call today. ♪♪ we are coming on the air with momentum now it seems on a gun deal given those brand-new comments from top republican in the senate mitch mcconnell in the last few minutes that he is onboard for now. one of multiple developing news stories this afternoon here in washington and on wall street. take a look, the markets kind of mixed in the last hour of trading. more concerns about the potential for a recession and in less than 24 hours a big announcement from the fed. seeming ready to raise interest rates again to try to fight inflation. we are live with more on that

breakdown. plus, live on the campaign trail where the economy is on the minds of voters in four states holding primaries today. some of these elections the latest tests of the power of the trump endorsement. a lot to get to. we start with that breaking news from capitol hill. mitch mcconnell making some of his first comments on that bipartisan deal on gun reform. our team there as the republican leader gave his blessing to the framework, right, the framework of the deal in the last hour. watch. >> for myself, i am comfortable with the framework. and if the legislation ends up reflecting what the framework indicates, i'll be supportive. >> so listen, that is good news for the democrats who need at least ten republicans to vote for the bill. with the senators working on this, hoping to get language, our congressional correspondent joining us, get this thing passed as soon as possible.

a lot of people are waiting to to hear what mcconnell said. here is a bit more of what he said. talking about specifically support from gun owners for what we're seeing here. >> support for the provisions of the framework is off the charts. overwhelming. it's a step forward, a step forward on a bipartisan basis, and further demonstrates to the american people that we can come together. >> so how much of -- how significant, how much does it matter this is what we are hearing from mutch mitch taz relates to the broad support, the framework, the passage potentially of this bill? >> mcconnell's support is a boost for prospects of turning this framework into a bill and making that a law for the simple reason we have seen time and time again in the 50/50 senate his report is a reflector if the bill can get the minimum votes

needed to defeat a filibuster. it's another for them to vote for a bill. mcconnell has been so crucial in this type of effort, especially on hot button issues like gun legislation. mcconnell has been an opponent of any gun control laws going back decades. it was a decade ago when the sandy hook elementary school massacre happened. mcconnell extended his thoughts and prayers, called it an awful tragedy and used the filibuster to block efforts at again legislation. things have changed in the last decade. mcconnell, he talked about republicans need to be doing better in the suburbs. he was disturbed how poorly they did in 2020. they want stricter gun laws. what to they say women and college graduates want? stricter gun laws. and he has felt the need to release some pressure on those who would like to nuke the filibuster and he does that by

allowing a modest popular bipartisan piece of legislation to pass every so often and say see the senate works, we don't need to make drastic changes. that said, this is not a done deal. people working on this deal are trying to write the bill to avoid these landmines, specifically concerns among republicans that it has ample due process, you know, before it takes away gun rights from anybody. let's listen to what some republican senators had to say about that. >> i just think that it infringes on the second amendment. due process and it crosses too many, to me, crosses the line too often. >> there are real concerns about due process. and i think those are things that are going to have to be address the. >> as long as due process, second amendment protections, are afforded to those who would fall under a red flag law, i would be okay with it. >> now, reading between the

lines, this won't get unanimous republican support. many will vote against it no matter what it does because they don't want to touch gun regulations. mcconnell's support gives this a path to get as many as 25 republican senators. >> thank you. other developing news. the prices we pay and a key decision coming from the fed less than 24 hours from now. specifically i am talking about the possibility they could raise interest rates. kelly o'donnell at the white house. frank holland from cnbc and andrea mitchell. of course, the host of andrea mitchell reports here on msnbc. kelly, the economic picture for this administration is front and another. they are talking about inflation is the number one priority. we will talk about this with one of the president's top economic advisors later in the show. you heard the president when he met in philly today. >> reporter: yes, the president relies on the support of union

workers and organized labor. so as a political message, getting them onboard is key. and trying to connect with them is important. the president was trying to stress the areas he thinks his administration has shown some progress. and so he did a little bit of reminding how things have changed since he came into office. some of the crises that he has, in his view, helped to improve, but acknowledging some of the tough things americans are facing right now. >> republican congress are doing everything they can to stop my plans to bring down the costs for ordinary families. that's why my plan is not finished and why the results around finished either. jobs are back, but prices are still too high. covid is down, but gas prices are up. >> reporter: a very stark picture of what people are experiencing. some things have improved when it comes to the situation involving covid and how that has

