this. >> reporter: walden's wife lea is now a single parent, too. >> he shouldn't be in prison. he should be home. weldon is a beautiful person that my son should be able to have in his life. >> reporter: weldon mcdavid, the man who said he just wanted to help, who once empowered a woman caught in an abusive marriage, now, the fallen hero, contemplating life behind bars. perhaps he sums it up best. >> there is no winners here. there is no winners at all. this whole situation is a loss. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. border battle. >> the border is a catastrophe. >> we have a broken immigration system. >> a bipartisan border security

bill that would help fund the wars in ukraine and israel an uncertain future. >> any republican that signs iti should be ashamed of himself. >> we ultimately fail on the border policy.ol we will live to regret it. >> will house republicans kill the bill? and is there a push to impeach homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas just fueling partisan divisions. >> this is a policy difference. >> my exclusive guest this morning, speaker of the house p mike johnson.g, plus, fighting back. plus, the u.s. military launches retaliatory strikes against iran-backed militants after a drone attack killed three american service members inside jordan. >> they have a lot of k capability. i have a lot more.

>> does this proxy war with iran risk turning into a direct conflict? i'll talk to national security adviser jake sullivan, and trailing trump. >> we now have in large part because of you and organized labor the strongest economy in the whole damn world. >> the economy is roaring back, but voters aren't willing to give president biden credit as a his approval rating hits a new low and he is now trailing donald trump by five points. steve kornacki will have the results of our new nbc news poll.ur joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news senior washington correspondent halliec jackson. sam jacobs, editor in chief of "time."bs ramesh ponnuru of the national review and symone sanders-townsend, former 6 spokesperson for vice president kamala harris. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show inth television history, t is "meet the press" with kristen welker. good sunday morning. we begin with our brand-new nbc news poll which brings more warning signs for president biden and his re-election campaign.g

one of our pollsters tells us we are looking at a, quote, presidency in peril. with the general election nine months away, president biden has 2020, is struggling with key elements of his base and now trails former president donald trump by wide margins on the issues voters say are most important to them.ugf joining me now to take us through the numbers is national political correspondent steve kornacki. steve, these are some truly stunning numbers. >> they really are, kristen. let's just start with the bottom line, when you ask folks, hey, if it's the general election ani trump versus biden, trump leads biden by five points. it's even more significant when you look at it this way, over time, we have been testing for e five years now going back to ,

2019, a biden/trump matchup. remember, 2019, 2020, joe biden led and he led big in every single one of our polls. for the first time in november donald trump pulled ahead in our poll and now at five points and ois is the biggest lead nbc hab ever had in 16 polls for donald trump over joe biden, and, of course, undergirding all of this is this question he's the incumbent joe biden. we asked voters what do you think of the job he's doing and look at that, kristen, 37% er approve and now 60% disapprove.v >> we should say that is the lowest approval rating since former president george w. bush's second term. >> yeah, and put that in further context too. bush in his second term wasn't running for re-election. here are the presidents who were running for re-election in our o poll. starting their re-election what was the approval rating? obama was almost at 50, he won and look how low biden's number is compared to those predecessors at this point. >> their numbers all much bigger than president biden's. >> it shows you the improvementa biden has to make here in the sm

coming months. the issues that are driving this, too, the economy, no surprise. we've been talking about it, bu, look at that advantage for trump, 22 points. and securing the border here, folks, very important, trump with a 35-point advantage. >> the economy is so striking, steve, because jobs are up, inflation is down, and voters aren't giving him credit for that, clearly. >> there are a couple of areas where democrats see potential opportunities to grow, and rewarding biden for it and that's what they're hoping for certainly. how about? also cautionary for the white house and give us two folks in w their 70s running, biden versus trump, and we asked if the candidates had the necessary physical and mental capacity.

