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If it's Friday the United Nations top court orders Israel to Halt its military offensive in southern Gaza the latest in a series of developments this week putting the White House in a tough spot as Israel is further isolated on the world stage plus new reporting from NBC news on how the president's team is gearing up for a difficult moment for.

The Biden family and the campaign as Hunter Biden's criminal trial on felony gun charges is set to begin and possible October surprise senior us officials tell NBC News they're bracing for a potentially dramatic escalation in tensions with Russia and North Korea that could come just as voters here are about to head to the.

polls welcome to Meet the Press now I'm Gabe Gutierrez in Washington where the Biden Administration finds itself on defense not on the campaign Trail or on Capitol Hill but on the global stage as the US stands by its Israeli Partners despite concerns about their increased isolation this morning the un's highest.

Court ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive into Rafa the city in southern Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians are Sheltering the international court of justice said Israel failed to sufficiently address concerns about its military campaign as living conditions in the en clave continue to worsen the.

Ruling is largely symbolic though with no actual enforcement mechanism but top Israeli officials rejected the order vowing to continue their fight NBC News has reached out to the White House and the state department for their reaction to this un ruling but notably there has been no reaction so far from the Biden Administration it's been a week of.

Bruising headlines for prime minister Netanyahu starting when a member of his own War cabinet threatened to resign unless isra adopted a new strategy in Gaza then prosecutors at the international criminal court announced they were seeking arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas officials including Netanyahu for alleged war.

Crimes and after that pressure from Europe when the leaders of Spain Ireland and Norway all announced plans to formally recognize an independent Palestinian state but with each headline the Biden Administration has at least publicly stood alongside Israel reject the icc's application for arrest warrants against Israeli.

Leaders but let me be clear contrary to allegations against Israel made by the international court of justice what's happening is not genocide we reject that what we have seen so far in terms of Israel's military operations in that area has been more targeted and limited has not involved major military operations Into the Heart of dense urban.

Areas we now have to see what unfolds from here the US position on this is clear President Biden as I just said has been on the record supporting a two-state solution he has been equally emphatic on the record that that two-state solution should be brought about through direct negotiations through the parties not through.

Unilateral recognition it's not just the Biden Administration yesterday speaker Mike Johnson reaffirmed his commitment to Israel and announced that he will soon be hosting Netanyahu at the capital to address a joint meeting of Congress and a move some Democrats see as a political ploy to further highlight and expose.

Divisions inside their party on the issue am made all of this diplomatic efforts are also continuing behind the scenes CIA director Bill Burns is heading to Europe in the coming days hoping to revive those stalled ceasefire negotiations NBC News International correspondent Raph Sanchez is in Tel Aviv with the.

Latest today's ruling by the international court of justice that Israel must halt its military offensive in Rafa is final and it is binding so technically Israel if it does not comply is breaching international law but the court has no enforcement mechanism that would fall to the UN Security Council and Israel is hoping that the United.

States would Shield Israel from any International action at that Forum now just as that ruling was being read out at the court in the ha in the Netherlands a little after 9:00 a.m. eastern our team in Gaza says Israeli air strikes were pounding the ALS chabora refugee camp which just underscores that there is not a whole.

Lot of optimism inside Gaza or outside that this ruling will actually impact the war on the ground in terms of potentially a little legal wiggle room Israel has been ordered by the court to submit a report one month from now explaining how it is complying with today's ruling some in Israel feel that as long as the Rafa operation is wrapped.

Up by the time time that report is submitted Israel can say that it is complying even though the judge was very explicit today that this offensive must end immediately Israel also saying it has recovered the bodies of three hostages from northern Gaza that's a total of seven hostage bodies recovered over the last week one of those found.

Overnight so Ryan Hernandez he is a or was a 30-year-old French Mexican dual National and the body of his girlfriend Shen Luke was found last week the two of them were at that Supernova Music Festival when they were killed meanwhile CIA director Bill Burns in Europe meeting with the head of the Mossad spy agency as well as the prime minister of.

Qatar and the hope is that he can revive these stalled badly stalled ceasefire negotiations but frankly there is not a whole lot of optimism that these talks which have not produced a ceasefire which have not got any hostages out since November we'll see a breakthrough now back to you Raph Sanchez in Tel Aviv rap thank you and joining me now is Ali.

Rfh at the White House and NBC News Pentagon correspondent Courtney QB she joins me here on set Ali though I want to start with you what should we make of the fact that we haven't heard anything from the White House about this ruling yet yeah Gabel you laid out the differences perfectly between the White House reaction to the icj's uh uh.

Charges against Netanyahu and some other Israeli officials earlier this week and then today's uh top ruling by the top un Court ordering Israel to stop its offensive in Rafa you mentioned that despite multiple requests from our team for comment the White House still has not formally reacted to this and the White House has already declared a lid.

