Meet the Press NOW — March 22

[Music] to Meet the Press now I'm Kristen Welker We are following multiple breaking news stories around the world right now we do begin in Russia where Russia State media is reporting that 40 people have been killed and more than 100 others injured in an attack on a large concert venue near Moscow you can see parts of the venue on fire and a massive police response there you can see all of those lights lit up in the Moscow Sky we are still working to confirm the details of exactly what is unfold

ing here here's what we can tell you so far Russian news agencies are reporting that at least three people wearing camouflage opened fire at the concert hall again this is according to Russian news agencies we've also received some video reportedly recorded inside the venue when the shots rang out we do want to warn you that the video is [Music] disturbing and rate media also reports that the roof of the concert hall is now partially collapsing moscow's Regional Governor is calling it a terror a

ttack just moments ago National Security Communications adviser John Kirby told reporters that the White House is monitoring the situation so we're uh trying to get more information but really would refer to uh Russian uh authorities to to speak to it uh the images are just horrible there is no indication at this time that Ukraine uh or ukrainians were involved in this shooting but again this just broke we're taking a look at it but I would disabuse you at this early hour of any connection to Uk

raine now just moments a Ukrainian official released a statement in which he said Ukraine was not involved in this attack joining me now is NBC's Matt Bodner he covers Russia for NBC News Matt thank you so much for joining me what is the very latest right now that you are hearing again we want to stress that our news our information so far is coming from Russian news agencies thank you Kristen well obviously this is a very uh Dynamic and and of course developing situation and we're trying to kee

p across everything coming out of Russia uh right now of course a very difficult media environment we are as you mentioned uh relying on Russian State media for things such as casualty counts the latest we're hearing uh from the Russian Federal Security Service that successor agency to the KGB uh the current death count at about uh 40 people so far um looking at the videos this this appears to be still kind of an active situation and so uh we're watching for State response so so far though we ha

ven't heard very much we haven't heard anything from Vladimir Putin yet um so still waiting on a Kremlin reaction uh we have seen other Russian officials of course come in very quickly uh and call this a terrorist attack but um uh of course a developing situation Kristen Matt put this location into perspective for us if you would and again we are looking now at video of the aftermath we see the lights lit up around Moscow smoke billowing into the air as we are having this conversation Madden obv

iously emergency responders there surrounding the scene we can hear uh the sound of those emergency vehicles but talk about this concert hall where is it what is its relationship to the surrounding Community why might it be a target for such an attack sure I I I would say it's it's of course a very large kind of uh shopping and concert venue we can see some of these images from a very large movie theater but but it's kind of one of these shopping and entertainment complexes Moscow actually has q

uite a few of them this is among uh one of the bigger ones one of probably one of the older ones as well uh but generally speaking it it's quite run-ofthe-mill as for why why it theoretically might be a Target I would say its size but also just kind of the normality of it um it's it's kind of on the kind of out out skirts of Moscow and and and maybe the starts of the suburb so it's really quite a quite quite generally residential a lot of Moscow after you leave the center is is that way so um to

me you know having spent a lot of time in Moscow it's it's of course it feels like an average shopping center uh I don't really really think twice about it so um you know when we hear things like the you from the authorities like a terror attack I I I suppose it is that kind of Target but there's really nothing nothing out of the ordinary about this particular Center uh that comes to my mind Kristen all right Matt stay with me please thank you for your great reporting at the top I want to now b

ring in former FBI agent and NBC News National Security analyst Clint Watts who is also with us us former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFall who's also an NBC News International Affairs analyst thanks so much to both of you for being here Clint let me start with you based on what we know so far based on what we are hearing from Russian State media what is your assessment of what has unfolded in Moscow Kristen a few things that there are many scenarios that could come up you know there's some

footage of some people being detained there's scattered reports of this attack but there is nothing really known firmly there's all sorts of information coming out from State sponsor media outlets in in Moscow but there's little to really be known there's at least four or more scenarios as well of who the perpetrators might be uh many of the claims so far have been that it's Ukraine or ukrainians uh targeting inside Russia but why would they go after this target here exactly what would be the p

urpose of it most of their targets have been military we don't know uh so that's one scenario but you might also know that navali Alexi Naval was killed just a month ago uh died in prison and there was an election of Vladimir Putin for his sixth term so so there are many that are probably inside uh Russia that were not happy about that situation as well separately you have Genny progan just just a little over a year ago was pushing into with his Wagner group then uh really staged what was consid

ered to be a coup uh trying to March towards Moscow just a couple months later uh last summer he was killed in an airplane there are lots of veterans from the battlefield there are Russian uh forces fighting against Russians uh actually on the border of Ukraine and then add to that Islamic terrorism uh there were some Islamic State arrests just in the last week inside Russia uh that has always been a threat going back to attacks like the bezin uh terrorist attack and war with Chia so there are m

