Meet the Press NOW — April 1

[Music] if it's Monday anti-government protests erupt in Israel for the third straight night as prime minister Netanyahu faces new domestic and international pressure to change course in Gaza while an Israeli air strike reportedly flattens an Iranian consulate building in Syria plus will the issue of abortion rights appear on the ballot in Battleground Florida that's one of the key questions the state Supreme Court is set to decide any minute now in a ruling that could reverberate through the el

ection and the fight over Reproductive Rights and signs of progress in Baltimore where authorities have now removed 200 tons of wreckage Following last week's bridge collapse while also opening up a temporary Channel as President Biden prepares to visit the site on [Music] Friday hello and welcome to Meet the Press now I'm Ryan nobl in Washington where top us and Israeli officials held talks today virtually as the US tries to ratchet up pressure on Israel to change course on a planned invasion o

f Rafa all while prime minister Netanyahu is facing Mass protests for his handling of the war and as ton is blaming Israel for a deadly strike in Syria against a top Iranian military commander here in Washington National Security advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Anthony blinkin spoke with Israeli War cabinet and National Security officials as the US urges Israel to come up with a military strategy in Rafa that minimizes harm to the millions of Palestinian civilians Sheltering in the

city those talks were supposed to take place in person last week but were abruptly cancelled by prime minister Netanyahu after the US declined to veto a UN resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza the this afternoon the White House stressed the importance of holding those talks today even if it wasn't in person today the meeting is happening virtually because we understand and obviously you all understand how important it is to have uh this conversation we've been very clear abo

ut our concerns about a military operation in trafa if they're going to move forward with a military operations we have to have this conversation uh we have to understand how they're going to move forward but that put for an alternative plan in Rafa comes as the US is set to send a new weapons package to Israel including thousands of massive bombs one Administration officials saying that some of those bombs have the capacity to destroy entire city blocks it's a move that's frustrated some Democr

ats who want to see the Administration use military aid as a tool to pressure Israel to increase its humanitarian Aid in Gaza and right now in Israel a third consecutive night of protests as 10 tens of thousands of Israelis protest outside Israel's parliament calling for early elections and a ceasefire deal to free hostages these have been the largest anti-government protests in Israel since the October 7th attack prime minister Netanyahu dismissed the calls for new elections saying that it coul

d paralyze the country during the war meanwhile Israel's military now says that it is completed operations in gaza's main hospital after a two-e long raid NBC News International correspondent R Sanchez has more from Tel Aviv Israeli forces withdrawing from gaza's alifa hospital today after a two week long raid and leaving a trail of Devastation in their wake this was once the largest healthc care facility in the Gaza Strip I was there many times before the war it was a modern well-functioning ho

spital and today it is partly in Ruins what were once Wards hallways are now charred and burned Israel says they had no choice but to launch this operation that Hamas effectively turns this Hospital into a fortress Israel says they killed more than 200 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad Fighters inside the hospital they captured senior Hamas operatives and they found valuable intelligence inside that facility but the Palestinian civil defense kind of the equivalent of the fire department is say

ing they have found hundreds of bodies many of them decomposing inside of alifa the World Health Organization says at least 21 patients died during this 2 we Siege and they are saying it is another blow to gaza's already all but collapsed Health Care System meanwhile we are very closely following an explosion next to the Iranian Embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus Iranian State media is reporting that a senior member of the revolution AR guard Corps was killed in that strike and Syria is p

ointing the finger at Israel now the Israeli military not commenting that tends to be their policy when it comes to strikes in Syria but we heard Israel's defense minister saying at the end of last week that Israel is prepared to carry out strikes in Lebanon in Syria wherever it needs to to stop the flow of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah the powerful Lebanese milit Group which is on Israel's northern border now Israel bracing for potential retaliation if Iran does decide to lash out following this

attack and the US will be following this very closely after that virtual meeting between senior American and Israeli officials earlier today prime minister Netanyahu is in hospital he is recovering from what doctors say was a successful hernia operation but he is also facing some of the biggest protests in this country since the October 7th attack people on the streets in their tens of thousands calling for new elections and calling for a ceasefire deal to bring the hostages home back to you al

l right Rob Sanchez thank you for that reporting for more now I'm joined by NBC News International correspondent Josh Letterman in London ABC's Gabe gierz is at the White House and NBC's Courtney QB at the Pentagon Josh let's start with you how is prime minister Netanyahu and his Coalition reacting to those protests calling for new elections and how much political strength does he still have well look Netanyahu was unpopular before the war he got a bit of a respit uh after the war started when I

