rd that xfinity customers can save hundreds when they buy one unlimted line and get one free. now i can buy that electric scooter! i'm starting a private-equity fund that specializes in midcap. you do you. visit xfinitymobile.com today. this sunday, decision 2024. >> i just hope we get fair treatment because if we don't our country's in big, big trouble. >> as the presidential election year begin, former president trump faces multiple legal challenges while president biden makes the case his likely gop opponent is a serious threat to

democracy. >> the choice is clear donald trump's campaign is about him, not america not you. democracy is on the ballot your freedom is on the ballot. >> i'll talk to republican congresswoman elise stefanik of new york and biden's deputy campaign mmer quentin fulks. plus wider wars. the growing war between israel and hamas could spread further after the u.s. killed an iranian-backed militia leader inside and tensions are rising in the red sea. >> we have an intense focus from preventing this crisis from spreading. i'll talk to isaac herzog. and shut down threat will spending cuts lead to another government shutdown. >> we want to get the border closed and secured first. >> how far is the white house willing to go to get the deal on border security. joining me for insight and analysis are -- nbc news white

house correspondent mike memoli. wall street journal columnist, peggy noonan and kimberly atkins stohr, senior opinion writer for the boston globe welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press". >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history this is "meet the press" with kristen welker good sunday morning and welcome to this first show of the new year the iowa caucuses are just eight days away. we are just 303 days from election day and democracy is front and center faced with low approval ratings and trailing former president trump in head-to-head polling, president biden kicked off his 2024 campaign on friday on the third anniversary of the january 6th attack on the capitol, biden framed the election as an existential choice for the future of democracy. >> this is not rhetorical,

academic or hypothetical democracy is still america's sacred cause and the most urgent question of our time and it's what the 2024 election is all about. a new washington post university of maryland poll shows a third republicans and nearly half of trump voters believe the false claim that the fbi organized and encouraged the january 6th attack, that's despite one of the largest criminal investigations in american history resulting so far in more than 1250 charged, 890 convictions. president biden accused mr. trump of refusing to deannounce political violence just this week, bomb threats were reported at government buildings in at least ten states forcing lockdowns and evacuations at state capitols and courthouses across the country before the fbi determined the threats were a hoax. >> political violence is never, ever acceptable in the united states political system. never, never, never. it has no place in a democracy

none [ applause ] you can't be pro-insurrectionist and pro-american trump and his maga supporters not only embrace political violence, but they laugh about it at his rally he jokes about an intruder whipped up by the big trump lie, taking a hammer to paul pelosi's skull and echoing the very same words used on january 6th, where's nancy, and he thinks that's funny >> now the supreme court will consider whether former president trump can be banned from the ballot in colorado because of his role on january 6th. mr. trump was disqualified from primary ballots in colorado and maine pending appeals on the grounds that anyone who swore an oath to uphold the constitution and engaged in insurrection or rebellion against is no longer eligible for state or federal office 18 states have unresolved 14th amendment challenges

trump is who is looking to cement his dominant lead in the polls with four iowa rallies in two days responded forcefully. >> when you make your speech in front of millions of people and you're making the beautiful speech looking down to the white house -- that was one of the great scenes i've ever seen. by the way, i think j 6th had an equal amount of people it's the biggest crowd i ever spoke to you never hear about that. the j-6 hostages, nobody has ever been treated in history as badly as those people. they ought to release the j 6th hostages they ought to release them i call them hostages. >> joining me now is a key trump ally, republican congressman, elise stefanik of new york who chairs the house republican conference making her the highest ranking woman in congressional gop leadership and also the youngest woman ever to serve in elected congressional

leadership congresswoman stefanik welcome to "meet the press". >> thank you for having me, kristen. >> i want to talk about what we heard over the past 48 hours and president biden kicking off his campaign against former president trump who is the front-runner you are one of trump's strongest supporters, he said it was a threat to democracy and this was an argument effective in 2020 and an argument for democrats in 2022 how do you answer that charge? >> well, first, kristen, i wouldn't say it's a winning argument in fact in 2022 democrats lost the house and house republicans ran on the issues that matter to the american people. we ran on securing the border. we ran on addressing the historic inflation which the american people know is the result of joe biden's failed policies is the trillions of dollars of reckless spending and what joe biden didn't mention in his speech were any of the policies that have created the