any different scenarios that can play out and there's just really a posy of information right now to know which of those scenarios might be the one that we're looking at tonight Ambassador McFall let me bring you in now as Clint says we do have very limited information information as we are following this and a number of potential scenarios but based on what we are hearing from Russian State media based on some of the images that are coming out of this concert hall what is your assessment at thi

s point what's your reaction well my first reaction is Terrorism is horrible always there's no excuse for it there's no reason to ever do it uh and my condolences to the Russian families and and loved ones who lost people today uh second uh we we can speculate and I we can go through other terrorist attacks I i' I've studied and written and and lived in Russia during others of them but I just want to underscore we have no information about uh all the different ones TS of scenarios that Clinton j

ust went through and you know this could be chin it could be all kinds of people and we just don't know um third I want to underscore what the ukrainians are saying the ukrainians are categorically saying that they had nothing to do with said and I think we should be very skeptical of Russian speculation Russian government speculation that they were because of course that will be the easy explanation that Mr Putin will want us to all adopt and then finally because I was just on a at a at a meeti

ng in Kev this morning speaking uh online I want to remind everybody that terrorist attacks launched by Putin's government occur in Ukraine every single day including in the capala just yesterday and we are as you are speaking Ambassador looking at live images of the concert hall uh which is burning um as we speak and as we have this conversation Clint I want to play a little bit more of some of the video that was captured from inside the concert hall at the moment of this shooting and again I w

ant to warn our viewers that this video is disturbing so Clint I don't know how well you could see that video we could see people running for cover you could hear the gunshots ring out it does not appear as though the concert hall was completely full filled to capacity at the time that video that incredibly disturbing video the sights and the sounds of it does it tell us anything about who might be behind this or or what might be at play here I don't think it tells us much but there are a few th

ings to consider one it's a mass casually Target they were trying to inflict it it just based on that video one little you can see the maximum number of casualties possible just adding to that the idea of Molotov cocktails trying to set fire it it would what we would believe to be a terrorist attack I think the next thing we' have to ask is why specifically did they target this concert hall uh as you noted at the top of the hour in your discussion it's not particularly one that has uh significan

ce for for for what it means it does it's not a memorial or something that they might attack uh due to date and time so that is something in particular then it's uh you know in terms of the audience that was at this concert or the targets that were there is there anything specific about them and why it might have been chosen I've not seen any evidence of that so it just points to what might have just been you know broad-based terrorism uh just to inflict as much damage kill as many people as pos

sible by the perpetrators and that tends to lead you towards the more terrorist oriented groups uh just looking at the Ukrainian uh strikes inside Russia they were going after military targets Transportation uh Depots oil refineries this wouldn't seem to suggest that so I think the possibilities are are just numerous in terms of what this might work out to be and I alsoo just wonder how much information of high quality will we be able to gather those videos may be the best we get everything else

likely filtered through Russian State Media or uh you know we won't be able to trust it entirely because we won't really know where the source of that information came from all right Clint Watts thank you so very much for your insights we need to let you go Ambassador McFall let me go back to you we have not yet heard as Matt reported at the top from Vladimir Putin he undoubtedly has been informed about this attack at this point in time what do you imagine are his considerations when might we h

ear from him when might we get a reaction from him well once they have a have identified who they think it is and with all the uh ambiguity about whether that would be actually who it was or not we need to continue to underscore that cuz information Russia does not flow freely or independently these days but once he tells his people who it was uh I expect a massive retaliatory action of some sort uh that's what happened uh in 1999 that's what happened in 2002 D brovka 2004 Bon these other major

terrorist attacks where he went in in a massive retaliatory way and that's what I expect him to do um what that looks like will depend on who it is right but but I that is his modus vendi before and I expect that's what will happen this time around as well yeah um Ambassador very quickly I'm going to go back to Matt for a final thought but Ambassador before I do obviously Putin is immersed in the war his war in Ukraine there are a number of other tensions happening on the world stage as this unf

olds how might it impact the decisions that Putin makes the way in which quite frankly they are able to continue to conduct their war in Ukraine could this in some ways be a setback for him my guess is not and my guess is him his impulse will be to double down on everything including AR resing uh alleged terrorists you know uh NGO activists inside Russia itself and to take do more inside Ukraine but there is an underbelly to that and I already see it on social media channels coming out of Russia