changed the job picture. but people are feeling it every day when they are buying groceries and filling the tank and so forth. the president says he has legislative ideas to try to address that, to reduce some of the costs that families pay. but that requires congress, and that's where the president is running into trouble. and as we know, some of the energy on capitol hill has now been taken up with other issues like gun reforms and gun legislation and trying to address that issue that sihal was talking about. the president has a complicated mix. no easy answers. he also puts some of the pressure right on the federal reserve saying they are in charge of dealing with inflation, in charge of monetary policy, he is going to try to put is legislative fix this is place and dot things he can with executive power. but he often talks about the fact that there are global issues here and not all of the levers are within his control. not an easy place to be in a political year. hallie.

>> kelly o'donnell for us. frank, if you look at the economic backdrop not just the political backdrop, gas prices inching up to another record high today, $5.02 a gallon, wholesale prices up 11% over last year after, as you know, that inflation report from last week which found consumer prices up 8.6%. that is what the fed is looking at from the economic picture when they meet to talk about interest rates. what about the reaction from wall street? >> let's start off here. we know that 50 point rate hike is all but certain. the numbers you mentioned when it comes to consumer prices, highest in 40 years may create the possibility of a 75 basis point hike. a few weeks ago the fed ruled that out. big potential change. it's being considered by the fed. the markets are trying to make sense of what this could mean and if a 75 point hike is, quote, unquote, baked in. which means stocks are moving

with that possibility in mind already or if they will react to a 75 point hike instead of the 50 point hike. you have to keep in mind, the fed is trying to cool off the economy with the hopes of avoiding a recession. a lofty goal sometimes called a soft landing. the market is questions if this is possible. the s&p 500 and nasdaq are more than 20% off the high. the strong dollar it in conjunction with inflation weighing on many global companies. a lot of market experts on cnbc, consensus is it's not clear if investors accounted for that 75 point hike and if that could push the economy closer towards a recession. a lot of people think we are already in it. a lot of questions and a lot of people waited with bated breath about that decision tomorrow. >> frank holland, thank you. andrea, i want to bring you into the conversation, too, because we learned today, and i think you were first to report, that president biden plans to meet -- he is going to go to saudi

arabia, meet with the saudi crown prince. this is somebody who the president called a pariah on the campaign trail, right? the president himself said over the weekend that energy issues are not the biggest reason why he is traveling and making this trip, right? that that is simply part of the picture, national security concerns, et cetera, human rights part of this, too, but would he be traveling there, do you think, now if gas prices weren't above five bucks a gallon? >> certainly makes the trip even more urgent. i think they want to reset with saudi arabia and persuade the president to do it behind the scenes. i think the foreign policy team, national security team wanted to deal with saudi arabia and try to -- i don't know, renegotiate the relationship. but the saudis were resistant. they wouldn't even take a phone call for the president for the crown prince, the leader are, the king who is not the leader of the coronavirus. it is the crown prince. he is very controversial.

this president had declassified the cia report which found him responsible for the gruesome murder of jamal khashoggi and had said to us in -- it was in our debate that it's a pariah country and he would treat it that way. so he was sort of locked into that and they have been trying to wheel him back from that. he was the last person to sign off on the trip that he had to agree to, even a possible trip from the secretary of state was not in order because the foreign minister said he was going to be out of the country. the saudis played hardball and they want the president of the united states to come. remember, as you know so well, donald trump's first trip out of the country was not canada or mexico, which is traditional for anily elected presidents, but to saudi arabia and that was very controversial at the time. and so this biden team came in having to try to, you know, reorder this relationship. this is what democratic jeff

mercurically had to say to me today about whether or not it's all about oil. >> it's all about oil and i notice that the white house made the point of saying we are happy to accept his invitation, if you will, as if this initiative was coming from saudi arabia. it's an ugly moment. i hate to think of the moment when he has to shake his hand. i mean, they are horrendous on human rights. >> and the discouraging thing is not that he will mention human rights and the 9/11 families are very upset about this and campaigning about this, they hold saudi arabia responsible even though the saudis denied any official responsibility. 15 of the 19 hijackers were saudi. the problem in the market is that saudi arabia has inched forward with opec plus.