crisis across america and zero mention of the border which is wide open and a top issue even in my home state in new york and you have mayors speaking out about joe biden's border crisis and no mention of inflation which continues to be a concern for voters across my district and when it comes to threats to democracy, joe biden and democrats are a threat to democracy. we saw this in colorado and maine, that is the suppression of the american people and the american people's ability to cast their ballots this november so it's democrats that are a threat to democracy. >> we should note, of course, there's no evidence that president biden is in any way coordinating with the justice department in terms of the indictments against former president trump, but staying on this issue of january 6th because of course, mr. trump was talking about this, as well. this weekend we did mark the three year anniversary, and i want to pause for a minute and play some of the comments that you made on the evening of that day. let's take a look. >> this has been a truly tragic

day for america. americans will always have the freedom of speech and the constitutional right to protest, but violence in any form is absolutely inacceptable. it is anti-american and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in terms of what we're hearing today former president trump has referred to january 6th as a quote, beautiful day he referred to those serving time for having stormed the capitol as, quote, hostages. do you still feel as though that day was tragic and that those who were responsible should be held responsibility to fullest extent of the law? >> first of all, kristen, as typical for nbc and the bias media you played one excerpt of my speech. i stand by my comments that i made on the house floor and i stand for integrity and i challenged the certification of the state of pennsylvania because of the unconstitutional overreach and i stand by my floor speech and i am proud to

support president trump and i want to correct another statement that there's no coordination with president biden and we saw hunter biden defy congressional subpoena and the white house admitted it was in coordination the morning of, and i believe joe biden will be found to be the most corrupt president in our nation's history and that's why all of the investigative work that we're doing is so important because the american people, they deserve transparency and accountability >> a lot to unpack there, of course, the white house has said that hunter biden is acting unilaterally on the issue of election integrity, though, trump took his case to court more than 60 times that there was fraud and he didn't win, but i want to get back to this key question. do you think it was a tragic day? do you think that the people who stormed the capitol should be held responsible to the full extent of the law. >> i have concerns about the january 6th hostages

we have concerns of oversight and over our treatments of prisoners and i believe we're seeing the weaponization of the federal government not just against trump and conservatives and catholics and that's one of the reasons why i am proud to serve on the weaponization of the government because the american people want answers and they want transparency and they understand that as you look across this country there seems to be two sets of rules your last name is clinton or biden, you get to live by another set of rule. i've been clear, kristen if you play the full speech i condemn the riots and the blm riots and i stood for election integrity and the security of our elections which if we do not have that, we do not have the democracy. so the real threat to our democracy is these baseless, witch hunt investigations and lawsuits against president trump, whether it's tish james or the d.c. circuit court and

it's undemocratic and it's -- you know who agrees with me? the american people and that's why he is winning in poll after poll >> the justice department has indicted democrats including the president's son twice. a lot of critics, undercuts the argument -- >> i want to answer that -- if you want to make that case the american people are very smart they know that they tried to give hunter biden a sweetheart deal we heard from -- >> he's been indicted twice, congresswoman. >> it was because of a judge that threw out a sweetheart deal that was negotiated on joe biden's behalf, joe biden and the department of justice have been withheld from going after the biden crime family which joe biden sits atop of >> other top democrats have been indicted and i do have a lot to get to would you vote to certify and will you vote to certify the results of the 2024 election, no

matter what they show? >> voted not to certify the state of pennsylvania because as we saw in pennsylvania and other states across the country that there was unconstitutional acts circumventing the state legislature and unilaterally changing election law. >> what about 2024, congresswoman? >> we will see if this is a legal and valid election what we're seeing so far is that democrats are so desperate they're trying to remove president trump from the ballot. that is a suppression of the american people and the supreme court will take that case up in february that should be a 9-0 to allow president trump to appear on the ballot because that's the american people's decision to make this november. >> and the matters halted that appeal i don't hear you committed to certifying the election results. will you only vote to certify results if former president trump wins >> no, if they are constitutional. >> what we saw in 2020 was unconstitutional circumventing