which is why is he not protecting us here he's calling these LGBT activists terrorists uh navali people terrorists when they're real terrorists attacking us here and just as you had a debate and an ongoing debate in Israel uh uh right now about the October 7th terrorist attacks why were we not doing more to prepare for that that is going to be a sentiment that I don't think it's the majority sentiment and most certainly not Putin but it will be a sentiment inside Russia as well yeah that's a re

ally important Point Matt pick up on that point if you will Ambassador McFall talks about the reaction he's already seeing online the underbelly as he referred to it what are you anticipating the reaction will be among people in Russia thank you Kristen well I think Ambassador McFall is definitely getting getting to a good point there um you know a number of people will will recall that they just voted for Vladimir Putin I think themselves feeling that he was the the only candidate that could pr

ovide safety that's kind of I think been been been the deal the entire time so uh certainly people will be thinking that but one thing that's also really quite interesting about um Russian Public public reaction especially at Terror attacks um as Ambassador McFall mentioned this has happened before in Russia particularly uh very early on in President Putin's uh reign in Russia this is something it happened a number of times and these were very very big attacks and each time I think the Russian p

ublic predict uh uh reacted very predictably very understandably I think in most countries people tend to Rally around the flag in the wake of a terror event uh Russia that happens in a very straightforward way so I think my anticipation is is that you know whatever they say the cause of this was you'll see public support I think rally very quickly around um responding harshly to to whatever to whatever threat they say caused this all right well Matt Bodner Ambassador McFall thank you both so mu

ch for helping us as we begin to cover this breaking and developing story with Russian State media reporting that as many as 40 people have been killed inside a concert hall we will continue to bring you developments as they happen thank you both so much and coming up we have more breaking news this time from Kensington Palace Kate Middleton the Princess of Wales announcing that she is undergoing chemotherapy treatment plus chaos and Discord on Capitol Hill where Republican Congress margorie Tay

lor green announced she is looking for the votes to oust house Speaker Mike Johnson will unpack all of it stay with us you're watching Meet the Press now welcome back turning now from that Global News to the big political story here at home right now house Speaker Mike Johnson is facing escalating blowback from inside the Republican caucus after passing legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown with help from Democrats the house passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill today with Democrats

overwhelmingly backing the measure more than half of House Republicans opposed it including congresswoman Marjorie Taylor green who then took aim at the speaker filing a motion for a vote to oust him green told reporters outside of the capital that a vote on her motion is not imminent but it is a warning to the speaker that an effort is now underway to see if there is enough support to replace him look I filed the motion to vacate today but it's more of a warning and a pink slip I respect our co

nference I've paid all my dues to my conference I'm a member in good standing and I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw that throw the house in chaos but this is basically a warning and it's time for us to go through through the process take our time and find a new speaker of the house that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority now it's not clear how or when the house will act on this motion congresswoman green could have forced a vote with a privileged m

otion if she wanted to but she didn't her motion could now be referred to a committee and could essentially be killed Republican Matt Gates the architect as you'll recall behind the Republican effort to OU Kevin McCarthy a speaker told reporters yesterday that he would not support ating Johnson and other Republicans quickly questioned Green's actions Republicans are very much in a position to keep the majority but this kind of nonsense uh helps nobody this is lunacy she supported Kevin McCarthy

she knows firsthand the level of Destruction that Matt Gates and others caused by vacating the chair uh and I don't see how she could possibly think this will benefit anyone uh or uh the American people now some house Democrats have signaled their support for Johnson as well so while his job appears safe it isn't clear for how long what is clear from today's drama is that frustrations inside the house Republican caucus are rising with speaker Johnson at the center of the turmoil NBC's Ryan nobl

is on Capitol Hill with the very latest another busy one Ryan so break down the key takeaways from Marjorie Taylor Green's motion today she says this is a warning it's not a pink slip what do you make of that yeah I don't I don't want to quote Shakespeare here uh but I'm going to I think it's a it's a lot of Sound and Fury signifying nothing uh you know the fact that she decided to put this up as a privilege resolution or I'm sorry as a resolution without the privileged part of it essentially ju

st means that it's a press release she put it at the clerk's desk uh there is no compulsion by uh the speaker to move on this action uh it's really no different than things were yesterday now I guess it means that it's going to make it a little bit easier for her to add the privilege part of it at some point down the road uh but there's no indication here uh that she has any level of support from a bro broad swath of Republicans to remove Mike Johnson from office in fact it's just the opposite w

hen you talk to most House Republicans they don't want to go through that drama all over again uh and there's even the possibility that she's riled up Democrats to a certain extent to help Johnson I talked to at least three Democrats today who were were open to the idea of protecting Johnson uh if it meant that they didn't have to go through this all over again so uh this is Marjorie Taylor green being Marjorie Taylor green she is going to try and do everything she can to get us to talk about he

