without the big campaign rallies that we expected, as you noticed, he went out on the campaign trail, uh, only on Saturday at early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, but the big news here is that he raised $9.5 million in the last six weeks of last year, that was the six-week period from the time he announced until the end of December , and raised 11.8 million in the first six weeks of that fundraising quarter, so 11.8 million in the six weeks before it. announced uh 9.5 later, there are signs that he understands that his fundraising is in danger, that he is in danger of having a really big cash crunch pretty quickly, he has already hired a new company, an additional company to do the fundraising digital funds, so you can contact those little ones. big-dollar donors who have been so essential to his past political success and we're also likely to see him build a more traditional national fundraising structure with big-dollar donors and the kind of packages typically seen in presidential campaigns, well , to some extent, they are there. a sense within Trump World that that has happened because if you look at things it seems like things are actually heating up between him and Governor DeSantis, what are you hearing?

Yes, yes, there is no feeling that he was able to clear the field. DeSantis is obviously. making a lot of noise like he's going to run he's not the only one Mike Pence former vice president Mike Pompeo former secretary of state Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina looks like he may be a presidential candidate Nikki Haley former governor of South Carolina and uh, ambassador of the United States to the United Nations, so there are a lot of

candidates

that will be running and the reason why that is so important, Kristen, to the point that you mentioned at the top of this, where basically the most people in the country don't want to see Biden run and I don't want to see Trump run.

Biden has no opponents right now and he may not get them and he is certainly rejiggering the Democratic primary system to make it harder for someone to run against them and then on the Republican side, if there is a full message of

candidates

who don't are Trump, the fact that Donald Trump belongs to, you know, a base that is maybe 30 percent of the Republican Party, which is like a very, very firm base, maybe a little bit larger, particularly if he starts running against others. People, he is in a good position, I would say he is the weakest we have seen him and he is still the strongest candidate in the Republican field right now.

That's a great way to sum it up and we're about to dig into those numbers. Excellent report, Mike. and John, thank you very much, I'm joined on set now by Stephanie Sriac, Senior Advisor at the Strategic Victory Fund and former President of Emily's List. Mark Murray, senior political editor here at NBC News. Eugene Daniels, Politico White House correspondent and political analyst for NBC News and Danielle. plutka, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and also a contributor to NBC News, thank you all for being here on a very busy Tuesday, Mark, I have to start with you and these numbers, um, let's put some of them back in just to remind the people's feelings towards permanence. candidacy in 2024 feelings towards Trump's candidacy in 2024 everyone seems to have reservations about who should be most concerned about these numbers Kristen first, let me start, our survey questions are a little different than others where you usually end up looking at what the horse race. es and our pollsters at this stage of the race and it is still very early.

I want to look at the different levels of support or opposition you might end up having, so let's focus on the polar extremes for both President Biden and Donald Trump and For President Biden's unit, only seven percent say they are very enthusiastic, for Of course, that's something we saw for him in 2020, it worked pretty well for him, but on the other hand you end up having 48 percent who say they feel very uncomfortable a lot of times. This is coming from Republicans and also independents, but then let's look at the president, former President Donald Trump, there's more that are excited 15 again, like they agree with him and John was just talking about that base of support, but then there's even more opposition 52 percent who say they feel very uncomfortable and when you end up looking at both men oneside by side they are almost

mirror

images of each other, you have a third of those chosen generally after saying yes, I'm excited or comfortable and then two thirds say no, or I have reservations or I feel very uncomfortable, so in this so early in the 2024 race there is some fear and loathing of are we going to have a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump Daniel plate when you look at these numbers, I mean what's going on, it looks like we might be heading towards deja vu again oh my god please I'm sorry to say you know what caught my attention you asked that question who is the big loser here and the answer is we are the big losers here because can't we do better than two candidates who no one wants to see again in the race?