sraelis gave him a chance uh to take up the mantle of defending the country now their patience seems to have ran out we're seeing the most significant Pro protest to his leadership overseeing the war but actually the bigger threat to his continued uh hold on power right now is actually getting less attention in the US it is a dispute over the ultra Orthodox serving in the military including in this campaign in the Gaza Strip uh there is a decision this government has to make about whether to for

ce those Ultra Orthodox to serve which they have not in the past and really there's no good way out of this for Netanyahu because he risks losing the far-right members of his very fragile government Coalition uh if he does force the ultra Orthodox to serve he risks losing the support in his Coalition from the more moderate secular voices if he does not and right now there is no clear path for Netanyahu to try to bridge those two sides and maintain a hold on his very delicate Coalition that allow

s him to continue to be the Prime Minister and Josh at the same time of these massive protests Israel's parliament also took a step toward shutting down the news organization Al jazero from broadcasting in Israel what's exactly in this legislation so this legislation allows the Israeli government to temporarily ban news outlets deemed a threat to National Security it would initially be a 45-day ban that could then be extended Netanyahu says he wants to shut Al jazer Down Under This legislation u

h immediately citing the coverage of the Hamas Israel war from Al jaer which has probably the biggest footprint of any international news organization inside the Gaza Strip but of course Al jazer as well as advocates for free press uh say that that is no way for a democracy which Israel prized itself on being uh to handle uh the the need for for media organizations of all Stripes to be able to cover this war and Josh what's the status of ceasefire talks with this renewed pressure on prime minist

er Netanyahu is there any sense a deal could be coming soon well Israeli officials say they remain optimistic and in fact Netanyahu has given the go-ahead to Israeli negotiators to participate uh in talks that are resuming uh through the support of the Egyptians and the kares but it's really unclear whether this is going to make any progress there's been this on again off again process to try to get some type of a ceasefire and hostage release deal and time after time we've seen either Israel re

ject the demands from Hamas which includ a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip the return of of Gaza civilians to the north Etc or we've seen Hamas resist the Israeli demands which uh include the release of most of there have been a lot of false starts in the past and right now everybody is hopeful but they are not holding their breath for any immediate deal given how far apart these two sides seem to be okay Josh lman thank you for that update let's turn now to the White House and Gabe Gutierre

z prime minister Netanyahu canceled this person meeting that was supposed to happen last week so how did this meeting today come together it was a virtual meeting not an inperson one and do we know anything more about those discussions oh well Ryan so far we don't have a readout of that meeting just yet we don't know exactly uh what came of it but we do know that one of the topics that was set to be discussed were these Alternatives potentially to a Rafa military operation uh with the US says th

at it has been seeking those Alternatives in order to prevent a civilian casualties now ask for how the this virtual meeting came about you mentioned earlier that prime minister Netanyahu and the Israelis abruptly cancelled the inperson meeting last week after the US had abstained from that un Security Council vote calling for a ceasefire in the release of hostages well according to a Us official following the public tension that spilled out after that cancellation the Israelis quietly asked for

this virtual meeting to happen and also we're told that it's possible that there could be another inperson meeting between Israeli official offal and American officials in the coming days Ryan and the administration uh is planning to send thousands of massive bombs to Israel but are they concerned at all that it could undermine their criticisms of how Israel's been conducting the war have they been given any kind of assurances that once they receive these bombs that they won't be used to kill c

ivilians and Brian you just hit the fine line that the administration is walking at this point that's exactly what even some Democrats the allies of President Biden have said that the US should not be giving weapons uh with there being so many civilian casualties in this war but we're told that the Israelis did give uh the US government assurances that these weapons would be used within the laws of war and it has long been the policy of the White House and the Biden Administration not to conditi

on aid for the Israelis on on on anything so it it this point that is an ongoing question and this fine line that the administration is having to walk as that death toll Rises right okay thanks Gabe let's go to Courtney now and talk more about this weapons package uh Courtney how significant of an impact could it have on the battlefield so potentially very significant so when we talk about these 2,000 PB bombs uh the administration is going to provide about 1,800 of them to Israel one Us officia

l here told me that these are the kinds of bombs that have the ability to level an entire Block in Gaza now the one the version that the US is sending are what the what we would typically called a a dumb bomb meaning it's not guided but the US has provided Israel with with what are called jdam conversion kits essentially it's a kit that turns a dumb bomb into a smart bomb or Precision guided so the Israelis should have the ability to make these smart bombs and not just drop them out of an aircra

ft where they would fall and explode wherever it is that they land that being said these still H have the ability to have a tremendous impact and critics have argued that these are the kinds of weapons that have had the ability to kill civilians in Gaza in recent weeks now in addition to these 2,000 lb bombs us is also providing more 500lb bombs but I also have to say Ryan these are all bombs that were approved years ago they're just being delivered now but the other big question that we have be