r and I guess uh from that perspective her efforts today were successful Kristen that's for sure but listen anytime you can quote Shakespeare that is a good day so well done Ryan let me just follow up with you quickly though what's the reaction been from Republican leadership are they just frustrated with margorie Taylor green you know I think it's gotten to the point now where republ Republican leadership is just kind of brushing her off you know kind of shrugging their shoulders about it you k

now Mike Johnson's office put out a statement that was certainly carefully worded uh but basically said that they're going to do everything they can uh to listen to the concerns of each individual member and you know with the assumption that they're including margerie Taylor Green in that but you know I do think there is a broader conversation here about members of his conference getting a little bit Restless that he's been forced to cut all these deals in order to prevent catastrophic things li

ke government shutdowns uh and and there is a section of Republican conservative Republicans in particular that don't feel as though he's delivered enough wins for them during this negotiating process uh that is certainly subjective and it's it's in in the eyes of the beholder as to whether or not that assessment is true but there definitely is a vocal group of of House Republicans that are unhappy with the direction of his speakership and are calling for a degree of a course correction the form

and fashion of of that I think is Up For Debate all right I know you will continue to watch it closely Ryan nobl thank you so much joining me now on set is Eugene Scott senior politics reporter at axios Maria Teresa Kumar president and CEO of voto Latino and an NBC News contributor and Hogan gidley former press secretary for the Donald Trump campaign thanks to all of you for being here Eugene let me just start with you and this has been looming large over speaker Johnson this entire time this t

hreat of a potential motion to vacate here you have Marjorie Taylor green actually moving forward with it but she says it's just a warning what's the impact though does it do more to divide the Republican party at this critical moment or is it just uh you know sounding fuy as Ryan said well it certainly makes it even more public just how divided uh the Republicans are or the challenges they're having getting on the same page but it is important to note that green doesn't have a lot of support ev

en from many of the farri law because they just they just don't want to go through this again they understand that uh the last year was not the best for them in terms of Optics and in reality and heading into an election moving forward with this could hurt them even more yeah Hogan pick up on that point because whenever I speak to people in speaker Johnson's orbit they make the exact point that Eugene is making which is that he's safe simply because Republicans can't go through the chaos that th

ey went through over ating McCarthy again yeah and the margins keep getting Slimmer and Slimmer every single day you hit on a great word there reality the political reality exists that regardless of whoever the speaker is Johnson McCarthy Jim Jordan whatever they still don't control the Senate and they don't control the white house so you can only get as much as you can get there's symbolism of course they can do to plate to the right and that's important and necessary but what you can actually

get done and get through depends on the other side of the aisle and that's difficult for a lot of Republicans to understand yeah reality is a really good point to keep in mind Maria Teresa I want to play for you something that Congressman Tom swazi who of course just won election had to say Democrat and get your reaction on the other side if this motion to vote vacate comes to the floor would would you vote to help protect speaker Johnson and his speakership yes I would and why do you think that

's important because the idea this is this is uh a comedy routine what they're doing the idea of trying to kick the speaker out for trying to keep the government open it's absurd so I I'm I'm fed up with it and I'll vote to keep him a speaker Mar Teresa he's only been in his post for about five months now and here you have Democrats saying look we're getting stuff done with him he's Reaching Across the aisle we're keeping the government open well and what makes him so unique is as speaker is tha

t he is left of left of left of McCarthy so who else are going are they going to pick he is the person that Donald Trump wanted in that position and so I think what margorie Taylor green is one is absolutely doing her Dramatics but it's not in the best interest of the Republicans not to pass a bill and forther the government because what they don't want is come the fall a broken system where everybody says I did not get my Social Security check I didn't get my Basics and who are we to blame it's

actually the Republican party and so while soie says that he's going to go ahead and support in the event I would say actually cool your heels because you might have an opportunity to actually have speaker Jeff given the fact that they are so dysfunctional Hogan I'll let you weigh in I'll let you take nuts I mean we're just talking about one no the margin and we can argue on the right to we blue in the face on whose fault it actually is for a shutdown but the fact remains we've done this many t

imes I was in the Trump Administration we saw this and regardless of who's standing off to the side pounding their chest and saying we're stopping this it's going to be the media and the left are going to work together and say it's all Republicans fault and so regardless of who's at fault it's going to be blamed it's going to be blamed on us anyway speaking of reality that's the reality so we have to know that but the Republicans hold the wheel so to be clear just for the record the media is not

working with anyone except the media but but to your point I mean Hogan you make the point about the very narrow majority again that you're dealing with and this is why this just makes this such a tenuous situation oh of course it does of course and as these margins get Slimmer and Slimmer people are jumping ship on on both sides actually we got to figure out how we're going to move forward with the government we have to have a leader to do that and to try and switch that up Midstream is is goi