Can't we do better in 2024 than in 2020 and 2016? we really need fresh blood on the political front Democrats and Republicans, let's look at another number right path wrong path 71 of the country Stephanie says the country is on the wrong path that's a huge number Marco put it in historical context but when you see that I mean what? What's your big takeaway on Danny's point? Well, we are in an interesting moment because we have Donald Trump, who is entering what will be a very complicated primary, against which he will have to fight and they are going to beat him and he is going to beat people and he knows that he is very good on that and President Biden is going to spend the next 18 months delivering infrastructure like he did today in Baltimore, oh, going state by state and showing people what he's accomplished in the last two years with the Democratic Congress, which frankly is close to achieve historic amounts of achievements that the American people do not achieve.

I know that yet, but it's money that's going to go to the American people and create jobs and that's going to make a big difference, but now they're playing salesmanship and that's what we're going to see in the next few years. Next year, Eugene, what do you think of these numbers and this idea that both sides say we want fresh blood, but we feel stuck? Yeah, well, the part is these two men who feel like they want to take. Joe Biden, who is looking at Donald Trump running and saying I'm the only one who can beat him, has been proven right in that assessment and believes he can do it again, I think at one point he said: I'll beat him like a drum, and that's something that this White House continues to feel, but when you talk to Democrats and Republicans and then ordinary voters, they all get over it, these men don't. just, um man, which is what we hear from voters, they are ideologically different than a lot of Americans in this country, so for Donald Trump he has all his baggage and then for Biden, when you talk to younger voters, black voters , other marginalized groups.

They want to see a more left-wing candidate and someone who is not going to be an old white man again and one of the notable things that came out of this poll, Mark Murray, is that you have this issue of classified documents where you have 67 percent saying that the handling of them by President Trump is worrying 67 to say that President Biden's handling of them is worrying now there are differences President Biden handed them over the White House itself has not been very transparent with the public in terms of getting ahead of these revelations that The press has broken out about former President Trump, of course, he refused to hand over the documents, that's why he received the subpoena, but what does that tell you that the public doesn't see the difference?

Well, it's important to keep in mind how we ask that question. The classified documents found in his former office or his residence are: Do you find this worrying or not? And yes, we found

mirror

images that say it's 67. Yes, I find that troubling and interesting in our poll because most Democrats say yes. The Biden documents were troubling and most of the Republicans said yes, the Trump documents are troubling, so some of the partisans said you know I have issues with my guys and they're handling classified information now, but Kristen, I think, like you mentioned, the handling.

It's important to note here as well that CBS had its own poll that had a slightly different result. He was asked what his perceptions are about the handling after the effect and the poll found that President Biden's people have more confidence in how he handled things than former President Donald. Trump, so the way we ask those questions is very interesting, but again, on the surface, just like the previous one, are you excited or are you very uncomfortable? And in these classified documents there are starting to be some polar extremes and also some mirror images that we are singing about.

I think there's another question that needs to be asked here about the documents, since we now know that Vice President Pence had some in his home. Actually I'm afraid everyone has some in his house. I like literally everyone is watching right now, everyone is watching. right now the government needs to find out what I don't like, there is a problem here. I think the next question for the American people is how much do I care, if I can be worried because I sound like that, that should be worrying, I guess, but does it affect my life today?

Yeah, I don't know, I'm much more worried about prices, jobs, childcare and education, so I'm worried about us still talking. We were talking about this before so I don't like it. take your, but we were literally talking about this before, it's like how much longer or as this continues, is this what people are really thinking about and I think you're right, there's no question that the inflation of the economy continues to be the highest. problem and yet Daniel plucker, is it an area where former President Trump has a potential weakness vulnerability? No, I think if you want to show President Trump's weaknesses, this probably won't be the main one.

I can blame some, right? I am bothered by the fact that you are again comparing the intelligence community talking about Vladimir Putin saying that you believe in Putin over the mouth of the intelligence community I am concerned, thank you and I will be honest and I think a lot of Democrats are concerned when they see the president . of the United States opens his mouth, they are worried about what he is going to say, we are in a difficult situation, but I think Stephanie makes exactly the point that we were talking about just before, which is that we are spending a lot of time talking. about these classified documents most people don't have security clearances most people are worried about the fact that their eggs are very expensive that gasoline is expensive crime immigration all these things are out of control yeah, It's bad that our leaders are hypocrites who are irresponsible, but since it's Eugene setting the stage for this meeting tomorrow between the president and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and you have both sides who seem to be entrenched right now, I mean, how do you break this log gym and we all know it won't be until the last minute exactly, we won't see much come out of that meeting.