Meeting we are not going to see or hear from the president the rest of the day he's already at his Wilmington Delaware home and Gabe the president has already been walking this fine line since the Israel Hamas War Began but it really can't be underscored enough how much more delicate of a position these uh charges this ruling today presents to.

The White House because remember the president has said that absent a robust plan to protect the more than 1 million Palestinians Sheltering in Rafa uh the United States would not support any major ground offensive uh by Israel in uh that area and so uh this would force him to really reconsider potential future us Aid to.

Israel and despite this pause of a weapon shipment of Bunker Buster bombs uh two weeks ago we really haven't seen any other changes even a as Israel continues these strikes in Rafa that the White House considers very targeted and specific so this ruling today really uh puts the White House in a position where it could choose to accept this and recog.

Ize this decision potentially adding more pressure on Netanyahu or the alternative course of action of course would to would be to not recognize it and put and risk having uh more International pressure on the United States uh to put more leverage and more pressure on Israel so still a lot to watch in the coming days on.

How to that point you mentioned that fine line that the US is walking is there concern that aligning itself too closely to Israel is going to put the us at odds with some of our other partners in the west yeah well the White House is not formally recognizing this but you talked to some White House officials uh and.

There is concern about the growing uh really the echoing concerns from leaders of other countries of Ally countries that are uh really supporting this decision today for one example Egypt is supporting this decision by the icj today and you see the Fallout regularly that the president is facing uh here at home during White House events during.

Campaign Trail events and how that has been following him so no doubt this is something that's concerning uh the White House albeit privately gave and to that point on on Egypt ali uh President Biden spoke with the Egyptian president today what do we know about that conversation yeah the White House providing a readout of this phone call.

That President Biden had with President Ali of Egypt in which they talked about these ongoing ceasefire negotiations they also talked about ongoing efforts to get more humanitarian Aid into the southern region of Gaza and Rafa specifically and the White House says that the president welcomed a commitment from Egypt to allow Aid to go through.

The Kum Shalom border crossing on a quote provisional basis the White House also says that the president committed to supporting efforts to reopen the Rafa border crossing uh with acceptable terms to both Israel and Egypt and they say that the president agreed to send a delegation to Cairo next week to further uh talk about that g Alli Rafa at the.

White House Ally thank you and I would turn out a Courtney Cub um look you've been reporting on this uh floating dock project to get that humanitarian Aid into civilians in Gaza it appears they're struggling to get that Aid there what are you hearing from Administration officials so it's it's actually unfolding in exactly the way that.

Officials were concerned about from the very beginning so the military piece of it really is working at this point it was a little bit slow to get it set up there was bad weather and everyone forgets I mean this is a floating dock and a pier or a Causeway that's anchored into the the beach when there's bad weather and waves it has an impact on.

Their operations but it's been up and running seven or eight days now in that time they have been able to bring more than a million pounds of Aid ashore into Gaza but that's where some of the trouble has has arisen specifically in getting that Aid to warehouses and then distributed to the civilians who desperately need it now in addition to.

That we do know some has made its way into the hands of people who of the hungry people in Gaza but it's only a fraction of what has actually gotten to the shore there in addition to that we just learned yesterday that in fact there have been three us service members who were injured as part of this they were all non-combat two of the injuries.

Were were minor one of them was severe enough that the person actually had to be airlifted to a hospital in Israel but again it also just underscores there's not only the concerns about the security there but it is an inherently potentially Dangerous Mission and Courtney what about the concerns about the cost you know the US has been.

Spending what 300 and some odd million dollars on this how long is this expected to go on for yeah it's it right now it's going to be at least $320 million and the reality is that's what we're told it will most likely go higher than that that is just factoring the military piece a thousand service members the the the ships that are there.

Also providing security all of the military component will likely go higher than that but it's not just the money that's limiting factor here we going forward could potentially be another limiting factor right now it's the summer it's going to probably be okay for much of the summer they think in the Mediterranean to continue operations as.

They get closer into the fall that's when it starts kicking up again they might not be able to continue continue operations because it may just be too dangerous weatherwise out there and Courtney I want you to hang there um and I want to turn now to Another Story Another hot spot in the world you have new exclusive reporting on the.

Burgeoning alliance between Russia and North Korea and that the Biden Administration is bracing for the possibility of an October surprise as us officials are growing more concerned that pongyang could launch some kind of military action at the urging of Russian President Putin in the runup to the presidential election so walk us through.

Some of this reporting yes so our colleague Carol and I have been working on this for several weeks trying to figure out exactly what the implications are for this strengthening growing alliance between Russia and North Korea officials have been warning about it we've heard about the tremendous millions of rounds of artillery and.

Ammunition that North Korea has provided for Russia it's had an impact on the ground in Ukraine uh Russia in exchange has given fuel gas maybe some money but North Korea wants more than that they want things like aircraft technology missile technology and now officials are concerned that some of that that techn ology could be making its way to North.