it was 41-38. now you ask, and 46% say donald trump does, just 23% when it comes to joe biden. i think one of the central themes of biden's campaign in 2020, he said he'd be competent and effective. folks said they believed that in our poll in 2021 and the big reason trump lost, but now complete, total reversal and 48% say trump competent and effective, barely a third say that for biden. >> that's right. he said he was going to bring stability back to the white house. >> and now he's the incumbent and looking at trump as not the incumbent in a different light. just a couple of other things to get through. on the foreign policy and israel and hamas, overall big disapproval for biden in foreign teihamas, fcularly on israel h and hamas. that's particularly acute among the youngest voters, 18- to 34-year-olds. we have been tied, trump versus biden, and a lot of those biden voters, 18 to 24, they say they don't like biden. they just don't like trump moret >> it's this erosion among key groups that worries democrats?

it is the areas where democrats think there might be opportunity and they think they can get more young voters motivated to vote and maybe not by being for biden, but by being against trump. this is one area they think they can improve on and make this race different, but the other key, too, independents and trump, look at that with a s t p 19-point advantage. and also keep in mind, that shows you a lot of independents look very open to potentially another choice if something were to emerge, and also among wide voters, trump with a big win and biden with a big win. hispanic voters, trump with a one-point advantage. we've been asking with those gains we made our polls suggest they certainly have grown and we did ask this question, kristen. if one of these cases ends in a conviction, a felony conviction for former president trump, would that change your vote? 45% said the next scenario they'd vote for biden, 43% for trump, and this is also something the biden campaign is hoping for, although, there's a long history in polling about asking folks about hypotheticals and them reacting differently

when it happens. >> incredibly close. steve kornacki, thank you so ki much. we appreciate it. we want to turn to the middle east and secretary of state antony blinken is traveling to the region today. his fifth trip there focused on high-stakes diplomatic talks.to it comes after the u.s. helped launch strikes against houthi targets in yemen overnight and after they bombed 85 targets on friday in syria and iraq, retaliation for an attack that killed three servicemembers in jordan. iraq says there are violation of iraqi sovereignty. the strikes come after 160 attacks on american targets ar since october and just hours after the remains of those three u.s. servicemembers killed in jordan were returned home. and joining me now is national security adviser jake sullivan. welcome back to "meet the press," jake. >> thanks for having me. >> so the united states has now launched two rounds of

retaliatory strikes. is the stated goal of deterrence against these iranian-backed te troops being accomplished, and do you have an accounting of how many people have been killed so far? >> so the president has been very clear from the beginning, which is that when american forces are attacked we will respond and we responded several times over the course of the past few months, and when three americans were tragically re killed, the president ordered syria's response which we are now, which is now underway. it began with the strikes on friday night, but that is not the end of it. we intend to take additional strikes and additional action to continue to send a clear message that the united states will respond when our forces are attacked or people are killed.an at this point we are still assessing the question of how many casualties there were among the militia groups and our military will continue to

provide the president with those assessments. we do believe that the strikes had good effect in degrading the capabilities of these militia groups to attack us and we do believe that as we continue, we will be able to continue to senf a strong message about the united states' firm resolve to respond when our forces are attacked. >> jake, do you know if any civilians were killed? do you know if any militant leaders were killed? >> we do not have at this time any confirmation of any civiliaf casualties. our military is still looking at that. what we do know is the targets we hit were absolutely valid targets from the point of view of containing the weaponry and personnel that were attacking american forces. so we are confidence in the targets that we struck, and i will defer to a final analysis e the question who was taken out among militant leaders. tili >> let me ask you about the reaction to these strikes.

the house speaker who i will ea interview momentarily said in a statement, quote, unfortunatelye the administration waited for a week and telegraphed to the world including to iran the nature of our response.in the public hand-wringing and excessive signaling undercuts our ability to put a decisive end to the barrage of attacks endured over the past few months. what is your response to the house speaker?e ab >> well, i find it somewhat strange. the president made clear before we were attacked in jordan, before our service members were tragically killed that we would respond. so iran and its militia groups knew the united states was going to respond. we also said we would do at a time and place of our choosing. we planned the attack.al we executed the attack. we hit when we wanted to hit and