You know there was a White House memo that came out today from Brian Deese and Shalonda Young, who head the OMB saying Well, basically what the president has been saying for a while: I'm not going to negotiate on the debt limit, we can have a conversation about the economy and what kind of spending cuts the Republicans want to see where they want to go and that's what the white House is going to do tomorrow and I will say what's really interesting in that memo is that they're painting McCarthy in a corner saying you know all the other leaders, including Mitch McConnell, are on board to handle this.

Your problem is something that we are going to see, this is what in all the calls to sources that I have made I cannot understand who is going to Blink, have you figured it out? Do you think Kevin McCarthy is going to give up on his spending drive? cuts or the president finds a way to negotiate, so there are two pieces here and that memo you just referenced is very well articulated. I'm not going to negotiate with you about the debt limit, well, okay, no one is going to negotiate, it's a tool. but what they want to talk about is spending cuts, if they get commitments from the president on spending cuts, if they get commitments from the Democrats on some spending cuts, then of course Kevin McCarthy is going to blink, he always has to, we won't do it.

This is one of those situations you already know about, but will they get spending cuts there? I'm less sure it will be a victory for the White House. Stephanie, what is your prediction in terms of looking at how everything is developing and what they're hearing and what would you advise them to do well, are they going to come in with some definite red lines, like they're not going to touch entitlements and Social Security? , Medicare, Medicaid, I mean programs that like the bad guys. all for the American people, they're going to hold the line, but if there's a broader conversation about minor cuts around the edges maybe we'll have to cut corners, yeah, that'll be an interesting conversation now.

I can't end this panel without discussing very quickly George Santos Mark Murray says that he will deny himself to serve on committees, how effective can he be if he is not going to sit on committees, so what is the opinion of him? I've been taking yes, I'm going to stick with the poll numbers. Kristen and a news story came out: 78 of her own congressional district voters want her to resign, that's a blaring signal that you're not in good health, you're not in a good position, I don't know if it's going to work. three months from now, six months from now, a year from now, but he certainly finds himself in one of the worst situations any freshman member of Congress has ever found himself in.

I'm glad you said that poll, it's actually very important, Eugene's last word for you. What was his opinion when he saw this? Can a freshman member of Congress be effective in any way if he's not going to sit on the committee? The question is what does he mean effective in each of these parties, now suitable for Republicans, um, people, someone. like George Santos, he probably doesn't seem so interested in governing, talking about laws and passing laws in any conversation with him that he made it clear that Marjorie Taylor Green also had this situation where she was kicked out of her committees by the Democrats and she was a sort of right hand man to Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the house, so is there a chance that they can use this time to build their own repertoire of um about people and how much power they have? we have within Congress, but this guy, when you have the Nassau Republican Party saying we want them gone, 78 people saying we want them gone, I think Mark's right, it's, it's in the future, too, this was a great conversation we were able to sit through.

Here all day, but thank you, thank you everyone, this was fantastic. Stephanie Mark Eugene and Danny really appreciate it. New developments are coming in the investigation into the death of Tyree Nichols. We're live in Memphis with the latest coming up next and inside the push for police reform President Biden now has a meeting scheduled with the Congressional Black Caucus. We are asking you to act. My one-on-one interview with one of the caucus leaders he's watching. He meets the press now stay with us. Welcome foreigners. Seven Memphis police officers and three fire department employees have been relieved of duty for their involvement in the Jan. 7 traffic stop and beating that led to the death of Tyree Nichols of those seven suspended officers.

Five were charged with second-degree murder last week. The Memphis Police Department issued a statement confirming that a sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, and an unidentified seventh officer were also taken off the street at the same time. Now the statement also noted that the investigation is ongoing and that the next phase of staff actions must be taken. In the coming days, Memphis residents gathered for another vigil last night, and across the country, in Sacramento, people gathered at the skating area that Nichols and skateboarder Avid frequented when he was a kid. Nichols' funeral is scheduled for tomorrow and, as Mike Memley reported, the top of the show The White House announced this afternoon that the vice president will attend NBC Antonia Hilton has the latest from Memphis I'm also joined by Paul Butler on NBC News legal analyst and professor of law at Georgetown University thank you both so much for I'm here, so Antonia brings us up to date here, what do we know about the latest Fire Department officers and officials who were relieved of duty?