ng to be extremely problematic especially with a divided government and slim margin yeah Eugene let's talk about former president Donald Trump uh he is back in the headlines today because of course there's this Monday potential deadline he owes about 400 plus million dollars over one of these civil suits he posted on Truth social today that he has about 500 million in the bank the challenge with that is it undercuts his legal strategy his lawyers are saying he doesn't have the cash flow to pay t

hese legal bills what do you make of what we heard from the former president today well I think one of the things that made the former president popular with his base uh is his proclamations of his wealth and his success and I don't think he's going to say you know what I'm actually far more broke than I led you all to believe while running for president in addition to a successful reality show about how much money I have so I'm not surprised by that but it is worth noting that if truth social g

oes public which it can which it might uh there's been some talk that he could end up having much more money than uh he previously or we previously believed he had Hogan respond to that but also within the context that there seems to be an agreement or a discussion about the RNC in part paying for some of Trump's legal bills do you think that's appropriate do you think that's something that's going to go forward what do you think is going to happen there yeah I don't know how unique that is I me

an look Donald Trump is obviously facing a lot of political prosecution here persecution as well and so these are political battles you're talking about two people and fny will and also there in New York people who ran on the fact they wanted to get Trump not talking about a crime or anything else even the Associated Press admitted this is far exceeds anything that's happened in the past it's never been done before violation of the eth amendment and obviously um the the excessive fines clause in

there and so these battles are going to be waged on the political front so it makes sense to use and talk about political entities taking in that money and trying to fund those efforts Maria what's your reaction to that and and I ask this of you in the context of President Biden has started to sharpen his attacks he does not weigh in on Trump's legal battles but in private fundraisers he started to mock the fact that he owes a lot of money and and he sort of does this riff where he says someone

asks me for money I have to to pay their debts I have to say sorry I can't help you Donald probably gets a big laugh line at these closed door fundraisers what do you anticipate you think he's going to take that out onto the campaign Trail I think he's probably using it as a test ground but I think that we have to recognize that Donald Trump the only indication that I have that he could possibly be overleveraged is when he had a bail bond that he was trying to get underwritten by chub the inves

tment firm and they weren't able to because they wouldn't use his he they wouldn't use his real estate property as collateral that just tells me that you might be overleveraged over promising and so even if he does sell truth social he won't get the money in time in order for him to pay the the bills that are due tomorrow and so what I think that the the president is trying to do when he is having these conversations is remind folks that you want someone that is an executive that actually unders

tands how to manage the people's money when Congress approves it and what he's going to make the investment I would though caution him is that there are a lot of Americans right now that are struggling day-to-day and so you don't want to make them feel bad if they can't make their ends meet because someone else has been proven to have Pro broken the law and actually has indictments and actually has had court orders to pay significant half a billion dollarss mon Monday could be the day when his a

ssets are seized as early as Monday final thought to you on this point well I think we should not be surprised if that's what ends up happening based on what we've seen so far the reality is this uh court case uh it's been very clear in terms of what uh New York beliefs they want from the former president and how they how he should respond based on what he has done and so stopping in and pivoting right now would wouldn't be consistent with what we've seen so far all right we'll have to see what

happens on Monday thanks you guys great conversation Eugene Scott Maria Teresa and Hogan gidley really appreciate it still ahead the very latest on what we know and don't know about the deadly attack at a concert hall in Moscow plus one of the top Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who's also a co-chair for the Biden re-election campaign Senator Chris Coons joins us next that's ahead you're watching me the Press [Music] now welcome back we continue to track that breaking news ou

t of Moscow where Russian State media says 40 people are dead and more than 100 injured in an attack on a Moscow area Concert Hall Russian news agencies say at least three people wearing camouflage open fire inside the hall video reportedly from the inside of the venue show a heroin scene with concertgoers fleeing gunfire at this hour Russian Fighters firefighters are working to put out a massive fire at the venue which has caused the roof to partially collapse Russian officials are calling this

incident a terror attack the White House says they are monitoring the situation and that there is currently no indication of any Ukrainian involvement in the attack we will bring you any updates as we get them joining me now is Delaware Democratic senator Chris Coons he is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of President Biden's top allies on Capitol Hill Senator Coons thank you so much for joining me I really appreciate it great to be on with you again I want to start of

f if I can with that breaking news out of Moscow what state media is referring to as a terror attack is there any that you can tell us about this situation any details that you can provide from briefings that you're getting there on Capitol Hill I have no additional information that I can share with you uh about possible actors who may have carried out this attack um it is a tragic loss of life at a civilian concert um but there are obvious um different organizations and individuals who might be