where we wanted to hit and that was at the military's advice of the president's commanders and he gave the order to go ahead and do it and we think those wr strikes had good effects. so, of course, there will always be armchair quarterbacks, but we are confident in the steps that we have taken so far and we are confident in the course that we are on going forward. >> is the united states alreadyn in a wider war in the middle east, jake? >> what the united states is e doing is responding to threats as we see them with significant but proportionate force. >> but has the war expanded? has the war expanded in the region, jake?as, >> well, first, we don't accept that what's happening in the red sea, for example, kristen, is st entirely tied to the war in gaza because the houthis are attacking shipping that has absolutely nothing to do with israel. so there are connections among these things to be sure, but these are distinct threats as

well that we need to be dealing with on their own basis. so in the red sea, we need to deal with the threat to commercial shipping. we are doing so with the coalition of countries.re c in iraq and syria, we need to deal with threats to our troops and we are doing so including with the strikes the president ordered friday night. sy w >> while you mentioned iraq and syria, let me ask you. how do you respond to iran's foreign minister calling this a strategic t mistake that will destabilize the region. is the united states bracing for a counterattack? >> well, i'm not a bit surprised that they didn't like the d co attacks from friday night. so that would be par for the course. we are prepared to deal with re anything that any group or any country tries to come at us with, and the president has been clear that we will continue to respond to threats that american forces face as we go forward. >> have you ruled out strikes inside iran?u >> well, sitting here today on a national news program, i'm not

going to get into what we've ruled in ando ruled out from t point of view of military action. what i will say is that the president is determined to respond forcefully to attacks on our people. the president also is not looking for a wider war in the middle east. r id >> is it off the table? are strikes inside iran off the table? t >> again, kristen, sitting here on television it would not be wise for me to talk about what we're ruling in and ruling out. >> so you're not ruling it out?i >> i'll just say the same thing one more time, which is i'm not going to get into what's on the table and off the table when it comes to the american response. >> all right. i want to turn to the war in gaza specifically. secretary blinken, as i just igl said is making his fifth trip to the region today to try to get those talks to broker a lk ceasefire deal, the release of the remaining hostages. could these retaliatory strikes undermine those talks and make it more difficult to secure a final deal?

>> look, ultimately, the question of whether those hostages will be released comes down to a negotiation among israel and hamas backed by egypt, qatar, and the united states.an we believe that the steps that we took on friday and the steps we took against the houthis last night are not connected to the hostage negotiations.ns we believe that now at this point it's up to hamas to come forward and respond to what is a serious proposal, and we will continue to press the qataries and egyptians to generate a positive response to that so thatto all of those hostages, including, kristen, american hostages, get home to their families. >> do you have a full accounting of how many hostages are held and are still alive?ve >> you know, we've said from the beginning because of the nature of how hamas operates inside

gaza, hide behind the civilian population, burrowing into these tunnels that we do not and cannot have a clear picture of exactly how many hostages are still alive and how many have tragically passed away. we've learned over the course of this conflict that at least twon american citizens passed away on october 7th and then who we previously thought were hostages. so we cannot with any clear sense say the exact number of hostages, but we know there are many, and we know that it's our job dayth in and day out to bring them home. >> on the topic of iraq, we know there is a sticking point seems to be whether there will be a six-week pause in fighting or a permanent ceasefire. what is the united states pushing for?etwe i >> well, what we're pushing for is an outcome in which every

hostage gets home, in which hamas is no longer in charge of gaza -- >> would you like to see a permanent ceasefire? would you like to see a permanent ceasefire?out >> kristen, everybody wants to see an end to the war.nd nobody is rooting for the war to continue, but for the war to enu in a serious and sustained way, what we need to see is the hostages coming home and hamas no longer being able to pose a e threat to israel. t that's what is necessary. otherwise, any temporary ceasefire will be just that. temporary.wi there was a ceasefire on october 6th. hamas broke it. so the goal now is to get all of the hostages out and to ensure s that hamas cannot represent a threat to israel going forward. >> speaker johnson told his conference yesterday that the d house is going to vote on a standalone aid package for israel, jake. without any spending offsets, will president biden sign that bill if it comes to his desk?