Well, Kristen, one officer, her identity has not yet been revealed, but the other officer, Preston Hempel, has been relieved. Duty and anyone who saw the video(s) of the beating of Tyree Nichols will recognize Officer Hempel from video one. This is a video where you can see from a white officer's point of view, you can see the officer pointing a Taser at Tyree. and then you can hear officer hemplerecommending that his colleagues go after him and trample on Tyree Nichols and so, for days, even before his name was made public and residency confirmed, activists here had been calling for him not only to be held accountable, not only to lose his job but he will face charges and, as you mentioned, the district attorney has left the door open to the possibility of filing additional charges against the five officers who are already facing very serious criminal charges, you know, but also other people involved, including these other officers on the scene and then potentially the paramedics or other employees involved in the police report that night, those three members of the fire department that you mentioned two of them are paramedics that you can see on the video at some points that take a agonizingly long time to render. any kind of medical help for Tyree Nichols and the third is a lieutenant and as I've talked to community members here, it's this kind of new information, this kind of new action that they've been looking for and as they feel encouraged by All of this they say also adds up to a feeling, a kind of lingering feeling for them, that there are more here, that there may be more people who knew what was happening Tyree Nichols that night, additional information about how that stop started in the first place. place since We made no sense in the video records to see any crime committed by Tyree Nichols.

They feel this is just the beginning and want other employees and others who may have been involved that night to be charged. Kristen and Antonio. Before I let you go. The funeral will be tomorrow, as we just said, the vice president will be there, obviously, the community is competing for a very devastating day. What do you expect tomorrow? I can tell you that the church behind me here will be the headquarters of Mississippi Boulevard Christian. The Church expects this place, this parking lot, this entire area to be absolutely packed with people from the community and even people from outside the community coming here to celebrate the life of Tyree Nichol, which includes not only Vice President Harris but also to the families of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor who travel here to Memphis to mourn alongside the parents of Tyree Nichols and our own colleague Al Sharpton is going to give the eulogy and then the senior pastor of this church, Jason Turner, with whom I have After a lot of time during the last few days, he will lead and officiate the entire process.

What I can tell you to expect to hear is a connection between faith and protest, which is something that is often heard in black churches across this country, but the pastor here is very confident that his message will truly connect the lives of Tiree and a celebration of that with a call to action and a call to reform Kristen Antonia Hilton. Thank you so much for all the fantastic reports from him throughout this tragic experience. Really we appreciate. Paul, let me come to you now and let's pick up where Antonia started, which was these officers who were relieved.

We meet Preston Hemphill as she spoke. One of the first officers to meet Tyree Nichols, what do you anticipate happening with them? They have been relieved of duty but have not yet been charged. Not yet, we know that the prosecutor was focused on the second encounter that the police had. with Mr. Nichols, where they beat him especially viciously, but remember that in the first meeting we do not know why Mr. Nichols was detained. The police chief said he sees no evidence that he committed a crime, but officers proceed to remove him from the scene. car, they cursed him and put a stun gun in our faces.

Now that is not legal unless the officers have probable cause to arrest you and a reason to use that type of force, since there is no evidence that they had that legal evidence. I think any charge from negligent homicide to accessory after the fact is on the table for some of these other officers who have not yet been charged and you've heard some frustration expressed by some members of the community over the fact that black police officers were charged so quickly and Of course, before the video was released, here you have an officer who is Caucasian and of course we don't know the identity of the other officer, the seventh officer, but he has not been charged yet What do you think about that and how could that be? um impact to the community at a time like this when emotions and tensions are already so high that we know that black people are treated differently than white people at every stage of the criminal legal process, so it's not strange to think that these officers blacks would be charged when a white officer has not yet been charged, that's just an artifact of our criminal legal system and I think that's partly why so many people have been especially upset because these officers were African-American, the first five to be charged , because if they were If they were not wearing their badges and uniforms that night as young black men, they could have suffered the same fate as Mr.