en asking is will there be any conditions added to these offensive weapons that the US continues to provide Israel and at this point despite the fact that there has been discussion about potential the US conditioning weapons they're providing to Israel at this point the US still is not so that includes everything including these these large bombs that the US is is giving them Ryan uh and we had ra report earlier about this strike in Syria Iranian State media saying that two Iran Iranian commande

rs were killed in the strike what else do we know about that yeah so if true and uh this would be a very significant leadership strike now we have been asking us officials all day here today Ryan and we don't have any uh conf from the US that in fact this Iranian revolutionary guard Corps General uh was killed but he is Muhammad resah haadi he's if in fact it it's true that he was killed he had close ties or has close ties with Lebanese Hezbollah uh we're also trying to figure out exactly where

this strike occurred now if this was the Israelis again they are not commenting they're not confirming that they had any part in this attack but they have carried out dozens of air strikes in Syria and just calendar year and hundreds in recent years their targets typically are uh parts so when Iran will send over generally Iran will send over missile components um things that make the missiles that Lebanese Hezbollah has in Syria that that make them have a longer range or more precise Iran has p

rovided those sorts of component parts in the past and Israel has taken out many of those shipments in the past if in fact this is Israel the the big difference would be this appears to have been targeting high value targets or leadership here but again I I have to stress even though Iranian State media is claiming that he and others were killed we still don't have any confirmation from that from us officials but Ryan if this is if this is true this is a very significant significant strike okay

and then finally Courtney over the weekend the US also said that it destroyed houthi drones in the Red Sea and in Yemen is there any sign that those kind of attacks by the houi rebels will slow down anytime soon and what is the US trying to do to make uh to really Step Up deterrence in this case so the US has been conducting on a nearly D daily basis what they call a self self-defense strikes into Yemen so what that is is when they see houthis pop up with any kind of weapons maybe launchers for

missiles or drones they will come in and they will strike those those launchers or whatever it is uh to try to stop these these sorts of attacks but the reality is there has been a pretty consistent operational tempo of the houthis trying to attack into the Red Sea and it the even the means that they're doing so have remained pretty consistent they seem to still have a supply of what the military calls one-way attack drones these are drones that are packed with explosives and they're intended to

just slam into a Target and explode but they also have continued to show that they have missiles so it doesn't seem like these these strikes are are these attacks are slowing down in any way I will say we just learned today that the USS Eisenhower carrier strike group that is the ike the aircraft carrier and some of the the ships associated with it are being extended I have to say Ryan they've had a a pretty grueling deployment they've been underway since October 14th with no Port calls they've

spent the vast majority of that time in the Red Sea guarding against these houy strikes and conducting strikes into Yemen it's been a pretty crushing operational Tempo and and they just got word that they're going to be out there for another few weeks at least that's a long time to be on a ship all the way back to October uh Courtney Cub from the Pentagon thank you for that coming I'll talk to congresswoman Debbie waserman Schultz who just got back from a meeting with prime minister Netanyahu i

n Israel on the idf's plans for Raa but first we're live in Florida with breaking news as the state supreme court paves the way for a six- week abortion ban in the state while also allowing the issue to be on the ballot in November we're watching Meet the Press [Music] now welcome back we do have some breaking news out of Florida that's where the state supreme court has ruled in two abortion related cases one a major win for abortion right rights Advocates and one a potential setback just moment

s ago the court upheld Florida's 15-week abortion ban Paving the way for the more severe six-week ban which was passed last year to go into effect in a month but in a separate ruling the court green lit a ballot initiative this November to protect abortion rights in Florida if passed in November the measure would protect access to the procedure until viability it also would effectively undo Florida's 15we ban passed in 2022 and the six-week trigger ban today's decision on the abortion ballot ini

tiative comes as across the country supporters and opponents of abortion rights are working to get the issue on the ballot Democrats in particular are eyeing ballot measures as a way to increase turnout as mult multiple referendums to protect AB access have passed since the overturning of roie Wade including in red States joining me now from Coral Gables Florida is NBC's Marissa parro who's been following the story closely uh Marissa uh this we're just getting this information in now we were exp

ecting this last week but the court waited until the deadline I know it's early but how are both sides reacting to today's ruling right well first I just want to give an overview of what we learned within the last few minutes so in summary when it comes to abortion related issues in particular we know that abortion will be on the ballot simultaneously there was a lot of questions on whether or not we would get a ruling on the 15we abortion ban and that did come as a surprise to a lot of people u