>> look, we've been clear that we need to solve all of the major national security challenges facing the united states. that means the supporting israel, that means supporting ukraine, it means the indo-pacific, and there is a bipartisan effort in the senate underway to do just that. we regard the ploy and we see it as a ploy being put forward on the house side right now as not being a serious effort to deal with the national security challenges america faces. from our perspective, the security of israel should be sacred.loe it shouldn't be a part of any political game, and, therefore, we believe the right thing to do is to pass a comprehensive bill, and that's exactly what a group of bipartisan senators are working on as we speak. >> okay. let me ask you, finally, jake, our new nbc news poll which we were just discussing found 29% of president biden's handling of the war in gaza. 60% disapprove of his handling

of foreign policy overall. should the president be factoring the public's 9%ininroval into his foreign policy decisions?ci >> well, i can't speak for the american people, but i can speak for the president, and the president every day is working tirelessly to deal with the id t threats and challenges we face in the middle east, to support israel while trying to bring hi down the number of civilian casualties and to protect shipping in the red sea with thd coalition of more than 20 countries, and to respond to the threats against our forces, including the attack that killed three americans, and that's what he's going to continue to do in the best interests, the best national security interests of the united states. >> all right. national security adviser, jake sullivan, thank you so much for your time this morning. we really appreciate it.ec >> thanks for having me.ea when we come back, can both parties agree on a border deal or will 2024 presidential politics prevent it?e the republican house speaker mike johnson joins me next. mike johnson joins me next

welcome back. senate negotiators are preparing to release the details of a new border security bill today. if it passes, it would be the first significant immigration reform approved by congress in more than two decades, but even before the text of a bill has been released, former president trump has vocally opposed it and on saturday the house preempted months of negotiations and proposed a standalone israel aid bill setting up a showdown with the senate. joining me now is the speaker of the house republican congressman mike johnson of louisiana who just marked 100 days on the job. mr. speaker, welcome to "meet the press." >> hi, kristen. glad to be with you. >> it's great to have you. before we get to the border talks, i want to ask you about the middle east. of course, you just heard me talking to the national security adviser about these rounds of

retaliatory strikes, which you have been critical of. i want to be very clear, though, what specifically do you want to see, mr. speaker? do you want to see strikes inside iran? >> well, i do take issue with a little bit of what jake sullivan just said. i listened to that interview. it was interesting. we need to make absolutely clear to iran that nothing is off the table. you know, we maintain peace through strength. that was the reagan doctrine. that's what president trump continued, and that's what we have to do right now. we should not be appeasing iran. that's what the biden administration has been doing for the last three years. we are projecting weakness on the world stage, and, frankly, kristen, that is why our adversaries are acting so provocatively. what we are doing now is turning up the heat in iran, and we need to decimate the iran central bank and the assets that they held there and we have to lean on international banks to seize the assets of iranian proxies. we need to put big-time pressure

and maximum pressure on the oil exports. there's a lot we can do to iran to send a message instead of this appeasing -- >> including strikes, mr. speaker? including strikes, just to be clear? >> it should not be off the table. let me fwish you a quick exam pl. in the trump administration we used a drone and three missiles to take out qasem soleimani and it sent a strong message and it quelled the activity there. what we are doing right now is we're using potentially hundreds of munitions to strike close to a hundred targets so far, but we're not going right to the had the of the matter and that's a problem. >> the biden administration has launched a number of retaliatory strikes, let me ask you about your surprise move on saturday, mr. speaker. you proposed a new standalone aid package to provide funding

if israel, and, of course, it comes just hours before the senate is set to unveil the details, the text of its border deal, which would also include funding for israel and ukraine. you just heard jake call it a ploy, a political stunt. why not wait for the senate to put out their bill first? >> well, let's make a couple of things clear here, kristen. we passed the support for iran many months ago, three months ago. immediately after i became speaker, we sent the necessary resources there. we passed our bill on border security nine months ago. it's been sitting on chuck schumer's desk collecting dust ever since. the h.r.2, which is our signature bill, right out of the beginning and right out of the block for the house republican conference in the republican majority would have resolved this problem and would have resolved the broken asylum system and the broken parole system, and we would reinstitute