not going through -- and we're seeing this in my home state of new york we are seeing 'em democrats try to steal the election and gerrymander districts that we fairly won i see this as a local level as well as the unconstitutional reach. i want to move on to the university presidents. mr. trump's allies did take their case and concerns about the election to court more than 60 times they lost every time mr. trump hired two independent firms to investigate that. they came up as well as the federal agency overseeing the election security, saying it was the most secure in american history? let me make a final point and i think it's important because the american people understand that it was not a fair election we had unconstitutional overreach and that was why i objected to certain states when it came to my constitutional responsibility as a member of congress i am going to always stand up for the constitution and make sure we have strong election

integrity and the real threat to democracy is joe biden and democrats who are attempting to remove president trump because he knows he cannot win at the ballot box >> let's talk about the university presidents because the president of harvard, claudine gay resigned this week after this exchange that went viral that you had with her and the other presidents of some of the top universities in which you pressed them on their response to anti-semitic speech on campuses. let's take a look. >> and dr. gay, at harvard, does calling for the genocide of jews violate harvard's rules of bullying or harassment, yes or no. >> it can be depending on the context. >> of course, she was criticized for that response and has come under scrutiny for allegations of plagiarism and has resigned amid that. what was your reaction when you heard she was resigning? >> it was long overdue she should have resigned following the hearing and this

follows the resignation of liz mcgill and so did the m.i.t. president and i called for all three of their resignations. it's not just me who called for the resignations we passed a vote bipartisan who called for the resignation on the floor of congress, but i want to take you a little bit into that hearing, kristen and that was the last question of the hearing and i tried to structure the question in a way that was a moral question and not political, and it was a moral question, and i was expecting them to answer yes, and i was astonished in real time that they said it depends on the context you put up three of my constituents, a farmer, a manufacturer and a suburban mom, they know how to answer the question correctly and it was the most morally bankrupt testimony and that's why it was the most viewed ever >> claudine gay said the campaign against me was about more than one university and one

leader this was a single skirmish to unravel public faith in the pillars of american society, she writes how would you respond? >> she failed to stand up for jewish students on campus who were facing physical assaults and we've seen that footage and we heard that directly from students on campus and we also heard faculty concerns about her tenure and her position and her lack of academic integrity and it goes back to protecting jewish students and the only time that harvard has pled for academic freedom or freedom of speech is when it comes to the genocide of the jewish people and that is unfit for the person to be president of the university it is part of of a broader issue at these school which is is why our investigation is so important and we'll look at dei which has refused to bring up concerns from jewish students and the rise of anti-semitic attacks and taxpayer funding and

the governance of these universities you saw these boards doubled down to support the university professors despite morally bankrupt testimony >> want to ask you you talk about moral clarity and i want to ask you about something president trump recently said. he referred to migrants were poise ong the blood of our country and this is language that, quote, is parroting adol hitler are you comfortable with former president trump's comments >> again, we have the media which is so biassed which is reiterating whatever talking points the biden campaign is giving >> i'm just giving you the opportunity to respond >> it is poisoning americans through fentanyl and poisoning including in my district who are dying of fentanyl because of joe biden's wide open border that executive actions he took on day one. so yes, i stand by president trump. >> and his words >> yes he has the strongest record when it comes to supporting the jewish people and supporting the state of israel. whether you look at the historic

abraham accords or the ability for jewish students to sue and stand up for equal treatment in schools under the title 6 executive order that president trump put into place, not joe biden. >> again, i am allowing you to respond to what has been said because you are one of former president trump's staunchest defenders. what do you say to the critics that you're holding presidents of the universities to a higher standard than former president trump. >> these former presidents answered the question does standing up for the state of jews, they said it would depend on the conduct that testimony speaks for itself it was morally bankrupt. it was viewed by over 1 billion people in less than a week, and when you are the president of these universities you need to show moral leadership as well as academic leadership and they have absolutely failed and what was interesting, kristen is they

