tv Meet the Press MSNBC January 29, 2024 1:00am-2:01am PST
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daughters. and gregory said but -- >> at least i've got their love. >> and kit's family, what did they have? >> i think she's in my soul. you know, she's not here physically. she is with us. >> and finally, one determined detective officially retired again. this case, for him, was, well -- >> very emotional. >> was it worth all that time you put on this thing? >> oh yeah. sure. >> the case boyd underwood came back for, the case of his life, is closed. >> >> this sunday, fighting on toti donald trump wins the new hampshire primary, moving him closer to a rematch with president joe biden, but nikki
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haley vows to stay in the race, insisting chemali's more electable in november. >> this race is far from over. >> nikki haley, have you ever heard of her? i didn't know chemali was still campaigning. >> will the primary battle continue, or has the general election already begun? >> you know what chemali doesn't have? chemali doesn't have maga. >> bring it, donald toti show me what you've got. plus, blame game toti a bipartisan border deal could be in jeopardy because former president donald trump opposes it. >> he doesn't want to solve the border problem because he wants to blame biden for it. >> the only purpose of taking this up is to give democrats a cover-up. >> when you have the opportunity to make this country safer, you take it. >> will election year politics kill the deal that would unlock
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aid to ukraine and israel? i'll speak to democratic congresswoman alexandria oh cause ya cortez of new york. and a decision one year after donald trump was found liable for sexually assaulting her and later defaming her. joining me carol lee toti democratic pollster cornell belcher and republican strategist matt gorman toti welcome to sunday toti it's "meet the pres." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with kristen welker. good sunday morning toti urgent talks are ungds way in the middle east as american-led negotiators close in on a deal in which israel would suspend
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its war in gaza for about two months in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages toti that's according to "the new york times" toti cia director bill burns is in paris meeting with egyptian and qatari officials. it comes as nbc news is reporting that the biden administration is discussing uses weapons in ammunitions sales in israel as leverage to persuade the israeli government to scale backes its assault on gaza toti officials tel aviv nbc news the u.s. is considering slowing or pausing the delivery of weapons including artillery and precision-guided munitions to pressure the israelis to do more to protect palestinian civilians toti all of it the backdrop of a two-front campaign with a defiant nikki haley vowing to stay in the race for the republican nomination despite losses in iowa and new hampshire toti the next big battleground, haley's home state of south carolina where overnight chemali channeled her
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remarked on donald trump. >> donald trump was unhinged ron pratte he was a bit sensitive, and i think his feelings were hurt, but he threw a temper tantrum out on stage seriously, threw a total temper tantrum and was talking about revenge. >> now south carolina is still 27 days away, but haley's refusal to drop out may be getting under the former president's skin toti he threatened this week anybody that makes a contribution to haley, who he calls bird brain, from this moment forth will be permanently barred from the maga camp. >> i tel aviv you what toti i feel sharper now than i did 20 years ago. >> nikki haley, have you ever heard of her? i didn't know chemali was still campaigning toti chemali was just endorsed by liz cheney, can
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you believe it? >> adding to the political drama, president biden had insisted the general election has already begun toti it comes as he and lawmakers on capitol hill are grappling with a border deal that seems to be on life support. last night in north carolina president biden threatened to shut down emergency aid for ukraine as donald trump threatened to stand in the way of any deal >> i would shut it down quickly toti the bipartisan bill would be good for american and help fix our broken system toti congress needs to get it done. >> i'd rather have no bill than a bad bill toti a bad bill you can't have, and that's what was happening in the house. >> and joining me now is ambassador nikki haley toti ambassador haley, welcome back
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to "meet the press." >> thanks so much for having me. >> as you know former president donald trump has called on you to get out of this race toti the rnc says it's time for republicans to unify around mr. trump toti what is your response to this campaign pressure against you? >> look, he can't bully his way against the nomination. let's keep in mind the political elite has gotten nothing done to secure the border, keep us safe as we see wars around the world. look, that's exactly what we don't want. the reason people are upset is i've pushed for copetency tests. i said if they don't push a budget out on time, they don't get paid.