remaining in mexico that would stem the flow by 70%, and we would end the catch and release, the mass releases of illegals into the country that has happened. this border is out of control and all of these problems that have mounted in the senate have been dithering ever since. we cannot wait anymore. the reason we're going to send the new israel package over is because the time is urgent and we have to take care of that responsibility. >> mr. speaker, as you know, that bill that you passed in the house would be dead on arrival in the senate. your republican colleagues in the senate have said as much. so i guess my question is did you propose this stand alone israel aid package to kill this compromised deal in the senate? >> no. we made very clear what the requirements of the house were, and that is to solve the problem at the border. apparently, the senate has not been able to come to an agreement. they've been suggesting texts should be filed maybe today, but we've been told the same thing for months now. we've been awaiting their action. we cannot wait any longer and

the reason we have to take care of this israel situation right now is because the situation has escalated, of course. the hamas terrorists have relented in their attacks on israel and we are now having u.s. personnel being fired upon there, and, of course, with the retaliatory strikes that are taking place, the heat has been turned up there. israel has never been in greater need our support, and the house is serious about that. i believe we'll pass this with a wide margin and take care of that responsibility. >> as you know, though, the senate is poised to release the bill text today, mr. speaker. let's talk about what is in it. we haven't seen all of the details yet, but it is expected to speed up the asylum process and so-called catch and release and expand migrant detentions just to name a few of the things that it does. will you put a bill like that on the floor for a vote given that you're saying we have to address the crisis at the boardser? >> you're addressing some of the rumors that are in this text. it's been negotiating behind closed doors with a small

handful of members. most of the members of the senate don't know what's in it. what we've also heard that's in it is that there might be limits of thousands per day before retaliatory measures or any measures that have been taken place to shut down the border, but here's an essential point. the president of the united states opened the border. we documented 64 agents that joe biden and his agencies have taken to create this catastrophe. they did it intentionally and that's why his approval rating is in the tank. 60% of the people disapprove by your latest poll? the reason the presidency is in peril as your opening monologue stated is because this is an abject failure of leadership, and the american people are done with this, and the border has to be secured, and the president has the authority right now, and he double need another act of congress, and he is unwilling to do it. >> as you know, the white house has completely dismissed the allegation that in any way the migrants and surge of migrants

has been intentional on the part of the president in terms of him being able to take action right now, mr. speaker, you know as well as i do that an executive order would only be met by legal challenges. you have a chance to do something right now. the details we laid out are not rumors. that is based on negotiators who were in the room. were you offered a briefing on this compromised bill, and will you put it on the floor? >> well, when they began to do the negotiation, i suggested immediately after taking the gavel i suggested to senate leadership that the house should be involved. we should be in the room. i wanted to send the chairman of our committees of jurisdiction to be a part of that negotiation and they said no, no, let the senate take care of it. >> were you offered a briefing, mr. speaker? were you offered a briefing? >> no, i have not been. i've had individual senators call me and give me tips and

offered tips, and we have not been a part of that negotiation, and i have been clear from day one after being handed the gavel in late october what the functional equivalence of h.r.2, what those are, and why that was necessary to solve the problem. i took 65 house republicans to the border in january and we heard from the people there, and they said these are the things that you must do to stem the flow and the reason we have the biggest immigration catastrophe, border catastrophe in u.s. history is because president biden took these actions i can name you specifically what he did. he does have executive authority right now. >> you talk about h.r.2, senator lindsey graham, your republican colleague says that stands no chance of passing. you have a chance to do something since you first took office, but let me ask you about donald trump.

he said any republican who votes for this deal should be ashamed of themselves. you've said you speak to him frequently and that you discussed this deal with him, quote, at length. is donald trump calling the shots here, mr. speaker? >> of course, not. he's not calling the shots. i am calling the shots for the house. that's our responsibility, and i've been saying this far longer than president trump has. i have been saying what the requirements are to fix the problem. i don't care if they call the legislation h.r.2 or not. what we are saying is you have to stem the flow. the president has executive authority right now as congress does this negotiation and the debate and discussion the president can stop it. section 212-f of the immigration and nationality act, the supreme court has already acknowledged gives the president broad executive authority. he could close the border literally overnight, and he refuses to do it. >> mr. speaker, you know former president trump took executive action and he got tied up in the courts, and any expectation tev action will get tied up in the courts, and you have been calling for legislative change