they are opec's leaders and so what what they have done has not made dap and it's unlikely that this trip will lead to enough saudi oil being produced that will actually make a difference to offset the russian oil from the ukraine sanctions. >> some democrats said to you that they have some concerns about this trip and the president taking it. andrea mitchell, frank holland, kelly o'donnell, thank you. we go inside the white house as they try to tackle that record inflation. live with one of president biden's top economic advisors. primary day in four states. one-on-one with the south carolina republican trying to survive his vote to impeach former president trump and keep his job in the house. the new witness we found out will testify at the next january 6th hearing ander inteague on that front. we will talk about it in a minute. at front we will talk about it in a minute no, he's seizing the moment with merrill. moving his money into his investment account in real time and that's...

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the other stuff you buy top of mind for voters as they cast votes in five states holding primaries and a special election today. you see them on the screen there. we are getting close to the halfway point of the primary season and getting new insight into the power of the trump endorsement and how his so-called revenge tour is playing in some states in districts where similar moves have backfired. 13 republicans running in today's primary have the backing of the former president. and then look at this number. 108. 108. that's the number of republican candidates who repeated the big lie. donald trump's false claims of election fraud. those lies that the election was stolen. it was not. and have been successful in their primaries so far. guad venegas is in reno this morning f afternoon. vaughn hilliard also. the nevada race, the closely watched contests come november because you have somebody considered among the most vulnerable members of the senate now, primary for her republican

competitor going on. tell me what you have been hearing about adam laxalt and the way this race is playing out. >> a lot of attention on the republican side because they are going to decide who will face catherine cortez masto. republicans nationwide think nevada could be that 51st u.s. senate seat. adam laxalt is the frontrunner endorse by donald trump. also endorsedpy his perm friend ron desantis who believes that there was election fraud, who has been speaking to the republican voters in the state and is the frontrunner as we mentioned. we talked to some of these voters today who showed up at the primaries telling us they would like to see change because they blame the current leadership, including catherine cortez masto, for the issues. here is a conversation i had with one of the voters. >> look at the prices of gas. look at the prices of food. i mean, i'm probably paying double for groceries for my household. gas is astronomical. i can't believe we are paying $6

here. >> now, as we mentioned, adam laxalt is the frontrunner who is endorsed by donald trump. sam brown is 14 points behind. his campaign says that could be within the margin of error and there could be a surprise here if someone like sam brown were to be elected. he has been endorsed by the republicans in nevada, but of course adam laxalt is expected to face catherine cortez masto in the midterm election here in nevada. >> guad venegas, thank you. vaughn hilliard, in south carolina, there is a couple of races there that we're watching when it comes to this test of the trump endorsement, the influence of donald trump, and that's nancy mace and tom rice. >> he is welcome to lead whomever he wants within our party. we have a big party. i want to see folks from all walks of life in the republican party. >> i think that donald trump is not the future of the republican party.

i think, you know, he was a consequential president. and we accomplished things that lifted all people up while he was president. but i think he is the past and we need to move on. >> reporter: if you lose tomorrow, will it be because of that impeachment vote? >> i am not going to lose tomorrow. >> okay. of course, mace and rice there, vaughn, you spoke with both of them. >> this is the next stop on donald trump's purge tour here. there are two races. nancy mace and tom rice. they have both made decisions the last year on the paths that they would take in terms of trying to win over their constituencies. tom rice has remained defiant, continually suggesting that donald trump worked against the constitution and ultimately has defend his vote to impeach him. then nancy mace, days after the insurrection took place he was on "meet the press" and she

