Meet the Press NOW — March 28

[Music] if it's Thursday President Biden is kicking off a historic campaign fundraiser right now with presidents Obama and Clinton Biden is raking in the cash but still behind Trump in the polls plus new details in the investigation into what happened in the moments before a massive cargo ship crashed into the Fran Scott keybridge as crews are now beginning the long process of clearing the disaster site and Baltimore pauses to mourn the victims and former crypto Mogul Sam bankman freed is senten

ced to a quarter Century in federal prison for masterminding one of the largest financial fraud schemes in US [Music] history welcome to Meet the Press now I'm yamisha Center reporting in Washington today the center of the democratic political universe is in Midtown Manhattan specifically Radio City Music Hall that is where President Biden will soon take the stage with the two most recent democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in a historic show of democratic Force the event is feat

uring a number of celebrities from lizo to Steve coar and is expected to raise $25 million to put that into perspective that's more than both the Biden and Trump campaigns raised in the entire month of February and it will further increase the Biden campaign's cash advantage over Trump but the event will also highlight one of President Biden's most significant liabilities his age at 81 years old Biden is older than both former presidents Clinton and Obama sources till NBC News President Biden ha

s remained in close contact with the former presidents but Biden is even trying to a use a Twist on a campaign line from Clinton answering question about his opponent Bob Dole's age my fellow Americans the issue facing our nation isn't how old we are it's how old our ideas I can only tell you that I don't think Senator do is too old to be president it's the uh the age of his ideas that I question but while tonight's big event highlights some of Biden's key advantages he is still narrowly behind

Trump in the polls a Fox News poll last night has Biden down five points to the former president though that is still within the margin of error while Biden has seen a slight bump in some other polls since his State of the Union Address he still Trails the former president by a small margin that Fox News poll also had President Biden's favorable numbers at 39% compared to Donald Trump's 45% so right now we've got one candidate with a slight deficit in the polls and a big cash advantage and anoth

er facing a cash crunch while slightly ahead in the polls and its 2 21 days until election day NBC's Gabe Gutierrez is across the street from Radio City Music Hall at NBC News headquarters rocker fell centor so Gabe take us inside tonight's event what do we expect hi there yish well the uh security situation is really ramping up of course three former presidents as you mentioned and it's expected to be a star studded star studded event as you laid out lizo Queen Latifa um the Biden campaign is r

eally trying to you know say that this is this is a huge fundraising event first of its kind and as you said more than $25 million expected to be raised in about 5,000 people of course yamish that will also mean that um there will there will likely be protesters here the NYPD uh will block off many uh streets around Radio City Music Hall that iconic venue that you're looking at uh right now but there's also a large uh protest scheduled for nearby Bryant Park as well um and uh that you know that'

s something that the police are looking for as well you see the video right there earlier today President Biden and former president Obama walking side by side off of Air Force One and this is the image that the Biden campaign really wants to highlight and gab it is striking to see all these presidents together um we of course know that President Biden is older than both of these presidents so I wonder when you think about the fact that President Biden is is now getting together with them what's

he hoping to Lear learned from them especially because of course they both won their re-election bids sure well you know we understand from uh NBC's reporting that you know President Biden consistently stays in touch with former presidents Obama and Clinton then in some cases um after they have private conversation he directs his aids to you know follow up on some finer points so uh just a few days ago uh pres former President Obama and President Biden recorded a video you know talking up the A

ffordable Care Act and this is something that we can expect uh in in the coming uh in the coming months former president Obama of course like many Democrats you know has been concerned a uh Aid say of what's at stake in this election and the possibility that former president Trump could be back in the White House and we've really been seeing him now in the last few weeks and over the coming months we expect him to take an increasingly active role in the campaign yish definitely going to be inter

esting to watch them take an active role we have to say it over and over again $25 million is how much they expect to raise today when you think about that though I I I think about the idea that former president Trump when he won in 2016 he didn't have the most money out of the candidates that he was able to best out so how is the Biden campaign looking at this well look and it is still early in the campaign yish you you cover uh them as well and what they constantly say is that they really are

looking forward to this part of the campaign late in the next couple of months when people really start tuning in to this election they think that everything prior to this has been a lot of noise however they are very quick to highlight their huge fundraising Advantage at this point they also tell me according to One Source familiar uh with the fundraising that uh you know a good portion of this is actually from small dollar donors of course uh there could be some criticism today with former pre

sident Trump heading uh nearby uh to Long Island to visit the um you know sort of counter programming essentially visiting the uh wake of a fallen NYPD officer um and you know President Biden you know will be seen with uh celebrities here in Radio City Music Hall some of his critics saying that uh you know he's focusing on that instead of other priorities but again this is trying to get the excitement for this campaign trying to show that the Biden campaign can raise this money and really kickin