Korea and could be a game Cher and what about China you know as you know it's a China's a close partner of both Russia and North Korea is there any concern here that Beijing can try and step in here yes absolutely so so Beijing according to officials it looks like Beijing is pull is calling a lot of the shots between this relationship and may.

Not be happy with it that being said North Korea and Russia continue to strengthen this Alliance this bilateral Alliance to the point where we expect that Vladimir Putin may even make a trip to North Korea in the coming weeks officials here are concerned that that could be the time where they seal these deals in addition.

To the provocative actions they're concerned about they're also worried about some new joint manufacturing capabilities that Russia could help North Korea with inside North Korea certainly a lot to consider there so Courtney you know that former president Trump has touted you know his apparently strong relationship relationship as he.

Sees it with King Jong-Un has the Biden Administration reached out at all to North Korea at this point they have in fact some some Think Tank experts have said they think it could be as many as 20 or even two dozen times that there there has been an effort to reach out to North Korea but the reality is there has not been any diplomatic Overture and.

That's one of the reasons that officials are so concerned 2024 it's an election year North Korea tends to increase their provocative actions during an election year historically that's been pretty consistent but the times where it isn't as high the numbers of provocative actions like missile launches even a nuclear test the times of those are.

Lower is when there is a dialogue between the us or even the probability of a dialogue and the reality is that just doesn't exist right now and officials are not optimistic that we will see any kind of dialogue before the election in November all right Courtney Q our Pentagon correspondent thank you so much for your reporting it's good to.

Have you here thanks and coming up a look at RFK Jr's little known pick for vice president Nicole Shanahan and her political Journey from democratic donor toward some Fringe political movements but first how the Biden team is preparing for a new phase of their battle against Donald Trump after his hush money trial is over you're watching.

Meet the Press now and welcome back with closing arguments in the start of jury deliberation set for next week in former president Trump's New York hush money trial my NBC colleagues today have new exclusive reporting that the Biden campaign wants to go on offense.

Regardless of the outcome sources tell NBC top Biden camp aign officials plan to stress to voters that Trump will be on the ballot no matter what and that the only way to block him from the White House is to vote for President Biden the campaign hopes a post-trial break from Mr Trump's regular legal appearances will make it easier for the president's.

Political message to break through meanwhile the Biden team is preparing for the Fallout from his son's from his son Hunter's upcoming criminal trial on felony gun charges sources say their goal is to be quote deliberately loow key about the matter Hunter Biden appeared in court today for a pre-trial hearing ahead of his trial which is set.

To begin June 3rd and joining me now from Wilmington Delaware is NBC News justice and intelligence correspondent kend delanian and here on set with me is NBC News White House correspondent Mike memoy thank you both for joining us and Ken I want to start with you what did we hear from both sides in today's hearing both the government and Hunter Biden.

Made several motions about what evidence could be admitted so who ended up with the better better score sheet it's hard to tell Gabe I would say that the judge really gave both sides most of what they wanted and none of this was terribly consequential setting the stage for the beginning of this trial on June 3rd essentially the judge.

Is going to allow the prosecution to for example quote from Hunter Biden's Memoir uh they're they're going to allow uh the prosecution to cite evidence from that Infamous laptop and other electronic devices There's a summary sheet with 18,000 pieces of evidence that include emails and text messages and photos but the judge is going to allow Hunter.

Biden's attorneys to challenge the authenticity of specific messages if they can do that on a case-by Case basis so that's an interesting uh thing that we'll see at the trial um the the judge granted um uh requests by uh the defense to exclude certain testimony that's negative about Hunter Biden for example uh any reference to the other criminal.

Case against him out in California that tax evasion case and any reference to his being uh discharged from the Navy after testing positive for cocaine the government is not allowed to portray his lifestyle as extravagant but they are allowed to talk about uh his drug use and the things that he did around the drug use which is quite unflattering so.

Um basically setting the stage for what is a very important trial and Ken Hunter Biden himself was in court today as we mentioned how did he react to the proceedings he according to the folks who were inside and watching him closely he was a careful Observer of the proceeding me ings he consulted with his lawyers on occasion he paid close.

Attention special councel David Weiss was also there Consulting with the prosecution team it's just a reminder though that you know HRI Biden walked away from a plea deal that was to misdemeanors resulting in no jail time and now he's facing a maximum of 25 years in this case alone now that won't be the sentence but that's the maximum.

And 17 years maximum in the tax case out in California so he is in some very serious trouble facing felony charges K so Ken you mentioned that California case uh a couple times he faces tax charges there what's the latest on that trial on those proceedings yeah it's been postponed it was originally scheduled to start at the.