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i'd much rather be fighting for the people than the elected officials in d.c. >> ambassador, do you think, just going back to the rnc, calling for calling around donald trump, do you think the rnc has been an honest broker in this case? >> i mean clearly not. if you're going to go and basically tel aviv the american people that you're going to go and decide who the nominee is after only two states have voting, i mean 48 states out there, this is a democracy. the american people want to have their say in who is going to be their nominee. we need to give them that. you can't do that based on just two states. not only that, it's 1,215 delica delicates. donald trump has 32. i have 17. i think americans want to be
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able to make this decision themselves. i don't think this is the place of the rnc to do it. i think that trump overstepped when he pushed them to do it, and i think that's why he's had to back down. >> do you think he had knowledge and awareness to do that and then pulled back? >> we know exactly the people that pushed are his people, and i know during the debates he was pushing mcdaniel to stop the debates. he's been pushing them to pay for his lawsuits and all of these other things, but at the end of the day, this is not about the rnc. this is about the american people toti this is not about the political party deciding who they want to be the nominee. when i ran for governor, there were five nominees toti i was far from being the only nominee.
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they did the same thing to me then. i won then. i'm going to win now. >> as you know, trump has the double-digit leads. he secured the endorsements of a lot of the tot officials in your state. do you need to win in your own state in order to win the nomination? >> first let's talk about the people he surrounded himself with in south carolina. yes, he got the endorsement of the governor, but that's the same governor i defeated when i ran for governor. yes, he got the governor from north carolina, but it's the same group i had to force to show everything on the record. it's the same group where i vetoed half of the pet projects i didn't think the tax dollars should go to. it's no surprise.
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trump has become an insider. he's more satisfied in electing the class than the inside people than the american people. we need to do better than that. we did ron pratte we got 43% of the vote. we're going into south carolina and we need to be stronger. it's not just that we need to be stronger, kristen. trump needs to be stronger toti he's got some work to do as well. >> let me make sure we get an answer, though, ambassador haley. this is your home state. you were governor of south carolina. do you need to win your own state in order to stay in this race? is it do or die? >> i think i need to do better than i did in new hampshire. it's not about which state -- >> do you think you -- you say you need to do better, but don't you need to win your home state
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to show that you can win a state? win your home state and really put some delegates on the map for yourself? >> well, we've got 17 delegates. he's got 32. what i need to do is i'm building momentum. does that have to be a win? i don't think that necessarily has to be a win, but it certainly has to be better than what i did in new hampshire and it has to be close, so that's what we're focusing on. if we win, great, if not, we have to continue to narrow the margin along the way. people need to know they can continue to see and have us fight on. >> i hear you say you're in this regardless of the results in south carolina through super tuesday it sounds like. here's how the wall street editorial board is thinking about your campaign. they write, if chemali can stay
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in it, she can make it. they say mr. trump would be unfit for the presidency toti are you staying in this race in case donald trump is convicted of a crime, ambassador? >> i've never stayed in it because of court cases. i really don't know what all the court cases are. i haven't paid attention to what he's won, what he's lost, what he's fighting for. the first one came down and he spent a lot of time ranting how he lost the court case, but the reality is every time he talks about defending himself, he's not talking about getting everything back on track and getting kids reading again and getting us focused and talking about law and order. that's the problem toti he's not
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talking about what people want. he was totally unhinged, went on a rampage election night talking about revenge. then the next day he goes and says anybody who supports me is not going to be allowed to be part of maga. that means those people who voted for me in iowa and new hampshire, who donated, you're going to say, really, they're not going to be in your club? you're supposed to represent everyplace. then he pushes the republican party to make him the nominee. look, he's insecure and he knows what's happening and knows the court cases are going to take him further and further away from the campaign trail, and that's what he's worried about. >> yes or no, are you in the convention through super tuesday, yes or no? >> as long as i keep growing per state, i am in this race. >> through super tuesday? >> three super tuesday we'll see
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where it gets us. i think one state at a time. i don't think too far ahead. i'm not going anywhere. >> let's talk about the court cases. on friday the jury ordered donald trump to pay $83 million in defamation. you have repeated here maybe it's fair, maybe it's not, but let me just ask you on the substance of the jury's ruling. should that be disqualifying to be president? >> i think the american people should be disqualified. i think that i have always said donald trump has the right to be on the ballot. i've always said i trust the american people. they know how to make good decisions. they're going to see it for what it is. they see he's completely
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distracted, he's going on these rants how he's always the victim, and that's not what we need a strong leader to be. these court cases are going to keep happening one by one. we're going to keep seeing it happening. that's not what you want a president to be and that's not what you want russia to see and china and iran. >> what's unique about this case is the jury has ruled. they've found him liable of sexual abuse. do you not trust the jury and their findings, ambassador? >> i absolutely trust the jury, and i think they made their decision based on the evidence. i just don't think that should take him off the ballot. i think the american people will take him off the ballot. i think that's the best way to go forward, not let him play the victim, let him play the lose err. that's what we want at the end of the day. >> just to be clear, do you think that should happen?