talked about that she was going to be a new voice for the republican party and donald trump put members of congress in harm's way. fast forward a year. it was this spring she recorded a selfie video in front of trump tower which she lauded the presidency of donald trump. that is why you heard my back and forth with them yesterday, she is either suggested or given some praise through the trump administration or she is worked more to completely avoid the subject all together. and i think it's important. i know that you are about to talk to the incumbent congress mom, tom rice,ly. when we look at 2022 the lack of a balance tallian this come to the defense of the likes of liz cheney and tom rice. you know, tom rice had former speaker paul ryan out on the campaign trail last week. but other than that, you haven't been seen other incumbent republicans run down to south carolina to defend him as he has made his case against donald

trump but even more so his past decade of what he says is a conservative record. he said he voted with donald trump 94% of the time. and yet you have seen this party, these elected officials stand more by the side of former president trump instead of coming to defend one of their own in south carolina. hallie. >> vaughn hilliard laying out the stakes of that race. thank you. i'm sure we will talk again tomorrow as we get those results later tonight. i want to bring in republican congressman from south carolina tom rice, who is on the ballot today. congressman, thank you so much for being on the show with us this afternoon. >> my great pleasure. thank you for having me. >> of course. so let me start with this. what is your level of confidence that you can win this race today without the support of the de facto leader of your party in donald trump? >> i don't think donald trump is the de facto lead of our party. >> why not? >> i am cautiously optimistic

i'll win this race. certainly, it will be the biggest test i have had since i have been in congress. my first run i had ten republicans and six democrats. this time it's similar to that. >> strategically, right, we heard this laid out from vaughn here -- and we will talk later about donald trump and his leadership of your party. that's an interesting question. i want to keep it focused on your race. she has take an different tack, nancy mace, who also voted to impeach the former president who has as "the new york times" phrased it taken the teeth out of some of her criticism of former president trump. you have not taken that tack. i wonder what your thinking is, particularly when it could cost you your eat. seat. >> you know, i have not gone to try to engage the president. when the president attacks me, i'm certainly going to respond

to it. i want the truth to be known. i do believe that his what i call the very presidential traveling revenge circus is unprecedented certainly in my lifetime where you have a former president who is trying to purge his enemies from the party and who is so driven by spite and revenge. >> speaking of that concept, i want to reading is that politico has about you. voters have hung out of car windows and yelled from crowds to call him a traitor. his chief of staff had to sort through death threats to decide which ones she needed to flag for you and which ones should go straight to the police. they write your wife was initially afraid to go to the grocery store. knowing what you experienced now because of your vote, those relentless attacks, threats, concerns on the part of your family, would you change anything about the way you voted?

>> absolutely not. i know i did the right thing. i was defending the constitution. you can't have a president, you know, rile up a crowd and send them down to the capitol and have him sit in the white house and watch for three hours as the crowd beats up the capitol police officers and have five people killed and have the capitol sacked and rioters breaking on to the house floor and have the president in the midst of it, tweet out to his supporters that mike pence didn't have courage while mike pence and his wife and his daughter are in the capitol not wanting to leave because they want to fulfill their duty. i think that was a very cowardly thing for the president to do. and i think it was well beyond the pale and i think he had a responsibility to act in a more presidential way. that's why i voted to hold him accountable and i would vote to hold him accountable again tomorrow. and if you don't believe that

the president could have done anything to call it off, then you should talk to kevin mccarthy, the republican conference leader, and mitch mcconnell in the senate because they called and asked the president to call it off. they thought he could do it. and the president just basically hung up on kenny mccarthy, told him the rioters care more about the sacred election than he did. and if you don't believe those two guys, then ask sean hannity and laura ingraham. they were texting him and mark meadows saying you've got to stop this. they, obviously, thought he could stop it. if you don't believe them, talk to jim jordan and others in the freedom caucus who were texting the president and mark meadows asking that he stopped it. they, obviously, believed he could stop it. and if you don't believe them, ask ivanka and eric trump, who were calling, texting mark meadows and the president saying