End of June it's now going to start in September um arguably that's the more serious of the two cases this gun charge while very serious is rarely prosecuted and there's a constitutional argument against it that Hunter Biden may win ultimately but the tax cases are the tax case is very cut and dry he's charged with felony tax evasion and there's a.

Lot of evidence that he didn't pay his taxes uh question about Criminal Intent and that's going to be a longer more involved more detailed trial out there gab kend delanian live for us in Delaware Ken thank you want to turn out to Mike a memoy Mike the Biden team says they're going to be lowkey but is the president going to be able to adhere to.

That once the trial gets in their way that's a big question right I mean the overarching you know theory of the case from the Biden team whether it's the Trump trial or Hunter Biden's legal wos has been to stay quiet because of the fear of being seen as interfering in judicial proceedings of course the president is the head of the executive.

Branch and the Judiciary department but the other part of this is they're taking their accuses from the president they say he's reacting to this as a father not as a president and there's a fear of creating the same kind of circus atmosphere around Hunter Biden's trial that we have seen in New York around Donald Trump's and so they want to be.

Ready to respond to the extent that some of the discussion that may come up in Wilmington involves then Vice President Biden conduct whether his son was influencing decisions in the Obama Administration when the vice president was playing an important role in foreign policy but otherwise they plan to stay out of it and we've seen in the past the.

The first lady and the president have time at times been asked about their son and they respond forcefully they defend their son and so to the extent that we may hear from them it may be in situations like that and Mike this is a very difficult time of year for the president as you know it's around the anniversary of his son Bo's uh death how.

Does that add to how all of this is going to affect the president the timing of this I think is what has so many people around the president feeling very concerned about this moment for the President right you can draw a direct line from the death of Bo Biden nine years ago next Thursday to the substance abuse issues that exacerbated for Hunter.

Biden the the journey that he went on remember when when Biden was holding the first big rally of his campaign in 2019 there was a seat for Hunter Biden that was left un filled because he was in the depths of his addiction at this point so the president and the first lady have said that the very proud of his son their son for the recovery he's made and.

They're first and foremost concerned about seeing him continue on that road to recovery well it's certainly something Republicans are going to keep uh hammering the Biden Administration about but I do want to turn to your reporting on how the Biden campaign plans to handle former president Trump's uh hush money uh trial whatever you know.

Verdict is handed down the aftermath of that what's this about a more aggressive posture what what are they what are they going to be changing Gabe it's such a measure of what an unusual campaign we in in that one candidate has been facing a criminal trial and it's the other campaign that feels like it's hurt them right I was on it is it's really.

Remarkable I was on the road this week with the president and one senior campaign official actually made the Handcuff gesture said we feel we've been handcuffed because we haven't been able to press our case get the message out even though it's Trump that can't he says he you know he's locked down in court and can't go you know campaign as.

Much but the Biden team is actually fsly and so as they're looking at the end of the first Trump trial we don't know if we'll see another one before election day they're looking for this as an opportunity that they need to right the whole issue for them is making it clear to voters you may not like that this is a rematch of Trump versus Biden but this.

Is what you get and so it's now not about the courts taking care of trump at The Ballot Box it's it's us at The Ballot Box and that's similar to what we saw four years ago but Mike why wait until there's a verdict you know some critics of the way the Biden Administration and Biden campaign is handling this they say why not go out.

Now and make more of a deal about it they they certainly didn't want to play into what Trump has been saying all along that this is a political prosecution that this is his political opponent trying to clear the field of his enemies and so that was a big part of it so the end of the trial does give them that opportunity to be be a bit.

More aggressive and this is part of the larger strategy of the Biden team wanting to get under Trump's skin too one of the things they're considering is calling him a convicted felon of course if he is convicted right not a former president that would be something that maybe carries to a debate stage next month when they two are sharing a stage.

And so there's obviously the president wants to beat Donald Trump but to the extent that he's struggling to do so maybe Trump will beat himself and that's been part of the sort of aggressive approach lately and on that point we're certainly looking forward to that debate next month how does what's going on now and whatever you know happens with the.

Verdict how does that factor into the preparation for that debate specifically well we saw the campaign laid out in a memo sort of some of the strategy leading up to the debate which is to use some of these big moments uh to tee up what the president hopes to accomplish on that debate stage the the debate is going to take place just a couple days.

After the anniversary of the dobs decision right the president wants to get forcefully out there that you are the one who set the path for Reproductive Rights being at risk you're a convicted felon he might be able to say that on a debate stage also the anniversary of the Uvaldi shooting that was being marked today the pulse night.

Club also coming up so they want to use these moments as sort of organizing events leading up to the debate which they feel like is going to be an inflection point in this campaign it is the choice they hope to finally get it through to voters because the polls still show there's a lot of doubt about that Mike mem our White House.