g off this general election season following the State of the Union imish well certainly a lot to watch out for there in New York so thank you Gabe for joining us and joining me now is Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim wal he is the chair of the Democratic governor Association and is supporting President Biden's re-election campaign thank you much so much for being here Governor a pleasure to be with you so we know of course that this is going to be a big fundraiser the Biden campaign is even ca

lling this what could be what they beli to be the most sign successful political fundraiser in history that being said what's the significance of today in this event beyond the money yeah well it's what the money can do and we saw it out here in Minnesota of course a purple State out here you know this race will be one in the the Midwest from here to Wisconsin Michigan over to Pennsylvania and what it meant was is three major uh operatives were hired out here a campaign team is out here we see t

he structure being put in place what this money does it translates into the folks who will be out there to knock on the doors to get out the vote to make sure that we're getting the numbers necessary and uh that's exactly how you win these campaigns this is people aren't paying attention yet this is preparing for November and this money and this this kind of uh enthusiasm around it will translate into real vote so I'm really excited about it I think it shows they taking it very seriously it show

s that that enthusiasm Gap will start to close as people recognize look this is a president who's delivered 15 million jobs got us out of the mess of Co that Donald Trump left us in and they'll start being reminded that while This president's out there doing the work of rebuilding roads and bridges uh the former president's in court trying to deal with his mess so I'm excited about it I'm excited about the event I wish I'd be there um well I have to ask you uh when you think about the fact that

both President Obama and both and President Clinton they both were able to win their re-election bids what do you think President Biden could learn from them when you think about the fact that he of course is now trying to do what they did yeah I think it's organization I I I do think it's being serious about this having been around for especially president um Obama's second run I was a member of Congress that time and I watched if you recall he was behind his numbers weren't much higher than th

is the polls had him done early in that and of course that's not the way it worked out and we all won again I think it's staying focused on the fundamentals vice president Harris was out here a couple weeks ago was at a Planned Parenthood Clinic uh stopped at a high school softball game they're starting to get that retail politic and goes and look the contrast between your revenge tour And The Angry rants coming from Donald Trump versus this positive vision of what we can do I think that's what

they should listen to I think uh I think they're doing it I think President Obama's reelection uh proved that that that you don't have to look early on what the polls are that's not an indication of where we'll end so I'm feeling I'm feeling confident and I look president Trump now taking and using any money they're raising Which is far less than this and putting it towards uh his his legal funds the the Republican party in Minnesota has $52 in the bank they have less in Michigan those are real

liabilities when it comes time to a campaign and I just don't see uh how they're going to turn that uh on a dime so I'm excited about it and Governor you bring up for for president Trump we know at least according to the polls which are still in the margin of er era that President Biden is behind trump it seems in a number of polls is the money enough to close that Gap the money that the Biden campaign is Raising here well it's part of it's part of it the other part will be is is that people wil

l be reminded what a disaster Donald Trump left us on I I was there when he was telling us infrastructure week every you know every other day was going to be that President Biden was just out here delivering a billion dollars for a major bridge in northern Minnesota so it's a combination of the money allows us to tell the story this becomes the binary choice about our future of hopefulness rebuilding an inclusive place Reproductive Rights being uh something that's protected the ACA and affordabl

e health care that is all opposite if it's a Donald Trump presidency and I think what starts to happen is now this is somewhat at this time kind of a referendum on the frustration people feel and while America's economy is better than any other one prices are still up so there's kind of a general malaise that gets attached to the president um but once the choice becomes clear and once we start to move into all of the positives that have been done it'll clarify itself so I'm confident we'll reele

ct President Biden uh and we'll have a much more positive outlook on things as we get closer to the election and you talk about the economy this Fox News poll yesterday about 20% of people said the economy um is the Pres is the president's biggest accomplishment but about the same number of people said it's also his biggest failure so how could the president square that how can he get Americans feeling good about the economy even if they see the numbers but they don't think that they're feeling

that yeah and they might not I said look you know we're coming up on on an Easter weekend I saw the the report about the pric of eggs well the price of eggs are up mainly because of bird flu because of some of the things that have happened and and a president gets attached to that but I think you start showing people what's been happened the job creations and and to be very clear none of those things there's nothing that uh the for former president can talk about that comes near to that and I th

ink as we start to see some of the inflationary pressures uh come down we start to hear more talk about where it's at folks will come home because look this is a choice it the the world is struggling on all this but the choice is very clear democracy protecting that democracy the freedoms the the reproductive choices that can be made versus this just dystopian uh just weirdness that's coming out of Donald Trump every time he gives something that is going to be the choice at the end of the day we