Nichols. Do you expect them to face more charges, more serious charges than what the five police officers who have already charged are already facing? have been charged, so they have been charged with second degree murder, the only more serious charge would be first degree murder, which requires evidence of premeditation and I don't think the prosecution has that evidence, so I think These are very serious charges. I think that charging with a second degree charge could be open to a plea deal, which is the way most criminal trials are resolved, with the defendant saying he is guilty in exchange for what he hopes will be a sentence. lower sentence so I think the issue will be how much time the prosecutor is willing to give up to allow for a safe conviction, that is why prosecutors enter into plea deals and also what the community would accept well.

Would you be okay with the resolution with these officers pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter? The community agrees that these officers accept a resolution that does not include prison time. I think those are all open questions and Paul, can I end up getting your opinion on police reform? This is not a new conversation. We know that the Memphis Police Department has disbanded the Scorpion unit. We know that other police departments across the country are considering taking similar actions. Now there is a conversation again in Washington about what can be done at the federal level, but why isn't the country addressing this?

Was it Fannie Lou Hammer, the Mississippi activist during the 1960s, who said she was sick and tired of being sick and tired? I think that's where a lot of us are right now. President Biden called this case a test of whether we are the country we say we are. We are right now, we are the country where an American citizen guilty of nothing more than a traffic violation was tortured and murdered in public by government agents, so I think the problem is much bigger than the cops in Bad Apple and it's too big. To solve it through reform, we have to think very ambitiously, very innovatively, about how to use our American ingenuity, our Black genius, our Hispanic excellence to transform public safety into a system that all citizens can trust.

Paul. Thank you very much, we'll leave it. there we really appreciate your thoughts and insights, I appreciate that and below is my one-on-one interview with the vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus as she prepares to meet with President Biden on police reform, Congresswoman Yvette Clark joins me below . watching Meet the Press now welcome back following the release of body camera video of Tyree Nichols' brutal assault, the Congressional Black Caucus requested a meeting with President Biden to discuss national reforms to the justice system. The White House today says President Biden accepted the request. and he will meet with the group on Thursday The meeting comes as Congress remains deadlocked even at the start of a new round of negotiations on police reform.

One of the main sticking points remains qualified immunity, which provides officers with protection from civil liability. Today, leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Steve Scalise said he is firmly against getting rid of qualified immunity. Listen to me. Joining me now is Congresswoman Yvette Clark of New York, she is also vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and will attend Thursday's meeting at the White House. Thank you very much for joining me this afternoon. I really appreciate it. It's a pleasure to be with you. Message be to President Biden, uh, our message, members of the Congressional Black Caucus will be a full court press.

A concerted effort by the House, Senate and Executive is necessary to pass the George Floyd police bill. It is imperative that reforms be made. put in a place right away, there is no longer time to sit and figure things out. The danger of rogue police officers in the communities of this nation is an imminent danger and we must address it, Congressman, we have heard the president say what he is saying that right now he wants the George Floyd bill passed, but as you know Right now there just doesn't seem to be any votes in favor of the House being run by Republicans, some of whom say change should happen at the state and local level, so how can leasing reform be achieved when Don't you have the votes?

We have to continue to keep the pressure on the people of this nation, ultimately we will be the arbiters of this issue. We can not. allow me to back off because at any given moment we can unfortunately witness this type of authoritarian abuse taking the life of a loved one and it has happened throughout the history of this nation and continues to this day. I think it's imperative, Congressman, that we keep pushing. Do you think it is realistic for it to be done in this current Congress? It's so interesting, Kristen, it's just that, you know, we've seen circumstances that seemed, you know, implausible or very unlikely. to the center of the agenda and get it done, so I think we can't give up hope, we can't get discouraged right now, we have to use every lever at our disposal to impress the members of this Senate chamber, uh, to get a job fact, do you think President Biden is doing enough?

He's giving a State of the Union address next week, as you know, is he using his bully pulpit effectively enough as commander in chief? Well, you clearly know that there is much more to do. no is a no, because he made an executive order, we have to give credit where credit is due, we are finally making sure that data is preserved on officers who have been accused of misconduct, now we have to make sure that that is in full effect, its executive order is doing what it sets out to do, but we must also encourage it to go even further.