Correspondent so good to see you here on set set up in the booth exactly and after the break on the ticket and under the radar NBC News takes a closer look at RFK Jr's running mate Silicon Valley philanthropist Nicole Shanahan her politics her influence and her controversial Embrace of some Fringe.

Beliefs that's next you're watching Meet the Press now stay with us while former president Donald Trump says he plans to wait until around the Republican National Convention to announce his vice presidential pick extending the mystery and the jockeying amongst his allies for as long as.

Possible Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr announced months ago that his running mate would be Nicole Shanahan a Silicon Valley philanthropist Now new reporting by NBC News is shedding light on a woman who is in some ways an unorthodox pick with no political experience of her own but she does have much needed cash for the.

Campaign and evolving political views that bring her in line with a candidate who rejects institutions and elevates conspiracy theories including about vaccines and joining me now is the reporter behind the piece NBC's brandy zrz brandy so good to have you here and um shanan was a longtime Democratic donor so take us through her path to.

Becoming the independent candidates VP pick yeah it's a really interesting transition and one I've actually seen quite a bit on this sort of Fringe beat but April 2020 is a really important date in Nicole Shanahan's life April 2020 was when she got diagnosis of autism for her child and her child was about 18 months and that autism.

Diagnosis really sent her down sort of a rabbit hole she had invested in different research um about uh fertility longevity stuff like that but autism really just got her into this Rabbit Hole so she started looking for um Fringe researchers and she found one named Dr Jack Cruz he um has really wild ideas about t he Sun and its healing.

Powers and um blue light from computers and he sort of made her believe that the vaccine um caused vaccines caused this autism and so then Shanahan went on this quest to heal her own daughter and to heal all the other autistic kids and that brought her to Kennedy and um then she ended up joining the campaign definitely because of the thing that you.

Just mentioned which is her millions and millions of dollars you know Brandy you've been covering this a long time so how common is the wellness to conspiracy pipeline is this new or just Amplified since Co well the wellness to conspiracy theory pipeline is a very short one because wellness influencers and entrepreneurs really um they seed a.

Distrust in normal institutions you know you can't trust your doctor you can't trust the government to help you you have to buy my products or you have to donate to my patreon and I'll give you this secret information that's always been a Cornerstone what's new and what Co did was really bring in right-wingers to this sort of idea of antivaxx and.

Distrust in these sort of Institutions that has become a new marriage and that's where RFK and now Nicole Shanahan find themselves so what does she bring to the campaign beyond their cash well I think we can pause for a minute because the cash is the big thing right she's now donated $10 million of her own money to um to the campaign and even more to a.

Super PAC um that's supporting Kennedy so that is the big thing I mean what she also does is she sort of speaks to the audience and speaks their language I went to a recent Rally in Austin where she gave her first stump speech and she talked at length about soil and the evils of big Pharma and big a and big Tech and so she sort of speaks their.

Language so so that I mean she does speak to a crowd and they the people that I talk to didn't know her before and loved her after whether she's pulling in new voters that's that's a question yeah and that is you know the B the main question right you know Kennedy's only on the ballot so far in Six States but the polls do show he.

Could pull in some more votes So to that point that you were just making how much will awareness of Kennedy or awareness of Shanahan influence who those votes are pulled from I think it will pump up their existing fan base but again polls show and the people that I speak to that don't know Kennedy well but are sort of waiting in the Kennedy Waters and.

Thinking about a possible vote for him thinking about possible support most people do not know this stuff about Kennedy do not know his Decades of antivaccine um rhetoric and propaganda and he has built the largest anti-vaccine organization on the planet the most well-funded his group Children's Health defense that he's.

Taken a leave from to run for president but that's still very much there all the people working for his campaign are people from CHD and from these Fringe pieces so The Fringe I think will get stronger and more DED ated to him but as people you know normal folks start to listen to what he's saying and what Shanahan is saying I think there will be.

Some issue there all right Brandy srne thank you so much for joining us we we really appreciate still to come the escalating crisis in Haiti two Americans have been killed amid the massive political upheaval and gang violence as President Biden says the US will not send troops into the country we have the latest developments next you're watching.

Meet the Press now welcome back for months now really years we've been following escalating violence in Haiti and today we learn that violence has taken the lives of three missionaries including two Americans according to their families Davey Lloyd and his wife Natalie just 23 and 21.

Years old were shot and killed by armed gangs along with a Haitian colleague armed gangs have taken control of much of the country's capital city and anti-government violence has become commonplace with gangs targeting government buildings police stations and Hospitals now Kenya is leading a unbacked multinational police force to.

Help stabilize Haiti and combat the violence yesterday President Biden alongside Kenyan President William Ruto reaffirmed that he would not send American troops to Haiti while reaffirming American support for efforts to restore peace in Haiti we concluding at that for the United States to deploy forces in the.