did not realize in the moment what you can't see in the hearing is there were jewish students from each of those schools and from our vantage point where i was seated they were physically shaken by those answers. so they're unfit to be those presidents and these schools need to do a lot of soul searching to make sure they have morally fit leaders as university presidents which is why our investigation is important. >> and you've talked about again, just on this issue of moral clarity, are you applying the same standards to your own party? >> absolutely. house republicans stand strongly when it comes to condemning antisemitism and let's be clear, kristen, over 100 democrats in the house voted against condemning antisemitism where it got universal support among house republicans when we called for the resignation, house republicans called for support of that and there were a number of democrats who did not vote in support of it. the rise of antisemitism is an issue on the left and you know who hasn't spoken out loudly and

clearly calling for the resignation of those presidents was joe biden. >> the white house did speak out very firmly against the statements -- >> but joe biden did not it did not come from joe biden the white house did immediately speak out about it, yes. >> the press secretary did, but the president of the united states did not and he was a teacher at penn and he should have spoken out and he could have spoken out. >> the senate locked in these fierce negotiations over border and border security. congresswoman, if they reach a deal on border security that the house does not believe goes far enough, are you prepared to shut down the government over that? >> well, let's take a step back, kristen. it is joe biden who would rather shut down the government than secure the border. joe biden and chuck schumer have failed to take up our secure the border act which we passed and it has strong policies returning to the very effective border security policies of president

trump including construction of a border wall and ending catch and release and returning to mexico and the senate negotiations are ongoing we will see what they produce, but it needs to be real border security policies that we know work which get out of the trump administration joe biden has failed to take that up and so has the senate. >> very quickly, are you ruling out supporting the government shutdown. >> we don't support shutting down the government, but we must secure the border. that's where the american people are. we're losing our country in front of our very eyes the person threaten the shutdown is joe biden who refuses to secure the border, and again, you have democrats like in new york city speaking out about this biden border crisis. >> before i let you go i have to talk to you about your future. former president trump in his interview with me said likes the concept of picking a woman as his vice president, if called upon would you serve as his vice

president? >> i would be honored to serve in any capacity in a trump administration i'm proud to be the first member of congress to endorse his reelection i am strong to be a strong supporter of president trump and he's going to win this november. >> have you spoken to the president about the possibility of running as his vp pick. >> i talk to him frequently. there's so much work to do as the house republican conference chair as the representative for new york's 21st congressional district and we need to make sure that president trump is in the strongest position to win in the general election and that's what i've been focused on and that's what i will remain focused on. >> to put a fine point, it sounds like if he'd ask you your answer would be yes. >> i have said i would be honored to be in a trump administration and i am in an important role as conference chair and representative of the people of new york 21. congresswoman chairwoman elise stefanik, thank you very much. thanks for being here in person. we appreciate it when we come back, president

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welcome back as president biden ramps up his general election campaign, there are new warning signs. "the washington post" reporting former president obama has raised questions about the structure of president biden's reelection campaign. two sources confirmed to nbc news that obama and biden met over lunch in december and discussed the campaign with obama expressing deep concern about mr. trump's political strength underscoring the urgency, one source telling me this is an all-hands on deck moment joining me now is the president's deputy campaign manager quentin fulks. welcome to "meet the press." thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me, kristen. it is a pleasure. >> it is a pleasure to have you. it's a busy one.

if you look at the polling, if the election were held today, president biden is struggling in some of the battleground states that propelled him to the white house. you guess the question that a lot of democrats have, and a lot of questions that his supporters have is why does he appear to be struggling against the gop front-runner who has been indicted four times? >> first of all, let's take a look at the polls. first of all, polls don't vote voters do, 2022, 2023, what do they have in common other than a 2 and a 0 is they took it to republicans on election day and every single one of these years under the leadership of president joe biden and his agenda and at the end of the day the president just friday made the case that this is an election aboutdemocracy and freedom and that the choice is clear. our campaign is focused on making that choice clear to the american people. the president did that friday at valley forge and we're looking forward to continuing that message directly to voters that matter the most and have the