this has got to end now. everybody believed he should stop it and he didn't lift a finger to stop it and he watched 140 capitol police officers being injured and people being killed and he didn't lift one finger to stop it. i think he should have been held accountable for that. it was a direct attack on the separation of powers and our constitution. our constitution is a source of our freedom and prosperity given to us by our forefathers and i want it to survive intact so we can leave it to our children and grandchildren. i am proud of what i have done. >> i am curious. do you believe that the january 6th select committee these hearings happening now are successfully making the case that tutankhamun was at the center of an attempted coup? >> you know, i don't know what they are trying to make their case for. i voted for the bipartisan committee. i did not vote for this commit because i felt like the people that we needed to convince, the

folks who typically walk -- are -- they are the choir and this committee is preaching to the choir and they are believers before the committee even began its investigation. and the people that we needed to believe are on the other side of the political spectrum. and that we had to have a bipartisan committee to get that done, and i think mr. mccarthy made a big mistake when he -- the bipartisan committee in the senate and nancy pelosi made a mistake or maybe it was intentional, that he chose -- the committee to give to credence. and i think it's going to be difficult to convince those folks who don't -- didn'tleave it now. i am not sure they will believe it. i wish the committee all the best. i think this needs to be explored. i think this needs to come out. but i just think that it's too easy for folks on the hard right to dismiss this committee

because of the way that it was structured. you talk about the durability of the -- >> and that committee was formed and i believe it today. >> you talk about the durability of the so-called big lie, this election fraud claim. we mentioned at the start of this segment here in "washington post" analysis shows 100 republican primary winners this cycle have repeated the lies. if you win this race, congressman, if you end up back in congress for the next congress, are you concerned about what the class of colleagues that you will be with is going to be like, bleefbs in? >> again, i think that, you know, i think we have to get past donald trump. i think donald trump is the source of this issue. and as i said in the segment where i -- yesterday when you -- yesterday, i believe donald trump's policies were very good and i think he was consequential

as a result. trade reform, the tax -- act were huge to lift our economy and as a result lift people from every income level. record lows in poverty. record increases in wages. record lows in unemployment. you know, those are the things that i ran for congress to do. to make america competitive and give everybody a shot, give everybody a shot at the american dream. we came a long ways toward that. but, unfortunately, donald trump is not a very good loser. i would argue he is not a very good winner either. he is like a spike football in your face guy when he wins. unfortunately, with this loss that he -- what i said before, he threw a temper tantrum that culminated with the sacking of the united states capitol and a direct ail it can on the constitution and he should be held accountable tom rice, than

you very much for your time and being with us. we hope to have you back. we reached out to the congressman's opponent russell fry to come on the show. we haven't heard back. we would welcome him to be on. coming up, picking up from what we heard, an update on the january 6th hearings. what the chairman of the committee told the reporters about this back and forth over the potential for a doj referral. we will have that in just a second. we will have that in just a second with merrill. moving his money into his investment account in real time and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. ♪ limu emu ♪ and doug. ♪ harp plays ♪ only two things are forever: love and liberty mutual customizing your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. (emu squawks) if anyone objects to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace. (emu squawks) (the crowd gasps)

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in real time and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. so the january 6th select committee today postponing tomorrow's third scheduled hearing with adam kinzinger tweeting tomorrow's hearing has been moved to next week. the change made to space out the hearings. nothing else. zoe lofgren bringing up video production issues when asked earlier on this network. thursday's hearing is still on, set is to focus on former president trump's pressure campaign on his then vice president mike pence. and a who advised the former vp will testify. joining us is ali vitali. you have caught up i think in the last couple of minutes with the committee chair, bennie

thompson. there is this back and forth or this sort of i don't know if you want to call it mixed messaging or confusion, pick your adjectives, this idea whether the committee should make a referral to the doj when the work is completed. talk us through that. >> reporter: the phrasing that i used when i talked about it with chairman bennie thompson was competing ideas over what to do with this idea of of a criminal referral. thompson said yesterday he didn't think that the committee had the authority to do it. actually, we should pull those comments up on the screen right now because they become important. yesterday he says after repeated questions, you are ruling it out now? he says we don't have the authority on a criminal referral. when i asked about this now, i said i want to be clear. is there -- is the criminal referral off the table? and he said to me, who said that? i said, i think some people are interpreting your comments yesterday as saying that. he said that's not the committee's first objective. their objective is to file a report and then, of course, they are going to move forward from there.