m and the decision was that the 15we ban that is currently in place is constitutional according to the Florida Supreme Court therefore the six weeek abortion ban previously signed by Governor Ronda santis will take place in 30 days but again all of these decisions dropping simultaneously so Ryan and we now know that voters will have a chance to overturn that in November it will require over 60% of Voters to vote in favor of that um but they do have the chance to do that and so quickly before I g

et into where we have seen initiatives go in the past in other states I want to take you to what we've heard what we have heard in the past in terms of what the reaction could be from both the sen uh the the Democrat who was challenging Senator Rick Scott for his seat so this is a Democrat Democrat Debbie Cel Powell and then you will also hear from the executive director for Florida voice for The Unborn take a listen and we may not have that sound so instead what I will do is I will summarize wh

at I am seeing and what I am hearing um obviously a big win for abortion rights Advocates and I'm already seeing this from um Democrats on that side of the aisle already saying this is why we need to bring voters to the ballot and so trying to use this as a push to bring people to the polls in November and it's only been minutes since this decision dropped um I have not had a chance to speak with the executive director for Florida voice for The Unborn in the last few minutes but I do know when I

asked him how would you feel if it would if the Supreme Court had ruled in Florida that abortion can be on the ballot and he said that it would be disappointing but another reason to head to the polls and I'm just told by a producer in my ear that we do have the sound so you can listen for yourself I think that millions of Floridians regardless regardless of party we know that this is not a partisan issue are going to come out to The Ballot Box and make sure that they protect their right to cho

ose and their freedom Florida has been trending uh very conservative in past elections but that's no guarantee that 60% of Voters uh will not approve this initi so we need to reach uh in particular Suburban Republican women so I think we have a couple of examples right Ryan of where abortion rights were put on the ballot Kansas uh is a conservative state but we saw how um abortion rights that is how the voters voted and so even though there was an amendment put on the ballot that would have made

abortion even stricter when it comes to the legality of it um we had we now have a really big topic and another thing that we're going to be watching very closely to see how does this impact voter turnout we know that that Senate race is getting increasingly more competitive here in Florida and Democrats are trying really hard to keep Florida purple if you will um we know that conservatives have been making significant inroads in the state so it remains to be seen will this have an impact and y

ou mentioned how important this is going to be in November these were two almost bombshell rulings by the Supreme Court because we also got a ruling on the 15we abortion ban in the State uh that actually opens the door to a six-week ban going into effect how soon could it go into effect so my understanding and what we've been reporting on and now we know that will take place 30 days from now Ryan um we've been expecting this we were not sure if it was going to drop this week next week sometime b

etween now and the summer but 30 days from today uh Florida will see a six-week abortion ban go into effect but again uh in the same day we're also learning that Florida voters now have the ability to overturn that in November okay uh very uh quite a bit of developments there in the Sunshine State Marissa para thank you for breaking it all down for us and let's talk more about it now with Florida's democratic congresswoman Debbie waserman Schultz a congresswoman uh we it's a great day to have yo

u on there's a lot to talk about uh you obviously are a congress congresswoman from Florida so just give us your reaction as to what you just heard from the state supreme court well um you know I'm elated that uh the more than 1 million Floridians who signed a petition to get the abortion rights amendment to our constitution on the ballot are going to have pushed uh and successfully pushed for an opportunity for voters across the state to make sure that politicians uh the government and judges a

re not allowed to be involved in deeply personal health care decisions for families and uh and you know with the with the fortunate really devastating decision that the Supreme Court has allowed the 15we abortion ban passed by the Republican Leed legislature and signed by the governor um to take effect um and 30 days later will essentially have a a total abortion ban here with a six-week abortion ban in Florida Ryan I can tell you that uh with my own third child um I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant u

ntil I was eight weeks pregnant and so essentially that's a total abortion ban it's a very clear line of demarcation now though the stakes with the Supreme Court's decision are much higher on the results of this amendment and people across the philosophical Spectrum in Florida will go to the polls because we'll have a total abortion ban here for six months and I think voters will go to the polls on in November and tell governments politicians and judges to stay out of their personal Healthcare d

ecisions I mean it is going to be a difficult Tas uh though for you and and your fellow Democrats because it's not just a simple majority uh in order uh to uh get abortion rights codified onto your Constitution you need 60% um and then you also have a competitive Senate race that you're dealing with there Senator Rick Scott up this November do you think Democrats are going to take advantage of this is this going to get Democratic voters to the polls and and you know this has been difficult for F

lorida Democrats over the past couple of Cycles well one thing I know is that this is not a partisan issue this is an issue that in I think uh nine out of nine votes Statewide on issues that came down on abortion rights across the country since the overturning of Ro versus Wade abortion rights has won um in red States in blue States and purple States and uh and I think that we'll be successful here even with a 60% threshold although that's certainly not a slam dunk uh because it's not just Democ