We know that he is a master negotiator and he was able to get a lot of things passed in the last Congress and I think you know that we have to rely on his ingenuity and his relationships to get to that point regarding police accountability. Let me delve deeper into you with what you might actually accept. Is there any room for compromise here? As you know, qualified immunity is one of the big sticking points. That essentially protects officers from civil liability in most cases. Would you support legislation that did not include a Qualified Immunity Clause? What we are looking for as members of the Congressional Black Caucus is accountability, which is the missing factor in all of these incidents. individuals who we hold publicly accountable for their actions and if that comes in the form of qualified immunity, I'm totally fine with that, if it comes in another form, you know, we'll cross that bridge when we get to but at the end of the day we can't get there to this moment once again and not retain those rebellious officers who would abuse their authority.

We cannot afford not to hold them accountable. You know, Senator Graham has raised something that's gotten attention: It's the idea of ​​maintaining qualified immunity for individual officers but holding police departments accountable is that the kind of compromise he could support, you know. I would have to look at the details of what Senator Graham is proposing. Would it be open? Are you open to it? the ability for police departments to be paid for through taxes is established through taxpayer dollars the same way we pay police officers and you know there is a public trust that goes beyond the departments but to the individual , so I would have to take a look again. what Senator Graham is proposing, but I will tell you that each and every officer charged with protecting and serving the public must be held accountable, Congressman, let me turn to the breaking news of the day when two senior officials charged with Law enforcement confirmed to NBC News that the FBI searched the Penn Biden Center in mid-November after revelations that classified documents were found there again.

The publicfound out about this today after a news report disclosed this information. What is your reaction and do you think Biden The White House has been transparent enough on this issue, well I think every day different aspects of what has happened are developing and I think it's important that, first of all, the administration Biden, President Biden himself, has admitted that he is cooperating with the FBI and all authorities regarding these documents, at the end of the day, cooperation is essential, as you know, knowing that we cannot allow our classified documents to disappear for a period of time by any congressman very quickly because we are almost out of time, our latest poll shows that 48 percent say they are very uncomfortable with a President Biden candidacy for 2024.

Are you comfortable with the President Biden run again? I feel extremely comfortable. This last Congress was the most productive Congress in a generation and it is clear. To me, he has the ability, the intellect and the energy to continue moving this nation in the right direction. I feel pretty comfortable, Congressman Clark, thank you so much for joining us, we really appreciate it, thank you for having me, Kristen, after the break. Secretary of State Blinken meets with key leaders in the Middle East and urges urgency in the region she is watching. She meets the press now, welcome back.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken returns to Washington from the Middle East after a deadly few weeks for both Israelis and Palestinians. Today Blinken met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, a day after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. The trip comes less than a week after a Palestinian opened fire on a synagogue in East Jerusalem, killing at least seven more civilians. More than 30 Palestinians have also been killed this month in the West Bank, with most of those deaths occurring during Israeli military raids. Joining me now is NBC's Kelly Kobia in Jerusalem.

Kelly, thank you very much for joining me. What has been Secretary Blinken's biggest takeaway? trip and his meetings I think it is a message that Secretary Lincoln has repeated at least three times now that both sides must take steps to deescalate the situation, calm tensions, lower the temperature and try to stop this cycle of violence. Today he met with President Abbas for two hours, a much longer meeting than we expected, and then he made some family statements, again talking about de-escalation, talking about how the United States opposes anything that could jeopardize the two-state solution, the Palestinian state, which is the ultimate goal at some point in the future, although very few steps have been taken, very very little progress has been made towards that goal, but he said that, first and foremost, The violence has to stop and he said both sides came up with good ideas to work on, listen to a little of what he had to say.

I'm not going to detail the ideas, but I think there are some concrete ideas from both sides, um, if pursued, it would really help spread the word about the current situation, um, the current situation and that's why I asked some of my colleagues to come forward. They will be left behind to support the efforts that both sides are making to try to reach a uh, the best path depends fundamentally on them, so after two days of trying to leave the region on a positive note, but I have to say, Kristen , that there is deep skepticism here that anything is going to change in the foreseeable future.