ll there is though this this liability that President Biden seems to have he there was an uncommitted vote in your state show on super Tuesday 19% of people voting uncommitted is the president doing enough to address this this criticism coming from Democrats over his handling of the Israel Hamas War yeah look this is and motans are are an independent people we've we've elected independent Governors and and I'm proud that our party can have this conversations this is what campaigns are supposed t

o do and I think so I think you saw the UN res Solution on a ceasefire I think you see the president talking about a need to have a lasting two-state solution the need to uh relieve the humanitarian crisis that's in Gaza while also recognizing Israel's right to exist so I think those folks were expressing a democratic frustration that's that's healthy but at the end of the day they're certainly not going to go with Donald Trump the question is we need to make sure they're motivated enough to rea

lize they need to come back that they need to get back on the issue of what happens in the in the Middle East but also also what happens on Reproductive Rights what happens on Healthcare what happens on environment on all of those things those are folks that are with President Biden so yeah I think they're doing it and I think it's healthy and I think those people have every right to express their frustrations but at the end of the day they will come home and and that will help make the differen

ce well thank you so much for joining us I know you wanted to be at the event but we appreciate you being here on Meet the prid now thanks for having me and joining me now on Z is Mariana s mayor Congressional reporter for the Washington Post former New York Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley and Mark short former Chief of Staff to vice president Mike Pence and an NBC News contributor so Mariana I want to start with you right now of course Biden seems to have the President Biden seems to have th

e cash and the infrastructure um he's at an advantage there but president former president Trump he's leading in the polls even though again it's in the margin of errors but he has a cash disadvantage so who's in the better place here you think yeah I mean the cash disadvantage is a real one and this is how Stark it is in just this fundraiser alone Biden campaign is expected to make 25 million the Trump campaign raised only 20 million in February so that is pretty significant in and of itself an

d you know what the governor was saying is is true that if you have money you are able to open campaign offices the Biden campaign is expected to open I think at least a hundred around the country using some of this money in the very near future things like that and you know something that is kind of dark for Republican donors is the fact that the Trump campaign with the RNC just changed the rules a little bit to make sure that a number of of donations go towards the save America pack which supp

orts Trump and that pack is has been paying some of his legal fees so I mean it is still early yes things can change there is definitely in terms of the polls serious concerns for Biden that Trump is able to you know Jin up his base but at least when it comes to right now that Financial picture is is telling us some things and Mark what is this financial picture telling us in your opinion is former president Trump's campaign healthy right now I think it's struggling to raise money but I think it

's also exaggerated in the press in many cases as you mentioned before Hillary Clinton outraged Donald Trump as well he's going to run a smaller personel campaign he doesn't suffer from the ability to attract media attention and so I think that the traditional campaign is not what Donald Trump's going to run it's not what he ran in 2016 or 2020 and so I think that we make too much a deal with this I think a much bigger issue is will there be third fourth or fifth candidate on the ballot will Rob

ert F Kennedy be on the ballots will there be a No Labels candidate because Donald Trump's support is so intense in both sides polarizing that it's going to stay it's going to have a high floor but if you have the non-trump vote that's split among multiple candidates that hurts Joe Biden I think that's the bigger issue than the money issue well Joe I want to ask you of course there is that that big money issue in terms of how much money Democrats are going to be raising today but I wonder about

the united front part of this the idea that you have these three presidents that are coming out that you I can't even imagine a moment where you would have George Bush on the same stage as former president Trump so what does it mean um just from a messaging point of view that these democratic presidents can come together like this well I think especially looking at uh president former president Obama getting into the car getting out of the car with Biden uh is speaking to a particular audience u

h as well uh I I think it does show tremendous Unity um with the goal being not to have Donald Trump reelected and I'll just go back and we talk about history go back to 1864 Abraham Lincoln thought he was going to lose the election you know uh in his in his in his reelect um and we we are this is going to be one of the longest campaigns ever uh 200 some OD days still to go between now and election day A lot's going to happen I think money does make a difference um to a degree yeah I think Mark'

s right that and I I had my own campaign where I was I outspent my opponent and we know what happened um but to have that infrastructure in place is critical for such a national campaign and that's why I think the difference is going to bate we've been talking about the sort of advantages of of President Biden being on stage with these presidents but there is also the disadvantage which is that both of them both President Obama and President Clinton they were younger than their opponents and the