rats that believe that we should be you know not having the government at our Pharmacy counters or you know in our doctor's offices with us this issue cuts across the philosophical Spectrum you have Republicans Independents and Democrats who believe that these are deeply personal decisions that need to be made between a woman uh her family her doctor and her faith now this is a state where Governor Dan santis won by 20 points two years ago obviously abortion now going to be a big driver but do y

ou still need to appeal to some Republicans on the issue oh of course and it it's like I said this is not a partisan issue this does cut across party lines and you know really significantly uh is supported across people of no party affiliation as well and so um this is not a cut and dry black and white Republicans will go and oppose the amendment and Democrats will go and support it um that's why I think we have a much better chance to uh to pass this this Constitutional Amendment because it cut

s across proudy lines and people whether no matter their party affiliation don't want politicians judges and and the government in their deeply held uh Health Care decisions um I mean the other the other issue is that if you look at who signed the Constitutional Amendment Ryan 20% of those that signed the petition to put it on the ballot were Republicans so there's a healthy percentage of Republicans that support making sure that people can make their own reproductive Healthcare decisions withou

t government interference and now we'll have a total so it's going to be very impactful all right let's turn now uh to your recent trip to Israel you and a bipartisan group of your colleagues met with prime minister Netanyahu last week I want to play some of what the Prime Minister said after that meeting Victory is Within Reach it's a few weeks away now we are told this is it last point now we are told you can't do this if you go into RAF you're going to have a humanitarian catastrophe you're g

oing to have th I don't know 30,000 de 30,000 civilian dead okay that's not true that is simply not true all of the Gaza Strip north of waa you know people move down they can move back up they don't have to go into North of w Gaza but there're still 65% of the Gaza Strip left open and people just move they move with their tents uh so congresswoman many in your party uh have uh serious concerns I mean the president of the United States has serious concerns about an offensive in Rafa um what is yo

ur reaction especially after meeting with the Prime Minister that he seems intent uh on uh this attack at some point and and then almost immediately after canceling an Israeli delegation visit to Washington what's next Brian let me uh let me share with you what we uh we did in Israel last week I had the opportunity to lead a women members trip to Israel um those meetings that you saw with prime minister Netanyahu were with a broader delegation as well um but we went to the site of the Nova Festi

val where 360 young people were slaughtered and burned and raped um In Cold Blood by Hamas terrorists we went to the site of kafar Aza where people were burned alive in their homes and killed and 40 of them were taken hostage um we had an opportunity to talk to families we went to hostage Square where there are vigils every single day to push for the hostages coming home life in Israel is still upside down uh you have people who are who've been called up leaving their businesses and their jobs a

nd going into the reserves I mean is Israel is well within its right to defend itself to make sure that the threat of Hamas is is destroyed uh so that they don't have a terrorist threat living on their doorstep there are four battalions in Rafa of Hamas Fighters Hamas combatants and that appears to be the near the last stages of the war and Israel is committed as the Prime Minister told us to making sure that the the civilians in Rafa are moved out of Harm's Way that Israel was going to as they

have throughout this war and as they always do take the E take the time and the effort comprehensively to get as many civilians out of Harm's Way but keep in mind that Hamas prevents intentionally a lot of them from moving because they use their own people as human Shields because they don't have any regard congresswoman respectfully though I I mean the idea that they can just pick up intense and move from one side of the of the region to another and that there's no serious risk as the Prime Min

ister suggested there not to mention the lack of food food and shelter that they have is it a bit more complicated than that I mean this could be a serious humanitarian crisis if the Raa Invasion happens respectfully as well no it is not as simple as you are describing or as in that uh clip you showed as uh as prime minister Netanyahu uh described to us it is going to take some time uh the process of moving in fact Israel is even jeopardizing its own ability to to erad eradicate and destroy the

threat that Hamas represents by being responsible and understanding that they want to make sure that they can minimize civilian casual casualties all as much as they can all while Hamas prevents them from doing that because they don't care about their own people and so that process of getting people out of Harm's Way to to the maximum extent possible would take some time before my understanding a Rafa operation would begin and uh and Israel is as they have and has been has been has been describe

d by experts in Warfare uh repeatedly that they have done consistently all the way through this conflict after being brutally attacked okay congresswoman we're gonna have to leave it there Debbie werman Schultz we appreciate your time thank you and up next up next MBC gets a close-up look at the massive cleanup and Recovery effort underway in Baltimore right now as president Biden prepares to survey the damage this week you're watching Meet the Press [Music] now welcome back President Biden will