motivated to carry out an attack within Russia um the recent election there was widespread demonstrations of opposition to Putin uh particularly following the murder of navali in a um Siberian uh prison camp and of course the ongoing Russian aggression the brutality of their aggression uh in Ukraine uh and the previous war in Chia so I can't share with you any specifics about who might be responsible uh but there are both internal and external foes um of Putin and his brutal regime who could ea

sily uh have been motivated to carry out this attack well again we will continue to track it and bring you and our viewers any uh updates as we get it even throughout this conversation but Senator let me shift to the events unfolding in the Middle East as you know the United States uh has proposed to the UN Security Council a resolution calling for a sustained ceasefire uh in Gaza this was obviously rejected by China by Russia it comes as Secretary of State Anthony blinkin is in the region press

ing prime minister Netanyahu not to go in to Rafa what is your assessment of how the Biden Administration is handling this right now prime minister Netanyahu seems defiant he's still going into Rafa well I think we should be specific about what we're talking about um it is clear from both what President Biden has said secretary blinkin has said my conversations with the Israeli Ambassador and with prime minister Netanyahu um that the United States still respects and supports the obligation of Is

rael to protect its citizens uh from Hamas so smallscale targeted Special Operations forces against Hamas leadership or efforts to try and secure the release uh of those hostages still being held by Hamas uh in and um underneath Gaza in tunnels I believe it's their 167th day and I recently met with John and Rachel who are the parents of hirs Goldberg Poland um the pain of those families is just palpable um I believe President Biden continues to recognize um that there's an obligation on the part

of the Israeli government to defend their people what he is calling on prime minister Netanyahu uh to do is to first develop and Implement a plan to relocate innocent Palestinian civilians nearly a million of them who have fled to Rafa from other parts of Gaza at the direction of the IDF in the early stages of this war before any large scale operations before bombing uh or sending in large U infantry units that could cause thousands of Civilian casualties and that is the point of friction uh wi

th prime minister Netanyahu uh and it's my Earnest hope that they will not move ahead with a large- scale assault on Rafa there is a team that has come over to the United States to consult with our military experts on how best to conduct an operation um and my hope is there won't be a break in our relationship over this let me ask you about prime minister Netanyahu last year you called him exceptionally difficult an exceptionally difficult partner I wonder then do you agree with what we heard fr

om Chuck Schumer that there should be elections in Israel in the near future so that there can be a new prime minister who would support a two-state solution for example well to be clear the governing Coalition um that prime minister Netanyahu relies on includes extremists like uh Minister smotrich and Minister benir um who represent political parties within Israel um who are opposed to a two-state solution who have called for uh the removal of Palestinians from the West Bank and from Gaza and a

nd who advocate for positions on settlements uh and on the treatment of Palestinians that are I think well outside the mainstream of Decades of us Israeli dialogue um I think um Senator Schumer gave a forceful and clear speech both about his deep affection for and commitment to Israel and its future um as a Jewish democracy um and his concerns um that this Ally this close and trusted partner of ours has in the conduct of the war in Gaza under prime minister netanyahu's leadership gotten into a p

lace that has really harmed Israel's reputation globally here in the United States and so um Senator Schumer's remarks I hope um anyone who's criticizing or questioning them will listen to them in their entirety uh he was clear and balanced in his um in his denunciation his criticism of Hamas and their terrorism their brutality in his call for Hamas to release hostages and um his recognition that we could have a complete and immediate ceasefire if Hamas would simply stop their aggression against

Israel given what you are saying you would like to see in terms of any type of invasion into Rafa would you condition Aid would you support Aid being conditioned to Israel if Israel does not meet what the United States is asking for uh if Israel were to use the weapons and the financial support that we provide to just go into Rafa at a very large scale use 1000lb bombs and um use U infantry and military tactics that kill thousands and thousands of Palestinian civilians without taking into accou

nt um an alternative path that might secure um safety for a majority of those civilians I I would take that step yes that's something I've never said before uh and it's meant to convey um the intensity and the sincerity of my concern about the consequences here this is an unprecedented challenge for Israel um Egypt is not allowing any Palestinians to leave Gaza and go into the sin um there is no other place for them to safely go uh and there has to be provision made uh as I mentioned earlier um

a million Palestinians from throughout Gaza have moved to Rafa because that's a place the IDF earlier in this conflict identified as a safe zone so I think um the IDF which has complete control over the perimeter of Gaza and there is no risk uh that Hamas will rearm and re-equip in the coming weeks they have the time and I think they have the obligation to come up with a plan that will provide for safety for civilians and allow them to carry out uh precise targeted smallscale operations to conti