to actually deal with this problem. you are now the speaker of the house and do you not have a responsibility to your voters to address what you have called a crisis and catastrophe. isn't something better than nothing? >> kristen, we did that. we did that. nine months ago and since we passed our measure in the house to solve this problem and the reason we had to do it is because we saw that president biden was not fulfilling his obligation under the law. that's why this is such a failure of leadership, and we did our part. and, by the way, and since then in the nine months since that bill sat on chuck schumer's desk collecting dust, 1.8 million illegals have been allowed into the country and sent around the nation into every community, communities. nearly everyone listening and watching this morning know that

is a catastrophe, and the american people know it, and that's part of the reason that joe biden has the lowest approval rating of any president facing re-elections. >> even former president trump, though, called for legislative change on this issue. you have one of the slimmest majorities in the house in history. don't you have to compromise to get something done? what you passed in the house can't pass in the senate, mr. speaker. you know that. >> we are willing to work with the senate. i am not disclosing that and i've been very consistent for the hundred days that i've had the gavel. we are willing to work, but they have to be serious about it. if you only do a few of those components, you are not going to solve the problem. and, kristen, that is not a republican talking point. that's what the sheriffs and the border patrol agents and the deputy chief of u.s. border patrol, a 33-year veteran of the agency told us it's as though we're administering an open fire hydrant and i don't need more buckets. i need to stop the flow and we know how to do that, but joe biden is unwilling to do it. >> let me ask you about the decision. and, by the way, joe biden said he would shut down the border. he's calling for more funding and he's calling for you to pass this legislation. let me ask you about your move to impeach secretary alejandro mayorkas.

you accuse him of, quote, willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law, a breach of public trust. mayorkas has said these claims are baseless and politically motivated. what's interesting here is some prominent conservative legal experts who oppose donald trump's impeachment also oppose the impeachment of secretary mayorkas. this is what jonathan turley had to say, mr. speaker. he said there is no current evidence that he is corrupt or committed an impeachable offense. he can be ledge platly accused of ee fwect yating an open border policy, but that is a disagreement of policy, and what has not been shown as conduct by the secretary that could be viewed as criminal or impeachable. are you impeaching secretary mayorkas over a policy disagreement? >> jonathan turley is a friend and former colleague. i was a constitutional law attorney and practitioner and litigator myself, and i also

worked on the impeachment defense team for president trump twice. so i am very familiar with the law. what we are suggesting here is that secretary mayorkas has openly defied federal law. openly, repeatedly, engaged in a practice of defying the law that congress has put on the books and previous presidents have signed. he has also lied to congress and misrepresented facts over and over, and because of that, he's obstructed congressional oversight. all of these are constitutional responsibilities that we are unable to fulfill because this cabinet secretary has decided to defy federal law. extreme times, desperate times call for desperate measures and that's where we are. >> mr. speaker, just a couple of points there. of course, secretary mayorkas and you had a dispute over what it means for the border to be secured, so the notion that he lied has not stood up under independent fact-checkers when you look at the fact that this was a dispute. secondly, he says he's following the law. he says that's why new

legislation needs to be passed. mr. speaker, how does impeaching mayorkas do anything to address the immediate crisis at the border, which you have called a catastrophe which you said deserves immediate attention? >> kristen, for that matter how does passing a new law by congress resolve a catastrophe that they intentionally designed and created. if we -- >> he has authority on asylum. >> the president is not using the authorities he has right now. no, kristen, the president and mayorkas are not using the authority they have right now. >> all right. let me just play -- you said you were part of president trump's defense team in his impeachment, and here's what you had to say about impeachment back then. >> the founders of this country warned us again of single-party impeachment. the founders of this country warned against single-party impeachment because it would divide our nation.