travel to Baltimore on Friday to assess the damage caused by last week's bridge collapse this is video that our crew shot today of the Salvage operation which is now well underway the Coast Guard says Crews cut and removed a large 200 ton portion of the bridge over the weekend minutes ago Maryland's governor Westmore urged patience in efforts to clear the channel where the cargo ship now sits as well as efforts to recover the bodies of the four people still missing and presumed dead this is a s

teel bridge that is sitting on top of a container ship in the middle of the Basco River every time someone goes in the water they are taking a risk every time we move a piece of the structure the situation could become even more dangerous we have to move fast but we cannot be careless I've been clear with this team that we have got to prioritize safety and my directive is to complete this Mission with no injuries and no casualties we've already lost six marylanders to this crisis I refuse to los

e any more NBC News correspondent Aaron gilchrest got an up close look at the Salvage operation with the Coast Guard and has more from the Patapsco River Ryan it is surreal to be out here on the water with the US Coast Guard seeing the damage the pieces of the Key Bridge up close we can see some of where the road has collapsed here that's still lying in the water off to the side uh we've got barges now that are in the water with cranes on them and and I should point out that as we're in the P pt

co river right now we just crossed through this temporary Channel this Waterway that's been open open just today that is going to allow for some ships that are a part of the effort to do the Salvage work here to come through this channel to move from the north side closer to the Anna Harbor to the south side of the bridge uh where we can see boats that aren't able to get into the inner harbor to the Port of Baltimore anymore and so this is a major step as we've been seeing over the weekend crews

were out here with uh with with with saws with with these cutting uh apparatuses that they were able to use to start cutting up the steel pieces of this bridge to open up this temporary Waterway that's going to allow for again those official vessels to come through this is uh an important First Step obviously they need to cut up more pieces of this bridge the effort is eventually going to be made as we uh sort of point over this way to the dolly the cargo ship that's still in the water the effo

rt's going to be made to start cutting up the bridge that is sitting on the bow of the ship at some point we don't know when exactly that will begin but the effort eventually is going to be to remove the bridge to remove the ship and then to get into the water here we know that there are still four people who were killed whose bodies have not been recovered and so divers once it's safe are going to be able to go underwater to try to recover the those bodies we know that this is still going to be

a very long process but as we can see today there is some hope about about this work getting done back to you w great reporting thank you eron for that we appreciate it and turning now to a developing situation in Georgia you're looking at video shot by our NBC affiliate in Atlanta after a car tried to Ram the gate at the FBI headquarters this afternoon according to the FBI the suspect then jumped out of his car and tried to run inside the perimeter he was quickly apprehended by agents and take

n into custody the FBI tells us there are no injuries and agents are checking the car as a precaution at this moment the suspect's motives are unknown and an investigation is ongoing it comes as Justice Department officials have been warning of a rise in threats against public officials and law enforcement agents and after the break traditions intentions and the trail how the current president and former president spent their holiday weekends and what the Stark difference between their Easter me

ssages says about the state of us Politics the panel is next you're watching Meet the Press [Music] now and welcome back a grand tradition continued at the White House today when Families my own included there they are brave the elements to see the Easter Bunny and take part in the White House Easter Egg role a tradition that dates back to the 19th century my colleague Al Roker caught up with President Biden who made a joke about his age while discussing the event this started with Rutherford B

Hayes I think I met him but uh you know what is it classmate one of your classmates what what is so special about this egg roll well what's so special is this open this is the people's house and it always makes me feel good to look out there and see average Americans just walking around looking at what's going on cuz they own it they own it and I can tell you there were a lot of people there this morning President Biden marked Easter with a fairly traditional and apolitical presidential statemen

t in stark contrast to his general election opponent Donald Trump the former president marked the day with a long social media post attacking the prosecutors and judges involved in his criminal cases baselessly accusing them of attempting to interfere with the November election he also spent part of Easter Sunday reposting dozens of items on his social media feed amplifying some incendiary claims including an article that said that he is the chosen one sent by God it comes after last week Mr Tru

mp recorded a promotional message to sell a Bible for $59.99 marketed as the only Bible indorsed by the former president didn't know we needed one joining me now on set is Betsy Woodruff swan a national correspondent for political Politico svan mck a former Democratic mayor of Ithaca New York he's now the president for people for the American way and Republican strategist Rick Tyler who's an NBC News political analyst so Betsy I'm going to start with you and I I want to play a clip from this wee

kend's cold open on Saturday Night Live take a listen that's right it's Easter the time of year when I could bear myself to Jesus Christ that's just a thing I do now and people seem to be okay with it I'm going to keep [Music] doing uh you know that's one of those things we laugh at now but is actually pretty true this these things seem to happen on a regular basis and we just kind of shrug it off this type of social media commentary from Trump actually goes back to years before he became presid