nue to go after Hamas leadership well certainly is significant uh that you are saying that you would support Aid being conditioned let me ask you speaker Johnson is floating the idea of potentially inviting prime minister Netanyahu to address Congress is that something that you would support for is that an appropriate next step for him to take look I I've had a chance to meet with the Prime Minister several times in Israel in the last few months um this would be unprecedented he would be the onl

y foreign leader in our history to address our Congress three times um and um look I would hope that any future engagement between the Prime Minister and the United States and our Congress and our president um will move towards um a consensus view about support for two St solution uh I'm not sure that an address to Congress will um reduce the temperature of our engagement I think the path forward here is clear and simple um and one in which sustained bipartisan support for Israel is not only des

irable but possible um but first there has to be a more concerted and successful effort to deliver humanitarian Aid into Gaza and to Target the use of force um specifically at um Hamas leadership and at securing the release of hostages well I do want to ask you about the politics of this we have seen a drag on President Biden's poll numbers I want to show two new CNN polls Senator these are out today they show a tide race in Battleground Pennsylvania and they show President Biden trailing former

president Trump in Michigan do you think that the situation in Gaza is the reason that those two Battleground States show such Divergent numbers and and the toll that it's taking on President Biden look I don't know the internals of the poll in Michigan um I will say this I recently was in Michigan for a weekend campaigning for President Biden got a very positive reception because of the very significant positive impact um that President Biden's actions on bringing manufacturing back to the Uni

ted States investing in semiconductor manufacturing his support for unions and the wage increases that the UAW and others have had in Michigan um so that you have to take that into account and balance it against widespread concerns about uh the war in Gaza President Biden from the very beginning from October uh just after the October 7th Hamas attacks uh has made it clear that he strongly supports Israel uh and their right of self-defense and from the beginning he is conveyed he expects Israel t

o balance that uh with respecting their International obligations under the rules of War to protect civilians and deliver humanitarian relief as the war has gone on those have gotten in in sharper and sharper tension uh and as a result I think it's made the relationship between our president and Israel's prime minister more difficult um but there is a positive path forward here and one that I hope they will take uh in the last conversation I had with the Israeli Ambassador um they thought they w

ere really on the verge of a hostage deal where Hamas would release a significant number of hostages and there would be weeks uh of a cessation of violence and the ability to get humanitarian Aid in its scale I respect that President Biden is trying every possible way through airdrops uh through delivery by sea through Partnerships with different other countries and NGS to deliver Aid into Gaza to prevent starvation uh our Israeli Partners who share so much with us in values should be doing the

same and it's my hope that we'll see that in the days ahead Senator Before I Let You Go I do want to get your reaction to congresswoman Marjorie Taylor green bringing a motion to vacate against speaker Johnson she says this is not a pink slip it's just a warning sign but what do you make of this and can you give us an update is is the uh government going to stay open will you all get this done by midnight tonight well look we were supposed to have this done six months ago we are six months into

the federal fiscal year uh and here in the Senate on a bipartisan basis we passed all of our Appropriations bills out of committee last summer um the house has really struggled uh the chaos the dysfunction over there which was brought on by a small group of Freedom caucus activists who brought down speaker McCarthy for trying to move forward uh on a debt sealing deal on Appropriations bills um the house Republican majority is showing that they have an extreme faction that is just not committed t

o governing to running uh our government and our country in a responsible way I can't tell you right now whether we'll have a shutdown and I want you and our viewers to think for a moment about what message it sends to the world if the government of the United States and this package includes our Department of Defense and our Department of Homeland Security if the world uh watches on the news that uh once again we have failed to come to an agreement and we have to shut down big portions of our g

overnment security operations like you know federal prisons and Border Patrol and our military will still function I don't want anyone to be alarmed but the non-essential functions will shut down um this is in the hands of a few extreme Republicans here in the Senate whether or not they will demand that we stay in session through the weekend and force us um to shut down and then um be here through next week to try and bring it back but right now you're a yes I'm getting a hard wrap for my produc

er absolutely okay all right Senator thank you for answering all my questions I really appreciate it I do want to turn now to another piece of breaking international news today Kate Middleton Princess of Wales says she has been undergoing chemotherapy after doctors discovered cancer the princess herself made the announcement in a rare taped statement recorded Wednesday and released today by Kensington Palace in January I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time it was thought

that my condition was non-cancerous the surgery was successful however test after the operation found cancer had been present my medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I'm now in the early stages of that treatment we hope that you'll understand that as a family we now need some time space and privacy while I complete my treatment my work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I'm able but for now I m