most at stake tomorrow in south carolina >> and you talk about that speech on friday i've been talking to a lot of democratic sources who say they wish they had seen that fire and that urgency from president biden out on the campaign trail months ago how do you respond to those democrats who say he's getting a late start here? >> we have to build the campaign that we need to build in order to be competitive heading into 2024 and that's where our mindset has been president biden's mindset has been continuing to do the work for the american people and continuing to lower cost and continuing to make sure that job creation is up month over month and continuing to jog down unemployment when it comes to the campaign the president has been staunch and out and about as visit the vp and we'll continue to make the case again that this is an election about the choice between freedom and democracy with the future of america and donald trump focused on only

himself. >> i want to ask you about "the washington post" that former president obama raised questions about the structure of president biden's campaign over lunch. obama grew animated in discussing the 2024 election and former president donald trump's potential return to power. one of the people said and has suggesteded to biden's advisers that the campaign needs more top-level decision makers at its headquarters in wilmington i should note that nbc news has confirmed obama's deep concerns about mr. trump's strength how does the campaign respond to former president obama >> we will do what we need to do to be competitive and grow the infrastructure president biden president obama talk frequently as well as the administration and his campaign and we are both aligned on the fact that we have to push back on maga extremists and the threats they pose on democracy the president has been very

clear that the experience we got as vp has been critical to the experience that he brings to the onand what he's been able to accomplish and we're united that we have to do everything we can to push back on donald trump and the threat that he poses to democracy. >> does the campaign see this warning by former president obama as a wake-up call? will there be structural changes to the campaign? our campaign is from april and we put programs in place to communicate with voters on the ground which is why we made investments to constituency and media, hispanic voters and young voters than any other presidential campaign in history and now we are in a phase where more americans are paying attention to what's going on and that's why we're making the speech the president's speech at valley forge was that case, and we'll continue to make that case to the american people because we are running this campaign and organizing it as though democracy is on the ballot because that's what's at stake this election. >> you talk about democracy being on the ballot, some top

democratic lawmakers say okay. good to be focused on former president trump, but you've got to talk about what a second biden agenda would look like what would on day one president biden's top priority be? >> well, look, the president announced this campaign with the moniker of finish the job and protect freedom and democracy. first of all, roe, the president is adamant that we restore roe it is unfathomable that women have less rights than their ancestors do he passed the bipartisan safer communities act. he's established an office for gun violence prevention, but we have to ban assault weapons and high-capacityth magazines three, the fact that millions of americans are paying thousands of dollars a month for medicine that a patent was sold for insulin and we have to cap the price of insulin

the president has forgiven $132 billion for student loan debt for 2.6 million americans and there's more to be forgiven and that's what you can expect from a second biden-harris administration >> you just heard from elise stefanik and she is dubbing the indictments as the biden indictments and you heard our robust exchange there. do you expect president biden to start to more forcefully speak out about those allegations against him? so far he's largely left that to the sidelines. >> the president you understands this this election isn't about him, it's about the american people that's the first and most important difference between joe biden and defeated president trump. i'm not sure if this i know you are, but what am i situation is going to work with the democracy and the argument that they're going to work. this is nothing more than a

pathetic, failed attempt and his accolades to try to level the playing field for president trump's administration and his presidency. >> you're making that argument, but will president biden start to make that argument. >> i think we've already seen him make that argument that donald trump is not concerned about the freedoms and the future of american citizen he's only concerned about his own self and what he wants to do he wants to win again not to pass an agenda he wants to pass so he can enact revenge and retribution on his political enemies and it's not a hard choice to make and we'll point that out >> quentin fulks, thank you very much for your time this morning. really appreciate it when we come back, the risks of a wider war in the middle east is increasing and i'll talk to isaac herzog that's next. [dice dreams game] yes, eva. the famous longoria, made it to the reunion, i see. we wouldn't miss it for the world, tia lupe. but what about your husband? is he here? no. unfortunately, he couldn't make it.