Hemisphere just raises all kinds of questions that can be easily misrepresented about what we're trying to do and be able to be used by those who disagree with us and against our against the interest of Haiti and the United States and there's going to be US forces none on the ground we're going to supply Logistics intelligence and.

Equipment matter of fact some equipment has already arrived and I'm joined Now by Jacqueline Charles who covers the Caribbean for the Miami Herald and has reported extensively on Haiti over many years Jacqueline thank you so much for joining us and what do we know about the attack on missionaries in pter.

Prince well this was an awful situation I mean there were attacked by two different armed groups the first one came and essentially kidnapped um Davey Lloyd and then they left after looting the place and he was freed and then soon after another gang came said they were coming to help and then shots were fired and next thing we know that the house.

They were in was set on fire and it was reported that they had died that they were basically killed Jacqueline we've been hearing from the family members that it really is just so devastating to hear but put this in context for us you know we I've been down to Haiti many times you know we've been reporting on Haiti for many years and it always seems.

That we keep talking about how violent it is down there especially uh you know after the assassination uh several years ago but put this in context for us you that have been reporting on this for so long how bad is the violence now as compared to say 3 years ago no I mean the assassination of Haitian president J moiz three years ago has clearly.

Escalated the violence I mean you see the gangs are targeting everything and everyone uh the Lloyd family they've been in Haiti for 26 years um David's first language was pral they provide schooling for 450 kids they're no strangers in this community but yet they were not protected and also the average ha I mean today that's the situation and.

Jacqueline we just played part of that news conference yesterday with President Biden and he alluded to this these these questions uh that could come up um if the US were to send uh troops into Haiti what type of questions is President Biden trying to avoid here well you know ironically this all happened on the day that everybody.

Anticipated or expecting for the Kon troops to land in Haiti that did not happen um you know the US has this very torturous history with Haiti um they sent in Marines to turn the century day for 19 years um but yet at the same time people are saying where are the Americans why is it not American troops why do they have to go all the way to.

Kenya so he was addressing this for the first time publicly why is it that you will not see American troops on Haitian soil and Jacqueline to that point there was a kendan journalist in that press conference who asked some very pointed uh questions of his leader there's a lot of domestic opposition to sending in that police force in Kenya right there.

Is a domestic opposition but you know Ruto is trying to promote Kenya being on a global stage he says that this is not their first peacekeeping type operations they've done what over 40 and over 40 countries so they are experienced with this so we have to wait and see um what I wanted to know is what's Plan B if this doesn't work of course everybody's.

Hoping that there's progress but if it doesn't what is the next option that's available and realistically what are the chances here that the Kenyan forces and look it's a multinational Force they're being led by Kenya but what are the what are the chances that this could succeed with the gangs in control of so much of the.

Capital I have to tell you that this has been going on it's current escalation since the 29th of February and the Haitian police have beaten back the gangs the airport hasn't fallen the National Palace hasn't fallen neither as a central bank these are all been targeted so they have done an admirable job but of course they've been going at.

It they need the assistance um but this is going to be a real test are the gangs going to put down their guns or are they going to challenge their forces we don't know this has never been tried before in the past it's always been un peacekeepers it's been thousands and thousands today we're talking about maximum maybe 2500 maybe 3,000 um and.

These are forces that don't speak the language and this is the first time that they're going in but at the same time Kenya is the only country that raised their hands and says they will do this look um in terms of a long-term plan is there any solution here that does not involve you know involving the gangs in some way into the political system here.

Is there any way to cut them out completely given that you know they're such a part of daily life in Porter Prince so of course some of them have raised this but this is not a conversation that patients are willing to have at this point I mean so many of them have been victims of the violence of the kidnappings of the gangs we're.

Talking about 300 gangs where do you begin to put anybody at the table the long-term solution is to create some kind of a space so the patients can come together and figure out what is the future for their country how do you prevent young kids from going into these gangs I mean we're talking about teenagers we're talking about people in.

Communities where the state the government is basically absent they don't exist so the gangs are The Wanted of providing Law and Order so when you get this space to breathe to get some security now you have to start giving Haitians a reason to Hope again a reason to live to want to live Jacqueline Charles who covers the Caribbean for the.

Miami Herald thank you so much for joining us here we appreciate your expertise and still ahead the latest and Donald Trump's search for a vice president his former Rivals rally around him competing for a spot on the ticket or or a top job in a second Trump Administration the panel is next you're watching Meet the Press.

now and welcome back you might be shocked to learn that Donald Trump has injected a bit of reality TV style drama for his search for a vice president and we've seen a number of potential picks competing for his affection with public praise or Courthouse press conferences talking local news at a South Bronx.

Rally yesterday Trump name checked four potential picks and left the door open to dozens more while saying he's in no rush to make a decision take a listen share with me your top three candidates for your running mate at this point well we have so many I I don't want to do that but we have so many you could take people like Ben Carson you could take.