ust focus on making a full recovery this afternoon the White House wishing the princess a full recovery saying they are saddened by the news the palace would not confirm what type of cancer was found what stage it was in in or how long treatment will last the announcement also comes less than two months after Buckingham Palace announced King Charles was being treated for cancer we do not know what type of cancer he is being treated for either but we do wish both of them hopefully a full recovery

from that in remission joining me now is NBC's Megan Fitzgerald Megan this is such devastating news news and it comes after months of speculation why is the palace sharing this information now yeah I mean you know it's a really good question uh the palace is uh you could say drawing a red line here I mean there's there's several different reasons but one of which is because we have been seeing for the last several weeks certainly the last several months these conspiracy theories really just fue

ling uh really ignited after they released that um manipulated photo on Mother's Day here in the United Kingdom this is a way of getting in front of all of that releasing this video which we've not seen before hearing directly from the Princess of Wales herself uh explaining exactly what is going on but also you know um she's protecting her children as well we know that it's the Easter holidays here children are on vacation for Easter uh and Kensington Palace likely not wanting this information

to be released while the children are still in in school also all eyes were going to be on Easter next Sunday where we likely would see the royal family walking to church services on Easter um that is not going to happen the palace says that we will not see the family attending Easter services on Sunday and and should they not have come out with this information there would have been a whole new set of speculation and conspiracy theories as to why the family has not shown up so this is the palac

e uh being transparent about what's happening um but it is important to note that we do not expect to receive uh any more information uh updating us on um the princess of wales's condition it's just so devastating to see that video um and Powerful to hear in in her own words what has been happening and obviously the palace has come under scrutiny Megan do you think that this will in any way shift the way they look at updating the public on what is happening with within the Royal Family well you

know it's a really good question Kristen I mean what we have seen over the last several weeks given the release of that photo that was manipulated at the source uh is this backlash uh and what we've also seen which has been unprecedented is the way in which they have been sharing information quite candidly I mean we were shocked when we heard about the the um uh you know preventative treatment that the King was going to be undergoing for an enlarged prostate and then of course how they came out

with the news about the princess of whale undergoing that planned abdominal surgery we've not seen that level of transparency so it certainly was quite shocking uh that we were getting bits and pieces of information or or no information at all as it relates to the Princess of Wales um after that photo was released so now here we are again with a video something that we've never seen before uh releasing a fair bit of information which will hopefully uh stem the conspiracy theories that have been

fueling yeah Megan Fitzgerald thank you so much really appreciate you're joining us still to come former Supreme Court Justice Steven Brier meets the Press what he said about that state of our democracy and the unprecedented leak of the Court's decision to overturn roie way don't go anywhere you're watching Meet the Press [Music] now welcome back this week I sat down with retired Supreme Court Justice Steven Brer who stepped down in 2022 from the court after more than 27 years serving on the Sup

reme Court we had a wide ranging conversation about everything from the cases that are before The Supreme Court to his Reflections on the state of American democracy take a listen to a bit of what he had to say about that do you worry that too many people have lost the ability to listen in this country yes and where does that leave us bad what does that potentially mean for the state of this country's democracy hey look there are two sides to many things one you say the United States of America

hey this is in part the United States of America so the United States of America we used to think and I still think that maybe we're not listening as much as we should Justice Brier with his pocket Constitution there I also spoke to Justice Brier about the Supreme Court decision to overturn roie Wade and that unprecedented leak of the draft of an opinion indicating the court was poised to roll back abortion rights that became public weeks before the final decision was announced how disruptive wa

s the leak to the court and to the relationships that you describe was unfortunate were you angry you try to avoid getting angry where that you try in in a job as a you you try to remain as calm reasonable and serious as possible I think it was unfortunate that we how much discussion was there about a potential compromise around 15 weeks when well you know as much about that as I do uh you you saw what chief justice Roberts wrote and uh when you see uh what is written the normal situation is bef

ore something is written in the conference people in some form or other uh will discuss what they're thinking of writing not always and and not identical but there's usually some discussion did did you think that a compromise was possible before the leak around 15 weeks I usually hope for compromise so you were hopeful there could be a compromise oh you want to put words in my mouth I'm careful what I say on this because I say our interests are different I don't want to make news I've written wh

at I thought if you think there's news in here or in The Descent go right ahead but I don't want to say something in addition yeah like just to just to be clear though did you think a compromise was possible I always think it's possible I always I always think it's possible usually up until the last minute just a fascinating conversation we'll have much more of my exclusive interview with former Justice Brier this Sunday on Meet the Press plus I'll also have an exclusive interview with former RN

C chairwoman R McDaniel and that does it for us this hour we will be back Monday with more Meet the Press but the news continues with Hy Jackson right now thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media