that puts him now more in line with people like the vice-chair of the committee, liz cheney, as well as adam schiff and others who said they want the justice department to investigate wrongdoing if and where it is found. i think it's important the committee, obviously, is issuing public work in doing these hearings, but they have not turned over the underlying evidence to the department of justice. that's something that thompson son underscored. that is an important piece because even as merrick garland says prosecutors are watching these proceedings becausis on television and nothing happens in a vacuole, at the same time the underlying evidence, the stuff that's not'sarily being presented publicly, has not been given over to doj and that could end up being important. but again i think that the postponement today the committee will tell you is them giving the hearings both space in terms of letting the news breathe, but also giving their committee staff the time and ability to put them together in way that makes sense. so what we are going to end up

seeing this week, hallie, is the planned hearing on thursday around the pressure campaign of mike pence and then of course next week we are going to see a committee hearing that wasn't noticed but that we know is going to be happening around what was happening on the state level with people in georgia, for example, supposed to testify in front of the committee, and then we are going to see the rescheduling of the committee hearing that was supposed to be tomorrow, that one around what was going on inside the department of justice and the officials atop the doj who were there at the time pushing back against the former president expected to testify there. >> thank you. next up, some exclusive reporting on the untold story until now of supreme court justice clarence thomas' wife decades ago. how she fell into a group she considered a cult in the '80s was deprogrammed from it and why that is surprising some now. your why. what drives you? what do you want to leave behind?

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now. involving ginny thomas. big figure in right wing activism who reportedly pushed to try to overturn the results of the legitimate 2020 election. wife of claurt clarence thomas and self-identified cult member tournament anti-cult activist, question mark. that piece of the story starts in the time of jazzercize and duran duran in the '80s. ginny thomas you see her in 1986 on the screen, realized her involvement with lifespring was problematic. lifespring, remember, advertised training seminars to help participants unlock almost superhuman potential. then she was apparently deprogrammed, a controversial way to unlearn when she picked up at lifespring. she became an anti-cult crusader, helping out with workshops for congressional staffers to fight groups. with that background, people who knew her back then are scratching their heads now telling us they don't get how

thomas reconciles that past with some beliefs she has with qanon today. nbc news reached out to ginny thomas and justice clarence thomas. neither responded. the reporter among the by lines on that story, alan smith worked on this. talk to us a little bit about your reporting. what you based it on. what you are hearing now from people who knew ginny thomas back then. that seems to be the key part of this. >> thank you for having me on, hallie. we dug into this after "the washington post" first reported this text messages she sent to mark meadows with out landich conspiracy theories, including that, you know, democrats were going to be sent to guantanamo bay for military tribunals two days after the 2020 election. we had begun some level of investigation and found this cult and anti-cult activist experience in ginny thomas' past. she actually became, you know, not just someone who was deprogrammed after being in this

group lifespring, but someone who really jumped head first into fighting cults afterwards. she was someone who, you know, was a part of organizing multiple training sessions for congressional staffers, did some emcees for a dinner that cult awareness network put on in washington, d.c., in 1989. it's interesting listening to her at the time because she is saying things, you know, like i know that what led me into this cult, it's having that is still here with me today and i am trying to figure out what it is about me that made me susceptible to falling into such a group. for people who knew her, it was interesting to contrast their experiences to her then to see her us spouse some of these conspiracy theory conspiracy theories about the election now. >> what stood out most? >> i mean, in in speaking to person who helped ginny in organizing a training session for congressional staffers in 1988, they said something striking, which was, you know,

ginny was someone who escaped a cult and now it looks like they are someone who has fallen into a cult again. so that sentiment stood out to me. again there were some individuals who we spoke with were at the forefront of the cult awareness world now who said there are some differences between qanon and what ginny thomas was involved in in the '80s. namely, they said that qanon is something that sort of reinforces existing beliefs that a person has, whereas what ginny was involved in was more of the getting directly sucked into a group that's promising you, you know, untapped potential about your future. >> to be clear, no response, right? no comment from ginny thomas nor from justice thomas? >> no comment. we tried to reach out to ginny thomas for a number of months now, actually, and we are not able to hear back. through this supreme court justice thomas did not respond either. >> alan smith, thank you. the piece is out at nbcnews.com. thank you very much. next up, a top ceo sees