People like Marco Rubio JD Vance I mean there is so many elices doing a fantastic job uh but but I could go on for quite a long time we have many people that would do a really fantastic job do you have a timeline on when you'll make the decision I think sometime during the convention and joining me now is the.

Panel here on set is Chris Aliza founder of the so what newsletter on substack and Senior advisor at Denton's Global advisors and we have Brian Lanza former deputy communications director on the 2016 Trump campaign and partner at Mercury public affairs and of course here in the nick time is Simone Sanders towns former senior adviser to vice.

President Harris and the co-host of the weekend on MSNBC you know Simone we were a little worried you were going to make it time you know uh I blame I blame Ubers you know you know what I don't trust that G I drove myself but like a pro she just came on in here smooth it's all right but I'm GNA give you some time Chris I want to start with.

You now we were talking about the vice presidential picks right now and look this um kind of dog and pony show that's going on in front of Donald Trump I know we keep saying that no one knows and the Trump campaign says this as well no one knows what's going to happen except Donald Trump but what do you think he might be looking for in a vice.

Presidential pick so I I think my general rule of thumb is no one who will probably outshine him right look I'm I'm an only child I went into television on purpose I like being the center of attention you know I I'm not casting aspersion you don't say yeah so I get it but I do think the fact remains that this is someone who wants the light to.

Shine on him everyone Underneath Him including the vice president he views it as sort of the Trump organization well you work for me and so he doesn't that's why when people say well Nikki Haley she's going to vote for him now I think Nikki Haley probably has a little too much star power and a little too much interest in Independence for someone.

Like Donald Trump so I want to play something that he um told one of the local stations in New York as as Bron rally talking about Nikki Haley he was asked about that let's take a listen I think she's going to be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas same thoughts I appreciate what she said you know we had a nasty.

Campaign it was pretty nasty uh but she's a very capable person and I'm sure she's going to be in our team in some form absolutely I'm sure he's she's going to be in our team you know Nikki you know some of her supporters have been saying or some of the Trump uh folks have been saying look he needs to go after her supporters is that all.

We're going to get of Donald Trump going after Nikki Haley supporters didn't seem too enthusiastic I think we've seen it already I mean if you look at the issues why Nikki Haley said she's supporting president Trump there were clearly foreign Affair and issues it was Israel it was Afghanistan and it was Ukraine those are issues that her and president.

Trump line up more so than even Joe Biden and so I think as as president Trump starts to talk about those issues it'll start to have more appeal towards her voters and you'll see more and more progress take place but it's important remember this isn't a new phenomenon in 2016 you had a lot of sort of never Trump supporters who said they're not.

Going to come around in November they came around just like they came around in 2020 and they'll come around in 2024 and you know Brian today there's some reporting in the New York Times they're floating uh the idea of Tom Cotton as a potential VP pick what do you make of that yeah good TV I think the president the more and more people the president.

Decides to put out there the more and more we're going to get coverage the more and more it's going to suck up the oxygen you know I'm of the feeling I agree with Chris you know president Trump's sort of the best executive producer director and actor of his own show he's not going to bring in somebody who outshines him so that's why you.

Probably have that issues with christye homes I think she out shines in a negative way but who needs that attention and I think uh you know you you'll see some more names being put into the mix just because it has for more TV oh got to Christine n in just in just a second but put on your campaign strategist hat Simone that's what made.

Me laugh like yes that makes good television and I think Donald Trump knows about making good TV but we are talking about a vice president is is literally there in the event that anything happens I that is the role of vice president if anything happens to the president this is the person that can step in and is ready to be president.

On day one and the idea that he is picking out of Central Casting is laughable but it's also concerning and so I I think that some of the campaign professionals on his team folks like um Chris oav who has run a number who's a veteran of campaigns in Virginia has to be like pulling his hair out like sir please this is the vetting uh but again.

Donald Trump's going to do what he wants to do and whoever he picks will have to face vice president con hair is in a debate just quickly to add to Simone's point I think she's 100% right and I'll add just as a reminder y Donald Trump is not 52 Donald Trump is 77 I sort of broadly agree with him that like the VP doesn't make that much difference but in.

This situation he's 77 years old I know Joe Biden is 81 but still L what a bad pick does that's right draws you down Simone from you know the campaign strategist perspective is there anything is there any vice presidential pick at this point that Democrats either are scared of concerned about is there anyone they would like to see less I.

Mean I think at the end of the day whoever he picked Pi it Donald Trump's name is at the top of the ticket the nature of the vice presidency and of the running mate is that you your name is on the door but it's number two on the door not not number one it's literally uh you you got to go along with the get along and so I think any of the picks they're.

Going to have their issues because of the name at the top of the ticket not their the they themselves I do think vice presidential picks matter running mates can make a difference in 2016 Mike Pence was chosen primarily because he was a political professional he could get the Evangelical normal Republicans were like this this.