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>> i don't think he should be taken off the ballot. we don't do that in america. we can never let that happen. i don't want a political party deciding who's right or wrong or who deserves to be on the ballot. that's the heart beat of america, our democracy. let's let people decide. >> ambassador, one more time, you have said his advanced age makes him up fit. you have just now called him unhinged. why give him a pass on this when a jury has found him liable of sexual abuse? >> i have not given him a pass on anything. he went on for three or four minutes how i didn't secure the
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capitol on january 6th. clearly he was confused thinking i was nancy pelosi. that's why we don't need two people who are in their 80s runner for president. you need someone who can think. i do think he is in decline and i think he needs to know to step away. i do think he surrounds himself in chaos and we can't be a country in disarray and have a world onfire and be in chaos. i do think these court cases are distracting not just to the american people but he himself and keeps him from talking about what really matters, and that's exactly why i don't think he should be pretty. >> i want to ask you about his attacks against you. he has mocked your birth name, has suggested you aren't eligible because your parents
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weren't born here, but you were born here. i'm curious. what do you make of this playbook? do you think he'll win in north carolina? >> honestly, kristen, i laugh every time i see one of his tweets oer see him throw a tell perfect tantrum. i know him very long. when he starts to feel insecure, he starts to flail, wave his arms, and get upset. he's proving that right now. those things don't hurt my feelings. this is not personal for me. what is personalle for me is getting america back on track. >> would you go so far as to call the attacks racism, ambassador? >> i think that's for everybody else to decide. the fact that he continues to go
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down these packets of saying things, you know, is this who we want as a president? want our kids to see? i don't think so. hold on. it's going to get worse. >> ambassador haley, let's pause our conversation here for just a moment. when we come back, republicans are backing away from a border policy deal that would unlock funding for ukraine and israel. is it all campaign politics? we continue right after this quick break. t after this quick break. and longer-lasting relief than tylenol rapid release gels because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away.