y both won reelection against people who were older than them is there a risk here for President Biden putting on display the fact that he is the oldest person in the room here I mean yes there is that physical contrast but I do think you know bringing Obama in particular he has always just ginned up the Democratic base and younger voters which is something is just a group of people that Biden definitely needs to bring back into the party get them enthused to be a reliable turnout base so yes ph

ysically we will likely see that difference but I mean people are still going they want to go see him and are tuning in online too to watch this fundraiser so and there might be a podcast I want to also um turn to of course the other person in this race Trump is also in New York he's in Long Island Mark at this wake for a New York for the NYPD um he is talking about crime even though crime is down in a a number of ways is this as big an event as maybe a campaign rally for Donald Trump can he cap

italize on this issue of crime while not holding maybe a big rally about the in the same way I think so you I think this today actually is a favorable contrast for Donald Trump I I accept the point of having three presidents on the stage with a lot of stars but for the average voter they're seeing Donald Trump at a funeral for a slain officer and I do think I do think I accept your point that show crime is down in some areas but for many perceptions for Americans it's still high and I think it's

a huge Advantage for Donald Trump and it's one candid yish that could have been a vulnerability the reality is that you know he partnered with many Democrats in passing jailbreak legislation he also um I think has attacked you know officers that were attacked on January 6 and defended the riers as Patriots and so I think it could have been a vulnerability but the Optics of him being there with the family of the slain soldier who was arrested 22 times before killing an officer is a stark contras

t to what Joe Biden is doing tonight and I think that favors Donald Trump significantly but mik is there risk that it could be seen as hypocritical because obviously former president Trump is dealing with his own legal issues here well I I I share with you what I think are the hypocrisies of in many cases he partnered in legislation that I think let many criminals out he also has attacked um or has defended Those Who attack police offic on January 6 so I think there is a challenge there but the

Optics I think are starkly different and I think it favors Donald Trump today I have to have my my New York up a little bit here uh and as the grandson and the son of of New York City police officers my dad uh Ser for 22 years on the NPD was a detective uh the notion or idea that Donald Trump cares at all for this officer or this officer's family is outrageous he has not an ounce of sympathy in his body it is hypocritical uh I think people look at as hypocritical that he's using this grieving fa

mily for political purposes for a political rally it's outrageous where was that same empathy for the families of police officers and others who passed away as a result of the six attack it didn't exist he doesn't care about anyone but himself and a New Yorkers are sophisticated enough to know that I hope America is more sophisticated to understand he is exploiting a grieving family it's interesting to to bring this up because Mariana Republican voters haven't held us against Donald Trump what d

o what do you think yeah and you know from my perch on Capitol Hill House Republicans have talked about you know defending the police they make that an issue especially in the House Majority when they're able to pass certain bills declaring that but at the same time you have this party that is very used to also saying we need to defund the FBI we need to defund the doj other types of law enforcement officials which Democrats are now trying to point that Contra contrast out okay you say that we w

ant to defund the police well you all also want to defund a different kind of police yeah yeah I want to ask you really quickly on the congressman before we go there's the third party and no labels right now they're having a lot of problems recruiting a candidate is is that possibly just done or are they not going to be able to get that off the ground you think I'm not going to run on the third party line I'm not if not I haven't been asked but by the way if they do ask I'm not running but look

it looks like they're running out of time uh it's not easy uh to put together a campaign to raise the resources to do the things they want to do and um you know uh I I think we're we know who the two candidates are going to be yeah it's over yeah well but I think there's a third candidate Robert F Kenny Jr and I think that hurts Joe Biden significant but it's a primary right now he's not on the the F the the November election well we are seeing him sh in polls but we we'll have to leave it there

thank you so much Mariana Joe mark thank you all for being here and coming up an emotional day in Baltimore marked by a moment of silence for those killed in Tuesday's devastating bridge collapse we're live from Camden Yards with the latest on the investigation and the response next plus we have new developments from Capitol Hill House speaker Johnson now says he will send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security secretary Alejandro mayoras the Senate on April 10th you're watching Meet

the Press [Music] now welcome back we're getting more information from investigators about the disastrous crash that brought down the Francis Scott keybridge and today the people of Baltimore paused to honor the victims the Baltimore Oriols kicked off their 2024 season about an hour ago the team started with a moment of silence for those who died less than 10 miles from Camden Yards in Tuesday's bridge collapse yesterday two bodies were recovered from the Patapsco River but authorities have cal

led off the search for the four remaining victims they have shifted to what they're now calling a salvage operation meanwhile the NTSB has released this video for its investigators who have now been on board the ship and have spoken with the crew members NBC News correspondent Ryan nobl joins me now from Baltimore sir Ryan what have NTSB investigators determined in the past 36 hours what's the latest you me before we talk about that I just want to tell you about a pretty emotional moment that to