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. we are in the final minutes of the trade day on wall street. the dow down about 110 points. the s&p deeper, it comes as the energy department just as we've been on the air actually just announced the release of another 45 billion barrels of oil. i'm joined by brian diest. good to have you back on the show. thanks for being with us. >> happy to be here. >> we looked ahead to this fed meeting tomorrow. i think you look at what is on the minds of a lot of americans in this country, and that is obviously the cost of living. are we in a recession? you have morgan stanley's ceo saying there's a 50/50 chance that we will hit a recession. do you agree with that assessment? >> no, i think that where we are is in a transition, and we're transitioning from what has been the strongest economic recovery in modern american history to

what can be and we hope will be more stable and resilient growth. what's remarkable about this transition is how resilient the american economy has been. we have the strongest labor market in decades. we have households that have actually increased their savings and reduced their debt and the american consumer has been extraordinarily resilient. i think as we look at the challenges ahead and prices are challenge number one, absolutely, that's certainly on the president's mind, we can address those challenges from a position of economic strength. we have to take them head on, and we have to focus on bringing down costs, but we are uniquely positioned around the world right now in a stronger economic position to take on those headwinds. >> i want to ask you about a bit of developing news that is coming into us just as we're on the air here, and that is some new bloomberg reporting about a proposal from senator ron wyden. the white house has talked about as we talk about gas prices oil prices pointing the finger at

oil companies. senator buy den is adding a surtax on companies that have excessive profits of better than 10% on the profit margin. nbc news has not confirmed that proposal, but i wonder is that something that the white house would be supportive of? would president biden back that legislation? >> well, i'm not going to comment on a proposal that hasn't been released and hasn't been confirmed, but what i will say is we have a situation right now where the largest oil and gas companies and the companies that refined that oil into gas and other products, they are making record profits. in the first quarter of this year, the five largest oil companies have made $35 billion in profits. that's a 300% increase. if you look at the price of gas at the pump, almost a dollar of that price at the pump is explained by record profits on those refinery margins, on the amount that companies are taking

for every gallon of gas that they refine, and that is because of some innovation in the market. it's because putin's invasion of ukraine drove up global oil prices, and so there is an excess profit that is being generated right now. what we have said and what the president has said very clearly is that we want those companies to invest right now in increasing their production and increasing their refining capacity, some have indicated that they're already doing that. you mentioned the strategic petroleum reserve. our release was designed to put barrels onto the market while those companies ramp up. but particularly at this moment when those companies are recording those record profits, it's particularly important that they put those profits to work, increasing production, increasing capacity, which will help to bring those prices down. >> very quickly, oil production is going to be one of many items on the agenda for president biden's visit with the saudi crown prince next month.

as you know, there has been some democratic pushback to this. senator merkley called it an ugly moment, senator tim kaine reportedly told cnn that it's a bad idea essentially. what's your response. >> well, the president is pragmatic about what is in the national interest, and he's willing to sit down with any foreign leader when he believes that he can make progress on behalf of our national security and our economy and the american people, and that's what is behind this trip where he will visit the middle east which is an incredibly vital region for the world and for our national security and will address a broad array of issues because we have strategic -- we have strategic priorities in that region, and so that's what the president is going to do on that trip, and there are a range of foreign policy issues that he intends to address, and that's why he's doing it. >> brian deese closing out the show with us this afternoon. thank you, good to see you. appreciate your time. appreciate all of you watching this hour of msnbc. "deadline white house" with

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