>> what changed, mr. speaker? >> nothing. nothing's changed. i would repeat the facts over and over. the facts do not change, and the constitution does not change. the heaviest power that the house is given next to the declaration of war, you can argue is the most serious power we have, and it's not used to be used for partisan political purposes and that is exactly what they did for donald trump. >> how is this different? >> mr. speaker, how is this moment different? if that's the case then, how is this moment different now? >> kristen, in many ways. let me explain the many ways. for one, the house has methodically, slowly, deliberately gone through the impeachment process and impeachment inquiry and impeachment investigation on mayorkas and president biden himself. we've involved three different committees of jurisdiction,

judiciary, oversight, ways and means, and we have followed the facts where they have led, not for political purposes and not because we take pleasure in this. again, it's a heavy thing to look at impeachment of a president or cabinet secretary, but these facts require it. the house of representatives has the constitutional responsibility of impeachment and that begins with the investigations and it must be very carefully, methodically done in a non-partisan manner and that's exactly what the house republican majority has done here, and it's exactly the opposite of what the house democrats did in the previous administration. that is a fact, and we can follow the facts and understand them for what they are. >> of course, secretary mayorkas has said that the allegations against him are baseless. mr. speaker, we really appreciate your time this morning and we do hope you will come back. we have a lot more to talk about, but there was a lot to discuss about the border today and foreign policy. thank you. when we come back, president biden's approval is at the lowest level of his presidency. why are young voters turning against him? the panel is next.

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welcome back. the panel is here. nbc news senior washington correspondent hallie jackson. sam jacobs, editor in chief of "time," ramesh ponnuru, and symone sanders-townsend, former spokesperson for vice president harris. thanks for being here with the jam-packed show. hallie, let's dive into these poll numbers. president biden had a victory in south carolina, expected, so his base there is strong, but headwinds. >> headwinds to say the least and this is my reporting based on what i heard from both camps and they're saying the thing that they've said consistently is that it is early yet polls are all over the place and people aren't engaging at this moment and they haven't started to prosecute the case against former president trump in a way

they aren't engaging with right now and that's the view from one side. another piece that i heard from the trump campaign this morning basically focusing on the economic numbers which is super interesting and sam, i know you know this, we're seeing an unemployment rate going down and people don't feel good about it and that's what you hear consistently from these voters and watch for the economic piece of things to be something you see both sides try to hammer hard because the trump campaign believe they can continue to go after president biden on that issue, and the biden campaign believes there is some signaling that the pessimism among people is starting to ease up and that could shift. >> sam, that divide on the economy as hallie is saying could be the key to who wins on election day and by the way, this border deal, the crisis at the border is looming large as well. >> we are seeing the two key issues and the story that the white house wants to tell is not what the voters are telling you in this poll and connected to that is this issue of

enthusiasm. the president won 18- to 29-year-olds by something like 24% in 2020. when you look at? poll now you're seeing a dead heat among the young voters when it comes to the current president and the former president, and that's connected to this economic question. can the story that the white house is telling match what people are telling. >> symone, when you look at this poll i know we are observing it this morning, but take us inside what you expect the democratic colleagues in the white house and the campaign to say when they see these numbers. >> look, i think people are going to echo what they told hallie last night and this morning, that it's early and there's still time, which is true. now, i think the "there is still time" means there's time until august or september. if you were waiting all the way until november -- if you were talking about this or having a conversation in august,

that is time for pants on fire. we spoke to mitch landrieu, now co-chair of the biden re-election campaign and he said look, when he's out there and talking to folks they have questions about the economy. when he explains and talks to them about what has actually happened, their minds tend to change. every single one person cannot go out and have a one-on-one conversation which is why campaign infrastructure matters, and so the scaling of the campaign infrastructure and the ramping up of a surrogate operation and the president and vice president continuing to do town halls and those are things that will be effective because they do have strong ground to stand on, but people have to be tuned in to hear what they are saying. >> ramesh, not only is former president trump looking strong when you look at these polls and in the primary, but as i just was discussing with the house speaker, he is impacting what's happening on capitol hill. he has a say. >> that's right. and, you know, if you look at this poll, it's just one piece of good news after another for

republicans, but what has republicans worried is that the election becomes not so much a referendum on president biden, but a referendum on donald trump. that's the way biden wants it. that's the way donald trump is psychologically built to push it, and it becomes a much tighter race. i think what you're seeing in terms of biden's weakness among young people is that will go away to the extent that it becomes a trump referendum. >> i will say, there's one interesting number that will become super relevant probably pretty soon and that is the conviction figure, right, because the numb letters flip because if you ask voters what happens if donald trump is convicted prior to the election -- >> that was fascinating. >> you've seen in the exit polls and the majority of the republican electorate doesn't mind and doesn't care if the former president is convicted. four in ten do. >> i think that is a bit of an illusion though. first of all, there might not be a conviction. >> you can leave it there. republicans who don't want