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welcome back secretary of state antony blinken is in the middle east for the fourth time since the october attack on israel three months ago an effort to prevent escalating tensions from breaking into a wider war after a series of regional attacks joining me now is the president of israel isaac herzog mr. president, welcome to "meet the press. thank you for being here >> thank you, kristen. >> i want to start right there with concerns about those regional attacks obviously, secretary blinken is there aiming to de-escalate some of the tensions within the region, but talk to americans, if you will, how concerned should they be about this escalating into a wider war that could ultimately ensnare americans, as well

>> so, kristen, today today is january 7th, the barbaric attack against israel by hamas terrorists was launched exactly three months ago on october 7th and it's a day that shall be and will be remembered in infamy because clearly, there's a lot of world affairs and regional affairs and it is not only a war between israel and hamas it has to do with the values of the free world as we see them all throughout let me show you a document, highly confidential, strictly confidential document which we just unraveled from the hamas headquarters it's a brochure which is a directive by the commanders of hamas as to how to manage summer camps for children in order to disseminate the values of jihad. they said it's clearly to disseminate the values of jihad and the values of the resistance

meaning terror and how to make it a militarized society and it's all over the gaza strip, meaning they take the kids while we all know what summer camps are and what they aim for and what a wonderful experience it is to enable youngsters, kids and adults -- adolescents to become citizens of the free world with liberties, with happiness, with joy and with sports and here the entire aim is to make them terrorists and this is exactly the watershed situation in this war and that is why it impacts the entire war because when you have an empire of evil emanating from tehran with arms in syria, in lebanon, in iraq and in yemen which increases the cost of living of every american because of hijacking in the high seas, it means it's a regional

battle with impacts on the entire global situation. >> president herzog, we appreciate you sharing that document with us nbc news has not been able to review the document or confirm it, but we appreciate that i want to ask you about these attacks that we've seen within the region israel's security chief has said israel is determined to, quote, kill hamas' leaders in every location in the world including qatar, turkey and lebanon, even if it takes many years is there any country, is there any place you won't go to track down hamas' leadership >> so we are determined to undermine the ability of hamas to operate terror throughout the world and of course, in israel and it's the network of terrorists all over the world and in the region. for that matter, we are cooperating very closely with our allies

tomorrow's visit by secretary blinken is another expression of the huge impact and importance that the united states places as to the direction and the exit from this conflict by making sure that hamas will not be able to repeat these abhorrent acts and also to project the future for the region, a hopeful future for the region and something which president biden is utterly committed to and utterly grateful for him on behalf of the people of israel for his steadfast stand as well as projecting his vision to the region >> this week, top israeli cabinet members called for the resettlement of palestinians out of gaza. some of the most striking language that we saw comes from the heritage minister who said friday about the people of gaza, quote, you will not be here. you will not live by our side and that is the main point

we should encourage them to leave the place. two other cabinet ministers have made similar staples is this forced displacement of palestinians from gaza the official position of the israeli government, mr. president? >> absolutely, absolutely not, totally not agreed and is not the position of the israeli government or the israeli parliament or the israeli public, but we are ademocracy and in a democracy you have a variety of ideas and in a variety of ideas and in a society with where street speech is the basis of our natural dna, people can say whatever they want so in a cabinet of 30 ministers where it's not a security cabinet a minister can say whatever he wants. i may not like it, but this is israeli politics, and by the way, you have in america people who say things which you don't

like, but that doesn't mean it's the policy of the administration so same goes here. they're speaking about the willful leaving of the gaza strip and i'm saying outright officially and unequivocally, this is not the israeli position we should, remember, however, the natural psyche here. we are in deep trauma in the last three months. we are seeing -- we have seen so much agony, pain and sadness and may i remind all that we still have over 130 israelis from babies, from toddlers due to celebrate one year old in a week's time all of the way to 85-year-olds as well including people with holocaust background so because of that, our nation is bereaving, is worried, is agonized and we are doing whatever we can to do whatever it takes to bring back these hostages