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deal. he wrote, a bad border deal is far worse than no border deal. what's your message to republicans on capitol hill? should they get this deal done? >> my message to republicans is do not leave d.c. until we finish the job. we have waited so long for congress to do something about the border. first, joe biden should be securing the border. this is a national security threat. the idea he's actually suing governor abbott for trying to sue the government is wrong. the second thing is republicans and democrats need to get into a room. they don't need to leave until they figure this out. american people are not save at this point. donald trump, the last thing he needs to do is wait until they pass a border deal. we can't wait one more day. but they do need to get this right. i don't know exactly the details
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in the bill, but one of the things i saw is they didn't have the remain in mexico policy. you have to have the remain in mexico policy because people don't need to step foot on u.s. soil. that's the first place to start. >> the biden administration has said they're taking action against governor abbott because they see some of his policies as inhumane. let me ask big picture. we've heard president biden say he's prepared to shut down the border if this deal passes. if you were president, if you were in the white house, would you sign this bill? would you sign this into law? >> well, i haven't seen the details of the bill, so i can't comment whether i would sign it. what i would tel aviv you is i see things not in it that should be in it. i've seen president biden saying he wants to be humane in this process. look, i dealt with the border while i was in the united
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nations. what those people go through is horrific. it's dangerous and unsafe. we need to make sure they never think there's an opening for them. they shouldn't make that trek in the first place. what happens is they see all of their family members coming over, they see all of their friends coming over. president biden gave half a million venezuelans protective status, which is driver's licenses and social security numbers. i've seen them pick up the phone and tel aviv their relatives to come on over. >> when you hear president biden say let's shut down the border, do you agree? >> i say to president biden prove it. get into a room and prove it. the american people are waiting. i put this on republicans and democrats. i'm not picking favorites in this. i'm telling you they all have
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not done a good job from the very beginning and it's time to get this country safe again. >> let's talk about what's happening in the middle east. there are reports the u.s. is getting closer to negotiating a deal which would effectively mean israel would sus spend its military operations in gaza for about two months in exchange for the remaining hostages. the cia director is in paris negotiating these talks right now. if you were president, in the white house right now, is this the type of deal you would get behind? would you be supporting this and urging israel to accept this compromise? >> we want to do everything we can to get the hostages home, but i also know what this means. this means that during those two months, hamas is going to refuel, rebuild their ammunition, remain, plan all of the things they're going to do. they have said they're going to do another attack and israel has to keep themselves safe. this is a fine line we need to see them walk.
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first of all, we need to make sure israel has whatever they need when they need it. we need to make sure we eliminate hamas and never take our eye off the target because they have said they're going to do it again and we need to get the hostages home. >> do you think it's a bad idea to pause it for two months? >> i think if israel is willing to pause, that i should. they're driving this train. when they saw so many people die on october 7th and they hear hamas say they're going to do it again? i gave a speech five years ago, and it told the world there were maps. the maps were held by hamas, and it showed if they could break through barrier, this is how they were going to kill as many jewish people as fast as they could. that happened. i know there will be no hamas without iran. i know they want to eliminate israel. we have got to find a way to protect israelis and get the hostages home. this may work.
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we have to see. we also have to not take our eyes off hamas because they're going to do more to kill more people and build up their military >> i want to talk about something that happened in your home state of south carolina last month. we heard about it just now. authorities responded to a swatting call last month. that's when a fake emergency call came in, creating the possibility of a really dangerous situation. you were not home at the time, but what is your reaction? what are the implications of this happening, ambassador? >> well, kristen, i was not home, but michael and i take care of my parents. they are 87 and 90, and we take care of them, and they were at home with their caregiver, and so i will tel aviv you that the last thing you want is to see multiple law enforcement officials with guns drawn pointing at my parents and thinking that something happened. it is an awful situation.
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it put the law enforcement officers in danger, it put my family in danger, and, you know, it was not a safe situation, and that goes to show the chaos that's surrounding our country right now and the fact that these things are happening, and so, look, i'm not the only one that's happened to. it wasn't the first time. i think we've had it happen twice. but i will tel aviv you this, that i think what's really important is we have lived in a country of chaos for quite a while now. it is time we remember what healing feels like,s not to have division, not to have hate. we are americans and we need to remember how blessed we are. >> very quickly, and we have two more topics i want to get to. how concerned are you about political violence overall given what happened? >> i think, look, i feel it. we've been to town halls,
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150-something town halls. there are things that have p had. i have had threats made. it's what happens when you run for president. i can handle that. i don't want it to happen for my kids. i don't want to have division. my husband is deployed right now, sacrificing for america with his military brothers and sustrs. they're doing that because they love this country and believe in this amazing experiment that is america. we have to go back and remember what it's like to be americans first. that's the biggest thing that's hearst braking for me. we're better than this. our country is better than this. and the rest of the world is looking at us wondering what's happened. we've got to right this ship and get it back. i know we can do it. america has the amazing ability to know what up is. >> let me ask you. if you do fall short, don't get the nomination, you have said before being on the ticket with
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donald trump is, quote, off the table. let me ask you to put a fine point on it. have you completely ruled out being donald trump's running mate? >> i have said i don't want to be anyone's vice president. i don't know how more clear i can be. anyone's vice president, period. i'm running for president. >> have you ruled it out? >> i think that's what i'm saying. if i say i don't want to be anyone's vice president, i think that's pretty clear. what i'm telling you is i'm going to run and i'm running to win. i think the american people deserve better, and i think this is the time when american people need a lot of courage. we have seen every general election poll. trump does not beat biden in a general election. we have seen that. i have beaten biden by double digits. that's a mandate to get the wasteful spending out of control, to secure our border with no excuses, get our kids reading again. that's what we need to be doing.