ok place behind me here at Camden Yard where the Baltimore Orioles are opening uh the 2024 baseball season and in in between the third inning uh in the half inning uh in the third inning three Maryland Department of Transportation officers were honored uh for their bravery they were part of that group of officers that alerted uh the folks that were driving in and around the Key Bridge to not it on the bridge to shut down traffic in that area and to save lives and while they thanked everyone for

all of the recognition that they've been given uh they said uh quote in a statement that no amount of training could have prepared anyone for the events that took place on the Francis Scott Key bridge and of course even though there was a lot of heroic action that took place uh and there were many lives that were saved there were still six lives lost and as you rightly point out two of those bodies have been recovered the search continues for the four others in terms of the NTSB investig ation i

t is a lengthy process they've been able to get on board the shipping container that is still in the middle of the Patapsco River they've recovered that data recorder uh box that's been get allowed them to at least start to begin to piece together the timeline of events but one thing they have discovered while on board that boat is that it does contain hazardous materials which is just going to continue to complicate uh the Reclamation process there in the river before they can get the harbor ba

ck open yish and Ryan you talked about the fact that this is going to be a lengthy investigation do we have any idea how long it might last well the way that officials are framing it is to look at it in stages uh the entire investigation could theoretically take years it could take a long period of time before they actually close and shut down all the work that's going to go into finding out what went wrong but they do expect over certain periods of time to learn new information for instance why

this boat lost control why did it lose power what led to that that's something that they could disc discover in the next couple of weeks or months but in terms of why the ship came down or I'm sorry why the the bridge came down so quickly what could be could be done to prevent that uh going forward they're not really putting a specific timeline on that they want to make sure that they take do everything they possibly can to figure out everything they possibly can about this tragedy U as we take

in really this tragedy still where there's also the fact that the shift is still in the middle of the river what have authorities said about how long that ship might still be there and what it will take to move it yeah yish I I think with each passing day uh that task becomes more daunting uh when those investigators got on the ship they realized just how much damage was done to the ship itself and so there's two parts of this process they've got to get uh the remnants of the bridge off of the

ship and then they need to begin the very careful process of removing the ship from the harbor uh that's not going to be easy because as we mentioned before there are those hazardous materials on board uh there's also the safety of the crew members who are also still on board at this point so that they're also measuring in weeks they really believe that they there needs to be a sense of urgency connected to this because this Harbor is such an important port in terms of the United States economy

and of course the jobs that are associated with it but they want to make sure that they do it safely because it is going to be a very delicate and in many ways unprecedented process this is something that the folks dealing with this have never had to deal with before Amish ran it's still just so hard to see those images and you've been doing such a great job covering this story so thanks so much for being with us joining me now is Alan deal a former investigator for the NTSB now thank you so muc

h for being here based on your experience what would investigators be focused on at this point what do you think is really happening here well there's probably several types of Investigations underway simultaneously the first question is why did the engine fail and how much did the engine crew the people down in the engine room that diesels don't fail suddenly normally did did this crew communicate with a captain uh because obviously if he knew that engine might fail he probably would have said

to the pilots hey look let's keep the tugboats handy because the engine room's telling me we've got some issues there that would have greatly reduced the dangers of course they were facing a crosswind if you look at the smoke you've seen the video the smoke didn't go up straight it went off to the side there was a wind from the north which blew the ship to the uh to the to the South basically and I can Envision IM this was not unlike the Titanic situation where you've got this monstrous mega shi

p in that case heading for an iceberg when you lose your power your Rudder loses its Effectiveness and you've got to remember these ships have a lot of area the cargo and the ship is like a big sail that's pushing the ship literally out of the channel so they dropped an anchor uh the pilot ordered that he ordered hard left Rudder I understand but it could he could not arrest the momentum so the communication between the engine room the captain the pilots and the tugboats are going to be critical

and there's a type of training that they're supposed to have called crew Resource Management I think that'll be one of the big focuses of the board uh in this inquiry Alan you bring up the idea that there were tugboats um and that there's been a lot of conversation of whether or not they should have been used further here I want to play for you sound of the head of the NTSB take a list in tugs help it uh help the vessel uh leave the dock and leave the port and then get into the main Ship Channe

l and then uh they leave once it's on its way it's a straight uh straight uh shot through uh the channel so there are are no tugs with uh The Vessel at that time so they were calling for tugs so what do you make of what she's saying there could tugboats really have prevented this tragedy well that that's what the NTSB will have to determine now what uh Sher Hy was describing is normal situation uh if they think they've got engine problems I don't think that that pilot is going to uh allow that s