donald trump and democrats who want to beat trump, need to take the eggs out of the conviction basket and put them in the beat them at the ballot box basket because we may not see a significant significant conviction. i don't think people hold stormy daniels and the hush money payments in the same vein as they hold january 6th. >> the republicans are coming home to trump in the way they haven't come home to biden. 57% of those in the poll say they're voting against trump. >> there are several months until election day and there is time for the democrats to come home and it's those core groups who aren't with him yet. >> there are several months, it is a ways away, girl. i mean, listen. when you look at some of the core constituencies here and there are alarm bells that are starting to go off and it's

interesting, one campaign adviser told me they are seeing more people coming in and donating that hadn't been prior, so they feel that that is starting to happen. listen, we have to see come convention time, and people start paying attention with what happens. >> and could the polls be a wake-up call? stay with us. when we come back, taylor swift became a part of the political conversation this week. what happens when politics mixes with pop culture? our "meet the press minute" is next.

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was angling for an endorsement from the global superstar taylor swift who backed mr. biden in 2020 but has steered clear of politics so far this cycle was thrust into the conservative political echo chamber. the pentagon was forced to put out a statement knocking down a conspiracy theory that she is part of a government plan to get president biden re-elected. celebrity influence and politics intentional or just because you're one of the biggest stars in the world is nothing new. in 1979 actor jane fonda defended her activism on "meet the press." >> miss fonda, you are a brilliant actress and an individual with the courage of your convictions, but besides your wealth and hollywood fame, what qualifies you to be a national, economic, and political leader and spokesperson? >> i am a citizen activist. i think it's in the highest tradition of our country for private citizens to speak out, not just as individuals, but as members of organizations that can have some power.

obviously, as someone who is famous, i have a particular responsibility, and i want to try to use it properly. when we come back, donald trump's push for total immunity puts his election interference case on hold. will any case go to trial before election day? more with the panel next.

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welcome back. our great panel is still here. ramesh, the gop primary is still ongoing, by the way. nikki haley hasn't dropped out. we have seen her step up her attacks including taking aim against former president trump and he's still locked in that immunity case. what do you make of the state of play right now? >> there are two things i'm looking for right now. first is the central message of the trump campaign right now which is it's time to consolidate after two states have voted, this is over, and haley's being in this race only helps the democrats. is that working with republican voters? if it is working with republican

voters, then almost any attack she makes maybe even worse, the truer the attack is the more it will backfire because people hold it against her. they'll say it's time to move on. on the flip side, are there republicans who will not be a part of that consolidation. we saw it in new hampshire 40% of people who had voted in previous republican primaries voted for haley. is that a sign he's going to have a weakness, that is trump unifying his party in november? >> hallie, it's interesting, because when i interviewed haley last weekend, she said, i just have to do better than i did in new hampshire in south carolina. nationally, she's trailing donald trump by 60 points. >> she has to get 43% in south carolina to hit the bar she's set publicly herself. to your point, when you talk to people that are close to her campaign, she is essentially running a general election campaign in a primary. she is making an electability argument about where donald

trump is weakest with some of the suburban women, and the voter, he'll need in november. they insist they have the resources to go for the long haul and she's talking to you about going through super tuesday and organizing if in some of these states. >> and the expectations are high and not just because she's set them herself with you, but she's never lost a race in south carolina and very few republican nominees have gone on to become president in south carolina minus one in 44 years. >> and no nominee of either party has ever lost their home state in the primary and gone on to be the nominee. i feel like i can identify with them. i respect those arguments. i was his press secretary and i used to make the arguments, but

he's strong when you get to november. you're not getting to november if you cannot win a primary and the reality of the way in which candidates are nominated in this country is you have to win a primary process. everything else is just fodder and punditry. >> and it's all about will her donors stay with her. thank you, guys. amazing panel. appreciate it. that is all for today. thank you for watching, and we'll be back next week because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." the president made clear before we were attacked