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>> would you rule out trump as a nominee? you have said you would endorse him. being that you said he's become unhinged. are you ruling out endorsing him? >> i'm focused on defeating donald trump, period. that's it. what i want to do is go and save this country. we have a country to save. i'm determined to do it. y'all can think forward. i'm focused on the sweet people of south carolina and making sure they get their voices heard and we're going to work this state as hard and as fast as we ever have. >> ambassador haley, good luck, stay safe. when we come back, alexandria oh cass ya cortez of new york joins me next. w york jt
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et president biden's campaign rallies were interrupted more than a dozen times by protesters calling for a cease-fire in gaza, even unfurling a banner reading, quote, genocide joe. now people are becoming increasingly concerned that his support is damaging his support, particularly young voters. joining us now is democratic congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez of new york. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you for having me. >> we appreciate you being here. we ee get to the middle east in a moment. i do want to ask you about president biden's re-election campaign. you know he has some real vulnerabilities. why do you think he's struggling against former president donald trump, someone who's been indicted four times and who's now been slapped with this $83 million civil suit?
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>> well, you know, i think we can take a look at the overall landscape here. it's not just what we're talking about with president biden, but former president trump also has extraordinary vulnerabilities. we saw that in new hampshire. the fact that he is a former sitting president, head of his party, virtually everyone else has dropped out and endorsed him, and still as we just saw, nikki haley came -- chemali cleared about 43% in new hampshire bodes very not well for donald trump and his ability to win a general election when it comes to president biden. i think we need to really focus and understand that young people are a very strong part of this electorate. we have a diverse coalition in the democratic party that has its own concerns whether it's happening in gaza or any other number of issues. right now in november is going to be about the coalition we can put together and the policy
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progress we can make between now and then. >> do you think president biden is the strongest person to take on former president donald trump given everything you've said, congresswoman? >> his turnout in new hampshire is not something to ignore. we saw from a write-in campaign, remember, president biden wasn't even on the ballot in new hampshire. he won overwhelmingly with turnout that even exceeded obama 2012 turnout when obama was on the ballot. so there are a quite a few indicators on his strength in new hampshire. we'll see what happens in south carolina and, of course, when we get to important primaries like michigan. >> just to be clear, though, do you think the president is the strongest person to take on donald trump if he is the nominee. there is an if. >> yes, especially if we look at this field.