hip to proceed towards the bridge because he's basically controlling the vessel in the harbor so I think he would insist that the tug stay with him until we resolve whether or not we've got an engine problem I also want to ask you about this This ship's black box it's called the the boat's Voyage data recorder um what would you be most interested in and what will investigators possibly be most interested in when they look at that box well it's kind of a combination of both voice and data recorde

rs but as uh man Hy pointed out it doesn't have many channels it's not like an aircraft recorder with a thousand parameters the most important thing I would think other than the voice uh we talked about whether or not the captain was informed we've got an engine problem but the other thing is the the velocity of the wind some of these Voyage data recorders actually have a wind measuring device that feeds the data to the blackbox and I didn't hear her mention that but like I said when I saw that

smoke blow going horizontally instead of straight up I thought oh boy uh he's in a strong cross it's a high-profile vehicle we all know what happens to trucks on the road when they get in a crosswind the same thing happens in even even a bigger way with these high-profile vessels well thank you so much for providing your expertise we really appreciate it Alan my pleasure thank you for having me up next remembering the Life and Legacy of former Senator fece presidential candidate and frequent Mee

t the Press guest Joe liberman you're watching Meet the Press [Music] now welcome back mark your calendar today speaker Mike Johnson announced that he will transmit The house's articles impeaching how Homeland Security secretary Alejandra mayorcas on April 10th Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says Senators will be sworn in as jurors the next day Johnson announced the decision in a signed letter by the 11 impeachment managers including George's Marjorie Taylor green who is actively threateni

ng the speaker's job this impeachment trial will look much different than the presidential impeachment impeachment trials we saw during the Trump Administration and depending on what the Senate Democrats do that this could all be very very short we also got some news on the other impeachment inquiry house oversight committee chair James comr is formerly inviting President Biden to testify publicly suggesting April 16th as a potential date a lot happening at NBC News is sahil kapor is on the Capi

tal Hill with the latest so what can we expect specifically from the mayorcas impeachment trial what might that look like a lot of potential impeachments going on right now yamish on the mayorcas impeachment the house is finally going to transmit those articles after voting to impeach the DHS secretary on April 10th as you pointed out the next day uh Senator Chuck Schumer the majority leaders office said Senators will be sworn in for trial we know the impeachment managers include 11 members incl

uding a couple of committee chairs including Mark green the homeland security chair as well as some far-right allies of trump like Andy bigs and Marjorie Taylor green the parameters of this trial are very much unknown at this time it's up to senators in terms of how to draw this out uh whether it's going to be a full-blown extended trial with evidence submitted and and uh you know Senators considering all this stuff or whether they might vote to dismiss it early this is a possibility it's someth

ing that the Republican senator Rand Paul tried to do in the in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump it fell short of getting the votes to dismiss but Democrats control the Senate they have 51 votes if all those 51 uh members vote to dismiss then this could be dispensed with very quickly very early and there's some signs of hope uh you know for Democrats that that might happen because Senator Joe Mansion the most conservative member of that Democratic caucus told me a couple of weeks ago that h

e finds the mycus impeachment ridiculous and he would vote to dismiss uh if that were to come up before and zah of course there's also the other impeachment inquiry the one of course against President Biden right now it looks like Republicans might be preparing to end this whole inquiry with a whimper um how is that looking and could you explain what's happening there yeah what's happening basically yamish is that Republicans don't have the votes right now to impeach President Biden this is prov

ing to be a much heavier lift than was the impeachment of Alejandra mayaras which was not easy they squeaked that through after failing the first time around but uh James comr the house oversight chair who has one of the leaders of this impeachment inquiry has been hinting recently at a potential offramp from actually voting to impeach Biden Republicans are not going to bring this up if they don't have the votes it would be futile it would be an embarrassment to them and what comr has been sayin

g in fundraising emails to supporters is that Democrats would block this anyway even if the house does vote to impeach President Biden that Democrats would do what they've signaled they'll do with myus which is kill it on the Senate front and comr has instead hinted at the possibility of instead issuing criminal refer he's explicitly said that he hopes Donald Trump gets elected president uh this fall and that he appoints leaders to the justice department who would act on those criminal referrals

and prosecute members of what he calls the Biden crime family it's extremely unusual to see a prominent American officials say they hope one person is going to get elected so he can prosecute specific people but that that's where we are right now yamish that is where we are all so thank you so much shahil kapor thank you we want to now take a moment to remember someone who is a fixture on on Capitol Hill for many many years former Senator Joe liberman who represented Connecticut for 24 years fi

rst as a Democrat then as an independent Senator liberman died yesterday in New York a statement from his family said his death was due to complications from a fall in 2000 as Al Gore's running date liberman became the first Jewish American on a major party presidential ticket our opponents are decent and they are like able men I'm proud to call many in their party my friends but America must understand there are very real differences between us in this election tonight I believe the next Fronti

er isn't just in front of us but inside of us to overcome the differences that are still between us to break down the barriers that remain and to help every American claim the possibilities of their own god-given lives as a Democrat liberman was also willing to Buck his party at times he famously criticized President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and later he was a vocal supporter of the Iraq War he was also known for forging friendships across the aisle most notably with Republican