ent way back I remember a tweet where he wished a very special September 11th to the haters and losers this idea of marking days of significance by going after his detractors is like very deeply embedded on kind of a gut level the other thing that's notable about this Easter tweet I should say Truth uh to be to be to be accurate is that he talks about he go right right he goes after the prosecutors and judges and that's I think that's not a coincidence one of the biggest challenges facing him fo

r his reelect is the fact that his small dollar fundraising has nose dived it's a problem for the entire Republican party and what Trump's strategists have noticed for quite some time now is that those numbers go back up and his numbers get energized when he goes after prosecutors and judges it's something that's lucrative for him and that's helpful for him when it comes to fun raising while at the same time of course looking very very very weird to those of us who are not considering being smal

l dollar donor so you know Trump's endorsing and selling Bibles he shared a post calling himself the chosen one is this something Republicans have just come to expect to some actually connect with this I mean how do you explain it I'll explain it because nobody will stand up to Trump because there's no leadership left um you know Donald Trump uh the whole idea is to Bessie's point is it's just is trying to get attention so that they can get these these low dollar uh rolling again um but look he

thinks that the Evangelical is and it is important part of the base but when somebody Compares himself to to Jesus that should be like a red flag and a warning Donald Trump stood on a stage in 2015 in front of 300 actually about 2,000 Evangelical pastors and said he never needed for uh he never asks God for forgiveness which is fairly unusual for a Christian to say because the central theme of Christianity is to need forgiveness so either he's delusional or or he's God and I'm beginning to think

that he thinks he's gone yeah I mean this is you know it wasn't too long ago he said that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and and his supporters wouldn't uh well to some extent he's right I mean it's it's it's there's some Paradox where when Donald Trump plays the loser pathetic victim of people who can't afford to send him money send him money when his valuation in truth social we were just about this earlier uh a company that only had $3 million of Revenue and loses money consistently

is somehow worth billions of dollars and which Donald Trump owns the majority of it so here's a a multi-billionaire who's taking $25 donations from people who can't afford it um and by playing the victim as if he is you know he goes in his his uh chafford limousine to his to his private jet from his private Country Club to fly to another private Country Club uh and this goes on and on and somehow he's the victim and all this it's really remarkable so Zante we look back remember what the Clinton

campaign did in 2016 they spent millions in ads trying to amplify all the wild things that Donald Trump said it didn't really work uh is is this the tactic that democrats should take this time around or or should they try something different well I think this time is different of course because Joe Biden isn't incumbent and I actually think Easter is a perfect example of what President Biden can do to draw a start contrast for Donald Trump Easter is about him it's about Donald Trump for Donald

Trump the Fourth of July is about Donald Trump Thanksgiving is about Donald Trump Christmas is about Donald Trump but for Joe Biden Easter is about Jesus and the Fourth of July is about America and Thanksgiving is about family and those things will never win the media cycle of that day it is quite boring you won't play clips of what Joe Biden said on Easter because he said normal things like he is risen and we celebrate his returned on the 4th of July he says normal things so Donald Trump will w

in these 24-hour meetings cyes so it gets more attention but it's frankly a peric victory you know a victory where you win the battle but start to lose the war the American public in the 20120 election revealed hey we're actually sick of all this there's too much chaos it's too much about you it's too much about vengeance it's too much about retribution it's too much we would love to have a break where we can pay attention to our families and that what Trump said today we can pay attention to ou

r school and not what Trump said today we can work without having to talk about all the time what the president said today and Joe Biden has been steady and level and yes sometimes easy to make fun of because of level and steady he is but I think it is actually a breath of fresh air on a day like Easter where you just want as we were in church yesterday nobody was talking about Joe Biden not a single person yesterday was talking about Joe Biden and that to to president Trump would seem like a lo

ss geez everybody's looking at the priest and nobody's looking at me not to President Biden that could be a win coming over okay let's turn to Capitol Hill now uh the house is on recess uh but speaker Johnson's speakership could be in a bit of Jeopardy this is what moderate Republican Don Bacon told Kristen yesterday take a listen we have one or two people that are not team they're not team players uh they they'd rather enjoy the Limelight the social media and the fact is with a one- seat majori

ty and we'll end up with a three or four- seat majority after some special elections but that's not a 435 people it's a very narrow majority and one or two people can make us a minority but it is very likely that after this Ukraine Bill we may have a standoff with the speaker I hope the speaker prevails he's doing the right thing as somebody who covers Capital Hill every day Betsy I I think Congressman Bacon's analysis is is right on as is spot on it's crazy to think you could have a majority on