>> prime minister netanyahu, you are saying that you don't agree with that position prime minister netanyahu has not yet spoken out about calls to displace the citizens of gaza. does he need to condemn those statements and is the prime minister the right leader for this moment despite polls showing he's losing the public's confidence >> so i would say that as the head of state of israel, i'm not directly involved in the political arena by taking sides. i'm not in charge of the executive, but i do represent the national spirit of israel from my capacity of israel i'm sure that the prime minister will relate to it, doubtfully, but it is a national debate on so many topics but we are focused on bring about change in the region we should remember that in gaza is a huge state of terror.

there is underneath hundreds of kilometers of tunnels and a terror establishment, the biggest terror city in the world which we have to unravel and clean up in order to enable the people of gaza to go back to the dwellings and move on in a different direction, a direction of peace israelis, 250,000 israelis are evacuated from their homes in the south and in the north just about half an hour ago we were attacked again from lebanon and a house was demolished in atula a 124-year-old village on the border and you have to understand while we are a small nation and attacked from two corners, north and south we are at war, we are united and we are committed to change this equation and as such while committed to changing this

equation while the host aages ad we have a debate of israeli society and i am proud that we can hold a free and open debate on our lives. >> israeli president herzog, we appreciate your perspective at this time. we hope you will come back >> it was a pleasure thank you. >> an honor for us with one week to go before the iowa caucuses, the gop candidates are making their candidates are making their final pitches to knock, knock. number one broker here for the number one hit maker. -thanks for swinging by, carl. -no problem. so what are all those for? uh, this lets me adjust the base, add more guitar, maybe some drums. -wow. so many choices. -yeah. like schwab. i can get full service wealth management, advice, invest on my own, and trade on thinkorswim. you know carl is the only front man you need. (phone rings) oh, i gotta take this, carl. it's schwab. schwab. (feedback rings)

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welcome back with the iowa caucuses just over

a week away, former president trump has a commanding lead with nikki haily and ron desantis in a race for second place. in 2008 then-senator barack obama won iowa in a pivotal victory for his insurgent campaign, pushing the early favorite senator hillary clinton into a third-place finish. obama joined this program ahead of of that contest >> your wife, michelle obama, has spent a lot of time campaigning here and this is what she said. iowa will make the difference if barack doesn't win iowa it's just a dream this is must win. >> well, we have to do well in iowa keep in mind, when michelle goes to new hampshire or south carolina i think she says, you know -- she probably says the same thing there the early states are critical to us because i am not as well known as senator clinton and some of the other candidates in

this race. >> it's must win >> well, look, there is no doubt that we have to do well in iowa. if we do not do well in iowa and new hampshire and south carolina. >> the race is over. >> i think that's true for any of the candidates. >> when we come back, former president obama is warning president biden about the perils president biden about the perils ll's facing in 24. oooohhh, it is cold outside time to protect your vehichle from winters wrath of course the hot sun can be tough on vehicles too you need weathertech all year round! come on, protect your investment laser measured floorliners and cargoliner will shield the carpeting from sand and snow for your interior, there's seat protector and sunshade plus, mudflaps and bumpstep for the exterior order american made products at weathertech.com surfs up yeah, right (dad) it's our phone bill... we pay for things that we don't need. (mom) that's a bit dramatic. (dad) we must tighten our belts! (mom) a better plan to save is verizon!

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welcome back the panel is here. nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli. peggy noonan, columnist for "the wall street journal" and kimberly atkins stohr, senior opinion writer for "the boston globe. thank you for being here on this first show of the new year mike, let me start with you. you've got some new reporting. obviously, you saw this robust back and forth with congresswoman stefanik and quentin fulks. everyone is getting into fight mode heading into 2024 and president biden's going to be ramping up. >> that's right, kristen i've covered this president and his team a long time >> yeah. >> they feel very much that they are confident in their theory of the case they pride themselves on taking the longview, of seeing is the signal through the noise, but i think it's one thing to discount the criticism, the advice from a democratic donor, a strategist and lawmaker and you can't when