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham they jokingly call themselves The Three Amigos eight years after accepting the vice presidential nomination at the DNC liberman spoke at the Republican National Convention shortly after endorsing the GOP candidate John McCain what after all is a Democrat like me doing at a republican convention like this well uh I'll tell you what I'm here to support John McCain because country matters more than party I am here tonight for a simple reason John McCain is t

he best choice to bring our country together and Lead America forward Joe liberman was a frequent guest on Meet the Press appearing more than two dozen times on the Sunday show here's part of his appearance from December 1996 the biggest challenge is to regenerate America morally and part of that part of the immorality is the uh is the suffering that poor people endure we we we you know I'm optimistic at this time uh and the Very fact that more people are worried about the moral future of our co

untry than the economic future tells me that the American people understand that we really don't live by bread alone that even if we have more bread than most people around the world do you still have to find the difference between good and evil and and truth and falsehood and and live according to that I have a sense that there's a moral revival going on in this country recently liberman became a co-chair of the group No Labels the group working to find a challenger to President Biden and forme

r president Donald Trump in November the group released a statement that reads in part Senator liberman was a singular figure in American political life who always put his country before party he was a deeply principled and pragmatic leader who believed public service was a privilege and who dedicated his life to the betterment of others Joe liberman was 82 years old [Applause] welcome back today disgraced crypto Mogul Sam bakeman Fred was sentenced to 25 years in prison that puts an end to mont

hs of legal drama surrounding one of the biggest financial fraud crimes in history a jury found bakman free guilty of seven criminal fraud counts following a month-long trial last fall after his cryptocurrency firm FTX collapsed and went bankrupt in 2022 the company lost billions of dollars of customer money joining me now is CNBC technology reporter Kate Rooney thanks for being here Kate what did we hear from Judge Kaplan on his reasoning behind this sentence and was it longer than expected you

yeah great to see you well it was kind of right in line with what a lot of lot of legal experts did expect 25 years to 35 years was sort of the range the folks were expecting the maximum sentence was 110 years roughly so significantly less than even what the prosecution had recommended which was 40 to 50 years bankman freed meanwhile had suggested five to six years or at least his his defense team did so kind of right in the middle there as far as what we heard from the judge today and the reas

oning behind that sentencing for one that he found that bankman freed perjured himself on the stand the judge thought that he lied on the stand which adds to the sentence and that was really one of the big gambl of him testifying in the first place so came back to haunt him when it came to the sentencing also said that you know beyond not being trustworthy and perjuring himself he said he it was a risk that he would commit other crimes and thought that the sentence needed to be long enough to en

sure that he wasn't going to go out and do something like this again prosecutors called this one of the largest financial frauds in US history so those were the two main themes and said in his 30 years on the stand he hadn't seen anything like what he called a performance of Sam bman freed in terms of how evasive he was during cross-examination and a lot of the line that went on and as you said this is going to be remember as one of the biggest financial fraud cases in history what me what messa

ge do you think this sentencing sends that's really what the prosecution was trying to hammer home today was that they're trying to send a message with this sentenc this case in general that things like this won't be tolerated especially in newer technology Industries like cryptocurrency where it can be confusing you can really get into the Weeds on some of the the Investments and it can sound confusing but they said this was a good oldfashioned case of financial fraud and they're trying to be c

lear that no matter what rapper this you know your financial instrument might might be in whether it's stocks or crypto or anything out there they're saying fraud is fraud and they're going to be tough on it so that really was the message here well thank you so much Kate for breaking this all down and still to come BB backtracks details on prime minister Benjamin netan pushed to reschedule in Israeli delegations meetings in Washington the latest reporting next you're watching Meet the Press [Mus

ic] now welcome back the White House says it is working to reschedule an Israeli delegation's visit to Washington to discreat Israel's planned offensive in Rafa earlier this week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly canceled the visit after the US abstained from a US vote calling for an immediate ceasefire allowing it to pass in a meeting with a bipartisan group of us lawmakers in Jerusalem yesterday prime minister nyaho downplay concerns over an offensive Victory is Within Reach i