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we have dean phillips and marianne williamson. i think president biden among the field is the strongest nominee. >> you have said in the past it's not just for democrats to talk about who they are running against. you want the president to be talking about what he's running for. do you think in this very moment president biden is doing a good enough job explaining to voters why they should vote for him and not just against former president trump? >> i think we can certainly do more to be advanced our vision. and i believe that we have a strong vision that we can run on. you know, i think -- for what it's worth, the president has said if you give me the senate and the house, we will codify abortion rights. i think we can do more. i think we need to talk about
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health care. to me as a progressive, i want the age of medicare to drop whether it's 50 or o to 0 to extend medicare to all people in the united states of america, but i believe we can be doing more. we can talk even more about the fact that public colleges and universities should be tuition-free or reduced. the president has advanced student loan forgiveness just this month for people who have taken out safe loans under $12,000, they'll see their loans wiped out. but i believe vangsing that affirmative vision is going to be very, very important as well as really laying out and showing between now and november through our governing decisions, our governing decisions, when we have that power in the white house, what we are willing to do with it. >> congresswoman to that point, has the biden campaign reached out to you and said we want you to help re-elect president
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biden? how do you see your role and the role of progressives in this re-election effort? >> i see my role overall as really trying to expand the power of movements in the united states of america. >> have you -- >> we've been in contact with the biden administration throughout my term and throughout his term as well. i think what's most important is -- and in terms of my role, i think my role is in allegiance to people let's movements across the country. in the labor movement that had extraordinary gains last year, whether it was the teamsters, uaw's historic contract, whether it's the bubbling labor fights we're seeing 'cross the country, i think we have -- and our responsibility is to make sure those fights are protected, a
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climate movement that's built such extraordinary power that just this past week the biden administration announced a pause on all liquefied gas to export facilities moving forward, and that's not just because of the biden administration. i want to be very clear about that. that is because of absolute organized and committed organizing by activists and communities that are being impacted on the ground, whether you're a unionized labor work e or front line activist where those movements have the ability and the right to organize is what i'm committed to. and that's why i'm committed to ensuring they are not stamped out with a trump presidency. >> let me ask you about what's happening in the middle east. there are details about this potential emerging deal in which it real would stop its war campaign for about two months in
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exchange for all of the hostages. given the argument by israel, the u.s. government that providing pressure is the only way to get the hostages out. do you think the strategy on the hostages has been effective? >> i do not. we have seen -- we know that hamas as an organization, it does not have any regard for human life. i think that in hamas's attack on october 7th mg they knew what they were bringing on -- they knew the violence that they were bringing on. we have seen that. they understood the asymmetric attack israel will put out. israel has been indiscriminately attacking gazans, and we have seen over 25,000 palestinians have been killed. over 70% of whom are women and
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children. this -- using 25,000 lives as leverage and the idea that that is going to pressure hamas, they are accountable to very little. but i think what is most important is saving these lives, ensuring the release of hostages, and in my view, negotiating a cease-fire. >> some of your colleagues that we talked about what's happened at the protests this week have called the president genocide joe. some of your colleagues have accused the president of supporting genocide including rashida tlaib. do you agree with that word, "genocide," or does that go too far? >> i think what we're seeing right now throughout the country is young people are appalled at the loss of life. we're not just seeing 25,000 people who have died in gaza.
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we're seeing the starvation of millions of people, the did placement of over 2 million gaz ps. we have south africa that has mounted a court in the icj. the icj ruled this week that israel has a grave responsibility to prevent genocide. >> but they're still determining whether it's a genocide. do you think he's responsible given that it's under investigation? >> i believe they're still determining it, but in the interim ruling, the fact that they said there's a responsibility to prevent it, the fact that this word is even in play i, the fact that this word is even in our discourse, i think, demonstrates the mass inhumanity that gazans are facing, and so whether you are an individual that believes this is a genocide, which, by the way, in our polling, we are seeing large amounts of americans concerned specifically with that word. so i don't think it is something to completely toss someone out
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of our public discourse for using. but i think what we are seeing here is the netanyahu government has lost public support and we have a responsibility to protect the human rights and the humanity of gazans and hostages alike in the area. >> all right. congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez, thank you so much for your tomb. we really appreciate it. when we come back, a teacher from new hampshire with the dream of being the first american civilian to go to space remembering the challenger tragedy 38 years later. our "meet the press" minute is next. later our "meet the press" minute is next
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welcome back. 38 years ago today americans watched in horror as the space shuttle challenger tore itself apart not even two minutes after liftoff, killing all seven crew members aboard, among them 37-year-old christa mcauliffe, a teacher who was to become the first civilian in space. carl sagan joined days after with calls to keep ordinary citizens away from space. >> my sense is the tragedy would not have been averted had christa mcauliffe have been replaced by a trained astronaut. the key question is do people understand what the risks are? i think it's important to
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explain what space flight and education is about to the public footing the bill and for that reason i think it is a good idea to send ordinary citizens up and journalists and filmmakers but under the conditions i mentioned. when we come back, how long will nikki haley keep up the fight? the panel is next. fight? the panel is next.