Kristen, it's okay, Kelly Kobia. Thank you very much for letting us know about those critical conversations. We really appreciate that it's yet to come as the coveted emergency on what you need to know as the White House prepares for a major shift in its pandemic strategy that's what you'll see next. The press now welcomes back the World Health Organization says Covid remains a global public health emergency, but in the US the government's pandemic emergency will soon come to an end the Biden administration says it will extend briefly the Covid-19 National Emergency and the public health emergency until May 11, at which time it will end.

Now the announcement came partly in response to legislation by House Republicans that sought to end those statements immediately. The White House argued that it needs time to effectively eliminate several emergency programs and avoid the appointment. Far-reaching chaos and uncertainty in the health care system, rolling back these emergency declarations, whether it occurs in May or sooner, marks a significant turning point in the federal government's response to the crisis and we must note that Greed is still causing an average of About 400 deaths each day Joining me now to discuss this: Dr. Kavita Patel and NBC News medical contributor and former Obama White House policy director.

Dr. Patel thank you very much for being here. I just want to start with this disparity that we're seeing here. she has the US prepared to say in May that greed is no longer a public health emergency, and yet the World Health Organization says it is. Are there concerns that the US is moving too quickly? It burns, especially when a country like ours that has This very public statement has a global impact, but I think what listeners should understand if viewers should try to understand is that they were acting, I think, as you mentioned, to try to offset hr7 or some kind of action that would cut things off precipitously and the political context.

This is unfortunate because it is probably causing the End-to-End Statement to be issued sooner than expected. What is the potential impact of this not only for the public but for the various health agencies that are trying to combat Covid? The public health emergency is the ability to divert funds to places like the CDC, two things that can help the Department of Transportation defend protocols and funding that they will have to continue to go to Congress and look for signs of that and then to the people that I think what will really be noticed is that while we enjoy free access to tests, vaccines and all kinds of treatments, they will now move to private insurance if you have private insurance or employer or individual insurance or through the Medicaid program and Medicare. subject to copays subject to some limitations, potentially that person makes it even more difficult to navigate when it has already been difficult to navigate well and Dr.

Patel. Just to follow up on that point, you already have concerns about vaccines, what could the impact be on vaccines in general? If this is no longer covered by the government, yes, the professor has doubts and confusion because then you are really dealing with people who would even intentionally want to get treatment or testing and they don't know how to do it, so that's exactly why they need this. transition time I think having this time extended through May is exactly what should be Priority One for the entire Administration should be Priority One for Congress as well.

How can we get America ready for this moment and what can we do to also signal that? Even though they're declaring it an emergency, that doesn't mean it's any less of a priority than any other global threat we're talking about, and I think they need to be able to communicate all of those things well and fairly. Dig into that point, I mean, what should the message be from the White House to try to maintain clear lines for people who still have deep concerns about this? Yes, the Declaration is still the number one priority. Dr. Patel, let me, Dr.

Patel, we're having a little trouble hearing you let me see if you can maybe get your microphone and see if that helps a little bit and here we go now we can hear you clearly because what you're saying is very important. What do you think the messages from the White House should be? this Public Health Emergency of gratitude has ended with a kind of Declaration that does not mean that it is not the number one priority for this Administration and then the most important message that the administration has issued is to point out a safety net for the people in which they are working. a plan to help support those populations and in terms of a vaccine schedule and booster shots, is there a way to streamline that so that you see more people getting their coveted vaccine and getting their booster shot when they need it?

Yes, he took a first step. It was important to say that we want to harmonize the vaccine, so we don't want there to be all these different versions of the vaccines, that there really is a vaccine available for everyone. The next step will be to prepare a flu vaccine which will make it easier. going to doctors like me when we should be giving it to patients, okay Dr. Kavita Patel, thank you so much for joining us, I really appreciate it, really important information as again the White House moves in May to say that greed is no longer a national health emergency.

I appreciate your information and ideas. Thank you Dr. Patel for being with us and thank you for being with us this hour. Chuck will be back tomorrow with more. Meet the press now. NBC News Now's coverage continues with Hallie Jackson at this time. Thank you for watching our YouTube channel. Follow us. Today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app