an issue a healthy majority bipartisan majority on an issue and that could be enough to topple your speakership it's kind of a weird dynamic Johnson finds himself in it's it's one of these sort of strange things things about the way the Republican Party exists on Capitol Hill that has become much more dramatic in recent years but that's been a problem for quite a while I remember back in 2013 when gang of a immigration overhaul got so close to passing and most most of the members of the House s

upported the legislation but then Speaker John Boehner wouldn't put it up for a vote because the majority of House Republicans opposed it and he was worried he would lose his speakership spoiler alert still lost his speakership no more speaker Boer but the extent to which the farri cohort of the house Republican conference has been driving the ship that's been a problem for every house speaker for more than a decade right now it's gone from being a problem to the to the point where Mike Johnson

is borderline speaker and name only because of the extraordinary power that any one or two members right have have and it's a republican thing it's not a majority siiz thing Nancy Pelosi managed to keep her conference totally under control even when she had these microscopic majorities of repblic and of repblic are just at taking over exerting power and setting the agenda it also has to do with fundraising so margorie Taylor green and the like can go out and collect their five and $10 donors and

they don't need the speakership or leadership or leadership packs to help them get elected uh we were mentioning earlier is that it used to be that the speaker on both sides would say knock it off we won't fund your campaign will'll run a primary against you and you get in line and now Margie T green says to the speaker knock it off get in line or we'll remove you I mean it's completely uh reversed and ironically I think there was a time when I would have enjoyed that position but now I see the

fallacy of my ways yes because because frankly the leadership you know whoever the boss is who comes in has to have some skin in the game you know we always my mom always used to say the difference in a bacon egg and cheese sandwich between involved committed is that the chicken in a bacon egg and cheese sandwich the chicken was involved but the pig is committed right Donald Trump is the boss of House Republicans he's the boss now of Senate Republicans which is why we see Senator McConnell reti

ring but the problem is he is not he's involved but not committed he does not care if the house remains in disarray he does not care if there's chaos so long as he is praised and held up on an altar and he does not have skin in the game so he will allow this sort of disarray to continue they're not afraid of Mike Johnson they were not afraid of Senator McConnell they're only afraid of one person all right we got to go sorry about that guys Betsy vonte Rick thank you for that great conversation s

till to come with just two weeks to go until the start of his first criminal trial former president Trump is now trying to delay the case indefinitely well time's also running out for him to pay the $175 million bond in his civil fraud case you're watching Meet the Press now welcome back with just two weeks to go until the start of his first ever criminal trial into a former president Donald Trump is once again seeking to have his New York hush money case delayed in a court motion obtained by NB

C News the former president argues that the case should be adjourned indefinitely due to what he calls pre-trial publicity Mr Trump meanwhile has until Thursday to pay the $175 million bond in his New York civil fraud trial it was lowered from the more than $450 million last week by an appeals court NBC News correspondent Von Hilliard joins me now so V is today's filing in New York just another attempt by Trump's legal strategy is this just another example of the delay delay delay strategy hey R

yan of course this is a delay strategy here but it's also one that you could expect a defense attorney to take on behalf of their client of course Donald Trump is trying to avoid having to actually have this criminal trial take place and that's where you saw the attorney proposed that it be indefinitely delayed of course at what point does Donald Trump not have publicity around this case uh that would be a major question mark even if he were to lose November's election he would still be a former

president of United States but ultimately that would be up to the judge to decide Ryan and we know that he has this Bond due and just a couple of days any idea when he plans to post it right by end of the day Thursday is the deadline 175 million which is much better than the more than $450 million bond that he was going to have to put forward Donald Trump just last week he said that he was going to put up cash in order to get that Bond the questions are is that his own cash is it other individu

als that offered to put money forward on his behalf so there's a lot of questions that we frankly don't have the answers to all we know is that there's going to be $175 Million worth of answers uh come Thursday and we know as social media company when public initially was Gang Busters but now is dropping uh you know is the value of Truth soci show something that could end up hurting Donald Trump both financially and politically right the stock today alone dropping 20% lowering his stake in the c

ompany from about 4.2 billion down to just over 3 billion in just one day here this is a you know you can artificially propped up stock here and Donald Trump unless he granted a waiver by the board of this company he's got to hold on to it for six months and the question here is if he were to try to sell it six months from now just how much lower will that value of the stock go because today it was acknowledged that the company had lost $53 million in the last year with only4 million of Revenue

which of course is a long-term invested that's a very questionable investment but if Donald Trump were to be the next president of the United States there's also reason to question you know those uh those types of uh uh money put into the stock into a company that Donald Trump has such a a major asset 10 all right V thank you so much and I'll be back tomorrow with more Meet the Press now the news continues though with Aaron mcglaughlin in for Halley Jackson right now thanks for watching stay upd

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