t'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 going to have th I don't know 30,000 all of the Gaza Strip north of Raa you know people move down they can move back up they don't have to go into North of w Gaza but they're still 65% of the Gaza Strip left open and people just move they move with their tents those comments come as President Biden continues to face domestic pressu

re over his handling over the war as the president is holding that fundraiser we talked about at Radio silly about 50 protesters Brave the elements in nearby Bryant Park and yesterday State Department official resigned in protests citing us diplomatic and Military Support for Israel will'll have more from the White House in just a moment we begin on the ground with NBC's rth Sanchez in Israel just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu very publicly cancelled a trip to Washington b

y a delegation of senior Israeli officials he is now quietly trying to reschedule those meetings those talks were supposed to be about this very public disagreement between Israel and the United States over Israeli plans to launch a major ground defensive in the city of Rafa Netanyahu says that is the only way to destroy Hamas but the Biden Administration has been very clear it believes any attack on Rafa in a large scale manner would be a disaster would lead to Major civilian casualties and so

the disruption of humanitarian Aid flowing into Gaza now whether American officials at this rescheduled meeting will be able to change Israeli Minds remains unclear the US believes Israel can achieve its goals in a more targeted more surgical set of strikes on Rafa but every indication from the Israeli side is they are determined to go in now amid this public feud between the White House and the Netanyahu government a new poll from Gallup shows that 50 5% of Americans disapprove of Israel's mili

tary operation in Gaza that is the first time this poll has found a majority of Americans disapproving and it comes amid what is an increasingly public set of strains between in the US Israel relationship while all eyes are on Gaza there was more fighting over the Israel Lebanon border over the last couple of days Israel striking what it said was a senior operative in a militant group aligned with Hezbollah Hezbollah firing back killing a civilian in a town in northern Israel yesterday and among

the many concerns among Israeli officials is that this one front War right now in Gaza could spread to a second front up in Lebanon back to you thank you so much ra Sanchez for that report report again joining me now outside the White House is NBC's Monica Alba thank you so much for being here so Monica the US says Israel has agreed to reschedule talks on Gaza after calling it off just a few days ago so why is Israel backtracking now and how much is this Benjamin Netanyahu of course the prime m

inister of Israel trying to feel out how far he can push the US it really feels yamish like this is sort of uh the alltime low in the relationship between the US and Israel which has already become quite strained but the US has been very clear and the Biden Administration has said it continues to stand by Israel there hasn't been any kind of a conditioning of Aid no shift in major policy when it comes to the war in Gaza but now the US is being a little bit more blunt with its rhetoric and it is

saying that it was the Prime Minister who cancelled this meeting that was supposed to take place this week trying to pin it on that UN resolution in the US extension when really they claimed that was sort of a political move that really disregarded this larger need to have the meeting that now the prime minister's office is saying okay we will work to find a new date and I'm told that's likely going to be some time next week and what it really signals here is that the US doesn't believe that Isr

ael is preparing to go into Rafa imminently that there is some time here and that they haven't been able to observe any imminent military movement on the ground so they still believe there's an opportunity to have a conversation here but the big question yamish is what happens if ultimately Israel does defy the us and the president and could that perhaps lead to any kind of a shift in policy here and that is what everybody is waiting to see now if this meeting actually takes place next week that

will give us a little bit of a window into it but also it may mean that that's just delaying buying a little bit more time so that Israel can figure out whether they are going to go into Rafa while there's still this major other question of whether there could potentially be some kind of a breakr that would lead to a temporary ceasefire and a hostage deal since that's a major priority as well and how much is the Biden Administration um they're stepping up it seems their criticism of Israel real

ly about dealing with the domestic pressure that they're facing and and the backlash over President Biden's handling of the war in mid the Middle East it's certainly a factor in all of this but this is also President Biden's approach from a foreign policy perspective he has felt that this is the right way to handle it for months now nearly six months since those terrorist attacks of October 7th the president really believes that the way to try to influence Israel and its decisions is by keeping

them very close and by embracing the Prime Minister but we know that they have had very intense conversations on the phone in recent weeks and that that relationship has its own pain points as well and so now the US is still trying to use all these other sort of soft power approaches to try to really emphasize its position on all of this and that's again what everybody is watching for to see if that ever shifts but the US has also been clear yich in recent weeks raising these concerns about the

humanitarian crisis in particular particular saying that something absolutely needs to be done on that front and that is what a potential ceasefire could deliver well definitely a lot to watch we'll be continuing to look for your reporting thank you so much Monica we're back tomorrow with more Meet the Press now but the news continues with h 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