Is somebody we trust but what is Tom Cotton exactly which is why I think it is good I think it is just fod for the conversation I don't know if he is a serious Contender and speaking of the conversation there's something else that a vice presidential pick can bring in this case for RFK Jr Nicole Shanahan it's a lot of money so does that make.

Doug beram perhaps a more viable pick yeah so berham is interesting just to my original Point his probably greatest two recommenders to Trump are he's kind of boring right he's the governor of North Dakota I mean look I'm not the governor of North Dakota I give him credit he's run for office he succeeded but he's not a big presence we saw that during the.

Campaign and he's rich now that doesn't mean he's going to dump a bunch of money into the campaign but I think you got to get in Donald Trump's melon a little bit right and I think inside his head he thinks people who are wealthy are number one sort of like him and number one have succeeded in some broad way because of their merits now we can have that debate.

But I do think he like he views himself I'm a billionaire I want to surround myself with other people who are beram is a billionaire I want to surround myself with other people who are very rich because they're successful and those are the kind of people I want to sort of affiliate myself with I'm curious to get your take on another.

Potential VP uh pick Christy gome it's no surprise that her poll numbers have plummeted since that um you know that story came out about about the dog turns out yes it turns out that you know killing your own dog doesn't go over too well but do you think that you know what do you make of her I mean what do you make of that is is the only test here.

You know loyalty to Donald Trump so you I've written and talked about this like my Dark Horse three months ago was Christy gnome and now I'm like well I know that's on the record people like well you said she was a dark horse it's like well I didn't know that she had murdered a 14 yearmonth old dog like that I did not see that coming so um and.

That she admitted to it proudly admitted to it proudly admitted to it I'm tough I also killed the go right so I think loyalty does matter but there's a lot of other people who have been plenty loyal to Donald Trump who haven't killed a puppy and bragged about it I like I'm always hesitant to predict what Donald Trump's goingon to do because.

He's Donald Trump I mean you know Simone makes the point what Donald Trump's gonna do who really knows I would be stunned if Susie ws and Chris lovita the two top people who are serious real campaign people for Trump are like yes let's include Christy Nome in the cricket story in our final three well we talked a little bit earlier in the.

Program about the Biden campaign looking to take a more aggressive stance when it comes to Donald Trump and today they just released an ad narrated by Robert dairo let's take a list we knew Trump was out of control when he was president then he lost the 2020 election and snapped desperately trying to hold on to power now he's.

Running again this time threatening to be a dictator determin the Constitution if I don't get elected it's going to be a bloodbath Trump Wants Revenge and he'll stop at nothing to get it so uh that ad Simone uh does it does it do it is the Biden campaign getting more aggressive is that the more aggressive tone do you think that's.

Going to work uh look I think it's this is two prong first of all I think this is one of many steps that they're taking and you're we're going to see this as we get closer and closer to that debate I think the first prong is getting inside Donald Trump's head he does not like you know he likes to call everybody else names he doesn't like to appear weak.

People call him unhinged all those kind of things so when Joe Biden himself has been saying this a little more namely at those fundraisers where we don't have cameras but we do have reporters and so that's the first prong the second prong is to remind I think voters kind of what it was like when Donald Trump was in charge what it was like the last.

Campaign because there is this fatigue and Amnesia I would argue with some of the voters and they don't remember uh you know the the the early morning late night tweets they don't remember the chaos uh that Donald Trump so and definitely folks don't remember how he stood in the East room on Election night the first night of the election week and.

Claimed Victory even though no one had yet actually won and so that is I think part of what they were trying to do and who doesn't love Robert doero I mean everybody Democrats Republicans Independents come on so Brian I want to go to you um you know both sides right now are talking about threats to democracy the Biden campaign has been.

Hitting this for a while former president Trump you know his campaign now is claiming that Biden is a threat to democracy those do those types of attacks just cancel each other out yes I mean listen at the end of the day you know the reason Joe Biden runs these ads these these assaults on Democracy these things is because he can't run on his.

Economic record as president when you bump that up against President trumps and you you do the back bank statements at the end of the month the the scoreboard is pretty clear where you were better off four years under Trump better than Biden so you're not going to have Biden said look how great I did these last four years let me do that.

Again so he's got to sort of change the subject cuz the economy is not on his side it doesn't appear to be on his side so I think you know that's going to cancel itself off as voters start to pay more and more attention to the economy and uh it doesn't look like it's getting better any better anytime soon Brian L Chris Aliza Simone Sanders Townsen thank.

You so much for being here and we'll we will be back on Monday with more Meet the Press now and if it's Sunday it's a special edition of Meet the Press focusing on Election security and democracy among Kristen's guests bipartisan pan of secretaries of state I'm Gabe Gutierrez NBC News Now coverage.

Continues with hie 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

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