it's coming from the former president of the united states, barack obama and i think you're seeing now this accel ragsz and the campaign talls it a sharpen of the strategy to respond to what we're seeing from the donors and that concern. you kick that off on friday with the speech i covered near valley forge, and i'm told by the biden campaign advisers this is a new, ramped up tempo that you will see for the next few weeks leading up to what they see is a very critical opportunity for the president to make the case for a second term and also to speak to that concern about whether he is up for this fight. the state of the union address in tw months will be the biggest audience he has throughout the year that he is up for this and they plan to deliver on that. >> the state of the union address, no oubt, will be one of the most important speeches, if not the most important speech of his political life. kimberly, do there need to be structural structural changes if former president obama is calling for that for his campaign? >> the biden campaign has to do big things, to energize the people in 2020

i have talked to young people in my life who were very mobilized and voting like their futures depended on it and they themselves admit they are less engaged this year and they need to turn that around and they also need to rebut the narrative that donald trump is creating with the narrative with people like elise stefanik that it is biden that is undemocratic they need to do both things as an administration do that work, but also as a campaign really point out why donald trump's rhetoric is so dangerous. >> peggy, set to stage, if you would, for this extraordinary moment that we are in. what we heard this morning, for example, from congresswoman elise stefanik which undoubtedly will be what we hear from trump and his surrogates out on the campaign trail as if he wins the nomination tries to take on president biden. >> yeah. the -- i can't -- i think we are all so fascinated by elise stefanik this morning. first of all,man, she comes in hot. she comes in like a hot chip

that might be overshooting the airfield when she called the january 6th those who have been arrested and/or convicted hostages. oh, my gosh, that's going full bore that's doubling down and not saying that we need to accept and intend to accept the outcome of the 2024 election, but saying sort of, that's very much in doubt, we'll see, sort of doing that jarring thing and that was startling and i think that part of the mood, as you say that we'll be seeing in 2024 on the trail. i will say for elise stefanik is her super power is that she immediately goes to policy not so much her super power as a republican thing, policy, policy, policy the lovely democratic guest you had this morning was more

politics and process do you know what i mean? >> yes >> they're two different moods and two different importances, and the first probably has a bit of an advantage. >> it's sch a fascinating point especially as we head into iowa, kimberly, eight days away. what are you watching for? >> i'm not sure i'm watching for that policy and i'm not sure what was landing for the audience she's talking about the weaponization of the federal government which is something that trump and why the she accuses biden of doing her questioning of dr. gay saying i got the biggest crowds. she is trumping her way to this, hopefully, it seems to the vp position running mate position and she is going in with the full maga, and that is exactly what she thinks. >> fair enough what you say is true, but she pounds on the illegal immigration which is huge in

america as an issue. she pounds on this new thing which is not attacks on institution, but on specific institutions the republicans and conservatives believe have been out there for at least 20 years. that's going to be big so she does hit on policy. >> there's no doubt about it go ahead, mike. >> when you talk about what you're seeing in iowa, listening to the folks, they view this as unmovable and that's why you will see trump this week not in iowa and one of the many court proceedings that he's dealing with and that speaks to the challenge of the rest of republican field, right? as you saw the conversations dasha burns was having with the candidates is they're struggling to make the case for themselves and to make the case against donald trump and that's why eight days until iowa and eight days after that is new hampshire and we may have the early start of the general election and yet vp started this week >> very quickly, will we hear

trump talk about the legal problems >> biden's job is to prosecute the case as a candidate and not deal with the legal drama. >> peggy, it seems like watching a fight for second place what will you see in terms of the second-place finish? does this field have to narrow >> we'll see i'm wondering who's going to drop out first, but someone's going to have to become the trump slayer and there will be trump and the trump slayer and somebody's going to have to drop out or like 2016, nothing will work in opposing trump funny thing about iowa, let me say quickly, it doesn't seem big. big policy speeches, big declarations, big policy fights. it's, in a funny way it seems smaller and what do we do about donald keeps it small >> that's the question the lingering question thank you all. that is all for today. thank you for watching

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a history of the laser by a guy that flew an inflatable chicken outside the white house, and high points from an economist who learned to fly. this week on "press: here." ♪♪ ♪♪ good morning,