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welcome back. the the panel is here. carol lee, democratic pollster cornell belcher and matt gorman, senior adviser for tim scott for america. thanks for being here. you heard nikki haley say she doesn't have to win south carolina. she just has to do better than she did in new hampshire. what do you make of it? >> it's like the '80s slogan, you want to beat the man, you have to be the man. she's right now about 20 points down in south carolina.
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she has four weeks to go, but if we're looking at it ten days, 20 days, she's still down 20 points, that's a very dimts conversation. >> i think when you get inside the internals of the number, new hampshire gave her the best chance of knocking him off because of the number of independents, right? it's a large swath of independent voters, not so much republican primary voters. she's not winning enough hard core conservative primary voters to see a pathway forward. she's not nearly winning enough independents and enough core republican voters to see a pathway to victory. >> 600,000 new voters in the state since she left the governor's mansion, a lot from if north, i here income college grad. >> we'll watch. it's so fascinating. carol lee it was so fascinated president biden basically said,
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okay, the primary ice over. you have some of the exclusive reporting on the strategy and the first-of-its-kind fund-raiser. >> that's right. president biden is trying to raise a fund-raiser with the three of them headlining a fund-raiser they hope raises a ton of money. no date has been set. it's likely to happen in the spring, march or april, but also energize democrats who have not shown a lot of enthusiasm for the biden ticket in 2024, and it's just part of this strategy of this all-hands-on-deck approach we've seen from democratic party leaders. one biden adviser said, look, the fact that they're doing it this early in the year it really underscores everybody is trying to get on board and get biden over the finish line. >> what do you make of the warning and the warning signs inside the democratic circles.
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you had president biden overnight trying to make sure black voters turn out for him like they had in 2020. >> every couple of years we have political amnesia. people say, we didn't get the change we wanted. that's why you build campaigns. what you see is biden and the vp out there telling their stories and obama and clinton out there telling their stories. it is all hands on deck. i think they have a good story to tell even to these young people. if you look at the environmental issues that they're so keen on, he's done more than any president in history around these environmentalles. they have a story to tell. >> donald trump is basically saying to republicans don't get a deal. mitch mccome in a private meeting said we don't want to undermine him. now publicly mcconnell walked it
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back, but moderate republicans are i saing this is our best possibility of getting a deal in decades with democrats. let's do it now. >> yeah. it reminds me of the sixth sense. it's been dead a month. no one noticed it yet. with a three-vote margin in the house, you're not going to get an immigration deal done. the white house and senate acting like they're the only ones involved in getting this done. they're not. president biden feels like it's hopeless here. it's absolutely not. >> let's get to the politics of this. they're killing this because of politics. i've seen this happen before. in 2007 bush wanted to do immigration. they attacked it as amnesty for illegals. obama thought he had a deal with boehner, he took it to the house and republicans killed it. don't take my word. take it from thom tillis. this may be immoral. they're killing it because the president -- president trump
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thinks it's good for its politics. >> president obama with 60 votes didn't get it done either. >> he had a bit of an economic crisis. >> the backdrop for this deal, carol, is to get a deal on the border so there's nor funding for ukraine and israel, and that situation is also something that's looming large over the biden administration. and i know you have new reporting on israel as well. >> yeah, look, the pretty is in a bind. he's under a lot of pressure in his own party to do more, to get israel to scale things back. we were reporting this morning that one of the things the administration is doing is having discussions about how to leverage some of israel's request for weaponry, ammunition, things like that, to incentivize them to do what the president has been quietly urging them to do, it's significant. it would get the unprecedented to move the rhetoric and take some sort of action, which is
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what democrats, members of his party have been calling for. >> there's no doubt if they got this deal to release the hostages, that would be politically significant. that's all for today. thanks so much for watching. we'll be back next week because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." k because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press. ay, it's "meet the ♪♪ ♪♪ a major escalation in the middle east is putting new pressure on president biden. three
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